Mary Lee Orsini

By Timothy Avants

This novel is based  on a real murder in Little Rock, Arkansas. Mary Lee Orsini felt like life was passing her by so she devised a plan: she'd marry her way out. Then she saw a bigger, better deal. That marriage didn't last long either. But then, while on trial for murdering her second husband, Mary Lee figured her famous defense lawyer would be the ultimate prize.

 

The only thing standing in her way was his wife ... but not for long.

**Read inside about the murder case that shocked Arkansas.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Timothy Avants
• Release date: Jun 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9798201371531

Timothy Avants

Daddy

Book preview

Mary Lee Orsini

By

Timothy Avants

Based on a true story .

Chapter 1

The preacher surveyed his sparse congregation though it was normal for a Sunday evening. He wore a white shirt with short sleeves that displayed massively hairy arms. He looked over his rim glasses and watched as the people listened intently, all except Mary Lee.

Mary Lee was pre-occupied with the boy in the row ahead of her. She was memorizing every contour of his face- for the future. Homework, she thought of it.  

"And we need to remember that this is our heritage, the preacher said as he pounded on the podium. We can’t try to be something that we aren’t. See, this spirit that ruled Jezebel, that’s why we call it a Jezebel spirit just so yall know, that’s the spirit that causes someone to do anything to get what they want. That’s why the dogs ended up eating the very flesh of Jezebel when she tried to kill the prophet."

She was so tired of hearing all this mess. That’s why these country folks are stuck here on the back side of the Army base in Sticksville, Louisiana. She laughed a little. She fantasized as the preacher continued. Her eyes were fixed ahead. See, she thought this was a younger boy than what she was used to. 18. She could do that because she could get benefits. Those army boys had a good income. Plus, they were gone all the time. What a perfect set up, she thought. Oh well, we just need to follow through on this one. But he surely needs to do something about that fuzz on his neck, after all, weren’t they supposed to keep themselves clean cut or something?

He could feel her looking at him, as if someone was inspecting him or something. But she was a cutie, a down home country girl from the south. She would be nice and sweet, he figured, the kind you could take home to mother.

She made her way out before the ending prayer. She wanted to manage a good half mile or so down the road as to appear she had to walk it. He would also like the fact that she would bother to walk to church on a Sunday evening. Dedication is what it was. Commitment and honor and all of that sort of thing the military man liked to hear about. The dusk had fallen, and the night was almost on her. She could hear the rumble of gravel and looked at the dust as it kicked up behind the approaching vehicle. A red one. Yes. It was him.

"Well, hello, Miss Mary Lee. I sure am happy to offer you a ride if need be. Looks like you’re going to be out here at night time and that’s not the best idea.

She sauntered back and forth a minute before she answered.

Well, Mr. Robert, or shall I just call you, Bobby, she punched the last word, just like everyone else does?

You can call me whatever you wanna call me, Miss Mary Lee.

He leaned over and opened the passenger door and she slid in.

Thank you, but I prefer the name Robert. It just seems more sophisticated on a gentleman such as yourself.

It was a good 30-minute ride for him to his barracks but he wasn’t in a hurry to get back. Miss Mary Lee was a cute little thing that was always very quiet and lady-like, like she was thinking about something, or something.

Robert, seeing it’s summer time and all, why don’t we stop and get us an ice cream?

He liked her. She was just so down home yet dignified at the same time. Not country like the rest of them.

They stopped and sat in the car and ate ice cream till it started to melt on the cone. She took advantage of the minute to put on a girlish display. Then she helped his cone as it started to melt. She took it from him and devoured it as he watched. He blushed and suggested they hit the road.

"Don’t worry bout me because my mama will be in bed by the time I get home. Besides, we should stop in the cemetery to see if the ghosts are out yet. You know, there is an old story about that place but I refuse to go unless someone strong like you can protect me.

The cemetery was eerie and he pulled in and turned off the lights. The place was pitch black except for one streetlight thirty yards away. No one was coming or going. Perfect solitude. Mosquitoes were thick and the air was heavy with moisture. Real south.  She leaned back and pulled her skirt up to mid-thigh. His heart was pounding and he had cottonmouth.

You know, Robert, I sure have always dreamed of marrying a military man, someone big and strong, like you. Someone who would be a good daddy.

She was 17 and he was 18. She caught herself when she said daddy just like earlier when she used the word mama. That’s how country people talked. She hated them and she hated everything about who she was. No one knew though but she was determined to change all of that and Robert was the key. He was a one-way ticket out but there was work to be done first.

She reached over and stroked his leg up and down the thigh. Not too much, she thought. Just a taste. He melted. He had never been with a girl, at least not so he could remember. That time in high school was clouded by a dense alcohol fog, so he was just as inexperienced as she was, so he thought.

Mary Lee, we shouldn’t be out here maybe. Let’s just go in now and then maybe I can take you out this weekend.

She knew how that worked. It didn’t. she remembered a couple of guys who swore to come back but never did. They got what they wanted and then vanished. She had given away too much milk, she reckoned, and then they ran off to another cow.

Chapter 2

One year later.

Mary Lee made her way out of the base exchange and dropped a bag as it ripped open. Before she could bend down, a soldier had already picked it up and was handing it to her.

Well, thank you, I am so happy to see a good man about these parts. I think you are probably the only true gentleman round here.

No problem, he said as he eyed her up and down and then stared dead in her eyes. That, of course, she knew, was her signal.

I am Mary Lee, but you can call me Mary, she said as she took his hand to give him a firm shake.

Where do you live, Mary? he said, knowing she was married or else she wouldn’t be at the exchange.

Well, aren’t you quite the forward one? she said, correcting her southern drawl as it slipped out. She was from gentry so she said, at one time it was from the Midwest, a rancher she recalled. Another time she was from up north but she never could lose the southern accent. That would take time. She finally landed on the southern stock, a good family from northern Louisiana who owned a lot of farm land. Sometimes her stories got mixed up so she learned to stop talking so much.

They