A bright red convertible pulled into the driveway just as Jane was locking the door. She had hoped to get out before Caramel returned, but she was a moment too late.
“Jane! I’m so glad you are still here.” Caramel swept out of her little car, her heels clacking on the brick driveway. “Did you find the ring?”
Jane grimaced and shook her head.
“Did you take the sink apart to look?”
“Yes.” Jane never knew what to say to Caramel. Isaac’s mom had recommended Plain Jane’s Good Clean Houses to the Swanson family, to replace their regular housekeeper while she was on vacation for the summer, but the thirty-something Caramel was as different from sixty-year-old Mrs. Daniels as a yappy little Chihuahua was from an Airedale.
“Did you check the mudroom sink?”
“You said you dropped it down the kitchen sink.” Jane checked herself before she said, “Ma’am.” Caramel’s husband may well have been sixty years old and a former mayor, but Caramel was clinging to her youth at all costs.
“This is a very expensive ring, Jane. I assumed you would stop at nothing to find it.”
Jane snuck a peek at the time on her phone. She wished with all her heart that she had to rush back to class, but nope. Her first year of business school was over and done. She had no reason to rush away.
Jane weighed the missing ring on a quickly manufactured scale of emotional importance. Her personal goal was to treat each family like the mission field, serving them with the heart of Christ… but finding a trophy wife’s missing diamond didn’t resonate with her.
“You were hoping that I would keep checking even if I didn’t find it where you thought that you lost it.” Jane went with “reflect so they will feel listened to” to buy herself some more thinking time.
“Indeed I did. And since you claim you didn’t find it, I hope you have good insurance.”
“Excuse me?” Jane took a step backwards.
“You claim you didn’t find the ring. It went down the drain of my sink last time I saw it, so if it’s not there now, there is only one reason.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Jane couldn’t reflect that sentence. “Are you accusing me of stealing your ring?”
“You tell me. Did you ‘find’ the ring in the sink or not? I would think if you honestly didn’t find the ring you would have kept looking. That ring is worth half a million dollars.”
“But, ma’am.” It slipped out. Jane didn’t intend to make Caramel angrier than she already was. “You told me to check the kitchen sink because you thought you dropped your ring down it. I took it apart, cleaned it out, and didn’t see anything. You didn’t ask me to look anywhere else.” Jane’s hand went to her pocket, where her instruction notes were folded carefully in a wallet, just for that purpose. Isaac Daniels’ father was a small claims court judge, and getting to know the family over the last year had made Jane wiser and more paranoid. Apparently, just in time.
“You can get back in that house and find my ring, Jane, or you can leave, and hear from my lawyers.” Caramel’s cheeks were flushed pink, her red lips were parted and puffy, as though they had recently been shot full of fillers. Her eyes had done the buggy, crazy-eye thing they did when she talked about her husband’s ex-wife or her neighbors.
Jane prayed again, begging God for the right words. “If you would like to have me come back tomorrow to help look, I can schedule you in.” She exhaled slowly. “But I think you could get all of the sinks checked faster with a plumber.”
Caramel stood between Jane and Jane’s car. Jane measured the distance with her eyes. At least twenty steps, if she tried to barrel past her, but double that, or more, if she attempted to swing wide, walking around Caramel.
“My husband won’t put up with this.” Caramel put her hands on her hips. “When I tell him what happened here, you’ll never work in this town again.”
Considering Portland had half a million people, or more if you counted all the surrounding towns, Jane didn’t take the threat seriously.
“Don’t underestimate me, Jane. My husband may think you are the cutest thing ever, but that won’t stop him from putting you in your place.”
The husband.
Jane doubted that Douglas Swanson thought she was the cutest thing ever, as she had never met him, and didn’t have a picture of herself on her website or flyers.
“So, would you like me to come back tomorrow or will you be calling a plumber?”
Caramel narrowed her eyes. “My husband won’t be back for another two weeks, you know.”
Jane nodded. “What time would you like me to arrive?” She attempted to smile. If she truly was coming back to dig through every sink in the Swanson house tomorrow, she’d be bringing Holly, her new employee, with her. When half million dollar rings were at stake, a witness seemed super important.
“Be here at 7:00 a.m. sharp.” Caramel swept past Jane, pushing her into a concrete angel. “I’ll be home the whole time, so don’t think you can get away with putting the ring back. I’ll be watching you.”
Jane ran to her car. She drove away from the Swanson house as fast as she could. “Quirky,” “spirited,” and “particular” were the words Mrs. Daniels had used to describe the new Mrs. Swanson. They must have been synonymous for utterly bonkers, otherwise Mrs. Daniels was at risk for false representation.
The Swanson paycheck was a welcome addition to the bottom line, but Jane was willing to forego name brand coffee and other luxuries if it meant she could quit this job tomorrow morning, as soon as all of the sinks in the six-thousand square foot mini-mansion had been put back together.
Jane parked at the apartment she shared with her cousin. She had to take off her house-cleaner’s hat now, even if the current situation seemed to call for some serious planning.
In a few short hours, she had coffee and dessert with her church’s Mission Coordinator. Jane decided to spend as much time as she could this afternoon praying, listening to God, and reading the Bible.
Jane didn’t know what Paula Ehlers had in mind, but a coffee and dessert get together with a couple of other mission-minded people and the woman in charge of the church missions program was something she needed to prepare for.
Dirty Little Murder
About the Author
Traci Tyne Hilton is the author of the Mitzy Neuhaus Mystery Series, the Plain Jane Mystery Series and the Tillgiven Romantic Mystery Series. She was the Mystery/Suspense Category winner for the 2012 Christian Writers of the West Phoenix Rattler Contest, and has a Drammy from the Portland Civic Theatre Guild. Traci served as the vice president of the Portland chapter of the American Christian Fiction Writers Association.
Traci earned a degree in history from Portland State University and still lives in the rainiest part of the Pacific Northwest with her husband the mandolin playing funeral director, their two daughters, and their dogs, Archie and Dr. Watson.
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tracithilton
www.tracihilton.com
[email protected]
This is a work of fiction. All characters, places, and incidents have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons either living or dead is completely coincidental
Good, Clean Murder: A Plain Jane Mystery
Proverbs 31 House LLC
Copyright 2013 (2/15) by Traci Tyne Hilton
All rights reserved
Cover Design by Andrew Rothery
Cover Photo by ariwasabi
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Good Clean Murder: A Plain Jane Mystery (The Plain Jane Mysteries Book 1) Page 23