Dirty Little Murder: A Plain Jane Mystery (The Plain Jane Mysteries Book 2)

by Traci Tyne Hilton

  Jane traced the screen of her new phone with her finger. Had he just dismissed her troubles? Surely not. That wasn’t his style. His teaching gig at the seminary in Costa Rica was just all consuming. She knew what that felt like. He would call her back when he had more time to talk about things. Probably.

  Jane called her parents next to take care of the family plan phone thing.

  Her mother answered on the first ring.

  Jane rushed through the tale of how she found the body and lost her phone.

  “Oh, Janey! Do you want to come home? You don’t have to stay there after all of that. What a nightmare.”

  “No, Mom, I don’t need to go back to Phoenix, which as you remember, is not my home.”

  “Honey, you want to be a missionary. You don’t have a home.”

  “True. And I don’t have a phone either. Or, not a permanent phone. What am I supposed to do now?”

  “Just go buy lots of minutes for that one, sweetie. We’ll call the phone company and fix the situation, but until they send you a new phone, you need some way to get a hold of people in an emergency.”

  “That makes sense. Thanks.” Jane picked at the lint on her denim shorts. She was tempted to ask for a phone upgrade while she had her mom.

  “I’m uncomfortable with this Swanson situation, honey. It sounds dangerous.”

  “I’ll be fine, Mom. Don’t worry.” Jane changed her mind about a phone upgrade, and now just hoped to cut the call short.

  “I just remember last time…”

  “I live with Gemma now. Aunty Gail sends us casseroles. I’m not homeless, hungry, or anything. And I have lots of clients since school is out. Don’t even worry.”

  “You go straight to Aunty Gail’s if anything goes wrong. Promise?”

  “I promise.” Jane sighed.

  “No attitude.”

  “Mom.”

  “Okay. I love you. Call your dad.”

  “As soon as I can. Bye, Mom.”

  “Bye, baby.”

  Jane hung up and flopped back on her bed. Calling her mom had been worse than calling Isaac, though she wasn’t sure why. It hurt to think there were problems so bad in the world that her mom couldn’t fix them just like that. Jane dialed Isaac’s number again but didn’t press send. Her heart was lonely, and she was scared. She just wished she had someone in Portland who loved her right now.

  The next day was Sunday, and after church and lunch, Jane met her ministry team at the new Bean Me Up Scotty’s coffee shop by the mall.

  Jane sipped her iced mocha. Valerie was texting. Kaitlyn was late.

  Jane wasn’t sure how to propose their new idea to Valerie. Kids that hang out at the mall and get bullied. They exist, but were they a group? Did they have a self-identity that she and her teammates could tap into? The coffee shop was quiet, which was nice. If Valerie was going to laugh her head off at their dumb idea, at least the audience was small.

  Valerie looked up at her phone and smiled. “I’ll be just a sec.”

  Jane looked out the window. Kaitlyn was just pulling up in her shiny silver Jetta. She had a frazzled look about her that Jane had never seen before. Her hair was in a messy bun—but not the carefully messed up kind. In fact, patches of white showed through the bun—clear signs the mess on top of her head was supposed to be a big, sleek, “sock” bun and not a messy bun at all.

  When Kaitlyn managed to pull up a chair at the table, it was obvious she wasn’t herself. She took a deep breath. “I need prayer warriors, stat.”

  Valerie reached across the table for Kaitlyn’s hand and bowed her head.

  Jane took a hold of Kaitlyn’s prosthetic and looked around the room. The barista wasn’t watching.

  “Oh, Lord, I need your strength now, more than ever.”

  Jane echoed the sentiment in her mind. She peeked at the barista again. This time the girl with the nose ring was watching. Jane shut her eyes.

  “Today your enemies are trying to thwart your plans, but we trust in your strength, and your will, Lord God, but please help us trust.”

  Jane peeked at Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn’s head was slightly bowed. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her brows drawn close together. She wasn’t faking her stress, even if Jane thought the words were a bit melodramatic.

  Kaitlyn closed with more of what Jane secretly considered church jargon, and then lifted her head, chin stuck out.

  “Poor girl, what has happened?” Valerie kept her hold on Kaitlyn’s hand.

  “Yo-Heaven has just opened up at the mall food court.”

  “So?” It popped out before Jane could control herself. She hadn’t meant to say it. But really. So?

  Kaitlyn stuck her chin out a little further. She cast her big, sad blue eyes on Jane. “They are Bubble-Bubble’s strongest competitors.

  Jane wanted to say, “So?” again, but refrained. With effort she asked, “Tell me more about this problem.”

  “Yo-heaven is way more popular than Bubble-Bubble. It just is. And they opened up in the empty spot right next to me. I don’t know how I can take this.”

  Valerie made some soothing sounds but caught Jane’s eye. She shrugged lightly.

  “Are you concerned the Yo-Heaven is going to affect your job?”

  “I’ll lose my job. We won’t last a week next to Yo-Heaven. But even if we do, I won’t get to stay on. I’ve only been there a month.”

  “But you’ll land on your feet, won’t you? I mean, don’t you live with your parents still?”

  Kaitlyn nodded. “I moved back home to save money for the wedding and for moving to the Philippines. But I can’t save any money if I don’t have a job.”

  On the one hand, Jane could sympathize, but on the other… all of Kaitlyn’s immediate needs were met. “I’ll keep you in my prayers.”

  “I need thirty thousand dollars in the bank before the wedding.”

  Val dropped Kaitlyn’s hand. “Why on Earth do you ‘need’ that much money Kaitlyn?”

  Kaitlyn held up her prosthetic. “This.” She set it down again with a thud. “The organization Spencer serves with won’t take me on board if I’m not self-insured. I need to have enough money for a round trip ticket back to America, a hospital stay, and a new prosthetic if anything should happen to this one.”

  “That costs thirty thousand dollars?” Jane tried to hide her disbelief.

  “It’s a really handy hand.” Kaitlyn flexed the fingers on her fake hand. “Plus, I have a special one for swimming. And anyway, a hospital stay could easily eat up that much money in a day.”

  “I see,” Jane lied.

  “So your job is very important to you right now.” Valerie had a sweet, cooing tone to her voice. Jane knew it was what Kaitlyn needed, so she attempted to adjust her own attitude.

  “Yes.” Kaitlyn sniffed. She dabbed at her nose with Jane’s napkin.

  “But there’s really no way you could save up $30,000 in—what, a year?—working at Bubble-Bubble Tea.”

  Kaitlyn nodded, chewing on her lip. “I sell Bible studies I write on Amazon too.”

  “I can see how stressful this is for you.” Jane’s first attitude adjustment hadn’t helped, so she tried again. “Let’s keep optimistic. You haven’t lost your job yet.”

  “That’s right, sweetie,” Valerie said. “Let’s not jump the gun, okay?”

  “I just know that whenever we get really close to doing a good work for God, the enemy comes in and tries his best to blast it all to pieces. And, Jane, we have a great idea for a good work, yeah? My job at the mall is a key piece to that.”

  Jane had her eye on the barista, who appeared to be laughing. A second barista, a good-looking man with graying hair and black plastic glasses, flicked the laughing one with his towel. “I’m sure your job there could be very useful.” The black eye-glasses barista caught Jane’s eye and mouthed, “I’m sorry.” Jane looked away.

  “It’s a great idea. Let’s focus on that right now,” Valerie said.

  Kaitlyn nodded, sti
ll sniffling. “We’ve just got to trust God, right?”

  “Right.” Valerie nodded her head, curls bobbing as she offered reassurance.

  From the corner of her eye, Jane glimpsed the glasses-wearing barista watching their table. He seemed to have his eye on Valerie, and he was smiling.

  The idea tickled Jane. She’d have to make sure they had more meetings at this very coffee shop.

  While Jane distracted herself from her annoyed feelings with matchmaking schemes, the glasses-wearing, gray-haired barista himself joined the table.

  He set a tray of pastries down. “You all looked like you could use a little cheering up.” He addressed them all, but his eyes were only for Valerie.

  Valerie blushed, just a little.

  “Thank you.” Kaitlyn offered him a small, sad smile.

  “Anytime.” He went back to his work station, stumbling a little on the way.

  “Why don’t you all tell me about what your new idea for ministry is?” Valerie kept her eyes on Jane, and not the handsome barista who, as far as Jane could tell, still hadn’t taken his eyes off of her.

  Kaitlyn leaned forward. “We want to reach out to victims of bullying.”

  Valerie drew her eyebrows together. “How?”

  “We want to get them together at the mall where I see them suffering. We can give these little guys a taste of God’s love.” Her face did the beatified thing that Jane found a bit over the top. But considering the rest of the hyperbole Kaitlyn had delivered, she figured a little wide-eyed passion wasn’t going to kill her.

  “But how? Victims of bullying are a pretty non-specific group. How are you going to identify them and connect with them?”

  “I was thinking it might even be too specific,” Jane said.

  “Either way, it’s the wrong kind of specific. No one wants to join a group where their identity is tied up with being victimized.”

  “We could base it around an interest, like some game kids are playing these days.” Jane racked her brain to think of something kids were into, but failed.

  “How would you keep the bullies themselves from taking over the group?” Valerie asked.

  “That’s easy. We’d pick something they weren’t into.”

  Valerie pursed her lips. “I don’t know, girls. I think this one needs quite a bit more prayer and thought. Why don’t we put it aside for now and brainstorm some other ideas.”

  Kaitlyn crossed her arms. “I think Jane and I feel strong about this one, don’t you, Jane?”

  Jane looked from Valerie to Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn had offered her boundless enthusiasm and support for the idea she had hatched at the mall, but it wasn’t like she was married to the idea. And with today’s display of job-related panic, Jane wasn’t sure she wanted to hitch her wagon to Kaitlyn.

  This must be why missionaries needed practice. They hadn’t started the work yet, and it was already hard.

  “I don’t think it would hurt to pray over it more,” Jane said.

  Valerie nodded and smiled. “It never hurts to pray more. Listen, girls, I have to get to work, but I’m glad we had a chance to reconnect. Email me with your thoughts on this.” She excused herself from the table. Jane watched closely, but Valerie didn’t offer a passing glance to the employees behind the counter.

  “Jane!” Kaitlyn’s big eyes looked hurt. “You totally just threw me under the bus.”

  “What? No. Not at all.”

  “You should have my back on this. You know God is calling us to this thing. Why else would I be under such a direct attack right now?”

  “From the Yo-Heaven?”

  “Yes, from the Yo-Heaven. Bubble-Bubble Tea has been absolutely fabulous. Everything has been going so smoothly. Why would my job be threatened by the competition, all of a sudden, if it weren’t a direct attack from the devil?”

  “I don’t know the answer to that, Kaitlyn. I’m sorry. But if one of our teammates isn’t on board, what I say can’t make a difference. All we can do is pray.”

  Kaitlyn stood up with a huff. “Oh, I’ll be praying, all right.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder and stormed out of the café.

  Jane picked at a raspberry Danish sitting on the still-full tray of pastries. If this little team was meant to prove to Paula that the three of them were ready for prime time, it was failing.

  8

  Jane prayed the matter over, and determined that the first thing she should do on behalf of Kaitlyn was check out the lay of the land, so the next day when she was done with her clients, she headed to the mall.

  How close was this Yo-Heaven to Bubble-Bubble Tea? How many customers did it have during the peak frothy-beverage-drinking hours? How many kids could she find hanging out at the mall without their parents, who also appeared downtrodden, and in need of some kind of undefined activity?

  Jane stuck her earbuds in and walked the mall slowly, pretending to listen to music.

  Little knots and tangles of high-schoolers jostled and flirted at the corners of the mall. But they were older than the kids she and Kaitlyn had in mind.

  The arcade next to the food court was quiet. Just a few boys were playing games inside, but they didn’t look particularly downtrodden. A couple of women with really nice hair were drinking coffee at a table next to the arcade entrance. The game-playing boys’ moms perhaps?

  She scanned the food court. The fattening aroma of cinnamon rolls floated through the air. People milled about, reading the menus that hung from the walls. She spied Kaitlyn’s golden head holding court over the cash register at Bubble-Bubble Tea. Three teenage girls appeared to be placing an order.

  Yo-Heaven, the popular yogurt smoothie and salad shop, was in the small restaurant space right next to Bubble-Bubble Tea.

  While Jane could understand why that might make Kaitlyn nervous, it didn’t strike her as an impossible co-existence. Bubble-Bubble had shared the food court with Frosty Maids just fine for a few years now. Jane meandered toward the line. She counted twelve kids in the food courts, four of whom looked a bit downtrodden, socially speaking, but all of whom were with their families.

  “Vanilla mango, small.”

  “Hey, Jane.” Kaitlyn’s bright smile faded. “I’m trying to hold it together, but this has been the quietest morning in forever.”

  “Have faith, friend.” Jane passed her debit card to Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn’s forever was around a month. Jane had a feeling the slow morning and Yo-Heaven might not be related. “God’s hand is in this, somewhere.”

  Kaitlyn shook her head. “I wish I were sure.” She turned and mixed up a tapioca-based smoothie for Jane.

  Jane scanned the food court again while she waited. It was getting a little busier as the lunch crowd filtered in. There were more teens, more families.

  “Jane! You never called!”

  Jane spun around in a circle. She knew that voice.

  “Over here, Jane!” Jake Crawford leaned over the counter of the Yo-Heaven.

  “Why didn’t you call?”

  “Call? When?” Jane went hot, then cold.

  “All year, that’s when. You didn’t call me all year.”

  Kaitlyn put her hand out with the bubble tea in it.

  “You’re not drinking that bilge, are you, Jane? Where’s your loyalty?”

  Jane took the drink.

  “Don’t harass my customers,” Kaitlyn snapped.

  “Your customer?” Jake leaned on his elbow. “In the grand scheme of things, is Jane more your customer or my muse?”

  Jane took a big suck on her drink. She gagged, just a little. “Jake—” Jane stopped. What was the point in arguing with him when you could just ignore him? She stepped closer to Kaitlyn’s counter.

  “I’ve been checking out the ministry potential here at the mall,” Jane said in a low voice.

  Kaitlyn eyed Jake warily, but answered Jane. “See anything good?”

  “Not yet, but I plan on hanging out all afternoon. I want to see how the crowd changes over the course of the day.”
Jane checked Jake out of the corner of her eye. He was taking orders. In the few seconds Jane had been talking a line had formed for yogurt smoothies. She checked behind her. No one in line for the bubble tea.

  “I’m off at two,” Kaitlyn said. “Will you still be around?”

  Jane checked her watch. 11:45. “Yeah, I think I can manage to stick around that long.”

  “Okay. I’ve got to get back to work, but if you meet me here at two, we can compare notes.” Kaitlyn’s face was dead serious.

  Jane stifled the urge to snicker. “Sounds good. I’ll be back.” She turned to go, but Jake called out to her again.

  “Cut in line real fast, Jane. Let me make you something to eat.” His voice had a little pleading quality to it that Jane was very familiar with. He wanted to wheedle something out of her, but she had no idea what it would be, as he wasn’t exaggerating when he said they hadn’t seen, or heard, from each other in over a year.

  Jane sidled over to Jake’s counter. “What’s up?”

  “Just really fast, why didn’t you call me? I mean, it was a whole year.”

  Jane licked her lips. “I didn’t know you wanted me to call you.”

  “Really?” Jake’s voice was low so the people in line couldn’t hear him. Not that it would have been easy, with the noise of the blenders, shakers, and yogurt machines whirring behind him. Jane noticed two tall redheads whipping together drinks for the people in line. “I’m not kidding. After what we went through together you really didn’t think I wanted you to call me?”

  Jane looked at her hands. Then she looked back up. “You didn’t call me either.” She lifted her eyebrow and tried to laugh. “It’s not like you were waiting around all year to hear from me.”

  “Yes, I did call you, and yes, I was waiting.” Jake drew his eyebrows together over his gray-blue eyes. “I called two weeks after the funeral, and you never called back.”

  Jane bit her lip. She remembered that call. She remembered ignoring that call. “I’m sorry.”

  “Good. Make it up to me, but not right now. I’m totally swamped. Your timing is atrocious, but I know you’ll call me. Tonight, okay? Call tonight sometime.” He flashed her a grin and then turned to the redhead at the cash register.