Oven Baked Secrets (Eugeena Patterson Mysteries Book 2)

by Tyora Moody

  “Yes.”

  “It could belong to James Nelson. But get this; Jacqueline Saunders could have been driving it. How?”

  Amos was quiet for a moment like he was thinking. “According to the information I found, the former director was Jacqueline’s mother. She retired and passed the nursing home to her daughter. It’s possible James Nelson and Jacqueline Saunders are related, maybe even siblings.”

  That’s the connection! I turned and saw someone coming down the hallway. I walked over to the other side of the hallway and held my head down. It appeared to be James Nelson. I recognized the salesman’s determined strides as he pushed open the door. “Amos, I’m going to see if I can get down the hallway to Louise while I still have a chance. I made need a little backup.”

  “What are you planning to do?”

  “Let’s just say I’d like to get a conversation going with Ms. Saunders, but I know I need some help.”

  “Eugeena?”

  “You told me to call you when I’m about to get into something? I’m letting you know now.” I clicked off the conversation before Amos tried to talk me out of whatever sketchy plan I had in my head.

  Then I scooted down the hallway. I had visions of me being dressed as a nurse, but that was taking it a bit too far. No need for a disguise. I passed the sitting area for residents and noticed some of the same people sitting around watching the television. No one seemed to notice me walking past. The closer I got to Louise’s room I was feeling hopeful that this would all work out fine.

  Right outside Louise’s room, I heard someone talking to Louise in a harsh voice. “Pat is off today. Now you need to take your medicine.”

  Louise whined. “Where’s Pat? I want Pat. She knows I don’t need to take this stuff. I don’t want it. It doesn’t make me feel good.”

  I hoped Amos was coming with the cavalry because I was putting a stop to this foolishness, right then.

  Chapter 27

  I stepped in the room to see Lexi with a syringe in her hand. “So you’re the receptionist and the nurse. Honey, you got some explaining to do because I don’t think you’re qualified to be giving anybody what’s in that needle.”

  “Eugeena, thank goodness you’re here. I really want to go home, but no one will take me.”

  Lexi frowned. “What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be in here.”

  “Well, why don’t you get Ms. Saunders? Louise and I have to have a talk with her.”

  Lexi looked unsure and I was not happy with her holding up that syringe. I took my phone out. “I will call social services if you don’t put that syringe down. I see something that looks suspiciously like elder abuse to me.”

  Louise rose up in the bed. “That’s exactly what it is, Eugeena. You get her.”

  Lexi looked at Louise like she was going to stick her with the syringe anyway, but she moved past me. She threatened, “I will be back.”

  I turned towards Louise and watched as she blinked back tears, “I don’t like her. She’s not very nice. Something has happened to Pat. I haven’t seen her in days.”

  This wasn’t the time to upset Louise. “I know your favorite nurse is Pat. Now, how are you doing?”

  Louise pointed to a notebook by her side. “I have William’s funeral planned out. It’s been hard to do because I seem to sleep all the time.”

  I smiled and reached for the notebook. “I’m sorry I haven’t been here for you. You should have had someone here to help you.”

  “Have they found out anything about my William?”

  “Not that I know of. Did you two get a chance to talk on Sunday?”

  “A little. I kind of wasn’t listening to him. I had other things on my mind.”

  “You know he had someone buying the house.”

  Louise tilted her head. “Yes, I remember him saying there was a buyer. I hope they would change their mind and not want the house. That’s my house, Eugeena.”

  “Mrs. Patterson, you need to leave the premises.”

  I looked up to see Ms. Saunders at the door. The large male nurse I had seen earlier was behind her.

  I started to protest, but Louise changed my mind.

  “Jacqueline, why would you ask Eugeena to leave? She’s my friend.”

  Jacqueline stepped in the room as if she was coming to remove me herself.

  Louise kept talking. “Eugeena, did you know William has been in love with this woman since they were teenagers?”

  “No, I didn’t. I would love to hear more about this.”

  Jacqueline froze looking from Louise to me.

  “Oh yes, during high school William was so in love with her. They went to the senior prom together. I still have that photo somewhere, not sure where it is now.”

  I decided to help Louise speed up these revelations. “So do you think William still had a thing for Ms. Saunders?”

  “Oh yes, that’s why he was all cleaned up last week. I think they have been going out together.”

  “No!” Ms. Saunders shouted. “You’re wrong. There was nothing going on between William and me.”

  I thought back to Sunday.

  It’s just the way I remember it. That strange comment from the female buyer of the house made sense now. Jacqueline knew that house. “So, Jacqueline, you must have spent a lot of time at the Hopkins house. Louise, did you know that Jacqueline loved your house so much she wanted to buy it?”

  Louise looked at Jacqueline. “You? Why would you buy my house?”

  “A better question is why did she shoot William?”

  Jacqueline turned a shade of red that I wanted to say looked dangerously close to purple. “I did no such thing.”

  “But your brother, James Nelson, just said you borrowed his car. That would be a Mustang, right? The police were just asking him about the car. He must be real upset with you that you took his car and used it as a getaway car.”

  Jacqueline roared, “I knew I should have taken care of you. You just don’t quit. All of your questions.”

  “Like Pat. Who probably didn’t really quit either?”

  With that Jacquelyn turned around and fled the room. She pushed past the big male nurse who was standing behind her.

  I yelled at him. “What kind of nurse are you? Protect your patients. That woman is a murderer. Go get her.”

  The man looked at me like he was crazy but took off down the hallway.

  Louise looked bewildered, “What just happened?”

  “We just called out a killer?” My phone rang and I saw it was Amos. I answered the phone and yelled, “She’s getting away. What should we do?”

  Amos responded, “No, she’s not. We got her.”

  I smacked myself on the head. “You did! That was fast.”

  “Detective Wilkes was already on it. Apparently, she’d asked James Nelson to wear a wire when he was talking with his sister earlier.” When he left, that was the cue for the police to enter the nursing home.

  I inhaled deeply and then blew out a breath, feeling tension leaving my body. “That worked out pretty good. I managed not to get into too much trouble.”

  “I told you to let God handle it.”

  I laughed, but I still wanted answers. What exactly was Jacqueline Saunders trying to hide that cost William and Pat their lives?

  Chapter 28

  It seemed like hours went by before anyone came back to let Louise and I know what was going on. We took the time to catch up as best we could. I asked, “Louise, do you remember the young woman who came to visit last Sunday? Did you understand who she was?”

  Louise smiled. “Not really, but she reminded me of a person I knew a long time ago.”

  There was my cue. “August?”

  Louise looked startled.

  “I’ve learned a lot about you, my dear friend. You want to tell me more about him.”

  Louise grinned. “I see you have been busy. I have always wanted to tell you about him. It just never was the right time. August Manning was one of my de
arest friends from the time I was a little girl. It was hard for us to be friends the older we got. People warned us to be careful, but we were young and in love.”

  “You said it never was the right time to tell me about him. Why? Did you feel uncomfortable bringing him up especially around Bill, maybe?”

  “Bill and I never talked about August, but he knew when the anniversary of his death came around that I needed alone time. I know there were rumors.”

  “So you knew the rumors about Chuck Nelson.”

  “I confronted him.”

  “You did? Well, what did he say?”

  “He denied it, but I knew it was him. It was Chuck who told my parents that I was pregnant. A few days later I got shipped off to this home. It was terrible there. They wouldn’t let me see the baby. I kind of felt like the baby was a girl. I can’t explain it. But I have always been haunted by her cries and knowing how August died and that no one would listen to me. I had a baby out of wedlock with a black man. I thought years later when I lost my other baby that is was punishment.”

  “Oh Louise. No.”

  “I know better now. Eugeena, do you think I will ever meet her? That was my daughter in that photo.”

  “I’m pretty sure you will see your granddaughter again. Her name is Jocelyn. We will work on Clarice.”

  “That’s her name? Clarice.”

  “Yes.”

  “That was my grandmother’s name.”

  Amos showed up at the door of Louise’s room.

  Louise shouted, “Amos, my friend, it is so good to see you. I feel like I’ve been rescued.” Louise’s shoulders sank. “I just don’t know what I’ve been rescued from.”

  Amos chuckled. “I will do my best to fill you ladies in, just know that my old detective brain is still trying to process all that I’ve seen in the last hour.”

  Amos pulled over a chair from under the television next to the bed. After he sat down and caught his breath. “Well, for the news you’re probably waiting for, Jacqueline Saunders is in police custody.”

  I said, “That was fast. Did you call them after we got off the phone?”

  Amos nodded. “I did call Detective Wilkes, but she informed me they already had everything under control. When you saw James Nelson here earlier, he was in her office with a wire.”

  “He was setting his sister up?”

  “That’s right. James might be a slick car salesperson, but he’s a good man. According to the detective, James had been suspicious about his sister’s return to town for months. He was friends with William and didn’t think his sister was being sincere with her intentions.

  Louise looked confused, “William didn’t mention he’d been seeing Jacqueline. Of course, he didn’t talk to me. He was so in love with her. She broke his heart years ago.”

  Amos said, “It seems like William and Jacqueline were caught up with a group of people working on several scams at the same time. I can’t get into all of them, but that healthcare app startup company was one of them. They had a lot of investors, but no one was seeing the product come through in a timely fashion.”

  I nudged Amos. “What about here at the nursing home? What was going on?”

  Amos sighed. “Yeah, well, there have been some suspicions here for a while even before Jacqueline started as the new director. It seems that Jacqueline and her staff that she brought on had been quietly doing some false Medicare claims. Pat may have caught on to some of this when she started to see nurses being let go.”

  I asked, “And by staff did that include that Lexi woman? She was young, pixie haircut. I always thought there some something strange about the chick. I caught her trying to give Louise a syringe full of something.”

  Louise’s eyes widened. “I never thought she was a nurse, but what do I know?”

  Amos nodded. “I think she was one of the ones in handcuffs out there. There were at least three women. One was the accountant and I believe she had red hair. Anyhow, there seemed to be an even bigger issue and here is where I think William and Jacqueline might have clashed. The detective will have to let you know more, but Jacqueline had power of attorney over her dad the same as William had power of attorney over your estate, Louise.”

  Louise shook her head. “I don’t even remember signing anything. I kept telling him I was fine. I have been taking care of myself. So what were they doing with the money?”

  I shouted, “Stealing. They were stealing money from their own parents. I still don’t know why Jacqueline shot William. I can see Pat catching her in the act of filing wrongful Medicare claims.”

  Amos nodded. “It’s just a theory now, because Detective Wilkes wouldn’t let me hear too many details, but I think William started to get the sense that Jacqueline was trying to cut everyone out of their slice of money. He may have asked her about a discrepancy in a bill from the nursing home, and well, things escalated from there.”

  Louise rubbed her arms. “That girl always had a temper like her dad, Chuck.”

  “Mrs. Hopkins?”

  We all turned towards the door to see the large male nurse.

  Amos grinned. “Good work, Agent Skinner.”

  I raised an eyebrow at the large man. “Agent? You look like a nurse to me.”

  Agent Skinner walked into the room. “Undercover. Hello, you must be Ms. Eugeena. I heard a lot about you today.”

  I blinked. “Really? Who exactly are you an agent with?

  “FBI, ma’am. I must say you pulled together details of the case rather well in a few days.”

  “Oh, well, thank you. I had some help. So you’ve been looking at this place for a while now?”

  “A few months. Just so happens our sting operation was planned for today. Unfortunately, we’re sorry we lost Pat Brown. She was a good source.”

  Louise looked confused. “No one has told me what happened to Pat.”

  I tried to figure out what was the best way to tell Louise, but someone else was at the door. I sucked in a breath and found my eyes watering at the sight.

  Jocelyn stepped in the room. “Is it okay if we come in? We saw the news, and wanted to check in on Ms. Louise. It looks you have lot of visitors today.”

  I peered at Jocelyn. “Sure, you both can come in.”

  Jocelyn turned towards the door. “Mom?”

  Clarice took a tentative step inside the room.

  I grabbed Amos’ arm and squeezed.

  He leaned over. “Is that…?”

  “Yes. Agent Skinner, why don’t we let these ladies have the room? I would love to hear more about Pat’s involvement in the case.”

  As we all squeezed out of the room, I turned to see Louise clutching her hands as she looked at Clarice and Jocelyn. As I thought it would happen, Jocelyn made the first move and hugged Louise. She turned and waved her mom over.

  I sniffled because I was so happy for Louise, but I was so sad about Pat. Willie Mae and Annie Mae lost a daughter. Louise found hers.

  It was all pretty bittersweet.

  Epilogue

  It took a few weeks to recuperate after all that crazy business at Hillcrest Manor. All of it was over now. I was just happy to be surrounded by family. I don’t think I’d ever had this many people in my dining room for Thanksgiving dinner. Junior arrived with his crew early Thursday morning. Cedric and Carmen arrived soon after. It helped moved things along in the kitchen much better with Carmen and Leesa.

  After everyone had finished eating, I started to clear off the table. When I walked back into the kitchen I took a big sigh of relief. I turned on the faucet and placed my hand under the water to test the temperature. Once I was satisfied, I plugged the drain hole and added some liquid detergent. I could have used the dishwasher, but I kind of wanted the reflection time.

  Dinner was a success, though there were a few awkward moments at the table which mainly consisted of all of my children scolding me about my latest snooping. Thankfully, Amos defended me, promising he wouldn’t let me get into any trouble. It still made me
wonder how much talking went on behind my back in particularly with my sons.

  The highlight was definitely seeing that beautiful sparkling diamond on Carmen’s hands. I knew better than to ask when the wedding was. I was still hoping Leesa was taking things slow although it was good to see Chris and Leesa together. I hugged Chris and thanked him for coming. I guess he wasn’t too bad, but only time would tell.

  I turned around from the sink to see Louise shuffling in the kitchen with her hands full of dishes. Behind her was Jocelyn. It was really lovely to see how Louise and Jocelyn had connected. It reminded me of the first time I saw them together at the nursing home. All the emotion of the moment.

  So much had happened since then.

  “Thank you, ladies. Just set the dishes on the counter. Now, you are both guests. You really should relax.”

  Louise placed plates on the counter and turned to me with her nose scrunched. “A guest? Oh Eugeena, I’m so happy to be in my home and I’m getting to know my beautiful girl here. Did you tell Eugeena your news?”

  Jocelyn smiled. “I was accepted into the nursing program. I will start in January.”

  I reached over to hug Jocelyn. “Oh I’m so happy for you.”

  “I have Ms. Pat to thank. She gave me the idea and told me how she went back to school after she finished at rehab.”

  That sounded like Pat. Lord knows that girl has been missed.

  “Grams, I’m going to head out. Mom is over with August’s sisters.”

  Louise nodded. “Yes, Clarice told me she would be there today. I plan to visit with them over Christmas.”

  Jocelyn tilted her head. “You two are talking more regularly. That’s a good sign.”

  “Yes, it is. Let’s have a hug. We don’t want to hold you up.”

  Jocelyn hugged Louise and then me.

  After she left, I placed the dishes in the sink and then asked, “How are you really doing, Louise?”

  Louise’s eyes were shining. “I’m blessed. I miss William even though he didn’t come around much for the holidays; it feels different that he won’t ever be around.”