Deep Fried Trouble (Eugeena Patterson Mysteries)

by Tyora Moody

  My prescription for rest would come later. I joined the detective in the living room where she had made herself at home. “Sorry, about all the commotion, Detective Wilkes.”

  “Not a problem. You have a nice home, Mrs. Patterson.”

  “Thank you.” I had a feeling I might have a lot of explaining to do. “You said you had some questions for me.”

  The detective flipped some pages in her notepad. “Tell me a little about your relationship with Mary Fleming. How long were you friends?”

  “Why is that important?”

  “Sounds like you might have known her the best. Would you say she had any enemies?”

  Enemies. God has some sense of humor. Mary and I had been the best of friends. We lived down the street from each other, our children played together, our husbands went fishing and we even taught at the same junior high school for years. She taught English and me, social studies. We probably spent more time in each other’s classrooms sharing our woes than with other teachers in our own departments.

  Then it all changed.

  Would I classify myself as Mary’s enemy?

  I remember it like yesterday. Mary came over just as nice as she could. An aroma wafted from the cloth-covered object in her hands. I let my nose inhale one of my favorite scents. I was known as the cake and cookie baker, while Mary was the one known for her pies.

  Now that day the apple pie would’ve been a nice offer, because it sure smelled heavenly, but the next words out of Mary’s mouth, made me want to smash that golden crust creation in her face. Never did get a slice of that pie.

  I gulped and looked at Detective Wilkes’ face. “No, I couldn’t imagine anyone not liking Mary. She stuck close to herself in later years, but mainly out of grief.”

  “I understand she had some tragedy.”

  “Yes, about five years ago, she lost her husband and her only daughter in a car accident. She’s been withdrawn since then.”

  “I understand there was some animosity between you two.”

  Here we go. “Yes, our friendship suffered a setback over an incident. At the time I was too pig-headed to see that Mary was telling the truth. By then it was too late.”

  “Want to share the details?”

  Do I have a choice?

  “Our girls were good friends back then. My daughter Leesa went over to the Flemings’ for a slumber party. Sometime during the night, Mary’s daughter, Jennifer, Leesa and some other girls got into Mary’s jewelry.”

  A memory of Mary’s face. The hurt. My emotions at the moment. It all came back.

  “Mrs. Patterson?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. One of the pieces of jewelry went missing. It was an heirloom passed down in Mary’s family from I don’t know ... late 1800s. It was valuable and very precious to Mary.”

  “Did she say why she kept it in the jewelry box?”

  “I have no idea. I’ve always asked myself that question. She might have mentioned she wore it for special occasions. Anyhow, she told me her daughter thought Leesa took the ring. I asked Leesa about it, she said she did wear it for awhile, but she took it off and placed it back in the jewelry box.”

  “It really seems so silly now, but it just got out of hand. Mary was talking to people and I vented to people that Mary was slandering my daughter’s name calling her a thief and...”

  “Mrs. Patterson, I looked up some information. Do you know where I can find your daughter?”

  The air conditioner vent was on the other side of the room, but a chill ran down my arm. “Why? I mean I thought you were here to ask me about Mary?”

  Detective Wilkes cleared her throat. “Your daughter, when she was younger, she did have a problem with taking things. Right?”

  Not again. No, no, no, I knew my silence answered the detective’s question. But what could I say. Not too long after the incident at the Fleming’s, Leesa did get caught shoplifting among other things.

  All that time I defended her, she made me eat every last righteous word I’d foamed at the mouth about my child.

  “Mrs. Patterson, if you can tell me how to get in touch with Leesa, I really need to talk to her.”

  I narrowed my eyes. Leesa was still my child, my baby. I don’t know what she’d gotten into, but this detective wouldn’t be talking to her at least not without a lawyer. I hoped it didn’t come down to that. But I had to expect the worst.

  Leesa’s surprises were not for the faint of heart.

  “Detective, I can’t tell you where my daughter is right now, but I would like to know why you came over here asking for her?”

  The woman stood. “It would be best for her if she came in. Right now, she’s a person of interest to me.”

  I jumped up. “For what? Are you trying to say you suspect my daughter of something?”

  Lord knows what it could be. I knew I might have the evidence upstairs in my closet.

  “Mrs. Patterson, calm down. We have a witness who saw a woman, a young woman leaving Mary’s house late last Friday night. I understand your daughter drives a late model Nissan Altima, aqua blue?”

  “Yes, but it couldn’t have been Leesa. She just came here last night...” I shut my mouth realizing my error a tad bit too late.

  The detective’s jaw hardened. She looked toward my staircase and then back at me. I almost thought she was going to take off and head upstairs. The detective wouldn’t find Leesa. I watched enough television cop shows to know she needed a search warrant to step her foot anywhere else in my house and I wasn’t about to give her permission. I certainly didn’t need her to find the money in the diaper bag.

  “Mrs. Patterson, your daughter could’ve been the last person who saw Mary alive. I will be looking to see her at the station soon. You enjoy the rest of your Sunday afternoon.”

  I closed the door behind the detective. What had Leesa done this time and why would she visit Mary? If she did go over to Mary’s, did she see something?

  Out of all the scenarios I had conjured up in my mind, I could not and would not fathom my daughter being a murder suspect. If anything, she was probably one scared young woman and I had to find her.

  Chapter 11

  The past forty-eight hours had not been kind to my central nervous system. I didn’t like the term black sheep, but Leesa had pressed my buttons enough for me to call her my “special” child. This wasn’t the first time Leesa had gone missing; it had just been awhile since she tried that stunt. I hoped that this missing-in-action was only about an opportunity to get away and clear her head. But of what? What set the child off?

  After Mary accused her of stealing, Leesa started disappearing for hours and a few times, for days. Ralph and I aged during Leesa’s moments of rebellion as well as her despair over losing her friend in the car accident. The day Leesa came to me in pain; little did I know the emergency room visit would produce the birth of my third grandchild.

  My daughter took surprises to a whole other level. Her weight concealed any signs of life. To this day, I still don’t know if she knew she was pregnant.

  I looked over on the couch where my granddaughter lie fast asleep. Kisha wanted to stay up to see some show. I caved. Did the same thing when the twins came over too. I wouldn’t let my children stay up past nine o’clock. Benefits of being a grandchild, I guess.

  I picked up Kisha and carried her to the room that belonged to her mother. Her younger brother had long been put to bed. Tyric slept peacefully with pillows surrounding him.

  As I laid Kisha next to her brother, her eyelids opened half way. “Mama. Where’s mama?”

  I wish I knew, honey. “Don’t worry. Your mama will be back soon.”

  I bent down to kiss her forehead. This was such a sweet age. I wasn’t sure when Leesa lost her sweetness. It might have been in middle school. Someone snatched up my sweet girl and replaced her with some attitude-popping-girl-woman. It didn’t help that Leesa had developed a voluptuous figure, thanks to my side of the family. She became a cute girl who craved attention fr
om all the wrong people.

  The collisions between father and daughter were memorable to put it nicely. Ralph would demand Leesa’s obedience and she would do the exact opposite. You would’ve thought after Jennifer Fleming and her dad’s death in the car accident, it would’ve sobered the two up. It didn’t.

  Leesa didn’t back down from her rebellious spirit until Ralph’s first heart attack. Not too long after her father died, Leesa gradually drifted away. Usually some new boyfriend held her attention until they broke up and she needed money.

  Little Tyric moved in his sleep, placing his thumb in his mouth. This child I didn’t even know about until two days before.

  Now who is your daddy?

  I could ask myself how and why, but those questions could wait. I needed Leesa to show up soon. No matter what she did or how she felt about me, I was her mother and she needed me.

  The phone rang in the distance. I moved out the door as fast as I could and closed it slightly behind me. I raced inside the bedroom and grabbed the phone.

  “Leesa?”

  “Eugeena? No, it’s me, Louise. Is everything alright?”

  I contained my groan. “Hey Louise, what can I do for you?”

  “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m just nervous. Last night I didn’t sleep and it doesn’t look like I’m going to get any shut-eye tonight. Is this a bad time?”

  You have no idea, woman.

  Deflated, I needed to hear from my daughter, not woes from a little old lady.

  Okay, I know that’s not nice, Lord.

  Louise was dear to me. We did just have a murder down the street. If the detective hadn’t come by asking about my daughter, who happened to be a person of interest, maybe I would be feeling more like Louise now. I was in a defenseless situation myself, not that young, at least sixty pounds overweight and I had two small children in the house.

  “Louise, honey, just make sure you check all your doors. You have been using the AC, right? Do not keep the windows open. We talked about plenty of safety precautions at the first neighborhood meeting.”

  “Believe me. Everything is shut tight. But you know, Eugeena, that’s what’s bothering me. Did you know the police said there wasn’t a break-in over at Mary’s?”

  “Are you sure?”

  I didn’t want to get into how Louise knew, but this little tidbit worried me. If it wasn’t a break-in that meant Mary invited her “killer” inside. Being a cautious person, Mary would have only allowed a person she knew well into her home.

  I needed to get off the phone and keep the line open. “Louise, I’m tired. It’s been a long day. How about me and you get together soon and brainstorm? We need to talk about the agenda for next neighborhood meeting.”

  “We will have a lot to talk about. You have a good evening, Eugeena.”

  I hung up the phone. I wasn’t really interested in planning the next meeting, but I needed to give my busybody neighbor something else to do.

  Who else would Mary invite inside her home besides Leesa? I wasn’t all that convinced it was Leesa because none of my children had spoken to or been in contact with Mary in years.

  I grabbed a notebook from the desk and started jotting down neighbors’ names. I really didn’t know everyone in the neighborhood like I used to, but someone reported seeing Leesa. Leesa rarely came around so it had to be a neighbor who had lived in Sugar Creek for some time.

  Wayne. Leesa had a crush on him when she was a little girl. At one time, Wayne really was a good boy. All-star football player, he and my middle child Cedric were buddies. Cedric attended college, and Wayne enlisted in the army. I had prayed and twisted my hands with his mama as he served in Desert Storm. When he came back, the Wayne we once knew was replaced by a moody man, prone to consuming too much alcohol. No matter what he did or how hard his mama prayed and begged, he stayed in trouble. One time he went too far.

  I still wasn’t clear about the charges against Wayne, but he remained in jail for at least three years. Poor Agnes died while he served his time. I really should be more motherly instead of being so ornery towards the boy. I just didn’t trust him. Mainly because I expected a man to dress and act like a man. Wayne did neither. I can’t accuse him of being a killer, but he was a trained soldier.

  Then, there was Carmen. Only been here less than a year. I’m sure she didn’t know Leesa. Maybe it was mistaken identity. Carmen was much taller than Leesa, but they shared a similar complexion. Other than seeing her jog by the house, coming and going in her car, I didn’t know much about her. She drove a Toyota Camry, an earlier model than the one I drove. Carmen wouldn’t need to use a car since she could easily walk to Mary’s home. Did they even know each other?

  Who else? Tamara. She wasn’t sure what the woman did for a living. Tamara seemed to live the life of a desperate housewife. Always home and not very happy.

  I jotted down a few more names, but couldn’t see where anyone had a motive. I put my pen down. This list was sounding more like a gossip column. All this speculating was going nowhere. Just reminded me of how well I had isolated myself and gotten caught up in the routine of getting up in the morning, teaching my class periods and returning home in the evenings to grade papers and stuff my face.

  Since Ralph’s death, I hadn’t taken the time to meet new neighbors or reconnect with older ones other than Louise and now Amos. It used to not be like this. Neighbors being such strangers. Years ago, when the children were younger we had block parties. The women supplied the side dishes and the men would cook meat on their grills. Right out there in the street.

  A block party! Now that’s an idea I could discuss with Louise to propose for the next meeting.

  How else would we be able to keep the neighborhood safe, if we didn’t try to get to know each other? Old retired bird like me had plenty of time on her hands to set things right.

  Set things right, Eugeena.

  Who was I fooling? I caused chaos. I lost a friend a long time ago and my daughter barely spoke to me unless she had to.

  I looked over at the closet. Leesa would come back. Why else would she leave that bundle of cash? Unless she planned to be gone a long time. Or was that it? She left the cash for me to take care of her kids. That didn’t ease my mind about where it came from.

  Overwhelmed with my thoughts, it was time to lay my burdens down. I kneeled by my bed. Tears rolled down the side of my face. “Lord, I need you right now. Why do the ones we love cause us the most pain? I guess you know more so than anybody knows about that type of pain, Lord. Please bring Leesa back to me. I trust you will keep her safe. And my friend, my dear friend Mary. Lord, help me find justice for her. I don’t understand any of what’s happened the past few days, but I know you will make everything alright. Amen.”

  One thing I was confident of, I would never believe my child committed murder.

  Chapter 12

  The pinkish glow peeking through my bedroom window signaled my appointed time had come. God had nudged me awake to see another morning. With all that had happened I was grateful. I closed my eyes and opened my heart to hear the still small voice. I can’t say it was so much an audible voice, but more of a knowing deep in my spirit. The Lord was moving and I needed to get up.

  First thing on my agenda was to gather some help. I couldn’t do anything by myself and I was determined to track down Leesa. She had her places to hide and there were people I could nudge to tell me what they knew. I headed downstairs, cautious not to wake the children, but my weight caused the stairs to creak anyway. It was crucial for me to get a few things done before the children rose.

  In the kitchen, Porgy lifted his head when I entered. I know he wanted to be on my bed, but I wasn’t quite ready for that part of owning a dog. It was enough to have him in the house at all. Before I went to bed last night we came to an agreement or at least I did. His area would be in a corner of the kitchen. He followed me around with his tail wagging, so I imagined he had a decent night’s sleep. Better than me.

>   I dreamed about Leesa and the bag of money. She was dressed up with a mask like the girls in that Queen Latifah movie I saw years ago. Dreaming of your child robbing a bank. Eugeena, what kind of mother are you? It wasn’t like it was big bag of money. Had to be at least a thousand dollars though.

  I started boiling the water for my morning green tea. With this lifestyle change sometimes I didn’t recognize my own kitchen and its contents. Speaking of lifestyle changes, one person I needed to connect with was the main person who had been nagging me all these years to get my eating habits under control. Aunt Cora. Strangely, I didn’t think of her as much of an aunt since she was two years older. Cora was the sister I never had and a true woman of God.

  I dialed the number that I should’ve dialed the moment Leesa arrived. If there was any female relative in the family Leesa was close to, Cora would be the number one candidate.

  “Eugeena, girl why you calling so early this Monday morning? You supposed to be enjoying your retirement by sleeping in late.”

  I cackled. “I wish. And how you know it was me?”

  “Caller ID, Sistah. You know you need to get with it. All the young’uns you taught, I know you should be more up-to-date on technology than that.”

  “You know I really don’t want to know more than my brain can handle.”

  We laughed. “So, what’s going on?” Cora’s voice softened. “I saw the news last night when I came back in from church. Why didn’t you call me by now about Mary? You in shock I imagine.”

  “Oh, Cora. I’m more than in shock. I have a pure dilemma on my hands. I can’t explain it all right now, but I need you to help me figure out some things and lift up some prayers this morning.”

  “What’s going on?”

  I closed my eyes. “Leesa. She came by the other night. Left her children. You know she has two now.”

  “Oh.”