The Dana Potter Cozy Mystery Collection

by Liz Turner

  “I’m a private investigator, yes. But this is an atypical case,” Dana answered. “No one’s in trouble, and nobody hired me. I’m just an old woman who heard of a heartbreaking summer romance from a friend and thought I might see if it’s possible to reconnect the two of you?”

  “Wait… She still thinks about me?” William said, stunned. “But why now? It’s been fifteen years since I’ve seen or heard a thing from her. Never even knew how to find her…”

  “Well, she’s been holding it in for all that time, and last night was the first time she told anyone the story. And being as resourceful as I am, I decided to get in contact with you. Sir, you and Celeste had something special, I can tell.”

  “You think so?” William said. “Honestly–and these words don’t come lightly–but I always had the feeling that if I just kept thinking of her, one day she would find me. And now, here she is…”

  “Well, she sure feels some type of way for you. I take it the feeling is mutual?”

  “It is,” he said. “Fifteen years of sorrow, and she was the one constant hope in my life.”

  “Well, isn’t that just the sweetest thing?” Dana said. “You wanna tell me more about how y’all met?”

  “Well, I was living in Los Angeles at the time, and Los Angeles isn’t the most friendly place for a young Southern Christian… I was always looking for opportunities to mingle with people my age, but most churchgoers out there were far my seniors. Things weren’t going great in my life at the time, so when I heard of this convention coming to town, I was sure that would be the place for me to find that positivity in people my age.

  “Oddly enough, the first couple hours were uplifting and all, but it wasn’t until I saw this dark-haired brown-eyed girl who seemed angry at the world that I really found the light I was looking for. I didn’t even mean to meet her, I just sat down beside her to eat my lunch and the next thing I knew, she was full-on grilling me over nothing. But her feisty southern spirit gave me a little taste of home, so I was willing to laugh it off if she was.

  “The next day, Celeste approached me and apologized for chewing me out when I’d done nothing wrong. I told her it was fine, because it just reminded me of home. Plus, it was funny. We laughed it off. Then for about the next five hours straight, we just couldn’t stop talking. She was so understanding and relatable. I ended up opening up to her in ways I’ve never been able to open up to anyone since! Then, the day after that, we went to the beach together and had the time of our lives.

  “I’ll be honest—I didn’t much like the beach before. But since that day, everything I hated about it–the sand, the sunburns, the stinky air–I now love. I think it’s because of how much she enjoyed it, not to mention how I felt for her. In fact, thinking back, I realize every time she laughed, I fell a bit more for her smile. In turn, I guess her smile is what made me love the beach.”

  “That is too sweet,” Dana said. “But I can’t help but wonder—is this the first time you’ve told this story to anyone?”

  “Oh, no—I probably talk about her way too much for how little time we had together,” he confessed. “I really think we got to know each better in those four days than most people get to know their friends in years. So even now, someone will talk about the beach, a funny story, or Los Angeles, and she’s the first thing to pop in my mind.”

  “You know, even if she wasn’t talking about you all this time, she still has the letter you wrote her. That at least has to mean something,” Dana said.

  “Oh, I forgot about that silly little letter! I wish I’d been more sincere when I wrote it, because I already knew I was in love with her at the time. I hate that the only thing she has left of me is a half-hearted gratitude note from a convention she didn’t even wanna be at.”

  “I think she came to see that convention much like you see the beach now,” Dana said. “So I wouldn’t worry.”

  “Yeah, and I still believe every second of our time together was precious, regardless of what we were doing. I think we both must have changed a lot in just a few days, but all for the better. Honestly, because of that, I didn’t even realize she didn’t have my phone number or anything–or I hers–until shortly after she and her friend left to return to their hotel after we spent a night in the city.

  “As soon as I realized it, I planned to buy her flowers and a gift so that she would catch on to how I felt about her. I figured after that, we could exchange contact information if she wanted to, since the next day happened to be her last day in town, but…”

  “You never showed up?” Dana finished for him.

  “Not intentionally. I didn’t have much of a choice. I ended up leaving town before she did.”

  “I’m sorry, but that wording makes me nervous. Does this have something to do with why you’re going by a different last name now?”

  “Well, indirectly, I suppose…Perhaps I’m giving you the wrong impression. It’s just a difficult topic, but if it determines whether I ever hear from Celeste again or not, then I should explain.”

  “I’d say so,” Dana said. “Because as for now, this all sounds questionable to me.”

  “You’re right. Please, excuse the confusion. But the truth is, I got a call in the middle of the night from a doctor in New Orleans saying my mother was in the hospital in critical condition. She was unconscious at the time, so they weren’t sure what happened. They only knew she was reacting poorly to a medication and had taken far too much of it.

  “Now, I love my mother, but she has a history of spacing out and making poor decisions. I was also aware she’d been severely depressed that day because of my father, so I was worried her ‘accident’ may have been intentional…Either way, I had to get to her immediately, so I boarded the next flight to New Orleans.”

  “Oh dear, I’m sorry, hun,” Dana said. “Was your mother okay in the end?”

  “Relatively,” he said. “She claims to have forgotten she already took her medication that night… twice. So she ended up taking three times her already high dose. She claims she was distraught, but it was a one-hundred percent accident.”

  “Distraught about what, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “My father.” William sighed. “He had a habit of leaving her and then coming back to try to make things right as soon as she tried to move on. He had just left again a couple days beforehand. I guess she had just found out he’d been purposely ignoring her calls.”

  “Well, that’s not right,” Dana said. “I sure hope your mother finally found the strength to leave that man for good. That’s awful mistreatment!”

  “She didn’t, but he finally came to accept that he’s a horrible person and left for good–which, I may have played a part in…”

  “Good for you then, standing up for your mama!”

  “Yeah, well he did a lot of damage to our family. It wasn’t until I was twenty-one that Mama confessed he only ever came back after she threatened divorce or sought child support. I just so happened to have turned eighteen when he claimed the relationship was too broken and stopped coming around. Seems awful convenient timing, don’t it?”

  “Sometimes it takes a bad example to teach us what not to do, wouldn’t you say?” Dana said.

  “Yeah, and he sure was. The man was a leech. He’d come home and reclaim the place as if he was the one paying the bills even though my mama brought in far more income than he did. He was nothing more than a failing salesman, and he knew it. That’s why he’d rather play house with a family he didn’t care to support than leave and be forced to support it.

  “That’s actually why I changed my name. After I found out about his lies, I all but gave up on my father. We didn’t talk at all for a long time. Then, something like five years later, this man had the audacity to call me and ask that I return the favor for all the time and money he put in raising me. He wanted me to give him money! I was so angry, I told him right there that I knew about the child support drama, and if he ever contacted me again, I’d convince
Mama to sue him for all the child support he should have been paying my whole life.

  “But a few years later, I had to swallow my pride and call him up and beg him to be a better man for once because Mama needed help to pay for chemo. He responded by telling me I’d have to take him to court first, knowing we couldn’t afford lawyer fees on top of the medical bills. And then told me it would be my fault if she died because I chose to threaten him with court in the first place.

  “He had never been a father figure to me, and at that moment, it was perfectly clear he never intended to be. I had to work two jobs and go far into debt just to cover my mother’s medical bills. And he refused to help her because he was mad at me. So I left him one last voice message, reminding him of every horrible thing he’d ever said or done to me and my mom, and that it was Mama who raised me even while he was mooching off her. Then I disowned him as my father. I’ve been going by Mama’s maiden name ever since.”

  “Wow. Did he have anything to say to that?” Dana asked.

  “Wouldn’t know. I blocked him.”

  “Son, as much as most women my age probably tell you things like, ‘He’s your father and you should forgive him’, I personally think you did the right thing. The Lord will have the final say in what becomes of that man, but in the meantime, you don’t have to allow abuse to continue just because you’ve forgiven the abuser.”

  “Thank you. That’s refreshing to hear.”

  “Well son, it sounds like you’ve been through quite enough suffering for a lifetime,” Dana said. “How about we give you the hope of better days ahead and reunite you with the woman you loved?”

  “Yes, I would love to hear her voice again,” William said wistfully.

  “But wasn’t it her smile you fell for?” Dana teased. “Is a phone call the most you’re gonna offer the woman you haven’t seen in fifteen years?”

  “I would love to see her again, I really would. But unfortunately, I don’t have much more to offer than a phone call right now.”

  “Well as it so happens, she’s not but a six-hour drive from you. Come on now—she’s been dying to see you again just as much as you have her. How would you feel about giving her a little surprise reunion?”

  “It’s just the timing,” he said. “My mother still hasn’t left the hospital. The chemo didn’t work. She’s now fighting stage four cancer—probably living the last couple months of her life right now. It’s not that I don’t appreciate everything you’ve done, or that I don’t want to see Celeste again. It’s just that Mama has no other family but me. I can’t let her stay here alone.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry…” Dana said. “I understand. I won’t press any further. I’m so sorry for all you’ve been through. May God bless.”

  “Thank you. But you were right about one thing,” William said. “Thinking about my pops just now—I realize it wouldn’t be fair for me to show up in Celeste’s life right now, when I’m not capable of giving her any more than my father gave me. Maybe it just isn’t meant to be.”

  “If there’s anything I know, it’s that times change,” Dana said. “Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but it may very well be meant to be. You just have to wait until it’s time.”

  “Well, I have your number when that day comes.”

  “Just don’t wait too long now. I’m old!” Dana laughed. “But if you can’t reach me for any reason, I’ve got my lovely associate here as well. I’ll catch her up to speed on the situation, and she’ll reach out to you. Never hurts to have two connections.”

  Maya beamed at Dana calling her ‘associate’; she’d sat listening quietly, nodding here and there, and hadn’t looked down at her phone once since the conversation began.

  “Sounds good to me,” William said. “Thanks again.”

  “Sure, sure,” Dana said. “Enjoy the rest of your evening.”

  “So, what are we gonna do to convince him?” Maya said as soon as Dana hung up the phone.

  “Young lady, that man has got a sick mother to worry about.”

  “I know that. But didn’t you hear it in his voice when he talked about her? Celeste is the only thing that’s really made him happy in who knows how many years! Yet, he’s too busy being a good son–probably trying to make up for his deadbeat dad–that he’s sacrificing his own happiness for everyone else! Honestly, what I really wanna do is find his old man and get him arrested, but I know you’ll just call that impulsive and say no…”

  “Actually, you make some good points, starting with that I would say no to that. But here’s my second ethics lesson for you today—when you’re dealing with a witness or a victim, you never wanna make them feel pressured into doing or saying something they don’t want to. Even though he’s merely the victim of life, William deserves to take back his power on his own terms and in his own time.”

  Maya blinked. “So we’re just giving up? What about what’s best for Celeste?”

  “Slow down now, I didn’t say that,” Dana replied. “I said we had to let him come to a conclusion on his own. I didn’t say we couldn’t provide incentives.”

  “What does that even mean?”

  “Incentives are–”

  “No, I know what incentives are. I meant, what does it mean to not put pressure on him but still provide incentives?

  “Well, let’s say we solve one of his problems, or provide him with further information that seems to strike several items off of his ‘cons’ list. Would you be more willing to give someone what they’re asking for if they reassured you that your fears needn’t be fears?”

  “I’m not following.”

  “Okay, let’s see…So his concerns are about leaving his mother, not having the money, and not being able to be good for Celeste as a partner right now. Which of those do we have the power or resources to resolve?”

  “Um… we could send Celeste there instead?” Maya suggested.

  “And make William feel guilty that she had to pay her own way?” Dana titled her head. “You think he’d agree to that?”

  “Well, I dunno then!” Maya threw her hands in the air and plopped down onto the couch.

  “I was thinking more along the lines of finances,” Dana said. “If we can raise enough money to fund his entire trip, he may not worry so much about the budget cutting into his mother’s medical bills.”

  “Makes sense… And maybe we could try to fund a little extra, so he doesn’t have to worry about missing work on those days either…?” Maya said thoughtfully.

  Dana nodded. “Good point. Let me call around tomorrow and see if any of my contacts know of anything. And Maya,” she grinned, “good work today.”

  Maya smiled. “Thanks. And please, Miss Potter, be sure to call me as soon as you have anything!”

  Chapter 6

  Finding God’s Plan

  The next morning, Dana called several friends she’d made over the years while working in partnership with various charities and non-profit organizations. Yet, the more calls she made, the less confident she became; no one seemed to know of a place that could help them with any part of the puzzle.

  Finally, Dana gave up on her approach and strolled over to the Williams’ house to brainstorm a new one.

  “Oh, Miss Potter!” Mrs. Williams said as she answered the door. “Maya’s been asking if anyone heard from you, but I told her she may have to wait until after church!”

  “Oh, no, I rise with the sun to get my work done,” Dana said. “But would you rather I come by later?”

  “No, you’re perfectly welcome. Maya’s in the family room complaining about being bored, anyway.”

  “To be a teenager.” Dana chuckled. She hobbled into the family room, where Maya lied across the couch, absorbed in her phone.

  The girl’s eyebrows were raised as she typed what seemed to be a lengthy message. She glanced up from her phone, glanced back down, and then did a double-take. “Miss Potter!” she said, startled into an upright position.

  “Oh, don’t let me stop you!�
� Dana waved her hand. “Go ahead and finish your message. It ain’t good news I got, anyway.”

  “Your contacts didn’t have anything?” Maya said, disappointed.

  “Well, it turns out most organizations and their donors don’t like to donate money to random men who lost it all to cancer. Especially not when it’s just to fund a trip to meet his girlfriend.”

  “But it wouldn’t even be that expensive! What is it with rich people?”

  “Regardless, we’ve gotta find another way. Either we find another source of funding, or we look at another method and come up with a plan.”

  Maya sighed and looked around the room as if searching for the answer. She gazed into space toward the kitchen where her mother stood preparing her famous seven-layer brownies for a sick friend. Maya gasped. “A bake sale!” she said. “How about a bake sale?”

  Dana tilted her head. “What are we to say it’s for, and who’s doing the baking?”

  “A woman dying of cancer and her family,” Maya said. “That’s not gonna give anything away to Celeste, and no one’s gonna question it. Think about it—you and my mom are the two best cooks in Pippin, and everyone knows it! And I’m a pretty big deal on Instagram and at school, so I can advertise it. We figure out the minimum we need to make, and everything beyond that goes to his mom! He’d be willing to make the trip after that, don’t you think?”

  “And you expect me and your mother to make enough treats to sell at that rate?” Dana raised an eyebrow. “How much are we selling these pastries for?!”

  “Well, with how long you’ve been begging my mom to invite you over, you have to know you’re not the only one wondering about those brownies you smell. I’m sure we could make a hundred per two or three trays of brownies. Besides, it’s for a good cause! If their nose doesn’t get to ‘em, their hearts will!”

  “Okay, and how much money do we estimate we’ll need to make by the end of it?”

  “I know of this travel planning website that lets you calculate for gas prices and hotel rates and stuff… Hold on a minute and I’ll get you an accurate estimate.”