Plain Jane Mystery Box Set 1

by Traci Tyne Hilton

  “They’d keep a close eye on us, that’s for sure. But…”

  Jane smiled. “But I could come, say, just for a week, right before you head home?”

  “You could.”

  “Do you know how many houses I would have to clean to afford a trip to Costa Rica?” Jane swept the kitchen, though at first glance, it looked clean.

  “Your parents?”

  “Are about as excited for me to run off to Costa Rica with my boyfriend as your employers would be.”

  “Point taken. But I miss you.” The phone crackled again.

  “I miss you, too.” The worst part of their summer apart was the patchy international phone calls.

  “And I love you.”

  “I know.”

  “Jane, I’m serious.” Isaac’s phone crackled.

  “I know. I’m just up to my armpits in Ajax and about to face a client who isn’t going to be happy with me.” Jane hedged. Love. Sure, she “loved” him, or she couldn’t have spent the last year dating him. But after a point, love means the rest of your life, and that’s where she hesitated. The phone fritzed again. “I do, too, Isaac. You know I do.”

  “I’ve got to run. Call me later?” His voice was distant. Jane wanted to blame the phone, but she was pretty sure it was her own fault.

  “Definitely.” Jane racked her broom in the pantry. It was a balancing act, and no one knew it better than Isaac. Island life was getting to his brain, and she couldn’t blame him. She hoped his summer away would light a fire for missions in his heart that matched her own, but only time would tell.

  In the meantime, Caramel Swanson wasn’t going to like it, but there was no ring in the kitchen sink pea trap.

  Jane checked the house room by room to make sure all of the lights were out before she let herself leave for the day.

  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 somethi
ng she needed to prepare for.

  Chapter 2

  At seven o’clock sharp, after two hours of prayer and petition, a nap, and a hastily eaten sandwich, Jane found herself in the cozy living room of Paula Ehlers, head of the missions department at Columbia River Christian Church.

  While her time in the Bible had been solid, the scene with Caramel that morning had shaken her. She sat on an overstuffed leather chair across from Pastor Ehlers, feeling out of place and lonely.

  The other two would-be missionaries sat on the matching sofa. Jane shifted in her seat. Long fingers of the bright summer evening sun filtered through the half-shut curtains, blinding Jane. Plus, she was hot. A fan kept the air moving around the room, but she was glistening and damp.

  Paula was a thin, tan woman with wise eyes that crinkled when she smiled, and soft, straight hair that fell to her chin. Paula had a slow, steady way about her that spoke of the many years she had spent overseas, and reflected a life of patient obedience to God. She was exactly who Jane hoped to be someday.

  Jane held a stack of papers on her lap that had crumpled a bit in her hot hands. She tried to smooth them out. A combination personality-test/resume, Paula had given a set to all three women a couple of weeks ago when they first met each other.

  Paula gathered each set of papers. “I’m glad to see you all had a chance to finish the packets. We’ve found that a little time spent learning about our missions’ candidates goes a long way toward helping them succeed on the field.” Paula squared off the stack of papers and then slid them into a messenger bag that sat on the floor. “After I’ve had a chance to read all of them, I want to get together with each of you alone and chat.” She folded her hands on her knees and leaned forward slightly, giving them the impression of rapt attention.

  “I really enjoyed the opportunity to think and pray over the questions.” Kaitlyn, a petite blonde woman sat across the room from Jane. Kaitlyn had a fifty-watt smile, glossy blonde hair, and a prosthetic hand, something Jane hadn’t noticed last time they had met. “My fiancé is already overseas.” She dropped her gaze to the diamond engagement ring on her fake hand. “I’ve been taking my future ministry for granted. It was good to step back and consider what God has prepared me for, instead of what I expect I’ll be doing.”

  “Were you surprised by any of the answers you got?” Paula relaxed back into her chair. She picked up her tea cup and sipped it.

  “Nah.” Kaitlyn laughed softly. “It was really good to see how well my hopes and my talents align.”

  “Remind me what Spencer does. I know he’s in the Philippines, but what’s he doing?” Valerie, sitting on the corner of the couch so she could face Kaitlyn while she spoke, was a plump, cheerful woman in her mid forties. Her eyes almost disappeared in crinkles when she smiled, and her curly hair bounced as she nodded her head.

  “He runs a youth shelter in the Philippines. We’re going to get married when he comes back on furlough next year, then I’m going back with him.” Kaitlyn’s prosthetic hand rested on her knee. Jane did her best not to stare at it.

  “Congratulations on the upcoming wedding.” Paula, herself a newlywed, glanced down at the simple gold band on her own left hand. “So what did the packet say you should do when you get to the Philippines?” Paula chuckled, and Kaitlyn and Valerie joined her.

  Jane didn’t feel like chuckling. She wanted to, but the missing ring kept worrying at the back of her mind. If Caramel decided to say Jane had stolen the ring, she could lose everything she had worked for this far. Trying to fight such a claim was one thing… but an arrest record would look terrible on an application for overseas mission work. Jane swallowed. A criminal record would likely keep her out of the closed-off countries called the “10/40 window” as well.

  “I’ll work with the women already there, leading Bible studies and Sunday school stuff,” Kaitlyn said. “He will keep his focus on the young men, and I’ll try and reach their mothers and younger siblings.”

  “What would you do if there wasn’t a Spencer in the mix?” Valerie lifted an eyebrow. “I mean, it’s awesome that you have a built-in ministry waiting, but what if you didn’t?”

  Kaitlyn lifted her hands, palms up. “Who can ever answer what might have been? I know that before I met Spencer I knew I had to go overseas. He was on furlough.” Kaitlyn blushed. “It was pretty whirlwind, but our hearts and minds on ministry were pretty identical, so it wasn’t hard to see how our lives could easily be joined.”

  Jane looked down at her hands. She rubbed her thumbnail. It was cracked from spending so much time in hot water. She knew she could wear gloves to protect them, but she always felt gloves kept her from feeling if surfaces were truly clean. Kaitlyn and Spencer. Two perfect missionaries joining forces. She sighed.

  “That’s fair,” Valerie said. “I was just wondering. It seems harder for us single gals, if you don’t mind my saying. I’ve wanted to go overseas for a long time, but found it hard to get the wheels in motion.”

  “I think that can happen to anyone.” Paula gave her attention to Valerie. “And I don’t think it’s a bad thing. Sometimes God plants a seed in us because he knows it needs to germinate for a long time before it comes to fruition.”

  “Like you and Mark!” Kaitlyn’s already happy face broke into a smile so wide Jane thought she might need sunglasses to look in her direction.

  Paula glanced up to a huge photo hanging over her fireplace. “Yup,” she said with a slight blush coming over her. “Just like me and Mark.” After an embarrassed pause she started again. “Turning in your packets was a good sign that your intentions for missions are serious. Let’s face it, dozens of students think they want to go overseas, but not all of them are willing to fill out fifty pages on the off chance their church will help support them.”

  “I bet not,” Valerie said.

  “We at Columbia River Christian Church get very excited about sending out missionaries. Kaitlyn, you probably already know this, since we support Spencer, but we feel it is our duty, as a sending church, to provide the bulk of your support.”

  A thrill raced up Jane’s spine. The bulk of her support? That was unheard of, almost. She had taken a class called Perspectives during her days at Bible School and had heard that a few churches around the country had adopted the philosophy, but she hadn’t known Columbia River was one of them.

  “We don’t make that public knowledge. For one thing, we get dozens of requests for support every month as it is. We prefer to get to know the missionary hopefuls in our congregation, invest in training them up and then support them in such a way that they don’t have to spend their whole furlough drumming up more money.”

  “Furlough is much better spent resting and getting married,” Kaitlyn said with a giggle.

  “I don’t know how much rest a wedding is,” Paula said. “But yes, we believe that your furlough should be spent being ministered to, not fundraising. That said, obviously we can’t fund everyone who applies.”

  Jane’s mouth went dry.

  “So far, you three are the ones we are most interested in, but to be honest, with the economy the way it is, we only have enough support available for one new missionary.”

  Jane closed her eyes. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away.

  “So our time together over the next year is really important. It will help us determine who we will be funding. We wish we could fund all three of you, really we do. But we can’t.”

  “We totally understand.” Kaitlyn nodded her head, a bit overenthusiastically, in Jane’s opinion. Of course Kaitlyn understood. They’d almost have to pick her, since they already funded her future husband for the same mission.

  “The one thing most field missionaries wish their new recruits had is solid experience in leading small groups. It’s such a simple thing to do, but sometimes sending churches forget to let their future missionaries lead in the church.”

  “Oh, I know what you mean.” Kaitlyn flipped her blond hair over her shoulder with her
prosthetic hand. “They almost sent Spencer home after his first month. They thought he was useless.”

  Paula smiled.

  Jane squirmed. It was wrong to dislike someone with a missing hand, but the way Kaitlyn said “Spencer” and was so completely sure of what she was going to do with her life irritated Jane. She popped a quick prayer up, for forgiveness and grace, and tried to remember that her work-stress was the problem, not Kaitlyn. It kind of helped.

  “The other thing new recruits need is strong teamwork skills, so I’d like to ask the three of you to start up a new small group together.”

  Jane looked at her new teammates out of the corner of her eye. If she had to guess, Valerie would plan everything, Kaitlyn would get all of the attention for it, and Jane would do all of the work.

  Jane passed her hand over her forehead. Her heart was not in the right place, not even remotely. If her future were to be based on today’s attitude, she wouldn’t send herself to the foreign mission field, either.

  “Why don’t we all grab some coffee and dessert, and you ladies can get to know each other and talk a little about the kind of small group you’d like to lead.

  Desserts were spread across the breakfast bar in the kitchen behind Paula. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee wrapped Jane in a comforting embrace.

  “Come on in and help yourself.”

  Valerie got up first, with a little grunt. “I won’t be shy. I have to admit those desserts have been tormenting me since I got here.”

  Paula laughed. “No need to be shy here. We’re family.”

  From the relaxed smile on Paula’s face, Jane knew she meant it. She saw the three potential missionaries as family.

  Jane stepped into the hall to compose herself. When she felt half-way normal again, she joined the others in the kitchen. She poured herself a cup of coffee, hoping it was decaf.

  “So, Jane, I hear Isaac Daniels brought you to Columbia River, is that right?” Paula asked.

  “Yes…” Jane took a sip of her coffee.