The Plain Jane Mystery Box Set 2

by Traci Tyne Hilton

  “What boxes?” Jane snapped some pictures from her window. It was pretty dark out still, but the parking lot lights illuminated the scene of the crime.

  “The ones in your car. The ones someone busted the window out for.”

  Jane stared at the picture on her phone. Boxes.

  Boxes.

  “Shoot! I forgot to go to the zoo last night!”

  “You don’t make any sense. I’m calling Grant.” Gemma left to call her boyfriend.

  Jane grabbed her bathrobe and ran downstairs and outside as fast as she could.

  First: Brad Carter stalked her in the night.

  Second: Phoebe was hit.

  Third: Her car was vandalized.

  She was definitely getting too close for someone’s comfort. The whole thing must hinge on Paige Tech. The sooner she got to the bottom of it, the better.

  The police report didn’t take any time, and she even got to have breakfast afterwards, with Grant and Gemma. But he wasn’t great company this morning.

  “I’m not on the case for Devon Grosse and I haven’t heard anything about Kyle Fish, so don’t ask.”

  “Oh.” Jane took a big bite from her donut. “What about—”

  “No. Nothing. I know nothing. I am working on something I’m not allowed to talk about, and it’s not related to anything you are working on, so don’t even ask.” He took a look at his phone, and then a big drink from his coffee. “I am glad for the donuts, though. Thanks.” He gave Gemma’s cheek a quick kiss. “See you tonight, babe.”

  Gemma ran her fingers through her hair—much tidier hair than it had been an hour earlier. “Sure thing.”

  Jane opened her mouth to speak, but he interrupted again.

  “Not a word. Please.” He left with a grin. A grin that made Jane want to kick him. Stupid real-detective.

  “So what is he working on?” she asked Gemma.

  “I don’t know.” Gemma poured her coffee in the sink. “And now that your report is done, I’m going back to bed.”

  Jane considered doing the same, but she could never go back to sleep in the morning. And she had to think of a way to explain how the zoo T-shirts had ended up all over her apartment complex parking lot instead of at the zoo, where they belonged. Flora wouldn’t like it, and Jane couldn’t blame her.

  At ten, Jane had her regular seat in the threadbare avocado velvet chair in Flora’s office. “I have to confess a huge mistake I made yesterday.”

  “Good.” Flora didn’t look remotely surprised.

  “I forgot to go to the zoo.”

  “I know.” Flora’s frown didn’t look understanding.

  “I am so sorry.”

  “Good.”

  “I just got really caught up in this side issue of the premarital counseling and this lady who writes books of game cheat codes.”

  Flora waved her hand to dismiss it. “I’ve already spoken to the volunteer coordinator at the zoo this morning. They are waiting for you. If you leave right now and go straight there, I probably won’t kill you.”

  “The only problem is, I don’t think I have all of the shirts anymore.”

  Flora’s mouth went very thin.

  “Because last night my car was vandalized. It will be okay. I have insurance, but right now I just have a plastic thingy in the window. But see, the shirts…” First Jane spoke too fast, then, in the face of Flora’s stony disapproval, she floundered. “See, they kind of tore open all of the boxes and threw the shirts everywhere. I reclaimed everything I found, but I don’t really know if they are all there.”

  Flora continued to stare over her glasses.

  “I folded them all, and brushed off the dirt and broken glass, but it didn’t seem like it was as many as it should have been.”

  Flora tilted her chin up. “I’m very sorry to hear your car was vandalized.” She took a long, slow breath. “Bring everything you still have to the zoo, right now, and we can discuss it further when you get back.”

  Jane stood up. “Yes, of course. But…see, I spoke with this guy, Shane Paige, and I think that’s part of the car thing. And when you add Brad accosting me, and then Phoebe and the hit and run…”

  “First, zoo. Then talk.” Flora stood up.

  “Of course. I’m sorry.”

  There was no traffic at that hour, and so Jane found herself at the zoo before she had had time to recover from the conversation. Her job as a detective was over. That was for sure. She was completely done. No more supervised hours.

  But then, that was okay, because she could just focus on missions stuff now. Bible studies and fundraising and whatever.

  It was all she had ever wanted.

  It would be fine.

  She wiped a tear off her cheek. Not sure where it had come from. She couldn’t be sad, finally getting to focus on everything she had ever wanted.

  The T-shirts she had rescued all fit into two boxes, and she was sure she had had at least five, really full boxes before. They looked kind of pathetic, on the dolly, but she rolled them to the gift shop anyway. “Hey there,” she said to the first person she found in a zoo uniform. “These are for the volunteer coordinator, where would you like them?”

  The zoo person thumbed towards the back of the gift shop. “Ask for Jeremiah.”

  “Thanks.” Jane rolled her way to the back of the shop and knocked on a partially opened door.

  “Come in.” It was a woman’s voice.

  Jane stood in the doorway with her two boxes and the dolly. “I’ve got a delivery of T-shirts for Jeremiah.”

  The woman looked tired. She pressed a button on her walkie-talkie. “Jer—the shirts are here.”

  The walkie squawked a reply that was weirdly in stereo. “Thanks, man.” The voice was right behind her.

  Jeremiah looked really familiar.

  “I know you.” He took both boxes off the dolly with one arm. “Jane, right? From Harvest School of the Bible?”

  Jane tilted her head.

  “You’re the one that got kicked out for dating the teacher, right?”

  Jane blushed, starting at her toes and ending with her face, which felt like it was on fire.

  “How is old Professor Isaac?”

  Jane grimaced. “We, um, broke up.”

  “Whoops. Sorry.”

  “No biggie. We both moved on.” Jane checked the walls helplessly for a clock, but didn’t find one.

  “Too bad. I had a twenty on you guys being lifers.”

  “I guess you lost.” She wished for any reason to end the conversation, but none came. Jeremiah looked familiar, but she couldn’t be expected to remember everyone perfectly. It had been like, three years ago, after all.

  “Whatcha been up to? Anything good? I just got back from Tunisia. Let me tell you, it was hot. In all senses.”

  Jane just stared at him. Hot in all senses? Was hot a new church term for ministry? She wasn’t sure. But he couldn’t have meant in the girls were hot sense, because that would have been really weird and inappropriate. “I finished up at Portland State. Looking to go to Thailand soon. After the wedding.” She glanced at her ring finger.

  “Ah! So not Professor Isaac, but someone nabbed you.”

  She pretended to look at her watch, though she wasn’t wearing one. “So, those are the T-shirts for the volunteers. I don’t think it’s all of them because, um, my car was vandalized.” She sounded like an idiot.

  “Whoa. That’s wild. What do you mean?”

  “Just, vandalized. I forgot to come by yesterday and they were in my car and…anyway. I think there might be some missing.”

  Jeremiah let out a short breath of disappointment. “There weren’t enough to start with, man. Not after the way Violet mishandled the finances. You think you know people, right?”

  “Right.”

  The woman at the desk spoke up. “If that’s everything…”

  Jeremiah gave her an apologetic half smile. “It’s not. I hate to do this to you, Jane, but we’re going to have to s
ee how many are missing. Non-profit and all. Are you insured, or will the company you work for handle that?”

  Jane exhaled. “I am, if nothing else.” This T-shirt pass off was never going to end.

  “Then let’s just get this done.” He set down both boxes and opened them up. They had to sort them by size and take a complete count.

  Midway through the second box, someone else knocked on the door.

  Jane looked up.

  Brad Carter.

  Her heart pounded against her skull, which was surprising.

  Brad glanced her way, and then over her, to the woman at the desk. “I’m here for our lunch.” He smiled like a guy who knew how to work a lady.

  She stood up and shook her long hair over her shoulders, even though she looked too old for that kind of thing.

  Jeremiah stood up and squared off with Brad. “Is this about the volunteer funds?” His frown was intense.

  Brad chuckled lightly.

  The woman laughed softly, “No, Jer, this is news. I can’t say no to a reporter.”

  “Yes, in fact, you can say no to a reporter.” He edged toward the door. “Especially this one.” He looked Brad up and down.

  Jane did too. Brad wasn’t the most intimidating figure, and for a minor kind of journalist, doing stuff online, he didn’t seem worthy of Jeremiah’s complete disgust.

  “You’re welcome to come, too,” the woman said.

  “Oh yeah?” Jeremiah looked at the T-shirt pile.

  Jane did not want to be left in charge of them again. “I could finish.” The words fell out of her mouth without her permission.

  “Fine. Just leave a final count on top of the box.”

  “Of course.” Jane gritted her teeth. What she wanted was to get a few questions of her own in on this lunch, or at least to have Jeremiah pay close attention for her. Which wasn’t impossible. “Before you go…” Jane stood up and pulled her phone out of her purse. “Give me your digits and I’ll send you an invite to the wedding.”

  “Cool.” Jeremiah took her phone, but his eyes didn’t leave Brad.

  “If you’re coming, come,” the woman said.

  Jeremiah tossed Jane the phone and left with Brad and the other woman without saying goodbye.

  Jane scanned the desk for a name plaque. The woman was Brenda Larson. Not that it mattered, but it was nice to know after working in her space for so long.

  Jane finished her tally, borrowed a clean sheet of paper from Brenda’s desk, wrote a clean copy of the stock, and left it on top of the boxes, then she texted Jeremiah.

  “I’m a detective. Brad is a person of interest. Please tell me if he does anything fishy.”

  He replied immediately. “Awesome.”

  “Can we meet later to talk about Brad?”

  “Def. But don’t forget the wedding invite.”

  Jane sent a smiley. She wished she could go hover in the background of the lunch, or get Jeremiah to somehow bring up where Brad had been last night, but it wasn’t going to happen. Flora was waiting back at the office to kill all of her dreams.

  Well, not all of them. Just the detective one. But that was bad enough.

  She stopped for lunch before she went back to the SCoRI office. She wasn’t hungry, but she wasn’t in a hurry to get fired.

  Back at work, she took the same seat across the same desk from the same boss, but Flora looked different. “Jeremiah called.”

  “Good.” Jane tried to sound confident and decisive.

  “I should say good. He said everything was ship shape.”

  “That’s a relief.”

  “But it does not make up for disobeying simple orders.”

  “No. Definitely not.”

  “If I can’t trust you to obey simple directions, how am I going to be able to trust you to handle important and delicate work?”

  Jane’s heart was in her stomach. “I suppose you can’t.”

  “I wouldn’t say can’t, but it takes quite a bit more work to repair a reputation than to earn one.”

  “I am so sorry.” Jane just shook her head. Forgetting the T-shirts was a bigger deal than she wanted it to have been. She could see why, in a big-picture kind of way, but it was so disappointing. She wanted to be better than that.

  “You look like you have something on your mind,” Flora said.

  Jane opened her mouth to talk about her own self-doubt and shame, but couldn’t do it. It was too raw. “I need your opinion on my future.” She let her hands rest on her lap, trying hard to look casual.

  “Go on.” Flora adjusted her glasses. She pushed the file on her desk to the side, though she hadn’t been working on it.

  “Jake—my fiancé—thinks we can have our support in order in about two years.”

  Flora looked confused.

  “Mission support, I mean. But I won’t have gotten enough hours in for the PI license by that point.”

  “Go on.”

  “And I was wondering about your opinion, since you guys were missionaries, and detectives.”

  “Why are you working on your PI license right now?” Flora asked. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to be interning with a shelter, or an outreach? Maybe the Pregnancy Resource Centers or the Salvation Army? You don’t want to show up on the mission field unequipped to serve.”

  “Sure. Of course.” Jane mentally kicked herself. She kept meaning to start up a Bible study outreach. She knew she needed to.

  “Well? What’s your plan for that?”

  “It’s…in the works.” Jane’s mind spun. Was it in the works? What had she planned on doing? “Oh!” She exhaled in relief. “The organization we are going with is the one Jake works for. It’s a rescue mission for trafficked girls and boys in Thailand.”

  “And?”

  “And I think working in a detective agency is good training for that.”

  “Does the agency agree?”

  “Er…” She felt like she knew they did, but why? “Yes! Jake spent a year doing it himself and he thinks it is good practice.”

  “Okay.” Flora looked over the top of her glasses into the distance. “If you and the agency think doing this is good preparation for your future service, I’m not going to argue.” Her furrowed brow hinted that she wanted to argue.

  “Okay.” Jane chewed her lip. “So, how do you feel about my leaving before the license is complete?”

  Flora didn’t smile. “That’s between you and God.” Again, her face and her words were sending a different message.

  “True…” Jane felt like something more was wanted from her, but she couldn’t guess what it was.

  Flora sighed. “You have the appearance of a moldable youth. Willing and teachable. But really you’re a hard nut, aren’t you?”

  Jane scrunched her mouth and nodded. “You may be right.”

  “Oh, I am right.” She folded her hands. “Who do you trust?”

  Jane frowned. “What?”

  “In general, who do you trust? Your parents?”

  “Of course.”

  Flora lifted an eyebrow.

  “Sure. Why wouldn’t I?”

  “That’s what I’m curious about.” Flora looked tired, but kept at it. “What about Jake, do you trust your fiancé?”

  “Definitely!” Jane sat up straighter. Why shouldn’t she trust her parents and the love of her life? What was Flora getting at?

  “What about God? Would you say you trust God?”

  Jane opened her mouth to insist she did, but then shut it again. Of course. Absolutely. There were no words positive enough to explain how much she trusted God. Why should she be forced to explain it to this Flora Wilson?

  “And what about me?” Flora asked. “Do you trust me?”

  Jane just stared at Flora. “I don’t understand the question.”

  Flora’s smile faded. “It’s not difficult.” She stood up and walked around her desk. “Trusting people is being willing to act on their directions even when those directions go against your instincts
.”

  Jane bit her lip.

  “Even if you don’t find that you trust me, you have to act like you do, because I am your boss.” Her voice was hard, but her face was softening. “And if you can’t follow my directions, you will be fired. This is your only warning.”

  “I understand.”

  Flora let out a soft sigh. “Someday you will understand. But that was the boss to employee speech. Now as an older Christian woman to a younger one, whether God intends you to serve missionaries with prayers and money, or to serve by going, the number one thing he needs from you is your trust. You cannot go into the field believing that you only have your own wits to rely on. You have to trust God’s plan, and you have to trust the people God has given you to work with. You asked if I thought you should stay here and finish your PI license or if you should go overseas as soon as you have the money.”

  Jane folded her hands together and squeezed them until her knuckles were white.

  “I believe you need to stay stateside until you find you are able to take directions.”

  “I can take directions.”

  “Jane.” It sounded as though Flora was using her mom-voice.

  “But I do trust God.” Her thoughts were swimming. She had so many arguments against what Flora was saying, but no way to get them out coherently.

  “If you trust God, obey the people he has put in charge of you.” The friendly look had faded. Flora looked tired.

  “Okay.”

  Flora exhaled slowly. “Okay then. You are excused.” She stood up and walked to the door.

  Jane left.

  Of course she trusted God and her parents and Jake. If she didn’t, she wasn’t any kind of Christian girl. But, trusting God didn’t mean she had to do everything her parents or Jake said. It’s not like they were the boss of her.

  She scratched her forehead. Flora, on the other hand, was literally the boss of her. And she was having a hard time following her directions.

  But didn’t Flora have to earn her trust?

  It had been a long time since Jane had had a job with a real boss, rather than just cleaning clients. And she knew, even as the question occurred to her, that no, a boss did not have to earn her trust. That’s not how jobs worked.

  Jane pulled out of her parking spot with a screech.