The Plain Jane Mystery Box Set 2

by Traci Tyne Hilton

  The sooner she was entirely her own boss again, the better.

  At home, Jane didn’t even try to ponder Flora’s advice. She turned her mind back to the problem of Paige Tech instead. A nice, concrete, murder problem.

  Lots of books of game cheat codes and hacks. A dead game device maker. A missing gaming journalist. How was it all connected? She picked up her phone and called Ayla.

  Jane got straight to the point when Ayla answered. “Tell me everything you know about game hacks and stuff like that.”

  “Nothing.”

  “But…”

  “You want Brenna for questions about games. Or Maggie. Maggie knows more about gaming than anyone—even Devon. Why don’t you just call her?” Ayla yawned. “I have to go to work, anyway.”

  Jane hadn’t expected Ayla to be her new best friend or anything, but she had hoped for a little more than this. “You don’t know anything? Not about, like, books people write about how to game the, um, games?”

  “Honestly? I was into Devon. Not games. Talk to Maggie, please.” She didn’t just hang up, but she did sigh heavily, like the phone call was a big inconvenience.

  “Okay.” Jane exhaled through pursed lips. She hated being so passive with people, but if there was a magic trick for making them tell you what you wanted to know, she hadn’t learned it yet. “Thanks anyway.”

  “Sure. Bye.” Ayla hung up.

  She hadn’t said it, but it felt like a “Bye Felicia” if ever there had been one. She had been massively dismissed.

  She cracked her knuckles, dragged her fingers through her hair and pulled it up into a pencil bun. Then, after one more deep breath, she called Maggie.

  “Hullo.” Maggie’s voice sounded deflated.

  “Hey, this is Jane Adler from the Senior Corps of Retired Investigators. I think I might have a new scent on finding Kyle.

  “Yeah?” Maggie didn’t sound interested.

  “What do you know about Paige Tech?”

  “Never heard of it.”

  “But Hester Paige sold you your insurance policy.”

  “She did? I didn’t know. Kyle handled all of that.”

  “And Cora Paige connected you guys with your premarital counseling.”

  “With Father Pete?” Maggie sounded confused.

  “No, I don’t think so. This guy was Pastor Morris.”

  “Oh yeah, the one we didn’t like. We finished with Ayla’s pastor.”

  “Ayla goes to church?”

  “Yeah.” Again, Maggie sounded like she might have been talking about the weather in the channel.

  “But anyway, Hester Paige sold Kyle the insurance, and Cora connected you with the other guy, and Cora runs a company called Paige Tech that sells books of game cheat codes and hacks and stuff.”

  “She does?” There an uplifted note of interest at the end of those two words.

  “Yes. Or, at least that’s what Shane told me,” Jane said.

  “Shane who?”

  “Shane Paige.”

  “Oh.”

  Now she was on to something. “You know Shane Paige?”

  “I don’t want to talk about him right now.” Maggie’s voice was definitely interested now—in an interested in shutting down the conversation kind of way.

  “When would be a good time? I can come over any time today. Or tomorrow.” It sounded desperate, but Jane was desperate.

  “You said Shane Paige?”

  She repeated it quietly, but something about the way her tone had dropped again made Jane think Maggie was on some heavy antidepressants

  “Yes, Shane Paige. When can we get together to talk about him?” Jane made the whole thing very clear and concrete. If she was dealing with someone over-medicated, she was going to have to keep close track of things.

  “No, no. I don’t know anything. I’m sorry.” Maggie paused, the phone muffled. “I’ve got to go.” She hung up.

  Jane wasn’t sure the last time she had felt that disappointed.

  About five minutes later a text came in from Jeremiah that helped lift her spirits a little.

  “Brad is bad news. Muckraker. Mudslinger. Wants to take down the zoo. Or anyone. Wants to be famous. I brought you up, just to see what happened. He fumbled. Let’s eat. You and me and whoever gave you that ring, if it makes it better.”

  “Perfect. Yes. Lets. When?”

  They went back and forth and made plans, in the end including both of their significant others, which was the kind of overkill a good graduate of Harvest School of the Bible would take. Jane liked it.

  “Who are we eating with?” Jake buttoned up a plaid short sleeved shirt.

  “A contact who knows something juicy about that Brad guy, the one who popped by the apartment.

  Jake nodded approval. “Good. Want me to wear a wire?” He buttoned his shirt over the Rivermaiden Coffee T-shirt he had been wearing.

  “Not this time.” Jane was itchy to get going, but they were pretty early still. She flipped back and forth on her phone from more VoP forum conversations about Maggie/MotherofBridezilla and the missing persons Facebook page Ayla had set up. She was looking for some obvious writing style tying to people together…to make a connection between someone who knew Kyle in real life and someone who hated Maggie for the article, but she wasn’t seeing anything.

  While popping back and forth, waiting for the minutes to tick by, she got a text from Brenna. “Need to see you ASAP.”

  Jane’s heart lurched. “Tonight?”

  “Now.”

  “I have plans. Dinner. Big clue.”

  “Now.”

  Jane gritted her teeth. She and Jake had to be at dinner in forty-five minutes. The restaurant was fifteen minutes away. Brenna was ten minutes away, in the other direction. So if they went there now…

  “Okay.” To heck with it. She had to go there now. She’d just text Jeremiah if it looked like they’d be more than five minutes late. She’d tell him to order a plate of starters on her. “Hey Jake, we’ve got to run. Brenna needs us.”

  “Brenna…” He cocked his head to the side. “Who’s that?”

  “The bride’s weird sister who has all the clues.”

  “Works for me.” He grabbed Jane’s hand and dragged her out. “Good thing I’ve got the Jag. Much faster than your car.” He was joking, but it made Jane shiver. The last thing they needed was to get pulled over for speeding

  Halfway to the Frances house, it looked like they were going to get caught in a speed trap, but Jake saved it, slowing down just in time. Jane snuck her hand over to his knee.

  At the house, Brenna had the door open for them before they could ring the bell. “Come to my room.”

  Brenna’s room was just as weird as it had been last time. The windows were papered over with cardboard, and the shelves were full of labeled glasses. Piles of papers covered every horizontal surface. She was one wall covered in newspapers and string away from having a beautiful mind.

  She shut the door behind them and locked it. Then she passed a stack of papers to Jane. “You’re going to want to sit down.” Brenna paced in front of her cluttered desk, one hand tapping her chin.

  Jane sat on the edge of the bed.

  Jake leaned against the door, his hand casually resting on the doorknob. His jaw twitched.

  Jane scanned the pages, but she was too excited to get it. One page was an article from the insurance company blog, another was an email about going to the river. She didn’t see the connection.

  Brenna sighed impatiently. “Look at how often the word ‘beyond’ is used in both pieces of writing.”

  Jane looked for the word and found it several times.

  “It’s used four times in the blog post, and six in the email. It’s one of the less commonly used prepositions. It shouldn’t appear that often in either a post or an email. And he is using it in place of more correct prepositions, such as next to, or near.”

  “Okay…” Jane spied out a sentence that illustrated what Brenna meant.<
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  “That is an indicator they were written by the same person.”

  “Is this the same thing you noted last time we were here?”

  “Yes. Exactly. Maggie didn’t want it to be true, so I spent many hours confirming it.”

  Jane flipped through the pages. There were other blog posts, another personal email, and several posts from a message board. “So, who is it?”

  Brenna’s face blanched. “It’s Kyle.”

  “Whoa.” Jake stepped away from the door and checked out the papers.

  “Look at the last page, please.”

  Jane turned to it.

  “It was a post at Voice of the Programmer. It was posted an hour ago.”

  Jane read it with a lump in her throat. To her relief, it was not a post asking for violence against Maggie. But it did suggest a group meet up. The author called himself “Gametegrity.”

  “How do we get an invite to this shindig?” Jake asked.

  Brenna kept her eyes on the screen. “We don’t.”

  “But we need to.” The papers shook in Jane’s hand.

  “He knows me. He knows my online name. He won’t let me in.”

  “But we could get in.” Jake’s jaw still twitched, but his eyes were lit up with excitement.

  “You’d never be able to set up an account and establish credibility in time to get an invite.”

  “What about Maggie? Or Ayla?”

  “You don’t think he’d recognize his sister or his wife?”

  “So what can we do? Do we take the info to the police?”

  “No way.” Brenna reached for the papers. “I called you because you are a private detective. You’ve got to sort this out.”

  Jane’s mouth opened, but no words came out. She wanted to sort it out, that’s why she wanted an invite to the meet up.

  “Okay. Meet us at the SCoRI office tomorrow morning. We’ll need to get Flora and Rocky on this.” Jake held out his hand for the papers.

  Brenna pressed them to her chest. “Okay.”

  “We have to run. The dinner tonight is still going to be useful, I think.” Jane stood up, her eyes glued to the print outs.

  “Come and get me in the morning,” Brenna said. “I’m not leaving my room until then.”

  “Of course.” Jane tried to speak in a soothing tone, but she was too excited, and Brenna too scared, for it to make any difference.

  They were only a few minutes late for dinner with Jeremiah. He and his girlfriend didn’t seem to notice. He sat in a booth with his arm across her bare shoulders. She giggled at something he said and tossed her long hair over her shoulder.

  “So sorry!” Jane slid into the booth.

  “I’m Jake.” He offered his hand across the table.

  Jeremiah peeled his arm off of his girlfriend and shook hands with Jake. “Glad you could come.

  “I’m Sierra.” The girlfriend picked up her glass and took a sip.

  “Tell me everything.” Jane leaned on her elbows, ignoring the menu.

  Jeremiah laughed. “So, here’s the thing, this Brad guy…he was disturbed when I brought up your name. What did you do to him?”

  The waiter came over before Jane could answer.

  “Give us both the lasagna and a Coke,” Jake said.

  The waiter looked at Jane. “This works for you?”

  Jane stared at the waiter. What did she want from her? “Er…”

  “Lasagna?”

  “Yes! Of course. That’s great.” Jane passed over her menu.

  “Great.” The waiter gave Jane a second glance, but left.

  “Back to Brad. I am investigating a murder, and he is acting very suspiciously,” Jane said.

  “Ooh.” Sierra fanned herself. “That’s crazy. Are you kidding?”

  “Nope,” Jake said. “Jane doesn’t joke about murder. So you said you had something to tell us about this Brad guy. We know some stuff. We know he’s a journalist looking for his big break. And we know he doesn’t mind stretching the truth to get a lead. What do you know?”

  Jeremiah nodded, his face serious. “Gotcha. Okay. He took us out to lunch. I knew he wanted to dig up some gossip about the person who had been stealing from the zoo.”

  “And it looked like your boss was going to give him everything he wanted,” Jane said.

  “Exactly. I couldn’t let her do that. We rely on donations. Bad press could be devastating.”

  “I completely understand,” Jake said. “I’m in F and D myself.”

  “I did my best to dominate the convo, to stifle Brenda. Brad got very angry,” Jeremiah said.

  “How do you mean?” Jane sipped her water.

  “He’s a yeller,” Jeremiah said. “And he’s a table flipper. Not literally, but he did this.” Jeremiah jumped up, both hands flat on the table and leaned in. Then he sat back down. “You know what I mean?”

  “Sounds like he’s on his last nerve,” Jake said.

  “We think he saw something related to this murder. I bet that’s what’s weighing on him.” Jane said.

  “When was this murder?”

  “About two weeks ago now,” Jane said. “If he was sniffing around the journalistic integrity in gaming issue at that time, and saw something about the murder, it could explain everything.”

  “Maybe,” Jeremiah said. “But the first time I met him he was almost just as bad, and that was last month.”

  “Oh.” Jane stirred the ice in her water cup. “How exactly did you drag me into the conversation?”

  “I casually mentioned that I had gotten the T-shirts in and that Jane from the detectives had brought them. Then, I threw in that I knew you back in college.”

  Sierra waved down the waiter. “Can we get some more breadsticks?”

  “Sure thing.” She hadn’t brought Jane and Jake’s Cokes yet, but Jane didn’t say anything.

  “Is that when Brad threatened to tip the table?”

  “Not exactly. First he just got flustered. He complained that I was turning the subject. So I suggested he was trying to keep me from talking about Bible School. That’s when he got angry.”

  “What exactly did he do?”

  “He jumped up and started yelling, saying I was hiding behind religion. Frankly, it was weird.”

  Weird, but not really useful. Jane sighed. She would rather have stayed with Brenna to talk her into getting an invite to Kyle’s meet up.

  “But what exactly did he say?” Jake said.

  The waitress came with the Cokes and bread sticks.

  “I don’t think I remember exactly. He said I was hiding. He called me a hypocrite. He was trying to claim I was covering for the employee who took the funds.” Jeremiah’s color rose again. “And maybe I was. I know what she did was awful, but she’s my friend, and I don’t see the need to drag her name in the mud. She’s getting punished enough.”

  “What did you do next?” Jane asked.

  “I asked him to sit down. I said he was being ridiculous.”

  “And he said?” Jane bit a breadstick, suddenly happy for the waitress and all she was doing for them.

  “That’s when it really got interesting. First he sat back down, then he said he was sorry. He put his recorder away and said he wanted me to talk off the record.”

  “About the volunteer funds?”

  “No, about you.” Jeremiah lowered his voice. “And that’s why I thought we should talk. He wanted to know how long you had been working for that detective place. He wanted to know how involved you were in the zoo investigation. Then he slowed down and got real specific. He wanted to know what your hours were. He wanted to know who your roommates were. It was really messed up.”

  “Freaky,” Sierra said. “Sounds like a crazy stalker.”

  “Dude. Someone ran over my sister at Jane’s place.”

  “I don’t know man, but it seems like it could have been him,” Jeremiah said.

  “Was that it?” Jane asked. “Just…a bit too many questions?”

  �
��What did you expect? Him to tell me that he watched the murder from his parked car? Don’t think so. But I do think you need to be very careful with this guy.”

  “Of course.” Always with the vague warnings. Did everyone but her think she was in over her head?

  “Of course.” Jake repeated it, but with a touch of sarcasm. “Of course. Jane, this is serious. This guy is a crazy lunatic. He knows where you live and where you work. How exactly do you plan on keeping yourself safe?”

  Jane looked around the table. Sierra’s big blue eyes were wide, and she shook her head no, with a tiny motion. Jeremiah’s brows were furrowed.

  Jake looked pained. His jaw did the twitchy thing but his brown eyes, the ones that had won her heart, were wide with fear.

  “It’s too late to drop the case.” Jane straightened up. “So I’ll have to report this to Flora and ask her advice. Until then…” She sighed. “The smart money is to maybe relocate Gemma and I, just for a few nights.”

  “I didn’t tell him anything. I told him he was crazy. I told him he could have that on the record. And I told him I was going to report his questions to the police.”

  Sierra sucked in a sharp breath.

  “And then I did. He stormed out, and I called the cops and told them how the conversation had gone. To be honest, I don’t know that they are going to do anything about it, but I don’t make idle threats.”

  “You’re a good man.” Jake passed his phone to Jane. “I already dialed. Tell her to come to my place tonight. You and she are rooming together. Anyone who wants to think that we are up to no good can think it. I’d rather your reputation suffered than that he killed you.”

  “Point taken.”

  “What are you two waiting for, anyway?” Sierra asked, a little smile playing at her mouth. “I mean, why not just get married?”

  Jane closed her eyes and tried to count to ten, but Jake interrupted.

  “Because good things are worth the wait.”

  Jeremiah laughed. “Spoken like a man who just doesn’t get it, but is trying to be okay with it.”

  “About right.”

  Gemma didn’t answer her call, so Jane hung up and sent her a text. The reasons to get married fast were adding up, and she was tired of fighting it. Maybe they’d drive through somewhere tomorrow and get it done. That wouldn’t kill her parents at all.