Deep Fried Trouble (Eugeena Patterson Mysteries) (17 page)

The garden. Until today, I never noticed the small garden on the side of the house. Could have been a coincidence, but the flowers looked like “children” from Mary’s garden.

Tamara answered the door. She looked like she needed a good night’s sleep. “Mrs. Patterson?”

Porgy lurched forward on the leash so hard he a
lmost yanked my shoulder out the socket. I pulled the little Corgi back.

Tamara grabbed the door. “What’s going on?”

“Porgy, calm down. What’s wrong with you?” I’d never seen the dog react quite that way to anybody. He seemed pretty friendly to almost everyone. Did he react this way before to Tamara? “I’m sorry. He’s been cooped up in the house. I don’t know what’s got into the little fellow.”

I bent down and picked the dog up into my arms. “Do you mind if we come in?”

“You want me to let that thing into my house? Suppose he attacks me.”

Porgy growled. My little furry friend was definit
ely trying to tell me something. He clearly didn’t like Tamara. All those times that Tamara was over, Porgy had been trying to tell me something.             

I looked at this woman who had been in my house. My kitchen.

Mary’s body was in her kitchen. Louise was attacked in her kitchen.

“You have some beautiful flowers.” I petted Po
rgy’s head, hoping to sooth his nerves, but his little muscles were tight with tension. So were mine. I continued blabbing. “Looks like you have some of Mary’s favorites. Did she give you some gardening tips? I know she tried to help me learn. I was a lost cause.”

Tamara cleared her throat and gazed at me, well mostly at Porgy, “Miss Eugeena, can I help you?”

“I wanted to check on you. I haven’t seen you in a few days.”             

Tamara’s face crumbled, but she regained her composure. “Thanks for taking the time to check on me.”

“Honey, are you okay?” I did feel for this lonely young woman.

“My husband left. Just like everyone does. They all leave.”

Porgy whimpered. Right then and there, I should have walked off. But I couldn’t. I moved the small dog to under my arm. “I’m sorry to hear, honey. Why don’t you come over, we’ve got plenty of food at my house. My whole family came in this weekend.”

“No, no thanks. I wouldn’t want to barge in on you. I guess ever
yone is upset about Leesa.”

Leesa. Tamara doesn’t know Leesa is back
.

I needed to get that girl closer to Amos. And away from her home. My pitiful plan had already fizzled.

“You sure you don’t want to come over. I don’t want you to be by yourself.”

“I appreciate it, Miss Eugeena, but that’s exactly-” her voice caught for a second. Then she swa
llowed. “I need to be by myself for awhile.”

“No, Tamara, I insist. I don’t tell many people this, but my marriage wasn’t all that great for seve
ral years. Honey, the Lord can work it out.”

Tamara’s eyes flooded with tears. “I don’t think God can fix this. It’s too late.”

“Okay, if you don’t come over, I’m going to bring the feast to you.”
I planned to bring back Amos.

She stared at me for a few minutes, like she heard me speak my plan out loud. “I appreciate you being so kind. All of you have been kind to me.”

“All of us?” I responded. Before I could think, I inquired, “Mary and Louise too?”

Tamara’s eyes grew wide, and then narrowed with a deep anger. “What did you say?”
             

Too late to turn back now. “That night when you went to see Mary. What happened?”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t go to see Mary.”

“Are you sure? You sure you didn’t make friends with your neig
hbor across the street? Maybe you were angry and something terrible happened.” I couldn’t seem to stop interrogating the woman.

Tamara’s body trembled. Her fists tightened.  Her small stature seemed to shrink before my eyes. “You can’t prove anything.”

My stomach was churning on the inside.
Good Lord!
Was that a confession?
All the time Porgy whimpered. I placed him on the ground and let the leash slip from my hand. That dog took off down the street. I turned to head after him, but heard Tamara squeal “No!” behind me.

Then I heard a click.

I watched Porgy’s little body getting smaller and smaller. I hope with all my heart he would have sense enough to head toward the house he’d called home for only a week.

I turned to Tamara and put on my meanest look. “Look, you
are in enough trouble already.”

Her hand holding the gun trembled. She hissed, “Get in here. We don’t want to attract attention from the neighbors.” As I glided past Tamara into her house, my thoughts flashed to what a good time I had with my family and how they may never see me alive again.

Tamara shoved me towards the couch. “Sit down over there so I can think.”

Lord knows if that child didn’t have that gun, I would’ve
backhanded her.  Better yet, if the Lord had given humans the ability to kill by looking at somebody, Miss Tamara would have been one dead chick right now.

I sat down, not taking my eyes off Tamara. I e
xhaled, “I can’t believe I trusted you and let you into my home. Looks like you made a fool out of me. Chile, what is your problem?”

Tamara paced back and forth. “I didn’t mean to become friends. I liked Mary. It was an accident. It really was ... she fell. Louise and you. All of you took me under your wings.”

She fell.
Or was she pushed? I opened my mouth to ask the questions racing through my head. “Chile, why didn’t you call for help?” 

Tamara
shrugged.  “I don’t know maybe because I had no business being there.”

The doorbell rang before I could inquire
about what Tamara meant. Tamara pointed the gun in my direction and placed her finger against her lips.

I don’t know who was at the door, but I hoped God sent the cava
lry after me. I leaned forward as Tamara opened the door. Too bad the couch was positioned behind the door.

“Hey Tamara, how are you? I was wondering if you’ve seen Eugeena. Porgy came back without her. Her family is out searching for her. You know she has diabetes.”

Amos!
Praise God for that little furry wonder dog.  He did head back to the house. Oh I wasn’t going to complain about him sleeping on the bed ever again.

Tamara’s voice oozed with sugary sweetness, “No, I haven’t seen her.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but then I remembered the gun behind Tamara’s back. I certainly didn’t want harm to come to Amos.

I swallowed and prayed.
Lord Jesus, I don’t know what’s going on here. You taught us how to be a good neighbor. I’m not the best neighbor, but I reached out to this woman. I trust you and your plan right now.

I shifted in my seat and tried to see if I could catch Amos’ attention.

“Why don’t you join us out here? We could use all the help we can get. I know how special Eugeena is to you,” Amos coaxed Tamara.

The woman stuttered her reply. “Well, I’m kind of in a jam right now. I’m sure Miss Eugeena will be back soon. She probably just walked a little farther and Porgy being difficult just ran off. She’s prob
ably looking for him.”

There was a moment of silence. Amos must have been thinking about what Tamara said. Finally he spoke, “You’re right, she could be out loo
king for the dog. Well, I will let you know when she’s back.”

“Okay. I hope you find her.”

Tamara closed the door, but something blocked her from closing it all the way. “What?” The woman swung the door open and pointed the gun towards Amos.

I yelled, “No, don’t you dare.”

I placed my hands against my face and watched in horror as Amos lunged forward to grab Tamara’s arms.

An explosion of noise from the gun caused me to  throw my heavy body to the floor. On all fours I crawled as fast as I could to the back of a nearby chair. Screaming rad
iated in my ears.

Wait that was me screaming
.

I shut my mouth and listened to Tamara crying hysterically now. “No, let me go. I didn’t mean to do it.”

Then, a voice from above me said, “Eugeena, you alright?”

I pulled my arms from where I had them wrapped tight around my head and looked up into a face I’d come to enjoy seeing. “You’re okay. What ha
ppened?”

Amos reached down and I took his hand. He pulled me up from the floor in one swoop. Pretty strong for an old guy too. He asked me. “Are you okay?”

I looked over to where Tamara was on the floor. One cop was placing her in handcuffs, while another one watched.

The cops were here. I turned to Amos and grinned, “How did you know?”

“When people start acting strange and out of character, that’s a sure sign to pay attention. When you came back from visiting Louise, you seemed uptight about the experience and on a mission. Plus the Eugeena I know ain’t walking in hot weather anywhere. As soon as you left, I excused myself from the game, called in a favor and then I followed you.”

“You followed me,” I said incredulously.  I laughed and reached over to hug my bald-headed neighbor. To my surprise, he squeezed back.

I really liked my next door neighbor Amos Jones. I believe the feelings were mutual.

My family crowded me for hours. After we all knew Tamara was tucked away behind bars, most of my family started to travel back home. Only Amos, Leesa, her children and I remained at the house. We sat on the porch, occasionally looking down the street at what had almost b
ecome my crime scene.

Tamara was a con woman. She played the whole neighborhood. When her house was searched, she’d been quite the thief. Her game was to get to know people and find out their habits so she could rob their house. 
Life of an idle housewife!

What wasn’t clear is whether Tamara’s husband caught on to her “illegal” shopping? Was that why the man left?

Leesa’s eyes were red. I patted my baby girl’s leg. “Honey, you didn’t know. I let that child across the street into my home. Mary and Louise probably did the same thing, not knowing she might have been setting us up to rob us blind later.”

Leesa shook her head. “Mama, I still don’t know why she killed Mary and then tried to pin her crime on me.”

Amos spoke up. “Leesa, you were a convenience for her. Mary rarely left the house except to do shopping but when she did it was like clockwork. Same time every Friday.”

Leesa nodded, “That’s why Mary kept looking at the clock because she wanted to stick to her sche
dule.”

I added, “Right. Poor thing probably put her gr
oceries away, let Porgy outside and fixed herself a glass of water, not knowing that Tamara was hiding in her house. Tamara must have thought she could sneek in and get out before Mary returned.”

Leesa frowned. “So Mary caught this crazy wo
man in her house and was killed.”

That’s as best we could figure. Louise was awake, but she didn’t seem to remember anything about the night she was attacked. There were two coffee mugs on the counter so I felt like Louise figured som
ething out before we all did.  Poor old woman just about lost her life.

I shuddered. I’d almost walked through death’s door myself.

Leesa stood, “I’m going to put the kids in the bed. See you later, Mr. Amos.”

After Leesa went inside, I turned to Amos. “I can’t say thank you enough. You saved my life t
oday.”

He grinned, “Next time remember to include a professional in your plan.”

“I tried to drop as many hints to you as I could.”

It could have been the light sparkling in Amos’ eyes, but his face beamed. “Yeah, you did. Not bad for an amateur.”

I grinned and then guzzled down my iced tea. Yep. Whatever came next, Detective Eugeena Patterson would be on the scene.

Tyora Moody is an author and entrepreneur. Tyora has coined her books as Soul-Searching Su
spense. 
Deep Fried Trouble
is the first book in the Eugeena Patterson Mystery series. 

Tyora is also the author of
 the Victory Gospel Series (
When Rain Falls
and 
When Memories Fade)
. The third and final book in the series,
When Perfection Fails
, will be released March 2014.

She is a member of Sisters in Crime and American Christian Fiction Writers. She served as a judge for the Christy Awards for three years.

You can visit her online at
TyoraMoody.com
. For more about the character Eugeena, visit her blog at
EugeenaPatterson.com
.