Deep Fried Trouble (Eugeena Patterson Mysteries) (7 page)

I still wasn’t sure this was the right thing to do.  But it was too late to turn back now. Time was of the essence here. I walked up to Amos’ front porch and rapped my knuckles on the oak door. Amos opened the door, sporting a Kangol hat, a golf shirt and kh
akis. He looked more like he was going to the golf course versus a wild goose chase.  Amos shook his head. “Are you ready?”

“Yes, let’s go and thank you so much for doing this.” With some tre
pidation, I had asked Amos to help me track down Leesa. He suggested the first logical place was to head to her apartment. For the next hour we traveled I-26 towards Columbia. I could tell Amos had set the cruise control because he drove the Caddy with ease. He drove the truck more than the Cadillac, which I guess used to be his wife’s car.  I felt a bit odd sitting in the passenger seat. Mrs. Amos Jones’ perfume still lingered inside the car. Wasn’t a brand I would have chosen. Not that it mattered.

Amos interrupted my thoughts. “So you didn’t know about the b
aby until she showed up, huh?”

“We don’t have the best mother-daughter relatio
nship. I tried all I could with her.”

“Well, don’t feel bad, Eugeena. At least your children live close to you and when she really nee
ded you, she came home.”

“I guess you are right. Don’t you have two daug
hters?”

Amos’ jaw tightened. “Yeah. One is in California and the other in S
eattle. We don’t keep in touch much since Aubrey passed. I have three grandkids.”

I felt really awful for Amos. Father’s Day was coming up in about two weeks. Maybe his girls would touch base with him. “I’m sorry. It can be hard when the chi
ldren get older. You get so caught up with them growing up and then when they are on their own, they live their own lives.”

After Ralph died, I didn’t dare want any of my children to think me insufficient to care for myself. Truth of the matter, I almost didn’t tell any of them about my diabetes diagnosis. So many things change as you get older.

I glanced up to see the exit sign. Soon enough we would arrive in front of the apartment complex where my daughter had lived for at least a year now. I helped her move into the apartment. Anytime she relocated for whatever reason, I was there to assist with packing her belongings. If I didn’t come to help, she would throw her belongings in boxes any old kind of way. No newspaper, towels or anything to try to cushion her breakables. That child never did learn how to appreciate her things.

We finally arrived at the apartment complex, an aluminum-sided ove
rnight building project. The row after row of boxed-shaped buildings didn’t appear very appealing. At least the landscape had finally grown since I had been there last. Now snapdragons, red, purple and yellow lined the sidewalk. 

“Amos, you can pull over there. Her apartment is in the Q section.” I didn’t see any signs of Leesa’s car, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t been around.

Amos parked the car and then we sat. A curtain in the window right across from us shifted.  It appeared Leesa’s downstairs neighbor was keeping an eye on things. Was she looking for Leesa too?

Amos prodded me. “You want me to come up with you or will you be okay?”

Did he think I was going to choke her if I saw her? That thought occurred to me, but I really wanted to find her. “I will be fine.” I stepped out into the blazing hot sun. The sidewalk reflected the sunlight back into my eyes. I placed my Terminator shades on today. My children hated them, but they fit rather nicely over my bifocals.

I grimaced when I rounded the corner. The apar
tments had the kind of stairwell that dared you to take it on. It wasn’t like I didn’t have stairs of my own to deal with it at home, but at least mine were carpeted and didn’t seem as steep. Or quite so many.  One foot after the other, my extra pounds mocked as I climbed. I knocked on the door labeled Q7. With no response, I increased the intensity of my banging.

Someone else’s door creaked open below.

“Boy, didn’t I tell you that girl wasn’t there. Why you keep doing all that banging?”

Boy?
  I walked over to the railing and leaned over as far as I dared. “I’m not a boy, but I am this girl’s mother. Have you seen her?”

“Oh my.”

I heard shuffling and soon found a face glowering up at me.  The woman appeared to be about my age or slightly older. She had a short white hair that from a distance looked liked lamb’s wool.

“You’re her mother. Well, I’m sho’ glad to see you. That girl needs to get her some new friends.”

I went towards the top of the staircase and began to descend. “Friends? Are you saying somebody else has been here looking for her?”

“Only that boyfriend of hers. At least I guess he is. He used to always be here, but then I got the i
mpression she might have kicked him to the curb.”

I’d reached the bottom of the steps. The woman must have been no taller than 4’11.  With my 5’3 frame, I felt like I towered over her. “Are you Mrs. Hattie?”

“Yes, I am. How did you know my name?”

“Kisha has mentioned your name a few times.”

“Oh, that’s my girl. Just as sweet as she can be. I do watch her from time to time. But I haven’t seen Leesa in a few days though. Usually when she works nights, I keep Kisha for her. Now, when she had the other baby, I told her I might have to charge extra. Babies can be fussy. Anyway, I hadn’t heard from her, so I figured she’d found someone else to babysit. Looks like she got you.”

No, she didn’t. I loved my grandkids, but I’d raised three kids a
lready. Besides that, where was the father? Was this young man possibly related to Tyric? “Do you by any chance know where I can find this man?”

Hattie scrunched her face. The woman looked like she was in pain. “I don’t know.”

Now I felt stupid asking my next question, but since my child had failed to keep me in the loop. “Do you remember his name? I really am concerned. I haven’t seen Leesa in a few days.”

“All I can remember is she called him Chris. I only knew that because they liked to argue. Outside my wi
ndow and my door.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Do you know what type of car he drove?”

Mrs. Hattie narrowed her eyes. “You sure ask a lot of questions. Like some cop. Anyhow, he drove a black pick-up truck most of the time I saw him. Don’t ask me what kind.”

“That’s okay. You’ve been very helpful to me, Mrs. Hattie.” We had walked outside the wal
kway. From where I stood, I could see Amos.

“Is that your husband?”

“Oh no. My husband passed years ago. That’s a neighbor. I needed some help driving today.”

“Mmmmm. Well, I do hope you find her. These young people these days, I would not want to be in their shoes. Your daughter seemed to be d
ecent. Really quiet until that boyfriend of hers came by. I always thought she should lose him.”

“Thank you. You’ve been pretty helpful.” I marched back to Amos, probably with Hattie’s eyes glued to my back. Once inside the car, I let out a loud sigh.

“I saw you talking to the neighbor. Any clues?”

“No, but her neighbor mentioned a man, I guess Leesa’s boyfriend has been looking for her.” As much as I didn’t want to speculate, I couldn’t help it. Was it possible this young man may be the cause of Leesa’s disa
ppearance? “I really don’t know where to start next. Any ideas?”

“If you want my advice, you are going to have to consider getting some more help. It has been over twenty-four hours.”

I looked over at Amos. “You mean report her missing. I can’t do that. Detective Wilkes already wants to talk to her as a person of interest in a murder. Suppose they think she’s on the run.”

“Wouldn’t you rather she be found safe?”

“Of course, I would.”

“I promise. I will do whate
ver I can do to help, but if you think she might be in danger, we need to find her ASAP.”

Murder. Missing persons. Danger.  Why did my first week of retir
ement resemble an episode from
Law and Order?
I prayed we never made it to the part where I would see my child on trial for murder.

I walked into the police department, and waited patiently for a good five minutes, thinking the officer behind the desk would acknowledge my pre
sence. When I realized the person on the other end of her conversation was definitely not an emergency, but more like a gabbing girlfriend, I rapped my knuckles on the desk. “I want to report a missing person.”

The officer narrowed her eyes and turned her back to say something to her telephone buddy. She hung up the phone and grabbed a clipboard. “Ma’am, how did you say I could help you?”

I read her name on the badge.
Arnetha Pearson
. Didn’t I just tell this woman, I wanted to report a missing person? Could she not hear the desperation in my voice? I cleared my throat and raised my voice, “I said I want to report my daughter missing? Her name is Leesa Patterson.”

“No need to raise your voice, ma’am. Your daughter, has she been missing for over twenty-four hours?” The woman narrowed her eyes, which were already slanted and cat-like.

I felt an urge to slap some sense into this woman, standing before me looking like I inconvenienced her. The attitude I could do without. She was the one wearing a blue uniform with an official badge, but I wasn’t too sure about her people skills
.
“Yes, it has been well-over twenty-four hours.”

Sgt. Pearson cleared her throat, and pulled a pen from her slicked back bun. “Is she over eigh
teen?”

“Yes.”

“Her name is Lisa Patterson right?”

“It’s L-e-e-s-a.”

The officer gave me a look and shook her head. That wasn’t unusual.

My mother tried being different with my name. Eugena would’ve been fine. But something about the Eug-e-e-na gave it a bit of distin
ction. At least I liked to think so.

There wasn’t much originality with Junior’s name. Another Ralph. Even when Cedric came along, Ralph insisted on using his deceased brother’s name. I’d known my brother-in-law for all of two years before he was killed in Vietnam. Ralph loved his older brother with a fierc
eness that he only bestowed on a few people. Who was I to deny him of naming his second son after his brother?

Now Leesa. She threw both of us for a loop. Fifteen years with o
nly testosterone in the house, after I got over my shock, I was elated with the female addition and proceeded to take charge in naming her too.

“Ma’am, you do know sometimes adults take off on their own and might not want to be found?”

She had a point there, but I had some babies, currently under Louise’s care, who really needed their mother. I’d only planned to take in a pooch, not two grandkids, and even the dog wasn’t in the picture until a few days ago. Funny, how only last week I was complaining about being lonely. If this was the Lord’s idea of teaching me a lesson, he wouldn’t hear anymore grumbling from me. “Look, my daughter came by with her children on Saturday night.”

“She has children and it was Saturday.”  The woman raised her ey
ebrows. “Sounds like she was in need of some babysitting.”

I looked at the officer like she fell off the Stupid Truck.  “Aren’t you supposed to be writing this down or something?”

“Well, she has to be gone for twenty-four hours before....”

“I just told you she’s been gone over twenty-four hours. She arrived at my home Saturday night. She’s been gone since Sunday morning.” I leaned into the counter and I stared at Sgt. Pearson. “Today is Mo
nday afternoon, which I believe is more than enough time to say a person is missing.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m going to ask you to calm down so I can get the information down.” The officer a
ppeared ready to put her hand on her gun, so I stepped away from the counter before I messed around and got myself shot. I would get the most incompetent employee in the department to help me. Maybe I should have asked Amos to come in for this one. “Is there someone else who can help me?”

“Ma’am, I’m trying to help you. Now has she done this before?”

Here we go. All I needed was to tell this woman yes, Leesa has run away before and she would really not take me seriously. 

“Yes, when she was younger she ran away twice. It was a difficult time. Her best friend died and she got caught up with the wrong crowd.”

By this time my body shook. There was no way I would breakdown in front of this woman. But I knew the feeling in the pit of my stomach shouldn’t be ignored. “Look, I don’t know if you are a mother, but I know something is not right. She’s been good for several years. A real good mother too.”                           

Had I ever told Leesa how proud I was of her ta
king care of Kisha? She’d turned her life around.  All this time-wasting, I hoped Leesa wasn’t in some serious trouble.

“When did you discover her missing?”

Eugeena took a deep breath. This woman was on the slow side. “I woke up Sunday morning and couldn’t find her in the house.”

Sgt. Pearson’s eyebrow shot up again, but came back down. “You said she’d brought her children to you. Had she indicated a length of stay?”

“She did mention she wanted to stay for awhile, I don’t know how long. There were clothes for the children ...” I stopped.
The bag with the money.  I can’t mention that
.              

“Ma’am, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I ...”
What should I say? Should I say something?
Maybe this wasn’t a good idea
. “It’s just that I hadn’t seen her in awhile and I know she wouldn’t have reached out to me unless she needed help. I need you to find her. She could be in real trouble.”

Sgt Pearson nodded and jotted down more information on her cli
pboard. This woman probably had a picture of Leesa in her mind. I don’t like labels. I always wanted to see the good in people, especially my own children. Leesa needed me. She would never come out and say it, but she brought those children to me because I was the one person she knew would care for them.

But children don’t fall too far from the tree. From experience, I knew Leesa had inherited the I-will-take-care-of-it-my-way part of my personal
ity.  We’d bumped heads enough.

I straightened my shoulders and leveled my eyes on Sgt. Pearson. “Thank you for taking the report. I know what you are going to say next. She’s an adult and she could have left on her free will. She didn’t. Wherever she is, she’s driving an aqua blue Nissan Altima. Here is the last registration I have in my possession for the car.”

“Ma’am, we will check local hospitals, traffic reports and other stuff. We will do our best to find her. But you need to be aware she may have taken advantage of the free babysitting opportunity. Is there anything else I need to know?”

“Could you check here in Columbia and the Charleston area? She dropped her children off at my home in Charleston, but she lives here in the city.”

“Did you think she returned home?”

“I’ve been to her apartment. Here is the address.” After I gave Sgt. Pearson the information, I added, “I talked to one of her neighbors, she mentioned that my daughter’s boyfriend...” 
Baby daddy.
  “... might have been by looking for her. I don’t know this young man, but he sounded like he may have been difficult.”

“You think this is a domestic violence incident?”

“I don’t know, but the neighbor who lives below her made it seem like they fought a lot. It could have been physical in some cases. Could you talk to her? Her name is Mrs. Hattie.”

For the first time since I showed up at the desk, Sgt. Pearson eyes rea
lly connected with mine. Maybe the fear seeping through my body had reached my eyes. This was serious to me. More than I knew until that moment.

“She’s my only daughter and she’s still a baby. Just turned twenty-one.”

“Mrs. Patterson, we will do everything we can to find her.”

“Thank you.” I gripped my pocketbook as though I needed it to hold me up and walked out into the bright sunshine. The sun’s rays didn’t warm my chilled body.