Deep Fried Trouble (Eugeena Patterson Mysteries) (9 page)

Tamara’s presence in the kitchen made me miss Leesa all the more. My daughter never did like sitting around in the kitchen. Explains why she never learned how to do anything but boil eggs.

“Mmm, Miss Eugeena this pork chop is so good.” Tamara licked her fingers.

“Glad you like it. I sure get tired of chicken breasts.” I looked at the clock on the microwave wondering if I should call Cedric again. He should have gotten one of my messages by now. That boy could be just a bad as his father with being in his own world. I know he was all about delivering babies, but right now I needed him to possibly help save his sister’s life.

“Is something bothering you?”

I smiled at Tamara, who peered into my face with concern. “I’m fine. Just a little frustrated by ever
ything that’s happened.”

She put her fork down. “You mean about Mrs. Fleming.”

“Yes.  Sugar Creek is an old neighborhood. We’ve had our ups and downs, but in the thirty years I’ve been here, never a murder.”

“It is truly horrible. I guess most folks are afraid now.”

“Well, this has shaken up quite a few of us. But don’t you worry. Enjoy your meal. Anytime you need me, I’m here. We will all look out for each other.”

I looked over at Kisha’s dinner plate. Just like her mama. A plate full of green beans. “Honey, eat some of your vegetables.” Kisha scrunched her little nose up and looked down at her plate.

I stopped chewing my pork chop and cocked my ear toward the kitchen doorway. My front door lock just clicked. I rose from the table. By the time I made my way through the living room, the front door flew open.

“Ma, what smells so good in here?” The tall, ca
ramel man standing in front of me, birthed from my womb thirty-five years before was the spitting image of his deceased father. I walked over to Cedric and hugged him fiercely. “It’s about time.”

“Whoa, Ma you’re going to break a rib with that hug.” He pulled back and smiled a perfect set of white teeth thanks to two years of braces. Prob
ably out of all the kids, Cedric had the most awkward stages. Gawky and geeky looking all at the same time. Somewhere around sixteen, he caught up to his older brother and filled out, inheriting his dad’s relaxed curls.

“Why is it when I need your help, you can never be found?”
             

“Hey, I’m here now. Let’s see what you got going on in the kitchen.” Cedric walked ahead of me, tur
ning up his sleeves.  “Is that little Kisha? Come here, how’s my favorite girl?” He scooped his niece up in his arms.

Through giggles, Kisha shouted, “Uncle Ceddy.”

My heart dipped at the sight. I so wanted Cedric to settle down and find a good woman. He would make a great dad. A definite natural with kids. “Cedric, let me fix you a plate.”

“Sure. And who might this lovely lady be? You didn’t tell me you had company.” Cedric put his niece down and held his hand out t
owards Tamara.

A glow had crept around the girl’s beautiful dark brown cheeks. “Uh excuse me.” I stepped in front of Cedric, to protect poor Tamara. “This is a neighbor. A married one.”

He looked back at Tamara and flashed her one of his megawatt smiles with absolutely no shame. “Sometimes Mama likes to play matchmaker. I can never be too sure.”

Of course he was right. I had tried to help him settled down on a nu
mber occasions with some good Christian woman.

Tamara laughed. “You have a great mother.” She placed her napkin on the table and stood. “Miss Eugeena, thanks for the meal.”

“Anytime, let me walk you out.” On the way out the kitchen, I could hear Cedric sending Kisha into a fit of giggles again.

“Remember, you call me anytime you want to talk, you hear?”

Tamara teared up a little. “Thank you. I appreciate you being so nice to me.”

I watched her until she had arrived safely across the street. There really were a lot of women in this neighborhood who lived or spent a lot of time alone. This would be a topic to address at the neighborhood meeting coming up soon. We might be able to get a self-defense class started. Now that would be som
ething else.

Me and my stubby legs trying to kickbox
.

I put Kisha in the room with Porgy so I could talk to her uncle alone.

Cedric looked up from the table when I entered the kitchen. “Where’s that barking coming from? You have a dog in the house?”

“You don’t know do you? Mary died three days ago.”

Unlike his older brother and his mama, Cedric had the kind of skin that would turn red in a hot minute. “What? How? When?”

“I was walking Saturday and something told me to check on her. She was…on her kitchen floor. Gone.”

“You found her ... like that?”

“Yes, which is why I need your help? I need to find your sister.”

Cedric frowned. “Why?”

“Leesa came the Saturday night with the kids.  It sounded like she was in trouble, but we never had a chance to talk. I woke up Sunday mor
ning, she was gone.”

“No, she didn’t?” Cedric let out a long sigh. “Mama, you don’t need to be taking care of Kisha.”
             

“Kisha and Tyric are fine with me.”

“Tyric? She had the baby already.”

Something slipped out of Cedric’s mouth that caused my ears to burn. I smacked him on the arm. “There is no need for
that
language. You already knew about the baby?”

“I’m sorry Ma. I told her to tell you. She just showed up with him out of the blue?”

“I don’t want to go into that now. Something is wrong. Don’t make that face at me. I am a mother and you are not.”

Cedric placed his arm around my shoulders. “Mama, don’t do this. She’s probably fine.”

I swallowed. “I need you to look out for your sister. Check the hospitals.  I already filed a missing persons report.”

“You really think something happened?”

“This is more than a mother’s instinct. This detective on Mary’s case says she has some kind of witness that saw Leesa at Mary’s house the night she died.”

Cedric sucked in his breath. “You have got to be kidding me? What in the world did that girl do now?”

“We don’t know if she did anything.” I decided that it would not be a good time to tell Cedric about the money in the closet. 

“Cedric, since you knew about the baby, then you must know who she was seeing. Who’s the father?”

“I don’t know. I saw her with some guy a few months ago at Club Magic. Ma, you don’t have to scrunch up your face like that? You know neither Leesa nor I are sanctified like you and Junior.”

That’s alright; I kept both of them prayed up. “Did you catch the man’s name?”

“It was Chris something. I didn’t really talk to him other than to say hello. I had other things on my mind than keeping an eye on my little sister.”

“Oh really. Like what?”

“Ma, you don’t want to know.  Look I will be on the lookout for her. Did you try her on her cell phone, by the way?”

“I tried the number I had, but it said it was out of service.”

“I think she has a new number, hold on.”

Cedric whipped out his fancy, smancy phone. One of those iPhones.  The gadget reminded me of the one I saw Carmen with at the hospital earlier. Looked like they had a few things in common. I watched him glide his fingertips across the smooth surface and scrolled through what looked like a lot of numbers. This must be the new black book.

“Here we go. This is the last number I have for her. Let me try it. I got plenty to say to her.”

“Just tell her to get back here.” I crossed my arms and watched his face. When he grunted, I a
ssumed he didn’t get her.

“Leesa, girl where are you? You got Mama all worried. Get back here and get your kids.”

I shook my head.  Despite Ralph being gone, with two brothers, Leesa had two other “fathers” on her case.

“Mama, she’ll probably be back soon.” Cedric helped himself to a
nother helping of food. After he sat back down, I decided to hit him with another question just as he wrapped his mouth around the pork chop.

“Is Carmen Alpine one of your residents?”
                           

Cedric dropped the bone and blinked his eyes as though he was thinking hard. Really hard. “Ca
rmen? How do you know her?”

“She’s a neighbor, been living on the other side of Louise in Johnny Calvin’s house.”

Cedric blew out a breath. “I didn’t know that.”

“Didn’t know she lived down the street from me? What did you do to her anyway?”

He held his hands up in the air. “What are you accusing me of doing?”

“Carmen had a rather negative reaction when I mentioned your name. Any reasons why? She’s a tad bit too young for you.”

“Whoa, whoa. I know you like to think I’m the biggest flirt on the planet, but I have not bothered Carmen. If anything she’s probably a little disappointed I haven’t taken her offers. I’m pretty strict about not messing with residents. Strictly professional.”

So, Carmen was sweet on my son? No wonder it didn’t help to find out his mother lived down the street. “Well, what do you know about her?”

“Carmen?”

“No Charmin. Boy, tell me about the woman. She’s been my neig
hbor for a few months now and I don’t know anything about her.”

“What’s wrong with that? I don’t know most of my neighbors e
ither?”

“Cedric?”

“I don’t know much about Carmen. She’s from North Carolina.  I believe she mentioned being an Army brat. Her parents settled down in Columbia on their last assignment at Fort Jackson. She graduated from Clemson and then attended the Medical University of Carolina. That’s all I know.”

Cedric picked his plate up off the table, scraped the remains and brought it over to the sink. I had to grin as I watched him stick his hands into my soapy dish water. I trained my boys well. There was no such thing as boys not washing dishes in my house.

I picked up the other dishes off the table and carried them over to the sink. “Army brat. That explains some things. Didn’t Wayne go into the army after graduation?”

Cedric leaned against the fridge and crossed his arms. “Yeah, he served in Desert Storm.  He was discharged after that. I haven’t really kept up with him in years. Why are you asking?”

I rinsed the dishes and said over my shoulder, “According to Louise, Wayne and Carmen are good friends.”

Cedric laughed, “Well you can’t listen to ever
ything Louise says. I mean Carmen wouldn’t have anything in common with Wayne. I mean Wayne. Please.”

“Are you trying to convince me or you?”  I turned around to catch Cedric staring off into space. “Are you okay?”

He waved his arm like he was swatting a fly. “Yeah. I’m fine. Look I need to go.”

I followed him to the front door. “Cedric, do you know if Leesa had any reason to talk to Mary in the past few weeks?”

“Now that you mentioned it Leesa did call me a week ago. I think Mary sent her a package. Something that belonged to Jenny.”

Jenny, Mary’s daughter, had died during Leesa’s junior year. “Why would she give Leesa something belonging to Jenny, especially five years after her death?”

“Leesa mentioned something about Mary was going to give whatever it was to Jenny on her twenty-first birthday.  I guess she wanted Leesa to have it since she just turned twenty-one.”

That was sweet and so like the Mary I used to know. It also shot a
nother dagger in my heart, because that presented the possibility that Leesa had been near or even inside Mary’s house the night she was killed.

Little creatures had taken over my home. Not long after Cedric left, Kisha and Tyric reminded me why I never liked the idea of grand young’uns staying over past three day.  Never again would I whine to the Lord about loneliness. Me, God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit would be just fine. Now Mr. Porgy could b
ecome a permanent resident as soon as we got this sleeping thing down. I had to keep the bedroom doors closed because as soon as I turned my back, the little four-legged wonder would find him a bed to lay his shaggy self. How he managed to climb with his little legs was a mystery.

“Grandma, can Porgy stay in the bed with me?”

“No honey. You and Tyric don’t need the dog in here while you sleep. Everyone has their own bed.”

“But Porgy looks so sad.”

“Well, he lost somebody special to him, but I know he appreciates you playing with him.”

“I wish Mama would let us have a dog. She said Mrs. Hattie don’t like animals.”

My ears perked up. “You like Mrs. Hattie?”

“Yes, she watches me when Mama goes to work. Sometimes her and mama yell at each other.”

“Is that so?” That reminded me of the man Chris. “Kisha, what about Chris? Does your mama talk loud with him to?”

Kisha’s eyes grew wide.

“Kisha.”

“He hit me. Mama yelled at him.”

I shrunk back. “He hit you?”

She nodded and held up her arm. “Right here.” Kisha pointed to her forearm.

I examined her tiny arm. There didn’t appear to be any recent marks, but the fact that this unknown man laid his hands on my grandchild spiked my blood pressure. “Come here, baby.” I wrapped my arms around her and then tucked the covers around her body real tight. I wondered if Leesa ran off to get away from this Chris fellow. My daughter being missing may not have anything to do with Mary’s death.

I peeked at Tyric in the playpen. The temporary bedding would have to do until I could figure out a better place to put him. Thank goodness I had the playpen stored away in the closet from when Ju
nior’s twins visited when they were younger.

I left the nightstand lamp burning and shuffled down the hallway. Just as I reached my be
droom door, the phone rang. I grabbed the cordless phone from the nightstand. “Hello.”

“Eugeena, you doing alright over there?”

“Hey Cora. I’m so glad to hear your voice. I just put the children to bed.”

“Oh good! I was calling to find out when Mary’s funeral will be? I would like to drive up to give you some support.”

Mary’s funeral
.

“Cora, I’ve been caught up trying to track Leesa down. I believe the pastor said her family arranged the funeral services for Thursday. Speaking of the funeral, Pastor Jones had asked me to speak on behalf of the church. Cora, what can I say?”

“Plenty. Look, I know you were a bit pig-headed about the incident a few years back, but you have to put that behind you. You more than anyone knew Mary best.”

I knew Cora was right. Didn’t stop me from feeling like a hypocrite though. “Thanks, Cora. I apprec
iate you.”

“I will drive down Thursday morning and meet you at the church. Don’t worry about Leesa. That child has always been resourceful and you know God has had his hands on her since birth.”

We both said goodbye and I hung up the phone. I kept feeling like I was missing something.

I headed towards the closet and opened the door. Did I pull ever
ything out of the diaper bag?  I emptied the contents of the bag on my bed. The diapers had long been removed. I unfolded two rolls of money. One appeared to be almost five hundred dollars while the other one was near a thousand.
Where did you get this money, Leesa?
I rummaged through the other items. Baby lotion and baby wipes.  I sniffed cherry flavored lip gloss mixed in. Even with young children, my daughter still kept her appearance up. I unzipped the side part of the bag.

Well, I’ll be.

I pulled out the bible, a gift from me to Leesa, when she turned thirteen years old. I had her name engraved in gold on the front cover. It really pleased me that Leesa had it in her possession. I rubbed the white leather, and turned the bible over in my hand. An envelope stuck out the back.

I removed the envelope and flipped it over. It had been a long time, but I recognized the loopy “L.”  The envelope was postdated May 12th. That was the day after Mother’s Day.

Mary had mailed this envelope to Leesa about three weeks ago.

I pulled out the stationary recognizing another f
amiliarity. Mary loved her lavender scent. My hands shook as I unfolded the letter. This could have been the last piece of correspondence my old friend had sent. I wasn’t sure what it all meant.

My eyes took in the Dearest Leesa part and jumped down into the le
tter.

You are probably wondering why I’m writing you this letter. It’s been a long time and past due. You know every time I see your mother, and I see her often now walking in the morning, I think about how things used to be. How you used to come and spend the night with Jennifer and you two would giggle into the morning hours. I hate how things fell apart years ago and even more so not having Je
nnifer here. You know she would be 21 now. I know you are all grown up and I often imagine if things had worked out differently, you two would be talking about your careers, marriages and children.

Anyway to get to the point of this letter. I’m sorry about the grief brought to you years ago. I pro
bably should have told you, but I found that ring. The one that was so precious and I went berserk because it went missing. To this day, I don’t know Jennifer’s reasoning. She and I didn’t get along so often. Out in public we smiled, but we barely spoke to each other. I wondered if she did it to spite me although I don’t know why she included you in her scheme.

That ring was in her jewelry box, well hidden. I found it as I cleaned her things out. It so broke me down because I had planned to give her that ring on her 21st birthday. But she’s not here.

I don’t know if God is speaking to me, but I felt like you should have the ring. You can do whatever you want with it, but I wanted you to have it. I know it won’t change the past, but I hope it may allow an opportunity for me to see you again. I also hope one day your mother would forgive me for fighting her so hard when she stood by your innocence.

Sincerely yours always,

Mary
             

A lump took over my airways. I knew it. I knew it. My daughter was innocent. All this time.
Mary, why didn’t you come forward and tell the truth?

I knew God aimed to make things right between Mary and me. Those times I walked by her house. That burning desire to do more than wave hello. The Holy Spirit urged me to do more, to take the first step towards reconciliation.

Neither one of us had obeyed.

I wept.