A Simmering Dilemma Read online

  He cleared his throat, avoiding the subject of who. “I’m trying to get some information from some associates who still work on the force. As soon as the body is identified, then we can start figuring out what happened to her.”

  I took a swig from my mug, the coffee had grown cold. “I still feel like I know her from someplace.” I looked at my phone, noting the time. “I need to get to the church soon for summer camp.”

  Nothing went unnoticed in our neighborhood, Sugar Creek. Someone knew or saw something and I knew just where to start.

  Chapter 5

  The scent of hot dogs met me at the door indicating my favorite people had arrived at Missionary Baptist Church before me. Annie Mae Brown and Willie Mae Brown were not my closest friends, but they made my life, well, interesting. Both women still could carry on something awful, stirring up unnecessary trouble. But life had struck them a bad blow and it seemed to have mellowed both of them. Willie Mae lost her daughter tragically a year ago and she was not the same woman. We were all the same age, but Willie Mae appeared to have gained ten years with her hair going completely white compared to her twin. Of course, I suspected Annie Mae was still sneaking the box of black hair dye.

  Jet black. Yeah, right! I’m sorry but when a woman gets a certain age she should be proud of those strands of gray. The Bible said that’s a sign of wisdom. Who doesn’t want wisdom?

  As I stepped further inside the fellowship hall, the twins watched me. Well, sort of. I don’t care how many years I’d known the woman, Willie Mae’s wandering eye still threw me off. Her eye never quite focused on your face and seemed to concentrate on something far off. Which made me want to turn my head to see what was over my shoulders.

  I felt bad every single time. This time I stopped myself from the urge and stared her in the face. Now we could have faced off like that for a while but we had children arriving any moment for the camp. Besides, I wanted to know what these two busybodies saw last night.

  Willie Mae stated, “We saw the cops were over at Amos’s old place last night.”

  These sisters never disappoint!

  I tried to keep the smile off my face as I continued past them to place my bag behind the counter in the kitchen. That was Sugar Creek. People knew your business, sometimes before you knew yourself. I faced them both, “Hello, ladies. I guess those flashing lights caught your attention.”

  Annie Mae piped up, “The cops were there all night. Did I see the coroner too?”

  “Unfortunately, yes.” There was no need to try to shut this conversation down. It was bound to be reported on the news soon. Still I was hesitant to share Amos’s business with these two. Who knew which way the story would be transformed by the time they shared the events from last night with other church members.

  I straightened my shoulders, hoping my trust wouldn’t blow up in my face later once the rumor wheel started turning. “Briana came across a young woman who… well, she’d been killed.”

  Both twins clutched their hearts in unison like they were about to have a Fred Sanford moment. The twins spilled out their dismay together. “What’s going on?” “People are getting killed in our neighborhood all the time.”

  I balked, “People are not getting killed all the time. Now there are a lot of us dropping like flies due to poor health and old age.” I counted on my fingers quickly. “The body last night made three deaths that were clearly violent in the past few years.”

  “Violent.” Willie Mae scoffed, “Do you know who the woman was?”

  I grimaced, “No, but the funny thing is I felt like I’ve seen her before.”

  Annie Mae leaned in closer as if she needed to examine my head. “You saw the body?”

  “Yes, Briana was frantic and not sure what to do. Amos went over to the house and I followed.”

  Annie frowned, “What did Briana do?”

  I sighed, “She didn’t do anything but find a body.”

  Annie Mae inquired, “How did it get there?”

  I shot back, “Good question. We have no idea, but we do want to find out who this woman was and who would do this.”

  Willie Mae harrumphed, “There have been all kinds of people going in and out of that house.”

  I eyed her. “And you know this because…”

  She threw her hands up. “I watch the house. Shouldn’t you be doing the same? You are still the head of neighborhood watch, aren’t you?”

  That made me wince. Willie Mae had a point. Since Amos moved in, my interests had been preoccupied with being married again. I love Amos, but it took some time adjusting the house and my mind to sharing a home with someone again. One wouldn’t think living alone for five years would make such a big difference in your mindset. I mean I was complaining about being lonely!

  I still didn’t know how I got stuck with chairing the neighborhood watch. I tried, but had been unsuccessful with passing this task along to someone else. Everyone wanted to be nosy but not in charge. Go figure!

  I snapped back and realized Wille Mae was still ranting. “The music is so loud! And at night when folks are trying to get some sleep. I wanted to see who was over there and if I had to call somebody’s mama.”

  “Ha!” Now that cracked me up. “Those were grown people not children.”

  Annie Mae shook her head, “Some grown people never grow up.”

  I had to agree. There was no way I could defend Briana, especially since Amos and I had some sleepless nights too. I felt really bad that the Brown sisters had been disturbed. Goodness, they lived three houses down. Which made me wonder exactly how Willie Mae was doing her snooping. Did the woman have binoculars?

  I wanted to ask her who she saw, but couldn’t discuss the neighborhood troubles anymore since a few of the children along with more adult volunteers were entering the fellowship hall. The twins went back to setting up plates on the table. I greeted the children as they signed in for the day, grabbed name tags and then headed for the snack table. We’d been offering the summer camp for four weeks now, taking a break last week for the Fourth of July holiday. We had two more weeks to go. Today was designated craft day. Thankfully, we took time after Sunday School yesterday to set out the materials for the various age groups in each classroom.

  Usually I would take on the pre-teens, which was the age I taught most of my years as a school teacher, but we didn’t have any from that age range to sign-up for summer camp this year. The Brown sisters handled kindergarten through second grade, while I worked with third through fifth grade students. One of my camp students, Amani Gladstone, was a regular from our after school program. As her customary greeting, she came running towards me and gave me a big hug. Amani was the granddaughter of one of my high school classmates, so I’ve watched Amani and her mom grow up.

  “How are you today, Amani? I know you have a birthday coming up soon.”

  Amani smiled, “I’m doing good. I’m glad we have camp this week. It was really boring last week at home. I miss being at school.”

  I grinned, “I imagine that you do. Your grandmother told me you did really good in school. All A’s this time.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Suddenly looking serious, Amani glanced around. Then she leaned in and whispered. “Ms. Eugeena, there’s a lady sitting outside in her car. She looked like she was crying.”

  I leaned in toward Amani. I’d found she was an observant little girl, sometimes noticing things she shouldn’t. “Is she in the church parking lot outside?”

  Amani nodded, her eyes wide.

  “Okay, I’m going to go over to the window and look out. Do you remember what color her car was?”

  “Yes, ma’am. It’s blue. I remember that color. Blue is one of my favorite colors.”

  I patted the little girl on her shoulder. “Why don’t you head back to the classroom and I will check on the lady?”

  I watched as Amani went to the back of the class before peeking out the window. I couldn’t see the car in question so I decided to head outside. It may have been not
hing, but I didn’t want to take any chances of a stranger being on the property.

  As soon as I stepped outside, whoever was in the car slung the driver’s door open. The vehicle appeared to be a blue Nissan Altima. In fact, for a split second, I thought it was my daughter’s car, but the blue wasn’t the right shade. An older woman with disheveled hair climbed out and approached the doorway where I stood.

  The closer she got, the more her facial features came into focus. That’s Gladys Howell. She hadn’t been attending Missionary Baptist regularly. In fact, she was part of a group who had a falling out when the young pastor took over for his father. Something silly about Pastor Jones being too young and doing too much.

  Church folk!

  Lately, I noticed Gladys had started attending services again.

  Gladys stopped in front of me, almost tipping over her heavy chested body. “Oh, Eugeena. It’s so good to see you. It’s been a long time.”

  I held out my arms because I didn’t want the woman tipping over on me. Neither one of us could afford a hip injury. “Yes, it has. I’ve been seeing you the past few Sundays, but haven’t had a moment to talk. How are the grandchildren?”

  Gladys appeared to be trying to catch her breath. “They’re doing good. I dropped them off today. One of the Brown sisters let me register them yesterday.”

  “Oh, I should have known that.” I touched her shoulder, “Gladys, are you okay?”

  She held her hands over her head, her face scrunched into the beginnings of an ugly cry. “No. You remember my daughter Sondra?”

  Some days my memory wasn’t too good, but I nodded.

  “I haven’t seen Sondra in two days. That isn’t like her. She works two jobs now, but she loves her kids. I’ve never known her to stay away this long. Anyway, I was hoping the pastor was here. I wanted to see if he could pray with me.”

  The more I looked at Gladys’s distraught face, the more another face appeared in my mind. Something struck me in that moment of clarity, and a chill traveled down my spine with such a quickness I shivered despite it being July and well over ninety degrees outside.

  Last night’s events spiraled in my head and I knew without a doubt my onset fright was a bad sign.

  Chapter 6

  I didn’t want to have this conversation outside in front of the church. “Unfortunately, Pastor Jones is visiting with homebound members. He may or may not swing by the office today. Why don’t we come inside out of the heat? You can tell me what happened and when you last saw Sondra.”

  As I led Gladys inside, we walked past the fellowship hall where the children had gathered for a snack. Annie Mae looked up to see us walking by. I shook my head at her inquisitive look and led Gladys further down the hall to one of the adult Sunday School classrooms.

  I had no idea why I remembered Sondra Howell during our walk. I pictured a younger version of her in my mind when she was in my class. It’s amazing how I could recall a student from my classroom from fourteen years ago out of the blue. Sondra was a smart girl. She also had a really smart mouth too. But she loved learning and talking about history. She was also one of those students who retained information easily without a lot of study. I remembered her doing well on her exams, scoring high grades.

  Gladys sat down heavily in one of the chairs, while I closed the door behind us. I didn’t want prying ears and hoped the children kept the Brown sisters preoccupied. I pulled up a chair next to Gladys.

  “How has Sondra been doing?”

  Gladys seemed taken aback by my question. “What do you mean?”

  “Was she doing okay the last time you saw her? Happy? Sad?”

  Glady shrugged. “Sondra has some awful mood swings sometimes. Saturday night, she went out with some friends and seemed to be in a better mood than usual.”

  “I see. I’m so sorry you are going through this; I want you to know I understand perfectly what you’re going through. My Leesa ran off and left her kids with me for a few days. After birthing her second child, she was totally overwhelmed at the time and needed a break. I had no idea where she was, worried me silly, but she returned a few days later.”

  I sat back in the chair, “I remember Sondra being an excellent student, but it’s hard to keep up with children after they leave my classroom. I know she graduated from high school because the church presented her with a plaque during her graduation year.”

  Gladys sighed. “I hate to say it, but it’s been hard to get her to come to church since she’s been an adult. She had her first child not too long after she graduated. Things were fine for a while, but she had trouble keeping a job. Then, she had another child. Since she had the second one, she’s been trying to be more stable. Now she works all the time. I hardly see her some days. Her and the children moved back in with me a few years ago.”

  I nodded. Sondra sounded pretty similar to my Leesa in a lot more ways than I expected. “Did Sondra say where she was going?”

  Gladys wrung her hands, “No. She had the day off on Saturday. Which was really unusual, she always worked weekends.” The woman swallowed, trying to catch her breath as she spilled out the story. “I thought she would spend the day with the kids, but she slept most of the day. I didn’t hear a peep from her until late in the day. When she does that, kind of hide in her room, I know she’s in a bad mood about something. The last thing I wanted to do was argue with her. I let her be and made sure the kids stayed out of her way. That night she walked out of the room, dressed and ready to go.”

  My mind thought back to the outfit the woman wore in the shed. I envisioned the bright yellow halter top, sure to have turned heads. I shook the memory away and murmured, “Sounds like she was tired and ready to let off some steam.”

  Gladys frowned, “Yeah, it’s the new job. She works during the day at the Food Lion. A few months ago, she’d started working at the Black Diamond Night Club. I wasn’t happy about her being out at night in that atmosphere, but she claimed she made good money.”

  “What does she do there?”

  “Waitressing. That’s always been her thing before she started working as a cashier. I didn’t think she ever wanted to go back but she claims the tips she receives are good. Even talked about quitting her job at Food Lion.”

  “Have you reached out to any of Sondra’s friends since Saturday?”

  Gladys shook her head. “She used to hang out with Charlene Hunt when they were young, but the past few years they haven’t really been speaking. I know someone picked her up outside, but I didn’t get a chance to see who it was. I was busy trying to get the kids settled in for the night.”

  “Women have fallings out all the time. Do you know why she may have stopped talking to Charlene?”

  Gladys closed her eyes.

  “Gladys, are you okay?”

  Her eyes flipped open, filled with tears. “A lot of people stopped hanging around Sondra because of that man. I can’t even refer to him as a man, but he’s the father of my grandbabies. He certainly is choosy when he sees them and when he decides to take care of him.”

  “Did Sondra have trouble with him?”

  “Nothing but trouble with that one.”

  “Have you reached out to him to ask if he’s seen Sondra?”

  “Yes, in fact that’s where I was coming from when I saw the church. That man made me so angry. He acted like he didn’t care about the mother of his children being missing. He told me I was being a drama queen and that she would probably show up any time. He made my nerves so bad, I had to swing by here and talk to Pastor Jones.”

  “I’m sorry he isn’t here.”

  “Not a problem, I appreciate you listening to me.”

  “I’m here to be supportive where I can. I hate to ask so many questions, but I’m concerned. Have you reached out to the police at all? I know she’s an adult, but you can report her as a missing person.”

  Gladys nodded. “That will be my next stop.”

  “Good, they will want a current photo of Sondra. Do you ha
ve one?”

  “Yes, I do. In fact, she insisted that her daughter take a photo of her Saturday night.” Gladys pulled her phone out of her bag.

  I watched as she slid her fingers across the phone, dread returning to my mind. I suddenly was afraid of my reaction to what Gladys had on her phone. She swiped a number of times until she found the photo she wanted. She turned the phone around to me. “How about this one? Do you think this will work? She’s wearing the clothes she had on that night.”

  I stared at the photo for a long uncomfortable few seconds before answering. “Yes, that photo should do fine. You should get to the police station as soon as possible.”

  I walked Gladys out into the hallway where we met Pastor Jones arriving.

  “Hello, ladies. How are you doing this fine day?”

  I responded in Gladys’s place, “Pastor Jones, good to see you today. Ms. Howell really needs your help.” I wanted to pass Gladys off to the pastor quickly because now I had a mission. I needed to call Amos and find out what to do about what I’d just found out.

  I was pretty sure the woman in the shed last night was Sondra Howell. I had no idea how she got there and why, but now I was more determined to find out.

  Chapter 7

  The entire time I drove, I berated myself for not recognizing the woman right away. Okay, it had been a number of years, but still I really did know her. She was one of my students. Now I knew she was perfectly fine Saturday night. What happened in twenty-four hours? Was Sondra on Amos’s property sometime Saturday or Sunday night? So much about this murder bothered me.

  When I arrived home, Amos’s truck was in the driveway. I was anxious to find out any information he’d obtained today. Once inside, I noticed it was quiet. The television in the living room was not on. I called out, “Amos.”

  I walked down the hall and noticed the guest bedroom door was closed. When I passed by the closed bedroom door, I thought I heard something or someone. I paused and stepped up close to the door. Was Briana crying?