Random Acts of Murder: A Holly Anna Paladin Mystery, Book 1 (Holly Anna Paladin Mysteries) (19 page)

CHAPTER 31

“My mom is cooking
,” Jamie told me when I came back inside. “It’s what she does when she’s stressed. We’ll have fried chicken, mashed potatoes, homemade biscuits, and everything else under the sun by the end of the day. Save your appetite.”

“And you’ll eat?”

“I have leftover biscuits made from almond flour, fake-out fried chicken made with ground-up pecans and flaxseed, and for the mashed potatoes—”

“Mashed cauliflower
instead. Of course,” I finished for her.

We exchanged a smile.

Jamie’s smile slipped as we started up the stairs to her room. It was a good time to slip away, since Mama Val was cooking, the little guys were in school, and Louis was playing on his trombone.

“I’m sorry I was terse with you, Holly.”

“I’m sorry I spoke when I shouldn’t have,” I told her.

“You know I want you to speak into my life. We all need people who are willing to tell the truth. We’ve got to be brave enough to face those opinions, even when they hurt.”

We hugged at the top of the steps.

“All of tha
t said, I think you were wrong,” Jamie said, twisting the door to her room.

I
followed her inside and stared at her a moment. “Was I?”

“Look, it seems like heresy to talk about this while my brother’s missing.”

“Nothing wrong with distracting yourself.”

She nodded. “That’s what I’m trying to do. Anyway, I went out with Rex last night.”

I blinked, unable to conceal my surprise. “That was fast.”

“I know you’re supposed to be subtle and play hard to get, but I called Rex right after you left
yesterday.” She frowned. “Partly just to spite you.”

I let that comment slid
e. “And?”

“He asked if we could meet for coffee
between campaign events, and we did.”

Was it just a coincidence that Rex had asked out the best friend of his political opponent’s sister? Was he fishing for information? Trying to create a media situation?
Or was there a chance all of this was real and sincere?

I didn’t voice any of that out loud. Instead, I said, “How did it go?”

She smiled. “It was nice, Holly. Really nice. I thought he’d have his game face on the whole time, you know? But he didn’t. He was open and honest.”

“Tell me more.”

“We talked about our upbringing. He talked about being a police officer, about losing his brother, about how he wants to turn the city around.”

“Then why’s he going into state politics inst
ead of city?”

“He wants to ha
ve as wide a reach as possible. He has all of these ideas for programs that could curb the crime in our area.”

All the questions I could think to ask her would only make me seem like I had ulterior motives. Things like: Did he ask you to write an article on him? Did he mention my brother at all? Fish
for any details?

Instead, I
tried to be happy for my friend. “I’m glad you had a good time, Jamie.”

She smiled softly. “We’re supposed to go out again tonight.”

“I’m surprised he has time with the campaigning and all.”

Her smile slipped. “
It’s actually a campaign event.”

“Oh.”

“I won’t go if you don’t want me to, Holly.”

At first thought, I didn’t want her to.
But there were other things to consider. “Life is short, Jamie. If this is what you want to do, don’t let the election stop you.”

She gave me another hug. “Thank you, Holly. That means a lot.
It’s nice to feel pretty. I always try to be tough, to act like I’m okay with always being single. But there’s a part of me that wants the American dream, you know? I want a family to come home to one day. I want to find someone who gets me, who understands me and loves me. Is that so wrong?”

“Not at all.”

“Jamie!” Mama Val called upstairs. “Tameka is here.”

I blanched. I wasn’t the jealous type. I really wasn’t.
But something about Tameka being here caused not-so-pretty emotions to rise in me.

Life would go on after my death, I reminded myself. I couldn’t expect Jamie to never have another best friend.
To not ever have someone else to share inside jokes with or to try and fulfill items on a bucket list.

Still, the ide
a made me more emotional than I’d like to admit.

I glanced at my watch, pretending to be busier than I was. “You know, I should go.”

“Are you sure?”

I nodded. “Yeah, but you promise to call me if you need me, okay?”

“Thanks, Holly.”

I slipped downstairs, nodding at Tameka on my way out.

Dying was going to be harder than I thought.

***

Back at home, I called a locksmith and waited for him to come out. No way was I staying in this house until I figured out how someone had gotten in and out. A key seemed like the only option, and that meant all of the locks needed to be changed as a safety precaution. As I waited, I paced my house, looking for some kind of a sign as to what had happened.

When I saw nothing,
I decided not to waste any more time. Mama Val and I had something in common—we liked to cook when we were stressed.

I pulled down my cookbooks. I’d purchased most of them at thrift stores
, and they were from the sixties. I liked the recipes because they contained less sugar and more natural ingredients. I wasn’t a health food fanatic like Jamie, but I did try to avoid processed foods whenever possible. And I loved baking.

I found a recipe for lemon pound cake and started
mixing, trying to keep my mind off of everything.

Finally, the locksmith showed up.

It should be my dad, I couldn’t help but think. He could have switched these locks and not charged me a dime.

At one o’clock, my phone rang. It was Chase. “Good news,” he started. “We arrested the person who shot at you.”

I braced myself against the counter. “Really? Who?”

“
Frank Jenkins.”

“Really?”

“Ballistics match the gun that was in his possession. He had a grudge against you and wanted to make you pay for splitting his family apart. That means he’s got motive and means.”

“How about the break
-in at my place? Was he responsible for that?”

“As far as we know right now, h
e said he has nothing to do with that. We did discover that his house was broken into by those teens, including Anthony and Dewayne. Some of his electronics were stolen and pawned.”

“
So, is he connected with the murders?” Hope, along with a chill, washed over me.

“We don’t know. We’re considering that
possibility, though. Maybe he was getting payback. He had multiple weapons in his possession.”

I nodded. “
At least one problem is solved, right? Maybe more.”

“Hang tight, Holly. We’re going to get to the bottom of this.”

**
*

Making one lemon pound cake turned into making five other cakes. I delivered them to shut-ins from church. I also stopped by the community center and used part of my paycheck to help out some kids who couldn’t pay for some sports and dance classes. I made an anonymous donation to the local crisis pregnancy center and sent a whole tray of sandwiches over to my brother’s election headquarters for staffers to eat.

I was digging into my savings, but I figured I couldn’t take it with me. I might as well put that money to good use before the government decided to take most of it as part of the death tax.

After doing all of that, I stopped by the youth center. I walked in feeling a certain amount of trepidation. Would Abraham suspect me? Did he know I sold him out?

“Hey, hey, hey
, Ms. Holly,” Little T said. He reached out his hand to give me a high five. “How goes it?”

“It goes just
fine. What’s going on here?” I slapped his hand and snapped my fingers, just the way the kids had taught me.

“Is t
hat cake?” He stared at the loaf in my hands.

“It sure is. Would you like a piece?”

He licked his lips. “Would I ever. You’re going to make some man very happy one day, Ms. Holly. Very happy.”

“You staying out of trouble
, Little T?”

“You know it.”

I leveled my gaze with him. “You promise?”

He put a hand over his heart. “I’d never lie to you, Ms. Holly.”

I wasn’t so sure about that. “There’s a lot of crazy stuff going on around here.”

“Don’t I know it?”

“My friend’s brother is missing. His name is John Duke. You know him?”

Something clouded his gaze for a minute. “Can
’t say I do.”

“His family is worried sick. If you hear anything, let me know, okay?”

“I will.”

I kept wal
king toward the kitchen. Part of me wanted to drill him more, but I’d always had more subtle ways of doing things. I didn’t want him to not trust me anymore. If he knew I’d followed him, he’d never have any faith in me again. “Where is everyone?”

“
Abraham’s in his office. The rest of the guys are playing basketball out back. None of the girls are here right now.”

I handed him the cake. “Why don’t you just take this outside? I’ve already cut it into slices.”

“Much obliged.” He hurried out the back door.

Good. This would give me a minute to talk to
Abraham alone.

I knocked on his door
, and he called for me to come in. I ignored my nerves as I stepped into his office.

“Holly. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“I just wanted to check on everyone.”

He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.
“It’s been an interesting day.”

“Why’s that?”

“The police stopped by. Apparently, there’s a boy missing from the area. They wanted to know if I knew anything about him.”

I tried to keep my expression neutral.
“Why would they ask that?”

“I’m assuming it was because of my involvement here at the
youth center.”

I swallowed hard. “And did you know anything?”

He shook his head. “Not a thing. I don’t think this boy has ever been here.”

“Hopefully
, they’ll find him.” I shifted. “Abraham, I saw you talking to Little T the other night after I left. It looked heated. Is everything okay?”

He let out a long sigh. “Yeah, Little T is just getting involved with some things he should stay away from. I caught him exchanging a white
, powdery substance with someone and confronted him. He tried to tell me he wasn’t doing drugs.”

“But you didn’t believe him?”

“No, I didn’t. It’s a shame, too, because that boy has so much potential.”

I took a step back when he called to me.

“Holly?”

“Yes?”

“There’s something I think you should know.”

I shifted in the doorway. “Okay.”

“I’ve taken on a part-time job.”

I stared at
Abraham, processing his words. “What?”

He nodded. “It’s true. Donations are down here at the
center, plus we didn’t get that grant we were trying for. Hannah’s been more vocal lately about how hard it is to live on my salary, especially since we want to have another baby. So, I got a job working from midnight until 8:00 a.m. at an infomercial call center.”

“Really? I had no idea things were so tight.”

He nodded. “I’m making more working at minimum wage at that job than I am here.”

“Why’s it a secret?”

He sighed. “Sometimes donors don’t like it when they feel like the person they’re supporting isn’t dedicating all of their time to the cause at hand. I was trying to keep it quiet. There’s something about being in ministry that seems to make people think that money is inconsequential.”

“I didn’t know you were struggling so much. I’m sorry,
Abraham. There’s no shame in getting paid a fair wage.”

Sirens cut through the air, and I bristled.

It wasn’t just one siren. It was a lot of sirens, rushing down the road right outside the youth center.

My first thought was John.

Please let him be okay, I prayed silently.

“Listen, I’ve got to go. I’ll check in later.”

I hurried to my car, desperate to find out what was going on.