Bright New Murder (15 page)
Authors: Traci Tyne Hilton
“I’ll ask the charity to try and cash the donation tomorrow,” Jake said.
Benedict shrugged. “Murders take a long time to solve, kids. This one is only a week old.”
“But that doesn’t mean Jason Miter and Del Willis didn’t do it.” Jane’s voice trembled. She’d have to figure out a better way to fake strength. Or…she’d have to practice relying on God to be her strength. That idea alone calmed her down. “And some murders are solved very quickly. When you know who did it, but don’t have evidence, what do you do next?”
Detective Benedict smiled, just a little, but his eyes were still hooded. “We start asking a lot more questions, and we do it at the station.” Detective Benedict stood up. “And now, I have a few questions to ask Del Willis about this conversation he just had with you.” He paused. “Too bad that stepmom of his is so good at working the system.”
He escorted them outside. “Thanks for the tip. You might, just might, not be the worst investigator in the world. But if I were you, I’d steer clear of murder from now on.”
Back in the car, Jane exhaled slowly. “I am so disappointed.”
“Don’t be. You did great. Totally earned your keep.”
“Do you think Benedict believed it?”
“More to the point, Del believes we know everything. So, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll just hang out with you while you clean, yes?”
Jane nodded. She was too confused to speak. She might not be a bad investigator. This was the first time anyone but Jake had suggested this could be the case.
They had the radio on while they cleaned both houses, listening for any news. But the only thing Jane learned was that Jake wasn’t completely useless at mopping.
“You didn’t think my dad would let me work for him if I didn’t start at the bottom, did you?”
Jane laughed. Jake was so comfortable. He just…fit. Didn’t ask her to change, didn’t expect her to be someone she wasn’t. She couldn’t help but compare him to…well. It wasn’t fair, really. Isaac wasn’t meant to be, so he’d never compare well.
“Gemma, just sit and listen, okay?” Jane asked.
Gemma looked from Jane to Jake. Her face turned beet red.
“Don’t be embarrassed. It’s my fault.” Jane sat on the floor. “I totally introduced you to him so that he would fall in love with you and leave me alone.”
“Ahem, I’m in the room with you.”
“No, you’re in the kitchen making dinner.” Jane tried to keep a straight face.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You were going to marry Isaac Daniels, so even if it was obvious that Jake was into you, you’d be gone eventually, and Jake and I would be great buds. It would have worked out.” Gemma’s voice was quiet. Her big, brown eyes were wet with tears.
“No, it wouldn’t have,” Jake piped in from the kitchen.
“Jake—quiet.”
Jake turned the radio up.
Jane took a deep breath. “I am seriously sorry that I created this embarrassing, hopeless situation. But please don’t kick me out of the apartment. I don’t know where I would go.”
“You could go to Arizona.”
“If they don’t catch Del and Jason fast, I’ll send you there myself,” Jake said.
“I’m not going to Arizona, Gemma. I’m staying here, and you are forgiving me and wishing me happiness, okay?”
Gemma let out a slow breath. “It is such a bad idea to jump from relationship to relationship like this. How well do you know this guy?” Her face was still sad, but a twinkle in her eye said she was willing to try.
“I’ve only known him since I was fourteen, so I can see why you are concerned.”
“You girls don’t have anything to eat. How do you live?”
“We tend to order takeout from this nice guy we know…” Gemma said. Her voice broke, but she laughed.
“You are totally the second-best girl in the world, Gem. Er, third.” Jake shrugged apologetically. “I do have a sister.”
Gemma wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and laughed. “I don’t think I’m ready to be happy third wheel yet.” She stood up. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to go hide my pathetic self in my bedroom for a while.”
As soon as she was gone, Jake dove across the room for Jane. He tackled her and kissed her. “You tried so hard not to want me. That’s how I knew you’d never marry that weird Daniels kid.” He kissed her on the mouth, again. “You don’t have to try not to love people if you don’t love them in the first place.”
Jane wiggled out from under him. “Happy New Year, Jake.”
***
Jane smiled at her class schedule, then folded it and slid it into her pocket. She had just dropped her French classes. Isaac had been right about that one—throwing French in on top of everything else she was studying added unnecessary extra work before graduation. Business degree with a side of criminal justice. She could get that done by spring.
She sipped her Coke. Spring seemed a long, long way off.
Jake tapped his phone and frowned.
They both shivered in their winter coats. The Portland State University Park blocks with bare tree branches creating a lacework above the statuary were romantic, even in winter, but not warm. He tucked his phone in his pocket and took her hand.
“So Jane, we’ve been officially a thing for twelve days now.”
“Yikes. How did I forget that anniversary?” Jane laughed.
Jake stole a sip of her drink. “I want you to dump me. Don’t interrupt.”
“Yeah, I wanted to hear where you were going with that one.”
“I want you to dump me the minute you don’t think you would want me for your husband. I am all in on this thing, you understand that, right?”
“You’ve mentioned it.” Jane took her cup back. Her parents were still mad that she hadn’t come home for Christmas. She wasn’t sure how she was going to explain the sudden switch from probably-going-to-marry-Isaac to…She smiled. It was too soon to even think that.
“I’m not fooling around. I’m pretty sure you understand the pressure I’m under with the business right now. With the mayor of Maywood breathing down my neck and the Fro-Yo Murder thing sending all my customers scurrying to Bubble-Bubble Tea, I can’t have a flakey girlfriend thing, too. I don’t mean you have to say that you’re going to marry me this minute or anything. But if God starts talking, and he says ‘No,’ don’t try and force it. Just dump me.”
She chewed the end of her straw. Each season she seemed to be learning something else hateful about herself. She was too proud, she hadn’t actually heard God’s call to Kazakhstan, and now…she was forced to face the fact that she was really, really immature when it came to relationships. But now that she knew it, like the missions thing, she had to take it seriously. She couldn’t go when God told her to wait, and she couldn’t up and commit to Jake the same minute God had pointed out that she wasn’t any more mature about boys than she had been at thirteen.
“Well?” Jake waited, his face slowly draining of all color.
“I promise. If God says to dump your sorry self, I’ll do it.”
“Or,” Jake said, “even if it’s not God. But if you realize you don’t want me…”
Jane laced her fingers through his. “It’s been twelve whole days, and that’s not been a problem yet.”
“So I think until that day—which will never come—we need to take this seriously.”
“Sure.” Jane squeezed his hand, but didn’t make eye contact. She would agree to anything if she made eye contact, and that didn’t feel wise.
“We should start making plans—”
Jane’s phone jangled, so she answered it, relief washing over her. “Gemma?”
“Turn your radio on.”
“What station?”
“Any! This is big news.”
“I’m at school, I don’t have a radio.”
“Then hang up and find it on your phone. You won’t be sorry.” Gemma hung up.
Jane pulled up the local radio news.
“Just a second.” Jake put his hand over her phone. “This is kind of a big deal.”
Jane moved his hand. “Jake, I promise I will dump you the minute I realize I can’t marry you. Please don’t make that minute right now. I want to hear what the big deal on the radio is.”
“There has been an arrest in the Fro-Yo Murder. Two men were arrested separately today. The detective in charge says that they were led to the two unrelated men by anonymous tips. Del Willis and Jason Miter are being held until their hearing. We’ll give you the details as we learn them.”
“Hey, good job, Detective.” Jake held his hand up for a high five.
Jane stared at her phone. “Anonymous sources?” She looked at his hand, hanging in the air. “Oh, sorry.”
He ran it through his hair. “Eh, no biggie.”
“We were not anonymous sources. We were legitimate private investigators. Something tells me Detective Benedict is not going to be my inside contact with the police.”
“Something tells
me
I’m going to have a long wait.” Jake flopped back against the bench.
Jane smiled at him. “But it will be worth it, most likely.” She picked up his hand and kissed his fingertips. “Unless I dump you, of course.”
***
Traci Tyne Hilton is the author of
The Mitzy Neuhaus Mystery Series
,
The Plain Jane Mystery Series
, and one of the authors in the
The Tangle Saga
series of science fiction novellas. She was the Mystery/Suspense Category winner for the 2012 Christian Writers of the West Phoenix Rattler Contest, a finalist for Speculative Fiction in the same contest, and has a Drammy from the Portland Civic Theatre Guild. Traci serves as the Vice President of the Portland chapter of the American Christian Fiction Writers Association for the 2013/2104 session.
Traci earned a degree in History from Portland State University and still lives in the rainiest part of the Pacific Northwest with her husband the mandolin playing funeral director, their two daughters, and their dog, Dr. Watson.
More of Traci's work can be found at
http://www.tracihilton.com
Connect with
Traci at Facebook!
Mitzy Neuhaus is the top selling Realtor in Portland, but even her office is dead in this economy. Foreclosed is the word no homeowner wants to hear and Mitzy is determined to save the incredible mansion on her street from that fate. But with the homeowner desperate to keep Mitzy away from his property and Alonzo, the dangerously hot rival investor trying to snatch it out from under her, Mitzy knows she has to work fast, or the economy won’t be the only thing dead…
Mitzy Neuhaus is dying to get back to business as usual, but The Worst Economy Since The Great Depression has just about killed her real estate business. But when the excessive interest of the FBI, city planners, and possibly the Mafia, threaten to derail Mitzy’s plans things really get dangerous…
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Mitzy Neuhaus had an easier time selling her condo before the mystery buyer “bought it” on her patio. Mitzy stumbled over the body and knew she had to get involved in the case–if only because the corpse was a dead ringer for herself.
At first it seemed like a clear case of mistaken identity and Mitzy feared the Mafia wasn’t done with her yet. But digging into the life of the dead buyer uncovered a peculiar little dress shop where nothing added up.
Can Mitzy untangle the mystery before she ends up with her own case of buyer’s remorse?
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When a local architect and notorious lothario gets himself impaled on a wrought iron fence it pretty much ruins Mitzy's Christmas.
With her client--the dead guy's most recent ex-wife--in crisis and the custom Tudor home now a murder house, Mitzy will need to work a lot of overtime to unload the unsellable property--and catch a killer.
Hardworking and hungry Bible school student Jane Adler cleans
houses to make ends meet. But finding the money to pay for the last
semester of school is the least of her problems when she uncovers a body
in her boss's bed.
College student and housekeeper Jane Adler dreams of being a missionary but the road there is littered with corpses.
Jane found the most recent body floating in the hot tub at her newest client's house. The dead guy was a notorious flirt and carouser. Had his romantic shenanigans gotten him killed?
Cleaning up a murder was bad enough, but Jane’s love life was a mess too. Usually absence makes the heart grow fonder, but her boyfriend Isaac’s overseas teaching job seems to be driving them apart.
On top of it all she’s been hand selected by her church as a candidate for one of their few fully funded missionary support positions. But can she solve a murder, keep her boyfriend, and follow her dream all at the same time?
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Orphaned as an infant, Madeline Snow grew up in the Shaker community—the perfect place to learn reverence, hard work, and a love for God that surpasses the need for an earthly family. But the difference between what the Bible says and what the Shakers taught was too much for Madeline, so when she came of age, she left the safety of her home for a new life with her much older sister.
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Unfortunately for Madeline, finding a husband isn’t simply a matter of falling in love. Some men are off limits, no matter how they make your heart thunder.