Dirty Little Murder (5 page)

Jane stopped at the store
on the way home to buy a new phone. She grabbed a pay-as-you-go phone and a time card, and set it up before she drove away. Not that it was a real help, since it didn’t have her phone numbers in it, and no one knew its number.

She charged it in her car as she drove home. It wasn’t much use, but it was something to call her phone company from—and her parents, who paid the bill on their family plan—to replace her real phone.

When she got home and her phone was finally usable she called Isaac—one of the few numbers she knew by heart.

And he actually answered.

“Jane!”

A smile spread across Jane’s face that started in her heart. His voice was a breath of fresh air. “Where have
you
been?”

“In the mountains. Very sketchy reception. You, my friend, would love it.”

Jane exhaled slowly. His voice sounded so happy and confident. A gray shadow lifted from her picture of the future. Isaac was totally going to want to be a missionary after this.

“I’ve had a horrible week. Tell me something to take my mind off of it.” Jane stretched out on her futon and kicked her shoes off.

“I can hear the ocean from my office.”

“I thought you were in the mountains?”

“I was, but I’m back at the office now. I’m staring at a picture of the view from the ridge of the mountain we climbed and listening to the sound of the ocean from my office.”

“Can you see the water?”

“Nah, there’s a forest, a wildlife preserve, between here and there, but it’s a short walk, and I can hear it.”

“You can hear it with a forest in the way?” She wasn’t sure if Isaac wasn’t making any sense or if she was just having a hard time concentrating. Whenever he said ocean, the image of
Douglas
’s head floating in the water came to mind. She wanted it to go away, but it wouldn’t.

“It’s not loud, but it’s there.”

“So location is perfect. Now, how is the work going?”

“Great. The students are serious. None of the slackers you get back home.”

“You love it.”

“That I do. But you had a horrible week? What happened?”

Jane paused. She wasn’t ready to talk about
Douglas
yet. “Paula Ehlers—the mission coordinator at
Columbia River
? Her husband was killed in a hit and run.”

“That’s awful.”

“She’s a wreck. I feel so bad for her.”

“You’ve got to step up, Jane. These are the moments God put you on Earth for.”

Jane pictured the last time she had gone to Paula’s house to help. “I want to help, but I don’t think she needs me.”

“Of course she needs you.”

“Listen, that wasn’t the worst of it.”

“Mark Ehlers dying wasn’t the worst?”

“It was bad, but not the worst. You know my new clients, the Swansons?”

“Wait—hold on a second.”

Jane waited. The silence was killing her. Had the line been dropped?

“Okay, I’m here. Something was worse than Mark dying?” He had a distracted tone in his voice.

“Mr. Swanson, my client, died, too. They think it was murder.”

“Get out.”

“What?”

“Another murder? Are you kidding?”

“No, I’m not kidding in the least.” Jane rolled onto her side, she needed a bit more than disbelief and distraction right now.

“No. I’m sorry. Of course you wouldn’t, but you can see what I mean, can’t you? It’s a little unbelievable.”

“Yeah, of course.” Jane’s heart was heavy and her whole body felt tired. She had waited ages to be able to talk to him and this was the support he offered?

“How did it happen?”

“I don’t really know yet. I was cleaning the hot tub room and I found him, drowned in the tub.”

“No way.”

“Really.”

“Hey, Jane. I hate to do this, but I’ve got to go. They need me outside. But I’ll call, okay? Until then, see what you can do for Paula. This has got to be hard for her.”

“Yeah. Of course.”

The phone clicked off.

Jane traced the screen of her new phone with her finger. Had he just dismissed her troubles? Surely not. That wasn’t his style. His teaching gig at the seminary in
Costa Rica
was just all consuming. She knew what that felt like. He would call her back when he had more time to talk about things. Probably.

Jane called her parents next to take care of the family plan phone thing.

Her mother answered on the first ring.

Jane rushed through the tale of how she found the body and lost her phone.

“Oh, Janey! Do you want to come home? You don’t have to stay there after all of that. What a nightmare.”

“No, Mom, I don’t need to go back to
Phoenix
, which as you remember, is not my home.”

“Honey, you want to be a missionary. You don’t have a home.”

“True. And I don’t have a phone either. Or, not a permanent phone. What am I supposed to do now?”

“Just go buy lots of minutes for that one, sweetie. We’ll call the phone company and fix the situation, but until they send you a new phone, you need some way to get a hold of people in an emergency.”

“That makes sense. Thanks.” Jane picked at the lint on her denim shorts. She was tempted to ask for a phone upgrade while she had her mom.

“I’m uncomfortable with this Swanson situation, honey. It sounds dangerous.”

“I’ll be fine, Mom. Don’t worry.” Jane changed her mind about a phone upgrade, and now just hoped to cut the call short.

“I just remember last time…”

“I live with Gemma now. Aunty Gail sends us casseroles. I’m not homeless, hungry, or anything. And I have lots of clients since school is out. Don’t even worry.”

“You go straight to Aunty Gail’s if anything goes wrong. Promise?”

“I promise.” Jane sighed.

“No attitude.”

“Mom.”

“Okay. I love you. Call your dad.”

“As soon as I can. Bye, Mom.”

“Bye, baby.”

Jane hung up and flopped back on her bed. Calling her mom had been worse than calling Isaac, though she wasn’t sure why. It hurt to think there were problems so bad in the world that her mom couldn’t fix them just like that. Jane dialed Isaac’s number again but didn’t press send. Her heart was lonely, and she was scared. She just wished she had someone in
Portland
who loved her right now.

The next day was Sunday, and after church and lunch, Jane met her ministry team at the new Bean Me Up Scotty’s coffee shop by the mall.

Jane sipped her iced mocha. Valerie was texting. Kaitlyn was late.

Jane wasn’t sure how to propose their new idea to Valerie. Kids that hang out at the mall and get bullied. They exist, but were they a group? Did they have a self-identity that she and her teammates could tap into? The coffee shop was quiet, which was nice. If Valerie was going to laugh her head off at their dumb idea, at least the audience was small.

Valerie looked up at her phone and smiled. “I’ll be just a sec.”

Jane looked out the window. Kaitlyn was just pulling up in her shiny silver Jetta. She had a frazzled look about her that Jane had never seen before. Her hair was in a messy bun—but not the carefully messed up kind. In fact, patches of white showed through the bun—clear signs the mess on top of her head was supposed to be a big, sleek, “sock” bun and not a messy bun at all.

When Kaitlyn managed to pull up a chair at the table, it was obvious she wasn’t herself. She took a deep breath. “I need prayer warriors, stat.”

Valerie reached across the table for Kaitlyn’s hand and bowed her head.

Jane took a hold of Kaitlyn’s prosthetic and looked around the room. The barista wasn’t watching.

“Oh, Lord, I need your strength now, more than ever.”

Jane echoed the sentiment in her mind. She peeked at the barista again. This time the girl with the nose ring was watching. Jane shut her eyes.

“Today your enemies are trying to thwart your plans, but we trust in your strength, and your will, Lord God, but please help us trust.”

Jane peeked at Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn’s head was slightly bowed. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her brows drawn close together. She wasn’t faking her stress, even if Jane thought the words were a bit melodramatic.

Kaitlyn closed with more of what Jane secretly considered church jargon, and then lifted her head, chin stuck out.

“Poor girl, what has happened?” Valerie kept her hold on Kaitlyn’s hand.

“Yo-Heaven has just opened up at the mall food court.”

“So?” It popped out before Jane could control herself. She hadn’t meant to say it. But really. So?

Kaitlyn stuck her chin out a little further. She cast her big, sad blue eyes on Jane. “They are Bubble-Bubble’s strongest competitors.

Jane wanted to say, “So?” again, but refrained. With effort she asked, “Tell me more about this problem.”

“Yo-heaven is way more popular than Bubble-Bubble. It just is. And they opened up in the empty spot right next to me. I don’t know how I can take this.”

Valerie made some soothing sounds but caught Jane’s eye. She shrugged lightly.

“Are you concerned the Yo-Heaven is going to affect your job?”

“I’ll lose my job. We won’t last a week next to Yo-Heaven. But even if we do, I won’t get to stay on. I’ve only been there a month.”

“But you’ll land on your feet, won’t you? I mean, don’t you live with your parents still?”

Kaitlyn nodded. “I moved back home to save money for the wedding and for moving to the
Philippines
. But I can’t save any money if I don’t have a job.”

On the one hand, Jane could sympathize, but on the other… all of Kaitlyn’s immediate needs were met. “I’ll keep you in my prayers.”

“I need thirty thousand dollars in the bank before the wedding.”

Val dropped Kaitlyn’s hand. “Why on Earth do you ‘need’ that much money Kaitlyn?”

Kaitlyn held up her prosthetic. “This.” She set it down again with a thud. “The organization Spencer serves with won’t take me on board if I’m not self-insured. I need to have enough money for a round trip ticket back to America, a hospital stay, and a new prosthetic if anything should happen to this one.”

“That costs thirty thousand dollars?” Jane tried to hide her disbelief.

“It’s a really handy hand.” Kaitlyn flexed the fingers on her fake hand. “Plus, I have a special one for swimming. And anyway, a hospital stay could easily eat up that much money in a day.”

“I see,” Jane lied.

“So your job is very important to you right now.” Valerie had a sweet, coo-ing tone to her voice. Jane knew it was what Kaitlyn needed, so she attempted to adjust her own attitude.

“Yes.” Kaitlyn sniffed. She dabbed at her nose with Jane’s napkin.

“But there’s really no way you could save up $30,000 in—what, a year?—working at Bubble-Bubble Tea.”

Kaitlyn nodded, chewing on her lip. “I sell Bible studies I write on Amazon too.”

“I can see how stressful this is for you.” Jane’s first attitude adjustment hadn’t helped, so she tried again. “Let’s keep optimistic. You haven’t lost your job yet.”

“That’s right, sweetie,” Valerie said. “Let’s not jump the gun, okay?”

“I just know that whenever we get really close to doing a good work for God, the enemy comes in and tries his best to blast it all to pieces. And, Jane, we have a great idea for a good work, yeah? My job at the mall is a key piece to that.”

Jane had her eye on the barista, who appeared to be laughing. A second barista, a good-looking man with graying hair and black plastic glasses, flicked the laughing one with his towel. “I’m sure your job there could be very useful.” The black eye-glasses barista caught Jane’s eye and mouthed, “I’m sorry.” Jane looked away.

“It’s a great idea. Let’s focus on that right now,” Valerie said.