I’d heard of Maggie’s Diner, but couldn’t say in all my years I’d ever set foot inside. The farther Amos drove his truck out of Charleston’s city limits, the more I wondered where we were really going so early in the morning. The diner reminded me of a Waffle House, cooks were behind the counter slapping eggs and bacon on the grill. The smells were certainly inviting to my stomach.
I followed Amos towards a booth in the back and almost stopped when I saw two other men occupying the booth. I assumed these men were old buddies of Amos. His contacts as he called them. We slid into the booth, me first and then Amos. “Gentleman, this is Eugeena Patterson,” Amos said to his friends.
One of the men smiled, his dark skin crinkled. “The budding detective. Heard your retirement has been interesting.”
Amos looked at me. “This here is Joe Douglas, my partner for ten years.”
“Partners, until I took a bullet,” Joe said.
Amos grinned. “Best thing that happened to you. Joe retired a few years before me and started his own private detective business.”
“Really? How’s that going for you?” I asked.
Joe shrugged. “It brings in money. Never a dull moment. You’d be surprised how often people want background checks or want me to follow a supposedly cheating spouse.”
Amos leaned his hand in the direction of a man whose hair was completely white. In fact, if he had a white beard, he could have easily passed for Santa Claus. His wide belly seemed a bit stuffed inside the booth. “And, this is Lenny Wilkes.”
For a minute I thought I heard wrong. “Wilkes?” I asked. “Any relation to Detective Sarah Wilkes?”
Lenny boomed. “My daughter, even better detective than her old man.”
I peered over at Amos, who provided me with his usual wink.
I wasn’t sure how I felt. “So, your daughter doesn’t mind you guys interfering in her investigation?” I started to say old-timers but thought it best not to offend Amos’s buddies.
Lenny shook his head. “No interference, just keeping an eye on the cases.”
Joe added, “Good old fashion detective work is what we do. All before people relied on DNA.”
Amos said, “It gives us something else to do, you know besides the golf course.”
I knew Amos wasn’t a fan of golf, but from recent conversations, Lenny had played with Kendall Sanders.
The waitress came to the table to see what Amos and I wanted. I ordered scrambled eggs and bacon, and Amos ordered grits, hash browns and sausage. The waitress refilled Joe and Lenny’s coffee then returned with mugs and a steaming coffee canister for Amos and me.
After a few more moments of silence, I looked at all of them. “So, I imagine Amos told you about my future daughter-in-law, Carmen Alpine. She’s innocent.”
Joe nodded. “We’re seeing that.”
“Did you find out who Darius was on the phone with that morning?” I asked.
Lenny said, “We did. Sarah already knows and talked to the person.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Who was it?”
“Anna Hudson.”
“Anna?” I exclaimed. I thought back to my conversations with the young woman, only yesterday morning. “Well, she was on the conference committee. She told me the committee had dinner that Tuesday night with Darius. She could have been thanking him for being a part of the conference.”
Joe nodded. “That’s exactly what she told the police when she was questioned.”
The waitress returned with our plates. As I dug into the fluffy eggs, questions whirled in my mind. I’m not sure why, but I asked, “You said that Anna was questioned. Do you know when?”
Joe placed his mug on the table and flipped through his notes. “Well, according to police statements, Ms. Hudson’s statement was taken around noon. The conference attendees had finished the sessions for the morning and were sitting down for the catered lunch.”
A chill passed through my blouse despite the cardigan sweater I wore. That wasn’t right. “Before noon? Do you have the details of that statement? I mean would the police say why they were questioning her?”
Amos looked over at me. “Yes, they would have mentioned Mr. Randall’s demise. What’s going on?”
I placed my fork down. “I met Anna that Wednesday afternoon and she didn’t seem to have any knowledge of Darius being dead. In fact, she claimed she’d been busy with the conference and didn’t know anything had happened. But you said she was questioned at noon.” I looked down at my coffee mug. “Unless the police told her not to say anything, perhaps it was an intentional omission.”
I looked up to see all the men glancing around the table at each other. Lenny shrugged and spoke first. “It’s possible my daughter didn’t say anything about his death when she questioned Ms. Hudson.”
I could see the wheels spinning in the men’s head, probably thinking back to what was in the statement.
Joe added, “There were a lot of reporters roaming around the hotel. The hotel was trying to keep the murder quiet as they could with the conference going on.”
Still something was stirring in the back of my mind. I didn’t know why, but I had one other thing to bring up.
“Have any of you looked into Darius’s past? Did you know he was married two other times?”
“I think I remember you mentioning it to me,” Amos said. “What are you trying to get us to see, Eugeena?”
“Find out about these former wives. Were there any children?” I leaned forward. “One other thing that has bothered me was the Tuesday before Darius’s death. I discovered yesterday Anna Hudson’s office is only a few buildings down from the bakery. It would be great to know how friendly Anna and Darius were. Was he actually following Carmen or just in the neighborhood?”
Amos nodded. “Sounds like you’re not just concentrating on Monique anymore.”
“No,” I said, “I think there is someone else who’s been pulling the rug over a lot of people’s eyes, and I’m really curious to know why.”