Detective Wilkes and I stood outside Louise’s doors. Pat heard the commotion and came in to help settle Louise down. She turned toward us and said, “I gave her something to let her sleep. Poor thing needs to rest. I’m so sorry to hear about her son.”
I twisted my hands like a nervous child. “Please keep an eye on her. I will be back to check on her later.”
Pat nodded her head. “Sure. You’re like family. We will take good care of her. No worries, Mrs. Patterson.”
Well, I was worried. Detective Wilkes kept looking at me as though I had committed a crime. I turned to walk away, but that little red-haired gal stayed right by my side.
“What was Mrs. Hopkins talking about before they sedated her?”
I shook my head and kept walking. “How am I supposed to know?”
“You seemed to understand.”
I stopped and twirled around. “I was trying to comfort my friend who just lost her beloved son.”
“Who’s the woman that was here yesterday?”
Okay, that question didn’t sound good to me. I stared at the detective and then observed our surroundings. I turned to the front desk to see that Lexi watching us. I bet that no-breaking-the-rules receptionist said something to the detective. I looked on the other side of the desk and saw Ms. Saunders having words with Pat. Pat was looking rather animated. I wondered what had Pat all upset.
Really anyone could have told the detective about Jocelyn. Why did she think it was my duty to tell her? I took a deep breath. “I assume you’re referring to the young lady claiming to be Louise’s granddaughter?”
Detective Wilkes crossed her arms and looked at me. “You weren’t planning to tell me?”
“Detective, no disrespect, but I believe you found out on your own just fine. Now I hope we’re finished because I’m upset after seeing my friend in that state.” I twirled around and marched towards the front door.
The young detective kept up with my steps, which wasn’t hard to do because I wasn’t a fast walker. “I’m sorry. I know that was very hard seeing your friend’s grief. This is very difficult. Please, I have a few more questions for you. Had you seen the woman before?”
“Never. I didn’t know who she was when I saw her.”
“Was there animosity between this woman and Mr. Hopkins?”
Now that stopped me in my tracks as my dream from last night floated to the surface. I turned to face the detective. Really, Eugeena, a man was shot to death last night next door. A man I had watched grow up alongside my own children. I needed to help this woman the best I could. “Jocelyn was nervous about William showing up. I’m sure she wasn’t expecting him because she was trying to meet the woman she thought was her grandmother. William is … was an intimidating fellow. He kind of just came in and we had to leave.”
Detective Wilkes had whipped out her notepad. “Her name is Jocelyn. Last name?”
I felt protective all of a sudden, and I wasn’t sure why. I blurted out, “Why do you need to know this? When she left she wanted to forget everything. Her mother didn’t even know she was here.”
The detective’s eyebrow furrowed. “Was William involved with this woman, Jocelyn’s mother? Perhaps there was bad blood between the deceased and the mother?”
Oh boy! “Well, Detective, I see you made the same assumption I did. Jocelyn is not William’s daughter. Louise hasn’t confirmed, but there appears to be another child, a child that Louise gave up many, many years ago.”
Detective Wilkes’ sleep-deprived eyes grew wide. “That changes everything about this case. There could be all kinds of motives. We need to find this daughter.”
“Suppose the woman doesn’t want to be found? This other child doesn’t have anything to do with William. Remember I told you last night, William was showing off his house to a potential seller. There was a woman that showed up at the house last night.”
“Yes, I know and it’s my duty to pinpoint who that woman was at the house last night.”
Despite my own crazy thoughts, I was now officially worried that Detective Wilkes was barking up the wrong tree. My own daughter was a person of interest in a case a few months ago and I didn’t want another young woman to get ambushed because of a desire to connect to kin. “Jocelyn had no reason to come back. She saw her grandmother and that was all she wanted. She sounded like her mother wanted nothing to do with Louise.”
“People change their minds. I will be in touch, Mrs. Patterson. Try to stay out of trouble.”
I watched the detective walk away from me. I opened my car door and sat down inside for a minute to catch my thoughts. I couldn’t argue with Detective Wilkes. Jocelyn could have certainly changed her mind and could have confessed to her mother about her visit yesterday. I still couldn’t see what the purpose was for someone pretending to want to buy a house only to kill the seller. Knowing what I knew, William could have gotten himself involved with something shady.
I thought back to yesterday. Jocelyn was in the room and I know she probably heard that William was selling the house to a potential buyer. Still I didn’t think that was Jocelyn’s voice I heard last night. Or was I just kidding myself. I only met the woman one time.
I drove home feeling haunted by Louise’s distraught face. I turned on one of my favorite songs, Fixit Jesus by The Canton Spirituals. I wanted to help my friend, but everything that had transpired in the last two days was making my head hurt.
As I parked my car in my driveway, I heard my phone ringing from my pocketbook. I don’t know how long it had been ringing since I did have the music kind of loud. The voicemail had already picked up. While I waited to retrieve the voicemail message I looked up to see Amos outside raking the leaves in front of my yard.
That man had become my yard man, handyman, dinner companion, and in some ways, one of my dearest friends. I’d never imagined at my age that I would have a man as a friend.
Just a friend!
I sat in the car and watched Amos raking leaves until he looked up and waved. I waved back and held my head down. No need to have the man catching me in the act of checking him out. I looked down at my phone and saw the voicemail indicator. I didn’t recognize the phone number. I clicked the button and listened to the message.
“Ms. Eugeena, this is Pat, when you get a chance, I really need to talk to you. I think you’re the only one who can help.”
Help? What is going on that Pat would call me? I wondered if I should turn around and go back to the nursing home.
Someone tapped on my driver side window, startling me. I looked up to see Amos peering down at me with the rake in his hand. I don’t know what it was with him and overalls. That seemed to be his uniform. He opened the car door and held it open for me.
“How did things go with Louise?”
I placed the phone in my bag and pulled myself out of the car. Amos closed the car door and we walked back toward my porch. “Not too well. I knew she would be upset about William, but I have to say something else was upsetting her too.” I stopped and looked at Amos. “I think Jocelyn stirred up something in Louise. She mentioned how she lost all her babies. You know she had a miscarriage in her first marriage, but I can’t help but feel like she was referring to another child. A third child.”
Amos leaned the rake against the side of the house and lifted his baseball cap off his bald head. “You’re not thinking of trying to find this Jocelyn. Didn’t she want to leave it all alone?”
“I have to find Jocelyn and her mother.” I added in a lower voice. “At least before Detective Wilkes does.”
Amos eyed me. “Why? What did you say to the detective?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. Detective Wilkes was already there talking to the staff. She knew a young woman claiming to be Louise’s granddaughter came to visit yesterday. Except the detective thought what I thought, that maybe this was William’s child. I had to correct her.”
“So now this young lady or her mother is a possible suspect?”
“Detective Wilkes seemed interested and thought it put a different angle on the case.” I walked up the steps to my porch and then stopped when I reached the top. “You know something else and I don’t think I mentioned this to the detective, but William did seem to recognize Jocelyn.”
Amos placed his hat back on his head and grabbed the rake. “You know the police should handle this. You don’t know what you’re really getting into here.”
“But I need to warn Jocelyn.”
“You don’t really know if there is a true DNA relation here. You’re going by a resemblance in a photograph. Louise has not confirmed anything.”
“I could make sure Jocelyn’s story really checked out. Last thing I would want is to cause more grief for Louise.”
Amos pointed his finger at me. “Eugeena, you need to think carefully before you jump into this situation. If this was an adoption, there were reasons that happened over fifty years ago. There is no guarantee this will be a happy family reunion. It sounds like Jocelyn recognized that yesterday after meeting William. Don’t get any deeper into this until you get more confirmation from Louise especially with William’s death center stage now.”
Amos made perfectly good sense, but my nosiness had taken over. This was one of those secrets to which I wanted the whole story.