Nosy Neighbor: All 7 complete Nosy Neighbor cozy mysteries PLUS: 2 short Christmas stories (A Nosy Neighbor mystery)

by Cynthia Hickey

  “It’s more than I have now. Nice doing business with you.” She strolled away, leaving my heart lodged in my throat at the danger she put herself in by coming to where I was.

  I clutched the paper sack until she was out of sight, then turned. The form of a man ducked around the building. With one more glance in the direction Mom had gone, I hurried back to the others.

  “You bought booze?” Angela made a move for the bag the moment I returned.

  “Hush.” Why did I have to use that word so much in regards to my sister? I peered into the bag. An amber colored bottle with a few drops of beer, from the smell of it, nestled inside. A small water-proof tube stuck from the neck of the bottle. Inside the tube was a rolled up piece of paper.

  I pulled out the paper and handed the bottle to Angela, who upended it almost immediately. I shuddered. “You don’t know where that came from.”

  “Do you?” she shrugged.

  I lowered my voice. “Mom gave it to me.”

  “So, everything is good.”

  “But, you didn’t know that.”

  “I’m stressed right now.” Her eyes welled with tears. “Have some compassion.”

  It wasn’t my place to straighten out my sister. Mom had tried for years. Angela was…Angela, with all her quirks and questionable morals. I’d let God handle her. He was way more capable.

  “What does the note say?” Mary Ann crawled closer. “Who is it from?”

  “It’s from Mom,” I whispered. The other two read over my shoulder.

  Girls,

  There’s been a development. Don’t trust anyone. I mean it. Someone close to us is not who he seems. The young man has found out some disturbing information and gone into hiding. Don’t be alarmed. I will care for him.

  The bag lady

  “Give me your lighter.” I held out my hand to Angela.

  “How do you know I have one?”

  “I know you still carry one even if you did quit smoking.”

  She sighed and dug around in her pack, finally emerging with it.

  I burned the note, letting the ashes fall to the floor. I knew who the young man was. It had to be Dakota. Possibly Rusty, but I was going with my nephew. As for the someone close we couldn’t trust, I prayed with all my heart she didn’t mean Wayne. I pulled the spy ring from my finger, turned the little knob that switched it off, and dropped it in my pocket.

  Mary Ann watched me and removed her necklace. “We really are on our own.”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  I ignored the buzzing of my cell phone. It didn’t take a genius to know Wayne was trying to call.

  Several minutes later, the drunk returned. He slid down the wall a few feet from us and exhaled sharply. Without saying a word, he crossed his arms and went to sleep. Or at least pretended to. The more I thought about it, the more I figured he wasn’t drunk, but undercover. I smiled and rolled up in my blanket, feeling safer than I had since leaving home.

  When I woke a few hours later, the man was gone. I stretched, feeling every bit of my twenty-eight years. Empty cracker wrappers told me the other two had eaten. Their voices drifted from the direction of the bathroom. I got painfully to my feet and went to join them.

  “What now?” Mary Ann asked as she applied a small amount of makeup in the speckled mirror. “Want to make an appearance at the convenience store? Is that where runaways might hang out?”

  “I’ll go stand on the street corner,” Angela said from her seat on the closed toilet. “Maybe I can coerce some fool into saying something.”

  If anyone could, it was my shapely sister. I still didn’t think anyone would believe her to be nineteen, but once she started promising them things, they probably wouldn’t care. The lack of heavy makeup helped her look younger. Maybe we’d be okay.

  “I’ll stand outside and keep watch while you two do your thing. Someone has to be able to cry the alarm if something goes wrong.”

  After we’d cleaned up the best we could in a tiny bathroom sink, we headed into a cloudy mid-morning. A gray sky promised rain. Wonderful. Our new home would be cold and damp. We walked the thirty minutes to “downtown”.

  Angela took off her poncho, revealing a low-cut blouse. She tugged her skirt higher and leaned against a lamp pole, propping one foot behind her as if she’d been soliciting her entire life. Maybe she had, in a way. Her looks had gotten her through school, barely, and she rarely went unemployed for long after losing a job. Me? I had to work for everything I had.

  I took my station against the dirty wall of the adult bookstore and watched as Mary Ann practically skipped into the convenience store. I knew she was worried about her brother, but her teenage acting ought to earn her an academy award. Of the three of us, she was the most believable.

  A bag lady shuffled down the opposite side of the street. I almost ran over, but realized the poor thing limped from a club foot. Even Mom couldn’t pull that off. Our drunk friend lounged in the doorway of an empty storefront. I hoped that someday I’d have a chance to thank him for looking out for us.

  A trio of African American young men laughed and shoved each other past us, doing a double take when they caught a glimpse of Angela. One of them made a ribald comment. His friends laughed.

  “You should be in school,” Angela said. “Now, unless you got money, get out of here.”

  Another few choice words left their mouths before they followed her advice. I smiled. Why did I worry about her? She was a champ at survival.

  Several cars pulled up alongside her. Angela leaned in, talked for a bit, and waved them on their way.

  After what seemed like an eternity, Mary Ann bounded from the convenience store with a bag of potato chips and a liter of soda. If the bulge under her shirt was any indication, she’d managed to follow through with her shoplifting idea.

  “Let’s go. Quickly,” she sang, glancing over her shoulder. “The clerk will get suspicious soon enough.”

  Waving for Angela to follow, we headed back to the warehouse as the first raindrops started to fall. Inside, I pulled the door closed and felt along the wall until reaching our meager pile of belongings. I located the candle, melted the bottom a bit, and stuck it to the floor before lighting the wick. Home sweet home.

  “Spill it, girls. What did you find out?” I glanced from one to the other, the worry in their eyes more pronounced in the flickering light of the candle.

  “The store clerk warned me no less than five times that young girls in this part of town have a way of disappearing. He suggested a halfway house about two blocks from here, but said they only have a sliver of a chance of staying there before a girl disappears.” She shook her head. “How have we not heard of this on the news?”

  “These are throw-away kids,” Angela said. “Runaways, foster kids, homeless. Either there isn’t anyone to care, or not enough funds to go looking. That’s why it’s important we stop this here. At least in our corner of the world.”

  I agreed. Hopefully, stopping it meant bringing our loved ones home safe.

  “One of the guys who pulled up in front of me was a cop,” she said. “I pointed him toward Wayne and asked him to move along. The other one didn’t have the funds to purchase anything, and acting or not, it isn’t free. I learned nothing. Is your cell phone buzzing?”

  “Yes.” I cupped my hand over my hip pocket. “Our warning note said not to trust anyone. You read it. So, I’m following the advice.”

  “Sometimes you have to take chances.” Our guard, or angel, or drunken vagrant, whatever he was, spoke from a dark corner of the hall. “Three girls alone against these people…not a good idea.”

  “We’ll take that into consideration. Thank you.” I turned my back on him. Not trusting anyone, meant him, too, even if I did feel safer with him around. I opened my pack, made sure my gun and Tazer were within easy reach, and pulled out a bottle of water.

  The crackle of the potato chip bag seemed abnormally loud in the concrete corridor. Anyone looking for three easy
victims, wouldn’t have a hard time finding us. Why hadn’t we been taken?

  I twisted off the top of the bottle and took a big gulp as Mary Ann lifted her shirt, revealing a teen throb magazine, a tube of lipstick, and a bottle of bumble gum pink fingernail polish. “I figured this is what a teen would steal,” she said. “I’ll pay for them when this is all over. If I’m able to.”

  Angela lifted her arm and sniffed her arm pit. “I need a shower.”

  “We all do. Let’s check out the other hallway.” I got to my feet. “It’s the one I wasn’t allowed to go in at the party. Maybe there’s a shower in there.”

  “I wouldn’t,” our guardian said. “You might see something you won’t like.”

  “That’s the point of us being here,” I snapped. “To put a stop to things we don’t like.”

  Leaving the others to follow, I marched to the large room where the party had been held. Had it really only been a couple of days?

  I stepped into the cavernous room. Our footsteps echoed in the emptiness. The doorway across from us loomed like the mouth of a foul beast. My heart rate increased. Maybe the vagrant was right. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea. Maybe it was a trap!

  I took a step back.

  Angela shoved against me. “Don’t be a scaredy-cat.”

  “Then you go first.”

  “Nope. It’s your idea.”

  “Mary Ann, I mean, Brittany?”

  “Not a chance.”

  “For crying out loud.” Our drunken friend whipped off his stringy wing and hat, revealing the boyishly handsome face of Mary Ann’s boyfriend, Officer Michael Barker.

  “You three are the hardest assignment I’ve ever had.”

  16

  Mary Ann squealed and threw her arms around Michael’s neck. I groaned. If anyone was watching, our cover was officially blown.

  “Now what?” I crossed my arms and glared. “No one is going to believe a silicone boobed teen girl, another with the beginnings of crow’s feet, and now a man? The only one who might have pulled off this charade was Mary Ann. We have no chance now.”

  “It never worked.” Michael peeled Mary Ann’s arms off him. “That’s why I’m here. You turned off the recording device so Wayne wasn’t able to fill you in. Your mother heard something from Dakota, you heard from—”

  “Just tell us what it is.”

  “Those responsible for the slavery ring are after you, and only you. Your sister and Mary Ann are collateral damage.”

  “Why? It isn’t like I fit the mold of what they want.”

  His face grew serious. “Because you have a reputation for finding out what you want to know. They’re running scared. That’s why I’m here and leaving the police department very short-handed.”

  “Then, I suppose we should solve this immediately.” The last thing I wanted was my sister and best friend tossed aside like yesterday’s garbage, just so some freak could get to me. Who knew writing true mystery romances could be so dangerous? Since that first book, I’d encountered one murderer after another. Maybe I should switch to romantic comedy.

  I tossed my hair and took a step into the hall of doom. Dramatic, but I seriously doubted we would discover anything warm and fuzzy there. While the other hall was dark and damp, this corridor was oppressive. As if something heavy weighed upon the air. It wasn’t too far of a stretch to believe the feeling was in my mind. Still, I found it hard to breathe.

  Not wanting the others to know of my rising anxiety level, I marched forward. Room and cell-like room held only a cot. Doors, with small windows with sliding panels, hung open. My stomach churned. I’d served dessert while atrocities against young girls went on mere yards away. Had it really only been two days?

  If those responsible saw through our ruse, there was nothing left to do but go home. “Let’s pack up and make a new plan.”

  Angela planted herself in my path. “My baby are out there.”

  “And we need a plan to get her back.” I met Michael’s gaze. “How can I get a message to these people letting them know I’m ready to meet?”

  “Let’s discuss it with Wayne.”

  “Can we trust him?”

  Angela snorted. “Now you’re being ridiculous.” She shoved past me. “Let’s go.”

  “You two make enough noise to wake the dead.” Dakota stepped around the corner, grinning.

  Angela screamed and wrapped him in her arms. “What are you doing here?”

  “I figured this is where y’all were hiding, so I came to join you.”

  My shoulders slumped. “I’ll stay here with him. The rest of you go home and make sure we live long enough to find Matt and Cherokee.” If he couldn’t go home, he definitely couldn’t stay out there alone.

  “Can’t we pretend he’s missing?” Mary Ann asked. “We would have keep him in the house.” She glanced around the warehouse. “It was hard enough with us three, staying here, but seeing these rooms…I shudder to think of the two of you alone here. Evil resides in these walls.”

  “You’re right. Let’s all go home.” Already a plan was formulating in my mind. A plan that would put me in the most danger I’d ever been in, but one that would, hopefully, protect the family left behind.

  After gathering our belongings, we waited in the doorway for an hour until Mom arrived with the van. Her sparkling grin cut through the gloom of the day like a lighthouse beacon. She might be worried about her granddaughter, but having her own daughters back under her roof would ease the worry a bit.

  The ride home was silent, cut only by the thwump of the windshield wipers and the rain pounding on the hood. “We were idiots,” I said. “How could we have actually thought masquerading as teenage girls was a good idea?”

  “It would have worked,” Michael said, “if those responsible hadn’t been alerted.”

  “That’s why I wrote the note.” Mom inhaled sharply through her nose. “I suspect we have a mole. But, I’m not ready to spill my suspicions just yet.”

  “The department could make you,” Michael pointed out.

  “They could try.” She shrugged. “Unless you taped this conversation without my permission, it’s your word against mine. And if you did tape us, it would never hold up in court.”

  “You could be impeding an investigation.”

  “Then, arrest me.” She whipped the steering wheel taking us sharply around the curve.

  I grabbed the handle to the right of my head. The poor rookie would figure out soon enough not to rile my mother. When she got something stuck in her craw, so to speak, she was like a snapping turtle latched on until the thunder rolled. I was always blessed to have her on my side.

  Mom pulled as close to the house as possible, but we were still all soaked by the time we got in the house. “Upstairs.” She pointed at Dakota. “You aren’t here. You’ve run away. Remember that.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He took the stairs two at a time. Within seconds, loud music radiated from his room. Very subtle that young man.

  “Why did you turn off your ring?” Wayne crossed his massive arms. “It was a foolish, foolhardy move that required me removing Officer Barker from his job. Without Detective Steele here, we cannot afford to move anymore manpower.”

  “I’ll write him a check. That should make it worth his time.” I headed for the kitchen and some coffee.

  “Don’t be flippant with me.” He followed.

  I whirled, coffee pot in one hand, and poked him in the chest with my finger. “Then don’t pull that macho act with me! My nerves are strung so tight, you could have a guitar solo with them.” I swallowed back tears. “I’m tired, I’m hungry, I’m worried and scared, not to mention my hair is black. Black!” I thrust the coffee pot under the faucet and slapped the water on.

  Without saying another word, Wayne took the pot from me. He motioned his head toward the upstairs.

  I nodded. A shower and bed sounded exactly like what I needed. If sleep eluded me, I’d return for the coffee.

  As I stood in
the shower, I stared at the drain trying to see whether the dye was washing out. Something dark swirled at my feet. It wasn’t until I got out and glanced in the mirror that I realized it had been my eye liner. Matt would get a laugh out of the hair dye refusing to fade. I prayed that he would get that chance.

  Were they mistreating him? Had they drugged Cherokee and forced her to do unspeakable things? Could I dare hope that the two of them were merely locked up until things died down? Did my niece know that Matt was close by? Was he?

  Despite the questions cycling through my mind like a tornado, I fell asleep almost instantly. When I woke, the house was quiet. The alarm said four a.m. I’d slept the day and most of the night.

  I climbed out of bed and headed to the kitchen where Wayne sat hunkered over a laptop at the kitchen table. “I kept the pot hot,” he said. He leaned back in his chair and ran his hands over his face. “I’ve been trying to find everything I can on Carol Forbes. Until she became a foster parent, it was like she didn’t exist.”

  “Could the state have missed that?” I breathed deep of the java pouring into my cup. “I mean, don’t you have to have fingerprints done and references? Things like that?”

  “Yeah, but someone didn’t pay attention to the lack of a birth certificate. Not that it isn’t as easy to falsify, and other records.” He shook his head. “Maybe I’m just too tired to make sense of it.”

  I held the mug out to him.

  “No, thanks. I’ve had enough to give me a heart attack.”

  “Go get some sleep. I’ll see if I can find anything.”

  “Time is running out.” He glanced at me with red-rimmed eyes. “My partner is depending on me. I don’t have time to sleep.”

  “You won’t be a lot of good to us if you don’t.” I decided at that moment that whoever Mom meant we couldn’t trust, it wasn’t Wayne. “You’re doing all you can. Get at least a two-hour nap.”

  He nodded. “Wake me at six-thirty.” He headed for the living room.

  I had no intention of waking him. The man needed sleep.

  I turned his laptop to where I could see the screen. Carol Forbes’s face stared back at me from a driver’s license photo. Who are you really, Carol? What would cause you to sell young girls?