Bright New Murder: A Plain Jane Mystery

by Traci Tyne Hilton

  Their idea at the funeral had been to goad him into a confession. Right now, he was weak. He had been taken off work, had had a little trouble with his girlfriend, and had a murder on his chest. She was sure she could get him to confess, but she would love Jake’s help with it.

  Which begged the question: did Jake really have time to be her partner in the detective business? His job running the family restaurant business had been all-consuming over the summer and fall. She chalked his recent spate of free time up to bad winter sales and the holidays. But when things got back to normal, would he have time to play Nick and Nora with her? And was it selfish of her to hope he would?

  Yes. Of course it was. She didn’t want to change her life plans for Isaac. Why should Jake have to adopt her dream?

  Fortunately, today was a holiday, and Jake was the boss. If he wanted to, he could probably take the day off to hunt down a killer.

  Jane pulled her hair into a ponytail. She was glad she wore leggings with her miniskirt last night, but wished she had realized she was going to spend the night and had packed a toothbrush. Feeling more than a little scuzzy, she went downstairs for breakfast.

  “Mi vida.” Jake sat at the breakfast bar, dark shadows under his eyes. His voice was hoarse and his hair stood on end. He yawned. “What are you making for breakfast?”

  Jane looked at her watch. “A quick getaway. I’m so sorry.”

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “I have two post–New Year’s Eve houses to clean today.” Jane took a deep breath. She’d have to run home and face Gemma, since real life didn’t stop for pouting cousins.

  Jake rested his head in his hand and closed his eyes with a smile. “Hard work is cute.”

  “When I’m done, I’ll call you.”

  “That’s nice.” Jake laid his head on the table. “I hate mornings.”

  “It’s nine.” Jane kind of wanted to sit on his lap, but refrained. She was going to have to learn to keep it together if she wanted to have half a chance at a nice, long courtship.

  “Exactly.” He stretched his arms over his head. “Are you sure you have to go?”

  “Even if I had won the lottery last night instead of getting kicked out of my apartment, I would need to go. I made a commitment.”

  Jake grinned. “You did win the lottery last night. And if you don’t call me by noon, I’m coming to find you. Do you understand?”

  With an act of self-control that surprised her, Jane did not leap into his arms. “Yessir.” She scrambled out of his house as fast as she could, only hoping the neighbors weren’t asking what that nice Adler girl had been doing at Jake’s house all night. When she turned to look one more time, she noticed that the driveway was still full of cars.

  They hadn’t been even remotely alone.

  She stared at the cars. They hadn’t been alone, but she had thought of nothing but…that since he kissed her at the other party.

  This was not how God wanted her to fall in love. This was not okay. She sat on the curb and shivered. So much for being ready for the mission field. She was no better than an adolescent kid.

  Perhaps that was what her parents, and teachers, and everyone else had been talking about when she tried so hard to run away with the missionaries the year before. Perhaps…she wasn’t as grown-up as she thought.

  She took five minutes to pray, heartfelt and contrite. Whatever path God had for her, it had to include a lot of growing up if she was ever going to be the woman she had thought she was.

  She had an hour before she needed to get to her first house, so when she noticed something familiar about one of the cars in the driveway, she didn’t mind taking a minute to check it out.

  It was just a series of bumper stickers, that was all. One that said “HLP.” One that said “I like to eat” and had a picture of an apple and a banana on it. A stick figure family with a dad, mom, and two girl figures, each with long hippy braids. Another sticker that said “Vegan Pride.”

  Had a Helper come to Jake’s family party? And if so…would that person know anything about Del’s relationship with his sisters?

  Jane leaned casually against the car, hoping no one would know she was looking inside. She fiddled with the door handle, not really expecting it to pop open, but it did.

  She crawled inside and popped open the jockey box. The registration was right on top.

  Del Willis.

  Jane shot out of the car and ran back into the house. She slid into the kitchen and caught herself on the breakfast bar.

  “He’s still here, then?”

  Jane nodded. She needed to catch her breath before she could start on her questions.

  “Before you yell, remember my head.”

  “I won’t yell—he could hear.”

  “Ah, my only saving grace.” Jake passed Jane a cup of coffee. “I had hoped you’d come back.”

  “What’s he doing here?” Jane kept her voice at a whisper.

  “I invited everyone I could think of and had them pass the word along. You didn’t really think I was related to all of those people, did you?”

  “But why didn’t you tell me?”

  Jake held his finger to his lips, though she hadn’t raised her voice. “To be completely honest, it was because every time I looked at you, all I could think about was how much I wanted to kiss you. It was New Year’s Eve. I planned on making a citizen’s arrest. But every time you walked past, or I walked past you, since you stayed cooped up in that card room most of the night, I forgot.”

  “Well, what do we do now?”

  “We find him. I assume he’s not the only one still here?”

  “No, there are five other cars out there, too.”

  “The let’s keep this chill, okay? Let’s just go around the house looking for guests and asking them if they want to stay for breakfast.” He took her hand and kissed it.

  They went upstairs first, knowing that a mixed crowd of random invites from the grapevine had likely ended up in bedrooms. Phoebe was in her own room with four girlfriends all getting dressed. Jake covered his eyes. “Breakfast orders?”

  “You can’t cook. We’re going out.” Phoebe tossed a pillow at her brother. “And shut the door.”

  The next bedroom had been slept in, but was empty. On their way to the third, Del came padding down the hall in yesterday’s clothes.

  “Breakfast order?” Jake squeezed Jane’s hand.

  “Ah, no thanks.” Del raked his hand through his hair. “I’ve got to run. Beth is meeting me at her mom’s house.”

  “Before you go…” Jane smiled. “Did you guys have fun last night?”

  Jake snorted, but quietly.

  “Sure.” Del pulled his phone out and checked the time.

  “It was the second-best party of the year, in my opinion.” Jane was doing her best to drag the conversation out. Del couldn’t leave yet.

  “Yeah. It was fun.” Del eyed the open bedroom door.

  Jake pulled Jane to the next room. “Keep it chill.”

  “Good morning—” Jane stopped.

  Aunt Marjory sat on the bed.

  “I see you stayed over, yet again.” Marjory pinned her hair back. “Quite a ‘little’ family party last night, Jake.”

  “Well, you know how these things are, Aunty. That Pheebs of yours is quite a social butterfly.”

  “Ahh. Sure, she is.”

  “And, um, I didn’t stay the night with Jake, just so you know. Really. I was upstairs the whole time.”

  “Shhh,” Jake whispered.

  “Alone.” She let go of his hand.

  Marjory raised an eyebrow. “You don’t have to justify yourselves to me. I’m not in charge here.” She stood up and cleared her throat. Jake stepped aside.

  “I won’t be staying for breakfast.” Aunt Marjory left.

  “Why didn’t you tell her?” Jane searched Jake’s face. A rosy shade of embarrassed spread across his cheeks.

  “I had invited a killer to the house, you know.”


  “And?”

  “And I couldn’t leave you up there by yourself when I knew for certain everyone else who stayed would be staying in one of the many nice bedrooms on this level.”

  “So?”

  “So I stayed up all night by your door. When I heard you get up, I left. But…Marjory saw me coming away from your room this morning. She said she was assessing the damage.”

  “Ahh.” Jane gritted her teeth. Jake was destined to ruin her good name. Innocently, of course, but that wouldn’t matter to people who liked gossip.

  “The point to remember is that Del Willis did not sneak into your bedroom last night and stick a knife in you.”

  “What?” The voice behind them was deep, shocked, and belonged to Del.

  “Oh, ah, ha ha.” Jake tried to laugh.

  Jane tried to smile.

  “I didn’t hear that right, did I?”

  “He was attempting to be my knight in armor, I guess.” Jane managed another nervous laugh.

  “But…” Del looked confused. “Why would you think I—?” His face began to show recognition. “Because of the bag of trash. Someone told you about that.” His face blanched.

  “It doesn’t look good, bro. Between that and your sister.” Jake shrugged.

  “We would understand why you had a grudge for so long,” Jane added.

  “A grudge? Against who? Michelle?” Del took a step back.

  “Because of Isis,” Jane said.

  Del took off down the stairs. He hesitated at the bottom.

  Jane was frozen in her spot. Was he scared or guilt ridden?

  Jake was almost to him when he turned and ran towards the back door.

  Jane took the steps two at a time and caught up with both boys outside.

  “Is that why you invited me here? Because you thought I killed Michelle Smith?”

  Jane and Jake stood silently, Jane behind his car, and Jake between Del and Del’s only way out.

  Del held his hands up. “You can’t pin this on me.”

  Was that a confession? Jane’s phone shook in her hand. She wanted to call the police this second, but…was it a confession? She fished around in her other pocket and found the card for the snotty Detective Benedict. She kept silent, and so did Jake.

  Del was pinned between the other cars and Jake. Jane counted on him not driving away while she stood at the back of his car. He pulled open the car door anyway, but then just stood there, shaking. “You cannot pin this on me. I didn’t touch that woman.”

  “How did you know she was going to be there?” Jane asked.

  “I didn’t know anything.”

  “Did you see her on the security camera and decide to get her while you could? Your one shot while she was in town?” Jake added.

  “Or…” Jane went slowly, the idea forming while she spoke. “Did you see she was there on the security camera and call your mommy to come? And then she did it?”

  Del spit.

  “It wasn’t his mom, remember, Jane? It was a man in black.”

  “Jason Miter?”

  “Why not? Did you see Michelle at the party and call Jason? You know him because his kids went to school with your sisters? Something like that? You knew about his money troubles because this is just a big small town and gossip spreads?” Jane was on a roll. “No! You knew about his troubles because his son Ethan, who we guessed was fifteen and definitely went to school with your sisters, talks too much.”

  Del gripped the door.

  “I’m going to make a guess,” Jake said. “If I’m right, panic, okay? I think Ethan keeps in touch with Clove, and you heard from Clove that her parents were really, really upset with Michelle, right?”

  Del’s jaw flexed, and sweat popped out on his forehead.

  “So, you were sitting in your little office, and you saw Michelle waltz into the party.” Jake leaned templed his fingers and lifted an eyebrow. “Then you called the senior Mr. Miter, Jason, to come take care of a mutual problem.” While Jake spoke, Jane dialed Detective Benedict’s number.

  “I didn’t call anyone.” Del stood up straight, an almost cocky look in his eye. “You can check the phone records. And the cameras. I didn’t call anyone that night.”

  “Of course not.” Jane smirked. She had her finger on this one. “Because your stepmom is still friends with Michelle. Michelle told her about the party, which is how the Helpers ended up there to protest, and how you knew in advance that Michelle would be there.” Jane smiled at Jake, who gave her a thumbs-up.

  Del dove into his car and slammed the door shut. He hit the locks and started the engine.

  Detective Benedict answered. Jane tossed the phone to Jake and lay across the back of Del’s car.

  Nonviolent protest was a language Del spoke.

  “Hey there, buddy,” Jake said. “We just solved your murder. If you want to know what we know, you might want to get here.” There was a lengthy silence from Jake, but Del revved his engine.

  Adrenaline pumped through Jane, tinged with a touch of mind-rattling fear, but mostly she just wanted to win. Del could not leave before the police got here.

  “Nope, we’ve got the killer right here. Do we have to? Are you absolutely sure?” Jake didn’t hide the disgust in his voice. Then, “Let him go, Jane. We aren’t allowed to keep him here.”

  Jane stood up. “Really? We have to let him go?”

  Jake rolled his eyes. “No evidence, yo.”

  Del backed out of the driveway as soon as Jane had stepped to the side.

  “But we caught him.”

  Jake shrugged. “We’ll be there in ten minutes.” He hung up.

  “What now?” Jane kicked a rock.

  “Now we go to Detective Benedict and tell him everything we know. We tell him how Del reacted to our story. And we let the cops arrest them.”

  “Why can’t we do it?”

  Jake draped his arm over her shoulder. “Because we’re private investigators, not cops. But I think we did good, and I don’t think they’ll get away with it.”

  Jake hadn’t given Jane enough time to get changed, so they met the detective at his office in last night’s party clothes. They laid the whole story out for him.

  “But you don’t have any evidence. Any proof that what you are saying is true.” Detective Benedict could only have had a deeper frown if he had had a big, droopy mustache.

  “You could check and see if the Miters were telling the truth about paying off their debt,” Jane said.

  “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.

  18

  “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.