A Simmering Dilemma

by Tyora Moody

  “You’re not here at all to get work on your car, are you?” Damion smiled, but I noticed unease in his eyes.

  I was not Ms. Popular with folks today.

  “Like I said, I’m concerned, and to be honest, I’m looking for Charlene.”

  Damion’s shoulders jerked, “Why?”

  I gave him the eye myself, wondering what that reaction was about. “She seemed upset the other day, like she wanted to talk. Sounds like her friendship with Sondra hit a bad patch.”

  He narrowed his eyes, “Charlene will be fine. She hadn’t been that close to Sondra for years. Like Theo, she was better without her.”

  “I thought I remembered Sondra and Charlene hanging out together when they were younger. But I don’t remember Charlene’s sister, Yvette. I didn’t realize Charlene had a twin until my daughter mentioned it.”

  Damion scoffed. “Sondra and Yvette, now those girls were two of a kind, they lived for causing trouble for other people. Charlene was and still is sweet. She followed behind those two like some puppy dog. Really, she’s better off without both of them.”

  “Even her own sister? That’s pretty harsh to say, Damion.”

  He shrugged, “Sorry, I tend to say what’s on my mind. Yvette’s death was tragic, but there were a lot of people who didn’t miss her. A lot of people aren’t going to miss Sondra either.”

  I was speechless. Damion was hard core.

  “You sound protective of Charlene. She’s special to you.”

  He smiled, this time his face appeared to be genuine. “Charlene and I have always taken care of each other. Like I told you, she’ll be fine after some time passes by. She spent years not having anything to do with Sondra.”

  “So why get with her this past weekend after so much time had gone by?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  “Would it be possible for me to talk to her?”

  He licked his lips, thinking. “I can’t tell you where she lives or anything like that.”

  “No, I wouldn’t expect you to do that. But if you can pass the message along that I would like to talk to her, that would be wonderful. I do really want to make sure she’s alright. I like looking in on my former students from time to time. I’m glad to see you’re doing good, young man.”

  He flashed that charming smile again. “I’m doing alright.”

  “Good, well I’m going to leave you and thank you for having a talk with me.” I turned to leave.

  “Ms. Patterson?”

  “Yes.”

  “Briana’s a good person. Always has been. I hope the cops leave her alone.”

  “You know her dad is a former cop. I’m sure he’s going to do all he can.”

  Damion nodded.

  I could feel his eyes on my back as I left the auto shop. Once inside the car, I glanced up. He still seemed to be sitting behind the counter. I still didn’t get why the auto shop was closed. Now that I think about it, the whole time Damion and I talked there wasn’t a sign of any employees or any noise from the garage. Absolute silence.

  I wasn’t sure what to make of the shut-down. Maybe Theo wanted everything shut down until he could finish with the police. He was the main owner. It certainly would keep anyone from asking questions and being nosy during business hours.

  That didn’t stop this old lady.

  I checked my phone and smiled. Well, at least Amos finally returned my text. He must have texted me while I was talking to Damion.

  I opened the locked screen to read the text.

  Eugeena, no signs of Briana yet. Please keep an eye out for her if she comes back to the house. I’m working on something with my buddies and may be late. I didn’t want you to worry if I didn’t arrive home by dinner.

  I stared at the small screen for a few moments. What was Amos doing that he wasn’t going to be home for dinner? The man was retired.

  Lord, wherever he may be please protect him. Protect Briana, and please let me keep my peace of mind.

  Chapter 17

  Now I should have headed home but decided at the last minute to stop by Sugar Creek Cafe. I occasionally treated myself to a sugar free iced coffee. As hot as it was today, plus my emotional roller coaster ride through the day, I deserved a treat.

  The door chimes sang to me when I stepped in. The melodic vibration was always welcoming. Sugar Creek Cafe was not trendy and sleek like the popular franchise coffeehouses. Instead, it was like walking into someone’s home. There were various tables, all round, some small and others wide. Each table was fitted with high-back wooden chairs that reminded me of the chairs from my grandmother’s house. Along the walls of the coffeehouse were booths with high backs for privacy. If you really wanted to make yourself at home, in the back of the coffeehouse were sitting areas that included couches and plush seats.

  There were people scattered around the cafe, most armed with a phone in their hand, some with laptops and others appeared to be having real conversations with their coffee companions.

  The person who came up with the decor and started the coffeehouse was as eclectic as the interior. Fay Everett happened to be a student of mine, probably one of my oldest students. She was in my eighth grade class when I was still a very young teacher. Fay loved the bohemian look and over the years had grown locs that fell down near her waist. Today, she had them tied above her head. She’d always worn glasses and was one of those people who liked to make a fashion statement with her frames.

  Both Fay and Jocelyn were behind the counter. Fay blinked at me, her eyes wide and bright behind turquoise, cat-eye shaped frames. She grinned like a Cheshire cat, “Hey, Ms. Patterson. It’s so good to see you today. You are looking good. Retirement and marriage seem to suit you just fine.”

  “Thank you, Fay. Good to see you too. I see the cafe is continuing to do well.”

  “It sure is. Always busy in here. Now I know you like iced coffee. Sugar-free, right?”

  I smiled, “Now, that’s why I will always give you my business. Girl, you have a memory on you!”

  “I don’t know about that. I’m pretty sure I remember because you were and always will be my favorite teacher.”

  “Oh, you don’t know how much that made my day.” While Fay went off to make my iced coffee, I turned to Jocelyn who seemed more upbeat today. I asked, “Glad you’re still enjoying working under Fay?”

  Jocelyn stepped forward, “I love working here, and I owe you for sending me towards this place. You know I’ve had some jobs that I can’t say I’m proud of.”

  When I first met Jocelyn a year or so ago, she’d been working at Hooters. She had a few years of being lost, and I was happy she’d come around and started to see the cafe as more of a step up in her career. I pointed to her, “Being promoted to manager is a pretty big thing, you should be proud.”

  “I am.” Her smile disappeared as she approached me from behind the counter. She lowered her voice so no one could hear but me. “Have you heard from Briana today?”

  Oh boy! “No, was she supposed to be working today?”

  Jocelyn let out an exasperated sigh. “Yeah, that’s what Fay and I were talking about before you arrived. Briana’s on the schedule. I hate to do this to her because she’s going through a rough time, and I definitely know about that. Been there and done that. Still, this position needs to be filled by someone who’s going to show up.”

  My heart sank. I kind of knew this was coming when Jocelyn talked to me about this the other day. I couldn’t tell her Briana had run off. I wanted to give Amos time to find her and not alarm other people that she could be a person-of-interest or even a suspect. That reminded me of another reason why I decided to stop by the cafe.

  “Do what you need to do, Jocelyn. Amos and I appreciate you helping her out. Hopefully when the dust settles around her, she can focus on her future.”

  Jocelyn stared at me, “Is she going to be okay? I saw the video has made rounds.”

  “You saw it too? Where did you see it?”
<
br />   Jocelyn glanced back. Fay seemed to still be working on my iced coffee. She pulled out her phone. When she showed me her phone display, I recognized the Facebook interface. “Fay and I were talking about this earlier today too. Right now, no one has approached us about the video. We think nobody knows this happened here, but at some point someone is going to say something.”

  I nodded, “The cafe has a unique interior. I’m sure someone will say something. I noticed a lot of people are on their phones in here. I guess anyone that day could have recorded the argument. Did you notice anyone who may have been recording the fight between Briana and Sondra last Monday?”

  “No. I had my attention on Sondra, who was acting like she was about to tear up this cafe.”

  “You told me the other day she had a friend with her.”

  “Sondra’s friend? Yeah, she was shorter than Sondra, rather thin and she didn’t really say anything. She was wearing false eyelashes. They were pretty long, and you almost couldn’t see her eyes.”

  That had to be Charlene!

  “Where was she at when Sondra was hurling insults at Briana?”

  Jocelyn thought for a moment. “I remember her getting her coffee first; she must have gone to get a table. In fact, it wasn’t until the carafe was dropped that she appeared. I remember her trying to pull Sondra away like she was afraid, but Sondra kept snatching her arm back. By then I was threatening to call the police. That seemed to stop the squabble.”

  I had a pretty good idea that it was Charlene who was with Sondra, which made me curious again about their friendship. I was under the impression the night at the Black Diamond was the first time they’d gotten together to hang out, but they were here together at Sugar Creek Cafe a week before.

  Did they come here to grab a coffee beverage or did they step inside on a mission?

  Before I could focus my thoughts more, Fay placed my iced coffee on the counter. “Here you go, Ms. Patterson. Sorry it took me awhile. We have a new girl today and she needed help with the register.”

  “Oh, I could have helped her.” Jocelyn quipped. “Sorry, I started talking to Ms. Eugeena. We were talking about…” Jocelyn dropped her voice again, “the video.”

  Fay rolled her eyes. “That video. You know I’m all for publicity for Sugar Creek Cafe, but that’s not the kind I want. Never in the ten years I’ve had this place open have I had that kind of drama. It’s a shame. I feel bad for Briana. She’s been doing good, but I think that incident has shaken her up. I can tell her confidence is gone.”

  I nodded, “Those women also bullied Briana when she was younger.”

  “What?” both Fay and Jocelyn responded.

  “Yeah, a lot of bad memories. Hopefully we can get Briana back on track. ”

  Fay smiled, “I’m all for giving people chances. We need the help, but I’m not shutting her out yet. When you see her, tell her to check in with us. We do care about her. And that girl can sing. I’ve been trying to get her to do a mini-concert here one weekend.”

  “She does have a beautiful voice. How much do I owe you?”

  Fay smiled, “It’s on the house today.”

  “Thank you. I appreciate you treating an old lady. Ladies, I’m not going to hold you up. I’m going to sit a bit and get out of your hair.”

  I moved past a woman who had her table covered with papers and was tapping away on a laptop. Another table I passed, two women were chatting back and forth and giggling about something.

  One of my past times was people watching. As I shimmied into a chair in the back, I wished I’d been people watching a few days ago when Sondra walked in. Since it was the thing to do, I pulled out my phone and soon found the video in question. I watched the video on mute. I mainly wanted to see the video from the angle in the coffee shop. I almost jumped up from my seat when I realized whoever recorded the video had to be sitting in the same sitting area where I was currently. But who? And how were they able to send the video to the police and Sondra’s mother? Did they intentionally upload this video to social media for all to see?

  The cafe wasn’t chilly, just enough coolness to be comfortable. Still, I shivered as if a blast of cold air crawled down my shirt. I’d even looked around me to see if a vent was nearby. There wasn’t that I could see, but I knew the real reason why I’d been chilled.

  Someone was really setting Briana up in the most awful way possible. Why?

  I had a sneaky suspicion I knew who was behind the video recording, but what didn’t fit with my growing theory was why Sondra lost her life this past weekend.

  Chapter 18

  It was a quiet evening.

  My husband was missing-in-action like his daughter. I had no clue where he was or the reason behind his cryptic text earlier. I loved that he was considerate enough to warn me that he would be late, but I needed details too. Like where did he think Briana had gone? And, I gathered from his text that his being late had something to do with another matter entirely. In fact, Amos has been preoccupied for a few days prior to his daughter’s disappearing act. He was either looking at something or talking to someone on his phone.

  Another mystery!

  I think one mystery at a time was enough for me. This one was turning out to be the most frustrating because I knew all the people involved, and most of them were my former students.

  I fed the dog and made a peanut butter sandwich. My children always teased me about not including the jelly. I’d always just wanted the peanut butter since I was a little girl. It was one of those nights. I didn’t see a need to cook. I guess I’d been spoiled since my wedding night. Amos had always been here for dinner. So much had happened today that I wanted to share. With all his detective experience, he knew how to read people.

  Doing my best to remain positive, I tried to enjoy my time alone. I intended to spend it snooping and started digging on my most favorite place online. Determined not to be sucked in by anything else on the feed, I returned to Sondra’s Facebook page, which was filled with people expressing condolences for the young woman’s untimely death.

  I scrolled for some time before something caught my eye.

  Charlene Hunt.

  She’d left a message. I wondered if Sondra’s long time, on and off friend would share her grievances publicly.

  She did.

  Sondra, I’m sorry. I can’t believe you’re gone. Now I really feel alone.

  I read the post again. Why was Charlene sorry? Was she sorry her friend was killed or was she apologizing for something else? I was a bit alarmed by her feeling alone. Had this young woman been grieving her twin sister all these years even though she’d been gone a decade? Sondra was the closest person Charlene would have had in her life who was also close to Yvette.

  I clicked Charlene’s name, landing on her profile page. What struck me first was a public photo that had been posted about three weeks ago. It was a photo of Charlene, Sondra and Yvette. Sondra and Yvette were dressed in cheerleader uniforms, while Charlene was dressed in jeans. It was a curious photo because Sondra had her arm slung around Yvette while Charlene stood to the side, smiling awkwardly. It was almost like she didn’t belong, but had been included as a part of the photo anyway.

  I noticed she’d tagged Sondra, but when I looked at the comments I didn’t see where Sondra had responded. Maybe she didn’t see it.

  I know people tag me on posts and after a while I just get annoyed with the notifications.

  Further down her page, Charlene had posted pictures of her with her twin when they were little girls. Though they were fraternal twins, both girls were still dressed alike in typical twin fashion. I read Charlene’s post.

  It’s been ten years since you’ve been gone. Never forgotten, Sis.

  I scrolled to see if I recognized names in the comments. My head was starting to hurt from all this digging. I’m not sure why, but I never saw Sondra’s name. I got the impression that Sondra didn’t interact with Charlene on Facebook. Though I recalled Charlene and Sondra being close
during middle school, the friendship appeared stronger between Sondra and Yvette in high school.

  My memory wasn’t what it used to be. I could be remembering the girls wrong.

  Maybe as they got older Sondra no longer had anything in common with Charlene. Cheerleading would be an activity that kept Yvette and Sondra closer.

  Despite my growing exhaustion from the day, two names popped out as I continued to scroll through comments.

  Both Theo and Damion had responded to Charlene’s post about her sister.

  Theo: Your sister was so much fun. Still miss her.

  Damion: I know you’re hurting. Hang in there. Love ya.

  I had to smile at Damion’s response. Based on the conversation I had with Damion earlier, who clearly didn’t like Sondra, I could tell he was very fond of Charlene.

  I closed the laptop, ready to head to bed. I had suspicions about Charlene earlier, mainly because I felt like she could have recorded the fight at Sugar Creek Cafe.

  So what if she did?

  She may have been using the recording to protect her friend if Briana had retaliated.

  But Briana didn’t. Sondra initiated the argument.

  Sondra also ended up dead.

  I was beyond confused and exhausted. As I brushed my teeth, my thoughts went to Briana and her past history with these women. There had to be some lingering animosity towards Briana over Yvette Hunt’s fate years ago even though it was a random shooting. I wanted to be convinced it was all related and recent events shouted setup to me. Other thoughts lingered though.

  Could Briana have tried to defend herself against a raving Sondra and it all went wrong? Why else the secrecy and running away?

  I kneeled beside the bed after getting dressed for the night.

  Lord, protect Briana wherever she may be hiding out. Only you know her heart. Give her peace in her spirit and comfort in knowing that you will be there to guide us. Lord, I don’t know where Amos is, but I know you know. I pray you wrap your arms around him and protect him too. I can’t go to bed with any animosity in my heart. Forgive me, Lord. I’m casting all my cares on you. In Jesus Name, Amen.