An Unsavory Mess by Tyora Moody

Author:Tyora Moody [Moody, Tyora]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tyora Moody
Published: 2021-09-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

The lunch crowd outside the Chicken Shack craned their necks in unison, probably wondering why they couldn’t get their favorite chicken meal. With some maneuvering, I managed to make my way up to the front. Yellow crime tape cut me off from stepping forward any further. Even with all the police cars, it wasn’t until I saw the tape billowing in the wind that I knew for sure something was very wrong. It didn’t surprise me to see Detective Wilkes standing at the entrance.

As if she could sense me amid the crowd, Detective Wilkes turned around and caught me staring. She narrowed her eyes as if she was not pleased to see me.

All these people surrounding me and she would lock her eyes on me.

She started walking towards me, giving me a slight head nod to join her.

Something dropped in the pit of my stomach, making my legs feel like lead. I squeezed past several tall, smelly workers dressed in hard hats. It may have been the middle of October, but the South didn’t care about fall weather. It has been an unusually warm day and the caustic body odors about knocked me off my feet.

I blinked my eyes rapidly, tears flooded my eyes as I progressed further away from the smells attacking my nasal passages.

Detective Wilkes appeared concerned as I approached her. “Are you alright?”

“I am, now that I have some fresher air.”

She peered behind me, and her mouth curved into a smile before slapping on her serious face. “You’re here for lunch?”

I nodded. “I was coming to pick up Amos’ favorite chicken meal. I don’t deep-fry chicken at home. What’s going on?”

The detective opened her mouth and then closed it as if she thought better of spilling the beans.

I reminded her. “You called me over here, young lady.” I felt like it was entirely appropriate to remind the detective I was her senior and my schoolteacher voice usually did the trick. Plus, I couldn’t get those smells out of my nose and those men were standing at least twenty-five feet away now.

Detective Wilkes sighed deeply. “There’s been an incident.”

I started to say no kidding but thought better of it.

She was an officer of the law. Though I didn’t understand why she wanted to talk to me, I had no intentions of being carted off in handcuffs. I noticed Wilkes looked even more disheveled every time I saw her. Her short hair was sticking up on her head as if she had woken up and kept stepping out the door without looking in the mirror.

Finally, she leaned in. “Everyone else will know shortly since the media is on the scene. This place may not be serving food for a while. The owner has been killed.”

I stretched my eyes in disbelief. “No. Jimmy?” I turned to peer behind me, then turned back to the detective. “He’s dead. How?”

She waved me away like a fly. “I can’t get into the details. Could be a robbery, I don’t know yet.”

This woman must be exhausted, telling me this information.

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