Too Many Crooks Spoil the Plot (A Ditie Brown Mystery Book 1) by Sarah Osborne

Author:Sarah Osborne
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Lyrical Press
Published: 2018-05-28T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Lurleen held the phone in her hand as if it might suddenly speak to her. She walked back and forth in the kitchen talking to anyone who would listen. “Marie’s in trouble. I know she’s in serious trouble. I could hear it in her voice.” Eddie took her arm and guided her into the front parlor. The rest of us followed.

“Sit down,” Dan said, patting the sofa. “We’ll figure out what to do.”

Dan tried to call Mason, but he didn’t pick up. Lurleen slumped onto the sofa next to him.

“I’ve made a mess of everything. I’ve put the kids at risk and Marie as well.”

I sat on the other side of her. “I like Marie,” I said. “But if she’s in trouble, it’s trouble of her own making. She likes to know everything, remember? Maybe she found out too much.” Or maybe she’s in the middle of too much, I wanted to add. But Lurleen was Marie’s fast friend. She didn’t doubt Marie’s honesty, so I kept my doubts to myself.

“Okay,” Eddie said. “Enough moping around. I’m setting the alarm, so no one can come or go without letting me know.” We nodded our assent.

“We’ll have to watch the kids like hawks,” I said. “I’ll explain to Lucie about the alarm, but keeping track of Jason is going to be a challenge.”

“I’ll handle that,” Lurleen said. “We have a special bond—Jason thinks I’m the Femme Merveilleuse, a French superhero. He’ll be happy to spend the day with me. It’s the least I can do. I am so, so sorry. And now I’m so worried about Marie.”

I patted her hand.

“No crying over spilt milk,” Eddie said. “Where does Marie live?”

Lurleen pulled a small leather notebook out of her purse. She wrote out the address, along with Marie’s cell number and work number. She ripped out the page and handed it to Eddie who passed it on to Dan.

“You’ll have to track her down,” Eddie said to Dan. “Do what you can to see if she’s at work. Use one of your disguises.”

“Disguises?” I asked.

“I do a lot of work on heating and air systems.” He smiled. “People are always happy to see me if they think their system might be in trouble.”

“I’ll keep things safe here,” Eddie said. “Mason will call when he can and we’ll figure out our next move.”

“What shall I do?” I asked.

Eddie stared at me. “I don’t suppose you’d like to spend the day baking with Lucie. Take her mind off things, and yours as well.”

Lucie. Very-good-at-keeping-secrets Lucie. Was there anything else Lucie might know that she wasn’t telling me? “Hmm. I could do that,” I said. Baking would give me time to think about our situation. I could think and grill Lucie at the same time. Gently, of course. My supervisor didn’t expect me back at work until next week, so time was my own.

Work. It was certainly on the back burner, and I didn’t like that. It wasn’t that Vic couldn’t keep the place running without me.

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