Free Deep Fried Trouble (Eugeena Patterson Mysteries) by Tyora Moody Page B

blue uniform with an official badge, but I wasn’t too sure about her people skills . “Yes, it has been well-over twenty-four hours.”
    Sgt. Pearson cleared her throat, and pulled a pen from her slicked back bun. “Is she over eigh teen?”
    “Yes.”
    “Her name is Lisa Patterson right?”
    “It’s L-e-e-s-a.”
    The officer gave me a look and shook her head. That wasn’t unusual.
    My mother tried being different with my name. Eugena would’ve been fine. But something about the Eug-e-e-na gave it a bit of distin ction. At least I liked to think so.
    There wasn’t much originality with Junior’s name. Another Ralph. Even when Cedric came along, Ralph insisted on using his deceased brother’s name. I’d known my brother-in-law for all of two years before he was killed in Vietnam. Ralph loved his older brother with a fierc eness that he only bestowed on a few people. Who was I to deny him of naming his second son after his brother?
    Now Leesa. She threw both of us for a loop. Fifteen years with o nly testosterone in the house, after I got over my shock, I was elated with the female addition and proceeded to take charge in naming her too.
    “Ma’am, you do know sometimes adults take off on their own and might not want to be found?”
    She had a point there, but I had some babies, currently under Louise’s care, who really needed their mother. I’d only planned to take in a pooch, not two grandkids, and even the dog wasn’t in the picture until a few days ago. Funny, how only last week I was complaining about being lonely. If this was the Lord’s idea of teaching me a lesson, he wouldn’t hear anymore grumbling from me. “Look, my daughter came by with her children on Saturday night.”
    “She has children and it was Saturday.”  The woman raised her ey ebrows. “Sounds like she was in need of some babysitting.”
    I looked at the officer like she fell off the Stupid Truck.  “Aren’t you supposed to be writing this down or something?”
    “Well, she has to be gone for twenty-four hours before....”
    “I just told you she’s been gone over twenty-four hours. She arrived at my home Saturday night. She’s been gone since Sunday morning.” I leaned into the counter and I stared at Sgt. Pearson. “Today is Mo nday afternoon, which I believe is more than enough time to say a person is missing.”
    “I’m sorry, but I’m going to ask you to calm down so I can get the information down.” The officer a ppeared ready to put her hand on her gun, so I stepped away from the counter before I messed around and got myself shot. I would get the most incompetent employee in the department to help me. Maybe I should have asked Amos to come in for this one. “Is there someone else who can help me?”
    “Ma’am, I’m trying to help you. Now has she done this before?”
    Here we go. All I needed was to tell this woman yes, Leesa has run away before and she would really not take me seriously. 
    “Yes, when she was younger she ran away twice. It was a difficult time. Her best friend died and she got caught up with the wrong crowd.”
    By this time my body shook. There was no way I would breakdown in front of this woman. But I knew the feeling in the pit of my stomach shouldn’t be ignored. “Look, I don’t know if you are a mother, but I know something is not right. She’s been good for several years. A real good mother too.”                           
    Had I ever told Leesa how proud I was of her ta king care of Kisha? She’d turned her life around.  All this time-wasting, I hoped Leesa wasn’t in some serious trouble.
    “When did you discover her missing?”
    Eugeena took a deep breath. This woman was on the slow side. “I woke up Sunday morning and couldn’t find her in the house.”
    Sgt. Pearson’s eyebrow shot up again, but came back down. “You said she’d brought her children to you. Had she indicated a length of stay?”
    “She did mention she wanted to