Deep Fried Trouble (Eugeena Patterson Mysteries) by Tyora Moody

stay for awhile, I don’t know how long. There were clothes for the children ...” I stopped. The bag with the money.  I can’t mention that .              
    “Ma’am, are you okay?”
    “I’m fine. I ...” What should I say? Should I say something? Maybe this wasn’t a good idea . “It’s just that I hadn’t seen her in awhile and I know she wouldn’t have reached out to me unless she needed help. I need you to find her. She could be in real trouble.”
    Sgt Pearson nodded and jotted down more information on her cli pboard. This woman probably had a picture of Leesa in her mind. I don’t like labels. I always wanted to see the good in people, especially my own children. Leesa needed me. She would never come out and say it, but she brought those children to me because I was the one person she knew would care for them.
    But children don’t fall too far from the tree. From experience, I knew Leesa had inherited the I-will-take-care-of-it-my-way part of my personal ity.  We’d bumped heads enough.
    I straightened my shoulders and leveled my eyes on Sgt. Pearson. “Thank you for taking the report. I know what you are going to say next. She’s an adult and she could have left on her free will. She didn’t. Wherever she is, she’s driving an aqua blue Nissan Altima. Here is the last registration I have in my possession for the car.”
    “Ma’am, we will check local hospitals, traffic reports and other stuff. We will do our best to find her. But you need to be aware she may have taken advantage of the free babysitting opportunity. Is there anything else I need to know?”
    “Could you check here in Columbia and the Charleston area? She dropped her children off at my home in Charleston, but she lives here in the city.”
    “Did you think she returned home?”
    “I’ve been to her apartment. Here is the address.” After I gave Sgt. Pearson the information, I added, “I talked to one of her neighbors, she mentioned that my daughter’s boyfriend...”  Baby daddy.   “... might have been by looking for her. I don’t know this young man, but he sounded like he may have been difficult.”
    “You think this is a domestic violence incident?”
    “I don’t know, but the neighbor who lives below her made it seem like they fought a lot. It could have been physical in some cases. Could you talk to her? Her name is Mrs. Hattie.”
    For the first time since I showed up at the desk, Sgt. Pearson eyes rea lly connected with mine. Maybe the fear seeping through my body had reached my eyes. This was serious to me. More than I knew until that moment.
    “She’s my only daughter and she’s still a baby. Just turned twenty-one.”
    “Mrs. Patterson, we will do everything we can to find her.”
    “Thank you.” I gripped my pocketbook as though I needed it to hold me up and walked out into the bright sunshine. The sun’s rays didn’t warm my chilled body.

Chapter 15
     
    When we returned, I thanked Amos for his assistance and gathered the children from Louise’s home. I would like to say I slept well, but visions of my child on the run from the law haunted my dreams. Tuesday morning, I woke up with a new burden on my heart. It was past time to tell the boys about their sister. Well, at least one of them.
    If anyone knew where Leesa might be, it would be her brother, Cedric.  I knew how much Leesa looked up to him. Despite having a baby sister at age fifteen, he never let on Leesa cramped his style or showed resentment for losing his place as “the baby.” He was not the typical middle child. No one expected Cedric to become the other doctor in the family. Out of all my children, Cedric butted heads with Ralph the most. Although he a dmired Ralph’s accomplishments in the medical community, to this day, he refused to visit his father’s grave.
    “Where are you headed to this morning, Eugeena?” Louise asked me innocently as I handed over my two sleepy grands. As much as I wanted to share my