Read Oven Baked Secrets (Eugeena Patterson Mysteries Book 2) for Free Online Page B

she and her beloved son were not that close either.
    William stayed away for long periods of time telling Louise he was on some adventure somewhere. I had never really been clear on what William did for a living. I don’t think Louise knew either. He struck me as a bit of a wanderer going from one scheme to another.
    If only I had lingered outside long enough to catch his visitor up close. Would it have helped or would I have put me and Amos in danger?
    What I really wished was that Amos or I had caught the license plate of that sports car that sped away. Though she was in the nursing home, Louise’s mind was still active and she would ask questions about her son’s death.  I certainly had no answers. I was of no help and I didn’t like that at all.
    As I climbed into my car, I thought about asking Amos to tag along with me to the nursing home, but I knew the conversation ahead would become quickly emotional. Men didn’t like to deal with a lot of emotions.
    It took me all of ten minutes to arrive at the nursing home. I parked my car and sat for a moment to collect myself.  I don’t think I’ve ever done anything quite this hard. When my husband, Ralph, passed away, all the children were in town and by his side. We grieved together.
    Louise would be grieving alone. It was time to face my friend.
    When I stepped inside the nursing home I almost ran into a well-dressed woman. She wore a navy business suit and had a gold badge on the left side that read “director.”
    “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to run you over.”
    “No problem, I shouldn’t have been in a hurry.” The woman pushed her glasses up to her face.
    She had perfect flawless skin and brown eyes that blinked rapidly behind her silver wire frame glasses. I looked at her badge again. For some reason the woman reminded me more of a funeral director the way she held her hands in front of her. I’m sure that was my imagination running away with me again. The place just messed with my mind. “Are you the new director here?”
    “Yes. I’m Jacqueline Saunders. Are you interested in taking a tour of our facilities?”
    I shook my head. “Oh no I came to see a friend, Mrs. Hopkins; you may have heard she lost her son last night.”
    The director blinked. “Oh yes, it’s very terrible news. We’ve been trying to keep that information from Mrs. Hopkins. It seems like you people are in a hurry to upset her.”
    “You people?”  I asked.
    Ms. Saunders turned her head. “There’s a detective here.”
    I peeked around Ms. Saunders and saw Detective Wilkes standing at the desk area talking to the young woman that I had met yesterday. I hoped the detective hadn’t seen Louise. I wanted to be there for support and to be the one to break the bad news to my friend.
    “Oh my, well it’s good to meet you, Ms. Saunders. I better see what’s going on.” I walked over to the desk.  “Detective, I didn’t know you would be here this soon.”
    Detective Wilkes turned towards me. Her red hair looked even more disheveled and her green eyes appeared to be dull.
Did this woman sleep?
    She answered, “Hello, Mrs. Patterson. I wanted to get in touch with Mrs. Louise Hopkins as soon as possible about her son’s death.”
    “I’m glad I came early. She’s going to be really upset. It was pretty much just William and her.”
    Detective Wilkes nodded. “I see. So, there’s no other family?”
    I thought to myself should I tell the detective about the young woman who was here yesterday. I really didn’t get the impression that Jocelyn would do William any harm, but my dreams and suspicions last night weren’t helping.
    I answered the detective back the best I knew how. “Louise doesn’t have other family that I know of. Her siblings were older and have passed on years ago.”
    Detective Wilkes looked at me as though she thought I would say something else. I glanced at Lexi who appeared to be busy behind the counter. She looked up from the computer screen to