A Risky Undertaking for Loretta Singletary

by Terry Shames

  Her face is crimson, bringing out the puckering in the burned side. “The search committee would know. Or maybe just the head of the committee.”

  “Who would that be at your church?”

  She makes a distressed sound, and her look is pleading. “That would be my husband.”

  “Would he share the facts with you?”

  She shakes her head. “Whatever is told to them is in strict confidence, and I would never ask him to break his word.”

  “Then I’ll have to talk to him.”

  “That would really put him on the spot.”

  “I can’t help it. I need to know. It’s . . .”

  She holds her hand up to stop my next word. “I can tell you that he was unhappy when Reverend Becker was sent here. He didn’t say why. But he told me the only reason he goes to church these days is that he thinks it would upset me if he didn’t.”

  “Ida Ruth, I appreciate your telling me all this.”

  “I haven’t really told you anything.”

  “It’s what I needed to know.”

  I know she’s relieved when I leave. I may have to approach her husband eventually, but first I’m going to tackle the committee that assigned Becker here.

  I go back and pick up Dusty, who greets me as if he’s pretty sure I had run out on him for good.

  I’ve been trying to think whether there’s any way to get Maria involved in investigating Becker, and I’ve come up short. I’d like to get her to approach Becker’s wife, but with what? Maybe when I lay out to her what I found out last night, she’ll have a bright idea.

  One thing I haven’t done is check to see if Becker has a criminal record or a lawsuit has been brought against him. I drive to headquarters, aware that if I’m away much longer, Maria will be hunting me down.

  She’s fuming when I walk in, but as soon as I tell her that Becker responded to my false profile, she forgets her grievances.

  “Do you think he has Loretta?”

  “It would make sense, but I can’t figure out why he would kidnap her.”

  She nods, her heavy brows knitted together so hard they practically meet in the middle of her forehead. “Motive. That’s what we’ve been missing all along.” She scoots her chair closer to my desk.

  “That’s the problem,” I say. “I can understand if he’s looking for someone to fool around with. I don’t mean I condone it, but I’m not naïve. But I can’t understand why he would land on Loretta. And if he kidnapped Elaine Farquart, that makes it even worse. Even if she died unexpectedly, why run over her body that way?”

  “Maybe he really hates women.”

  “Maybe.” I tell her that I looked up his employment history. “That’s what I was up to this morning. Calling the companies to try to find out why he hopped from job to job.”

  “You think he was accused of harassing women?”

  “I couldn’t get a clear answer from any of the companies, but one of the people I talked to hinted that I was in the ballpark.”

  “Must have been pretty strong harassment. Most of those things get swept under the rug, and the woman is fired for claiming it.”

  I nod, thinking how strong a woman has to be to report such a thing, knowing she might not be believed or, worse, might be fired without even a fair hearing. “But in this case, he was let go.”

  “That may be, but apparently he was given a good recommendation time and again, and he got hired elsewhere.” She has that scowl. “Not only that, but the Baptist higher-ups saw fit to pass him on to Jarrett Creek.”

  “I wonder how many times they’ll do that before they’ve had enough.”

  She shakes herself as if to slough off all the bad thoughts. “Whatever.”

  “The question is, how do we investigate whether he has got Loretta without alerting him? I don’t want to give him any reason to think getting rid of her is a good solution to his problems.”

  Maria is chewing her bottom lip. “Maybe if I went and talked to his wife?”

  “On what pretext?”

  She stares at me, but she isn’t seeing me. Her mind is working. “I know. What if I tell her I’m there to brainstorm for a solution to the problem with the goat rodeo?”

  I nod. It’s a good line. “How would you approach it?”

  “I’ll tell her I’m a good Catholic, and I want to find out if she has any ideas. I’ll bring up that I heard Becker was an engineer, and I’ll ask why he decided to become a minister.” She shrugs. “After that I’ll have to play it by ear.” She’s on a roll now, and I trust that she’ll make it work.

  I’ve often thought that if persistence is the key to success, there’s no way Maria can fail. She’s like a bulldog. When she has a goal in mind, she’s relentless.

  “I want to be sure her husband isn’t there, though,” Maria says.

  “Leave that to me.”

  I call Ida Ruth and tell her I need to make sure that Becker isn’t home for a while.

  “This is on the subject of what we discussed earlier?”

  “Yes. Do you have an excuse to get him down to the church?”

  “Don’t you worry, I’ll think of something. I’ll let you know when he’s on his way.” Her voice is grim. This isn’t just about Loretta anymore. It concerns her beloved church as well.

  While we wait, I start searching to find out whether there have ever been charges brought against Becker.

  My search yields nothing. That doesn’t mean Becker was never accused of assault or harassment. Sex crime records are notoriously spotty, sometimes because the cops involved don’t take it seriously, other times because nothing came of the charges. It could be that companies paid off disgruntled women to keep them quiet.

  It occurs to me that I could call Luke Schoppe and have him root around in the Texas Ranger databases, which are more thorough than Department of Public Safety files, but I’ll wait until I’ve talked to the Baptist Church selection committee.

  I understand why a company would want to keep harassment or assault charges quiet. But I don’t get why the church would ignore such charges. If Loretta were around, I’m sure she’d have a thought on the subject, but she isn’t.

  CHAPTER 28

  Ida Ruth is as good as her word. She gets back to me within twenty minutes and says Becker has been called in to solve a tough problem involving a member of his congregation. I’d love to know what excuse Ida Ruth came up with, but it hardly matters as long as she got it done.

  Maria reaches Marlene Becker at home. She says she’ll be glad for Maria to drop by.

  I’m fired up now to talk to the Baptists in charge of placing ministers, so as soon as Maria is out the door, I call them. It’s a big bureaucracy, though; big enough to rival any state government agency, and it takes being passed from one secretary to another before I reach the proper office.

  “I’m afraid Mr. Todd isn’t able to take your call right now.” What a surprise.

  “When would he be available? It’s important.”

  “Let me see. I think I can schedule a phone appointment with him next week, maybe Tuesday?”

  “It has to be today. I’m investigating a serious crime, and I need to talk to him right away.”

  “I do understand. But you know this is a church organization, and we’re protected by state laws against being forced to answer to law enforcement.”

  “Are you saying the Baptist Church would take the side of a criminal?”

  “We don’t know that the person you’re calling about is actually guilty of anything.”

  I’ve run into pretty good stonewalling in my time, but this woman is a master at it.

  “This involves the minister of a church here in my jurisdiction, and if it turns out he has murdered someone and that your boss refused to help me, the newspapers are going to have a field day.”

  “Is this a threat?”

  “It’s a fact.” I’ve never had blood pressure problems, but I could be driven to high blood pressure by this woman.

&n
bsp; “All right, let me convey your concerns to Mr. Todd, and I’ll get back to you. May I have your phone number?”

  I give it to her. “I’ll expect a call back within fifteen minutes.” I ring off before she can give me a smart answer. I’m too mad to let it rest. I hate to call on Ida Ruth’s husband to step outside his confidentiality agreement, but it may be necessary. I’ll wait the fifteen minutes to get a call back from Todd but not a minute longer.

  Five minutes later, without the least trace of capitulation in her tone, Mr. Todd’s secretary calls back to say that Mr. Todd has a few moments to speak with me.

  “Chief Craddock, I’m sorry I was otherwise engaged when you telephoned before. What can I do for you?” A kindly, soothing tone, which I imagine goes down well when he’s sending a preacher to a place he doesn’t want to go or placing one in a church that has expressed doubts about him.

  I’m prepared to challenge him, but for now I match his cordial tone. “Mr. Todd, I’m Chief of Police of Jarrett Creek. You may not know of it. We’re a small town in the center of the state. I have a concern regarding the minister of the Baptist Church here in town.”

  “Oh? That’s the First Baptist Church?”

  I refrain from snapping that it’s the first and only. “That’s right.”

  “Let me see. That would be . . .”

  “Arlen Becker.”

  “Reverend Becker. Oh, yes. A fine man. What are your concerns?” Sometimes a blunt question takes people by surprise. “I want to know if he has ever been accused of sexual assault or sexual harassment.”

  “Well, now.” He clears his throat. “That’s quite an accusation.”

  “I didn’t say I was accusing him. I said I want to know if anyone has accused him.”

  “I see. Well, I’m afraid that’s a confidential matter.”

  “Are you saying you refuse to cooperate? Do you prefer that I get a search warrant for your files?”

  “I don’t believe that will be necessary, but I do need a little time to look into it. You understand that I don’t have this information off the top of my head.”

  “You’re telling me this happens often enough that you can’t keep it straight?”

  “I don’t think there’s any need for you to be insulting.”

  “Just asking. It seems to me that if it’s a rare matter, you’d remember it.”

  He sighs. “Chief Craddock, you’d be surprised how many little oddities happen in the daily life of a minister. At times when ministers are trying to comfort or counsel a woman, she gets the wrong idea and thinks that his gestures of comfort are meant as sexual invitation. More than one good minister has been shocked to find out that a woman took his kindness for interest.”

  “Is that what happened in Becker’s case?”

  “I’m not commenting directly on Reverend Becker. As I said, I’ll have to investigate his records before I can tell you anything specific. But be assured that I’ll get back to you as soon as I can with the information.”

  “How soon is that?”

  “I have a very busy schedule this week. I hope to be able to get back to you by early next week.”

  “That’s not good enough.”

  “Investigating these matters isn’t solely in my hands. I have to consult with other members of the committee.”

  “Mr. Todd, if I’m not mistaken, this is stonewalling, pure and simple. And I won’t put up with it.”

  “All I can tell you is that I’ll do my best.”

  When I hang up, I’m shaking. The man’s voice never once wavered from its kindly tone, and yet I felt the full impact of his intention to conceal Becker’s past misconduct. I’m nearly at the point where I’m going to call Becker in and get to the bottom of it now.

  But before I can make a move, the phone rings.

  “Chief Craddock? Brent Hogarth.”

  “I hope you’ve got good news.”

  “The opposite. We’ve got another missing woman.”

  “Same scenario?”

  “Not exactly. The woman is younger than the other ones.”

  “When did she go missing?”

  “This morning. We got the call a few minutes ago. I’m going out there now to talk to the woman who called it in. I wanted to give you a heads up so you could field questions from anybody who might get wind of it. I didn’t want you to get caught not knowing about it.”

  “I appreciate that. Let me know the details when you get a chance.”

  “I’ll get back to you.”

  I quickly phone Maria. She’s talking to Marlene Becker. I tell her about Hogarth’s call. “I don’t know how you’re going to do it, but try to get an idea of Becker’s whereabouts the last couple of days.”

  “Will do.” She’s in the room with Marlene and can’t say much. “Don’t push it too hard. We don’t want any suspicions raised.” Maria gets back twenty minutes later. She looks troubled, and she plops down into her chair as if she’s world-weary. “Dusty, come on over here. I could use a friendly face.”

  “Sounds like it didn’t go well. Tell me.”

  “It was okay. Just hard slogging.”

  “What did you find out?”

  “For one thing, she doesn’t like Mexicans any more than her husband does. She was polite, but kind of like she was afraid she’d catch brown skin from me.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Let’s you know who people are. Anyway, once she understood that I was there on a professional basis, and not to apply for a job as a field hand, we got along better.”

  I grin. I can imagine how Maria let her know in no uncertain terms that she was the law, and she expected cooperation, even on the subject of the goat rodeo.

  “I started out by asking how she liked Jarrett Creek. She said she liked it fine, but I’m pretty sure she was clenching her teeth when she said it. I told her we were a nice town and that we liked tradition. She caught on fast—she’s no dummy. She knew the rodeo was the real subject. I told her maybe it would be better if people got to know her husband a little better before he started pushing for changes, especially in the way the rodeo has always been done.”

  “How did she take that?”

  “It was interesting. She said she didn’t have any say over what her husband did in his ministry. But when I told her that we all know that women are the power behind the throne, she relaxed a little bit. She said she would do what she could to get him to back off.”

  “And the rest of it?”

  She sighs. “I asked her what kind of activities she did, and she said she liked to visit the sick and was planning Easter decorations for the church.” She shoots me a meaningful look.

  “She said that?” Loretta has been in charge of Easter and Christmas decorations as long as I’ve known her. It’s a point of pride with her. Probably not a good enough reason to kidnap Loretta, but the way things are going, not much would surprise me about Reverend Becker.

  “I asked if she had been working with Loretta—you know, thinking I’d introduce her into the conversation—and she said, oh yes, they had discussed it. But she didn’t say a word about Loretta being missing. I thought that was strange. Anyway, I brought it up and told her we were worried and looking hard for Loretta. She said she was sure we’d find her. Very breezy.”

  “That’s all she said?”

  “That was it. I wouldn’t exactly call her a cold fish, but she certainly didn’t seem to have much interest in a member of the congregation being missing.”

  “Did you notice any place where they could be hiding someone? Maybe a shed or a garage?”

  “You’ll like this. I told her I loved the house and asked her to show me around. She wasn’t happy about it, but she couldn’t very well turn me down. As far as I can tell, it’s just a regular house. It isn’t very big, three bedrooms and two bathrooms. It’s the house the church provides for them, and it isn’t grand, although she had nice furnishings. She even showed me the garage. There were no other buildings on the property
. If Becker has Loretta, then he’s keeping her somewhere else.”

  “Did you get around to the subject of her husband’s previous job as an engineer?”

  “More of that same kind of bland reply. She said he got tired of being in the corporate world and felt he had been called to be a minister. I asked her if it was a big change for her, and she said she had always been involved in church business, so it wasn’t much of a change. Then I asked what it was like going from a big church like the one in Waco to the small one here in Jarrett Creek. She said she knew they wouldn’t be here that long, that preachers get moved around a lot until they settle into a congregation. I tried to pin her down about the difference in Waco and here, and she said she liked both. Like I said, it was hard slogging. Kind of like she had it all memorized.”

  “You asked all the right questions. What was your impression? Did you get the feeling she was trying to evade the questions, or was she just not particularly chatty?”

  She ruffles Dusty’s ears absentmindedly and thinks for a minute. “I wouldn’t say she acted suspicious in any way. If I had to make a guess, I’d say she isn’t very happy. But whether that’s because of her relationship with her husband or she doesn’t like being in a small town, I don’t know.”

  I agree with her. When Marlene Becker came to my house to look at my art collection, she was hard to read. But that doesn’t mean she is up to anything suspicious—or that she thinks her husband might be. It might mean she has deliberately turned a blind eye to Becker’s extramarital activities. “It’s hard to believe he could be bounced from job to job and she wouldn’t be suspicious that something was wrong,” I say.

  “Still,” Maria says, “some women don’t want to know. My Uncle Tito kept a mistress right nearby in San Antonio, and everyone knew it, but my aunt never let on that she had the slightest idea. She was crazy about Tito. But this is different. I didn’t get the feeling Marlene Becker is crazy about her husband. More like she doesn’t have the energy to make a fuss.”

  “And his whereabouts the last couple of days?”

  “I asked her what his schedule was usually like, and I got the same vague answer I got for everything else. He’s out working hard, doing things for his congregation.”