Path of the Wicked

by Jennifer Stanley

  “My boyfriend was with me. I . . . I didn’t want him to come but he was worried about my safety. Truthfully, I should have tried harder to convince him to stay home,” she confessed hurriedly. “He tried to talk me out of going, though. He and my friends were in agreement that we should leave everything in the hands of the police.”

  “Nathan Dexter is another member of the illustrious Sunrise Bible study, right?”

  Stunned at the amount of information the investigator seemed to have gathered, she nodded. “Yes.”

  “Don’t be too impressed.” The officer grinned, shuffling papers around. “I ate lunch with Investigator McNamara today. I’m sure you remember him. He had a lot to say about you.”

  McNamara had been the lead investigator in the murder case Cooper and her friends had been involved with during the spring of last year. The officer had treated them courteously, and had even shared Scripture quotes with them, but, when all was said and done, had sternly ordered them to cease their sleuthing. McNamara was older than Rector and had a fiercer intensity about him, but Cooper knew that Rector’s youthful face could easily belie an unbending determination to uphold the law, no matter what explanations she provided in her own defense.

  “There’s something else I should tell you.” Cooper inhaled and then hastily described the message left on her truck.

  The policeman jerked upright in his chair, his eyes alert and excited. “The killer was following you! We might be able to use this.” He twiddled his thumbs as he thought. After a few moments, he seemed to recall that Cooper was in the room. “All right, Ms. Lee, you’re free to go. I merely wanted to discover if you’d found anything that might prove useful to us and it seems that you have.” His expression turned pensive. “I may call on you to do something for me in the immediate future. Something to bait our suspect into revealing his identity. Would you be interested in cooperating with us?”

  Cooper exhaled in relief. Standing, she grasped the investigator’s outstretched hand and pumped it heartily. “I’ll help you any way that I can!”

  “No so fast,” he added sternly. “I’d also like your word that you and your friends are officially off the case. Should some clue or piece of useful information come your way, you are to contact me directly. Otherwise, until I get in touch, the Sunrise Sleuths are officially retired. Is that crystal clear?”

  “Yes.”

  Rector raised his left brow. “I’m sure, being that you’re a faithful churchgoer, that I can take you at your word. Have a nice day.”

  Cooper walked down the hallway with a much lighter step, uttered a quick prayer of gratitude for being able to share what she knew with the young investigator without reprisal, and then burst through the lobby doors.

  Nathan, who had been pacing back and forth near a row of plastic chairs, looked at her anxiously. She responded by swiftly closing the distance between them. Throwing her arms around his neck, she smiled. “It’s okay! We just had a nice, civilized discussion.”

  “Good!” Nathan lifted her from the ground in celebration. The movement caused her purse to drop from her shoulder. Though its contents spread across the marble floor in a noisy clatter, Cooper still clung to Nathan.

  “Watch out!” he cautioned, releasing his hold. “You’re about to step on your phone.” He scooped it off the ground and then watched as Cooper shoved her wallet, car keys, sunglasses, a packet of tissues, a lip gloss, and a roll of Life Savers back into her purse.

  “I’ve got to grab a drink of water,” she said and shrugged her purse back onto her shoulder. “My mouth went so dry back there.” Spying a sign for the restrooms, Cooper squeezed Nathan’s arm. “Be right back.”

  By the time she turned the corner and headed off to where the restrooms, pay phones, and water fountains could be found, Cooper was too far away to hear her cell phone’s customized Beatles text message alert go off.

  Nathan looked at the vibrating phone in his hand and, out of sheer habit, pressed the button that would allow him to read the incoming text message. Staring at the display window, his face fell as he read the black letters that appeared in the field of silver:

  Can’t W8 2 B alone w/ U in the break room again. I want 2 smell the perfume I gave U. XOXO Emilio

  The cell phone went quiet and then, as Nathan tried to fully comprehend the message, the phone broke into song for the second time and a second message appeared on the screen:

  I’M WAITING

  Nathan jabbed the end button until the screen went dark. He experienced such a tumult of mixed emotions that he didn’t know what to feel. At that moment, Cooper returned, wearing an exuberant smile. She locked her arm in his and together, they stepped outside.

  Leaves tripped down the sidewalk and the flags whipped back and forth in the late afternoon breeze. Cooper inhaled the crisp air with renewed appreciation and sent a wayward stick scuttling into the grass with a playful kick.

  “Now that the interrogation is over, I’ve got to call Ashley,” Cooper stated. “As long as her surgery went well, then this has turned out to be a pretty good day after all.”

  As they walked toward the parking lot, Cooper told Nathan about seeing Campbell at Door-2-Door. When she was finished, Nathan gave her the phone he had been gripping so tightly in his right hand.

  “It’s amazing what a guy will do to impress a woman,” he remarked wryly, but Cooper was too happy to notice the acerbic tone to his voice. She kissed him, thanked him again for standing by her, and then got into her truck, her thoughts already focused on Ashley.

  At home, Grammy and Earl were arguing over the directions Maggie had written regarding the preparation of their dinner.

  “It’s a chicken pot pie, son. Just stick it in the oven for a spell. If you poke your finger in the middle and get burnt, then it’s ready to eat.”

  “I’m right sure this is a three.” Earl pointed at a sheet of notepaper. Seeing Cooper, he thrust the instructions at her. “What do you think?”

  Reading over her mother’s hasty scrawl, Cooper set the oven, pulled a tossed salad from the fridge, and then shook up a mason jar containing homemade poppy seed dressing. “How’s Ashley, Daddy?”

  “Just fine,” Earl answered, spreading open his newspaper. “Your mama’s gone to fix her supper. Says your sister’s a bit tired, but in high spirits. I take it they mended everythin’ that needed fixin’.”

  “Was Lincoln there?” Cooper placed a pair of wooden salad forks in the center of the table.

  After nodding, Earl turned his attention to his paper. Meanwhile, Grammy had settled herself at the kitchen table and was giving Cooper one of her eagle-eyed stares.

  “You never came home Friday night, girlie,” she said with a cackle. “You and that boy are finally startin’ to act your ages. ’Bout time you took a roll in the hay. You’ve been chaste as a nun for far too long.”

  No one responded. Earl pretended to be absorbed in an article about declining interest rates while Cooper gathered silverware from the drawer next to the sink, her neck flushing pink.

  Grammy had erroneously assumed that Cooper and Nathan had had sex, but Cooper decided not to bother correcting her. After all, she hoped that she’d have more sleepovers with her boyfriend in the near future. Until then, it was time to follow Aurora’s lead. The woman was right in inviting Campbell to meet her family in order to cement the seriousness of the relationship.

  “Any plans this weekend, Daddy?” Cooper asked and handed Grammy an orange napkin.

  Earl shrugged. “Nothin’ special.” He looked sideways at his mother. “You’d know better than me.”

  Grammy shook her head. “Just another bake sale at church. Why, granddaughter? You got somethin’ excitin’ in mind?”

  Cooper sat across from her and smiled. “Exciting to me. I’d like to invite Nathan here for Sunday dinner. It’s time for you all to meet each other.”

  Rubbing her hands together with glee, Grammy exclaimed, “Oh! I’m gonna make it a point to mention that nic
e diamond engagement ring gatherin’ dust in our bank box!”

  Knowing that it would do no good to ask Grammy to refrain from mentioning the subject of marriage during Nathan’s first visit to the Lee home, Cooper removed the pot pie from the oven with a defeated groan.

  15

  The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

  1 Corinthians 15:26 (NIV)

  Cooper had the storm nightmare for the third time.

  As in the other dreams, she found herself inside the small boat as it raced toward the low thunderclouds, but this time, she could practically feel the chill of the rain as it hit her skin. The drops were sharp as needles and Cooper longed to take cover, but she had no control over a single element in the environment. Her feet were stung by the rain and when Cooper looked down at her raw, red toes, she noticed several objects floating in a shallow puddle in the stern of her boat.

  She recognized Frank’s diary and a black-and-white tintype of a young man in uniform. The face had been partially scratched off as though someone had been intent upon erasing the image completely. There was also a bouquet of purple flowers. Primroses or violets. It was hard to tell.

  As the boat cut through the water, Cooper’s dream self looked down at the rolling gray river and saw the yellow hospital flag drift past. She reached out to grab it, desperately wanting to rescue it from the water, but a stray current pushed it just beyond her grasp. Though it seemed impossible, the boat picked up even more speed, practically hurtling itself forward.

  This was the closest the dream had ever taken Cooper to the storm. The tongues of lightning that had once lingered in the distance now seemed to hover directly above the trees flanking the river. Several of the tallest pines were already aflame. Abruptly, the scene changed, and every single tree was on fire. Cooper stared at the conflagration in fear, feeling the heat on her face and watching as pieces of ash began to drop from the sky into her boat. The rain had ceased and the air burned her lungs. She crouched lower in her boat, breathing in wet wood and the smoking cinders of pinecones.

  As though mocking the danger, the current slowed and began to bear Cooper to the shore. Trees, their needles lit with scarlet and orange flames, crashed into the water, sending a burst of sparks into the black sky. Looking back over her shoulder, she saw that the wilderness behind her was pristine and unharmed, but the daylight had faded completely. When she turned to face the forest again, the fire was gone. All was still.

  The bow of her boat bumped gently against a pebbled bank. The sand was so white it glowed and the small stones winked like starshine. Cooper sighed. She was safe. The storm had passed. She was preparing to leave the small craft when a stick snapped somewhere in the forest ahead of her. A shape began to materialize from the shadows. It was a man.

  Wordlessly, he moved toward her, malice preceding him like a perfume borne by the wind. Frantic, Cooper pushed her boat back into the water, clawing at the liquid with her arms, but the man kept coming toward her. She paddled desperately, edging backward inch by agonizing inch, the cold water splashing onto her face and hair. But there was no way to escape him. Her heart grew frigid as she watched him wade effortlessly into the water. He reached out for her and she woke up.

  Cooper waited until eight-thirty Tuesday morning before calling Nathan to ask him to join her family for dinner that weekend. He broke into the recording on his answering machine, only to inform her that he’d been at work for an hour already, as his email inbox was filled with several irate messages from dissatisfied Big Man Product customers.

  “Why are they writing you?” Cooper asked, perplexed. “You’re the webmaster. It’s not your business.”

  “Try telling them that. According to these customers, the toll-free number listed on the contact page is bogus.” Nathan sounded extremely cross. “And I’m having no luck getting in touch with Tobey on his cell. The whole thing is giving me a bad feeling. His customers are claiming that his muscle builders have made them sick. Really sick.”

  Deciding that it wasn’t the best time to invite him to supper, Cooper turned her attention to Nathan’s problem. “I hate to mention this, but has Tobey paid you for your work?”

  There was a brief silence, and then Nathan said, “He paid the deposit I require for setting up a commercial website and I’ve billed him for the rest of the project, but his payment isn’t officially late until, let’s see . . .” Cooper could hear the tap tap of computer keys. “It’s due tomorrow, actually. I give everyone the standard turnaround time of thirty days.”

  “Do you have a credit card number on file?”

  “No,” Nathan growled. “Listen, I’ve got to run. I need to look into this before I can focus on my other projects. I just received another two emails while we were talking, damn it.”

  “Maybe you could do one of those online background checks,” Cooper suggested, thinking that Nathan would be grateful for her cleverness and desire to help. “Though Tobey Dodge sounds a bit like a fake name, now that I think about it.”

  “Thanks,” Nathan answered sourly. “I wish that had crossed your mind the night the three of us went out to dinner.”

  Stung by his demeanor, Cooper blurted, “That’s unfair!”

  “I know. I’m sorry,” Nathan hastily responded. “But I do have to take care of this mess right now.”

  Cooper was still smarting from his cutting remark, but she managed to control herself from prolonging the argument. She scowled, however, when she saw that Emilio was once again waiting for her in the office parking lot. “I’m sure everything will get straightened out,” she assured Nathan. “I’ve gotta run, too. I see a coworker I need to deal with.”

  “You bet,” Cooper thought she heard Nathan grumble, but what he really said was, “I bet.” Then he hung up.

  Emilio was propping the door open for Cooper, giving her one of his winning salesman smiles when the mail truck pulled up and came to a stop with a squeal of sudden pressure to the brakes. A woman in her early twenties with big hair and tight pants sashayed past Emilio. Her jaw, which had been furiously working over a piece of pink bubble gum, momentarily paused in mid-chew as she looked him over with interest.

  “Hey, handsome!” she greeted Emilio in a nasal voice that reminded Cooper of Fran Drescher’s character in The Nanny. A fog of perfume surrounded the confident postal carrier and Cooper coughed as she sidestepped the younger woman and headed for cover behind Angela’s desk.

  Emilio had forgotten about Cooper completely. He stared at the heavily scented newcomer as though his eyes had never beheld such an enticing vision.

  “Where’s the regular guy?” Cooper whispered to Angela as a bundle of mail was unceremoniously dumped onto the desk.

  “Vacation. For the next two weeks.” Angela grinned as the mailwoman sauntered to the exit. “Honey, you look close at that man and that woman. What you see before you is Cupid at work. That little cherub is havin’ target practice right before our eyes.”

  Cooper and Angela watched in amusement as the mailwoman, whose name was Carla, seduced Emilio in a mere twenty seconds. She began by telling Emilio she was tired from having stayed up to watch Monday Night Football and then she complained that her girlfriends refused to stay at Buffalo Wild Wings for the whole game. On top of those tidbits, which had already caused Emilio’s eyes to glimmer, Carla managed to let slip that Victoria’s Secret had just released its winter line and that her mail truck was full of hundreds of copies that would no doubt end up in the garbage.

  “Except for mine, of course.” She winked at Emilio, picked up the newspaper lying near the front door, and pushed it into his arms. “I’m gonna be ordering a little silky thing or two. Too bad there’s nobody to see me model them.”

  Saucily, wiggling her fingers good-bye, she sauntered back to her truck while blowing a bubble the size of a dinner plate.

  “Wow,” Emilio murmured as Carla peeled off. “What a woman!”

  “I think she liked you,” Cooper said quickly.

 
Emilio looked at her as though he had never seen her before. “You do?”

  “Heck, yes!” Angela chimed in. “Carla’ll be here for the next two weeks. Better make the most of it, boy. ’Specially if you want to get a peek at the latest underwear fashions.” She slapped him on the back and handed him a pile of work orders.

  Still in a daze, Emilio took a step toward the locker room and then, after hesitating, jogged back to Cooper and whispered, “You still got that box of chocolates?”

  She nodded. “They’re in my locker. Please help yourself.”

  “Thanks.” He suddenly seemed to have remembered that he had given Cooper the chocolates as a token of his esteem. “Hey. It wouldn’t have worked out between you and me anyhow, right? I mean, you’ve already got a guy. I wouldn’t wanna get in the middle of you two.”

  “I appreciate that,” Cooper replied with a smile. “And I don’t think you and I are very well matched. I don’t watch football. And that Victoria’s Secret catalogue I had in my work bag a few weeks ago? That was actually my grand-mother’s.”

  Emilio shivered in distaste and walked away. As soon as he was out of earshot, Angela and Cooper nearly fell over laughing.

  “I cannot believe he asked for those Godivas! I sure hope he doesn’t want that God-awful perfume back, too. Then again, Carla seems to like the smell of flowers mixed with kerosene!” Angela said once she managed to calm down. “Oh, look at me! I’ve gone and cried off all my mascara!”

  “So it doesn’t bother you?” Cooper examined her friend carefully. Angela seemed to have an ethereal glow about her this morning. “You’re totally fine with the fact that Emilio is obviously smitten with the mail lady?”

  “I don’t care a fig about that boy. I’ve got me the most wonderful man in the world.” Angela snapped open her compact and began to make repairs to her makeup. “Last night, a bit of magic happened right here in this office.” She blushed. “Well, back in Mr. Farmer’s office, if I’m gonna tell the tale right.”

  “I remember that he asked you to stay late.” Cooper played dumb.