Path of the Wicked

by Jennifer Stanley

  “What Vera wanted? Maybe you’re realizing that it’s her time? Before you have to put her in a home where someone has to help her go to the bathroom, take showers, or even feed herself? Before her care uses every dime your parents have? Or even your savings?” Warren’s expression was wolfish. “See? I’m not so crazy now, am I?”

  Cooper hesitated and then mutely shook her head. “No. You’ve released people from suffering. I’m sorry that your good intentions weren’t clear to me before.” Reaching across the table, she touched his sleeve. “I could help you,” she whispered. “I’ll come with you. No protests, no games.”

  He eyed her distrustfully, but a spark of hope ignited his face at the same time. “Why should I believe you?”

  Unpinning the silver butterfly from her shirt, Cooper placed it in Warren’s cold palm. She closed his fingers around the wings and held onto his hand. It was one of the most difficult things she had ever done. Touching his flesh repulsed her to the core, but her desperation to aid her family forced her to return his suspicious stare with as much sincerity as she could muster. As they sat this way, Cooper was silently shouting a passionate prayer for God to rescue her from the wicked man assessing her so closely.

  “The cops will be here soon. Since you informed them about me, they’re sure to call in and check on you when my house is empty,” Warren finally remarked, his voice flat and almost disinterested. “But that’s okay. My bags have been packed for a while.” He glanced around the kitchen. “Since you’re coming with me, I think I’ll have to put you to the test before we go. I don’t want any dramatics once we’re on the road.” He gestured at the cabinets behind them. “Get me a coffee cup and fill it with water.”

  Hastening to do as she was told, Cooper selected a white mug covered by Van Gogh’s irises.

  “Now, a spoon,” Warren ordered pleasantly as he opened the Ziploc. “The seeds are very toxic. A small bit will cause hallucinations and short-term memory loss,” he explained as he measured out his blend of Jimson weed and tea. “My little plant has so many names. So many faces. Did you know that when Virginia was an English colony we used this stuff against British soldiers at Jamestown? Grown men in their prime ran around like lunatics. Dancing naked. Spilling all their secrets. The next day, they couldn’t remember a thing. Aren’t Virginians crafty?” He stirred the mixture until the clear water mutated into a pale brown that resembled beef broth.

  Cooper watched his movements with morbid fascination. “So you didn’t give my family enough tea to kill them?”

  Warren shook his head. “No. They’re just taking naps, like you were going to do before your cell phone started ringing. But this cuppa tea will release your grammy for good.” He tapped the butterfly pin, which was within reach of his left hand. “And I will keep this to remember her by. The other things I’ll sell when we get where we’re going.”

  “And where’s that?” Cooper’s voice was much lighter now that she knew her parents and grandmother weren’t in immediate danger. Of course, Warren could well be lying. He was a master of deceit, but she felt as though he had revealed himself to her and had no cause to tell her partial truths after confessing with such calm pride to his host of crimes.

  “First, I need to believe that you and I understand each other.” He eased the hot mug into Cooper’s hand. “Careful. Don’t spill any.”

  Leading Cooper to her front door, he jerked it open and then stepped back in surprise. A tall figure darkened the doorway and before Cooper knew it, Warren was falling backward onto her. She pressed herself against the wall and flung the cup of tea from her hand in order to prepare her body for the impact of Warren’s weight. Unbalanced, she didn’t watch as the tea formed an auburn arc of scalding liquid before it landed on Warren’s scalp and face.

  He didn’t even cry out.

  Before she could make any sense of what was happening, Cooper was knocked flat. Her head banged against the floor with a commanding thud and she moaned as pain splintered from the point of contact and instantly radiated through her skull and down the vertebrae of her neck. It was so sharp that she squeezed her eyes shut until she felt she could draw in a few shallow breaths. A wave of nausea rolled over her.

  She felt a pair of large but gentle hands touch her face. A familiar voice whispered softly near her still-ringing ear. She couldn’t make out the words, but when she opened her eyes, she saw Nathan bending over her. He smiled as their eyes met and then he brushed her hair from her forehead and kissed her tenderly on the revealed skin above each eyebrow and then again on her lips.

  Cooper was content to lie motionless as the sound of other voices filled her apartment. She hadn’t been aware that Warren’s torso was still covering her legs until he was lifted off her. She closed her eyes again, noticing that the pain had become duller; its jagged edges had softened and the nausea she had briefly experienced had receded.

  “I’m going to carry you to your bed,” Nathan murmured softly to her. “Do you think it’s okay for you to be moved? I don’t want to hurt you.”

  Cooper glanced at the hand he was using to stroke her hair and saw rivulets of bright blood easing downward from his knuckles.

  “What happened?” she whispered.

  Instead of answering, Nathan gathered her into his arms with infinite care. She held onto his neck and rested her head against his shoulder. The smell of his body, the feel of his wool sweater against her cheek, and the motion of his muscles as he walked infused her with feelings of safety and solidity.

  “I thought I’d lost you,” Nathan said as he laid her down. Cooper felt a tear fall onto the bridge of her nose and was startled to recognize that her boyfriend was weeping.

  “Shhh. It’s all right now.” She cradled his face in her hands and then pulled his mouth to hers. She kissed him deeply until the sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted their embrace.

  “Daddy!” Cooper shouted in surprised embarrassment and then winced as the ache in her head intensified for a moment.

  Earl blushed and then gave Nathan a little smile. “Reckon she’s gonna be right as rain. We got our uninvited guest all trussed up. Mama spoke to the police and they’re on the way.” He looked over his shoulder. “What are you doin’, Maggie?”

  “He’s wakin’ up!” Cooper’s mother called out. “I’m just makin’ sure you tied these knots good and tight.” Maggie appeared in the room seconds later and put her arm around Nathan. “Your man’s got a powerful right hook, Coop. He knocked that boy flat! ’Course, we were there for backup, but Nathan had no need of us.” She held up a rolling pin. “It’s too bad, though. Grammy really wanted to take a shot at him with this, but she didn’t feel like climbin’ the stairs.”

  Immensely relieved to see her parents in perfect health, Cooper began to laugh at the absurd image of Grammy thumping Warren over the head with Maggie’s rolling pin. It was so cartoonish that soon they were all giggling at the visual.

  “We should have let her at him,” Nathan interjected. “A little payback from the senior citizen community would have been totally appropriate.”

  Earl cocked his head. “I hear the cavalry comin’. Guess I’ll go meet them downstairs before Mama starts tellin’ them how to do their jobs.” He saluted Nathan. “Nicely done, young man.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  Maggie beamed at him. “And here I thought we were just gonna have supper together,” she teased and then walked to the other side of Cooper’s bed. “Now lemme take a look at that bump.”

  Cooper allowed her mother to inspect her bruised head.

  “No blood,” Maggie declared. “Seems to me you took bigger lumps than this learnin’ to ride your bike. I’ll get you some ice.” She removed Cooper’s butterfly pin from her apron pocket and frowned. “And I’ll put this in a hot vinegar bath. Get rid of the germs on it and all.”

  “But Mama? Aren’t you feeling sleepy after drinking Warren’s tea?”

  Maggie blinked in bewilderment. “Maybe you sho
uld see a doctor,” she said as Earl led a group of policemen into Cooper’s apartment. “We didn’t eat or drink anything with that awful man. In fact, we never set eyes on him ’til Nathan punched his lights out.” She glanced at his wounded hand. “And don’t think I’m gonna let you go anywhere without gettin’ cleaned up, too, mister. We’re gonna have a nice supper and get ourselves calmed down.”

  “I don’t think Investigator Rector is going to allow us to eat a leisurely dinner.” Cooper sighed at the disagreeable idea of spending an evening at the police station. “He’ll want to take our statements right away.”

  Tapping her rolling pin against the flat of her palm, Maggie prepared to close the bedroom door so that Cooper and Nathan could have a moment alone. “You two have done enough for now. You leave that policeman to me.”

  “I like the sound of that!” Nathan waited until Maggie was gone and then stretched out on the bed. He slid his arm around Cooper’s waist and rested his head on the pillow.

  “Sounds good to me, too. Besides, I need something to distract me from thinking about my throbbing head and all the rest of today’s unpleasant events.” Cooper reached for him. “And I have an idea of what might just do the trick.”

  18

  Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

  1 John 4:7 (NIV)

  For the first time since the inception of their group, the Sunrise Bible study members ignored the usual array of pastries and carafe of aromatic coffee. They all spoke at once, asking Nathan and Cooper question after question about the events of the previous evening.

  “I know you tried to tell us everything on the phone,” Bryant said during a brief lull in the conversation, “but I still can’t get over the visual of Warren waiting for you in your apartment. And look at you! You seem totally normal despite what you went through.”

  “It’s too, too creepy,” Trish muttered. “Like a scene from Psycho. How did you ever get to sleep last night? I would have needed something to help me rest after someone threatened my entire family.”

  Cooper touched the sore spot on the back of her head. “Having supper with my family was the best medicine. And of course, Nathan offered to sleep on the couch, but by the time we’d all had our second cup of decaf and another serving of my mama’s roasted apple tart covered in warm caramel sauce, I was too full to be afraid. All I did was change into my pajamas and fall into bed.” She glanced around at her friends. “Tonight may be a different story. I expect that certain things will run through my mind over and over again for days.”

  “You must have been really scared.” Quinton drew Cooper against him in a one-armed hug. “We’re so glad that you’re safe.”

  Bryant nudged Nathan in the side. “How did you happen to be there, Mr. Knight in Shining Armor?”

  Nathan colored. “It’s a really strange story, actually. I was in the Kroger parking lot when I noticed that a Make It Work! van had been damaged by a yellow Hummer. For a second, I thought Cooper might have been driving the van, so I jumped out of my car to see if she was okay.”

  “Was it you?” Jake asked Cooper.

  “No,” Nathan answered. “It was her boss and one of Cooper’s coworkers, a woman named Angela. Anyway, the Hummer driver obviously had plans to leave the scene, but his exit was blocked by a woman in a minivan waiting for a choice parking space to come open. Because she was kind of sitting in the middle of the road, no one could go around her. Between the minivan and a line of shopping carts, he was penned in.”

  Bryant grabbed Nathan’s sleeve. “Did you do something to stop the Hummer? Can’t those things drive over small cars?”

  Nathan shrugged. “Maybe. But apparently this Hummer couldn’t straddle those shopping carts. Believe me, the driver tried, but he got totally stuck. So he left his truck and took off running, but Angela’s little dog chased after him. The thing probably weighed three pounds, but it tripped him up. By the time the cops arrived we had the guy immobilized in the back of the Make it Work! van.”

  “Tell them the best part!” Cooper prodded.

  “Turns out I knew the driver,” Nathan added enigmatically.

  Savannah, who had been listening quietly to the morning’s rambunctious discussion, suddenly shook her cane at Nathan. “I can’t take the suspense, my friend!” She smiled. “Sorry, but I feel like I’ve been on the edge of my seat since we started. Any more anticipation and I’m going to fall off!”

  Following Savannah’s request, Nathan went on with the remainder of his tale. “Do you remember when we started studying Joseph and I was having that dream about a person outside my door?” His friends all nodded. “I believe that person was Tobey Dodge, the client I took on with some reservations. As I’ve now discovered, God was trying to warn me about this man, but I didn’t listen closely enough to what He was saying. Tobey is a crook and a low-life swindler. And I totally fell for his act.”

  “I did, too,” Cooper interjected and then added, “He was a real smooth-talker—making us believe that he wanted to help people with his products. I didn’t hear any alarm bells go off when we met, though I didn’t particularly like him.”

  “Anyway, I’d been searching for him all week,” Nathan continued. “A bunch of clients wanted refunds because the Big Man muscle builders didn’t work. A few of them wanted to sue him because his products had actually made them sick. Two men ended up in the hospital.”

  Trish frowned. “If you ask me, no one should take steroids in the first place.”

  Nathan shook his head. “Tobey’s clients believed they were buying all-natural products, but according to one of the clients who needed hospitalization, the Big Man muscle builders were actually animal steroids. They’re quite dangerous, but a heck of a lot cheaper than steroids made for humans.”

  “What a snake!” Quinton declared. “You know, I’ve bought plenty of weight-loss products that made me feel pretty awful. Looking back, it’s a wonder I didn’t require medical care myself! Remember when all the diet stuff used to contain too much ephedrine or that dangerous fen-phen stuff? I think I’ve tried it all.”

  Seeing the glum expression on Quinton’s face, Jake smiled at his friend. “I wouldn’t want there to be a pound less of you, my man.”

  As the two men exchanged affectionate high-fives, Trish’s attention remained focused on Nathan. “How does Tobey fit into the Kroger story?”

  “He was the guy in the Hummer. By the time the cops arrived and Cooper’s boss, the Kroger manager, and I had finished coming up with a list of the con artist’s activities, we all felt like old friends.” At this point, Nathan seemed to be at a loss for words.

  “Go on,” Bryant prompted.

  “Well, I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but Cooper and I . . . we . . .”

  Jake finished the sentence for him. “Have the hots for each other? We know, my man.”

  As Cooper flushed bright pink, Nathan hurried to finish. “I’d been giving Cooper the cold shoulder all week because I thought, in a moment of total insanity, that she and the new guy at work had kissed.”

  “Which would never happen!” Cooper exclaimed. “Emilio is the perfect man for someone, but not for me. He’s the type of guy who thinks all women want him. Yes, he tried to kiss me once but I wouldn’t let him. Of course, he then thought I was playing hard-to-get so he sent me a text message saying that we could try that kiss again. The problem was that Nathan read the message.”

  “And you didn’t give Cooper a chance to explain?” Trish swatted at Nathan. “You bad boy.”

  “I know.” Nathan’s voice was contrite. “But I was so tortured over the whole thing that I asked Angela if Emilio and Cooper had anything going on between them. That woman sure set me straight! I think I still have the scars from where she dug her nails into my arm!”

  “And then you went flying to Cooper’s house to apologize, right?” Savannah guessed.

  Nathan nodded. “I pa
ssed a car parked on the side of the road about a half mile from her driveway. I knew I’d seen that car before, so I pulled over to check it out. A Door-2-Door cooler was on the front seat and a bunch of boxes and bags were in the back. It looked like someone was ready to go on a long trip.”

  “And you just knew it was our killer,” Jake whispered, entranced.

  “Yeah. I felt like all the blood in my body surged through my heart at once. I don’t think I even remembered to breathe as I drove the rest of the way. During those last few seconds I was imagining the worst. If I had gotten there too late . . .” Nathan’s voice cracked and he had to pause and collect himself. “I practically crashed through her parents’ screen door. I can’t even remember what I told them. They knew who I was and they trusted me immediately, and the next thing I knew, we were storming up the stairs to Cooper’s apartment. As I ran, I kept wishing I could fly . . .”

  “It’s okay, Nathan,” Savannah spoke up. “We would have all been just as afraid. When we care about another person, our love is often mixed with fear. Look at Joseph’s father. Jacob loved young Joseph so much that he kept him by his side. Joseph didn’t tend the flocks or do the chores his brothers did. Fear and love prompted Jacob to hold Joseph close, but too much fear is destructive. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and sent far from his homeland because Jacob treated him differently from the rest.”

  Jake touched the cover of his Amazing Joseph workbook. “And only God’s love could reunite the family in the end. Jacob was able to die right there with his son and his son’s sons gathered ’round his bed. That felt so right to me.”

  “I was so moved by Genesis forty-eight,” Trish said. “When Joseph places his two sons on the bed with Jacob and he hugs and kisses them just like any grandfather would do. Oh! It’s such a sweet ending.”

  “And a dignified one,” Quinton added. “Jacob prophesied the future of the tribes of Israel, blessed everyone, drew up his knees, and breathed his last.” Looking aggrieved, he sighed. “Warren’s victims weren’t fortunate enough to die like that. I feel so much anger toward that man for robbing those folks of their last years. He took away precious time—the opportunity to experience life in all its joys and sorrows.”