“I’m confused about why Christy and Miss Edna were here.” I hedged. “I thought Miss Dorothy went to the Methodist church.”
He folded his hands in front of him. “She transferred her church membership here. She had been a member for a couple of months at the time of her death.”
“So will the funeral be here?”
“No, they don’t expect a large crowd, so it’s going to be held at the funeral home.” He paused. “However, the police called during our visit and told Christy and her mother that they had decided to conduct an autopsy.” Jonah didn’t look all that unnerved by the prospect. Maybe he didn’t think they’d find anything.
“An autopsy? Why would they do that? I thought the police said she died of a heart attack.”
“That’s a good question, and Christy was very upset over the matter.”
“She didn’t look that upset when I saw her leave.”
“That’s because I assured her that it was all part of God’s plan. She had planned to head back to Shreveport on Sunday, but now she’ll stay until the middle of the week and attend the revival.”
There was no doubt Christy had set her claws in Jonah. Given her lifestyle, why she’d be interested in a man of the cloth was beyond me. Perhaps it was the allure of his cameras.
“Detective Taylor said he wants to interview all the people who saw her in the few days before her death.”
Something in his voice piqued my interest. “Are they going to interview you?”
“Yes, although it’s only a formality.” He was looking me up and down as though he were studying me.
I suppressed a shudder. “When was the last time you saw her?”
“I do believe it was last Sunday, right after the morning service.” He continued examining me. “Did you know Dorothy well?”
“She lived down the street, but no, I didn’t.”
“You feel alone in the world, don’t you Rose?”
I crossed my arms, suddenly feeling exposed. “I’m not sure why you think that.”
His lowered his voice and moved closer. “I can see it in your eyes. The eyes are the window to the soul. I can help you, Rose. You can share your burden with me.”
I remembered what Mason had suggested, that Jonah Pruitt might be after the money he thought I had. The breeze kicked up and goose bumps broke out on my arms. “I don’t really have any burdens, Reverend. My life is great. I have a boyfriend and a new business. I’m happy.”
He shook his head. “You can pretend all you want, but I can tell you’re troubled. I’m here to help you, not just as a pastor, but as a friend.” He put his hand on my bare shoulder.
I tried to stuff my panic, feeling uncomfortable with the direction this was heading. I turned and saw Rhonda standing at the door. Her arms were crossed beneath her bosom, and if she scowled anymore, her face would get stuck in a permanent pucker.
I took a tiny step back and forced a smile. “Thank you, Reverend. I’ll keep that in mind.”
He watched me for a few uncomfortable moments. “I hope you do. I’d like to get to know you better.” Then he turned and walked back into the church, but Rhonda kept her vigil, making no attempt to hide the hate in her eyes.
As he walked away, a vision blackened everything around me.
Rhonda stood in front of me, her face red with anger. “That girl is trouble, Jonah.”
“Who I talk to is none of your business.”
“We came here with a plan, and you’re getting distracted.”
My hands clenched at my sides, and my words came out clipped. “Let’s not forget who’s in charge here.”
She gritted her teeth and looked down, mumbling, “Yes, I know.”
“You need to have more faith, Rhonda. Our ultimate goal will be obtained.”
The brick exterior of the church came back into view, and Rhonda stood in the open doorway now. “You’re fighting with Rhonda over me.”
Rhonda’s mouth dropped open, and then she quickly got ahold of herself and took a step toward me, still holding onto the door. “I told you I know your kind, and I won’t stand back and watch you ruin that Godly man.”
This judgmental woman was ticking me off. “I don’t have any interest in Jonah Pruitt other than as a businesswoman.”
“Don’t you go trying to pull the wool over my eyes. I can see what you’re doing as clear as day.” She pointed her finger at me. “I won’t stand for it. When you finish this job, don’t you ever set foot on this church’s grounds again.”
I stuffed down a laugh. “I thought Reverend Jonah was all about acceptance and turning no one away.”
“Sometimes the reverend forgets himself and needs someone to watch out for him.”
“Funny, he seems perfectly capable of taking care of himself.” I spun around and stomped off to where the guys were working.
My encounter with Jonah had shaken me, particularly the vision. I considered calling Mason, but what was I going to tell him? That Jonah’s secretary hated me? That didn’t exactly seem like DA material.
Instead, I told Bruce Wayne and David goodbye for the day and drove across town to pick up Ashley and Mikey.
They were playing in the front yard of Mike’s parents’ house when I showed up. Mike’s mother sat on the step, watching the kids. Ashley was blowing bubbles, and Mikey was chasing after them. They let out squeals of excitement when they saw me pull up in the truck, and they ran over to check it out. Mike’s mother’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “Violet said you were thinking about buying a truck, but she led me to believe it was an old clunker.”
That didn’t surprise me a bit. “No, Mason Deveraux, the assistant district attorney, helped me get a good deal.”
Her eyebrows rose at my statement, but she didn’t comment.
When the kids settled down, we set up the car seats in the truck’s backseat and strapped them in. Once they were settled, Mike’s mother turned to me, her face pale. “Do you think that Mike and Violet will ever get back together?”
I cleared my throat, stalling. But there was no sense in hiding what I thought. “It doesn’t look promising, does it?”
“We love Violet like a daughter, but I’m not sure we can watch her start dating.” Her voice broke. “It’s just too painful.”
I nodded. I understood better than she knew. “I feel exactly the same way. I love Mike and miss him terribly. But I also love Violet, and I need to let her make her own decisions. Mike seems to be moving on and she wants to do the same, as difficult as it is for me to accept.”
She bit her lip. “I don’t want to lose my grandchildren.”
I pulled her into a hug. “You won’t! Violet loves you and Gary, and she would never let the kids lose you. Besides, not only are you amazing grandparents, but you’re the only ones they have.”
She sniffed and patted my arm. “You’re a good girl, Rose. I wasn’t sure about you when Mike and Violet first got married—you were always so quiet and self-contained, like you didn’t have time for anyone else—but you’ve really come out of your shell and grown into yourself.”
Her comment caught me off guard, and I wasn’t sure what to say. “Um…thank you.”
After she put the kid’s bags into the truck, she went inside the house, leaving me a little dazed. Had people stayed away from me because they thought I wasn’t friendly? Had I been the one to create the barrier between myself and the world?
“Aunt Rose! I’m hungry!” Ashley shouted from the backseat.
She shook me out of my musings, and I climbed inside. “Then let’s get you something to eat. Do you like my new truck?”
“Ru,” Mikey said, clapping his hands together.
“I’ll take that as a yes. How about you, Ashley?” I cast a glance at her as I backed out of the driveway.
Her brow wrinkled. “I guess it’s okay. Barbie drives a pink car.”
“Well, Barbie doesn’t own a nursery.”
“But she’s a vet. And a teacher.”
&
nbsp; I laughed. The logic of a five-year-old. “I suppose a pink car works for that, but I got a blue truck, and I like it.”
“But boys drive trucks, like my daddy.”
“Girls can drive trucks if they want to. They can do pretty much anything a boy can do.”
“They can’t pee standing up. I tried it, and Mommy got really mad because I made a huge mess.”
I tried not to laugh. She was using her serious voice, and I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. “True, they probably shouldn’t pee standing up, but girls can do just about anything else.”
“Are you going to marry Joe?”
I wasn’t sure how we’d changed topics so quickly, and this one caught me by surprise. “Well, he hasn’t asked me officially, but yeah, I think we’ll get married someday.” The thought filled me with happiness. I pictured me and Joe in my tiny house with a baby, and tears sprang to my eyes. How could I go from being so miserable five months ago to this happy now? I kept expecting to wake up from a dream.
Ashley talked about her day with her grandparents, and Mikey made sounds like he wanted to join the conversation, but was having a hard time getting a word in edgewise with his talkative sister. I kept my eyes on the road, my nervousness about driving something so big dissipating with each mile.
When we got home, Muffy was excited to see the kids. It was hard to tell who was happier—her or them.
I made a quick dinner of hot dogs and carrots and let the kids have a picnic on the front porch while Muffy chased a bug in the yard. I was sure Joe would teasingly disapprove of our meal. He always gave me a hard time about rarely cooking for myself, even though I used to do all the cooking when Momma was alive.
A pang of regret struck like a sharp stab. After what Violet’s mother-in-law had said to me, I was starting to question everything about my life before, and a brand-new thought struck me: Was my poor relationship with my mother partially my fault?
My cell phone rang.
Ashley picked it up and looked at the caller ID, staring at it for two rings. I resisted the urge to snatch it from her as she tried to read it. “Joe,” she finally said, and I took the phone, quickly pressing answer.
“Joe?” I answered, hoping I hadn’t missed him.
“Hey, darlin’. I miss you.”
I leaned my shoulder into the support post on the porch, my heart aching at the sound of his voice. “I miss you too.”
“I wanna talk to Joe!” Ashley said.
“Joe. Joe.” Mikey mimicked.
My eyes widened in surprise. I’d never heard him say Joe’s name before.
“Does my fan club miss me too?” Joe teased.
“Not as much as I do.”
“Let me say a quick hello, so I can have you all to myself.”
“Good idea.” I handed the phone to Ashley.
She grinned from ear to ear. “Guess what, Joe? We get to spend the night at Aunt Rose’s house and play with Muffy while Mommy goes out with her new friend. And we took a ride in Aunt Rose’s new truck.”
Oh, crappy doodles.
Ashley was silent for several moments. “When are you gonna come back and play with me?” She paused. “Okay, bye Joe.”
She handed the phone back to me, and my stomach balled into a knot of nerves. “That was short.”
“You got a truck?” He didn’t sound happy about it, but he didn’t sound upset either. It was like he was testing the water, dipping his toe in to gauge the temperature. Or perhaps it was the other way around.
I took a deep breath. “Yeah, we got that job with Jonah, and we needed to haul things to the church. Violet’s father-in-law brought his truck to help, but I realized that we needed our own.” I waited for him to answer.
He hesitated for a couple of seconds. “That’s probably a good idea.”
My shoulders relaxed.
“If you’d waited, I would have helped you.”
“I know, but I didn’t know when you’d be back. You said it could take a couple weeks or more. Does it still look like it’s gonna take that long?”
Joe sighed. “It’s hard to say. I hope it gets wrapped up soon. I miss you.”
“I miss you too.”
“Did you have trouble negotiating a deal on the truck? Where’d you get it?”
“The Moore For Less Used Car lot.”
Joe groaned. “Earl Moore? He’s a crook, Rose. He probably ripped you off.”
I suppressed a groan. I was gonna have to tell him. “No, I had some help.”
“Who? Violet? I know she thinks she knows everything, but—”
“No, it wasn’t Violet. It was Mason.”
Joe was silent for so long I thought he’d hung up. “Let me get this straight.” His voice was tight and controlled. “I told you that I was worried about you talking to Mason Deveraux, and as soon as I leave town, you ask him to help you buy a truck? After I’ve been after you to buy a new car for months?”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “I know this looks bad, Joe, but I promise you it just happened.”
“It just happened.” He sounded so detached.
“I saw Mason after they found Miss Dorothy dead—”
“The Miss Dorothy on your street?” At least he sounded concerned about that. “How’d she die?”
“They ruled it as natural causes, but after I got tackled by someone who was trying to break into her house, I called—”
“Whoa! How did you get tackled? What were you doing around her house?”
“Muffy ran into her backyard. She must have heard the guy breaking in. Even though she was on her leash, she bolted and I chased her around back.”
“Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”
“I’m fine, other than my pride being wounded after getting knocked on my behind. Mason came to check out the crime scene, and he told me Muffy scared the intruder off before he got in.”
“Let me get this straight.” His voice was strained. “Mason showed up for a simple breaking and entering? That seems a little beneath his position.”
Oh, dear. This was getting worse. I knew I should tell Joe that I’d been the one to call Mason, but his tone made it clear that it would be a bad idea. The truck was probably safer territory. “Anyway…I was telling Violet I thought we needed a truck when Mason showed up at the nursery looking for a gift for his mother. He heard and offered to help me negotiate.”
“I bet he did.” Joe’s tone was dry. “And you accepted.”
My anger riled up. I didn’t like what he was insinuating. “I told you that I would have waited for you, but I didn’t know when you’d be back.”
“I’ve been begging you for months, Rose—months—to get a safer vehicle. And then as soon as Mason offers to help buy you a truck, you run out and buy one.”
“It wasn’t like that. We went the next day.”
“Well there you have it,” he said mockingly. “You went the next day.”
“Joe, please try to understand.”
“I think I do understand.” His voice was strangely quiet.
Panic rose up, but it was liberally flavored with irritation. “What are you insinuating, Joe McAllister? Do you think I’d send you off on a dangerous undercover operation, and then cheat on you with Mason Deveraux? Do you think so little of me?”
“After what happened between Deveraux and me in Little Rock, it’s not you I’m worried about.”
“And maybe this conversation would mean more to me if you’d bother to tell me what happened.”
His breath was heavy in my ear. “You’re right.” He paused. “I’ll tell you about it the next time I see you, I promise. I don’t want to have this conversation over the phone. Trust me, okay?”
Joe had never given me reason not to trust him. If anything, he’d given me every reason to give him my absolute blind faith. But this deep, dark secret scared me. “I love you, Joe. You know that.”
“I know.” His voice broke. “I just don’t want to lose you.”
Something abou
t the way he said the words made me wonder if the threat was entirely on my end. “What’s goin’ on there? Are you safe?”
“Darlin’, you know every time I put on my badge—”
“Joe. Stop. Is this more dangerous than usual?”
“You know I can’t talk about my job.” I heard the tired smile in his voice.
My heartbeat sped up. “Quit.”
“I already told you that I’m planning on it.”
“No. Right now. Tell your boss you’re done and come home to me, Joe.”
“Oh, Rose,” he said. “You know I can’t do that.”
I knew, but I was still upset that he was choosing his job over me. But that wasn’t fair, and it wasn’t true, either. Joe couldn’t just quit in the middle of an assignment—that wasn’t the type of person he was. And that was one of many reasons I loved him. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry too. Just please be patient with me.”
“I’m just scared.”
“I know, darlin’. I am too. But not because of my job.”
“I’m not goin’ anywhere. I’m here waiting for you.”
“I’m counting on that.” He sighed and his voice was tight. “I trust you, Rose. I’m sorry if I insinuated anything different. That wasn’t my intention. It’s just that…” His voice trailed off.
Tears clogged my throat. “I love you, Joe. Only you.”
“I know, darlin’. I never doubt that. That’s what’s getting me through this.”
“You’re job?” My breath hitched with my rising terror. What was he doing in El Dorado?
“No, darlin’. Not my job. It’s okay. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’ll explain it all when this is done.” The timber of his voice deepened. “I have to go. Whatever is going on there with Miss Dorothy’s death, stay out of it. Sometimes I think you scare up more danger than I do.”
Sometimes I wondered if he was right. But this time, the danger I was facing wasn’t the bad guys lurking outside my door.
Chapter Thirteen
The kids played all night with Heidi Joy’s boys and Muffy. I tried to have fun with them, but I was too upset. Once again, it felt like there was sand shifting under my feet. I barely had time to get used to the new way of things when everything shifted again. Violet and Mike’s world had changed, but that didn’t mean mine had to. Once Joe finished this assignment, he’d get the job at the sheriff’s department and come live with me. We’d build our life together in Henryetta. But would Joe really be happy living here?
Thirty and a Half Excuses Page 13