He hadn't been in the wilderness since before he had come to America to change his life. He had planned on keeping it that way. He had no desire to be in the great outdoors with a bunch of other people, smelling the smells of the forest, hearing the sounds of the night, reliving memories better left buried.
He sighed. But people were dying over the place now.Things had to change.
It was time he saw Green Pastures for himself.
9
AT FIVE-FIFTEEN GEANIE RETURNED, RELIEVING JOSEPH OF CINDY-SITTING duty. As he left, Joseph flashed Cindy a smile and a wink.The two of them shared a fantastic secret and she would never dream of revealing to Geanie that she knew Joseph was thinking of proposing.
"Did you two have fun?" Geanie asked.
"We did," Cindy said. She had been grateful that she hadn't been alone when she hung up the phone from talking with Jeremiah. Joseph had apologized for giving her the same lecture a couple of days prior and helped her not to dwell on how unpleasant the entire thing had been.
"Are you sure you're up to meeting your Realtor tonight?" Geanie asked. "I'm sure he could show the home just as well without you."
"I want to go," Cindy said. "I want that house sold. I also want to talk with him about some other things. You're just in time to help me change."
When Cindy was appropriately attired Geanie grabbed the vase of roses and put it once again on the floor of her backseat as Cindy climbed into the passenger seat.
"Thanks for driving me."
"You're welcome."
The house wasn't that far away and they were soon pulling up out front.
"I can't believe you're selling this place," Geanie said.
"It's far too big for me."
"It's really cute."
They got out of the car and walked to the front door, which was opened for them by Gary. They said a quick round of hellos on the porch.
"This is a really nice house," Geanie said as they walked inside.
"I guess so. I hadn't thought very much about it," Cindy said, trying to look around and see it with fresh eyes.
"It's got three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and an in-ground hot tub," Gary chimed in as he took the roses from Geanie.
"Hot tub?" Geanie asked, eyes widening. "And you're thinking of selling this place?"
"Not thinking of, I am selling this place," Cindy said.
"You're crazy."
"Thanks for the diagnosis."
"This is clearly far more house than Cindy needs and when she does buy a house, she's going to want to do so with a signifi cant other," Gary hastened to say.
Cindy smiled. Relax, Gary. I'm selling and you'll get your commission, she thought, but didn't say it out loud.
"Here, let me show you the rest of the house," she said to Geanie.
As they went from room to room Geanie became more enthralled with the place. "How much are you asking for it?" she finally asked.
Cindy told her and Geanie nodded her head thoughtfully."You know, I've got some money saved up to buy a house some day."
Cindy felt a momentary panic. Geanie couldn't buy this house, not when Joseph was going to be proposing in the near future. "Geanie, could you go around and make sure all the lights are on, and everything looks good?"
"Isn't that Gary's job?"
"Yes, but I wanted to ask him a couple of questions."
"Sure."
"Thanks."
Cindy moved back to the living room where Gary was meticulously arranging the roses in their vase. "Thanks for those," Cindy said.
"You're welcome. It's just my little good luck charm.Superstition most would call it. But I think red roses send the right message to home buyers. Here is a place of romance, renewal, beauty. You want to live here."
"I'm all for anything that works."
"What happened to your shoulder?" Gary asked, finishing with the vase and turning to look at her.
"I was with Larson Beck from the Green Pastures board last night when someone tried to kill him."
"What?" Gary asked, blinking at her like he couldn't have heard her right.
"Somebody tried to kill him. He's going to be okay, but he'll be in the hospital for a while. He was shot and I ended up with a dislocated shoulder."
"Are you joking?"
"No. I was released from the hospital a few hours ago.Geanie tried to convince me to stay home, said you could handle showing the house without me."
"Absolutely. Go, get some rest."
"But I had to come."
"What on earth for?"
"I wanted to talk to you about one of your other clients."
"Who?" Gary asked, still looking bewildered and not entirely convinced of what she'd been saying.
"Max Diamond."
The doorbell rang.
"Max, uh, what do you—"
The doorbell rang again and Cindy sighed. "You better get that. We'll finish talking after they go."
Within moments Cindy found herself being introduced to a nice, older couple who were being escorted by a brash brunette woman who never stopped talking even during introductions.
Cindy scurried to get out of their way as they tramped through the house.
"How's it going?" Geanie whispered as she came up beside her.
"Look at their expressions. He's got this death stare going and she's complaining of blisters and looking like she's going to cry. I think I heard their Realtor make a reference to 'the first house this morning.' I'm guessing at this point they're not even seeing what they're looking at."
"Doesn't bode well for your chances of a sale with them."
"I'm guessing not."
Seven minutes later the trio trooped out without a backward glance and Gary closed the door behind them.
"That's it?" Cindy asked, feeling a bit dismayed.
"That's it," Gary said, sounding cheerful but looking tired.
"Wow. Somehow I thought there'd be . . . more to it . . . I guess."
"That's how most of them are. Seven minutes were long.Some people only spend two minutes on the first look through."
"Again, wow."
"I'll go turn offlights and close windows I just opened," Geanie said.
Once she had left the room Gary turned to Cindy. "Were you really serious before?"
"Yes."
"I am so sorry. I just can't fathom who would want to hurt either of you. You don't have any jealous ex-boyfriends, do you?"
"No, nothing like that!"
"We live in a terrible world."
"I wanted to talk with you about Max Diamond."
"Sorry, you did say so. Unfortunately, I don't think he's in the market for a small single-family home."
"That's not what I wanted to know."
"Sorry, you talk. I'll listen," Gary said apologetically.
"I overheard him the other night in the pub say that he wouldn't let anything stand in his way of buying Green Pastures. I wanted to know, what sort of man do you think he is?"
"He's a very successful businessman. He's blunt, he's ambitious, aggressive, a visionary, all the things that help a person succeed in his line of work I guess. Why?"
"I mean, do you think he's capable of hurting people to get what he wants?"
"I, I'm not sure I get your meaning," Gary said. "I mean he's a keen negotiator and I hear he can be quite ruthless when dealing with his rivals, so I guess so. People generally come out on the losing end financially when dealing with someone like that. That's one of the reasons I think the offer he's made to buy Green Pastures is so extraordinary and generous. Everyone would win."
"Would he be willing to kill someone to create that win?" she asked, realizing that she was getting nowhere by being subtle.
"Kill someone? I seriously doubt Mr. Diamond is capable of anything so brutal," Gary said, looking shocked at the suggestion."And who would he even kill?"
"Maybe a board member who doesn't want the deal to go through."
"Larson? You think he attacked Larson?"
/> "More likely hired someone to do it," Cindy said. "I'm guessing he's got more than enough money to do that."
"But the idea is ludicrous. There are so many other ways he can persuade people. I know he wants the land really badly and would do nearly anything to keep his competitor from it, but I just can't see him taking it that far."
"Good people often have a hard time ascribing evil to the actions or motivations of others," Cindy said quietly.
Gary bit his lip. "That could be," he said at last. "I don't want to believe it, so maybe that's why I don't. I'm sorry. I wish I could be more help."
"All sealed up. I think we're done here," Geanie said, returning.
"I think so," Cindy agreed. "Thanks for at least talking it out with me, Gary."
"Anytime. If I do . . . hear or see anything . . . I'll let you know."
"I would appreciate it."
Back in the car, Geanie looked at her. "You don't seem happy."
"Disappointing conversation."
"Home?"
"Please. I think I need to go to bed."
"That's the first sensible thing you've said tonight."
"Marie, I need to talk to you," Jeremiah said Wednesday morning as he sank down into the chair across her desk from her.
"What is it?" she asked warily, folding her arms over her chest.
For almost three years he had been the rabbi. Marie had mothered him, smothered him, protected and bullied him.Never had she feared him, though. He had let the mask slip just a little and she hadn't liked what she'd seen beneath. It was up to him to make it okay for her if he expected to stay there any longer.
Part of him wanted to move on, but he had worked so hard to build a life, a reputation, a new identity there. It would be hard to start over.
He dropped his eyes to his hands, a less threatening posture than locking eyes with her.
"I'm so sorry for what happened earlier. I guess I didn't realize how badly I need a vacation. I thought I was fine, but I'm really tired. Then the accident, it just really threw me. You mentioned me being a camp counselor and I could just picture trying to drive the kids to camp and being hit again, but with all them there. I just couldn't deal with it. I look okay, but I'm still hurt, physically and emotionally. The thought of taking on more responsibility just overwhelmed me and I snapped.I'm sorry you had to see that."
She reached out and grabbed his hands with hers. "It's perfectly understandable. You should have taken more time off."
"You're right." She'll love hearing that.
"Of course I am," she said, voice warming to him. "Look, don't be so hard on yourself. We all have our breaking point.You just need to tell me when you're feeling overwhelmed. I'm here to help you."
"I know. It's just . . . hard . . . sometimes."
He risked looking up at her. Her face had melted with concern and he could tell she was already forgetting her fear of what she had seen beneath his façade. "Forgive me?" he asked.
"There's nothing to forgive," she said.
And she meant it.
"Did you find anyone else to take the kids up?"
She shook her head. "We were set to have space on First Shepherd's bus. They're having a retreat the same weekend.But without a male counselor for the cabin we can't send our kids."
"I'll do it."
"No, that's too much stress," she said, shaking her head.
"I couldn't stand the thought of disappointing the kids.Some of them never get a chance to do anything like this except through us. I promise I'll take some time offonce I get back."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes." He stood up. "Could you call the parents and tell them it's back on?"
She smirked. "I never called to tell them it was off."
"What would I ever do without you, Marie?"
"Let's not find out," she said.
"Agreed. I'll be in my office if you need me."
He just wished it would be that easy to make amends with Cindy. Part of him, though, warned that they were both better offwith her hating him and keeping her distance.
It was late morning before Cindy woke up. After she had made it to the kitchen she called Geanie.
"I'm awake," she announced.
"Good. I was beginning to worry. I was going to come over on my lunch hour. I still can."
"No, I'm good, but thanks anyway. Anything going on I should know about?"
"We're all squared away for camp. We've got the bus and the bus driver I found arriving tomorrow afternoon. We have permission slips and payment from everybody."
"Did you coordinate with Marie at the synagogue?"
"Yup. They were having trouble finding a replacement counselor, but Jeremiah agreed to go."
Jeremiah. She thought of the angry words he had said to her and she thought about him trying to wrestle a group of high school boys up at the camp. She felt like she was going to be sick, but she wasn't sure which thought was causing the reaction.
"You still there?"
"Yeah, sorry," Cindy said. "It sounds like you've got everything under control."
"Yup. You just concentrate on healing up."
Cindy promised and then hung up. She grabbed a banana and scarfed it down as she headed for her computer. She dragged the mouse over to the left-hand side and after a few minutes was able to retrain herself with that hand.
"Okay, Max Diamond, no one else might think you're capable of murder, but I do. And I'm going to prove it."
Six hours later with her left hand cramped from working the mouse and doing all the typing she shut down her browser in defeat. The only thing that she could find even remotely linking Max Diamond to murder was the rancher's wife. Maybe she had been the first, or maybe she was just the only one that had been mentioned in the same article as his name.
Or maybe it's a coincidence and he didn't kill her, she thought.She was out of options and there was only one way to find out the truth. Her shoulder was a little stiffbut it was her hand and the pounding in her head that forced her to take some Tylenol, shovel a few forkfuls of leftovers in her mouth, and hit the couch, calling it an evening.
She slid her arm out of the sling and moved it slowly. So far, so good. She had heard the doctor say when he put it back in that it wasn't the dislocation that was so much the problem as how long it had spent that way with the tissues swelling around it.
I should have paid attention to what he did so I could put it back myself if it ever happens again, she thought as she drifted off to sleep.
Jeremiah packed his backpack slowly, cautiously. He felt like he was retraining himself. So many of the things that he wanted to pack by instinct were no longer necessary nor were they even remotely appropriate.
They're going to feed you, he reminded himself as he shunned the box of protein bars. Finally, just to help himself let it go, he slipped three of them in the bag anyway. Midnight snacks, he reasoned, though he did not indulge in such things at home.Or really lousy camp food, though he knew there was nothing they could serve that would be worse than things he had eaten before.
They're going to house you, inside, and give you bedding, he thought as he discarded a blanket and a tarp he could sleep on.
And there will be heat in the cabins, he told himself as he discarded a few heating packs.
He picked up the camp packing list that Marie had provided him with, the same one they sent home with all the kids to help them prepare for camp. Don't add to the list, he chanted to himself as he reread it.
Nowhere on the list did it say to bring a survival knife, compass, fishing hook and line, waterproof matches, or rope.Which meant all of that had to stay behind.
He ran down the list one final time.
Clothes. Check.
Underwear. Who could forget that?
Socks. Dangerous to forget that.
Jacket or sweatshirt. Jacket, Norwegian, thin but very warm. The Norwegians know cold.
Swimsuit. Packed, and it will stay that way if I can help it.
&
nbsp; Towel. Ditto.
Hat. Check.
Sunscreen. Got it.
Mosquito repellant. Absolutely.
Pajamas. Check, but would rather sleep in my clothes.
Notebook. Got it.
Pen. With the notebook.
Toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, deodorant. Travel sized for convenience.
$5 (optional). Why do they have this on every list for every trip the kids ever do? What could they possibly be buying and do parents actually send the money? Nine kids and me. Better make it $50.
His bag was packed, but he couldn't bring himself to zip it closed.
"It's just a trip to sleepaway camp. It's like a motel but with bunk beds. You don't need anything else," he said out loud.
Captain whined and Jeremiah scratched the German shepherd behind the ears. Marie had agreed to stop by to feed and walk him while he was gone.
"Wish you were going with me," he told the dog. "I think I'd feel safer."
10
CINDY HAD HER FIRST PHYSICAL THERAPY SESSION ON THURSDAY MORNING, and it went well. Afterward she had Joseph drop her offat her car, which was still parked by the coffee shop.
He followed her home. After they parked, he asked, "How does the shoulder feel?"
"Good as new," she lied. "The therapist said there was no reason I couldn't drive, but I should take it easy."
"Do you need anything before I go?"
"No, I'm all set. Thank you for taking me."
"You're welcome."
After Joseph left, Cindy came to a decision. She needed to talk her theories through with someone, someone who was on the outside who might be able to give her a fresh perspective.
She headed for her car and minutes later found herself in the lobby of the Courtyard.
"I'd like to call up to Gerald Wilson's room," Cindy said.
The agent at the front desk picked up a phone and called."Sir, there's a woman named—"
"Cindy Preston."
"—Cindy Preston here to see you. Okay, I'll send her up."
The agent hung up. "He's in Room 514."
"514," Cindy repeated.
The agent nodded toward the elevators and Cindy shortly found herself knocking on the door to Room 514.
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