by K. Gresham
“So you left Miss Olivia’s to tell Pearl about Roth’s death.”
“Yes. I ran by the Sinclair Station to let Ernie know Miss Olivia wanted him to come over, then I went to tell Pearl.”
Matt frowned. “Miss Olivia asked you to get Ernie Masterson?”
Fred nodded. “To go find Cash, I presume. Those two were thicker than mud.” He wiped a speck of dust off his desk. “Ernie finally found Cash in Houston. Told Cash to come home.”
“Cash was quite a personality, I understand.”
“Got into more mischief than Miss Olivia deserved,” Fred said. “He was a popular man in Texas with the legislators. I guess he had like three days of meetings with all of ‘em at the time of the Houston debate. Made you wonder what he did to make them so friendly.”
“How long did they search for Cash before they figured he was dead?”
“Two weeks hard out. Then a few more weeks, with the Texas Rangers coming in and all. A long time went by before Miss Olivia agreed with James W. that they should have some sort of memorial for him.”
“How did Miss Olivia handle everything?”
“Odd, that. She seemed more . . . resolved . . . than mournful. I tried to counsel her about Cash’s disappearance, but she’d hold up her hand and tell me that Pearl needed my care more than she did. After a bit, I stopped bringing it up.”
Matt stood. “I thank you for your time, Fred.”
The professor studied him carefully. “I’ve answered a question for you, but I’m not sure what you asked.”
Matt smiled. “I’ll be coming to Houston again soon. We’ll talk.”
Chapter Thirty
Elsbeth Novak
Matt returned to Wilks late that afternoon. His Tempo had overheated twice on the trip back from Houston, confirming his fears that he’d have to find a different vehicle before the hot Texas summer arrived.
He drove past Ernie’s Sinclair Station, checked his watch, then steered directly for Sheriff Novak’s ranch home on the north side of town.
The drive took a little under seven minutes.
He parked under the redbud tree in the front drive and walked up the flagstone path to the front porch. James W. must not do so bad for himself, Matt thought, taking in the sprawling house that overlooked the Colorado River. When he rang the doorbell, he was greeted by a melody of chimes that he was sure was intended to impress visitors to the Novak ranch.
“Reverend Hayden,” Elsbeth said in surprise as she pulled open the heavy front door. “Come in.”
Matt stepped into the marble-tiled entranceway. Elsbeth led the way into the elegant, wide front room.
Ladies’ clothes were strewn over every chair and divan.
“Pardon the mess,” Elsbeth said, pushing a navy blue dress to the side and gesturing the pastor toward an overstuffed chair. “Jimmy Jr. is coming to town for Ernie’s funeral, and I want to be ready.”
Ready for the media that followed the gubernatorial candidate, Matt thought, but kept his musing to himself.
“What brings you out here?” she asked, busily stacking shoeboxes against the stone fireplace.
“I had a few questions I’d like to ask you in private.”
“Oh?” She ran a hand through her wavy brown hair. Matt noted she must have spent the morning at the beauty shop. Her hair was browner and wavier than the last time he’d seen it.
“I was surprised to see you at Maeve O’Day’s funeral the other day.”
“I might say the same for you.” Elsbeth turned the conversation quickly. Her eyes sharpened, and her speech pitched higher. “I should think that a pastor would stay away from associating with the friends of that kind of person.”
Matt wouldn’t be put off the scent. “All the more reason you can imagine my surprise at seeing you sitting in the back row of the church.”
Elsbeth settled herself on the couch across from Matt. He wondered if her strategic placement wasn’t intentional. With the sun streaming through the window behind her, he could not discern Elsbeth’s reaction to his query.
After a moment’s pause, Elsbeth let out a humorless chuckle. “I guess we both felt sorry for the poor old woman.”
Matt pressed his lips together. He’d figured this would be a difficult interrogation. He’d been right.
“Did you learn what you came to find out?” he asked.
“What could I possibly want to know about that woman?” Elsbeth shuddered. “Really, Reverend Hayden, you’re makin’ too much out of my bein’ there.”
“Perhaps,” Matt allowed. “But if you didn’t get your answer at Maeve’s funeral, perhaps you thought Ernie might have been able to help you. Was that why you were looking for him Wednesday night?”
Elsbeth stood, turning her back full on Matt. He took that as a sign that he was getting close to the truth.
“I don’t remember thinking about Ernie Wednesday night.”
“You called Pearl, looking for Ernie. And Miss Olivia.”
“Perhaps I did.” When she turned, her face was lit in a bright smile. “Now I remember. My car wasn’t working, and I wanted to tell Ernie he needed to come out Thursday morning and fix it.”
“Your car was working. You were in your car when you used your cell,” Matt reminded her. “Pearl said that it was breaking up pretty bad with the thunderstorm.”
“Hmm.” She mused quietly, then picked up a purple wool suit and held it up to the mirror. “Perhaps I was on my way to Miss Olivia’s. That was the night of her heart attack, as you well know.”
“I know you’re not telling me everything.” Matt stood. “If you’d rather I take this up with James W.—”
“No!” Elsbeth dropped the suit unceremoniously on the chair. “There’s no reason to bring James W. into this.”
“Then perhaps you can clear up why you wanted to see Ernie Masterson so badly that evening, and why you were at Maeve O’Day’s funeral that day.” Matt sat back down.
“I had no love for Maeve O’Day,” Elsbeth said. “I wanted to see who else would show at her funeral, that’s all.”
Matt studied her face. Somewhere along the line, Elsbeth was telling him the truth. Cryptically, but telling it nonetheless. “What was the reason you were looking for Ernie?”
Elsbeth closed her lips firmly.
“There’s a woman in jail for a crime she did not commit,” he said. “I think you’re a material witness, if not more, Mrs. Novak. Either you answer my questions now, or we go down and discuss this with James W.”
She studied her hands, the wall, the carpet. Anything but Matt’s face.
“You’re my pastor.”
“Obviously.”
“You can’t reveal what we talk about. Ethically, I mean,” she said nervously.
“Not unless you want me to.” He nodded. “Or unless you’ve committed a crime.”
Elsbeth turned toward the window, crossed her arms over her midsection, and watched the breeze blow through the redbud trees for a long moment. “All right,” she said, “I’ll tell you.” She walked back to the couch. “But you do not have my permission to discuss this with anyone. Do you understand?”
Matt nodded. “As long as you haven’t done anything wrong.”
“I have a son runnin’ for governor, and I don’t even know all of the skeletons in my closet.” She sat down. “I deserve the truth.”
“The truth about what, Elsbeth?”
“Whether or not my husband is Angie O’Day’s father.”
Matt kept his gaze steady, though the feeling of shock he was experiencing was hard to keep off his face. “You think James W. fathered Angie?”
“Yes,” she said, with a breath of relief. “I’ve wanted to say that for thirty-five years. Finally, it’s out.”
“Maybe you’d better tell me about it.” Matt settled in his chair.
“I don’t blame James W. With a father like Cash, bringing those prostitutes over to the mansion to conduct their business when Miss Olivia was gone...”
Elsbeth shook her head.
“Cash brought Lida’s girls to his house?”
“Saw it with my own eyes.”
“How does any of that make James W. Angie’s father?”
“When news got out that Maeve O’Day was pregnant—I mean, anyone who worked at Miss Lida’s Rose Hotel risked a bun in the oven, right?” Elsbeth stood and paced toward the fireplace mantel. “But when that woman showed up to Cash’s memorial service . . .”
“What woman?”
“Maeve O’Day. Showing plenty, I can tell you. Back then, well, women didn’t go out when you showed that much.”
“Maeve O’Day was pregnant and she went to your father-in-law’s funeral?”
She nodded. “Miss Olivia didn’t say a word. It was the first and only time I’ve ever seen Miss Olivia look scared.”
“Of Maeve O’Day?”
“Yes. Only for a moment. Later when the cars were lining up for the procession to the cemetery, Maeve came out of the church. Miss Olivia and James W. were waiting for the limousine to swing around. Maeve and Miss Olivia just stared at each other. Then the limo came. When she got in that car, Miss Olivia looked like she’d seen a ghost.”
“They had a burial? With no body?”
“It was a memorial service, really.”
“How long after Cash disappeared?”
Elsbeth puzzled the question for a moment. “Five, maybe six months? I mean, Cash wasn’t officially declared dead for years. But Miss Olivia wanted closure. She put an empty casket in the ground with some of Cash’s things in it. Said she needed the ritual so that she could get on with her life. We had a luncheon at the house afterwards. Just like a real funeral.”
“Did Maeve O’Day come over to the house after the service?”
Elsbeth shook her head. “No, but her message had been delivered just the same.”
“Message?”
“Blackmail. I think Maeve O’Day wanted the Wilks’ money to keep her mouth shut about James W. fatherin’ her baby.”
“Miss Olivia had her heart attack right after the memorial service,” Matt said.
“She didn’t have her heart attack that day,” Elsbeth corrected him. “It was two days later. I’ll never forget that, I can tell you.”
“You were with her?” Matt prodded.
“James W. and I were starting to get serious about each other by then,” Elsbeth said. “Miss Olivia had invited me over to a Bible Study so her friends could get to know me. Talk about walking a gauntlet! Anyway, the mail man came by, Miss Olivia answered the door, did a quick look through the mail, opened one letter, then boom! Fell right over in the hallway. Near to where she fell Wednesday night.”
“Was there something in the mail that upset her?”
“Now, that was the silliest thing,” Elsbeth replied. “One of the letters, the one in her hand when she fell, all it had in it was a coupon for toilet paper. And the return address said it was from Maeve O’Day.”
“Toilet paper,” Matt repeated.
“No note, no nothin’. Just the coupon.”
“So as far as you know, Maeve O’Day never got any kind of money from Miss Olivia.”
“She got her money, all right. From Cash.”
Matt sat forward. “Cash?”
“Do you think it was a coincidence that Maeve O’Day had enough money to buy the firehouse?” Elsbeth huffed. “Besides, I saw Ernie doing Cash’s business for him at Lida’s Rose Hotel with my very own eyes.”
“When?”
“Right before news came about Roth’s being killed. Football season was long gone, and prom wasn’t for another month,” Elsbeth said. “Us girls were lookin’ for somethin’ to do.”
“You went to Miss Lida’s?”
“I was a senior in high school. It was a dare.” Elsbeth shrugged. “We thought, us girls thought, that maybe some of the football players would go over to Miss Lida’s. Girl stuff. In Texas, high school is all about football, and high school girls are all about football players. We were in the woods behind the parkin’ lot.”
“What did you see?”
“Ernie Masterson drove up in Cash’s car. And guess who was in the back seat? Maeve O’Day. You know what that means.” She shot Matt a superior look. “And after Ernie got Maeve into Miss Lida’s, he went back to the car for a little suitcase, and he took that in, too. When he came out, he was empty-handed.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Wilks is located smack between Austin and Houston. I think Cash threw a little party at the mansion for his legislative buddies when everyone was passing through on their way to the debate.”
“Where was Miss Olivia?”
Elsbeth shot Matt a withering look. “Well, not there, obviously. Cash would’ve made sure she wasn’t home.”
“And you think that’s the night when Maeve O’Day let Cash know that James W. had gotten her pregnant.”
“It follows, doesn’t it? They talked after the party. Then Ernie drove her home and paid her off with a suitcase full of money.”
“And you still went ahead and married this man?”
Elsbeth bowed her head. “James W. was a kid. Every boy in town went over to Lida’s at some time. It was almost a right of passage.” She looked up sharply. “But all that was before he and I started seeing each other. There’s no doubt in my mind he’s been faithful to me ever since.”
“That’s a heckuva stretch to make between Ernie driving Cash’s car, taking Maeve back to Lida’s and James W. fathering a child.” Matt shook his head. “I don’t see it.”
“Don’t forget the suitcase full of money! Besides, James W.’s always championed her. He goes over to that Fire and Ice House ‘most every day. He says he’s checking for health violations, but that’s what the county has a health inspector for, isn’t it? He defended that little girl when Miss Olivia kicked her out of Sunday School.” Elsbeth’s tone turned bitter. “Oh, he cares about Angie O’Day. Make no mistake.”
“He’s arrested her for murder,” Matt said.
“Didn’t have much of a choice.” Elsbeth turned her nose in the air. “Don’t think he feels good about it, Pastor. How could he? If he’d been a good father, Angie wouldn’t have turned out the way she did.”
“So you figure Ernie was making a blackmail payment for Cash that night.”
“Of course. Cash and Ernie were thick as thieves.”
Matt shook his head to clear it. “Back to present day. Did you talk to Ernie? Wednesday night?”
Elsbeth looked down at her hands, realizing that she’d been wringing them. She forced them open, spreading them over her knees. “Yes.”
“Tell me about it.”
“I walked in just before the cloudburst. Lord, I thought the wind was goin’ to blow the door in.”
“Ernie was in the office?”
“No. Back with the cars. The church van, actually.”
“Go on.”
“I asked him. Point-blank. Was James W. the father of Angie O’Day.”
“What did Ernie say?”
“Nothing at first. He just laughed. Laughed so hard I wanted to hit him.” Her eyes rounded with horror as she realized what she’d said. “But I didn’t,” she said quickly. “I asked him what was so funny.” She bowed her head. “He didn’t answer—not my question, anyway. He said he was going to make a killin’ on this one. Those were his words exactly.”
“Did he say anything else?”
“He told me he’d call me on Thursday if he remembered anything more.”
Matt shook his head. “Buying time to blackmail someone, I’d wager.”
“When I left that garage, Preacher, I swear he was alive. I couldn’t have been there more than five minutes. Then when I was walkin’ back in the house here, the phone was ringing. It was Pearl, saying she’d found Ernie in the garage. Dead.”
Chapter Thirty-One
The Devil’s in the Details
The sun was setting on a very long day when Matt walke
d into Grace Lutheran half an hour later. “Mrs. Fullenweider,” Matt said in surprise.
She grinned. “Our Friday bulletin folding volunteers are not exactly available.” She smoothed her too-black hair back with vibrant red-painted fingernails. “There’s two services’ worth of bulletins to fold. Somebody’s got to do it.”
“The funeral tomorrow and Sunday morning,” Matt said as he realized. “We should have made some phone calls.”
“It’s no problem.” Ann Fullenweider waved him off. “I’ve had some time to think things over,” she said and let out a huff. “I’ve decided I need to get some things off my chest.”
Matt turned from his office doorway. “To me?”
The secretary pushed back from the desk and faced him. “There’s a lot of things that have happened in this town that people don’t know the truth of. They think they do, but they don’t.” Mrs. Fullenweider furrowed her brow. “I’ve not said anything, ’cuz what I learn in this office is sacred, as far as I’m concerned.”
Matt nodded. “And I’ve learned to appreciate that about you.”
“I think if you knew . . . well, I don’t think Angie O’Day killed Ernie Masterson,” she rushed out, and dropped her gaze to the floor.
“I agree with you.” He studied her bowed head. “What’s on your mind?”
“I was at Ernie Masterson’s Wednesday night buying gas. Right before the storm broke.”
Matt nodded for her to continue.
“I saw Angie O’Day leave the Fire and Ice House. But she didn’t go over to the gas station.”
“You’re right, Mrs. Fullenweider,” Matt said, understanding dawning. “She came over to the parsonage.”
The secretary’s gaze was steady. “That’s right, Reverend.”
“She needed to talk about her mother,” Matt said truthfully. “We talked for quite a while.”
She studied him silently.
“I hope you can believe that,” he continued. “But, either way, I know she didn’t kill Ernie Masterson, and I’ve tried to convince her to tell the sheriff where she was. Angie won’t listen to reason. She thinks it will ruin my reputation.”