The Path of the Crooked (Hope Street Church Mysteries Book 1) (13 page)

“And what about Brooke’s assistant?” Trish added. “Cindi, right? Maybe she knows something.”

As Cooper ate, she tried to imagine prowling around Brooke’s office after hours. She envisioned finding a clue that would exonerate Wesley and point to the real murderer. She saw herself shying away from camera lights and pictured Drew watching her on TV. However, that fantasy was quickly replaced by another image of her being caught by Capital City’s security guards, questioned by the police, and losing her job.

Turning a sheepish smile on her friends, she said, “Actually, I’m not very confident about my abilities as a detective. I couldn’t talk my way out of a paper bag. If I got caught, I’d need someone there who could think fast and tell a good tale.”

“You need to take someone with you, like, in disguise!” Jake shouted.

“Not Mr. Meteorologist Bryant. He’s too famous.” Trish fluffed her coppery hair. “Me too.”

“And you probably don’t have a uniform my size,” Quinton said glumly.

Jake elbowed Nathan in the side. “That leaves you and me, man.”

“Maybe I could go. That would allow me to check out Brooke’s computer files,” Nathan said. “As long as you’re cool with this.” He met Cooper’s eyes and held them. “You’d be risking your job by sneaking me in the building.”

“I know,” Cooper said solemnly. “But it’s a gamble I’m willing to take.”

Nodding briefly, Nathan produced a copy of the fax they had discovered at the Hughes home. “Cooper’s a better detective than she thinks, folks. She found this during our search Wednesday night.” He placed the paper on the center of the table alongside the battered document from Brooke’s copier.

“Hazel again!” Trish exclaimed.

“We didn’t find anything.” Quinton gestured at Trish. “Seemed like a nice house belonging to a close, loving family. No skeletons in any of their closets. Except for Hazel. Now that I see that document, it’s obvious that someone wanted Brooke to keep her a secret.”

The group fell silent, absently picking at the remnants of their lunches as they mulled over the meaning of the threatening fax.

“I think Cindi could be important. Assistants always have the inside scoop on their bosses,” Quinton said as he examined the glossy surface of the red apple on his tray. “Someone has to talk with her. Someone also needs to get into the computers at Capital City and enter this account number. We need to know who Hazel is—and since Capital City has over forty million customers, I don’t think we’re going to find one of them without bending some rules.”

“What about the police?” Trish countered. “We’re out of our league here, and I think we need to leave this matter to the authorities.”

Nathan shook his head. “I called them about the faxes. They said they would look into it, but they were more concerned about me being in the house than anything else. I think we need to come up with a piece of concrete evidence before they’re going to take our suggestions seriously.”

“That’s because they already have someone in custody. As long as the press is off their backs, why would they do more legwork?” Jake said with a snarl.

“We shouldn’t judge the police too harshly.” Trish’s voice was firm. “Think about what they’re dealing with these days. That little boy who was kidnapped, the drug-related killings last week, and an arsonist at work downtown . . . I think they need our support now more than ever.”

Abashed, Jake nodded. “You’re right. I just hate twiddling my thumbs while Wesley loses hope with every passing day.” He looked around. “Where on earth is Savannah?”

Quinton cleaned up his tray and went to order a caramel latte. Cooper was about to join him at the counter so she could return his song lyrics in private, but Nathan wanted to talk over the details of how and when they would go to Capital City together. By the time Quinton returned with a whipped cream mustache on his upper lip, the others had finished clearing their lunch trays and Bryant and Savannah had finally arrived.

“I’m having a strong feeling of déjà vu,” Trish said morosely as she gazed at Savannah’s drawn face.

“I don’t know what’s happening to our congregation,” Savannah whispered leadenly as Bryant helped her into a chair. “First Wesley, and now this.” She paused to catch her breath. “You all probably know or have heard of Jed Weeks. He coordinates home visits for the members of our congregation who aren’t able to attend worship service.”

Except for Cooper, everyone nodded. “What you may not know is that he started the program because his wife, Eliza, is unable to make it to church,” she continued. “Eliza asked Pastor Matthews to take over last week’s duties as Jed was heading out of town for a weeklong fishing trip.” She placed her hands on either side of her temple and sighed. “Eliza called Pastor Matthews last night and asked him to take over Jed’s duties for another week.”

“Why? What happened to Jed?” Quinton asked, his eyes fearful.

Savannah shook her head and the agitation of the movement let them all know how worried she was. “Eliza called both sets of neighbors at their river house. Apparently, Jed never arrived.” She wrung her hands together. “Eliza fears that he might be having an affair and has run off with another woman. I pray that she’s wrong, but either way, Eliza is going to need help until her sister can fly in from Alabama. Cooper, Eliza is wheelchair-bound,” she added. “My friends, can I count on you to help me share in this burden?”

“Of course!” Nathan answered for all of them.

“Now, fill me in on what I’ve missed,” Savannah said and made a visible effort to compose herself. “We have to get Wesley out of that jail so that we have time to track down wayward husbands.” Reaching out to brush her fingers against Jake’s coffee mug, she closed her eyes and said, “Lord help me, but I can’t go on another second unless I get a very large jolt of caffeine.”

8

“They’re a little short,” Nathan said as he jumped out of the Make It Work! van. He pulled at the black uniform pants Cooper had borrowed from a part-time coworker’s locker. Cooper had also brought along one of Earl’s extra toolboxes from home so that Nathan would look the part of a copier repairman. At this point, however, he was looking quite awkward in pants that displayed two inches of white tube sock and a shirt that kept popping out from beneath his black belt.

Despite her nervousness, Cooper smiled. “I think the shirt’s a bit short too. Sorry, but that uniform was the only extra on hand.”

Nathan grabbed the toolbox, and as he did so he took a second glance at his long fingers, which spent most of the day flitting over a keyboard. “I hope it’s not too obvious to anyone we meet that I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“Just keep your head down and remember to answer to Stuart.” Cooper pointed at the name tag on his uniform shirt. “If you don’t make eye contact, no one will pay attention to you. Trust me. I’ve been servicing these machines for years and no one knows my name.”

Nathan put his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest. “I’m disappointed. I figured a dozen gorgeous ladies would be sitting at their desks, waiting to drool over the UPS man, but as soon as they saw me in my studly uniform they’d forget about all the man in brown.”

Cooper laughed. “The UPS
man
is a
woman
called Esmeralda, and she’s built like a brick house, so you can forget about stealing her thunder, her spotlight, or anything else.” She chuckled. “Besides, I don’t think our uniforms can compete with those sexy UPS shorts. Come on, Studly Stuart.” Cooper began walking toward Building F, gazing around the Capital City parking lot for signs of anything out of the ordinary that would cause her to abort their risky mission. Cooper cast a sideways glance at Nathan, thinking that he looked quite cute as he gripped his toolbox with a determined expression.

“Speaking of attractive secretaries and the like,” Cooper said softly as they entered the building, “how’s that online dating service going?”

Nathan shrugged. “I’m not finding any matches on there.” He nodded to the receptionist in the lobby, but she smiled without actually looking at him and immediately returned her attention to her computer screen.

“Do you have to post a picture of yourself?” Cooper asked, inwardly shuddering at the thought.

Nathan followed her into the elevator. “Yeah, but I’m getting the sense that most of the photos have been touched up or are ten years old. I did come across one woman’s profile that seemed like a good fit for me, but when I met this lady for coffee last week, she looked nothing like her photo. It must have been taken when she was in high school.”

“Did her looks matter that much to you?” Cooper teased. As the elevator doors opened, she walked briskly down the hall toward Brooke’s office.

“No,” Nathan replied amiably. “I was still willing to see what she was like as a person.” He suddenly stumbled on a snag in the carpet and nearly dropped his toolbox. “Sorry, I never quite grew into these feet. Anyway, in her profile, this woman claimed to be a nature lover and that she enjoyed helping people. In person, she said that her greatest passions were shopping for shoes, sitting in the sauna with a copy of the
Enquirer,
and sleeping late. I felt like she’d deceived me and—” He stopped abruptly as Cooper gestured at the copier near Cindi’s desk.

“This is it,” she whispered. “And that mess over there is the assistant’s desk. It doesn’t look like she’s moved so much as a paper clip since I was here last, though the garbage has been emptied.”

“Let’s try to find the scraps from the Hazel document first,” Nathan suggested, shoving his untucked shirt back into his pants.

Together, they pulled the copier away from the wall. Cooper unscrewed the back panel and then asked Nathan to position himself on the opposite side of the machine and hold the flashlight steady while she searched around on the ground for a shred large enough to reveal Hazel’s last name.

“What are y’all doin’?” a shrill female voice behind Nathan demanded.

Nathan nearly dropped the flashlight, but he quickly recovered his aplomb. “Routine maintenance, ma’am. Has this machine been acting up on you lately?”

“Piece of junk. It gets jammed all the time, but I wouldn’t spend too much time on it if I were you. It’s probably being moved to a different office soon.” The woman gave a disinterested flick of her wrist.

From her vantage point on the floor, Cooper couldn’t see the woman, but she had a clear view of the dazzling smile Nathan had turned on for her benefit. He shoved the flashlight into Cooper’s hand and moved away from the copier.

“Aren’t you ready to go home, ma’am?” he asked. “It’s five o’clock on a Friday afternoon. I bet you have a date to get ready for.”

“Pfffah!” the woman snorted playfully. “I have a date with two kids. Trust me, single moms aren’t most guys’ idea of a dream date.”

Nathan must be talking to Cindi,
Cooper thought. She gave Nathan a thumbs-up gesture, encouraging him to continue flirting.

“I love kids,” Nathan said sincerely. “Do yours look like you?”

“Wanna see pictures? I have some on my desk over here,” she said cheerfully and led Nathan away from the copier. “I’m getting transferred to the IT division next week and I’m supposed to pack up my things. I know it’s kind of a jumble, but I haven’t been able to focus on work ever since . . .” She began to sniffle.

“Are you okay?” Cooper heard Nathan ask sympathetically as he moved toward Cindi’s workspace. “Here, let me get you a tissue.”

After several sniffs, Cindi said, “You’re sweet. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here before.” Her voice held a trace of suspicion.

“No, ma’am. I’m new. I used to fix computers, but that field’s getting overcrowded, so I decided to branch out.”

“Then you wouldn’t have met my former boss, so you don’t know what I’ve been dealing with. Still, you probably saw her name in the papers.” She paused for effect. “Brooke Hughes?”

“The woman who was shot by her husband?” Nathan pretended to be mortified. “She was your boss?”

“Yeah.” Cindi blew her nose with a shrill toot. “She was good to me. I can’t believe Wesley . . . Well, I shouldn’t dwell on it. It won’t bring her back and I need to get on with my life.” She paused. “I just got so used to my little corner of the world here.” She rustled some papers. “Now I have to work for some guy and can only hope he’s half as nice as Mrs. Hughes.” She honked into the tissue again. “She was so understanding about my challenges . . . being a single mom and all.” During this exchange, Cooper had collected several scraps that turned out to be of no use, but as she leveled the flashlight beam on the metal shelf closest to the floor, she noticed two small scraps bearing black letters. Tucking them into a plastic bag, she completed her search and replaced the back panel. She moved with deliberate slowness as she wanted to give Nathan more time to chat up Cindi.

“How stressful,” Nathan was saying. “Have the police been crawling all over here too?”

“Not really. I mean, they came by, but none of us could help them. We were as shocked and upset as everybody else who knew her. This whole office feels creepy and sad. None of us talk about her or what happened. We’re all trying to move on.” Cindi sounded reluctant to discuss the subject any further.

“I bet you two were close,” Nathan continued gently. “I can just tell you’re the kind of person people rely on and trust.
You’d
have known if she was upset or scared before . . . the awful event, even if no one else did.”

Cooper was tempted to give Nathan an indication that said he was laying it on too thick, but as she stood up from behind the copier, she saw that his back was to her.

Cindi didn’t even notice Cooper. She only had eyes for Nathan. “I
do
get feelings about people close to me. Actually, Brooke was pretty rattled the last few days before she died, but I don’t know
exactly
why.” She lowered her voice conspiratorially. “Brooke and her husband had a fight over the phone a few days before he killed her. I didn’t tell the cops because they already had him in custody. Not only that, but I didn’t eavesdrop on her conversations, so I don’t even know what their tiff was about.”