The Path of the Crooked (Hope Street Church Mysteries Book 1) (26 page)

Cooper could tell that her assailant was trying to look at her face without removing the gun barrel from the middle of her back and tried not to grimace at his pungent smell.

“Why don’t you tell me why you’re trespassing on private property?” the man demanded.

Could this be Jed? Feeling a glimmer of hope, Cooper spoke as calmly as she could. “Is this your property, sir?” Her body trembled and she tried to not focus on the feel of the metal pressed against her thin shirt. She could sense the power behind the cold muzzle—its indifferent ability to end her life within seconds. She closed her eyes and she waited for the gunman to either answer her, knock her out with a blow to the head, or squeeze the trigger. She braced herself, too fearful to do anything else.

The pressure from the gun barrel eased a fraction. “I’m asking the questions,” the man grumbled. “Who are you and what’s your business in these woods?”

Cooper swallowed. “I’m a friend of Eliza’s,” she said. “A recent friend, but I suspect you know that already.”

The man uttered an unintelligible sound and slung the gun over his shoulder. Cooper cautiously turned to face him. She saw a man in his mid-sixties, with unruly gray hair and a wild beard, both peppered with bits of leaves. His blue eyes were puffy and looked bruised from lack of sleep, and his frame was gaunt. Cooper noted his long and ragged fingernails, the assortment of stains on his jeans, and the sweat marks on his shirt.

He narrowed his eyes and appraised her in turn. “What do you mean by that?”

“You’ve been watching Eliza,” Cooper said very gently, concerned about the man’s state of mental health. If she voiced her suspicions, would she be in greater danger than before?

Suddenly, the man shifted the gun from his shoulder back into his hands and Cooper quickly held out her own in supplication.

“It’s okay!” she said, stepping back a pace. “I know you’re just looking out for her. I’m concerned about her safety too. And yours.” She let her hands fall to her side. “You’re Jed Weeks, aren’t you?”

The man’s shoulders sagged. He let the gun slip from his fingers and fall softly onto the bed of leaves, but immediately, he squatted down and picked it up again, his face filled with distrust.

“I go to Hope Street, Mr. Weeks,” Cooper assured the nervous man. “Savannah Knapp sent us to check on Eliza. I was here once before, a week or so after you first disappeared. At that time, your wife thought you were having an affair.” She spoke softly, as though coaxing a skittish animal to take food from her hand. “Now she’s concerned about your welfare, Mr. Weeks. More than concerned. She’s terribly upset.”

Jed looked stricken. He held out his dirt-encrusted hands and touched the gold wedding band on his ring finger.

“This is all tied to the murder of Brooke Hughes, isn’t it?”

Jed nodded. He removed the shells from the shotgun and met Cooper’s stare. “Yes,” he whispered, as though it was an effort to form words. He spoke again, his voice slowly gaining strength. “Brooke hired me to investigate a case of fraud against her own company. My findings were confidential and meant for her eyes alone. When I heard she’d been killed, I knew it was because of what I’d discovered.”

He glanced anxiously around the woods. “I was sure the murderer would come after me next. Only Brooke and I knew the truth, so I wanted to get away from Eliza so she’d be safe. I figured it was only a matter of time before the killer came to the house, and when that happened, I’d be here waiting. The ruse would only work if Eliza truly believed I’d run off.”

“You’ve been hiding in these woods this whole time?” Cooper asked in astonishment. Then, without waiting for his reply, she glanced at her watch. “Shoot!” She glanced at the shotgun, berating herself for her choice of words. “Mr. Weeks! We have to get back to my truck before Ellie calls the police. She was going to make the call if I didn’t return in fifteen minutes. Come on!”

Without checking to see whether Jed was behind her, Cooper raced toward the road. Branches scratched her face and neck but she didn’t slow down. Breathing hard, she burst out of the woods and waved at Ellie, who had her red fingernails poised over the keypad of her phone.

Ellie put her window down a few inches and frowned. “What in the world is goin’ on?” She fanned her flushed face. “It has to be a thousand degrees in this truck. I’ve never been so—”

“I found Jed,” Cooper interrupted. Ellie’s jaw dropped. “I think he’s gone a bit soft,” Cooper said, lowering her voice. “He’s been roughing it out here for all these weeks.” She turned and scanned the break in the trees for a sign of Jed’s blue pants and green shirt.

“For heaven’s sake, what was the man thinkin’?” Ellie’s voice grew shrill. “Does he know what kind of fiery hell he’s put my sister through?”

“I’m sorry,” Jed said from afar as he stepped warily out of the woods. He no longer carried his weapon. He looked at Cooper. “And I apologize for pointing my gun at you. I didn’t mean to scare you like that.”

“Lord have mercy!” Ellie opened the door, slid out of the car, and put her hands on her curvy hips. “You look like you’ve been shipwrecked! Come on now, you’re goin’ home. I don’t know what Eliza’s going to make of her man lookin’ like
Cast Away
Tom Hanks, except you’ve got a bit more gray to your hair than Mr. Hanks, but I suspect she’ll recover from the fright eventually.”

Jed shook his head. “I can’t go back, Ellie. I’ve been keeping up with the news by riding my bike to the library. Brooke’s killer is still out there, and someone tried to bump off Reed Newcombe. It’s not safe for me to be around Eliza. Can you just get her out of the house for a few hours so I can take a shower and get some fresh clothes and food?” he pleaded.

“No, sir, I
cannot
do that.” Ellie clasped her hands together. “I can see that you’re in some fix, but we’ll think of somethin’. There ain’t no way you’re goin’ back to that shed. My sister is sittin’ in that big house with her heart breakin’ into little pieces. You’re comin’ back with me if I have to carry you myself.” She flicked her eyes over his lean figure. “Skinny as you’ve gotten, that should be no trouble at all.”

“Ellie’s right, Mr. Weeks,” Cooper said gently. “Not only is Eliza suffering, but your fellow churchgoer, Wesley Hughes, is in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. You need to tell the authorities what you know. Your information could break the case wide open.”

Jed rubbed his filthy hands together, indecision playing across his haggard face.

“I’ll call the officer in charge of the case. He’s a good guy,” Cooper said. “He can come out here and talk to you without anyone being the wiser. Then you and
Eliza can go away together.”

“We’re not going to chew the fat on this dirt road. Get in the truck, Jedediah Weeks.” Ellie pointed at the car, her eyes steely.

Jed didn’t dare refuse her. He climbed into the cab and sat like a penitent child.

The threesome rode back to the house in silence. Cooper was dying to ask Jed a dozen questions, but he’d put his head against the seat back and immediately closed his eyes. Even though she disagreed with his decision to hide in the woods instead of contacting the authorities, Cooper felt a rush of sympathy for him. Ellie was the only person who seemed delighted by the outcome of their foray to the tobacco shed. She hummed cheerfully as the Jeep bounced up and down among the deep divots and churned up a wake of dust.

When Cooper pulled in front of Jed’s house, he opened his eyes, leaned forward in his seat, and touched Ellie on the shoulder. “Give me a minute alone with her, okay?”

Ellie pivoted in her seat and nodded. “Of course, honey. You just hold her tight and tell her it’s all going to be right as rain.” She raised her finger and wiggled it at him. “But don’t you dare go tellin’ her all the juicy details until I’m inside. I’ve earned the right to know just what’s happened.”

Jed exhaled wearily, but then he smiled at his sister-in-law. “Yes, you have, and I will spend many days expressing how grateful I am for the comfort you’ve given Eliza. Aside from my wife, you’re one of this world’s finest ladies, Ellie May. Bless you for your strength and loyalty.”

Tears sprang into Ellie’s eyes. She pivoted and wordlessly pressed her hand into Jed’s.

For a while, the two women sat in the car and watched the windows in the wing where Eliza sat waiting. Cooper could only imagine the joy and relief on Eliza’s face when she discovered that her husband was alive and had returned to her.

“I can’t take this much longer!” Ellie declared after ten minutes of waiting. “Maybe we should check on Jed. My sister’s got a mean left hook, and if she’s real angry . . .” She trailed off as the front door opened and Jed waved for them to come inside.

Ellie jumped out of the car and hustled as fast as her thick legs would carry her up the steps, down the hall, and into the room where Eliza sat fanning herself on the sofa. Cooper was right behind her. Savannah was still settled in the chair across from Eliza, a tissue pressed against her nose.

“My fool of a husband would like to take a shower,” Eliza began, her voice trembling as she gazed at Jed adoringly. “But he’s going to stink to high heaven a tad longer while he tells us why he’s been livin’ in that shed like some kind of fugitive.”

Jed sat on the floor near his wife’s feet, clearly reluctant to soil the upholstery of the creamy white couch. He gulped down a glass of water and opened his mouth to speak.

“Hold that thought, Jed. I’ll be right back,” Ellie ordered and bustled out of the room. She returned with a plate laden with Greek spaghetti. She thrust the plate into Jed’s hands and dumped a napkin and silverware onto the coffee table next to him.

“Thank you kindly.” He smiled at Ellie and then hungrily twirled a thick wad of noodles covered in feta and mozzarella cheese onto his fork and pushed them into his mouth. When he had chewed and swallowed, he set the plate gingerly on his lap.

“I’ve known Brooke Hughes for years,” he said. “We served on several Leadership Committees at Hope Street together, and I knew her to be a woman with a kind heart and sound judgment.” He loaded his fork again, but this time with careful deliberation. Cooper thought he showed incredible restraint considering how famished he must be. “Therefore, when she asked me to investigate a possible case of internal fraud at Capital City, I was happy to help. Brooke told me that her suspicions of internal fraud were aroused after an elderly African American woman named Hazel Wharton complained that her Capital City statements were inaccurate by a total of three cents and they’d been off for the past four months.”

“Three cents?” Cooper asked.

Jed nodded. “Every month, she’d been overcharged by three cents, and whenever she called customer service, she received a runaround. There were no records of an overcharge according to Capital City. Customer service representatives checked, but insisted that Hazel was talking nonsense. Eventually, Ms. Wharton contacted Brooke Hughes, who offered to meet with her.”

Smiling thinly, Jed recounted Brooke’s story of Hazel arriving with an old-fashioned adding machine and a pile of statements and receipts.

“Brooke told me that Ms. Wharton was old and frail, and looked like a little owl, due to her diminutive size and enormous glasses. Brooke also said that Hazel was sharp as a tack. She counted every penny she spent and kept every receipt—no matter how small the purchase. And Capital City had indeed been overcharging her for the past four months, but the overcharge was only reflected on Hazel’s statements.”

“All the hubbub was over, what, twelve cents?” Ellie sounded dubious.

Jed ate a few more mouthfuls of spaghetti. “Delicious.” Eliza touched him on the shoulder and he tore his gaze from the food and continued his narrative. “Brooke began to examine random customer statements from the same time period. She actually visited their homes to do so. It seems that other customers had also been overcharged.
Lots
of other customers.”

Savannah raised her brows. “So now it’s more than just twelve cents from one person. It’s twelve cents times lots of people.”

“Yes. Brooke assumed it was thousands and thousands.” Jed ripped a piece of bread in two but didn’t lift it to his mouth. “I discovered that she was right. Someone inside Capital City had created a monumental scam, which was to run for six months and charge each customer three cents extra per statement. The person or people involved in this scam were looking at walking away with almost two million dollars.”

Cooper frowned. “But if you only had one charge on your bill, surely you’d notice that your total payment due to Capital City was off by three cents.”

“I wouldn’t,” Ellie declared. “I just look at the bottom line and pay the bill.”

“That’s how most folks are,” Jed said, looking at his sister-in-law. “But whoever wrote the code for the computer program was smart enough to make sure that statements with single items weren’t included in the scam. Plus, the extra money only appeared on the customer’s bill, but not on the electronic balance sheets at Capital City. This devious computer whiz, who I now suspect was Reed Newcombe, had to also write a second program to filter the extra money to a private bank account.” Jed looked abashed. “Brooke was killed before I could investigate the fraud any further, but I’d be willing to bet there’s a whole pile of money in someone’s secret bank account and that Reed wasn’t the only fellow at Capital City with dirty hands.”

“So Brooke was killed after you gave her your written report,” Cooper said. “That’s what was jammed in her copier the day I met her. She was very agitated and said that she really needed copies of that document. Now I see why she was upset and frightened.”

“But Jed!” Eliza’s eyes filled with tears. “If you were pickin’ up newspapers over the last few weeks, you knew Brooke’s husband was charged with her murder. How could you let him sit in jail when you knew he was innocent?” Her voice was anguished.

Jed’s face grew flushed and he dropped his gaze to his lap. “I figured the evidence against him was circumstantial. All I could think about was that the killer might come looking for me and hurt you.” He looked up and gathered his wife’s hands in his own. “I was trying to buy time, my love. If I took you away with me, we’d be easier to track. I’d have to take the van and . . .”