The Path of the Crooked (Hope Street Church Mysteries Book 1) (32 page)

The stranger listened, and in her compassionate silence, Ben distinctly heard the sound of hope.

• • •

Ashley arrived at the hospital at the same time the Hope Street service was being held and Ben was dialing the hotline number. Dressed in jeans and a T-shirt instead of one of her chic Sunday suits, she entered the room just as Cooper’s doctor departed, saying that she had no sign of a concussion and was free to leave.

“Mama’s at home making one of her famous million-calorie brunches,” Ashley told Cooper after carefully hugging her. “I brought you a change of clothes. Mama says your shirt was ruined.” She dumped a shopping bag on the bed. “I cannot believe that Vance Maynard’s girlfriend is a murderer! And how greedy could Vance be? He had plenty of money already.”

“Judging by the photos I saw in Cindi’s bedroom, Vance and Cindi have been together for a long time.” Cooper fastened her watch band and dusted some dirt from the glass face. “They’ve been putting on an act that they were simply acquaintances. They were pretty adept at playing those roles.”

Ashley handed Cooper a set of clothes. “Are you saying that they were together when Vance was still with his wife?”

Cooper nodded. “I’m afraid so.”

“Do you think he had anything to do with his wife’s death?” Ashley whispered dramatically.

Tired of the subject of murder, Cooper shrugged. “The police are looking into that.” As she headed off to the bathroom to change, she added, “Can we talk about something else, Ashley?”

“Sure! How about my plans to throw you a fabulous
birthday bash?”

“I don’t like the sound of bash
.
Reminds me of your country club parties. How about something small, like a barbeque at home?” Cooper shouted through the closed door.

Ashley’s voice grew closer. “That’s not what I had in mind, but okay. A party will take your mind off all the nasty
stuff you’ve been through, and it would be a great way for the family to meet all your new friends. Especially Nathan.”

Cooper emerged from the bathroom. “This whole mess has taught me a thing or two. I’ve been sitting back too much, letting life happen to me instead of making things happen. If I can give up cigarettes, stop charging things on my Visa, and cease pining for Drew, then I’m capable of anything.”

Eyeing her reflection in the mirrored closet door, Cooper squared her shoulders and held her chin high. “I have a busy summer ahead of me, Ashley, starting with that barbeque. After that, I’m going to start a new exercise routine, like running or biking, and I’m going to grow bushels of vegetables for the Food Bank. And
,
most importantly, I’m going to make sure Nathan Dexter takes me to that movie he owes me. Shoot, I might even get my hair highlighted.” Cooper gestured impatiently at her startled sister. “Are you coming?” she asked, and then marched purposefully down the hall, forcing Ashley to carry her bag.

Cooper had barely gotten out of Ashley’s convertible when her parents ran out of their house and welcomed her with cautious hugs and dozens of kisses. Even Grammy planted a dry kiss on her granddaughter’s cheek.

“I won’t break,” Cooper chided them happily. It had never felt so good to be embraced by her loved ones.

The tension from yesterday’s events drained steadily away as Cooper sat at her parents’ kitchen table, drinking Southern pecan coffee and watching her mother fry bacon. Grammy nagged Ashley about producing great-grandchildren while Earl unfolded the Sunday paper. He filled in a Jumble word puzzle with one hand while holding Cooper’s uninjured hand in the other.

“Oh, a friend of yours dropped off a box this morning,” Maggie said and then transferred six strips of bacon to a stack of paper towels. “It’s on the hall table.”

Cooper finished her coffee and retrieved the shoe box. Pushing the lid off with her right hand, she picked up the note sitting on a mound of tissue paper and read:

Dear Cooper,

I truly hope you’ve had some rest and are feeling better today. I got up early to spend the day with my sister. I’m bringing her to Hope Street this morning and her boyfriend is coming too!

When the nurse put the shirt you’d been wearing in a bag in the closet of your hospital room, I worried that something might happen to your pin, so I brought it home with me. It was a little bent, so I hammered out the dings (very gently, I promise) and polished it. Now it looks as good as new.

When you’ve recovered, I hope you’ll wear it on our movie date. To prove that I haven’t forgotten that I owe you a matinee, I’ve enclosed a gift certificate to the theater closest to your house. Give me a call when you’re ready to eat a very large tub of buttered popcorn and a giant box of Milk Duds. I like sugar too. And I like you.

Yours,

Nathan

Cooper reread the note and then quickly unfolded the tissue. There was her butterfly pin, carefully nestled in a single sheet of bubble wrap. Cooper held it to the light and it shimmered as if poised for flight.

She turned back toward the kitchen and saw her mother removing a pan of cinnamon rolls from the oven. Grammy immediately identified the roll with the most icing and directed that it be put on her plate while Earl helped himself to a pile of crisp bacon. Ashley refilled her sister’s coffee cup before pouring more into her own. Cooper’s heart swelled at the sight of the warm and comforting scene. She glanced at Nathan’s words once more and then tucked the note and the gift certificate into her pocket.

Caressing the butterfly pin in her right hand, Cooper whispered, “Thank you for all of these gifts,” before rejoining her family.

Magnolia’s Marvels

Butterscotch Cheesecake Squares

Crust:

¾ cup butterscotch chips

1/3 cup butter, room temperature

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

Filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Drizzle (optional):

¼ cup semisweet morsels

2 teaspoons shortening

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13x9 baking pan.

2. Crust: Combine butter and butterscotch chips in a saucepan and, stirring constantly, cook over low heat. Once blended, add graham cracker crumbs.

3. Pack crust evenly onto bottom of baking pan.

4. Filling: Beat cream cheese and condensed milk in a small bowl. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. (Maggie likes to use an electric mixer on medium for 2 minutes. Make sure all the chunks of cream cheese have been beaten smooth.) Pour over crust.

5. Bake for 25–30 minutes until knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan and then cut into squares.

6. Chocolate drizzle: For fancier squares, melt semisweet chocolate morsels with shortening and drizzle over bars with a fork.

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Bars

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup brown sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

1 package (12 oz.) bittersweet morsels

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

½ cup seedless raspberry jam

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13x9 baking pan.

2. Cream butter and add in flour, sugar, and salt until crumbly. Press 1¾ cups of the crumb mixture into bottom of pan.

3. Bake for 10 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

4. In microwave-safe bowl, microwave 1 cup morsels and can of sweetened condensed milk for one minute or until chips are all melted. This may require frequent stirring.

5. Spread over hot crust until even.

6. Sprinkle reserve crumb mixture over chocolate layer.

7. Drop small teaspoonfuls of jam over crumb mixture. Sprinkle remaining bittersweet morsels on the very top.

8. Bake for 30 minutes or until set. Cool in pan or on wire rack.

Thimble Cookies

½ cup butter, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

1 cup sifted flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

pinch salt

your choice of jam

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cream butter and sugar.

3. Add egg yolk.

4. Mix in flour, baking soda, and salt.

5. Roll into small balls and place on baking sheet, about one inch apart.

6. Press thimble into dough and fill hole with jam. (Maggie likes seedless raspberry, strawberry, or apricot best.)

7. Bake for 15 minutes.

Keep reading for an excerpt from the second book

in the Hope Street Church Mystery series

by Ellery Adams,

The Way of the Wicked
,

available now!

Cooper Lee and her friends in the Hope Street Bible study group have just volunteered for a local charity, delivering much-needed food and cheer to shut-ins in their community. It seems like the perfect way for the group to do good, and to Cooper it offers the welcome opportunity to get out of the house and spend more time with her new boyfriend, Nathan. But when one of the charity’s recipients is murdered, the police have no choice but to single out the church group and their fellow volunteers as the prime suspects.

Determined to make sure no evil deed goes unpunished, Cooper and her friends decide to discreetly interrogate each volunteer in their search for the killer, even if it means putting themselves at risk in the process. And as serving the needy becomes more treacherous than any of them could have imagined, they just might discover that the road to murder is paved with good intentions.

1

Cooper Lee was not having a good day. She had spent the morning at an elementary school in the Far West End trying to coax their aged copier, a Toshiba e-Studio 28, back to life. But the machine had given its all and no amount of replacement parts, duct tape, or prayers were going to keep it running.

Kneeling on the floor next to her toolbox, a soiled rag, and the copier’s rectangular back panel, Cooper examined the dirty developer tray. When she’d removed the part, her hands and forearms had gotten covered in toner. She didn’t even notice her soiled fingers when she used them to pinch her nose and rub her temples in frustration. It was going to be impossible to resuscitate the spent machine, but it would be equally difficult to break this news to the school secretary.

Unaware of the splotches of gray and black ink on her face, Cooper sighed. She knew that the school didn’t have the funds in their budget to purchase a new copier, and they’d desperately need one soon, as summer break was ticking to an end.

“Hey!” a voice nearby whispered. Cooper looked up to see a girl dressed in a Hannah Montana T-shirt and white shorts standing over her.

“Hi.” She smiled. “Aren’t you supposed to be on vacation?”

“My mom works here,” the girl replied. “I had to help her carry stuff into her office.” She continued to study Cooper’s face with interest. “You look like you have the boooooobonic plague. I learned all about that for my summer reading assignment.” She crossed her arms across her chest and peered at Cooper intently. “Are those black
boils?”

Cooper laughed. “No, I do not have the
bubonic
plague. I probably got ink from the copier on my face. Happens all the time.”

The girl frowned. “Gross.
I
don’t want a dirty job when I grow up. I’m going to be a famous singer. I’ll live in a huge house, get driven around in a super-big limo, and own, like, twenty horses.” She stretched out her skinny arms to emphasize her point. “Then my mama can quit her job. She’s the school nurse and I think what she does is gross, too.” The girl lowered her voice to an awed whisper. “She gives people
shots!
With
needles!”

Examining her reflection in the shiny surface of an adjustable steel wrench, Cooper grinned and began to wipe the ink off her face with a clean rag. “Well, I’m happiest when I’m getting messy. My hands are usually covered in ink, garden soil, or cookie dough.”

“You’re weird,” the girl whispered and then looked back over her shoulder as though her mother might be close enough to overhear her rude remark. “But you’re still pretty,” she amended and then skipped away.