"There are tongs for that," Trish admonished gently.
Jake scowled. "Sorry, Miss Manners, but I'm not used to dining fancy-like for Sunday lunch. I usually fill up at church and then open a can of stew for dinner."
"One of Brooke's closest friends works at the Tuckahoe library," Savannah continued quickly, before Trish could give Jake a friendly lecture on the nuances of fine dining. "I take the bus there a lot to check out audiobooks. I could speak to this friend--find out if there was anything out of the ordinary going on in Brooke's life."
Nathan caught Cooper's eye. "I believe something
was
bothering her," he stated. "At work. But Cooper can tell you more than I can."
Taking a breath, Cooper told her tale about meeting Brooke yet again. When she was finished, she could practically hear the gears turning as the Bible study members tried to discern the significance of Cooper's story.
"And the pieces of the document were from inside her copier, right?" Nathan prodded. "Were you able to tape it back together?"
"I'm about half done." Cooper wound her napkin around her index finger. "I've been working on it every night and now my daddy's helping me too. A lot of it is unreadable and all I could figure out so far were some numbers, the name
Hazel
followed by the letter
W
, and what might be a date on the upper left corner."
"You think Hazel is a name and not a color?" Savannah wondered.
Cooper shrugged. "It's capitalized."
"Wasn't one of the rabbits from
Watership Down
named Hazel?" Quinton asked and everyone looked at him with astonishment. "It's all I can think of. I read kids' books a lot," he added sheepishly. "I've got four nephews."
"Julia Roberts named one of her twins Hazel," Trish suggested. "That's the only Hazel
I
know of. I've never ever sold a house to a Hazel and I would have remembered if I had."
"Well, I'm a media guy, so I can tell you Shirley Booth played a maid named Hazel on a TV show in the early sixties," Bryant said and then quickly shook his head. "But these thoughts aren't really helpful. Hazel must have been someone Brooke knew."
"She could have been a client," Quinton offered as he loaded his plate with a second helping of lunch. "Brooke was the head of Fraud over at Capital City. Maybe Hazel's account was being investigated."
"Would someone commit murder to keep their fraud from being discovered?" Trish asked Quinton, who consumed a crustless egg-salad sandwich in two bites before answering.
"Depends. You can go to jail for a long time for credit card fraud. Banks don't think too highly of people who try to get away with it and they've gotten better and better at recognizing the difference between fraudulent charges and real ones." He swallowed some sweet tea and reached for a ham-and-cheese sandwich. Cooper noted that though he ate voraciously, Quinton was very tidy. There wasn't a crumb on his silk tie or a single spot on his starched dress shirt. "Plus, they've got people on the lookout for fraud all the time. In most cases, a credit card has been stolen and the thieves will use it for a couple of quick purchases and then ditch it, but sometimes thousands and thousands of dollars are at stake."
"Computer hackers can gain access to credit card information too," Nathan informed them. "If you've ever ordered anything online, your numbers can be discovered and used fraudulently. The possibilities for financial theft are out there in cyberspace, that's for sure."
Trish swallowed hard. "I'd better stop buying stuff from Overstock .com. My credit card number has been sent to them so many times that I think everyone in their company must have it memorized by now."
"So Hazel might have been involved in credit card fraud." Bryant got back on track. "How are we going to find out who she is?"
The group fell silent. It was as if the problem was too large for them to wrap their minds around. It was one thing to hunt for Brooke's killer, but having a single name as the only clue was a different matter entirely.
"So what are we gonna do?" Jake asked. "I feel like we're doin' a whole lot of talkin', but not plannin' on much action. We can't just go on with our lives like someone else will take care of makin' sure right is done."
"I think we should all go to the Hughes house over the next couple of days. And no one's standing idly by, Jake, but we need to address this problem with more logic than passion." Savannah's voice was determined.
Cooper had a suggestion as well. "Maybe we should go in pairs. One of us might spot something that someone else might not notice. We all look at different things inside a person's house," she continued. "Trish might notice the curtains while I might fix my sights on their answering machine or security system. You know?"
"That's a terrific idea," Savannah stated. "And I'm not any good as a pair of eyes, so I'll concentrate on Brooke's librarian friend."
"I can swing by Wesley's store--see if I can pick up any gossip from the women working there." Bryant smirked. "After all, the ladies
do
like to talk to me."
Nathan frowned and then glanced at Cooper. "I'm pretty decent at puzzles. Do you want some help on the document? I could come to your--"
"That's okay!" Cooper quickly exclaimed. "I don't think more than two people can work on it at once and I'll have it done in the next two or three days. It's not at all like a regular jigsaw puzzle." She smiled weakly at Nathan, regretting that she had interrupted him, but she wasn't ready to introduce him to her parents or to let Grammy get her hooks into him. If Cooper dared to invite him over, Grammy might have Earl build a man-sized pen and only agree to release Nathan if he swore to marry Cooper by sunset.
Nathan shrugged and smiled. "It's all you, then."
"Okay, friends." Trish went into the kitchen and returned with a calendar. "Let's pair off and pick a day to look through the house. I've got a mammogram tomorrow, but I'll reschedule it for another time, so I'll put myself down for Monday."
"A mammogram?" Savannah asked gently. "Is everything all right, Trish?"
Trish pushed the calendar to the center of the table. "Oh yes. There's a history of breast cancer in my family so they want me to get checked out early." She shrugged. "But I'm not worried about it and I know how to examine myself."
The men shifted uncomfortably except for Jake, who pointed his pie-encrusted fork at Trish. "Just make sure to reschedule, lady. We don't want anything happenin' to you."
Looking flustered by Jake's friendly scolding, Trish handed Quinton the pen and asked him which day he was free.
The group divvied up the days of the week, and Cooper noted that she and Nathan were paired up for Wednesday night. Of course she was free every evening of the week, but was relieved that they were heading to the Hughes place without delay.
"Partners?" Nathan grinned at her and then held out his hand for a high-five. She returned the gesture and nearly spilled her glass of tea.
Jake's hand shot across the table and steadied her tumbler. "We gotta cut you off, girl." He then looked around at the rest of his tablefellows. "So are we gonna have another lunch powwow after we all check out the Hughes place? 'Cause no offense, but I don't have digs like this and I don't wanna even try to cook for y'all. Can we meet at a pizza place or somethin'?"
"How about Cheesecake Factory?" Trish suggested. "I love their salads."
Savannah shook her head. "It's too loud in there."
"And too pricey for some of us," Jake added.
"How about Panera Bread on Broad Street?" Quinton recommended. "It's close to church and the food is good."
Everyone agreed, thanked Trish for her hospitality, and headed outside. As she walked to her truck, Cooper noticed that there wasn't a flower in sight. The whole front yard was composed of stunted creeping junipers and tamed red-tip bushes. Despite the fact that the lawn was almost an electric green due to regular doses of powerful chemicals and that there wasn't a stray twig in sight, the landscaping was utterly devoid of personality.
"I bet it takes a whole staff to take care of this place," Nathan commented in a low voice as he walked behind Cooper. "Must be nice, huh?"
"I don't know. This landscaping looks the same as all the office buildings I visit. A bit bland. I prefer a yard to be a little less perfect, but with more personality." Cooper thought about her green house and her cluttered studio apartment. "Plus, I like to do things myself."
"Yeah, I get that sense about you," Nathan replied and then let his gaze linger on her face until she looked away. "By the way, your eyes are really cool. Both of them," he added and then, after touching the tip of her chin with his fingertips, turned and got into his truck.
Cooper stood in the driveway as though she had forgotten how to move her body. It had been months since someone had touched her with such tenderness and she felt both elated and confused. Although she liked Nathan Dexter as a friend, the brush of his fingers against her skin reminded Cooper of her last romantic moment with Drew and that memory provoked a renewed feeling of loss. She and Drew had driven to an apple orchard in the western part of the state, hoping to collect apples for pies, strudels, and apple cakes. After filling several brown bags with luscious, ripe fruit, Cooper and Drew had spread out a blanket and shared a picnic lunch right in the orchard.
"Can I tempt you with my apple?" Cooper had teased, playing Eve.
"You can tempt me anytime, baby." Drew had grabbed the apple, taken a vicious bite, and laughed as a trickle of juice ran down his chin.
Cooper had leaned over to kiss his sticky face as the sun seared the leaves above them into golden russet and pumpkin orange. She remembered feeling so secure, so loved, so utterly content.
Standing in Trish's driveway, she prayed that she might someday feel that way again.
6
Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing?
Haggai 2:3 (NIV)
By Wednesday evening, working at a feverish pace in all of their spare time, Cooper and her dad had finished piecing the document from Brooke's copier together. It was a mess of tape, jagged tears, and ink smears, but here and there a word or group of words had emerged. There was an unreadable signature on the bottom made with a blue pen and some kind of company insignia on the very top of what Cooper suspected was once a formal letter. The insignia, which was covered by a thick stripe of black toner, simply appeared as a darker blob beneath the layer of ink that cruised the length of the paper like a newly paved highway.
As Cooper sat in Cherry-O waiting for Nathan to join her outside the Hughes home, she studied the document as she had countless times. The letter hadn't provided any kind of revelation to Cooper, but she hoped someone else in the Sunrise group would be able to shed some light on the few readable words. Tucking the reconstructed paper into her purse, she closed her eyes and prayed that she and Nathan would find a tangible clue inside the Victorian-style home. Painted butter yellow with gray shutters and a dark purple door, the large home had wraparound porches, wicker rockers with plump floral cushions, and a rolling lawn graced by ancient magnolias, live oaks, and dogwoods. Checking her watch, Cooper decided that she had time to wander to the backyard.
After opening the gate of a waist-high picket fence, Cooper stepped into an English cottage garden ornamented by benches, fountains, birdbaths, and a dozen different birdfeeders. Bluebells, wild pink geraniums, chickweeds, and perky white forget-me-nots were amassed among lavender and fuchsia azalea blooms and a stunning crimson barberry bush. Above her head, a vibrant redbud tree provided shade for the wide, serrated leaves of several hydrangeas. Cardinals, blue jays, finches, and sparrows darted about the yard, making the most of the remaining daylight to feed and splash about in the shallow baths.
"This is really nice!" Nathan's voice suddenly cut into the silence.
Cooper swiveled around as dozens of startled birds flew off to seek the safety of higher perches.
"Sorry," Nathan lowered his voice to a whisper. "Man, what a tranquil place. I'd love to live in a home like this." He plucked a brass house key from its hiding place beneath a ceramic squirrel statue on the front porch and twirled it nervously around in his right hand. "You know, I feel really weird about rifling through their house. I barely knew them and what, now I'm going to be sifting through their drawers? It feels wrong, even though I know it's to help and all."
"Tell me about it," Cooper agreed. "I only met Brooke
once
, but she was very kind to me. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't be caught de--" She stopped herself and turned away from the garden. As she gazed up at the back of the house, she noticed that shadows from the trees had begun to fall in jagged lines across the yellow boards.
"Come on." Nathan gestured toward the garden gate. "We just need to keep in mind that we're entering their home in order to bring about peace. Peace for Wesley and, well, hopefully for Brooke too. If we keep reminding ourselves about that, our job should be easier."
As Cooper followed Nathan to the cobblestone front path, she observed that he walked with his torso slightly tilted over his large feet. Even though he lunged forward, his stride was still brisk and Cooper had to increase her own pace in order to keep up with him. Without pause, he marched up to the door, fit the key into the brass lock and swung the massive piece of oak inward.
Once inside, he said, "I think we should see if Brooke had a home office. Maybe she hid something in the house that would give us an idea of what made her so anxious at work."
