The Root of All Evil (Hope Street Church Mysteries Book 4) (20 page)

“Me? Not at all! I live in an apartment over my parents’ garage, so I’m not in a position to judge living arrangements.”

Josh nearly choked on his sandwich. “Really?” he asked after a brief coughing fit. “But you’re my boss! You could live in your own nice place!” He paused, his face flushed. “I’m so sorry. That’s not my business! I didn’t mean anything . . .”

“Relax, Josh. It’s okay,” Cooper assured him. “No harm done. And you’re right, I could move out. Originally, the move was temporary. My old . . . living arrangements suddenly stopped working out, and my parents opened up their home to me. Since then, I just got so used to being close to family that it’s hard to think of being alone.”

Josh nodded. “I get that. Like I don’t like to eat lunch by myself.”

“Exactly. I have my autonomy now, but I’ve got family, too. If I left, maybe I’d be on my own, but I’d be giving up that closeness.”

Josh smiled and took another bite of his sub. As Cooper started on her quesadilla, she thought about the thefts and the possible suspects. She couldn’t imagine this young man stealing a penny.

• • •

Before she left work, Cooper related her conversation with Josh to Mr. Farmer, who agreed that he didn’t sound much like a master criminal. By the time Cooper got away, she was running late. She headed straight to Hope Street, where she found Savannah, Jake and Nathan already hard at work taking down Sylvia’s pictures and packing up the items in her desk.

She set her things by the door and went to Sylvia’s desk to help Nathan. He was sorting through files, packing most of them into a box and leaving a few for the sake of the next art teacher.

After greeting her friends, she sat on the floor behind the desk and asked Nathan, “Where’s Pastor Matthews?”

From across the room, where she was working with Jake to clean the area around the kiln, Savannah answered. “He’s here somewhere. He showed us what needed to be done in this room, but then he got so emotional that we all agreed it would be best if he didn’t put himself through an unnecessarily trying situation.”

Jake looked up from his broom. “Savannah here sent him to his office to do some work while we do the cleaning.”

A knock at the door was followed quickly by the request, “May I join you?” Cooper turned to the entryway to see Officer Brayden in uniform.

“Good evening, Officer,” she greeted him from the floor as she scooted closer to Nathan. “What brings you to the school?”

“The inspector sent me over. He wanted to make sure the packing and cleaning process goes smoothly.”

“You don’t expect to find evidence of some sort, do you?” Jake asked, looking a bit worried. “Because my fingerprints are all over this stuff now.”

Officer Brayden smiled. “If we were expecting to find something, we’d be packing all this up ourselves. We already searched the room, so there’s no need to worry about fingerprints. McNamara wants to keep tabs on things because of the nature of the crime. He wants folks to know the police force is strong, and—don’t tell him I said so—I think he’s trying to show to his niece that he’s involved.”

“Did his niece have Sylvia as a teacher?”

“I think so. I think all the kids did at one point or another.”

Cooper accepted a stack of folders from Nathan and began to sort through them. “I didn’t realize McNamara was such a softie. He sure does want to keep his niece happy.”

“You never can tell about people,” Nathan replied. “From what you said about Sylvia’s ex-husband, you’d never guess a girl like Sylvia would go for a guy like that.”

There was a gasp from the hallway. Harry Wintersteen pushed past Officer Brayden, a look of horror on his face. “Was he bad to her? Was that the problem? I didn’t even know she was married.”

Jake crossed the room and put his hands on Harry’s shoulders. “It’s not anything you need to worry about, Harry.”

“But . . . but . . . who was he?”

Officer Brayden joined the conversation. “You talking about Lewis Wilburson?”

Jake nodded, his attention still on Harry. Cooper couldn’t tell if he was really trying to console the science teacher or if he was simply trying to keep the teacher from getting nearer the ladies in the group. “A few of our Bible study members took him a casserole,” Jake explained, directing his comment at Harry. “You don’t need to even think about him, all right?”

Harry sighed. “But maybe he’s the real reason Sylvia and I couldn’t be. Maybe she was still hung up on him. Maybe she was so wounded from her previous relationship that she couldn’t let anyone else in.”

Cooper averted her eyes, unsure how to react. A part of her wanted to chuckle at his melodrama. Harry seemed to think that he and Sylvia were meant to be, and some cruel trick of fate was to blame for keeping them apart. Another part of her wanted to pat him on the head, as if he were a child. He obviously didn’t understand the situation . . . or women. But the third part of her wanted to take him by the shoulders, shake him and tell him the truth—that he was creepy and he needed to stop it.

Fortunately, Harry turned and slinked from the room, lost in his melancholy. Cooper and Nathan exchanged a glance, and Nathan handed a stack of papers over to her. “Coop, I think these are from Parent Night.”

Cooper read the flier, recognizing it immediately. “This is the paper I copied for Sylvia as a favor.”

Officer Brayden arched a brow. “I thought you said you didn’t know her well, but apparently you knew her well enough to be running errands for her.”

Cooper shot him a look. He was questioning her integrity, and she didn’t appreciate it. “She was stressed. Parents were flocking into the school, and she needed a hand. She asked me to make copies. I did. That’s all.”

She stuffed the fliers into a full box marked “Recycling” and continued. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll take this out to the bin.”

The box in her arms, Cooper hurried out the door, brushing past Officer Brayden and heading toward the teachers’ lounge to use the side door. As she stepped into the room, she heard someone behind her. She spun around to see Officer Brayden.

“Did you need something?” she asked, still annoyed at his earlier implication.

“Yes. I wanted to apologize. The way I posed my question before wasn’t very . . . friendly of me. You’re not under suspicion or anything. I went into cop mode is all.”

When Cooper saw the troubled look on his face, she relaxed. He really was sorry. “It’s all right,” she said, setting the box down. “It’s been a difficult couple of weeks, and I’m on edge . . . especially about people being accused of wrongdoing.”

“What happened?”

Cooper opened her mouth to answer but clapped it shut again. She couldn’t mention Ms. Donna. “It’s a work thing,” she finally answered. Maybe it wasn’t the whole story, but it was part of it.

“Are people being wrongly accused of things at your workplace?” the officer asked, his interest piqued. “Because you ought to talk to someone in charge . . .”

“There’s a thief.” Cooper slapped her hand over her mouth. She’d just told a cop there was a thief at work. Now the police would get involved. Slowly, she lowered her hand. “Please don’t tell anyone I told you that. We’re handling it in house. My boss really doesn’t want the authorities to be involved.”

“No worries, Ms. Lee. Right now, I’ll be Will instead of Officer Brayden. How’s that?”

For the first time, Cooper was glad to speak with Will, just Will.

“Now then,” he went on. “Tell me what happened. I may be able to offer some advice . . . as a friend.”

Funny. Cooper hadn’t really thought of him as a friend, but maybe that’s what he’d been trying to be all this time. She decided to give him a chance. She told him all that had transpired at Make It Work! It felt so good to share and Will listened so intently that she shared more details with him than she had with anyone else.

He listened patiently, absorbing every word, and he didn’t speak until she was finished. “I agree with you,” he said. “Your employees—Bobby and Josh, was it?—they don’t sound like hardened criminals. If I were you, I’d talk to the other manager. What was his name?”

“Ben.”

“Right. Ben. Talk to him about his employees. See if he’s had any luck. If not, you may have to move on to locker searches, which isn’t pleasant, but at least it’ll put your thief on hiatus. In the meantime, your boss can install a better security system, and by the time the thief gets up the courage to try again, he won’t be able to.”

“That’s a good idea. Nobody will be happy about the search, but if Mr. Farmer, Angela, Ben and I allow a search of our lockers, too, then we’ll all be in it together. We won’t be exempting ourselves and accusing the other employees.”

Will grinned. “Very good.” He stooped down and picked up the recycling box. “And if you need any help from a friend who happens to have some experience in the world of criminal justice . . .”

“I’ll give you a call. I promise.”

“Tell you what. Why don’t you get back to your Bible study group and I’ll take care of this?”

Cooper watched him walk toward the door, thinking that this friendship might just work. One of the fliers fell out of the box and onto the floor.

“Wait up,” Cooper said, bending over to grab the flier. As she straightened up, she noticed the copy machine and the sign that read “Out of Order.” The wheels in her head began to turn. “I know why Sylvia was in Pastor Matthews’s office.”

She ran back toward Sylvia’s classroom, followed closely by Will, and burst into the room with the announcement, “I know why she was in the pastor’s office!”

Nathan stood and wiped bits of paper off of his jeans. “Why?”

“She was making a copy,” Cooper explained. “The machine in the teachers’ lounge has been out of order. When I made copies for Sylvia at Parent Night, I had to use Pastor Matthews’s copier, the one in his office. I offered to take a look at the machine in the teachers’ lounge when I had a chance, but I completely forgot. The teachers were using his copier until theirs was fixed.”

“It must have been something important if she was willing to break into his office,” Savannah said. “What could have been so vital?”

“I don’t know. But that would explain why she was found in there.”

Officer Brayden shook his head. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but there wasn’t anything in the copier.”

Cooper sighed, deflated. “I was so sure I’d stumbled onto something.”

Nathan came to stand beside her and rubbed her shoulders. “It was a good thought.”

After another hour, the cleanup was nearly done, and Officer Brayden said his good-byes and headed out. Cooper, who’d been sitting on the floor sorting papers for a good twenty minutes, went for a little walk through the hallway to stretch her muscles. She was still thinking about the copier in Pastor Matthews’s office. That had to be the reason Sylvia was in there. It was the only good excuse. The question was, where was the image she’d been copying?

Cooper continued to walk as she thought, and before she knew it she was standing outside of Pastor Matthews’s office. She saw a light under the door. Cooper knocked.

Pastor Matthews’s muffled voice replied, “Come in.”

When Cooper opened the door, she saw Pastor Matthews sitting in a plush chair in the corner, his Bible in his lap and a cup of tea in hand. He looked up from his reading with weary eyes.

“Oh, good evening,” he mumbled. He marked his place with a piece of paper and closed the book. “Are you all done in Sylvia’s room?”

“Just about,” Cooper replied. She glanced at the copier. “I was just wondering if I could take a look at your copy machine.”

Pastor Matthews looked confused. “There’s nothing wrong with it.”

“I didn’t want to look at it to fix it.” Cooper lowered her voice. “I have an idea.”

“May I ask what that idea is?”

“I thought maybe Sylvia came in here to use the copier. Officer Brayden said they didn’t find anything, so I was wondering if whatever she copied might have fallen behind the machine. Mind if I check it out?”

Pastor Matthews waved her toward the machine. “Have at it. The police went through this place with a fine-toothed comb, but if you can find something they missed, then bless you all the more!”

Cooper started by searching the outside of the machine and the copying surface. It was clean, well cared for, with no paper on the copy surface. She pushed a button and opened the paper tray. Nothing jammed inside, either.

“Do you have a flashlight?” she asked.

Pastor Matthews answered, “Top drawer.”

Cooper retrieved it and shined it in the crevice around the side and back of the machine. Besides a few dust bunnies and a lot of cables, there was nothing. She leaned against the machine, drumming on it with her fingers. “Just doesn’t make sense,” she said to herself. “Why else would she be in here?”

She stared at the copier, deep in thought. “There’s something I’m missing. What . . .” She stopped short as she looked at the machine’s make and model. “Digital,” she muttered. “That means you have a hard drive.” She spun to face the pastor. “May I use your phone?”

She didn’t wait for an answer before picking up his desk landline and dialing. It rang twice.

“Inspector McNamara.”

Cooper let out a held breath. “Inspector! I’m so glad you’re still there.”

“Who is this?”

“Cooper. Cooper Lee. I’m over at Hope Street, and I think I may have a clue for you.”

Cooper heard him sigh. “How many times do I have to tell you to leave this sort of thing to the professionals?”

“In this case, I
am
the professional, Inspector. I think Sylvia was in Pastor Matthews’s office making a copy of something.”

“There wasn’t anything in the machine.”

“I know, I know. Will, er, Officer Brayden told me. I think whoever killed her took the original and the copy.”

“Then what makes you so sure she actually made a copy?”

“Hope, Inspector. Hope makes me sure.”

“I’ll bite. Why do you hope she made a copy?”

“Because if she had time to make a copy, it’s still in the machine.”

McNamara paused. “Like . . . a paper jam?”