The Way of the Guilty
Page 1
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“Whoa!” Cooper looked in her rearview mirror. “What the heck did I hit back there?”
Slowing down, she eased the truck onto the farthest side of the shoulder. Though reluctant to leave the warmth of her cab, Cooper knew she had no choice. Grabbing a flashlight from her toolbox, she jumped out of the truck, and immediately saw that one of her rear tires had deflated like a spent birthday balloon.
“Great.” Cooper’s buoyant mood dissipated in the frigid air. Pulling her wool hat down over her ears, she retrieved her emergency road kit from the rear of the cab and unzipped it. After igniting two flares she unfastened the jack and spare tire from the inside of the truck bed.
As she watched, a motorcycle edged onto the highway shoulder. Its rider was a man, dressed in black jeans and a black leather jacket, whose features were completely obscured by his black helmet. Even when he tipped back the tinted visor covering his face and asked if she needed a hand, the moonless night cloaked him in shadow.
As he dismounted and began to walk toward her, Cooper’s cell phone rang to the tune of the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night.” The man in black chuckled. “I recollect you mentioning the Fab Four, but I didn’t know you liked them that much.”
He stepped forward into the red glow of the flare and Cooper’s jaw dropped as she recognized his face. “Get the phone, girl.” He pointed at the device. “I’ll jack the truck.”
Answering the call, Cooper was at first too stunned to make sense of Ashley’s frantic and garbled words. There was nothing coherent about the hysterical cries and pleas of “Please! There’s a man! He’s . . . he’s dead! DEAD IN MY HOUSE! COME GET ME!” echoing down the line . . .
Hope Street Church Mysteries by
JENNIFER STANLEY
Stirring Up Strife
Path of the Wicked
The Way of the Guilty
Available from St. Martin’s / Minotaur Paperbacks
THE WAY OF THE GUILTY
Jennifer Stanley
St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Table of Contents
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Magnolia’s Marvels
* * *
NOTE: If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
* * *
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE WAY OF THE GUILTY
Copyright © 2010 by Jennifer Stanley.
All rights reserved.
For information address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
ISBN: 978-0-312-37684-0
Printed in the United States of America
St. Martin’s Paperbacks edition / September 2010
St. Martin’s Paperbacks are published by St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For the amazing women of Circle #2,
Third Presbyterian Church, Richmond
And for Carol Booth,
who has taught me much about grace
Acknowledgments
The author is grateful to Jessica Faust of Book Ends for being a faithful cheerleader, Laura Bourgeois and Hope Dellon of St. Martin’s / Minotaur Paperbacks for championing Cooper and friends, Frank Howarth for answering questions about car sales and documentation, Kim Faulker for providing the comfort cookie recipe, Mary Harrison for reading an early draft, and my family for reminding me that sometimes I just need to step away from the computer and play a little.
The way of the guilty is devious,
but the conduct of the innocent is upright.
Proverbs 21:8
1
The garden had hangings of white and blue linen, fastened with cords of white linen and purple material to silver rings on marble pillars. There were couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and other costly stones.
Esther 1:6 (NIV)
If Cooper Lee had known she would spend Friday night chugging champagne at an unfamiliar woman’s mansion while a trio of busty coeds modeled lingerie, she would have come up with any number of creative excuses in order to avoid the whole thing. Unfortunately, Cooper had completely misunderstood her sister’s invitation to accompany her to “a pajama party” being hosted by one of her church friends.
“Georgia Ferguson has such a gorgeous house! Wait ’til you see it!” Cooper’s sister Ashley had shouted over the roar of Cooper’s power sander the weekend before the infamous fete. “Can you turn that damned thing off for a second?”
After gently putting down the tool, Cooper slid her safety goggles onto the crown of her head, picked up a piece of sandpaper, and began working on the rough areas on a chapel-shaped birdhouse. “And why exactly should I be interested in Georgia Ferguson’s house?” she asked her sister while gently stroking the wood smooth. “I don’t even know this woman.”
Stopping Cooper’s hand with her own, Ashley announced, “Because I’m going to a party there next weekend and you’re coming with me.”
Imagining a room populated by Ashley’s worldly acquaintances, Cooper grimaced. “In case you’ve forgotten, I repair office equipment for a living.” She rubbed the tip of the steeple gently with a folded scrap of sandpaper. “Why would I want to go to Georgia’s party? These are your church friends. I’ve got my own,” she added happily.
Ashley drummed her fingers against the workbench and Cooper couldn’t help but admire her sister’s pristine French manicure. “You’re going to this party because you’re a mature, confident woman. That’s just the kind of woman I need by my side to help me select an array of fabulous new night things with which I can seduce my husband.”
Cooper’s neck flushed as it always did when she was embarrassed. “I am well aware that you’re trying to get pregnant, but I’d rather not have to hear too many details, okay? Some things are meant to be kept private.”
“Some things? You can’t even say the word!” Ashley giggled. “Go on, I dare you. Say ‘sex.’ Say it! Sex, sex, sex!”
“You talk about it enough for both of us, thanks very much,” Cooper retorted. “I’m goi
ng to start calling you Dr. Ruth.” She playfully elbowed her sister out of the way and reached for the power sander. Removing her safety glasses from the top of her wheat-blonde hair, she stared at Ashley with her intriguing, mismatched eyes. “Is that all? I’d like to get back to this.”
“Don’t you give me that blue-eyed, green-eyed glower,” Ashley commanded and then began to push sawdust scraps around with her finger, forming the outline of a wobbly heart on the surface of the table. “The truth is that I could use Dr. Ruth’s advice these days. Listen to me, Coop. I need to go to this party. I’m looking for a way to knock Lincoln’s socks off. To make him sit up and take notice of me like he used to.”
“Are you two having difficulties again?” Cooper looked at her sister with concern though she couldn’t comprehend how a party could change how Ashley and her husband felt about one another. “Over the baby issue?”
Looking miserable, Ashley marred the sawdust heart with a sweep of her hand. “I think Lincoln’s avoiding me. For the last few months he’s been going to all these late meetings. Then there’s the golf outings with his daddy and brother every weekend—not to mention the poker nights.” Tears pooled in her lovely azure eyes. “I feel like I’m losing him.”
Pulling off her gloves, Cooper put her arm around her sister’s tiny waist and squeezed. “He loves you, Ashley. He’d be crazy not to.”
Ashley sighed. “Love is hard work, isn’t it? Harder than I ever thought it would be. I had my dream wedding, Lincoln carried me over the threshold of our perfect house, and for a while, everything was wonderful. A fairy tale. But then I was supposed to get pregnant and grow all round and cute and waddle and have that glow. I’d deliver the most precious beautiful little baby this world has ever seen and give it like five names and dress its precious little body in hand-embroidered smocks and Robeez booties. When we’d stroll around downtown, people would stop us on the street and just stare at my Gerber baby.” She sniffed. “Instead I find out I have a bicornuate uterus and even after surgery will have a tough time getting pregnant. It’s all I think about now!” She thumped the workbench and then eyed the sawdust on her palm in distaste. “I’ve never wanted anything so badly as I want this baby! Why did there have to be something wrong with me?”
Cooper cleaned up the sawdust using a small broom and dustpan. “Ashley, maybe you need to take a break from thinking about babies all the time. It obviously upsets you and if you’re worried about your marriage, perhaps you and Lincoln need some time alone together.”
“That’s exactly what I’m planning!” Ashley’s good humor immediately returned. “I’ve booked us a romantic cruise to the Bahamas as a surprise, but I need something incredible to wear when I tell him about the trip. Something that will ensure he won’t say no to taking a week off work. That’s why we’re going to Georgia’s party. I feel compelled to buy a whole bunch of things that’ll be on display there.”
“So it’s like a trunk show?” Cooper asked, silently wondering if she had the name right.
“Exactly. And all the women attending are married and go to my church, so I doubt there’ll be anything too scandalous for sale.” Ashley added, “I know it’s not your scene, Cooper, but it would really mean a lot to me if you were with me. And you might even find yourself picking out something to wear for that magical moment when you and Nathan are ready.”
“So this is all about buying pajamas and nightgowns?” Cooper shook her head. What a bizarre reason to have a party, she thought.
Ashley scrunched up her lips as though stifling a smile and said, “Precisely. Nightgowns and robes and stuff. And whatever you set your cap on will be my treat. It’s the least I can do since you’ve agreed to come.” Shouldering her bright orange purse, Ashley flicked a wave of glossy blonde hair off her shoulder and smiled. “This whole plan has given me a fresh dose of hope, Coop! I’ll pick you up at seven. Georgia always serves the most unbelievable desserts, but make sure you eat something for dinner.” She straightened several gold bangles on her wrist. “You’re going to need something in your stomach to soak up all the alcohol.”
During the following week, Cooper forgot all about the Pajama Party. This was understandable, being that a manufacturer recall on one of Canon’s most popular copiers had every employee from Make It Work! scurrying to replace drums and fuser units across the city of Richmond as quickly as possible.
Cooper was just returning from an assignment updating all the copiers at a pharmaceutical company’s headquarters when she was accosted in the break room by one of her coworkers.
“Cooper!” She drew back as Emilio Calabria’s bass voice with its heavy New York accent boomed in her ear. The dark-haired, square-jawed, muscular hunk grabbed her by the elbow. With his nut-brown eyes ablaze, he looked more like a romance cover model than ever, but Emilio was too arrogant and chauvinistic for Cooper’s tastes. “You gotta help me!” he insisted without preamble. “I mean, you’re a girl, so you must get how girls think.”
“Glad you noticed,” Cooper replied ruefully as she looked down at her ink-stained uniform top. “What’s the problem?”
“It’s our three-month anniversary. Me and Carla’s. I need to think of something cool to do. Should I take her out to dinner? Buy her something? How much is it gonna cost for me to show her I’m better than all her ex-boyfriends? Do I have to get her some ice?”
“As in diamonds?” Cooper inquired after a moment’s puzzlement. When Emilio nodded glumly, she tried to reassure him. “I don’t think ‘ice’ is necessary. Unless you’re preparing to propose?”
Emilio paled. “Hell, no! I like this girl, but I am not ready to wear the old ball and chain. No way, man.”
Grinning, Cooper moved over to the sink and began to scrub her hands. It was too easy to push Emilio’s buttons. Still, her coworker had earnestly sought her help, so the least she could do was take him seriously. “You don’t need to buy anything. You could take Carla somewhere special. What does she like to do?”
“Same as me. Watch ESPN and reality shows on TV. Go out for big slabs of steak and cold beers. And when we wanna get our groove on, we go clubbin’.”
“You could make her a mixed CD of her favorite dance songs,” Cooper suggested.
He frowned and handed Cooper twice the number of paper towels she needed to dry off her hands. “No dice. Did that for our two-month anniversary.”
Two months? This is so junior high school, Cooper thought.
“What about your man? Your church boy?” Emilio prodded. “What’s he given you that made you go weak in the knees?”
Turning away from Emilio, she said, “Nathan bought me a bicycle for Christmas. It’s the old-fashioned kind, with lots of chrome, a straw basket, and a big rubber horn. I love it.” She smiled, remembering how Nathan had covered her eyes while he led her into his garage where he had hidden her shiny blue bike beneath a bedsheet. He had whipped off the sheet in a dramatic flourish, revealing the bicycle and the curled red ribbons hanging from the handlebars. She had thrown her arms around him in delight, kissing him fervently.
“Now for your gift,” she’d whispered a few minutes later.
He’d pulled her close once again and stared at her intently. “I don’t need anything else but you.”
Eventually, Cooper had managed to disentangle herself from Nathan’s embrace. She’d led him through his kitchen and out the back door. Standing in the small garden area behind Nathan’s row house, she’d waited for his reaction upon seeing his gift. For the past month, she’d been busy in her father’s garage making a birdhouse in the shape of a TIE fighter, the spaceship Darth Vader piloted in Star Wars, Nathan’s favorite movie.
“Did you make this?” Nathan had been utterly delighted by the workmanship. When Cooper nodded, he told her that it was the best gift he’d ever received and then led her inside.
“I can thank you more properly in here,” he whispered, kissing her lightly just below her earlobe. “No prying eyes.”
But jus
t when Cooper was wondering if this was the moment to indicate her readiness to make her way upstairs to Nathan’s bedroom, the doorbell rang. Nathan’s sister had stopped by with her boyfriend, and what was supposed to be a romantic evening for Nathan and Cooper quickly became an intense Monopoly competition between the two couples.
“Carla isn’t gonna be bowled over by a bike,” Emilio grumbled, bringing Cooper back to the present.
“Why are you freaking out about this gift, Emilio?” Cooper inquired as they headed for the employee break room. “Are you worried she’s not, ah, as keen on your relationship as she was in the beginning?”
Emilio’s thick brows creased in worry. “She’s been hanging out a lot with the other mailmen. What if she’s thinking about ditching me for one of them? I don’t see why she would, seeing as they wear those dorky uniforms, but women don’t make sense, most of the time.”
Cooper decided not point out that Emilio was currently dressed in a rather lackluster uniform comprised of black pants and a gray shirt embroidered with the company logo in charcoal-gray script. “Buying Carla something for your anniversary isn’t going to make everything better. You need to talk to her—find out how she’s feeling about your relationship.”
“Who do I look like?” Emilio spluttered indignantly. “That Dr. Phil clown? Ever since I told her how crazy I was about her she’s been less into me. I sure as hell am not gonna do that again. Maybe I’ll make her jealous—make her realize how good she’s got it. Tons of chicks would thank their lucky stars to be able to get with me.” He squared his shoulders and touched a lock of gelled hair.
Cooper pushed open the kitchen door. “That’s not a good plan, Emilio.”
“Pfahh! What do you know, anyhow? I can tell you and your man haven’t even brought your relationship to the final level yet. You still get all embarrassed to even think about doing the nasty, don’t you? What are you scared of, anyhow? It’s not like you haven’t done it before.” He sat down in front of a foot-long sandwich and slung his arm around Angela, Make It Work!’s office manager. “Tell her what she’s missing, gorgeous. I’m sure you know how nice it is to have someone keeping you warm in the winter.”