She was touched by his sincere concern and slightly chilled by his words. “I’ll be careful,” she said, hoping it would be enough to reassure him.
He shook his head. “Where you’re headed, there is no careful.”
Before she could ask what he meant the phone rang. He stood for a moment and then with a sigh walked over and answered it. She waved before slipping out of the room and heading for her own.
Jeremiah and Mark had moved back into the living room and settled themselves into chairs in front of the fire after Cindy and Traci went upstairs. He could tell there was something on the detective’s mind and he was just waiting for him to say whatever it was.
Mark finally cleared his throat. “Look, a lot of what I said the other day, it was true. I know there’s stuff you’ve done, that you’re not all that you appear to be.”
“Why are you bringing this up?” Jeremiah asked.
“Because I’m not stupid. Skills like those you possess don’t come out of nowhere. There’s only a few possible explanations, almost all of them less than savory. The point is, I don’t care who you used to be. All I care about is who you are now,” Mark said.
The detective stared into the fire for a minute. Jeremiah didn’t say anything.
“So, are we good?” Mark finally asked.
“We’re good,” Jeremiah said.
Mark nodded and stood up. “I’m off to bed.”
“Goodnight.”
Jeremiah remained by the fire, staring into it and thinking. Mark and he had an uneasy alliance. He just hoped nothing ever happened to disturb it. It was just one more reason, though, why he should go.
He heard the stairs creak and a moment later he could hear someone enter the room. Cindy sat down quietly in the chair that Mark had vacated. She looked like she’d been crying.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
She nodded. “Just working through some old issues, you know?”
More than he could ever tell her. Yet another reason to go.
“Anything I can do?”
She smiled. “You already help more than you could know.”
A reason to stay, an inner voice whispered. He knew he shouldn’t listen to it as much as he wanted to.
“Just, don’t ever die, promise?” she asked.
It was an impossible promise to keep, they both knew that. Still, he nodded. “I promise.”
“Good. Now, about those ghost stories we were supposed to be able to tell around the fire.”
He groaned.
As it turned out the town of Righteousness was incredibly small, on the cusp of becoming a ghost town. Mark took it all in as he walked down the street. Traci and Cindy were out exploring. Traci had given him the postcard for her sister with strict instructions to mail it. The front desk of the tiny hotel had no stamps but they’d been happy to direct him down the street to the post office. He arrived and went inside.
The inside of the post office was larger than he expected, a sign that the town had likely been far more prosperous at one point. Now it appeared to be run by a single employee who looked older than dirt and certainly appeared in no hurry to do Mark any favors, like selling him a stamp.
As Mark waited for the man to slowly walk up to the counter he took a look around. The place was definitely a bit of a throwback and had seen better days. It was dark and dingy. Faded Wanted posters covered part of one wall and he couldn’t help but wonder just how many of those identified in the posters were long since dead.
His eyes landed on one picture. It was grainy and the man was half turned away from the camera. He had dark hair and a thick mustache. Mark stared, dumbstruck. Take away the mustache and there was an uncanny resemblance to Paul. They had the same nose, cheekbones, foreheads. He felt his heart begin to pound in his chest.
“Who is that?” he asked as the old man sidled up to the counter. Mark pointed at the picture, hyper aware that his hand was shaking as he did so.
The old man turned his head slowly, squinting to look at the picture Mark was indicating.
“That there is Matthew Tobias.”
He said it as though the name should mean something to Mark, which it didn’t.
“What was he wanted for?” Mark asked, finding himself incapable of moving forward to look himself.
“He swindled a bunch of people out of their life savings before skipping town. Let’s see, that had to be almost thirty years ago.”
“Did he have a family, a son?” Mark asked, licking his lips.
The old man shook his head. “Not that I ever heard tell of, but then again he kept pretty much to himself. Except for the swindling, of course.”
Mark clenched his fists at his side. “Where would I find out more about him?” he asked.
“Not rightly sure about that. Most that knew him personal or at least gave him money are dead now. Only ones who aren’t moved away years ago.”
“I’m going to need a list of names. Anyone you can think of,” Mark said.
“What are you, some sort of police officer?”
“Yes, yes I am.”
“You seen Tobias?”
Mark shook his head. “Not him, no, but I think I knew someone who was related.”
“How can you be sure?”
Because the resemblance was uncanny. More than that, he was in the town of Righteousness and Paul’s sister had told Mark that she suspected the boy who claimed to be her brother wasn’t when he didn’t know the secret password to get into their fort. She had said, though, that what struck her odd was how the boy seemed so agitated on hearing the word. Righteousness. Maybe it wasn’t the word itself but the reference to this place that had set fake Paul off when he was trying so hard to pretend to be someone he wasn’t.
Was it possible that fate had brought him to the very place he needed to be to learn the truth about his dead partner’s identity? It seemed too amazing to be true, but he was looking at a picture of a man who could easily have been Paul’s father.
The postmaster gazed at him quizzically, still waiting for an answer.
“I just am sure, that’s all,” Mark said quietly.
The old man nodded slowly. “I’ll do what I can to get you those names.”
“I appreciate it.”
“Come back in a couple of hours and I’ll give you what I’ve got.”
Mark nodded and then turned and left without even bothering to get the stamp for Traci’s postcard. The card itself was still clutched in his left hand though he could scarcely feel it.
He found Jeremiah and Cindy with Traci inside the saloon, all of them drinking old fashioned Sarsaparillas.
“What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Cindy said, her forehead wrinkling in concern as he sat down.
“I think I have,” he said.
“You didn’t mail my postcard?” Traci asked, sounding more puzzled than annoyed.
He looked down at it then slowly handed it to her. “I’ll do it later. I have to go back anyway.”
“What happened?” Jeremiah asked.
Mark took a deep breath. “The break I’ve been waiting for.”
Traci caught on instantly. “About Paul?” she asked, leaning forward, eyes fixed on him.
He nodded.
“What does that mean?” Cindy asked.
“It means, that I need help solving this mystery and you two owe me,” Mark said, staring first at Cindy then at Jeremiah.
He saw a muscle twitch in the rabbi’s cheek and smooth out a moment later. “Just tell us what we can do,” he finally said.
Mark nodded as he wondered where on earth they would begin.
Look for
KISS OF REVENGE
The final book in the Kiss Trilogy
Coming October 2013
Debbie Viguié is the New York Times Bestselling author of more than two dozen novels including the Wicked series, the Crusade series and the Wolf Springs Chronicles series co-authored with Nancy Holder. Debbie also writes thriller
s including The Psalm 23 Mysteries, the Kiss trilogy, and the Witch Hunt trilogy. When Debbie isn’t busy writing she enjoys spending time with her husband, Scott, visiting theme parks. They live in Florida with their cat, Schrödinger.
In the Paths of Righteousness (Psalm 23 Mysteries) Page 21
