“Which Troy denied...Does it matter?” Paul glanced her way again.
“Well, yes. I’d like to know where his family is. Maybe we can help them while Troy’s looking for work.”
Paul smiled and gave her hand a squeeze. “But he said they weren’t staying out there. Why would he lie about it?”
“I don’t know. But they have to be staying somewhere.”
“Why all this interest in someone you just met?”
“When I first saw him, I thought he looked like Andrew, and there was an air of honesty about him.” She smiled. “He brought out my maternal instincts. I had this irresistible urge to help him.”
“And you did. I was proud of the way you initiated the giving. Not everyone would do that.”
“I suppose. Do you think I did the right thing?”
“Giving is always right.”
“Yes, but what if I’m wrong about him. I confess a tiny part of me wondered if he might be a con.”
“Sometimes that’s the best we can do. We may not always be right, but we have to follow our instincts and trust that God will work everything out for good.”
“Exactly what I was thinking.” Kate leaned over and kissed his cheek. “What makes you so smart?”
He chuckled. “I don’t know. Trying to keep up with you, I guess.”
She playfully punched his arm. “I know I did the right thing. Maybe I need to make it a point to look for his family. I have this nagging feeling something isn’t as it should be.”
“Sounds like you aim to find out what that is.” Paul lifted an eyebrow.
“You know me far too well, Pastor Hanlon.”
Chapter Three
When they pulled into the driveway, Paul followed Kate inside and wrapped his arms around her. “I love you, Katie.”
She laughed and returned his hug. “I love you too, but to what do I owe this show of affection? I thought you were in a hurry to get to the office.”
He sighed. “I am, but I just wanted to let you know how proud I am of you.”
“What for?”
“You see people’s needs, Kate. You see what has to be done, and you do it. I love that about you.”
She reached up and kissed him. “Thank you.”
Paul released her. “I’d better get over to the office before Millie starts calling. I have a ton of stuff to do before I go on that men’s retreat tomorrow.”
She chuckled. “It’s a good thing you have Sergeant Millie to keep you in line.” Millie Lovelace was Paul’s sixty-year-old secretary. Efficient and orderly, Millie had been ruling the roost for years before Paul arrived in Copper Mill.
“Don’t I know it?” Paul gathered up his briefcase and books. “On days like this, I almost appreciate her micromanagement.” He kissed Kate’s cheek. “Are you picking up that window at St. Lucy’s today?”
“I thought I would.”
“In that case, I’ll leave you my pickup. A window that big won’t fit in the Honda.” He reached for the door handle.
“You’re right.” Kate thunked her forehead with the heel of her hand. “Thank you. I hadn’t even thought about that. I’ll have Lucas help me put it in, but I’ll need you to help me take it out of the pickup.”
“Just be careful. The gearshift has been acting up lately.”
“Ah, so that’s what it was.” She laughed. “I noticed that the last time I drove it. I thought it just didn’t like me.” Truth was, Kate didn’t like driving the truck, and was usually able to avoid it, but sometimes it proved necessary.
“I’m sure it doesn’t mind you driving it around.” He winked and, heading out the door, added, “I know if I was a truck, I’d love having you in the driver’s seat.”
Seconds later he backed Kate’s black Honda Accord out of the driveway and headed down Smoky Mountain Road.
Kate hung her jacket on the coat tree that stood on the slate entry and then made a beeline for her studio. It was a mess from her last project, and she wanted it tidy and ready for St. Lucy’s window. She tried to keep it clean and organized but had gotten behind recently.
Though she felt terrible about the damage to the stained-glass window, Kate was thrilled about working on something so beautiful—and precious. She wondered whether she was good enough to tackle the job.
“No point fussing about it,” Kate told herself. She began putting her supplies in the labeled drawers. As soon as she finished straightening up, she’d head over to St. Lucy’s and pick it up. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t contain her excitement.
A quick inventory told her she had plenty of glass, lead came, and copper foil, but she’d know for certain after assessing the damage. She would, however, need to order some gold leaf for the cross. Nothing but real gold would do. Kate hung the soldering iron in its place against the wall with some of the other tools, then carefully placed her glass-cutting tools in the safety sheaths.
Within an hour, Kate was ready to go. Her excitement picked up again as she thought about getting her hands on that window. She prayed she’d be able to repair and restore it to its original beauty.
She also prayed she’d be able to handle the temperamental stick shift in Paul’s blue Chevy pickup.
Once in the garage, she patted the old truck. “Be a good girl today, okay? No bucking.” She sometimes talked to plants to coax them into blooming and hoped her gentle tone would have an effect on the pickup as well.
Kate put the vehicle in reverse and slowly lifted her foot off the clutch. So far, so good. It moved backward without a hitch.
Intent on maneuvering the pickup out of the driveway, Kate almost missed seeing a person in the road behind her. She slammed on the brakes, and after some convulsive bucking, the pickup died.
Kate held a hand to her racing heart and glanced in the rearview mirror. She saw no trace of the person she’d seen. Or had the purple blur been a person? “Oh, Lord, please tell me I didn’t hit someone.”
Chapter Four
Kate jumped out of the truck and raced to the back. She stopped short and stared open-mouthed at the elderly woman sitting on her back bumper, dressed entirely in purple and looking as if she’d stepped out of the pages of Alice in Wonderland.
Kate closed her eyes for a moment, trying to decide whether the apparition was real or a figment of her imagination. The woman, who had to be in her eighties, wore a mink cape, which had seen better days, over a lavender pencil dress with a square neckline, accented with a string of pearls. On her head she wore a large red felt hat with a wild purple plume. She held a cane made of some kind of exotic wood. Satin high-heeled pumps that matched her dress completed the ensemble. Her small arthritic hand rested atop the cane sporting three expensive-looking rings.
She looked up and smiled at Kate. “Hello, dear,” she said with a distinct British accent that brought royalty to mind.
“Are you okay?” Kate’s common sense finally returned with the decline of her heart rate. Recognition dawned. She must be one of those Red Hat ladies. Kate had often seen the ladies congregate at restaurants in San Antonio, but to her knowledge, there were no active groups in Copper Mill.
The woman waved her hand. “I’m fine. I hope you don’t mind my resting here for a moment. I’ve been out walking, and I’m rather tired.”
“I was afraid I’d hit you.” Kate glanced around. They lived near Copper Mill Creek, not far from downtown, and it wasn’t unusual for people to walk out this way. But an elderly woman in heels using a cane? “What are you doing way out here?”
She smiled. “I’m on my way to tea.”
“Tea?” Kate still felt as if she was experiencing some kind of crazy dream sequence. “Where are you heading?”
The woman waved in the direction of the house. Kate frowned and then realized that she probably meant the Hamilton Springs Hotel, which was beyond the woods behind their house. The hotel housed a popular four-star restaurant. “You mean the Bristol?”
“Bristol.” The woman’s clear blue eye
s brightened. “Yes.”
Kate frowned. “That’s quite a ways. Would you like a ride?”
As soon as the words escaped, Kate had to retract them. She could just see herself trying to hoist the older woman up into the cab of Paul’s truck. She barely managed to step that high herself. “I could get my car and—”
“That won’t be necessary, dear. Lovely day for a walk, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but—”
The lady straightened her hat, stood, gave Kate a royal wave, and began walking away.
Kate climbed back into the cab and thought about going to the church to switch cars, but by the time she got the stubborn truck started, the woman had reached the intersection of Smoky Mountain and Mountain Laurel. Though Kate felt compelled to help, Red Hat Lady seemed to be doing just fine on her own.
Kate didn’t know what to make of the woman. Where had she come from? Kate had never seen her before but thought she could be new in town. She didn’t appear confused exactly, but she did seem a few ants short of a picnic. Of course, some of the Red Hat ladies she’d met loved playing up their eccentric roles.
Though Kate didn’t want to involve herself where she wasn’t wanted, she couldn’t help being concerned. Maybe she could follow the woman to make certain she got to the hotel all right. It was a good plan, but by the time Kate reached the intersection, the woman was gone. She couldn’t have made it to the Bristol that quickly.
Kate looked up and down the streets, finally satisfying her curiosity by imagining that a friend had picked her up and transported her the rest of the way.
“Lord, please take care of her,” Kate whispered as she drove through the intersection and continued on Smoky Mountain Road toward the church.
Chapter Five
Kate set her concerns about the woman aside and focused on picking up the stained-glass window.
At Ashland Street, she made a right, which put her in front of St. Lucy’s Episcopal Church. A sheet of plywood already covered the opening where the window had been. Kate pocketed the truck keys and headed up the walk.
Lucas must have seen her pull up, because he met her at the door. “Kate. I’m glad you’re here.” He gave her a warm smile that reached his twinkling blue eyes. “I have a date with my plane this afternoon, but I was hoping to hand the window off to you first.”
“Just with your plane?” she teased.
Lucas rolled his eyes. “I’m afraid so. And don’t go trying to set me up with any of your friends. I have a mother who does plenty of that.”
Kate laughed. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Where is the window?”
Lucas led her into the church and pointed to the plywood covering the window. “John, one of our parishioners, did that. He’s ordered a window for it until the stained glass can be restored.”
Kate followed Lucas up to the front of the sanctuary, around the baptismal font, and behind the altar to a small room off to the side. The window, she noted, had already been placed in a cardboard carton.
“I had John, our maintenance guy, package it up in bubble wrap and newspaper to protect it. All of the pieces are in here—or at least as much as we could salvage. If you can hold the doors, I’ll carry it out to the truck for you.”
Kate opened the doors and then followed him outside. He laid the package on the pickup bed with the care one would take with a baby. It was easy to see how much that window meant to him, and probably to the parishioners as well. She drew in a deep breath as he closed the tailgate.
Patting the old pickup, he said, “Take good care of her.”
“I will.” Her answer came out in a squeak. Though Kate felt confident working with glass, she hoped the congregation would be pleased with her efforts. Too soon to worry, though; at this point Kate wasn’t certain she could repair it.
As he turned to go, Kate stopped him. “I’ve always been curious about these windows and how they came to be at St. Lucy’s. Do you know who built the church and where the windows came from?”
He puzzled over her question for a moment. “I’m sorry, Kate, I don’t...But there might be files in the library or maybe over at the historical society. Always wondered about the history myself, but I never seem to have the time to research it. About the only thing I know is that the church was built way back when Copper Mill was first established, around the mid-1800s.”
“Okay, thanks.” Kate reached into her jacket pocket for her keys. “I’ll have to assess the damage before I can tell you how long it’ll take me—or if I think I can repair it.”
“Take your time.” Lucas waved as he headed for his SUV. “And be sure to keep track of your expenses and the time you spend on it.”
Kate waved back. “I will.”
KATE PARKED THE PICKUP in the Faith Briar Church parking lot and ran in to switch keys with Paul. The stained glass was too heavy for her to carry into the house, so she was hoping he’d be able to take a break and do that for her.
“Where are you off to?” Paul dangled the keys to the Honda in front of him, and she snatched them.
“Pine Ridge. You’ll be happy to know I’m finally going to transfer the money I’ve saved from my stained-glass projects into a CD or a money market at Valley Trust.” Paul had been encouraging her in that direction for weeks.
“Good.” Paul gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “Tell Sheila I said hi.”
“I will.”
Sheila Madison was her friend Mary’s daughter who had recently moved from Texas to the area and taken a job at Valley Trust in Pine Ridge. Kate had promised Mary that she would invest her money with Sheila when she got ready to make that move.
Kate walked into the Mid-Cumberland Bank and Trust in Copper Mill, intent on withdrawing two thousand dollars from her savings account, and realized why she’d been dragging her feet on investing her money with Sheila at Valley Trust.
Guilt assaulted her, making her feel like a thief instead of the loyal customer she’d been since they’d moved to Copper Mill. Not that she was doing anything wrong. People moved funds all the time. She counted the people who worked there as friends.
Kate smiled and nodded at Matt Lawson, who served as an investment adviser at the bank. If not for Mary’s request that she use Sheila as her financial adviser, Kate would be sitting down to talk with him.
Kate averted her eyes and headed toward Evelyn and Georgia Cline. She loved the elderly blue-haired twins, who had served as tellers at the bank for as long as anyone could remember. They would want to know why she was withdrawing such a large sum of money. Kate stepped up to the counter.
“Morning, Kate.” Georgia grinned.
“Good morning. I need to withdraw some funds from my savings account.”
Georgia took Kate’s withdrawal form and studied it. “Two thousand?”
“Don’t look so surprised.” Evelyn came over and peered at the form. “You know this is her stained-glass account. She’s probably placing an order for glass supplies. She’s going to need it for that big window from St. Lucy’s.”
“Oh, that’s right.” Georgia patted her perfectly coiffed blue hair.
Kate wondered how the news had spread so fast but didn’t ask. This was Copper Mill, and the twins were notorious gossips. She didn’t bother to correct them.
“Kate Hanlon. I thought I heard your voice.” Melvin McKinney came out of his office to greet her. With his bow tie and horn-rimmed glasses, he fit his role as bank manager quite well. “How are you, Kate?”
“Good.” Guilt washed over her again. Melvin never failed to make her feel at home. You are a traitor, Kate Hanlon. Kate ignored the voice in her head. A promise was a promise, and Kate intended to keep it. Besides, they were still keeping their checking and savings accounts here. Moving to a safe topic, she asked, “Are you enjoying this spring weather?”
“Lovely, isn’t it?” Melvin grinned. “Best time of year with all the leaves coming out and the flowers blooming.”
“That it is.” Kate turned to the teller’s count
er and took the check Georgia handed her.
“Y’all have a wonderful day.” Kate tucked the check into her billfold and walked out of the bank.
Driving along Pine Ridge Road, Kate began having second thoughts. Though she’d been planning to invest the money with Sheila for some time, Valley Trust and Mortgage had lost some two million in embezzled funds recently. It had been all over the news. However, Sheila had assured her that Valley Trust was soluble and quite safe.
Kate had read about the theft with interest, and she was curious to know if the police had apprehended the man responsible, an assistant CEO at the bank. His name was Charles something, and he’d apparently disappeared the same day the story came out. The Valley Trust embezzlement was discovered a week ago, about the same time Ned Castile disappeared. Of course, with him being a celebrity and a local, Ned’s story overshadowed anything else that went on.
Kate pulled into a parking lot in front of the new building that housed Valley Trust. The structure was finer than anything they had in Copper Mill. The builder-developer had demolished an old run-down strip mall to create a beautiful complex housing several businesses.
Marble floors greeted her as she walked into a huge three-story atrium surrounded by glass. A security guard eyed her when she paused to examine a map and listing of the occupants.
A reconstructive surgeon had offices on the first floor, along with a laser eye clinic and a Thai restaurant. There were a dentist and a physical-therapy group on the second floor. Valley Trust occupied the third floor.
Kate waved at the guard and took the glass elevator to the top floor. She kept her back to the door and looked out over the panoramic view of Pine Ridge and the outlying hills and valleys.
The elevator stopped, and Kate turned toward the doors and stepped out. She followed a railing around from the elevators, looking down at the marble entry on the first floor. She’d rarely seen so much glass in one building and shuddered at the thought of having to clean it.
Kate had no trouble finding Valley Trust and Mortgage’s suite of offices. The marble flooring gave way to lush pale green and taupe carpet. A young woman, who looked to be all of thirteen, sat at an oversized desk talking to a tall, nice-looking man with a rich, dark tan. His clothing—a tie, dress shirt, and dark pants—suggested he might be an executive or a customer. The girl laughed at something Mr. GQ said, and Kate had to restrain herself from telling him in no uncertain terms that he had no business flirting with someone so much younger.
Strangers in Their Midst Page 2
