“You think very highly of Sister Lou.”
“I do, and we both know I’m not easily impressed.” Shari saw the flicker in the mayor’s eyes. She was probably wondering if Shari was referring to her. Let her wonder. Shari continued to sip her coffee.
“I’m sure she appreciates your sentiment.” Heather leaned back on the guest chair as if they were two friends having a casual conversation.
Shari wasn’t falling for it. “You’re not here to fill out a Sister Lou Fan Club membership application. What’s on your mind, Mayor?”
“You’re damn direct. I like that about you.” A slight smile curved Heather’s lips and brightened her eyes. “Do you think it was a good idea to include the detail that Autumn Tassler was killed by an escaped murderer?”
“That Angelica Webb had killed before and was an escaped and dangerous criminal are pretty important details.” Shari considered the mayor. “Why wouldn’t I include them in the story?”
“It’s damn inflammatory. That kind of information only scares the hell out of people. All your readers need to know is that the deputies now have the killer in custody.”
“Readers deserve to know a lot more than that.” Shari set her mug on her desk behind her. “How does it help a community to withhold information from them?”
“It prevents mass hysteria. It’s my job to make sure people in the community feel safe.”
Shari tilted her head to the side and considered the mayor. “No, your job is to make sure the residents are safe, and my job is to give them the information they need to decide whether you’re doing your job.”
Heather’s violet gaze frosted over. “And who the hell gets to decide whether you’re doing your job?”
“The fact that you’re complaining about me tells me that I am.” Shari felt the waves of frustration pouring off the mayor. They kept her warm.
Heather stood to leave. “There’s a fine line between serving the public good and irresponsibly scaring people. One day, you’re going to cross that line.”
“Today’s not that day.” Shari held the public official’s cold gaze until the mayor turned and marched out of her cubicle.
Shari was well aware of her obligations to the public trust. And she knew how fine the line was between information and sensationalism. But she didn’t need the latter to pitch her stories to Diego. Fortunately for her—and the mayor—Diego didn’t run stories just for sensationalism, either. Her stories ran on their value to their readership.
She rose from her desk and set off for her editor’s office. She might as well let him know about her latest run-in with the mayor. She’d hate for him to get a call from town hall before giving him her side of the story.
Shari stopped in front of Diego’s open office door and gave a cursory knock. “The mayor had concerns about the Tassler murder investigation article.”
Diego sat back on his chair and gestured toward one of the empty seats in front of his desk. “Let me guess. She disapproved of our including information that Angelica Webb was an escaped murderer.”
His crisp cream shirt was set off by a pale pink tie. His bronze suit jacket hung on the coatrack in the corner of his office. It was late morning. The editor’s in-box was empty but his out-box was full. The faint, enticing aroma of coffee rose from the pot standing on his file cabinet. Like Chris, Diego drank the brew without cream or sugar. Why bother?
Shari settled onto the chair in front of him. “How’d you guess?” She appreciated Diego’s referring to the decision as “our.” It showed her editor had her back.
“Heather’s predictable. How did you handle it?”
“I told her the public had a right to know.” Shari withstood Diego’s probing stare.
“Why do I have the feeling that you said more than that?”
Shari blinked. “I don’t know. Why do you?”
Diego shook his head with a chuckle. “Because, Shari, you can be predictable, too.”
“I think I’m offended.”
“That’s why you and Heather keep butting heads. You’re a lot alike.”
“Now I know I’m offended.” Shari propped her elbows on the arms of the guest chair and linked her fingers together over her lap. “Why didn’t you interview for the job at Buffalo Today?”
Diego stiffened. “How do you know about that?”
Shari smiled. “They asked me to interview, too. Why didn’t you go?”
“I’m happy where I am. And you?”
“I’m starting to like Briar Coast.” That was an understatement. She was falling in love with the town—and its residents. Who would have thought Shari Henson would be cut out for small-town living? Who would have thought she’d have found a place she could call home?
Diego nodded as though they were kindred spirits. “It’s not about the money, is it? It’s about the stories we can cover here and the work we have left to do.”
“And in your case, there’s also Mayor Stanley.”
Diego smiled as he turned back to his computer. “We have work to do.”
Shari took the hint and left—for the moment.
Chapter 36
“Tell me again how my aunt chased down a convicted killer.” Chris hadn’t had an appetite since last night when he learned the risks his aunt had taken.
“She was amazing.” Shari waved the fork she was using to eat her blackened chicken salad. Her appetite was unaffected. “She raced after her with long, quick strides.”
“But she was running after a serial killer.” His mind rebelled at the image of his middle-aged aunt chasing someone who had killed two people, one with her bare hands.
Shari swallowed a mouthful of lettuce. “We didn’t know she was a convicted murderer at the time.”
“But you knew she’d killed at least one person.” His heart pounded in his throat. His pulse thundered in his ears. He struggled to breathe. “You also knew you weren’t supposed to be anywhere near the sheriff’s office last night.”
Shari considered Chris as she chewed her salad. “You’re really upset about this.”
“Of course I am.” He struggled to keep his voice down. Images sped across his mind, preventing him from thinking clearly. “How would you feel if someone you loved raced unarmed after a convicted murderer?”
Shari lowered her fork and met Chris’s eyes with solemnity. “Someone I love did race unarmed after Angelica Webb. She’s your aunt and you’ve known her all of your life, but she’s my friend. The best friend I’ve ever had.”
Chris swallowed back the emotion blocking his throat. “Then why did you let her do something so reckless?”
Shari braced her arms on the table and leaned closer to her companion. “Your aunt earned a doctorate in philosophy, was a college professor, was elected to her congregation’s leadership team—twice.”
“I know all of that.” Why was Shari giving him his aunt’s résumé?
“Does she seem reckless, thoughtless, or dumb?”
“Of course not.”
“Then, why are you upset?” Shari leaned back onto her chair. “Yes, she took a risk. I’m not saying I wasn’t scared. But knowing your aunt, it was a calculated risk and not a foolish one.”
“That depends on your definition of foolish,” Chris grumbled. Shari’s laughter tugged his reluctant lips into a half smile.
He studied the scene outside the window. Christmas had exploded on the street. Lights, garlands, and ribbons wrapped the lampposts and trees bordering the sidewalk. Wreaths, bows, and stars made storefronts more festive. The clouds dotting the gray sky looked swollen with snow. The first flakes of the season would fall any day now.
Chris switched his gaze to the café. It was a warm oasis in the growing chill of the season. Sisters from the congregation and groups of students, staff, and faculty from the college joined employees of the nearby businesses for the afternoon break.
He returned his attention to Shari. “So my aunt is a warrior?”
Shari chuckled. “You shou
ld’ve seen her.”
He shook his head. “I would have had a heart attack.”
They continued their meal in silence for several moments before Shari changed the subject. “I’ve found a new apartment. I’m moving in this week.”
Chris paused with his soup spoon halfway to his mouth. “Congratulations. Could you use some help?”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “Yeah, I could. Thanks.”
“Sure. I’m glad you decided to stay in Briar Coast.”
“So am I.” She ate another forkful of chicken and lettuce. “You know, these lunches are beginning to feel like dates.”
Chris looked up from his soup bowl again. He heard the forced bravado in her voice. There were teasing lights in her eyes. And just beneath that a vulnerability that made him want to hold her.
He lowered his spoon and held her gaze. “Do you want them to be?”
She angled her chin with characteristic challenge. “Yes, I do.”
He smiled. “So do I.”
Chapter 37
“Eating at your desk again, Louise?” Sister Marianna interrupted Sister Lou from her final review of one of the Advent retreat presentations.
Sister Lou set her bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup on her desk and looked up at her visitor. She dug a little deeper to find the energy to tease the other woman. “Greetings, Marianna. And how are you this fine afternoon?”
Sister Marianna lowered herself onto one of the guest chairs, smoothing her long gray skirt beneath her. “Must we always go through this, Louise?”
“No matter how busy we get, we must never forget the little courtesies of our customs.” Sister Lou struggled against a smile.
Sister Marianna sighed deeply. “I’m well, Louise, and how are you?”
“I’m quite well, thank you, Marianna. Much better now, in fact.” The sense of triumph gave her a fresh burst of energy. “What can I do for you?”
Sister Lou regarded her associate. Sister Marianna’s Hermionean cross was fastened to the right lapel of her navy blazer worn over her lightweight salmon sweater.
Sister Marianna settled more comfortably onto her chair. She must have intended to stay for a while. “Did you ever determine who was embezzling money from the resort?”
She was glad they’d solved Autumn’s murder, but thinking about the case brought back so much grief. “The deputies tracked the money to a separate account Angelica Webb had opened under her Kelsey Bennett alias. They think the embezzlement was another attempt to shift suspicions for Autumn’s murder to someone else.”
Sister Marianna shook her head. “That woman has a very sick mind.”
Sister Lou couldn’t agree more. “She spent so much time and effort planning to murder another living being.”
Sister Marianna continued after a brief pause. “I understand the mayor stopped by to speak with you this morning.”
Sister Marianna would bristle to be called nosy, but she did have an almost insatiable curiosity when it came to events that occurred in and around the congregational offices.
Sister Lou nodded. “The mayor believes Angelica Webb is behind the fake call from Sherrod Potts’s assistant, asking the mayor to intervene with me on his behalf. Ms. Webb probably also sent January Potts the anonymous note claiming Autumn was having an affair with Sherrod.”
“It was good of the mayor to tie up those loose ends for you. She’s becoming a frequent guest of yours.”
“I’m hoping the next time she stops by, she brings a donation for our ministries.” Sister Lou’s look invited the other woman to share the joke with her.
“That would be welcome indeed.” Sister Marianna took the remark seriously.
Sister Lou again lamented Sister Marianna’s seeming lack of humor. In the seven years that they’d known each other, she couldn’t remember even one frivolous moment involving the other woman. “Is there anything else I can do for you, Marianna?”
“Did the mayor say anything else?” Sister Marianna folded her hands primly on her lap.
“She thanked the congregation for our part in solving Autumn’s murder.”
Sister Marianna gave her a wry look. “You mean she thanked you.”
Sister Lou shook her head. “We did this together, you, Chris, Shari, and I, and even the deputies, as much as they didn’t want our involvement. And I couldn’t manage without Carm’s counsel.”
“And we couldn’t have managed without your leadership.” Sister Marianna stood to leave. “I’m sorry that I was so difficult during this whole experience. You knew what you were doing. I was wrong to question you.”
“I wouldn’t say that.” Shari might.
Sister Marianna’s tense features eased into a smile. “You’re very kind. But you have a gift, Louise. Thank you for using it to help me.”
“Of course, Marianna. I’m glad that I was able to help.”
Sister Marianna paused in the doorway. “Who knows, if word gets out, you could open a side business as a private investigator, then you could donate your fees to our ministries.”
The other woman flashed a grin before disappearing down the hallway.
Sister Lou stared after her in surprise. Sister Marianna had discovered a sense of humor. This was indeed a season of miracles.
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