At first he thought it was her poor penmanship that was responsible for his misreading but he had quickly realized that Jorja's penmanship, though atrocious, made it plain for him to see who had gotten her pregnant.
To think a man could be so deceitful. He had looked him in the eye and hadn't even shown any indication of what he was up to...
It was similar to what he, Ruel, had done to Ashley...
He calmed down when he thought of that. It was very easy to condemn, wasn't it? And surely Jorja deserved her share of the blame, except he couldn't blame her for anything today because he had just confessed that she was laboring under the false assumption that her mother was dead.
He couldn't very well give her the lecture that she so well and truly deserved for lying to him, for pulling several people's names through the mud even though she knew she had never slept with them.
He heaved a sigh and tears came to his eyes. He must have some deceit gene. His daughter had inherited it. He got out of the car, feeling every inch of his forty years. If he had life to live over again, the first thing he would do was not marry Rosalie. He would search for Ashley after school and he would marry her instead.
But they hadn't been the same people, had they?
Ashley by her admission had not been the best of persons to know and maybe he had needed Rosalie's unsettling presence in his life to teach him patience. Maybe everything was the way it should be. He was sure that he was going to be a better person after this.
He got out of the car and slammed the door, and a navy blue car screeched to a halt beside him.
A fat short guy dressed in semi-formal wear got out and nodded to him.
He nodded back and then another guy got out. "Pastor Dennison."
"Yes." Ruel stiffened his spine.
"I am King." The man came around his side of the car and held out his hand.
Ruel shook it. "You are the detective that spoke to my wife yesterday?"
"Yes." King nodded.
"You are the detective that told Regina that I killed my wife?"
"I speculated," King said uncomfortably. "Did you?"
"No." Ruel grimaced. "She is still alive. So there goes that theory."
The short guy beside King cleared his throat.
"Oh right." King looked relieved to be stepping away from him.
"Well, er...sorry for the misunderstanding."
Ruel didn't reply. He walked behind them as they headed toward the offices. He wondered why they were there.
Charlotte was back and on the phone when they all walked in, but Ruel didn't pause to ask her any questions. He knew where to find Josiah’s office. He had been there so many times before.
When he reached the door, it was wide-open, music blaring from his computer as he sat back and threw a ball and caught it as he talked on the phone.
"You," Ruel growled. His anger was back. "You slept with my daughter."
Josiah gasped and straightened up his office chair.
"I'll call you back," he murmured in the phone. "Pastor Ruel," he looked at the angry pastor and tried to calm him down, "that is quite a charge you have levied at me."
"How is the charge for murder, though?" King asked Josiah softly. "That one is infinitely worse."
*****
They had Josiah Coke cornered. The guilt was practically rolling off him. King grinned in satisfaction. Usually in a situation like this, he needed to know How? When? Why?
He already knew the how: Josiah gave her something she was allergic to and watched as she struggled to breathe. When? Sometime in the morning hours. Why? He thought he knew that too but as his assumptions were turning out to be less than accurate, he asked the question anyway. He was really interested in the answer.
"Why?" He didn't raise his voice. Josiah had turned down the music when they came to his office so he didn’t need to speak loudly, but Josiah flinched as if whipped.
"What is going on here?" Conroy came to the office door and saw the three men in his son's office.
The pastor was the first to speak. "Conroy, it seems as if, er..." He looked at King, the shock still in his face, "that Josiah here is the, er, father of my daughter's unborn child and, er..."
"He killed Regina," King said. He didn't have any time for diplomacy and niceties. "And I just asked him why."
Conroy leaned on the doorjamb limply. "Josiah, you don't have to answer anything."
Josiah sighed and sank down in his chair. "Maybe I do."
He coughed and then looked down at his hands as if they were strange to him and he didn't know how they got there. The office was so quiet that they could hear Clarke's belly growl in the silence.
"I, er, I…" Josiah looked up. "When I was at Prism I siphoned off eighty million dollars from several accounts that I was working on over a two-year period. It was easy to get access to the high profile accounts because I was sleeping with my boss. I rationalized it by saying I used her; she used me."
Conroy gasped.
"When I told her that it was over, she started checking my work carefully and then she discovered what I had done. The company kept it quiet when they found out about it. It would have been bad for business if people knew that there was a problem with their accounts. They offered me a deal, pay back the money and they wouldn't press charges. I paid back the money; I had it in an account sitting down anyway, so it was no biggie to pay it back.
"When Regina came up here and I heard that she had background information on everyone, I figured that she probably knew something about me too. I visited her the same morning, after her big reveal. She was searching her suitcase frantically, trying to find her camera. She was mumbling that Lyn must have taken it and some files she had too. I asked her if she meant it about getting the police involved with everyone and she said yes. I asked her if she knew about my background and she laughed and said yes. Then she made a quip. ‘Isn't it ironic that you are the church treasurer when you are a thief?’
"I told her that I didn't steal anymore and what I had done at Prism was not really stealing anyway. I did it to get back at my boss, to regain some power. Besides, I had given back the money.
"She said, ‘You have nothing to worry about, Josiah, I was really after Norma Kincaid. She needs to be punished for her human trafficking, and Ruel Dennison, of course, he needs to go to prison for murdering his wife.’
"I told her that I was going back to church. She asked me if I wanted a drink. She took out a small flask of vodka and laughed when I grimaced. ‘Live a little,’ she said. ‘After all, you already stole money, what's a little alcohol going to do?’
"I shook my head and told her bye. She said that since I was such a baby, maybe I should drink milk; Lyn Skinner kept peanut milk in the cupboard. I should get that and have a drink. Maybe if I stayed and talked to her I could save the whole lot of them from going to jail.
"So I got the milk. It was one of those small boxes that had a happy peanut on the side. I grabbed a glass, put some ice in the glass and came back in the room and sat across from Regina. I asked her if she was okay.
"She said she was sad, that Ashley was such a wimp and didn't love her anymore. She said that she was twice the man that Ruel would ever be. I poured out the milk and was cradling my glass for a while, watching the ice melt, listening to her as she moaned about Ashley.
"I put my glass down on the table. I didn't know how to respond to her, so I leaned back in the settee and was preparing to listen for a while. Suddenly, in the midst of her conversation, she just reached for the glass and poured her vodka in it and chugged it down.
"Then she laughed a sad little laugh and looked at me, a smile on her face. ‘That will teach her,’ she said.
“I assumed the 'her' in this case was Ashley Dennison.
"I know she had allergies." Josiah shrugged. "Everybody did; Honey Allen has been telling the story all month how God struck Evil Regina with allergies. I had no idea that she was allergic to peanuts and milk.
"She
laid down on the settee and told me that she needed to rest before she went to Kingston. She closed her eyes and said I should close the door on my way out.
"I did as she said. In the evening I was walking by and saw that her car was still in the garage so I decided to check if she was still around. I saw her in the settee still sleeping. So I left."
"Likely story," King snorted.
"But it is true." Josiah shrugged. "I am a lover not a fighter... well, killer."
Ruel winced.
"Besides, I had no motive for killing Regina," Josiah hurriedly added. "None. If she outed my past, the most that could happen was that I lose my treasurer post at church. I gave back the money I took from Prism and there are no criminal charges pending against me. I wouldn't be affected by any police investigation. I was just as shocked as anybody to hear that she died."
King growled. "Don't for one minute think that this is over. I will be watching you."
Josiah nodded. "Watch on."
*****
"His story lined up with the autopsy report," Detective Clarke said when they were outside. "Peanut milk and vodka. We found the vodka bottle in the crevice of the settee. She never accused Josiah of anything. He was always exempt. He had no motive to kill her."
When King reached the car he was breathing hard. He could hear his own breath in his ear.
"It was always a long shot," Clarke said soothingly. "There was no break-in, the locks on her bag weren't tampered with...the autopsy report said it was anaphylaxis...the people on her list to expose had nothing to fear from a police investigation. They had no motive. She did this herself, King. She knew she was allergic and she sent him for the drink and then she had it. Maybe she wanted somebody to be blamed for her demise. Who knows? "
"I had a hand in this." King's voice was broken. "I..."
"No blame," Clarke said genially. "Let it go. This was never a suspicious death case. I am going to the station to write my report; I have to concur with the coroner. There is nothing to see here."
****
"You slept with my daughter, Josiah!" Ruel said through gritted teeth. "How could you sit there and watch while everybody including your own father was blamed for this pregnancy?"
Josiah hung his head. "She told me she had a crush on me and she started coming on to me at the office. Are you sure that I am the only person she slept with?"
Ruel gritted his teeth. "She is sure that you are. She was trying to protect you. She seems to think that she is in love."
Josiah sighed. "Okay."
"No, oh no!" Ruel growled. "It is not going to be that easy."
"I am not marrying her!" Josiah protested. "I don't care who she is."
"Who said anything about marriage?" Ruel growled. "All I want you to do is to announce to the church what you have done. That way you can clear Conroy and Owen’s names. I have to say, Josiah, I expected better from you, I really did."
Conroy was still standing at the doorway. His face was frozen.
"Stealing…fornicating. I won't tell you what I am thinking right now, Josiah Coke. Maybe after Ruel leaves."
Chapter Twenty Two
Ashley pulled the last suitcase to the veranda and looked at them. She remembered the very day that she moved in. She had been so happy and so relieved that the place was already furnished.
And she had been so in love and settled. Finally, she had thought, a woman like her, mistake-riddled and tainted by all of the stuff she had done, had scored a happy ending with a man of God—a Christian, a guy who could help her to stay in line.
She had been giddy with happiness then, but she didn't deserve a happy ending.
She had expected this, to be honest. She had been waiting for it…disappointment, tasting a bit of what she had dished out to Brandon.
She turned back to the house to see Jorja standing at the door, her eyes red and swollen. She looked as if she had just tumbled out of bed.
"What are you doing?" Jorja asked hoarsely.
"Leaving," Ashley said. "How are you holding up?"
"I'll live." Jorja sniffed. "I don't think you should leave. You really make Dad happy."
"How can you say that?" Ashley asked. "He lied to you, he lied to me, he lied to everybody."
"And you've never done that?" Jorja asked skeptically. "Lie to anyone, I mean...because I sure have."
Ashley shook her head. "That's beside the point. He told you your mother was dead. She's in a mental hospital somewhere and still alive.
"My mother is disturbed." Jorja shrugged, "I've always known that. I also know that eventually I wouldn't be able to live with her. I didn't say I am not disappointed in my father and his lies. I am disappointed. As I am sure he is disappointed in me. Can't you forgive him? Start afresh?"
"I don't know." Ashley shrugged. "It's just so...familiar, disturbingly familiar."
She had been here before but on the other side of the equation. She had been the one doing the lying and she remembered how desperately unhappy she was when everybody found out. She had made an ass of herself at Brandon's send-away party. She had pushed him too far.
That night she had gone home and cried, burdened and sorry, but unable to do anything about it because she had blown her chances.
"Where is Ruel?" Ashley asked.
"Gone to confront Josiah about my pregnancy."
Ashley opened her eyes wide. "But that means..."
"Yes," Jorja twisted her lips. "Yes, you guessed it, he's the one and the only ever possible candidate.
"Dad said that before he got kicked out of the church as pastor he was going to have a public confessional session and I am going to have to apologize to Uncle Owen and Uncle Conroy."
Ashley nodded, fair enough. "You did cause quite a stir with your accusations."
Jorja sighed. "I didn't want to implicate Josiah. I really like him but I don't think he likes me. I don't know...Uncle Owen was so easy to choose; he is so friendly...and Uncle Conroy—he was pining over Oliver's mom and didn't even realize that I was flirting with him."
"You have a lot of growing up to do, Jorja."
"I know." Jorja bit her lip. "Deal kindly with Dad, please."
She backed into the house and headed to her room. Ashley heard the door close softly; she sank down in a veranda chair.
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. She repeated it over and over until she was dizzy with it.
"Sis Ashley." She opened her eyes slowly to see that Oliver was at the gate. He held up a large pot with the daffodils she had asked him about. It seemed like a lifetime ago now.
"Here they are."
"Ah." Ashley got up and headed for him. The bright yellow petals made her smile. "These are lovely, Oliver." She opened the gate. "Thank you."
Oliver smiled at her. "Did you know that daffodils represent forgiveness and new beginnings? In colder climates they signify the end of winter. They are like the symbolism of rebirth and renewal. It means winter is gone."
He placed them on the step. "It is raining again, so you shouldn't have any problems planting them out." He looked over at her bags in an ominous pile on the veranda and then over at her. "Or you can take them with you wherever you are going?"
"I am not sure if I am leaving for good," Ashley said, realizing that to be true. "I might just stick around for a while if Ruel is here."
"Oh," Oliver nodded. "My mom is packing as well. She accepted a job offer in the Middle East. She said the pay is out of this world."
Ashley nodded. "And what about you?"
"Me." Oliver sighed, "I'll be staying with a distant relative in Kingston for my final year at high school, and then I am going to find my father."
"Oh." Ashley raised an eyebrow. "You know who he is?"
"No." Oliver shrugged. "I just know his name is Paul Scarlett from Treasure Beach. It should be quite easy to find his family and then after I find them, I should be able to find him." He shrugged. "Well, at least that's the plan."
/> Ashley smiled. "I hope you find them, Oliver, and I wish that all your dreams come true."
Ashley was still smiling when Oliver left.
She sat down on the veranda and admired her pot of daffodils. Forgiveness and new beginnings. She could do that. The old Ashley couldn't do that but maybe the new Ashley could.
Ruel came home just when she was putting back her last suitcase.
"Ash," his voice was husky, "can I dare to hope?"
"Oh yes," Ashley said, winking at him, "but first I am going to go back to Kingston, you are going to court me and then ask for my hand in marriage, and then we'll begin again, two flawed persons trying to live Godly lives."
Ruel nodded eagerly. "I can do that. Can it be fast-tracked? Say like a week."
Ashley grinned. "We'll see Ruel Dennison. We'll see."
Epilogue
Dear Sister Ashley,
It was good to see you and Pastor Ruel again after so many years. Thank you for coming to my graduation. And thank you for that bunch of daffodils; I can't believe that they are still around! I haven't seen daffodils in years.
We didn't get the chance to catch up, but I really wanted to find out about the folks back in Primrose Hill. Unfortunately, I lost touch with everyone there. I will be doing my internship at the university hospital and then I will be doing two years of medical missionary work in Africa—that is, according to my mom's plans. After that, I am free to live my life however I want to. :)
I found my father's family. They are good people. I have a lot of cousins and I hear that I have other brothers and a sister. My grandfather, Dolby Scarlett, was a fisherman, but he is long retired now. He is very interested in finding the missing Scarletts, as we've taken to calling them. When he met me he cried. I love that old man so much and wish that I had known him earlier.
Please don't stop writing and please update me; it was really good to see you again.
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