Designed to Death (A Faith Hunter Scrap This Mystery) (22 page)

“You started this. You accused me of deceiving you when you’ve been deceiving everyone in the scrapbook world. Just wait until they find out.”

Karen scribbled away on her paper.

“Stop writing!” Leslie grabbed at Karen’s paper.

“Touch it, lady, and you’re going down.” The anger and determination in Karen’s voice put a quick and sudden stop to Leslie’s grabby hands.

“You just wait, Faith Hunter. You won’t get away with this.”

“You’re threatening me.” I rose. Bracing my hands on the table, I leaned toward Leslie. I dropped a flash drive into Karen’s open purse. “Are you and your smelly goon going to break into my house again? For your information, I made a couple of copies of the information and have been leaving them with people.”

“What are you rambling about?” Leslie sputtered.

“You thought erasing my hard drive and stealing all my memory cards would make the truth disappear. What’s on a message board, never just stays on a message board. It ain’t Vegas.”

“She’s accusing me of a crime.” Leslie nudged Karen. “You heard her. That’s slander.”

“Not when it’s the truth. You and the smelly goon trashed my house and stole my memories.” I pointed a shaking finger at Leslie. “You won’t get away with it.”

“Faith, take it easy,” Karen spoke softly, resting a hand on my arm. “I brought a friend with me. A picture is worth a thousand words.”

I spotted Leonard the photographer holding his camera toward his face. Karen shook her head and made a cut motion in the air. Leonard lowered the camera.

“I won’t stand here any longer and be accused of crimes. You’ll hear from my lawyer.” Leslie spun on her heels and rushed out of the game room.

My harsh breathing was the only sound in the room.

“I’m sure you know a good lawyer or two.” Karen smiled and gathered up her stuff. “Don’t worry about her.”

“I’m not,” I lied.

“If what you said pans out, her lawyer will advise her to keep her mouth shut.”

“It will.”

“Photos were stolen from your house.” Karen’s tone was ambiguous. I wasn’t sure if she asked a question or made a statement.

“Annoying but nothing irreplaceable,” I lied again. “My grandmothers have duplicates of most of the pictures I took.”

I decided to return a kindness and not mention Steve.

“Kind of creepy to take someone’s family portraits and stuff.”

“They wanted to make sure I didn’t have a copy of a message board thread. They missed one.”

“You should tell Detective Roget what happened here.”

I snorted out a laugh. “That’s a brilliant idea.”

“He’ll find out.” Karen pointed at the ceiling. Above us were the bedrooms. “Better coming from you.”

“You’re right.” Darn it all. What was this week coming to?  Agreeing with Karen, and working with Darlene. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.” Karen hitched the strap of her purse onto her shoulder.

“Why did you stop Leonard from taking a photo?”

“Because I like her even less than I like you.”

TWENTY-TWO

Tugging my coat tighter around my body, I exited the warmth of my car into the cold night. The temperature had dropped twenty degrees since this morning. I’d rather have been inside my nice warm house scrapbooking with Sierra. She asked about having a cropping session tonight. I wanted to work on mending the fence between us. Instead, I told her I had plans. Vague plans. Plans so vague she now thought I was mad at her.

I hated hurting her. This whole clandestine meeting stuff was getting real old. Darlene better spill out her plan or I’d be in jail for assault and battery. I’d even make the phone call to Ted.

Even wearing a t-shirt, hoodie, and a winter coat the wind snuck inside. Its cold fingers chilled my spine and head. I should’ve listened to my grandmothers and wore a hat, or even better, stayed home. They thought I was going on a date with Steve. At least with them, my non-answers pointed me in the direction of a man instead of looking for trouble.

Or at least so far. If they saw Steve come home, I’d be in for it.

A large vehicle hummed in the parking lot of the church. Its lights were off so all I saw was a dark outline of the vehicle, but the visor light allowed me to see the beady eyes peering over the steering wheel. Hazel.

I contemplated waving but decided toying with the grieving mother wasn’t a wise move. She wasn’t hurting anyone sitting there so I’d let her be. Plus, calling the cops put a little knot in the plans of having a secret summit with Darlene. Kind of hard to have a clandestine meeting when the cops are sent to the location. And knowing my luck, Ted would be the one showing up.

I’d rather take my chances with Hazel.

I opened the door leading into the sanctuary. Darkness met me. Feeling my way along the wall, I scooted down the aisle. If Pastor Evans started the movie from the balcony instead of his office using his remote access, one could actually see, instead of Marco Polo-ing it without the benefit of a caller toward a seat.

Pastor Evans might not have expected anyone to come. The reason he didn’t sit in the balcony any longer was to avoid hurt feelings and spending another Sunday giving a sermon about supporting ministries.

I banged my knee into a pew and sucked back the curse wanting loose.

“You could just use your cell phone,” Darlene’s voice weaved through the darkness.

“Oh shut up.” I yanked out my phone and walked to the front.

“Aren’t we in a pleasant mood?”

“I vetoed a crop date, made up an excuse to my grandmothers, and had to walk through the cold. Now, I have to sit through whatever lame movie Pastor Evans picked.”

“We don’t have to stay and watch the movie.”

“Good. Let’s get this over before someone comes in.”

“No one ever comes.”

“We did.”

“I don’t need your help,” Darlene’s voice rose. “If you want to be snippy, go home.”

“In your dreams.” I whispered harshly. “If it wasn’t for me, you’d have nothing to go on.”

“Fine. You find out who killed Belinda, since you’re the one with all the knowledge. No reason to involve me.”

“I don’t want you involved. You wouldn’t leave me alone.”

“What is your problem?” Darlene shifted. The light from the movie flickered over her face. “What did Steve say to you after I left?”

Did I now doubt Darlene’s innocence because of what I learned from Steve? Or was I feeling guilty about using people to get to the truth? I lied to my friend. I lied to my grandmothers. I’ve been lying—withholding information—from Steve and Ted. In the back of my mind, I wondered if Darlene was lying to me.

Time to ferret out the truth. “Belinda was scared about someone. Why didn’t you tell me that?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Belinda had gone to the courthouse to get a restraining order.”

Darlene shook her head rapidly. “I would’ve known. Belinda would’ve told me.”

“You didn’t know.” I kept my words neutral, not a statement nor a question.

“It’s a misunderstanding. Belinda wanted to be a mystery writer. She wasn’t the best with design principles, but her journaling skills were fantastic. It’s why we were working on my mom’s cruise album together and I let her have those pages. She’d be able to tell the stories like we were currently living the experience rather than just reading it.”

Darlene’s words grew softer. Grief laced her words. My heart ached for the woman. She lost her cousin and the police seemed no closer to finding the murderer. Their best suspect was her.

“I am sorry for your loss.”

“One thing I know about my family is we don’t keep things quiet.”

“Belinda did about submitting your layouts,” I said.

Darlene opened her pocket book and pulled out a set of keys. “Tomorrow we’re going to Belinda’s house. We’ll find out who’s right about the restraining order. Either she was scared about someone and kept it a secret or she progressed on her novel.”

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” So far, we hadn’t really done anything to interfere in the police investigation, but searching a house didn’t just have us crossing the line, it had us picking up the line and waving it in Ted’s face.

“It’s our only chance at finding out the why so we can find out who killed Belinda.”

“If we get caught?”

“We won’t.”

Cold swept into the sanctuary. I turned, assuming Darlene had a matching deer in headlights look plastered on her face.

Ted strolled down the aisle, a small Maglite lighting his way.

Darlene sidled up to me. “If it wasn’t me Belinda wanted a restraining order against, it was her mother. And Hazel is laying the groundwork for it being either me, you, or both of us who killed Belinda.”

I gaped at Darlene. “Hazel,” I hissed. Maybe I should be a little more concerned about Hazel popping up every time I turned around. Of course, if she suspected Darlene, she might be hanging around to protect me.

No. It was more likely she thought I was a murderer.

“Who else is in her life?” Darlene faced forward. “Me, her mother, and her aunt Eliza. My mother has a solid alibi. She’s on the same bowling team as the head prosecutor and the Evans’.”

“Meet me at the store.” I yanked my coat on and stood. It was getting a little too crowded in here.

“My house. Too many people care about what you’re doing.”

“You ladies didn’t come to watch the movie.” Ted settled into the pew behind us.

“Of course, I’m just cold. It’s freezing in here.” I sat back down. Did Hazel rat us out? I could ask Ted, but that also fell into the arena of not a good idea.

I folded my arms against my chest. Pastor Evans flashed onto the screen. His voice boomed as he recited the Christmas Story. A banshee scream had the three audience members doing a little hop into the air. The Hooligans, one by one, launched themselves from the balcony.

The faux angel wings did little to stop the plummet. Sierra’s angry scream drowned out the pastor. Hank, Wyatt, and Wayne rushed forward to catch the falling angels.

Last year’s Christmas play gone haywire. We warned the pastor not to cast the Hooligans in a role that told them they could fly. I texted Sierra.
Bring your men! Christmas play showing tonight.
They’d love this movie.

Darlene elbowed me. “No texting in church.”

Bring snacks.
Yeah, like texting in church was the real worry of the night.  Why Ted showed up while we were here was a bigger concern. Followed by how we’d get out of this. I doubted Ted would believe Darlene and I just happened to show up tonight and decided to sit next to each other. Especially since there was a plethora of pews to choose.

The Christmas play was now at the moment of the shouting match between Pastor Evans and Sierra. The pastor had accidentally referred to Harold, Henry, and Howard out loud by their town nickname. The boys heard none of it as they had now turned their roles of “falling” angels to avenging angels and stabbing at the parishioners with their cardboard swords.

Another thing Pastor Evans was advised against doing. Play swords and rowdy boys were always a bad mix.

“Start it over! Start it over!”

I, and the two other people in the sanctuary, heard the Hooligans before the door was yanked open. Sneakered feet thundered down the aisle and I braced myself for having a child, or three, jump on me. The Hooligans believed in full out body contact greetings.

“I’d move over if I was you,” I whispered to Darlene.

For once in her life, she complied without argument. She probably guessed where the Hooligans planned their attack.

Panic welled up inside of me. The door to the church didn’t open again. Hank and Sierra dropped the Hooligans off and made their escape. I looked over my shoulder, willing and begging for Sierra and Hank or just one of them, to come inside. I didn’t want responsibility for the three rambunctious boys. When I told Sierra to bring her men, I meant with her. Not to leave them with me. Ugh! What had I gotten myself into?

The boys stopped at the end of the pew where Ted sat. I grinned. I could work with this.

“Guys, this is Detective Ted. He works in homicide.”

“You mean dead people.” Glee filled Harold’s voice.

“Dead people other people made dead.” Henry knelt beside me, facing Ted.

“Do you have a gun?” Howard went to poke the detective in the side.

Ted shifted away. If it wasn’t so dark, I’m sure I would’ve seen a glare in Ted’s green eyes.

“Didn’t your mother teach you not to talk to strangers?” he asked.

“Yeah. But we don’t listen too good.” Harold made himself comfortable beside Ted.

“Anyway, you’re a cop. A good guy.” Henry climbed over the pew and dropped onto Ted.

A grunt was forced out of the man.

“Dad says we should make friends with the law.” Howard went to the pew behind Ted and stood on it. He reached forward and wrapped his little arms around Ted.

Ted made a strangling sound. Howard decided to hang from Ted’s neck.

Darlene dabbed her eye with a tissue. “You are such a wonderful man to take such interest in the Hool...Hank and Sierra’s sons. Imagine bringing them to church with you.”

“I didn’t...” Words gargled out of Ted.

“Cool! Will you take us home in your squad car?” Henry asked.

“With the lights on?” Howard continued to play the role of a necklace.

“Better without,” Harold said. “Mom might think red flashing lights are a bad thing.”

“I’d love to photograph this moment.” Darlene heaved out a sigh.

A brilliant plan popped into my head. “My camera’s in the car. I’ll go get it.”

I exited the pew from the opposite end where Ted sat. I wasn’t taking a chance he’d grab onto me or send a Hooligan to tackle me as a game of cops and robbers.

I hurried outside and made a beeline to Hazel’s car. She was holding a flashing and rivet to some kind of reading material. Too bad
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Private Investigating
got destroyed by the breaking and entering culprit; I’d have mentioned it was at the library and encouraged Hazel to spend some time reading it. I do believe she was going about it all wrong.

I knocked on Hazel’s window. She startled. She really needed a new hobby. Spying wasn’t good for her nerves.

“Darlene, Detective Roget, and the Hooligans are in there. I think there’s some plotting going on.” I skipped over to my car and got inside.

Hazel plodded toward the church, head lowered like a bull charging.

Quickly, I pulled forward and onto the main road. Ted would have his hands full between stopping Darlene and Hazel from going at it, and the Hooligans from...well, I’m not sure what those three little boys could concoct in their devious mind, but I knew it would be a doozy.