Cooper thought she saw a trace of sadness on Nathan's face. She tapped the top of his computer screen. "But now you can create any kind of Web site imaginable, right? So your grown-up job's not that different from being a comicbook artist. You're just drawing using code, or what ever the word is."
Nathan smiled gratefully. "I never thought of it that way." He walked back into the kitchen and placed a sheet of foil over the warm lasagna. "So you don't think my hobby is totally crazy?"
"Not
totally
," she teased and held the front door open for him. She removed Maggie's stack of Tupperware dishes from Cherry-O and placed them on her lap after climbing into Nathan's BMW sedan. "I don't think I've ever seen a car this shade of green," she told him. "I like it."
Nathan patted the black leather steering wheel fondly. "This is Sweet Pea. It was my mom's car and I bought it from her a few years ago. I'm very fond of this gal, even though she doesn't have nearly enough legroom. She's old and has got her share of scrapes and dents, but she's got all that counts inside." He thumped the dashboard, put the car in gear, and forced its sleepy engine to chug into life. "Come on, Sweet Pea, let's go get Savannah."
Savannah lived in a little white bungalow near the University of Richmond. She must have heard Nathan pulling into her driveway, for she began walking down her short flight of front stairs before he could even turn off the engine, a paper-wrapped parcel tucked under her right arm.
"Thought I'd meet you out here since my cats always try to make a break for it when I go out the front door," Savannah explained as she seated herself in the back. "They're allowed behind the house because I've got a high chain-link fence, but I'm afraid they'd get run over within two minutes on this road." She clucked her tongue. "I swear, Those college boys come around this corner on two wheels," She grinned. "Of course I can't
see
them, but judging from their music, they're well on their way to hearing loss."
The threesome talked about their workweeks as they headed north on Route 1 to Hanover County. Their chatter instantly fell away as Cooper and Nathan caught sight of the Weeks house twenty minutes later.
"Are we here?" Savannah asked as Nathan steered Sweet Pea down a flat gravel driveway. "What's it like?"
"Well," Nathan began, "it's a gray ranch. But I've never seen a ranch quite this big."
"It's in the shape of the letter
U
and is probably over three thousand square feet--all on one level," Cooper added. "There's almost no trees out front and it's got a three-car garage and two entrances, both with wheelchair ramps."
Nathan parked the car and whispered to Savannah, "This place feels a bit neglected. There are a bunch of dead plants in pots by the front door and a pile of newspapers on the stoop."
Savannah took Nathan's proffered arm. "Then it's a good thing we came. Cooper? Would you gather up the papers and we'll take care of those plants once we introduce ourselves to Eliza."
Cooper rang the bell and opened the door after hearing a woman call out, "Come on in!" in a powerful voice.
Nathan led Savannah into a darkened hallway and turned her in the direction of the voice. "Are you Savannah's friends?" the woman shouted from far down the hall.
"Yes, ma'am." Nathan yelled back.
"All right then! I'm in the TV room." There was a pause as the three friends continued down the hall, passing a dining room table strewn with unopened mail and a filthy kitchen before turning a corner and entering a cavernous room. The ceiling was interrupted by rows of skylights, but there were no windows to interfere with the grouping of soft couches and chairs all positioned to face a mammoth flat-screen TV. Sitting in the center of one of the wide couches was the biggest woman Cooper had ever seen.
Mrs. Eliza Weeks likely weighed over three hundred pounds. Dressed in a sleeveless purple robe, her flesh pushed against the terry cloth in every direction. Her arms, which had a greater circumference than Cooper's thighs, wobbled as she gestured for them to sit. As she adjusted the strained sash of her robe, the multitude of rolls that formed Eliza's torso shifted like a great pile of melting snow. Her feet were tucked into a pair of heelless slippers and her ankles were well hidden beneath folds of fat.
A motorized wheelchair was parked next to Eliza, and Cooper wondered how the poor woman managed to get her formidable bulk in or out of it. Her heart swelled with pity for the obese woman, who clearly suffered from physical affictions and now faced an emotional one as well. Cooper steered Savannah to a couch and then withdrew to a club chair nearby.
"I know I'm a shocking sight!" Eliza declared unpretentiously. "But I wasn't always like this. Once upon a time I was the queen of the Tomato Festival." She turned slowly to Nathan as though the effort of shifting her thick neck was almost too much to bear. "Do y'all know Jed from church?" she asked in a conversational tone, as though nothing was wrong whatsoever and her husband would walk in the door at any given moment.
"I've heard of him, ma'am. Everyone talks about what a good man he is," Nathan responded gently and then touched the top of Eliza's hand. "Has there been any word from him?"
Eliza's perky demeanor dissipated like mist burned away by a strong sun. She looked down at her lap and whispered, "No."
"Well, we're here to cheer you up. Just name your desire and we'll see to it," Nathan offered. "We've brought you a meal or two to start with. Could I fix you something to eat?"
"I can't say I wouldn't mind a little plate of somethin'," Eliza answered with a tinge of shame in her voice.
Nathan smiled at her. "Excellent. Do you like lasagna?"
Eliza's eyes shone. "I love it. Can't you tell?" She laughed at herself, but no one else joined in. "That would sure hit the spot, thank you."
After Nathan disappeared into the kitchen, Savannah held out her wrapped parcel. "I don't know if I told you this before, but I'm a folk artist. I thought this silly little painting might make you smile."
"Oh my, you're all too sweet," Eliza gushed as she accepted the package. She opened it delicately, as if cherishing the moment. Finally, the butcher paper fell to the floor and Eliza's eyes widened with delight. "Goodness me! What a wonderful, wonderful picture!" She looked at Cooper. "Have you seen this?"
Cooper shook her head and reached for the piece of folk art. Savannah had painted a white clapboard church situated in the middle of a field of grass. A dirt path led to the front door and picnic tables loaded with an assortment of dishes were set about the lawn. Members of the congregation, dressed in suits and fancy hats, were seated at the tables or carrying out more food from inside the church. Daisies and buttercups bloomed in the foreground and a pair of angels with gilded wings, holding what appeared to be legs of fried chicken, flew overhead. The people's faces were ovals of apricot flesh, completely lacking personalized features such as eyes, noses, or mouths.
"I know what you're going to ask me," Savannah said, smiling. "Why don't my people have faces? First of all, I can't see well enough to paint that kind of detail and secondly, I like how equal everyone is with the same face."
Cooper handed the painting back to Eliza. "I can practically smell the fried chicken and hear everybody talking as they eat. You can tell the angels are really enjoying their drumsticks, even though they don't have mouths for smiling. This is unique, Savannah. I really love it."
"Speaking of unique, you've got some interestin' eyes, young lady." Eliza leaned her bulk forward to get a clearer look.
Impulsively, Cooper dropped her gaze to the floor. "I had an accident and ended up getting an ocular transplant," she explained.
"You and me both, darling!" Eliza boomed, her body shaking with laughter. "Let's trade sob stories. It'll keep my mind off Jed for five minutes."
After a moment's pause, Cooper told Eliza about her field hockey injury. Eliza and Savannah listened without speaking, though every now and then Eliza made sympathetic clucking noises and put one of her hands over where her heart was cached beneath her enormous bosom.
"That's a better story than mine," she said when Cooper was finished. "I just got in a boring ol' car accident. 'Course it was with an eighteen-wheeler in the dead of night when I was still in my prime." She raised her eyes to the ceiling as though still looking for an explanation for her crippled state. "Jed and I had been married two years when it happened. We were just thinking about startin' us a little family. I was workin' as a salesgirl in a lingerie store, of all things, and me and a few of the girls went out for drinks after work and, well, I had a few too many. Crossed the line in more than one way, you might say, and when I came face-to-face with the grille of that truck, I thought I was a goner."
She stopped her narrative and, with a mighty effort, picked up Savannah's painting. Tracing one of the golden angel wings with her finger, she continued. "An angel must have been on the shoulder of that trucker, 'cause his rig rolled around like a hotdog outta the bun but he ended up without a scratch. Good thing too, seein' as he was a daddy to six kids."
"Seems like you might have had an angel with you that night too," Savannah suggested cautiously. "You made it through, right?"
"
Jed
was my angel," Eliza stated sadly. "All these years, he's stayed with me. I couldn't work, couldn't give him kids, could barely cook or clean the house. He built this whole place around my needs and what did I do by way of thanks? Sat around watching TV and eatin', eatin', eatin'. No wonder he finally flew the coop. How long can one man be tied to a woman like me?" Weeping, Eliza buried her face in her hands.
"Have you called the police?" Savannah asked. "Filed a missing persons report?"
Eliza shook her head, tears flowing down her fleshy cheeks. " 'Course I did. As soon as our neighbors at the river house told me he never showed up. Jed has always been so predictable, but he
was
acting mighty high-strung these last few weeks. I never even thought of another woman until my sister put the notion in my head." She sighed heavily. "I could tell, from the expression on the faces of those two police officers who came to talk to me, that they think Jed's run off on me too. I know what they were thinkin' as they sat here with their pads of paper and their careful words! I've got a mirror!" Suddenly, she uttered a loud cry. "Oh, Jed! I'd forgive anything if you just came back to me!"
Her racking sobs filled the room.
At that moment, Nathan arrived with a tray laden with lasagna, salad, a buttered roll, and a glass of water. Seeing Eliza's distress, Nathan set the tray on the coffee table in front of her and shifted back and forth on his big feet, unsure of what to do. Cooper was also at a loss for words, but thankfully, Savannah moved from her sofa and made her way to Eliza's side. She took Eliza's head and guided it to her own shoulder. Then, holding the distraught woman's hand, she cooed and whispered gentle words until Eliza's tears began to slow.
"Let's go clean up the kitchen," Nathan whispered to Cooper and the pair walked quietly from the room.
Two hours later, they had not only cleaned every inch of the kitchen, but had tidied Eliza's bedroom and done a load of laundry. Eliza's bed sheets were currently in the dryer and, lacking any further areas to scour, they watered all of the house plants. As Cooper tended to the ficus tree in the far corner of the room where Eliza sat, now fully recovered and talking boisterously with Savannah, Nathan walked by with an armload of sheets.
"If you aren't the sweetest boy!" Eliza called out. "Could you wait a moment? I've got a favor to ask you."
Nathan sat down with a pile of warm, floral sheets fill-ing his lap.
"Your friend Savannah has convinced me to look at this situation in another light--that it might be somethin' other than a woman that made Jed run off. She and I have just called my credit card company, and Jed hasn't made single charge on his card." She gestured at the sheets. "While you're puttin' those on, can you feel behind the headboard for an envelope? It's where we hid our emergency cash. I need to know if that's what Jed's livin' on."
Nodding, Nathan disappeared. Cooper was about to follow him when a thought entered her mind. "This might seem like a strange question, Mrs. Weeks, but does your husband use a Capital City credit card?"
Surprised, Eliza nodded. "Yes. But why?"
Cooper persisted. "Do you happen to know anyone by the name of Hazel?"
Dabbing at her mouth with a paper napkin, Eliza shook her head. "Doesn't sound familiar."
"I'm just wondering what might have made him change his plans to go fishing. It seems like he really doesn't want to be found and I'm just thinking that most creatures go into hiding when they're scared of something." Cooper began pacing the room, trying to think of a reason other than another woman that might have caused Jed Weeks to leave his helpless wife. Maybe the answer lay in his professional dealings. "Mrs. Weeks, what does your husband do for a living?"
"Well, he's mostly retired now, but he's an accountant." Eliza smiled with pride. "He did really special accounting for big companies all over Central Virginia. Now he just takes on a few projects a year. Like the bumper sticker says, he'd rather be fishing."
Cooper tried to pro cess how Jed Weeks could be connected to Brooke Hughes. After all, her death and his disappearance had occurred fairly close together and might not be a matter of coincidence. "Did he ever do work for Capital City?"
Eliza looked perplexed. "I don't know, honey. Probably, but only Jed could tell you for sure. See, he had to keep mum about his work. Lots of times lawyers used his findings in their cases. I guess he was kind of a detective accountant. I forget what the official title is. His business card had all kinds of initials on it."
