The Path of the Crooked (Hope Street Church Mysteries Book 1) (15 page)

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. After collecting Maggie’s stack of Tupperware dishes from her Jeep, she got into Nathan’s pea-green BMW sedan. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a car painted this color,” 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. Sweet Pea’s old and has 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. “Off to Savannah’s.”

Savannah lived in a little white bungalow near the University of Richmond. She must have heard Nathan pulling into her driveway, because she descended her 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 make a break for it when I leave,” Savannah said as Nathan helped her settle into the backseat.

The threesome talked about the past week as they headed north to Hanover County. The chatter instantly fell away the moment Cooper and Nathan caught sight of the Weeks house.

“Are we here?” Savannah asked as Nathan steered Sweet Pea down a flat gravel driveway. “What’s it like?”

“It’s a gray ranch,” Nathan began. “A
huge
ranch.”

“It’s probably over three thousand square feet—all on one level,” Cooper added. “There are hardly any trees out front and it has a three-car garage and two entrances, both with wheelchair ramps.”

Nathan parked the car. “This place feels a bit neglected. The plants in pots by the front door are dead and there’s a pile of old 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 the plants once we introduce ourselves to Eliza.”

Cooper rang the bell and opened the door after hearing a woman call out, “Come on in!”

Nathan led Savannah into a dim 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.” 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. Lit by a row of skylights, there were no windows to interfere with the grouping of couches and chairs positioned to face a mammoth flat-screen TV. Sitting in the center of a love seat 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. Cooper noticed that her feet, which were bare, were as slim and delicate as a dancer’s.

A motorized wheelchair was parked next to Eliza, and Cooper wondered how the poor woman managed to get in or out of it without assistance. Her heart swelled with pity for Eliza Weeks, who clearly suffered from physical afflictions and was now facing an emotional one as well.

“I know I’m a shocking sight!” Eliza proclaimed. “But I wasn’t always like this. Once upon a time I was the queen of the Tomato Festival.” She gave Nathan a small, strained smile. “Do y’all know Jed from church?”

“I’ve heard of him, ma’am. Everyone talks about what a good man he is,” Nathan said. Taking a seat next to Eliza, he gently touched the top of her hand. “Have you heard from Jed?”

Eliza’s smiled vanished. She looked down at her lap and whispered, “No.”

“Well, we’re here to cheer you up,” Nathan said. “We brought a few meals along. Could I fix you something to eat?”

“I wouldn’t mind a little plate of something,” Eliza answered shyly.

Nathan grinned. “Excellent. Do you like lasagna?”

Eliza’s eyes shone. “I love all kinds of pasta. Can’t you tell?” She laughed at herself, but no one else joined in. “Oh, a warm helping of lasagna would hit the spot, thank you.”

After Nathan disappeared into the kitchen, Savannah held out her wrapped parcel. “I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but I’m a folk artist. I thought this little painting might make you smile.”

“You’re all too sweet,” Eliza gushed as she accepted the package. She opened it delicately, as if cherishing the moment. When the butcher paper fell to the floor, Eliza’s eyes widened with delight. “Goodness! 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 sitting 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 either 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, lacking personalized features such as eyes, noses, or mouths.

“You’re probably wondering why my people don’t have faces,” Savannah said. “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 returned the painting to Eliza. “I can practically smell the fried chicken and hear everybody talking as they eat. I love all the colors. Thank you, Savannah.” Eliza glanced at Cooper. “Speaking of colorful, you have very interesting eyes, young lady.”

“I had an accident and ended up getting an ocular transplant,” Cooper explained.

“We’re both accident victims!” Eliza boomed. “Let’s trade sob stories. It’ll keep my mind off Jed for five minutes.”

Cooper found it easy to talk to Eliza and willingly told her about her field hockey injury and the ocular transplant that followed.

“That’s a better story than mine,” Eliza said when Cooper was finished. “I was in a car accident. ’Course it was with an eighteen-wheeler in the dead of night.” She darted a pained glance at her wheelchair. “Jed and I had been married two years when it happened. We were just thinking about starting a little family. I was working as a salesgirl in a lingerie store, and me and a few of the girls went out for drinks after work. I had one too many. And when I came face-to-face with the grille of that truck, I thought I was a goner.”

She stopped her narrative and 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, because his rig rolled around like a hot dog out of the bun, but he didn’t get so much as a scratch. Good thing too, seeing as he had six kids.”

“Seems like you might have had an angel with you that night too,” Savannah suggested. “You’re still here, right?”

“Jed was my angel,” Eliza whispered morosely. “All these years, he’s stayed with me. I couldn’t work, couldn’t bear a child, could barely cook or clean. He built this whole place around my needs and what did I do to show him gratitude? I sat around watching TV and eating. 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 softly. “Filed a missing persons report?”

Eliza shook her head, tears flowing down her fleshy cheeks. “Of course. As soon as our neighbors at the river house told me he never showed up. Jed’s always been so predictable, but he’s been 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.” Suddenly, she uttered a loud cry. “Oh, Jed! I’d forgive anything if you’d just come 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, he set the tray on the coffee table and shifted back and forth on his feet, unsure of what to do. Cooper was also at a loss for words, but Savannah made her way to Eliza’s side. She took Eliza’s head and guided it to her own shoulder. She cooed and whispered gentle words until Eliza’s tears began to slow.

“Let’s go clean up the kitchen,” Nathan murmured to Cooper and they quietly left 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 bedsheets were currently in the dryer and, lacking any further areas to scour, they watered all of the houseplants. 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, a pile of warm floral sheets filling his lap.

“Savannah has convinced me to look at this situation in another light—that it might be something besides a woman that made Jed run off. I just called my credit card company and Jed hasn’t made a single charge on his card.” She gestured at the sheets. “While you’re putting those on, can you feel behind the headboard for an envelope? It’s where we keep our emergency cash. I need to know if that’s what Jed’s living on.” Nodding, Nathan left the room.

Cooper was about to follow him when a thought occurred to her. “This might seem like a strange question, Mrs. Weeks, but does your husband use a Capital City credit card?”

“Yes.” Eliza was surprised. “But why?”

“I’m just wondering what made him change his plans to go fishing. It seems like he really doesn’t want to be found,” she mused aloud. “Most creatures go into hiding when they’re scared.” 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?”

“He’s an accountant, but he’s mostly retired now.” Eliza smiled with pride. “He did specialized accounting for big companies all over central Virginia. These days, he only takes on a few projects a year. Like the bumper sticker says, he’d rather be fishing.”

Cooper tried to determine 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 coincidental. “Did he ever do work for Capital City?”

Eliza furrowed her brow. “I don’t know, honey. Only Jed could tell you for sure. See, he had to keep mum about his work. Lawyers often used his findings in their cases. He’s kind of a detective accountant. I forget what the official title is. There are lots of initials on his business card.”

“Do you have one of his cards?” Cooper asked.

“Sure thing. Jed’s office is down in the other wing. There are cards in a dish on his desk.” Eliza frowned. “But what’s Jed’s job got to do with anything?”

“I don’t know that it does, Mrs. Weeks,” Cooper admitted. “I’m grasping at straws. Have you ever heard of a woman named Hazel? Or Brooke Hughes?”

Eliza furrowed her brow. “I don’t think so. Still, I don’t get out much. I talk to my sister on the phone, but mostly it’s just me and Jed.” She twisted the sash of her robe in her fingers. “As you all probably noticed, I don’t go to church with Jed. I stopped attending after the accident. Guess my willingness to be looked at by that big congregation gave out along with my legs.”

Just then, Nathan reentered the room. “There’s nothing behind the headboard, ma’am. I even checked under the bed.”

“There was over two thousand dollars in that envelope,” Eliza said. “But that won’t last Jed forever.” Tears welled in her eyes again. “If he’s living on cash, he really didn’t want to be found, did he? Oh, I hope he’s all right!”

“There, there,” Savannah whispered. “All will be well, you’ll see.”

The three friends offered words of support and sympathy and promised Eliza they’d visit again soon. On the way out, Cooper darted into Jed’s office, took a business card from his desk, and showed it to Nathan once they were back inside Sweet Pea.

“Jed Weeks, CPA, CFE,” Nathan read. “I have no idea what a CFE is. I’ll have to look it up when we get back to my place.”

“Or we could call Quinton,” Savannah said, brandishing a cell phone. “I have him on speed dial because he drives me to church most Sundays.” She pressed down on the number pad and said hello to Quinton. After summarizing their visit to Eliza, she asked him about the acronym. “Certified Fraud Examiner? What exactly do they do?” She listened for a few minutes, thanked Quinton, and then put away her phone. “Jed’s a forensic accountant. According to Quinton, he’d investigate a company’s financial practices and then prepare documents to be used as evidence in court. As a CFE, Jed specialized in fraud auditing.”

“A specialist in fraud. Just like Brooke Hughes,” Cooper mumbled.

“You might be onto something here, Cooper.” Nathan accelerated to pass an old pickup truck carrying hay bales. “Jed might not be off on a romantic getaway with a lover after all. He might be hiding because he’s scared of someone.”

“But who?” Savannah asked.

Nathan used his wipers to clear stray pieces of hay from his windshield. “Maybe the same person who shot Brooke. It would make sense that he wouldn’t tell Eliza anything about his involvement. The less she knows, the safer she is.”

“If you’re right, that means we now have to find Jed
and
Hazel,” Cooper pointed out.

“This is going to require a whole lot of praying,” Savannah said.

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