The Ruth Valley Missing (24 page)

“Yes sir.”

I was excited to be moving forward,
to feel like there was some progress, but the thought of returning to the
convent did make me nervous. So much could go very, very wrong.

“That’s a little annoying,” Mike
said, staring at my finger as I’d absentmindedly returned to hitting the mug
with my ring. He added in a whisper, “I think you’re making Doris angry.”

I looked behind the counter and saw
Doris with her hands on her hips. I slid my hand away from the mug, clenching
my hand into a fist.

“When did your Sheriff declare his
undying love?”

I looked at Mike and frowned. “What
are you talking about?”

He pointed to the ring on my finger
with his fork. “It’s a Celtic love knot.”

“It was just a little gift.”

“A gift of eternal loooooove,” he
sang.

“Do you work at being this
obnoxious? Like, at home in a mirror?”

“You’ve seen my place. Not much else
to do. Seriously though, has he declared his intentions so soon?”

I laid my head down on the table
next to my plate. Father Mike laughed.

“Fine, I’ll leave you be.” I picked
my head back up. “One thing though, James, and really, I’m serious about this.”

I sighed. “What?”

“You have yolk in your hair.”

“I hate you.”

“I know.”

“That old gate keeps coming off the
hinge when it storms. You need to tell Gordon what he’s doing wrong.” Maria turned
towards me, smiling. “Do you mind if I borrow him, dear? Won’t be more than a
minute.”

The old woman grabbed Jack’s arm and
pulled him to follow her. He looked at me with a helpless shrug and I smiled as
he left me standing on the church steps. Mass was over and I was doing my best
to stick around and be social, but I was all out of energy.

I fiddled with the broken zipper on
my coat, grateful that it wasn’t quite so cold out today and leaned against a
railing.

“Hello, Miss Quinn.”

I looked up at Father Mike coming
down the steps and yawned, mumbling a hello. I started to say something else,
but another yawn came out instead. I opened my eyes wide for a moment, trying
to wake myself, and shook my head. “Sorry about that. Long week. Guess I didn’t
realize how much it took out of me.”

“Bake sale arrangements?” He looked
around before leaning against the railing next to me, wiggling his eyebrows.
“Or ‘bake sale’ arrangements?”

“A little bit of both.”

“Speaking of which, are we still on
for our usual diner date?”

I nodded.

“What, no smart reply? You sure
you’re just tired?”

I gave a weak smile in response.
Father Mike smiled briefly, then quickly frowned, squinting as he leaned closer
to me.

“James, what’s this?” he said,
reaching over to pull my coat open further.

“Hey! What are you doing?” I
answered, slapping his hand.

“No, I’m serious. Look at your
shirt.”

I looked down and touched the dark
stain on my white blouse. It was wet. “Man, I love this shirt, too.”

“You can buy a new shirt. Shouldn’t you
get that looked at?”

I shrugged. “One of the cuts opened
up a bit on the end the other day. I must not have bandaged it well enough this
morning.”

Mike pulled his mouth back in
disgust.

“It’s a little oozy. I’ll get some
antibiotics this afternoon to be safe. Nothing to worry about.”

“Bake sale is soon. You sure you’ll
be up for that?”

I gave the thumbs up. “Of course. I
just need a nap. Or three.”

“Well, go home then.”

“Can’t. Waiting.” I yawned again,
pointing to Jack in the distance, talking to Gordon.

Father Mike shook his head and took
off in Jack’s direction. I watched him as he shook hands with Gordon and said
something that made Maria smile, before turning to Jack, his hand on his
shoulder and motioning in my direction.

Both men turned and made their way
over, Jack grabbing my arm as he got close.

“Are you feeling alright, James?”

I looked at Jack, then at Father
Mike, puzzled. “Just a little tired. Really, it’s no big deal.”

“She needs to go home. She’s
obviously not well.” Father Mike stood on a step higher than Jack, his hands on
his hips. Both men were tall, but the extra step allowed Mike to tower over
Jack. “Stop at the Doc’s and get some antibiotics while you’re at it.”

“Excuse me?” Jack stiffened,
unaccustomed to being told what to do.

“You heard me. Take care of your
girl, Sheriff.” Mike’s tone was calm, non-threatening, but Jack bristled at his
words. He bit his lower lip as he smoothed the hair back from my forehead. “You
do feel a bit warm, James. Let me get the Jeep and get you home.”

He turned to Father Mike and
grumbled before heading down the steps. “Thanks for your concern; I’ll make
sure she is taken care of properly.”

“I’m sure you will,” Mike said,
grinning. He stood next to me, watching Jack head down the stairs. “That
Sheriff of yours is a cheerful fellow.”

“Why do you do that? You know he
doesn’t like you.”

Father Mike shrugged. “Can’t help
myself. Anyhow, I’m just trying to get you home. You need to be in bed, not
holding up my railing.”

I wanted to be upset with him, but
found I only had it in me to be grateful. The longer I stood there, the worse I
felt.

“There’s your white knight now. Get
some rest, James.”

Father Mike walked up the stairs as
I walked down to the Jeep. Jack came around to open my door and lend a hand as
I hoisted my tired body inside.

After a quick stop at the unmanned
clinic to borrow some antibiotics, we headed home. I cleaned the wound, took
the pills, and went to bed.

~~~

I felt a cool hand on my forehead,
and heard my name. I groaned, keeping my eyes closed.

The hand grabbed my shoulder and
gently shook it. “James?”

I opened my eyes, reluctantly, to
find two mud-green eyes staring back at me. I recoiled, frowning as I sat up.

“What are you doing in my room?”

Father Mike stood up from his crouched
position next to the bed. “You didn’t show for breakfast, and after seeing how
you looked yesterday, I figured you probably weren’t feeling too hot. Thought
I’d check on you.”

I pulled my blanket up around me,
leaning against the headboard as I felt the room sway a little. “You let
yourself in?”

“I did try knocking first.” He held
up a key, turning it in the light. “See, the thing about hiding your key in a
fake rock is, it’s a fake rock. Kinda stands out. Not terribly effective.”

“I am so not awake enough to deal
with you right now.”

“That’s what the coffee is for,” he
motioned towards the cup sitting on the nightstand next to my bottle of
antibiotics. “How’s the infection?”

“What?”

“The fever, you practically falling asleep
on the church steps yesterday, leaking fluids all over…”

I waved my hand. “The antibiotics
are just a precaution. I only have a low grade fever, and the oozing isn’t a
funky color or smell, so I should be in the clear. ”

Father Mike made a face and put down
his coffee. “Thank you for that bit of detail.”

I grabbed the bottom of my shirt,
smiling, pulling it up slightly. “I can show you if you’re really interested.”

“No, no, I’m good, thanks.”

“So, did you come here to scare me
awake?”

Father Mike stared for minute then
sighed. “I’m scrapping the bake sale plan.”

“What?” I leaned forward, trying to
sit up straight. “Why?”

“Look at you. You’re clearly not at
your best. Heading into that convent poses a risk as it is.” I started to
object, stopping as he held up his hand. “You’ve got two strikes with these
ladies. If something goes wrong and they catch you, well, we don’t know what
could happen. I’d rather we didn’t find out.”

“But—“

“I’m not debating this with you,
James. Decision’s been made. We’ve got other leads to follow. End of
discussion.”

“No ‘end of discussion’. You’re not
the boss of me.”

“Maybe not, but we both know that I
can and will kick your butt if needed.”

I smacked my hand down on the
comforter, leaning forcefully against the headboard, deflated.

Father Mike reached inside his coat
and sat down on the edge of the bed, pulling out a few pieces of folded paper
and handed them to me.

I took them, still pouting, scanning
the pages. It was a life insurance policy. I continued reading, stopping when I
reached the beneficiary information.

“The church?”

He nodded.

“But the church wouldn’t be able to
get anything unless—“

“Next page, dear.”

I turned the page to find the copy
of a death certificate. The physician signature at the bottom belonging to Dr.
Matthews.

“Do we know if this is the only guy?
I mean, this could be a guy that really died and left the church his policy,
right?”

“My contact’s found another like it.
Not done looking yet either.”

I grabbed Mike’s hand. “This is huge.
How did you not know about any of this?”

“The nuns handle all the incoming
mail, the books, everything. They don’t let me touch any of it. At first I
thought maybe it was just because I was the new guy. But you’ve seen where I
live. They don’t exactly set things up to keep any priest around for long.”

I nodded, as I’d wondered about that
after seeing the rectory.

“Are you going to show this to Jack?
The state police? It has to be enough to make someone investigate at the very
least.”

“It’s still too thin. They might
come ask questions, but this isn’t enough to search the convent or get anything
concrete. If there is any evidence in that place, we don’t need the Sisters
tipped off ahead of time. So, no. We sit on this for now. And no, we don’t
include Jack. The fewer people involved the better.”

I frowned, understanding but
disappointed. Lying so much was getting tiresome.

“Have you talked to Doc Matthews?”

“Those are my afternoon plans.”

I stared at the papers, reading over
them all again in giddy disbelief.

“James?”

“Hmm?” I mumbled, not looking up.

“Not that this isn’t lovely, but…”
He wiggled his hand back and forth slightly.

I quickly let go. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He held his
hand out for the paper. I gave them back, reluctant to let them out of my
sight. “Thanks. Gotta keep these in a safe place.”

I nodded and slumped down into the
pillow behind me. “What now?”

Father Mike pulled his brow
together. “What do you mean ‘what now’? Now, you rest and get better. And put
on a bake sale.”

“Bah. And I’ve got all those nuns
judging the bake-off for nothing now.”

“I don’t know. May be good to have a
weekend where you aren’t up to anything suspicious. They may actually believe
you are behaving yourself.”

“I am behaving myself.”

“You know what I mean.” Father Mike
looked down at his watch and frowned. “I should go.”

I nodded, watching as Father Mike
got up and disappeared down the stairs.

I collapsed into my pillows and
heaved a sigh. It was a relief to see that Mike and I were making some
progress, but we were still far from hard evidence. Still so far from a place
where I felt safe. Where I could tell Jack anything and keep him safe.

I turned over, burying my face in my
pillow, hoping for something big to happen. Soon.

“Everything looks amazing, James.
You’ve done a great job.”

Jack stood with his hands on his
hips, taking in the tables of sweet and savory baked goods, a proud look on his
face.

“Thanks. I’m really excited at how
it all turned out.”

Despite the original reasons for
working the bake sale, I had put a lot of work into it. Creating games for the
children, a tea garden at the recommendation of the knitting circle ladies, and
a donation-only raffle for a few items from the townspeople; the town was
buzzing about the new and improved event. And about me.

It was a nice feeling.

Jack looked at the crowd and back at
me, giving me a big smile. “I guess I should get things going then.”

I asked Jack to not only judge but
serve as an MC for the main event. Charming and nearly everyone in the town’s
friend, it seemed only natural to put him in that role, and it allowed me a
little time to catch my breath.