The Way of the Wicked (Hope Street Church Mysteries Book 2) (30 page)

• • •

The following Tuesday, when Cooper checked in at the lobby of Henrico County’s Jail West and requested a visit with Edward Crosby, she found that she wasn’t nervous at all.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Farmer had spontaneously declared that he was taking all of his employees to a well-deserved lunch at the Brazilian steak house. Though Cooper would have enjoyed such a sumptuous free lunch, she knew that keeping her promise to the Colonel was more important.

“That’s the place where they carve meat right there at your table!” Emilio had exclaimed when he heard the news. “Man, I’ve got the best job
and
the best girl in Richmond.”

“I don’t know about the best girl part,” Mr. Farmer had replied, shooting a coy grin in Angela’s direction, “but I’m glad you like your job.”

“What about you, Cooper?” Ben had playfully elbowed her in the side while Angela blew kisses at their boss. “Aren’t you just dying to watch Emilio polish off a barnyard’s worth of cow, pig, and fowl?”

“I’ll leave that pleasure to you,” she said, patting him on the shoulder. “Though I wouldn’t mind hanging out with you for an hour.”

Ben grinned. “You mean, now that I’m not acting like a total jerk?”

“I mean, now that you’re more like your old self.”

“I’ll never be that again,” Ben said solemnly. “I’ve learned a lot about myself by going through this with Melissa.”

Cooper stopped organizing the morning’s work orders and looked at Ben in astonishment. “That’s the first time I’ve heard you say her name! Ben and Melissa. Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”

Nodding, Ben smiled. “It does. It really does.”

Waving good-bye to her coworkers, Cooper unwrapped the peanut butter and jelly sandwich she had brought from home and enjoyed a quiet lunch alone in the office kitchen. After a fifteen-minute break, she got busy with her afternoon repairs, which included removing a jammed paper clip from the inside of a scanner, fixing a malfunctioning stamp machine at the post office, and reprogramming a copier so that it chose eight-by-eleven sheets of paper instead of the legal-size documents it had insisted on producing no matter what paper tray had been selected.

Once every Make It Work! client had been completely satisfied, Cooper took her official lunch break at two thirty. That left her less than an hour to drive to the government complex and see the Colonel before visiting hours were over.

When he appeared in the partitioned room, Frank’s son seemed stunned that Cooper had actually returned.

“So the cops nailed the bastard who killed my dad?” he asked, his eyes fierce.

“Yes,” Cooper said somberly.

“I read about it in today’s paper. You meant what you said, didn’t you? That you were going to make things right and figure out the truth about Frank’s death.” He gazed at her with respect. “You’re the first person who’s ever kept a promise. You. A total stranger. Why did you do it? Why do you even care?”

Momentarily taken aback, Cooper wasn’t sure how to respond. Even though the Colonel had asked the question with no hostility, she felt offended. “I wanted you to know why your daddy hid that diary and why he was so obsessed about honor.” She then described the incidents surrounding Aaron Crosby’s history. “I thought if you knew, you might be able to forgive him.”

The Colonel rubbed his stubble in bewilderment. “Why did Frank have to let some relative destroy
this
generation of Crosbys? You have to admit—he was completely nuts.”

Cooper disagreed. “His fears no doubt hurt you and your mama, but there’s no reason why you can’t make the Crosby name shine again. It’s not too late.”

The Colonel smirked, unconvinced. “What? You’re going to pour holy water over my head and whisper some Bible mumbo-jumbo and expect that my life will be all nice and pretty? Just like that?” He snapped his fingers. “Damn, woman! I’ll get out in six months and go right back to the street. It’s what I
know.
”

“And end up back in here?” Cooper replied angrily. “Where’s the honor in that plan? All you need is for
one
person
to believe in you—in your ability to change, to take a chance at a life that includes a regular job, an apartment, a few friends. Maybe even a girlfriend.”

Smiling for the first time since he sat down, the Colonel leaned forward. “You applying for the job?”

“Sorry, Colonel. I’m spoken for.” Cooper relished how wonderful it felt to utter that phrase. “But you can put me down on your list as a friend. As someone who truly believes in your potential.”

The Colonel seemed to withdraw and Cooper hoped that she hadn’t been too pushy. When he remained silently staring at her even after the guard warned him that his visit would be over in sixty seconds, she began to despair that she’d mishandled the situation completely.

With only seconds remaining, the Colonel abruptly whispered into the phone, “If we’re going to hang out in the future, then you’d better start calling me Edward.” He raised his hand to prevent her from speaking. “As for living the
straight
life, it’ll take a sign from above to make that happen.”

And with that, he hung up the phone and disappeared.

A sign?
Cooper remained immobile in her seat for a few moments longer.
What kind of sign?

Suddenly, she had an idea. Approaching the nearest guard, she asked him to deliver a folded strip of paper to Edward Crosby.

“I’ll be sure he gets it, ma’am.”

• • •

Later that afternoon, Cooper clocked out and headed for a strip mall on Broad Street. She and Nathan planned the evening relaxing at his house. Nathan had volunteered to cook a pizza and throw together a salad if Cooper promised to stop at a Redbox and rent a movie for them to watch after dinner.

“I should warn you that I plan to rent a romantic comedy,” she told him over the phone once she’d come to a stop in the Walgreens parking lot. “I need to watch something with a happy ending.”

“I’m a fan of those kinds of endings myself,” Nathan said. “And I know I’m going to be seeing your beautiful self in person soon, but did everything go okay during your visit with the Colonel?”

Cooper paused. “He told me he’d be looking for a sign—something to encourage him to live a different life once he’s released.”

“That’s a bit beyond our power, isn’t it?”

“Not if we’re just the messengers,” Cooper replied with a smile. “You know that bowl of Scripture verses you can pick from as you’re leaving the church auditorium?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I think the one I picked was meant for Edward Crosby, not me.”

Nathan made a noise of assent. “It’ll be interesting to see if it gets through to him,” he said. “Speaking of people taking chances, guess what Jake has finally done?”

“Asked Savannah on a date?”

Nathan laughed. “Yep! I guess his feelings for her are as obvious as mine are for you.” Softly, he added, “See you soon, sweetheart.”

• • •

In a group jail cell, populated by thirty men in beige scrubs, there was little opportunity for privacy or quiet. One of the few times the men fell silent and minded their own business occurred after the arrival of the mail each day. When the letters were delivered to the eager inmates that Tuesday evening, Edward Crosby was surprised to hear his name called and have a folded slip of paper handed to him.

“Who’s this from?” he asked.

The guard shrugged. “No idea.”

Edward retreated to his cot. He smoothed the narrow strip of creased paper flat and then read the brief but powerful lines quietly to himself.

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ Jeremiah twenty-nine, verse eleven.”

“It’s not too late,” Edward murmured to himself. He then closed his eyes, leaned against his pillow and whispered to someone he had never addressed before. “I got your sign. Show me what to do next and I’ll do it.”

In his heart, he felt a sudden and powerful feeling of calm—a measure of peace that he had never experienced before.

“What you grinnin’ about, you fool? Eh, Colonel?” one of the other inmates taunted.

Edward Crosby stood and slapped the man affectionately on the back. “The future,” he said and snapped his fingers as he’d done earlier talking to Cooper. “Just like that, I got a reason to smile.”

Magnolia’s Marvels

Iced Lemon Cookies

Cookies:

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

3 eggs, beaten

1 cup buttermilk

4 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon pure vanilla

1 teaspoon lemon flavoring

Lemon Icing:

1½ cups confectioner’s sugar

2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Cream butter and sugar, add beaten eggs and then buttermilk. Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, and flavoring. Refrigerate overnight. Drop by teaspoons onto greased sheets. Bake at 400 degrees until cookies are lightly brown (approx. 10 minutes). Frost with lemon icing.

Soft Ginger Molasses Cookies

¾ cup unsalted butter

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1 egg

¼ cup molasses

2¼ cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cloves

Granulated sugar for rolling

Cream butter and brown sugar. Add egg. Gently mix. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Form dough into small balls and roll in granulated sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 9 minutes. These cookies will be very soft to the touch, but don’t fret. They’ll harden to the perfect consistency when they cool.

Pumpkin Crisp Squares

Squares:

1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin

1 can evaporated milk

1 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 box yellow cake mix

1 cup chopped pecans

2 sticks butter, melted

Frosting:

1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese

1 stick of butter

3 cups confectioner’s sugar

Mix pumpkin, milk, sugar, eggs, and pumpkin pie spice together. Pour into 9x13-inch greased pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix over pumpkin mix. Pat nuts onto surface of mixture. Melt butter and pour over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes. Cool and frost.

To make frosting, combine cream cheese and butter and mix on low speed for 1 minute. Add sugar and mix until all the sugar is incorporated.

In case you missed it,

keep reading for an excerpt

from the first book in the

Hope Street Church Mystery series

by Ellery Adams,

The Path of the Crooked
!

Cooper Lee was at a crossroads. Her boyfriend of five years had just left her for another woman, she was living in an apartment above her parents’ garage, and her job as a copier repairperson was feeling a little, well, repetitious. Hoping for a fresh start and a new outlook on life, she joins the Bible study group at Hope Street Church. The last thing she expects while studying the Bible is a lesson in murder.

When Brooke Hughes, the woman who first invited Cooper to Hope Street, is found murdered in her home, all signs point to her husband as the culprit. But Wesley Hughes was an elder at Hope Street Church, and the members of the Bible study are filled with disbelief that such a kind and loving man could take a life, much less his wife’s. Unwilling to let an innocent man and friend be railroaded into prison, the Bible group decides to investigate on their own.

As Cooper and this humorously diverse group of people—including a blind folk artist, a meteorologist with a taste for younger women, and a soft-spoken web designer who might be out to catch Cooper’s eye—dig deeper into the clues, they’re about to discover that finding the truth sometimes takes a leap of faith.

1

Cooper Lee was more comfortable with machines than people. She drove all over the city of Richmond, Virginia, to fix them. By the time she got to these copiers, laminators, or fax machines as they waited in their offices, hospitals, or schools, they were broken. Broken and quiet. Cooper would kneel beside them and meticulously lay out her tools, and as she did so the machines didn’t raise their brows in surprise or barely concealed amusement that a woman worked as an office-machine repairman. A thirty-two-year-old woman dressed in a man’s uniform shirt didn’t seem odd at all.