Heaven Preserve Us (19 page)

"Wow."

"I know. Jude is making it a real game room, where teenagers
can come after school and hang out. It'll be great."

He looked away, modest, but the smile remained on his face.
That room had been slated to be a game room for teens from the
beginning. Philip had only been gone for four days, and Jude was
already more efficient.

"So are you taking over Heaven House?" I asked him.

His gaze met mine for an instant before flicking away. He had
very nice eyes, a light, clear green under that thick shock of blonde
hair. Philip had had mostly red eyes, and mostly no hair. It was
hard to believe they'd been related.

"It looks that way," he said. "The board hasn't voted to confirm
it yet, so nothing's written in stone."

Maryjake said, "But they told him to go ahead and move into
Philip's apartment upstairs, so that sounds like they want him to
keep HH going, don't you think?"

As they spoke, I'd been looking around, seeing the place as if
for the first time. There was real potential there. "From what I can
see, they couldn't choose anyone better," I said.

Blushing a little, Jude looked down at the floor. "Thanks"

"Let me know if you need any help packing up or moving. My
little pickup is at your disposal," I said.

He turned a little redder. "I might need to take you up on that.
I don't have much to move, but I can't fit anything very big in my
little compact."

"Anytime," I said.

Erin tugged at my arm. I looked down. "Sorry. Let's find you a
good place to do your homework."

"I don't have very much. And it's Friday. Can't I go play pinball?"

I waffled. She had a point, but I didn't want to get on her mother's bad side. "Tell you what-you do half your homework first,
and then you can go play Nardella."

She made a little groaning noise in the back of her throat.

"I thought you said you didn't have much homework. If that's
true then it won't take you very long to do half of it, now will it?"

"Oh, fine. But can't I do it in the game room? Please?"

I was pretty sure Erin had a bit of a crush on Luke Chase. Harmless enough.

"Sure," I said.

To her disappointment, the boys were almost finished. She
marched over to the long table that now ran along the wall opposite the windows and began wrestling with a metal folding chair.

"Let me help you," I said.

"I've got it."

I smiled and left her to it. From the main room I heard Luke
offer to help her. This time I didn't hear such a quick refusal.

The front door opened. I turned to see Ruth Black stride in. She
wore a bright red wool coat with a wild multi-colored scarf and
cowboy boots. Her knitting bag hung from one hand.

Maryjake called out a greeting, and Jude murmured something
I couldn't hear. I said hello and walked over to where she'd plopped
into the worn wooden chair next to Maryjake's desk.

"Hi, everyone. Gosh, it's a busy evening here, isn't it?" Ruth
said, looking at the pile of papers in front of Jude and cocking her
head at the pounding that had commenced in the game room.

"The Chase boys are putting up some shelves in the game
room," I explained.

"And a dartboard," Maryjake added, again. She seemed awfully
excited about the dartboard.

"Well, that's lovely," Ruth said. She shrugged out of her coat
and retrieved a pair of circular knitting needles with something
tweedy hanging off them.

"Ruth? Did I get my scheduling mixed up?" I asked.

"Hmmm? No, I don't think so." She went back to her knitting.

I tried again. "Are you answering the Helpline tonight?"

"Oh, no. I just stopped by to see how things were going here.
And because I knew you'd be here."

"Well, I'd sure appreciate the company," I said, thinking rather
wistfully about that hardcover novel I'd brought with me. I hadn't
had time to read for ages, and a nice slow evening answering the
occasional Helpline call had seemed like time with excellent reading potential.

"Oh, that's sweet, honey. But I'm not staying long. I just wanted
to see what you found out about those beets. Did I tell you those
people from the Health Department came and took all of my
canned goods? Jalepeno jelly and pickled cauliflower, even. Every
last jar."

Pickled cauliflower? Yuck.

"You did mention it, Ruth. I'm so sorry. I know you must have
had quite a store," I said.

"A whole pantry full, plus everything we got from the preserves
exchange the other night. I mean, Uncle Thad and I had made
some inroads on last fall's canning over the winter, but there was an awful lot left. I think they ought to have to pay you when they
take your food away like that."

"But didn't they do it because of the botulism?" Jude asked.

I glared at him, and his eyes widened.

Ruth stopped knitting and stared at the wool on her lap, her
still hands clutching the knitting needles. "Those weren't my beets
that killed Philip," she said through clenched teeth. "Those beets
came from someplace else." She looked up at me. "Did you find
out anything?"

I shook my head. "I'm sorry. No one I talked to, and I talked to
everyone that was at the exchange-except Maryjake here, come
to think of it. No one I talked to knew anything about canned
beets. Apparently you're the only one who makes them."

Ruth started knitting again. "Well, that's stupid. I can't be the
only one who cans beets. And I keep telling you"-her voice rose
now-"I keep telling you that I don't can beets like that. Sliced.
Round. So someone else has to. My dear friend Hannah used to can
them that way before she died, and I know it's how most people
do it."

"Yes, I'm sure someone else in Cadyville cans beets like-" I
began.

"What about you? Do you know anyone who cans beets?" Ruth
asked Maryjake. Jude had returned to sifting through the pile of
paperwork.

"Did James tell you I called?" I added.

Maryjake nodded, then lifted her shoulders in a shrug. "I don't
know what to tell you. I don't like the things, and neither does
James. Are you sure those beets weren't yours, Ruth?" Her voice
sounded a little rough, and something else rode in it. Anger? I wouldn't be surprised. Did she actually blame Ruth for Philip's
death? "Did you drop them by early, before the exchange?"

The older woman stood up. "You know I didn't, Maryjake
Dreggle." She stuffed her knitting back in the bag and slipped her
arms back into her long vermillion coat. "I did not bring anything
here before the exchange. I did not can the beets they found in
Philip's apartment. And I did not kill him."

And with that she turned and stalked out.

"Ruth, wait," I called, but she ignored me. I started to go after
her, but the phone rang. I looked at Maryjake, and she looked at
me, then pointedly at the phone. With a grimace I grabbed the
phone off the hook.

"Heaven House Helpline; I answered.

"Um. Hi. I was wondering if you could give me some information about women's shelters in the area." The woman sounded like
she was on the verge of tears but still managing to keep it together.
Staying as matter of fact as possible, despite imagining all sorts of
horrible things that could have happened to her, I gave her all the
referral numbers I had and encouraged her to call back if she
needed any more help. With great dignity she thanked me and
hung up. I silently wished her well and cradled the phone.

Ruth was long gone by then. Jude was talking in an undertone
to the Chase boys in the corner, waving his arms as he described
who-knew-what. Erin had finished half of her homework, or at
least what she told me was half her homework, and had retired to
the game room to indulge in Nardella's Treasures. Maryjake was
nowhere to be seen.

Grabbing the phone off the hook, I accessed an outside line and
prayed no one would decide to call the Helpline for a few minutes.

Barr was awake and itching to be out of the hospital. He sounded
both tired and bored.

Well, good, because I had a job for him. I told him about Kelly,
and how I'd seen him outside Heaven House after midnight the
previous night. Of course, that necessitated revealing what I'd
been doing there then, so I went ahead and filled him in. He took
it well, all in all, and promised to make a couple of calls to friends
of his at the station to find out more about Mr. O'Connell. I
thanked him profusely, so relieved to have him on my side. All
evening I'd been thinking about Meghan, out on the town with
this character we knew virtually nothing about, and the more I
thought about it the more the sick feeling in my stomach grew.
That poor woman was beset with the worst taste in men.

I settled back and cracked open my book, feeling almost wicked
for taking the time to read when I should have been doing bookwork. But I was going to see an accountant, right? So maybe I could
slack on the bookwork a little. Plus, I'd had a pretty crappy week,
overall. I not only deserved to read my book, but to do it in a bubble
bath.

I'd take what I could get.

At least for five minutes, until Maryjake came back downstairs
from where she'd presumably been in the office. She slid onto the
chair where Ruth had been sitting earlier and let out a big whoosh
of breath.

"It's been a week, hasn't it?" I said by way of commentary.

She gave me a look. "It's completely and totally sucked, Sophie
Mae. Utterly and awfully sucked. Sometimes I feel like I'm going
insane."

"James said you had a migraine the other day."

She nodded. "I get them when I'm stressed. It's like someone
stuck knives in my eyes."

"Sounds painful," I said. And a little too graphic.

"You can't imagine."

"Are you afraid you'll lose your job?" I asked.

She looked horrified. "If Jude keeps HH going? I do good work,
I really do. Why would they fire me?"

"They wouldn't, of course. I didn't mean to worry you. Obviously Jude has things under control." There you go, Sophie Mae, as
tactless as ever. "And I'm sure you're a great help to him."

She snorted. "You could say that. He doesn't know much about
the day-to-day business stuff."

"Stuff like banking and paying bills and things?"

"Philip preferred to do most of that without my help, and Jude's
the same way. So I guess he's figuring all that out for himself."

I hoped he did a better job than Philip did, or else the lights at
Heaven House would be shut off within a week.

She continued. "I mean that he needs to know about how to
put together proposals for foundation funding, or how to deal
with the city council and the mayor."

"Really? I didn't know you had much contact with them."

She fidgeted with a hangnail. "We did at first. Then the HH
projects kind of slowed down, and they lost interest in what we
had to say. But I think Jude can change that. He needs to understand the past interactions, though."

No doubt. I added the city council and the mayor to the increasing list of people whom Philip had managed to alienate.

Changing the subject, I asked. "Maryjake, what do you know
about Kelly O'Connell?"

"He's pretty good-looking, isn't he?"

"I guess so. I was wondering more about his personality."

She gave me a yeah-sure look. "He's nice. Asks a lot of questions, and he's interested in the answers, you know? Not like most
guys. He and Philip spent a lot of time dinking around, talking
about all kinds of stuff. Blah blab blab. I mean, I thought it was
booooring, but Philip really liked him."

Huh. I glanced around. "What about Jude?"

"What about him?"

"They were cousins, right? Were they close?"

Maryjake looked skeptical. "I think Philip wanted to be close. I
mean, he brought Jude out here to work with him, brought him
into the foundation, actually. Jude's mother was Philip's father's
sister. But the old man, Nathaniel Heaven?"

I nodded. Philip and Jude's grandfather.

"He was an old-school kind of guy, and he didn't like the man
Jude's mother married. So he pretty much disowned her. Philip
felt bad about that, and he's the one who insisted Jude should
come live in Cadyville and help with HH. He's got a degree in sociology, after all, totally qualified to work in a community center
like Heaven House"

Sounded to me like he was way overqualified.

"Anyway, he came here, from someplace out east, I don't know
where, New York or New Jersey or New something-or-other. But
he and Philip never got very close. It's a shame, really." She looked
at her watch. "Oh, gosh, I've gotta go. Hubby's waiting."

That surprised me. I could see James waiting for Maryjake, but
I had a harder time imagining her giving a darn whether he did or
not.

She threw her things together and hurried out. As the door
swung closed behind her, I sat back and looked around the room.
Jude had returned from inspecting the Chase boys' work. Now he
stood in the corner, staring at me. I met his gaze until he looked
away. The phone sat there like a lump on the desk. Clangs and
dings issuing from the game room indicated Erin was still playing
pinball. Luke and Seth moved in and out, packing up their tools.

I motioned Jude over. He shambled across the room to me. "Do
you know much about Kelly O'Connell?" I asked.

His eyebrows drew together. "He seems like a good enough
guy.

"Meghan mentioned that he's a financial consultant, up here to
get away from the rat race in Seattle," I prompted.

"Sounds right."

"You don't know anything else?"

"Not really. He showed up one day and offered to help out however he could. I suggested to Philip that he help with the books, but
Philip wasn't really interested." He sighed. "And believe me, Philip
could have used some help with the books."