The Oldest Sin
OLDEST
SIN
Ellen Hart
Copyright © 1996 by Ellen Hart
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.
Edition: November 2010
THIS LITTLE PIGGY WENT TO MURDER
“Strong characters and a rich Lake Superior setting make this solidly constructed mystery hard to put down. Another winner for Ellen Hart!”
— M. D. Lake
“There are some good, nail-bitingly-tense scenes and lots of red herrings.”
— Publishers Weekly
FOR EVERY EVIL
“A dilly… A fair-play plot and contemporary characters that leap off the page … Stir in Martha Grimes with P. D. James and add a dash of Christie and Amanda Cross and you begin to get the idea: a cosy with a brain.”
— Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine
“Another splendid specimen of the classical mystery story nicely updated and full of interesting and believable characters.”
— The Purloined Letter
For Gregory Johnson, one of the greatest gifts of my college years and beyond, and also for all those long-ago friends who survived their membership in the Worldwide Church of God.
Excerpts from the Terrace Lane Cookbook
Sophie Greenway
: Managing editor of
Squires Magazine
, wife of Bram; mother of Rudy.
Bram Baldric
: Radio talk-show host for WTWN Radio in Minneapolis; husband of Sophie.
Rudy Greenway
: Sophie’s son; student at the University of Minnesota; part-time employee at the Maxfield Plaza.
Lavinia Fiore
: Founder of the Daughters of Sisyphus Society (D.O.S.S.); originator of
The Daughters of Sisyphus Society Cookbook
; fashion designer.
Bunny Huffington
: Founding member of D.O.S.S.; author, professor of Women’s Studies at White Rock College in Bar Harbor, Maine.
Ginger Pomejay
: Student at Purdis Bible College in 1971.
Cindy Shipman
: National Treasurer of the D.O.S.S.; owner of Shipman Trucking in Norman, Oklahoma.
Adelle Purdis
: Wife of Hugh Purdis; mother of Joshua.
Hugh Purdis
: Son of Howell; vice-chancellor of Purdis Bible College; husband of Adelle; father of Joshua; head of the Church of the Firstborn’s field ministry.
Howell Purdis
: Founder and chancellor of Purdis Bible College; ordained leader of the Church of the Firstborn.
Isaac Knox
: Evangelist-rank minister in the Church of the Firstborn; onetime dean of students at Purdis Bible College; pastor of the church in St. Louis, Missouri.
Peter Trahern
: New husband of Lavinia Fiore; real-estate agent.
In Eden lived a serpent foul,
for when he heard Eve’s stomach growl,
he said by way of greeting:
“I’ve cookies, beer, and pretzels, too.
Deep-fried cheese and chicken stew.
I’ve cake and candy just for you.”
The serpent coiled around her side,
and said, although he knew he lied,
“An apple isn’t cheating.”
The serpent looked Eve in the eye,
and said “A teeny piece of pie?
Remember, life is fleeting.”
Eve passed the apples and the chips.
She held a doughnut to her lips.
She never thought about her hips.
Though some say greed or lust or pride,
the hungry know down deep inside,
the oldest sin is eating.
Kathleen KrugerEllen Hart
Purdis Bible College
Los Angeles, California
Spring 1971
Sophie paused next to a palm tree and looked both ways down Terrace Lane. When she was sure there was a suitable break in the traffic, she tucked her schoolbooks under her arm and rushed across the street.
It had been a hectic day. Starting just after sunup, she’d begun work on an outline of the main prophecies in Isaiah and Jeremiah, with classes filling her afternoon hours. Her four o’clock class, Harmony of the Gospels, had gone long. The paper she’d written two weeks ago on the Sermon on the Mount had finally been returned to her, the grade a disappointing C-. Later, at her job in the dining-hall kitchen, three men’s club meetings had been scheduled instead of the normal two. That meant an extra hour on prep and another on cleanup. Now, nearly nine, she desperately needed to get back to Terrace Lane, to the apartment she shared with five other women students. She had to check on her ailing friend, Ginger Pomejay.
Ginger hadn’t been feeling well for almost a month. No one spoke the words out loud, but everyone feared the worst. Ginger’s mother had died of ovarian cancer in her late twenties, several years after giving birth to her last child. Ginger, while trusting in the Lord, secretly feared she would suffer the same fate. Not that anyone at Purdis Bible College believed in fate. God’s plan for His firstborn of the spirit was far more sophisticated than that. Even so, as Sophie Sounded up the steps to the second-floor apartment, she couldn’t help but worry.