The Way of the Wicked (Hope Street Church Mysteries Book 2) (24 page)

Releasing her, Nathan warned, “You’re about to step on your phone.” He scooped it off the ground while Cooper shoved her wallet, car keys, sunglasses, a packet of tissues, a lip gloss, and a roll of Life Savers back into her purse.

“I need to grab a drink of water,” she said, clutching her purse. “My mouth went so dry back there.” Spying a sign for the restrooms, Cooper squeezed Nathan’s arm. “Be right back.”

Nathan put her phone back in her hand and Cooper was almost at the water fountain when she saw the text message on her phone’s screen. She’d put her phone on mute before her interview with Rector and the message must have arrived while she was in his office. It read:

Can’t W8 2 B alone w/ U in the break room again. I want 2 smell the perfume I gave U. XOXO Emilio

“Unbelievable,” Cooper muttered in annoyance. “I hope Nathan didn’t see that.” She shoved the phone into her purse, refusing to let Emilio dim her happiness. Back in the lobby, she locked her arm in Nathan’s and they stepped outside.

Leaves tripped down the sidewalk and the flags whipped back and forth in the late afternoon breeze. Cooper inhaled the crisp air with renewed appreciation and sent a wayward stick scuttling into the grass with a playful kick.

“Now that the interrogation is over, I have to call Ashley,” Cooper said. “As long as her surgery went well, then this has turned out to be a pretty good day after all.”

As they walked toward the parking lot, Cooper told Nathan about seeing Campbell at Door-2-Door.

“It’s amazing what a guy will do to impress a woman,” Nathan said and frowned.

Cooper didn’t notice the frown or the acerbic tone to his voice. Her thoughts already turned to Ashley, she kissed Nathan, thanked him again for standing by her, and then got into her truck. Nathan waved and turned away with his head bent as if he were walking into the wind.

• • •

At home, Grammy and Earl were arguing over the directions Maggie had written regarding the preparation of their dinner.

“It’s a chicken pot pie, son. Just stick it in the oven for a spell. If you poke your finger in the middle and get burnt, then it’s ready to eat.”

“I’m right sure this is a three.” Earl pointed at a sheet of notepaper. Seeing Cooper, he thrust the instructions at her. “What do you think?”

Reading over her mother’s hasty scrawl, Cooper set the oven, pulled a tossed salad from the fridge, and then shook up a mason jar containing homemade poppy seed dressing. “How’s Ashley, Daddy?”

“Just fine,” Earl answered, spreading open his newspaper. “Your mama’s gone to fix her supper. Says your sister’s a bit tired but in high spirits. I take it they mended everything that needed fixing.”

“Was Lincoln there?” Cooper placed a pair of wooden salad forks in the center of the table.

After nodding, Earl turned his attention to his paper. Meanwhile, Grammy settled herself at the kitchen table and gave Cooper one of her eagle-eyed stares.

“
You
never came home Friday night,” she said disapprovingly. “You’re not movin’ too fast with that boy, are you?”

Earl pretended to be absorbed in an article about declining interest rates while Cooper gathered silverware from the drawer next to the sink, her neck flushing pink.

“No, Grammy. It’s not like that.”

“What’s it like then?” she demanded.

Cooper realized that it was time to follow Aurora’s lead. She needed to invite Nathan to meet her family in order to cement the seriousness of the relationship.

Instead of answering Grammy, Cooper looked at her father. “Any plans this weekend, Daddy?”

Earl shrugged. “Nothing special.” He looked sideways at his mother. “You’d know better than me.”

Grammy shook her head. “Just another bake sale at church. Why, Granddaughter? You got somethin’ excitin’ in mind?”

Cooper sat across from her and smiled. “I’d like to invite Nathan over for Sunday dinner. It’s time for you all to meet.”

Rubbing her hands together with glee, Grammy exclaimed, “I’m gonna make it a point to mention that nice diamond engagement ring gatherin’ dust in our bank box!”

Knowing that it would do no good to ask Grammy to refrain from mentioning the subject of marriage during Nathan’s first visit to their home, Cooper removed the pot pie from the oven with a defeated groan.

15

Cooper had the storm nightmare for the third time.

As in previous dreams, she was inside the small boat racing toward the bank of low thunderclouds, but this time she could practically feel the chill of the rain as it hit her skin. The drops were sharp as needles and when Cooper looked down at her raw, red feet, she noticed several objects floating in a shallow puddle in the stern of her boat.

She recognized Frank’s diary and a black-and-white tintype of a young man in uniform. The face had been partially scratched off as if someone had been intent upon erasing the man from memory. There was also a bouquet of purple flowers. Primroses or violets. It was hard to tell.

As the boat surged through the water, Cooper’s dream-self looked down at the rolling gray river and saw the yellow hospital flag drift past. She reached out to grab it, desperately wanting to rescue it from the water, but a stray current pushed it just beyond her grasp. The boat picked up even more speed, hurtling forward like a bullet train.

This was the closest the dream had ever taken Cooper to the storm. The tongues of lightning crackled directly above the trees flanking the river. Several of the tallest pines were already aflame. Abruptly, the fire spread. Cooper stared fearfully at the conflagration, feeling the heat on her face and swatting at the pieces of ash raining down into her boat. The air burned her lungs. She crouched lower in her boat, inhaling the scent of smoking pinecones.

The bow of her boat bumped gently against a pebbled bank. The burning trees were gone. Cooper was safe. And then a stick snapped in the forest. A shape began to materialize from the shadows. It was a man.

Wordlessly, he moved toward her, malice preceding him like a perfume borne by the wind. Frantic, Cooper pushed her boat back into the water, clawing at the liquid with her arms, but the man kept coming toward her. She paddled desperately, edging backward inch by agonizing inch, but there was no way to escape him. Her breath stopped as he waded effortlessly into the water. He reached out for her and she woke up.

• • •

Cooper waited until eight thirty Tuesday morning before calling Nathan to ask him over for dinner that weekend. He told her that he’d already been up for hours.

“I’ve received several irate emails from dissatisfied Big Man Product customers and I’m trying to figure out what to do about them.”

“Why are they writing you?” Cooper asked. “You’re the webmaster. It’s not your business.”

“According to these customers, the toll-free number listed on the website’s contact page is defunct.” Nathan sounded extremely cross. “And I’m having no luck reaching Tobey on his cell. The whole thing is giving me a bad feeling. His customers are claiming that his muscle builders have made them sick. Really sick.”

Deciding that it wasn’t the best time to invite him to supper, Cooper turned her attention to Nathan’s problem. “I hate to ask, but has Tobey paid you for your work?”

There was a brief silence, and then Nathan said, “He paid the deposit I require for setting up a commercial website and I’ve billed him for the rest of the project. His payment isn’t officially late until . . .” Cooper could hear the
tap tap
of computer keys. “It’s due tomorrow, actually. I give everyone the standard turnaround time of thirty days.”

“Do you have a credit card number on file?”

“No,” Nathan grumbled. “Listen, I’ve got to run. I need to look into this before I can focus on my other projects. I just received another two emails while we were talking, damn it.”

“Maybe you could do an online background check,” Cooper suggested. “Tobey Dodge sounds a bit like a fake name, now that I think about it.”

“I wish that had crossed your mind the night the three of us went out to dinner,” Nathan mumbled sourly.

Stung by the comment, Cooper blurted, “That’s unfair!”

“I know. I’m sorry,” Nathan hastily apologized. “I know you’re trying to help, but I really have to take care of this right now.”

Cooper was still irked, and her annoyance grew when she saw Emilio waiting for her in the office parking lot again. “I hope everything gets straightened out,” she told Nathan. “I have to run, too. I see a coworker I need to deal with.”

She thought she heard Nathan mumble, “I bet,” before hanging up.

Emilio was holding the front door open for Cooper when the mail truck pulled up and came to a violent stop. A woman in her early twenties with big hair and tight pants sashayed past Emilio. Her jaw, which had been furiously working over a piece of pink bubble gum, momentarily paused in mid-chew as she checked him out.

“Hey, handsome!” she greeted Emilio in a nasal voice that reminded Cooper of Fran Drescher’s character in
The Nanny.
A fog of perfume surrounded the confident postal carrier and Cooper sidestepped the younger woman and headed for cover behind Angela’s desk.

Emilio ogled the heavily scented mail carrier from head to toe

“Where’s the regular guy?” Cooper whispered to Angela as a bundle of mail was unceremoniously dumped onto the desk.

“Vacation.” Angela grinned and pointed at Emilio. “Honey, what you see before you is Cupid at work. That little cherub is makin’ a match right here, right now.”

Cooper and Angela watched in amusement as the mailwoman, whose name was Carla, won Emilio over in less than twenty seconds. She began by telling Emilio she was tired from having stayed up to watch Monday Night Football and then complained that her girlfriends refused to stay at Buffalo Wild Wings for the whole game. On top of those tidbits, which had already caused Emilio’s eyes to glimmer, Carla managed to let slip that
Victoria’s Secret
had just released its winter line and that her mail truck was full of catalogs.

She winked at Emilio, picked up the newspaper lying near the front door, and pushed it into his arms. “I’ll be ordering a little silky thing or two. Too bad there’s nobody to see me model them.”

Wiggling her fingers good-bye, she sauntered back to her truck while blowing a bubble the size of a dinner plate.

“Wow,” Emilio murmured as Carla peeled off. “What a woman!”

“I think she liked you,” Cooper said with a smile.

Emilio gazed at her, glassy-eyed. “You do?”

“Definitely!” Angela chimed in. “Carla will be here for the next two weeks. Better make the most of it, sugar. Until then, it’s off to work you go.” She handed him a pile of work orders.

Still in a daze, Emilio took a step toward the locker room and then, after hesitating, jogged back to Cooper and whispered, “Did you keep that box of chocolates?”

She nodded. “They’re in my locker. Help yourself.”

“Thanks.” He suddenly seemed to have remembered that he had given Cooper the chocolates as a token of his esteem. “It wouldn’t have worked out between you and me anyhow, right? I mean, you already have a guy.”

“No, you and I would never have worked out. I don’t watch football. And that
Victoria’s Secret
catalog I had in my bag a few weeks ago? That was my grandmother’s.”

Emilio shivered in distaste and walked away. As soon as he was out of earshot, Angela and Cooper nearly fell over laughing.

“I cannot believe he asked for those Godivas! I sure hope he doesn’t want that awful perfume back, too. Then again, Carla seems to like the smell of flowers mixed with kerosene,” Angela said once she managed to calm down. “Oh, look at me! I’ve gone and cried off all my mascara!”

“And Emilio’s new love interest doesn’t bother you?” Cooper examined her friend carefully. Angela seemed to have an ethereal glow about her this morning.

“I don’t care a fig about that boy. I have the most wonderful man in the world.” Angela snapped open her compact and started repairing her makeup. “Last night, a bit of magic happened in this office.” She blushed. “Back in Mr. Farmer’s office to be exact.”

“I remember that he asked you to stay late.” Cooper played dumb.

Angela spun herself around in her chair, kicking up her feet like a little girl. “There was no work involved. Why, he had the biggest surprise for me! I could never have dreamed of such an evening. It was like a scene from a romance book!”

“Stop keeping me in suspense. What did Mr. Farmer do?”

Planting her heels firmly on the floor, Angela leaned toward Cooper. “He bought tickets to the Sara Bay Kennel Club Dog Show next month. In Sarasota, Florida! Not just that, but he got us
two, first-class
airplane tickets.” She clapped her hands with glee. “He’s takin’ me to the Sunshine State in style! It’ll be the fanciest, most romantic date I’ve ever had! Isn’t he just the Eighth World Wonder?”

Cooper hugged her friend. “No, I think that title belongs to you.”

Angela handed Cooper her first assignment of the day and then focused her attention on her own billing duties, humming as she reviewed the monthly accounts.

Spirits lifted, Cooper sat in the Make It Work! van waiting for the longest traffic light in Richmond to turn green. She dialed Ashley’s home number and then slipped on her headset.

“Tell me something interesting,” Ashley whined. “I’m already bored. There is absolutely
nothing
on TV in the mornings. What does Grammy find to watch every day?”

“
Animal Planet
,” Cooper said. “It sounds like you’re feeling well.”

“I’m great. Now, lay some juicy gossip on me.”

“Love is in the air, Ashley.” Cooper told her sister all about Emilio, Angela, and her decision to introduce Nathan to the family.

Ashley made a strangling sound.

“Are you okay?” Cooper was alarmed.

“Yes, but I just spilled my coffee on my sofa. Thank goodness I paid for stain protection.” Ashley muted the television. “We’re going to meet him this weekend? Oh, I’ll have to find something nice to wear. I hope Lincoln won’t have to work. What’s Mama going to cook? Do you think Grammy will behave herself?” Without pausing, she answered the second question before her sister could. “Of course she won’t. She’ll eat him alive. Have you prepared your boyfriend for this grand occasion?”