The Way of the Wicked (Hope Street Church Mysteries Book 2) (5 page)

From behind them, they heard Savannah’s clear laugh. “Housewives, husbands, and dogs watching your every move.” She shook her head, her black braid swinging like a pendulum. “No wonder you were a smoker, Jake!”

Jake’s eyes twinkled as he looked at Savannah, who held on to Quinton’s arm. “I’m not in the clear yet,” he admitted. “I still need the patches, especially if it’s been a rough day.”

“I eat sweets when I’m grumpy,” Savannah confessed. “I might be blind, but I can find my way to a cookie jar like nobody’s business.”

“You and me both,” Quinton said.

Jake took Savannah’s free arm. “I’ll treat you both to an ice cream after today’s labors.”

“I’m just going along to talk to folks. You can hardly call that work,” Savannah protested.

“Sometimes that’s what our clients need the most,” a female voice said from the top of the stairs. A beautiful woman with lustrous locks of dark hair and green eyes the color of peridots smiled at them. “Are you here for the volunteer orientation?”

At that moment, Nathan appeared around the corner of the building with Trish and Bryant in tow.

“Hello! I’m Trish Tyler of Tyler Fine Properties. My company is sponsoring a route for two months.”

“Yes, of course. I’m Lali Gupta, the volunteer coordinator.” The two women shook hands warmly. “Won’t you please follow me inside? There’s a buffet table in our gathering room with coffee and cookies if you’d like to get a snack before we begin.”

The group fell into step behind Lali. She led them to a large room filled with rows of folding chairs. Cooper helped herself to a large cup of coffee and gazed around at the other volunteers.

She was surprised at the diverse spectrum of age, economic status, and race within the room. It seemed like a representative from every walk of life had chosen to volunteer for Door-2-Door Dinners that Saturday. It touched Cooper’s heart to see a wealthy white woman decked out in designer clothes and expensive jewelry sharing a laugh with a young African-American man wearing a paint-splattered shirt. Nearby, an elderly man wearing a brown fedora whispered to a young woman with Down syndrome, and at the end of the row, a trio of older ladies giggled along with a pair of Hispanic men.

“I can’t believe how many people give up their Saturday,” Nathan said. “It feels good just to sit here.”

Cooper gestured at the wall behind them and took a sip of coffee. “I like the photographs, too.”

Nathan took a few minutes to gaze at the oversized black-and-white portraits featuring several Door-2-Door Dinners clients. The portraits were headshots, and in each one the subject stared directly at the camera. Each expression was different. Some of the men and women seemed happy and even smiled a little. Others were somber or deeply sad, but an elderly African-American lady was laughing with her mouth open, her wrinkles spread out in a fanlike pattern as she displayed her three remaining teeth. The one that Cooper kept returning to was of an emaciated old man who rested a sunken cheek against his palm as though he was too weary to hold his head up any longer.

Beside her, Nathan swallowed hard and nodded toward the man’s portrait. “I lost all of my grandparents within a space of two years. None of these people look like them, but they remind me of how much I miss them.”

Cooper turned to him. “Remember how we visited Eliza last spring? At first, she was just a shut-in and a stranger, but she became a friend.” She touched his hand. “I bet we make new friends here as well.”

“I’m glad Trish recruited us. At least I get to spend more time with you.” He smiled at her, his brown eyes eager. Cooper’s heart drummed faster as Nathan draped his arm around the back of her chair. “I’ve been so wrapped up with this demanding client that I haven’t had time to do anything fun. I feel like I’ve kept you on hold and you deserve better than that.” His fingers cupped her left shoulder. “After we’re done here, would you like—?”

“Welcome, friends.” Lali Gupta greeted the volunteers in a clear, mellifluous voice and Cooper reluctantly turned to face her. “Thank you for coming to our orientation. Door-2-Door couldn’t succeed without help from generous members of the community. You will become one of over two thousand people who package, load, and deliver meals to our clients. Last year alone, we delivered two hundred and fifty thousand meals throughout the city of Richmond and its environs and I think we’ll top that number this year.”

“It just goes to show you,” someone mumbled amiably. “Nobody likes to cook anymore.”

Lali smiled. “In addition to our elderly clients, we also serve adults with disabilities and community members who’ve recently been discharged from the hospital and only require our services on a temporary basis. Those of you who have elected to adopt a route”—she nodded in Trish’s direction—“will get to know a handful of clients on a personal level. This can be an extremely rewarding experience.”

A giant of a man appeared through a doorway on Lali’s left. His black T-shirt, which was decorated with an iron-on of a wolf riding a motorcycle, was so tight that it seemed to dig into the flesh of his thick arms and neck. His legs were wide as tree trunks and his huge arms were big as barges. Cooper couldn’t help but stare at the two-inch braid growing from the man’s goatee. The end of the braid was held in place with a pink rubber band.

Spotting the man out of the corner of her eye, Lali beckoned for him to join her. “Meet Campbell Perkins. The kitchen is his domain.” She gazed at him fondly. “He’ll go over how to label the prepackaged meals, how long to spend at each stop, and what to do if a client seems unwell. It’s our goal to do whatever we can to make our clients
and
our volunteers happy. Again, thank you for being here today. Your gift of time, and of costly gas, will fill the hungry stomachs of our neighbors. More importantly, your friendly faces will brighten what might have been a lonely day for our clients. Bless you all.”

As Lali walked away, Campbell cleared his throat and began his lecture on packing food into the red-and-white-checked Door-2-Door soft cooler bags. He spoke like an army drill sergeant training a fresh battalion of recruits.

“You must label
every single
thing that you pack with your client’s name!” he barked. “You don’t want to give a vegetarian client a hunk of meat loaf and you don’t want to give a diabetic cranberry sauce, baked apples, and chocolate mousse with whipped cream. Got it?”

As Campbell held up some examples of properly labeled meals for the crowd to see, Cooper felt an uncomfortable pressure in her bladder. Glancing at the sixteen-ounce cup she’d just finished, she tried to focus on Campbell’s instructions, but when he began to discuss the types of liquids the clients were served, Cooper couldn’t ignore the call of nature another second.

“Be right back,” she whispered to Nathan and left the room. Returning to the main hall, her eyes darted around in search of a sign indicating that one of the many closed brown doors concealed a restroom. As they all looked the same, Cooper began to open the doors. One revealed a closet, another was locked, and the third led to a new hallway.

Something about the sudden stillness in the hallway caused Cooper to pause, but the mere sight of the water fountain a few feet ahead urged her onward. Finally, she found a door bearing the placard of a woman’s outline. Cooper practically ripped the door handle off in relief, only to discover that it wouldn’t turn at all. It was a single lavatory and was clearly occupied.

Cooper continued her quest until she ended up at a stairwell. Praying that the ladies’ room on the second floor was vacant, she took the stairs two at a time and found a restroom a few doors down from the stairway. All four stalls were empty and, out of habit, she chose the stall farthest from the door.

Cooper’s good fortune in finding a bathroom was quickly forgotten as she reached for the toilet paper. Only a shredded square remained on the roll.
This would do if I
were a Lilliputian,
Cooper thought wryly and opened her canvas purse, hoping to find clean tissues inside. As she rummaged around, the door opened and two women engaged in a whispered conversation entered the restroom. “Not again!” exclaimed a voice that sounded like Lali’s.

“Mrs. Jensen’s daughter said that her mother’s gold and diamond necklace is gone. It was the most valuable thing in the house.”

“Is she sure?” Lali sounded forlorn.

“Positive,” the other woman replied. “Mrs. Jensen hid it inside a box of Ritz crackers. According to her daughter, it’s been there for over ten years. The daughter cleans it whenever she visits and Mrs. Jensen tries it on in front of a mirror. It’s one of their regular routines. Lali, both of them are really upset.”

“What’s going on, Anita? This is the fourth call about missing items this summer!” Lali’s voice trembled. “Nothing like this has ever happened before.”

There was a pause and Cooper was afraid to move. If she made a sound now, it would be obvious that she had listened to the entire exchange, so she raised her feet off the ground and tried to be as still as possible.

“It’s not necessarily a volunteer, Lali. Yes, we have people bringing those clients meals every day, but that doesn’t mean that one of them is a thief. It’s just a coincidence that the clients who have missing items are all ours.”

Lali sighed. “We bring them meals, fix things around the house, do yard work, light cleaning, and sometimes deliver pet food. Come on, Anita. All these clients have in common is Door-2-Door. We’re the only common denominator, so that means
someone
from this organization is stealing from our clients.”

“But that’s unthinkable!” Anita’s anger reverberated off the bathroom tiles. After being shushed by Lali, she lowered her voice. “Who would steal from the old and the infirm?”

“They’re easy targets,” Lali said sorrowfully. “I can’t picture a single member of our regular volunteer group doing such a thing. I’ve come to know most of them personally, but I guess we don’t know them well enough. Someone is hiding their true character from us.”

One of the women turned on the water in the sink and then quickly turned it off again. “I’d better clean these glasses.” Anita’s tone was full of ire. “From now on, I’m going to make it my job to watch the volunteers like a hawk. We can’t let anything else get stolen!”

“What about your other responsibilities?” Lali asked. “No one can get to know
all
the volunteers. We operate on trust here.”

“My other tasks can wait. I won’t have this program’s reputation tarnished because of one wicked individual. Don’t worry, I’ll flush the snake from the grass.”

“I hope so.” Lali released a heavy sigh. “I don’t want our clients to suffer.”

The women left the restroom.

Cooper washed her hands and hurried back downstairs to rejoin her friends. She wondered if she should mention the thievery to them. The conversation between Lali and Anita hadn’t been meant for her ears. On the other hand, she knew the Sunrise members would do anything to help solve the mystery surrounding the thefts.

I’ll wait for a sign,
Cooper thought.
Something that tells me that we need to get involved. Until then, I’m going to follow Anita’s lead. I’ll keep my eyes open. I’ll be on the lookout for someone who smiles like an angel but acts like a snake.

4

The Sunrise Bible Study members spent the rest of the morning loading coolers with prepackaged client meals. Because Door-2-Door was closed on Sunday, many clients received food boxes in addition to their regular Saturday meals to help see them through until Monday.

Since she’d never volunteered before, Cooper was paired with an older woman named Penny. Penny, who had dove-gray eyes and a guileless face, showed Cooper how to check the shrink-wrapped trays for holes in the plastic, how to pack the food in order, and the proper technique for stacking the coolers onto wheeled carts so they could be delivered to the cars parked outside.

“Checking for holes and making sure that no one misses a meal are the most important things.” Penny gestured at one of the trays. “Most of us drive routes when we’re done with our packing, so we’ve gotten to know all the folks whose names are on these labels.” She showed Cooper the name and route numbers located on each meal.

Cooper glanced at Penny as they worked, thinking that the soft-voiced woman seemed so intent on getting things right for the Door-2-Door clients that Cooper couldn’t begin to picture her pocketing jewelry or other valuables from their houses.

Looking around the clean, orderly kitchen, Cooper covertly studied the other volunteers. According to Campbell, there were seven “regulars” who showed up every Saturday morning. In fact, Campbell boasted that the “Super Seven” hadn’t missed a single Saturday in a year’s time.

The Super Seven were made up of four women and three men. Not one of them had shifty eyes, a nervous stare, or the guilty visage of a heartless villain. They were completely normal people. If anything set them apart, it was their willingness to give up fifty-two Saturday mornings to deliver meals to those in need.

While Cooper zipped up one of the coolers for route #4, she saw Erik, an attractive man in his mid-sixties, slide a crayon into Savannah’s hand so she could decorate a few of the plain cardboard food boxes. Nathan was paired with a woman near Penny’s age, and the two of them were chatting and laughing as though they were old friends.

A young man with Down syndrome had been partnered with Jake. His name was Eugene and he was obviously a movie buff. While he and Jake prepped coolers for a route, they quizzed each other on famous lines of dialogue and performed hilarious impersonations.

On the opposite side of the kitchen, Bryant was flashing his meteorologist smile at both of the women assisting him. The first was a large African-American woman named Brenda who shouted and guffawed in response to everything Bryant said. The other woman, Madge, was mousy and quiet. Cooper didn’t hear Madge utter a word all morning, but she glowed whenever Bryant paid her the slightest bit of attention.