Читать книгу Lie Down in Green Pastures - DEBBIE VIGUIE - Страница 11

JEREMIAH, IT'S MARK ON THE OTHER LINE. CAN I CALL YOU BACK?" CINDY asked, forcing herself to take a deep breath.

"Sure," Jeremiah said as she switched over.

"Hi, Mark."

"Hi, Cindy. How's the rabbi?"

"Fine," she said, flushing slightly. She didn't know why the question made her uncomfortable.

"Figured as much. Listen, we need to ask you some followup questions. You at home?"

"Yes."

"Great. See you in five minutes."

Cindy hung up and briefly debated calling Jeremiah back.Before she could, though, there was a knock on the door. She opened it to find Mark and Paul standing there, faces grim.

"That was a quick five minutes," she said as she gestured them inside.

"We were parked out front," Paul explained.

"Let's sit down," Mark said.

They took seats around the kitchen table and they both pulled notepads out of their pockets. Cindy wrinkled up her nose. Both men smelled of smoke.

"It wasn't just a heart attack that killed Dr. Tanner, was it?" she asked, her mouth dry.

"We don't know much at the moment but we're trying to rule out possibilities," Mark said. "We are, however, fairly certain that he was dead or unconscious when the accident happened."

"Of course he was dead. Jeremiah said so," she replied.

"That may be, but I'm not sure how much Jeremiah actually saw rather than imagined. That was a nasty accident," Paul commented.

Cindy felt anger rising in her and it caught her offguard.Why should she feel suddenly so defensive over them doubting Jeremiah's account of the accident? Was it because she had relied on his conclusion when making the decision to call the police in the first place?

She took a ragged breath and asked, "How do you know the driver was dead or unconscious, then?"

"The accident investigator," Mark said.

"He found something?" she asked.

"More like he didn't find something. Skid marks. Dr.Tanner never once hit the brakes during the entire thing."

"And had he been awake he would have been pushing the brake pedal as hard as he could," she said.

"That's the logical assumption," Paul said. "So, we want to go over the accident with you again and ask you some more questions about Dr. Tanner."

"Anything I can do to help," Cindy said.

She felt like all she did was repeat herself for the next half hour until she'd told the story from her point of view a dozen times. Finally they shifted topics.

"Do you know of anyone who would want to hurt Dr.Tanner?" Paul asked.

Cindy shrugged. "He was a kind man, well thought of, but I don't know enough about him to be able to answer that. I'm guessing that's a question for his family."

"Anyone at the church know him better?" Mark asked.

"Joseph Coulter sits on a board with him."

"And just which board would that be?"

"The GPNC Board. The board was created to oversee use and care of the Green Pastures Nature Camp. The camp is about an hour-and-a-half drive from here and was created by several churches and non-profits in the area years ago for use as a camp and a retreat. Kids go there to summer camp from all over the area. Adults go to religious retreats."

"I'm familiar with it," Paul said. "They were both on the board?"

"Yes."

"Anyone else at the church have close ties with him?" Mark asked.

"Dave Wyman, the youth pastor, relied on him to drive the bus to camp whenever it was needed. He took the news really hard this morning."

"Ah yes, Wildman. Heck of a nickname for a youth pastor."

"Anyone else?" Paul asked.

"Not that I know of. If you want, I could set up an appointment with Pastor Roy—"

"No, thank you," Mark interrupted, visibly wincing.

Cindy remembered the first and last time Mark had tried interviewing the head pastor and the look of utter frustration on his face when he left Roy's office.

"Okay, I think we're done here," Paul said, snapping his notebook shut and putting it away.

He stood and Mark followed suit. Cindy rose reluctantly to her feet.

"I've got a question for the two of you. I know you're not smokers, so why do your clothes smell like smoke?" she asked.

Mark grimaced. "I'm sure you'll read about it in the papers tomorrow. We were investigating an accident. An environmentalist got caught in a planned burn to clear out undergrowth before the dry season."

"That's terrible! How does that involve you, though? You're homicide detectives."

"Anytime somebody finds a body like that we get called.Strictly routine," he said.

She noticed that he didn't look her in the eye when he said it. "You've always had a terrible poker face," she accused.

He shrugged.

After the detectives left she called Jeremiah back, but it just went to voicemail. She hoped that meant he was getting some rest. She flopped down on the sofa and turned on the television.

"And next up on the Escape! Channel is Kyle Preston's newest show Dare Me. See the first part of Kyle's journey as he attempts to go over a waterfall in a barrel."

She clicked the TV off in disgust and headed for her bedroom. Once there she began throwing darts at his face on her dartboard. The picture was actually a better one of him. He looked serious and intense, like he actually was contemplating what an idiot he was for always putting himself in such danger.

Jeremiah ached all over when he woke up. He stood gingerly and walked into the bathroom where he inspected himself in the mirror. There was bruising on his left cheekbone.He pulled off his shirt and saw the welts and bright purple bruises left by his seatbelt. The cut on his leg was hurting and starting to itch. All in all, he had gotten off lightly. Except for the bruise on his face no one would realize anything had happened to him.

He debated briefly going into work. He knew he should, but all he really wanted to do was go back to bed and catch up on some reading. He took a shower, which did little to make him feel better. Having made up his mind he put on a pair of sweats and a T-shirt and picked up the phone.

His secretary answered on the third ring.

"Hi, Marie, sorry for calling you at home. I just wanted to let you know that I'm not going to be in today. I'm still recovering from yesterday."

"Recovering? From what?"

"The car accident. Didn't you hear?" he asked, surprised.He always assumed that Marie heard anything that happened at or near the synagogue within five minutes.

"You were in a car accident?" she asked, voice rising an octave.

"In front of First Shepherd. A guy had a heart attack and rear-ended me."

"And you didn't think to tell me?"

He winced. "Actually, I thought you'd have figured it out when you saw my car. Cindy came running out of the church right after it happened and insisted I go to the hospital."

"In the future, you call me when something like that happens," she fumed.

"Sorry. I wasn't thinking straight. The car flipped and I was pretty out of it." He felt only slightly guilty playing it up. The last thing he wanted from Marie was a guilt trip.

"Oh! Are you hurt?"

"A little, but it's not bad. I decided I'd take it easy today so that I can do my best in the morning."

"I can call someone to handle the service tomorrow if you need me to."

"No, but thank you."

"Are you going to be able to do the Schuster funeral on Sunday?"

"Yes."

"You need me to bring anything by?"

"I can manage. I've got plenty of food in the refrigerator and I'm planning on sleeping most of the day."

"Okay, but you call me if there's anything I can do."

"I will," he promised, relieved when he hung up. He checked his voicemail and realized he had missed a call from Cindy the night before. He decided to call later and see what, if anything, she had found out from the detective.

At the church things were relatively quiet. A few members showed up around ten to pray together for Mel's family. Among them was Joseph. When they were finished he walked into the office.

"Looking for Geanie?" Cindy guessed.

"I was going to take her to lunch."

"She's at the print shop. She'll be back soon."

"Mind if I sit here and wait?"

"Be my guest," Cindy said. "I'm so sorry about Dr. Tanner."

"Thanks. It's going to be strange holding a meeting this week without him," Joseph admitted. "He's been the iron fist keeping the rest of us in check for years."

Cindy smiled at that. "And just how far amok could the rest of you actually run without it?"

"Farther than you'd think," he said seriously.

"I'll take your word for it."

"How are things going with you?"

She shrugged. "Nothing to complain about."

"Anything ever happen with that computer programmer you were going to go out with a few months ago?"

"We went on exactly three dates and decided we should just be friends."

"Hey, that beats our record. We only went on half a date."

"I guess I'm just too picky. Either that or I fear change."

"Speaking of change, I noticed a For Sale sign up in front of the house Marge left you. Who are you using for an agent?"

"Gary O'Connell."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, why? Have you heard something bad about him?"

"No, no. It's just that he usually does commercial transactions."

"Apparently times are tough for Realtors," Cindy said with a shrug.

"Well, I'm sure he'll do a great job for you. I've been dealing with him on and off for the last couple of weeks. He is persistent."

"You're not moving, are you?" she asked in alarm.

"No, no. He's representing a land developer, Max Diamond, Diamond Industries. He's made a bid to buy the church camp."

"I didn't think it was for sale."

"It wasn't, but he made an offer anyway. Stirred up a bit of a hornet's nest, too."

"Why would that be?"

"Until Max Diamond came sniffing around the biggest point of controversy this year was whether or not to rename Green Pastures to something that sounded a little more exciting," Joseph said.

"How could the board even consider selling?" Cindy asked."They're set up to protect and govern the use of that land for all the churches, scout troops, and clubs in the area. What would happen to it if Diamond Industries purchased it?

"That's where it gets a little tricky. There's a lot of improvements that should be made to the actual campsite itself. The buildings are twenty years old, most of them erected as temporary ones until more permanent structures could be built and the infrastructure is practically non-existent. The truth is that renovations have been sorely needed for years but there's just no money anywhere to accomplish that. The camp itself only occupies one small section of a huge parcel of land. Max Diamond has come in and offered to buy the entire parcel, give us a fifty- year lease on the camp and the surrounding acreage, and pump enough money into it to really bring it into the twenty-first century. Some people think it's the answer to prayer and others of us think we're being offered a devil's deal."

"The one time I went to a retreat there you couldn't turn on the hot water in the sinks without turning the shower water to freezing," Cindy said.

"Exactly. And at least once a week the entire plumbing system backs up. So, you can see where this is shaping up to be a fight."

She nodded. "But if the board accepts the offer suddenly the land is leased and not owned."

"Exactly. And of those who believe that somehow the camp will still maintain its character, its tranquility and its isolation, half believe that fifty years are long enough. After all, they'll be dead before the lease is up."

"And others of you are trying to plan for future generations."

"And that's the fight in a nutshell. Mel was the chairman of the board and he was one of the strongest opponents of the proposed purchase. But then, he's always been a visionary."

The door opened and Dave entered, a sheet of paper in his hand. His face lit up when he saw Joseph. "Any chance you're here to sponsor a couple more kids for camp? I've got two who would love to go if someone would pay for them. Imagine the fun they'll have, the things they'll learn, the excitement on their faces."

"Not what I was here for, but how can I say no after that?"

"Awesome." Dave dropped the paper on Cindy's desk and she could see it was a list of the kids signed up for camp. "Cindy, add Brenda and Zac to the list. Joseph, can you give Cindy a check today? I'm going to go leave messages for the kids."

With a triumphant grin, Dave left.

"I don't have my checkbook. Can I pay in cash?" Joseph asked her.

"That would be fine. I'm sorry that he ambushed you that way."

Joseph fished his wallet out of his pocket. "It could be a lot worse. He could have asked me to go as a chaperone. I'd much rather pay. A weekend with Wildman and dozens of hyper, screaming teenagers is not my idea of fun."

"I hear you. Still, thank you so much for doing this. I don't know Zac, but I know Brenda will really appreciate it."

The door opened and Geanie announced herself with a squeal of excitement. She ran to Joseph and gave him a quick kiss.

"Lunch?" he asked.

"Yes, please. Cindy, do you mind?"

"Go for it. I'll take my lunch break when you get back."

Geanie and Joseph left hand in hand and Cindy smiled at the sight. The two of them were good together and she was beginning to wonder if it might not be the real thing.

Not that she would know the real thing if it bit her. After the failed attempt at dating after Thanksgiving she was beginning to wonder if she just had too much of a problem opening up and trusting. She could never be herself on a date without worrying about how she could get hurt.

Because there was always a way you could get hurt.

Her cell rang and she fished it out of her purse in the drawer just before it went to voicemail.

"Hello?"

"Hi, it's Jeremiah."

"How are you feeling today?" she asked.

"Glad to be alive and in one piece. A little sore and stiff, but otherwise fine. I am taking the day off."

"I'm glad to hear it. Do you need me to bring anything over?"

He laughed.

"What is it?"

"Nothing. I'm fine, really. What did the detective have to say last night?"

"They're pretty sure Dr. Tanner was dead when he hit you; there were no skid marks on the road."

"I could have told them that. Come to think of it, I believe I did."

"Apparently yours wasn't the only accident they were investigating yesterday."

"Oh, what was the other?"

"An environmentalist burned to death after handcuffing himself to a tree in a planned burn zone."

"Strange."

"I thought so, too." She paused, hoping he would say something more on the topic.

She was disappointed when he finally said, "I need to go and get some sleep."

"Oh, okay."

"Have a good day."

"You, too," she said, hanging up. She felt disappointed and she asked herself why. Was it because she wanted to talk to him more about the accidents or because she just wanted to talk to him more? She blushed at the thought.

Leave it to me to find yet another way I could get hurt.