Thirty and a Half Excuses
Page 64

When I turned down the street toward the parsonage, I suddenly wondered if Bruce Wayne would even be at Jonah’s when I got there. Jonah had humiliated both of us with his video. Bruce Wayne might decide the job wasn’t worth the embarrassment.
I was a few minutes late, but when I saw Bruce Wayne sitting on the front porch, I heaved a sigh of relief. He stood when he saw my truck pull up and walked toward me.
“Good morning, Miss Rose.”
“Thanks for coming, Bruce Wayne. I was worried you might not show after yesterday.”
“I told you I’d be here. I wouldn’t let you down.”
I wanted to hug him, but I was worried it would spook him. He didn’t seem like a touchy-feely kind of guy. But I was certain of one thing: The next person who besmirched Bruce Wayne’s character was going to get an earful from me. “Have you seen Jonah yet?”
He shook his head. “No.”
I took a deep breath and let it out. “Let’s get this over with.”
Bruce Wayne stayed at the bottom of the front steps while I knocked on the door. Jonah answered before I could knock the second time. He must have been watching us.
“Lovely to see you, Rose,” Jonah drawled then nodded to Bruce Wayne. “And you too, Bruce Wayne. It was wonderful to have you both in church yesterday.”
I was so busy cringing, standing within three feet of him, that it took me several seconds to realize he wasn’t wearing his usual business attire. He had on a T-shirt and a pair of shorts.
He noticed me staring. “Monday’s typically my day off. Most people get the Lord’s day off, but that’s when I’m my busiest.”
Crappy doodles. Jonah was going to be there all day.
“But the revival starts tonight, so I’ll be going to the church later this afternoon.”
I smiled at him. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to realize it was in relief. “Why don’t you tell us what you have in mind, and we can get started?”
Jonah took a step backward into his house. “You want to come in and have a cup of coffee first? It’s always hard to jump back into work on a Monday morning.”
“No, thank you. It’s gonna be another scorcher today, so the sooner Bruce Wayne gets started, the better.”
Jonah paused, his smile falling a bit. “Oh. I guess that’s true.”
We walked into the middle of the yard and turned to face the house, Jonah and I standing next to each other and Bruce Wayne behind us. The parsonage was a modest ranch house built back in the 1960s. The red brick exterior was in good shape, but the landscape looked like it hadn’t been touched in years. Overgrown evergreen bushes blocked the lower half of the big picture windows. The trees in the yard were in desperate need of trimming, and the yard was full of weeds.
“What do you have in mind?” I asked.
“Well,” he raised his hands palms up as if to present the house to me. “It’s obviously a mess.”
I tilted my head to the side as I studied it, trying to get some ideas. “It could use a little work.”
Jonah laughed. “It could use a lot of work. That’s where you and Bruce Wayne come in.” He looked around. “Say, where’s David?”
“He couldn’t make it,” Bruce Wayne said.
“I’m sure you’ll be fine on your own.” Jonah turned back to me. “So what do you suggest?”
“Well…” I took several steps closer to the house. “These bushes need to be pruned.” I poked around the branches, then looked over my shoulder at him. “But they’re so overgrown that there’s no growth on what will be left of the inside branches. See?”
Jonah leaned next to me, his shoulder touching mine as he examined the branch I’d exposed. “Yes, you’re right.”
I dropped the plant and stood, taking a step backward. “I think all the bushes need to be replaced.”
“Sure,” Jonah nodded, studying the bushes as though they held the secret of life. “That’s good. What should I replace them with?”
I quickly spouted off some ideas to put some lower height shrubs with several shade-loving perennials since the trees’ foliage was so dense. I came up with a quick sketch, and he watched over my shoulder, standing too close for my comfort, but not close enough for me to push him away without being rude.
Jonah headed toward the porch steps. “That looks great, Rose. Why don’t you have Bruce Wayne get started digging up the bushes, and you can come inside and give me an estimate?”
“Uh…” Wide eyed, I glanced back at Bruce Wayne, panic squeezing my chest. I didn’t want to go inside and be alone with him.
“Oh, no.…” Bruce Wayne’s voice trailed off as two Henryetta police cars pulled up to the curb. Detective Taylor got out of one car and Officer Ernie got out of the other.
My head went fuzzy as I scoured my brain for what I could have done to make the police show up at a minister’s house looking for me. Then I had a moment of panic that they were there for Bruce Wayne. He must have considered the possibility as well. His face paled, and he took several steps backward.
Neither of us considered a third scenario, even though I had reason to. Detective Taylor’s mouth pinched tightly when he saw Bruce Wayne and me, but his gaze quickly lasered in on Jonah. “Reverend Pruitt?”
Jonah froze on the steps, sweat beading on his forehead. “Yes?”
“We’d like to talk to you about the death of Mrs. Gina Morton.”