Thirty-Six and a Half Motives
Page 47

She pushed out an exasperated breath. “I let you take the lead when we questioned that kid at the Burger Shack last week. Trust me to do it this time.”
I studied her for a second. While she seemed to be pushing boundaries lately, she’d always had good instincts, and she’d done most of the interrogating up to this point.
“Of course I trust you. You haven’t led us astray yet.”
A warm smile lit up her face. “Thanks.” She handed me the smaller cupcake box and said, “Let’s do this.”
I sure hoped she didn’t expect me to be the one to butter up Hilary.
I opened the door for her and let her take the lead. She headed straight for Jonah’s office, moving with all the confidence of someone who’d been invited. His secretary and now girlfriend, Jessica, gave us a bright smile from behind her desk in the outer office. Jonah’s office was through a door to the left.
“Neely Kate! Rose! How wonderful for you to stop by. We haven’t seen you here in a few weeks.”
“We’ve been busy,” I said. I didn’t add that entrapping a criminal mastermind took more time than most people thought.
“Is Jonah here?” Neely Kate asked, leaning to the side, trying to get a view of the interior of his office.
Jessica flinched and her smile became forced. “Actually, he’s down at the food pantry.”
“I’d completely forgotten about the new food pantry,” Neely Kate said. “What a great idea. Have you had many volunteers?”
“A few . . .” The look on her face made it clear she wasn’t happy with the volunteers. “I’m worried the ones we have takin’ charge will scare everyone else away, but as Jonah says, everyone is welcome in the Lord’s house.”
That sounded like Hilary all right.
Neely Kate’s smile beamed sunshine. “Ain’t that the truth. And if anyone can lead them onto the straight and narrow, it’s Jonah.”
I knew that wasn’t just a platitude. Neely Kate and I both knew Jonah worked with ex-cons to help them turn their lives around. The fact that Jonah was a semi-popular televangelist led many people to discount him as a grandstander—his good looks and charm didn’t help. To my shame, I’d fallen into the judging camp before I took the time to really look and see his compassionate heart.
Neely Kate stepped closer, holding out the bigger cupcake box and opening the lid. “Would you like a cupcake? We wanted to bring a little treat to you and Jonah to show y’all how much we appreciate you and everything you do for the community.”
“Isn’t that so sweet of you?” Jessica asked as she grabbed a strawberry shortcake cupcake. “Thank you, Rose and Neely Kate.”
“You’re welcome,” Neely Kate said.
I was feeling guilty. I really did appreciate everything they did, so I hated lying about why we’d come here.
But Neely Kate had already moved to the door and waved to Jessica, “We’ll go find Jonah. Good to see you, Jessica.”
“You too,” she called after us. “Let’s do lunch soon.”
“We’d love to,” I said before we reached the hall.
When we were several feet from the doorway, I lowered my voice so Jessica couldn’t hear. “This doesn’t feel right, Neely Kate.”
“We might not have bought those cupcakes for them,” she whispered back, “but we do appreciate what they do, so there’s nothing wrong with offering them.”
She had a point, but it still felt wrong to be so devious in the Lord’s house.
Neely Kate continued down the hall, moving past the church hall and toward the kitchen.
We heard Hilary before we saw her. Her tone was sharp and bossy, and she was arguing with someone else whose voice I also recognized.
I groaned.
Neely Kate grinned ear to ear. She had obviously chosen to keep this piece of the puzzle a secret.
“A little advance notice would have been nice,” I grumbled as we came to a stop in the hallway outside the storeroom.
“Now what would be the fun in that?”
“Ladies,” Jonah said in exasperation. “Can’t we just compromise on this one? It seems logical to keep the canned goods sorted by food category—beans, soups, vegetables, and the like, instead of arranging them alphabetically.”
“I told you so,” Hilary said smugly.
“Maybe that’s how you do it in the big city of El Dorado,” Miss Mildred sneered, “But that’s not how we’ve been doing it around here. This ain’t my first food pantry, missy, so I know what I’m doin’. And shame on you, Reverend Jonah,” she added. “Siding with an outsider. She’s not even plannin’ on stayin’. She’s only dropped in to get her baby daddy to marry her. Then she’s gonna grab him by the collar and flit on out of here.”
It was like watching a duel between two supervillains, and I had no idea who to root for. While I would have loved to keep listening from afar, I felt the need to save Jonah from accidently instigating World War III.
I turned to Neely Kate and lifted my eyebrows, tilting my head toward the storage room. She rolled her eyes and let her shoulders sink, signaling that she’d wanted to stay there and listen, too.
Then she lifted her chin and stepped into the room. “Jonah! There you are. We heard you were hard at work, and look at this room. You sure are getting it organized.”
I followed behind and almost asked if she’d learned her version of “organized” from Hoarders, but wisely kept my mouth shut. The large storage room—previously the choir robe room—was filled with floor-to-ceiling metal restaurant shelving, but food was scattered everywhere, making it look like a bomb had just exploded boxes and canned goods all over the place.
Jonah’s eyes filled with desperation. “Neely Kate! Rose! How wonderful of you two to stop by for a visit.” His head swiveled from Hilary to Miss Mildred and back. “How about we take a short break?”
“But we just got started,” Hilary said, planting her hands on her narrow hips. I had no idea how she’d ever push a baby through that tiny pelvis.
“I need to talk to Neely Kate about something important,” Jonah said, scrambling to climb over a huge pile of instant macaroni and cheese boxes and packages of ramen noodles. “This will only take a minute or two.”