The Root of All Evil (Hope Street Church Mysteries Book 4) (28 page)

“I was talking to Lewis about a possible lead in Sylvia’s murder. I left, but I forgot my purse. When I went back to get it, he was dead.” Cooper took a breath. “Only a half hour passed between when I left and when I found him. Thirty minutes. That’s all.”

“Doesn’t take that long to kill someone, I’m afraid.”

“But what if I’d done things differently? I wanted Lewis to tell me more. What if I’d been stubborn, and I’d insisted on staying longer? Would he still be alive? Would that have saved him?”

“It’s more likely that you’d be dead, too.” Ms. Donna’s bluntness took Cooper by surprise. “If the same professional who killed Sylvia was out to kill Lewis, you couldn’t save him. Professionals aren’t deterred that easily. And even if Lewis had somehow lived today, he’d have died tomorrow. That’s the simple, harsh truth.”

The kettle whistled, and Cooper poured the boiling water over her tea bag. She and Ms. Donna slowly walked to the dining room table and sat.

Cooper absentmindedly dunked her tea bag in the hot water. “Officer Brayden said I should try to not think about Lewis.”

“Sounds like sage advice. Let’s talk about something else. How’s work?”

Cooper groaned. “Not much better.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve got corpses there, too!”

“No, not corpses. A thief.” She hesitated. Now she either had to act on faith and confide in Ms. Donna or leave. If she left, Cooper could protect herself emotionally, but she’d also be giving up on a very lonely woman. This was the perfect chance to reach out, to try and befriend someone who desperately needed a friend. And so, Cooper decided to act on faith. She told Ms. Donna the whole story of the work thefts and the plan to unearth the guilty party.

When she was done, Ms. Donna pushed her mug aside. She’d finished her tea. “You lead an exciting life, Cooper.”

“Not usually.”

“Right now you do. Two murders in town and a string of thefts at work. You’ve got your hands full.”

Cooper laughed at the observation. “You’re so helpful.”

Ms. Donna responded with a grin. “Well, if I could help I would, but I’m not sure what I could do with my particular talents.”

Cooper stopped laughing. “You may be wrong about that. Ms. Donna, did you notice how Edward disliked you when you first came to the Sunrise Bible Study?”

“I saw it right off.”

“And do you know why he disliked you?”

“Sure. He’s an ex-convict, and he could tell I was up to no good. I don’t blame him for disliking me, by the way. He’s just trying to protect you.”

Cooper leaned in closer. “Do you have that same . . .
skill?
Do you think you could spot the criminal at, say, a luncheon of suspects?”

A mischievous glint crossed Ms. Donna’s eyes. “Your Edward is a
former
convict. My experience is a bit more recent. To paraphrase the immortal Ethel Merman, ‘Anything he can do, I can do better.’”

“Ms. Donna, would you do me a favor?”

Ms. Donna’s face lit up. “Sweetie, you’ve opened up your home to me, and you’ve brought me into your family. I’ll do anything I can!”

“Would you come to lunch tomorrow? I’ll find out in the morning where Mr. Farmer’s taking all of us. Then I’ll give you a call to let you know where we’re going. If you get to the restaurant a little early, you should be able to tell where they’ll be seating us; we’ll make a pretty big party. Get a seat near our table. While we eat, you can listen to the conversations, watch the employees and learn what you can. If there’s a crook among us, you have a better chance than I do of picking him out. Would you do that?”

“Of course I would! I get to spy, pry, eavesdrop and snoop for a good cause. At last, I can use my natural abilities to help someone!” She leaned over and hugged Cooper again. “If you only knew how much it means to me to be able to help you after all you’ve done . . . It makes me feel like a whole person.”

Cooper hugged her right back, not sure what to say. This was a moment too precious for words.

• • •

The entire staff of Make it Work! arrived at Casa Grande Mexican Restaurant a little before noon the next day. Cooper, Angela, Ben and Mr. Farmer strategically placed themselves around the table so they could clearly see and easily converse with different employees. After Cooper had taken a seat near the end of the table, between Brandi and Josh, and the waitress had brought their drinks, she nonchalantly glanced around, searching for Ms. Donna.

“Where is she?” Cooper muttered, looking from table to table.

Brandi heard the mutter. “What did you say?”

“Oh . . . I was just wondering where our waitress is. I’m starving!”

Brandi pointed toward the other side of the room. “I think I saw her go that way. I’ll help you flag her down.”

Cooper smiled gratefully—grateful that Brandi had believed her. Just then she heard a familiar voice coming from the table directly behind her.

“The mild sauce, please. That hot stuff gives me heartburn!”

Cooper feigned a stretch, twisting around in her chair so that she could see. There was Ms. Donna, innocent-looking as ever, reeling in her waiter, who smiled adoringly at her as if she were his own grandmother.

“We don’t want to give you heartburn!” he assured her. “But if you want a little zip, I can add just a splash of the hot salsa in with the mild.”

Ms. Donna waffled and then grinned at the young man, ignoring Cooper completely; she was in character. “I’m feeling up for an adventure today. Give my salsa some
zip!”

Cooper’s attention was brought back to her own table by Brandi, poking her and nodding toward the waitress, who stood at the end of the table, pen poised, ready to take orders.

“Oh, right!” Cooper said. “May I have a large order of steak nachos, please?”

Brandi looked at her with surprise. “Wow, you must be hungry! A large is two meals for me.”

“It might be for me, too. We’ll see if my eyes are bigger than my stomach today.”

When the waitress had taken their orders, Angela raised her iced tea glass. “Here’s to a well-deserved afternoon out of the office!”

Emilio clinked his glass against hers. “Hear, hear!”

And so the non-interrogation interrogation began.

Cooper pried and snooped, doing her best to ask personal questions of Brandi without being too obvious about it. Josh joined in, chatting with both Brandi and Mr. Farmer. At the other end of the table, Ben spoke to Bobby, while Angela talked with Emilio. Mr. Farmer sat across from Cooper and jumped into each conversation when he could, commenting and pressing for information as subtly as possible.

For a solid hour, they ate and talked, until finally Mr. Farmer announced that there was work to be done. As the group began to leave, Angela held Cooper back at the table.

“Emilio was asking questions about you,” she whispered. “He wanted to know if you’re available.”

“Why’s he asking? He’s got a girlfriend.”

“Yes, but he’s got a single friend, too, looking for a girl.”

“You told him I’m with Nathan, right?”

“I told him I
thought
you were with him, but I wasn’t sure. After what happened with that policeman and all, I didn’t rightly know what to say about your relationship.”

Cooper sighed and grabbed her to-go box. The nachos would easily make a second meal and maybe a third. “When it comes to Emilio, I’m always in a relationship . . . whether I am or not.”

Angela winked. “Gotcha.”

Cooper spent the rest of the day waiting anxiously to hear Ms. Donna’s analysis of the lunch. As far as Cooper could tell, there was no criminal among them, but she lacked the sixth sense of Ms. Donna and Edward. When she got home, she still had to wait through supper and Grammy’s program until at last her family retired for the evening and she and Ms. Donna could have their tea.

“So what did you think?” Cooper asked, putting on the kettle. “Who did it?”

“Before we get to that, tell me who they were,” Ms. Donna said. “Starting with the girl beside you. Go around the table.”

“The girl beside me was Brandi. She works for Ben in the other part of the business. Then there was Bobby—one of my employees—and Ben, Emilio, Angela, Mr. Farmer and Josh. What’s the verdict?”

“Josh is interested in Brandi, that’s for sure,” Ms. Donna replied. “Mr. Farmer doesn’t like Angela talking to Emilio, and she knows it. Ben’s suspicious of Bobby . . .”

“Is it Bobby? Did he steal the stuff? I can’t believe it! I know he’s got a big family to provide for, but he seems like such a nice, upstanding man.”

Ms. Donna put up her hands to slow Cooper’s jumping to conclusions. “Hold on a minute. Let me finish. Ben is suspicious of Bobby, but I don’t think Bobby is guilty.”

“Who is?”

Ms. Donna shook her head. “I’m sorry to tell you this, but I don’t think any of them is guilty . . . at least, not that I could tell. If they’re stealing, they’re either professionals who know how to hide really well, or they’re such amateurs they don’t give off that sense of guilt just yet.”

Cooper poured the hot water into two mugs and handed one to Ms. Donna. “Are you sure?”

“I am. I’m sorry I couldn’t be more help.”

“No, no. I appreciate you taking the time to give me a hand.”

Ms. Donna dunked her tea bag in the water. “If you don’t mind my asking, what was that your friend Angela said before you left? About you and Nathan and a policeman?”

Cooper groaned. “It’s just the most recent complicated mess of my personal life.”

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Cooper considered. At this point, what would it hurt to open up a little to Ms. Donna about her love life? After all, there was nothing in it the woman could steal. “Lately I’ve been doubting that Nathan is as committed to our relationship as I am. And a few days ago, I found out that a certain policeman I know is interested in me . . .
really
interested in me. I’m not sure Nathan still is.”

“I see.”

“And Angela thinks it’s because Nathan and I haven’t . . . That is, we’re not . . .”

“Intimate?”

Cooper nodded. “Angela says he might be holding back because he’s afraid we’re not compatible in that way. But it was his idea to wait in the first place, and now it just never seems to happen. I’m worried that if we don’t become intimate, I might lose him, but if that’s all that would keep him invested in our relationship, then do I really want . . .” She ran her fingers through her hair, agitated and confused. “I don’t know. My ex and I were together for five years. We got to know each other, and then we moved in together. It all happened so naturally, and I thought that was the normal routine. I feel like something must be wrong in my relationship with Nathan, because we haven’t followed that natural, normal routine.”

“Let me clarify for myself,” Ms. Donna said. “You’re worried you need to be intimate with Nathan to have a real, solid relationship.”

“Yes.”

“And you’re worried that Nathan doesn’t want you the way your cop friend does because you’ve been together so long and haven’t been intimate.”

Cooper nodded. “Pretty much.”

“And you believe you need to be intimate in large part because that was an important part of the solid relationship you had with your ex.”

“Exactly!” Cooper took a drink of her chamomile tea. “That’s it. Drew and I were physically intimate, and so I knew he loved me in every way. I want that with Nathan, but I don’t have it, and now he might be losing interest. I want him to want me the way Will seems to.”

Ms. Donna sat back in her seat, blowing the steam off the tea. After a few moments of contemplation, she met Cooper’s gaze. “Do you want advice? Or do you just need to talk?”

“If you’ve got advice, I’d be happy to hear it.”

“All right then. You said you and this Drew fellow were together for five years. What happened after that?”

“He fell in love with someone else.”

“So you had physical intimacy with him. You lived with him. In the end of your ‘solid’ relationship, he left you for another woman. Now you’re with Nathan, and you think you ought to repeat the same routine—physical intimacy, living together—because that’ll give you a ‘solid’ relationship like the one you had with Drew. Is that right?”

Cooper wasn’t sure she liked where this was going. “I guess I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

“Sweetie, are you familiar with Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity? It’s doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Physical intimacy didn't keep Drew around any more than it’ll fix your relationship with Nathan. If your previous beau is any indication, intimacy won’t make your relationship stronger if it wasn’t meant to be in the first place.”

“That’s not what other people have told me. They’ve said I ought to sleep with him.”

Ms. Donna waved away the doubts. “Obviously you don’t agree. Otherwise you’d have slept with him by now. Something inside you is telling you not to; I’m guessing it’s the wisdom you gained from being with Drew. Or maybe those unique eyes of yours allow you to see the way things are a little more clearly. Giving a man all of you won’t make him love you. If it did, you’d be married to Drew by now.”

Cooper sat in stunned silence. When she’d agreed to listen to Ms. Donna’s advice, she had no idea what kind of advice she’d get.

Ms. Donna continued. “As for your cop friend, you’re always gonna have men who ‘want’ you. Believe it or not, I used to be quite the looker. Among gentlemen of a certain age, I still am. I know what it is to get that kind of emotional response from a man. Of course, I use it to my advantage. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be wanted, but you need to talk to Nathan about it. Don’t just assume he’s not attracted to you, and don’t assume that cop is looking for love.”

She rose slowly to her feet. “I’m sorry, sweetie, but I’ve got to get some sleep tonight. I’ll leave you to mull things over.”

And just like that, Ms. Donna was gone. Cooper sat alone at the table, still trying to process what Ms. Donna had said. She’d expected very different advice from a con artist: manipulate the situation to your advantage, try to make Nathan jealous, use intimacy to get what you want. She hadn’t expected someone who made such questionable career and life decisions to say anything so wise.