A Scarlet Cord (17 page)

Catching sight of the file cabinet in the corner, he went to it and tested the top drawer. It wasn’t locked either. He slid the drawer open and thumbed through the file folders until he found one labeled with his own name. The papers inside were mostly tax forms and curriculum proposals. But at the back of the file he found a copy of the résumé he’d used to get hired at Cornerstone. He slipped it out of the folder.

He went down the hall to his own office again, where he emptied the contents of his desk drawers into his briefcase. Then, checking the hall to make sure it was empty, he locked his office and went to his car.

At his apartment, he trudged back to the bedroom where he dumped his dresser drawers into a suitcase. Dragging the case to the bathroom, he added the contents of the medicine cabinet. He hauled the bag out to the front door, then went to his desk and pulled out a sheet of paper and an ivory envelope. He wrote for twenty minutes, unsure whether the words he penned even made sense. He folded the single sheet of paper, slid it into the envelope, and wrote Melanie’s name on the front. As the finality of what he was doing began to soak in, his hands started to shake.

The doorbell pierced the silence of the apartment and set his heart thumping.

He went to the kitchen window, parted the louvers of the blinds and peered out over the parking lot. None of the cars parked out front looked familiar.

Cautiously he went into the hallway and opened the front door a crack.

John Toliver, inspector with the U.S. Justice Department, stood on the stoop, a jacket over his arm. “Hello, Joe,” he said. “We need to talk.”

Melanie pulled into the nearly empty parking lot of Silver Creek’s small community hospital and found a space near the visitors’ entrance. She pulled down her visor and checked her appearance in the small mirror. Rummaging in her handbag, she found a comb and ran it through her hair, fluffing her bangs with her fingers. Then she pulled out a tube of lipstick and slicked it over her lips, pressing them together and checking the final effect again in the mirror.

She hoped visitors’ hours would allow her to see Jeanne before supper. Jeanne Hines, Darlene Anthony’s mother, had been admitted to the hospital again the previous Friday after tests showed that the cancer had spread to her liver. Melanie’s heart went out to Jeanne—and especially to Darlene, who had always been very close to her mother.

Last night, Jerica had spent almost an hour with crayons and glue, making an elaborate card for the elderly woman who had taught Jerica’s Sunday school class. Melanie picked up a small gift and the carefully signed card from the passenger seat beside her. Wide flourishes of bright crayon and glitter decorated the front of the card. Her daughter had definitely picked up some of the family flair for design. Inside, Jerica had colored a picture of Mrs. Hines and had penned a cheery get-well message. But sweetest of all, the outside of the card depicted a happy family-to-be—Joel disproportionately taller than Melanie and Jerica—all of them fitting under a rainbow, or perhaps it was supposed to be the St. Louis Arch. The weekend before, she and Joel had taken Jerica on an outing into the city, and they had ridden to the top of the arch. It had definitely been a highlight of Jerica’s not-quite six years.

Melanie locked the car and headed toward the wide front doors of the medical center, her thoughts preoccupied with the wedding that couldn’t get here fast enough to suit her. Everything was on
schedule, and she and Joel had been enjoying the planning process, in spite of the stress caused by the mounting list of things that needed to be done before the big day arrived.

Her dress, a simple street-length shift of satin and lace, had gone in for alterations weeks ago and had finally come back. To her relief, it fit perfectly. Jerica’s dress was a miniature version of Melanie’s—pale pink-tinted beige with creamy lace overlays. Melanie refused to let Joel see his bride-to-be in the dress, but she had finally given in and allowed Jerica to model her dress for Joel. They had dissolved in joyful laughter when the little girl gazed approvingly at her reflection in the mirror, then sighed dreamily and exclaimed, “Oh, I just can’t wait till our wedding.”

Smiling to herself at the memory, Melanie checked in at the receptionist’s desk, then took the elevator to the second floor. Knocking quietly on Jeanne’s open door, she tiptoed to the bedside.

The woman stirred in the bed, opened her eyes, and smiled when she saw Melanie. “Hello, there.”

“Hi, Jeanne. I’m sorry if I woke you. How are you feeling?”

“Like I was run over by a truck. But don’t tell Darlene I said that. I am starting to get antsy to go home though, so I guess that’s a good sign.”

Melanie reached out and took her frail hand, squeezing it lightly. “Well, I hope it’s not long before you
can
go home.” Melanie laid the card and package on the nightstand. Jeanne scooted up in the bed to look at them, while Melanie helped her adjust the firm hospital pillow behind her back.

“How are those wedding plans coming along?” Jeanne inquired. “It’s just a few weeks away now, isn’t it?”

“Five weeks, three days, ten hours and”—she looked at her watch playfully—“thirty-seven seconds.”

Jeanne gave a weak laugh. “I’m so happy for you, Melanie. And Jerica, too. Joel is all she could talk about in Sunday school last time
I was there … Her new daddy. Speaking of whom”—her voice held a question mark—“you don’t happen to know where Joel was today, do you?”

Melanie wrinkled her brow. “Why, he was at work as far as I know … at the church.”

“Oh … well … Darlene was here just a few minutes before you came in. She said Joel hadn’t come in to the office today. It’s Pastor Don’s day off, so Darlene called Pastor at home, and he didn’t know where Joel was either. They were kind of concerned.”

“Really?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry. Pastor told Darlene that he thought maybe Joel had told him last week that he was taking the day off, and he just forgot to mark it on his calendar.” Jeanne Hines leaned forward in the hospital bed. “Just between you and me, Darlene thinks Pastor Don is getting a little forgetful in all the hubbub over this building project.”

“Hmmm,” Melanie said, ignoring Jeanne’s disclosure, perplexed over the revelation that Joel hadn’t shown up for work. “I didn’t think Joel had any other plans today. I haven’t seen him since church yesterday, but he didn’t mention anything then. I hope he’s not sick.”

“Well, I didn’t mean to worry you. I just thought you might know where he was …” Jeanne’s voice trailed off. An uncomfortable silence followed as Melanie racked her brain to remember if Joel had said anything about taking today off.

“I shouldn’t have said anything,” Jeanne said finally. “He’s probably out buying you a wedding present or something, and now I’ve gone and spoiled the surprise.”

Melanie brushed off the apology. “Oh no. Don’t worry about it.” She looked pointedly at her watch and stood to leave. “Well, I’d better go pick up Jerica. You take it easy now, Jeanne. We’ll be praying for you.”

“Thank you. And thanks for coming, Melanie. Tell Jerica I’ll treasure her little card.”

Melanie backed out of the parking lot, her mind turning over Jeanne’s news about Joel. It wasn’t like him to miss work without calling. In fact, now that she thought about it, he had mentioned that he had an especially busy week ahead, because they were going to be finalizing the curriculum for the coming Christian education session.

Instead of going straight to the LaSalles’ to pick up Jerica, Melanie swung by the church. The parking lot was empty except for Don Steele’s battered VW. She drove by Joel’s apartment, but his car wasn’t there either.

Fifteen

“What are you doing here?” Joel stood with one foot against the partially open door, his right hand rigid on the doorjamb. It was a stupid question. He knew exactly what Toliver wanted.

The burly man shifted his weight and stared at Joel. “Can I come in?”

Joel moved his foot and opened the door. Toliver stepped into the entryway and started for the living room, but Joel stood in his way.

“There’s been a new development.”

“Yeah. Thanks a lot. I read about it in the paper.”

Toliver seemed to miss the irony in Joel’s voice. “You moved on us, Joe. It took awhile to track you down. That’s good.”

Joel ignored the comment and waited for Toliver to deliver his news.

“We have a new witness, Joe. A girl who lived next door to the house that burned. She was in a bit of trouble with the law herself back then. She was afraid to step forward. But she’s ready to testify now. She ID’d you going into the house that night. She never saw you come out, but she witnessed Difinni going in sometime after midnight. The prosecutor thinks we have a case again. But we need you to testify. We won’t lose this time, Joe.”

His head was spinning. “But … they think I’m dead. If I show up now, the game starts all over again …”

“If you
don’t
show up, Difinni will walk again. We have a real chance of getting a conviction this time,” Toliver said. “We need you, Joe.”

Joel’s heart sank, and he glared at the inspector. Toliver may as well have sentenced him to the gallows.

It was obvious Toliver knew he had him. “It’ll take a few months is all. You can stay put for now. Nothing has to change. You’re secure. We just need you to be ready when we call. Find a way to take a sabbatical when the court date comes up. When it’s over you can pretend this never happened. Pick up where you left off.”

“That’s not possible.”

“It is possible. I don’t think you have a choice.”

Joel fought to rein his anger in. “You don’t understand. I have commitments here. I have … I have a fiancée … with a little girl.” But he knew in his heart that it was a last-ditch plea against a destiny that had already been decided.

Toliver puffed out his cheeks and released a stream of breath, leaving no doubt that he saw this as a complication. But he shrugged. “Okay. If we need to, we can bring them in too.”

“No.”

“It’s highly unlikely we’d even need to do that, Joe. We’ve got a solid case. The guy won’t get off this time. Chances are this’ll all be a distant memory by Christmas.”

Christmas was ten months away. And he knew these things sometimes strung out for months beyond the original trial date. “No, John. I won’t drag Melanie into this. I can’t.”

“Then you’d better tell her good-bye for a while.”

Joel brought his fist down hard on the counter and gritted his teeth. “I want out! I don’t want anything to do with this! You guys already own half my life. Just leave me alone.”

“They’ll slap a subpoena on you. You know they will, Joe. My hands are tied. I have my orders.” He glared at Joel, then his eyes softened. “Besides, you don’t want that scum to get away with what he did, do you?”

Toliver’s words hit their mark, and Joel knew that he could never refuse an opportunity to put the man behind bars forever—the man responsible for Tori’s death and his own exile.

He pressed the palms of his hands hard on the countertop and slumped in resignation. “What do I have to do?” he breathed.

With Toliver’s instructions implanted in his brain, Joel moved quickly, packing a few boxes and loading them into the trunk of his car. His gaze panned the small apartment. How easily he had removed every trace of himself from this place. In a few short minutes, it was as though he’d never set foot in Silver Creek, Missouri.

He closed the door and locked it behind him, leaving his keys and a final check for the rent in the mailbox. The tinkle of wind chimes broke through his rising distress, and impulsively he yanked Melanie’s gift from the nail on the eaves. Would there be anything to celebrate on the next tenth of May? Or would he have yet another false date to eschew by then?

In the Taurus, the cord that hung from the rearview mirror caught his eye. A symbol of his faith in God—and more important, of God’s faithfulness to him. Could he still believe that? Even now? He slipped the cord from the mirror and tucked it into the envelope with the letter he’d written Melanie. He had never told her exactly what the cord meant to him—he never would now—but somehow, it seemed important that Melanie have it. She did know that it represented a scripture that comforted him. Perhaps it would remind her, too, to seek solace in God’s Word.