A Scarlet Cord (21 page)

“What reason did he give?”

“He never really gave a reason …” She thought for a minute. “Well, he said we didn’t know anyone in St. Louis. But I told him that
I
knew a lot of people there. Clients and business acquaintances.”

“What did he say to that?”

“That was when he said I could put
my
picture in if I wanted.”

“But you sent me the clipping, Mel. You were both in that photo. Did you put the picture in against Joel’s wishes?”

She looked at him as though he’d just accused her of grand theft auto. “No. Joel finally relented. In fact, he apologized and said I could put it in any paper I wanted.”

Matt shook his head. “Melanie, how much do you really know about Joel? This … seems extremely strange.”

Melanie ignored his question and ran her hands through her hair. “I … I just want to know that he’s all right, Matt.”

“I know,” he said. “I know.”

He would never have admitted it to Melanie, but he was not altogether sure he wanted to find the man. He had never met his sister’s fiancé, but now he wasn’t sure he trusted himself not to do something foolish when their paths finally crossed. The guy obviously wasn’t on the up and up. Or else he wasn’t playing with a full deck.

Matthew thought back to the only time he had talked to Joel on the telephone. He and Karly had intended to come to Silver Creek a few days before the wedding and spend some time getting to know Joel before the newlyweds left on their honeymoon. They had discussed the plans with Joel on the phone, arranging for Matt and Karly to take Jerica back to New Jersey with them while Joel and Melanie honeymooned. Then Joel and Melanie would fly in to Newark and stay with them for a couple days before they flew on home
with Jerica. Matthew had found Joel immensely likeable—and he certainly seemed sane enough. But wasn’t that the way most con artists appeared?

“Melanie,” he said now, deliberately keeping his tone gentle, “I need you to give me some information, if you can. Tell me everything you know about Joel. Anything he ever told you about his past—even if it seemed insignificant at the time. I need a place to start.”

His sister looked up at him with hopeful eyes. “Okay.” She thought for a moment, then recited a litany of facts. “His parents were part-time missionaries, so he moved around a lot when he was young, but mostly they lived on the East Coast … in New York. When Joel was eighteen, his parents were killed in a plane crash on the way back from a mission trip.”

“Do you know their names? His parents?”

“Um … I think his dad’s name was Randall … I think that’s right. And his mom …” She put a hand to her forehead, obviously distressed at her inability to remember. “I don’t know, Matt. I … I know he told me though. I know he did. But I can’t remember. He had a picture of them—in his apartment. And another in his wallet. I could tell you exactly what they looked like, but … I honestly couldn’t be sure about their names.”

“Was he close to them?”

“Yes, very. He was devastated when they died. He was still in high school. It left him completely alone, since his older brother—Tim—was off at college.”

“What else? There has to be something that would give us a hint of what could have happened.”

Melanie opened her mouth, then snapped it shut. Then, she sighed and closed her eyes. “Joel was engaged once before,” she breathed.

“What?” He struggled to keep the anger from his voice. “Why didn’t you tell me that before?”

“There was no reason to say anything before, Matt. It … was in the past.”

“Do you think maybe there’s still something between them?”

“No. She … she’s dead.”

He waited. This was getting stranger by the minute. When Melanie didn’t offer more, he pressed her. “Tell me about her, Melanie. This could be important.”

“Her name was Tori. It … I think it was short for Victoria, but he always called her Tori.”

“He talked about her a lot?”

She shook her head. “Almost never. He … I didn’t even know about her until just before we got engaged. She died in a fire. That’s how Joel got the scar on his cheek”—she brushed the side of her face absently—“trying to rescue her.”

“What was her last name? Maybe we can talk to her family … Maybe they’ll know more about Joel’s past. They might be able to shed some light on all this.”

“I … I don’t know what her name was.” She said it as though she were confessing some unspeakable sin.

“You never asked?”

“He didn’t like to talk about it, Matt.” Her voice took on a defensive whine. “Joel had a lot of tragedy in his life. He didn’t try to hide it, but it was hard for him to talk about it. I respected that.”

“Are you sure this Tori—or whatever her name was—are you sure she’s dead? Are you sure she even existed?” This whole heroic rescue story smelled to high heaven.

For a moment, Melanie’s gaze bored a hole through him. Then she pushed back her chair and started clearing off the table. She carried a stack of dishes into the kitchen. Matt could hear the clatter as she loaded them into the dishwasher. He prayed she wouldn’t break something.

Jerica came in from the family room where she’d been watching a video. Without a word, she climbed onto Matt’s lap and put her
arms around his neck. She laid her head on his chest, and he thought his heart would break.

She looked up at him, her deep brown eyes glistening. “Are you gonna help us find Joel, Uncle Matt?” she asked. “He was gonna be my daddy.”

“I know, sweetie.”

As long as he could remember, Jerica had talked about having a daddy the way her cousins, Brock and Jace—Matt’s own sons—did. Matthew wondered what kind of man Joel Ellington was that he would do this—not just to Melanie, but to the precious little girl who sat on his lap now. Melanie had always been a good judge of character. How could she have been so wrong about this man? He decided the man must have been one smooth actor.

Jerica tugged at his sleeve, forcing him from his reverie. “Are you? Are you, Uncle Matt? Are you going to help us find my daddy?”

He bit his lip and nodded. “I’m sure going to try, honey.”

“I admit I am completely baffled,” Pastor Don Steele told Matt the next day. “If I hadn’t seen the letters with my own eyes—in Joel’s handwriting—I’d be utterly convinced there’s been foul play. But those letters make me feel certain that Joel had good reasons for doing what he did.” He tapped a pencil absently on his desk, shaking his head. “But I can’t for the life of me imagine what those reasons might be.”

Matt sat on the other side of the desk in the pastor’s study. He’d barely met Don Steele, but already he trusted the man’s judgment and integrity implicitly.

Once more, he picked up the note Don had shown him. The handwriting was the same as in the letter Melanie had received. Both she and Don Steele had no doubt that the letters were written in Joel Ellington’s hand. Matt read the brief message once more.

Don
,

I can’t explain right now, but something has happened that makes it necessary for me to leave immediately. I am deeply sorry for having to tell you in this way and for leaving on such short notice. I can’t say more
.

I have broken my engagement to Melanie, and she will need your counsel in the weeks ahead. Please assure her that my reasons for leaving have nothing to do with her. I love her deeply. I wish I could explain, but I simply can’t
.

I’ve taken my paycheck. I hope it won’t be a problem if I cash it a few days early
.

May God bless you and help you to understand and forgive me
.

Joel

“You showed this to the police?” Matt asked.

“Yes. But if anything, it hurt my cause. Like I told you, the officer said that unless he’s committed a crime, they can’t conduct a search for someone who left of his own accord. I … I didn’t make an issue about Joel taking his paycheck. Maybe I should have. Maybe they would have taken some action then. But … well, he had the pay coming. It was rightfully his.”

Matt shook his head, racking his brain for the missing piece to the puzzle. “Do you have the list of references Joel gave when you hired him?” he asked suddenly.

“You mean from his résumé?” Don stood and went to the file cabinet in the corner of his office. He pulled out a file folder and leafed through the papers inside, then spread them on the desk for Matt’s perusal. The thin file yielded Joel Ellington’s tax and insurance forms, curriculum lists, and an assortment of what appeared to be handwritten sermon notes.

“Hmmm, that’s strange,” Don Steele said, scratching his chin.
“His résumé doesn’t seem to be here.” He went back to the file cabinet and riffled through several other folders, but returned to the desk empty-handed.

Matt remembered that Joel had left the note in Don’s desk. “You don’t keep your drawers locked? Or the file cabinet?”

Don shook his head.

“Who has access to the files besides you?”

Don gave a mirthless laugh. “Just about anybody in the building. But no one else actually uses this filing cabinet … well, besides Darlene, the secretary. I lock my office at night, but I suppose during the daytime anyone could come in here. Why? What are you thinking?”

“I’m not sure yet. Are you positive Joel’s résumé was in that folder?”

“Reasonably sure. We keep a copy of each employee’s application and résumé on file. But I can’t say for certain that I’ve seen Joel’s since we opened a file for him a year ago.”

“I just wonder … if for some reason Joel didn’t want anyone to have access to the information in his résumé. He was here to get his check and leave that note in your desk the day he disappeared. Is it possible he also cleaned out his file then?”

Don shrugged. “I suppose. But why would he take the résumé and leave all his financial information?”

“I don’t know.” Matt thought for a minute. “Do you remember who you called for references when you were considering hiring Joel?”

“Well, I didn’t make the calls. It would have been someone on the personnel committee that hired him. Probably Bill Randolph or Jerry LaSalle or maybe Ruth Dutton—”

“Jerry was on the board?”

“Yes. He was.”

The following day, while Melanie was at work, Matt went to visit Jerry at the LaSalles’ home on the Silver Creek golf course. Matt thought that, with his ponytail and ear stud and still wearing his jogging clothes, the man couldn’t have looked more out of place in the elegantly appointed home.

Jerry showed him to a butter-soft overstuffed leather chair in the living room. Jerry and his wife sat on a matching sofa across from him, while their little bichon frise flounced annoyingly at their feet.

Matt cut to the chase. “When the church hired Joel, do you remember who you called for references?”

Jerry thought for a minute. “Actually, I made that call. I couldn’t tell you the name of the guy I talked to, but it was someone from that college back East where Joel taught. I do remember that the man gave Joel a glowing report. I honestly don’t know that we called any other references. I rather doubt we did.”

“What are your suspicions, Matthew?” Erika asked, uncrossing her legs and leaning forward on the sofa.

“I don’t know,” Matt told her, “but something is incredibly fishy here.”

Erika nodded vehemently. “I know what you mean. Joel was as nice as they come, but there was always something I couldn’t put my finger on. Between you and me, Matt, I think it’s a blessing that Melanie’s rid of him.”

Jerry put a hand on his wife’s knee as if to quiet her.

Matt ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t know Joel, but I know that Melanie loved him. It bothers me that she could have been so wrong about him.”

“Love does funny things to a person, Matt,” Erika offered.

“Well, I suppose that’s true, but something just doesn’t fit. I don’t know what to make of this whole mess,” Matt said in defeat.

Neither did Matt know what to make of the scarlet cord that had been in the envelope with the letter Joel had left for Melanie. She hadn’t shown it to him until last night. It was strange, to say the
least—especially since Melanie seemed to have no inkling of its meaning either.