Cooper popped her head into Brooke's office, where Nathan was shutting down Brooke's computer.
"I didn't see any files with any unusual content," he said, sounding dejected. "There are no documents in code or hidden folders. Her stuff is organized and totally straightforward. Anything interesting on Cindi's desk?"
Cooper brandished the pad. "Hazel strikes again." She showed him the messages from March. "Nathan, I think you need to talk to Cindi some more."
"Based on that torn page at the end, I wonder if Cindi got rid of even more messages from Hazel." Nathan scrutinized the two digits hidden beneath concentrated scribbles of purple ink. "I think it's an
eight
and a
zero
. Cindi was probably going to write 804 and then realized Hazel was giving her the same area code we all have, so she didn't bother writing any more."
"This is so frustrating!" Cooper declared. "Every clue leads to the same thing. Hazel, Hazel, Hazel. I'd give my left lung to know who this woman is!"
"Cindi knows who she is, but how are we going to get more info out of her?" Nathan sighed. "Since she has a boyfriend, flirting isn't the answer. I think another one of the Sunrise members is going to have to approach her."
"Maybe Trish can give her a free home assessment," Cooper half-teased as they exited the elevator.
Nathan mulled this over. "That's not half bad, actually." He nudged her in the side and Cooper let out a small shriek. "Wow, not only are you ticklish, but you
do
have the makings of a real detective."
Cooper's neck turned pink.
Out in the parking lot, Nathan climbed into the back of the van in order to change into a sweatshirt and jeans. As Cooper settled herself in the driver's seat, she saw a flash of pink leopard print. A few rows in front of the van, Cindi was making a graceful exit from the passenger side of a black Acura SUV. After shaking her bottom as she threw a kiss back over her shoulder to the car's occupant, she unlocked the door to her own car--a ten-year-old Civic--and sped off.
Cooper had enough time before the SUV drove away to observe two things. The first was that the vanity plate read HRD DRIV, so she assumed the car owner must work for Capital City's IT department. The second was far more interesting. When the driver put his arm out the window in order to feel the crisp late afternoon breeze as he accelerated, Cooper saw the glint of a gold band on his ring finger. Cindi had been shimmying her rear and sending air kisses to a married man.
9
"Can anyone hide in secret places
so that I cannot see him?"
declares the LORD.
"Do not I fill heaven and earth?"
declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 23:24 (NIV)
Cooper brought the uniform Nathan had worn home to be washed and ironed. As she was erasing the final crease from the black pants early Saturday morning, Grammy appeared in the doorway to her bedroom wearing her teal tracksuit with a pair of white socks embroidered with multicolored tulips. She gave the pants on the ironing board an appraising look and then searched her granddaughter's face.
"Where'd those come from?" She pointed at the garment, her wrinkled face animated with curiosity. "You don't have a man up in that apartment of yours, do ya?"
"No, Grammy," Cooper replied as she made another sweep with the iron.
"Too bad." Frowning in disappointment, the older woman shuffled off to the kitchen. Minutes later, Cooper followed her and joined her father by the coffee carafe. Silently, Earl poured his daughter a mug, settled himself at the scrubbed farm table, and began to work the puzzles in the
Times-Dispatch
.
"You doing a cryptogram?" Cooper asked him as she took a sip of coffee that always seemed significantly more rich and flavorful than the stuff she brewed in her own tiny kitchen.
Earl nodded, rubbing a hand over his hairless head. He removed his reading glasses, cleaned an imaginary spot from the lenses, and clicked the point of his pen in and out. This was a sign that he wanted to talk about something, but wasn't sure how to broach the subject. In a household filled with so many women, Earl was a taciturn rock weathering three generations of estrogen-induced tempests. He normally waited for his mother, wife, or daughters to initiate conversation, and as there was rarely a stretch of silence in his house, he didn't go out of his way to encourage more prattle. However, the morning seemed unusually quiet and Earl decided to take advantage of an opportunity to begin a discussion of his choosing.
"You seem to be mighty busy these days, my girl," Earl commented. "You makin' any headway in findin' out what happened to that nice lady?"
Cooper idly flipped through the Metro section and shook her head. "More questions than answers at this point." She raised her eyes to meet her father's bright blue ones. "The more we dig, the more dirt we're finding on other folks. First, it was Brooke's death. That led to trying to keep an innocent man from a lifetime in prison. Today, I'm going with some of my Bible study friends to visit a woman whose husband's run off." She sighed. "I thought going to church would make me feel ... I don't know, more sure about life, but I'm more uncertain of things now than since Drew left."
Earl nodded, digesting his daughter's words. "Well, you've been hidin' a bit too long in our backyard. You've done a lot of good for hungry people by growin' fruit and vegetables for the food bank, but that's been a safe pastime for you. Now you're out there, mixin' with folks and seein' the good and the bad. It takes some kind of courage to take on new hardships, but you can tackle 'em."
"And hopefully tackle a new man while you're at it!" Grammy added from the next room.
Earl grinned. "Her ears are right keen for someone her age."
"I heard that!" Grammy hollered as Cooper laughed into her hand.
"So." Earl clicked his pen repeatedly. "Your mama said you went out to dinner with a fellow a few nights back. Is he your ... is he someone you've set your cap on?"
Cooper's neck grew pink, though she didn't know why. "His name's Nathan Dexter." She then told her father all she knew about the tall Web site designer with the kind face. "He's a great guy, but he's just a friend. I still love Drew. I've loved him for such a long time that I don't know how to stop, Daddy."
Earl put down his pen and took Cooper's hands in his. "Listen here, my girl. That boy is gone. Let him go. He was a nice boy and we liked him, but he slid off the edge and took a piece of you with him. You're on a new road now and it's gonna be rocky, but I think it's leadin' you toward a good place and to fine people like this Nathan fellow." He squeezed her hand. "I know this is not what you wanna hear, but I don't think Drew belongs where you're goin'. Let him go."
Cooper felt the truth of her father's words sear her heart. She put her hands over her eyes and pushed back the tears.
"Why don't you try spending time with Nathan? You could fix him something to eat and just get to know each other more," Maggie suggested softly, having stealthily tiptoed into the kitchen during their conversation. "I won your daddy over by feeding him. Never met a man that didn't fall for a girl once he had gotten a taste for her cooking."
"That's some wise counsel!" Grammy called out her two cents from the other room. She had turned the tele vision volume down until it was barely audible and Cooper was certain her grandmother could no longer hear the dialogue between Ellen DeGeneres and the handsome young actor Orlando Bloom.
Ignoring her mother and grandmother's advice, Cooper examined the crossword, which her father had filled out in record time. "How'd you get so good at puzzles, Daddy?" she asked him in an effort to change the subject.
He shrugged. "Just like figurin' them out, same as I like workin' on that old Malibu or changin' a tractor blade. Feels good to see how things fit together, to come to the end of a problem." He patted her hand. "But you gotta stick with things, my girl. No quittin' when you hit a rough patch. You're gonna help solve your murder case and then you're gonna have to solve the mystery of who you wanna be."
Cooper smiled fondly at her father and he gave her a little wink as he pointed at her mother. Maggie had her box of recipe cards in her hands and was holding her greatest treasure out for Cooper to take. "Meat's always a good place to start when it comes to men. Maybe a pot roast?"
Relenting, Cooper accepted the box. "Well, I kind of do want to get to know Nathan better, so I'll invite him for dinner. I'm going to see him today anyway 'cause we're going to visit that wheelchair-bound lady I told you about last Sunday." She opened the freezer. "Do you have some cookies I could take her, Mama?"
Maggie smoothed her apron, her face all business. "Lord have mercy, Cooper. I can do better than that! The woman's husband has gone missing, she needs more than a few cookies." Maggie began whipping cupboards and drawers open and piling bowls, utensils, and ingredients on the counter. "I'm going to fix her up a nice turkey rice casserole, a fresh loaf of honey wheat bread, and a chocolate chess pie. Go on now. Get out of my kitchen. I've got work to do." Smiling, she gestured at the back door.
"Don't let her go without that pot roast recipe!" Grammy yelled out. "I expect to hear of a supper date by this time next week. That Ashley's too busy bein' a socialite to give me great-grandchildren, so you may as well try to catch up, Granddaughter!"
Cooper was relieved to be alone in her green house. She watered her seedlings and tried not to think about how much she would like to fulfill both of Grammy's wishes. She was ready for marriage and for children. She had always wanted both, but for the last five years she had wanted them with Drew.
"I've got to start picturing the future without Drew in it," she murmured as she spritzed water on a young parsley plant. "I wonder if Nathan will start appearing in my dreams instead."
The plan was for Cooper to drive to Nathan's house in the Fan district and from there, the two of them would pick up Savannah and head north to Ashland, to the home of Eliza and Jed Weeks.
Nathan lived in a Williamsburg blue row house on Floyd Street. His tiny front garden was comprised of a bed of crabgrass speckled with chickweed. The weed-filled lawn was edged with a row of dwarf euonymus desperately in need of water and a good pruning. Despite the lack of curb appeal, Nathan's small porch was swept free of leaves and dust and he had placed a straw welcome mat with an ivy border at the foot of his front door.
Cooper hustled up the stairs and rang the bell, using three short jabs of her index finger. She could hear Nathan's large feet bounding toward the door like an eager dog. As he pulled it open with a smile, smells of tomato sauce and crushed basil floated across the threshold.
"Are you cooking something?" she asked as she stepped inside and peered around his sparse living room.
Nathan followed her gaze as she took in the solitary club chair and end table placed near the brick fireplace. "I haven't done much with this room," he said, indicating that Cooper should continue walking toward the back of the house. "I pretty much live in the kitchen and my office."
In the kitchen, which was painted a deep cranberry red and had amber-colored countertops and blond cabinets, the delicious aroma that had greeted Cooper at the front door was even stronger. "Are you part Web designer, part Iron Chef?" she inquired, grinning at the sight of his lobster-shaped potholders.
"Not me!" Nathan exclaimed. "I can grill a decent steak and open a mean can of tuna fish, but that's about it. Oh, and omelets. I'm good at omelets." He pointed at the oven. "That's a lasagna I picked up from Meal Makers. It was frozen, so I'm just cooking it before we visit Eliza. And I couldn't resist their Greek chicken and pasta, but I grabbed the family-sized bag by mistake, so unless you're willing to stay for dinner, I'm going to be eating that for the next four days. Are you free to night?"
It took a moment for Nathan's last line to sink in. "Um, sure," she replied rather ungraciously, surprised by the invitation. "I mean, that sounds great," she hastily added. Her neck began to grow warm and she turned toward the window in search of a distraction, but couldn't see much beyond the plantation shutters. "So where's your office?"
Nathan began to fidget. "Ah, it's across the hall." He gestured at the closed door just as the oven timer began to beep. "Go ahead and look while I take this out, but I'm giving you fair warning, you might find it a bit bizarre. Most women do."
Her curiosity piqued, Cooper opened the door to what appeared to be a shrine filled with Star Wars toys. Spaceships hung from the ceiling, action figures stood on every inch of available shelving, and framed posters, decals, ticket stubs, cereal boxes, and trading cards vied for breathing room on the crowded walls. The room had been painted a deep blue and Nathan had placed adhesive stars over every surface, so that the daylight streaming in through the floor-to-ceiling bay window in front of his desk illuminated the stars until they appeared to be twinkling.
"I'm a bit of a Star Wars fan," Nathan said sheepishly as he came up behind her.
"I can see that," Cooper answered with a laugh. "How many items do you have in your ... collection?"
Nathan removed a Han Solo PEZ dispenser from the nearest shelf. "Over two thousand."
Cooper vaguely remembered seeing the movie as a child, but couldn't see why a grown man would fill an entire room with Star Wars memorabilia. "What got you started on all this?"
Shrugging, Nathan replaced the candy dispenser and removed a comic book from a bookrack near the door. "I wanted to be a comic-book artist after I saw this movie. I was so inspired that I began drawing scenes and characters from Star Wars in my spare time. Eventually, I holed up in my room, creating my own galaxies, heroes, and villains. I stopped going outside to play, wouldn't hang out with my friends--I didn't go anywhere without my sketchpad and a box of colored pencils. Finally, I started getting in trouble in school. That's when my parents enrolled me in a computer camp for the summer and laid down rules about when I could draw." He tenderly replaced the comic book protected by a plastic sleeve back in the bookrack. "Turns out I was pretty good at computer stuff and it became my career, but I'll never forget how that movie fueled my imagination."