Walk Through the Valley (Psalm 23 Mysteries) (18 page)

M: Given your clientele list? I can imagine you have. So, do you think I should put a panic room in my house?

L: Unless you have something to hide or something others want badly I wouldn’t recommend it. Mostly those are just a waste of good space, no matter how well designed they are. Spend the time and square footage on a nice master suite upgrade instead.

M: Good advice. Do you have a portfolio of work that potential clients can peruse either online or in an office?

L: No, most of my clients value their privacy so I don’t make that kind of information available except in special circumstances. I do have pictures of all my work, but I don’t usually show them.

M: They’re more of a personal scrapbook then? Like your greatest hits?

L: Actually, they serve a far more practical purpose. I keep detailed files on each of my designs including sketches, swatches, and very detailed pictures. That way if a client comes to me needing something repaired, replaced, or replicated somewhere else I’ve got all the information I need right at my fingertips.

M:  Have you ever had to use those files?

L:  Absolutely. I used them for one client who was rebuilding after a fire. In that case they were a real life saver because the original furnishings were completely destroyed. Without my files we never could have recreated those rooms. I’ve had to dig up information on other client projects as well, but that was certainly one of the more memorable experiences. I was so glad I could help them rebuild and feel like they were getting their lives back.

M:  I’m sure they were incredibly grateful. Unfortunately we are out of time, but I am very grateful for the time you’ve spent with me. Thank you for letting us all have a glimpse of Lisa’s world where the sky is, I’m sure, a much better shade of blue than in most people’s.

L: You’re very welcome! It’s always a pleasure to talk design.

The article concluded with contact information for Lisa’s design office. It also included a humorous notation that if you had to ask how much her services were you likely couldn’t afford them.

Overall, it was an interesting interview and Cindy herself couldn’t stop wondering about the client who had wanted the all glow-in-the-dark room. She couldn’t help but think about the church’s youth pastor, Dave. He’d probably love a room like that and so would the kids. The other thing that had struck her was the part about the client obsessed with sunflowers. Could that have anything to do with the bouquet or the picture left on Lisa’s phone?

Detective Sanders had instructed her to just sit and wait. Maybe, though, she could do a little more research and see if she could get Lisa to open up about the sunflower client.

Everything in her wanted to run to Lisa’s room and question her as soon as possible. She forced herself to sit still, though, and take deep breaths. For all she knew the detective was in there talking to Lisa right now and wouldn’t appreciate the intrusion. On the other hand, if the detective hadn’t gone by to talk to Lisa yet Lisa wouldn’t know about her room being ransacked and she would want to know why Cindy didn’t have her phone and jewelry with her.

Cindy sat there warring with herself and her own indecision for a good half hour. She checked her watch and thought it might be time to call Jeremiah again and see how he was doing and give him the update from her end. She was getting hungry again, too.

Deep down she knew that even though she had a half dozen excellent reasons for leaving the room, they were all just excuses because she really, really didn’t want to be there. She hated the silent waiting. It felt more like a death watch than anything else, and she refused to believe that her brother was going to die.

The revelations from her father about her mother’s favoritism of Kyle just made things worse. The daughter that reminded her of the fact that she’d already lost one child was sitting in the room with her while she watched another child clinging to life. No wonder her mother wasn’t even looking at her. She’d probably feel better if Cindy left. Her dad wouldn’t, though, even if he had fallen back into a silent mood.

Patience had never been one of Cindy’s virtues and now she felt every minute crawl by and it chafed her. Somewhere out there was the person who had done this to her brother, and they might go free. After seeing the sunflower on the phone and reading that article she was sure that Lisa must know something, or at least have her own suspicions. Surely she would want to get to the bottom of this as badly as Cindy did.

She had just about made up her mind to head over to Lisa’s room when one of the nurses poked her head in.

“Miss Preston? Cindy?”

“Yes?” she asked, startled that the nurse was asking for her specifically and not one of her parents. Maybe Lisa had grown tired of waiting for her things and had sent the nurse to find Cindy.

“You have a visitor out at the nurse’s station.”

“Who is it?” she asked, getting to her feet. Maybe it was Detective Sanders. If so, she’d have to tell her about the article and what it had said about the client who loved sunflowers a little too much.

“He didn’t give his name,” the nurse said.

His name. It must be Martin. Maybe he was dropping by to see if she wanted to grab a meal.

“Thank you,” Cindy said. “I’ll be right there.”

The nurse left. Her dad nodded at her and she walked out into the hallway. She left the ICU area. The main nurses’ station for the floor wasn’t that far from Lisa’s room, so maybe she could at least look in and see if the detective was there talking to her. Hopefully she could do that without being seen.

As she walked toward the nurses’ station she could see a man standing there with his back to her. He was wearing a tight black T-shirt stretched across broad shoulders. She looked around, wondering where Martin might have gone to. She didn’t see anyone else, though, who wasn’t a nurse. Could the man in the T-shirt be the one who wanted to speak to her? If so, who was he and what did he want?

She started walking faster, her curiosity trumping her caution. There were nurses bustling to and fro. Nothing could happen to her here without there being witnesses. Still, she tightened her clutch on her purse as she approached.

She glanced in the direction of Lisa’s room, but couldn’t see in. Cindy slowed as she approached the man, expecting him to turn at any moment. Her heart began beating faster. She finally came to a stop a few feet away from him.

“Is someone looking for me?” she asked, trying to keep her voice steady so as not to betray any of the anxiety she was feeling. The man cocked his head and then turned around.

She took a step backward in surprise as she realized that she recognized his face.

15

“Hank! What are you doing here?” Cindy asked, recognizing the assistant cameraman from the cattle drive they had taken with Kyle.

“I drove down with Bunni and a couple other coworkers when we heard what happened to Kyle,” he said.

She stepped forward and hugged him and he folded her in powerful arms.

“Thank you,” she said, overcome with a sudden rush of emotions at seeing a familiar, friendly face.

“It was the least we could do. Unfortunately, one of the other guys and I have to go. The boss needs us and it’s an emergency. Wish I could say more, but I can’t.”

“That’s okay. I understand.”

“Bunni’s staying though. I don’t think you could blast her out of here right now,” he said.

Cindy nodded.

“Anyway, I didn’t want to go until I’d had a chance to say hello. I’ve got about an hour. Any chance I can talk you into an early, early dinner?”

“I’d like that,” she said with a smile.

Every hour that he didn’t know exactly where Cindy was or how she was made Jeremiah a little crazier. To try and relieve his building anxiety he had thrown himself fully into the search for Lydia’s killer. After the police had not been able to turn up a camera or cell phone in Lydia’s
car, they had gone over every square inch of the church looking for one, but to no avail. It was clear to Jeremiah that whoever had killed her had taken it as well.

He kept thinking about what Lydia’s roommate had told Liam about Lydia being upset Saturday and muttering that something wasn’t right and someone needed to know something. If he was to go with the assumption held by both Cindy and Christopher that the politician was innocent, then it was a safe bet that he was the person Lydia thought needed to know something. It was possible she even had proof of it on her phone. That would track with someone killing her and taking her phone.

The questions that remained were, what did she know and who else knew she knew it? Jeremiah had gone back to her Facebook page where he had poured over more of the pictures she had posted. Unfortunately, her last update was Thursday morning, two days before her roommate last saw her. Whatever it was she had found out had happened sometime between then and Saturday morning.

He had checked Henry White’s schedule, and the man had been at a rally Friday evening. Presumably Lydia had also been to that one. He was willing to bet whatever it was she had seen or captured had happened around that event. It was even possible that she had confronted her killer on Sunday with her information.

The only thing that made sense to him was that it had to be connected to the campaign or someone who was part of it. Otherwise why would she obsess over it? It was probably something she felt was hurtful or potentially hurtful to the man she idolized.

The more he thought about it the more he was convinced he was on the right track. He finally gave
Christopher a call and the man quickly arranged for Jeremiah to meet with Henry White himself in the late afternoon.

As he parked outside the hotel that Henry and his team were staying at he couldn’t help but think about Cindy. She would have wanted to be here, to be part of this. He would have felt so much better if she was because then he’d be watching out for her every moment.

He checked his phone again to see if she had called, but there was nothing. Once he was done speaking with Henry he’d try to get hold of her if he hadn’t heard anything from her yet. The fact that her phone was bugged was weighing heavily on him. He should be there with her, taking care of her.

He headed inside and Christopher met him in the lobby with an outstretched hand. “Thank you again for everything you’re doing,” he said. “Henry’s upstairs with some of the key staff. We’re putting our heads together trying to figure out what to do until he’s proven innocent.”

The team had taken over the top floor of the hotel, and Christopher led Jeremiah into a penthouse with some lovely views of the park he and Captain liked to go jogging in. There were half a dozen men in the room, all sitting in the living room area with papers spread out all over the coffee table.

“Everyone, this is Jeremiah who has agreed to help us,” Christopher said by way of introduction. “Jeremiah, may I present Henry White,” he said.

The politician stood quickly and shook his hand. “We’re very grateful for the help,” he said, staring earnestly into Jeremiah’s eyes.

“Yes, we’ll take all the help we can get,” said the man sitting across from him. He also stood. “I’m Geoffrey Wells, the campaign manager.”

Jeremiah shook his hand, noting that unlike his boss, Geoffrey did not meet his eyes.

A door at the far end of the room opened and Marjorie White entered. “What’s going on?” she asked.

Geoffrey moved quickly over to her. “Jeremiah, the rabbi that has agreed to help clear Henry’s name, has arrived. Come meet him,” he said.

Jeremiah noted that Geoffrey put his hand on the small of Marjorie’s back just above her waist and led her over. It was a rather intimate touch and he suddenly found himself wondering just how close the two of them were. He remembered that they had both already left the church on Sunday when the body had been discovered.

“Please, sit down,” Henry said, waving Jeremiah to a chair.

As soon as he had sat down the politician leaned forward. “I’m so sorry about what happened to Lydia. I hope we can bring her killer to justice.”

“The police are doing their best,” Jeremiah said as he sized up everyone in the room.

“I’ve been told she attended a number of my rallies. I keep being haunted by the thought that if she hadn’t come to the rally Sunday, she’d still be alive.”

“We don’t know that, sir,” Christopher spoke up. “She might have had an enemy who would have killed her regardless of where she was or what she was doing.”

“Maybe, I don’t know,” Henry said, looking doubtful.

Interesting. Henry was concerned that her death did somehow link to his campaign. Jeremiah wondered if there was some reason beyond the time and place of her death that made him think that. He would have liked to have spoken to the man for a few minutes alone without so many prying ears, but he got the distinct impression that even if Henry would go for that the others wouldn’t.

There definitely was a strong feeling of anxiety in the room. Amazingly it was coming from everyone but Henry who instead was radiating sorrow.