Walk Through the Valley (Psalm 23 Mysteries) (2 page)

She sat for a moment, debating what to do. There were a couple of cars in the parking lot next door by the synagogue. If Jeremiah was there she didn’t want to risk running into any of his staff or congregation looking like this. His secretary already didn’t like Cindy.

             
The church had bathrooms close to the entrance gate which was still open. She could duck in there for a minute and at least wash her face so she looked a bit more presentable. Hopefully no one she knew would see her.

She took one last quick look around before exiting her car and making a beeline for the gates. Just inside she turned to the right and grabbed hold of the door to the women’s restroom. She yanked it open, stepped inside, and froze in her tracks.

A woman was sprawled on the bathroom floor, eyes frozen wide in terror. Blood had trickled out of the corner of her mouth. A great deal more of it was pooled on the floor underneath her.

Crouched above her was a man in a dark suit. There was blood on his hands. He jerked his head up as Cindy gasped. She took a hasty step backward and shouted for help even as she realized that the man who was staring up at her was Henry White.

2

Jeremiah was in a foul mood and he realized that coming to the synagogue might have been a tactical mistake. There had been some kind of event going on next door at the church and some of the cars had spilled over into the synagogue’s parking lot. Other than that, though, there didn’t seem to be anyone at the synagogue itself. That was a good thing, because he realized he was likely to tear the head off the first person he came across whether they deserved it or not.

How had everything gone so wrong? He had anticipated a number of different reactions from Cindy, played scenarios endlessly in his head for hours before she got to his house. He hadn’t planned for what had actually happened and he was still reeling from the fight. His carefully ordered world was in complete chaos.

Like it or not, Cindy had gotten under his skin, pierced his armor. That was the only reason he had lost his temper. He had been hurt and angry and more than a little frightened of what he was feeling. A sworn enemy could have taunted and tortured him for hours and never caused him to lose control as he did from just a few choice words from her.

The sound of scores of car engines starting up pierced the darkness of his thoughts. Whatever was happening next door it must be breaking up. He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead into his hands. He tried to pray or think and didn’t have much luck with either. At last everything
seemed to quiet down outside. Quiet was good. He needed some quiet to think, regain his equilibrium.

A couple of minutes passed and the walls felt like they were closing in on him. He knew it was just because he was feeling trapped.
What is it they say? Between a rock and a hard place.

He got up to leave, locking the door behind him. Hopefully some fresh air would help speed up the process. Once in the parking lot he noticed that there were only a handful of cars still parked in the two parking lots. He froze when he recognized one of them as Cindy’s.

What was she doing here?

He stood for a moment, debating whether or not to go look for her. He really didn’t want to continue their conversation in public. He wasn’t sure though if waiting much longer would do either of them any good, though. He stood, unable to decide what to do.

In the distance he heard sirens and he shook himself. He turned and started to walk back toward home. He definitely couldn’t continue this with her in public and at the moment he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to control what he said when he saw her. He was even less sure of what she might say.

He registered that the sirens were getting louder and that there were multiple vehicles. Some accident somewhere maybe?

He had gone another dozen steps when he realized that the sirens were practically right on top of him. He turned just in time to see two police cars chasing an ambulance into the church parking lot.

A feeling of dread filled him. Cindy. Had something happened to her? He watched as the vehicles came to a
stop. Paramedics and officers rushed toward the open church gate.

Jeremiah sprinted forward, praying that nothing had happened to her. As he neared the church gate he could tell that all the activity seemed to be happening just inside it.

He had almost reached the gate when a uniformed officer he didn’t recognize stepped in front of him and held up a hand. “Hold it right there, sir. This is a crime scene, I need you to back up.”

“I can’t, you don’t understand. My...friend is in there.”

“I’m sorry, you’re going to have to wait back here.”

“I have to know if she’s okay. She’s a young woman, brown hair.”

The officer grimaced briefly and Jeremiah’s heart plunged. “Get out of my way,” he growled, ready to tear the man apart.

Then just over the man’s shoulder he caught sight of Liam, Mark’s new partner. Before he could call to him the man shifted a step to the side and he saw that Liam was talking to Cindy.

He closed his eyes for a moment as relief flooded him. He had to get control of himself.

“What happened after you found him with the body?” he clearly heard Liam ask.

“I shouted for help and that’s when Christopher here came running. He was the one who called 911,” Cindy said, indicating a tall, well-dressed man with blond hair who was standing next to her.

Jeremiah took a step backward, feeling as though he had been physically struck. Cindy had been shouting for help and he hadn’t heard her. Someone else had come to her rescue when it should have been him. He felt a sudden,
intense hatred for Christopher, whoever he was, and imagined himself snapping the other man’s neck like it was a twig.

“Hey, buddy, are you okay?” the uniformed officer asked him.

Liam glanced around. “Jeremiah, how do you fit into all of this?” the detective asked.

Jeremiah took a deep breath. “I guess I don’t,” he said.

“Sorry. I thought the two of you were inseparable.”

Jeremiah met Cindy’s eyes. From the sounds of things she had found another dead body and maybe even the murderer. Yet, somehow, all the drama was actually between the two of them and
noone knew it.

He was losing control, emotions roiling within him and it was just a matter of time before he did something he’d regret. For the second time in his life he felt like everything was slipping away from him.

“I was glad I heard her shouting,” Christopher said, and he put an arm around Cindy’s shoulders. “I can’t imagine what might have happened if I hadn’t shown up.”

“Take your hand off of her,” Jeremiah snarled.

“Okay, settle-” the uniformed officer choked on his words as Jeremiah grabbed his hand, gave it a sharp twist, and put him on the ground.

Jeremiah stepped over him and met Christopher’s startled eyes. The other man hastily backed away from Cindy, eyes widening in fear. He should be afraid. Christopher would regret trying to replace him.

“Jeremiah, stop!” Cindy said sharply.

He paused and turned to look at her. Her eyes were wide, too, but in surprise instead of fear. The others were right to fear him, but Cindy wasn’t afraid of him. She never
was. Even if she should be. Her blind trust in him had always worried him. What would she say if she knew the truth about him?

He blinked, coming slowly out of the fog that had seemed to descend over him. She did know the truth. At least, part of it. And she was still looking at him the same way. No fear. No suspicion. Just trust.

He took a deep breath and she reached out and touched his arm. He turned to Liam. “I’m sorry. I was just so worried about her.”

Liam was staring from Jeremiah to the officer he had put on the ground. “Remind me never to get in between you two,” he muttered.

Jeremiah flushed. He turned and helped the officer to his feet. The man glared at him, but didn’t say anything. Jeremiah knew he was lucky the man wasn’t making an issue of it. He had, after all, just physically assaulted a police officer. In the man’s eyes, though, Jeremiah saw fear. The man was afraid to push it.

Before anyone could do or say anything else a woman in an expensive looking blue suit hurried up, blond curls bouncing against her shoulders. “Where’s my husband?” she asked in an anguished voice. Her gaze flitted to Christopher and then quickly back to the rest of them.

“Marjorie, I’m over here,” a distraught voice called out.

Jeremiah tilted his head to the side. There, sitting about fifteen feet away on the ground with a police officer standing over him, was a man who looked familiar. His dark hair was cropped close and he wore suit slacks with a dress shirt and tie. The edges of the shirt as well as his hands were covered in blood.

Marjorie took a step in his direction, but Liam grabbed her arm. “I’m sorry, ma’am, you can’t go over there right now.”

“But that’s my husband,” she said, anger flaring in her eyes. “Don’t you know who I am?”

“Yes, ma’am. I know who both of you are,” Liam said. “And I’m going to have to insist. I need to take your statement. Where have you been for the last half hour?”

She looked taken aback. “As soon as the rally finished the driver took me to the hotel. I’d only just been there a couple of minutes when I got a phone call that something had happened to Henry. I came straight back as fast as I could.”

Henry. The name clicked with the face and Jeremiah realized that the man sitting on the ground was Henry White, a politician running for governor of the state. He glanced sharply at Cindy. What exactly had she stumbled into the middle of this time?

Cindy was struggling to keep herself focused which was turning out to be an impossible task. There had been a moment where she had been absolutely sure that Jeremiah was going to kill Christopher, the man who had come when she shouted. It seemed absurd and she couldn’t imagine why. Christopher was a stranger to her, and presumably to Jeremiah as well. What on earth could have set him off like that?

Maybe like her he was still on edge from their earlier conversation. Their very much
unfinished
conversation. She tried to give him a reassuring smile to calm him down, but his attention was even more scattered than hers and she wasn’t sure if he actually saw it.

She took a deep breath and struggled to clear her head. Jeremiah and she could hash things out later. Now, she needed to focus on what was happening around her and what Liam was saying. She was, after all, the one who had found the body and the initial suspect.

When she had seen Henry White in the bathroom, leaning over that girl’s body she had been sure he had murdered her. She had backed away as fast as she could, shouting to bring others so he wouldn’t just come after her to kill her, too, to keep it quiet.

Henry hadn’t moved, though. He hadn’t come after her. He had just stared at her with the vacant, glassy eyes of someone in shock. Even when Christopher had come running up Henry hadn’t left his spot on the bathroom floor. In fact, he hadn’t left it until the officer who was now standing guard over him had arrived. The man had nearly had to pick him up physically to get him to leave the girl’s side. When the policeman had half-walked, half-carried him by Cindy she had taken a good look at the politician’s face.

He looked like someone in a trance. She imagined that she must have looked very similar the first time she had found a body which had also been on church grounds. No, every time she glanced over at him she couldn’t believe that he was faking that reaction.

If he had killed her, it couldn’t have been premeditated, she was certain of it. In fact, she was pretty certain he couldn’t be the killer at all. Maybe she was just empathizing with him because she’d had an experience that she viewed as similar. She needed to look at things more
objectively. Politicians were notorious for being able to lie to the world and hide their true faces. Plus, after all, she had found them in the women’s room. What on earth had he been doing in there?

Maybe when Liam questioned him, he’d find out. It seemed like Henry hadn’t said a word until calling out to his wife just a minute before. Liam was questioning her now and she seemed very agitated. Then again, who wouldn’t be?

“Who called to tell you that something had happened to your husband?” Liam asked.

“His campaign organizer, Geoffrey Wells,” Marjorie said.

“And how exactly did he find out?” Liam asked.

“Um, that would be me,” Christopher said, looking sheepish. “I’m one of the campaign staffers and after I called 911, I called Geoffrey.”

Cindy nodded. “I know he called someone after calling 911 and told them to hurry down here because there had been an ‘incident’.” She put emphasis on the word because even at the time it had seemed far too mild a word to describe what had happened.

Liam looked around. “So, where is Geoffrey Wells?”

Marjorie and Christopher looked around as well. “I don’t see him,” Marjorie admitted. “I know he was on his way to a meeting after the rally.”