Bright New Murder (6 page)

8

Jane ran the sweeper through the sanctuary at Columbia River Christian Church. The old brush sweeper was quieter than a vacuum, so the elders preferred it be used in this room. She kind of liked the idea, but it wasn’t the most efficient way to get the pine needles out of the carpet. And taking down the month-old pine boughs and wreaths made a big mess.

Real tree branches smelled like Christmas, and Christmas Eve service at Columbia River CC with Isaac by her side had been one of the nicest Christmas Eve services she’d ever attended. But now that she had dumped Isaac, she sort of thought she ought to dump his church, too.

She didn’t want to break up with Columbia River. It was a good church. Solid teaching, close small groups, friendly staff. Specially selected and fully funded missionaries who would get to spend their furloughs recuperating instead of fundraising.

She lifted the sweeper up to the first step of the stage and ran it the length. It was the Daniels’ family church. Last year, when she and Isaac started dating—but before he left for his summer in Costa Rica—she had made the switch to his church.

Her parents had moved to Phoenix a few years ago, leaving her to define her life in Portland her own way. Why not be a part of the church of the man you wanted to marry?

And, she thumped her sweeper up another step, this is why.

If she had stayed at her own church, she wouldn’t have to leave it now.

“Can you pass me that candle?” A woman Jane had recently met, named Gail, reached down to Jane.

Jane picked up a midnight-blue taper and passed it to Gail.

“Thanks, kiddo.”

Jane nodded with a smile, but didn’t say anything. She plopped her sweeper down on the stage. When she was done with the sanctuary, she had to move into the multipurpose event room. Tearing down Christmas was a big job.

“So Jane,” Gail called from the ladder. “Is Isaac still home?”

Jane nodded. Her eyes filled with tears. She chewed on her bottom lip. Letting herself cry about it last night had maybe been a bad idea, if it meant his name was going to turn on the waterworks from now on.

“Are you guys coming to the watch night party?”

Jane shook her head no. She couldn’t trust herself to speak.

Gail climbed off the ladder. “Hey, are you okay?” She frowned with concern.

Jane nodded, but it was a lie. Tears spilled down her cheeks.

Gail took her arm and led her out of the sanctuary. “You need a break.”

Gail took her to the fireside room and clicked on the gas fireplace. “Sit.” She sat on the hearth and patted a cushion next to her. “All is not well in paradise.”

Jane wiped her eyes. “No, it’s not.”

“What did he do?”

Jane smiled through her tears. “Why do you think it was him?”

“I watched him grow up. I know he can be a bit difficult.”

“Yeah…” Was difficult the word she would pick? He didn’t argue or fight. He wasn’t a yeller or anything like that. No temper at all, to speak of. But…yeah. He was difficult. “We just…we want different things from life.”

“Ahh.” Gail patted Jane’s knee. “The course of young love never did run smooth.”

“No, I guess not.”

“So how are you guys going to resolve your troubles?”

Jane shrugged.

“Oh.” Gail’s voice fell. “I am very fond of Isaac. But…he’s not an easy kid. I was really happy he had found you.”

“He’s a wonderful person.” Jane sniffled. He was wonderful, kind of. Just…bossy. And dismissive.

“Yeah, but you’re thinking he’s not the wonderful person for you?”

Jane nodded. “I should probably finish my work.”

“You’ve got time. Tell me everything.”

Jane bit her tongue. It was tempting to get everything off her chest, but she didn’t really know Gail, and what was there that needed to be said? She shrugged again. “We really like each other, but we aren’t going the same direction in life. And liking each other isn’t always enough.”

“Do you love each other?”

“What’s love but friendship with a ton of infatuation attached? Of course we were in love. Or at least something like that.”

“He was gone an awful lot this last year.” Gail patted Jane’s back.

“Yeah.”

“So you’ve hardly had any time to spend together.”

“And he wants to jump straight from that to me moving away.”

“Did he propose?”

Jane nodded again. She was probably saying too much.

“But you didn’t accept.”

“How could I? I have to follow God’s call, not Isaac’s.”

“You were infatuated with each other, but…” Gail paused. She looked over Jane’s shoulder and shook her head like she was sending someone away.

Jane wanted to see who was back there, but she kept her face forward.

“You were infatuated with each other, but when push came to shove, it just wasn’t enough.”

“I guess not.”

“It happens, Jane. Even with really great guys who you admire and find attractive.”

“We just met at the wrong time. Maybe if we were older…”

“But you fear that if you were older, you probably wouldn’t have ever met.”

“Exactly.” Jane sat up a little. “That’s exactly right. It seems like your future husband should be someone you could have met at any point in your life, because God was planning on doing the same work with you both.”

“It’s okay to have dated someone even if it didn’t work out. You’re young still.”

“I’m not even done with school yet.”

“Exactly.” Gail gave Jane a side hug. “Kiddo, heartbreak is hard, even if you feel like you picked it yourself. Most of us have been there.”

Another tear escaped. Jane took a deep breath. “I think I need to work before I drown in my own tears.”

“Good idea. There’s a time for everything. A time to weep and a time to sweep.”

Jane laughed. “And right now it’s time to sweep.”

Gail walked to the door. “I’ve got tree branches to recycle and candles to switch out, but find me before you leave if you want to talk some more, okay? And, you know, today it feels like heartbreak. Next time you and Isaac talk, it might feel like something else altogether.”

It would be very hard to leave Columbia River. Everyone, absolutely everyone she had met, was exactly as amazing as Gail.

This cleaning day would have to be her absolute last stop at this church. If she let herself come back to one more small group, or one more service, she’d never be able to walk away.

And if she stayed here…she might change her mind about Isaac again.

***

On her drive home, Jane tuned into the local news. The Fro-Yo Murder led the news break. The Crawford Family Restaurant Corporation was paying the funeral expenses for the Smith family. A good deed—but also a smart business move on Jake’s part. The city liked to see big companies take care of small people.

The funeral reminded Jane that she wanted to try and meet Michelle’s family. If her son and his wife had only recently moved away, they might know a lot about who would target Michelle like this.

The funeral might not be the most appropriate place to meet them, but it was the best she could think of, since Michelle’s son and his family, according to the news, were only coming to town for the sake of the funeral.

Which led to the next question: why wasn’t the family bringing Michelle’s body to Nevada for the funeral instead?

She’d have to watch the funeral notices in the newspaper to find out when and where she needed to be. The news made it sound like it would be soon.

She wanted to go over the party guest list before she went to the funeral, so she could compare it with the guest book. Any overlap would be telling. Gemma was probably home, and yet…she remembered what Jake had said the night of the crime. Gemma had an official guest list, but he had called in favors to fill the party out.

She headed to Maywood, the little suburban city just outside of town where the Crawford family restaurant business had its main offices. Most likely Jake would be in his office working midday on Thursday. They could shut the door of his office and have a nice long chat about that guest list of his.

***

Jane climbed the stairs to the offices on top of the second-to-last Roly Burger restaurant. She knocked and then let herself in. She had a twinge of fear, but Marjory, Jake’s intimidating aunt, was not at the desk.

The girl at the desk was much younger than Marjory.

And very cute.

Jane sniffed. Curly blonde hair. Freckles. An upturned nose? Really? Jane wondered if the girl could type, but then noticed that the girl
was
typing—and talking on the phone at the same time—both at lightning speed. The girl looked up for a second and nodded towards a row of chairs against the wall.

Jane almost sat, but reminded herself that she was a private detective, not the maid, this time.

She ignored the receptionist and pushed open Jake’s office door.

Before she could say hello, a man in the chair opposite Jake stood up, pushing his chair into Jane’s knees. “I think you’re going to regret this, Crawford.”

Jake’s face was brilliant red. His shoulders were up to his ears, and a vein on his neck was throbbing. “And I think you are overreacting. When you are ready to talk man-to-man, I’ll be here.”

Jane scooted to the wall next to the door. Jake’s eyes were glued to the angry man, and he didn’t acknowledge her.

The angry man snarled—or at least that was the best word Jane could come up with. It was a businesslike kind of snarl. Very television drama. He pushed his way out the door, stomping so loudly they could still hear him on the stairs.

“Jane.” Jake stared out the door. “That was the mayor of Maywood, and he wants junk food blue laws in our gentle little town.”

“He’s not a Helper, is he?”

“Not that he admits to.” Jake took a seat—on top of his desk. “You, however, are a sight for sore eyes. What can I do for you?”

Jane rolled her eyes. “I want the guest list to the fundraiser. Not the official one though, the augmented one. The one you filled out that has pretty much everyone on it.”

Jake furrowed his brow. “I could do that for you.”

“But?”

“But you’d have to do something for me in return.”

“Of course I would.” Jane sat down in the chair the angry mayor had so violently vacated.

“Move to Maywood.”

“Excuse me?”

“Move to this cute little suburban mini-town so you can vote against the blue laws, and so I can come see you as often as I want without giving your cousin the wrong idea.”

Jane laughed. “Don’t be a dope, Jake. I can’t abandon Gemma. She can hardly afford half the rent on the apartment, much less the whole thing.”

“And whose fault is that? Not yours. Certainly not mine. Why should I have to suffer?”

“Okay, enough of that. Can I have the list?”

“Sure.” Jake made a show of digging his phone out of his desk. He frowned, rubbed his forehead, and typed on the touch screen for a few minutes. “Done. I just sent you the list of people I invited via text, and the folks who RSVP’d. I also sent my own notes on who I saw at the party who hadn’t let me know they were coming.”

“Wow. Really? You had time to take those notes?”

Jake shrugged. “I’ve got to make the time. Money doesn’t make itself. I’ve already sent thank-you cards to everyone who was there. Ah!” He banged on his phone a bit more. “There you go. That’s the address list I sent the thank you’s too. It wasn’t anything big this year, just a personally signed card and a book of gift certificates. And yes, I have to keep tabs on all of that. It’s tax deductible—I hope.”

“I’m impressed.”

“I wasn’t just voted most popular, back in high school. I was also president of Young Entrepreneurs.”

“You were?”

He raised his eyebrow. “You don’t remember?”

Jane shook her head. She wasn’t entirely sure there had been a Young Entrepreneurs at Presbyterian Prep, but apparently his dad had trained him well for his future running the family business. “Remind me: where did you go to college?”

“College? Did I go there?” Jake hopped off of his desk and moved to the window. He stared across Main Street. “Can you believe they want to shut down every business that sells junk food every Sunday? It’s preposterous. After-church lunch sales are big money to me.”

“You went to college.”

“Are you suddenly an education snob, Jane? Is this the Daniels’ influence rubbing off on you?”

Jane’s face went up twenty degrees. “Never mind. Thanks for the help.”

“I entered OSU with two years’ college credit under my belt and finished my business degree at nineteen and a half. I went back for an MBA that I took mostly online. Not that I didn’t do my fair share of partying anyway, but, yeah. You don’t make lifelong college friends when you are in and out like that.” Jake drummed his fingers on the window. “But you have to guess which O and which U. Am I a Beaver or a Buckeye? Or maybe Cowboy? You can’t make me tell.”