Alibis & Angels Page 22

  “That’s why I’m going to make my announcement.” Heather took a deep breath as though to steady herself. “I have to do this. Don’t you understand?”

  Beneath the steely determination and righteous outrage, Sister Lou saw the desperate plea in Heather’s eyes. It was the look of someone who was trying to make amends to those she’d disappointed in her past, and who was trying to live up to a promise she’d made to those who’d more recently taken a chance on her.

  Sister Lou sighed. “I think I do.”

  Shari looked from Heather to Sister Lou and back. “Then explain it to me.”

  Heather turned to the reporter. Her voice shook with the force of her convictions. “If I can’t stand up for myself and what I believe in, how can I stand up for the people of this town? If I turn my back on the commitment I made to them, I won’t be able to live with myself.”

  Shari drummed her fingers on the chair’s wooden arm. “Well, you’ve made a believer out of me.”

  Heather shared a look with Sister Lou and Shari. “Are we in agreement that we won’t contact the deputies?”

  Shari sighed. “All right.”

  Sister Lou was hesitant to make a full commitment. “We won’t contact them yet, but you’ll have to provide a more viable list of suspects. We have to stop this person before he actually harms you—or anyone else.”

  “I couldn’t agree more.” Tension crept back into Heather’s voice.

  “I’ll do some more research on the names we have so far.” Shari finished her coffee. “Maybe we’ve missed something.”

  Sister Lou stood, collecting her purse. “I know that we have.” And I can’t shake the feeling that it’s right in front of us.

  * * *

  Sister Marianna marched into Sister Lou’s office at the end of the day Monday. She took a stand in front of Sister Lou’s desk. “Louise, this has gone on long enough. It’s been almost two weeks. I insist that you tell me why the mayor is staying with us in the motherhouse.”

  This is exactly the diversion I need right now.

  Sister Lou checked her crimson Timex wristwatch. It was just a few minutes before five o’clock. During the past almost three hours, Sister Lou had been sitting at her desk, plagued by distractions and uncertainties that had kept her from being as productive as she needed to be. She was worried about Heather. What repercussions would she face from announcing her reelection campaign? Had the public servant painted a target on her back? One member of her executive team already had been killed. Were other members of her staff in peril?

  Is the congregation in danger?

  Sister Lou forced back her fears and manufactured a brilliant smile for Sister Marianna. “Good evening, Marianna. How was your day?”

  She could almost hear the other woman gnashing her teeth. The imagery brightened her mood even more.

  “Why must we always play this game, Louise?” Sister Marianna thrust her fists onto the hips of her brown skirt suit. She’d added a gold and brown handmade silk scarf to her outfit.

  How many of Kathy’s scarves had Marianna purchased?

  Sister Lou gave her guest a genuine smile this time. “Indulge me, Marianna. It’s been a long day.”

  “Must you always have your way?”

  “Not always. Just this afternoon.”

  Sister Marianna turned her grimace into a smile and settled onto one of the chairs in front of Sister Lou’s desk. “My day was just fine. How was yours?”

  “It’s much better now that you’re here.” The truth of that statement surprised Sister Lou. Sister Marianna was the best distraction from her concern for Heather. Her unexpected guest’s obvious disbelief in Sister Lou’s response made it even better.

  “Are we done with your games now, Louise? Can we get back to more consequential matters?”

  With a lighter heart, Sister Lou inclined her head, inviting Sister Marianna to continue. “By all means, Marianna. How can I be of assistance to you?”

  Sister Marianna gave her a sour look. “The mayor has just announced at a press conference that she plans to run for reelection.”

  “I know.” The mayor’s decision to announce so soon had dampened Sister Lou’s spirits. Doubts preyed on her once again.

  Did I make a mistake by not alerting the deputies to the threats against Heather? Is her stalker on the move right now while I sit here teasing Marianna?

  Sister Marianna continued. “As a resident of the motherhouse, I have a right to know why Mayor Stanley has moved in with us.”

  “The mayor hasn’t actually moved in.” On occasion, Sister Lou relished matching wits with Sister Marianna. This was one of those occasions. “That would imply that all of her belongings were at the motherhouse, and they’re not.”

  Sister Marianna blew an impatient breath. “You know what I meant, Louise. Must you always prevaricate? How much longer will Mayor Stanley be with us?”

  Sister Lou wouldn’t lie to anyone, including and especially a member of her congregation. However, her promise to Heather had come face-to-face with Sister Marianna’s near-legendary persistence. Her best strategy was to go on offense.

  She drew a deep breath, allowing the scent of her white tea potpourri to center her. “Why are you so fixated on the amount of time that the mayor will be with us, Marianna? Is her presence making you uncomfortable?”

  “Why is Mayor Stanley here at all?” Sister Marianna fiddled with her scarf, loosening the garment from her neck. “Is this some political ploy to try to impress Briar Coast’s religious voters?”

  The suggestion took Sister Lou by surprise. “I believe the mayor is too genuine to use her relationship with our congregation as a campaign tool. That type of strategy would be beneath her.”

  Sister Marianna gave Sister Lou a skeptical look. “Then what is Mayor Stanley hoping to gain from her stay with us?”

  Sister Lou searched her mind and said a quick prayer for inspiration. Her request was answered right on time. “Have you considered that you’re asking the wrong question, Marianna?”

  Sister Marianna appeared intrigued. She arched a thin, gray brow. “What do you mean?”

  “Perhaps instead of asking what the mayor is getting from us, you should instead consider how the congregation could benefit from the attention that we’re getting from the mayor.”

  Sister Marianna leaned forward on her seat. “Are you saying that the congregation is using the mayor’s stay as leverage to make her one of our regular donors?”

  The idea sounded even better coming from Sister Marianna. “I’m afraid that I’m not at liberty to say, but as you’ve probably realized, having the mayor spend so much time with the congregation gives her an opportunity to learn more about our mission.”

  “She can hear directly from us instead of reading about our works in a letter.”

  “Exactly.”

  “What a brilliant idea, Louise.” Sister Marianna clapped her hands together. Her eyes shone with excitement. “How are you doing with the solicitation? Has she made a donation yet?”

  Sister Lou had anticipated Sister Marianna’s question. “Actually, Marianna, I could use your help with that. Mayor Stanley hasn’t yet made a final commitment.”

  “Of course, Louise. All you had to do was ask.” Sister Marianna rose to her feet. “In fact, I’ll take charge of Mayor Stanley’s education about our congregation and mission for you, and convert her into a regular donor. You won’t have to worry about a thing. Consider this task taken off of your list.”

  Success!

  Sister Lou was thrilled to have found a project that would distract Sister Marianna from further questions about Heather’s stay at the motherhouse or her reelection campaign. As an added bonus, Sister Lou had no doubt that Sister Marianna would turn the mayor into a regular donor for the congregation.

  She smiled up at Sister Marianna. “Thank you, Marianna. I knew that I could count on you. It’s a great relief to be able to leave things in your capable hands.”

  Sis
ter Lou watched Sister Marianna disappear down the hall outside of her office. “Poor Heather.”

  Chapter 26

  I could get used to this.

  Heather buckled her seat belt after Diego closed her passenger door Monday evening. She watched him circle the hood of his SUV. The vehicle may have a lot of miles on it, but it was solid, dependable, and in great shape. Much like its owner.

  The aforementioned owner settled behind the steering wheel and shifted his car into gear. It was minutes before seven o’clock in the evening. The parking lot was dark and pretty much deserted. A shiver chased through her. This would have been the perfect night for her stalker to attack her again. Had he been out there, waiting? Had Diego’s arrival stopped him? The Telegraph editor turned up the heat in his Honda. Had he noticed her shiver?

  “I caught your press conference, announcing your reelection campaign this afternoon. Was that wise?” Diego’s gaze bounced to her, then back to the windshield as he navigated his vehicle out of the town hall visitors’ parking lot.

  “I thought it was. Otherwise I wouldn’t have done it.” Heather wrenched her gaze from Diego’s clean profile and dropped it in the almost empty parking lot.

  “That’s funny. I thought announcing your reelection campaign would be the wrong thing to do, considering a confessed murderer has threatened to kill you if you run for reelection.” Diego’s voice was thick with sarcasm and anger. His tone caught Heather off guard.

  “I’ve told you before. I’m not going to let some madman run me out of my town.”

  “It was that kind of arrogance that got you in trouble in El Paso.” Diego kept his eyes on the road even as he challenged Heather.

  Heather unclenched her teeth, took a calming breath, then clenched them again as she caught his scent. It reminded her of soap. She struggled to erase a mental image of Diego stepping out of the shower. “It was my decision to make, Diego.”

  “Why couldn’t you have waited until after we caught the person who’s threatening you?”

  “I wanted to show this worm that he’s not going to intimidate me.” Heather heard a curious sound like a choking gasp. It seemed to come from Diego.

  “Wouldn’t it be smarter to learn from your mistakes rather than repeating them?” Diego sounded like the words were being ripped from his throat.

  Heather stared at his sharp profile in fascination. “You really are angry, aren’t you? Even angrier than you were in El Paso.”

  “Can you blame me when I see you making the same mistake?”

  “It’s not the same.” Heather turned to stare out of the passenger-side window. “In El Paso, I made the mistake of trusting the wrong person.”

  “No, you made the mistake of not accepting help.” Diego’s sigh expressed sorrow and fatigue. “I wanted to help you, Heather. Why didn’t you let me? You accept help from your cabinet every day. Because you listen to them, Briar Coast is beating the odds and making an incredible economic recovery. Why can’t you accept my help?”

  Heather’s head snapped around to put Diego back in focus. “Are you implying that I’ll only accept help from other women?”

  “That’s not what I said.” Diego’s voice was strained as though he was making a herculean effort to remain calm.

  So was Heather. “They’re incredibly smart and obviously capable.”

  “I know.” Diego glanced at her before turning his attention back to the road. “But I think I’ve proven on more than one occasion that I’m a bit smarter than a rock.”

  Heather smiled. “Yes, you have.”

  She returned to the view through the passenger-side window. The scene was proof that winter was holding on with both hands, but it felt comfortably warm in Diego’s SUV. It was the last Monday in February. Even though St. Patrick’s Day was more than two weeks away, smiling images of the Irish patron saint’s leprechaun mascot had taken over the streets and shop windows.

  Heather’s smile faded. “I read Graham Irsay’s obituary a couple of months ago.”

  “So did I.” Diego’s voice was low.

  Graham Irsay was the political operative who’d set up Heather to take the fall for his corrupt development scheme. He would have succeeded if Diego hadn’t intervened, saving Heather from herself. According to his obituary, Graham, who’d served eight years in prison for his transgressions, drank himself to death.

  “I wonder what happened to his wife and children.”

  “Irsay and his wife separated during his trial. After his conviction, she divorced him and moved back to Austin with their son and daughter. She remarried a few years later.”

  “I remember that Irsay and his wife were born and raised in Austin.” Heather recalled a family photo she’d seen several times on Graham’s desk. It was the perfect campaign image of a wealthy, successful, attractive dark-haired couple with their awkward-looking dark-haired son and blond daughter. More than one curious observer had privately wondered from where the daughter had gotten her strawberry blond curls. “Their children were very young at the time of the trial, weren’t they?”

  “Their son was nine or ten. Their daughter was a year younger.”

  Heather heard the shrug in Diego’s voice. “It must have been a confusing and frightening time for them. Their father disappeared, then their mother took them away from everything that was familiar to them.”

  “None of that was your fault.” Diego’s tone was firm. “Irsay brought all of it on himself.”

  “I know.” Yet Heather couldn’t move past a sense of guilt.

  Diego turned his vehicle onto the wide and winding driveway that curved around the congregational offices and rose toward the motherhouse. Heather studied the landscaping as they crawled along the driveway: the rolling lawns and barren maple trees, the rows of evergreen bushes, and surging evergreen trees.

  Diego stopped his car outside the front door of the congregation’s motherhouse. He turned to her. “Do you want to attend your Charity Spring-Raiser together?”

  Heather had flashbacks of Diego’s similar invitations during the time they’d first known each other: lunch, dinner, coffee before work, drinks after work. She’d been tempted fourteen years ago. Not surprisingly, she was tempted now. The newspaperman was even more handsome, charming, and irresistible today.

  But resist him, she did. “Why don’t we just both go to the event? We don’t have to show up together. I don’t think either one of us wants to become the topic of town gossip.”

  Diego gave her a wistful smile. “I wouldn’t mind.”

  “I would.” She hated that she always had to be so scrupulous about her private life. She was living in a political fishbowl. “I’d rather people didn’t speculate on my personal life. Who’s the mayor dating? Is she getting favorable news coverage because she’s sleeping with the editor of the local paper? I don’t want to have to deal with that.”

  “I understand.” Diego’s words conflicted with his tone. “I’ll see you in the morning, then. Same time?”

  “Yes, thank you.” Heather climbed from Diego’s SUV, dragging her briefcase and purse with her.

  A cold wind snatched her breath away as she walked toward the building. Heather huddled deeper into her sapphire wool coat. She was conscious of Diego watching to make sure she got into the motherhouse safely. His chivalry was another thing that attracted her to him.

  Heather pulled open the motherhouse’s heavy front door, then turned to wave at Diego, letting him know the coast was clear. She watched him drive away. It was too dark to tell if he’d waved back. She liked to imagine that he had.

  Heather sighed, turning toward the elevator that would carry her to her room. She was willing to risk her life to follow her political ambition, but she wasn’t willing to risk her political reputation to follow her heart. The realization left her feeling cold and empty.

  * * *

  “Are you glad you came?” Chris couldn’t take his eyes off Shari. They stood together at the Mayor’s Charity Spring-Raiser lat
e Thursday evening. It was the first day of March.

  Shari’s eyes still sparkled with amusement over Chris telling her she was stunning. That had been an understatement, though. Her flowing sweater dress was a pale green reminiscent of key lime pie. Of course her ankle-high boots were the exact match. How did she walk in those four-inch stilettos? She’d accessorized her outfit with chunky silver jewelry.

  Shari’s gaze swayed to the nearby dessert table. “The mini cupcakes are delicious. And, since we’ve been jogging together in the mornings, I won’t feel guilty when I go back for thirds.”

  “I’ll probably join you.” Chris glanced over his shoulder at the table burdened with cakes, pies, cookies, pudding, and mini cupcakes. “We should smuggle a couple out for Sister Carm.” Sister Carmen’s weakness for pastries, particularly mini chocolate cupcakes, was well known.

  Shari’s dark eyes widened with excitement. “That’s a great idea. Leave it to me.”

  The Briar Coast Community Center once again hosted the annual event. It looked as though a flower shop had exploded in the center’s large ballroom. Petals were strewn over every table. Bouquets of flowers stood on every counter and table around the room. The arrangements featured yellow daisies, red roses, and orange mums. The floral fragrances mingled with the aroma of the hot and cold hors d’oeuvres, and the fresh pastries from the Briar Coast Café. It wasn’t an unpleasant combination. Quite the opposite. Chris felt like he was on a picnic with more than a hundred of his closest friends.

  His attention returned to Shari. It wasn’t a hardship. Chris loved looking at her. “Have you thought any more about whether you’re going to accept the job with Buffalo Today?”

  Shari’s gaze slid away from him. “I haven’t been thinking about it a lot, but I suppose I should make my decision soon.”

  “What’s holding you back?” Chris’s question seemed to make Shari uncomfortable. He sipped the fruit punch one of the servers had offered him when they first arrived. The plastic glass was shaped like a champagne flute.

  “It’s a big decision.” Shari’s nonchalance seemed forced. She took a long drink from her own fruit punch.