In the Paths of Righteousness
Other Books by Debbie Viguié
The Psalm 23 Mysteries
The Lord is My Shepherd
I Shall Not Want
Lie Down in Green Pastures
Beside Still Waters
Restoreth My Soul
The Kiss Trilogy
Kiss of Night
Kiss of Death
Kiss of Revenge
Sweet Seasons
The Summer of Cotton Candy
The Fall of Candy Corn
The Winter of Candy Canes
The Spring of Candy Apples
Witch Hunt
The Thirteenth Sacrifice
The Last Grave
In the Paths of Righteousness
Psalm 23 Mysteries
By Debbie Viguié
Published byBig Pink Bow
In the Paths of Righteousness
Copyright © 2013 by Debbie Viguié
ISBN-13: 978-0615860268
Published by Big Pink Bow
www.bigpinkbow.com
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Dedicated to the memory of Fran Ludwin, a fan of this series who understood Cindy very well. She will be missed.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this book a reality, particularly Barbara Reynolds, Rick Reynolds and Calliope Collacott. A special thank you to my Superfans: Melanie Smith, Karen Cruz, Angie Arey, Becky Lewis, Michelle Flint, Tina Grinde and Jennifer Roland. Without you guys this book wouldn’t exist. Thank you for your continued support.
1
Jeremiah Silverman usually loved Sundays. They were one of his days off and always a welcome respite after spending the Sabbath working at the synagogue. It was always ironic. The Sabbath wasn’t supposed to be about work, but as a rabbi, it was kind of unavoidable. So, while Saturday was the Sabbath, Sunday was usually his day of rest.
Only, not this Sunday. This Sunday was one of the more stressful he’d spent in a while. And for once it wasn’t because he was dealing with a dead body. No, the person causing him such great distress was living and breathing. And no matter how much Jeremiah wished that he could change that, he really couldn’t. Well, he really shouldn’t.
The truth was he’d spent all of ten minutes in the presence of Kyle Preston and he could already tell that it was going to be an incredibly long week. If both of them survived it would be nothing short of a miracle.
Kyle Preston was a travel show host for the Escape! Channel. He specialized in all the crazy, insane things that so many people dreamed about and only insane people actually did. He was exuberant, arrogant, and, most importantly, Cindy’s brother.
Jeremiah glanced over at Cindy Preston. Cindy was the secretary at the church next door to his synagogue. More than that she was his friend. His best friend if he was being honest with himself. More honest than that he tried to avoid being.
Cindy was looking incredibly flustered and he knew that it had to be hard to have her worlds colliding. After all, it was the first time any one of her family members had met her friends. Worse, it was happening on Kyle’s terms and not hers.
“I blame you for all of this,” Mark whispered under his breath from where he sat next to Jeremiah on a bale of hay. The detective was clearly not happy.
“It’s going to be fun,” Traci, Mark’s wife, said brightly from his other side.
Fun.
Jeremiah took a deep breath. His idea of fun was going to The Zone theme park or the movies or just hanging out with Cindy and talking about things that didn’t even matter. Wilderness treks were not his idea of fun. They were too much a reminder of times in his own past he’d rather forget. But for Cindy’s sake he plastered a smile on his face. He would try to get along with Kyle, too. After all, the guy actually thought he was doing something nice for the rest of them.
“This is going to be the best vacation any of you have ever had,” Kyle enthused, wrapping up his welcome speech.
“You didn’t say anything about us being followed around by television cameras,” Mark said.
It was true. Cindy had been kidnapped a few months before and Mark and Jeremiah had both been instrumental in her rescue. As a thank you Kyle had decided to use his connections to take them all with him on a week-long cattle drive vacation. He had insisted that Cindy come and bring Jeremiah, Mark, and Traci along with her. Traci was the only one who had been excited about the prospect, not because she wanted to spend a week on horseback driving a herd of cattle but because she was a huge fan of Kyle’s. Jeremiah didn’t envy Mark the headache of keeping his wife’s enthusiasm in check.
Of course, Jeremiah was far more worried about the television cameras than anything else. He had thought about leaving the moment he found out, but that would mean explaining a lot to Cindy that he wasn’t ready to do just yet. Camera shy didn’t begin to cover his problem. With a sigh he decided that the best solution was just to try and get through the week and then make sure the footage was destroyed before it could ever see the light of day.
“Alright, chow’s on!” Kyle said excitedly.
They all stood up and filed over to the chuck wagon where tin bowls waited them. The camp cook heaped them full of stew and Jeremiah looked at his bowl distrustfully. Kyle walked up and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, we may be doing this whole trip authentic style, totally roughing it, but I told them all the food had to be kosher. The chef even found a recipe to make bacon out of lamb, so hopefully it will all be amazing.”
Jeremiah forced himself to smile. “Thanks,” he said.
“Of course,” Kyle said cheerfully.
He really is trying to be nice, Jeremiah reminded himself, even though he found the man off-putting. Of course, that could have something to do with the fact that he knew that Cindy had a dartboard with her brother’s face on it that she routinely used as target practice.
They all headed back to their bales of hay with full bowls and sat down. They had arrived less than an hour before, having to take a helicopter to reach the spot where they were now which was in the middle of nowhere. There was a rundown cabin behind them, the chuck wagon, and a corral filled with horses. Kyle’s crew who would be accompanying them, consisted of half a dozen people who were huddled together on another set of hay bales several feet away. The three professional cowboys were also keeping to themselves. Counting the cook it was going to be a group of fifteen heading out in the morning.
Kyle’s producer and an older gentleman who apparently was co-owner of the adventure tour they were going on would be taking the helicopter back in the morning. For the rest of them, there would be no civilization for six days, just miles of open range and sore rumps. They would be sleeping under the stars so Kyle had encouraged all of them to pray for good weather.
“I’m sorry I got you all into this,” Cindy said as she perched with her bowl on her knees.
Traci smiled at her brightly. “Are you kidding? This is going to be the best vacation ever! Nobody could believe it when I told them I was going on a trip with Kyle Preston.”
Mark rolled his eyes.
Cindy grinned and the sight lifted Jeremiah?
??s spirits. He had been taken aback by the camera crew and he had to admit he had been prepared to dislike Kyle. The truth was, though, anywhere with Cindy was better than anywhere else without her.
“Sure, it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Jeremiah said. “It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been on a horse, so it will be good to ride again. And being out in nature is always a good thing, makes it easy to commune with G-d and spend time laughing with the people you care about.”
Mark looked like he was about to say something sarcastic, but Cindy jumped in. “I’ve never ridden a horse,” she confessed.
“Me either,” Mark said.
Jeremiah winced. The two of them were in for a rude awakening and were going to be incredibly sore for most of the journey.
“I took lessons when I was a kid,” Traci said. “I always dreamed of riding in the Olympics. You want to hear something funny? I’ve never actually ridden a Western saddle before, though.”
“There’s more to hang on to,” Jeremiah said.
“Lucky for us,” Cindy added. She looked nervous, though.
He hadn’t thought about it before, but this had to be way out of her comfort zone, especially if she’d never ridden at all. It was logical that she’d be nervous, especially given how risk adverse she was. Of course, even that seemed to be changing more every day. He figured that was a natural side effect of all the mysteries they’d solved together in the last year-and-a-half, all the dangerous situations she’d been in.
He reached over and squeezed her hand. “You’re going to be fine,” he reassured her. “I won’t let anything bad happen to you.” He held her hand for a few moments longer than necessary, loathe to let go. He finally forced himself to with an inward sigh. She turned her head and a strand of her light brown hair fell across her face. He barely resisted the urge to tuck it behind her ear. The relationship with her was getting more complicated and he didn’t know what to do about it.
“So, what is the deal with your brother?” Mark asked.
They all turned to look at Kyle. He was tall, tan, and blonde. He was wearing clothes that in style and color were a cross between cowboy gear and adventurer wear. He bounced lightly on the balls of his feet as he moved, as though he was filled with energy that was just dying to burst forth at any moment. In addition to the energy he had a lot of charisma, the perfect combination for the host of a television travel show. He was a minor celebrity, and Jeremiah knew that Cindy’s parents favored her brother which drove her crazy.
“He’s been a daredevil since we were kids,” Cindy said, sounding far away. “I used to get so mad at him because I felt like he was taking foolish risks with his life.”
“Used to be?” Traci asked.
Cindy turned back and shrugged. “I guess if I’ve learned anything the last year or so it’s that risk is everywhere and it doesn’t matter how safe you try to be, sometimes danger finds you.”
“True enough,” Mark muttered.
“Okay, everyone, head inside and grab your bunk. We’ll need to get a good night’s rest because we’re starting out fresh in the morning,” Kyle addressed everyone.
Jeremiah gazed around the little group. The truth was the last year had brought a lot of trauma to all of them and changed their lives in profound ways. “You know, if ever four people needed a vacation,” he said slowly, “it’s us.”
Traci grinned and nodded her head. “Agreed, and I, for one, plan to squeeze all the enjoyment I can out of this week. Who knows what the future holds, when we will all get a chance to just relax and hang out together. I think this might just be the best vacation ever.”
“Famous last words,” Mark quipped as they stood inside the ramshackle cabin and surveyed their bunks.
Cindy shook her head. “I’m glad I brought my own pillow case.”
“You were smart,” Traci groaned.
“Paranoid is what I thought I was,” Cindy admitted.
The sheets piled on top of each bunk were light gray and she wasn’t sure if that was on purpose.
“Flashbacks to summer camp hell,” Mark muttered. Then she saw him wince and glance at Jeremiah. “Sorry.”
Jeremiah just shook his head.
“At least it’s just for one night,” Cindy said, struggling to hold on to the cheerfulness she’d felt just a few minutes before.
Jeremiah moved to claim a top bunk on the far side of the cabin. Cindy started to pick the one below him, but he shook his head and signaled to the top bunk next to his. “Farther off the floor is better,” he said, although he didn’t explain what he meant by that.
She wrinkled her nose, wondering if they could expect any furry visitors in the night. She hoped not. She quickly worked to make up her bunk and when she was finished she realized that she and Jeremiah would be sleeping with their heads just inches apart. For some reason the thought made her blush and she turned away from him to hide it. She caught Traci grinning at her and she resisted the urge to throw her pillow at her. She didn’t want her clean pillow case anywhere near the floor.
“Pillow fight later?” Mark joked, as though reading her mind.
Traci rolled her eyes. “Sure, it’s all fun and games until someone forgets to take their flashlight out of their pillowcase before it starts.”
“Ouch!” Cindy said. “Please tell me that didn’t happen to you.”
“I’m afraid it did,” Traci said.
“Were you the hitter or the hittee?”
“Both.”
Behind her Cindy could swear she heard Jeremiah stifle a chuckle.
Besides her and Traci there was one other woman in the group, a makeup artist named Liz. Cindy couldn’t even begin to fathom how Kyle thought he was going to need a makeup person when he was trailing through the dust every day. She was grateful, though, that one of his crew was female. They were still vastly outnumbered, but three was better than two.
Kyle came into the cabin. “I want to thank you all for joining me on this journey. We’re riding into the unknown and it will test our limits, but I believe that is the highest goal a man can attain. I chose Columbus Day to start our journey because I believe that like his voyage across the sea, this will be a journey of discovery for each of us. We might not be discovering a new land, but we could be discovering new friends, new depths of strength and courage, and things about ourselves we might never otherwise have known. I see this as the beginning of a great adventure and I’m proud to be embarking on it with all of you.”
His crew broke into applause and after a moment Cindy joined in half-heartedly. She most certainly didn’t want to learn anything new about herself on this journey. She was still struggling to come to grips with everything that had happened to her and she was still struggling with the PTSD that had been plaguing her for the last several weeks. However, she did wish wistfully that the trip might bring her and Kyle closer together so that part she could definitely get behind.
“Alright everyone, that’s it. Lights out in twenty minutes,” he said.
There was a sudden flurry of activity as people moved toward the bathroom that was in the back of the cabin. Liz got there first and she turned around barring the way. “Girls first!” she said firmly.
A couple of guys groused but they turned away. Cindy hurriedly grabbed her bag and she and Traci ran over to join Liz.
“We girls have to stick together,” Liz said under her breath.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Cindy whispered back.
The tile in the bathroom was slippery and Cindy slid slightly after taking off her shoes. “Careful, it’s slick,” she said.
“I noticed, I almost did my best Bambi impression,” Traci said.
Ten minutes later Cindy was back in the main cabin wearing her fleecy pajamas, the ones with cats on them. Kyle had warned her that the nights could get cold, but she would have chosen the pajamas anyway since she was going to be spending the week in mixed company. She noticed that the other two women had made similar choices, although les
s whimsical than hers.
Jeremiah looked at her and smiled.
“What?”
“Nothing. You look very...cozy.”
“I am,” she said, smiling.
She hoisted herself up onto her bunk and prepared to lay down. She tucked her flashlight under her pillow and bit back a laugh when she saw Traci putting hers inside her pillow case. Traci caught her smiling and shrugged. “Old habits die hard.”
Mark and Jeremiah headed toward the restrooms with everyone else. They were both back quickly. A couple of minutes later everyone was in bed and someone turned off the lights.
Cindy lay still in the dark, her heart pounding, hyper aware of just how close Jeremiah was.
“Shouldn’t someone tell a ghost story?” Traci whispered.
Someone else tried to shush her and Cindy fought back a hysterical case of the giggles. She failed and flipped over, trying to at least laugh into her pillow. She heard a couple of others join in.
“This is why girls and boys should have separate cabins. The boys want to sleep,” she heard one guy sigh.
For some reason it just struck her as funny and she started laughing harder.
A moment later Jeremiah whispered, “What kind of ghost story?”
“I will hurt you,” she heard Mark threaten.
All the stress and anxiety that she had carried with her for so long just spilled over and Cindy began shaking with the laughter she couldn’t contain.
“Come on guys,” she heard Kyle say, sounding so much like their father that it just sent her into further fits.
It took twenty minutes and two failed attempts at ghost stories before they all began to fall asleep. Cindy drowsed at the last, feeling more at peace than she had in a long time. It didn’t make any sense, but there it was. She was beginning to think maybe this would be the best vacation ever. Heaven knew she needed one, a real one.