Swan asked, “Did you kill Cecile Briles?”
The reverend turned. “No. I wanted to when she confessed that she’d intentionally set out to ruin my life because of the way I’d turned my back on her those many years ago. And she has.” He looked at Eli. “I suppose your mother’s going to want me to find a new church?”
“That would probably be best.”
He turned back to the window, was silent for a long while, and then said, “I was weak. She tempted me like Eve with the apple. Like Adam, I was but of flesh.”
Eli who’d been around progressive women all of his life, wasn’t buying the excuse. “And like Adam, you made the choice to take that fruit, Reverend. Cecile didn’t hold a gun to your head.”
Anderson apparently didn’t appreciate Eli’s insight. “Do you need me for anything else?” he asked tersely.
Swan replied, “No, but don’t leave town. I may have other questions for you at a later date.”
“I understand.” He met Eli’s hostile eyes then looked away. “Good day, gentlemen.” He exited without further word.
Eli glanced at Bryce. “Well?”
Bryce shrugged “He could be the one. Loses his wife and his church. He wasn’t happy with you sticking a pin in that excuse balloon he was attempting to send up. We’ll keep him on the list.”
Eli agreed.
Next up was Solomon Bates. They found him at home in his apartment above the funeral home. He ushered them in politely then stood, waiting.
Swan said, “Thanks for agreeing to see us, Mr. Bates.”
Bates nodded.
Eli knew that Sol had buried Cecile yesterday and had been the only one at the graveside. Not even the now-disgraced Reverend Anderson had come to see her put into the ground.
“Are her personal items still here?” Eli asked.
“Other than the gown she was buried in, yes.”
“I’d like to see them,” Swan stated.
Eli thought the short man would refuse at first. The look on his face showed he was not happy with the request, but he seemed to think better of defying the policeman and so led them into his small bedroom. On the short dresser were two handbags. The doors to an armoire were open and her gowns could be seen hanging inside.
Swan asked, “Have you gone through any of her things?”
“Of course not. Why would I?”
Eli and Swan shared a look.
Swan said to Eli, “You take the handbags. I’ll take the drawers and the armoire.” Eli dumped the contents of the first bag on the bed and as he began to look through the train ticket stubs and other detritus, he asked, Bates, “Have you checked your safe since she became your houseguest?”
“What?”
“Your safe, Sol. Is everything that is supposed be in there still there?”
“Are you asking if she stole from me? That’s a terrible question to ask.”
“Just go look in the safe, please.”
“Cecile wouldn’t—”
“Man, get your head out of the sand. If everything’s as it should be, I’ll apologize.”
Solomon stomped over to the wall safe hidden behind a picture and opened it. He moved the contents inside around for a few moments, and then his searching became frantic and his eyes were wide.
Eli shook his head as he dumped out another handbag and hit the jackpot. “This what you’re looking for?” he asked and tossed the undertaker a small but heavy coin bag.
Sol made the catch and dragged open the draw-string. Inside was almost three hundred dollars. “Oh my!”
Swan said to Eli, “Guess you won’t have to apologize.”
“Guess not.”
While Swan and Eli continued their search, Bates dropped silently into a chair and placed his head in his hands.
Chapter 16
Jewel was missing Eli something fierce. For the last few days he’d been coming home late and leaving before she got up as he and the Boston policeman continued to search for clues that might lead to Cecile’s killer. Everywhere she went people stopped her and asked if Eli had found anything new, and each time she told them no, but that he was still looking. Thanks to her monthly and the ongoing investigation, she felt as if they hadn’t made love in months. She didn’t complain because of the importance of what he was doing, but she did miss having him near.
That morning, he was once again gone by the time she got up, so she padded out to the kitchen to see if he’d made any coffee. She froze at the sight of Creighton Wilson sitting at the table. “What are you doing here!”
“Didn’t mean to scare you, Jewel, but you’re the only person I know to talk to.”
She noticed how dirty and unkempt he and his clothing were. He looked like he’d been sleeping on the ground in the forest. “Eli’s been looking for you, Creighton. He’s been talking to everybody about Cecile’s death and he has some questions he wants to ask?”
“Figured he would. I want you to go with me so I can turn myself in.”
He then looked up at Jewel and she saw the sadness in his eyes. “I killed her,” he whispered.
Her first thought was to wonder if she could be in danger as well, so she casually glanced around the kitchen in search of something she could use to defend herself should it become necessary. “You want something to eat,” she asked, trying not to show the nervousness making her heart pound.
“Yeah. I’m pretty hungry. I’ve been too scared to go home or into town.”
She fried up some eggs and bacon, reheated some of the biscuits left over from last night’s dinner with Eli, and put everything on a plate. “Here you go.”
He dove in like a man starved, and while he was preoccupied with eating, she slipped a very sharp boning knife into the pocket of the apron she’d put on when she began cooking breakfast. Too wary to eat herself, she poured herself a cup of coffee and stood by the stove, well out of his reach as she sipped slowly. She prayed that somebody, anybody, would stop by for a visit so she’d have help with this. And she preferred someone large in stature like her husband, father, or one of her brothers because Creighton was a big man as well.
He looked up at her and she froze. A cold smile spread across his face and lingered in the formerly sad eyes. “You think I’m going to hurt you, don’t you?”
“It has crossed my mind, yes.”
“I am, Jewel. I’ve always wanted you for myself, but I’m going to wait to do it after I tell you why I killed that whore.”
Jewel fought down the terror that was threatening to buckle her knees.
“You’re scared, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Cecile was scared. I liked that.”
Jewel tried to determine if she could make it to the door behind her quickly enough to escape.
“If you run away, Jewel, I’ll have to hurt you more, so don’t try, okay?”
“I won’t run, Cray. I promise.”
“Good. Thanks for feeding me. Do you want me to put the plate in the sink?”
“No. I’ll take care of it later. You were going to tell me about Cecile.”
He seemed to go away in his mind for a few moments, then said, “She told my father I was seeing her. No, she told him I was fucking her. Such a crude word, fucking. I thought she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever met, besides you, but she was only beautiful on the outside. Inside she was a crude whore.”
Jewel’s insides shook.
“You’d never use that word, would you?”
“Never.”
That seemed to please him. “My father was angry at her, and at me. He told me I wasn’t his son anymore. Started drinking and told me to get out.” The pain he carried was easy to see. “So I left.”
“I’m sorry, Cray.”
He snapped coldly. “You weren’t sorry when your brothers laughed at me. You weren’t sorry when Pa and I came across you that night sitting on Eli’s lap.”
Jewel’s heart was pumping so hard from fear she found it difficult to breathe.
r />
“But you’ll pay, Jewel Crowley. Just like Cecile.”
She knew then that she had to get out. The unbalanced anger in his eyes was terrifying. “I thought you wanted to turn yourself in?”
“I did, but I changed my mind. I’m going to have you first, then show you how I killed the whore. Where’s the bed you and Eli use?”
Horror screamed in Jewel’s mind. She’d kill herself first before she’d let him rape her in the bed she and Eli shared. She turned to run, but he was quick for a man his size. He grabbed her with a hand around her throat, and from that point on time seemed to slow. She saw his other hand reach out, but by then, she’d already drawn the knife. Feeling the pressure closing down her windpipe cutting off her breathing, she jammed the razor sharp blade into his groin and jerked it up as far and as hard as she could, slicing through bone, tissue, and sinew. His hands fell away, his screams filled the air, his blood spurted everywhere, and she gasped for life-giving air on legs too jellied to run, but she forced herself to stumble toward the door. He was screaming like an enraged bear and came after her, but by that time, Jewel was down the back steps and into the yard before he could catch her. Running, she looked back, her eyes wide, her throat on fire, and saw him clutching his blood-stained belly and cursing her as if he wanted the vile words to kill her because he could not. He fell from the steps, hit the ground and didn’t move again.
After Eli and Swan completed another fruitless day, they returned to the mayor’s office. Eli asked, “You want to come home with me and have dinner? I’m sure Jewel has food waiting and I doubt she’ll mind.”
Swan studied him. “I’d hate to barge in on her without a proper invitation.”
“It will be okay.”
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
“Then the answer is yes.”
As Eli drove, Swan looked out over the land and said, “Looks a lot like home.”
“Does it?”
“Yes, it does. Makes me miss it and my wife.”
“I didn’t know you were married.”
They spent the rest of the drive talking about Swan’s life back in Boston, his wife, Beatrice, and his two sons, Ethan and Cyrus.
“How long have you been a policeman?”
“Too long, I think sometimes, but fifteen years come December.”
“That long?”
By then, they’d reached the bluff and as Eli drove up the incline he could see his wife sitting on the porch in the rocking chair she’d made and his heart smiled at the sight. But as they grew closer, he paused, sensing something not quite right. The rocker was moving way too fast and she was holding the chair so tightly he could see the bulges in her arms from where he sat on the wagon bench. Only then did he realize that the woman he loved more than life was covered with blood! He tossed the reins aside, jumped down and ran to the porch. Swan ran, too.
“Jewel?” Eli called softly as he kneeled beside her. Speckles of dried blood were all over her face in her hair and on the front of the old blue shirt she was wearing. Seeing it put his heart in his throat. “Sweetheart, what’s happened? Are you hurt?”
She continued to rock. The eyes that had been staring straight ahead suddenly filled with tears and then met his. She whispered. “I knew you’d come if I sat here long enough. I knew.”
He reached down and grabbed her up, blood and all. She held on to him as if for dear life. “It was so awful,” she cried. “I had to kill him, Eli. I had to.”
Swan left them and disappeared inside the house.
“Who, darling? Who?’
“Cray. He killed Cecile. He wanted to kill me, too.”
Eli clutched her tighter. “God!”
“I knew you’d come. I knew you would.”
Heart aching, he carried her inside and sat her down on the sofa. When she began to rock again his worry heightened.
Swan walked into the parlor. “How is she?”
“Not sure. I think she may be in shock.”
“She’s a pretty brave lady. Whoever he is, she gutted him like a trout. Found the knife she must have used on him lying on the floor in the kitchen.”
“He’s Creighton Wilson. James’s son. She said he killed Cecile.”
Eli looked at his staring and rocking wife with rising concern. “I don’t want to leave her, so could you drive back to town, go to the store and tell Miss Edna what’s happened and that I need her as fast as she can get here.”
“Will do.”
“And ask her to get word to my mother and to send someone to tell Jewel’s father, Adam.”
“I’ll send help back fast as I can. Can I use the wagon outside to take the body back to town?”
Eli nodded.
“Oh, and the kitchen floor and walls are splattered with blood, you might want to keep her out of there until everything’s cleaned up.”
“Thanks.”
After Swan’s departure, Eli went to Jewel, put her in his lap and held her against his pounding heart. That she had almost been Creighton’s second victim tore him up inside, but the knowledge that she was alive and in his arms made him feel blessed. “Is there anything you want me to do for you, Jewel?”
“Just hold me,” she whispered.
Eli had no problem honoring her request. He’d hold her until the sun became the moon if it would help her shake off the terror she must have experienced. He and Swan had been looking for Creighton for days now, but had they known he was the person responsible for murdering Cecile, they would have moved heaven and earth to find him. Instead, Creighton found Jewel. Eli tightened his hold, so sorry he hadn’t been there to help her, but she’d evidently done all right without him.
Jewel had never felt so safe. With Eli’s arms around her, she knew no harm would touch her, ever, and all the anxiety and fear roiling inside seemed to be fading. “I need to wash up,” she told him softly. She hoped that ridding herself of the blood and being clean again would aid in righting herself.
“Do you want me to help you?”
She shook her head. “I think I’ll be okay on my own, but will you wait outside the door?”
“I’ll wait in hell if you need me to.”
She looked up. “I love you, Eli.”
“You are my heart, Jewel.”
When Adam, Abigail, and Miss Edna arrived, Jewel was clean and sitting up in bed. Dressed in a plain cotton nightgown, Eli thought she still looked very pale, but all the blood was gone and he hoped to never see her that way again. It hurt him too much.
To give Jewel some privacy while Miss Edna examined her, Eli, Adam, and Abigail stepped outside the room.
“So what happened?” Adam demanded.
Eli told them as much of the story as he knew.
At the end of the tale, Adam was furious. “Be glad he’s dead,” he fumed. “Otherwise the boys and I would be hunting him down like a rabid wolf.”
Abigail patted him on the arm reassuringly. “She’s fine, Adam. Thank God she kept her wits about her, though.”
Eli was thankful for that as well, and he attributed her survival to the fearless way she’d been raised. “Be proud of the way you raised her, Adam. I’m not sure she would be still with us if you hadn’t.”
Adam nodded, but he was impatient to speak with his daughter. “How long is Edna going to be? I want to see Jewel.”
“She’ll be done in a few moments,” Abigail said to him. “Just be patient.”
As Abigail predicted, Miss Edna came out of the room a short while later. “Physically, she’s fine. She’s had a horrible experience, so it may take some time for her to go back to being the Jewel we know and love.”
Eli asked, “But she’s not hurt in any way?”
“Just her spirit.”
Eli was glad to hear that.
Edna looked to Adam Crowley. “She’s asking for you, Adam.”
He nodded and walked to the door.
Jewel looked up when her father came in. “Hello, Pa,” she said quie
tly.
“How’s my Jewel doing?” Studying her, he sat down on the edge of the bed.
“I’ve been better.”
He looked off into the distance for a moment as if thinking back on what she’d had to endure, then said, “I’m real proud of you.”
“Why?”
“Because you did what you had to do to survive. Not many women can do that.”
“They didn’t have you as a father,” she reminded him. Suddenly, the memory of the awful encounter returned and she did her best not to let it reclaim her soul. “I killed a man, Pa.”
“It was either kill or be killed.”
“I know, but…”
“But what?” he asked gently.
“I wish I hadn’t had to, I guess.”
“Truthfully, better him than you.”
Adam looked into the face that so resembled his late wife. “When you were born, you were so small you could fit into the palm of my hand.”
Their eyes met and she smiled softly. “I must have been quite a shock after all the boys.”
He nodded. “You were, but your mother was so very happy. I was, too.” He quieted for a moment. “No offense to Abigail, but I miss her.”
“I do, too.”
“I know. I think you took her passing harder than anyone, including me.”
“It was the first time death ever took someone I loved from my life.”
“I’m glad it didn’t take you from mine today.”
“So am I.”
Father and daughter shared a look of love, then he hugged her tight. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Tears stung Jewel’s eyes as she hugged him back with a love that welled up from her heart. “I am.”
He kissed her cheek and rose to his feet. “Then I’m going to leave you alone now. Your brothers are probably here by now and I know whoever else is outside is chomping at the bit to get in here, but don’t let them tire you out. You hear?”
“I hear. And Pa?”
He turned from the door and looked back.
“Thanks for being my father.”
He nodded. “Thank you for being my jewel. Rest up.”