For His Name's Sake (Psalm 23 Mysteries)

  For His Name’s Sake

  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

  In the Paths of Righteousness

  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

  For His Name’s Sake

  Psalm 23 Mysteries

  By Debbie Viguié

  Published byBig Pink Bow

  For His Name’s Sake

  Copyright © 2013 by Debbie Viguié

  ISBN-13: 978-0615895529

  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 fans who have loved and supported this series. Thank you all.

  Thank you to everyone who helped make this book a reality, particularly Barbara Reynolds, Rick Reynolds and Calliope Collacott.

  1

  Cindy Preston was always slightly suspicious of Wednesdays. Wednesdays, the middle of the week when you could start celebrating a work week half-finished or nearly, were often the days when life threw you a curve ball and turned your perfectly ordinary week upside down and into something completely...different.

  “Weird Wednesdays” was what her roommate and coworker Geanie often called them and Cindy had grown to agree with her. Just to make it that much more unpredictable, only some Wednesdays shook things up. Others were perfectly calm and quiet. Working as a church secretary could be stressful and unpredictable at times. Wednesdays were usually one of the days that the least number of people came into the office. Mondays and Tuesdays they were still dealing with issues from the weekend and Thursdays and Fridays ministry leaders were preparing for the new weekend. Wednesdays were usually quiet.

  Except for when they weren’t.

  Like now.

  “Weird Wednesday,” she said out loud as she stared at herself in the full-length mirror. The image that stared back at her looked flushed, agitated. Why shouldn’t she be all those things? After all, she was standing in the middle of a bridal shop wearing a wedding dress.

  When she had woken up that morning nothing in the world could have prepared her for this.

  “You look stunning,” the owner of the store gushed.

  “Thank you,” Cindy mumbled, watching in the mirrors as her blush deepened.

  “That dress fits you so perfectly,” Geanie said. “And it looks like something right out of a fairy tale.”

  Cindy couldn’t argue with that. The dress had a sweetheart neckline and a tightly fitted bodice. Short sleeves fluttered against her upper arms. Cascades of ruffles made their way down the dress and thousands of sequins and small crystals sparkled every time she moved. The train of the dress was nearly six feet long. It was a dress fit for a princess and wearing it she felt like one.

  “So, will you be taking this one?” the owner asked.

  Cindy couldn’t even bring herself to look at the price tag on the dress, guessing that it was astronomically expensive. She glanced at Geanie who nodded enthusiastically. “Definitely. How long will it take to do any alterations? The wedding is in-”

  “A week and a half, I remember. It’s unusual to have such a rush job.”

  “Well, it was an emergency, it couldn’t be helped,” Cindy said, clearing her throat slightly.

  “We can have the seamstress take measurements this evening and she should have everything done in a week, but it will cost more,” the woman said.

  “That’s fine. This wedding has been a long time coming and everything has to be perfect,” Geanie said brightly. “After all, a girl only marries her true love once.”

  Geanie glanced at her phone and winced. “Our lunch break is nearly over. We need to get back to work.”

  Cindy turned for one last wistful glance in the mirror. As she moved she could see the whole shop from the three angled mirrors in front of her, including the front windows. Outside she saw someone looking in, a man with his hand up to his eyes.

  Cindy turned to look but he was gone.

  “Joseph is a very lucky man,” the owner of the shop said as she picked up the train so Cindy wouldn’t get tangled in it as she stepped down off the dais she had been on.

  “He doesn’t know how lucky,” Cindy said, flashing Geanie a quick grin.

  Now it was Geanie’s turn to blush. At least one of them was going to be a blushing bride.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to try the dress on before you buy it?” Cindy asked.

  Geanie shook her head. “It’s perfect, exactly what I wanted. Thank you for trying it on for me so I could get a good look at the whole thing. Besides, I’ll be wearing it tonight while the seamstress pins everything.”

  Geanie’s scramble to get a replacement wedding dress had all been brought about by the wedding planner accidentally having the last dress sent to Joseph’s house that morning. Joseph had opened the box, realized what he was looking at and slammed it shut again before calling Geanie at work to tell her what had happened. The damage had been done, though. There was no way Geanie was walking down the aisle in a dress that Joseph had already had a glimpse of.

  She had enlisted Cindy’s help in emergency shopping and Cindy was just grateful she’d only had to try on three dresses instead of dozens. All the craziness with the wedding planning had had Geanie running so much that she’d dropped a couple of dress sizes and anything she tried on just hung on her so that she couldn’t get a good idea of how it would look when it was actually fitted to her.

  And just like that Cindy had gone from being the moral support to being the wedding dress model and she had to admit the whole experience had shaken her more than a little.

  With Geanie’s help she managed to get back out of the dress and she put her own clothes back on while Geanie paid for the gown. For just a moment she had stared at herself in that dress and wondered what it would be like to be the one getting married.

  When she was a little girl she had spent hours thinking and talking about her future wedding with her sister Lisa. Since Lisa’s death she hadn’t given the whole topic much thought.

  But now that she was thinking about it, she was finding it difficult to stop, especially when her thoughts drifted to a certain dark-haired rabbi.

  “What is wrong with you?” she demanded of herself as she slipped on her shoes and prepared to join Geanie again. She was being ridiculous. There was nothing between her and Jeremiah, plain and simple. How could there be?

  Yet every time she thought of him lately she felt a catch in her throat and she could swear her pulse would start to skitter out of control. She was being ridiculous.

  “It’s just Geanie and Joseph and all their wedding craziness, that’s all,” she whispered. r />
  She took a deep breath and stepped out of the dressing room.

  “All set,” Geanie called and together they headed toward the door and Geanie’s car waiting outside. Geanie was carrying a garment bag.

  “You’re not just leaving the dress here until tonight?”

  “And risk something happening to this one? No. I’m going to have a hard enough time letting the seamstress take it at this point. Besides, I want to check it against my shoes and jewelry at home and make sure I still like how they’ll work. I’d rather know now and not a week from now if I have to switch anything else around.

  “It’s a great dress,” Cindy said as she got into the passenger seat.

  “Thanks. You know, I think I’m going to like it better than the original one I picked out. How weird is that? It took me three months to find that first one.”

  “Maybe it was fate that Joseph saw the last one,” Cindy teased.

  “Don’t joke, you know I believe in that kind of thing.”

  “I know.”

  “Now we have to go back to work. Weird Wednesday,” Geanie said with a sigh.

  Cindy thought of herself again in the dress. “Yes, yes it is,” she agreed.

  “I hope nothing else goes crazy this week now with the wedding.”

  Cindy remained quiet. In her experience when Weird Wednesdays hit, they were game changers which caused the rest of the week to be different, usually crazy.

  “I’m glad your dress is already taken care of.”

  “Me, too.” Cindy was going to be the maid of honor and her fuchsia satin gown had been safely tucked away in her closet for almost two months now.

  “Joseph and the guys are getting their tux fittings tonight.”

  Which meant Jeremiah would be getting his tux. Cindy’s breath caught in her throat at the thought. Any man looked good in a tuxedo but she just knew that Jeremiah was going to look amazing. He was going to be serving as Joseph’s best man. It was something that he still seemed slightly surprised about.

  It didn’t surprise her at all. Joseph didn’t have many close friends and she and Jeremiah had both saved him and his beloved award-winning dogs from murderous thieves. It made the four of them close even if Jeremiah didn’t see it.

  “You know if we’re fast we can grab some to go sandwiches from the minimart down the street from the church,” Geanie said.

  Cindy’s stomach rumbled at the thought. “Sounds good. I’d like to eat something before dinner.” Minimart sandwiches were not high on her list of preferred foods but at least it was better than trying to work on an empty stomach.

  Two minutes later Geanie pulled into the minimart. They hopped out of the car, ran inside, and quickly emerged with their sandwiches.

  “Do you think Joseph will love the dress?”

  “Are you kidding? You could wear a burlap sack and he’d love it,” Cindy said.

  She heard tires spinning on gravel and she turned to see a black sedan bearing directly down on them.

  With a shout Cindy grabbed Geanie’s arm and jumped back. The car swerved closer and she threw herself backward, landing with Geanie half in the doorway of the store. The sedan roared by, barely missing their feet.

  She heard a shout from inside the store and a moment later the clerk was vaulting over them into the parking lot, his fist raised at the retreating car. He turned to them, his face ashen, and bent down.

  “Are you ladies okay?”

  Cindy nodded slowly as she sat up. “I’m okay, I think. Geanie, anything broken?”

  “I’ll let you know in a minute.”

  Geanie spoke so softly that alarm bells went off in Cindy’s mind. Her roommate was typically anything but quiet. She turned and took a good look at her. Geanie’s face was scrunched up in pain and she was holding her left elbow.

  “I’m going to call the police,” the clerk said.

  “Did you get the license plate number?” Cindy asked.

  “I sure did.”

  “Maybe you should call an ambulance, too.”

  “No, it’s okay, I think I’m just bruised,” Geanie protested.

  “It wouldn’t hurt to go to the hospital and have them check you out,” Cindy said.

  “No, no hospital. I’m fine and I don’t have time to waste waiting for them to give me a bandage.”

  Geanie struggled to sit up and then flexed her left arm. “See, nothing broken, but I bet I’m going to have a heck of a bruise. My arm hit the ground first.”

  “Sorry,” Cindy said.

  “For what? Saving my life? Please, if it hadn’t been for you that maniac would have run me down.”

  The clerk headed inside and Cindy could hear him talking as he called the police. She was grateful and more than a little surprised that he had managed to get the license plate number. Hopefully the police caught the maniac. The driver must have been drunk or something to drive so recklessly.

  Unless they were trying to hit Geanie, the thought flashed through her mind. She dismissed it a minute later as ridiculous. No one on earth would want to harm Geanie, and besides, it wasn’t like the minimart was a favorite hangout or anything. No, this had just been a case of wrong place wrong time. Fortunately neither of them had been really hurt.

  Cindy pulled out her phone and put in a call to Sylvia, the business manager at the church, and let her know what had happened. She told Cindy that she would just put a closed sign on the office door and that in light of the circumstances she and Geanie should take the rest of the day off.

  “What did she say?” Geanie asked when Cindy got off the phone.

  “She said she’s going to hang a sign on the office door that says ‘Closed for Wedding Business’.”

  “Oh great,” Geanie said, rolling her eyes.

  “I’m pretty sure she was joking,” Cindy said. With Sylvia it was sometimes hard to tell, but at least Cindy thought she was joking. The truth was that wedding fever had been starting to grip the whole church the last few days. It wasn’t every day that a staff member married the church’s wealthiest, most eligible bachelor. Gus, the music director at the church, had even taken to referring to it as the Royal Wedding. With the entire congregation invited it was going to be epically huge.

  Two uniformed officers finally arrived and with a bit of disappointment Cindy realized she didn’t know either of them. Thanks to all of the investigations she’d been involved in the past couple of years she’d met a lot of the local officers.

  They took statements from her, Geanie, and the clerk. It was nearly an hour before they were finally able to leave.

  Geanie drove them slowly home, still obviously sore. Fortunately they had driven in to work together so there was no need to stop at the church for Cindy’s car. When they made it home and walked inside Cindy couldn’t help but notice that the other woman was walking very stiffly.

  “Maybe you should take a bath, it might help,” Cindy suggested.

  “That and a handful of aspirin,” Geanie said with a strained smile.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to take you to the doctor or the hospital, just to get checked out?”

  “I’m sure, but thanks.”

  Geanie headed off to her room and Cindy glanced at the clock. It was half past two and she debated what to do with the rest of her afternoon. After a moment’s hesitation she called Jeremiah’s cell. She was about to ask if he wanted to have an early dinner. It went straight to voicemail, though, and she hung up without leaving a message.

  She finally opted for doing laundry and watching a movie. It was boring, but the laundry needed to get done, and these might be the last few sane hours she had before the wedding consumed every waking moment.

  A couple of hours later Geanie came into the family room looking immensely better than she had earlier. She was carrying the bag with her new dress in it and she was smiling again.

  “Off to get it fitted?” Cindy asked.

  “That’s the plan. I’d ask if you wanted to come with, but it’s
going to be crazy boring.”

  “Yeah, I remember your last fitting,” Cindy said with a smirk. “Hopefully this time you won’t get jabbed with pins.”

  “In the ankle! What was with that?” Geanie demanded, clearly reliving her earlier injury.

  “Have fun with that.”

  “I’ll have fun later tonight.”

  “Doing something with Joseph?”

  “No, he and the guys are doing the tux thing and you and I are going to be working on the wedding favors, remember?”

  Cindy winced, having forgotten about that. It was a good thing she had done her laundry already. “Want me to see if I can get the other bridesmaids to come over tonight to help out?”

  Geanie sighed. “My cousin doesn’t get here until this weekend and Melissa and Veronica both said they’re busy tonight.”

  I’ll bet, Cindy thought privately. She plastered on a fake smile and out loud said, “Don’t worry, we’ll get them all done. They don’t know what fun they’re missing out on.”

  “I know, right? Besides, this is our one chance to get these done before everything gets really crazy.”

  Cindy wasn’t sure she wanted to see what Geanie’s idea of “really crazy” was. Still, she had agreed to be the maid of honor and this was all part of the package.

  “Good luck, don’t get stuck.”

  “I won’t.”

  Cindy got up the moment the door closed. She had a couple more things she needed to straighten up around the house before the Royal Wedding took over completely.

  She’d been cleaning the kitchen for about twenty minutes when her phone rang. Cindy snatched it up, hoping it was Jeremiah. She was disappointed when she saw that it was Geanie calling.