Page 23 of Vows of Murder

“I wouldn’t say no to a bag of peanut M&M’s.” Amanda turned on the television. “Anything special I need to do for Emma?”

“She’ll tell you when she needs to go outside. Just don’t leave her out alone. And only in the backyard. We have too much traffic for her to be out front. There are wild animals that like to hunt local pets. Although most of them are smaller than Emma. I just don’t want to take a chance with her.”

“I’m a good babysitter, I promise.” She patted the couch and Emma came up to lie beside her. My dog could be bribed with a movie. Or a treat. Or a rub on the head. Basically, any kind of attention.

I grabbed my keys. “I’ll see you in a few, then.”

I headed to see Amy first. If I ran into Greg, I could explain it away with wedding banter. Just like Amanda had at the fabric store. I just hoped Greg was busy enough to be as gullible as the Bakerstown officers had been.

The mayor’s car wasn’t parked in his assigned spot, so I thought I might have lucked out. When I went in the front door of city hall, Amy was standing in the hallway, refilling her water bottle.“Hey, friend.”

“What are you doing here? I thought you were on tour guide duty all week?” Amy closed her pink bottle and hugged me. “Not that I’m complaining. Do you have time for lunch?”

“Not today, sorry. Greg’s brother is showing up for dinner tonight with his girlfriend. Amanda loves this girl, so I need to make sure the food is good to even be in the running for her attention.” I followed her into her office. “I wanted to know if you had the New Hope file close by and if I could look at it.”

“You’re investigating?” Amy shook her head, incredulous. “You are getting married on Saturday, have your in-laws to entertain, and have a store to run. And you want to add in solving a murder? Are you crazy? I would have checked myself into a spafor the week.”

“And yet you didn’t,” I reminded her. “Anyway, I’m not investigating. I just don’t understand who Kane was or the structureof New Hope. I know I don’t need to know, but when has that ever stopped me?”

“Well, if Greg asks, you found it on my desk. Open.” She pulled it out of a drawer. “You’re not the first to ask. Esmeralda made a copy of the file yesterday. That’s why it’s still here. I figured there might be others who wanted to see it. Besides, the mayor doesn’t like me to leave the desk unattended. Even for a trip back tothe file room.”

“I promise I’ll keep you out of it.” I grabbed the file and sat in Amy’s visitor chair, taking a picture of each page as I flipped through. I’d read it later. A name jumped out at me. “Maryanne Matthews? That’s right, she said she was married to…” I couldn’t rememberthe guy’s name.

“She was Kane’s sister-in-law. She’s married to Roger. Or at least that’s the rumor. I don’t think there’s a legal marriage license in the bunch.” Amy leaned forward. “I hear they found ten girls hidden onthe compound.”

“Close, but it was only two. And they were at the fabric store when the police stepped in. They didn’t look like they wanted to leave anytime soon.” I took a picture and turned the page. It was copies of three driver’s licenses. Kane, Roger, and Maryanne. I took another picture. Their licenses were from Oregon. “Theyaren’t local.”

“They had a compound in Oregon, but they were growing too big and that’s why they moved down here. They thought the political climate was more conducive.”

I looked up at Amy. “More conducive than Oregon? That a prettyliberal state.”

Amy shrugged. “That’s what they said. Anyway, that’s all I have.”

“I guess if you were run out of your old town you wouldn’t tell your new town your troubles, right?” I finished taking pictures of the information in the file. Thank goodness Amy was my friend. If not, I’d have had to file actual paperwork to get the information and then Greg would find out. And right now, I’d rather not fight about me sticking my nose in his business. At least before the wedding.

I closed the file and handed it back to her. “Don’t you think it’s weird that two brothers were at the helm of this church? I can’t see both of them being called to serve.”

“Sometimes it happens. The church becomes a family business.” Amy put the file in her drawer. “Do you believe that either Kane Matthews or his brother were called to lead a church? I’m probably not the best person to talk to about this. Have you talked to Pastor Bill? I know he had some strong feelings about New Hope’s addition toour community.”

“That’s a good idea. I’ll go see him.” I glanced at my watch. There was no way I would get to Bakerstown and back if I went to see Bill. Besides, I’d see him Friday when he was at our wedding rehearsal. Maybe I could sneak in a conversation then. Or just before the wedding. Didn’t he do counseling for people getting married? I could say I wanted to talk about the wedding.

Greg was going to kill me and I was going to hell for using my own wedding as a means to investigate Kane’s murder. It was that simple.

As I walked to the door that led outside, Amy called after me. “No one would think anything of it if you just stayed out of this investigation. You’ve got a lot going on with your personal life. Like a wedding. No need to be at odds with your groom. Believe me, you’ll find plenty to fight about after the wedding.”

I knew Amy was right. I should stay out of this. I walked to the Jeep, but instead of getting in and going home, I crossed the street and went to the bookstore. I could still change my mind about going. But I needed at least a dozen cookies. Maybe two. One for the house and my additional visiting in-laws. And a dozen for Doc Ames.

Judith was manning the store this morning. She had her short gray hair dyed purple this month. She grinned as I came into the store. “Hey, boss, I’m glad I saw you before your big day. I told Deek and Evie that I’d work that Saturday since Tilly needed the hours. I’ll send my gift over with Deek.”

“You don’t have to give us a gift.” I slid onto a stool and glanced around the bookstore. People were sitting at a few of the tables, some over on the couch, reading. It felt very Zen. “You’ve got a nice group of people. It’s usually dead in hereon Wednesdays.”

“Most of these people are from my yoga class. I told them I had additional hours this week. They try to get in and support me. It’s kind of sweet.” She smiled at the younger group in the shop. “Andthen there’s my hiking group, they come in on Saturdays when I work. I think they want to try to talk me into going with them.”

“You know you don’t have to work full-time if you don’t want to.” As we talked, I sipped the coffee she’dpoured for me.

“I do if I’m going to Italy next year. I’m already trying recipes from an Italian cookbook and I’ve been taking a language class at the local college on Thursday nights. That’s why I can’t work then.” She lowered her voice. “So, are you here hiding?”

“Hiding?” NowI was confused.

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