Page 40 of Vows of Murder

“To bright, beautiful Nunya,” he responded quickly. A little too quickly.

“Nunya?” I watched out the window at therolling hills.

“Nunya business so stop asking.” He squeezed my hand. “We have time for an early dinner on the way home. I told Toby we’d be there about five so he coulddrop off Emma.”

“Sounds good.”

We pulled into a seafood restaurant just off the highway about thirty minutes later. Since it was Sunday, the parking lot was busier than during the week for an early dinner. Greg found a parking spot near the building, and we headed inside. As we were waiting to be seated, I saw Roger and Maryanne Matthews sitting at a table. He was looking at his phone and she was eating what looked like surf and turf. I wondered what dinner was being served on the compound while the church’s leaders ate out and ordered the most expensive item on the restaurant’s menu.

The hostess walked us right past their table.

Maryanne looked up as we passed by and smiled. “If it isn’t the newlyweds. I figured you two would be off on your honeymoon.”

“Work issues,” Greg said as he held up a finger to the hostess. “Well, havea nice dinner.”

“You too, and congratulations on your wedding,” Roger said. He’d set aside his phone, looking like he’d just gotten caught reading or watching a game at the table.

We nodded and turned back to follow the hostess.

As we got seated, Greg glanced over at the Matthewses. “He was trading stock. Justin has the same app on his phone. He showed it to me during the bachelor party.”

“On a Sunday? And at dinner with your wife? How romantic.” I studied the menu. I didn’t want to overeat, but I’d been eating healthily for weeks to make sure I fit into my wedding dress. Now all I needed was to not look like a beached whale, if we were going to the beach.

Greg didn’t respond, and when I looked up I saw he was still watching Roger Matthews, who again had his phone in his hand.

“Greg?What’s wrong?”

He shook his head, then turned and smiled at me. “Sorry, I’m not being romantic either. But from a quick glance, it looked like that account had over twomillion in it.”

“Dollars?” I set down the menu. “Where does a preacher get two million in a stock account? Do you think it’s the church’s account?”

“Those are both good questions.” He picked up his phone and texted someone. Then he put it back on the side of the table and picked up the menu. “That surf and turf looked good.”

“I’m going all seafood,” I said, thinking of the money in Roger’s stock fund. “Whodid you text?”

“Esmeralda. I wanted to know if the financial reports from the church had been received yet.” His phone buzzed. He read the text and setit down again.

The waitress came and asked for our order. Greg ordered his meal and a large iced tea. I followed suit. After she left, he took my hand.

“You could have had a drink. You don’t even have to work tomorrow.” He kissed my knuckles. “The celebration doesn’t have to end yet.”

“But you’re working tonight?” I nodded to the phone. “I guess Esmeralda got the reports.”

“She did, the net-worth statements from the church. I need to head into the station and go over everything.” He looked over at the other table. “Funny thing is, the church’s net worth is way less than two million. Not including the compound. So now we need to look at their private accounts. I need to find a judge who will giveme a warrant.”

“I also have important work to do tomorrow,” I said as I took the iced tea from our server. “I need to do laundry and take the dog for a walk. And maybe drive your mom to anothertourist trap.”

He sipped his tea, then added sugar.“I’m jealous.”

“You are not.” I leaned back in my seat. Life wasback to normal.

* * * *

When Monday morning came, I found myself alone in the house. Greg had gone to work early. Amanda was hanging out with Jim and Beth for the next two days before they all left for home. And I’d already run Emma. I’d started the laundry last night before grabbing a book to try to relax. So after I rotated my last load from the washer to the dryer, I was done. Sure, I had a ton of thank you notes to write, but I’d had Toby put the gifts in the office so Greg and I could open them together and write the thankyou cards then.

The process had worked when we got engaged. And doing them together forced us to spend time together as a couple. But now, with the investigation ongoing, it wasn’t time to add this task to Greg’s already full list.

Besides writing the thank you notes and returning any unwanted gifts, most of the wedding stuff that had overwhelmed my life a week ago was gone. I needed to take my wedding dress to the cleaners and get it boxed up for my currently nonexistent daughter. She’d probably hate it anyway. But it was a cute tradition. And take the drachma to my safety deposit box at the bank.

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