Page 58 of Vows of Murder

For a second, I couldn’t remember where I’d last had my cell. In the library. I’d read Esmeralda’s text. “It’s probably in my tote. I left you a note that I was going to Bakerstown. I probably forgot to turn the ringer back on after I left the library.”

I headed into the kitchen and pulled my cell out of my tote. I had five calls from Esmeralda, two from Toby, and three from Greg. I held it up for him to see. “I found it. Wow. I didn’t think I was this popular. What’s going on? Did you see the email I sent you?”

“About Vince? Yes. That’s why I was trying to reach you. Roger Matthews came in today and told me he was concerned for his safety. That his wife had been acting strange and he didn’t trust his brother-in-law.” Greg got a soda from the fridge, then checkedthe lock on the back door. “Did you lock the doors when you went to Bakerstown? Was anything disturbed?”

“No, the house was fine.” Now I was beginning to freak out. I put the ice cream awayin the freezer.

“Everything okay upstairs?” He still had his hand near his gun.

“I just went into our bathroom to drop off soap and toilet paper. Why?”

He didn’t answer. I watched as he went upstairs. I heard doors opening and closing and the squeak of the attic door. He was checking the entire house. When he came back, I’d put the kettle on to heat and sat at the table. “Do you want to tell me why you’re searching the house like I have a boyfriend tucked away?”

He chuckled as he sat down. “That option was never on my mind. Anyway, Vince didn’t leave town when we thought. Molly got a call from him earlier today. She called the station, worried that he was trying to track her down.”

“Why all the focus on Vince? Your mom’s home. I talked to Beth this morning. That’s what sent me to the library. I wanted to find proof that Vince is Maryanne’s brother.” I’d already told him about the visit from the New Hope crew. “When the group descended on the shop this morning, it felt really creepy. They were trying to take those kids. Thank goodness Anya was on the ball.”

“You said you were worried someone was reporting what he saw in South Cove to New Hope. Do you think that was Vince?”

I nodded. “I didn’t see him outside, but then again, I wasn’t looking. The kids were sitting by the window reading for most of the morning.”

He finished his soda. “I’m heading back to the station. Esmeralda’s looking up some of those cases she sent you. I’m interviewing the staff who were working at the Castle that Sunday morning. Maybe someone saw Tanner at the hotel during the time Kane was killed. And now I want to find out where Vince was at that time. It might just be Tanner O’Dell’s lucky day.”

Greg had good reason not to trust Vince Penn, but he didn’t have any direct evidence that the guy had done more than beat up Molly. And maybe Amanda. Murder was a far cry from beating someone up.

Except Roger was now afraid of Vince. I wished there was some excuse I could use to go talk to him and Maryanne. But as I thought of the walls around the compound and all the men with guns walking around, I didn’t really want to go inside all that fora social call.

After Greg left, I pulled up Esmeralda’s email of court cases involving Vince and sorted them by date and place. Once I was done, I consulted my notes from the articles on the Matthews brothers andtheir ministry.

The comparison didn’t match up perfectly, but more than 75 percent of the cases were in towns where the Matthewses had set up a church. Amanda was an outlier in Nebraska. What had led Vince there?

I put a potpie in the oven for dinner, then got my phone. I turned on the ringer, just in case Greg called again, then called mymother-in-law.

“Jill! I was just thinking about you.” Amanda muted the television. “How ismarried life?”

“Just like it was before the wedding. Greg’s working hard to get this investigation closed and I’m back at the shop since he took one of my baristas outof commission.”

“Toby’s such a nice guy. He loves both jobs.” Amanda changed the subject. “So, what’s got you up so late?”

I glanced at the clock. It was just seven here. “Oh, sorry, I forgot about the time change. It’s not that late here.”

She laughed. “You’re right. I guess I’m still on West Coast time because I couldn’t get to sleep tonight. I’m sitting in my bed watching a home improvement show. I want to redo my bathroom now. Make it more of a spa experience. Anyway, how can I help? Or are you just lonely after having us descend onyou last week?”

“I was wondering. Where did you meet Vince?” I heard the effect of the question in her pause. “I know, it’s hard to talk about, but it might be important. Was he living in Omahawhen you met?”

“No. I’d gone to a women’s church retreat on the Oregon coast. We were there for two weeks. It was lovely. One day I walked into town and got caught in a coffee shop by a rainstorm. I was just about to call for a ride when Vince offered to take me back to the compound. I’d seen him at the compound earlier. His church’s men’s group washelping with some landscaping that the retreat was having done. We started talking. Then heasked me out.”

Amanda paused for a minute before starting again. “I hadn’t dated since the boys’ dad died. Vince seemed nice, like he had the same values as me. So when he asked for my number when it was time to leave, I gave it to him. Two weeks later, I got a call that he’d moved to Omaha.”

“He followed you home.”

Amanda sighed. “I thought it was romantic, not creepy. I should have told one of the boys, but I wanted to hold it close to see if there was something between us. We got married on a whim. And then he changed.”

I could hear the pain in her voice as she told the story. “One more question and I’ll let you get back to your remodeling show. Where was theretreat held?”

“Oh, it was a beautiful place. Right on the ocean. I heard they sold the property for a subdivision a few years ago. What was the name of the town that had that cute coffee shop?”

I held my breath asAmanda thought.

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