It Takes a Family. Victoria Pade

the Reverend’s wife,” Karis added. She wasn’t really invested in the story, but she was so happy that Luke was in a better mood that she wanted to encourage it.

      “And then took off with the Reverend’s wife,” he repeated. “But she wasn’t with the first robber when the FBI caught up with him. During questioning, he told the agent that she’d been distraught over leaving her two sons back here with her husband. She’d been upset all the time, crying, overeating—which was making her less attractive to him—and she’d just all-round become not much fun. So he snuck out in the middle of the night and left her on her own in Alaska.”

      “Ouch!” Karis said with a grimace.

      “The robber the FBI caught was shot to death during an escape attempt and that’s where the investigation stopped. Because of personnel changes with the feds and here in town, because there was no trail at all on the second robber, and because no one believed the Reverend’s wife had had anything to do with the robbery, the whole case got put on a back burner and eventually forgotten about. But now that it looks as if the second robber might have been killed, we’re looking for his body. If we find it, that opens a whole new can of worms.”

      “Then it’s a murder case and not just a bank robbery.”

      “And while the feds were content to take the robber’s word that the Reverend’s wife, Celeste Perry, wasn’t involved in the bank job, the murder of the second man before she and her boyfriend left town could put a different spin on her role in everything. She could either have been a witness to or a participant in a murder. Plus, even though she’d be of retirement age now, it’s reasonable to think she might still be alive and, since entries on the last report all agree that she was determined to get back to Northbridge at some point, this whole thing needs to be pursued.”

      “Not only a soap opera but a mystery and a scandal for a preacher, too—the plot thickens,” Karis said.

      “It seems to be, yeah.”

      “And here I thought this was a small, quiet town like in the movies and on TV.”

      “As a rule, it is,” Luke said.

      “But now you get to stretch your cop muscles. Are you glad for the stimulation or sorry to have the norm disturbed?”

      “Both,” he admitted. “On the one hand it’s a little exciting. On the other hand none of us are eager to stir up dirt for the Reverend and his sons and grandchildren. And there could be a lot stirred up if we find a body.”

      “And the search is on.”

      “Beginning tomorrow it is.”

      “Will you be doing it?” Karis asked.

      “Some of it. The state guys will focus only on that. There’s a lot of wooded area around the bridge where the duffel bag was found. As for the local cops, we’re such a small force we don’t have the manpower to assign anyone to work the search and only the search, so we’ll each just pitch in during our regular shifts as long as things in town stay quiet, which they usually do. We have the option of working it during our off hours, too, but I told them at the meeting today that I have my hands full with other things.”

      “Me and Amy.”

      “You and Amy,” he said, leveling green eyes on her.

      But they didn’t seem as hard or as cold as they had before and it was such an improvement that Karis didn’t mind it this time.

      Then he broke the connection and, seeing that she’d finished her burger, offered her a second one.

      When she turned it down, he unwrapped it for himself. After the initial bite, he said, “Speaking of which—”

      “Of me and Amy?”

      “Of me and Amy,” he amended. “I’ve set up the blood draws for the DNA test. We’ll go in tomorrow.”

      “On a Sunday? I didn’t think anything would be done until Monday.”

      “One of my brothers is Northbridge’s doctor. He doesn’t have an office. When the town anted up for the small hospital the community needed, we did away with the doctor’s office and placed all the medical care in the hospital. Mainly out of the emergency room. Anyway, Reid will meet us there tomorrow. Getting it done on a Sunday is a perk of having a doctor in the family. Results will take at least six weeks, so I want to get the process started as soon as possible.”

      Karis nodded, wondering if that meant he expected her to stay in Northbridge for six weeks.

      Not that she had anywhere else to be, because she didn’t. But she doubted anyone would be too thrilled with her still being around once she revealed information about her inheritance.

      But now wasn’t the time to bring that up.

      When Luke had polished off his second hamburger and the rest of the fries, Karis proved she was willing to earn her keep and gathered everything to throw away.