Chapter Thirty
EARLY SUNDAY MORNING, CORDELIA GOT THE CALL FROM EDNA THAT she’d given her statement to Archer and that the pastor’s murder had now been taken out of local hands and turned over to the feds in connection with his other crimes.
A judge who couldn’t be bought refused to set bail, considering Sean a flight risk, despite a fierce fight from Sean’s lawyers.
The kidnapping of Edna and the murder of a beloved small-town pastor were enough to end his reign of terror. As Cordelia’s momma would say, good riddance to bad rubbish.
Until the dust fully settled, though, Cordelia wanted to keep her ear to the ground.
She still had that book she’d stolen from Sean, though she hadn’t opened it yet, and there was still the matter of the sheriff and whatever other associates Sean O’Leary had in town.
She and the chicks weren’t out of the woods yet, just clear of the most immediate danger.
This was how Cordelia ended up banging on the Chickadee’s doors at the crack of dawn. “Up and at ’em. We’re going to church today.”
Daisy stepped out of her room and yawned, her short gray natural hair sticking up in a dozen odd angles. “I just went to bed an hour ago. I don’t got it in me for church today.”
“That’s too bad, because we’re going. All of us. End of story.” Cordelia marched back to her room, confident she wouldn’t need to say another word. They might grumble, but when it came down to it, they respected her authority and followed her lead.
An hour later, the chicks piled into her car in a kaleidoscope of colorful caftans.
After church, they decided they would stop at Tilly’s so Cordelia could set them up with at least one proper dress for these types of occasions.
The mood was significantly lighter than it had been in weeks, and Cordelia relaxed into the comfort of Daisy’s fussing and Belinda Sue’s complaining and Arline’s silence.
They were part of her family now, and she wouldn’t trade them for anything.
She parked in a spot near the back, and the four of them spilled out of the car, Cordelia in her neat A-line black skirt and white button-down with the argyle sweater vest, and the chicks in their rainbow-hued floral caftans.
Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare, but the chicks liked the attention.
They just waved and blew kisses like they were walking the red carpet.
Cordelia spotted Stella standing apart from the two crowds that made up the church’s patrons, who Daisy referred to as the fun ones and the boring ones.
Stella nodded at Cordelia, a slight dip of her chin, before turning back to Gladys.
There were dark circles under her puffy eyes.
It was clear she hadn’t slept well, but at least she wouldn’t be dealing with her guilt behind bars.
As the crowd began to shuffle inside, Cordelia and the chicks stayed back, keeping an eye out for signs of trouble, but everything appeared normal.
There had been a few more whispers about the old pastor’s murderer being caught on the way in, but since Sean O’Leary wasn’t from Sarsaparilla Falls—despite a good number of people knowing of him—the gossip wasn’t as juicy.
It quickly fell off in favor of Clara Hendricks getting caught stealing packages from her neighbors’ front stoops.
One of the final groups to head inside, Cordelia and the chicks took the last pew.
The inside of the church was lit up with powerful lights that raised the temperature indoors by about twenty degrees.
Several ladies had their fans out. The windows had all been covered with thick black velvet curtains, a mark of respect for the former pastor now that his murderer had been brought to justice.
Cordelia was so focused on trying to listen in on town chatter that she didn’t see Archer until he put his hand on her shoulder to draw her attention. She glanced up at him in surprise. “What are you doing here? I thought you didn’t go to church?”
“I don’t normally, but I thought this would be a special occasion.” He grinned and her toes curled in her flats. “Funny seeing you here.”
“We thought it would be a good idea to stay on top of the news in town, and what better place to do that?” Cordelia lowered her voice. “I heard you caught Sean O’Leary.”
“Yeah. Isn’t that something?” He gave her a piercing look. “The night you tell me about the palytoxin, we just happened to get an anonymous tip that Sean had the toxic substance on hand at his house.”
“The world is full of odd coincidences,” Cordelia said. “But I heard you got Edna Abernathy to corroborate the story, so it sounds like it’s all tied up.”
“Edna’s statement is in. I have no need to question her further.” He dipped his head, and, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, he brought his lips in close. “I know what you did. I don’t know why you did it, but I’m going to let that rest for now, so long as it doesn’t happen again.”
She pressed a hand to his chest, feeling his heart pound firmly against her palm. “I think we understand each other just fine.”
“Glad to hear it.” Archer straightened and cleared his throat. “I hope you ladies are staying out of trouble.”
Daisy giggled and swatted Archer’s arm. “You know us, honey. Can’t stay out of trouble too much. What fun would that be?”
Cordelia just shook her head. Archer headed up to the front and took a seat beside his momma, who immediately threw her arms around him, overjoyed to see him in church.
This was why Cordelia had done what she did.
Their relationship was too precious to be broken, while men like Sean walked around causing destruction for no reason other than to line their pockets and hold power over innocent people.
Hollis Thorne had just taken the altar, looking as smarmy as he had at the festival, when the back doors burst open.
Every head in the congregation turned as Sherilynn West paraded into church wearing a bright-pink tunic just thin enough to showcase her neon-green bra and oversize sunglasses that swallowed up half her face.
She pushed them up over her mile-high teased hair and slung her beaded bag over her shoulder, the series of gold bangles on her wrist clinking together and echoing in the open chamber.
Her first appearance over that threshold in more than twenty-five years.
Tilly Gomez-Esteban audibly groaned, while Vinner Mendez looked like Christmas had just come early.
Porter Sheldon jumped up to move down two pews, keeping his hand over his backside like Sherilynn might fish his wallet right out from under him.
Cordelia glanced at Archer, whose eyes twinkled with amusement, like he was pleased to have something to entertain him this fine Sunday morning, when he’d rather be sleeping in.
And that was all well and good for him, but all Cordelia was asking for was one solitary day without drama.
It seemed like God was busy answering other people’s prayers.
“So sorry I’m late. Traffic on the 281 was hell. Oops.” Sherilynn slapped a hand over her mouth. “Probably shouldn’t say ‘hell’ in church. Forgive me, it’s been a while.”
The entire congregation stared back in silence, most of their mouths hanging open wide enough to invite a whole colony of birds to move in.
“What are y’all looking at?” Sherilynn flapped her hands. “Go on back to your business. I’ll just take a seat and mind my own.”
“Momma,” Cordelia whisper-hissed. “What are you doing here?”
“You have been sending me to voicemail for over ten days now.” Sherilynn put her hands on her hips.
“Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been?
I got Suzy minding the shop for me so I could drive on down and make sure you were okay.
And what do I find? You’re sitting in church.
I thought I raised you better than that. ”
Cordelia groaned internally. With everything that had been going on, of course she had forgotten to call her momma, who just let those days slide on by until she had an excuse to come down here. This wouldn’t end well.
“Never mind all that.” Cordelia tugged on her wrist. “Will you just sit down, please?”
Sherilynn scooched into the pew, introducing herself to the chicks like she didn’t just blow in here like a tornado.
Only twice as destructive. Daisy threw her arm around her like they were old friends, such was her way, while Belinda Sue gave a polite but firm handshake.
Arline just narrowed her eyes. No doubt she’d have Sherilynn’s social security number and complete medical history in her back pocket by the end of the day.
The town still gaped at her, unable to process that the notorious Sherilynn West had returned to Sarsaparilla Falls.
The new pastor cleared his throat. “If we could get on with the service now.”
Sherilynn waved him off, raising her voice far above what was necessary. “Go on now, do what you gotta do.”
“Right.” The pastor moved to the podium and shuffled some papers.
Cordelia continued to shoot nervous glances at her.
She didn’t like the idea of this town getting its hooks into Sherilynn again.
And while she had found a home in Sarsaparilla Falls, she still felt very strongly that it was a bad place for her momma, and she wanted to get her out of town as soon as possible.
The pastor droned on. Sherilynn watched him with a near numb smile on her lips and a glaze to her eyes that let Cordelia know she was here in body only.
Her mind had wandered elsewhere. Cordelia thought about pulling her right out of the church and sending her back to Dallas, but seeing as how they’d already caused one scene, it was best just to wait.
“And one last bit of business I’d like to address.” The pastor folded his hands in front of him. “It’s come to my attention that Sarsaparilla Falls is home to a house of ill repute.”