“I suppose we were watching something else then,” she said. Then she glanced down at the musical paperweight I still held in my hand. “They’re worthless, you know. People don’t really use paperweights anymore. We don’t use paper the way we once did. The one you’re holding is my favorite.”
“You gave one that looked like this to Reverend Hessel.”
“I did. How remarkable that you noticed.” She took it from me and caressed it like it was a pet of some sort. “We were friends, you see. When Chris first arrived. He was very helpful with the choir—at first. I gave him this one as a gift.”
“He gave it back to you?”
“No. I killed him with it. There’s a certain sort of irony in that, I suppose. It was sitting on his desk. I had brought the cashhe wanted. Five thousand dollars. Well, not really. I had two one-hundred-dollar bills and I cut up some newspaper—anyway, that’s not all that interesting. I dropped it, you see. I thought… I knew he’d pick it up. I was right. He wanted the money so much. He bent over and that’s when I took the paperweight off his desk and hit him on the back of the head. I did it again. And again. Until he fell to the floor. It was much easier than I’d have thought.”
“You should be confessing to Detective Lehmann.”
“Oh, I’m not going to do that.” She turned and picked up a glass of lemonade to hand to me. “Would you like a cookie? I made them this morning.”
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell Lehmann what you said?”
“Not really. No.”
“But I will tell him.”
“You won’t. If you do, everyone will find out that my granddaughter was raped. And that we… did what was necessary. It will hurt innocent people. Like my Bekah. She’s a sweet girl, isn’t she?”
“Not telling will hurt innocent people, too. Ivy Greene and her son were in jail. People will think they did it.”
“But they didn’t do it. That’s why they were released. There wasn’t enough evidence. Reverend Wilkie and I have started a legal defense fund for them. Just in case. You don’t need to worry. They’ll be fine.”
Lehmann knew he didn’t have much on them. Since they didn’t do it, I doubted he’d be able to find any more evidence.
“You’re too young to know this, but the longer you live the more important it becomes to do good in this world. Sometimes good is not what you expect it to be.”
“You think you did good by killing Reverend Hessel?”
“Oh yes, without a doubt.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
A couple of days later—yes, it took me that long to make up my mind—I got up very early and drove to the Municipal Center. They weren’t open yet. I sat in the Escalade until I saw a crumbling blue Subaru wagon pull into the parking lot. I climbed out of the Escalade and walked over.
Detective Lehmann rolled down his window and said, “Go away.”
“I know who did it.”
“So, do I. I arrested Donny Hyslip last night.”
The name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it.
“You arrested who?”
“High school senior. We found the paperweight from Hessel’s desk in his room. Along with a bloody shirt.”
Oh my God. He was the boy who’d raped Bekah Springer. And then I knew what had happened. Sue Langtree had put the paperweight in his room. But what about the—she’d been wearing a man’s shirt when I went to see her. One of her husband’s. She must have been wearing one when she killed Reverend Hessel. And she put it—
“How did you know to look for those things?”
“Girl at school turned him in. Said he bragged to her about it.”
“Bekah Springer?”
“How did you know that?”
