Judgment Call by J. A. Jance

Author:J. A. Jance [Jance, J. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins US
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

JOANNA WAS SITTING IN HER YUKON, WONDERING WHAT SHE WAS going to do next, when someone tapped on her passenger window. Her best friend, Reverend Marianne Maculyea, was standing on the sidewalk, grinning at her.

“Hey,” she said when Joanna opened the window. “Your eyes were open, but you were a million miles away.”

“I was,” Joanna conceded. “It’s been a tough couple of days.”

“You are going to the gala tonight,” Marianne said, “aren’t you?”

“How’d you know that?”

“A little bird told me. One of our parishioners bought tickets and now can’t attend, so she gave her tickets to Jeff and me. I called out to the house, hoping to hire Jenny to come babysit, only to be told that she’s already taken.”

“Sorry,” Joanna said. “Did you find someone else?”

“Yes, Jeff called one of the ladies from church. Is Butch really going to wear a tux?”

Joanna nodded. “My mother would wring his neck if he didn’t.”

“I told Jeff that since he doesn’t own a tux and since the invitation says ‘black tie optional,’ he should take them at their word and do optional. Is there assigned seating?”

“Not as far as I know,” Joanna said.

“Good,” Marianne said. “Maybe the four of us can sit together. I know Jeff will be happier being at a table with the two of you than at a table full of strangers.”

“We’re committed to being at my mother’s table,” Joanna countered.

Marianne grinned. As Joanna’s friend and pastor, she knew where the bodies were buried in Joanna’s challenging relationship with her mother.

“I’ll check with her, then. Your mother doesn’t bother me,” Marianne added. “I can handle her a lot better than I can my own mother. Are you working, or do you have time for a cup of coffee?”

“Working,” Joanna said. “I’d better pass. See you tonight.” Because while Joanna had been talking to Marianne, she had also reached a conclusion. She drove a short way up the canyon, made a legal U-turn, and then stopped her Yukon directly outside the door of the Bee. With her flashers on, she hopped out and poked her head in the front door. Marliss was still alone in the room and still seated at her desk.

“Any idea where I’d find Dena Carothers today?” Joanna asked.

Marliss didn’t have to surf through any Web pages to answer the question. “The cheerleading squad is having a car wash to raise money for camp.”

“Where?”

“At the new fire station.”

The “new fire station” on Highway 92 wasn’t really new, but it was a lot newer than any of the other firehouses in town.

“Dena will be there?”

“She’s supposed to be.”

It was as though the kids from the high school were pawns laid out on a chessboard, while Marliss, working behind the scenes, kept track of them all. For the first time Joanna began to wonder. Jenny’s crime scene photo had been posted, but how much of what she and Butch thought of as their private lives was also being bandied about on the Internet? The thought flashed through Joanna’s head, but she forced herself to not focus on it.

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