Murder Goes to Church by C.D. Jarmola

Author:C.D. Jarmola [Jarmola, C.D.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2011-09-09T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty- Four

A week before Chrissy had promised Loretta Gilbert that she would bring Lukas out to see the new litter of puppies their collie had given birth to. A cat person, Chrissy really had had little interest in taking Lukas except as a diversion for him. She had planned to take him later in the month. Needing some answers, the puppies seemed as good of an excuse as any to get them.

After a quick call to Loretta and getting directions out to their farm, Chrissy packed Lukas up in the car. It was still an hour before nap time, so if she could just keep him from falling asleep on the way out there they would be in business.

The Gilbert farm was picturesque from the road, but turning down the muddy driveway Chrissy became aware of the most revolting smell she had ever encountered. Her first thought was that Lukas had a poopy diaper. Although they could be rank even they couldn’t smell that bad. So what was that odoriferous odor?

Pigs! Rows and rows of little shack type barns with huge, dirty, stinky pigs. Big pigs, little pigs, white pigs, black pigs, spotted pigs.

“Old MacDonald had a farm. . .” Chrissy caught herself singing to Lukas. She had been singing at the top of her lungs the entire way to keep him awake. If he had fallen asleep on the way he would have wanted to count those fifteen minutes of rest as a power nap and not sleep any more that day. Then Lukas would be cranky and the rest of the day would be shot.

What had looked so picturesque from the road, on closer inspection turned out to be an old run-down two story farm house. The wooden front porch looked as if it had kept many a termite warm and fed through the winter. The white paint was peeling and one of the columns supporting the porch roof was reminiscent of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

It was common knowledge that the Gilbert’s had had a run of bad luck in the past few years at farming, but Chrissy had no idea just how poor they really were. In the front yard played two of the boys in cut-off shorts and nothing else. They seemed to be having fun pushing each other around in a beat up old wheel barrow. They stopped their play when they saw Chrissy’s SUV pull up to the house.

“Little Lukas,” they shouted in unison. All the children at UCC loved Lukas. He was like a favorite puppy. Wherever he went other children migrated toward him. Lukas never minded. He simply assumed that his place in this world was the center of attention.

“Come on around back,” shouted Loretta. “We don’t never use that front door much any more.”

It was obvious why. If someone walked on the porch he would probably fall through.

“We’re here to see the puppies,” Chrissy stated the obvious. Ryan was carrying Lukas and his little brother Brad was stuck with the diaper bag.

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