Page 51 of Dead to Rites

“Was Meg Lindley the one who’d been coming to see you the past eight months?”

He didn’t reply. But his eyes met mine for a long time, and I didn’t see a hint of denial in his expression.

And then he faded away.

I pressed my lips together and stared at the empty barstool where his spirit had just been sitting.

For eight months, Meg Lindley had been discussing something with Father Frank. Diane had driven her to those meetings, sometimes waiting at the parish office until Meg was ready to leave.

And Diane had purposely kept me away from Meg at the reception.

I still didn’t know exactly what was going on. But I knew there was a something, and that was more than I’d had when I started looking into this whole mess.

Because I’d gone to see Nell that morning, and because Marco had been late coming in, I hadn’t gotten a chance to see Jude the way we’d talked about. I didn’t have his number, so I looked up the bookstore’s contact information on my phone and called him.

“Marsh & Hollow,” he said.

My heart made an odd little skip at hearing his voice. I told it to behave and said, “Hi, Jude. It’s Lorelei. I’ve had kind of a crazy day, and I don’t think I’m going to make it over to your store before you close up. Is it okay if I stop by tomorrow?”

“Sure,” he said easily. If he was disappointed that our conversation was being pushed off to a different day, his tone didn’t show any sign of it. “Come by whenever you can. I’ll be here until six.”

“It’ll probably be earlier than that,” I told him. “I was thinking I could drop by before Copper State opens.”

“Then that’s when I’ll expect you. I open at ten.”

Which would give me plenty of time, especially since it was only a five-minute walk from the bookstore to the bar.

“I’ll see you around then.”

“Looking forward to it.”

We ended the call there, and I returned my phone to my purse.

I hoped I hadn’t made a mistake by pushing off our conversation until the next day. Now more than ever, I needed to talk all this through with someone who knew Father Frank, who might have some idea what Meg Lindley had brought to him.

I needed Jude.

Chapter 13

Cats and Conversation

Marsh & Hollow opened at ten, and I was there at five minutes after.

Luckily, it didn’t seem as if anyone had been beating down the door to pick up books that chilly morning, because Jude was alone in the shop. As soon as I came in, he looked up from the stack of books on the counter and smiled.

It was a real smile, almost unguarded, one I hadn’t seen on his face before. That smile lit up his hazel eyes and suddenly made me very glad I’d come…even if my reason for being here wasn’t exactly a cheerful one.

“Morning,” he said. “I thought we could sit down and have some tea in the back. Flannery will let us know if anyone comes in.”

The cat butted her head against his arm and purred softly.

“Good to know she’s on guard duty,” I said, and I smiled as well. It was almost impossible not to, not with the way the morning sun was streaming in the front window, making the Swiss cheese plant on its antique shelf look as if it was lit up from within.

Jude came out from behind the counter and headed deeper into the store, with me following him. Just beyond the final row of shelves was a doorway that opened into something that looked like a combination breakroom and stockroom. A small table with two chairs was squeezed into the corner, and both chairs held a stack of books.

“Give me a sec,” he said, and hurriedly started moving the books to the floor, which was old wood scarred by generations of feet and which I guessed had to be original to the building.

I watched him with some amusement. “Do you actually have a filing system, or do you just put things anywhere they’ll fit?”