“What’s up?”
“Nothing. We came out here so we could talk without being overheard. Georgia has several friends in there.” Shade replied.
“What about Georgia?” Lily stiffened. Today was the first day back since the Christmas holidays. Both Shade and Razer had looked forward to firing the woman this morning, and she hadn’t argued this time. Georgia had gone too far. She felt bad for her kids, but ultimately Georgia had to face responsibility for her actions.
“She quit. When she didn’t come in this morning, I called her. She told me she wasn’t coming in to give us the satisfaction of firing her. Then she told me what to do with the job, so I hung up on her.” Shade’s face showed how much he’d wanted to give the woman her filth back. She was proud he had handled it in a professional manner, despite it probably sticking in his gut.
“It doesn’t make any sense to me,” Lily said, blowing on her coffee.
“What doesn’t? That she’s a fucking bitch or that she quit?” Rider asked grimly.
“Both. Not a month ago, she was giving me heck because she thought I took her brother’s job; now suddenly, she’s calling one of her bosses’ wives bad names in front of a large group who will spread it all over town so she wouldn’t be able to deny it. It’s almost like she wanted to get fired,” Lily answered, blowing on her coffee again.
She reached up, giving her husband a quick kiss on his lips. “Later.” She grinned, walking away, not paying attention to the stunned looks on the men’s faces as she pulled out of the parking lot.
*
Lily unlocked the church store, going inside and then closing the door behind her.
“Morning, Mrs. Hunter,” Pastor Dean said, coming in from the church entrance. “How are you this sunny morning?”
“Good. And you?”
“Can’t complain, other than I’ve gained ten pounds over the holidays. I think if one more parishioner gives me one more casserole or cookie, I’m going to vomit.”
“That bad?”
“The problem was that it was too good,” Pastor Dean laughed. “I’m bursting at the seams.”
Lily pulled two bags of clothes out from under the counter and another that had been shoved into a darkened corner. When she tugged the bag loose, it jarred a metal box. Lily dropped to her knees, reaching back, and with her fingertips managed to snag the box by the handle, sliding it free. She pulled it out from under the counter and then stood up, lifting the heavy box with difficulty onto the counter.
“What’s that?” Pastor Dean asked, looking at the box curiously.
“Your guess is as good as mine. It looks like it’s been shoved under there for a while.” Lily pulled the two metal rings open then tried to open it. It was locked.
“It’s locked,” she said, stating the obvious.
“I have some tools in my office. I’ll take care of it.”
“Okay.” Lily slid it across the counter toward him.
A customer came in and she moved toward the woman entering the store.
“I’ll see you later, Lily.”
She waved as Pastor Dean left, asking the woman what she needed.
Lily wondered what was in the box. She would have to remind herself to ask before she went home.
*
Shade was standing next to Razer in his office when his cell phone rang. The caller ID showed Dean was calling.
“Yeah?”
“Thought I’d let you know that your new wife found a lock box in the basement this morning. Want to take a wild guess what was inside?”
“Lily’s adoption papers?”
“Yes.”
“Fake?”
“Yes. I’ll take them by Knox’s office when I go to lunch.”
“Thanks. Want to hear something interesting?”
“Hit me.”
“Georgia quit this morning. Beat me to firing her ass. Thing is, Lily came up with this idea. She seemed like she wanted to be fired, so we checked it out. Seems the bitch had a chunk of money put in her checking account the day after Halloween.”
“How much?”
“Fifty thousand. Not only that, another deposit of thirty was put in first thing this morning. This is the first day the banks have been open since Christmas.”
“Someone paid her not only to start the fire, but to start an argument at the church,” Shade concluded.
“Why start an argument at the church?”
“I think to try to rattle Lily into running out of the church. A month ago… hell, two weeks ago, it would have worked. Whoever wants her dead is getting desperate to try to get to her. We don’t leave her alone, so someone was trying to make their own opportunity.”
“I’ll call Knox to come here and pick these papers up. I’m not going to leave the church from now on when Lily’s here,” Dean’s voice was grim over the phone line.