“You turned me into a princess,” Holly whispered as Daniel smiled. “This is how I always wanted to look on my wedding day.” She took the few remaining steps out of the hallway, slowly turning, the dress flowing around her, hugging her hips, and the bodice now accentuating Holly’s figure rather than covering it up.
“Sweetheart,” his dad said, looking at Holly with what James could only describe as astonishment. “My little girl is all grown up,” Dad croaked and turned away. “It’s gorgeous,” he told Daniel with a sniff.
Daniel stepped away, and James wrapped his arm around his waist. “Thank you. You’re a magician.”
Daniel leaned really close, resting his head on James’s shoulder. It didn’t take much intuition for James to know exactly what Daniel was thinking. And the best damned drag queen in Chicago...and don’t you fucking forget it.
“Thank you,” Holly said again, hurrying over to hug Daniel. “If I had room in the bridal party, I’d add you as a bridesmaid for this alone. You deserve a damned round of applause.” She sniffed once more, still hugging Daniel.
“Go take the dress off so I can make sure it’s pressed and steamed for tomorrow,” Daniel explained.
“And whatever you do, don’t let your mother see it until it’s too late for her to try to overrule you,” Dad added. “I’ll deny I said that, and having even seen the dress at all beforehand, to my dying day.” He sat back down as Holly disappeared into James’s bedroom, now a changing room, with Daniel right behind.
“Son, that girl is a keeper. You need to hold on to her with both hands.” His dad turned on the television, and James wondered just what his father would think if he knew that the girl he thought so highly of was really the man who was quickly stealing his heart.
Chapter Twelve
“You really like my brother, don’t you?” Holly asked as Daniel unfastened the hooks on Holly’s wedding dress.
“Of course I do,” he answered as calmly as possible. Since last night he’d been in an emotional tug-of-war. Not that it mattered. Once the wedding was over, the games would end and Daniel would go back to his normal life, one that involved returning to the theater, nightly shows, and not having to tuck his balls every minute of the damned day. And it wouldn’t involve James. That part of the equation was what caused him both pain and relief.
“But the two of you are arguing about something,” Holly observed, pulling her arms out of the gown and sliding it down her hips. “I love that dress, but I can tell you I’m a lot more comfortable in jeans than I am clothes like this.” She set the dress on the bed and pulled on a T-shirt and dark denim pants. “What?” Holly asked, turning around.
Daniel shrugged. “Everything is fine.”
“And I’m a mountain goat.” Holly jabbed her hands to her hips. “I have eyes. I saw the two of you. That was love/hate dance fucking if I ever saw it.” She tucked in her T-shirt and sat on the side of the bed, pulling on her shoes.
“It’s complicated,” Daniel said softly.
Holly stood and went to the door. “When people say that, it usually means it isn’t.” She left the room, shutting the door behind her. Damn, she knew how to make an exit.
“Sister, you have no idea,” Daniel whispered out loud to himself. This situation was becoming more and more complicated by the second. There was little to do about it now, though. He stood and left the room as well, finding James and Margot at the kitchen table.
“Where do we start?” Margot asked.
“Usually with what we know,” James answered. Daniel sat next to him, looking over the things on the table, including notebooks and Margot’s laptop.
“Okay. The guy is creepy,” Margot said. Both he and James chuckled.
“That isn’t enough. In an investigation, we deal with facts and things that are provable. Documentation and witnesses. You use them to build a picture and try to get it as clear as possible,” James explained. “So, what do we know?”
Margot shrugged. “He’s been here about five years. He has a wife and two kids, a boy and a girl.”
James began making notes, but Daniel took the pad, figuring it would give him something to do.
“Where was he before that? Do we know if the congregation and board vetted him before giving him the job?” James asked. Daniel wrote it down with a question mark behind it because it was an unknown. “I seem to remember it happened pretty fast.”
“It seemed that way to me too,” James’s dad said from the doorway. “But I wasn’t on board then.” Daniel added that to the notes.
“Okay. What if they didn’t? What if the congregation was taken in by his charm and personality? That’s what we’re trying to look into, then, and unfortunately, we can’t just go asking around. What else do we do?” James turned to Margot. “What do you think?”
“Okay. If everyone was taken in by Reverend Creepy, then we need to look into his background. But how do we do that?” She thought a minute. “We could break into the church office and try to find the records.” God, she was adorable and had good instincts. He could really see a lot of himself in her.
Daniel chuckled. “The police don’t do things like that.”
“Well, not as a habit, no.” James bumped his shoulder. “Have you done an internet search on him? Publicly available records are always a good place to start.”
Margot began typing and turned the computer to show the results. “It’s all about the church here. Their website comes up, as does his bio and stuff.” Margot began clicking around. “What about where he came from?” She continued searching, and James glanced over. That seemed strange to Daniel. He would have thought there would be a history. “Here’s something,” Margot said. “It says in this old bio from Facebook that he was at the Carthage Community Church in Middleton, Texas.” She smiled.
“Bring up their website and see if there’s anything on him,” Daniel suggested. This was getting a little interesting. He leaned over James’s shoulder to see the screen better, momentarily getting lost in James’s woodsy scent. Daniel shook his head to bring himself back to the here and now.
“Nothing,” she said, deflating like a balloon, her excitement fading away. She needed to be more resilient, but Daniel kept that to himself.
“No. Look. They have a history page. Check there,” Daniel suggested.
“I did,” Margot groused.
“No, that chart over there.” Daniel pointed. “It looks like a ministerial history of some sort.” He leaned closer as Margot brought up the chart. “There he is, but it’s an active link.” Margot clicked on it and a brief history page appeared along with a picture. “That isn’t Reverend Dick.”
Margot snickered. “No, it’s not. I’m bookmarking the page.” She was getting excited and the way she looked at James was different now. Daniel loved that the two of them seemed to be bonding.