The Bishop’s Wife (Linda Wallheim Mystery, #1)(24)

“If you really want to help me, there is something you could do,” he said.

I turned back. “Yes?”

“I’d like to write a statement for the press. I’m working on it already, actually. I’m wondering if you would look it over, tell me what you think. Maybe the bishop could look at it, too? I would really appreciate it if he could add a statement of support or faith in me. Anything, really. I don’t want to talk to the press, but I feel like I need to say something. I’m innocent, and I need to start looking like I am.”

“Of course,” I said, though my mind was spinning. So he was planning to go to the press, but not to the police? It was what the Westons had done.

“Can I email it to you?” he asked. “The address on the church website is good, isn’t it?”

I nodded and moved to the door.

“Thank you so much, again. Kelly, tell Sister Wallheim thank you for the bread.”

Kelly chimed in behind me, and I was outside again, staring at the news vans. I hurried home and checked my email. In the time it had taken to cross the half block between us, Jared Helm had already sent his email. But the statement to the press made me go cold.


I am enormously saddened by the decision my wife has taken to leave our marriage and our daughter. She has often been troubled and ill during the years we have been together, but I always supported her and gave her all the help she asked for. I do not understand why she could not have trusted me to continue to do so. I have always been a loving father and husband, and will continue to do what I can to protect my young daughter now that she has been made so much more vulnerable to pain at her mother’s departure.

I do not know where Carrie has gone. She did not tell me, and she left no hints in the things that remain in our home. I hope that she is well, but I do not spend my time worrying about her. I do not think that she deserves that, after the choices she has made. She is a selfish woman, and I suspect that wherever she is, she will continue to make immoral, selfish decisions that may offer her momentary pleasures but will never bring back the happiness she has lost by turning her back on her eternal family.

If anyone has seen her, I urge those people to contact the police immediately, so that they can be assured that there is no need for a criminal investigation. I also ask the media to leave me and my daughter in peace. We have a difficult enough road ahead of us without having added complications. Kelly needs to have as normal a life as possible as we move into the future, and I need to be able to father her, which will include returning to work and earning a living. I thank all of those people who are out there, wishing me the best. You know who you are, and that you are true Christians and true Saints in the best senses of the words.


It was all about him. A few words about Kelly. But nothing conciliatory about his wife or sympathetic about his wife’s family and the distress they were going through.

I shouldn’t jump to conclusions. He was in a terrible position. Someone who had just suffered a loss wasn’t always thinking clearly. And selfishness was a natural reaction to pain.

Jared needed to say something about his wife if he wanted to make himself look better to the press, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to help him. I read a book and tried to distract myself with thoughts about going back to school. I had gotten a degree years ago in philosophy, of all things. Useless for getting a job, though I had found it interesting in other ways. I was beginning to wonder if I had too much time on my hands. If I had more things to do on my own time, maybe I would be less sucked into responsibilities as a bishop’s wife.

I also went through our finances, which was something that Kurt used to do before he became bishop. Then I cleaned the house rather more thoroughly than I normally bothered to do. It was something to keep my mind and hands busy.

When Kurt got home, I pulled him into his office so that Samuel didn’t overhear us, then asked him if he wanted to see the statement Jared Helm had prepared for the press.

“I got it, too,” he said, settling into the chair behind the desk.

“And what did you think?” I refused to sit on the couch, and perched myself next to him on the desk.

Kurt shrugged. “I already emailed him back and said that he didn’t need to respond to the press at all. He should focus on Kelly and himself and staying healthy and strong for her.”

“And is that what you really think he should do? Or did you say that because you didn’t want to say anything else?”

Kurt shook his head. “Honestly, I think I need more information. I feel like I don’t know him as well as I should.”

Which was what I felt, too. But how could we ever know anyone well enough to know what to do in a situation like this?

“I told him that I’d like him to come over and talk to me sometime,” said Kurt, “if he could manage it. I wanted to give him comfort and advice officially, if I could. I told him that he could bring Kelly and you would watch her, if he needed help.” He wasn’t making eye contact, which was odd, since he had more or less just volunteered me for something.

“And what did he say?” I was willing to watch Kelly, for whatever reason.

Kurt stood up and started moving papers around his desk. “He demanded that I promise that his parents-in-law would not be here.”

It was the wrong thing to say to Kurt, who was losing patience with Jared Helm’s attitude at last, I thought. “You think he might be guilty now?” I asked.