The Bishop’s Wife (Linda Wallheim Mystery, #1)(67)

“Daddy said he would read me a story tonight. He always says that, but then he forgets.”

“I can read you a story,” I said. So I did. I read We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, and then despite the late hour, I brought her down to the kitchen. I didn’t think there was any chance she would be able to sleep with Alex Helm making so much noise outside, even if her father hadn’t just been taken by the police under suspicion of murdering her mother.

We made hot chocolate and homemade butter cookies and put them in the oven to bake. It was close to midnight by then, and Alex Helm was still out front, enjoying the cameras flashing. The smell of butter cookies filled the kitchen when he finally stepped inside and closed the door behind him sometime after twelve thirty.

“What’s going on?” he asked. Apparently, he hadn’t noticed me taking Kelly inside, or thought once about where she’d been during his interviews. “Sister Wallheim, what are you doing here?”

I thought about what Kurt had told me. I had to make Alex Helm think I was on his side. “I just thought I would come help out. Keep Kelly company while you were busy, and make some cookies. I hope you don’t mind the mess I’ve made. I’ll clean it up when I’m done.” Playing to his neat freak.

Kelly was yawning, and I had placed myself between her and him so that her head was tucked against my side.

Alex Helm stared at me for a moment, then nodded. “All right. Kelly and I need to talk privately for a few minutes, though.”

“She really should go to bed. It’s late,” I said, putting a hand on her head.

“I think you should go now,” he said. He reached for Kelly.

“But the cookies aren’t done yet. And I should clean up upstairs first. Kelly left some clothes on the room of her floor. And the bathroom is a mess.” I had to stop myself from listing anything else in that false, cheerful tone I was using. “I’ll just take care of that and then I’ll be out of your way.”

“All right, then. I’ll sit here with Kelly and we’ll wait for the cookies.” He reached around me and pulled Kelly toward him. She was limp, sleepy, and I hoped to keep her that way. Arguing with Alex Helm wouldn’t help her, so I let go of my antagonism, for the moment, and left the kitchen.

I hurriedly picked up Kelly’s bedroom, and then went into the bathroom. I cleaned out the tub, and then returned the thick towel to the upstairs master bath. Only then did I dare go back down the stairs to the main level. “Hello?” I called as respectfully as I could. The timer was still going off, and I hoped the cookies hadn’t burned.

“Come on in and have some cookies,” said Alex Helm’s voice.

I saw that the cookies had been taken out of the oven and were cooling on the stove top. It was strange that Alex Helm hadn’t turned off the timer. Did he not know how?

I touched the off button on the stove, then found a spatula and put the cookies on a plate.

That was when I saw that Kelly was snoring away on Alex Helm’s shoulder.

I wanted to snatch her away from him and take her home with me. But that wouldn’t help. Despite my anger at Kurt, he had been right. I had to be logical about this. I had to do what I could for Kelly, in the circumstances she was in. “Can I help you get her to bed?” I asked.

“No, I think I can manage it,” Alex Helm said, lifting her up and putting an arm under her bottom.

“Well, maybe I can come back and help again tomorrow? I’m sure there will be a lot to do with Jared—and lawyers.” I was trying to avoid saying the words “jail” and “murder.” For my own sanity as much as for Alex Helm’s. “I could come by in the morning as early as you want and just stay here until you come back.”

Alex Helm thought a moment, jiggled Kelly as she stirred a bit and then settled. That one moment told me a lot about him as a grandparent, and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to see him this way. Indulgent, loving, and well attuned to her patterns. “Thank you, that would be a great help,” he said.

I went home and Kurt asked me what had happened. He nodded when I told him I’d be going back tomorrow. “And you think that you are going to find something over there that will help the police? Or are you just there for Kelly’s sake?”

I didn’t know the answer anymore, and I think Kurt could see I was conflicted.

“Just be careful, all right?” he said, and sighed.

“Be careful? Does that mean you think the Helm men are actually dangerous?” I asked. I guess I was still in an argumentative mood, despite the hour and how tired I was.

Kurt put up his hands. “I don’t know what it means except that I think you have been finding yourself in more and more dangerous situations lately. I thought you had grown out of that phase when I married you, but apparently not.”


WE WENT TO bed and kept mostly to our own sides. I woke up several times during the night and found myself snuggled up next to him, and pulled away.


SATURDAY MORNING, I woke before him and hurried over to the Helms’ a little before seven.

Alex opened the door. He was already dressed, though he looked bleary-eyed. He was buttoning the top button on a dress shirt and I leaned forward to help him cinch up his tie, surprising myself with the domestic reflex.

He told me Kelly was in the kitchen, and he went upstairs to get his suit coat.