The Bishop’s Wife (Linda Wallheim Mystery, #1)(70)

“Because you want some time to yourself after giving and giving to a dying man? Anna, it makes you smart and independent, which is the opposite of weak.”

“It feels a bit like I am running away.”

“You’re running toward something, Anna. A new life. I think that takes a lot of courage.” I was a little jealous of her, in fact, and wondered what new life I should be running after. I felt as if I had been running in circles around my old life instead. I needed to go back to school or get a job or do something other than poke around in other people’s problems. Being the bishop’s wife wasn’t an excuse for having no life of my own.

Anna asked if there had been anything new with Jared Helm.

“He’s in limbo, I think. He’s been arrested for abuse. Apparently, Carrie Helm went to the hospital just days before she disappeared and was treated for bruises and cuts—all carefully placed so they were hidden by her clothes.” The hospital had taken pictures and documented the injuries and the police were able to subpoena those records now that she was dead. “But a trial date hasn’t been set yet because the police want to charge him with murder as soon as they can prove he strangled Carrie and dumped her body on the road where she was found.”

“But she did leave him,” said Anna. “And her daughter. Maybe she was killed by someone she connected with after she left. A new boyfriend or a man she thought she was safe with.”

“It could be that,” I said. But from my conversation with Will, I couldn’t suspect him. Even if Jared had paid him to lie about Carrie, he hadn’t seemed smart or determined enough to do something like murder her. He hadn’t sounded like he cared about her at all, and I didn’t think he was that good of an actor. “In any case, the funeral is tomorrow. They’ve released the body to her parents for burial, and I assume that means they’ve gathered all the evidence from it they could.” I hoped it meant they had found something they could use against Jared Helm. If he was the one who killed her.

“How terrible for her parents,” said Anna sincerely. “I’m going to be gone tomorrow morning to take some time sightseeing in California before my cruise, but give her family my best wishes, will you?”

“Of course,” I said. I was supposed to go over to babysit Kelly in a couple of hours, so that Jared, out on bail for now, and Alex Helm could go shopping for appropriate funeral attire for themselves and Kelly. I had offered to take her shopping myself, but Alex Helm had said he and Jared felt it was their responsibility. I translated this as Alex Helm’s not wanting to relinquish even that tiniest bit of control over Kelly.

The doorbell rang and I guessed it would be Alex Helm come to tell me he didn’t need me this afternoon, after all.

But it wasn’t Alex Helm at all. It was the Westons.

“Hello. Come in, come in,” I said, and folded Judy into an awkward embrace. “I am so sorry for your loss.” I turned to Aaron, and he put out his hand for me to shake instead. I was happy enough with the compromise, and shook his cold, surprisingly dry hands. My eye caught a splash of color behind the Westons, and I realized the tulips in Tobias Torstensen’s garden were already blooming beautifully across the way. They would make it that much easier for Anna to find a renter.

I ushered the Westons into the front room and then sat down on the couch across from them. “What can I do to help? Tell me anything and I will gladly do it.” I knew the Relief Society had the funeral luncheon already in hand. They had chosen to do it in our ward rather than in the Westons’ home ward, where Carrie had grown up. I felt it was the right choice, but it must have been a hard decision. There were plenty of people in the ward who did not think well of Carrie now. The truth might reveal her to be a victim, but the rumors were still pretty damning.

“I’m glad you asked that,” said Aaron Weston. “Actually, I was hoping that you would speak at the funeral.” He was standing very upright, his eyes steely and unavoidable.

It was a shock, and I could feel my jaw drop.

“I know that it is a lot to ask, but there aren’t many other choices. And you seem to have the right spirit about you when it comes to seeing Carrie fairly,” he added, still staring directly at me.

“I didn’t know her very well,” I said, and felt again that I had failed Carrie when she was in need. Was this my only hope at penance?

“I know that. But I thought you could speak about Kelly and what a good mother Carrie was to her.”

“I—” I did not feel comfortable standing in judgment over another woman’s mothering.

“Unless you think she wasn’t a good mother?” said Judy. She was holding tightly to her husband’s hand and it was obvious she was fighting back tears. He was her rock, as Kurt had so often been mine.

“Of course not. She loved her daughter. I can see that in everything about Kelly. She’s a strong little girl who is only doing as well as she is now because she grew up with a mother’s love in everything,” I said fiercely.

“That’s precisely the sort of thing we’re hoping you will say at the funeral. Kelly will be there, you see,” said Aaron. “We’d like her to hear that from you. Sadly, she isn’t going to hear much good about her mother in the next few years.”

“I’m so sorry,” I said. “About Carrie’s death, and about Jared and his father. I hate how they have made this all out to be her fault.” Certainly, Carrie had made some of the choices that led to this, but it was clear to me that those choices were influenced by a deep, desperate unhappiness caused by her husband and his father. And even if they hadn’t murdered her, it seemed to me that they were culpable for putting her in that vulnerable position in the first place.