The Bishop’s Wife (Linda Wallheim Mystery, #1)(82)

Finally, they all went home, leaving the house very quiet. Samuel went upstairs to get ready for Monday classes, and Kurt put on an apron and helped me do the dishes.

“Do you want to talk about the baby?” he asked.

Which one did he mean? Joseph and Willow’s or ours? I sighed. “What is there to say?” What had there ever been to say?

“That is what I always thought before now, that talking would only cause pain and heartache, Linda, but I don’t know. The grief seems to be affecting you more and more lately, instead of less and less.”

“It was an important moment in my life. In some ways, it defines me and what I have become since then.”

“Then why don’t you want to talk about it?” asked Kurt.

“Because you and I think so differently about it. I think we’d just argue over it.”

“We’re both hurt by what happened. Why can’t we find similarity in that?”

I handed him a dish to hand wash. “I think you want answers more than I do. I think the questions are more soothing to me.”

“Questions aren’t soothing. By definition, they demand answers.”

I pressed my lips tightly together. There it was, the difference between us, the reason that we never talked about this together.

We got through the rest of the week as usual. Kurt had his meetings. I was on autopilot mostly, dishes and laundry and making sure that Samuel had what he needed for the last term of his senior year.

He’d been accepted to the University of Utah and BYU. He and Kurt would soon have to talk about whether he needed to defer his acceptance for a mission or if he planned to go to a semester or two of college first—if he went on a mission at all. Joseph’s not going on a mission had nearly destroyed his relationship with Kurt, and that was back before Kurt was a bishop.


ON FRIDAY AFTERNOON the first week in May, Kurt called to tell me that the police had more information on the Carrie Helm case.

“Do they know who did it?”

“It doesn’t sound like they’re much closer to that, but they wanted me to warn the two families involved that they will be releasing the information that she was found naked and it appears that she had sexual intercourse within an hour of her death. There is no physical evidence that it was rape.”

Why had they taken so long to release this information? Why hadn’t they done anything to find her killer since her death? Was it because they, too, thought she’d deserved what she got? “Do they think it was this Will she was staying with in Las Vegas?” I asked.

“Apparently, Will has an alibi for the time of her death and he was hundreds of miles away in Las Vegas. But they claim they are still looking for the man involved and they’re hoping this press release will bring a witness forward who might identify the killer. The reason they called me was because they don’t know how the information is going to affect the Westons in particular. It seems that Carrie was soliciting sexual partners for money on this Will’s computer while she was staying with him. She posted photos of herself that aren’t very, shall we say, tasteful?”

I felt my throat constrict. What experience with sex would have made her treat her own body so badly? Was this yet further evidence of how terrible her marriage to Jared had been?

“I thought you might be the best person to talk to the Westons about this,” Kurt was saying. “Make sure they’re not blindsided. I don’t know if there’s anything you can really do to make it hurt less, but you can try.”

“All right, I’ll call them,” I said. I couldn’t even blame this chore on his being bishop. I had kept on with this even when he’d told me not to.

“Maybe you should go over and talk to them in person,” said Kurt.

“Obviously. Kurt, I meant I would call and ask them if I could come over to visit. I just want to make sure they’re both home.”

“Oh, yes. Good,” said Kurt. “Thank you. I’ll see you tonight?”

“Or maybe not, if I end up spending a lot of time with them.”

“Right, of course. Then I’ll call Samuel on his cell and see what he wants to eat.”

I thought about asking him to get something somewhat healthy, but didn’t. Kurt was proud of his refusal to eat rabbit food.

The last time I had talked to the Westons had been when they had told me that they were giving up the custody battle. After a minute of prayer that I would say the right thing, I called the number the Westons had left with me. A male voice answered immediately.

“This is Linda Wallheim,” I said. “Is this Aaron?” I was surprised that he was home during the day.

“Yes, Linda, it’s me.”

“I was wondering if I could come over and talk to you,” I said. “You and Judy both. Would you be home in about thirty minutes?” It would take me twenty minutes to drive north to Sandy.

“Yes, we’ll be home. We don’t do much these days, either of us.” There was a short silence. “I lost my job when Carrie disappeared, and I couldn’t go into work for several weeks. I haven’t started looking for a new one yet. I can’t find the heart for it and there’s no guarantee that I would be able to get anything like the same level of position in management at another company.”

“I’m so sorry,” I said. “I didn’t realize that.” What kind of company would fire a man for having trouble working after his daughter disappeared?