Page 24 of The Souls of Lost Lake

“We’d see a dead pig.”

“Unless a bear hauled off with it,” Ava argued.

“It wasn’t a pig.”

“You know that, huh?” Ava raised an eyebrow.

Noah’s lips pressed together. He was getting exasperated. That spark had come back into his eyes. “It wasn’t a pig.”

“Think you’d see a dead Jipsy too, based on your logic.” Ava’s mutter was rude, she knew it, and she really didn’t care.

Noah looked to the ceiling as if praying to the good Lord for patience, and he must have gotten some too. He leveled a calm look on Ava, and she squirmed. Darned if he wasn’t just the most handsome thing for a preacher, and that in and of itself was a sin akin to murder, wasn’t it? Preachers weren’t supposed to be good-lookin’.

“I was trying to spare you the details, but since you insist on pushing the matter...” Noah tapped his knees with his fingers.“Jipsy’s jacket was left behind. There were holes in it, like stab wounds from a knife, and it was drenched in blood.”

Well, there was nothing to say to that, really and truly, except... “I didn’t kill her and haul her body off nowhere. ’Sides, supposedly my weapon of choice is an ax, not a knife.”

Ava’s sarcasm wasn’t lost on Noah.

“Stop that.” Noah pushed to his feet and crossed the room. He moved the curtain back a tad and peered out into the street. “Now if you’ll listen and let me finish, I will make my point. Can you do that, Ava?”

“Don’t need to talk down to me.” She didn’t like his tone.

“My point is, the townsfolk think you have run off. Jipsy’s body is missing. Mr. Sanderson saw you wandering last night, and I can’t provide enough of a time covering to say I was with you the whole night. And even if I could, the story that you were sleepwalking and can’t remember a thing you did—well, it will not sit well with anyone.”

“So, you didn’t tell them I came back to the parsonage after last night?”

“I started to...” Noah hesitated. “The fact is, they came to their own conclusions based on Sanderson seeing you, and Jipsy having vanished. When they asked me about you, I ... well, I thought that it might be in your best interest to let the town think you actuallyhaverun off.”

“You mean not let ’em know I’m still here with you?”

“Yes.” Noah continued, “If you don’t leave the parsonageat all, they won’t know you’re here. With me.”

“And what good does that do?” She couldn’t help the incredulous tone in her voice. The whole situation seemed like a game of cat and mouse.

Noah raked his fingers through his hair again, then dared another look out the front window. “They’re fit to be tied to find you and place blame on your head. I’m not sure they’d even follow the law and not string you up like in some Wild West shantytown. Chuck Weber is putting together a search party.”

“For Jipsy?” Ava asked. She’d just about worn the tassels right off the pillow.

“No.” Noah faced her. “Foryou.”

“And they didn’t think to storm over to the parsonage where I’msupposedto be?” Ava raised a skeptical eyebrow.

Noah reddened. “They did not.”

“Why?”

“Because I affirmed their assumptions and let them believe youhadrun off.”

Ava shot to her feet, but the motion was so sudden it made the room spin. She grabbed for the chair, pushing off Noah’s quick movement to help steady her. Regaining her balance, Ava glowered at the preacher. “Youlied?”

“It’s not the first time.” Noah’s expression dared her to ask more questions. Ava didn’t rise to the challenge.

“But lettin’ them think that will only prove to them they were right in thinkin’ Ididkill Hubbard! That’s the whole reason why I’m here in the first place. So nothin’ happens to aninnocent person! You just made me look guiltier than sin,Preacher.” Gosh almighty, she’d’ve thought the preacher was a heck of a lot smarter than herself. Guess she was wrong.

“If I let them know you were still here at the parsonage, then we’d have to explain why you were out last night. I already told you, there are too many holes in that story to adequately appease their suspicions.”

“Truth don’t lie, though, and truth usually is the best. I shouldn’t have to tell you that. Tell ’em the truth!” Ava waved her hand in the air. “There’s a thought, Preacher. Tell the truth that I was sleepwalkin’. Widower Frisk knows that’s a fact about me. Heck, he’s seen it happen.”