I still had a little time before I needed to head back into the city for the dress fitting, so I drove by the church in hopes that I could catch Pastor Charles again. There were no cars in the parking lot, and his car wasn’t in the spot next to the rectory.

I pulled into the lot and got out his file so I could give him a call, and I went ahead and saved his number in my phone because I was sure I’d have to call him again about the wedding.

The phone rang several times before he picked up.

“Pastor Charles,” he said.

“This is Addison Holmes,” I said. “I’m in Whiskey Bayou checking out a couple of things for your case. Jolene Meador said she remembers seeing a man come in last November. White guy, dressed in new clothes with an expensive watch and bag. She said he looked rough though. Brown eyes that creeped her out. Does someone fitting that description sound familiar at all to you?”

He was silent for several seconds, to the point I wondered if he was still on the line.

“No,” he said. “That doesn’t sound familiar.”

“Would you mind if I had access to any personnel files at the church or any complaints that have been made? Maybe your secretary intercepted someone before they could complain directly to you.”

“That’s a good idea,” he said. “Today is Beverly’s day off, but I had her transfer everything to electronic files when I came to the church. I’ll text her and let her know to give you anything you need. Just give her a call.”

“I appreciate it,” I said. “I’ll be back in touch.” I was about to hang up when I thought about the wedding. “Umm…do you need to meet with me and Nick before the ceremony on Friday?”

“Do I need to?” he asked, sounding surprised. “Is there a problem?”

“No, of course not,” I rushed to say.

“Then we’re good,” he said. “I’ve had lots of practice. And you’ve had practice before too. All’s good.” And then he disconnected.

“Well,” I said, looking at my phone. And then it rang again, but it was my mother.

“Addison,” she said. She sounded like she’d been swallowing shards of glass. “I heard you were parked over at the church. Are you meeting with Pastor Charles about the wedding? Do you need me to come up there?”

I’d been in Savannah too long. I’d forgotten how fast the WB network worked. I looked around to see if anyone was watching me, but I couldn’t see a soul. I grabbed my binoculars from my bag and looked down toward the Good Luck Café. Sure enough, there was Jolene standing at the window watching the van.

“I’m good,” I said. “I’m actually here on business and just needed a place to pull over. You sound terrible. I thought you’d be out the rest of the day.”

“Vince gave me his hangover cure,” she rasped. “I have no choice but to be awake.”

“Did it work?”

“I stopped throwing up. But it feels like I swallowed a sheep.”

“Huh,” I said. “That’s different.”

“That woman drives me to distraction,” she said. “If this wasn’t your wedding I’d run over her with a dump truck. Should’ve done it years ago, but now that your father isn’t around to protect her I don’t have any restrictions.”

“You’d go to jail. Vince would miss you.”

“They allow conjugal visits. I think it’d be worth it.”

I squenched my nose up in disgust. That was more information than I needed to know.

“What’s this about shady characters in town?” she asked. “Is someone making trouble?”

“Could be,” I hedged. “You notice any strangers around the last few months?”

“Edith Gobel’s nephew,” she said. “He’s come to visit a few times, and every time he does, things go missing out of her house. Rides a motorcycle, so it’s probably why he’s had to make so many trips to visit.”

“What about strangers?”

“I don’t go into town as often as I used to. Since Vince is retired we can go have our fun during the week, and then be back for church on the weekend. He took me to the casino in Mississippi last week. I won three hundred dollars on the penny slots.”

I blew out a breath. There was no point trying to get information out of my mom the quick way. She wasn’t capable of giving a short version of anything. But her mention of the church reminded me of something.

“You don’t happen to know Beverly Jennings’s home number, do you? I need to get some information from her.”

“That’s right, she’s off on Mondays,” my mother said. “I’ve got it here stored in my phone. I’ll text it to you. What kind of information?”

“For the wedding,” I lied. “I’ve got to go. Talk to you soon.”

I hung up before she could start asking more questions. My lies would only get me so far. Phyllis Holmes was a master at ferreting out information from people. Aunt Scarlet should have hired her to find out information about Savage.

My mom was true to her word and texted me Beverly Jennings’s phone number and I gave her a call, keeping an eye on the clock.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Mrs. Jennings?” I asked. “This is Addison Holmes.”

“Oh, yes,” she said. “Pastor Charles just told me you’d be reaching out. He said you were helping him with a private matter.”

She sounded a little bit perturbed that he wasn’t coming to her for help.

“Yes, I appreciate your help. I need to get a copy of all the personnel files for anyone who has worked at the church in the last ten years.”

“That’s easy enough,” she said. “I can email them to you since they’re all digitized now. I don’t know why we had to change it from the old way. There’s nothing like pen and paper, I always say. That’s how records stay confidential. Now you put them in a cloud and everyone knows all your business.”

“How long have you been secretary for the church?” I asked, curiously. I knew she’d been there when I was growing up.

“Thirty-four years. I’ve been through five pastors that have come and gone.”

“I imagine you’ve gotten to be a pretty good gatekeeper,” I said.

“You have to be,” she said. I could practically hear her head nodding on the other end of the line. “The pastor has an important job to do, but he can’t be everything to everyone in the congregation. He’s got to delegate. That’s why we have elders and deacons and volunteers. Everybody comes to me wanting to speak with the pastor, but it’s my job to find out what’s going on and gently persuade them that someone else is better suited to help them with what they need.”

“Ever have anyone who doesn’t want to be persuaded?”

“Oh, sure,” she said. “I’ve had some doozies over the years. But nothing I couldn’t handle. I’m tougher than I look.”

That was a terrifying thought, because Beverly Jennings looked like a linebacker. She was the perfect person to run interference for the pastor.

“Anyone bother Pastor Charles that ever worried you? Or made you worried for him?”

“No,” she said immediately. “Nothing like that. Do you think Pastor Charles is in danger?”

I wasn’t sure how much to tell her, or how much Pastor Charles wanted me to tell her. But she was a sharp lady and had her pulse on everything going on with the church. And I was sure in her position she had to keep certain confidences.

“I think it wouldn’t hurt to keep an eye on him and his schedule. Make sure you know where he’s going and who he’s going to see.”

She was silent for several seconds. “I see. I’ll make sure to get you all the personnel files immediately. Anything else you need?”

“Just a list of anyone who’s maybe been overzealous in getting close to the pastor. Maybe even a woman who’s been overly interested or won’t take no for an answer.”

Beverly snorted out a laugh. “Lord, there’s been plenty of those. I didn’t even think of that. Pastor Charles is a good-looking man, and still in the prime of his life. Donna Larkin would be at the top of that list.”

I winced sympathetically. Donna Larkin was a bulldozer. There wasn’t anything she didn’t get if she set her mind to it. It was probably driving her crazy that Pastor Charles had rejected her advances.

I thanked Beverly again for her help, and gave her all my information. And then I told her to call me day or night if anything unusual happened or she felt like something was off with Pastor Charles.

I hung up the phone no farther to where I’d started. It was hard to hide in a town the size of Whiskey Bayou. Even if you tried to skulk about and take pictures without anyone noticing, someone would have seen a vehicle or noticed something out of place. It was no wonder Scarlet had made such a great spy. Everyone in Whiskey Bayou was trained to snoop from the cradle.