grim.
"That was a quick five minutes," she said as she gestured them inside.
"We were parked out front," Paul explained.
"Let's sit down," Mark said.
They took seats around the kitchen table and they both pulled notepads out of their pockets. Cindy wrinkled up her nose. Both men smelled of smoke.
"It wasn't just a heart attack that killed Dr. Tanner, was it?" she asked, her mouth dry.
"We don't know much at the moment but we're trying to rule out possibilities," Mark said. "We are, however, fairly certain that he was dead or unconscious when the accident happened."
"Of course he was dead. Jeremiah said so," she replied.
"That may be, but I'm not sure how much Jeremiah actually saw rather than imagined. That was a nasty accident," Paul commented.
Cindy felt anger rising in her and it caught her offguard.Why should she feel suddenly so defensive over them doubting Jeremiah's account of the accident? Was it because she had relied on his conclusion when making the decision to call the police in the first place?
She took a ragged breath and asked, "How do you know the driver was dead or unconscious, then?"
"The accident investigator," Mark said.
"He found something?" she asked.
"More like he didn't find something. Skid marks. Dr.Tanner never once hit the brakes during the entire thing."
"And had he been awake he would have been pushing the brake pedal as hard as he could," she said.
"That's the logical assumption," Paul said. "So, we want to go over the accident with you again and ask you some more questions about Dr. Tanner."
"Anything I can do to help," Cindy said.
She felt like all she did was repeat herself for the next half hour until she'd told the story from her point of view a dozen times. Finally they shifted topics.
"Do you know of anyone who would want to hurt Dr.Tanner?" Paul asked.
Cindy shrugged. "He was a kind man, well thought of, but I don't know enough about him to be able to answer that. I'm guessing that's a question for his family."
"Anyone at the church know him better?" Mark asked.
"Joseph Coulter sits on a board with him."
"And just which board would that be?"
"The GPNC Board. The board was created to oversee use and care of the Green Pastures Nature Camp. The camp is about an hour-and-a-half drive from here and was created by several churches and non-profits in the area years ago for use as a camp and a retreat. Kids go there to summer camp from all over the area. Adults go to religious retreats."
"I'm familiar with it," Paul said. "They were both on the board?"
"Yes."
"Anyone else at the church have close ties with him?" Mark asked.
"Dave Wyman, the youth pastor, relied on him to drive the bus to camp whenever it was needed. He took the news really hard this morning."
"Ah yes, Wildman. Heck of a nickname for a youth pastor."
"Anyone else?" Paul asked.
"Not that I know of. If you want, I could set up an appointment with Pastor Roy—"
"No, thank you," Mark interrupted, visibly wincing.
Cindy remembered the first and last time Mark had tried interviewing the head pastor and the look of utter frustration on his face when he left Roy's office.
"Okay, I think we're done here," Paul said, snapping his notebook shut and putting it away.
He stood and Mark followed suit. Cindy rose reluctantly to her feet.
"I've got a question for the two of you. I know you're not smokers, so why do your clothes smell like smoke?" she asked.
Mark grimaced. "I'm sure you'll read about it in the papers tomorrow. We were investigating an accident. An environmentalist got caught in a planned burn to clear out undergrowth before the dry season."
"That's terrible! How does that involve you, though? You're homicide detectives."
"Anytime somebody finds a body like that we get called.Strictly routine," he said.
She noticed that he didn't look her in the eye when he said it. "You've always had a terrible poker face," she accused.
He shrugged.
After the detectives left she called Jeremiah back, but it just went to voicemail. She hoped that meant he was getting some rest. She flopped down on the sofa and turned on the television.
"And next up on the Escape! Channel is Kyle Preston's newest show Dare Me. See the first part of Kyle's journey as he attempts to go over a waterfall in a barrel."
She clicked the TV off in disgust and headed for her bedroom. Once there she began throwing darts at his face on her dartboard. The picture was actually a better one of him. He looked serious and intense, like he actually was contemplating what an idiot he was for always putting himself in such danger.
Jeremiah ached all over when he woke up. He stood gingerly and walked into the bathroom where he inspected himself in the mirror. There was bruising on his left cheekbone.He pulled off his shirt and saw the welts and bright purple bruises left by his seatbelt. The cut on his leg was hurting and starting to itch. All in all, he had gotten off lightly. Except for the bruise on his face no one would realize anything had happened to him.
He debated briefly going into work. He knew he should, but all he really wanted to do was go back to bed and catch up on some reading. He took a shower, which did little to make him feel better. Having made up his mind he put on a pair of sweats and a T-shirt and picked up the phone.
His secretary answered on the third ring.
"Hi, Marie, sorry for calling you at home. I just wanted to let you know that I'm not going to be in today. I'm still recovering from yesterday."
"Recovering? From what?"
"The car accident. Didn't you hear?" he asked, surprised.He always assumed that Marie heard anything that happened at or near the synagogue within five minutes.
"You were in a car accident?" she asked, voice rising an octave.
"In front of First Shepherd. A guy had a heart attack and rear-ended me."
"And you didn't think to tell me?"
He winced. "Actually, I thought you'd have figured it out when you saw my car. Cindy came running out of the church right after
