Free Building Blocks of Murder by Vanessa Gray Bartal

get your number? Is it okay that I called?”
    “Of course,” she said. “I just thought it was Tosh. How is he?” Why hasn’t he returned my call?
    “Stuffy and boring. He’s ditching me tonight for some church thing.”
    “It’s Wednesday night; I think that’s just church,” she said.
    “You Protestants and your overconsumption of church. What’s the big deal about going once a week? We Catholics had the system perfected until Martin Luther came along and ruined it.”
    “You’re arguing with the wrong protestant,” she told him. “I’m not a card-carrying member of anywhere.”
    “You don’t go to Tosh’s church?” he asked, surprised.
    “Sure I do. I wouldn’t want to hurt Tosh’s feelings. But I’m sort of on the fringe of things. The real power players are my grandmother’s group of friends. I call them the blue-hair mafia. You don’t want to mess with them.”
    “Sounds scary,” Keegan said. “I hope Tosh is safe here.”
    “Tosh knows how to handle the geriatric set,” Lacy assured him. “He has special skills.”
    Keegan laughed. “You mean he’s a suck-up. I’m going to tell him you said that.”
    “Don’t give him more reason to be upset with me,” Lacy said, only half joking. Why did it feel like Tosh was now dodging her?  
    “So, are you free tonight?” Keegan pressed.
    “Sure, I guess. What did you have in mind?”
    “It’s a surprise. I’ll pick you up at six.” With that, he hung up.
    “Doesn’t anyone say goodbye anymore?” she asked, causing yet another passerby to look at her in alarm. “I have got to stop talking to myself,”she muttered, putting her head down once again and heading to her car before remembering she didn’t have one.
    It’s been a busy day, and you’re overwhelmed, she reassured herself. You’re not actually crazy; senility won’t settle in until much later in life. With that comforting thought in mind, she began the long walk home.

Chapter 8
     
     
    When Lacy arrived home and saw her grandparents sitting close together on the couch, their heads almost touching as her grandfather’s arm rested on her grandmother’s shoulders, Lacy remembered what Tosh had said. Was it time to move out of her grandmother’s house? The thought of being on her own was nearly as painful as the thought that her grandparents might resent her presence.
    They turned to her with welcoming smiles, but she felt paranoid now, as if she were intruding on their alone time. “I’m going out tonight,” she proclaimed, lest they get the idea that she was going to hang out in the living room and badger them.
    “All right, dear,” her grandmother, ever the loving encourager, said with a smile. “That sounds nice. Which one are you seeing tonight?”
    Lacy winced. Why did she have to make is sound like Lacy had a string of beaux, just waiting for her to choose them? “I’m going out with Tosh’s brother, Keegan. He’s visiting from Chicago .”
    “How nice,” Lucinda said with a vague smile. Lacy knew that if push came to shove, Tosh would be her grandmother’s choice for her. He was, after all, her pastor. What grandmother didn’t dream of seeing her granddaughter married to a nice, wholesome pastor? Though the “wholesome” image didn’t always fit Tosh. He was a bit of a rogue cleric, in Lacy’s opinion.
    “What do we know about this Keegan boy?” her grandfather asked, his eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he studied Lacy.
    Lacy smiled. “He’s very nice. He runs his family’s construction company, and he looked at the Stakely building for me today. He thinks we should use solar panels and make part of the roof a garden.”
    “That’s actually a good idea,” Mr. Middleton admitted begrudgingly.
    “You’ll like him,” Lacy assured him.
    “I’m sure we will,” Lucinda said. “After all, he’s Pastor Underwood’s brother.”
    Mr. Middleton smiled at her in the same amused way that Tosh and Jason often smiled at Lacy. “Don’t you