Free The Way of the Wicked (Hope Street Church Mysteries Book 2) by Ellery Adams

and fried plantains.”
    “I’ll sample one of everything,” Quinton said eagerly. “This bolo cake’s a little like my mama’s pound cake, but it’s even more moist. Don’t tell her I said that.” He speared a plantain with a plastic fork and dropped it onto his plate. “Thank you, Trish.”
    Bryant gestured at the carafe in Cooper’s hand. “Would you hit me with some caffeine, Cooper? I swear, my hands have been shaking since yesterday.”
    Cooper filled his mug and then gave him a curious look.
    Bryant met her eyes. “I’m still unsettled. Even my George Hamilton tan has faded since I saw poor Mrs. Davenport.”
    “Did she look peaceful?” Jake wanted to know. “I’d feel better about finding someone like that if I could just picture them being asleep.”
    “Her mouth was hanging open like she’d fallen asleep, but she was slumped sideways in her chair and she was so pale. Her skin was white, her hair was white, her housedress was white. Ghost-like.” Bryant spoke very softly. “I prefer to picture older folks, like my parents, dying in their beds surrounded by family.” He stared forlornly at his coffee cup. “I believe that’s what got to me. Seeing Mrs. Davenport and thinking of my own mama. It scared me.”
    Savannah nodded. “In Isaiah forty-six, God says, ‘Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.’” She gave Bryant an affectionate smile. “The Lord brought Mrs. Davenport home. Her spirit was long gone by the time you got there. She was probably looking down from heaven and feeling sorry for you !” Savannah laughed.
    Bryant held his hands up. “Okay, I’m ready to focus on Joseph now, even though our last page of homework bothered me a bit.”
    “Me too,” Nathan agreed. “I can’t believe that Jacob’s sons lied to him and shoved that bloodstained robe in his face. They made him believe Joseph was dead.”
    “Those brothers must have been on the verge of boiling over for years,” Trish said.
    Quinton shook his head. “It’s such a horrendous heartbreak for a parent to lose a child, and Joseph’s death was sudden and brutal to boot. No wonder Jacob aged overnight.”
    Trish’s eyes filled with tears. “When I think of anything bad happening to one of my precious girls, oh, I just can’t even say it! Poor Jacob! That poor man!”
    The group shared the remainder of their homework answers and then closed their workbooks.
    “I wonder if anyone will miss Mrs. Davenport,” Bryant said, getting up to refill his coffee mug.
    “I’m sure someone will.” Nathan gave Bryant’s shoulder a comforting squeeze.
    Cooper served herself a plantain, returned to her seat, and began slicing the fruit into tiny pieces.
    “You look like you’re planning to feed a toddler,” Trish said. “Are you all right?”
    Cooper dropped her fork. “I’m just wrestling over whether or not to share something with all of you.”
    Jake gestured at her with both hands. “Come on, out with it!”
    Cooper hesitated. Her friends gazed at her with a mixture of expectancy and impatience.
    “Do I have to go out to the Mr. Faucet van for my toolbox and pry the secret out of you?” Jake put on a theatrical scowl. “I know you have your own toolbox, but try to remember where mine have been.”
    “Okay, okay. You win.” As Cooper looked at her friends, she felt the lighthearted moment slip away. “I overheard alarming things both times we were at Door-2-Door’s headquarters. I wasn’t sure if I should say anything, but now I feel compelled to share what I heard.”
    Reluctantly, she told her friends about the thefts and the similarities between Mrs. Davenport’s and Mr. Manningham’s deaths.
    “What are you implying?” Trish asked when Cooper was done. “That someone deliberately harmed these people?”
    “Seems clear as glass to me,” Jake said with a snarl. “Stealing from