Free The Root of All Evil (Hope Street Church Mysteries Book 4) by Ellery Adams, Elizabeth Lockard Page B

something.”
    The inspector furrowed his brow. “Pastor Matthews, are you all right? Would you like to talk to a counselor?”
    Pastor Matthews ignored the insinuation that he was suffering an emotional break, but Cooper didn’t. She shot a dirty look in McNamara’s direction. The inspector looked back wide-eyed and innocent.
    “I can’t believe I forgot,” Pastor Matthews continued. “One of our parishioners installed a security camera Sunday evening.”
    The furrow disappeared from the inspector’s face and was replaced by a look of surprise. “You have a security system? That is useful information.”
    “It’s not a whole system,” Pastor Matthews explained. “Just one camera.” He turned to Cooper. “Your friend Edward suggested it Sunday before church. He must have come to me straight from your Bible study.”
    Cooper thought back to Sunday morning, when Edward had stormed off after Cooper confronted him about his treatment of Ms. Donna. “That’s what he was talking to you about?” she asked. “A security camera?”
    As Pastor Matthews focused on something other than the image of Sylvia on his office floor, he came alive. “Edward wanted to install an entire system, but I didn’t want folks to be deterred from coming into the church. I didn’t want them to feel like they were being watched. He was quite insistent, though, given the other church robberies. Edward said that the other churches had been entered via a back door, and we really ought to watch every entrance other than the main one. I finally agreed to let him install one camera on one door.”
    McNamara flipped his notepad shut. “One camera? One door? That’s it? You’ve got three doors to the church and another three or four to the school!”
    Cooper shot McNamara another dirty look. Here he was, condescending to the poor man who discovered Sylvia’s body. She made sure her tone was gentle before she spoke. “Pastor Matthews, how did you decide where to mount the camera?”
    “I didn’t. Edward did.”
    Inspector McNamara grunted, his patience quickly dissipating. “Is this Edward clairvoyant?”
    “No,” Cooper said. “But he is an ex-con. We all saw in the paper that a back door was jimmied open at the churches that were robbed. Edward probably walked around the property and figured out how he’d do it—which door he’d use, if he had a mind to indulge in criminal behavior anymore.”
    “Do you think he has a mind to indulge in criminal behavior anymore?” the inspector asked.
    Both Cooper and Pastor Matthews shook their heads. Pastor Matthews replied, “I don’t know him well, but he only wanted to help.”
    “Wait a sec. Ms. Lee, is this the Edward who got you and your friends involved in two police investigations? His father’s death and then a drug bust?”
    “Not exactly,” Cooper replied. “We were looking for his father’s killer and got Edward involved, and then we voluntarily helped with the whole drug ring takedown. Lest you forget, in the second case, Edward was working with the police. He’s not going back to his old life.”
    Inspector McNamara pursed his lips and frowned, not entirely convinced. “We’ll see. Back to the camera . . . the one camera your friend Edward mysteriously knew where to place.”
    Pastor Matthews lowered himself back to the curb before speaking again. “I couldn’t say how Edward decided where to put the camera, but that’s not the point. I haven’t looked at the footage. There may not be anything there; I haven’t heard how the . . .” He looked physically ill, but he swallowed hard and continued. “I haven’t heard how the murderer got inside, so he may have used a different door.”
    The sickly look wasn’t lost on McNamara, who quickly changed his tone to a more compassionate one. “I’ll tell you what, Pastor Matthews. If you could give me the footage, I’ll have my men look through it. You don’t need to worry about it at all. You don’t need to watch