Free Euphoria Lane by Tina Swayzee McCright Page A

He’s too busy feeling sorry for himself and regretting what happened when he fell in love with Helen.”
    “Helen? The board member we’re about to spy on?”
    “Yep. She was the member of the congregation he was caught kissing. Ministers are allowed to date and marry, but it becomes a scandal if the woman just broke up with the wealthiest member of the church. The gossips accused the reverend of coming between the couple and causing their separation, which placed their church in financial jeopardy. Helen claims she never let on to Reverend Nichols that she was in love with him until after she broke up with Mr. Millionaire. I believe her.”
    “What happened?”
    “Bernice convinced Helen to leave him.”
    “Why?”
    “Too many theories to discuss now. We have a job to do.” Meg quickened her pace.
    “Bernice sure knew how to make enemies.” The number of murder suspects continued to grow. Andi glanced around her, wondering which condo hid the neighbor who had killed the former board president. An involuntary shudder traveled across her shoulders and upper back.
    She realized she had fallen behind and rushed to catch up with Meg as she rounded another condo building. Out in the open, they strolled nonchalantly, side by side across the grass in the neighborhood’s common area.
    One moment Meg was walking beside her, then the next she was gone. Andi twisted and found her friend hiding behind another bush and pointing toward a woman washing her cheery yellow Smart Car in her driveway.
    Afraid to be caught, Andi bent her knees and waddled like a duck behind the bushes to Meg’s side. Spying was giving her quads a workout.
    “That’s Helen,” Meg mouthed.
    The rail-thin woman, most likely in her mid-thirties, squeezed a sopping wet sponge over the roof of her car, then stepped back out of the way as water cascaded over the side. She wore orange Capri pants with a matching floral, sleeveless top and flip-flop sandals. The outfit said, “Going on a spring picnic.”
    Meg lifted her camera. “Washing your car on the property is against the rules.”
    An earth-tone, midsize sedan drove down the street, approaching the condo. With a hesitant smile, Helen lifted her open palm in a weak wave. The driver ignored her. She lowered her gaze, rejection written all over her sullen face.
    “She was waving at the reverend,” Meg said. “He drives by her condo on the way home from his new job and she just happens to be out front so she can wave hello, but he pretends not to see her. He rejects her day after day after day.”
    “How sad.” Andi’s heart ached for the woman, even though she had never met her.
    Helen slowly turned off the water, tossed the sponge into a plastic, gray bucket and carried it away by the handle. Before she reached her door, Meg began clicking pictures of the car wash scene.
    After Helen disappeared behind her front door, they both left their hiding place.
    Andi couldn’t forget the look on Helen’s face when the reverend drove off without acknowledging her. She knew how it felt to lose the man you love. “Maybe we should leave this poor woman alone. She’s been through enough already.”
    Meg leaned close to the wet car and snapped a picture. “Helen hands her proxy over to Harry whenever he asks for it. She’s not lifting a finger to stop him or help her neighbors. That makes her guilty in my book. Besides, all she’ll get is a warning. She’ll stop washing her car on the property and the daily rejections will stop. We are actually doing her a favor.”
    “I guess you’re right,” Andi said, hoping Helen would stop torturing herself.
    Meg zoomed in on an oil drop the size of a nickel. “I can blow this up to look like the inside of a mechanic’s garage.”
    “Let’s get out of here,” Andi encouraged, still not comfortable recording evidence against Helen.
    Meg hid the camera in her pocket and the two of them power-walked down the street, following the trail of water leading away