“Not well.” Cordelia filled them in on the details. “If he finds out about the palytoxin, I’m scared he’s going to point the sheriff in this direction again.”
“He’s not going to find out.” Belinda Sue smacked her palm hard enough to make Cordelia jump. “We’ll wrap this up before he gets the chance.”
“What do we know about Martina other than she works at a library, her family owns the best Mexican restaurant in three counties, and she don’t like book banners?” Daisy had a pink notebook and fuzzy pen balanced on her crossed knee, ready to take notes. The full moon and light from the pool gave her plenty of illumination. “There’s got to be something we missed.”
“What about that rumor that went around a few years back about her hooking up with Stewart Combs in the World Religion section and nearly losing her job when a board member happened to stop in that day and catch Stewart with his hand up her shirt?” Belinda Sue asked. “Stewart ended up breaking things off because the pastor didn’t approve of one of his deacons carrying on with Martina on account of her being agnostic.”
“Being agnostic was worse than hooking up in a public library?” Cordelia asked.
Belinda Sue shrugged. “I don’t much get the rules of religionmyself, but it’s my understanding that it’s right up there with murder and blasphemy.”
“Of all the ridiculous...” Cordelia cut herself off. She didn’t much understand religion herself, and so made a point not to make too many judgments about it. “I suppose that’s a lead we could follow. Should we talk to Stewart first?”
Daisy waggled her eyebrows. “Arline could talk to Stewart.”
“We don’t do a whole lot of talking,” Arline said. “Don’t see why we’d start now.”
Belinda Sue held out her hands. “Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to go to church.” When she was met with a collective groan, she gave the three of them a sharp stink eye. “I’m being serious here. We should’ve been going the whole time. Church is a hotbed of gossip and manners. That’s where we’ll really be able to suss out who’s doing what.”
“Or who,” Daisy added.
Cordelia couldn’t deny that Belinda Sue had a point. One of the reasons she’d always felt on the outside of things growing up in Sarsaparilla Falls was because her momma hadn’t been allowed to attend church. It ended up cutting her off from the whole community. Of course Sherilynn’s outrageous antics didn’t help matters, but being barred from the church cut Cordelia off as well.
There had to be more to a community than religion though. Looking at Daisy, Belinda Sue, and Arline, Cordelia could say that for certain. Community didn’t have to be made up of shared beliefs or common grounds. Sometimes it existed in the respect of differences and the desire to have old ways of thinking challenged. No good ever came from standing still.
“I’m with Belinda Sue on this,” Cordelia said. “We’re not going to learn anything new by sitting around here and making assumptions.”
“I’ll wait outside and see how it goes.” Arline crossed her arms. “If y’all make it past the threshold without turning to ash, I’ll consider following you in.”
On Sunday morning Cordelia stood outside her car, waiting for the chicks to finish getting ready. Belinda Sue was the only one who had done any churching growing up, so walking through the finer details of appropriate attire had been an exercise in patience. While Daisy made a solid point when she said God wouldn’t care too much about what they looked like as long as they showed up, it still wasn’t a good-enough reason to walk into the Holy Cross Episcopal Church wearing hot shorts and a halter top.
The three of them ended up raiding Arline’s closet, since the floral caftans she preferred were about as close as they were going to get to church dresses. Cordelia wore one of her trim A-line skirts and cream tops with a matching jacket. She looked ready for a business interview, which wasn’t much different from any other day.
As they pulled into the parking lot, Cordelia tried to ignore the double takes. The people of Sarsaparilla Falls might’ve respected the Chickadee, but that didn’t mean they wanted to be reminded of their sins when they were trying to pretend to be holy.
“Why’s everyone staring at us?” Daisy asked. “Did we wear the wrong thing?”
“Folks in this town prefer to keep their vices and their morals separate, if you know what I mean. Plus, they’re probably mad they don’t look as good as us.” Belinda Sue looped her arm through Daisy’s, leading the way into the church. “Come on. Let’s give ’em hell.”
Cordelia followed, with Arline bringing up the rear, refusing to enter before Daisy and Belinda Sue as promised. The inside of the church was large and open, so different from the maze of hallsand doors in the labyrinth beneath the area of worship. Thick maroon carpet blanketed the floor, while the pristine white walls made the space look much bigger than it was in actuality. A large wooden cross stood behind a podium with a microphone, and a stained-glass window depicting Jesus with a lamb allowed a kaleidoscope of colored light to stream through.
The effect was intimidating, but maybe that was what they’d been going for. Her momma used to say half of religion was based on how well a preacher could scare people into trying to buy their way to heaven. Cordelia shuffled into a pew at the back with the rest of the chicks.
“I heard they’re bringing in guest pastors until they can hire someone to fill the role,” Daisy whispered. “So the person speaking today might not be here for good.”
Cordelia didn’t much care who was speaking. Her attention was more focused on the odd looks they kept getting as more patrons shuffled in and headed toward the front. A few people waved, but this wasn’t like the grocery store. It was clear this was the one place in town where the chicks didn’t belong.
Daisy shifted in her seat. “Should we be sitting all the way back here? I feel like people keep looking at us like we’re the bad kids in class.”
“Wearethe bad kids,” Belinda Sue said. “Not much we can do about that.”
Stella entered the church with her friend Gladys and stopped short when she spotted Cordelia and the chicks. Offering a tentative smile, she rushed forward and took a seat near the front, not daring to look back. As if she didn’t want the parishioners to think she approved of the chicks being in church. Never mind that the entire congregation knew where her dearly departed husband spent his Friday nights.
“I’m not sure how this is going to help us if no one even wantsto meet our eyes,” Daisy said. “They don’t know we eat supper before saying grace.”
“Just observe,” Cordelia said. “You can tell a lot about people by watching them.”
Cordelia meant to follow her own advice, but she couldn’t keep her gaze from wandering to Stella and wondering if Archer was going to show up and join her in the front row. Would he be mad that she’d shown up at his daddy’s church? Or would he file it away under his building belief that Daisy had done something wrong and Cordelia was helping cover it up?
