The Same Place (The Lamb and the Lion #2) - Gregory Ashe Page 0,68

Tean guessed, was the bedroom. He thought about Leroy Erickson saying the pig farm was worth several million dollars.

“This is cozy,” Jem said, bouncing on the sofa as though demonstrating it for a potential customer. “Have you been here a long time?”

“Twenty years or so. The land was cheap, and we built up the farm slowly.”

“Do you like it?”

Zalie cocked her head, seeming to consider the question and Jem at the same time. “I did,” she finally said.

“What changed?”

“Just about everything, I’m afraid. You said Hannah hired you?”

“Sort of,” Tean said. “I’m just a friend. She hired Jem, though. Hannah’s worried something might have happened to Joy. An accident. Something like that.”

“That’s rich.”

“What?” Jem said.

“Coming from her,” Zalie said, “that’s rich. She’s the whole reason Joy ran off in the first place.”

“Were they—” Tean said.

“Having an affair? That was my first guess. No, I don’t think so. You have to understand, though, that we all go back a long way. I was never very involved in Joy’s . . . group. I knew Joy. I was attracted to her. We’d seen each other on and off. But I was never interested in being an activist, and I certainly wasn’t going to do some of the things that she did.”

“But they didn’t bother you enough to cut things off,” Jem said.

“No, they didn’t. Maybe the opposite, actually. There’s something potent about being attracted to someone different from you. And, of course, we all think that we’ll be the one who can make them change. We believe we’re doing it for their own good, of course.”

Tean thought of the flyer, the apartment applications, the Social Security card. He felt hot, sweat prickling in a line down his chest.

“And I thought Joy would mellow with time. She didn’t, of course. And that’s why we’re getting divorced.”

“You were saying something about Hannah?” Jem said.

“Right, well, back then, Hannah was more than happy to go along with whatever Joy wanted her to do. She’s fifteen years younger than Joy—maybe a little more—and Joy was her idol. They were involved romantically as well, and that complicates everything. And then one day, Hannah left, and things were over.”

“Not quite over,” Tean said. “Were they?”

“I guess not,” Zalie said, running her thumb down the cane’s dark wood. “A few weeks ago, Hannah started calling. Joy was still here some of the time; we were trying to work things out, although I think we both knew things were over. At first, I thought Hannah was just back in the rotation, another of Joy’s girls; there have been a lot over the years, no matter how many times we tried therapy, no matter how many times I threatened to leave. But then I realized it was something else. Joy would be very quiet, and usually they’d only exchange a few words before they ended the call. Joy would dink around for fifteen minutes and then make up an excuse to leave. I don’t know how stupid that woman thinks I am, but it wasn’t flattering. When Joy came back, she was always angry. I realized it wasn’t just an old flame.”

“So what was it?”

“Do you know Hannah’s parents?”

“We’ve met,” Tean said.

“And you know her dad is a bigwig in the Mormon church?”

“He was a bishop. Maybe a stake president.”

“Right, right. But those are local positions. He’s being considered for something bigger.”

“How’d you know that?” Jem asked.

“Joy told me. She was laughing about it. ‘How would people feel if they learned his daughter was a carpet muncher and had blown up a guy for delivering chicken eggs? How would they feel if they knew even ten percent of what that closet dyke thought?’ That was what she said, more or less. She always thought she sounded so tough when she said things like that—carpet muncher, dyke. Ugly, ugly words that she said she was reclaiming.”

Jem threw a quick glance at Tean, and Tean knew what the blond man was thinking: the envelope of cash in Joy’s car. A payoff? Hush money? Something to keep Joy quiet? Tean immediately felt guilty for suspecting Hannah of something like that, but he looked again at Zalie, and he saw a woman who was tired and hurt and, as far as he could tell, wasn’t lying.

“You think Hannah had something to do with this?” Jem asked.

Zalie tapped the cane against the floor and didn’t look up.

“Is there anything else you can tell us?” Tean asked. “Anything strange in Joy’s behavior over the last few weeks?