“I agree.” I suddenly felt enormously tired. “I’ll try to talk some sense into her. Where is she, anyway?”

Minerva pursed her lips as if almost too exasperated to speak.

“After carrying on like that here for near an hour, she suddenly announced to the whole world that poor Mr. Vess’s cat must be starving, and she was going to go to the rescue. I called Henry the minute she left, but it’s not as if the department doesn’t have a few other things to do. And he can’t very well put out an APB on a law-abiding citizen. For what? Intent to commit feline nutrition?”

“I’ll go after her,” I said.

Chapter 29

From the look on Minerva’s face, I could see she approved.

“I doubt if your mother went straight to Mr. Vess’s house,” she said. “Because obviously there’s no guarantee that the killer’s here at the sewing bee.”

“I’d be pretty surprised if the killer was here,” I said. “Of course, maybe she knows something we don’t.”

“More than likely she’s carrying on the same way all over town. Back at your church, if they’ve opened it up again. Over at the Caerphilly Market. And the post office. And the garden store. And—”

“Understood,” I said. “Which gives me time to get over to Mr. Vess’s house and intercept her. Where does he live, anyway?”

Minerva handed me a sheet of paper on which, in her neat handwriting, she’d written not only Mr. Vess’s address but also detailed instructions, including the landmarks that would tell me I’d overshot my target.

“Before I go,” I said. “May I ask you something?”

“Of course, dearie,” she said. “Ask away.”

“How carefully did the church vet Mr. Lightfoot’s credentials before hiring him?” I asked.

She blinked and frowned slightly before answering.

“Not carefully enough, by a long shot,” she said finally. “Although if you ask me the problem’s with the man, not the credentials. We should have paid a lot less attention to the fancy school he went to and a lot more to what a miserable human being he is. Why—do you know something we don’t?”

“No,” I said. “But someone was suspicious enough of Lightfoot to start checking him out.” I explained what I’d seen on Riddick’s computer, and what I’d heard from Michael’s friend the college registrar.

“Now that’s interesting,” she said. “And I purely don’t know if the search committee did the kind of check you’re talking about. In fact, knowing who was on the committee, I’d be surprised if they did. They spent a lot of time interviewing him, and a lot more time praying for guidance.”

“Both very good things to do,” I said.