I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or annoyed at hearing the dainty but firm tap-tap-tap of Mother’s boot heels as she walked out into the hall.

“Hello, Debbie Ann? Meg and I have caught the real killer.”

Chapter 40

“I can’t believe it! Every church in Caerphilly is back to normal! We can all have our Christmas Eve services as planned! And it’s all thanks to you and your mother!”

Robyn was standing in the doorway of Trinity, welcoming the congregation to the ten o’clock service. Maybe the churches were back to normal, but I still hadn’t recovered from the previous night’s excitement.

Robyn looked as if only the vivid presence of my bright red velvet sling was keeping her from hugging me. I’d chosen the color for that very reason. She settled for patting my undamaged right arm repeatedly.

“Mostly back to normal,” I said. “Rumor has it that the Baptist church isn’t quite as fresh smelling as they’d like.”

“They’ll be fine,” Robyn said. “Father Donnelly and I gave them some incense yesterday, and just in case they can’t quite bring themselves to use it, Randall Shiffley dropped off a couple of cans of pine-and spruce-scented air freshener this morning. Go have a seat down front—you want to get a good view of your boys.”

I followed her orders. Mother and Michael’s mother were already there in Mother’s usual third-row pew, saving me a seat by piling their coats and cameras between them.

I’d gotten about six hours of sleep, thanks in part to the chief’s suggestion that I go home after having my shoulder looked at in the ER, and give him my full statement today, after church. Still, never had I so appreciated Robyn’s penchant for brief and pithy sermons. Even the parents who hadn’t been up late probably felt the same, since we were all keenly aware of the occasional giggles, sneezes, whispers, and sounds of minor combat emanating from the doorways on either side of the church where the children were waiting for their entrances.

Finally the moment came. The organist began softly playing the opening bars of “O Little Town of Bethlehem” and Michael stepped to the podium to begin reading from the book of Luke.

“‘In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.’”

A sixth-grader in a toga stepped out and held up a scroll made from two empty paper towel rolls, a long sheet of paper, and about a ton of gold glitter. He’d have looked more authentic if his mother hadn’t made him wear a turtleneck under the toga but the mother in me approved of her caution.

“‘So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David…’”