Read Online Lost in Plain Sight by Marta Perry - Free Book Online

him.
    Darkness pressed against the windows, but the group around the kitchen table sat under the glow of the gaslight. Josiah glanced from face to face, judging their reactions to this odd occasion.
    The chief had left his weapon in the car, but Leah’s father still looked uneasy at having an officer in uniform at his kitchen table. Geneva Morgan was pink with excitement, while Chief Byler wore the satisfied look of a man whose work had gone well.
    As for Leah…he had trouble looking at Leah with an unbiased eye. She had grown so dear to him in such a short time.
    But maybe it had not been so sudden. After all, they’d had a lifetime of knowing each other before he’d wakened up and seen her for the determined, appealing woman she’d grown into. At the moment, Leah still looked confused.
    “I don’t understand,” she said. “I know that old calendar was important to him, but why? What was he doing that was wrong?”
    “He was using his position on the school board to line his own pockets,” the chief said. “You know that addition to the high school they’re building? It seems Grayson took money from the company to ensure that they got the contract.”
    “Is there enough proof of that?” Geneva asked.
    He nodded. “As I said, Grayson wasn’t very good at breaking the law. He kept notes of meetings he’d had and when they’d paid him in that calendar.”
    “No wonder he was so upset to find it missing,” Geneva said. “I knew there had to be more involved than that woman’s ring.”
    “The ring was just an excuse,” Byler said. “When he realized the calendar was gone, he thought Leah had taken it. He wanted his wife to fire her, so he took the ring and persuaded her Leah had done it. But that backfired when she his wife insisted she was going to the police. He panicked, trying to get the calendar back—searched this house, then tried to bribe Leah.”
    “I didn’t even know what he was talking about,” Leah said. “If he’d just asked me for the calendar in the beginning, I would have given it to him.”
    Byler shrugged. “I’d guess his guilty conscience was responsible for that. He was sure you’d heard him talking to the contractor on the phone and taken the calendar deliberately.”
    “The guilty flee where no man pursueth,” Leah’s father intoned solemnly.
    “Exactly,” Geneva said, smiling.
    “What will happen to him now?” Josiah tried to keep the anger he felt toward the man out of his voice. He was going to have to work on forgiving Grayson—that was certain sure.
    “That’s up to the courts,” the chief said. “They may work out a deal that keeps him out of jail, but I have my doubts. I’d guess the important thing to all of you is that Leah is completely cleared.” He rose, nodding gravely to Leah’s parents. “Thank you. I’m sorry this unpleasantness intruded into your home.”
    That seemed to be a signal for folks to leave. Josiah left the kitchen but lingered on the porch, hoping for a few quiet moments with Leah.
    Geneva paused as she came past him. “Josiah, I’ll be happy to give you a ride home.”
    “Denke, but I…I will stay awhile.”
    She nodded, smiling as if she knew exactly what was in his mind. “I’ll see you soon.”
    Josiah waited, not sure what he’d do if she didn’t come out. For that matter, he wasn’t sure what he’d do if she did. He just knew he had to talk to her, had to explain—
    “Josiah?” She pushed the door open, standing in the yellow block of light for a moment and then stepping onto the porch. “I didn’t know you were still here.”
    “I wanted to talk to you.” He glanced over her shoulder, seeing her parents still in the kitchen, and led her to the wooden swing at the other end of the back porch. “We’ll sit for a moment, ja?”
    She didn’t speak, but she did sit down. So he had a chance. He tried to gather his thoughts.
    “Earlier, when I left…” His throat tightened when he pictured her face as it