Read Online The Graves of the Guilty (Hope Street Church Mysteries Book 3) by Ellery Adams - Free Book Online Page B

responsibility her sister felt. She, too, had seen how Miguel had been trussed up and stashed inside the dark trunk. It was an undignified and disrespectful ending to a life.
    Ashley had mentioned feeling haunted. Cooper was experiencing the same sensation. She couldn’t escape the image of the photograph in the newsletter. Miguel’s reluctant smile. The light of pride in his eyes. The sense of anticipation in his young face. She wanted to act as well. She hated feeling so helpless, of having no chance of closure until the police solved the case.
    While Nathan and Lincoln said their good-byes to Earl and Maggie, Cooper took out the garbage. She dropped the bag into the plastic can outside and turned to see Ashley’s silhouette in the doorway. She stared expectantly at Cooper. Cooper stared back at her and then nodded.
     “We’ll give the police a week,” Cooper whispered as the clouds moved aside to reveal a white sickle moon. “After that, I’ll ask the Sunrise members to get involved. I have faith that they’ll know just what to do next.”

5
     
    Savannah phoned Cooper on Saturday to tell her that their Bible study meeting would be held at Trish’s house. Trish was so weak and nauseated from Friday morning’s chemo treatment that she didn’t expect to have the strength to make it to Hope Street.
    “So we’ll bring Hope Street to her,” Savannah said. “Quinton volunteered to feed us lunch and Bryant will do the hair-cutting honors. Trish wanted to give her locks one last week to hold on, but I think she’s truly resigned to the idea of a wig now.”
    Cooper couldn’t imagine how terrifying it would be to have entire clumps of hair coming loose from her scalp. “Poor Trish.”
    “She’s a fighter,” Savannah said firmly. “She’ll teach us a thing or two about strength.”
    “I’m sure you’re right,” Cooper agreed, but she still felt frightened for her friend. She was also tempted to tell Savannah about Miguel Ramos and the nightmares she’d had all week, but the moment passed.
    In these disturbing dreams, Cooper had been locked inside a car trunk. Imprisoned in blackness, her body pitched and rolled whenever the car hugged a curve or came to a sudden stop. With her mouth covered in duct tape, she struggled to breathe through her nostrils. Her lungs burned, and the little air she was able to take in smelled of sweat and fear.
    For the past few nights, Cooper had woke up feeling scared and disoriented. She knew that only the resolution of Miguel’s case would restore her peaceful slumber, but the police didn’t seem to have much to go on.
    Wiser and McNamara had questioned the employees of Lincoln’s dealership and all the personnel at the other Love franchises. As of this point, the only information they’d shared with Lincoln was that Miguel’s Social Security card and driver’s license were both forged and that he was likely an illegal immigrant.
    Cooper wondered if Miguel’s murder had become less of a priority now that the authorities were aware of his possible illegal status. She prayed this was not the case, but she was also conscious that gang-related crimes had escalated during the month of January, and the police had neither the funds nor the manpower to suppress the violence spreading throughout the city.
    Her father was reading an article about the gang issue that very morning. As soon as Cooper sat down at her parents’ kitchen table, Earl slid over the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
    “Your mama wants me to keep you close today,” he said, peering at her over the rim of his coffee cup. “I don’t think you’re in harm’s way, but it’ll ease her mind.”
    Cooper had expected this. The day after Grammy’s party, Maggie had called an emergency family meeting, forcing Cooper and Ashley to recount precisely what had happened Monday night.
    “I want to hear this story with both my girls sitting in front of me,” their mother insisted.
    The afternoon of their meeting,