Chapter 32

© Copyright 2006 by Kendra Cornell



Paul and Karen sat at his desk in the study. A series of papers was fanned out before them; the foreclosure letters, the letter from Elizabeth James, and Karen’s file on Jeff Yendale. Paul had taken a look at the file, and other than vaguely recognizing Jeff, they had nothing new to report.

Karen slumped back in her seat, tapping a pencil on her lower teeth.

“There’s got to be something there- something we missed.”

“Karen, my strengths don’t lie in investigation. I just don’t know where else to look. We’ve established that Elizabeth James and Tom Delaney were in business together. And it’s quite possible that he broke the campaign finance reform… whatever you were talking about. But that still doesn’t tie together the police, this reporter guy, or my church to Tom Delaney.”

Dogged determination defined Karen’s eyes. “Oh- don’t give up so easily. You’ll never get anywhere if you quit without even trying.”

Paul guessed that he was seeing the part of Karen that had driven her to success. He exhaled and resigned himself to poring over the pages yet again.

Karen took a lined tablet and wrote out the words “Jays and Amendlee’ at the top. “You said you tried to call these people, right?”

“Yes. But I didn’t get anything out of it. A generic answering service picked up and said they’d forward the message. That was late last week.”

Karen bit her lower lip, “Did you look this up in the yellow pages?”

“No- the number is printed at the bottom.”

“Hand me a phone book, will you?”

Paul retrieved the thick book and handed it to her before sitting down again next to her.

“So, what are you looking for?” he asked.

“I’m not sure, yet. Just following a hunch I guess. Might be nothing.”

Instead of turning to the yellow pages, Karen flipped to the white pages instead, where private residences were listed.

“Hmmm… There’s a whole page of Jays. Could be any of them, I guess. But…” and he waited while she riffled through the pages again. “No Amendlees. It doesn’t even sound like a name, does it?”

“I guess not, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. A lot of people have odd last names.”

Karen looked stumped for a minute, and then she started scribbling on the pad. Her writing grew more frenzied as she continually scratched out whatever it was she was working on.

“No… it’s… Yes! Look Paul!”

Paul looked curiously at what she had written on the page. At the top, ‘Jays- Amendlee’ was written in large block letters- all of which had been crossed out as she rearranged them underneath.

“James-Delaney? Well, that makes sense I suppose, since we already assumed that they were in business together. But, what does that mean?”

She expelled a frustrated sigh. “I don’t know- I’m working this out as we go. But at least it’s progress, Paul! Come on, root for our team here!”

He laughed. The last few hours had proven Karen to be a brilliant, driven, tenacious woman and Paul liked her. He tried not to notice that he also found himself attracted to her beauty and a certain… vulnerability as well. It would do no good to fall for someone that wasn’t a Christian. Paul just couldn’t allow that to happen.

“Alright, I need a break. I’m going to get something to drink- do you want anything?”

“No, actually, I should get some yard work done. I’m just not sure if I’m going to have time to take care of it later in light of all the drama around here right now.”

Karen smiled as he walked away. She felt her heart flip, and instantly became mortified. I can’t be attracted to him! He’s gone out of his way to help me out. He’s in a lot of trouble with his church because of me, and what am I going to do? Prove them all right? That there really is something going on between the two of us? He is a genuinely kind person who has taken me in out of a sense of honor and doing what’s right. That’s where it needs to end. Sternly, she told herself, Karen, nothing has changed. You’ve never wanted a relationship- look at your own parents. Look at the divorce rate, for crying out loud. Relationships never work out. So quit this now, before you embarrass yourself and turn a good situation into a bad one.

Karen made it down the hall where she found Glenda chopping vegetables for dinner.

“Glenda, so far, I think you are about the world’s best cook, but I feel terrible about you doing all the work in the kitchen.”

“Do you want to help?”

“Uh, well, I’m not really a very good cook, actually,” said Karen. “But, I’d love to try.”

Glenda smiled. “Good- I peeled all these potatoes. Could you slice them into about one inch pieces for me?”

“Sure. I’d love to,” said Karen as Glenda carried a cutting board to the kitchen table along with a wicked looking knife. She bit her lip, and took the bowl of potatoes that Glenda offered her. Glenda looked like she was trying not to laugh.

“Why don’t I show you how I like them for the stew, and then you can copy them…”

“That would be great,” Karen replied in relief.

Quickly and efficiently, Glenda sliced the potato and then turned the slices easily into cubes.

“There you go- nothing to it.”

Karen didn’t reply, but bit her cheek. There was nothing like a good cook to make Karen feel completely inept. However, she did the best she could, and in a few minutes had a large stack of cubed potatoes. Actually, she felt pretty accomplished. It was the most she had ever really done in the kitchen before. These days, most things came precooked and prepackaged, so there was generally nothing to be done and no reason for Karen to learn.

“Glenda? I finished it, I think,” said Karen.

Without a look at the quality of the work, Glenda picked up the potatoes and dropped them into the bowl.

“Great job! Thank you so much- That just saved me a load of work.”

“So what are you making?” Karen asked.

“Well, I’ve got beef stew with carrots, onions and potatoes. I got a fresh loaf of bread from that Italian bakery down the street, and I think I’ll get out the rest of the fruit from this morning. Does that sound good?”

“Anything would sound good right now. I’m starving,” replied Karen who had hobbled on healing feet to peek into the stewpot.

“Um… Glenda? Why is there a giant bone in the pot?”

“Oh- Well, I boiled that bone to make broth to cook the stew in. Sometimes I make a sort of pseudo-gravy, but tonight I thought soup would go down easier.”

Karen looked a bit confused. In the political realm, there was little that surprised her, and she could usually fake her way through the few things that did. But she knew that Glenda would pick up quickly on any pretense, and besides, Karen no longer had the energy to fake it.

“Well, whatever it is, it looks and smells wonderful.”

“Thank you dear,” Glenda said as she scraped slices of carrot and onion into the broth. As soon as the bone had cooled a bit, Glenda stripped off the meat and chopped it finely, adding it to the pot as well. She had wrapped the loaf of bread that smelled of garlic and rosemary in foil and placed it in the oven to warm. Soon, the entire kitchen had a heavenly aroma.

“You are going to make me gain ten pounds,” said Karen as she sat back down. “And I assure you, that’s a compliment!”

Glenda sat down next to her.

“How are your feet feeling?” she asked. “I never did get a chance to look at them.”

“Oh, they’re actually doing much better, thank you. I get a little jolt now and then, but I can move around just fine on my own now, which is nice.”

Glenda looked at Karen for a moment before she said, “Karen, I hope this is okay. But Paul mentioned that you don’t really have any family in your life right now.”

“Yes, that’s true enough I suppose.”

“I don’t really know how to say this, but I really like you. You are a strong, respectful, intelligent young woman. And I have to admit, well, that I’m a little worried about what’s going to happen after you get this all figured out. At some point, neither you nor Paul is going to be content with the situation as it stands.” At Karen’s protest, Glenda continued, “Wait- I happen to agree with the way you both are handling this. Things are too complicated, and if you can’t trust the police, then it’s dangerous to turn yourself in. I also can’t believe that you had anything to do with that woman’s death anyway, so that’s all a bunch of baloney. And they should be smart enough to figure it out.

“I guess what I’m saying, Karen, is that I would hate to see you going back to being alone. It’s not good for a body.”

“Glenda, I’ve been on my own for a long time. It’s okay with me. I love my work, and I have a nice home. Maybe I could get a cat or something… But really, I’m very content with my life.”

Glenda looked like she knew better, but was too gracious to say anything else.

“I’ll go call Paul in for dinner, and then you two can go back to being befuddled, confused, and all mixed up.”

Karen sat at the table. Something Glenda just said rang a bell, but she couldn’t figure it out.

Paul came in a few moments later, using the hem of his short to wipe his face, and said, “I’m going to run upstairs and clean up a minute. I’ll be right back.”

Karen hadn’t said a word. She couldn’t have if she had wanted to. Her mouth had gone dry. Glenda took one look at her face and laughed, “Yep. There’s contentment with being alone if I ever saw it.”



After dinner, Karen helped Paul to clean up the dishes. Her feet were feeling much better, and she wanted to contribute to these two people who were generous in a way that Karen had never had the privilege of experiencing.

“Well, you two, barring anything further, I’d like to curl up in the living room with a good book.”

Paul gave his mother a hug. “Mom, thank you for being here. Somehow, it helps to have someone in my corner.”

“Well, I don’t know how much help I’ve been, but I’m happy to be here. I missed you.”

Karen felt rather uncomfortable to be witnessing this exchange, and quietly dried her hands intending to sneak to the study to follow up on something that had occurred to her.

Paul turned quickly. “Wait. Are you okay to be walking by yourself?” he asked.

“Yes, Paul. I’ve been managing it for most of the day now.”

He flushed slightly. “Of course, you have. I’m sorry.”

Glenda pressed her lips together, bemused. While Glenda had concerns that Karen wasn’t a believer, she had long ago turned over her children to the Lord. And she saw His hand written all over this entire situation.

Karen limped slightly as she walked to the study, and much as she done with the name of the corporation earlier in the day, she wrote the name Jeff Yendale at the top of a fresh sheet of lined paper. Paul came in and stood behind her shoulder.

“What are you up to now?” he asked.

“I’m not sure yet. It was something your mother said that made me start thinking…”

“What did she say?”

Karen held up a hand, signaling him to be quiet for just a moment. She stared at the letters, and they blurred just a bit around the edges. Did he do it again here? Slowly, she wrote one letter down, crossing it off in Jeff’s name. Another and another, and Paul chuckled. It was suddenly apparent where Karen was going with this.

He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. “I guess we know the connection between Jeff Yendale and Tom Delaney now.”

Karen had written down, “Jeff Yendale= Jeff Delaney.”

Quickly shuffling through the papers in her file, she found the printout she had made at the library- the one both she and Paul had dismissed as unimportant. Sure enough, number eighteen in the list of fifty-three Jeffs and Jeffreys on the alumni list was Jeff Delaney. She expelled a breath, feeling triumph at figuring out the next piece of the puzzle. She looked up at Paul, grinning from ear to ear. Paul smiled back at her- Oh Lord, she is so beautiful. Without thinking, he reached up and brushed an errant lock of hair off her cheek and tucked it behind her ear, his hand lingering beside her face. Her smile faded slowly, her eyes locked on his. Karen’s heart beat erratically, and she felt her hands start to shake. Time stood still as the two locked eyes. Karen had to admit to herself that she very much wanted him to…

A sharp knock sounded on the front door behind them. Karen and Paul jumped apart, and Paul sprang up to answer the door. It was Steve.

“Paul, man, I wanted to get here to warn you before Larry did.”

“What’s going on Steve?” Paul’s confusion was evident.

“Larry’s got enough people behind him, Paul. They want you out.”

Paul leaned a hand against the doorframe. Just breathe- things always seem worse than they really are.

“There’s something else, Paul. It’s really the reason I’m here- Trudy recognized Karen. I think she called the police. Trudy and Larry are telling everyone that you’re involved with criminals. Larry thinks that’s what you and I were discussing the other night. If you’re sure you trust that woman, then you have to get her out of here. Now.”




HEY! and don't forget to e-mail Kendra Cornell if you have a comment! She would really like to hear from you.





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