Duck the Halls(95)
“Definitely ample motive,” the chief said. “And if Riddick has any money left after Trinity has taken back what he stole, Quincy Shiffley will probably sue him for mental anguish. He’s still convinced some of his ducks are missing.”
“So Riddick definitely stole the ducks?”
“Using Quincy Shiffley’s truck,” the chief said, nodding. “Horace found ample forensic evidence to prove that. We may never know if Riddick committed the duck prank just to cause mischief—because he could see how much the first two pranks and the resulting church-swapping upset Mr. Vess—or if he already had murder in mind. I’m pretty sure he used the ducks in the hope of casting suspicion on Mr. Vess.”
“Since Mr. Vess had better access to the ducks than anyone else in the county,” I said, nodding.
“And Riddick lit the campfire near Temple Beth-El to make sure all eyes were there and not on Trinity Episcopal,” the chief went on. “And he seems to be a belt-and-suspenders kind of crook, so I expect we’ll find he planted those beer bottles with the boys’ fingerprints on them just in case we didn’t believe that Mr. Vess had somehow incinerated himself while trying to fill the Trinity basement with stolen rabbits. So Ronnie and Caleb will have to deal with whatever punishment their parents impose for underage drinking, but I’m convinced they’re innocent of the duck and rabbit thefts.”
“Good,” I said. “I thought they sounded sincere. On another topic—not that I want to pry into New Life Baptist’s business, but what’s the story on Jerome Lightfoot? Is it just me, or was it a little weird for someone to go to all that trouble just to get a job as a church choir director? Even for such a distinguished choir as yours,” I added hastily.
“Indeed,” the chief said. “Apparently, to judge from the last three churches at which he worked—two of them under different pseudonyms—his modus operandi is to use his position as choir director to worm his way into the confidence of key church financial officials and then arrange to have the blame fall on them when he absconds with as much church money as he can manage. His previous flights have all taken place either at Christmas or Easter, when he could add substantial cash sums from the collection plate to what he was pillaging from the church bank accounts. I rather doubt he could have pulled it off here in Caerphilly—our treasurer was gratified to have his daughter chosen as a soloist over two arguably more worthy vocalists, but he’s not that gullible. Still, you never know.”
“And even if he was planning to try this Christmas, I bet all the church-swapping threw a monkey wrench in his plans,” I said. “That could account for what a nasty temper he was in every time I saw him over in Trinity.”
“His temper was rather nasty at the best of times,” the chief said. “But yes, I recall Minerva mentioning that he was behaving badly, even for him. She put it down to tension over the important concert, but perhaps he was merely vexed that he’d have to put up with us till Easter to get another big cash haul. And since poor Mr. Vess was killed after starting an inquiry into Lightfoot’s background and Lightfoot took flight so soon after the murder—well, it’s a lucky thing you and your mother managed to apprehend the real killer.”
We fell silent. I didn’t know what the chief was thinking, but I was musing over the fact that however annoying Barliman Vess had been, he had probably helped save Trinity from a good many real financial problems. He’d caught on to Riddick’s plot in the end. He’d probably been the first to suspect Lightfoot. He’d still be around to vex us all if he’d trusted Robyn or his fellow vestry members enough to confide in them. We’d be choosing his replacement on the vestry soon, and we’d better find someone else with his unique combination of financial savvy and suspicious nature. I pulled out my notebook and wrote a reminder to think of some good candidates before Mother tried to draft me.
“Well, I won’t keep you any longer,” the chief said, standing up to signal that our interview was over. “Thanks to you, we’re having our full schedule of Christmas Eve activities over at the New Life Baptist Church. Minerva said if you don’t have a chance to get home for lunch, you’re welcome to drop by for the potluck at noon.”
“I’ll keep it in mind if anything interrupts me on my way out of town.”
Chapter 41
But nothing interrupted me on the way out of town. Mother had saved me a plate, and I arrived in time to help Michael’s mother and the boys make Christmas cookies. Michael disappeared—ostensibly to do some last-minute Christmas shopping, though I knew he was actually going over to start cooking our private dinner, especially the turkey, which was larger than expected and would take forever.