The Path of the Crooked (Hope Street Church Mysteries Book 1) Read Online Free

tidying her pillar of catalogues. “I appreciate your wanting to help, I do, but I don’t want to go to church to meet men. Isn’t that what bars are for?” she quipped.
    Ashley frowned. “Well, then go to church to pray. It doesn’t look good that you’re the only one of us that doesn’t attend worship service.”
    “Doesn’t look good to who?” Cooper demanded, getting annoyed again. She knew that Ashley wanted to chair some new committee at the large and powerful church she attended on River Road, a wealthy corridor composed of million-dollar homes and churches the size of college campuses. She was also aware of the fact that Ashley was embarrassed of her family.
    Their father, Earl Lee, was in charge of maintenance at one of the area’s private schools and their mother got up at five a.m. to bake cookies, which she sold to several Richmond sandwich shops. Except for Ashley, who resided with her husband in a mansion just off River Road, the Lees lived out in the country, a good twenty minutes from Richmond’s West End subdivisions and endless strip malls. Cooper’s parents were humble people who spent their money modestly but gave generously of their time. Their house was small, outdated, and yet incredibly cozy. Cooper lived in a minuscule studio apartment Mr. Lee had erected over the garage with the idea of moving his mother out of the main house, but Grammy Lee refused to budge.
    Cooper shook her head, wondering for the millionth time how her parents could have produced such different children. She could only reason that during the one year, one month, one week, and one day that separated their birthdays, the world must have spun in the opposite direction. Looking at her sister as she turned the pages of a gardening magazine with disinterest, Cooper tried to keep her irritation in check. “No one outside of this house cares what I do, Ashley. Why don’t you tell those snobby ladies at your church that your entire family was lost at sea or mauled by bears? Then you won’t have to obsess over how we make you look.”
    For a moment, Ashley turned Cooper’s suggestion over in her mind. Suddenly, she scowled. “I can’t say that! It would be an outright lie and that’s not going to get me elected.”
    Cooper began filling out the order form in the back of the seed catalogue. “Works for politicians all the time,” she joked.
    “Fine, Cooper. Rot away in this greenhouse. Live with your parents until you’re old and gray. Go ahead.” Ashley turned to leave. “But you should go to church, even if it’s to suffer through that awful choir at Mama and Daddy’s church.”
    “Why?” Cooper paused in her writing to drink some coffee.
    “Because it’s where people go to better themselves. A place where those who’ve been hurt can find healing and where lonely people can make friends.” Cooper was surprised to see genuine concern on Ashley’s face. “After all, without me living here anymore, you must not have anyone to talk to. You and Drew spent all your time with each other.”
    Cooper had never considered her sister to be a close friend, but she nodded anyway. “I told you, I have plans in the works, okay? Now, just drop the subject. Don’t you have a husband waiting for you at home?”
    “I certainly do,” Ashley said with a satisfied nod. She then whipped her lightweight suede coat closed, cinched a crocodile belt around her shapely waist, and strutted away, her hair bouncing in a shiny wave of honey as she walked. Cooper studied her own athletic body and long, straight blonde hair in the greenhouse glass and, satisfied with what she saw, finished completing the order form.
    Later that evening, she headed out to the mailbox with a lit cigarette and her order form. She lingered for a moment at the end of the driveway, watching the sun sink into the spindly arms of the trees and listening to the excited chatter of bats as they fluttered above her head. Cooper blew a stream of smoke into the