Murder by Mushroom by Virginia Smith Page A

face. But as Jackie approached, he locked eyes with her for an instant. Those high cheekbones and long, curling lashes drew attention to hidden depths in his eyes. She noticed a tiny fresh cut along his right jaw where he had nicked himself shaving.
    She had to stop feeling like a schoolgirl every time she looked at him. In church, no less! She turned to Detective Conner, her chin high.
    “Miss Hoffner.” His head dipped forward in a polite greeting while his eyes remained fixed on her face.
    “Detective Conner. Trooper Walsh.” Jackie nodded to each of them. “I’m glad you’re here.”
    “And why is that, Miss Hoffner?”
    “Because it saves me the trouble of calling you tomorrow. Have you gotten any leads on the case?”
    Trooper Walsh opened his mouth to answer, but Detective Conner shook his head. “No one has spoken to us besides Pastor and Mrs. Palmer. Were you going to give me a lead tomorrow?”
    “Not a lead. Just some information.” She squared her shoulders. “I wanted to let you know that I’m on the case.”
    “On the case?” The detective’s eyebrows arched. Next to him, Trooper Walsh hid a quick smile.
    Jackie nodded. “I’m taking the week off work to search for clues, and I wanted to tell you I’ll pass along any helpful information I find. I’m hoping you’ll do the same for me.”
    “Miss Hoffner, please don’t do that. I assure you, we are trained in investigations of this kind, and we don’t need help from civilians.”
    “But I can get information you can’t,” Jackie argued. “I’m a member of this church. I’m a woman. I’m—”
    “Don’t,” he repeated with force. “We’re dealing with someone who has committed murder. We don’t know his or her mental state, but the situation could be dangerous. Just leave things to us.”
    “But—”
    He held up a hand, and Jackie fell silent. Frustrated, she turned to Trooper Walsh, who shrugged. Couldn’t they see how important it was to her to clear her name? It would be so much easier if she could work with the police. They had experts, crime labs, all sorts of things she couldn’t access. Of course, she knew the police hated having civilians involved in their cases, but she couldn’t stand by and do nothing. She would follow her plan, with or without their help.
    Watching her face, Detective Conner’s eyes narrowed. “You’re going to ignore me, aren’t you?”
    In answer, Jackie gave him the sweetest smile she could manage.

     
    As their feet crunched across the gravel parking lot, Dennis cast a sidelong glance at Conner. The detective’s jaw bulged from the force of his clenched teeth. Dennis knew the reason without being told.
    “She has a point, you know.”
    “And what might that be?”
    “Women talk to other women.” Dennis lifted a shoulder. “They sure didn’t talk to us today.”
    It was true. The entire congregation had ignored them, except for Jackie and the Palmers. If Dennis hadn’t seen the members greeting one another, he would have assumed Heritage Community Church was the most unfriendly church in town. But a uniform and a badge had apparently frozen some of their tongues to the roofs of their mouths. He might have gotten a different reception as a real visitor instead of an investigating police officer.
    Actually, for a while he had almost forgot he was on duty. Pastor Palmer preached a good message in a compelling style. This place reminded him of his own church in Lexington, where he still attended with his mom and dad every Sunday he didn’t have to work. He’d never really considered finding a place to worship here in Versailles, because the fifteen-minute drive to Lexington was an easy one. But Heritage Community Church might just change his mind.
    Except, he reminded himself, someone there was probably a murderer.
    “We can’t afford to have that girl messing around in our case, Walsh.” Conner shook his head. “I’ve seen it before. She’s NBT.”
    Dennis cocked his head.