Out of the Depths by Valerie Hansen Page B

looks like he’s been stealing from her.”
    “Really? Humph, that is a surprise. If I’d been asked to choose the person most likely to try to swindle her, I’d have picked her ex-boyfriend.”
    “Whoa. That’s one suspect I hadn’t considered.” Cody was frowning. “I thought he was out of the picture.”
    “He’s supposed to be. The thing is, my wife tells me Ned was never one to give up without a fight, even when they were kids. He had too much pride.”
    “Will says the guy dumped Trudy, not the other way around. Isn’t that what happened?”
    “In a manner of speaking. Once he’d graduated college, Ned let her know he wasn’t coming back to town. When she refused to join him, he apparently insinuated she didn’t measure up to his new standards of sophistication any more than Serenity did.”
    “Ouch. That had to hurt.”
    “If it did, you sure couldn’t tell. She didn’t even seem to care, which is why I wondered if Ned got his pride hurt and decided to cause trouble for her.”
    Logan paused to welcome some late arrivals, then said, “It’s almost eleven. Come on. We can talk a little more on the way to my office.”
    By then, Cody was so involved in their conversation he’d have accompanied his brother-in-law if he’d had to crawl.
    Logan stopped just inside his office door and checked his watch. “I can give you all of three minutes. What makes you think Jim is stealing?”
    “Two sets of books, for starters. He’s been doing all the accounts payable and giving Trudy’s staff lower wages than she thought.”
    “He’s pocketing the difference?”
    “Looks like it. I didn’t have time to go over all the records. Who knows what else he may have done? She insists she wants to talk to him before we go to the sheriff. If Jim finds out we’re on to him, I’m afraid he’ll panic and erase those files.”
    “A good tech can almost always get them back for you if you need them,” Logan said. “That’s a mistake lots of criminals make. They think data that doesn’t show up in their computer’s active memory is gone. Trust me. It isn’t. It may be hard to access but it’s still there.”
    “That’s good to hear.”
    “So, tell me,” Logan said with a knowing smile. “When did you start referring to yourself and our Ms. Trudy Brown as we? ”
     
    Exiting Miss Louella’s Class for Extraordinary Ladies, Trudy Lynn was grinning. They’d teased her aboutcoming to church with Cody that morning, as she’d expected. She didn’t mind. The women in that class had the biggest, most loving hearts of any group she’d ever belonged to and it was their serious prayers she desired most.
    Though she was loathe to admit it, especially to him, Cody had frightened her with his constant talk of danger. She’d never felt personally threatened before. Now, it was all she could do to make herself accompany Widget outside after dark. Having a spirit of fear was supposed to be wrong, so why was she unable to shake it?
    Hurrying into the sanctuary, she paused at the rear. There weren’t many tall, blond men in the congregation so she expected to spot Cody easily. Puzzled when she didn’t see him, she started slowly down the center aisle, responding to greetings from fellow worshippers as she went.
    She came upon Becky’s aunt Effie and her new husband, Brother Fred, seated in the first row. “Hi. Have you seen Cody? We rode together.”
    “And you lost him?” Effie teased. “A big guy like that? My, my.” She sobered. “How’s he doing, anyway? We haven’t heard much lately.”
    “Pretty well,” Trudy Lynn said. “We expected to visit with Becky this morning. Have you seen her?”
    “She’s sick, I reckon. Nothin’ else ever kept her out of church.”
    “That’s too bad. Cody’ll be disappointed. Assuming I ever locate him, that is.”
    “When you do, you’d best keep a close eye on him,”the elderly woman warned. “Turning a handsome, single fella like that loose in here with