Page 18 of The Secret of Emerald Cottage

Eyes impish, Miss Lilly giggled like a little girl, practically preening as she lifted her chin in pride, one of the few sins she apparently allowed. “Oh, I took ’em to the cleaners, all right, Detective, or at least their souls because I stiffed them both for two gospels and twenty psalms each,” she said with no little pride, “planting incorruptible seeds.”

“Ah, yes,” Chase said with a grin, arm loosely draped over Cat’s shoulder, “the parable of the sower—I remember it well. Along with my own losses the summer Miss Lilly snookered me at poker, determined to get me through the entire Bible, I think.”

“Well, it worked, didn’t it?” she said with a smirk, “incorruptible seed that blossomed you into a pastor, young man, so you’re welcome.”

Her gaze shifted to Brec with a sliver of laughing eyes. “Although I’m still waiting for others to bloom.”

Brec cuffed the back of his neck with a crooked smile. “Come on, Aunt Lilly, so my soil’s a little rocky.”

Her pixie grin tipped up on one end. “Nothing a little rakin’ and good soil cain’t fix, sonny boy, and lots of good soil ’round these parts. Ain’t that right, Pastor Chase?” She winked at Molly.

“Oh, yes, ma’am!” Chase grinned.

Miss Lilly scanned the circle with an evil grin of her own. “Puts me in mind for a little game of poker, you know?”

“You mean a little game of fleecin’, don’t you?” Brec grinned as he crunched on some ice from his tea.

“Yes, she does,” Chase said as he rose from the chair with a laugh, pulling Cat up along with him. “And as much as we hate to leave before dessert, we’ve got babies to pick up from grandparents, so we’re going to head out since you have fleecin’ to do, Miss Lilly.” He grinned at Brec while he placed all the Tupperware in a carry sack. “And I believe you’ve got seed to sow.”

“Fraidy-cats,” Miss Lilly groused before popping another lemon wedge in her mouth while Cat and Chase bent to buss her cheek. She patted both of their faces with affection. “Nonetheless, thank you much for the chaise, the dinner, and the company, although it wouldn’t hurt to throw a game or two of poker to a poor, little old lady.”

Chase squeezed Miss Lilly’s shoulder. “Little, maybe, old is questionable, but poor is just a flat-out lie, Miss Lilly, and you know it with all the land you own around here.” Hooking Cat at the waist, he waved his goodbyes while Cat blew kisses, finally rounding the corner of the house in Pastor Dave’s wake.

Miss Lilly pinned Detective Kennedy with a thin-lidded gaze. “S’pose you plan to skulk away too, afraid to lay your money on the table?”

“No, ma’am.” He perched on the edge of his lawn chair in his short-sleeved khaki uniform shirt and olive-drab trousers, smile dimming as he clasped hands loosely over parted knees. “I plan to lay my questions on the table, ma’am, that is if you’re up to it. There’s a lot I’d like to know about what’s been going on here, if that’s all right.”

“Oh, I don’t know, Detective,” Molly piped up, gaze flicking from Sloan to Miss Lilly and back, worried the poor woman had been through too much today as it was. “I’m sure she’s exhaust—”

“Snail snot,” the old woman said with a heft of her chin. If I’m up to playin’ poker, I can sure in the devil answer questions.”

Sloan’s sandy brows dipped in concern as he glanced from Molly to Miss Lilly. “I can come back tomorrow, ma’am, if you’re too tired, seriously.”

“Too tired?” Miss Lilly issued a grunt worthy of any man three times her size while her petite body sat straight up on the chaise, hands folded primly in her lap. “The only thing I’m tired of, young man,” she said with an elfin wink that caused Molly to shake her head with a smile, “is a-sittin’ on my bum with a bum leg, a-doin’ absolutely nothing.”