Salvation in death

“Just a few minutes before he went on. I gave him his cue. I went to his dressing room to give him the five-minute cue.”

“What else did you talk about?”

“I told him what the gate was, that we were sold out. He liked hearing it, pepped him up, knowing there were so many souls to be saved. That’s what he said.”

“Was he alone?”

“Yes. He always took the last thirty minutes-twenty if we were pressed-alone.”

“How long did you work for him?”

Billy took a choked breath. “Twenty-three years.”

“What was your relationship?”

“I’m his manager-was his manager-and his friend. He was my spiritual adviser. We were family.” With his lips trembling, Billy wiped at his eyes. “Jimmy Jay made everyone feel like family.”

“Why is his wife stationed at the other side of the stage?”

“Just a practicality. They come in on opposite sides, meet at the center. It’s tradition. Jolene, oh good Jesus, poor Jolene.”

“What was their relationship like?”

“Devoted. Absolutely devoted. They adore each other.”

“No straying into other pastures-on either side.”

He looked down at his hands. “That’s an unkind thing to say.”

“Am I going to dig a little, Billy, and find out you and Jolene have been breaking any commandments?”

His head snapped up. “You will not. Jolene would never betray Jimmy Jay in that way. In any way. She’s a lady, and a good Christian woman.”

“Who spiked Jenkins’s stage water with vodka?”

Billy sighed. “Josie took care of it tonight. There’s no need to bring that out, and embarrass Jolene. It was a small thing.”

“The church is big business. A lot of money. Who gets what?”

“It’s very complicated, Lieutenant.”

“Simplify it.”

“Church assets remain church assets. Some of those assets are used by the Jenkins family. The plane used for transportation in the work of the church, for instance. His daughters’ homes, which are also used for church business. Several vehicles and other assets. Jimmy Jay and Jolene have-over more than thirty-five years of time and effort-accumulated considerable wealth in their own right. I know, as I was consulted, that Jimmy Jay arranged, should… should he go to God, that Jolene and his family are provided for. And that the church itself can and will continue. It was his life’s work.”

“Did he leave anything to you, Billy?”

“Yes. I’ll inherit some of his personal effects, one million dollars, and the responsibility of managing the church in the ma

“Who’d he cheat on Jolene with?”

“I won’t dignify that with an answer.”

Something there, Eve decided. “If you’re taking that stand to protect him, you may also be protecting his killer.”

“Jimmy Jay is beyond my protection. He’s in God’s hands.”

“Eventually, his killer will be in mine.” She rose. “Where are you staying in New York?”

“At the Mark. The family was given use of the home of one of our flock. They’re at a town house on Park Avenue. The rest of us are at the Mark.”

“You’re free to go there, but don’t leave the city.”

“None of us will leave until we take Jimmy Jay’s earthly remains back home.”

Eve tracked down Peabody, pulled her out of yet another dressing room. “This place is a damn maze. Status.”

“I’ve finished the first two daughters, and I’m on number three. My take is they’re in shock, and they want their mother, which is where the first two are now. They’re worried about their kids, who are with the na

“Crap.”

“She’s holding up, holding on.”

“Which one’s Josie?”

“Inside. Jackie, Jaime, and Josie.” Peabody’s face creased with a frown. “What’s with all the J’s?”

“Who knows. I need to ask this J a couple of questions.”

“Okay. Listen, I told McNab to take the husbands since he’d finished with Security.”

“That’s fine. Maybe we’ll get out of here before morning.” Eve stepped in.

The woman inside wore white. Her hair was a softer shade of blond than her mother’s and worn loose around her shoulders. If she’d indulged in facial enhancers like her mother, she’d cleaned them off. Her face was pale and bare, her eyes red-rimmed with tears shining out of the blue.

After the sugary pink of Jolene’s dressing room, the reds and golds of this one came as a relief. Under a lighted mirror stood a tidy grove of stage enhancers, grooming tools, framed photographs.

In one the recently deceased held a chubby baby.

“Josie.”

“Yes.”

“I’m Lieutenant Dallas. I’m sorry for your loss.”

“I’m trying to tell myself he’s with God. But I want him to be with me.” As she spoke, she rubbed circles over the lump of her belly. “I was just thinking how busy we all were today, getting ready for tonight, and how little time I had with him. How I was doing something or other this afternoon, and I thought: ‘Oh, I have to talk to Daddy, and tell him how Jilly-my little girl-how she printed her name today, and got all the letters right.’ But I didn’t get the chance. Now I won’t.”

“Josie, did you put the water bottles onstage?”

“Yes. Seven of them. Three for each half, and one extra. He usually only went through the six, but we always put out seven, in case. On the table behind the drop.”

“The drop?”

“Curtain. See, the singers open, upstage, then when Mama and Daddy come in, they lift the curtain. The table’s there, behind it.”

“When did you put them out?”

“Ah, about fifteen minutes before his cue, I think. Not much before that.” S be/di

“When did you put the vodka in?”

She flushed, pink as her mother’s dress. “Maybe an hour or so before. Please don’t tell Mama.”

“She knows. She understands.”

“You got the bottle in his dressing room?”

“That’s right.”

She wiped at fresh tears with her fingers. “He wasn’t in-sometimes he is, and we’d talk a little while I fixed his bottles. If I was doing it. And we’d joke. He liked a good joke. Then I’d take them back to my dressing room. My sisters and I sing, too. We’d perform in the second half with Mama, and at the end, with the Eternal Lights, Mama, and Daddy.”

“Did you see anyone around your father’s dressing room?”

“Oh, I don’t know. There are so many of us. I saw some of the crew going here and there, and the wardrobe mistress-Kammi-she came in with Daddy’s suit as I was leaving, and some of the tech crew were here and there. I wasn’t paying attention, Miss Dallas. I was thinking how I wanted to get back to the dressing room with my sisters, and stretch out for a few minutes.” Her hands moved over her belly again. “I get tired easy these days.”

“Okay, let’s try this. Did you see anything or anyone out of place?”

“No. I’m sorry.”

Eve pushed to her feet. “Detective Peabody’s going to finish up, then she’ll take you to your mother.” Eve started to the door, stopped, turned back. “You said how busy you all were today. Did your father spend the day here, rehearsing?”

“Oh, no. We all had breakfast this morning, at the home where we’re staying. And morning prayer. Then the kids have school. My sister Jackie and Merna-that’s who helps out with the kids-taught today. Mama came down first, to meet with Kammi, and with Foster, who does our hair. Mama is very hands-on with the wardrobe, the hair, and makeup. Daddy went out for his walk and meditation.”

“When?”

“Oh… around noon, I guess. No, closer to eleven.”

“With his bodyguard?”

Josie bit her lip. “I forgot, that’s one of those things like the vodka. Daddy sometimes gives Clyde an hour or two off, and he sort of lets Clyde think he’ll be staying in, working. But he just wants to get outside and walk and think, on his own.”

“So your father was out on his own, walking and thinking, from around eleven to…”

“I’m not sure, because most of us went on before one, to rehearse, and to check with Mama on the wardrobe and so on.”