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"Jesus!" Beverly cried, startled, when she walked out of the bathroom, the scent of lavender and cherries lingering on her fresh pajamas and long, wavy, ginger hair that fell around her shoulders.
Father Paul was sitting on her sofa, sipping coffee and gaping at her flat screen TV.
They had decided that it was only fair that he should have the keys to her house, since she'd had the keys to the rectory for years, but he had developed an annoying habit of letting himself in and touching her belongings.
Bev's keen eyes scanned the room, from the sofa to the potted plants and over to the bookshelf in the corner. Everything was in its place, he hadn't moved a thing and—Bev's heart filled with warmth—he had made sure to put his coffee mug on a coaster before laying it on the polished coffee table.
"I still can't believe they make TVs this big," he said.
Bev rolled her eyes. Softly. Still, though, she leaned in and kissed him on the lips; a gentle kiss which tasted of coffee. When he patted the sofa next to him, she took a seat and leaned against his shoulder. He pulled her closer and she snuggled into his embrace, the warmth of his body and the familiar scent of pine and musk enveloping her.
"Previously on Order and Reprimand…" a voice announced Bev's favorite show.
"Wrong place at the wrong time. Poor girl. He murdered her and encased her body in concrete," said the female detective.
"I guess we finally have… concrete evidence," said the handsome male detective.
"The butler did it. It's always the butler," said Beverly's handsome priest.
"I don't think they have butlers in Tallahassee." Bev closed her eyes.
"Then it's the baker." Father Paul whispered and kissed her hair.
*
"The lab results just came back," said the female detective. "Turns out, the white substance found on the body wasn't efflorescence, but baking soda. We need to pay the baker another visit."
"He thought he got lucky," the male detective agreed, "but he only had… a crumbly alibi."
"I told you it was the baker!" Paul grinned triumphantly.
But Bev said nothing.
"Bev?" he tried again. He looked at her, but Bev had fallen asleep in his arms.
With a smile, he placed another soft kiss on her hair.