Pie Town - Lynne Hinton [49]
“Don’t they keep extra?” Roger asked.
Malene kept her back to the table. She nodded. “Yes, but all three bottles were gone. He finally thought there was a bottle in the rectory. That’s what they ended up using, I think.”
Roger considered this bit of news. “Anything else missing? Was there a break-in?” He was the sheriff after all.
Malene turned to face her ex-husband. “I didn’t overhear that much of the conversation. But maybe you should check it out yourself. You didn’t go over there early to make sure Father George was all right today, did you?” She recalled that she had asked him to look in on the pastor before Mass.
“I called him. He seemed a little hungover, but other than that he was fine. Didn’t mention anything about missing wine,” Roger replied. “Maybe he hadn’t noticed yet.” He thought for a minute. “Hey, you don’t think Father Joseph took a couple of bottles when he headed out?” He smiled at the thought of the exiting priest stealing the wine from the church he had served.
Malene turned back to her kitchen work. “I doubt that,” she answered. “But Miss Snow did seem a little suspicious.” She smiled.
Roger laughed. “Well, maybe I should ride out there this evening, see about changing the locks on the door, talk to him about security issues.” He placed his hands on the table. There was a pause. “He seems awful young, doesn’t he?”
“We’re just old, Roger,” Malene responded.
“I suppose that’s true.”
“But really, how old do you think he is?” Roger asked.
“Twenty-four, twenty-five, I’m not sure,” she responded. “I know he was in seminary about five years, and he’s been out just a couple of months. I know that this is his first call.”
“Well, that much you can tell,” Roger noted. “Shouldn’t these young men work with another priest before they’re given their own church?”
Malene shrugged. “I guess they need all the help they can get,” she answered. “The Catholic Church is running low on priests.”
Roger nodded. “I hope he can make it here. We’re not known for our generous hospitality to new folks.”
“What’s that mean?” Malene asked, turning to look at her ex-husband.
“Oh, you know, we gave Christine a hard time the other day, but she wasn’t far off the mark about this little community. Pie Town is kind of a rough place, especially on folks who weren’t born and raised here, people without family ties here. We’re not all that friendly to strangers.”
“You think that? Really?” Malene sounded surprised. “I thought we were a very welcoming place.”
“Are we talking about the same town?” Roger asked.
“If we’re talking about this one we are,” came the reply.
“What about the Peterson sisters?” Roger asked, referring to the proprietors of the bakery. “They finally got tired of everybody being so haughty toward them and moved over to Quemoda.”
Malene hadn’t heard this theory. “I thought they left because they could make more money over there,” she said.
“They left because they couldn’t get anyone to buy their pies!” Roger replied.
“I never thought about it.” Malene took a sip of her drink. “Guess I’m not much of a pie person.”
“What about that young couple who moved here a few years ago, tried to farm? The wife was starting a preschool.”
“Well, nobody liked them because they were uppity, thought we didn’t know anything about growing crops and raising children. She kept wanting to hold classes on breast-feeding and how to sterilize bottles and toys.” She rolled her eyes. “Ridiculous.”
Roger shook his head. “And then there was the guy trying to start a tractor business and that couple wanting to open a furniture store.” He leaned back, stretching his arms above his head. “They all left within a couple of years of getting here. Let’s face it, Malene, our record on hospitality ain’t too great.”
“Well, Father George is the new priest. We’ll do right by him, I’m sure.”
Roger shrugged. “I hope so. And I hope we’ll treat the girl okay too, but I got my doubts.”
Just then the phone