by J B Hawker
“Oh, I see. I need to ask you a few questions, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course,” Merrill replied, walking around behind her desk. “Won’t you take a seat?”
“Thanks. I’m Detective Ransom,” he said, settling into the cracked imitation leather visitor’s chair and taking out a notepad.
“What did you want to ask?”
“You told the responding officers you didn’t recognize the woman upstairs, is that right?”
“Yes, but I’ve been in Bannoch only few weeks and haven’t met everyone in my congregation, yet.”
“So, you think she was a member of your church?” Ransom asked.
“Who else would be in our bell tower?”
“That’s a good question, ma’am. Is the church kept locked? Who all has a key?”
“I can answer that,” Manny offered. “All the deacons have keys, as well as the janitor, the organist, and the pastor, of course. Oh, and some of the Sunday school teachers, I think. There are probably a few keys floating around among the past officers and program leaders, too.”
“I’ll need a list. And don’t leave anyone out.”
“I’ll do my best, Detective, but it may take a while,” Manny replied.
“I’ll expect it on my desk by tomorrow, Mr. Lum. And we may need you to identify the body. You would recognize any member of this church, wouldn’t you?” Ransom asked, and Manny nodded, looking slightly queasy.
“Now, Pastor Bishop, what were you doing in the bell tower in the middle of the night?”
Merrill had replied to all of the detective’s questions, some of them more than once, when she was overcome by fatigue and could no longer stifle her yawns.
Seeing the faint light of dawn turning the windowpanes from black to gray, Detective Ransom decided to call it a night.
Instructing Merrill to come to the station that afternoon to give her official statement, he rose and left.
Manny stepped out into the hall to leave, too, and then poked his head back inside a few moments later.
“It’s a good thing we don’t use this building for our services. The place is roped off with police tape. I hope you can get into your apartment. Shall I wait and see if you need me to take you to a motel or something?”
“Thanks, Manny, but the belfry access isn’t connected to my apartment. If I can’t use the connecting door in the hallway, I’ll just go around to the outside entry. You go home and reassure Muriel that everything’s under control. At least, until we find out who that poor woman was.”
She turned out the light and locked her office door.
When she started down the hall, she saw Manny was right about the tape. Her connecting door was blocked off.
It felt a bit odd going outside in her robe and slippers, but she held her head high as she passed the various officials going in and out through the church’s main doors.
She paused when she saw the gurney with a black body bag being carried down the church steps to the waiting ambulance.
Merrill stood there, trembling, as the memory of finding the dead woman replayed in her mind.
What could have driven the sad creature to end her life in such an unlikely place? Was there some personally meaningful symbolism involved?
The early morning sea breeze lingering in the wake of the storm soon brought Merrill back to the present and she shivered again, this time from the cold.
Tiptoeing around the puddles, she hurried into her apartment, intent upon making a pot of strong coffee and taking a warm, reviving shower.
She was sitting at her kitchen table sipping her third cup of coffee, making notes to incorporate the night’s tragic discovery into her Sunday message, when she was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Elizabeth! What a nice surprise,” she greeted her callers. “Come in.”
“Hi, Merrill, I’d like you to meet Eskaletha Evans,” Elizabeth stepped aside and let Eskaletha enter ahead of her.
“Eskaletha’s husband, Tyrone, pastors the large AME church on the highway south of town.”
“I’m happy to meet you, Eskaletha. Sit down, please. Can I get you ladies something to drink? The coffee’s made, but I can fix tea, if you prefer.”
“Coffee’s perfect for me. Thanks,” Eskaletha replied, removing her red leather jacket and pulling out a kitchen chair.
Elizabeth sat beside her, hanging her coat over the back of her chair.
“I’d love a cup of tea, if it’s not too much trouble,” she said.
“No trouble at all. Herbal or black?”
Merrill found a partially full package of shortbread cookies in the cupboard and arranged a few on a plate, which she set on the table before serving her guests their drinks.
“It’s turned out to be a lovely day, hasn’t it? Everything is so fresh and clean after last night’s storm,” Eskaletha said, when Merrill joined them at the table.
“Do you often have such violent storms here?” Merrill asked.
“Oh, not too often; not as big as last night, anyway. Maybe once or twice a season, I suppose,” Elizabeth answered. “Did the storm wake you?”
“Yes. The church bell came untethered and began to toll in the wind, did either of you hear it?” Merrill asked.
She was reluctant to mention the other events of the night.
“I didn’t, but I live on the other side of the hill. How about you Letha?” Elizabeth asked.
“Nope, not a peep,” her friend replied.
“Well, that’s good. I was afraid it would wake the whole county, it sounded so loud in my bedroom,” Merrill said, deciding not to pursue the matter of the body. “So, if you didn’t come to complain about the noise, what brings you here this morning?”
“We came to invite you to a little gathering I’m having at my place, Merrill. It will just be games and snacks, a sort of girls’ night out, this Friday evening. Do you think you can make it?” Eskaletha asked.
“It will be a good opportunity for you to meet some more people in your new hometown,” Elizabeth urged.
“As it happens, I don’t have any prior commitments on Friday evening. I’d love to come. What’s the address, what shall I bring and when should I be there?” she said with a smile.
“Oh, I’ll pick you up. I’ll come by around sevenish, if that sounds okay,” Elizabeth said.
“You don’t need to bring a thing,” added Eskaletha. “Just come prepared to have fun.”
“I’m looking forward to it. Thanks so much for inviting me.”
“That’s settled, so we’d better get out of here and let you get back to work. I see you had your laptop open when we came. I’m afraid we interrupted you,” Eskaletha said.
“Only sermon prep. I was glad to take a breather. As you both know, the next sermon is constantly in a pastor’s mind, no matter what else is happening.”
“That’s the truth,” Eskaletha said with a smile. “When Tyrone and I go somewhere, I’ll be having fun and he will be collecting sermon illustrations!”
As her new friends left, Merrill was relieved to see the police cars had gone and there was no warning tape in view.
She went back inside anticipating the coming Friday’s fun.
Chapter 7
At the Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office, Deputy Lyle Williams put down the phone and walked over to Detective Ransom’s desk.
“What is it, Williams?”
“That was Officer Baughley from the Bannoch substation on the phone, sir. He just found an abandoned vehicle in the parking lot a few blocks from that church where we found the woman’s body. There was a purse inside. Baughley says from the driver license info it could belong to our suicide victim. The car’s being taken to impound and Baughley is bringing the purse in.”
“That’s good news, Williams. If she parked and walked to the church, leaving her purse behind, that would fit with a suicide. I don’t suppose there was a note in the purse explaining why she picked a church belfry to end it all?”
> “Not that Baughley mentioned, sir.”
“No, that would be too much to hope for. Oh well, at least we have a possible identification and that’s more than half the battle. I was disappointed she wasn’t identified as a member of that church, though. It would have made things easier. When you get the name and address, check with Missing Persons, first, then try to get dental records for a positive ID. From what I saw of the deceased, she wouldn’t match anyone’s driver license, no matter how unflattering the photo.”
*
Merrill asked Manny to call a special meeting of the deacons to let them know about the suicide in the church bell tower.
She supposed the police would be asking everyone in the church if they knew the woman, so she wanted to warn them before they were contacted.
In their usual meeting room waiting for the board members to arrive, Merrill heard whistling out in the hallway.
When no one entered the room, she looked out to see who was there, but the corridor was empty.
Walking around the corner, she almost bumped into a rather broad derriere, clad in khaki workpants, backing out of the supply closet.
“Oh, excuse me!” she exclaimed.
“Hi there. You’re the new lady preacher, aren’t ya?” the man said as he stood up, dragging a wheeled mop bucket after him.
“Yes, I’m Pastor Merrill. I don’t think we’ve met.”
“Nope. But I saw you at church on Sunday. You were preaching.”
“That’s right. I didn’t see you, though. Where did you sit?”
“Oh, I was hunkered down in the kitchen, beside the pass-through. It’s nice in there,” the man replied.
“So, we didn’t get to meet, Mr…?”
“Nope.”
This was getting her nowhere. She was forced to take a more direct approach.
“Do you mind telling me your name?” she asked, spacing her words and speaking very clearly.
“Don’t you know? Everybody around here knows me. I’ve been the janitor and all-around fix-it guy at this church for ages. Just ask anybody.”
“Well, that’s fine, but there’s no one around, right now, to ask, and I’m new here. Won’t you tell me your name?” she almost pleaded.
He stood looking down at his feet for a moment, as though deciding how to respond.
“Name’s Alden,” he finally mumbled.
“I’m pleased to meet you, Alden,” Merrill said. “And your last name?”
“Gotta go, now. Floors won’t mop themselves, you know,” Alden said and pulled his mop and bucket quickly around the corner.
Merrill was shaking her head over the odd encounter when she heard voices coming from the meeting room and quickly headed back.
“Good afternoon, Pastor,” Manny greeted her. “Feeling a bit more like yourself, now?”
“Yes, thank you Manny,” Merrill said, then turned to the others who were assembling around the table.
“Thank you all for coming. I’m sorry to have to bring you away from your personal business, but I’m afraid we’ve had an incident at the church.”
“You mean that dead woman in the belfry?” Edgar Richardson interrupted. “Everyone already knows about that.”
Edgar was the church treasurer, a tall, heavy-set man in his late fifties, with a shiny bald head and a perpetual smile on his broad, mahogany face.
“How did you hear about it?” Merrill asked in surprise, looking at Manny with her eyebrows raised.
“Manny didn’t have to tell us. Everybody’s related to everybody around here. If we don’t have a cousin in the Sheriff’s Department, we have a sister who’s an EMT. I bet half the town knew about it before they even had the body bag zipped up,” Edgar said.
“Oh. Well, then, I don’t have to warn you about deputies coming around with a photo to see if anyone in the church can identify the deceased.”
“Is that why we’re here? Couldn’t Manny have told us that on the phone?” Manota Addison, a dowdy woman in her late fifties, complained.
“Yes, I’m afraid I asked him not to. I thought the news was better delivered in person. I’m sorry I’ve interrupted your day unnecessarily.”
“I’m going, then,” Manota said, scooting back her chair with a loud scraping sound.
At the door she turned back, saying, “They don’t need to bother me with any picture, either. I don’t know anyone who would be caught dead hanging in our bell tower.”
She stormed off, oblivious to the tasteless pun she’d made.
The others left, then, too, with Merrill and Manny walking out together.
“Say, I had the oddest conversation with a fellow named Alden just before the meeting. He wouldn’t tell me his last name.”
“That’s Alden Boreman. He’s not too bright and has more than his share of quirks, but he’s harmless enough and does a pretty good job of taking care of the church, considering how poorly we pay him.”
*
On her screened porch, Judy Falls placed the sanding block on her workbench, wiped her hands and hurried into the kitchen to answer her phone, nearly tripping on her dog, a white mixed-breed terrier.
“Please excuse me, Mr. Jones!” she addressed the dog, before picking up the phone.
“Pastor Fall’s residence, this is Judy,” she greeted her caller.
“Hi Judy, Gwennie here. I hope I didn’t catch you in the middle of something.”
“Nothing that can’t wait. What’s up?”
“I wondered what you are bringing to the fun night on Friday,” Gwennie replied.
“I’m fixing a cold quinoa and tofu salad with flax, Brussels sprouts, acai berries and pomegranate seeds. It’s a new recipe I found in Vegan Life magazine.”
“Sounds nice,” Gwennie said without enthusiasm. “I’m fixing a huge batch of peanut butter brownies. Not so healthy, unless you count the nuts, but they are sinfully good!”
“They do sound yummy…does your recipe call for eggs or milk?”
“I’m afraid so, Judy. Shall I try to make a batch you can eat, using some sort of substitutes?”
“No, don’t bother just for me. I don’t need the added calories, anyway. I never can seem to get rid of my extra fifteen pounds, no matter what I do.”
“I know what you mean, but you are okay just like you are. A woman needs a little meat on her bones…well, maybe not ‘meat’, necessarily, in your case, but some softness, anyway. Say, did you hear what happened last night at Merrill’s church?”
“No, what happened? Did the storm do some damage?”
“I don’t think we can blame the storm, although from what I heard, it was the storm that led to the discovery.”
“Ooh, a discovery! What is it? Tell me!”
“Merrill went up to the belfry in the middle of the night to stop the bell from ringing…did you hear it? What a racket. It was enough to wake the dead…oops! Or I guess it wasn’t loud enough for that…anyway, when she got to the top, she found some poor woman had gone up there and hanged herself!”
“But, that’s ridiculous! How would anyone get into the belfry? And why go to all that trouble? There are a hundred easier ways to commit suicide, especially right here next to the ocean with all the rip tides.”
“Maybe she didn’t like to get her feet wet, I don’t know. I only know what Mrs. Simmons in my Bible Study told me she heard from her niece at the hospital where they took the body.”
“How horrible for Merrill. Do you think she will still want to come on Friday?”
“I don’t see why not. It’s not as if she knew the woman or had anything to do with it. She was probably pretty shaken at the time, of course, but that Merrill must be pretty level-headed. Elizabeth says a woman needs to be unflappable to graduate from seminary.”
“Did you hear who the poor woman was? Was she anyone we knew?” Judy asked.
“The story I heard is the body was hanging up there for ages and hasn’t been identified, yet.”
“Ugh!” Judy shuddered.
“Exactly. Not a pretty surprise for anyone. That’s one preacher woman who will probably need cheering up this Friday. Well, I’ll let you get back to whatever you were doing,” Gwennie said.
“I was sanding down an old desk I found at the dump. I’m turning it into a pair of nightstands for the girls’ room.”
“Boy, I don’t know how you can take nasty old junk and slap some paint on it, and turn it into something useful, like you do! Paisley and Astilbe are lucky girls. I can’t wait to see the finished pieces when you’re done. Talk to you later, bye!”
“Bye. See you Friday,” Judy said before heading back to her project.
*
Detective Ransom put down the phone with a sigh and made a few notes in the file on his desk. Telling the next of kin of an unexpected death was the worst part of his job.
“How’d the family take the news?” Deputy Williams asked.
“About as you’d expect, I suppose. The woman’s parents are dead. Her only family was this aunt up in Tacoma. They don’t seem to have been very close. The aunt did say her niece seemed a little depressed the last time they spoke on the phone. She wasn’t too surprised to hear she’d killed herself, although she couldn’t offer any reason for her to have done it here in a church bell tower. As far as she knows, her niece didn’t even know anyone in Bannoch.”
“I guess we’ll never know what was in the woman’s mind. Shall I file that in with the closed cases?” Williams gestured at the paperwork.
Ransom signed one last form, handed the folder to the deputy and reached for another from the messy pile on his desk.
*
Two days after the storm dawned bright and clear.
By mid-morning the sun was shining brightly, beckoning Merrill out of her study into the clean, fresh air.
She stuffed an apple, some cheese and a whole-wheat bagel into her backpack, along with an old quilt, shrugged on her windbreaker, and headed down to the beach.
A rugged path led from the back of the church down to the highway.
Merrill made her way carefully among the rocks and scratchy clumps of gorse to the road.
She walked about a hundred yards along the shoulder of the highway until a break in traffic allowed her to cross over to the other side.