by Maisy Morgan
Pastor Michael led them down the one and only hall in the building that led to a tiny office with multiple desks. He pulled up two chairs for them before sitting behind the largest of the desks. “What can I do for you?” Pastor Michael asked, and Preston didn’t waste any time. He started by handing Michael the letter they had found at Pastor Josiah’s home.
“Oh, my,” he said, looking very embarrassed. “Yes, well, I certainly won’t deny sending him this. It was a while ago. About a year or so? I had gone out to dinner with a relative out in Spalding County, a good way from here, and saw him drinking quite heavily. He wasn’t intoxicated by any means, but I had always suspected he was still a drunk on the side. That’s when I sent this letter. I was getting tired of the way he was sneaking around and getting drunk behind Jenna’s back.”
“You’re telling me he held onto this note for two years?” Preston asked.
“I suppose so,” Michael said. “It’s a bit old. I haven’t heard of any more incidences since then though. I thought perhaps my letter frightened him out of it a bit. It was probably not my best decision much like my horrid display this past Sunday.” His face turned a bit red.
Mary crossed her arms. “Regretting that, are we?”
“Yes, in fact,” Michael said. “My sermon on Sunday was in poor taste. I’m actually going to be doing a public apology this upcoming Sunday during my next sermon. I need to apologize for the things I said. I let my emotions get the better of me, and it affected my judgement.”
“Pastor Michael, I’m going to be honest with you,” Preston said. “You are not coming off in the best light right now. I’m not accusing you of anything, yet, but I’m going to need to know where you were the night that Pastor Josiah was murdered.”
“Oh!” Pastor Michael exclaimed, looking quite alarmed. “Yes, well, I was with Pastor Cameron, our youth pastor, along with several others. We are part of a weekly small group that meets at the coffee shop in Senoia. It ran very late because we got started later than usual since we were all at the Brooks Day event earlier that day, and we also ran longer than usual too because we had to meet about this week’s youth event. You can follow up with Pastor Cameron since he’s here if you’d like.”
“We will,” Preston assured him, and they wasted no time in doing so.
Pastor Cameron informed them that they had been at the coffee shop until after it had closed and then headed across the street to finish up their meeting at the bar and grill where they had enjoyed a late dinner well past midnight. And Pastor Cameron’s story was confirmed by a number of both adult and youth volunteers all of whom assured them that Pastor Michael had been with them for much of the night. His alibi was tight, and since Pastor Michael had apparently paid for everyone’s coffee and dinner, after a quick phone call, Preston was able to confirm that there was not some sort of group conspiracy. Michael had undoubtedly been in downtown Senoia during the murder.
“Well, that didn’t go so well,” Mary said as they left the church. Some of the cars had cleared out, it seemed, so she guessed that the event at the library was likely over and that she would be hearing from Cindy soon. Almost as soon as the thought had crossed her mind, her cellphone began to ring. Speak of the devil, Mary thought amusingly as she answered her phone while she and Preston stood outside of the church. “Cindy, how did the event go?”
“Mary, I’m so sorry!” Cindy’s voice sounded as though she was worried. “I had to bring Tripp home, and you weren’t at Jenna’s. I tried to call but you didn’t answer.”
Mary checked her ringer and remembered she had turned it off at Jenna’s. “I’m sorry…I just realized I had my ringer turned off! Everything okay, Cindy?” Mary asked, feeling a slight sense of alarm.
“Yes, yes, everything’s fine.” Cindy said, though Mary could sense a bit of frantic in her voice. “We were at the event at the library, and Hannah took a serious fall out of her wheelchair. She’s hurting pretty bad. I’m taking her to the hospital, but I didn’t want to drag Tripp all the way there, and you told me you were at Jenna’s, so I went by your neighborhood to drop him off, and you weren’t there and—” Cindy was speaking in rapid sentences, so Mary could tell that she was on high alarm.
“Cindy!” Mary interrupted. “It’s fine! Tripp is home?”
“Yes, he’s home!” Cindy exclaimed. “I just feel terrible leaving him there by himself, but Hannah needs to see a doctor.”
“Cindy, listen, he’s fine. I’m actually at the church,” Mary said. “Just five minutes down the road, Preston can take me back to the house. Tripp will be fine by himself for a few minutes.”
“Are you sure?” Cindy asked. “I could circle back and wait until you get there.”
“Cindy, don’t you dare do that,” Mary said quickly. “You go get Hannah to the hospital if that’s where she needs to be! For crying out loud, Cindy, he’s fourteen. He’s fine. I’ll be there in a few minutes. Is Hannah okay?”
“I think she’s fine,” Cindy said. “But it was a pretty serious fall. She hit her hip, and I’m always worried about her hip. She says her lower back is hurting. I think she’ll be fine, but I just think you can’t be too careful when it comes to this sort of thing with her.”
“I totally understand, Cindy,” Mary assured her. “Preston can actually, well no, my car is right here at the shop. He doesn’t even have to drive me. I’ll just head home.”
“Are you sure?” Cindy asked again.
“Yes, Cindy, it’s fine. Go make sure Hannah gets taken care of,” Mary said and then added, “And let me know what the doctor says, okay?”
“I will. Thank you so much for understanding, Mary. I could tell Tripp was a little uncomfortable with the whole thing, and I didn’t want him to have to sit with us at the emergency room waiting on you,” she said.
“Again, I understand,” Mary said. “Are you driving?”
“Yes.”
“Then get off the phone and focus on the road,” Mary said. “We’ll talk later.”
“Thank you, Mary,” Cindy said. “Again, I’m so sorry.”
They hung up the phone, and Mary shook her head. “Poor Cindy,” she said.
“Is Hannah hurt or something?” Preston asked, obviously having heard half of the conversation.
“Possibly,” Mary said. “I think they’re just being cautious. She said that Hannah felt out of her wheelchair.”
“Dang, that can’t be good,” Preston replied. “Tell you what, I’ll take you to your car and follow you back to your place. We can talk out what we’ve learned and see if we can find a new approach for the case once we’re there.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Mary said, and they hurried to her car and further into Brooks and her neighborhood. She and Preston pulled up right about the same time, and he parked behind her before they both exited their vehicles.
Preston stretched and yawned slightly as he stood upright. “It’s not even noon,” he complained. “I feel like we’ve been around the world today.”
Mary laughed, digging around inside her purse for her keys, knowing that if Tripp had managed to get some alone time at the house that he was probably upstairs playing videogames with his headphones on or listening to his stereo blast aloud, and he wouldn’t hear the door. “You’re not giving up on me already are you?” Mary teased.
“Give me some credit,” Preston said. “I was up really early this morning doing follow ups with all of our suspects’ alibis. This case is starting to frustrate me. I wish there had been more evidence at the crime scene other than a boot print and a locket.”
“Did you show the locket to Jenna?” Mary asked, not sure if this was something they had already discussed.
“I showed her the picture of it, but she didn’t recognize it at all,” Preston said. “So, I’m starting to think that it was either already there, or that it might have possibly belonged to our killer.”
“Well, that’s something, isn’t it?” Mary asked as they stepped up to the front door. She put her keys in and
turned the knob. “Tripp, I’m home!” she called, but as expected, there was no answer. I hate those stupid videogames, she thought.
“I suppose we could actually show it to her or others,” Preston said.
“Maybe that should be our next step,” Mary said. “I think we should see if we can find out who owns the locket because if we can track down who owns that locket, it might just lead us in the right direction. This would be a huge lead especially if the locket owner happens to be one of our current suspects.”
“Good point,” Preston said. “I think it’s time we really get digging.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Once they arrive inside, Mary told Preston he could make himself comfortable. She called up the stairs to Tripp again. “Tripp! I’m home!” she shouted, and she huffed when she realized he wasn’t hearing her. “Preston, I’ll be back in a second. I’m going to make sure Tripp is okay. He might be a little shaken up after what happened to Hannah,” she said, and he nodded on his way to the kitchen while she headed up the stairs.
She made her way up the stairs, nearly tripping over Sweet Feet when she reached the top. “Easy there,” she mumbled as the cat scurried off toward Tripp’s room, His door was cracked open slightly. “I’m going to have to get used to having a cat around,” she reminded herself.
Mary reached his room knocking first. “Tripp, you okay?” she asked, but there was no answer. Mary opened the door, and she was surprised to see that the room was empty of everything except for Sweet Feet who had already made himself comfortable on the bed. When she hadn’t seen him downstairs playing videogames, she had felt slightly concerned. Now, not seeing him in his room at all, she felt rather alarmed. “Tripp!” she called as she stepped out of his room.
She noticed that the bathroom upstairs was closed, and Tripp tended to leave it wide open. She stepped towards it and knocked. “Tripp?” she questioned, and she heard a very audible sniffle.
“Uh…um, yeah?” his voice came through.
Mary raised a brow. “Tripp are you okay?” she asked. It wasn’t exactly a secret that the door in the hall bath had a jiggly handle, and she could very easily push it open. However, she wasn’t sure whether or not it was a good idea to invade his privacy like that.
“I’m fine!” he said, his voice cracking.
Mary definitely didn’t feel right about just walking away after hearing his tone. “Tripp, I’m coming in,” she said, but she hesitated to see whether or not he was going to get annoyed with that response. He remained quiet, so she took it as a silent invitation and turned the doorknob hard, knowing it would unlock itself. I need to get new doorknobs for the whole house, she told herself as she entered.
She was concerned to find Tripp sitting in the bathtub, fully clothed with his knees bent up to his chest. His face was splotchy and still covered in obvious streaks of tears. He wiped his nose against the back of his sleeve and did the same to his face, and Mary could tell he had been trying for a minute or two to stop his tears when he realized that she had arrived home. “Tripp?” she beckoned and found herself sitting on the commode by the bath. She stared at him. “Sweetheart, Hannah is fine,” she started to say.
“Yeah, I know,” he said. “I’ve been texting her.”
“Then what’s wrong? Did it just startle you?” Mary asked, a little moved that he would be this upset over Hannah taking a fumble.
“It’s not that,” he said as he kept staring at the tub faucet. She could tell he was very embarrassed to have been found in his current predicament.
“Then what is it?” Mary asked.
Tripp paused for a moment and took several deep breaths that were quite shaky still, leading her to believe this crying spat of his had been more than just a few tears. He had been up here violently sobbing. Because he had been seated with his legs bent, Mary had not noticed what he had in his lap. He looked away from her, hugging his legs with one hand while he handed her a picture with the other. As Mary took the picture from him, he wrapped both of his arms around his legs and buried his face against his knees to avoid having to look at her reaction.
Mary felt a slight knot form in her throat. She recognized the picture immediately. In fact, she had taken it. There was her daughter, smiling a very excited but tired smile in a hospital bed. She was Tripp’s age, just a little girl really. She was looking at the baby in her arms, and the young boy beside her leaning over with his arm around them both – the only one of the three actually looking at the camera, was Tripp’s father, Aaron. The young couple looked very happy in the picture, and baby Tripp was fast asleep in his mother’s arms. “Tripp, where did you find this?”
Tripp didn’t look up while he spoke, making his voice slightly muffled. “After Ms. Cindy dropped me off, I started unpacking the boxes in the living room. I saw that stupid photo album you tried to make me look at the other night, and I don’t know, I just got curious.”
Mary didn’t say anything. She let the two of them sit in silence for a moment. Tripp was still trying to calm himself, trying to stop his heavy breathing. After a moment, he opted to continue. “I found that picture.” he said. “I had never seen a picture of the two of them together like that.”
“Tripp, look at me hon,” Mary said, and he slowly raised his head still hiding half his face in embarrassment behind his arms and bent legs. “I know this is a very sensitive topic for you. I don’t blame you for getting worked up.”
“I miss him,” Tripp said. “I miss my dad.”
“I know,” Mary said. “And believe it or not, I do too. I know it must be hard being here with me since your dad and I were not exactly friends.”
Tripp chuckled slightly between a few deep breaths. “Yeah.”
“Your dad was an amazing young man,” Mary said. “I really was proud of him, you know? He did a good job with you, kiddo.”
Tripp nodded. “He’d be so mad at me.”
“About what?” Mary asked.
“About how I’ve been talking to you,” Tripp said. “I got so mad at you for trying to show me pictures of my mom. I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that. She’s your daughter.”
Mary nodded. “I don’t make excuses for her, Tripp.”
“I know, you never have,” Tripp said. “I shouldn’t have told you that you were a bad mom. That was just not true. My mom made her own decisions. It didn’t have anything to do with you.”
“I appreciate you saying that,” Mary said, looking down at the picture and feeling a pain in her chest over it as well. It was such a happy picture. The young couple in the photo looked so joyful and so full of hope for their future.
“I just miss him,” Tripp said. “I really do.”
“I know,” Mary said. “And that’s okay, Tripp. You’re allowed to miss your dad. What happened to him wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. I can’t imagine going through what you went through. What you’re still going through. I probably haven’t made it much easier on you either.”
“I’m just so angry,” Tripp said. “I’m mad all the time, and I don’t know what to do about it.”
“You can talk about it,” Mary said. “That might help.” Tripp shrugged. Mary nodded. “Yes, it will. Talk about it, Tripp. Tell me what you’re angry about.”
“I’m angry about what happened to Dad. I’m angry about those people who broke in and shot him. I wish the police had caught them because…” Tripp’s voice trailed off for a moment before he decided to come clean with what was going on in his head. “Because I want to know who they are so I can kill them.”
“Tripp…”
“I know,” he said. “I wouldn’t do it, but I think about it a lot. I want to kill them, and I’ve never thought that way about anyone before and it scares me.”
“You’re really angry,” Mary said. “You need to know that it’s okay to feel that way. It’s okay to be angry, Tripp. But, you understand that even if you did that it wouldn’t make a difference. You wouldn’t feel better. It wouldn’t bring your dad
back.”
“I know,” Tripp said. “I’m just straight up very angry, and not just about that, but about mom too.”
Mary bit her tongue. She didn’t want to comment, but she felt the need to say something. “You’re angry at your mother. I understand, Tripp.”
“Why did she just…ugh?” Tripp bit his bottom lip, and she could see tears starting to fall out of his eyes once again. “Do you think that Dad had to do what he did? That he did the right thing not letting me get to know her?”
Mary wanted to scream NO, but she knew that wouldn’t be the truth. She sighed, and though she hated to say it, she told him the truth. “He did the right thing,” Mary said. “My daughter, God knows I love her, and your dad loved her too, Tripp. However, in the end, he made the right call.”
Now, Tripp’s voice started to crack again. “Why didn’t she love me?”
This, Mary had a response for. “No, no, no,” Mary said quickly. “Tripp, that’s not true. Look at this picture. Look at her face. Look how she is looking at you!” Mary said, handing it back to him. He took it, and he looked at it. “She loves you, Tripp. She loves you so much, but she’s sick in the head. That’s what it comes down to. She was young and scared and stupid. An idiot, and I hate to say that about my little girl, but she was. Probably still is for all I know, though I pray every day that she’s getting herself straightened out and is just too embarrassed to call me… I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I’d like to think so. Tripp, don’t ever think she doesn’t love you. Please don’t think that. That’s one thing I know for certain. Her addiction made her do the things she did. Even though I know your father did the right thing, he still broke her heart because he took you away. However, he did the right thing. It killed her spirit, but at the end of the day…”
“It wasn’t enough for her to get clean,” Tripp said. “I wasn’t enough for her to want to get clean.”
Mary sighed. “No. None of us were. And believe me, there were plenty of us who tried. She tried a few times, but she just couldn’t do it. She wasn’t strong enough Tripp. But please, don’t ever let yourself think that this young lady here didn’t adore you.” She reached over and tapped the picture as she said this.