Fatal Accusation

by Rachel Dylan

  “Not guilty, Your Honor.”

  “Let the record show that the Defendant has entered a plea of not guilty. Now let’s turn to the issue of setting bail. Mr. Sampson, the floor is all yours.”

  Tony took a deep breath and stood up tall. He’d done hundreds of bail hearings before, but for some reason this one felt different—more important. He knew how much media coverage was going to be on this case. And while he wanted to be fair, he also wanted to be seen as tough on crime—whether it was gangs or white collar. “Your Honor, given the serious nature of these crimes, including that this is a Class X felony under Illinois law, with the special circumstances of embezzlement from a place of worship, the state would argue that the bail be set at a million dollars.”

  “Your Honor, that’s absurd.” Olivia shot up out of her seat as soon as the word million had come out of his mouth.

  He knew he was taking a risk, but it was time to play hardball. See how she reacted to his first big move in this game of chess.

  “One at a time,” the judge said. “Mr. Sampson, that number is quite high. Could you please elaborate on your justification for the state seeking that amount?”

  Tony nodded. This was the part he would particularly enjoy. “These crimes are disturbing given that Mr. Light is the head pastor at Windy Ridge Community Church. He had a fiduciary duty to his congregation, those that entrusted him and his church with their money. He violated that duty.”

  “I perfectly understand that fiduciary duty is an element to proving your embezzlement claim, but today isn’t about proving your case. It’s about setting bail. So explain to me how does that go to the bail amount?” the judge asked.

  “Since the allegations here are so serious, and Pastor Light has been a fixture in this community, I would argue that he is a flight risk. He has connections and the ability to evade this prosecution. And I’m sure there are those powerful few around him that would want to help him in that endeavor.”

  “Your Honor, I’m sorry, but I can’t stay silent given these slanderous statements against my client. There isn’t even a shred of evidence that any of the words coming out of Mr. Sampson’s mouth are true. Just the opposite. Pastor Dan Light is a man of modest means and, contrary to what you heard from the prosecutor, he doesn’t have rich and powerful friends waiting in the wings. I’m not going to get into the merits of the case here, because I know that isn’t appropriate, but a million dollars for bail is outrageous. We would have no problem surrendering Mr. Light’s passport to quell any of these irrational fears put forward by the prosecution, but beyond that, I would ask that the bail be set at an amount nowhere near that.”

  “What would the defense suggest?” Judge Matthews asked.

  “Fifty thousand, Your Honor,” Olivia said.

  “Now Ms. Murray is the one being outrageous,” Tony said. He hoped that he hadn’t overplayed his hand.

  “I’ve heard enough. I’m setting bail at one hundred thousand dollars and taking Ms. Murray up on her offer to surrender Mr. Light’s passport.”

  He knew better than to try to pick a fight now with the judge over this. There would be plenty more opportunities ahead, but he couldn’t help feeling like he’d obtained the first victory.

  **

  “We’ll get the money for your bail,” Olivia said. She wasn’t exactly sure yet how, but she had a few ideas.

  “A hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money, Olivia. Definitely more than I have.”

  “There are other options. People from the church and the community who will want to help you.”

  He shook his head. “Olivia, as a minister, once you’re accused of things like this … there’s no one who is going to stand up for you. There’s only one thing worse that they could’ve accused me of.” He paused. “But besides that, I don’t think I’m going to have a lot of friends lining up to help me.”

  Olivia refused to believe that. “I think you’re wrong. I think most of the church will rise up to help.”

  “You don’t understand. Something has been terribly off with the church for the past month or so. I knew it in my gut. This is all part of something larger, Olivia. And I’m willing to do my part in fighting it. If that means sitting in prison, well, Paul also sat in prison for a long time and he was innocent.”

  She refused to just let him sit in prison without a fight but, his invocation of Paul only made her more proud to be representing a man of his character. “No, I think you can be much more effective if you’re free. I believe you’re right about one thing, though. This isn’t coincidental. The false allegations against you are part of a grand plan to take down the church in Windy Ridge. We’re going to fight this. Not only because your reputation is on the line and the fact that you’ve been wrongfully accused, but because we knew this was coming and we made a commitment to fight it. Are you with me?” She looked into his eyes, and for the first time since she’d returned to Windy Ridge, she saw the old Pastor Dan.

  He nodded. “Yes, try to make the bail. If we can’t get the money from those who want to help, then it’s not meant to be. I will do everything in my power from behind bars. There’s not many things more powerful than a man imprisoned who has all the time in the world to pray.”

  Her heart warmed seeing Dan’s faith come back strong, and she choked up. “We are going to fight this, and we are going to win. Not just the lawsuit, but the war against the evil one here in our community.”

  “Olivia, I don’t know what I or the church would do without you.”

  **

  Nina Marie sat inside Latte waiting for Olivia to arrive. Much to her surprise, Olivia had seemed very open to a meeting.

  The woman had been on her mind constantly after the events of last fall. Normally, she would’ve been able to move on from something like that, but Olivia’s actions had greatly impacted her. Even though she wouldn’t want to admit it to anyone.

  She had hoped that maybe there would be an outside chance she could talk some sense into Olivia. Get her to leave the area and go back to DC. Or, at the very least, get her to focus her energy on something else.

  But that idea had been hatched before she’d heard the news about Pastor Dan’s arrest. That was a game changer, especially since it appeared Olivia was going to be representing him.

  When Olivia walked into the coffee shop and headed toward her, Nina Marie took a deep breath. This woman was always so full of life. It made her sick to her stomach. Nina Marie had never met anyone else like Olivia, and Olivia always treated her like she mattered. It boggled her mind how a devout believer would want anything to do with a person like her. Someone who had sold out to darkness and willingly so.

  Today Olivia wasn’t smiling, her expression serious as she took a seat at the table.

  “Hello,” Olivia said.

  “Thanks for meeting with me.”

  “I’d actually planned on reaching out to you, but then I got sidetracked by the events of the past couple of days. I don’t suppose you’d have anything to do with that?”

  Right for the jugular. It made Olivia a good lawyer. A great one, actually. And she did the whole thing with a calm demeanor. You never saw her coming. “Listen, I know you have to be devastated about what happened to your pastor, but I can guarantee you that this one was not me.”

  “Layton then,” Olivia said flatly.

  “I didn’t ask you here to talk about Layton or the pastor.”

  “All right. I’m listening.”

  She took a deep breath. What she was about to say was difficult. Speaking the truth wasn’t something that came easy to her these days. “Olivia, you represent everything that I work against, but you also put yourself in danger to help me in my time of need, and for that I will be forever grateful. You saved my life and that’s not something I take lightly. Especially because you jumped into harm’s way when you had the opportunity to cut and run to safety, and I know you did that to protect me without regard to what would happen to you.”

  “A
nd I would do it again a heartbeat.” She paused. “But let me guess, even given all of that, you still want me to leave you and this town alone?”

  “You’re a smart woman. And for some reason that I can’t explain, I actually like you despite all of our differences of opinion, but you shouldn’t be in Windy Ridge right now. You’re too big of a threat to everything I’m working on. You and that church and those people are my enemies.”

  “It doesn’t have to be that way, Nina Marie.” Olivia reached out and touched her hand.

  It took everything she had not to move away, but she didn’t want to show weakness. Olivia’s touch made her nervous. This was a woman of God, and that freaked her out. “It has to be, Olivia, and even if I wanted to give you some reprieve, I can guarantee you that Layton has no such soft spot. If anything, he’d relish the opportunity to take you out once and for all.”

  “So let me get this straight. You invited me here to tell me this to try to protect me?”

  “Yes, exactly!”

  Olivia shook her head. “That’s the thing you don’t fully understand. My God is bigger than any threat that you or Layton or anyone else can ever pose. And I’m not afraid of a fight.”

  She took the opportunity to break contact with Olivia and put her hands in her lap. This woman was stubborn, and in the end, Nina Marie feared it would be her downfall. “You saw firsthand what Layton is capable of. He’s a monster. He’s more driven than anyone I’ve ever witnessed to succeed at his mission, and if you’re a target, there’s no stopping him. You’re not listening to reason. You rely too much on your faith.”

  Olivia smiled. “I’ll take that as a compliment, not an insult.”

  Olivia was maddening. It seemed there wasn’t any way to get her out of town. “I’ve done all I can to help you. I can’t guarantee your safety for what happens from here, but I had to warn you.”

  “I understand, Nina Marie. As far as I’m concerned, you can have a clear conscience. The fact that you even care about what happens to me shows you aren’t completely a lost cause.”

  Nina Marie couldn’t help but laugh. “Dear, if you start trying to preach to me again, then you’re wasting your breath. Nothing has changed on that front. You know exactly where I stand.”

  “But you don’t have to keep standing there. You can move. You can change, and I’m willing to help you in any way that I can. All you have to do is say the word, and I’ll be right there by your side.”

  “That’s never going to happen. Ever. So you should stop and put that out of your mind. Why would I ever follow a God that has allowed such atrocities to occur? That has followers who brag about their Christian values and then hurt the ones they claim to love.” She stopped. She’d already said way too much and could tell that by the look of curiosity on Olivia’s face.

  “The person that hurt you may have claimed they were a believer, but I can promise you that they weren’t carrying out the will of my God.”

  “You have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “I think I’m much closer to the truth than you want me to think.”

  “Even if you were, it doesn’t change anything.”

  “It does because you’re acting out of hurt. Out of fear. Out of feeling betrayed. I can see that’s what led you to the darkness. To a path that might feel better now but will eventually destroy you. I may not know exactly what you endured, but since I’ve gotten to know you, I have come to understand that this person from your past has left you wounded. I’m offering you a way out, Nina Marie. Right now.”

  “No. No.” Her stomach started to churn. She couldn’t handle this anymore. Not with that look of concern on Olivia’s face. “I’ve said everything I came to say. Whether you choose to listen to my warning is up to you.” She stood up from the table and started to leave. Olivia grabbed onto her arm.

  “I’m not giving up on you, Nina Marie.”

  “Then you’re a fool.” She shrugged off Olivia’s grasp and walked away, knowing this wasn’t going to be her last encounter with Olivia.

  Chapter Four

  Olivia knocked on Associate Pastor Chris Tanner’s door. She looked over at Grant, who stood beside her. “Chris sounded distressed on the phone,” she said.

  “This is hard on everyone,” Grant said.

  Chris opened the door. “Thanks for coming over so quickly. Let’s go sit in the living room and talk.”

  “What did you find out?” Olivia asked. She’d never seen Chris so disheveled. His shirt was untucked and his eyes bloodshot—almost like he’d been crying. Which was difficult for Olivia to imagine given the former Army Ranger’s toughness.

  Chris took a seat in one of the living room chairs across from the sofa where she and Grant sat. “I don’t even know how to say this.”

  “Whatever it is, we can handle it,” Grant said.

  Chris looked at her, then at Grant. “I went to visit Beverly, and what she told me blew my mind.” He paused. “In doing the church’s finances, Beverly noticed some discrepancies, and after looking into it, she found that money was being siphoned off into an account. The account is in Dan’s name.”

  “No way,” Olivia said. “That’s ridiculous.”

  Chris shook his head. “I don’t know how we can completely ignore evidence like this. Don’t you understand the implication of what I’m telling you?”

  “I wouldn’t have expected you to turn your back on Dan so fast.” Olivia couldn’t help but say what she was feeling. Would Chris really flip on his friend and mentor so quickly? Nothing about this situation felt right. “What if there’s a big mistake? Or if Layton is involved in this? Have you even considered all of that?”

  Chris held up his hand. “Wait, I didn’t say anything about turning my back on him. I’m just so confused. I also have a duty to the congregation, too. We have to figure out what’s going on. My phone won’t stop ringing. People are demanding answers, and I have no idea what to tell them. They call and ask if their money has been stolen. If Dan’s a criminal. If the church is going to take immediate action to remove him. It never ends.”

  “Take a deep breath,” she told him. She glanced over at Grant looking for support, but he didn’t say anything. She feared he might be questioning Dan, too, and she needed a united front. In her heart, she knew the type of man Dan was, and he wasn’t a thief. She wasn’t going to let him down when he needed her. “Listen to me. Both of you. Dan has not and is not stealing money from the church. There is zero possibility he is the one who did this. So we need to figure out how he was setup and who is involved.”

  “I want to believe that, too,” Chris said. “Believe me, I do. But good men do bad things sometimes. I know how stress and pain can get to people. Maybe his wife’s illness sent him over the edge and caused him to act in ways he never would’ve before.”

  She couldn’t believe Chris was even entertaining something so crazy. “Where’s your faith here, Chris?”

  “Olivia, I do have faith. That faith is ultimately in God—not in men. And like I said, I have a responsibility to God first and foremost. Then to the church. Then to Dan. In that order. So when presented with this type of factual evidence, I have to examine it and try to figure out a plausible explanation. I can’t just say, well, I don’t like what I see, and I’m going to pretend like it doesn’t exist. You’re going to have to face the same exact things since you’re his lawyer. We all need to be able to examine the facts and make rational conclusions.”

  She had to hold back her frustration and try to get through to him. “Don’t you see? This has to be part of Layton’s bigger strategy.”

  “The problem is we can’t imagine how Layton could’ve pulled this off,” Grant said. “And before you get into Layton’s spiritual powers, which I’m not going to deny, there still had to be someone physically coordinating this scheme for your theory to hold true.”

  “I’m not suggesting there is a purely spiritual explanation for this, but I am suggesting that Layto
n is both evil and powerful. He has the financial and human resources to make things happen.” She took a breath. “And Chris, how well do you know Beverly? We can’t throw Dan under the bus while blindly accepting everything Beverly is saying as the truth.”

  Neither man said a word for a minute, and she knew that she had made a good point. Everyone was just assuming Beverly was innocent in all of this, but given those who had access to the church finances, Olivia’s job was to question each person’s credibility. And that even meant the man sitting in front of her. Chris also had access to the financials, but she was smart enough to realize her approach with Chris was going to have to be more nuanced.

  “All right,” Chris said. “I’m anxious to get Dan’s name cleared. So anything I can do to help, count me in.”

  “Tell me everything you know about Beverly Jenkins.”

  “She’s been a member of Windy Ridge Community Church since she was a child. Long before Dan or I came into town. She’s trained as a CPA but took the job as the church financial administrator about ten years ago.”

  “And as I understand it, the only three people with authorization to touch the church funds are Dan, Beverly, and you?” She put it out there and looked him squarely in the eyes to see how he’d respond.

  “Yes,” he responded without hesitation.

  It was like he didn’t even realize the implication of her question. Which actually weighed in favor of his innocence. “And why do you trust Beverly so completely here?”

  “What possible motivation could she have to lie about this? These types of allegations rip churches and communities apart. If anything, her motivation would’ve been to explain it away.”

  “What if she was the one who embezzled the money?” Grant finally piped up.

  “Now that’s a stretch,” Chris said.

  “More of a stretch than Pastor Dan stealing it?” Olivia asked. “I don’t think so. If she did find something suspicious, why not confront Dan about it first before going to the police? Why automatically go to the authorities without hearing his side of the story?”