by Rachel Dylan
“Yes, there’s a lot more to her than first appears.”
“Unfortunately, she figured out last night that I wasn’t Abe Smith.”
“It was only a matter of time. She has great instincts about these things.”
“The strangest thing, though, is that I still felt compelled through all of it to try to speak to her about God.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I had a strong feeling that I needed to.”
“Do you believe there could be hope for someone like her?” she asked.
“I believe there’s hope for everyone.” He paused. “But since she now knows I am not who I said I was, I think she’s also connected the dots back to you. I’m sorry about that because it was my fault. She said your name, and I had a reaction that I let show and she caught on.”
“Were you able to figure out if she had something to do with the false allegations against Pastor Dan?”
“No, and I’m not so sure that she’s directly involved.”
“Layton is probably calling the shots as usual.”
“I wanted to talk to you alone, though, because I wanted to know about how you would feel if I tried to reconnect with her?”
“To try to help her?”
“Yes. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the conversation I had with her. She told me point blank that she is on the devil’s side, but there was something else there. The tiniest of openings. Yes, she was saying the words, but she wasn’t all in. I could sense it. If she really had been totally committed, she would’ve thrown me out without another word, but she didn’t. We still talked a bit after my cover was blown.”
“She’s a very complicated woman.”
“She’s been hurt badly before, and it’s shaped her entire viewpoint. I don’t know the details, but I think it has to do with a past relationship.”
“I picked up on that before as well, and I’ve tried to reach her but she is pretty far down in a dark hole. I’m not saying we shouldn’t try, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up that she’s going to be able to change. That she would want to change.”
“Well, you won’t believe what else she told me.”
“Uh oh.”
“She claimed Stacey Malone put some sort of spell on me at the charity event.”
“What happened?”
“A sudden sickness hit me out of the blue. I was perfectly fine one minute, and then I felt like I was going to pass out. According to Nina Marie, Stacey was just experimenting with some New Age crystals, and I happened to be the one who was the target.”
“Stacey is an entirely different problem, but she’s entrenched right now with Layton. It’s a very sad story.” Her heart ached for Stacey, but she had chosen this path and there wasn’t anything that could be done right now besides praying for her.
“Nina Marie also claimed that she has some spiritual powers, too. I have to tell you, all of this seems very foreign to me. I do believe in God, but I haven’t been to church in years. There’s been something going on in my head since I started working this case. A desire to try to reconnect with the Lord. I haven’t felt anything like it in a long time, so who am I to question it?”
Olivia continued to be amazed at how God was working through all of their lives. Even in this instance, drawing back someone who had distanced himself. “I know it’s a strange set of circumstances, but I am happy that this experience is making you want to reconnect with your faith. If there’s any way I can help with that process, I am more than willing. I know we all have a lot of on plates right now, but at the end of the day, these things are the most important.”
“So can I ask you something else?”
“Sure.”
“Do you believe in all of this stuff? The witchcraft and spells and all of that?”
“I believe that those who serve the devil can have spiritual powers and practice witchcraft. And, unfortunately, Nina Marie has demonstrated that she does practice the dark arts. Stacey abandoned the Christian faith to go become a member of Optimism. So she is also seeking out the powers of darkness. I personally have experienced things that, if I told you about them, would make you think I was crazy. But I just also go back to Ephesians 6:18. We wrestle not against flesh and blood.”
“Yes, I’m familiar with that verse. My grandmother cited it often. She was a big believer in angels and demons, but I never had given it that much thought before. I haven’t wrapped my head around all of that yet, but I haven’t felt the need to pray in a while, and I felt it very strongly last night.”
“What caused you to distance yourself from God in the first place?”
He ran his hand through his hair. “Funny you ask that because it’s actually a source of commonality for Nina Marie and me. There was a woman in my church. She broke my heart. I was going to ask her to marry me, and I found out she was cheating on me with one of my friends—also someone who went to that same church. I never wanted to go back there again. And instead of just finding a new church, I walked away completely. It was just easier to handle that way. That was a few years ago now.”
As she listened to his story, she wondered if this man could get through to Nina Marie. The problem was that he’d already betrayed her trust from the get-go. “And now you’re here. Working on this case.”
“Yes. God seems to have led me back. Not through the most likely route, but back nonetheless.”
“And maybe He’s even given you a greater challenge with Nina Marie.” She’d been praying every single day for Nina Marie that she could turn away from the darkness and see the light. Hearing all of this only made her want to redouble her prayer efforts.
“I’ll do what I can. I know one thing. There’s no way I can just walk away from this.”
“God is going to work through this situation, Abe. I truly believe that.” She looked over and Grant was walking into the room.
“Sorry I’m late.” Grant took a seat beside Abe. “I got stuck in a client meeting and I couldn’t leave.”
“No problem,” she said. It had actually worked out that she had gotten some time with Abe.
“Catch me up,” Grant said.
“Dan is on board with fighting this thing and he rejected the plea,” Olivia said. She also filled him in on Abe’s research into Dan’s financial background.
“Great.” Grant turned and looked at Abe. “And how did it go with Nina Marie?”
“Long story short, my cover is blown, but I don’t think she’s the lynchpin to whatever happened with Dan. Olivia sent me the name of a forensics computer expert that I’m going to work with on examining the church’s account. See if we can come up with anything on that end. We also have to discuss how far you’re willing to go with regard to the electronic accounts we don’t have authorized access to.”
She knew exactly what he was talking about. “Dan wouldn’t want to be freed by any illegal means, and you shouldn’t take that risk either.”
“Understood,” Abe said. “I’m assuming you don’t need anything from me for the preliminary hearing?”
“No. The state will put on evidence to show that the trial should move forward. Given all the facts we know, I expect the judge will find in the state’s favor.”
“All right. Well, I’ll leave you two to discuss legal matters.”
“Keep me updated, Abe,” she said. “On everything.”
**
As Layton had instructed, Stacey set up a meeting with Nina Marie. She still wasn’t quite sure why Layton thought this whole mentoring thing was such a great idea, but she was loyal to his wishes. After all he had done for her, it was the least she could do.
But going down this road meant pretending like he had no idea that she was going to be tutored by Nina Marie. Hopefully she could pull it off. It made her a bit nervous because she wondered if Nina Marie would be able to sense her true plan.
Pushing those doubts out of her head, she walked into enemy territory—the Astral Tech office. Their office seemed much more New Age cliché than did
Optimism’s. Incense was burning in the reception area, and the motif was blue with plenty of moons and other similar decorations.
There was also an unmistakable tech company feel to the building. The lobby had a laptop and several tablets on display with the Astral Tech app. She knew they’d developed the app to try to reach a younger, more tech savvy audience. It was a brilliant marketing tool, but she wondered how effective it was in really spreading the true message.
“Stacey, so glad to see you.” Nina Marie walked into the lobby area smiling widely.
“Thanks for having me here.” She needed to remain calm and not let all of the subterfuge get to her.
“Of course. Meeting here makes the most sense. You won’t have to worry about anyone else from Optimism ever seeing you. Follow me. I want you to make yourself completely at home while you’re here.”
“I still don’t know how to thank you. I really don’t think I’m that deserving of any type of special training.” And that was true. She wasn’t accustomed to the praise she’d been receiving lately.
“That’s the first thing we’re going to work on. You need more confidence. There’s no need for you to be so humble. If a man had your level of skills, he surely wouldn’t be. Now come on into this office and we’ll get started.”
She looked around at the room that had a small window, a desk, and a navy couch—to go along with all the other blue décor.
“Stacey, before we even get into any of the spiritual elements of things, I wanted to talk in general about you. What are your goals in life?”
“I want to graduate college and have a high-paying job so I’m able to be financially independent and buy nice things. My parents barely make ends meet. I want to do a lot better than them, and so far Layton has provided things that I’ve never had before. Like nice clothes.” She looked at Nina Marie. “I’d love to be stylish and put together like you. It’s like you never have a hair out of place.”
“I think you and I aren’t all that different. I also didn’t grow up with much. I was smart enough to figure out I needed an education and a good job, but I still made a slew of bad decisions along the way. And that’s one of the reasons I wanted to mentor you, because I see so much of myself in you.”
“What would you have done differently?” Yes, Stacey was playing both sides here, but if she was going to learn from Nina Marie about the spiritual realm, why not seek out other advice about life from her?
“I’ve alluded to this before when warning you about Layton, but I’ve actually made much worse mistakes than Layton. When I was in my late twenties, I fell in love with a man who I thought at the time was perfect for me. Little did I know he was cheating on me from the moment I started seeing him. To make matters worse, I never saw it coming because he had such a veneer about him. He talked the talk. Believe it or not, I met him in church. To everyone else he was a complete gentleman, but I learned differently.”
“What happened?”
Nina Marie looked at her, and a chill shot down her back. She feared what Nina Marie was about to tell her.
“It wasn’t just the cheating. He became crazy possessive and jealous, and then one day, he saw me talking to another man after a church social event. It was a completely harmless conversation. I had no romantic interest in the guy at all, but my boyfriend came into my apartment after he drove me home from the event and that’s when it happened.”
Fear streaked through Stacey, fearing the worst. “What did he do to you?”
“He hit me that night. Ultimately, I ended up being hurt badly.”
Stacey sucked in a breath. “I am so sorry. What did you do?”
“At the time, nothing. Then when it happened again, I confided in a friend at church.”
“Did he get arrested?”
Nina Marie laughed. “No. My friend accused me of making it up. I was ostracized from my social circle, and I actually feared for my life because I thought my boyfriend was going to retaliate against me for talking about what happened. I left town and never went back.”
“I can’t even begin to imagine.”
“It messed me up, no doubt about it, but at the end of the day, I took that awful experience and realized that Christianity was a farce. That I couldn’t ever trust any man, and the only one looking out for me was me. With that newfound freedom and knowledge I sought out other spiritual avenues.”
“And how did you find out about New Age?”
“I moved to Santa Cruz, California. They had a thriving group of people there I met through frequenting a New Age bookstore. I started talking to them about their beliefs, and I was instantly intrigued by the idea that I could be powerful myself. That I didn’t need to rely on anyone or anything else for that, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. I met people involved in all different aspects of occult practice, including those who were active in the darker arts. Looking back, I understand now that I was proactively seeking the darkness because I was hurting so badly, and I desperately wanted something different than the Christian faith. So I thought, what better way to make a clean break than to use the powers of darkness and the evil one to my advantage.”
“Were you actually a Christian before that or was it just the jerk you were dating?”
“That’s a good question. He’s the one that introduced me to that church. I never felt like I completely fit in, and I never fully committed to Christ, but I had started down that road until I saw my boyfriend’s true colors and felt firsthand how it was to be betrayed by those people at church who were supposedly there for me.”
Stacey’s head felt like it was about to explode from hearing Nina Marie’s story. As she looked at this woman, she suddenly saw her in a different light. No wonder she was the person she is today. Being treated like that would make anyone have issues, and it sickened her to think those people weren’t there for her in her time of need. “I guess I can’t be too surprised about the response you had from your church friends. It’s all about appearances and protecting their own.”
“It took me some time—years really— but I vowed I would never be a victim like that again. If that meant making some deals with the devil, then so be it. It’s a bargain I was more than willing to make for my own personal safety and independence.”
“And what exactly did you bargain away?” Stacey almost didn’t want to know the answer.
Nina Marie took hold of her hand. “I made the strategic decision that I cared more about what happened while I was alive on this earth as opposed to what happens after.”
“So you do believe in God and the devil, angels and demons?”
She nodded. “Yes. But I don’t think the lines between good and evil are as clear as people want to make them. My ex-boyfriend claimed to be a godly man, and he was pure evil.”
“Do you actively go to the devil and ask for things like Christians do with God?”
Nina Marie sighed. “Not in the exact way you’re thinking. It’s not like I’m making sacrifices. It’s more that he’s the source of my power. Which leads us to you.”
She nodded. “Have you grown stronger over time with what powers you have?”
“Most certainly. At first, I was just dabbling in this and that. Some witchcraft and spells, some divination, some meditation. Once I did more research and exploring, connecting to the right people, I learned to hone my skills. But I’m under no illusion that it’s all me. I rely on the evil one to be the source of my power. That’s what I want to make sure you understand.”
“You may need to explain that more.”
“It’s all well and good to have your spells and practice witchcraft and mediumship, but to really tap into true power, you need to actively go to him and ask for certain abilities.”
“And he’ll just give them to me?”
“Ah, well, in my experience, he seems to pick and choose who he wants to work through. But you, my dear, have that special something I think he will find most appealing.”
Thoughts swirled around in h
er mind. Was she ready to go all in and ask the devil for things? For power?
Yes, she’d participated in some of Layton’s rituals before, but this seemed to be on a different level.
“I can sense your hesitation, and I must say, this isn’t something you should go into lightly. If you’re not ready for that next step, then I don’t want to force you to take it. We can work on the other skills I mentioned, all things that matter and are important. If you’d like to think about the other.”
She greatly appreciated Nina Marie’s offer. “It’s not that I don’t want to do it, but I have to admit I’m a bit scared.”
“Then I’ll make it easy for you. Let’s focus on some other things for a bit, and we can revisit this at a later time.”
“Thank you. That sounds good.” Relief flooded through her. In her gut, she knew she wasn’t quite ready to make that leap because when she did, it really would be something she didn’t think she could change her mind about later.
“Let’s talk about what you have been doing. You’ve mentioned crystals. What other things are you working on?”
Stacey went on to explain what she’d experimented with so far, including her special interest in casting spells. “Morena has been a big help to me in all of this.”
“There’s no doubt Morena’s an accomplished witch, but I want you to be able to go beyond that.”
“I appreciate the fact that you think I have something special. I don’t want to let you down.” She paused. “Have you heard any more about what is going to happen to Pastor Dan?”
Nina Marie raised an eyebrow. “Are you worried about him?”
“I know this isn’t a popular thing to say, but I’ve given it a ton of thought, and I can’t see him stealing money from the church.”
“Can you keep a secret?”
“Of course.”
“Layton is behind all of this. If you want more information, you should go to him directly. Given how much he cares for you, I think he’ll explain everything.”
“So you’re saying that Dan is innocent?” She didn’t like how this was unfolding. Her pulse thumped wildly.
“I don’t think he stole that money, but that doesn’t mean he’s innocent. I have no idea what other things he’s done in his life.”