Opera House Ops: A Morelville Cozies Serial Mystery: Episode 7 - Coles Conundrm

by Anne Hagan

Seth held up a hand. “You don’t have to give up your friends to me. And, remember, you reported it and you stuck around that night after he was found. The police know you’re not to blame.”

  “I suppose.”

  “You still look unsure.”

  “It’s just…just that the whole thing is so messed up, someone being murdered here in town, again. Why does it keep happening?”

  “You have nothing to fear, son. Don’t be afraid. Nothing else is going to happen.”

  Cole hadn’t been afraid when he’d arrived just concerned about what might happen to him. Talking to Seth hadn’t made him feel any better at all, like he thought it would. Now he was afraid that a murderer was on the loose again in the tiny village.

  ###

  5:28 PM, Crane Family Farm

  “Boy, supper sure smells good Grandma. I’m really hungry.”

  “Go get washed up. It’ll be on the table in a minute and don’t you dawdle. I’ve got to get going.”

  “Yes ma’am. No worries there!”

  “Where’s your Papa?” she called after him.

  Over his shoulder he told her, “He got stopped by the Amish guy down the road. He needed help with his fence. He said we should just go ahead and eat.”

  Faye rolled her eyes but busied herself making a plate to keep warm in the oven for Jesse. It joined the one she’d already made for Beth to eat when she got in from basketball practice.

  When Cole reappeared, they both sat down. Faye made herself a small plate. She knew she’d be expected to eat again at the council meeting. This time, she wasn’t providing the food and she wasn’t sure who was so she wasn’t taking any chances.

  Cole looked pensive. She put her fork down and asked him, “So what’s on your mind?”

  He hadn’t told his grandfather about the murder gossip but now he told his grandmother about what he’d heard and his conversation with the pastor. “I want to know the real story, Grandma,” he pleaded with her.

  “Nobody knows child. Your Aunt doesn’t even know. Anything that you’ve heard beyond there being someone in Florida that thinks that man was murdered is embellishment by a bunch of nosy gossips. They have no way of knowing, for example, that he didn’t have cracked ribs before he ever showed up there or if he didn’t just trip and fall hard and land on his head first, all on his own.”

  She held up a hand. “Look sweetie, don’t even give it another thought. Now eat your dinner and then you’re on clean up duty. I’ve got to finish up myself and be on my way.”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  Chapter 3 – What about Doris?

  6:00 PM Wednesday Evening, October 7th

  Morelville Christian Church

  Faye drove the five minutes into town turning over in her mind, Coles concerns. Mel was worried about her but she was more worried about the boy.

  When she pulled in, she recognized that most of the board members’ vehicles were already in the little lot; Kent’s too. She looked at the dashboard clock; 5:53. They started at 6:00. There wasn’t any time to corner Aiden with all of her questions about the building. She realized her questions would just have to wait until afterward. Perhaps, she thought, she could put a bug in Mildred’s ear and the Ways and Means chairman could bring up helping Doris’ sister. That is, depending on how things went with Doris.

  When she got inside, she found Mildred in the fellowship hall with all the others but standing off in a corner shouting into her cell phone at one grandchild or another. Kent was speaking in low tones with Pastor Scott in an opposite corner.

  ‘Drat!’ Faye thought. She went and put her things down and pulled out the folder with her bi-weekly report and her other paperwork.

  Aiden Quinn, who was doing the same from his usual seat at the head of the table grouping, smiled over at her. “After this is over, if we don’t run too late,” Faye asked him, “could I have a few minutes with you?”

  “Sure, sure. Anything I can answer now?”

  Faye watched as Kent and Seth approached the table. “No. It can wait.”

  “I’ve been working the past two weeks with Se…Pastor Scott on my budgeting and on some other things about…well about me, and I’ve been praying. Praying a lot. I intend to pay the church back every dime that I’ve taken, whether I get reimbursed by my sister or not. If you let me stay on, I can pay $25.00 a week out of my pay checks to pay back the full amount with a little bit of interest as well over the next several years.”

  She looked at Seth and then around the table. “That’s…that’s all I can really afford to do right now. I don’t have any other source of income until I can collect my Social Security in two more years. I’m 63 and I could get some now but I wanted to wait until then to qualify for the full amount. Anyway, then I can pay back the money a lot faster and retire on the Social Security, once it’s paid in full.” She looked at Seth again but he was staring at the pile paperwork he’d placed on the table in front of him or his cell phone resting on the top of the stack.

  Not knowing what else to do, Doris resumed the seat she’d vacated when she started her little spiel.

  Kent, who’d been scribbling numbers down while she spoke, now addressed the council. “Ms. Proctor owes the church, by my calculations, $6,218.52. At a rate of $1,300.00 per year, which she is proposing, without interest, it will take nearly five years to pay the debt off if she does not increase the repayments at the onset of her Social Security payments.”

  “Thank you Mr. Gross,” Aiden said. He turned to Doris, “What you’ve done is very serious. The legal term is embezzlement, no matter the reason. There are legal ramifications to that in most organizations.”

  Doris swallowed hard and nodded. “I know.”

  “I’ve had multiple conversations,” he continued, “over the past two weeks with Reverend Scott and with Evan and Kent. As the senior members of Council, we’ve come to a decision that I’d now like to present to you and to the full council.”

  Now Doris nodded again. You could have heard a pin drop in the room as Aiden paused and took a sip of the apple cider in front of him.

  As he began to speak again, Seth’s cell phone began to ring insistently.

  “I’m sorry,” he said as he grabbed it and jumped up. “I have to take this. Please continue.”

  He answered the phone with a “Hello,” and “Please hold on a moment,” as he walked out of the fellowship hall and up the stairs to the sanctuary and admin office area above with both Faye and Aiden watching him as he went.

  Aiden looked puzzled but he did his best to pick up where he left off. “As I was saying, you’ve served this church for many years, faithfully. Despite Mr. Gross’s thinking on the matter,” he shot Kent a look, “you do seem to struggle with newer technology. We’ve all witnessed that. You’ve turned down classes but it’s our contention that things are not going to get easier as time goes on and we replace and upgrade our equipment.”

  “It sounds like you intend to fire me,” she interrupted. “If going to classes is what it takes to stay on, then I’ll go.”

  Evan shook his head no as Kent and Aiden looked on. “I’m going to give it to you straight. It would be a waste of church money under our proposal,” he told her. He looked at Aiden who nodded back at him. His tone softened as he told her, “Doris, I’ve known you all your life. You have a good heart. You always have. You’ve made a mess of things here but it’s nothing that can’t be fixed or forgiven. By forgiven, I mean it in more ways than one.”

  “We,” he pointed to Aiden and Kent, “and Reverend Scott as well, propose that we keep you on for the next year and 11 months until you reach age 65 and you can collect Social Security, at which point, you will retire. In the interim, you will pay back $25.00 per week as you’ve proposed with the balance of your monetary debt to be forgiven at the time of your retirement.”

  Faye and the other committee heads looked from Evan to Doris and back again. Doris broke down then and began to cry.

  When she regained h
er composure, she started to thank the Council for what Evan had proposed but he raised a hand to stop her.

  Aiden joined back in then. “This isn’t a done deal. Everyone here gets input. First of all, I take it that this proposal is acceptable to you?”

  “Yes; yes of course and you, the church…what have you, you’ll get any extra volunteer hours out of me that you need.”

  “You already do a lot,” Mildred said. Several heads nodded in agreement.

  “Does anyone have anything they’d like to ask Doris?”

  No one spoke.

  “Fine then. Doris, would you please go up to your office for about ten minutes? I’d like to give everyone an opportunity to discuss this proposal freely and to come to a decision.”

  Shakily, she got up and did as she was asked.

  The full council accepted the proposal and Doris was invited back down to the meeting. In getting back to the normal order of things, the committee reports were well under way by the time Seth also reappeared. He took his seat and offered hardly a word on anything that came before the board for the remainder of the meeting.

  When they were finally finished and everyone was gathering up their things, Faye smiled at Aiden and said, “I can wait for you out in the lot, if you like?”

  With Kent trailing behind him, Seth stepped up to the Council President then too and asked if he could speak with both of them in his office.

  Aiden shrugged and looked at Faye.

  “It’s okay,” she said. “It can wait a little bit. I’ll catch up with you another time.”

  Faye was a little miffed realizing that she should have brought up contacting Doris’s sister Denise during the portion of the meeting where the Secretary had been out of earshot but it was all water under the bridge now. Council had made its decision. If Denise paid Doris any money back or not was irrelevant. The church had forgiven most of the debt. Faye just hoped Denise didn’t need significant financial help that she was going to do without now that the jig was up for Doris.

  Chapter 4 – Pastor?

  10:20 AM, Sunday Morning, October 11th

  Morelville Christian Church

  Doris was all nervous smiles and apologies on Sunday morning as she took her usual place in the front right pew before the start of the service. Word had gotten around about her transgressions and the remedy proposed by council.

  Most people were supportive and, for that, she seemed grateful. Now, she was worried. Seth was taking a long time upstairs. Usually he was in the front vestibule by now, standing with the ushers, greeting people as they came in.

  She looked to her left. His wife and three of his children were sitting in the front row on the left side of the aisle, closer to the lectern, as always. She must have already run the toddler down to the nursery, Doris thought.

  At 10:25, when Seth still hadn’t appeared, Doris got up and went hurriedly to her office. She dialed his extension upstairs and waited as the phone rang. He didn’t answer. She tried his cell next but, after a few rings, her call rolled over to his voicemail so she hung up.

  She opened her window and peered outside at the parking lot. The Scott’s minivan was there. If he’d come with them, as he usually did on Sunday, then he had to be in the building somewhere.

  Doris went down the hallway to the men’s room she knew he normally used when nature called. Opening the door a crack, she called in, “Pastor Scott?”

  A man’s voice answered, “Not in here.”

  Doris backtracked a few yards and mounted the stairs to the upper floor and his office. At the landing half way up, she looked up through the balustrade toward his open door and called out, “Seth?” paused and waited and then tried again, “Pastor Scott?”. There was still no response.

  She traversed the last several steps, crossed the hallway and entered his office. It was empty. She checked the two small, upstairs classrooms that were rarely used these days. They were empty too.

  Back in the sanctuary, and with still no sign of Seth, Doris approached Mrs. Scott. Keeping her voice low, she bent toward the woman and asked her if she knew where he was.

  Shock crossed Lauren Scott’s face. “He’s not here?”

  “No, unless he’s down in the fellowship hall, for some reason. I haven’t check there yet. Didn’t he come with you this morning?”

  Lauren shook her head no. “He left for here more than a half hour before me and the kids in his own car. We were running a little later than he likes to be because I had to change the baby again before we all left. He wetted right through his diaper. Is his car in the lot? It has to be out there.”

  Doris went to her office again and looked out. The little parking lot was full and his car most definitely wasn’t in it. She checked the clock on the wall; 10:36. They were late getting started and they were never late.

  Taking matters into her own hands, she entered the pulpit from the side access door off the office hallway and crossed over to the choir director and the Liturgist for the day.

  “Reverend Scott has been delayed,” she explained in hushed tones. “Let’s go ahead and get started with the normal order of service and I’ll stand in to do his part until he gets here. I’ll make a little announcement.”

  Wide eyes turned to nods. Both members had been with the church for years. They’d seen substitutes and temporary preachers come and go.

  Doris gave a little nod to the organist and the choir director and they launched into the opening hymn.

  A few minutes later, with still no sign of the Pastor, Doris climbed the two steps up to the lectern, turned on his mic and addressed the congregation. “Reverend Scott has been delayed this morning so we’re going to go ahead with the normal order of service. Hopefully, he’ll make it back before the sermon but, if not, I do have his notes and I’ll do my best.”

  She watched as nods and shrugs passed through the room. Unintentionally, she caught the eye of Lauren Scott but then quickly turned away. While no one else seemed to suspect anything at all amiss, his wife most certainly did. The look on her face spoke volumes but she was too proper and polite to make a scene and, for that, Doris was grateful.

  She got through the announcements with no trouble at all and then took a seat for the first reading, a hymn and the second reading. She rose again for the call for prayers and sent up a quick prayer for a miracle. The sermon followed.

  She’d listened to Seth practice it a half dozen times. He never gave one off the cuff but, instead, he practiced with different tones and emphasis, reaching for just the message that he wanted to convey. It was one of the things she admired most about him but, no matter, it was hard not to hear things going on in the sanctuary from her office, no matter who was speaking. The little hallway seemed to work like a funnel.

  The call for prayers over, Doris got nervous. She stepped again up to the lectern but then thought better of that. Seth often took his notes down and placed them on a music stand and preached from the floor, right in front of the pews. He didn’t like being elevated so high above the congregation. She certainly didn’t feel right being up there herself.

  She gathered the notes and did as he’d so often done but then picked up the stand and moved it to the center, between the two rows of pews. She just couldn’t bring herself to stand so near Lauren and the kids.

  “I’m not going to pretend to be Reverend Scott,” she said “and try to do this the way he would do it. I can’t give you fire. I can only give you heart. Today’s sermon is about humility and grace. I think I can cover humility pretty well.”

  She looked up then and caught Faye Crane’s eye. Faye seemed both interested and curious. Doris took a little breath and plowed into the Biblical reference Seth had selected for the lesson.

  When it came time to relate the ancient text to the modern day, she abandoned his notes, moved the music stand out of her way and paced into the aisle as he often did, sharing her own experience.

  She didn’t delve deeply into her current issues but she thought that
she did a passable job of putting a little of herself out there and getting the message across.

  The service concluded with still no sign of Seth. Doris invited everyone to the Fellowship Hall as he would have done but then dismissed the Liturgist to carry the flame out without her following. She wasn’t ordained and she knew enough to know that would appear pompous on her part. She liked Seth – a lot. She didn’t want to be Seth.

  Several members of the congregation approached her afterward and congratulated her on the service, accolades which she tried to accept humbly but then they would stumble on to immediately inquire after the missing pastor. Others, she noticed, bombarded Lauren, not even allowing her to move from the pew.

  Lauren asked point blank from where she stood, “Doris, do you know where he is?”

  Quiet fell over the room as those remaining upstairs fell into stunned silence, waiting for the answer.

  “I honestly haven’t a clue.”

  Faye Crane mounted the front stairs to the pulpit then to collect the offering bowls and do her weekly count. She looked concerned now but she spoke not a word, just went about her task.

  Faye handed the money off to Kent. “There’s $1,133 this week. Not bad, better attendance.” Kent nodded a response. “Everything okay?” she asked him.

  “Has Seth seemed a little off to you lately?”

  Relieved that she wasn’t the only one to notice, Faye nodded her agreement even though she really didn’t want to tangle with Kent about anything personal but then, she thought of something. “He’s seemed out of sorts the past few weeks but especially at our meeting Wednesday night. You were talking with him right before it and he demanded to see you and Aiden right afterward. Nothing serious, I hope?”

  “You don’t miss a thing, do you Faye?”

  “No,” she admitted, “and it typically serves me well but Seth’s demeanor lately has had me concerned and I’ve not been able to get a gauge on the problem without being downright nosy.”