I shook off the feelings as I walked to my office in the dark. I jumped, and my skin prickled as I heard the heater kick on and blow warm air on my cold skin.
“A little jumpy there, Aidan?” I said.
I turned on the light to my office and looked through my books. John Calvin. Greek Dictionary. Hebrew grammar book. My BDB was usually on this shelf but was nowhere to be found.
Mike had it, I remembered. He’d borrowed it last week. I went down the hall to his office and flicked on the light. The large green cover stood out on his desk.
As I walked over, I noticed the latest book by a well-known, put-together mega-church pastor from Texas. The glow of his white teeth dominated the cover.
Mike wouldn’t be caught dead with this guy’s book in his office. He’d made so many snide comments about this pastor that even I thought Mike went overboard a few times.
I picked up the book and opened it. I read the handwritten note on the inside cover with the inscription:
Mike,
After our talk the other night, I decided to get this book for you so that you could actually read it before you criticize it. This book has meant so much to me, and I want you to understand it. I want us to connect on every level — physically, emotionally, and spiritually — so that when we are together for good, we will be closer than we are now.
I love you so much.
Your lady in red,
Jessica
P.S. I’ll wear the ring you gave me forever.
The room spun, and I gripped the chair. I slid to the floor with the book in my hands.
“No, please, no…” I called out.
Mike couldn’t be a murderer, could he? Just because he had an affair didn’t mean he killed someone, did it? And if he murdered her, did he murder Amanda? No, just because he was an adulterer, didn’t mean he killed her. I knew the police would question him. He couldn’t hide any longer. The affair would become public. Mike’s time would be done, and so would mine, but at least some sort of justice would come from it.
Maybe I’ll tell him myself.
I made sure to put the book back under the right pile of papers, positioning it, so the white teeth still gleamed the same way they had when they caught my eye.
I took the BDB back to my office and found Nachash. I realized why it sounded so familiar. Nachash meant serpent. I paged through to the first chapters of my Hebrew Bible to the story of Adam and Eve.
Nachash. Serpent. The words rattled around in my brain.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Hello?” I answered the phone as I drove to work, squinting against the rising sun.
“Aidan, it’s Father Neal. I’m glad you are up.”
“Of course. It’s a work day.”
“Do you have anything to do this morning?
Yeah, just confront my boss over his affair with a murder victim.
“Nothing much.” I didn’t feel like getting into it over the phone.
“I have something early this morning, but can you be here in a couple hours?”
“Is everything okay?”
“Well, it depends on how you define that. I would like to talk with you some more about your faith.”
“You got it. I’ll see you in a bit.”
I pulled into Knox’s parking lot, and the knot in my stomach tightened. I took a few deep breaths as I walked up to the church and paused before opening the door. No matter what happened, upon exiting, these doors would lead me to a completely different life.
“Hello, Sherry,” I said, walking past her desk to Mike’s office.
“Aidan, he is on the phone.” She rose from her desk and reached out to grab my arm. “He can’t be disturbed.”
“This is important.” I opened the door without knocking.
Mike looked up, startled. “I’m going to have to let you go, my assistant pastor just walked in like there is an emergency.” He smiled at me. My fingers flexed as I fought the urge to punch him in the mouth.
He hung up the phone. “Aidan, is there something wrong?”
I looked back at Sherry, standing by her desk, and shut the door.
“You could say that,” I replied as I sat down across from Mike.
“Speak to me, and we shall work it out, my young padawan.”
Mike pegged me with this Star Wars nickname on my first day at church. I always enjoyed the joke. Now, it just pissed me off. Whatever loyalty and friendship we shared before had come to an end.
“I know, Mike.”
He stared at me, slowly tapping a pencil on his desk. “What are you talking about?”
“The lady in red, the one you were fucking.”
“Language, Aidan.”
I slammed my hand on his desk. “Fuck you, you arrogant asshole!”
“I really think you should control your temper when talking to your boss,” he said calmly, narrowing his eyes. “I’ll forgive you if you tell me what you are talking about.”
“Let me back up, jackass. I saw the body of a woman last night.”
“I hope you didn’t fall into sin,” he said, his mouth twitching. “She is a beauty.”
“Who the fuck are you talking about?”
“Officer Brown, of course.”
“It’s Detective Brown, and it was not her body. So shut up and listen.”
Mike sat back in his chair and tapped his upper lip with his fingertips as he stared at me.
“The night of the session meeting a few weeks ago, I overheard your phone conversation.”
“Go on.”
“I heard you asking someone other than Sheila to wear something red and how much you loved it.”
He lowered his hand, and his lips tightened in a thin line.
“Mike, did you kill her? I want to hear it from you before the police come calling. And you know they will. It won’t take them long to determine you had a relationship with Jessica.”
Mike’s face grew pale. He looked like he was going to throw up all over his desk. He got up, his hands on his head, and walked around the room massaging his scalp.
“I didn’t kill her, Aidan,” he whispered. “This is the first I’ve heard of her death. I was with another pastor last night.”
“Well, at least you won’t be going to jail then. But it doesn’t matter, does it? It’s going to get out that you had an affair, and you know our elders. They’re not going to walk you through this with grace and mercy, even those on your side.”
“Oh, Aidan, I was stupid. So stupid.” Mike slumped to the floor and stared into space, his blank eyes fixed on the ceiling. He held his shaking hands up to his face.
I glanced at the pictures of his family on his desk. I didn’t feel sorry for him. He had made his choice. “How could you let this happen?” I asked, not sure I wanted to know.
He moved his hands, and his eyes were red with tears. “It was at the mayor’s prayer breakfast. Jessica came with the Fields of the Lord group. She sat next to me, and we talked the whole time.”
“She asked me some questions that I needed to look up, so I got her email address. We just started emailing each other, then chatting online. And then last year, when Sheila and the kids went to California to visit her parents, it happened. I went over to give her some books, she offered me some wine and well, the rest you can figure out for yourself.”
I stared at Mike in silence.
“It’s just the pressure of this job, Aidan. You know what it’s like.” He looked up, tears running down his face.
I started to have some sympathy for him. Or at least, the desire to kick him in the head went away. It didn’t excuse him, but I understood. This job often isolated people and drove them to extremes. “Yeah, I do, Mike.”
“Sheila has been distant. The kids are driving me crazy. Then things went south with the elders. It was just too much. And Jessica … she is, was, a wonderful person. I did love her.”
“I really don’t want to hear this,” I said, getting up to look out Mike’s office wind
ow.
He stood up beside me. “Do I really need to say anything to the elders? I mean, I could get the police to be discreet.”
I turned around and looked him straight in the eye. “You don’t understand. It’s not the police you have to worry about. It’s me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have an email that I’m prepared to send out to the elders, if you don’t do it yourself.”
He looked at me as if I slapped him in the face. “Why would you do that?”
“Because I’m tired of hypocrites.”
“And what about you, Aidan? Are you not hypocritical?”
“I am. And that is why I’m writing an email to tell the elders of my loss of faith.”
“You’re going to tell them?”
“Yes. That’s my hypocrisy. And I’m ready to be rid of it.”
Mike stared at me as if I had lost my mind. The slow tick of his antique clock filled the silence, ticking away the end of our relationship. I thought about the times we’d had a beer together, watched football, and all of his guidance in ministry. All gone.
“You are serious about this?” he asked.
“I am, Mike. Deadly.”
“But our jobs. I have some money saved, but what will you do?”
“I’ll figure it out.”
He turned to me, massaging his goatee. “I just can’t imagine you doing this. You’re blowing up everything you’ve worked for.”
“It’s called a spine, Mike, something I should have grown a long time ago. Besides, don’t you mean it would destroy everything you have done? I’m fine with that. I’m fine with burning the whole fucking thing to the ground.”
“You are an unusual man, Aidan Schaeffer.”
“And that is what makes this whole thing … the church, you, me … a shitbox.”
“Please watch your tongue at least.”
I closed my eyes as my blood boiled. “Watch my tongue?” I began to laugh. “Maybe you should have watched your dick and paid less attention to people’s tongues.”
“That is a very crude way of putting things.”
I didn’t bother to hide my sarcasm. “Yeah, I’ll remember that.”
“I’m sorry this happened, Aidan. I’m sorry you were placed in this position.” He put his hand on my arm, and I wrenched away.
“So am I. There was a time when I looked up to you, Mike. You taught me so much. Now, I’ll do my best to forget everything.”
The pager on Mike’s desk phone beeped. “Pastor, I have a Detective Brown on the phone for you,” Sherry’s voice chirped.
I smiled before I could stop myself.
“Thank you, Sherry,” Mike replied into the speaker. “Can you ask her to hold for a few moments?” He looked up at me. “I guess your girlfriend is going to be the one to lower the boom.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“How long do I have until you tell the elders?”
“I will give you until the end of the week. I owe you that much for everything you have done for me. You don’t deserve it, but isn’t grace about what we don’t deserve?”
His lips formed a thin smile. “And your email about your faith?”
“I’m going to send it after you tell them.”
“That will be a bit much for them, don’t you think?”
“Maybe. But they have always wanted control of the church, so now is their chance. We’ll both get what we deserve.”
Mike grunted. “I guess you’re right. It will be good to get all this off my chest. I was getting tired of sneaking around.” He looked out the window and sighed.
“What will Sheila do?” I asked.
“You don’t know her. She might look like a sweet Southern gal, but underneath, there is a capacity for grudges, and this would be the ultimate betrayal.”
I turned to go, and he offered me his hand. “Aidan, please pray for me.”
I refused his gesture. “I would if I could, but I don’t have any faith left. I will hope things work out for you.”
I stumbled to my car and headed to St. Patrick’s. I didn’t remember anything about my drive there other than a swirl of stoplights and the low drone of the radio. When I arrived, the peace of the building washed over me. I laughed at how this church actually scared me three days before. But now, I just felt utter contentment, like I’d arrived home.
I went inside and knocked on Father Neal’s door.
“Come in,” his soft, British voice called out.
His face looked drawn and rough, like he’d been up all night, but his eyes shone bright with life. “Aidan, good to see you. You look tired. Is everything okay?”
“Well, something attacked Jennifer’s car last night as we rode together, and this morning, I confronted my boss about his affair with the woman who was just murdered.” I let out a deep exhale. “And now, I have no idea what I’m going to do about anything.”
Father Neal sat with his eyes closed. “How did Mike react to your confrontation?”
“At first, he tried to weasel out of it, as usual, but then he actually admitted his actions. Don’t know what it means, but at least he didn’t fight it long.”
He nodded, eyes still closed, not saying anything. I sat with him in silence for a few minutes.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked.
“The second murder victim. What was carved into her head?”
“Nachash. The serpent.”
He nodded. “I wonder where that might be.”
“No idea. I was hoping you would know.”
Father Neal murmured to himself.
“What?” I pressed.
“Nachash. Bone Masters. Your situation.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s creepy. Any ideas?”
“Not in the least. But we had better find out. And soon.”
“The third killing?” I said, feeling chills that had nothing to do with the coldness of Father Neal’s office.
“Yes. We must prevent the ritual from being completed. If they do, they’ll control the dead and resurrect the Grinning Man.”
“How can anyone control the dead, Father? It doesn’t make sense. I heard the boy’s and Amanda’s voices. They can’t be controlled, can they?”
Father Neal’s eyes slowly opened. “I should modify that statement. They can’t control the righteous dead. Amanda and the boy are trying to warn us. But sadly, this ritual will work. Never doubt it. It’ll breach the wall between this world and the unseen world with power beyond imagination. It will release the Grinning Man from his sleep, and when he is, everything is in danger, including—”
“Including what?”
He waved his hand. “Tell me about the attack on Jennifer’s car.”
I ran through what happened. “You think it might be ghosts?”
“There is no ‘think’ about it.”
“So, they were directed by the Bone Master?”
“Yes, I believe so.” He played with his cane.
I frowned. “You believe? I thought you knew all about this stuff.”
Father Neal stood up, limped over to a wooden cabinet, and opened it. Dark amber bottles of scotch, blood red sherry, and other liquors lined the shelf. The good father appeared to have quite a collection. “Do you want one, my lad?”
“It’s a little early,” I said, realizing how much Father Neal drank.
He poured two glasses of scotch. “After our nights, I think we both deserve to cheat.”
I usually made it a rule not to drink before dinner, but the stress of the past week had gotten to me. I reached for the scotch.
“As to your question, about knowing all of this stuff, as you put it,” Father Neal said, “I was just entering the darker parts of Crowley’s world when I met Charles. I don’t have as many answers as I’d like. Just guesses. But there are many areas that are dark to me, and for that, I’m grateful. I already see too much.”
My brow furrowed at his cryptic statement. “So, Amanda telling me shows she is not u
nder his control?”
He nodded. “It would appear so. But again, he or they don’t have full control of the spirits … yet. That is what makes them dangerous. I felt something had happened last night, but I didn’t know what.”
“Felt?”
Father Neal swirled his drink. “Aidan, when you have opened yourself up to the other world, you can’t turn it off. Yes, I’m under Christ’s protection, but the veil has been thinned for me. I feel and see things most people don’t. I think you witnessed that at the cemetery.”
“Do they tell you things?” I asked, leaning forward.
“Yes, but I don’t speak.”
“Why?”
“Because I have no desire to communicate with the dead. I don’t wish for mastery or control.”
I wondered if that explained his unshakable belief in God while my doubts ravaged my mind. Then again, seeing as much as Father Neal might destroy other things, like my sanity. I didn’t know which I would prefer. “So is this why you believe in God? You see ghosts?”
“No, not in the least.”
“Why not? Jennifer says this situation proves it for her.”
“But it doesn’t for you, does it?” He smiled.
I frowned. “No.”
“And the house? The EVPs?”
“Look, I’m willing to admit something is going on there that I can’t explain, but I can’t see why all this should restore my faith.”
“Good. Very good.”
I stared at him with my mouth slightly open. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”
“You aren’t believing in God just because you experienced something paranormal.”
I took a swig of my scotch and coughed slightly. “I still don’t understand.”
“It’s Thomas, Aidan. It’s all about Thomas.”
“Thomas the disciple, who demanded physical proof of Jesus’ resurrection and has been looked down on by two thousand years of churchmen and women?”
“The very one.”
“Ah, Thomas.” I chuckled. “Put your hands here, the demand for proof and all that.” I pointed to my wrists and my side. “I can understand exactly where he was coming from.”
3 Gates of the Dead (The 3 Gates of the Dead Series) Page 23