by Sarah Holman
Thomas stared at the wall for a moment. “I’ll see what I can do, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up if I were you.”
“Thank you.”
Phone and Prayers
Wednesday, December 2 2:00PM
“It’s so great the two of you are jumping right in,” Janice said.
“Even if I have no idea what I’m doing?” Kate looked at the room full of fabrics, lace, buttons, three sewing machines, and a dozen women working.
“Franklin’s annual Dickens of a Christmas event is huge. We’ve been working for a while on costumes for people in our church who are participating. We don’t have that much longer, so we have to finish these up. Our church has a booth every year where we offer hot chocolate and talk about the meaning behind the story. This will be my second year to help man the booth.”
“I read a little bit about it,” Kate said. “So, it’s a celebration of his story A Christmas Carol?”
Janice nodded and handed her a needle and some thread. “Primarily, but other Dickens characters show up. Last year they had a most convincing Fagin and a couple of characters from his other books. My favorite was Esther from Bleak House. They also have a Victorian Father and Mother Christmas. Our family gets a picture with them every year.”
“It sounds like a lot of fun.”
“It is. It’s beautiful too. All those costumes, like these. I have mine from last year. I even have a hoopskirt.”
Kate cocked her head. “Will I need a costume?”
“Only if you want one. The city always tries to get as many locals to dress up as they can. It gives the place a special flare.”
“I’m guessing I don’t have time to make one.” Kate heard the wistfulness in her own tone.
“Not at all! Most of us have ours made. There’s plenty of time to make you one. Do you want one, Logan?”
“What?” Logan turned from where a little girl was playing with her long red hair.
“We’re going to make a costume for Kathrine for the festival. Do you want one?”
Logan turned to her new little friend, who was attempting to put a braid in her hair. “What do you think?”
“You’re pretty,” the girl said.
Janice and Kate laughed.
“You should,” Janice said. “The three of us will have so much fun.”
“Okay,” Logan agreed.
“Great, let me get the tape measure and—”
“Oh no!”
All eyes turned to a young mother who had been busy sewing.
“What is it?” someone asked.
“There’s been another explosion.” She covered her mouth with her hands and then said something. Another woman moved forward to comfort her and others quickly withdrew their cell phones.
“It was at the college,” Janice whispered after looking at her screen. “Her husband works there.”
Kate swallowed. The expressions on the faces of the ladies changed in an instant, and the mood shifted to something that Kate knew all too well. She closed her eyes, memories of the bombings of her own campus coming back with force. They were trying to stop this, but the bombings hadn’t stopped just because the team was in town. Someone out there was spreading fear as fast as they could.
“The last bombing was in my neighborhood,” one of the other women said, the fear clouding her eyes. “Why aren’t they doing something to stop this bomber?”
Kate wanted to tell her how much was going into finding this guy. She knew that they were only one part of the team of crime fighters that were mobilized. A visible FBI crew was helping to analyze and try to pinpoint who was behind this. There was their team and who knew how much else? The effort was massive.
“Do you think they will bomb the festival?” someone asked.
Logan cleared her throat as two women escorted the crying woman out, presumably to go check and see if her husband was all right. “I think that we need to stop and pray right now. I know it is easy to be afraid, but we don’t need to be. God is in control, even when it doesn’t feel like it.”
Everyone drew together and a prayer circle formed. The mood changed again. Prayer was something they could do and much better than sitting around guessing what was going on. Who would have thought Logan would be the one to take charge.
“I learned this method for praying in a group that I think might be helpful,” Logan said, her face devoid of its usual smile. “Everyone can pray as many times as they want, just limit yourself to a sentence or two at a time. We won’t have an order, but when people stop talking, I can close.”
At first, Kate struggled to focus on the prayers. Thoughts of the terror she had experienced on her former campus seemed to have a stranglehold on her mind. It had been just over a year before and now she was having to watch a town deal with a similar situation, except this was not contained to one event, time, or place.
She found her mind focusing on the prayers when a little girl prayed her daddy would be safe. She soon found herself joining fully in the prayers of the others. Logan was right, this worked well and removed many awkward pauses or lengthy prayers. Logan finished the prayer not long after one of the women, Penny, left to answer her cell phone.
“That was awesome,” Janice said, giving Logan a hug. “I’m going to have to use that for my Bible study group.”
“It wasn’t boring!” a preteen boy said. “I liked it.”
Kate remembered all the times when she was little and was bored with church stuff. It was part of the reason that she had drifted from it in her late teens, never leaving the faith, but not making it a priority. She was glad to see at least one kid was shown that it wasn’t always boring. How different would things have been if she had walked closely with God.
“That was Carla,” Penny said, staring at her cell phone. “Her husband died in the explosion.”
The room was silent. No one moved, no one said anything for what seemed like minutes but was in reality only a couple of seconds.
“Daddy!” a little girl wailed.
Penny gathered the little girl to her chest. Kate wished she could curl up and cry too. It wasn’t like the explosion at her campus that had been mistimed and killed only one janitor. These were deadly and ripping apart families.
Logan came to her side. “We’ll figure it out.”
“How many more before then?” Kate whispered back, turning to face her friend.
“We can’t think like that. We have to keep doing our job.”
Good in theory, but that was a lot harder to do when you were watching a little girl cry for the loss of a father and a church in shock over the death of a member.
“Help us find who is doing this, God,” Kate prayed softly. “Don’t let another family go through this.”
What Will It Take?
Wednesday, December 2 2:20PM
Patrick stared at the list of names in front of him on the table at the hotel where Thomas was running their operation. A couple of other officers from other agencies had come through, coordinating their efforts with their team. When he and Brian had come to discuss this evening’s plans, it became apparent that something was wrong. Another bomb, a man dead, and they were no closer to finding who had done this.
He closed his eyes and ran his hands over his face. What did he think? That staring at the names would cause one of them to jump off the page screaming, “It’s me! With a name like Liam Pope, how could it be doubted!”
A cup of coffee appeared next to him. He glanced up. Kim smiled and nodded at him before moving to answer her ringing phone, or was that Thomas’s? Kim was swamped as agencies were trying to communicate and get answers about the latest bombing, trying to fit clues together to figure out who this person was.
“Good, you’re here!”
Patrick stood and turned toward Thomas. “Find something?” Kim stood as well.
Thomas looked between them. “Sorry to get your hopes up. This has to do with that matter we discussed yesterday, Patrick, not the case.”
&
nbsp; Kim returned to her work and Patrick took a seat.
Thomas pulled out a chair and sat down. “I spoke with a couple people further up the chain. How important is it to you to help get Kate home for Christmas?”
“How important? Like on a scale of one to ten, one being I wouldn’t have mentioned it and ten being I’ll give you a kidney?”
Thomas smirked. “That could work. However, I was more thinking is this something you are willing to make some personal sacrifices to make happen? There are some possibilities for her to get back, but it would take some effort on your part.”
“Not a kidney though?” Patrick couldn’t help asking.
Thomas shook his head. “Probably wouldn’t go that far. Blood and plasma are on the table.” He smirked.
Patrick couldn’t help but take one moment to appreciate that he and Thomas could joke together at times, but only a moment before he gave a serious answer. “I’m willing to do a lot to make this happen.”
Thomas nodded. The door opened and Brian came in with Toby right behind him. Toby seemed to be stumbling over his own feet.
“Okay, I got that info you requested, TJ.” Brian tossed a thumb drive to Kim, who caught it and placed it into a computer port in one fluid motion.
Thomas rolled his eyes. “This isn’t the season for a name change. You are both restricted to calling me Mr. President for the duration of the holiday season.”
Brian grinned. “How about Mr. President Ebenezer? After all, you aren’t being very generous with forgiveness.”
“Nope, it’s just Mr. President to you two.”
Kim cleared her throat. “Do you want this?” She pointed up at the screen.
“Right.” Brian moved forward. “This is Brett Tryniski. He works at a local coffee shop and was kicked out of the school last year due to drug charges. Before his trial on the drug charge, he entered a plea bargain in which he turned on his supplier and he got out of the whole thing. By all accounts, he’s turned it around. However, he did threaten the school as he was leaving.”
The screen changed.
“This is Liam Pope. He earned demerits for fighting and causing trouble in general. He’s actually my top pick.”
Toby cleared his throat. “I agree he looks…umm…good. He is known to frequent a bar but doesn’t have many friends. Most people only hang…uh…out with him a short time before his anger and temper turn on them.”
“These next few are others that have been expelled in the last three years. Most of these are now living out of state, in jail, and one of them is deceased.”
“I guess the last reason is a good reason for eliminating a suspect,” Brian agreed.
Toby pushed his glasses up on his nose. “Of course, these others are…uh…still on our official list. They are just considered…umm…low priority.”
“You plan to contact these people?” Thomas asked.
Patrick tilted his chin toward Brian. “The two of us will be going to check out Liam tonight. We know the bar he frequents. Brian is going to intercept him—”
“Because my boyish good looks and endearing personality would charm anyone, even a bomber.”
“—and I will run backup,” Patrick finished, giving Brian a playful glare. “I’m going to sit in the bar. Kim is going to come meet me. We’re the fallback plan.”
Brian clapped a hand on Patrick’s shoulder. “Sorry, buddy, but someone has to play second fiddle. However, ’tis the season for giving.”
Thomas rolled his eyes. “Well, CU, when you’re done with your holiday platitudes, please begin work on this plan. We need to make some progress here.”
“Thomas,” Kim said, a hand covering the bottom part of a cell phone. “You need to take this one.”
“You heard her. Off with the two of you.”
“Come on, Saint Patty,” Brian said. “Let’s go put on our best hair and head for the bar.”
“Okay, that sentence was disturbing,” Patrick said as they moved out the door.
“The grammar was correct.”
“Putting on our hair? Heading for a bar?”
“You know what they say: what happens in Franklin, stays in Franklin.”
Patrick tried to hold back a smile as he dug an elbow into Brian’s side. “You’re getting your towns confused. Besides, what would Jamie think of that?”
His friend’s eyes softened. “Knowing her like I do, she would probably laugh and then ask me what I meant by that. God truly blessed me when He gave me such an understanding wife. There just aren’t many like her.”
“No, there aren’t.” As they exited the hotel, his mind drifted back. What would the FBI ask him to give up so Kate could go home for Christmas?
Kevin
Wednesday, December 2 8:15PM
“What a day.” Logan flopped onto her bed.
Kate said nothing; she didn’t really feel like talking. She hoped that the pages of her book could suck her in so she didn’t have to think about the memories stirring. The hotel suite that she and Logan were sharing was nice and relaxing.
“It’s hard to be dealing with the emotional side of a case like this. Who would have thought we would be there when someone got the news that a loved one died?”
She supposed that she wasn’t going to get out of talking to Logan. However, she wasn’t ready to talk about the little girl who lost her father or the bomber. “Was that Kevin you were on the phone with?”
Logan turned onto her side. “Yeah. It’s getting harder to be so far away. We can talk for hours. He’s supportive of my work, but the separations and not being able to talk about what I’m doing is hard sometimes. He spent this afternoon with my dad. They’re working through a book together. What was that look for?”
Kate hadn’t realized that she had made a face. “I’m sorry, but sometimes it just feels…weird all the time he spends with your dad, almost like he was courting him instead of you.”
“Yikes, if that were the case, I’d shut this courtship down right now. I knew one family like that. The guy spent all his time trying to win the dad over and spent little time with the daughter. That kind would give me the shivers.”
“So, what makes yours different?”
“First, my dad asked both Kevin and me if he could do the study. He wanted to build a relationship with him and offer his guidance, not make Kevin jump through hoops to please him. Second, Dad already said he thought Kevin was a good guy and will support my decision either to keep seeing him or not. Third, Kevin wants to get to know my dad and would like his approval and insight into our relationship.” Logan sighed. “I guess that still doesn’t sound great to you.”
Kate shrugged and placed her book on the nightstand. “I admit, I like a lot of what I’ve seen between the two of you. It isn’t like the current mode of doing things is turning out a lot of long-lasting marriages. I like that you and Kevin are spending more time getting to know each other on a deeper level than going to movies. I still don’t see what your parents have to do with it.”
“Let me see if I can put this a different way. When do people make really stupid decisions?”
“Umm…often? When they are drunk, sleepy, haven’t had enough to eat…”
Logan cut her off with a laugh. “Okay, so we humans have a lot of times our judgment isn’t the clearest, but it is often when we are isolated that we make the worst decisions. The person who has had one too many to drink might have taken a taxi if they had a friend to tell them they ought. Someone struggling to see what is right and wrong probably has a better chance of finding it if they aren’t sitting in their room making judgments on their own. Many couples make poor choices because they aren’t listening to anyone; they’re just riding the tide of emotions. My parents know me best. What if Kevin is really nice to me because we are in love, but he has a bad temper toward everyone else? That should tell me that when those feelings are gone, I’m likely to become the victim of his temper. My dad might see that and I wouldn’t. Or maybe Kevin doesn’t real
ly care to be the leader of a family. Some people might not be bothered with that, but I would. My dad, in working through this book and as a guy who takes caring for his family seriously, would see that flaw easier than me.”
“Still, I’m not sure I’d want my parents involved.”
“While I’m blessed to have parents I get along with, it really isn’t about your parents. It’s about having someone who knows you and can be objective when looking into the other person.”
“Do you love him?” Kate asked. “I’ve never heard you talk about being in love with Kevin.”
Logan hugged her knees to her chest. “It isn’t easy for me to talk about, Kate. I can talk about this bomber easier than I can admit that I…that Kevin…”
Kate couldn’t help smiling. “You’re turning red.”
“As I said, it isn’t easy for me to talk about how much I care for him. I’ve liked him for a long time, Kate.”
“How long?”
She shrugged. “A couple of years.”
Kate’s mouth dropped open. “What? But…didn’t he just start courting you this year?”
“Yes.”
“Have you told him how long you’ve liked him?”
Again, Logan flopped onto her back. “As I said, it’s hard for me to talk about. We both like each other, but we haven’t really talked about our feelings. When he tells me he loves me, I’ll tell him.”
Kate stared up at the ceiling. “It’s not often a couple waits so long for those things.”
“That’s what courtship really is: it’s a way of slowing things down, involving the people you care about, and knitting two lives together, not just hearts. The best things take some time.”
Not many guys these days wanted to take that kind of time. Perhaps most girls didn’t either. Her phone buzzed and she picked it up. “The young adults are going bowling tomorrow.”
“This being an active church is sure helping our part of the investigation, isn’t it?” Logan said, pushing her red hair away from her face.
