“I know, I know,” Amanda whispered under her breath as the three of them slipped into the entry alcove. It was dim, but not pitch black.
Standing a moment to adjust to the darkness, they saw that the doors to the main sanctuary were closed.
Savannah whispered, “I’ve never seen them closed before.” Edward tried one. It was locked. Amanda tried the other door and it was locked as well.
“Savannah,” said Edward quietly, “you know this place best. There must be quite a few ways into the sanctuary for the choir, the reverend, musicians, whatever. Which way should we go?”
“There’s a stairway from the basement up to the choir loft, at least. Let’s go this way.” Her voice was low and she pointed to the stairway down to the community room. “Slowly, slowly.”
When they reached the bottom of the stairs, it was pitch black. Not even the required public safety lighting was in evidence.
Amanda froze stiff in her tracks. “It’s as dark as a cave down here. I’m not moving.”
“Okay, hang on just a second,” said Edward. “I have a torch.”
“You have a what?” Amanda gasped.
“Flashlight—I mean a flashlight.”
“Wait. That’s a big problem,” whispered Savannah. “We don’t want to get caught, remember?”
Edward clicked on a small switch and the flashlight beamed a soft red down the hallway. “This is my astronomy flashlight. It keeps me from losing my night vision so I can manage the controls on a telescope.”
“That’s amazing! I need one of those for checking up on my mom. She’s disturbed by any little bit of light and I’m even more disturbed by complete darkness.”
Savannah said, “Focus, guys. We need to keep going. Jacob is counting on us and I don’t want him to spend the night in custody. I can’t even begin to think of the emotional consequences.”
Edward moved the flashlight beam from side to side down the long corridor until they came to a stairway at the end. Savannah peeked up the staircase and could see reflected light at the top of the stairs. “There’s some light up there. Must be the reverend’s office. Let’s go halfway up, then stop and listen. If he’s typing or talking on the phone, I think we have a good chance of sneaking by.”
They stepped quietly up the stairs.
“But I need that one. It’ll be lost forever if I can’t get to it.” Reverend Kline’s voice barreled down the hallway and the little posse halted stiff. Amanda started shaking.
Savannah leaned in very close to her friends. “Now that we know he’s here. If he stays on the phone long enough, we’re good. Try to stay at the far edge of the stairway, near the wall so a creaking board doesn’t give us away.”
They slipped up the stairs and were just beyond the reverend’s office to the left of the landing, when they heard, “I don’t care how hard this is for you. Do you hear me? I don’t care one whit. Just get it for me before sundown tomorrow. Or else!” They heard a loud crack of the phone receiver slammed onto the base and then silence.
As one, they froze into place like a game of red light-green light. After a few seconds, they could hear the reverend typing on his keyboard. Savannah signaled them to continue on up the stairway.
When they turned the corner, in front of them was the access way to the choir loft. They entered from the back row. Only dim nightlights plugged into random electrical sockets lit the church. It wasn’t enough, so Edward used his red light and they cautiously felt their way down the loft levels until they reached the steep stairway that led to the part of the sanctuary where the reverend presided and the ceremonies occurred.
The altar was a large structure that reminded Savannah of a kitchen island without a marble countertop. It was draped in a heavy dark velvet fabric that fell to the floor.
Amanda circled the altar lifting the drape at each corner. “I don’t see any cupboards for storing the icons.”
Savannah bent down to look at the altar sides. “It won’t be obvious. Edward, shine the light at the corners to see if we can see an edge that is scratched or worn.”
Savannah and Amanda lifted the drape over each corner and Edward scanned the wooden edges slowly and carefully. It seemed to take an eon to do the first corner.
“Nothing,” whispered Edward and signaled for them to hold the drape on the second corner. After another slow search, he said, “Nothing.”
As they lifted the drapery on the third corner, Amanda breathed in a deep breath. “It’s going to be the fourth corner. I feel it in my bones.”
Savannah felt that way as well.
“Nothing,” Edward said as he finished the third corner. He moved to the fourth corner after they lifted the drape.
An absolute age passed until finally came, “Nothing.”
Savannah dropped the drapery and stood behind the altar. “I don’t understand. The message said the icons were in the altar.”
“No, it didn’t.” Amanda spoke in a loud whisper.
“Shhhhhhh,” hissed Savannah and Edward.
Amanda crossed her arms in front of her ample chest “The message said the icons are behind the altar.”
“Fair point,” acknowledged Savannah.
They moved behind the altar to where a small antifatigue rug looked like it was there to help comfort the reverend as he performed the sacrament and delivered the sermon. Since he stood for the one-hour service each weekday morning and twice on Sunday, the added cushioning would make a difference if he were having hip and knee problems.
Amanda and Savannah quietly lifted the rug aside and Edward used his flashlight to scan the old wooden floor.
“Thank goodness.” He exhaled heavily. “Look at these small scratch marks on the floor.” He knelt down and fingered the scratched board and it wiggled loose so he picked it up. “That was way too easy. This has been used a lot.”
He continued to remove four more boards placing them on the worn rug in removal order. Savannah and Amanda sat down on the floor next to the small two-by-two-foot opening. Their heads bent down to see into the depths of the small pit. The flashlight revealed the edges of several thick packages wrapped in brown paper. Savannah tore at a corner until she revealed the contents. The tear in the paper exposed the golden edges of a gilded icon.
Savannah sat back on her heels. “I can’t believe this. The reverend has framed Jacob to take the blame for this. Unbelievable.”
“But this doesn’t mean anything for clearing Jacob,” said Amanda. “There’s nothing to tie the reverend to the money trail.”
Edward began quietly replacing the panels.
Savannah handed him one of the boards and he quietly put it in the opening. “That’s why the message had two parts.” She handed him each board and the opening disappeared. We now need to find the documentation that proves the reverend poisoned Hugh and Dad.”
They stood and moved the rug back to its original position.
Edward repeated the second clue, “Books in tower,” then turned to Savannah. “What does that mean? There’s no tower in this church.”
“Right,” said Savannah, “but I remember when they were talking about finishing a tower for the church’s centennial celebration a couple of years ago. Apparently, there were plans to include another tower when the church was first commissioned. The congregation ran out of money and that part of the church design was abandoned in the middle of construction. Same thing happened for the centennial.”
“What did they do?” asked Amanda.
“It was supposed to be several stories high and contain seven bells. The construction crew reworked the roof so that it looks like it was never there. You get to it by another staircase behind the choir loft. The tower hasn’t been used for anything but storage for as long as I can remember.”
“What kind of storage?” asked Edward.
“Decorations for the major holidays like the life-sized figures of the nativity and the huge Christmas wreaths that hang on the chandeliers.” Savannah readjusted the rug so
that it was perfectly lined up with the floorboards. “It’s this way.”
They had just entered the choir loft and reached the last row when they heard steps coming from the reverend’s office.
Edward froze, then took Amanda’s elbow and Savannah’s hand and pulled them behind the row of choir chairs. He whispered, “Just keep still.”
The click of the light switch was followed by a flickering burst of light into the sanctuary. Reverend Kline made his way to the altar and pulled over the mosaic rug. He quickly lifted the boards over the hidden cache and removed the paper-wrapped packages.
Amanda began to wiggle restlessly and Savannah glared at her as fiercely as an eagle ready to kill a rabbit. Trembling, Amanda pulled a tissue from one of her million pockets and pressed it firmly over her mouth and nose. Savannah’s eyebrows raised sky high. A sneeze would reveal their presence.
Reverend Kline replaced the boards and rug, then carried the packages down the aisle toward the front door. He was halfway down when Amanda sneezed. Through her tissue and covered hands it sounded more like the rustle of a small mouse and that saved them.
The reverend muttered, “Rats. I hate rats.” He turned and headed out toward the front doors.
“That was close,” said Edward.
After the doors shut, Savannah stood up. “Someone needs to follow him and see where he’s taking those packages.”
Amanda sniffled. “I could do that while you’re getting the paperwork needed to clear Jacob.”
Savannah dug the van keys out of her little backpack. “Give us a call when you find out where he’s going. Stay well behind him. Don’t get into trouble.”
Edward said, “He’s left the lights on so he’s expecting to come back. Just try to figure out where he’s storing them or who he’s giving them to and then wait in the van for us in the parking lot. We’ll be out as soon as we get the paper work.”
Amanda dashed down the aisle surprisingly silent and disappeared through the double doors of the church.
Edward grabbed Savannah’s hand again. “Now, let’s get this documentation before anything else gets in our way.” He started up the steep stairs behind the choir loft, holding her hand firmly.
She was surprised that she didn’t protest or pull her hand out of his. This is nice.
When they got to the top of the stairs, they found a small light switch that lit a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling. In front of them was a plain closet door with a small combination lock of the sort you put on luggage. It was hung through a small clasp and bracket just above the doorknob.
Savannah huffed in frustration. “Now what?”
“First, we’ll try to guess the combination. If that doesn’t work, we’ll get some tools to remove the door.” He released her hand and squatted down in front of the lock. “Most people use three identical numbers so that it’s easy to remember. I’ll start with zero, zero, zero.”
Savannah rubbed the palm of her hand. “Let me hold your flashlight.”
He handed it back to her. “Good thinking.” He turned the numbers. “That didn’t work. Onward up the numbers.”
As Savannah held the flashlight steady, Edward tried three ones, three twos, and three threes. “Oh wait, this may work.” He tried three sixes, but the lock held. “Yeah, that might have been a bit too lame.” He continued the series through to three nines. “Well, no luck with that. Oh, one more.” He tried 123 with no luck.
Savannah said, “What’s the address here? A lot of people use their street number.”
“It’s on the front of the church. It’s 3 4 2.” He dialed the number and the lock opened.
“That’s just too simple. Why would he choose that?”
Edward just shook his head slowly from side to side. “It’s easy to remember.” He removed the lock, then opened the closet door. They stood in the doorway and looked into an awkward sort of walk-in closet with the light of the moon shining through a window in the roof.
He groped inside the wall for a light switch and another bare bulb lit the room with a weak yellow tint. He stepped into the room and moved to the left to allow Savannah to enter.
“This is much larger than I expected.” She could see the life-sized nativity Mary, Joseph, and even a camel wedged in the back. Both walls at the sides of the space were stacked six times high with office-style filing boxes. Each box was labeled with a date and number. “Where do we start?”
“You take that side and I’ll take this. Hopefully he has all the paperwork bundled together and it’ll be easy to find.”
Savannah looked at all the boxes. “The message said books, so more than one, but no idea how large.”
As she worked her way along the wall of boxes she lifted the top box, set it down in the small aisle behind her, opened the lid, and checked the contents. She got the next box, repeated the operation, and stacked it on top of the first. She continued until she had only one box left on the floor in front of her. After checking that box, she replaced the lid and in reverse order, lifted each box into its original position.
“Anything, yet?” Edward said as he replaced his first stack of boxes into their original order.
“Nope. Not in this stack.” She turned to tackle the next stack.
She had been searching for about ten minutes and reached into the top box of the third stack. “Hey, look. This could be it.”
She showed Edward a stack of slim brown leather journals that were dated fifteen years ago up to the present. The pages were written in a single hand with a page for each icon detailing all information associated with its discovery, acquisition, and sale.
They moved underneath the bare bulb and Edward flipped through one of the journals and whistled low. “He’s been doing this for a long time. This is the documentation we need.”
“Great. Let’s put everything back in its place and get out of here.” Her phone beeped an alert for an incoming text message. She pulled out her phone and swiped to the message. “It’s from Amanda. She says he’s back!”
Edward flicked off the light and opened the door to shut off the hall light, but he heard steps coming up the stairway. He ducked back into the room. “We have to get out of here. He’s coming back.”
“Can we get out through the window?”
Edward looked up and stacked three boxes under the window and then two more in front of the three for a step. “I think these will hold me.” He stepped onto the short stack and then up to the tall stack, which brought him up to the window.
“It has hinges and should open.” He grunted and pushed the pull handle on the lower edge of the window sash. “It hasn’t been opened in a long time.”
“Hurry. I can hear him now.”
“Unghhh! I . . . unghh . . . am . . . unghh . . . hurrying. There!” Edward pushed the window up and rying. There!” Edward pushed the window up and looked down to Savannah. She was frozen. “I’ll get out here and you climb up here so I can pull you out.”
“Here. Take the notebooks.” Savannah climbed onto the tall stack of boxes just as Edward’s feet disappeared over the rim of the windowsill. “I can’t do this—you know that. I’ll have to sneak out some other way.”
He popped up and his face appeared in the window. He reached in for the notebooks, then placed them down by his feet. He appeared in the window again. “No, you can’t go another way. He’ll find out we have the proof.”
He extended his arms inside the window again and reached for her. He held her forearms and pulled just enough to give her stability for getting through the window. They stood on a small platform on the roof of the church where it was easy to tell that this was the extended footprint of the abandoned tower.
“Follow me.” Edward picked up the notebooks and used the red setting on his flashlight to pick his way toward an access stairway at the other end of the roof.
Savannah hadn’t moved from the spot where she stood after being dragged through the window. Her face and neck felt clammy with sweat and her one-handed
death grip on the windowsill was causing her arm to ache.
All I have to do is take a step. One step.
“Savannah! Hurry up! Come on!” Edward called to her in a raspy whisper. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s still my fear of heights. I can’t move. I can’t walk out there.”
Edward took a step toward her, then pulled up short. Reverend Kline was silhouetted in the window. He reached through the window, grabbed Savannah by the left shoulder, and pulled her tight against the window. He pressed his right hand against her bare throat.
“Don’t move!” He yelled at Edward. “Don’t move or I’ll cut her throat.”
Chapter 31
Friday Evening
Theicy glint of the sharp blade revealed a box cutter in the reverend’s right hand. The back of his hand pressed the point against the base of Savannah’s throat.
Edward put a hand out in front of his chest, “Easy, Reverend. You don’t want to do that. Savannah doesn’t need to get hurt over this.”
The reverend pulled her tighter against the window. “You know about the icons. I can’t let anyone know about them. They come to me to be restored to their holy purpose. No one can know about the icons. Give me the notebooks. Give me the notebooks and . . . and . . . and I’ll let her go.”
“Please stop.” Savannah lowered her eyes and looked down at his hand holding the blade. “You can’t think I’ll be quiet now that I know you killed my dad.” She twisted around slowly so that she could see his face over her shoulder. Using a low, soothing tone, she said, “Reverend, you’ve got to give yourself up. You can’t go on like this. You’re not thinking right. You need help.”
“I don’t need help. I’m the restorer of lost icons. I return them back to their original village churches in Russia. The people of those churches were so very grateful when one of their precious artifacts was returned to them. I would sometimes travel over there to participate in the ceremonies and blessings when an icon was restored. The celebration would last for days. I had to rescue them from oblivion. They were going to be added to private collections and hidden from the people. The icons didn’t like that. They told me.”
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