Pastor Simms was young, and the age difference between him and Rhia was the same as that between Quinn and Silas.
And he was attractive in a soft, gentle sort of way.
Rhia had spent a lot of time around the man—with her parents’ blessing.
What if the entire time the Danielses believed Rhia was helping Pastor Simms with God’s work, she was really just working Pastor Simms behind the pulpit?
It was a good thing Quinn wasn’t very religious because she was fairly certain she might go to Hell for even thinking something so dirty.
But it clicked.
It made all sorts of terrible sense. Pastors weren’t infallible. Rhia had been beautiful. Sins of the flesh and all that nonsense.
Holy crap. They needed a DNA sample from Pastor Simms.
She had to tell Silas.
Grabbing her jacket, she bolted from her office like the devil was on her heels.
* * *
Silas was about to leave his hotel room for the coroner’s office when an urgent knock as his door had him reaching for his sidearm.
When he saw it was Quinn, he immediately let her in. “You’re early, I was just heading to the coroner’s.”
“That can wait. We have to get a DNA sample from Pastor Simms,” she said in a rush, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “Like, now. Immediately. Can you make that happen?”
“If I have probable cause,” he answered slowly, knowing it was going to be a bitch getting the judge to sign off on another DNA sample for this case on flimsy evidence but he’d pull strings if the reason was compelling enough.
“Hold on to your shorts but I think Pastor Simms is the father of Rhia’s baby.”
He narrowed his gaze. “What makes you think that?”
“He came to my office to basically tell me that I should think of the family when I’m writing about Rhia’s murder and that it wasn’t necessary to print that she was pregnant. In a sense he accused me of pandering to the salacious nature of the story instead of trying to break the case respectfully.”
“It’s not your job to be respectful,” he growled.
“I know. If he wasn’t such a nice guy I would’ve tossed him out and told him to kiss my ass but Pastor Simms really is sweet.”
“If he’s so sweet what makes you think he was sleeping with an underage girl?”
“Good question. Call it a hunch? It was the way he talked about her. I got this icky vibe like he was talking about a lover, not a member of his church. And it makes sense. If he’s the father, of course he’s not going to want me poking into that angle of the story. He could lose everything. Don’t you think a secret baby is cause enough to murder?”
“I do.” Silas agreed, thinking fast. “Maybe he’s banking on God’s forgiveness.”
“Trust me, I hate thinking that Pastor Simms could be capable but everything feels right. How soon could you get a warrant for his DNA?”
He exhaled, thinking fast. “I could have it by this afternoon but my request is going to go over like a lead balloon with Lester.”
“Well, too bad. This case is too important to this town to dance around politics.”
“True enough, but that still won’t soften the potential backlash. I take it Simms is a popular pastor around here?”
“Yeah, I guess so. I mean, I’m not exactly a church-goer but the townsfolk seem to like him.”
“What if your vibe is wrong and we embarrass the town pastor for nothing?”
Quinn cast him a quizzical look. “Are you going soft on me? If he’s innocent, he should be willing to do whatever it takes to clear his name and find Rhia’s killer. Innocent people have nothing to worry about, right?”
“Yeah, that’s the general idea.”
“Then, everything should be fine.”
But Silas knew if it turned out that Simms was innocent, there would be plenty of people with things to say. Public opinion shouldn’t have a place in an investigation but he’d been doing this long enough to know that enough false leads could kill an otherwise solid case.
However, he was beginning to see that Quinn had a nose for details so he was going to trust her instincts and hope they weren’t misplaced.
“I’ll place some calls,” he told her.
“Good. In the meantime, I’m going to hang around the church and see if anyone else caught Pastor Simms and Rhia acting a little too chummy.”
“Be careful.”
“Of course.”
She started to leave but he grabbed her hand and pulled her to him. “Wait.”
Her gaze widened and her breath shortened but she held his stare. “Yeah?”
“I mean it. Be careful out there,” he said without making a big production about it. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“I’ll be fine,” she assured him. “Get that warrant.”
He brushed a firm kiss across her lips, resisting the urge to linger. “I will. What exactly are you going to do at the church?”
“I’m going to poke around and see what happens. There had to be someone there who saw something that wasn’t quite right. Maybe I can persuade them to tell me what they know.”
He knew better than to caution her; he just had to have faith, ironically.
Quinn left as quickly as she came and he was left to shake off the immediate heat that permeated his bones whenever Quinn was in his arms.
The woman was an enigma—one who was fast becoming his favorite mystery.
What was he going to do when this case was over?
Don’t build bridges you don’t have to cross just yet, he told himself. Particularly when you already know the answer.
Besides, this case had just taken a giant leap and he wasn’t going to be left behind.
Chapter 25
Quinn walked into the church and saw it was empty but when she heard faint giggling from multiple sources, she followed the sound to the back offices where a day care operated.
Gladys, the older woman who served as the church secretary and Pastor Simms’s right-hand lady, smiled at Quinn’s entry.
“Quinn Jackson? What are you doing here today?” she asked.
Quinn drew a deep breath and forced a smile. Either she was going to be thrown out or Gladys would prove to be the catalyst they were hoping for.
“Can I talk to you about something serious?” she said, gentling her voice. “It’s...sensitive.”
“Oh, dear,” Gladys said with a deep frown. “Hold on just a minute.” She turned to the children and clapped her hands. “Movie time,” she announced, gathering the kids into a circle with pillows and blankets before turning on an animated movie. She motioned for Quinn to take a seat with her away from the children. “What can I do for you?”
“I...I don’t know how to say this without being offensive but I have to ask something that might make you uncomfortable.”
Gladys waited with apprehension, her softly wrinkled face reminding Quinn of a stereotypical granny in a fairy tale.
Or one of those dried apple dolls wearing gingham.
“It’s about Rhia.”
“Oh, goodness, bless that poor child,” Gladys said immediately. “Such a tragedy.”
“Yes, definitely. But I’m sure you’ve heard the latest news...”
“Oh, yes,” Gladys breathed, shaking her head at the scandal. “Pregnant. She was so tiny, it would’ve been hard to tell.”
“She was only six weeks along,” Quinn reminded Gladys. “Likely, she wouldn’t have started showing for a while.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
“I’ve heard that Rhia and Pastor Simms had a special relationship. May I ask...did you ever see anything inappropriate happen between Rhia and the pastor?”
Gladys’s appalled expression answered that question. Now all that remained was to be thrown out for suggesting something so perverse of their Godly leader.
But Gladys swallowed and looked conflicted, struggling with something. “Why would you ask?”
“Because...Pastor Simms came to see me today and he seemed less like a pastor and more like a...lover when he talked about Rhia. It set my alarm bells off.”
“Oh, dear,” she murmured, fluttering her hands as she twisted them. “I don’t want to talk out of turn. Sometimes things seem what they really aren’t and reputations can be ruined.”
“That’s also true, but when our intuition tells us that something is wrong...it’s usually right. What did you see?”
Gladys looked as if she was going to be physically ill. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “It was late on a Friday. I came back to the church because I forgot my sheet music for the Sunday service and I wanted to practice the following day. I heard something in the pastor’s office and thought perhaps a cat had gotten into the church again. But I stopped when I realized it wasn’t a cat making those noises.”
“Were they having sex?” Quinn asked.
Gladys blushed and stammered, “I-I don’t know. It was very late and afterward I wasn’t even sure I’d heard what I did. It was all very embarrassing. I shouldn’t have come back so late. It was my fault for forgetting the sheet music in the first place.”
“Was Rhia with Pastor Simms?”
Gladys’s agonized expression said what her mouth wouldn’t.
“Did you ever talk to Pastor Simms about what you heard?”
“Goodness, no. I wasn’t even sure of what I’d heard. A few days later I was positive I’d let my brain play tricks on me. I wasn’t about to ruin a good man over something I wasn’t even sure I’d heard.”
“Why are you willing to tell me now?”
“It’s been a terrible burden. I prayed for days about it. Then I made a promise to God that if he wanted me to say something, he would make it happen. If no one came asking questions, then I would forget it ever happened because that was God’s will. You being here...tells me that God wants me to share what I know.”
Quinn tried not to scoff at the woman’s logic, but it infuriated her that Pastor Simms could’ve gotten off scot-free if Quinn hadn’t asked the right questions at the right time.
“Do you think he killed Rhia to keep their secret? Sooner or later the truth would’ve come out.”
To that Gladys was adamant. “No. Pastor Simms may have succumbed to the temptation of flesh but he is not a killer. He is a Godly man who cares about his flock—perhaps too much—but he is not capable of murdering someone.”
“Are you sure? People do things they might not otherwise when they are desperate.”
“He did not kill Rhia. I know that in my bones.”
“Would you ever have imagined that Pastor Simms was capable of sleeping with an underage girl in his congregation?”
“No.”
“And he did that. So maybe...is it possible you don’t know what Pastor Simms is capable of at all? It could be that he’s been fooling everyone into thinking he’s a good man when in fact...he’s a predator.”
“No. I can’t believe that. I won’t believe it. Now, I’ve said everything I can. I’ve done as I promised God. I won’t say anything more to further blacken that man’s good name.”
And just like that, Gladys shut down, shuffling off to provide snacks for the children as they watched their movie as if she could distance herself from the stain that Quinn threatened to paint on the church.
Well, she was about to unleash a shit-storm with this latest development.
If Pastor Simms was guilty of fooling around with a kid, yet not guilty of killing her...someone out there was likely to get real nervous.
They were getting closer to the truth.
Quinn could feel it in her bones.
Nothing could stop her now.
* * *
The warrant was easy enough to obtain but Lester wasn’t too happy about it.
However, he didn’t stand in the way, either, so that was a good sign. Probably because both Brock and Oliver’s DNA results had returned negative for paternity.
This case had aged Lester in ways that shocked Silas. He could only hope it wasn’t guilt that was putting the extra lines in Lester’s face.
Silas walked into the interrogation room and found Pastor Simms looking edgy. “Can I ask what this is about?”
“We need your DNA,” he answered, going straight to the point. “It’ll be quick.”
But Pastor Simms leaned away as Silas approached him with the swab. “What for?”
“To rule you out as a suspect,” Silas answered.
“A suspect? In what?”
“Rhia’s murder.”
The pastor whitened and his eyes widened. “I didn’t kill Rhia,” he protested, horrified. “How could you think that I’m capable of something so heinous?”
Silas settled on the edge of the metal table. “Desperation will cause people to do things they might never consider otherwise.”
“And why would I be desperate?” he asked but a bead of sweat had collected on his upper lip. “I have nothing to hide.”
“Good. Then you won’t mind giving us your DNA.”
“I don’t feel it’s necessary,” the pastor said, eyeing that swab as if it were a cobra about to strike. “I’ve already told you—”
“What exactly did you tell me, Pastor? The entire truth?” He wagged the swab. “I think not.” His voice hardened. “Now open up.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Then this little paper gives me permission to hold you down and jam this swab in your mouth forcefully,” Silas answered simply. “Your choice.”
Defeated, the pastor opened his mouth and allowed Silas to swab his cheek. Silas capped the sample and handed it off to an awaiting deputy.
“See? That wasn’t so hard.”
“This is mortifying.”
“Since you’re here, let’s chat.”
Pastor Simms cast Silas a dark look. “About?”
“About you and Rhia Daniels.”
“I’ve already told you my relationship with Rhia was platonic.”
“Yeah, and I’m pretty sure that little swab is going to say otherwise.”
Pastor Simms’s gaze darted. “And what is that going to prove?”
“That you were the father of her baby.”
Pastor Simms shuddered, his shoulders sagging. Silas allowed the silence to press on the man, letting him sink further into his own muck.
Face it, preacher man, you’ve been caught.
“Why’d you sleep with a sixteen-year-old girl?”
Pastor Simms looked as if he was going to lose his lunch.
“You were in a position of authority and you took advantage of her.”
More silence.
Silas sighed and bluffed to get his attention. “Okay, I can arrest you right now for sex with a minor at the very least. Do yourself a favor and tell me what happened and why you killed her. Was it a crime of passion? Desperation?”
The trick worked.
“I didn’t kill Rhia,” Pastor Simms blurted out as if the suggestion was anathema to him. “I loved her.”
“People kill ones they love all the time,” Silas said, unmoved. “Tell me what happened between you. If you didn’t kill her...who did?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t even know she was pregnant. I would never hurt her. We were going to wait until she turned eighteen and then I was going to ask her parents for her hand. I wanted to marry her.”
Bingo. Confession.
“But you didn’t wait until she was eighteen, did you? C
ouldn’t keep your pervy hands off that young body. Pastor Simms, that makes you a pedophile.”
He shook his head as if he couldn’t accept that judgment. “I loved her,” he maintained stubbornly. “And she loved me. We wanted to build a life together.”
“She was a child.”
“Rhia was more mature than most girls her age,” Pastor Simms protested. “She seduced me! Not the other way around.”
“Do you know how many times sick men like you have tried to convince me that their victims were some kind of highly sophisticated seductor? Too many to count. Let’s try that again. What happened between you and Rhia?”
“Are you going to arrest me?”
“Yes. But if you cooperate, maybe you can get a lighter sentence. That’s about all I can offer but sometimes shaving off a few years is worth it. Do yourself a favor and do the right thing.”
Simms fell silent, his lip trembling.
Silas twisted the screws a little more. “If you really loved Rhia, you’d want to do the right thing.”
Simms jerked a nod. “Okay. I’ll tell you what I can but I swear to you I didn’t kill her.”
“Let’s just start at the beginning,” Silas encouraged, needing to get him talking.
“She needed volunteer hours for a school project and she came to me looking to see if I needed any help around the office, like an intern. I’ve known the Danielses for years and I was happy to help.”
“Sounds aboveboard. When did that turn into doing the dirty in your office?”
Pastor Simms choked back a cry. “Must you use such vulgarity? What we did was—”
“Sex. Plain and simple. Don’t waste time trying to put a prettier label on it.”
“I didn’t intend for anything to happen,” he said, distressed. “Believe me, I felt sick about it afterward.”
“But you didn’t stop,” Silas supplied.
“I tried,” the pastor insisted. “I did. I told her it wasn’t right, that we shouldn’t, but...she just kept coming after me. I am an imperfect being and I succumbed when I shouldn’t have but believe me when I say, I truly loved that girl, even as illicit as our relationship was. I would never hurt her.”
Silas jerked his thumb toward the door. “Is that swab going to match?”
The Killer You Know Page 21
