“So does Daniel Ford.”
“And so does Daniel Ford,” Luke repeated. “That makes five unnatural deaths under this guy’s watch. And these are tiny congregations. It’s not like a mass random sampling where x number of people will be predicted to die prematurely.”
“You think he did it?” Luke didn’t answer right away.
“Michael was taken for a reason,” he finally said. “I mean, it is possible that this was just a random abduction, but think about it. Michael isn’t a cute girl. He’s not a kid. He’s not just another faceless person on the street. He’s a guy who can talk to dead people. Now, I’m not saying that Cannon is responsible for all those deaths. But if he was and Michael comes around telling him about his little talent - ”
“Then Michael becomes a liability,” Kate finished Luke’s train of thought.
“I was going to say a ‘threat,’ but yeah, pretty much.”
“Oh my God, we’ve got to hurry.” Kate had long surpassed full out panic mode. All that mattered now was getting to Michael. “Where do you think Cannon would take him?”
“I have no idea. But I’m going to start at the church. Maybe someone will be there.”
“At this time of night?”
“At the church I grew up in, there always seemed to be someone working late. I snuck in once, back when I first started investigating. We have a columbarium in our courtyard where a lot of parishioners are buried and I was hoping I could capture some EVPs. I wasn’t there five minutes before one of our office ladies found me and kicked me out.”
“Do you think whoever’s there will know where Cannon is?”
“No, but they might be able to give us some idea of where he’s gone.”
As he spoke, Kate realized that their entire rescue mission was, to put it lightly, insane. If Luke was right and they were chasing down a murderer, just what in the world were they going to do about it? Luke was a hot TV star and she was an interior decorator. Neither of them was even remotely qualified to track down a killer. Luke might have a slight advantage because he was really buff, but all of the criminals he’d encountered on his television show were, well, dead.
“Maybe we should call the police,” she said.
“What are the police going to do?”
“I don’t know. If we tell them that we suspect foul play, they might be able to conduct a more thorough investigation of the scene, file a missing person’s report, get a more accurate search going...”
“Call them if it will make you feel better. Just make sure they don’t need you around for questioning.”
He had a point. How were they supposed to explain to the police that their friend who could see ghosts had been taken by someone that they thought wanted him dead for that very reason? They wouldn’t believe the first part, let alone the second. And neither Kate nor Luke would ever convince them to engage in a wild goose chase all the way to Waxahachie. Maybe they could somehow alert the police there. Ask them to keep an eye out.
By that point, they were flying down the highway. At the rate they were going, they’d make it to Waxahachie in a little under thirty minutes as long as they didn’t hit traffic. Normally, Kate would have been petrified of going so fast, but at the moment, her concern for Michael outweighed her intense fear of crashing on the highway. Fortunately, there weren’t too many cars out (it was Sunday night, after all). That, and she couldn’t help but feel that this wasn’t Luke’s first time driving at the reckless speed of 94 MPH. She just hoped they were going the right way.
“If this is Cannon, how do you think he found out where Michael lived?” she asked.
“He probably followed us.”
“This morning?” Of course. When else would he have followed them?
“Yeah.”
“But that’s impossible. We would have noticed.”
“Not necessarily. He probably stayed a few cars back, pulled over when we stopped for lunch, and started tracking us again when we left,” Luke replied grimly.
“So you think Cannon’s been watching him all day?”
“Probably,” Luke answered. Kate felt sick. “You’d be amazed at what some people are capable of. One of the reasons I stopped talking about our film locations on social media is because we’ve had some legitimately crazy fans track us down. Turns out it is really easy to stalk in this day and age.”
“Great,” Kate murmured.
“Hey, good news for us,” Luke told her. “If some lunatic priest from Nowhere, Oklahoma can find Michael in one of the biggest cities in the nation, then you and I should have no problem tracking him down in the boonies.”
~*~
Less than thirty minutes later, Luke and Kate pulled into the parking lot of Calvary Hill. With no street lights overhead, Kate could barely see through the pitch darkness. Only a single light from one of the windows inside the church’s main building provided any sort of illumination.
“Come on.” Luke didn’t need to tell her twice. Together, they ran up the steps to the chapel. The door, as expected, was locked, so Luke reached into his wallet and pulled out a credit card.
“You know that trick?” Kate asked.
“I told you, Babe, I’ve picked a lot of locks,” Luke reminded her as he knelt down and slid the credit card through the crack between the doors. Seconds later, the lock clicked and Luke gave the door a slight push. It opened with a loud creak. “Oops,” Luke whispered. Kate grabbed his shoulder.
“Wait a minute, what’s our plan?”
“What do you mean?”
“Are we just going to barge in and demand to know where Michael is or are we trying to stay quiet and sneak up on him?”
“Well, I think any and all chances of staying discreet sailed with this door, so I guess we’ll go with the first one.”
“But what if he has a gun? Or a knife? We’re completely unarmed.”
“Oh no we’re not,” Luke flexed his muscles. “You asked me what I do in my spare time? I work out. And not just because it makes cute girls weak at the knees. I’ve met a lot of shady characters over the years and I’ve learned you never know when you’re going to need to defend yourself. But, if he does come after us with some kind of weapon, I’ve got this.” He held up his keys to reveal a Swiss army knife keychain. “But Kate, listen to me. If anything happens, you get out of here. You turn, you run, and you don’t look back, you understand?” Kate wanted to argue that she would stay and help him, but given her limited experience in physical confrontations, she knew she’d be about as helpful as a caterpillar in an actual fight. She might even make things worse if she tried to stay.
“Yeah, I understand,” she consented.
“Good. Now, let’s go find Mikey.”
Chapter 26
When Michael woke up for the second time, he was sitting upright in the dark. He blinked a few times, wondering briefly if he’d gone blind, before his eyes began to adjust. Everything hurt just as badly as it had before, and on top of that, his back was pressed against something so hard it sent little sparks of pain shooting through his vertebrae. Everything was blurry and distorted and he was so dizzy that he was sure the world had spun right off its axis and was freewheeling through space. He closed his eyes, rested his head back against whatever was behind him, and took several deep breaths.
Slowly, the misery began to subside and his senses began to pick up on little things that previously, had taken a backseat to the pain and nausea. Things like the slight breeze toying with his hair, the crickets chirping around him, and the tickling of grass against his ankles. He was outside... but where?
He opened his eyes again and tried with all his might to make them focus. It was difficult enough to see in the dark without the blurred vision and shaky disposition. Instead of depending on what little he could see, he thought about what his senses weren’t picking up. There was no sound of passing cars or horns blaring through the night. That meant he wasn’t close to a highway, or any road for that matter. The total absence of an
y source of artificial light was even more unnerving.
The only good news was he could neither see nor hear whoever had dragged him out there. He hoped that their mission had been fulfilled by leaving him out in the middle of the field. He didn’t want to think about what they had in store for him should they return. Michael didn’t want to take any chances. If they were coming back, he didn’t want to be there when they arrived.
He needed to get out of there. His mind was clear enough so that he thought he’d be able to stand without falling over. But try as he might, he couldn’t seem to figure out how to move his arms. A few moments later, he registered that his hands were stuck, bound together, behind the wooden pillar.
“Oh, this is not good,” he muttered, trying to wriggle his wrists free from whatever his captors had used to tie them together. It didn’t feel like rope or string. It felt more like some sort of plastic, but for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out what that might be.
He constricted his hand as tight as he could and tried to slip it through the plastic shackle. For a split second, he thought he might be making progress. He could feel the plastic ring around the heel of his hand. But that was as far as the binding would allow him to go. He pulled harder, so hard that he felt the sharp edge of the band digging into his skin. Moments later, his fingers were covered in a hot, sticky liquid. The sting of the fresh cut made him flinch.
God, he thought, if you’re there, now would be a great time for a miracle.
A rustling in the tall grass behind him startled him. As he listened to the heavy footsteps approaching, he felt his stomach sink with dread. That wasn’t exactly the kind of miracle he’d had in mind.
He waited, wracking his brain for something, anything that he might use to bargain. Maybe he could reason with them. Surely every person, no matter how damaged, had the capacity for some sort of empathy or understanding.
Right?
Finally, the two shadowed figures came into view. One of them was carrying a flashlight. Michael couldn’t make out their faces, or even what they were wearing, but the taller one seemed to be holding something in his arms... almost like a baby. He set the bundle down a few yards away from Michael. Then, the shorter of the two turned and shone the flashlight straight into Michael’s face. Instinctively, he closed his eyes and turned his face away from the searing white-blue beam.
“Oh good. You’re awake.”
~*~
Kate tried not to think as she followed Luke through the center aisle of the church. If she thought too much about where they were or what they were doing, there was no way she’d be able to take another step. The church was eerie at night; dark, quiet, and far too still. If Kate hadn’t known better, she’d swear the eyes of Christ Himself were watching her from behind the altar, following her every move.
For all she knew, they could have been.
Cautiously, they approached the door through which Cannon had led Michael earlier that morning. Kate felt her stomach turning backflips as Luke pushed the door open. The soft click of the latch echoed through the silent sanctuary, the sound magnified by the absolute emptiness of the room.
Looking to the left, they noticed light pouring through the crack beneath one of the doors down the hall.
“That’s our door,” Luke muttered to Kate. They scampered down the hall toward the light. Kate felt her heart pounding with dread and anticipation. What if they were too late?
Luke got to the door first and pushed it open, fully prepared to defend himself if necessary. But the look on his face, however, told Kate that the room was empty.
“He’s not here,” he confirmed. “Dammit!” he yelled and struck the wall with his fist. Although Kate was somewhat relieved that they had not found Michael hurt, or worse, she felt her spirit sinking. Where were they supposed to go from there?
“What are you doing here?”
Kate was so startled by the harsh voice over her right shoulder that for a moment, her mind went blank. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t hear the scream that surely escaped her lips. All she knew in that moment was fear.
“Looking for you, as a matter of fact,” Luke replied, far less shaken by Augustus Cannon’s sudden appearance. “You wouldn’t happen to know what happened to our friend, Michael, would you?”
“I told that boy that I didn’t want to see his face, or any of yours for that matter, on these grounds again. Why do you think he would be here?”
“Because he disappeared about an hour ago, and we figured that someone who hated him so much... who might have a reason to want him to disappear... might be able to give us some idea as to where he could be.”
“And why would you assume that someone is me?” Cannon narrowed his eyes.
“Never said I did,” Luke shrugged. If Cannon was annoyed, he didn’t show it.
“Well, if that is the case, then you have no business here. Now get out.”
“Hold on a second,” Luke countered. “I’m a little disappointed in you, Pastor. I would have thought a man of God such as yourself would be a little more concerned that an innocent man is missing. That is, unless you don’t think he’s innocent.” Kate held her breath. She knew that Luke and his team sometimes provoked evil spirits to get them to make themselves known, but there was a big difference between provoking a ghost and provoking a man who, even if he hadn’t killed all those people, still had the capacity to do a lot of damage. Pastor Cannon just gritted his teeth.
“If this has something to do with what happened in Oklahoma - ”
“Oh, it’s not just that. It’s about Grace Bledsoe and Daniel Ford, too.”
“You are out of line, boy!” Cannon snarled. “You act so smug and clever, but you have no idea what it’s like to see a young person’s life taken, wasted. Especially young people who had so much to live for. And then the whispers, the suspicions, the blame... The mere notion that people believed I was responsible for the death of my own son... I wouldn’t be able to live with it were it not for the strength and comfort that the Lord gives me.”
Kate was stunned. This was a whole different kind of passion than she’d seen earlier that morning during the service. This was pure, unadulterated heartache, and Kate suddenly found herself pitying the man they’d come to accuse. Luke seemed equally unnerved.
“Well if it wasn’t you, do you have any idea who it could be?” he asked.
“No,” Cannon replied hastily. “Now I respectfully ask that you leave me in peace.”
“You answered that awfully quickly, Pastor. Sure you don’t want to think about it? What about your friend, Mr. Ford? He seemed like he wanted to beat the crap out of Mikey.”
“John is a very sick man. To think him capable of what you’re suggesting is ludicrous.”
“A relative then? Maybe John Ford has a crazy brother or really dedicated nephew.”
“This is not the work of John, nor any soul in this congregation. Now for the last time, goodnight.”
Kate felt more discouraged and humiliated than ever, but Luke wasn’t giving up. He stared directly into the old man’s steely eyes and asked, “What about your daughter?”
~*~
Michael blinked up at the person standing in front of him, certain that his eyes were playing tricks on him. Maybe he’d been unconscious for too long or his brain had been deprived of oxygen. He might have hit his head being dragged to wherever he was. Whatever the reason, he knew he could not be staring into the wide blue eyes of Chastity Cannon.
“Wha - what are - ”
“No, shhh. You shouldn’t try to talk.” Chastity knelt down next to him and stroked his face. “You’ve been through a lot tonight.”
Yeah, thanks to you. You and...
Michael didn’t recognize the bulky guy who accompanied Chastity. If he’d been in church earlier that morning, Michael hadn’t seen him. He couldn’t quite make out the expression on the stranger’s face, but he got the feeling that he was much more apprehensive than his female
companion, whose face still hovered a few inches away from Michael’s. He instinctively tried to move away from her, but his bonded wrists prevented him from doing so.
“Oh, I know, it’s uncomfortable, but trust me, it’s for your own good. How else do you expect me to help you?”
Michael narrowed his eyes.
“Help me?” he asked in a weak, hoarse voice.
“Your life has been overrun by sin, Michael Sinclair.” Though hardly significant, Michael wondered briefly how she knew his full name. “But don’t worry. That’s why the Lord has disciples like me. To guide you back into the light of His redeeming love.”
Michael’s head was spinning again. He truly did not understand what she was saying. Where was she coming from with all of this?
He cleared his throat and asked, “What did I do?”
“You did nothing, Michael. It is the power of Satan living inside of you that is to blame. Until that power is destroyed, you can never be free.”
Destroyed? That didn’t sound good.
“I don’t understand.”
Chastity stared at him, her light eyes full of a strange combination of condescension and pity.
“James, chapter four, verse seventeen,” she answered, as though that explained everything. When she saw that Michael still wasn’t getting it, she continued. “‘So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.’ I am a child of God, Michael. It’s my duty to uphold the laws of my Lord and King. That’s why I had to see those disgraced sinners put to death. It was the only way to help them. Thanks to me, their sin has been destroyed and they are free to dance in the Kingdom of Heaven.”
“Who?”
“The temptress and the idolater. The adulterers. And my brother, the fag. All abominations in the eyes of God.” Out of the corner of his eye, Michael noticed the silent man behind Chastity wince at her harsh words.
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