Chapter One
Hank Blaze stood beside the minister and stared at the wall. The minister was doing the same thing. Neither could believe what they were seeing. It was the Reverend’s frantic call that had brought Hank to the chapel, and now he understood why.
Hank had been having a pleasant chat with Pete at the Diner while some of his men were finishing their breakfast before heading out to Emily’s hill to start the new project she had hired them to do.
Hank’s men loved it out on Emily’s hill. Despite it being the site where Dr. Joe’s first four victims were found, it had turned into a jewel that the people of Doveland cherished.
Now that her art retreat had been functioning for almost two years, Emily was ready for expansion. Hank’s company had already finished the little house on the property where she lived. They had also completed the dance barn and massive deck that jutted out from the hill.
Emily wanted to add a small building for writing, another for art, and one more for music. Once Hank’s crew completed those buildings, she wanted to add a small residence hall. It would be where she could house visiting teachers. It would also house the few students who didn’t live close enough to come out to the hill every day, or couldn’t afford the tuition. Although Emily kept it as low as possible, sometimes that wasn’t enough.
Almost everyone on the construction crew had a child, niece, or nephew who was part of Emily’s world. That made them even more eager to do a good job. Hank was glad of the work for his men and equally glad that Emily didn’t have to struggle to come up with the funds for the work.
As part of his pretense of being a good man, Dr. Joe had set up a trust for Emily’s school. Emily had almost said “no” to the trust money, but eventually had seen the wisdom of using Joe’s money for good instead of turning it down. Besides, the trust was named after Edward’s mother, May, so Emily chose to see the use of the funds as a celebration of May’s life instead of Joe’s.
Pete had just finished telling Hank how well the children’s chef classes at the Diner were going when Hank’s phone chimed. He was surprised. Typically, people usually sent him a text. Who calls anymore, he thought. He excused himself and stepped outside to answer the phone.
“Hank, this is Reverend Webster. I need your help.”
Hank knew that Lloyd Webster had moved to town over the winter to take over for the retiring Unity minister, but he had only seen Lloyd a few times at town hall meetings. He’d never taken the time to meet him, so Hank was surprised to hear from him.
“Sure,” Hank said. “What can I do for you?”
“Something happened at the Chapel. Can you meet me there?”
Hank had gone back into the Diner, taken a last sip of coffee, paid his bill, and told Pete about the call. Pete didn’t know the minister much better than Hank, although he knew that Lloyd liked the burger named after Emily for his lunch. He came in about once a week. Pete didn’t think Lloyd had moved with his family, or maybe he had a son. That was about all he knew.
Lloyd was one of the ministers that shared the chapel on Sunday morning. It was one of those things about the town that visitors would shake their heads over—multiple religions sharing the same space for their services.
The repair and maintenance of the Chapel fell to the town. However, members of the Stone Circle made sure there was always enough money in the town’s hopper for anything that the Chapel needed, including a part-time maintenance person and grounds-keeper.
As Hank drove to the Chapel, he thought about the events he had been part of that had been held in the chapel. Joyous ones like Ava and Evan’s wedding and Ben’s christening; and sad ones like Melvin’s funeral.
Dr. Joe’s funeral had been held there too, but his feelings about that were neither joyous nor sad. It happened. Joe was gone. Amen to that.
Hank pulled into the side parking lot located in the back of the Chapel. It was newly paved, making it much easier to get into the church during the sometimes very snowy Pennsylvania winters.
Lloyd was waiting for him outside the back door of the chapel. As they shook hands, Hank detected a slight tremble. Was Lloyd sick? He looked like a reasonably healthy man in his mid-thirties. Lloyd ran his fingers back through his closely cropped hair and sighed.
“Didn’t know what else to do. I don’t think it’s a matter for the police, but I don’t know. I’m new here.”
Since Hank didn’t move, Lloyd sighed again and tapped his sneakered foot on the stone steps that led to the back door. “Guess the best thing to do is show you.”
Hank followed Lloyd as they snaked through the tiny hall in the back of the chapel and emerged on the side of the front stage where the ministers stood for their services.
The decoration of the Chapel was neutral. Beautiful stained glass windows. Simple wooden pews and an arched ceiling that always lifted Hank’s spirits when he walked in the door.
Not this time. Something was wrong. Sure, everything looked as it should with the early morning light streaming through the windows making colored patterns over all the pews on the east side of the building.
But the air smelled like dust and something else that Hank couldn’t place. But it wasn’t until he looked at the back wall that he saw why Lloyd had called him. The rear wall of the Chapel was in tatters. That was the best way he could describe it.
The closer he got to it the more Hank was confused. He and Lloyd stood looking at the wall and the crumbling plaster peeling off it and landing in a heap at its base.
“What happened?” Hank asked, staring at the wall. He had never seen anything like it before. There didn’t appear to be any reason why the wall had started to peel away. There was no water damage or evidence of someone intentionally taking the wall down. It was almost as if the wall was tired.
A strange thought went through Hank’s mind. He had the idea that perhaps the wall was revealing a secret. Hank filed the feeling away for future examination. He had lived around Sarah and her friends long enough to know that knowledge did not always come through “normal” channels.
“Nothing,” Lloyd said, breaking through Hank’s thoughts. “At least nothing that I know about. Yesterday it was fine. Today, it looks like this.”
“I don’t know how this could happen either,” Hank responded. “Something is seriously wrong here.”
“Or right,” Leif said as he stood beside Hank. Hank knew enough not to start talking to the air while Lloyd was there, so he didn’t stay anything. He would have to ask Leif later what he meant.
Lloyd turned around and looked behind him and then back at Hank. “That’s funny. I thought someone else was here.”
And I’ll have to ask him about Lloyd too, Hank thought. Who is he? Is the wall like this because Lloyd came to town?
“I think it’s a sign,” Lloyd said, turning to the wall again.
“A sign of what?”
“I guess we’ll find out.”
“That we will,” Hank agreed. “I’ll bring a few men over and see what we can find.”
Both men knew they were going to find more than a tattered wall. Something was going to come to light. In their own way, both men were confident that something important was going to be revealed.
The question they both wondered about was if what would come to light was dangerous, or a blessing. Maybe both.
