Chapter ONE - Weebly

elatedly he thought of the two ministers upstairs in the
sanctuary.
“I’ll thank you to keep your voice down,” she said
with cold intensity. “You may have forsaken the Lord
and His word, but I have not. Neither has Geoffrey, nor
our children. This is our church, and I won’t have you
desecrating it.”
Ethan inhaled and exhaled slowly, trying to keep his
temper in check. “I haven’t desecrated anything. This
murder is the true desecration. I merely want to find the
person responsible. Is that so terrible?”
Bett stared at the girl again. “You’ve gotten Mister
Pell in some trouble, you know.”
“Pell had nothing to do with this.”
“Mister Pell was asked to keep vigil over this girl,”
she said. “Instead, he left her with you. He should have
known better.”
“I sent him away, Bett. I asked him for a cup of
wine. That’s why he left me.”
She pursed her lips, and Ethan held his breath,
hoping that Pell had been smart enough to tell a similar
tale. Apparently the minister was better at all of this than