The whole day has been such an ordeal that I fall asleep on my sofa with my shoes and coat still on. I begin to dream as I often do when I have alot on my mind.
 Someone is talking to me but I can't hear what they're  saying. I only see that Mavice is standing behind the person smiling. I run up to her and hug her and tell her I miss her , just as I'm about to tell her about what has happened, she starts to cry. I don't understand. I try to console her but its no use. She waves her hand for me to look to the right. I see women and children playing in a field. One of the boys has a baseball bat hitting at a tree. Whack Whack Whack. Knock,knock,knock...Knock Knock! I open my eyes someone is knocking on the front door. I sit up realizing it's morning but still pretty early. Sitting up I see Mark waving and calling my name in the door way. "Hang on." I get up, and OUCH, that darn ankle is so sore.  Groggily I drag myself to the door. I turn the bolt and it unlocks. Mark comes in. "Good morning , gosh , did I wake you up? or are you going somewhere?" I look down at my coat and feeling ridiculous say,"Oh no...no, I crashed on the couch as soon as I got home last night. I just woke up." Mark looks embarrassed. " "I 'm sorry, I'll come back later." he turns to the door. "That's alright, what's up?"  I see he has a paper bag and a cup in his hand. "Well, I just got you a coffee and one of those almond things you like from The Daily Grind."  I am surprised and touched. "Thank you, that was so nice of you." he hands me the bag . "It's still warm."I say holding the brown paper. He looks rather pleased with himself and tells me ,"I waited in line to get a fresh one from the first batch this morning. that's why I'm so early." I smile and sip the coffee. "Ahh..splendid." He smiles. "I wasn't exactly sure how you like yours so..." "This is great, do you want to sit down?" "Sure." I begin to wake up and recall the difficult experience of the day before.  The Bronx comes up to my guest and sniffs his hand. "I almost forgot." and hands my dog  half of a cookie.  "Meet your new best friend." I say pointing to Bronx. Mark laughs. " So," he begins, "I've been thinking about yesterday."  I got a text from Pastor Daily this morning saying that Lydia's husband was taken into custody late last night. "Really?" "Yep, caught him heading over the state line." "Wow, what about the stuff?" "Oh he still had it in his possession."  I shake my head, "I am still in shock I guess. Poor Lydia, what's going to happen with her." "I don't know but from the way Pastor Daily talked , I think she'd been carrying the financial load for a while." I nod in agreement. "She just looked so broken yesterday...I guess I've lived a pretty sheltered life and I feel terrible about not knowing what was going on ." " I know what you mean, but if someone keeps something a secret...there's not much you can do about that, Pastor Daily did know about Frank's drinking problem though ,,. I guess She had told only  him. Any way how did it go at Dr. Lee's yesterday?"  I brush a few crumbs off my lap. After the police had asked Lydia a million questions Mrs. Daily and I suggested that she see a Doctor just to be safe. "It was so sad, " I add looking up,"She wore a pair of sunglasses and a long sleeve shirt so people wouldn't see. But of course they were suspicious.  She felt utterly humiliated. But she is a strong woman.  Dr Lee is wonderful, She said to just do the typical ice and stuff for the black eye. I was relieved and thankful that Mrs. Daily asked, more like begged her to stay with them last night. At first she didn't want to, but then she gave in.  "I hope she's going to be alright, I think I'll call her in a while.

This Part

   I kneel on the floor and put my hand on Lydia's shoulder. She assures me again she's fine. As I look into her eyes she begins to cry. Hugging her I ask her again , what happened. With tears running down her bruised cheek she tells me plainly. "Frank, did it. He robbed the church, I wasn't sure if he would really do it but he did, didn't he?" I nod sadly " Well someone did." "She wipes her face with her wrist revealing that it too is bruised. Lydia , the robbery isn't as serious as the state you're in. He beat you like this?" She nods"...Why?"
  She begins to cry even more, I start to tear up too, I can  feel that her spirit is just broken ,crushed." He's always had a drinking problem, and I've always been kind of ashamed...never wanted anybody to know. He's been really down lately, he lost his job six months back and he's just been in a real bad way. Nothing I say helps, I tried to get him to go to counseling but....Last night he got really depressed. He said he was leaving. He's said that before. I didn't want him to go but he wouldn't listen.This morning he came home drunk, he was so drunk he wasn't in his right mind at all, told me he was going to rob the church. At first I didn't believe him, But then he got angry. I didn't know what he would do. I didn't want to, but I was so scared, I  called the police. When he found out he.. smashed my phone and... I guess you saw the place.... he's never been that bad." She looks down, her dark eyes swollen from crying and the blow to her face. " "You mean he's done this before...?" I don't want to press her but I feel it's important. "Not this bad but yes."  I just can't believe it, I feel so ashamed of myself that I never knew, that I live such a pleasant ignorant life.To brush shoulders with someone every week and not see what was really happening. "I am so sorry Lydia, do you know where he might be now?" Suddenly there's a loud knock on the front door. Lydia looks at me like a scared little girl. I  find I too am afraid, wondering if it might be Frank. Then I remember Mark and the Captain. " Everything is going to be o.k, I think it's the police,  I'll be right back."She begins to cry silently. I smile weakly. I can't believe the cruelty...it's horrible.  As I stand to go to the door a sharp pain shoots through my ankle. "Ouch...I scraped that pretty good."

The Detective Part

I go out to my car which is parked in the alley. I feel adventurous yet nervous. Maybe I should bring the Bronx, he does a good guard dog bluff. I check my purse for my cell phone , buckle up and pull onto the street in the direction of Lydia's house. I feel confident until I pull onto her road. Maybe this is crazy, I mean, we could be totally wrong.Turning into the neighborhood, I try and remember which house is hers, most of the homes are small ranchers built during the seventies so they all kind of look the same. I do remember though that Lydia's house had a peculiar olive green trim on brick.'There it is" I say to myself. I see that there is no car in her driveway. But Before I go in I decide to call her one more time. Slowly I dial her number. Still no answer. I gather up my courage and park the car. Keeping my cellphone in my hand I head to the door and ring the bell. One of those awful little ringing dinging noises starts up. I take a deep breath and try again. Still no answer. I look around and since its the middle of the day it seems most people are at work. No one is around so I begin too peek in the windows. Its hard to see through the curtains but I notice there is a light on toward the back of the house. I head around the corner peeking in every window I can reach. I look over my shoulder to see if anyone is watching. I still can't see anyone inside, I notice a cat on the sofa and a purse on the floor. This seems to be a sign that Lydia is home.Then I notice there's one more little window that is too high for me to see in, however there's a cinder block laying nearby and I decide to use it as a step. I push through the bushes and try not to make to much noise as I carefully climb atop my wobbly perch. Its actually a bathroom window, I nearly squeal when I spot Lydia, crumpled on the floor with her hands on her head. I proceed to tap the window and feel the awful sensation that I am loosing my balance. My left foot scrapes down the concrete and I splash into a boxwood.I wrestle my way out of the infernal shrubbery and go around to the back door and find it to be unlocked. My adrenalin is pumping and I hope I'm not mistaken and that she doesn't just have the flu or something.However everything seem to point to trouble. "Lydia, Lydia, its Jenna, are you o.k,can I come in? Hello?"I call out as I walk through the door. Then I hear a voice. I try to make my way to the bathroom. The house is a mess,there's a lamp knocked over and I'm stepping in glass on the kitchen floor, I notice too that a cell phone lies smashed on the table. Then I hear Lydia, "Jenna , I'm in here, I'm alright,its o.k." I turn the corner and my eyes widen to see Lydia sitting up in the bathroom floor with a black eye and a bloody lip. I gasp " Oh my gosh, Lydia you are not o.k, what happened!?"

Intrigue...SUSPENSE! MURDER just kidding :)

The head officer calls Mark back over to the church. I follow along to hear what he has to say. The tall man has a military cut and looks very much like you would expect him to. He introduces himself as Captain Milford. "Your Minister is on his way right?" He asks " Yes Sir, he should be here any minute." Mark says nodding. "O.k, I'm just going to need to ask him some more questions for my report. However I want to ask you too, someone across the street said they saw a small blue pick up truck parked at the back of the church earlier this morning, Do either of you know who might drive that vehicle, if they attend church here or a reason they would have been here?" Mark and I look at each other. I wonder if I should say what i'm thinking, this is like something from a movie.Mark beats me to it, " Our cleaning lady drives a little blue pick -up, but she comes on Saturday." He writes that down and asks for her name. Gee, I hope we didn't just incriminate Lydia...this is weird especially since she wont answer her phone."Uh, her name is Lydia Bradshaw." Mark says looking worried.My mind is whirling. Just then we see Pastor Daily pulling into the parking lot. He walks briskly over. Seeming to be in shock he shakes the captains hand. He reintroduces himself as Captain Milford, and then the questioning. Mark and I decide that we should go. He and I begin to walk to the book shop. As we pass by The Daily Grind we see Mrs. Daily through the window putting on her coat. She rushes out the door hardly noticing us, making her way to the church. Mark and I make a pot of coffee when we get back to the store. We just sit there for a minute and then I break the silence. "Why do you suppose lydia's car was at the church today? I have been trying to call her all morning and she wouldn't answer. You know she missed our meeting this morning, that's never happened." I'm getting ahead of myself so I slow down. Mark shakes his head solemnly."How well do you know her?" he asks after refilling his mug. "I think back to the first time I met her, I was working on some of the flower beds at church and she was coming in to clean. She seemed real friendly and we talked a bit after introducing ourselves. After she got the cleaning job she came to church every Sunday alone, I wouldn't have even known she was married if it weren't for her ring. " Well," I begin after summing up my thoughts," It's been three years or so , and I think I know her pretty well, she's been coming to the book club meetings and she always comes to church... I mean what are we even suggesting here?" I say finally getting frustrated at myself for even considering that Lydia was a possible culprit in the crime."We are not saying she did it. I just think we should look at this thing from all angles." Mark says calmly in response to my tenseness. I apologize. "Sorry for getting worked up." Mark reaches down and scrubs Bronxe's ears. " Have you ever met Lydia's husband?" he asks still looking down at his canine friend. "I think a couple of months back I saw him but he just dropped Lydia off at the store. I've never spoken to him." " Do you think he's a descent guy or...and what's this about someone calling and telling Pastor Daily that the church was going to be broken into? how weird is that?" Mark reminded me, until this moment I had forgotten that. "This is starting to make some sense actually..." I say to Mark. His eyebrows raised " How so?" " You asked me if Lydia's husband was a descent guy, I have always gotten the idea that they were not or rather are not happy. Now she never came out and said that but that was the impression I got.So is he a descent guy? I am beginning to think not." "And you said Lydia didn't answer any of your calls?" "Nope" I think we had better go tell Captain Milford about this." I say"Good idea, but I have an idea too. You go tell the Captain and I am going to go see Lydia." Mark looks worried" Are you sure that's a good idea I mean what if he did do it, what if he's dangerous?" Here's what I'll do. I'll drive by , if the truck is there I'll leave, if its not I'll see if Lydia will talk to me." a bit concerned Mark says "I don't know about this." "Trust me."

The Next Lot

Several cars slow as they pass the church but speed up almost immediately.One of the cars flies past me and soaks my ankles. I see Mr. Clives is talking with Mark and an officer. I clutch the handle of my umbrella as Mark excuses himself and heads towards me. My heart is beating faster now. "Hey Jenna." "Hey, what's going on?" I ask trying to seem calm and collected. " Somebody broke into the church." "Oh my gosh, you're kidding!" "Nope, seems like whoever did it only "broke" into the Pastor's office. They apparently had a key for the main door." "But why? I mean what did they take?" " Well, I cant exactly be sure of everything until Pastor Daily gets here." ' So he's on his way?" "Yeah, he knows what's going on." " I think his new guitar is gone, the rear sound board is definitely gone and a pair of speakers too." "Oh man." I'm in disbelief of the facts just laid before me. Who on earth would do this in Canter Falls? "The weird thing to me though is that they had a key for the front door." "Well, I mean that's as long as no one left the door unlocked." " That's true." " So how did you find out about this?" " Pastor Daily called me and asked me to come over. Seems he got a text from a number he didn't recognize saying that the church was going to be broken into to." I just keep feeling more and more stumped and shocked. " So by the time Pastor daily called the police it was too late?" "Yep." "I just can't believe this." I repeat to myself.

I'm getting really concerned because we never see this kind of action in town. What could have happened?? Susan B., deciding that we need some positive thinking exclaims with deep concern, " Perhaps Pastor Daily has been...murdered! I read about these things all the time. It happens. Pastor preaches a sermon, some nut doesn't like it and bang..." "Good heavens." says Mr. Clives obviously perturbed.I hear Martin beside me say under his breath, " We can only be glad she reads and doesn't write...can you imagine."he chuckles to himself. Mrs. Batinkoff has a terrible look on her face. " I happen to know," began Mr. Clives."That Pastor Daily is away for the afternoon at a meeting in Charlottesville." Mrs. Batkinkoff smiles at him looking relieved. Is that a glimmer in his eye? Oh brother, a moment of romantic reprieve in the midst of a police raid! Our meeting is definitely unable to resume so I dismiss us. Everyone heads back out into the rain. However, I see Mr. Clives is going down the street towards the church. He looks like a type of Lt. Columbo from the back. I decide to follow him but first call Lydia. She cleans the Church so maybe she knows what's going on. Plus I'm a little surprised she didn't make it to our meeting. She's told me before its the highlight of her week. I dial her number, but get no answer. I send her a text but get no reply. One more time... still no answer. Now I'm worried about her. I've gotten the vibe that she isn't very happy at home. I hope she's o.k. Looking out the window my curiosity gets the better of me and I decide to set out for the church. Clad in my raincoat and holding a red umbrella I trek through the pouring rain and puddles to the old brick building.

I wait a while for my last book club member , Lydia. She's really late by now so I proceed figuring the weather may have deterred her.The book club is going smoothly as the rain continues to pour down and the wind begins to pick up even more. I notice that Martin is distracted looking out the window every now and again. "Is something wrong?" I finally ask. Still looking out the window he answers me,"There's a bunch of police cars heading towards the church." Now we're all curious and head to the windows to look out. Sure enough there in front of the church are three police cars. In my mind I begin to think of a million possible reasons for this scene. In this crazy October monsoon we can barely see, but can make out officers in rain coats scampering into the church. Now our whole group is discussing not the last chapter of our book , but rather, what on earth is going on in sleepy Canter Falls?