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?