Scott’s face regrouped and within seconds he was all business again. “Not a problem, Bess. I’m the one who should be sorry. That was unprofessional. Won’t happen again.” He picked up the evidence bag containing Greg’s gun and ambled over to the front door. “I’ll let you know if we find Greg. When we find Greg. It was nice seeing you again.” He nodded, dipping his chin ever so slightly as a goodbye and let himself out.
Bess locked the door behind him. The house seemed terribly quiet. She tried not to linger on the fact that she could be fucking Scott Howland at that exact moment and instead focused on her next move. She would go to Bible study that night—for the first time since she was twelve years old.
12
THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH of Antioch was housed in a large red brick building. The stained-glass windows that lined the sides of the sanctuary were easily two stories tall and a mix of greens and whites. White stone steps led up to large white pillars and a row of ornately carved wooden doors.
But Bess wasn’t going in through the main entrance that night. She’d called Wayne about the Bible study and he directed her to enter through a smaller, less grand building behind the main church. This building housed the Sunday school classrooms, a large fellowship hall, and what looked to be some sort of small auditorium. Bible study was in one of the larger Sunday school rooms toward the back of the building. There were little signs printed on copy paper leading the way.
Bess poked her head in and surveyed the soft sage green walls of the room. There were about ten people inside, most of them looked younger and it occurred to her for the first time that “young adult” probably meant eighteen to twenty-five, and at thirty-five, she was more than stretching the definition. A man close to the doorway caught her eye and smiled.
“Excuse me,” she said, returning the smile. “Is this the young adult Bible study?”
“It sure is,” he said enthusiastically. “I’m Andy.” He extended a hand and Bess shook it.
“Hi, I’m Bess. My friend Wayne recommended the group. Although, I might be a little old. Wayne knows my father and, you know, I think he still thinks of me as a kid.”
“Nonsense, everyone’s welcome here. And besides, you don’t look very old to me.”
Bess considered briefly if maybe Andy was hitting on her, but she quickly dismissed the idea. He seemed too wide open and pure to ever hit on a woman. “Well, I appreciate the compliment, Andy.”
A circle of metal folding chairs sat in the center of the room and a couple of long faux wood finished tables pushed back against the walls and housed a coffee pot and a box of donuts. Bess smiled and made her way over to the coffee. She poured some into one of the disposable cups stacked next to the pot and smiled down at the beautiful caffeinated cup of something to do with her hands.
“Feel free to take a donut, too,” Andy said. He’d followed her over to the table. “They’re for everyone and we always have leftovers. And I end up taking them home and…” He patted his small belly to show where they would end up.
Bess gave him a small laugh. “I might have one after. But I’m grateful for the coffee.” The cream was in a small silver pitcher and Bess spilled some into her cup. “Have you been coming here long?”
“Only my whole life,” he said, smiling even more. “My folks go here and all that. How about yours?”
“Oh no, my family is Methodist. But I sort of got out of the habit and, you know, I thought I’d try my own thing.”
“I think that’s great. You’ll like it here. Daniel’s pretty great. He’s intense sometimes. But he has these ideas, like, wow. Stuff you’d never think of on your own, you know? He has a lot of insight.”
“He’s the group leader?” Bess asked.
“Yep, you got it. In fact, he’s already here. I can introduce you before we get started.”
“Oh, oh man. I’m not—I don’t want to be a bother.” Bess nearly choked on the coffee she hadn’t had a drink of yet. It was all happening faster than she’d anticipated. She’d hoped to stay back in the shadows and go unnoticed. Instead she’d run into Andy, the friendliest man alive, and now she was going to have a conversation with a man she believed could be a serial killer.
“It’s no bother at all, he’ll want to say hi. He always wants to meet new people.” Andy stood on his tiptoes and waved to another man leaning against the opposite wall and having a conversation with a tall brunette woman in jeans and an oversized royal blue tee shirt with Cookie Monster’s face on the front. “Brother Daniel, we have a visitor,” Andy called. The man waved back at Andy and politely excused himself from the woman and approached them.
Daniel Mills was not a small man. In fact, Bess figured he was easily six foot three, possibly taller, yet he somehow didn’t take up much space. He had an average build. Not remarkable. If she saw him on the street she would likely never notice him, or forget she’d seen him within seconds. He had dark hair and eyes and the flawless white skin of an actor. He grinned at her without showing any teeth and she was suddenly reminded of Anthony Perkins. She tried to push the image out of her mind, but the resemblance was uncanny. His face was a blank slate except for the wheels turning behind his eyes.
“Hi there,” Daniel said. “It’s nice to have you here.”
Bess smiled and said nothing.
Daniel smiled at Andy, his eyes amused, wordlessly asking what the new girl’s problem was.
“Okay, well, I’m glad to meet you,” he continued. “We’ll be getting started here in a few minutes, so make yourself at home.”
“Thank you,” Bess muttered. “Sorry, I just…” She drank some of her coffee, pretending it wasn’t too hot. “Dry throat.”
“Sure, of course. I’m Brother Daniel. I see you’ve already met Brother Andy. He’s our unofficial welcome wagon. No one makes you feel welcome like Andy.”
“He’s been great, yeah. Uh, my name’s Bess.”
“Bess.” Daniel said the name like she was an old friend he was embarrassed to have forgotten. “I think you’ll enjoy this one, Bess.” He turned his back to her and faced the center of the room. “Hey guys, why don’t we get started here. We have a new member with us tonight, so let’s make sure and show Bess some hospitality.”
The small groups broke apart and took seats in the circle of chairs. Bess watched Daniel sit and purposely sat as far from him as possible. There was a recognition in his face that made her uneasy. She told herself she was paranoid, that she was imagining things. Andy sat next to her and she felt grateful for his friendly aura.
“So last week we really dug into the story of Jesus in the desert,” Daniel began. “This week I’d like to take some of those same themes and go in a different direction with it.”
The group murmured happy agreements.
“This week we’re going to focus on a different character from that story. We’re going to focus on the Devil.”
Bess drank from her coffee cup and noticed her hands were trembling slightly. The faces in the room were wide open and unafraid. They smiled, excited for what was to come.
Daniel continued. “We all know there are two sides to every story. That’s the story of the universe. Good and Evil are just two sides of the same coin. You can’t have one without the other. Without Good there is no Evil, and without witnessing evil, how would we ever truly know good? They exist in a balance.” There were a few thoughtful nods. “Good and Evil exists in all of us. And it exists there equally. If God is always watching you, then I tell you so is the Devil.”
“I thought that was Santa Claus that always watched us.” Bess was surprised by her own voice. All eyes fell upon her.