A Wedding and a Killing (6 page)

Inside the church building, Mac stared into the small office which was still being searched by the forensics team for clues. Not permitted inside the office until they had completed their work, he had to satisfy himself with committing the scene to memory in order to get a jump start on the case.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sensed David’s approach from the other end of the business wing. When the police chief stepped up to him, Mac refused to tear his eyes from the mini laptop resting next to the ledger sheet. Eugene appeared to be entering the amounts after totaling the money on the calculator.

“It is now a murder case,” David whispered as if he did not want to disturb Eugene’s spirit inside his office.

“I’d be surprised if it wasn’t,” Mac said. “Shot in the head, right between the eyes. It was a miracle he lived as long as he did.” He glanced over at David. “Did he regain consciousness to say anything?”

“Nope.”

“I didn’t think so.” With a heavy sigh, Mac turned back to the scene.

David joined him in staring into the office. “Brewster is taking the reverend and office manager to the hospital to meet with the widow. He’ll try to get a preliminary statement from her about who may have done this. Bogie is on his way to McHenry. Sheriff Turow is already on the way with a couple of his deputies to make sure Van Dorn’s wife is safe. One of my officers is rounding up Gnarly, who is stalking Helga Thorpe’s hat. We need to get going.” He gestured at the blood soaked carpet. “Any inspiration?”

“How did Chip Van Dorn get in here?” Mac asked.

“He could have gone in through the back door after Ruth came in to start cleaning,” David said. “She says she started work at ten o’clock, and she did leave the back door unlocked.”

“Why would Van Dorn come to this church to kill Eugene Newton?”

“He was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” David said. “Van Dorn blamed the reverend for breaking up his marriage because she was counseling his wife to leave him.”

“Last week,” Mac said. “She left him last week. They stopped coming to church a year ago. Deborah hasn’t seen Tina Van Dorn since then. As a matter of fact, she wasn’t even aware that Tina had left her husband. Why would Van Dorn blame the reverend or the church for his marriage breaking up?”

“Because he was incapable of taking responsibility for his own mistakes,” David said. “Come on, Mac. We see it all the time. He had to blame someone, so he blamed the church that first planted the seed in his wife’s mind to leave him. Edna said he’s been posting anti-Christian stuff all over the social media since threatening to blow Newton’s brains out for saying no to a bake sale.”

Mac said, “When you say it, it makes sense. But something isn’t adding up.” He shook his head. “Nope. Eugene, this nice upstanding man, who gave his time to his church and his community, was sitting in here, the place where he prayed and served his Lord, and someone just walked in and blew him away. Why?”

“He wasn’t supposed to be here,” David said. “Remember what Archie told us? Deborah confirmed it. The office manager comes in at ten o’clock in the morning. This morning, she was late. Eugene came in to count the offering because there weren’t enough counters on Sunday. There are supposed to be two people counting the offering to deter anyone with sticky fingers from stealing money out of the plate. Since only Helga came on Sunday, Eugene decided to count it himself this morning. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been here and he’d still be alive.”

“It isn’t a case of him surprising the killer.” Mac gestured toward the laptop, calculator, ledger, and stacks of bills. “He was in the middle of counting. He had time to unlock the door, come in, set up, and it looks like he had sorted the money and checks before he was shot. The murderer must have come in after he did.”

“Why did the shooter come in?” David asked. “To kill Edna?”

“Why would Van Dorn want to shoot Edna?” Mac asked.

“Because she represented the church he hated,” David said. “Maybe he’s on a killing spree, in which case we need to get going to pick him up.” He grasped Mac’s elbow to urge him down the hallway to the front door.

“If the murderer intended to shoot Edna …” Mac allowed David to lead him down the hallway to the church’s main office. Through the glass door, he could see the desk behind a welcome counter. “The door to this office was closed when we got here. The light was off.”

“Edna stated that her office was locked when she arrived. She unlocked it and went in to put her purse away, turned on the light, and then went down the hall to see what Gnarly was fussing about.” The police chief added, “Plus, the front door to the church building was locked when we got here. Remember? We both saw Deborah unlock it.”

“That’s right,” Mac recalled. “Gnarly was trying to get into the building until Deborah arrived. As soon as she unlocked and opened the door, he tore in. Did Eugene have a key to the church office?”

“Yes, but the money was in the safe in the back office where he was shot,” David said.

“Think about it,” Mac said. “Ruth was on the other side of the building.”

“Running the vacuum, which is loud.”

“Eugene was counting money in the office down the hallway with the door shut. So if someone walked in—”

“They couldn’t have come in unless they came in the back door,” David reminded him. “Eugene wouldn’t have left that door unlocked because he didn’t want people walking in from off the street. He didn’t like dealing with the public. Remember what Deborah told us about the woman who came in wanting a divorce and she got snot all over his shirt.”

“He said never again.” Mac nodded his head. “Whoever murdered Eugene either had a key or—”

“Or they came in the back door,” David said.

“Most people leave as soon as they try the front door and find it locked,” Mac said. “They wouldn’t go all the way around to the back unless they really wanted in.”

“Like an enraged former church member who blamed the church for breaking up his marriage.” David pressed through the front door.

“Let’s get a list from Deborah of everyone who has keys to the building.” Mac followed him into the parking lot.

Outside, they encountered a robust man in a chef’s jacket and a red and green ballcap with Carmine’s Pizza emblazoned across the front. Upon seeing the police chief badge, he scurried around the crime scene tape and up to the front door.

“Chief O’Callaghan …” He took off his cap to reveal a head of thick dark hair. His Roman nose would have appeared larger if it weren’t for his chubby cheeks that gave his face the appearance of being as round as a pizza pie. “I’m sorry to bother you, sir. I’m Carmine Romano, one of the church’s trustees. I just got a call from one of our members …”

“Carmine.” Seeing the chubby restaurateur brought an involuntary smile to David’s face.

“That’s my name.”

David stuck out his hand. “You own Carmine’s Pizza in McHenry. My friends and I used to hang out at your restaurant when I was in school.”

The always happy grin flashed across Carmine’s face. “A lot of kids have hung out at my place throughout the years.”

“Carmine only has the best pizza in the area,” David told Mac. “Friday night was never Friday night without one of his pizzas.”

Reminded by the police cars of their reason for meeting, Carmine swallowed. “I heard something happened to Eugene, our head trustee.”

David gently nodded his head. “I’m sorry, Carmine.”

Instantly, tears came to the pizza man’s eyes. “No … not Eugene.” His lips quivering, he shook his head. “He can’t be … dead? He and Marilyn came into my restaurant for lunch only yesterday.”

“They did everything they could—” Mac said.

“How?” Carmine clutched his chest. “What happened? How did he die? Tell me he didn’t suffer?”

“Someone shot him,” David said while being careful to be vague. By keeping the details to himself, the killer might unwittingly reveal himself.

Carmine hung his head to his chest. “Poor … Marilyn? Does she know?”

Concerned that he was about to collapse with a heart attack, David and Mac grasped his arms and ushered him to a bench next to the front door.

“Your pastor is going to the hospital to meet her,” Mac said while helping the older man to sit down.

“Is Bogie on the case?”

“Yes,” David said. “Do you know Bogie?”

“Sure do.” A small grin came to Carmine’s lips. “He’ll get the evil monster who did this and I want to be there when he does.” He paused. “Maybe not. I’ll strangle the creep with my own bare hands.” He gazed down at his thick fingers.

Mac sat down beside him. “Carmine, do you have any immediate thoughts about who would want to hurt Eugene?”

“He has been one of my closest friends,” Carmine said. “I’ve known him for nearly twenty years. He and Marilyn … everyone here …” Abruptly, he jumped to his feet. “Ruth? Where’s Ruth? Was she hurt? Did they hurt her?” His dark eyes were round with fear when he grabbed both of Mac’s arms. “Ruth was cleaning the church today. Tell me that the maniac who killed Eugene didn’t hurt her.”

“Ruth is fine,” Mac assured him. “They took her to the police station to get her statement.”

“What about Natalie? Ruth’s daughter. Is she okay?”

“She’s with the pastor’s son Chase,” David said. “They’re right next door.”

The big Italian checked the time on his watch. “They’re all going to be hungry when they get back. I wonder if Deborah has anything in her kitchen. That woman doesn’t ever have anything except lettuce and salmon.” He continued muttering, “Lucky for them I was at the grocery store when I got the call. There’s nothing like a nice robust lasagna, fresh Italian bread, and a hearty Chianti after a police interrogation.”

With a shake of his finger in Mac’s direction, Carmine turned to leave, only to have the detective circle around to cut him off. “Wait a minute. What about Eugene?”

“Oh,” Carmine gasped. “That’s right, you wanted to know who would want to kill him.”

“That would be good to know,” Mac said. “It would give us an edge in our murder investigation.”

“Have you talked to Helga Thorpe?” Carmine asked.

“We’ve met her,” David said. “Yes.”

“She’s one of our trustees,” Carmine said, “but you wouldn’t know it by the way she bad mouths Deborah and the way Eugene managed the trustees and the church. It all started a couple of years ago. Eugene has been on the board for twenty years. He’s been chief of the trustees and in charge of the church finances for almost that long. Well, Helga got it in her head that she wanted to be chief of the trustees and started a campaign to have Eugene voted out. She failed—miserably.”

“Why?” David asked, even though he suspected.

The corners of Carmine’s thick lips curled. “The chief trustee is virtually the middle man between the pastor and the members of the church’s congregation. He has to work closely with the clergy. Deborah and Eugene are close friends. He was there for her when her husband died. He helped her get on her feet financially and adjust to being a single mother.”

“Helga Thorpe didn’t have what it took to be chief trustee?” Mac asked.

“It would have been a disaster,” Carmine said. “You met her.”

“Yes, I did.”

“If Helga was made chief trustee, Deborah would have killed her. We would have had to cover it up on account of there being a scandal. There would have been a major police investigation. Our pastor would have gone to jail, Chase would have been without a mother as well as a father, and we all would have gone to hell for an eternity.” Carmine peered into Mac’s eyes. “Do you know how long an eternity is?”

Feeling drawn to answer, Mac replied, “A really long time?”

“Seems even longer when you’re in hell with a bunch of stupid atheists. After five minutes of saying, ‘I told you so,’ then what are you going to do?” With a shake of his head, Carmine shrugged his shoulders. “No way Helga could have been chief trustee.”

“Did she take losing the chief trustee spot poorly?” David asked.

“Very,” Carmine said. “She’s been undermining everything Eugene does ever since. She’d revealed to one of our former church members that Eugene was blind-copying the board in his emails to him. It was totally above board, but Helga made like it was something else and this guy wasn’t wrapped too tight to begin with. He ended up attacking Eugene.”

“So we heard,” David said. “Do you think Chip Van Dorn was capable of killing Eugene?”

Carmine’s dark eyes narrowed in deep thought. “Not a year later. Van Dorn has a short fuse all right, but he lives too much in the moment. If you’re looking for someone who’s diabolical, look at Helga Thorpe.” He leaned in to whisper, “She even started rumors accusing Eugene and Edna …” He arched his thick dark eyebrows.

With thoughts of the attractive office manager having a secret affair with the married trustee, David asked with all seriousness. “Were they?”

“No way!” Carmine said with force. “Obviously you haven’t met Marilyn Newton!” He shook a thick index finger at the police chief by way of chastising him for thinking such a thing. “Edna is a good woman! Get your mind out of the gutter, Chief.”

“You were the one who brought it up,” David said in his defense. Seeing Mac snickering behind the restaurateur’s back, he fired off a glare in his direction.

“Helga only started those rumors after the ones about Eugene embezzling from the church funds got laughed out of the building,” Carmine said. “We have an audit every year, at Eugene’s insistence. He always comes out clean.”

David had to ask, “Why would Helga continue coming to this church if she thinks so poorly of it?”

“To torture all of us?” Carmine replied. “Deborah was taking action to have Helga fired from the board of trustees and kicked out of the church, which has never happened in all of our church history.” He nodded his head. “Yep, that’s why Helga was the first one who came to my mind just now when you told me Eugene was dead.”

A shriek came from across the parking lot.

With a purple hat in his mouth, Gnarly raced from around the corner of the church building. He made a beeline for David’s cruiser.

David’s radio crackled. “Code K!” an officer shouted. “We have a Code K in process.”