For His Name's Sake (Psalm 23 Mysteries) (20 page)

Cindy leaned her head against his chest and it made him ache deep inside. He loved her. There was no denying it. When they had been standing in front of the minister and she had been reciting vows to him part of him had wished that it was all real.

He wasn’t sure how or when it had all happened, but it had. Two years ago she was the pretty stranger whom he’d see in the neighboring parking lot when he got into work sometimes, nothing more. Now she was everything, and
he had thoughts about her that he couldn’t control, feelings that were getting harder and harder to just ignore. He cursed his past which kept them apart.

“Is everything alright?” she whispered
against his shoulder, as though sensing the struggle he was going through.

He tightened his arms around her.
He could have this moment, he would give it to himself. “At this moment, everything is perfect,” he said.

Mark was sitting next to Traci. The reception was still in full swing and everyone seemed to be having a magnificent time. He had to admit that seeing all the dancers in their masks whirling by was a sight to behold.

“If you don’t finish your cake, I’m stealing it,” Traci warned.

“It is really good,” Mark said with a grin, “but I’d sacrifice my dessert to you any day.”

Joseph walked over to them, a grin on his face. He sat down in one of the empty chairs. “Thank you both for everything,” he said.

“Just doing my job,” Mark said, his reflex response.

“No, you went far above and beyond your job. And, it certainly isn’t Traci’s job.”

“That’s true,” Traci said with a laugh.

“Here, this is for you,” Joseph said, handing Mark and Traci an envelope.

“What is it?” Mark asked.

“Two weeks, all expense paid trip to Tahiti. Your plane leaves tomorrow. I’ve made all the arrangements.”

“What?” Traci gasped.

“Liam helped me clear it with your captain. He said as long as the case was solved, you were free to take some of your vacation time. I wanted to surprise Geanie with our honeymoon destination, but I wasn’t one-hundred percent sure what her surprises were for me and so I kept my options open. I booked one trip to Paris and the other to Tahiti, making the arrangements in such a way that I could easily switch the names on one vacation. I figured we’d give the other one away, and the two of you certainly deserve it. Now, I have to get back to my bride.”

When Joseph had walked away Traci punched Mark lightly in the arm. “Bet you’re glad I volunteered to be a bridesmaid now,” she said.

“I am, I really am,” he said, still feeling slightly dazed.

“You promised me a vacation after this,” she said with a happy smile.

“I did. I just didn’t think it would all work out quite so well,” he said, tucking the envelope into his jacket. “You know the thing about Joseph?”

“What?”

“He’s really down-to-earth and easy going, but when he decides to make a big gesture, he makes a really big gesture.” He turned and smiled at Traci. “Well, we have some packing to do, but right now would you care to dance?”

“I’d love to,” she said with a smile.

He took her hand and led her onto the dance floor.

Cindy felt a surge of relief as they saw Joseph and Geanie off. Once they were gone she and the others went back inside. It looked like the party was going to continue well into the night.

She danced several more times with Jeremiah until her feet were so sore she could barely stand. When the party finally broke up just after midnight she helped with the clean-up efforts along with everyone else.

The wedding party made it back to Joseph’s, but instead of heading straight for bed, exhausted as they all were, they congregated in the living room to relive everything that happened.

Cindy had to retell the events at the church since most of the group hadn’t seen what had actually happened. It was nearly four a.m. by the time she was in her room. The second her head hit the pillow she was asleep.

The next morning was more bittersweet than she would have thought as everyone started packing up to go home. She realized with a start that she was going to miss the camaraderie of the past week.

Jeremiah dropped her at her house, but they made plans to have a late lunch together and decompress some more.

After dumping everything in her room Cindy looked around the house and it suddenly hit her that she no longer had a roommate. She felt tears sting her eyes. She had enjoyed having Geanie as a roommate and she was going to miss her.

She wandered into her office and sat down at her computer. She pulled up her email and gasped. There was a message from Gerald that looked to have been sent the morning he was attacked. It had three attachments. With a shaking hand she clicked on the first one.

Mark was sitting at his desk feeling like he was drowning in paperwork. He rubbed his eyes, wishing he could just slough all of it off onto Liam. Liam had his own stack of paperwork, though.

He saw someone walking toward him and he turned and was surprised to see that it was Cindy. Without preamble she sat down in the chair next to his desk.

“Can I do something for you?” he asked.

“Actually, I can do something for you,” she said, handing him three sheets of paper.

“What are these?”

“When I checked my computer this morning I found that Gerald had emailed these to me the morning he was attacked.

The top one was a birth certificate for a boy, Andrew John Matthews. His parents were listed as Tobi A. Matthews and Sarah Matthews.

He glanced up. “Andrew John Matthews. Do you think...is this Paul?” he asked, finding it suddenly hard to speak.

“Look at the other two pages,” she said.

He turned to the next one. It was an elementary school record for Andrew John Matthews, age 7. In the field reserved for parent or legal guardian it listed Simon A. Matthews and a notation next to it read ‘Grandfather’. With a shaking hand he turned to the third picture which looked like it was from a school yearbook. The seven year old boy who was staring back at him was Paul. He’d bet his life on it.

The papers slipped from his fingers and fell onto the desk.

“The school is in New Orleans. I looked it up, along with Simon A. Matthews. Apparently he was a pastor, very famous at the time. He was murdered the same year of that school record.”

“And the boy?” Mark whispered.

“I couldn’t find a reference to him in any of the articles I read. The killer was never caught, although there was strong speculation that Simon knew his attacker because there was no sign of forced entry. He was killed just a couple of weeks before Matthew Tobias showed up in Righteousness. Also, Matthew Tobias is an anagram of Tobi A. Matthews. Not even an overly clever one at that.”

“But just enough to never raise any red flags,” Mark said.

“Exactly.”

He felt like he couldn’t think straight, like every time he tried to latch on to a thought it slipped away from him. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that Paul was this boy Andrew John.”

“Neither do I. And I’m positive Gerald wouldn’t have sent me these documents if he wasn’t also sure.”

“Okay, so, walk me through what you think happened,” he said.

Cindy took a deep breath and leaned forward. “I think Tobi had a son named Andrew. He wasn’t a good father, a criminal. Tobi’s father Simon is a pastor, an upstanding pillar of the community. He takes the boy to raise. Tobi eventually gets his revenge, killing his father and taking back his son who doesn’t want to go with him. Tobi moves the two of them cross country to Righteousness where he changes his name and keeps the boy hidden from the townsfolk, probably a prisoner since Andrew is upset that his father killed his grandfather. When he’s exposed as a criminal there, he moves again, this time to California where he just goes by the name Matthew. He and his followers move on to crimes such as kidnapping. His son, Andrew, befriends one of the young victims. When Andrew is finally able to escape, he takes the other boy’s identity, ensuring that he can never be sent back to his father, a man he knows to be a monster.”

“And people believe because they want to, because the boys look similar enough and because Andrew knows so much about Paul’s life. Only, the new Paul has grown to hate religion because of what happened to him and his grandfather and how his father has twisted it. He also is afraid of the word ‘Righteousness’ because it was the town he was taken to as a captive immediately after seeing his father murder his grandfather,” Mark said.

“Exactly.” Cindy took a deep breath and then continued. “The cult is massacred and Andrew thinks he is safe until years later when someone comes looking for the truth.”

“What made him think Gerald would find out anything about him, though?”

“I don’t think he was worried about Gerald finding out the truth about him. I think he was worried about Gerald writing too much about the cult in the same book that he was talking about the Passion Week Killer and the police involved in that investigation.”

“Because the name Paul Dryer might be noticed by someone with more than a passing interest in that cult.”

“Someone murdered those cult members and buried their bodies. That someone would have also known that the real Paul Dryer was dead.”

“And so Andrew becomes afraid that someone will put two and two together, and come back, looking for him,” Mark said.

“Exactly. And I have a pretty good idea who killed the cultists and who our friend was afraid would return to the area.”

“His father.”

Cindy nodded. “When Gerald called he had already sent these documents to me. He said he had shocking news. He didn’t say anything about Paul, what his real name was, anything. No, he said, ‘Matthew is’. I think he was about to say that Matthew is alive.”

“And if so, maybe, just maybe he’s been hiding out back in good old New Orleans where this all started.”

“Which is why Gerald is still in danger,” Cindy said. She took a deep breath. “What do you think of my theory?”

“I like it enough to almost call it fact without any other investigating at all,” Mark admitted.

“So, there’s a mass murderer in New Orleans. What do we do about it?” she asked.

He looked sharply at her. “We? We don’t do anything. I’ll hand over what I have to the New Orleans police and let them take it from there. I just got word from them about an hour ago that it looks like Gerald is going to pull through, so hopefully he can help them as well.”

“But-”

“No buts,” he said holding up his hand. “This is out of our hands now. We found out what we set out to. Thank you for that. In exactly six hours, though, Traci and I are on our way to Tahiti. I suggest you take some time off, too. We all need it. Now I’ve got to get this finished so I can get home and help Traci with the packing,” he said.

Cindy stood up. “Okay, I’ve got to meet Jeremiah for a late lunch, but I thought you’d like to see all this,” Cindy said.

“Yes, thank you. I really do appreciate it.”

She gave him a small smile before leaving.

Mark picked up the picture of Andrew, aged seven, and leaned back in his chair. He felt like he was staring into his old partner’s eyes all over again. “I’m sorry about everything that happened to you,” he whispered. “At least, now, I know your name.”

Cindy met Jeremiah at his house. When he opened the door he smiled at her faintly, but it never reached his eyes and she felt a chill touch her.

“Come in,” he said.

She followed him inside and he closed the door. “So, where are we going?” she asked.

“I decided to cook. I thought we could talk...privately,” he said.

Again, something in his demeanor chilled her. He was making her nervous and she wished she knew why.

“Sounds good,” she said, cheerily, following him into the kitchen. “You’ll never guess what I found when I checked my email?”

“What?”

“A message from Gerald. By the way Mark said he got a call and it looks like Gerald is going to pull through.”

“That’s great news. So, what did the message say?”

Cindy spent the next several minutes filling him in while he finished up making lunch which was salmon with an amazing smelling sauce and Caesar salads. By the time they were sitting down to eat she had brought him up to speed.

“So, one mystery solved,” he said.

“And another one revealed.”

He gave her a fleeting smile.

They began to eat and as the meal progressed Cindy became more and more uncomfortable. She made small talk, chatted about the crazy things at the reception, but it was hard to get more than one word answers out of Jeremiah.

Finally she pushed her plate back and turned to him. “Okay, what’s wrong? You’re starting to scare me.”

He turned his chair to face her. “I need to tell you something,” he said.

“Okay.”

“We know that Amanda hired Sonja to kidnap Joseph.”