Secret Sins: Murder in the Church (10 page)

I felt like a Destroyer crossing the English Channel as I got out of my car and jumped
across the obstacle course of water puddles that
cover the parking lot of the Evergreen
Springs Nursing Home. From the outside, Evergreen Springs has the look of an exclusive
retirement community, but
nothing
could be further
from the truth. I haven’t been in
Evergreen Springs since I was in the NSA and I hid an elderly Italian mobster that was
scheduled to testify against a South American Drug Kingpin. Evergreen Springs has all the
place would not be a normal person’s first choice. After having spoken to Mr. Thompson
and reading the files I can imagine his horrification at his daughter bringing him here.
The main entrance has a set of large glass double doors and a mantrap with a reception
desk a few feet away. The receptionist is sitting behind a desk that has a number of chairs
along the side of her. There is a woman in a blue uniform sitting next to the
receptionist
and
they were
engaged in
a conversation when I pressed the
buzzer. The
receptionist presses a button on a white key pad that is attached to the wall. There was a
click at the door and I pulled the door open and entered into
the mantrap. I pulled the
second set of double doors, but it was locked. Thirty seconds later the door clicked open
and I walked up to the receptionist and she said, “How may I help you?” The receptionist had
the kind of face that hurts to smile and may even cause the roof to collapse. The woman in
the blue uniform remained quietly
seated next to the reception desk. I showed the receptionist my badge and told her, “I’m here
to see Allen Thompson.” After the mention of the name, the woman in blue got up and
left and a without a word or single gesture and darted into a corner office. The receptionist
got up from her desk and went into the same corner office as the previous woman and
never returned. I stood there looking around and there were patients walking the halls in a
mindless daze.
A moment later, a light complexioned older woman in a gray and black wig with
burgundy streaks came out and said with
a flicker of apprehension in her eyes,
“Good morning, I’m Genevieve Carney,” but I knew from the way she shook my
hand that the smile was fake and she had no intention of cooperating. It was not
a normal hand shake, but a four finger hand shake.
As the old adage goes, if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is would
prove more than just an old wives tale. I showed her my badge as she asked,
“I’m Detective Breeze and I’m here to see Mr. Allen Thompson.” Genevieve half
smiled with her lips scarcely parted and her fingers rose to her lips then she
released it
doggedly,
though I had made
about?”
I smiled thinly, “This is part of an ongoing investigation.”
Genevieve shook her head suspiciously, and replied, “I’ll take you to him.”
I was led down a long corridor and I looked around trying to get a feel of the layout
of Evergreen Springs. I could tell from the smell of the fresh paint and new carpeting
that it
“This
is
high irregular.” She scowled at me as
an
arbitrary
request
and inquired, “What’s this
had been recently remodeled. We enter into a large multi-purpose room where a number
of
patients are either walking on foot or walking in
patients are
sitting in front of a television set watching cartoons
in
a
wheelchair in front of a glass bird cage watching Finches. It has been slightly
more than
a day
and
I almost
failed
to
recognize Mr. Thompson. He looked
very frail and confused and Genevieve stopped and patted him on the shoulder,
“Mr. Thompson. You have a visitor.”

Mr. Thompson turns and looks at
Virginia and I look at him. Immediately I knew
something was very wrong. I always get a slight twitch in my ear when I know something
is out of place and one look at the man in front of me and I knew the problem. I told
Genevieve, “I need to speak to Mr. Thompson alone.”

“Alright, but I don’t think you’ll get much out of him,” she commented.
“Well I’ll be the judge of that,” I said.
Genevieve scrutinized me and smiled and begin to walk away, but she stopped short

Mr. Thompson entire demeanor
up so
much that
he
looked at
me
smiled and asked, “What can I do for you Detective Breeze?”

“Just out of curiosity,” I explained, “What can you tell me about Eric Campbell and
Shawn Graves III?”
Mr. Thompson looked around the room and then I looked around the room before he
uttered a word. “Eric Campbell and Shawn Graves III were housed in the Trustee’s Unit

brightened
and said, “I thought
she
would never leave.”
He
and they shared the same cell. Campbell was doing a time for a double homicide and Graves was
due to be paroled the following day,” and he paused and looked around again, “The fire
started in their cell and it spread throughout that whole section.”

I glanced around the room and noticed a
nurse pushing a cart and distributing medications on the
other
side
of the
room.
Mr.
Thompson looked at her and winked and he continued, “Graves and Campbell were so
badly burnt if was difficult to know who as who accept by the Number on the shirt of one
of them.”

We were startled by the sudden slamming of a door. We both turned to look and
saw Genevieve coming out of the office carrying a file on
looked
at
Mr. Thompson.
Mr.
Thompson
was
staring
at
turned and walked in the opposite direction. I looked at Mr. Thompson and told him,
“Okay. She’s gone.”

“We had things under control until the Police and that lawyer showed up and created
a lot of confusion,” he paused.
“What are you getting at,” I inquired.
“The number on the dead man’s shirt was 102700312 and that was Shawn Graves’
number,” he sighed, “That was a shame he died like that and the Campbell’s shirt was burnt
beyond recognition”
Surprised I replied, “That can’t be?”
Mr. Thompson smiled at me, “Oh yes it can. By the time I was finished talking to
the police and that lawyer it was a ball of confusion between the Paramedics and the Medical
Examiner.”
Mr. Thompson glanced up at me and sighed intensely, “Let me get this straight. They
got the two men mixed up?”
her
hand
she
paused
and
the Finches,
but
Genevieve
“Yes,” he responded, “Eric Campbell and Shawn Graves looked enough alike that they
could pass
for
twins
and
I
think
someone
switched Shawn Graves’ shirt with Eric
Campbell’s.”
“There is still the detail regarding the surgery,” I questioned.
Mr. Thompson looked around again to see if the coast was clear before he spoke, “He
was paroled
while
still
in
the
hospital
and
Shawn Graves’ father John had him sent
overseas for special treatment.”
I commented, “You men cosmetic surgery.” “John S. Graves got sick a couple years later
and Eric Campbell came home looking and sounding like Shawn Graves,
but I
don’t
believe his mother Mary Graves believe it was her son, Shawn.”
I didn’t understand, “Shawn Mother?”
“After John Graves died I heard that Mary had lost her mind and Shawn put her
into a sanitarium where she died,” he replied sadly.
My Thompson looked around and saw Genevieve and a stout security guard walking
quickly in our direction. I looked down at Mr. Thompson as he whispered, “That was not my
daughter. Get me out of here.”
Genevieve walks over with the file in hand,
“If you have any further questions, you’ll need a warrant!”
Mr. Thompson continued looking at the Finches, and I said, “I will.”
Genevieve snaps at the guard, “Will, escort Detective Reed out.”
I patted Mr. Thompson on the shoulder, and said, “See you later, and turned to leave
with Will following close behind me.
I paused to look back at Mr. Thompson again and he was looking at me with tears in
his eyes and I knew that would be the last time I would see him alive. In those final
moments I could hear Genevieve say, “No, you won’t.”

The sign read, Inventory Clearance Sale at the auto dealership. Twenty-two year old
identical twins, Shatoya and Jade Quinn sit in a Casmir Silver Metallic BMW 6 Series. Jade
grips the steering wheel and inhales the smell of fresh Dakota leather, “I want to go for test
drive.”

Shatoya thought for a hot minute before she spoke, “These folks not let you take
this car off the Showroom Floor.”
Jade pondered the idea for a moment and said, “I don’t see why not.”
“Jade,” said Shatoya with a crisp reply, “They are going to want to see your Bank
Statement plus a Credit Check before they will consider allowing you to test drive this car.”
Jade turned to her sister and said, “No problem they can look at my Bank Statement
now if they want to.”
Jade continued to stroke the steering wheel as has sister tugged at her wrist and bent
over and whispered, “Yeah, but you suppose to have some money on the Bank Statement
and money in the bank.”
Jade was about to reply, “That’s just a…”
But Shatoya stopped her
mid-sentence, “Before you say anything
else we need to
get to work, and she opens the car door and got out.
Jade
countered, “We already late,” as she
gently closes the car door and looks at the sales
price on the sticker, “Girl!”
Bolting
to
the
passenger
side
of
the
BMW, Jade
looks
and
gets a
case
of
immediate sticker shock, “Jesus will have to pay for it.”
“Come on and let’s go. Our current salary will never afford any kind of car in the
low nineties,” said Shatoya as she and Jade walked back to their late model car they refer to as
Vicki.
Jade was silent on the drive to work at Spirit Temple Pentecostal Christian Church and
Shatoya commented, “We need a better job.”
“You would think a well-established church would at lease offer benefits,” Jade said quietly.
“Churches are non-for-profit organizations, so if we get laid off we don’t even qualify
for unemployment,” said Shatoya.
Jade reflected on Shatoya’s comment for a moment and then said, “God’s house sure is a
hateful place.”
Shatoya and Jade enter the dark sanctuary of the church and Jade flips the light switch on
the wall. The floors are decorated with
imported hand woven carpeting in navy
blue with little black crosses embroidered
along the edges.
They
notice
someone
sitting
on
the
“Someone is sitting in the dark.”
Just as surprised, “What?” said Shatoya. “Hello,”
movement.
As they approached, Jade makes an observation, “That sort of
looks
like
Deacon
Murdock from behind.”
“Girl stop-you know that man’s dead,” Shatoya said, never taking her eyes off the man
in the front pew.
Shatoya and Jade walked disbelieving and as they draw closer Shatoya said, “What in
the Devil?”
They both stop dead in their tracks and looked with stunned horror at Deacon Murdock
sitting in the front pew with his eyes wide open and a big grin on his face, wearing a gray
suit with matching shoes.
front pew,
surprised
Jade said,

said Shatoya, but there
was
no
Shatoya cries out, “Shit!” Shatoya turned to leave, but Jade grabbed her arm.
“Wait,” yelled Jade, “Look at him,” as she pointed to Deacon Murdock.

Shatoya trying to pull herself from Jade’s grip, Deacon Murdock is looking at
something he is holding in his hand. Jade steps closer to Ray Murdock’s body while she
pulling Shatoya along with her, “Look at what he’s holding in his hand?” “I don’t know and
I don’t want to know!”
said Shatoya, “Let’s go,” she demanded.

Jade releases her grip on Shatoya as she looks at what in his hand, “Girl look, it’s a
lottery ticket!”
Shatoya was about to turn to leave, “The one Grandma Vergi been talking about?”
“I can’t be certain, but I think so,” replies
Jade as she looks at the ticket even closer and
takes the ticket out of his hand.”
“Stop that, you are going to hell…and trying to take me with you…stealing from
dead,” exclaims Shatoya.
Jade said, “He’s not going to need the money, and this ticket will pay cash for that
BMW we were just looking at,” smiling as she holds the ticket out to Shatoya.
Jade did not offer any token of resistance as she
took
the
ticket and began
to
investigate it, “And a lot of other stuff,” smiles Shatoya.
“See, that’s what I’m talking about,” as Jade looks around the church, “All we need
to do is take the video tape out of the recorder..” said Jade looking directly at Shatoya.
“Yeah, and turn out the lights and leave,” smiles Shatoya.
Jade and Shatoya give each other a high five
as Jade rushed into the office and grabbed the video tape out of the video recorder. They
leave the same way they came in, turning out the lights and carefully wiping down everything
they
touched.
The Mini speeds down interstate-270, “Slow down!” Shatoya tells Jade.
The speedometer registers eight-five miles an hour, they zoom past the seventy speed
limit sign, “We don’t have time, we got to get to the lottery office,” exclaims Jade.
Shatoya
leans
forward
and looks into
the passenger mirror, “I think we’re being
followed.”
“Are you sure-I don’t think so,” responds Jade as Shatoya turns around in looks out
the rear window and spots a black F150 pickup truck with tinted windows hopping from
one lane to another to catch up to the Mini.
“That truck is chasing us!” said Shatoya in near hysteria.
Jade responds, “Yeah, I see it!”
The F150 is directly behind the Mini, and Jade looks out her rear view mirror at the
F150, “Oh crap-it doesn’t have a license plate!” cries, Jade.
The
F150
abruptly
pulls to
the
left
of
the Jade
and
Shatoya
and
cuts
her
off
forcing her to turn into Exit-A as the F150 followed close behind. The Mini and the
F150 are the only two vehicles on the isolated road that the F150 forced them on, “I told
you not to take that ticket!” yelled Jade as the truck rams them from behind shoving the
Mini to a guard-rail and down a deep gulley.