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(back to page 2)
Hazel sat next to Peter on the carpet behind the altar. Eleanor stood gazing up at the statue of the Blessed Virgin holding the infant Jesus. Helen, Martha, and Joleen sat in their places in the pews. A few others had joined them. They eyed Mo, waiting for her to tell them what to do.
"Don't go back there," Mo heard herself say. "There's been an accident. I'm going to call for help. You all need to stay where you are."
"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee," Joleen began. "Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus."
"Holy Mary, mother of God," the others responded. "Pray for us sinners now..."
"And at the hour of our death--" Mo murmured, digging her cell phone out of her purse as she headed quickly for the side door.
CHAPTER TWO
Mo stood at the back of the church, looking up at the painting of St. Michael the Archangel, sword drawn, doing battle with Satan, when she heard the siren approach from the east. Brakes shrieked, and a car bottomed out in the gully and raced into the parking lot. The siren suddenly ceased. The Harlan's basset, Hildy, bayed in her backyard, and several other dogs howled.
Someone brushed against Mo, and she turned to look into Dilly Nurtleman's troubled eyes.
"Why aren't we having church?"
"Father's had an accident. Somebody's coming to help."
"What happened? Is he all right?"
Mo hesitated. "No, Dill. Father is dead."
Horror spread across the young man's face. She put her arm around his shoulder, and he folded into her embrace.
"What happened to him?" he said into her shoulder.
"I don't know yet."
A short, stocky man pushed open one of the large double doors and poked his head in. "I heard on the scanner you folks got a dead person here," he said in a high voice.
He waddled up the center aisle, looking around as if he'd never seen the inside of a church before.
"Roland Kohl, Chief of Police, Prairie Rapids."
“Monona Quinn. I edit the Mitchell Doings."
Roland Kohl had a round head topped with a stubble of brown hair. His brown eyes were a touch too close together in his broad, fleshy face. His rumpled khaki uniform had black pocket flaps and black stripes on the shoulders and down the outside of each pant leg. The top button of the shirt was unbuttoned, revealing a white T-shirt. His thick belt held two sets of handcuffs, a billy club, a cell phone and a holster, which Mo assumed held a revolver under its flap.
Roland Kohl glanced from Mo to Dilly and back to Mo. "You the one solved the murder here awhile back?"
"Yeah!" Dilly said. "I helped!"
"Terrible thing." Chief Kohl shook his head. "A murder in a little burg like this. I grew up in this area, lived here all my life, and I don't remember anything like that happening before. Maybe up in Adams-Friendship, but not here."
Hazel approached cautiously and stood behind Dilly. "Officer?" she said. "May we leave now? I'd like to take young Peter home."
"We'd better stay," Mo said. "The sheriff will need to talk to all of us."
"But why...?"
The throaty growl of a big car bore down on the church. The car stopped, and two doors opened and slammed shut simultaneously. A young black woman pushed through the large double doors, followed by Sheriff Roger Repoz in suit and tie, despite the heat the day promised.
Repoz shook his head when he saw Mo. "Trouble," he said, as if it were her name.
"This is Mrs. Monona Quinn," Kohl said.
"We've met," Repoz said.
He was an inch shorter than Mo's 5'5", and lean. He kept his flint gray hair short and neat, and his reddish-gray mustache looked as if it had just been trimmed with a T-square. He nodded toward the woman standing behind him to his right.
"Detective Lashandra Cooper," he said.
The detective stepped forward to shake Mo's hand. She was several inches taller than the sheriff and solid--not fat, but substantial. She wore a cream blouse and crisp, pressed black slacks, and carried a cream-colored shoulder bag. She wore her hair in cornrows. She had large brown eyes. She wore no makeup and needed none. Her expression indicated that she wished she were someplace else.
"Roland Kohl," the officer said, stepping forward. "Chief of Police, Prairie Rapids."
Repoz gave him a curt nod. "Where is he?" he asked.
"Back here."
Mo turned and almost bumped into Dilly. Hazel stood to the side of the altar. Peter sat on the riser at her feet. "You stay out here, Dill," she said.
"Should I pray?"
"Yes. Praying would be real good."
(continued on the next page)
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