F or at least a minute I gazed at the perfect shape of a handgun carved out of the pages in the book. I tried to grasp the situation. Cashdollar, carrying the book everywhere he went. Cashdollar, carrying a gun, even to his revival meetings. Cashdollar, being in Washington, D.C. the same day that Senator Fred Long was shot, carrying his gun-toting Bible. Who would ever question a minister with a Bible? Who could ever question his intentions, question his geographic location, question his reason for anything? For God’s sake, the guy was Preston Cashdollar. Beyond reproach.
Finally, I walked into the main room, the book in my hand. “Daron,” he sat in the small swivel office chair behind the desk, eyes staring, his life having oozed from the deep, blood-red gash in his throat.
Deacon Thomas LeRoy stood next to him, an eight-inch knife in his hand. “Ah, Brother Skip. So you are one of the culprits as well?”
“Jesus.”
“Praise him. He is why we’re here.”
I tried to catch my breath. Styles was dead.
“Put down the book, brother.”
“You killed Daron?” It wasn’t registering.
“He broke into our office. And, we have suspicion that he may have murdered a gentleman who used to work for us.”
“Michael Bland?”
“You see?” LeRoy, held up the knife, waving it in the air. “Mr. Moore, it’s obvious you’re involved as well. When I call the police and tell them that you broke into our office – that you both may have committed murders, well -”
“Murder?”
“Bruce Crayer, Mr. Moore. I think someone in your little band may have killed him.”
It was tough, grasping the situation. Styles was dead. And LeRoy was blaming me for Crayer’s possible death. All of this in a matter of seconds. I closed my eyes for a brief moment and tried to regroup. Not more than two minutes ago Styles was reading a list of the sins of Thomas LeRoy, LeRoy’s startling accusation regarding Styles, oh my God, Styles, and now -
“You killed Walter, the bodyguard.” I blurted it out. He’d never admit to that.
LeRoy shook his head slowly. Almost as if he disapproved of my statement. “Walter was a soldier in the war.”
I stood in the room, physically frozen, with the Bible clutched tightly in my hand. “A soldier?”
“Let me explain. In Christ’s work, in the Lord’s mission, all is fair. Our mission, the Cashdollar crusade, is to destroy the oppressor.”
“The senator? Fred Long?”
He captured me with his cold gaze, and he tapped the blade of the knife in his palm.
“And Barry Romans?”
I tried to look into his eyes, to see if I was getting through. They were lifeless. And the steel blade kept beat to a silent tune.
I couldn’t help myself. I had to keep going. “And this has nothing to do with the amount of cash you receive? Come on. Every time you pull one of your stunts, your donations go through the roof. You and Cashdollar figured out that when people die, you make money. A lot of money. Am I right?”
I was shaking. Styles was four feet from me, blood running from his neck. To make it worse, his eyes were open, as if he was taking this all in. It was all I could do to keep it together.
“You broke into our office, Eugene.” The guy had done his homework. He even knew my given name.
I tried not to look at the lifeless body of Daron Styles. I had to keep LeRoy going. The longer he talked, the better my chance for living. Goddamn James. He’d put me in a life-or-death situation, and I silently swore I’d never, ever, do anything he suggested again. I had to pin this guy, and I did just that.
“Do you know we saw you? Saw you shoot Walter in the head?”
He was quiet for a moment. The sheer bulk of the man kept me on one side of the room. While his tailored suit, the flawless way his jacket hung from his frame, was impressive, I still realized he was probably six foot four and weighed 230 pounds, and I was sure he could toss me around the room like a sack of potatoes. That and the fact that he had a sizeable weapon in his hand made me decide to keep the desk between us.
“There are agencies that are against the reverend. They’d like to bring him down. It was time to disarm those agencies.”
Disarm? “So you made up the story about Cashdollar’s death threat? It was all a way for you to lay the blame for the murders on someone else.” I felt the perspiration soaking my T-shirt, beading on my forehead, and running down my face. And LeRoy, looking very cool.
He stared at me, still tapping the knife blade in his palm.
“Made up? I can tell you that every day of his Christian life, the reverend has had death threats.”
That was probably true. He’d pissed off a lot of people.
“You had the bodyguard, Walter, shoot him in the leg. Just to make it look like the threat was real. Then, you shot the bodyguard with Cashdollar’s gun. We saw it, and we bought into it. We thought you were killing the guy who shot Cashdollar to protect the reverend. It was all smoke, wasn’t it?”
It struck me again. Like Styles had said, you can see something plain as day, and not see it at all. Like watching two men drag Styles from the office when it wasn’t Styles. Like hearing Styles say he took the money from a dead man, when he never said that at all.
“And then, then when you laid it on Stan we knew the whole thing was a set up.”
“Should I applaud?” Tap, tap, tap. “Should I congratulate you?” Tap, tap, tap. “Should I confess to whatever you are suggesting?”
“No.” I tried to give him the same cold, calculating look that he was giving me. “You don’t have to.” I held the front cover of the book and let the gold Bible fall open, the cut-out shape of the gun hanging down for anyone to see. I would bet my last beer that the shape fit a Glock nine-millimeter gun perfectly and, until this morning, I didn’t even know what a Glock was.
“Strong words from someone who just broke into our office. I think you need to pray that God accepts your soul, brother Eugene.”
“Do you understand what I said? Until you got up in front of your congregation and said that Stan had killed the bodyguard, we were buying into the whole thing. And now what are we supposed to do?”
“Die.” He took two steps toward me, the knife in front of him.
“Wait.” I needed to stop him.
He hesitated.
“Did Stan have anything at all to do with this?”
LeRoy smiled. For the first time.
“Stan? Stan wouldn’t have understood any of it. In case you hadn’t noticed, he wasn’t the brightest bulb on the circuit. Stan and the full-timers were loyal only because of the money. When we wanted them to help us with a project, I would call Stan and he would get them all together. They were paid quite well. Money, women -”
“He was a stooge?”
LeRoy shook his head. “A soldier. Not a very bright soldier, but a soldier nonetheless.”
“You made it look like suicide. You used Cashdollar’s gun. His Glock. So Stan appears to be the master criminal who killed Fred Long. The guy who shot Barry Romans.”
“He was a soldier. We needed him to do his part.”
“His part?” I watched LeRoy’s eyes. I’d always heard that you can tell what someone is going to do if you watch his eyes. But all I could see were black pupils that stared directly back at me.
“This is getting tedious.” He took a step toward the desk and I backed up. “Stan will be accused of the murders. It was necessary for the ministry.”
“You’re crazy. Do you know that? You’re bonkers – off the chart.” I had to try to get him off balance. Somehow I had to get out of that door.
“There are agencies that were looking for Senator Long’s murderer. We just handed them their killer.”
“The FBI?”
“Are you part of that agency?” He raised his voice. His eyes grew wide and I knew I’d tapped into the true secret. The guy was a raving lunatic.
I had him going. Because of Styles, I knew more than he could possibly imagine. “No. I’m not a part of any agency. But you’ve got notes on your computer that suggest you think I’m FBI.”
Outside I could hear a roar and I realized the service was still in progress. The noise, the confusion, would cover up any sound of my death. I assumed LeRoy was counting on it.
“Brother Eugene, you are about to join your friend, Daron Styles.”
He took two more steps around the desk as I backed up.
“You guys poisoned Michael Bland, the FBI informant. You did, didn’t you? And you’re going to point a finger at,” I felt sick to my stomach and kept my eyes focused on LeRoy, “Daron Styles. You’re going to blame him. And you killed Cashdollar’s girlfriend? Ten years ago.”
He pursed his lips and shook his head. “Little Cabrina Washington. No. I didn’t. But that’s in the past, Eugene.”
“Cashdollar? He did it? Tell me. He strangled Cabrina Washington? And Cashdollar is the shooter, am I right?”
He came around the desk. “I sent you a friendly note. I told you to move on or you might be a victim, but apparently you and your friends don’t take a hint.”
“You stole our money?”
He stared at me. “Eugene, I have money. I have no need of yours.”
Damn carneys.
“There is nowhere else for you to go. You and your friend here have caused enough problems. It’s time to put an end to them.”
The trailer door slammed open and he spun around. The wind, one of the full-timers, it didn’t make any difference. A momentary distraction was all I needed. I was about to save a life. Mine. I reached under my T-shirt, pulled out the gun that had been digging into my gut for four or five hours, pointed it in the general direction of Thomas LeRoy, and pulled the trigger. Twice. He went down and didn’t get up. I hoped I hadn’t killed him. I remember whispering a silent prayer. And then, I hoped I had.
Em stood in the doorway with her mouth hanging open. Finally she looked at me, her eyes as big as saucers. “Oh my God, Skip, I can’t believe you did that.”
“I can’t either.”
She was shaking. I was shaking. I dropped the pistol on the floor and stumbled to her, hugging her as she sobbed. I may have sobbed too. It was an emotional time and I can’t account for my actions.