Chapter Eighteen
Roland stood at the top of the stairs, shocked.
Not just shocked because Pastor Connelly would actually think that he would steal money, although he was, but he was flabbergasted that Nelly was defending him and so vehemently. She was absolutely sure that he did not take the money.
That was crazy. Why would she come to his defense so ardently?
He wasn’t sure what to make of it, but it made his heart feel funny in a way that he couldn’t ever remember it feeling before.
“Roland,” she said, her eyes widening, shock in her voice.
“Hey. I… The parking lot was full, so I parked up here.”
He didn’t mean to eavesdrop on their conversation, but when the pastor looked at Nelly with a knowing look in his eyes, he realized that the pastor thought he was coming up through here to possibly scope out the money situation again.
Nelly narrowed her eyes at the pastor, shook her head, and then opened the door and walked out.
It closed with a click behind her as Roland slowly started walking down the stairs.
“I guess I couldn’t help but hear that,” Roland said. There was nopoint in trying to avoid it. Obviously the pastor thought he was guilty, and even Nelly’s fierce defense of him was not convincing him otherwise.
“I’m sorry, Roland. I really hate to think this way, but…you’re the only one on the camera. There’s just no way that it couldn’t be you.”
“I guess you have to think what you have to think. But…for what it’s worth, Nelly is right. There’s no way in the world I would ever take any money from the church. Ever. I don’t even think I would let you give it to me. I would have to be desperate. My goal is to serve, not to steal or even to be served.”
“There’s a time and a place for everyone to be served. After all, other people can’t serve if you’re not willing to be served. But that’s a sermon for a different day. I just… I can’t square it any other way. The video would have caught anyone else coming and going, and it didn’t. You were the only one.”
“Do you have cameras on all of the doors?”
“The camera shows the entire front porch.”
“Maybe someone came in the bottom door and up the stairs.”
“Interestingly, we typically have the bottom door locked. I’m not sure why, but that’s just the way it was done before I came. So I don’t argue with the ladies in charge. I know my place.”
The pastor seemed to be trying to make a little bit of a joke, but Roland didn’t feel like laughing. He was being accused of an extremely odious crime, and while he appreciated the fact that Nelly considered him innocent, and he hoped that that was the way the rest of the townspeople felt, he remembered what he had said to his Secret Saint partner. His actions hadn’t always been the actions of the person he wanted to be thought of as. In other words, it would not be a total stretch of the imagination for many people in town to think that it could have been him, because while he had absolutely never stolen anything or done anything of the sort, he did have a reputation for being not kind, at least where Nelly was concerned. And he supposed people could say he wasn’t completely responsible—he could remember a few timesthroughout the years where he did not uphold his end of bargains he had made.
Since he’d hit his mid-twenties and matured, he had not acted terribly at all, but sometimes small towns had long memories.
“Unfortunately I’m going to have to report it. The money is not mine. I’m just a representative of the church. And I’ve got to tell the police what is going on, and…your name is going to come up, because it’s you on the video.”
“I know. I was here. You’re right. I set up the tree in the sanctuary.”
Pastor Connelly nodded, and they stood there in silence for just a bit, and then Roland said, “I need to go. Nelly is expecting my help, and it’s past time to start.”
The pastor nodded again and opened the door, allowing Roland to walk through first.
He didn’t feel very good—there was a heaviness in his soul that he hated. But there wasn’t anything he could do about it. Pastor Connelly had to say what he had to say, and whatever happened would happen. But they would never be able to prove that he took the money, because he absolutely did not.
To his surprise, Nelly did not have the children lined up and had not begun practice. Instead, she and Mrs. Tucker were talking by the door.
Roland almost went to begin to get things rolling, but instead, he turned and walked toward the two ladies who were speaking. Nelly looked concerned, and that made Roland’s stomach turn over. What else could be happening?
“I don’t know what they’re going to do. They don’t meet until tomorrow, and tomorrow evening is the tree lighting ceremony! How can we light a tree that is missing!”
“What tree is missing?” Roland asked as he walked up to the two ladies. Mrs. Tucker looked extremely agitated.
“The tree at the center of the town square. The one that we were all supposed to finish decorating and light tomorrow.Apparently it was stolen sometime today. Nobody really knows when. The thief must have taken it in broad daylight.”
