"I'll be," Pastor said, the few ones and fives that had been in Roland's wallet still held in his fist.
He shook his head. "Mrs. Tucker?" Pastor's voice held so much disbelief and disappointment that Roland almost felt bad for the old lady.
"What? What are you looking at me for? It's not like I'm drawing on money," the old lady huffed.
"No. Nelly came to me with a theory. She convinced me to put a twenty out of my wallet in the collection plate, after I had made a mark on it that would make that bill absolutely unique."
All of a sudden, Roland knew exactly what had happened. And he wanted to kiss Nelly right then even more than he did last night.
"So that you guys would know exactly who the thief was if you caught them with the money in their purse or wallet."
"Purse," Nelly said, looking at him with her eyes shining.
And then, he was sure that she had cooked this up, because she wanted to prove that he was innocent. Although, whether or not shetruly thought that Mrs. Tucker had been taking the money, he couldn't be sure. He certainly had never suspected such a thing.
"Mrs. Tucker, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to go to the police station with this."
Mrs. Tucker's eyes filled with tears, and the starch that held her up proudly seemed to drain completely out of her as her body crumpled into a humble heap. "Please don't. I'm so sorry. You don't understand. After my husband died, the insurance that we got was barely enough to pay for his hospital stay. I couldn't pay for his funeral. I didn't realize that it was going to be so expensive and... I've been struggling ever since! And..."
"I'm sorry. I didn't realize things were so hard for you," Pastor said as he stood and put a hand on her arm.
"I didn't know either," Nelly said, standing up and putting an arm around Mrs. Tucker.
Roland didn't say anything. He hadn't known either, but he wasn't quite sure that Mrs. Tucker liked him. And honestly, he wasn't sure he liked her, since she knew who the thief was all along, and she tried to make it seem like it was him, trying to make him take the blame for her thievery.
But, the old lady was now crying.
"Please don't take me to the police station. I'll pay all the money back. My son is coming to live with me and he's going to pay me rent. With that extra money coming in I should be able to catch up on my bills within a year."
"Or perhaps something else will happen in the meantime," Nelly said, and then she gave Roland a covert glance.
His lips flattened, but he gave a short nod. He knew exactly what she was thinking. As Secret Saints, they had access to a lot of different things, and more than one business had offered to pay off the debts of someone who was struggling. It would be a simple matter of getting that figured out and would take less than a day.
Still, he was irritated because Mrs. Tucker had been so willing tothrow him under the bus to protect herself, to use him as a shield for her own sin.
"I owe you a sincere apology. I... I hated the idea that I was soiling your name, but I knew that no one would ever be able to conceivably tie you to the crime. I thought that I would get away with it, and you would be exonerated and everything would work out. I'm sorry. I... I ran your name through the mud and there's no excuse for it."
He'd never seen Mrs. Tucker look so humble. But there was something he didn't understand.
"How did you get in the church without the camera catching you?"
"I have a key to the back door. No one ever thought of that, since I'm the only one aside from Pastor who has one."
"I forgot you even had one."
"I figured."
They all stood there, Mrs. Tucker sniffing, and wiping at her face while Nelly continued to put her arm around her.
Roland supposed it was his turn to talk.
"I accept your apology and forgive you."
There, once the words were out of his mouth, he found that he meant them. He didn't want to hold it against her. He'd certainly done worse things to people, including Nelly. All those years ago he'd insulted and belittled her, because he was jealous of the person she was giving the valentine card to.
"I don't deserve your kindness," Mrs. Tucker said. She hung her head down, and Roland almost hated to see the proud woman looking so humiliated. "My pride wouldn't let me ask for help. I wanted to look competent and like my husband's death was not something that would take any power away from me. When in reality... I could barely function without him. I didn't realize how much I depended on him. I... wasn't expecting to be so lonely, so shaken. I realized I was depending on my husband for my security, rather than God. And then, with the money problems on top of it, Ijust couldn't admit to the entire church what a terrible Christian I was."
"Everyone is a terrible Christian. No one can live up to the standard that we want to live up to, that Jesus set for us. We're all works in progress," Pastor said, his voice filled with compassion.
