Well, at least the man had some common sense. Most people took things at face value.
To help him, Dex took his badge off of his hip and slipped a card from it. Then, he scribbled dispatch’s number on the back for the man.
Handing it to Jim, he reassured him.
“Call this number and ask if we’re legit. We’ll just walk around the place until you confirm it.”
That seemed to help.
The minister took it and pulled his phone from his pocket to do just that.
As the man did, they started moving around the building to scan the area. The church butted up to some trees, and a parking lot not far from it. They could see the chain strung across the lot, blocking parking.
“That must be for when people are at the church to park here,” Dex stated.
Quinn agreed.
So far, nothing looked out of place, and that likely meant this church was off of their list.
When they heard footsteps, they saw Jim heading their way.
“Hey, sorry to be so suspicious, but it is six in the morning,” he stated. “People do weird things, and I’m not familiar with guns. They could be fake, and your badges too.”
Oh, they were real.
He could bet on that. As for the rest, about people doing weird shit…
Well, tell them about it.
“Is this your parking lot?” Quinn asked.
The man nodded.
“Yeah, we rope it off with that chain when the church isn’t being used to keep loiterers from hanging out back here.”
That’s what they thought.
“Have you seen anything odd around the church this weekend?” he asked.
Jim shook his head.
“Nothing other than you two. It’s been pretty standard. We had services yesterday morning and night. I locked up around eight, headed across the street, and then saw you this morning. That’s it in a nutshell.”
Neither man said anything as they moved closer to the back of the church.
As they got closer, that’s when Dex saw it.
“Do you always leave that door open?” he asked, seeing the door ajar a bit.
The man was confused.
“Absolutely not.”
Uh-huh.
Well, that was suspicious.
And in their world, that always meant one thing. It appeared that Elizabeth might have nailed this one.
