Soul Mate (The Mating Series) (28 page)

A woman in the front raised her hands. “Help her soul, Lord!”

“I’m here to spread a message, one that Mary can’t pass on, but I feel I must,” The minister said. “Our society is in jeopardy. We have to take back our community from the violence, the drugs, and the women who walk the night and spread disease.”

“Amen!” a man cried out.

The minister stepped away from the podium, shaking his fist.  “Mary thought her tolerance would save these urchins, but God has no tolerance for non-believers.” I looked around. Several people, including Janice Henley and Detective Skinner, nodded in agreement with this man. It appalled me. “Let us bow our heads. Please raise your hands if you’re a crusader of Jesus or you don’t want to suffer the same fate as Mary Lazarus. Those of you who have seen the errors of your way, and would like to be saved today, please raise your hand.” I peeked at the people around me.

Janice raised her hand. “Save us Jesus.”

The minister bent his head. “Oh heavenly father, these children of yours are lost, but they have seen your punishment, and want your forgiveness. Those of you, who want to be saved, take Jesus into your heart now. Ask him for forgiveness and tell him to take over your life.” Ben glanced at me and bugged his eyes. Obviously, he thought the guy was a nut job too.

“Jesus please take pity on Mary Lazarus, she lost her way….” I fumed with anger
it was a funeral, not a Sunday sermon. The man used what happened to Mary for his religious agenda.
Nothing like scalping for souls at a funeral
. Mary would turn in her grave. Mary wasn’t a religious person, and wanted no part of hatred in the name of religion. If the local churches were more tolerant, many of the women at Mary House wouldn’t be in their situation. Ignorance, and intolerance, of others caused the women to turn to drugs.

I tuned out the rest of the ministers winded eulogy. I looked up when I heard him say “In Jesus’ name Amen.”

“Don’t have him do my eulogy,” Ben whispered. I couldn’t help, but snicker. At least I wasn’t the only person who thought the guy gave an inappropriate service for a funeral. Ben reached over and clasped my hand. I flushed, but didn’t pull away. I wanted to trust Ben.

When released to pay my respect, I saw Nessie. I didn’t see her come in. She
sat in a wheelchair. Her head bandaged. Lynette and Sandy pushed her slowly past the casket. I broke rank and ran to them.

“Nessie, Lynette, Sandy…
I’m so glad to see you!” I cried.

“Miss Cassie. When are you coming back to Mary House?” Lynette asked.
              “I guess when they let me come back.” I didn’t want to tell them I may not come back.

“They let me and
Sandy back yesterday. Nessie’s coming back today. She just got released this morning.”

“Are you the only ones back?” I asked.

“Jane is back too,” Lynette said. “They only let the permanent residents come back. Sandy was so close to being finished they went ahead and released her. She’s decided to stay.”

“That’s
great to hear Sandy,” I said. “What about Cookie Jones?”

“Right now we’ve made do
, cooking on our own,” Lynette said.

“I hope she comes back
,” Sandy said. “Lynette’s a terrible cook.”

“How are you doing Nessie?” I asked.

“I’m doin’ ok,” Nessie said. “I’m still pissed at the sombitch who did this’” She pointed to her bandaged head. “I know it wasn’t that boyfriend a’ yours,” she whispered.

“Do you know who it was?” I asked.

“No, but that Chinese guy came by earlier in the day lookin’ for you an’ I told’ him you weren’t there. He told me if I saw you to tell you to call him. But I didn’ see you. Then this.” Nessie touched the bandage.

“How do you know it wasn’t Jimmy?” I asked. “I mean if he was there that day.”

“Your man walks softly, kind of on his toes,” Nessie said. “I heard the guy who did this walkin’ the halls after he hit me. He walked hard. He kind of drug one of his feet too. That man of yours walks like tap…tap… tap. This bastard was like, thump… drag… thump… drag…thump… drag. Since I lost my one eye I always notice sounds better, ya know?” Nessie sighed. “I don’t know if you could win a case on what I heard, but if you want, I’ll testify. That Jimmy seems like a nice guy. He didn’t do this.” It was awesome news for Jimmy. The funeral director asked me to move along so the line could move. “Miss Cassie,” Nessie called. “Watch out for them cops. I told them what I hear and they blew me off. I think they’re set on pinnin’ this on your guy.” She pointed to the door where Skinner and Ben stood.

“I will
,” I said to Nessie. She gave me a knowing nod.

I
moved to the back of the line. As I waited, I studied the people in line. Several people from the courts and prosecutor’s office attended. A group from the public defender’s office huddled in the corner. There were many I didn’t recognize. A group of men and women in front of me looked familiar, but I didn’t know from where. I noticed they wore the same lapel pin, a gold cross circled in red. I noticed the same pin on Janice Henley.

As I walked by the casket, I noticed the minister also wore th
e lapel pin. He stuck out his hand to shake mine. “God Bless you,” he said.

“Reverend?” I asked.

“Yes, Child?”

“What’
s the pin you’re wearing?”

“This is the symbol of my Church. The Holy Covenant of the
Apostle Church.” He beamed. He thought I was interested in his church. “Stop by on Sunday, we’d be happy to have ya.”
Oh Hell No!

Moving
through the crowd, I counted the people wearing the pins. At least ten members of The Holy Covenant of the Apostle Church, including Detective Skinner, and Janice Henley attended the service.

Th
e Church picketed Mary House on a regular basis. Mary wouldn’t want them at her funeral. Mary wouldn’t have let Janice on the board if she knew of her church affiliation. The church was just short of being like Westboro Baptist that picketed U.S. Soldiers funerals with signs saying things like “God Hates Gays.”

Holy Covenant picket
ed outside Mary house with signs that read “God Hates Whores.” And “Because of Whores God Invented AIDS”. I didn’t make the connection to the Holy Covenant flyer and the message written in blood. Considering their word choices, no doubt the Church or one of their members left it. I questioned if the church and the killer were connected.

Ben and Detective Skinner waited for me
as I came out. Ben held out his hand. “Cassandra, here’s my card again.” He shoved the card in my hand. “Please call me if you have any more information.”

“Your boyfriend may have managed to make bail, but it won’t last
,” Skinner said. “Don’t fool yourself.” I scowled at him.

I
trotted to Jimmy’s car and clicked the key fob. The car sounded a beep. Ben and Skinner watched me. They knew it was Jimmy’s car. I wanted them to see me in it. I got in and flipped Ben’s card in the passenger seat. I noticed a note on the back. Ben wrote;
meet me at the coffee house at four o’clock. I’ll be alone.

I picked up my phone and dialed Cho. “Hello
.”

“Hey, the funeral is over.
I’m heading to Mary House,” I said.

“How was the funeral?” Cho asked.

“Unusual,” I said. “I got some information.”

“Were the cops there?”

“Ben was there, but he wasn’t alone and couldn’t talk. He did say that they have DNA on the bloody message.” I heard a television in the background. “Is Jimmy close by?” I asked.

“No, He’s in his office.”

“Good, listen, Ben wants to talk to me. He wants to meet at a coffee house alone.”

“Are you alright with that?” Cho’s tone was apprehensive.

“I’m not afraid of him. I’m worried that Jimmy will be upset if I’m not home right after the meeting.”

“I’ll handle Jimmy
,” he said. “You meet that cop.”

“Sounds good.”

“Kiddo, be careful. Keep your mouth shut, and your eyes open,” Cho said. He sounded worried. “If anything happens to you, Jimmy will kill me.”

“I’
m being careful,” I said.

I braced myself for the meeting.
All six members sat in the conference room, three on each side of the table. I sat at the end.

“The board has met regarding the status of Mary House and its program
,” Tom Jenkins, the board president said. “Most of us agree that Mary House has served the community and the justice system with its program.” Tom looked pointedly at Janice Henley. Tom was the judge of court twelve. He presided over misdemeanor cases, including the prostitution and solicitation cases. “We feel it would be detrimental to the community to close Mary House.”

I sighed.
Mary House survived the loss of its founder. “However,” Janice held up her finger. “Mary’s death poses a huge problem. Mary House is in need of an Administrator,” she said. “You would have been the natural successor, but with your involvement with that Chinese man, we can’t promote you.”
He’s Korean!
My face turned red. I pressed my lips to stay quiet. Janice intended to provoke me. “I hope you understand that.”

“I
didn’t expect to be promoted,” I said.

“The board has voted to put you on unpaid suspension until further
notice.” Tom Jenkins said.

“I’
m not terminated?” I asked. I exhaled in relief.

“Not yet.” Janice said.

“How long will I be suspended?”

“At least until this man is behind bars
,” Tom slipped on reading glasses and flipped through a file. “I know he was a friend of yours, but I’ve reviewed the case. I don’t see any involvement on your part. You may have unwittingly led him to his victims, but you aren’t involved.”

“What if Jimmy’s found innocent?” I asked.

“It’s highly unlikely.” Janice snapped. “But if that happened you’d be reinstated immediately.”

“What about the resident’s? I heard that some of them have been allowed back
,” I said.

“Yes, we’
ve allowed a few of the women to return,” Tom said. “We’re in the process of hiring a new administrator. A man from Cincinnati who has ran several prostitution diversion programs.”

“A man
,” I said. “You can’t have a male administrator. Many of our residents don’t trust men. They’ve been used and abused by men.”

“He comes highly regarded
,” A gray hair board member said. The woman’s name escaped me.

“
You’re not in a position to question the validity of our choices,” Janice snipped. “If you don’t like our decision we’ll gladly accept your resignation.”

“Do you want to resign?” Tom
asked. “We’d understand. I’d personally give you a reference.”

“Sometimes it is better to move on after something so tragic happens
,” Janice said.

I
understood their intention. In lieu of firing me, they hoped I’d quit. That way I couldn’t collect unemployment. “Mary House is more than a job to me,” I said. “Mary and I worked hard, together, to make this a viable program. I’m not going to walk away from it.” I straightened my spine. “I’ll take the suspension, and hope that the situation changes quickly, so that I can come back and do what I love to do.” I wouldn’t to give Janice Henley the satisfaction. Hell would freeze over before I quit. They’d have to fire me.

“I guess it’s settled. Eric Skellan, our new administrator, will begin on Monday
, and you’ll remain in your position as resource counselor, but will be on unpaid suspension until further notice,” Tom said. “All in favor say aye.”

All, but Janice, said “aye”. T
he board and I waited for several minutes. Finally Janice said, “Cassandra, you do realize you can’t work anywhere else while you’re on suspension, or it will result in immediate termination. Maybe you should think about it.” She smiled cattily. “You may go a long time before you have an income again.”

I hadn’t thought of
it, but I wasn’t going to back down to Janice. Her and her church friends tried to get me out of Mary House. I didn’t know why. It may be so that Mary House failed. Putting a man in the administrator position was a really bad idea. Without me, Mary House couldn’t survive. “I understand,” I said. “I’ll remain, suspended or not. I’ll manage.” I held my head up.

“Aye
,” Janice said, reluctantly.

“
It’s unanimous.” Tom tapped a small gavel on the table.

“Can I go
to my office and pick up some personal things?” I asked. “Escorted of course.”

“We have some other business to attend to
,” Tom said. “It won’t be a problem for you to go to your office alone. You’re still an employee here.”

“Thank you Tom
,” I said.

They continued to discuss other business as I walked out. I heard Janice say, “I really thought she’d just quit.”