The Serpent and the Crow

Book 4: Chapter Four

Lawton looked at stained glass windows depicting Jesus crucified with the two thieves on either side. It impressed Lawton as the tinted glass was expensive.

Douglas stared at the thieves beside Jesus. A pastor came up. He was a strong black man. Douglas thought he had seen some heavy things before he took up the cloth.

"Beautiful, isn't it? The glass, not the depiction. Golgotha or the crucifixion on Calvary."

"You don't find it odd?" Douglas said, "Including two criminals in a place of worship?"

"Not at all. The Bad Thief and The Good Thief."

"There's a good one?" Douglas asked as he was unfamiliar with the details of Christianity.

"Oh, yes. The Bad thief, Gestas, mocked Jesus," The Pastor said, "And, the Good thief..."

"Dismas. Dismas was penitent and accepted Jesus was innocent and that he did not belong on the cross. Jesus claimed Dismas would join him in paradise," said Lawton.

"Correct, Detective."

Impressed a police officer in Solemn even learned the story.

Douglas asked, "Did the thieves deserve to be hammered to the cross?"

"They did the crimes, yes."

"So, why did Jesus die for a bunch of sinners? Why Dismas?"

"Sometimes you have to have faith in something you can't fully understand. Faith in a paradise that awaits. Do you believe, Douglas?"

It was strange. Wade asked him the same thing, and he had no answer. At that very moment, he felt sorry for Gestas. He felt all he had to do was follow Dismas' lead and it would save them. But he could not do it. His stubbornness got him killed.

"You recognize my name?"

"You handled the Serpent Stalker case while I was a Sergeant."

Lawton said, "You're Sergeant Earle Hadley?"

"Not anymore. I prefer Pastor Hadley. I take it that you Detectives are here because of the cases we handled with the same modus operandi as the Serpent Stalker?"

"Are you a psychic pastor too?" Douglas asked.

"There would be no reason for Solemn's finest to visit here. Few police officers do. In fact, few people from Solemn frequent the pews at all."

Lawton said, "I guess you've still got good detective skills, Pastor Hadley."

"You recognized there was a connection, and you never clued up the Acting Chief or your Captain?"

"We did. My partner, Mikael Basinski, and I let our Captain know."

Lawton asked while jotting down notes, "Who was your Captain?"

"Mason Sullivan. I presume he is a private investigator now. I have his number."

"What did Sullivan say about the connections?"

"The same argument every Captain says, 'Evidence. Not Conjecture. Not Circumstance.' Basinsky and I learned more. It appeared the building company Elmer Braithwaite worked for, had assembled all the houses that those kids lived at. Fieldhouse. Porter. Richmond. Cole. Chambers Housing built the residential houses they resided in."

"I can see why your Captain said circumstantial," Doug smirked.

"Basinsky and I checked it out. Robert W. Chambers registered and owned the enterprise."

"The founder of Trepidation Zoo? I've come across his name before in Virginia at BSU."

"Then you know Chambers passed away. His entire estate passed to a sole heir."

"Who was it?" Douglas asked.

Hadley shrugged his shoulders. He said, "My partner chased up that lead. But they took us off the case."

"Who was your replacement?"

"The Captain didn't say. I wish I could help you Detectives, but that is all we found out on the case. At least that I know of."

"You've been a big help, Pastor Hadley," Lawton said.

"What happened to your partner, Mikael Basinski?"

The Pastor considered what to say next. He said, "Basinski retired. I would leave him alone."

"Please, Pastor. We are doing this for those youngsters. Donna Fieldhouse. Debra Lynn Porter. Melany Richmond and..."

"... Josie Cole? Do you realize she was four years old? I attended her baptism back when I was a police officer. I ask God for forgiveness every day because I know I will not get any reprieve from Josie's parents... You will find Basinsky at the corner of Elm Street and Maple Street. Do you know the place?"

"Who doesn't? I mean, I know it. A lot of cases seem to lead there."

"I don't know it," Lawton said.

"Go in peace. May God be with you."

"Wait," Douglas said, "What transpired with Gestas the bad thief?"

"I imagined he died alone. He was impenitent... Good day, Detectives."

Hadley walked away towards the back.

"What does impenitent mean, Lawton?"

"Not feeling shame or regret for his past actions."

Douglas reflected to himself that maybe he looked at it wrong, and he was more like Dismas.