As Andrew turned towards the sanctuary door, he saw Talia lying on the floor out cold. Andrew knelt down and made sure she was okay. He rose to his feet and was about to enter the sanctuary, when he heard approaching footsteps. It must be the deputies, so Andrew beat a hasty retreat into the sanctuary.
When Sheriff Delsmann didn’t show up at the prearranged meeting spot, the deputies decided to go find her. After searching the dormitory and since the inside door was locked to the sanctuary, they had to find another way inside. That’s when they found this door.
With weapons drawn, they stepped inside. It was an office. Once inside, they found Sheriff Delsmann lying on the floor unconscious. They knelt down and revived her.
Talia awoke a bit groggily. She was surprised to see her deputies.
“Where did the masked figure go?” Talia asked looking around the room.
“We saw no masked figure,” they replied.
“We need to search the sanctuary,” Talia said, finally standing up.
“Are you okay enough to do that,” one of the deputies asked worriedly.
“I’m fine,” Talia insisted. “Let’s go.”
Andrew stood, staring in awe at the majesty of St. Ambrose Chapel. Even though the pews were covered with years of dust and showing signs of decay, Andrew imagined the day they were still brightly stained and filled with the faithful. He felt sad that all of the stain glass windows had been smashed, forever obliterating the dramatic scenes depicted of the passion of our Lord. While researching JFK, Andrew read that Father Oswald and the other priests whom founded this former seminary were from Germany, so that might explain the words written in German. But how did this tie in with the attack on the Higgins family or the missing teenagers for that matter. There were still just too many questions. What Andrew needed were more answers. Andrew started towards the main doors of the sanctuary when he heard the door to the priest’s study open. He immediately dropped to the floor and started to crawl along on his belly beneath the pews.
Talia stepped through the open doorway first with her gun at the ready. Seeing that things were clear, she motioned for the deputies to follow. All three stared in awe at the impressiveness of the sanctuary. Despite the years of wear, it still had a certain sense of spirituality that couldn’t be explained.
Talia led the way towards the altar, but froze suddenly in her tracks at the sound of creaking. She spun around just in time to see one of the massive wooden doors in the back of the sanctuary open just a bit. But no one was there. Talia motioned for the deputies to follow as they went to investigate. They had only taken a couple of steps when the door closed again. Was it a ghost or something more human? Talia wondered. The three of them continued towards the back of the sanctuary. Along the way Talia noted that it looked like someone had crawled along the dusty floor on their belly.
“Knight!” Talia bellowed. The deputies were taken aback by her sudden outburst.
“What?” they answered.
“Andrew Knight is on the grounds,” Talia answered. She pointed wildly at the closed doors. “It was Knight who I saw going into the sanctuary dressed in black wearing a mask. He must have been back to make sure we wouldn’t find the missing teenagers.”
“We saw no one,” the deputies replied.
“We need to find Andrew Knight and arrest him,” Talia screeched.
Andrew rose to his feet once the door closed. The sun was just peeking at the horizon. He started walking along the path that led back to the main dormitory. It was a bit chilly and he could see his breath. The hairs on the back of Andrew’s neck bristled when the sound of the heavy wooden doors creaked open. He turned around and saw Talia along with the two deputies. Their gaze immediately rested upon him. He had been discovered! Andrew took off running down the path that led to the wooded acres on campus instead of the one to the dormitory. He needed to find a hiding place fast.
Talia and her deputies had just exited the St. Ambrose Chapel when she saw Andrew walking up the path towards the main dormitory. He stopped and turned around to look back at them. When he saw them, he took off running towards the woods.
“After him,” Talia took off. The deputies followed.
Andrew had a few minutes head start, hopefully it was enough time to escape or find a place to hide. Unfortunately the woods were sparse and the snow not deep enough to blend in. Andrew practically flew down the winding path and soon came to a small kidney-shaped lake. The woods were thicker at the far of the lake, where there was some open water. There was no other way to go, but across the ice. He started across and had not notice the partially snow covered sign that read ‘Danger-thin ice’.
Talia and her deputies were just coming around the last bend in the winding path that led them to a small lake. She was about to give pursuit, when one of the deputies grabbed hold of her coat and yanked her back. Talia shook free and shot him an angry look. He walked over to the sign and brushed off the snow. The sign warned of thin ice. Talia turned and watched Andrew, who was about half way across the ice. A satisfying smile slowly spread across her face.
“Hey Knight!” Talia shouted above the wind.
Andrew stopped when Talia called out his name. He turned around to look.
Talia cupped her mouth and shouted, “There was a sign that warned of thin ice!”
Andrew heard her. This was not good.
“Don’t move,” Talia shouted. “We’ll radio for help.” Talia turned to one of the deputies. “Call the local fire department and see if they have water rescue equipment.” The deputy immediately did so.
Andrew couldn’t risk being arrested. It would seriously impact his investigation. More over Sheriff Delsmann would certainly come up with some charges to keep him in jail for a long time. Either way she would have him arrested. Andrew looked at Talia standing there all smug. He gave her a salute and headed across the ice.
Talia’s mouth dropped. She couldn’t believe what Andrew was doing. The idiot was continuing across the ice. Was he so desperate to get away from her? Talia almost couldn’t watch and was about to turn away when they all heard it. It started out low and soon came to a thunderous sickening cracking sound. The ice was giving way. Talia rushed to the edge of the lake and stopped.
“Don’t move!” She screeched. It was too late. They all saw the terrified look on Andrew’s face as the ice split open and swallow him up. He was gone in a matter of seconds!
Talia tried to go after him, but the deputies restrained her.
It seemed like an eternity before the local fire department emergency crew arrived. Talia was pacing back forth, impatiently waiting for them to get their ice gear on and airboat ready to go. An overwhelming feeling of remorse suddenly washed over Talia. She never imagined that her lust to have Andrew put away would have ended this way. It was no longer a rescue mission, but a recovery one.
Leslie was still wearing her fuzzy slippers and bathrobe. Her ash blonde hair was swept up and held in place with a red banana clip. She finally had a day off from work at the hospital. On those days it was always her turn to make breakfast.
Leslie had just finished whipping up the scrambled eggs when her daughter Hannah threw open the kitchen door and rushed inside. She was all flushed and panting to catch her breath. Hannah brushed her brown hair out of her eyes.
“Mom,” Hannah gasped, trying to catch her breath from running.
“What is it?” Leslie asked.
“I…I was feeding the horses when this man came stumbling into the barn,” Hannah finally blurted out. “He looked at me and just fell down in the hay.”
“What?” Leslie stammered.
“His lips were blue and his clothes looked wet,” Hannah said.
“Show me,” Leslie said. Before they left, Leslie grabbed the portable defibulator from underneath the sink. She had bought just in case there was ever an emergency and for the fact that they lived out in the country far away from the hospital in Bayport.