The deputy glared with hatred at the preacher as he walked out of the room. The door closed behind him, and Jim turned to Brother Elias.
"Well," he said. "You've been pretty busy the past week or so, haven't you?"
The preacher turned to look at him, examining his features. "There's a lot of family resemblance," he said finally.
"What?"
"You look an awful lot like your great-grandfather."
Jim stared at the preacher, unsure of how to react. Behind the man's cold black eyes, he could detect an inner insanity. He forced himself to smile benignly. He'd let the preacher determine the course of the conversation. "My great-grandfather?" he said.
"Ezra Weldon," the preacher replied.
Jim's polite smile faded. Ezra Weldon had been his great-grandfather's name. But how could Brother Elias know that? He stared into the preacher's unflinching black eyes and felt the first vague stirrings of fear inside him.
"He was a good man, and a good sheriff," the preacher said.
Jim stood in front of Brother Elias. "Who are you?" he demanded.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"I am Brother Elias," the preacher said calmly. "I have come to fight the fight of the good. I have come to repel the wicked and do battle with the forces of evil. For the evil one is here." He looked into the sheriff's eyes. ""And the adversary also came among them."
Job 1:6."
"How do you know my great-grandfather's name? And how do you know he was a sheriff?"
Brother Elias smiled. "I knew him," he said. "He was with me the last time."
Jim began pacing around the room. The man was obviously crazy. He had gottenahold of Ezra Weldon's name somehow, and now it happened to come in handy. There was no secret to it, nothing mysterious. Any one of the fifty-odd members of the county historical society could have given him detailed information about theWeldons , theMurphys , the Stones, the Smiths, or any of the other local families who had lived in Randall for several generations.
But why would any of them talk to Brother Elias about Ezra Weldon? Why would Brother Elias ask about Ezra Weldon?
Jim stared defiantly at the preacher. "What do you know about the First Southern Baptist Church?"
"It was consumed by fire."
"And the Catholic church, St. Mary's? And the Presbyterian church?"
"They, too, were burned by the unholy flames of hell."
Jim glared at him. "And didn't you predict that they would burn?
Didn't you know they would be set on fire?"
Brother Elias nodded. "All is as it was foretold. I have seen this in a vision of the Lord. The Lord came unto me and told me that here the adversary would be. He told me that first there would be sacrilege, then fire, to the houses of God."
"And you don't know how these fires were started?"
"I know," the preacher said.
"How?" Jim demanded.
"The minions of Satan started these fires. They are preparing for the coming battle against the forces of the Lord."
The sheriff pressed a hand against his forehead. Jesus. How come he always ended up with this kind of crap?
"There will be fires," Brother Elias continued, his voice chanting in a monotonic cadence. "And the lightning will turn red, signifying the coming of the adversary. There will be flies. There will be earthquakes."
Jim opened the door in disgust and motioned for Carl, standing directly opposite the door on the other side of the hall. "Lock him up," he said.
Carl grinned, pleased. "What's the charge?"
"Suspected arson," he said. "Disturbing the peace,harrassment . Have Gordon Lewis' wife come in here later and sign a complaint."
"Will do."
Jim watched as Carl walked into the conference room and escorted the preacher down the hall to one of the holding cells. Part of him wanted to believe that Brother Elias knew what was going on, but the police training in him was too strong. The man seemed to have really gone off the deep end. He heard Carl slam shut the iron door to one of the holding cells. He had no proof to back up the arson charge, but he refused to admit that McFarland was right, that Brother Elias was just a crazy who had crawled out of a hole and who really knew nothing of what was going on. He wanted to keep him in incarceration for a few days at least, to see if he could discover something. Anything.
He shook his head in frustration and walked down the hall to his office. He slammed the door behind him.
They finished delivering to the town stores an hour earlier than expected, despite the heavy afternoon rain, and Brad decided to call it quits for the day. Tomorrow they were delivering to the outlying areas and they'd be starting early. Gordon declined Brad's offer to stop off for a beer at the Colt and headed home instead. He was half-tempted to drop by the sheriff's office and talk to the sheriff about Brother Elias, but he knew he should drive home first and pick up Marina. She was the one who would have to identify the man and press charges anyway, if there were any charges to be pressed.
The Jeep sped past Char Clifton's 76 station, and Gordon was surprised to see that it was closed. As far as he knew, the station had never closed this early in the day before. Come to think of it, there had been quite a few places in town that had been unexpectedly closed today. He wondered idly if there was a flu going around. Or something worse?
He pushed the thought from his mind, concentrating instead on the narrow road curving through the trees. Ahead, through the ravine, he could see the flat-topped outline of the Rim and a curling wisp of smoke coming from somewhere on its top. Lightning from the storm must have hit up there and started a minor forest fire.
A few minutes later, he pulled off on the small dirt road that led to their house. Marina came out of the kitchen as the Jeep rolled to a stop. The air was still slightly chilly from the recent rain, and she walked toward him slowly, avoiding the puddles in the drive, her hands buried deep in her jeans pockets for warmth. She kissed him lightly on the mouth, and he put his arm around her as they walked toward the house. "The sheriff called," she said. "I tried calling the warehouse around lunchtime to let you know, but no one answered. I called Connie, and she said that you and Brad were in town somewhere."
"Did he say what it was about?"
"No. He just said to have you call him back as soon as possible."
Gordon was silent for a moment. "They caught Brother Elias this morning," he said. "I saw it. They found him preaching in front of Valley National."
Marina stopped walking. "Why didn't he tell me?"
Gordon shrugged. "I guess he didn't want to worry you or anything. I
don't really know."
"But I'm the one who's going to have to sign the complaint."
"You're right." They walked into the kitchen and Gordon grabbed an apple from the wire fruit basket on the counter next to the sink. "Do you want to go down there?"
Marina shivered, remembering the strange black eyes that had held her spellbound. "I don't know. I don't think I want to see him."
"You don't have to see him to swear out a complaint." Gordon walked out into the living room and headed toward the back of the house. "I have to go to the bathroom. After I'm finished, we'll go."
Marina moved into the living room and stood in front of the screen door, staring outside. The storm had died, but a new one was brewing on top of the Rim. There was a flash of lightning, and she blinked her eyes, not believing what she had seen.
Gordon put a hand on her shoulder, and she jumped. "Jesus! Don't scare me like that."