exception of Gelsey, most of them were relative strangers. I recognized Fern and Samuel Booth, longtime members who rarely attend but continue to give generously. The couple behind them had been pointed out to me at the beginning of Ed’s ministry, but I couldn’t remember their names or significance.
“After everything we have done for this church, to be ignored and ridiculed!” Gelsey swept out the door, her neck extended purposefully and gooselike.
“Gelsey . . .” Tom Jeffrey tried to squeeze past the others. “Nobody is—”
Gelsey didn’t even look over her shoulder. “I know what you’re trying to do. You’ve discounted everything I said. I know when I’m being placated. I won’t have it.”
Tom succeeded in his task and caught up with her, momentarily destroying the gaggle’s alignment. “No one is trying to placate you. You know we—”
Gelsey stopped and spun to face him. Her eyes were blazing. I doubt that she’d seen me or Tom’s family standing open-mouthed beside me. She was as angry as I’d ever seen anyone, and for a moment I wondered if I should separate them. I had the oddest feeling Tom was in danger.
“Don’t try to tell me you respect me!” Gelsey lifted her hand but she only used it to reinforce her words, chopping the air in front of her. “You didn’t even listen to what I had to say.”
Tom tried reason. “We gave you five full minutes to state your concerns.”
“My concerns? Mine? I’m concerned for this church. I have supported it with every fiber of my being and with a sizeable amount of cash. And when I die Tri-C’s endowment will grow substantially!”
“Everyone is grateful for all you’ve done.”
“Not grateful enough. Not nearly grateful enough.”
Samuel Booth, an older man with a potbelly that would ground a gander, put his hand on Gelsey’s shoulder, whether to comfort or restrain her, I couldn’t tell. Gelsey shook it off angrily.
Tom tried one more time. “Gelsey, why don’t we—”
“I know when I no longer have the respect or consideration I’ve earned! And if you won’t listen to those who know this church best and have its welfare truly at heart, then I can’t trust this board with my money, can I? Well, maybe you won’t have to worry about spending any more of it. I’m canceling my pledge, and as soon as my attorney can see me I’m changing my will!”
Tom didn’t grovel as she probably expected. He stepped away from the formation. “Respect and consideration can’t be bought. You have both, no strings attached. But so do the other members of the congregation who are represented by this board. And it’s the board’s decision not to call a congregational meeting at this time. Your concerns have been logged and noted.”
Gelsey ignored him and started forward again, and that’s when she saw me. She stared as if I were part of a conspiracy that intended to rob Tri-C of its soul. Emerald Springs’ own little Village Church of the Damned.
She drew herself up again, and I waited, breath halting in my chest.
“Ask your husband what he was doing with that woman on Wednesday night,” she said, stabbing the air with a finger. “Even if your husband refuses to discuss it, they were seen, you know, at Don’t Go There. You ask him, then maybe you can convince me he’s completely innocent of that murder. It’s the quiet ones we have to fear, isn’t it?”
Not one word that crossed my mind could be uttered by a minister’s wife. I stepped aside to let the gaggle pass. Then I waited until the air they had churned up was calm again.
Silently and alone, I found my way home.
5
Of course Ed refused to tell me what he’d been doing with Jennifer Marina in the city’s most notorious bar, although he did admit to seeing the son of one of our Women’s Society members, an Emerald College senior, there that night, hence Gelsey’s information.
I explained that the seal of confession was a concept dating from the twelfth
William Webb
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