Look but Don't Choke

Chapter 15

Abbey's mother had invited us to bible study this Wednesday at her church, and since I had three days until Saturday I figured I'd go check on her and see if I could get anything else out of her. Harley had said he'd wanted to go with me so I picked him up; we traded in the rental for my patched up car, and then the two of us headed over to see just how fanatical Mrs. Collins could be.

I'd gotten the address for The Church of Our Heavenly Father from the pamphlet I had stolen from Abbey's apartment. The building was some old abandoned convenience store that had been renovated to hold the church. There was no pomp or glitz about the building or the area, it was merely a small square building with the name of the church painted poorly across the top. I parked in front and the two of us got out of the car.

"This is it?" Harley said. "Doesn't look like much."

"Yeah, people start these kinds of small churches all the time." I looked up at the building. "Let's get this over with."

I didn't think Dolores Collins killed her daughter-or more like I was almost sure, but I still wanted to keep an eye on her and rule out whether or not she had anything to do with it. Inside was nothing but a small, cramped room lined with rows of fold out chairs facing toward the opposite end of the room. I counted about eleven people sitting around a table in the front. Dolores was sitting across from some other ladies, in the middle of some mundane discussion about weather or something.

Harley and I sat in the two empty seats next to Dolores. "You came?" she said with surprise when she noticed us.

"We like to keep our hearts open to all channels in which God can enter it."

"Well, I'm just glad you're no longer cavorting with Jehovah's Witnesses."

Before I could respond a tall dark haired man in a three piece suit walked over to the table. The preacher, I presumed. "Welcome to this weeks bible study," he said with a surprisingly gentle voice. "Oh! I see we have two newcomers with us. We always welcome visitors. Stand up! Tell us your names and what church you attend."

Oh shit. I looked at Harley who was trying to mumble the fake names I'd given Mrs. Collins earlier. "Hi. I'm...Amelia? ...And this is my friend Brad. We were invited here to bible study tonight by Mrs. Collins."

"Well Amelia, Brad. We're so happy to have you with us. Do you have a church home?"

"As a matter of fact we're shopping."

"Well that's always good to hear. I'm Reverend Moore and we'd like to welcome you to The Church of Our Heavenly Father and thank you Sister Dolores for inviting others into our church family." He shook our hands and sat down at the head of the table nearest to Dolores. "How are you doing tonight, Dolores?"

He said it so quietly and with such an air of intimacy that I was almost compelled to give them some privacy. "I'm doing wonderfully, Reverend."

She was glowing...in only the way a woman can.

Yikes. I didn't comment or make a move like I knew, but the bedroom eyes going on between them was obvious, to me at least. After their little not-so-intimate chat the reverend told us to open our bibles to Luke, chapter eleven, verse thirty-two.

At that point the Reverend started sounding less comprehensive and more like Charlie Brown's teacher.

"Whomp whomp whomp, the prodigal son, whomp whomp whomp whomp whomp whomp, obedience, whomp whomp, Jesus, whomp whomp whomp, love of a parent, whomp whomp whomp, prostitutes..."