Sweet Bride by Eliza Ester

Author:Eliza Ester [Ester, Eliza]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Majestic Owl Publishing LLC

Six

Dory

Sunday, the whole town congregated at church. It was the one day of the week everyone changed into their best clothes and walked or rode to the tall building near the end of the road, before it led out of town and into the valley. A solitary bell called across the landscape.

Russ and Dory walked toward the church, hand in hand. They greeted friends as they arrived, walked through the doors, and sat down.

The church was simple, built of wood with a large congregation area and smaller offices and rooms around it. The wooden floors were still crisp. Years of feet would wear them in, eventually. Wooden benches were arranged to face the front and the townspeople shuffled in, filling the pews.

Dory looked around. Reverend Shreve’s office was right at the front. The door was closed. Reverend Shreve stood to the side, talking to the people as they arrived.

“Do you think he’s here?” Dory asked Russ in a whisper.

“Who?”

“The person stealing money. Do you think he does it on Sundays of all days?”

Russ shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ll keep an eye out even though I’m off duty right now.” He smiled at Dory. “And you’re not supposed to be on duty at all.”

Reverend Shreve walked to the front and cleared his throat. Everyone fell quiet and listened to him, looking to him for guidance.

Gathering with the townsfolk to hear the word of the Lord was something Dory enjoyed. It was good to remember the good in the world, too. It was easy to get so busy surviving that people forgot about a higher power.

The message was short and simple but to the point. Reverend Shreve didn’t believe in wasting time—he got right to it. When he said his prayer, he sent a small bag around for the tithes. Russ put a silver coin in the bag, and Dory passed it on. Every family put at least one coin in, maybe two. It would calculate to quite a few coins.

They sang a hymn, and church was over. Dory and Russ waited as the people at the ends of the benches shuffled out before they got up to leave as well.

“Sheriff,” Reverend Shreve called.

Russ turned and smiled at him. “It was a good message today, Reverend,” he said.

“Thank you.” The reverend frowned. “I hope I don’t ruin the peace of the day by speaking to you about this. And I know it’s your day off. It’s just…I am worried about the money that keeps disappearing. I wanted to know if you’ve found anything.”

Russ shook his head. “I’ve been watching the church all week,” he said. “I didn’t see anyone coming or going while I was on duty. We will get to the bottom of this, I promise.”

While Russ and the reverend spoke, Dory looked around. Everyone had left the building, but one person walked in the opposite direction. Tom Whitney was carrying the bag of money and he disappeared through the door to Shreve’s office.

“Is Tom supposed to be in your office?” Dory asked, interrupting the conversation.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.