Disclaimer: None of the characters from HLOTS are mine, sadly. The only characters that are mine are Jeremy and Miranda.
Chapter 1
The young woman got out of her car and walked up to the familiar building on The Alameda. She'd only been back in Baltimore a few weeks, but she still knew where her church meetinghouse was. This is definitely not where I used to live, she thought with a rueful grin.
At that moment another car pulled up behind hers, startling her back into the present. She smiled when she saw the driver get out and make his way to her.
"You just get here?" he asked. She nodded and they share a brief, but tender kiss.
She grinned. "I think we beat the bishop here too. I didn't see his car."
Hand in hand, the couple walked up the parking lot to the meetinghouse. To their surprise, the side door was unlocked.
The young man frowned. "I thought you said no one was here."
"I thought no one was. Our cars are the only ones here." The woman's eyes narrowed at the door. "I have a bad feeling about this."
Cautiously the two of them made their way into the building, walking down the hall to the bishop's office. What they found there was horrifying.
Bishop Daniel Tanner was found slumped over his desk almost as if he'd fallen asleep, if not for the bullet wound at the back of his head.
Detective Mike Kellerman was glad to be back in Homicide. It had been over four months since the shooting, the shooting that had landed him in the hospital with a bullet in his shoulder. He was still smarting over the fact that not only had he had to shoot Luther Mahoney, but that he'd been shot first and had been forced to shoot in self defense. Sure he'd wanted the drug dealer dead, but not before he answered for all the crimes he'd been responsible for.
Since the shooting, he'd been working a desk in the Auto squad, and he'd been missing his old partner, Meldrick Lewis. The two detectives hadn't spoken since being rotated back into Homicide.
Just then, the phone rang. Mike knew he was up and that the docs had given him the green light to go back out on cases, as had Lt. Giardello. He grabbed the phone. "Homicide, Kellerman." He listened intently, took notes, nodded, and then hung up.
"Gee!" he called out to the lieutenant. "I'm gonna need some help on this one."
"What have you got?" the imposing black Sicilian shift commander asked.
"Dead clergyman at a church," Mike replied. "Engaged couple found him when they were going up to meet with him for a pre-marital counseling session, I think."
"Take Lewis," Gee told him.
"Are you sure? I mean, we haven't worked together since we rotated back."
Gee flashed one of his famous scary smiles. "Precisely, Kellerman. You two need to get your rhythm back. And this will be the case to do it."
Nodding, Kellerman went back to his desk. "Hey, Lewis, come on! We got a body waiting!"
Meldrick looked up at his old partner. "What ya talkin' 'bout, Mikey?"
"I got a dead clergy at a church and I need a partner," Mike retorted. "Gee told me to take you along."
Sighing, Lewis grabbed his hat and the two men headed out the door.
During the drive to the church, Lewis turned to Mike who winced in pain as he drove.
"How's your shoulder there, Mikey?" he asked tentatively.
"Docs gave me a clean bill of health with it," Mike told him. "It just gives me hell occasionally."
Lewis took a deep breath. "Mikey, about that, I—"
"Later, Meldrick," Mike said, cutting him off. "We're here."
Mike parked the Cavalier and the two men got out, heading toward the LDS Church building.