"It's the projector," Sherlock said, pointing to the machine that hung from the ceiling. "Projectors can be used to make it seem like you're plagued with a ghostly figure. It's a popular Halloween gimmick. The question is who's running the projector."

The vicar was staring up at said machine as if it could give the answer. "I suppose one would have to look in the sound room to determine that."

7 cm - JW

Tell Mary to get an epidural. It will slow things down. -SH

I most certainly will not! She's squeezing my hand hard enough as it is. -JW

Sherlock's lips twitched. He was almost sorry he was missing it. Almost. "You'd better wait here while I check the sound room. It doesn't sound as if the culprit's dangerous with his gifts of money, but one never knows."

Not being dangerous was an overstatement. He'd thought it a long shot that whoever was back there was still back there. Obviously though, all these times without being caught had made him overconfident or he just didn't care if he was.

The smile the old man gave him made it apparent that it was the former. "Sherlock Holmes? I've seen your picture in the paper. They called in the big guns, did they?" Wealthy but no longer cared to show off his wealth. An executive before he retired and in the military before that. Fond of Cuban cigars. Liked to play with his grandchildren. An attendee of this church.

"Care to explain why you wanted to haunt the church?"

Again he smiled. "It's easier to accept gifts from a ghost than a man. I want to help people too proud to be helped. The lady who was cleared of her cancer, that was just luck. It also makes me sad to see all the empty pews. When I was a boy and Easter or Christmas came around, there were so many people in attendance, they spilled out into the aisles and had to stand in the back. If this makes people consider the spiritual again, well, isn't it worth it?"

"At the cost of deception, lies? You should talk with the vicar. You should set everyone straight."

"Perhaps you're right. You don't believe in God, do you? Or an afterlife?"

"No, I do not. You must think I like saying that, believing that. I don't. I simply can't ignore the facts. But I don't begrudge people such as yourself who do." He started to leave on that note.

"If that's the only thing holding you back, I can give you facts. Historical facts outside the Bible that prove Jesus Christ was real."

8 cm! ! ! -JW

Sherlock made a reasonable deduction from the exclamation marks that John was beginning to get a bit anxious. But he wanted to hear more of what this man had to say, and it wasn't just a stall tactic this time. He exuded peace and hope, confidence, though it was plain by the gauntness, tiredness, and the shortness of breath that he was in the last stages of lung cancer. "Only a fool would deny His existence. It's His claims I doubt."

"It's not just His claims you doubt. It's His apostles you doubt as well. Men who were eyewitnesses to Jesus. Men who died painful deaths rather than deny He was risen. For gain a man might lie, but they gained no earthly rewards. Only one died of old age. And there were many more witnesses, hundreds in fact. No conspiracy of that size could last very long. It would have been stamped out in their day and many certainly tried, the priests, Saul who became Paul after seeing Christ himself. If you were working a case, Mr. Holmes, would you doubt so many eyewitnesses? I daresay many cases wouldn't be solved if that were so."

He was right. "I like your argument." He'd said the resurrection of Christ was a case he'd have liked to have solved and in some strange way it seemed he was getting that chance now in 2016 in this small room filled with electronic equipment. "But how can you throw away what science tells us?"

"Skeptics say the ideas are as ancient as the texts, but let me tell you a small portion of what I know. The Bible says the earth was round when others of the day thought it was flat. The Bible calls the blood the source of the flesh's life in a time when blood letting was a popular treatment. When the Bible called the stars innumerable, the ancients thought you could assign them a number. And there are many more such facts written down by uneducated men in days when knowledge was limited. My belief is it is science catching up with the Bible rather than the other way around."

"What about the miracles? The impossible happened from the splitting of the Red Sea to the sun standing still."

"It's impossible for the Creator to change the natural laws He set into place? He made everything out of nothing and that's what you call impossible?"

He made it sound so logical. "What about evolution? You can't explain that away."

"Science that tries to prove evolution is faulty. There is not one fossil ever found that shows transitioning. Not one. The fact of the matter is science can neither prove nor disprove God. You can't put God into a lab. You can't turn back the clock and watch the beginning of life unfold. You can only piece together the facts and see what you come up with and that takes looking at both sides to weed out any bias."

"You're not telling me what I should believe?" He thought that's what religious people excelled at.

"There's only way you'll ever be convinced and that's if you study it for yourself. Take on the greatest case of not only your career but the greatest case in human history. When Christ asked Peter, "Who do people say I am?", He really only cared at that moment who Peter said He was. Now it's your turn to answer the age-old question."

"And if I study and say that He was only a good teacher who died too young?"

He shrugged. "I can't believe for you. It's between you and God in the end. But so many don't seek the truth. They say they want the answers, but they don't even look. And I'm not sure all the evidence in the world would convince them if their mind is set against Him. But I believe whether you choose only science or Christianity, both take a leap of faith in the beginning. The only difference is whether there's going to be solid ground when you land. I've found solid ground. Proof in my heart, proof in my soul, proof in the world. God has made Himself known to me. I firmly believe there is a yearning inside every man that only God can fill."

Was that why he wanted to believe so much? But what if he couldn't? What if his analytical mind wouldn't let him?

He sensed his doubt and continued. "Observe the world. Really observe. God has promised that He makes Himself evident so that all are without excuse. Search with an open mind and heart and you will find. I promise you that."

He didn't know what to say. What could he say? Had he and Mycroft been wrong? Perhaps the greatest minds in England. Maybe the world?

9 cm! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! -JW

! ! ! ! ! ! ! !-JW

John had gone from anxious to a full-blown panic attack like any good father would.

"It's time for me to go. I will think on all you've said." He left him where he found him though there was more he could have asked.

He was deep in thought as he walked to find the vicar. This elderly man, who seemed to know so much that Sherlock didn't, had been beaming ghosts around the church. Why should he take what he said so seriously, but he did. He'd given him a lot to think on.

It occurred to him he'd never even asked the man his name but a quick description to the vicar let him know who it was and the vicar was inclined to let the matter drop though he did plan to discuss with him a better way to share his money.

"You really must be paid for your help," the vicar said as he walked Sherlock out. "How much do you normally charge?"

"Well, my friend's having a baby," he said, looking at the vicar's garden, which was just beginning to spring to life. "I'd like to be able to take some of those flowers to him. Or to his wife rather."

The vicar eyed him a few moments before smiling. "Mr. Holmes, for one devoid of faith, you have more Christian charity than many Christians I know. Take as many as you want. Take them all if you wish."

"How did you know I was devoid of faith?" he asked suspiciously though he imagined he already knew the answer.

"Mrs. Hudson told me when she let me in."

"Of course she did." He didn't know whether to be amused or put out with the woman.