The next day, Hope and Ruthie were making love in Ruthie's office at the church, when the secretary buzzed, saying someone wanted to see them.
"Give us two minutes," said Ruthie.
"Take all the time you need," the secretary said sarcastically. She knew that if they weren't having sex, the door would be opened right away.
Once the women cleared the evidence, they opened the door. In walked a 17 year old parishioner. They knew her as Charlie Bakerson. In fact, Charlie was born as Charles but at four years old decided he was a she and told her parents she wanted to be known as Charlotte. The ministers knew this too. The young woman was as shapely as a natural born girl, with a bosom to show for it, and was wearing a one-piece dress with stockings and high heeled shoes. But they were surprised to see Charlotte in distress.
"Charlie, what is it?" asked Hope.
"Pastor, what I'm about to tell you is going to make you and your brother reel, but you have to hear this," said Charlotte. "And please ... it's Charlotte. My parents call me Charlie because that's what they called me before I changed into a girl, but my friends call me Charlotte."
"Okay, sorry, Charlotte," said Ruthie. "What's up?"
"Hope, I understand that many years ago, your parents bought up some land around Orlando because they wanted to have a satellite operation for their church. Quite a bit of land, as I understand it."
"Yeah ... I've almost forgotten about that," said Hope. "We actually set up a TV center there and did the show from there for about two years. But we then sold the land sometime after that, because we decided California better suited the needs of Grace is Yours."
"Right," said Charlotte. "But you don't know the half of it."
"What do you mean?" asked Ruthie.
"You ladies may want to sit down." Charlotte found herself a chair. The women sat behind Ruthie's desk.
"I don't know how your mother managed to keep secret she was a lesbian for as long as she did ... in fact I'm shocked at how and when she came out," continued Charlotte. "I have to say I'm proud of both of you that you did so when you did. That is, you two - Hope and Ruthie. But the thing is, while your parents were in Florida, your mother did some research on your parishioners in Florida. Market research."
"What ministry doesn't these days?" said Hope. "We do at our church here. Felicity and I, for our separate ministries too. We need to know who our followers are and where they're coming from. Income, family situation, and so forth."
"Not the kind of research you'd expect, though," replied Charlotte. She ran her nail-polished long nailed fingers through her flowing hair.
"Please explain."
"You may recall there were a number of children who went missing in the Orlando area, just around the time you guys packed up and moved back to California. They just disappeared, without a trace."
"I can't forget that. Patrick and I were part of a few of the search parties. It was hopeless. Like they vanished into thin air."
"Well, you guys were looking in the wrong part of town," said Charlotte. "The day after you left, they found the bodies. All of them. They were all buried in shallow graves on your parents' property. Buried alive, and died from suffocation. Well, not all of them. I was kidnapped by someone in a mask. I couldn't make out if it was a man or a woman. All I know is I was raped, and thrown into a foot deep grave, and a bunch of dirt poured over me. A search dog, doing an unrelated drug search, found the bodies ... and me. I was barely breathing when they found me - another hour and I would have been dead. In Orlando, I'm called 'The Girl Who Lived'." This was 12 years ago. There was so much publicity over me that my parents got fed up and they both got transfers to Saint Louis, and I've lived here ever since."
"I still am not sure why you're telling us this," said Ruthie. "Are you asking us to find out if one of the employees of Hope's parents' ministry may have been behind the murders?"
"Hope doesn't have to look far, Ruthie," said Charlotte.
"What are you saying?" said Hope in shock.
"Before I answer that, you need to know this: All the kids who were murdered were members of your church, like I was. They were also trans gendered, like I am. Sixteen were boys who wanted to be girls, the other four vice versa. The police knew this either from the parents, or from the way they dressed. The person who did this didn't like trans gendered people even though she herself is gay."
"And why would that be? Aren't they in the same community?"
"Actually, we're not. Sexual orientation and gender identity are two different things. Gender identity is who you want to be, yourself. Sexual orientation is who you want to be with. We're fighting different kinds of discrimination. For me, it was a struggle for years wanting to use be,the girls' room, not the boys'. And that's just the start of it, the tip of the iceberg. I've been bullied a lot, but thank God most of my classmates have my back. The person who did this believed the children were going against God's will by going contrary to the gender God gave them, therefore they deserved to die."
"Did they ever find the killer - or killers?" asked Ruthie.
"No," said Charlotte. "Not until now. They had DNA under the fingernails of all the victims, but there never was a match. Until this morning, when I got a call from the Florida State Police. They decided to reopen the case and ran the DNA through the data bank. Hope, your mother, Prudence, was the match. One hour ago, a grand jury handed down indictments. Once your mother's current trial is over, she would be sent to Florida. And given when the crimes took place, it would mean the electric chair - not lethal injection."
"Why are you saying 'would be'?" asked Hope.
"You haven't been told?"
"What?"
"When she was confronted with the new indictments, your mother pulled out a couple of cyanide pills she had hidden in her stash of belongings. She committed suicide. I was told this just an hour ago. That's why I'm here. I presumed you would have been told first, then I could tell you how I fitted in to the story."
Hope was silent for nearly two minutes.
Then, without shedding a single tear and quoting Shakespeare, she said, "'She should have died hereafter.' I wanted her to pay for her crimes. Not take the cowardly way out. The parents of those poor children deserve to have had a trial so the whole truth could come out. Now it never will. But Charlotte ... how did you survive?"
"I had a couple bottles of water in my dress pockets. I had just come out a year or so before," said Charlotte.
"How did your parents react when you came out as a girl?"
"Shocked at first. They tried to make me change my mind. But at the department stores I kept insisting on trying on girls dresses and blouses, and girls bathing suits. It took them six months but they finally accepted it. A couple months after, they said they were proud of me no matter what I wanted to be. Hope, I know you disowned your mother, but I'm still sorry you lost her. I know you wanted her to die in prison but not like that."
"Thank you, Charlotte." Hope reached over to Charlotte and gave her a big hug. Ruthie also gave her wife a hug then hugged Charlotte.
"Not that it's any of our business - " Ruthie began, but Charlotte anticipated the question.
"You want to know how I handle the bathroom thing, and when I'm getting the change," she said.
"Yes."
"No one is going to look under the stalls to see what kind of equipment you have, unless you're a wanted predator," said Charlotte. "And I'm certainly not going to do a 'wide stance' inviting another girl to have sex with me - after all, I still have the other kind. But yes, I'm getting the change for real. I legally changed my name when I was thirteen, and had my birth certificate changed from male to female. As you guys can see, I have a B-cup, from the hormones I've taken the last four years. That's why I also have the waist and hips I have. This summer, I'm getting implants so I go to a C-cup - actually, D. Next year, when I graduate, I'm getting the reassignment. But I don't have to wait for that to be a woman. I know I'm a woman already, like you guys. My parents see me as a woman, and so do my friends. That's all that matters. And ... I guess that's it for now."
"Well, thank you Charlotte," said Ruthie. "I guess I'll see you and your parents on Sunday."
"Of course!"
The ministers hugged Charlotte again and said they were proud of her and they had her back too.
Once they were alone, Ruthie said, "So what do we tell Patrick?"
"Everything," said Hope. "After what Mom did to me, I couldn't care less that she's dead, to be honest ... I'm not going to her funeral. Why should I? But he'll be ecstatic."