Location: St. Mary's Catholic Church, Beaufort, SC
09: 00 am
The church was a magnificent, ancient building which rose up like a giant white dove, in a dreamy green landscape. The bright blue sky matched beautifully with the blue robe of the St. Mary's statue right outside the building. There were several visitors already.
"Wow" Mulder looked as Scully as she stepped out of the car. She seems to be already engrossed on the picture-perfect scenery in front of her eyes. They slowly walked towards the main entrance expecting to meet Father Vincent, the resident priest of the church.
Inside the church was well lit with yellow lighting and huge church candles. The rich interior was depicting rich culture of the area and it was a warm welcoming interior. Beautiful wooden benches with hundreds of stained glass windows added a magical touch and Scully wandered around freely as if to blend with the peacefulness that surrounded her.
A pleasant well-built man, probably in his 50s approached them. His smile was warm and welcoming as he reached to shake hands with the agents.
"Father Vincent, I'm agent Fox Mulder and this is Agent Dana Scully and we are with the FBI"
"Agents I was waiting to meet you. My pleasure"
But sooner, the peacefulness started to fade away and the real gravity of the situation was reflecting from Father Vincent's' face.
"As you know, we have faced with a terrible situation, which had also lead to many speculations and we need to ensure that our communities are not in danger. I can hardly believe that this terrible incident has already taken place, believe me, this was a very peaceful town, no crime, no robbery, no rape and hardy a fight or two. This was truly the paradise of God"
"Father, do you know the victims and their families personally? Do they have any enemies, knowingly or unknowingly to them in any sort? Mulder was firm to the point.
"Not at all agent Mulder. I personally know every family of this surrounding. I can hardly relate to any person or an incident. Not at all."
"Does all the residents believe in your faith Father, are there any groups, who has sort of different opinions or beliefs? Scully wanted to clear up her mind of what Mulder believed as the main point of the case.
"Yes we have, any community has Agent Scully, isn't it?" Father Vincent glanced at her for a brief moment. Why did you ask so, if you do not mind?"
"We believe that these murders are a part of a sort of a religious cult based on a few past similar cases which remains unresolved so far… and…"
"I don't believe it, these faiths, beliefs were all here from hundreds, maybe thousands of years back, so why kill someone now, why kill someone so young and innocent…" Father was helplessly trying to fill in the blanks of the sketch the agents had drawn for him.
"Who else reside here Father, I believe looking after a beautiful church like this is not an easy task. We would like to talk to others if you don't mind"
"Of course, we have Father Jonathan here and not to forget Lucus, who helps with housekeeping and guarding the premises at night. Let me see…come with me agents" Father Vincent led them across the church to a narrow passage which opened up to a breathtaking backyard.
"There he is, Father Jonathan" Father Vincent pointed at a tall young man in priest attire talking to a young couple who looked pale and drained.
"That's Aaron, Aaron Mass and his fiancée Savannah; you must be already familiar…"
"Our main witness" Scully added to Father Vincent's introduction.
"Hmm…how sad and shocking it must be for them to lose their dear friends…just before their own wedding. They have decided to go on with the wedding, just the mass; God has plans for all of us after all." Father Vincent led them towards the young priest.
"John…mind if I take a few minutes; we have agents Mulder and Scully here…" his words were kind and indeed fatherly.
"Of course Father…" he was prompt to join the agents after excusing from the young couple.
Their discussion with Father John was not much of a help. The young priest was new to the town and had a very little awareness of the victims.
"Thank you, Father, for your time and we will surely drop by if needed." Mulder smiled at him.
"God bless you both and let's hope we will be able to do the justice to these poor souls soon" His smile was hearty. Scully found herself engrossed within the serenity if the young priest. "God bless you too" She responded softly as she looked straight into Mulder's eyes.
"Now let's go and find the guard, Lucas…Mr. Lucas isn't he" he gently placed his arm on the small of her back as they turned away from father Jonathan. "Don't tell me you want to spend the rest of the day offering your prayers to the almighty!" He chuckled at her with his usual teasing mode.
"Well, why shouldn't I? She turned to him, with a rather playful expression, but she paused, he noticed how her expression changed to a blank gloomy drained smile. "Given the fact that there is nothing really left for me to pray for" She hissed with a broken tone. He knew what she meant, he didn't want this conversation to stretch any longer.
"Come on… let's go and find Lucas…" Just as he reached to hold her hand, there he heard someone calling them from afar.
"Agent Mulder, Agent Scully…" they heard a female voice calling them, now the voice was rather close enough as they turned to see who it was. The main witness of their case, Aaron Mass and his fiancée Savannah was already next to them.
"Can we..Umm...I hope we have not disturbed you…" Savannah broke the silence. "I'm Savannah and this is Aaron. I think we met the other day" she said briefly glancing at Scully.
"Yea…Savannah…I do remember you. It's good to see you again" Scully looked at the young lady who looked pale and tired. "What do you want to talk to us about?"
"We know this might sound ridiculous to you, but we decided to go on with our wedding, just a little gathering at the church…Both Abby and Jac were so happy for us and I know they are just looking at us from where ever they are now…" Her voice broke, as she spoke and tears were streaming down her as her partner hugged her with a soft kiss.
"It's ok sweetheart…" Aaron held her as he started to continue from where she stopped.
"We know that you are doing your best on this and we are just flattered to have you here taking care of this. We need blessings from God to do the justice for our friends and…whatever your faith is...Umm...we will be honored if you can join us for the mass tomorrow…we will be praying for their souls and for all of us to give is strength" He looked and the agents with an empty look expecting their response.
"Oh..." it was all Scully could manage; they weren't expecting an invitation to a church mass, not any way for a wedding mass in the middle of an ongoing investigation.
"We are honored to be invited…" Mulder broke the silence looking at Scully, who now has managed to smile in response.
The young man lent them out a white card, an invitation and smiled softly and thankfully.
"Thank you again…we are so much flattered to have both of you here" He said softly as he looked at his lady.
"Thanks" she looked at Scully and Mulder briefly before they turned away to join Father Jonathan.
Scully stared at Mulder speechlessly until the young couple is at a safe distance to protest him.
"How can you do such a thing, Mulder… its Sunday tomorrow and I thought we had the plan to go back tonight!" she was completely mad at him.
"I thought you would fancy a wedding…" He chuckled. "Besides we haven't gotten a good progress at the case too. Who knows maybe we really need a prayer!"
She took a deep breath to console her own anger as she muttered "Whatever!" under her breath.
"Come let's go and catch the Lucas Guy" He patted her shoulder as he he walked away.