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Chapter 7

Good Wood

Preacher was kneeling over her alternating between chest compression and mouth to mouth, while the others watched on. She felt herself suck in air. Her hands went to her chest. He sat back watching her eyes begin to flutter open. She started to get up, but Preacher placed his hand on her shoulder keeping her down. "You need to rest a moment."

Josie turned her head as if she was looking for something. "Where's the elderly man?"

Eliot squatted down, smiling slightly. "It's just us, Josie." He glanced at Preacher, giving him a concerned look.

The faint sounds of sirens were getting louder. Preacher looked at the team. "You all need to get out of here. Josie and I will hold them off."

"Come on, let's go." Eliot stood up. "I'll contact you later." Preacher nodded. Swooping up the vest that Josie had been wearing, he glanced at it. Frowning, he looked around the stage and picked up a spent bullet. Shoving it in a pocket, he began herding the team out the backdoor.

Preacher watched them leave, as the door closed he turned his attention to Josie. "Can you get up?"

She nodded. Helping her up, she leaned against him. "When did I lose my shirt?"

"Before I began compression, I cut your shirt off to remove the vest." He pulled her closer. "Your heart didn't beat for a couple of minutes."

"I was dead?"

"Yes." His voice was quiet. Walking to the front of the building, several police officers and a woman were standing in the foyer.

The officers eyed Preacher and Josie carefully. With his right arm around Josie, Preacher raised his left hand up. "There's two bodies. One on the stage and another in the balcony. One weapon will be on the floor next to the stage. Two officers headed towards the auditorium.

The officers came back, nodding. "Both are deceased. The woman was struck with a sandbag weight, the other looks like he had been in a fight. He had a rifle with a scope on it. There are three spent bullets to the center of the stage."

"Was the rope cut or come undone?" The police officer in charge asked.

"Looks like the rope gave out." An officer responded.

"May I have your weapon?" An older police officer looked at Preacher, who carefully pulled his weapon with two fingers.

He handed it to the officer. "There's one in the chamber." Preacher then pulled his identification and handed it to another officer, who wrote down the information and returned it.

He sniffed the weapon. Shaking his head, he handed it back to Preacher. "It hasn't been fired."

Preacher gave him their information as well as where they were staying. The officer frowned as he looked at a very pale Josie. "Don''t leave town, we may have more questions."

Josie opened the door to her room. Slipping out of her pants she slid underneath the covers and pulled the covers over her head. Just before falling asleep, she felt a weight on the other side of the bed. Preacher stayed with her, using the pillows to prop himself up, he slightly pulled his cap down and dozed. Movement in his room woke him. He saw Eliot in the doorway. Slowly getting out of bed he went into his room, slightly pulling the door closed.

"What happened?" Eliot's voice was quiet.

"The police found the bodies, asked us some questions."

"Nate wants you both downtown."

Preacher nodded. "We'll be there in 30."

Eliot was waiting for them at the bar. "Right now, they want to see Preacher alone." He looked at Josie. "You can wait with Parker." He nodded towards a table where she was waiting.

Preacher leaned towards the bartender. "Whiskey for the lady taking the seat with Parker and whatever Parker wants." He handed him a twenty. The bartender nodded.

The waitress brought the drinks to the ladies. "The tall gentleman sent them over."

Josie took a sip of the whiskey. "Thank you for all your help today."

Parker nodded. "It's what we do."

"Hardison, play the video." Nate sat back in his chair.

Preacher watched the video as it played. He felt his gut tightening when the shots were fired. The film flickered, then it appeared to have ended. He looked at Nate.

"Where's the rest of it?"

"Wait." Nate pointed to the screen.

After two and a half minutes of static, the video became crystal clear, revealing Preacher walking out of his position with his weapon pointed towards the left side of the stage. The video ran until everyone had left the room.

Preacher sat quietly for a couple minutes. "Why those those two minutes of static?"

Hardison shook his head. "I don't know why there is a gap."

"But there isn't." Preacher looked at Nate. "If you take the gap out, that's what happened in its entirety."

Nate looked at Eliot.

"He's right Nate. What you saw on the video, is what happened." He paused a moment. Picking up the vest that was sitting on the floor next to, he put it on the table. "Another thing, this is the vest Josie was wearing. Pulling the spent ammo from his pocket, he set it on the table. "This is the lead from the bullet fired at Josie. It was on the floor about 2 feet from where she was standing. They never struck her vest."

Preacher picked up the piece of lead, turning it with his fingers, shaking his head. His voice was barely above a whisper. "Ephesians 6:14."

Sophie looked at Nate. "What does that mean?"

Nate exhaled slowly. "Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness. Not quite the same as bullets."

Taking the vest, he looked at the front of the vest, there were no marks on it. He slid it towards Nate. "Isn't it?"

Nate looked at the vest. "Hardison, play the part of the video where Josie was shot."

Nodding, Hardison ran that portion of the video. Nate asked Hardison to slow the video down. Hardison replayed the video in slow motion.

Preacher sat silent for several minutes. "Is there anyway to determine if there is something in front of Josie?"

Hardison furrowed his brow. "You mean something invisible?" He shook his head. The camera only picks up what's visible."

Josie sat watching the full video several times. She took a sip of her drink. "Why is there static?"

Nate leaned back in his chair. "We were hoping you could explain."

She looked at Preacher. "You'll think I'm crazy." She pulled the vest towards her, flipping it over, she ran her hands over the top of it. Not finding an indentation or even a dimple on it, her hand began to shake as she ran her hand the full length of the vest. Eliot handed her the lead from the spent bullet. She bit her lip.

"The auditorium sits where an old church use to stand. Most of the wood on the stage is from the old church. Where Elaine was standing..." She stopped and looked at Preacher. "Does Robert know?"

Nate responded. "The police are handling that. Go on."

"When I woke up, I saw an elderly man with a cane and a light coming from the ceiling. We spoke about the people and the wood on the stage." She took a small sip of her drink.

Shaking her head. "I heard a woman's voice calling to the man. She called him Father and that it was time to go. I think it was Charlene's voice. I looked away for only a moment and he was gone."

She stopped, putting her hand to her chest. "I remember my chest hurt so much, that it brought me to my knees. The next thing I knew I was awake again and you all were there."

She stared at the vest. "He said that the new wood was pretty, but it lacked experience, stress and was weak. The wood from the church was good, worn, stressed, strong and beautiful." She smiled. "He called me good wood, to keep fighting and not give up."

Preacher smiled. "I'm glad you didn't."

"Mr. Ford, I don't know what happened. Did I just escape into my mind to deal with the fear and the pain or did I really see the old man?"

Nate drew a breath in, he wasn't sure how to answer that question.