lightly on the mouth, and he put his arm around her as they walked toward the house. 'The sheriff called,' she said. 'I tried calling the warehouse around lunchtime to let you know, but no one answered. I called Connie, and she said that you and Brad were in town somewhere.'
'Did he say what it was about?'
'No. He just said to have you call him back as soon as possible.'
Gordon was silent for a moment. 'They caught Brother Elias this morning,' he said. 'I saw it. They found him preaching in front of Valley National.'
Marina stopped walking. 'Why didn't he tell me?'
Gordon shrugged. 'I guess he didn't want to worry you or anything. I
don't really know.'
'But I'm the one who's going to have to sign the complaint.'
'You're right.' They walked into the kitchen and Gordon grabbed an apple from the wire fruit basket on the counter next to the sink. 'Do you want to go down there?'
Marina shivered, remembering the strange black eyes that had held her spellbound. 'I don't know. I don't think I want to see him.'
'You don't have to see him to swear out a complaint.' Gordon walked out into the living room and headed toward the back of the house. 'I have to go to the bathroom. After I'm finished, we'll go.'
Marina moved into the living room and stood in front of the screen door, staring outside. The storm had died, but a new one was brewing on top of the Rim. There was a flash of lightning, and she blinked her eyes, not believing what she had seen.
Gordon put a hand on her shoulder, and she jumped. 'Jesus! Don't scare me like that.'
He grinned. 'Sorry.'
She pointed toward the top of the Rim. 'Look up there,' she said.
'Watch that lightning.'
Gordon followed her finger. 'I don't see anything.'
'Just keep watching.'
He stood there for a moment, staring. 'That's weird,' he said finally.
'It's red.'
Gordon was right. Marina did not have to see Brother Elias to sign a complaint. She simply filled out the form the sheriff gave her and signed her name at the bottom. Jim looked over the form and nodded.
'Fine,' he said. He handed it to Rita for processing.
Although Marina had not mentioned the kitten, she was somewhat cold to the sheriff, and Gordon was happy when the complaint had been signed and it was time for them to leave. It had been a somewhat awkward situation. They were about to step out the door, when he heard the sheriff loudly clear his throat behind them. He turned around.
'Could I speak to you for a moment?' Jim asked. 'In private?'
Gordon looked at Marina. 'I'll wait in the car,' she said flatly. She walked out the door without even glancing at the sheriff.
Jim smiled. 'Still mad at me, huh?'
'Well, you know--'
'Happens all the time,' the sheriff said, waving his hand dismissively.
'Don't worry about it.' He opened the small gate next to the front desk and motioned for Gordon to follow him back to his office.
'What is it?' Gordon asked when they were alone.
'It's Brother Elias. Tell me what you think of him.'
Gordon shrugged. 'I don't know. I only met him that one time. I thought he was crazy. Marina thinks he's crazy.'
'He didn't .. . scare you?'
Gordon looked at the sheriff. 'What are you getting at?'
Jim chewed on his upper lip for a moment, thinking. 'Okay,' he said.
'I don't want you to breathe a word of this to anyone.'
'You know I won't.'
'He's been around town here for a couple days now, preaching.'
He paused. 'Predicting. He predicted those church fires, and he said he didn't have anything to do with them starting, and I believe him.'
Gordon remained silent.
'And he talked about my great-grandfather as if he knew him. I've been thinking about this all day, going over it in my head, and I don't see how he could know anything about my great-grandfather. Not realistically.' He looked at Gordon. 'To be honest, he scares the shit out of me. I've gone back there a couple of times today, to check on him, and each time I do he's always staring at me, waiting for me, as if he knows when I'm coming. It gives me the creeps. There's no logical connection other than the fires, but I think he's involved in all this. It's nothing that'll hold up in court, but .. he trailed off. 'I think I'm going to ask Father Andrews to come here and look at him, see what he thinks.'
'What other predictions has he made?' Gordon asked.
The sheriff shook his head. 'I don't know. Something about flies, an earthquake, different colored lightning--'
'Red?' Gordon asked.
The sheriff nodded, looking at him. 'Yes.'
'Look outside,' Gordon said. He found that his hands were trembling.
Jim moved over to the window, glancing out at the town. His eye was captured by the building storm on the Rim. He saw a flash of red lightning, and he paled. He turned back to Gordon. 'How long has this been going on?'
'I don't know. We just noticed it about a half hour ago.'
'Do you think its some type of legitimate weather disturbance? I mean, do you think he could have known about it ahead of time?'
Gordon shook his head. 'I don't know.'
The two men stared at each other. 'Do you want to see him?' the sheriff asked finally.
'Not now,' Gordon said. 'Right now I just want to take Marina home and forget about this whole damn thing.'
Jim nodded, understanding. 'But what if we have an earthquake in the middle of the night?' he said softly.
'Then I'll hold her even closer. And I'll wait for it to go away.'
'But we can't just ignore it. We can't pretend there's nothing going on.'
'What else can we do?'
'I'm going to call Father Andrews,' Jim said. 'He's dealt with this kind of stuff before. We'll see what he has to say about all this.
Maybe he can make some sense out of what Brother Elias is saying.'
'Are you still having nightmares?' Gordon asked.
The sheriff nodded. 'Of course. You?'
'Yes. I had a hell of a one last night.'
'What was it about?'
'I was at the dump, then I was at this place with little white crosses and there was a boy--'
'Jesus,' Jim said. He sat down hard on his chair. 'I had the same dream.' He stared at Gordon. 'You take your wife home,' he said.
'Then you get back here. I'll call Father Andrews. We're going to talk to Brother Elias.'
Gordon nodded silently.
The sheriff looked at his watch. 'It's four right now. Be back here at five-thirty. We're going to get to the bottom of this.'
'Are you sure we want to?' Gordon asked.
