Day 83: Truth Wil Prevail

This is the conclusion to my "XG7" story I started a looong time ago.  Try looking at Day #49 too.

The Prompt: Write a short story in which the church’s accountant is stealing money from the church.  The pastor is accused.  What happens?

It had been two weeks since the church had been ransacked.  Thanks to the dedication and willing hearts if the congregation, Pastor Reynolds was able to get the church cleaned up and restored to its original state by the next Sunday service.  Catching whoever did this did not prove to be such a swift process though.  The lead from the gas station owner proved to be a dead end.  He had no idea who was driving the car or where it was headed.  With only a partial license plate, the police had no way of easily tracing the car.  This forced Pastor Reynolds to have nothing to do but wait for God's justice to prevail.  On that weekend, it did, but not in the way he had expected it to.

Pastor Reynolds and Olivia were out that afternoon running some errands.  They pulled into the driveway to see a police car sitting in front of their garage.

"Good afternoon!" the pastor called as he walked up to it.  "Can I help you with something?"

A police officer exited from the vehicle.  "Mr. Reynolds?"

"Yes, sir, I am.  Is this about the vandalism in my church?"

"Not exactly, sir.  We have a few questions for you.  Would you please come down to the station with me?"

Pastor Reynolds was puzzled and looked back at his wife, who was unloading the car.  "Sure, officer.  Just let me tell my wife."

Once they arrived at the police station, the policeman led him into an interrogation room and left him there for about fifteen minutes, during which time Pastor Reynolds prayed for peace and strength.

"Hello, my man is Officer Randall," a tall, broad shoulder man with graying hair greeted as he sat down at the table in front of him.

"Hello, Officer Randall.  Can you tell me why I'm here?"

"We were investigating the attack on your church when we came across some information."

"What sort of information?"

"Well, it's standard procedure to check into everything, and we looked into the church's bank records."  He paused slightly and studied Pastor Reynolds' face, expecting some sort of reaction.  Nothing.  He continued, "It appears as though there is more revenue the church is receiving than it is putting into the bank."

"Oh, I see," he smiled.  "It's rather hard to keep track of the money sometimes.  I'm not the best at recording that sort of thing, but the transactions happen so fast.  You see, I take some the tithe money and donate it immediately to shelters or use it to fund some of our programs and organizations we have running.  Anything left goes into the bank account, which used for renovations on the church or bigger events we host, such as the Christmas concert."

"Are you saying you have spent $4,000 on shelters and church programs in the past three months?  Because that is the deficit."

The pastor was shocked.  "Are you sure?"

"Quite sure.  Just as sure that your bank accounts show that about $3,000 was entered into a savings account under your name about three weeks ago.  How do you explain that?"

"I-I don't have a savings account with that much money in it.  My checking account doesn't even have that much."

"The evidence doesn't lie."

"I don't know what to say.  Are you accusing me of stealing from my own church?"

"It sure appears to be that way."

"But what about the vandals?"

"We're still working on that, but just be aware we're keeping a close eye on you too.  Pastor."

After Pastor Reynolds talked to his wife about all that happened at the station, he checked his bank records to see for himself.  Sure enough, there was a deficit of about $4,000 and another account with a large sum of money in it, in his name.  He decided to call his accountant, Geoffrey Dillard, to get an explanation.

"Gosh, Pastor Reynolds, I have no idea how there could be so much money missing.  Yeah, I guess I must have made a huge mistake.  No, I promise it won't happen again.  I'm truly very sorry.  No, I don't know of another bank account in your name.  Are you sure you didn't just forget or make a mistake?  Hmm, curious.  Don't worry, I'll guard the money well.  Thanks, you too.  Bye."

Pastor Reynolds sighed as he closed his cell phone.  He couldn't shake off the feeling that something strange was going on.

A couple days later, Pastor Reynolds was at the pulpit, practicing his sermon, when a teenaged boy of about fifteen sauntered through the front doors.

"Hello, young man, can I help you?"

He looked distracted with his thoughts.  Pastor Reynolds could tell he wanted to say something.  He approached the boy.  "What's troubling you, son?"

"Is this the church I heard about that got damaged?"

"Yes, it is."

"It looks good."

"Yes, we were able to clean it up, but we still don't know who did it."

"Really?  Not even a hunch?"

"No, but I'm sure whoever did it must be very...upset or lonely.  Perhaps he didn't mean it."

The boy wasn't looking him in the eye.  He sat down at the pew.  "Is this that type of church with curtained booths and stuff?"

Pastor Reynolds laughed gently.  "No, but we do take confessions, if there's something you wanted to say."

"Not sure what good it would do."

"Oh a lot!  It's quite a burden carrying a secret around, especially if it's something you're not proud of.  The guilt eats you up until you can hardly do anything without thinking about it.  You start getting nervous someone might find out, and maybe you start snapping at people.  But you know what?"  He looked straight into the boy's face.  "No matter how terrible you think you acted, God will forgive you, if you are repentant enough to ask.  And if there's any sort of trouble you're in, I promise I'll try my hardest to help you.  God wants you to be happy, and I want that for you."

The boy struggled to hide back tears, and his voice wavered as he spoke.  "I did it, me and my friend Joe.  We don't normally do stuff like this.  At first it was just a funny prank.  Then we were asked to vandalize the church.  I didn't want to do it. I mean, it's a church!  But, I went along anyways.  We didn't hurt anyone.  I'm so so sorry."

Pastor Reynolds wanted to ask more questions, but he saw helping this boy was more important than satisfying his curiosity.  He prayed with the boy, asking God's forgiveness together.  He wasn't ready to become a Christian quite yet.  He wanted more time to think about it.  Pastor Reynolds did convince him though to go to the police.

The whole story slowly unfolded.  "Joe" was short for "Joseph," who was Geoffrey Dillard's younger brother.  Geoffrey had felt Pastor Reynolds had been taking him for granted for the four years he had been working for him.  That feeling, combined with the temptation of stealing, was just too great.  He knew he couldn't do if forever without getting caught, so he orchestrated the vandalism to cover it up.  Joseph and his friend had gotten into trouble before, so he was only asking them to do what they were good at.  He had intended to frame Pastor Reynolds for embezzlement and insurance fraud, but his plan didn't work out that way.  Pastor Reynolds was shocked and hurt that Geoffrey was capable of doing this to him and that he might have provoked him in some way.  He was even more hurt that Geoffrey wouldn't accept any help from him after he was arrested though, and he had dragged his little brother down with him.  There was still hope for Joe's friend Rick.  The truth can sometimes be painful, but it can eventually set you free, through mental healing.