Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Roland stood at the top of the stairs, shocked.
Not just shocked because Pastor Connelly would actually think that he would steal money, although he was, but he was flabbergasted that Nelly was defending him and so vehemently. She was absolutely sure that he did not take the money.
That was crazy. Why would she come to his defense so ardently?
He wasn’t sure what to make of it, but it made his heart feel funny in a way that he couldn’t ever remember it feeling before.
“Roland,” she said, her eyes widening, shock in her voice.
“Hey. I… The parking lot was full, so I parked up here.”
He didn’t mean to eavesdrop on their conversation, but when the pastor looked at Nelly with a knowing look in his eyes, he realized that the pastor thought he was coming up through here to possibly scope out the money situation again.
Nelly narrowed her eyes at the pastor, shook her head, and then opened the door and walked out.
It closed with a click behind her as Roland slowly started walking down the stairs.
“I guess I couldn’t help but hear that,” Roland said. There was no point in trying to avoid it. Obviously the pastor thought he was guilty, and even Nelly’s fierce defense of him was not convincing him otherwise.
“I’m sorry, Roland. I really hate to think this way, but…you’re the only one on the camera. There’s just no way that it couldn’t be you.”
“I guess you have to think what you have to think. But…for what it’s worth, Nelly is right.
There’s no way in the world I would ever take any money from the church.
Ever. I don’t even think I would let you give it to me.
I would have to be desperate. My goal is to serve, not to steal or even to be served. ”
“There’s a time and a place for everyone to be served.
After all, other people can’t serve if you’re not willing to be served.
But that’s a sermon for a different day.
I just… I can’t square it any other way.
The video would have caught anyone else coming and going, and it didn’t. You were the only one.”
“Do you have cameras on all of the doors?”
“The camera shows the entire front porch.”
“Maybe someone came in the bottom door and up the stairs.”
“Interestingly, we typically have the bottom door locked. I’m not sure why, but that’s just the way it was done before I came. So I don’t argue with the ladies in charge. I know my place.”
The pastor seemed to be trying to make a little bit of a joke, but Roland didn’t feel like laughing.
He was being accused of an extremely odious crime, and while he appreciated the fact that Nelly considered him innocent, and he hoped that that was the way the rest of the townspeople felt, he remembered what he had said to his Secret Saint partner.
His actions hadn’t always been the actions of the person he wanted to be thought of as.
In other words, it would not be a total stretch of the imagination for many people in town to think that it could have been him, because while he had absolutely never stolen anything or done anything of the sort, he did have a reputation for being not kind, at least where Nelly was concerned.
And he supposed people could say he wasn’t completely responsible—he could remember a few times throughout the years where he did not uphold his end of bargains he had made.
Since he’d hit his mid-twenties and matured, he had not acted terribly at all, but sometimes small towns had long memories.
“Unfortunately I’m going to have to report it. The money is not mine. I’m just a representative of the church. And I’ve got to tell the police what is going on, and…your name is going to come up, because it’s you on the video.”
“I know. I was here. You’re right. I set up the tree in the sanctuary.”
Pastor Connelly nodded, and they stood there in silence for just a bit, and then Roland said, “I need to go. Nelly is expecting my help, and it’s past time to start.”
The pastor nodded again and opened the door, allowing Roland to walk through first.
He didn’t feel very good—there was a heaviness in his soul that he hated. But there wasn’t anything he could do about it. Pastor Connelly had to say what he had to say, and whatever happened would happen. But they would never be able to prove that he took the money, because he absolutely did not.
To his surprise, Nelly did not have the children lined up and had not begun practice. Instead, she and Mrs. Tucker were talking by the door.
Roland almost went to begin to get things rolling, but instead, he turned and walked toward the two ladies who were speaking. Nelly looked concerned, and that made Roland’s stomach turn over. What else could be happening?
“I don’t know what they’re going to do. They don’t meet until tomorrow, and tomorrow evening is the tree lighting ceremony! How can we light a tree that is missing!”
“What tree is missing?” Roland asked as he walked up to the two ladies. Mrs. Tucker looked extremely agitated.
“The tree at the center of the town square. The one that we were all supposed to finish decorating and light tomorrow. Apparently it was stolen sometime today. Nobody really knows when. The thief must have taken it in broad daylight.”
“That would not be an easy tree to steal. It’s huge. It must be nine feet tall.” They had donated it from their tree farm, but by the time it had been cut and re-stood, he wasn’t sure exactly how tall it was.
“Well, they did it. Maybe with a truck.”
“I don’t think there are any cameras on the town square. I guess…normally there’s nothing to steal there.”
“Yes, I already checked. There are no cameras. And like I said, we’re not going to be able to solve anything until tomorrow morning, and how would we be able to get a tree that fast?”
Roland wasn’t worried about it. He could leave a note for the Secret Saint after he left the Christmas program practice.
He could let her know that they needed to postpone the deliveries that they were planning on making tonight and instead go to the tree farm, grab a tree, and get it stood up again.
“Didn’t it already have lights on it?” Roland asked.
“They stole it, lights and all,” Mrs. Tucker said, snapping her mouth closed and looking disgusted.
“Wow. So that was probably five or six strands of lights.”
“It was ten. Ten strands of lights and a nine-foot-tall Christmas tree. Who in the world would think of stealing something like that? And what in the world would they do with it?” Mrs. Tucker sounded like the world was about to come to an end.
“Well, obviously, it was someone who wanted to spread Christmas cheer somewhere else,” Roland said.
He was starting to feel a little bit better.
Nothing was ever as bad as it seemed at first, and even if he was accused of stealing the money, they couldn’t prove it, and…
his reputation would take a hit, because some people would never forget that he had been accused, even though no proof was ever presented.
Still, God had a reason for all of this, and the best thing that he could do was to not worry about it and just trust that God was going to work it all out for his good and God’s glory.
After all, he said he wanted to live for God’s glory, but…
so many times he found himself wanting to live for his own.
Like his reputation. He didn’t want it to be shredded, but if it happened, through no fault of his own, then God promised that He would work it out.
He had been able to reason that through in his head, and while it still bothered him, because of course he wanted to have a good reputation, he had to say that he trusted God more than he trusted himself, and he just needed to let go and believe.
“All right. The idea that someone would stoop so low as to steal a town Christmas tree is disturbing, but there’s nothing we can do about it now, and we need to work on the Christmas program.”
Nelly looked up at Roland. “Are you okay?” she asked, and his heart stirred. She was concerned about him? She had heard the accusations, she had defended him more fiercely than his family probably would, and now she was asking if he was okay. Wow. It made him feel good in a way he couldn’t explain.
“I’m fine.”
She nodded. She opened her mouth like she was going to say something else, and then she closed it. Maybe because Mrs. Tucker was standing there, or maybe because she didn’t want to get too touchy-feely with him, he wasn’t sure.
But he got the impression that she was going to say that she believed he was innocent.
The Christmas practice went well, and while there still was a bit of an undercurrent between the two of them, they got along much better than they had before.
He almost enjoyed working with her. It certainly didn’t have the fun and easy camaraderie that working with his Secret Saint partner did, but it wasn’t bad. Honestly.
He left practice a little early, saying that he needed to get home to his mother, which wasn’t entirely untrue.
He wrote out a note explaining what was going on and hoped that his Secret Saint partner would still check the tree for notes as he tucked it inside.
They hadn’t left too many, but this was one of those things where he needed to contact her.
He was pretty sure she would agree that the tree took precedence.
After all, the entire town turned out for the tree lighting ceremony, and the businesses relied on the income they made to pad their bottom line and stay profitable.
There was no one around when he stopped and got out, ran to the tree, and tucked his note inside. He still didn’t see anyone as he walked back and got back in his pickup.
It was the first time they had changed plans, and hopefully his partner would go along with it.