Page 111 of Ezekiel
I worked on the financials for a solid hour, balancing the books for the church. It was a task they apparently felt comfortable letting me do. Sure, I was good with numbers, but honestly, I think they wanted to keep me tucked safely away where no one would notice me. Better to have the crazy kid shoved back in a closet than to be out front like Levi and Ollie. It didn’t matter. I preferred it this way.
I honestly didn’t mind the work. It kept my hands and mind busy and helped to calm my anxiety. Plus, the best part of it all was that it was quiet. Breathtakingly quiet and alone.
The afternoon should have passed that way, in peaceful quiet, but for some reason, the numbers weren’t adding. I could understand chasing a penny here or a penny there. But that was usually a user entry error. This was something else. There was money coming out of funds with no receipts to show for it. I knew better than to go ask questions, so I decided to search around in the files and look for the receipts. Most likely one of the Elders had just shoved his digital receipts in the wrong folder on the server. Simple mistake, though a dumb one if you asked me. It wasn’t hard to place them in the folder titledReceipts. Very easy to do, unless you were an idiot. And this place was chock full of idiots. Idiots and pedophiles apparently.
I scoured through the receipts file, checking and double checking the entries against each receipt, to no avail. Perhaps I was right, and it had just gotten thrown into another folder.
One by one, I scanned through the folders on the server, looking for where this money was going. Was there a utility I hadn’t seen? Or a recurring purchase that I hadn’t noticed? Looking back into the prior months, I noticed it. There was a pattern. Similar amounts were being drawn out of the account at regular, monthly intervals. But where was the money going?
I went through more folders, still finding nothing that matched. Everything was in order, in its place and accounted for, except for these transactions. What the hell was it? It was going to drive me crazy if I didn’t figure it out. Then I really would be the crazy kid in the closet.
Finally, after nearly an hour of searching, I was down to the last three folders on the server. The first was nothing but a bunch of attendance records, but the second? The second folder was something else entirely.
I scoured through the photos, the documents, and, sure enough, there were the receipts I had been missing. But the more I looked at it, the more confused I became. What was this?
And more importantly, what did it mean?
I needed to talk to Levi. I wanted to be sensitive to Talia’s needs, but we really needed to be at that dinner tonight. This could be something big.
Something huge.
CHAPTER25
EZEKIEL
It had been one hell of a night. Fuck that. It had been one hell of a day. Between the night terror, my father’s unwanted visit, the meeting, the accounting issue, and then dinner with my brothers to discuss all of that, I was bone tired and weary as I sat in the car beside Talia. Poor thing had been silent for the entire trip home. I couldn’t tell if she was tired or upset or drained. Probably all the above, truthfully. Not that I could blame her. The week’s events had put her through the ringer. Yet, as difficult as it had been, she was still here beside me, strong as ever.
We pulled into the driveway, making our way to the front door in pure silence. When we stepped into the front door, locking it behind us, we both inhaled deeply, relaxing as we exhaled.
Home.
It gave me no small amount of joy that she felt safe here, that she felt this was her home.
“What a night, huh?” I asked, hanging our jackets in the hall closet.
“No kidding. I still can’t believe it. They really talked about the girls turning thirteen this year?” she asked in disbelief.
“They not only talked about it, they were basically verbally masturbating over it. It was sickening. It was everything I could do to not throw up right there in my seat,” I admitted.
“And those files you found. I keep racking my brain, trying to figure out what it could be. I want to believe that it’s just a new building, but you’re right, I haven’t seen a building that’s not in use in Zion for as long as I can remember,” she admitted as we trudged up the stairs to the bedroom.
“I know. Since I found them, I have been doing the same thing. I dug through the rest of the server a second time, trying to figure it out, but nothing came up. I’ll keep looking, but it’s infuriating. Not knowing is driving me crazy,” I said as we both sat down at the foot of the bed.
“It feels like we are so close to it, though. Doesn’t it?” she asked, taking my hand.
“It does. Like it’s just out of reach. We’ll keep looking. We’ll find out what’s going on here and we will get answers. And through it all, I promise to keep you safe, Talia. No matter what,” I vowed, bringing her hand to my lips and kissing the back of it sweetly.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Did you do okay by yourself today?” I asked her. We hadn’t had much time to really talk about her day before we headed off to Levi’s.
“I told you earlier that today was just fine,” she reminded me.
“I know, but we didn’t get to actually talk about it. I just want to make sure that you’re alright. Last night was hard for you, I know. I kept having this fear all day today that you would take a nap and wake up with another night terror. The thought of not being here for you during that was almost worse than anything else today,” I admitted honestly.
“I think that’s a bit of an exaggeration, Zeke. Men talking about bedding thirteen-year-olds is by far worse,” she chuckled humorlessly.
“You know what I mean. Did you remember anything else today?” I asked her sincerely. A look crossed her face, just the tiniest flash of something in her eyes.
