Another Excerpt from my WIP

The following is another excerpt from my work in progress, Jen McDowell—Private Eye; Business is Booming, a Jen McDowell Series. I think this will be the last chapter. If you want to catch up, order the novella The Throuple Private Eye—Hate Crimes, on Amazon ($2.99). The link is https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084LTTHGN. Enjoy.

The Case of the Good Priest

Things were still slow after the case of the cheating girlfriend/fiancé. Jen didn’t like the way that case ended but there was nothing she could do about. When she checked her voicemail, there weas a message from a gentleman requesting a video conference. Jen told Molly about so she could return the call and schedule a meeting. She set the meeting for that very afternoon.

Later that afternoon, both Jen and Molly were on the video conference with the gentleman. He introduced himself as Clive?Lamont, Chairman of the Parish Council of First Baptist Church of Atlanta.

After some preliminary questions, Jen asked, “What can we do for you, Father Lamont?”

“No, no,” Clive replied. “I not a member of the clergy. I’m a lay person. I would like you to investigate one of our priests, Father Kendall?Galen?Traylor.”

“Why? What has he done?” Molly asked.

“I don’t know that he has done anything,” Clive answered.

“So, what we would be looking for?” Jen asked.

“Here’s the thing,” Clive continued. “I don’t know that he has done anything wrong. I just have a gut feeling that he’s hiding something.”

“Because…” Jen urged.

“Okay. I got a call from our Bishop asking if we would allow Fr. Traylor to fill in for a priest in Las Vegas, a friend of his and a classmate from the seminary. The bishop from Las Vegas request him by name. He’ll be taking two weeks off to go to Las Vegas. Why does a priest go to Las Vegas? And during the summer? It’s hot as hell, pardon my language. There’s a reason they call it ‘Sin City’ and what ‘Happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.’ It just strikes me as odd. I feel as Chairman of the Parish Council I have a responsibility to check into it. He is leaving next Thursday.”

“And what would we look for?” Molly asked.

“Oh, anything. He could be a pedophile for all I know. Does he gamble? Does he dance? Does he watch porn? Does he drink. Does he smoke? Anything along those lines.”

“Are dancing, smoking, drinking alcohol against the church rules?” Molly asked.

“No. not specifically. But during his interview he said he doesn’t smoke, dance or drink. If he was lying about that, we do take a dim view of lying. Now I’m completely within my duties as Chairman to check out our priests. I would like you to go to Las Vegas and follow him to see what he’s doing there. I’ll pay for everything, of course.”

“Do you know which hotel is will stay at?” Jen asked.

“He’ll stay at the church’s rectory. He’s filling in for Fr. Garry, so he’ll use his room.”

Jen and Molly agreed to take the case. Clive provide all the details on Father Traylor flight to Las Vegas and the address of the church in Las Vegas. Jen and Molly planned to arrive before Father Traylor and to follow him from the airport.

Later, Jen pointed out to Molly, “I don’t feel too good about this case. It’s one thing to spy on a cheating spouse, but in this case, we don’t know if Father Traylor has done anything wrong.”

“Well, isn’t the job of a parish council president to vet the priests? Besides, that’s the nature of being a private eye.”

Later on Wednesday…

Molly and Jen arrive in Las Vegas one day ahead of Father Traylor. They checked into one of the large Las Vegas luxury hotels. The next day, they rent a car and arrived at the airport ahead of Fr. Traylor’s flight. They followed him from the arrival gate. He didn’t go to the baggage claim area. He was met by another young priest not far from his gate.

“Damn,” Jen said. “He’s not going to rent a car. Someone is picking him up. Molly, go get the car before we lose him. Pick me up in the hourly parking lot. I’ll follow them until they get into a car and then I’ll tell you where to pick me up me.”

Molly left as quickly as she could. Jen followed the two priests into the daily parking area. They quickly found a car and got in. As they pulled out, Jen snapped a picture of their license plate. Then she called Molly, but before Molly answered, Jen heard a honk behind her. It was Molly. Jen climbed into the rental. “How did you find me so fast?” she asked.

“Easy,” Molly answered. “I figured they’d park as near the entrance as possible. When I go here, I saw you coming out of the terminal.”

Molly followed the priests far enough behind them to not create any suspicion. The priest drove directly to the rectory of a large church. Jen and Molly waited in their car until the two priests went inside. “Shall we go inside and look around?” Jen asked. Molly agreed and the two went inside the church.

Once inside the church, Jen picked up a copy of the weekly bulletin, and the two private eyes sat down in the back row to read it. Jen read in a whisper, “It says that Fr. Traylor from Atlanta will fill in for Fr. Garry for two weeks. Apparently, Fr. Garry has a family wedding to perform back in New Hampshire.”

Jen handed the bulletin to Molly. Molly read it to herself for a minute, then said in a whisper, “It says that Fr. Traylor will take over the AA meeting on Friday night, the Saturday morning bible study, the evening service on Saturday and will concelebration two services on Sunday. That means he’ll be tied up the entire weekend. All work and no play.”

“We should attend to make sure he stays for the meetings and the services,” Jen replied. “We can always leave once they start.”

My humorous blog is found at monteranderson-author.com (also web page) and monteranderson.wordpress.com.