For His Name's Sake (Psalm 23 Mysteries)

  Jeremiah couldn’t sleep. He was in his room at the mansion, having refused to spend the night downstairs on the couch. Captain was snoring away on the foot of the bed, unbothered by his master’s insomnia.

  His mind kept going back over everything again and again. Something felt off to him. He was missing a piece of the puzzle, and it was keeping him from even being able to see the picture clearly enough to know what it was that he was missing. It was making him crazy.

  On top of that he was mentally reviewing the events of the coming week, going over and over them trying to figure out when and how the killer would strike next. The schedule wasn’t exactly a secret. Dozens of people knew what the general plan for the next few days was--everyone from friends to vendors. The trick would be mixing it up just enough to keep the killer off balance. The more the killer had to improvise, the better their chances of stopping him or her.

  He was too tired to think clearly enough to start to build a workable plan. In the morning, though, he’d sit down with Cindy and Mark and start to work something out. He had thought of having Joseph hire extra security, but at this point the last thing they needed were strangers running around the property. All the police officers were known to Mark, and, at this point, most of them Jeremiah knew as well, at least, on sight.

  With a weary sigh he flipped over on his side and tried to go to sleep.

  Mark woke up as he felt Traci get out of bed. “Everything okay?”

  “Yes, I just drank way too much water with dinner,” she said. “It turns out it takes three times the water to cut the spice of pepperoni as it does soda.”

  “I’m sorry. I know you’re going to really miss your caffeine.”

  “It’s worth it,” she said as she moved toward the bathroom. “Besides, it’s not like I have to give it up forever.”

  “True.”

  He propped himself up on one elbow. “I have to say, this has got to be one of the most comfortable mattresses I’ve ever slept on.”

  “I know. We have to figure out what kind it is so I can get one. The last few nights I’ve been waking up with pain in my back. I would have slept all night on this one if it weren’t for all that water.”

  “Maybe if we ask nice Joseph will get us one as an early baby present,” Mark joked.

  “Ha ha, very funny. You’re supposed to give presents that will help the baby.”

  “Making sure mommy sleeps well will help the baby,” he said.

  “Hilarious.”

  “Can’t blame a guy for trying.”

  He laid back down and instantly his mind began to drift. It really was a very comfortable bed. This was going to be the best night sleep he’d had in who knew how long. He could feel the stress of the day melting away along with fears of hired killers and crazy stalkers. Everything was going to be okay. It had to be.

  He heard the sound of the sink as Traci washed her hands but it sounded so far away. Had he told her he’d loved her yet today? He’d have to tell her when she came back to bed. He--

  Mark bolted out of bed, instantly wide awake, as Traci let out a piercing scream.

  14

  Three seconds later Mark was in the bathroom flipping on the light. “What is it?”

  “Something, something touched my arm,” Traci said, her voice shaking.

  “There’s no one here but us,” Mark said.

  “Not someone. Something.”

  Mark looked around. There was a wide-brimmed drinking glass on the counter next to their toothbrushes. A toiletry bag sat behind that. On the other end of the counter was a gift bag with tissue paper sticking out the top. laying on its side. Near that was a hand towel.

  “What did it feel like?” he asked as he dropped his eyes to the ground.

  “It was big, not like a fly, bigger, like a lizard maybe.”

  “Where were you when it touched you?”

  “Here, I was standing right here. I had just washed my hands and I was about to dry them on this towel,” she said, pointing to the hand towel.

  He leaned around the edge of the counter to look at the area of floor between the cabinets and the toilet and that was when he saw it.

  It was a snake, its body curled up in a figure eight with its head in the center. He was a grayish color with white spots edged with brown.

  “Traci, walk into the other room,” Mark said. It took all his willpower to keep his voice calm and neutral.

  She did as instructed instantly, without question. Mark kept his eyes on the snake. He heard a pounding on the bedroom door. He heard Traci open the door. Someone was inquiring about her scream. A moment later someone joined him in the bathroom.

  “What is it?”

  He was momentarily surprised to hear Wildman’s voice instead of Jeremiah’s. It made sense, though, Jeremiah was in an entirely different wing of the house and Wildman was just a couple of doors down.

  “Snake, next to the toilet,” Mark said, trying to back up slowly.

  Wildman moved cautiously, craning his head until he could see, then he backed out of the bathroom. “Do you have your gun?” he asked, voice strained.

  “Of course, why?”

  “Can you hit that thing with one shot?” the youth pastor asked.

  “Yes, why?”

  “For heaven’s sake, tell me where the gun is, because you need to kill that snake before it can bite anyone.”

  Normally Mark would never have let the other man go get his gun, but he was behind him and the sound in his voice struck more terror into Mark’s heart than he had ever known.

  “End table, right side of the bed. Careful it’s loaded.”

  Seconds later the youth pastor handed him his gun. Mark grabbed it without taking his eyes off the snake.

  “You have to kill it.”

  “I understand,” Mark said, his mouth completely dry. He took careful aim, let out his breath, focused, and squeezed the trigger.

  In the confines of the bathroom the sound of the gun going off was deafening, so loud that it even startled Mark. The snake jerked and for one horrific moment Mark thought he had missed. Then he spotted the hole in the animal’s head and he sagged against the doorjamb. He realized he had started shaking.

  He could hear shouts and pounding steps coming from several directions now.

  Traci met everyone at the door, informing people as they arrived that Mark had shot a snake in the bathroom. The news seemed to be causing a great deal of bewilderment out in the hall, but not nearly as much as he was feeling from where he was.

  A minute later Jeremiah showed up. Apparently Traci had let him through. He glanced in and saw the body of the snake and then turned to Mark, a questioning look on his face.

  “Traci got up to use the bathroom. She screamed because she thought something touched her arm when she was going to dry her hands. She must have knocked it on the floor. Wildman here showed up and told me I had to shoot it.”

  “Good call,” Jeremiah said grimly.

  He moved over to Traci and Mark watched out of the corner of his eye as she and Jeremiah double checked her arms for signs of bite marks.

  “She’s okay,” Jeremiah called after a moment.

  Mark turned finally at that, realizing suddenly that he still had the gun in his hand. He walked back over and put it back away in the end table. He looked at the youth pastor who was now sitting on the edge of the bed, face white, hands clasped together as if he were praying.

  He and the other groomsmen had arrived after dinner just before almost everyone turned in. There hadn’t really been more than a chance to say hello. Mark sat down next to him now, his knees feeling weak as the adrenalin started to leave his body.

  “What, what kind of snake was it?” Mark asked.

  “A saw-scaled viper, a young one, not yet fully grown.”

  “I take it they’re poisonous?”

  “One of the deadliest snakes in the world.”

  “I wonder how it got in here?” Mark said. “I mean, I guess it’s poss
ible it came in through the pipes or something.”

  Dave shook his head. “You don’t understand. That snake didn’t just happen in here. They’re only found in the middle east and parts of Asia, including India.”

  The middle east. Two of the possible assassins that Liam’s contacts had come up with were from that region. Mark felt a chill dance down his spine. He had been betting on the American assassin, but it looked like he might be wrong.

  “How did you know I needed to shoot it then?” Mark asked.

  “I took a mission trip to Bangladesh a couple of years ago. I saw a man bit by one. It didn’t end well.”

  “I’m glad you were here,” Mark said.

  Dave nodded.

  The two of them just sat there, Mark didn’t know for how long. It was a toss-up which one of them was more deeply in shock than the other. Mark should be doing something, securing the room, figuring out where the snake came from, how the assassin got him in the house. Instead all he did, all he felt like he could do, was sit next to Dave and stare into space.

  A crime scene investigator showed up and at some point, took some pictures, and removed the snake. Mark and Dave just continued to sit. Maybe this was what having a mental breakdown felt like, Mark thought at last.

  A few minutes later Traci touched his shoulder. “Honey, you should try and get some sleep.”

  It was funny, the fact that she thought he could sleep given that she had just nearly been killed by a poisonous snake from halfway around the world that had somehow ended up in their bathroom.

  He blinked. Why their bathroom? If the assassin had left the snake when he broke in wouldn’t he have chosen a room that was occupied, or at least one near where people would be? This entire wing had been empty at the time. The snake could have easily gone undiscovered until well after the wedding. At that point it would have been more likely found by some sort of maid than anyone else.

  What if the assassin hadn’t left it himself, but had had it smuggled in?

  He turned and looked at Traci who looked very tired but even more concerned. “When you came over here earlier today, did you drive straight here from our house?” he asked.

  She frowned. “No, I stopped at the pharmacy first. I needed more anti-nausea medicine.”

  “How long were you inside?”

  “Five minutes, maybe ten. There was a pretty long line.”

  Mark stood up abruptly and went back into the bathroom. He took another look at the things on the counter, where the snake had touched her.

  “What’s in this gift bag in here?” he called.

  Traci appeared beside him in the doorway. “A bunch of funny little stuff, it’s for Geanie’s bachelorette party.”

  “So, this is a present for her?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where was it in the car when you were at the pharmacy?”

  “It was on the passenger seat. I didn’t want it getting squished by the bags, there’s a little glass bottle in there.”

  “Why is it in the bathroom?”

  “Because right before I went to bed I couldn’t find where I packed my travel mouthwash. I finally went and got the bag, because I had one in there for Geanie. Fortunately it was on top so I didn’t have to go rummaging for it. I figured when I found mine later I’d just switch them out. They’re the same brand and both of them are brand new. Why?”

  “Because I think while you were at the store someone slipped that snake into that gift bag, hoping that it would bite Geanie when she opened it.”

  Traci backed up until she ran into the bed and then she sat down abruptly next to Dave. “Are you serious?” she whispered.

  “Yes. I told you, this is all very dangerous,” he said.

  “You mean, I almost got Geanie killed because I didn’t want to spend an hour each day throwing up?”

  “No, you almost got yourself killed,” he corrected.

  “What kind of lunatic does something like this?”

  “A highly paid one, I imagine,” he said grimly.

  “Mark, you have to find him and stop him.”

  “I’ve been doing my best, honey,” he said, softening his voice. “It will be okay, you’ll see.”

  “How did he know? How did he know to follow me, that I would be coming here and everything?”

  “I don’t know. It could have been a lucky guess based on my movements. We’ll have to figure that out,” he said.

  Personally he was wondering if their assassin had tapped someone’s phone.

  “We’re not going to solve anything else right now,” Jeremiah said quietly.

  Mark looked up. He’d forgotten that the rabbi was still there. “We can have the rest of your luggage checked out in the morning. I’m sure there’s another room we can move you to for tonight,” he said.

  Mark shook his head slowly. “The snake was meant for Geanie, I’m sure of it. Besides, I was all through our other bags earlier trying to figure out where Traci packed my pajamas. If there was a snake in any of them I’d be dead by now.”

  The words sounded good, but in truth he wasn’t sure he was feeling that brave. There was a hole in the bathroom where a while before a deadly snake had been. He winced at the thought.

  “I doubt Joseph’s home insurance covers bullet holes,” he muttered darkly.

  “What did you say?” Jeremiah asked.

  “Nothing. It was a bad joke. You’re right, though. I don’t think there’s anything more that can be done tonight.”

  Long after the others had turned in for the second time that night Jeremiah paced the halls of the mansion. He walked silently, passing within inches of people’s doors without a sound. As he paced he thought and the most important thing he was trying to decide was just how paranoid he was.

  The rose and the snake had both been clear messages. Each deeply symbolic.

  The rose symbolized so many things: love, purity, friendship, union. One stripped of its flowers and containing only thorns had a much harsher message, the absence of those things. A black rose itself had been used as a symbol for various things such as Irish nationalism and anarchy. The most plain and ordinary meaning, though, was death, particularly the death of love.

  Given that there was a wedding that was being interrupted that made perfect sense. However, he was becoming less sure that the rose had been a reference to Geanie and Joseph and a disrupted union. The introduction of the serpent as a symbol had solidified that in his mind.

  The serpent was a symbol of evil, of corruption, sin. Not just any sin, either, but original sin. It had been the creature used to tempt Eve in the Garden to eat of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He couldn’t help but feel that there was a message there, and that it was sent by the same person who had sent the note to Mark which read ‘Ask him what his name is’.

  Mark’s wife had been used to carry the snake and to unwittingly introduce it into his life. And Mark was most certainly after knowledge.

  Ask him what his name is.

  And regardless of who the ‘him’ in the message turned out to be, good and evil were at the heart of the knowledge that Mark was seeking. Obtaining that knowledge had ultimately doomed Adam and Eve to death. He could only pray that Mark’s quest for knowledge would not have the same result.

  He tried to tell himself that he was reading too much into these things, but something in his gut wouldn’t let it all go. He was on the right track, he could feel it, but he didn’t know what he could do about it, not without putting the others in more danger than they were already in.

  The whole thing was a nightmare and it was being complicated by too many players on the board. There were far too many variables, too many people to watch and to watch out for. Disaster was in the air and he wasn’t sure that this time he would be able to avert it.

  Sunday morning Cindy rose early. It was even too early really to call Gerald. She wandered downstairs, figuring she’d check on Joseph. He was still asleep on the couch in the living room. She was glad,
he needed his rest, especially with everything that had happened and whatever insanity lay ahead of them.

  She made her way into the kitchen and was startled to see Mark sitting at the breakfast bar, sipping a cup of coffee.

  “Morning,” he said.

  “Good morning. Did you sleep at all?”

  “Off and on,” he admitted. “You’re up early.”

  “Yeah, well,” she shrugged. “I’m guessing church this morning is out of the question?”

  “I won’t even dignify that with an answer,” he said.

  “That’s what I thought,” she said with a sigh.

  She went over to the far counter and checked out Joseph’s tea selections. “Does this actually say ‘chocolate tea’?” she asked after a moment.

  “Beats me, I went straight for the coffee.”

  “Well, I’m going to have to give this a try.”

  “Sounds like the breakfast of champions,” he said drily.

  “Let’s hope so,” she said.

  Five minutes later she sat down on a stool next to him, holding her mug.

  “It certainly smells chocolaty,” Mark commented.

  “I know,” she said. She took a small sip. “Tastes that way, too. You know, I kind of like it.”

  They sat for another minute in silence before Cindy asked, “So, are you ready to discuss details yet?”

  He shook his head. “I’m still half-dead. I’m not sure I’d even remember half of what we talked about. Besides, I want to wait for the rabbi. He’s usually got a unique perspective on things.”

  “He does, doesn’t he,” she mused. She took another sip of her tea. “What do you think his story is?”

  “I don’t want to know and if I don’t want to know, I’m doubly sure you don’t want to know,” Mark said brusquely. “Trust me on this one, I’d let it alone if I were you. What is it they say? The truth is a double-edged sword.”

  “I guess you’re right,” Cindy said with a sigh. To be honest she wasn’t even sure what had possessed her to ask Mark about Jeremiah. Maybe she was just looking for someone else’s insight or reassurance. She shook her head. She was tired, more tired than she had realized.