The Black Cassock

The deputy pulled on the door and the two of them entered. Brian opened the sanctuary doors to darkness, except for the light shining dimly through the stained glass windows lining both sides of the dark room. There was no spotlight illuminating the altar. "What in the world...?" Brian began. "What?" Bud asked. Saying no more, Brian hurried up the aisle to the altar. The body wasn't there. "He's gone." "Father Hal?" "I don't believe this. Someone has removed the body." Brian looked around in the partial darkness, he entered the door at the left of the nave, found the light switch, turned it on and quickly returned. "Where did you say he was layin'?" "Right here in front of the altar." "Well, he ain't here now. Was there any blood?" "On the body?" "I mean, on the floor, or the altar." "I guess not. I don't see any." "In other words, there's no sign that anything was here." The two of them stood facing the altar. Brian looking around the nave, and Bud watching Brian. "Did you actually see all that you told me, or simply relay what that old woman told you?" "I saw it with my own eyes. Father Hal was wearing a black cassock. He was propped up against the altar, his head resting on his chest. I lifted his head and saw that his throat had been cut. There was blood all over his cassock." "Turn on all the church lights," the deputy said. Brain walked down the aisle to the Narthex wall and flipped on all the switches while Bud walked over to the door at the front of the first aisle and pushed. "Nobody out here" he said, leaning halfway out the door. He returned to the front of the altar and began studying it and the carpet. When Brian approached, he said, "Mr. Stevens? There is no evidence that there was ever a bleedin' body perched in fronta' this altar. If his throat had been cut, there'd be blood everywhere. I don't see no blood stains nowhere. Are you certain you aren't tryin' to cover tor that old lady? She told you the story and you're tryin' to protect her sanity..., aren't you?" "What I've told you is the truth," Brian said. He sat down in the first pew and looked at the altar, the cross, and the deputy sheriff standing with his arms folded. "I'll make a written report on this, Mr. Stevens. Why don't you come down to the office this afternoon when the sheriff is there and tell him what you've told me." Without waiting for a response, he walked down the aisle and out the doors, leaving Brian staring at the altar. After a few minutes had passed, Brian arose from the pew and hurried down the aisle. He would check the rectory and see if Father Hal was there. He hesitated. "This is crazy!" he said aloud. He continued down the aisle, stopped at the light switches and turned to look at the altar once more. "I don't believe this," he said, again aloud. He turned off the lights and walked across the Narthex to exit the church when he heard a creak in the choir loft above him. Fear struck him in the stomach as he froze in the middle of the room. He listened, his eyes searching the ceiling. He knew what he had heard. Someone was up there. Slowly he walked toward the darkened stairway leading to the loft and stopped short. He remembered the steps to the loft also creaked. By staying close to the wall, he made the first step without a sound. The second step was not as obliging. "To hell with this," he said aloud, and taking two steps at a time was up the stairway. He felt the blow across his forehead and lost consciousness as he tumbled backward down the stairway.