Chapter 73 - The Bell in the Fog
Before Evelyn could utter another word, a heavy, resounding clang echoed from above. The sanctuary shuddered under the sudden vibration of the bronze church bell in the belfry overhead. The noise tore through the hollow silence, so deafening that Julian flinched, raising his revolver instinctively toward the vaulted ceiling.
The sudden chime was not the measured ring of Sunday morning worship; it was the frantic, uneven cadence of an alarm.
"Who is up there?" Evelyn barked, her imperious composure cracking as her cane struck the stone floor with a sharp crack. "Julian, check the vestry stairs! Now!"
Julian hesitated, his eyes darting between me and the heavy curtain leading toward the tower stairwell. "Thomas went outside ten minutes ago. It can't be him."
I didn't wait for them to untangle the confusion. As Julian took two hurried steps toward the vestry, I lunged forward, not toward the aisle, but straight toward the baptismal font where the backpack lay. Evelyn raised her cane to block my path, the polished hardwood sweeping across my path with surprising force, but rage and terror had stripped away my hesitation. I caught the silver tip of the cane with my bare hand, wrenching it sideways with all my weight.
Evelyn gasped, thrown off balance onto her knees against the communion railing, her pearls clattering violently against the carved wood. I snatched the red backpack by its loop.
From the shadows near the belfry door, a silhouette darted out—not an enemy, but a lanky, breathless figure wrapped in a woolen coat. It was the young mechanic from the highway depot, grease still staining his knuckles.
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"Get out through the side garden, Nora!" he shouted, throwing an iron crowbar at Julian’s feet to disrupt his aim. "The troopers are blocked at the lower culvert, but the gate behind the cemetery is open!"
A gunshot cracked through the nave, shattering a stained-glass pane above the altar into a shower of cobalt and ruby shards.
