ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 22

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

YOU SHALL NOT MURDER (Exodus 20:13)

            “Pretty gruesome, huh, Querida?” Vermillion said and then chortled. “I didn’t know if Jill had it in her, but she performed remarkably well. Even if she wasn’t very thorough. Can’t blame her though, that was quite the blood curdling scream emitted from Jenny. Plus she had the wherewithal to not only use Jimmy Stetson’s axe, but track some of the blood with a pair of his shoes.”

            I had righteous indignation flare up. I aimed it at my former friend, and he fled from my presence. He and I had been opponents in the same cases numerous times over six thousand years. But you could count on one hand the number of times I had chased him off.

            This world is an odd situation. It is fallen, which means Satan and his demonic realm are largely in control. But because humanity’s first parents failed the test of loyalty and obedience, their descendants were born with dispositions to follow Satan. Because of their disobedience, they inadvertently invited the arch foe to, as Jesus proclaimed, become the ruler of this world. (John 14:30 NKJV)

            As a result, humans murdered God’s own Son when He chose to become one of them. They put to death God’s prophets before Him. The reformers were martyred after Him. Throughout the course of human history, only a minority actually sought to truly follow God. The majority to this day follow church tradition rather than searching the scriptures for themselves.

            The Savior of the world, precious Jesus, even declared, “In vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matthew 15:9)

            Here’s a few examples. Only eight people were saved on Noah’s ark. Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego were the only ones to not bow down to Kind Nebuchadnezzar’s idol. Only a few anticipated Jesus’s birth. All forsook Him and fled at His death. The Bible itself says many will live by way of the broad road, with only a few traveling the narrow road. (See Matthew 7:13, 14)

            Poor Jimmy Stetson was the one to discover the crime scene. To add to the horror of his discovery, he was initially arrested for the murder of Justin Phillips. To add salt to his wounds, when his wife recovered sufficiently from her shock and blow to the head, she told the police she awoke to discover Jimmy violently chopping at Justin with his axe.

            But there are no perfect crimes, only imperfect investigators. Jill Phillips made a couple mistakes. Her primary mistake was believing a woman would not be suspected of such a brutal crime. This despite having muttered the poem based on Lizzie Borden, ‘Jill Phillips took an axe and gave her husband forty whacks.’

            She also believed she had adequately framed Jimmy for the crime. Having been neighbors for several years, she had acquired the knowledge that he kept the key to his shed under a brick behind the small building. Then when she stole the axe a the day before her crime, she discovered the handle of a snow shovel wearing Jimmy’s fluorescent yellow ski mask. She also spotted greasy coveralls he wore when working on his cars. What luck!

            Then to put a period on the frame up, she put on a pair of Jimmy’s oversized shoes that she found in the foyer the night she crept in. She correctly assumed that there would be a lot of blood, and she left numerous footprints. But what she hadn’t anticipated was Jenny’s screams, or the decibels emitted.

            In Jenny’s haste to escape the predator, her foot became entangled in the sheet, and she fell backwards out of bed. Although Jill had only counted six whacks to her sleeping husband’s head and torso, she figured she needed to take care of his mistress.

            But as she began to move around the bed toward Jenny with raised axe, she noticed the neighbors across the street turn on their porch light. She needed to get out of there post haste! She dropped the axe and fled from the house.

            In her haste to flee the crime scene, and with adrenaline combined with passion eliminating common sense, she did a sloppy job of discarding Jimmy’s shoes, coveralls and ski mask. She threw the bloody shoes in the creek behind their houses. She returned the ski mask and coveralls to the shed. She foolishly expected her actions to incriminate Jimmy.

            But long time detective Sargent Francis Folkenflicker immediately saw things didn’t add up, even though his Lieutenant ordered Jimmy Stetson arrested. First, he did not exhibit the behavior of someone who had just committed a crime of passion. He was clearly in horror filled shock, coupled with distress.

            Also, why would he so carelessly discard his shoes into a creek not even large enough to float a paper boat? And why hang his blood spattered coveralls on a nail in his shed?

            The next viable suspect was Justin’s wife. But when located at her sister’s home, after she successfully snuck back in, she seemed to have a solid alibi. Plus, sleep deprivation and anxiety helped her give an Oscar winning performance of a distraught wife.

            But before Detective Folkenflicker left Jill’s sister’s home, his phone jangled in his pocket. It was the lab. “Hey Sarge, we found a couple long blonde hairs in the ski mask.”

            Folkenflicker informed Jill of this. A switch was flipped in her psychopathic mind, especially when Folkenflicker suggested a DNA test. Jill’s demeanor changed from distress to cold paranoia as she declared she wanted a lawyer. Folkenflicker’s jaw clenched, and his eyes narrowed as he nodded.

            But there was nothing a lawyer could do to stop a DNA test. The truth came out, and Jill was arrested for murder in the first degree for the slaying of her husband. She was also charged with attempted murder in the case of Jenny. The first charge would stick, while the second wasn’t sufficiently proven.

            What followed Jill Phillips’ arrest was the aftermath of two destroyed marriages and the ripple effect on their families. The Phillips children located to another state and were raised by Justin Phillips’ parents. Although the Stetson’s son and daughter were adults, the news of their mother’s affair and the brutal murder of her lover caused severe damage to their maternal relationship.

            But Jimmy sought reconciliation. The ordeal only caused him to draw closer to God. He felt compassion for his wife and the horror she witnessed. He also tried to repair the breach between Jenny and their children. To top it off, he forgave her infidelity. Love for God caused him to focus on her potential, not her failure.

            But the ordeal led Jenny the opposite way from God as her husband. She felt anger for the trauma she endured. Sure, she was unfaithful to her husband. But did having a little sinful fun on the side merit such a violent, diabolical result? She unwisely tended to blame God rather than the adversary of souls.

            She did agree to marriage counseling. But the atheistic psychiatrist she saw for her personal problems had more influence. Four months after the horrific murder of Justin Phillips, Jenny announced to Jimmy that she was moving out.

            She moved in with a scoundrel. She had met a good looking charmer, who talked her into capitalizing off her fifteen minutes of fame. Although the crime was horrific, her life and the affair didn’t have enough juice to merit a book, let alone a movie.

            But with much persuasion, he talked her into starting an erotic website. She figured why not. She was estranged from her kids, and separated from her husband. The charmer assured her, there would be no sex, just revealing lingerie and glimpses of nudity.

            It was initially very successful due to her notoriety. Her vanity surged to its highest peak. But when the views began to decline, the charmer suggested they get more risqué. She said no. He insisted they needed to. She put her foot down. After all, she had her principles. Please note, she had HER principles, not God’s.

            But she was in love, or so she thought, so she compromised. After all, a little more risqué wouldn’t hurt. Then a little more became a little more. Their website became more popular than ever. But their relationship was always up and down with excitement, but volatile.

            Then a phone call from Jimmy upset the apple cart of her current life. Although their occasional communication had been consistently civil on Jimmy’s part, the last time they had talked she had received a stern rebuke from him. So her jaw clenched and her body tensed as she answered with a bark, “What!”

            “Wow, I see you’re glad to hear from me,” he said mildly.

            “Not if you called to play self-righteous again.”

            “I wasn’t being self-righteous that last time we talked. I was observing that your behavior was an embarrassment to your children.”

            “They disowned me, remember? So what does it matter?”

            “They didn’t disown you; you drove them away.”

            “Goodbye!”

            “Jenny, wait. That isn’t why I called you.”

            She paused before hanging up, pursed her lips and once again said, “What?”

            “Kelsey wanted me to relay some news,” he said, referring to their daughter.

            Her pulse quickened, but it was also disheartening that her own flesh and blood didn’t want to tell her something herself. “Okay.”

            He gently said, “You’re gonna be a grandma.”

            For some reason this news threw her for a loop. Her daughter and her husband had been married for four years and were very much career and travel minded. As she absorbed this, the news began to break through the walls regarding her family that she had put up. She felt a lump form in her throat. “Why didn’t she want to tell me herself?”

            He paused. “I’m not being self-righteous or judgmental, you asked… She feels awkward about your drastic lifestyle change.”

            The last time she and her daughter talked, Kelsey had asked bitterly, “Why did you weird out so bad?”

            “Are you there?” Jimmy asked.

            “Yeah,” she croaked.

            “Jenny, I’m sorry.”

            She is the one that betrayed him, yet he said he was sorry? For what? That he was stuck in the middle of the mess she made with her family? Once again she croaked, “Yeah.”

            “It’s not too late?” he said softly.

            “For what?” she asked hopefully.

            “To get back in good graces with the kids.”

            “I see,” she said bitterly. “Why don’t you give me a list of do’s and don’ts then. Then I can shove it…”
            “Jenny, stop it!” Jimmy interrupted. “You burned the bridges by your behavior. All I’m doing is telling you that the bridges can be rebuilt. What happened to you? I thought we had a good life together. I was willing to forgive you for, you know.”

            “Oh were you?” she said and then snorted. “And what, hold it over my head the rest of my life?”

            “When we were trying to work things out, what did I do to lead you to believe that I would hold it over your head?”

            She felt tears burn her eyes, and self-reproach force an admission. “Nothing. I was bored, and I was vain. You know I was a nerd and a late bloomer. Now I’m this hot fifty year old, and guys numbering in the thousands have actually paid to see all of me.”

            “You’re a spectacle,” Jimmy mildly.

            “Am I? Well you can…” she swore at him.

            With great patience, he asked, “Please answer me. What happened to the sweet God fearing girl I married?”

            “She’s dead, Mr. Stetson. And the real me is alive and living life to the fullest.”

            For the first time since the murder of Justin Phillips, Vermillion approached me. “How the mighty have fallen, Querida. Once a head deaconess that everyone looked up to. Now someone with a niche in the dirty world of adult entertainment. It’s also interesting she does the opposite of being dead to self and alive to Christ. She calls the God fearing Jenny she once was dead, and the harlot she now is alive.”

            “You are noticing her defiance,” I told my former friend. “But I believe you are now gonna see what’s truly been working inside her.”  

            “Are you truly happy, Jenny?” Jimmy asked.

            She almost lied, but then said, “Goodbye, Jim. Thanks for telling me about Kelsey.”

            She hung up and broke down sobbing. The charmer had been wanting her to get even more vile in their videos. Instead of agreeing, they got into their biggest fight yet. Instead of passionate make up intimacy, they broke up and she moved out.

            After Jenny and Jimmy’s conversation, I put a dream inside his head that night. Jenny wanted back in his life. He struggled with whether to take her back or not. But dreams are often strange. In familiar, yet foreign settings, he was reminded of what a philanderer he was before he was married. Although they went way off the deep end, I made him feel she deserved a second chance.

            When he finally woke, feeling discombobulated, he turned on a light and reached for his Bible. I manipulated the page he opened to and the verse his eyes landed on. It was Hosea 1:2. After reading the verse, he got a red pen and underlined a portion. “Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry.”

            “You can’t be serious,” Vermillion said with a smirk.

            “We’ll see,” I shrugged. “Time will tell.”