Pesonal Computers Part One July 1, 2011

Pastor Murder Mystery

Pastor

Episode One

Pastor David Noble shook hands with the young, attractive social worker as she was leaving his humble, cluttered office. He was planning to return to his tattered and torn executive chair when his phone started to ring. The pastor answered the phone while standing up. When he picked up the receiver all he could hear from the other end of the line was loud wailing. David Noble recognized the mournful sounds as coming from his son, Dexter.

“Calm down Dexter. Why are you so upset?”

Dexter was able to regain just enough of his composure to answer, “Mom's dead!”

“What!” David managed to stammer as he grabbed onto his desk for support. He was afraid that he was about to faint. His ex -wife, Melissa, had divorced David three years ago. While they had been married David Noble was the well- respected pastor of a local church in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

 To say that the last three years of his life had been tumultuous was a great understatement. David's life had quickly begun to unravel. Melissa had exhausted all of her emotional resources by the time their marriage had finally collapsed.

Up until the last year of her marriage, Melissa had never seriously considered leaving her husband. Although her marriage to David was not what she had hoped for it was still a better one than those of most of her friends. After fourteen years of marriage Melissa’s life with David had become intolerable.

Melissa first met David at a popular nightclub in Fargo. She was shocked when David told her that he was a studying theology at a nearby seminary. He didn’t seem to have the DNA of your average Bible College student. David drank alcohol, smoked cigarettes and would occasionally swear. Melissa noticed that David’s vocabulary included the usual profane words, including the f-bomb, but he never took the Lord’s name in vain.

 David was the life of the party. His personality exuded youthful exuberance. He was a young man who had ambition and was ready to take on the world. Melissa found that she could not help being attracted to him but she had the uneasy feeling that she was like a fly being drawn into a spider’s web.

Episode Three

Donald Noble reached the chair in his office and dropped into it. The seat was soft and comforting. “Try to calm yourself, son. Where are you now?”

Dexter was sweating profusely and was taking deep breathes. He was sitting in a maroon colored Lazy Boy chair in his mother's living room.

“I'm at Mom's place. I was just coming over to pick up her Camry. She was having some problems with her car and asked me to take it into the Toyota dealership to have it checked out. Mom didn't answer when I knocked on her door. After I'd waited a couple of minutes I opened the door, walked in and called her name. Still no answer. I started checking all the rooms in her house until I came to her bedroom. The door was partly opened and I could see Mom lying against her bed. Her throat was slashed and there was blood all over her tee shirt and jeans. It was horrible, Dad.”

“So what did you do next, son?” David picked up a pencil and started to tap the eraser end against the palm of his left hand.

“I called emergency. They told me that an ambulance and the police would arrive shortly. Then I phoned you.” Dexter started to cry.

“You did everything right, Dex. I'm on my way to your mother's house.”

David was in a state of shock and was running on automatic pilot. He climbed into his white Ford Taurus and started the frantic drive to Melissa's house. The pastor still loved his ex-wife and he began to fervently pray that Melissa was not already dead.

As he drove down one of the main thoroughfares, a torrent of random thoughts flooded David's mind. He thought about the divorce. For the most part David blamed himself for the breakdown of his marriage.

After their first meeting at the nightclub David became very infatuated with Melissa. He couldn't seem to get her out of his head. He knew that a great deal of what he was feeling for her was lust. He kept thinking of her long, golden hair, her long shapely legs and a smile that could light up the darkest room. David was head over heels in love. The drive to her house usually took about half an hour depending on the time of the day and the traffic. David raced to her house and arrived there in just over twenty minutes.

When he attempted to enter the home David was stopped by a young attractive female police officer who asked him to identify himself.

Episode Three

Donald Noble reached the chair in his office and dropped into it. The seat was soft and comforting. “Try to calm yourself, son. Where are you now?”

Dexter was sweating profusely and was taking deep breathes. He was sitting in a maroon colored Lazy Boy chair in his mother's living room.

“I'm at Mom's place. I was just coming over to pick up her Camry. She was having some problems with her car and asked me to take it into the Toyota dealership to have it checked out. Mom didn't answer when I knocked on her door. After I'd waited a couple of minutes I opened the door, walked in and called her name. Still no answer. I started checking all the rooms in her house until I came to her bedroom. The door was partly opened and I could see Mom lying against her bed. Her throat was slashed and there was blood all over her tee shirt and jeans. It was horrible, Dad.”

“So what did you do next, son?” David picked up a pencil and started to tap the eraser end against the palm of his left hand.

“I called emergency. They told me that an ambulance and the police would arrive shortly. Then I phoned you.” Dexter started to cry.

“You did everything right, Dex. I'm on my way to your mother's house.”

David was in a state of shock and was running on automatic pilot. He climbed into his white Ford Taurus and started the frantic drive to Melissa's house. The pastor still loved his ex-wife and he began to fervently pray that Melissa was not already dead.

As he drove down one of the main thoroughfares, a torrent of random thoughts flooded David's mind. He thought about the divorce. For the most part David blamed himself for the breakdown of his marriage.

After their first meeting at the nightclub David became very infatuated with Melissa. He couldn't seem to get her out of his head. He knew that a great deal of what he was feeling for her was lust. He kept thinking of her long, golden hair, her long shapely legs and a smile that could light up the darkest room. David was head over heels in love. The drive to her house usually took about half an hour depending on the time of the day and the traffic. David raced to her house and arrived there in just over twenty minutes.

When he attempted to enter the home David was stopped by a young attractive female police officer who asked him to identify himself.

Episode Three

Episode Four of The Pastor

“I’m David Noble, the pastor of New Beginnings Church. I’m Melissa’s husband and Dexter’s father.”

As soon as David could get these words out of his mouth he saw the police officer get jostled out of the way by a team of paramedics. A young athletic looking paramedic spoke up.

‘Where’s the victim?”

“She’s in the bedroom. I’ll take you there,” Dexter said.

When the paramedics entered Melissa’s bedroom they could see that Melissa had bled out from the deep and wide slash to her throat. Her clothing and the once grey rug were now saturated in blood. They tried to get a pulse but were unable to find one. Two of the paramedics took turns performing CPR on Melissa but she remained unresponsive.

The young paramedic asked Dexter to return to the living room. Dexter took a seat on the sofa next to his father.

“I’ve got some terrible news for both of you. Melissa is dead.”

Pastor Noble covered his face with his hands and began to weep. Even though he was sitting down he felt dizzy and disoriented. Who could do such a horrific thing to his wife? David couldn’t think of anyone who disliked Melissa.

The thought crossed his mind that this tragedy probably wouldn’t have happened had he and his wife still been living together. An almost tangible wave of guilt overcame David.

After he graduated from seminary David had mixed feelings about becoming a pastor. He had always been an intellectual, enjoyed studying The Bible and engaging in theological debates with his professors and fellow students. Still, David felt that something was missing. He knew about God but he doubted that he had a personal relationship with Him.

Just prior to graduating from seminary David married Melissa. Nine months later Dexter was born and David now had a family to support. Fortunately. David was very ambitious and charismatic and was offered a pastoral position in a Baptist church in an affluent suburb of Winnipeg just one month after his graduation.

Episode Five of The Pastor

One year earlier:

David arose at four o’clock in the morning after having another dark night of the soul. Lately he had been having too many of these. While working at his office at Brownstone Baptist Church, David was now experiencing panic attacks. He would begin to feel disoriented and become very agitated. He would pace the room walking back and forth like a caged hyena. Bill would perspire profusely and would have trouble catching his breath. He felt like was being tormented by demons.  Although he was alone in his office he would hear voices in his head. The voices would speak to him and say things like. “You’re a fake pastor David. You don’t really have a strong belief in God. Admit it David, you are really an agnostic. Your faith wavers from day to day and from hour to hour. If your congregation knew this they would fire you as their pastor and they’re beginning to get suspicious. You can see it in their faces when you are preaching your message on Sunday mornings. You should do the right thing. You should tell them the truth, spare yourself the humiliation and quit your job.”

David began to shout, “Shut up. That’s not true!”

Episode Six of the Pastor:

All David knew was that he had to get out of his office. He desperately needed to get away from the church and his family. David dashed out of his office with a look of pure terror on his face. His secretary, Julie, barely had time to say, “Pastor Noble, what’s wrong? Where are you going?”

David did not answer. He made a mad dash for his red 1999 Mercury Sable. The pastor started up the engine and was soon out of the church parking lot. He was now functioning on automatic pilot and took the fastest route to Pembina Highway. David was headed for the Canada/US border. The voices continued to mock David. “What are you going to do now David? Run away to the United States? Leave your job and desert your family? What kind of man are you David?”

David talked back angrily to the voices in his head, “Go to hell! You don’t know what you’re talking about. If you were under the same intolerable stress that I have to endure you’d crack up too.”