Free The Killing Vision by Will Overby Page A

today, babe.”
    * * *
    When they pulled into the driveway, she was
half-relieved, half-disappointed to see Wade’s truck there.  Wade was reclining
on the front porch in one of the plastic lawn chairs, still wearing the clothes
he had left in yesterday.  His shirt was wrinkled and damp and clung to him
like fungus.  He took a drag off his cigarette, watching them get out of the
car.
    “Dad!” shouted Derek, crossing the lawn to the
porch.  “Can we work on the car today?  Please?”
    “I don’t know,” said Wade.  “I’m pretty tired.”
    Marla glared at him as she came up the steps. 
“Hey,” she said.
    He nodded at her.  “Hey.”
    And now that she was close to him, he reeked of beer
and sweat.  Fury swept over her.  “Out kinda late, huh?” she said before she
could stop herself.
    Wade’s eyes were red-rimmed and tired, but she still
caught a flash of anger.  “Yeah, I guess I was.”
    She brushed past him into the coolness of the house,
leaving the two of them on the porch.  Just pushing the envelope, she
thought.
    * * *
    1:35 PM
    He had left early because he wasn’t sure how long it
would take him to find the church.  He didn’t have a need to go to Springfield
often, and though he knew where most of the major streets and landmarks were,
he wasn’t familiar with St. Thomas Church.  He spotted it, though, as soon as
he entered the city. It was a large rambling brick structure with an open bell
tower and stained glass windows.  He’d seen it before, but he supposed he’d
never paid any attention to it.
    He was thirty minutes early, so he drove around a nearby
McDonald’s and got a Coke.  He sat in the parking lot of the restaurant sipping
his drink and looking at St. Thomas’ bell tower above the treetops.  He was
nervous.   His heart pounded in the pit of his stomach, like he was a teenager
on a first date.  He wasn’t sure what to expect.  What would these people be
like?  How weird would they be?  What kind of meetings did they hold?  He
pictured strange rituals where everyone wore dark robes and chanted, or where
they all cavorted naked in a circle.
    He finally drove over to the church, circling around
it, looking for signs of life.  Behind the church proper was a new aluminum
building with a sign out front that said “ACTIVITY CENTER.”  There were several
cars parked in the lot.  This must be the place.
    He parked his Explorer as close to the street as he
could, took a last-second glance at his face in the rearview mirror, and headed
out across the hot asphalt toward the building, his heart knocking a mile a
minute.  There were no windows in the building, and the glass on the front door
was tinted, so he couldn’t see inside.  Were they watching him now?  Watching
him trudging across the parking lot, sweating like some massive, frightened
beast?  He took a breath, grabbed the door and opened it.
    A blast of refreshingly cool air hit him at once,
and at first he thought he was mistaken, that he had walked into a bridge party
or a bridal shower.  The large, open room was well lit and clean and smelled of
the fresh flowers decorating a buffet line full of snacks.  Several people
milled about, talking with one another and eating off paper plates, some
sitting at small round tables.  One of the men, Joel was startled to see, was a
priest.  Everyone looked so ordinary.  Surely this wasn’t right.  He turned to
go before anyone spotted him.
    “Joel!”
    He looked back and saw Deb coming toward him,
smiling broadly, and he felt a self-conscious grin appear on his face.  “Hi.”
    “You came,” she said, clearly pleased.
    He nodded.  “Thought I might check it out.”
    “Not what you expected is it?”
    He laughed, shaking his head.  “No.  I thought…” He
stopped, not sure how to finish.
    Deb was nodding.  “I know,” she said, and he truly
believed she did.  She motioned him toward the others.  “Come on, let me
introduce you to some