Mortis drove to the church as fast as he could, once there he ordered Cicero to jump off the car and follow him where a fire truck was stationed. Outside the church Elijah sat besides an older man being treated by paramedics. The old man was dressed in overalls and had his right shoulder torn apart where a paramedic had applied bandages, and were now preparing to move into an ambulance.
"I am so sorry Father" the old man had tears in his eyes as he let Elijah hold his hands, the old man's voice and actions spoke of a man that looked up to the younger priest and was full of shame.
"You are alive my good Cletus, that is all that matters. Material things can be replaced, the lord asked us to tend for the well-being of their beloved flock first and foremost" each word of the Priest came sincere Mortis could see how anyone would feel bad: words so devoid of judgement and filled with love. Women would have killed to be in Cletus's place.
"But the chalice, the money…"
"It can all be replaced, those thieves did not take the only true valuable thing in there, your life, that unique gift of God to this world. Now let this good people take care of you and come back to us, we still need you to keep flourishing."
The old man covered his eyes with his arms to not let people see the torrent of tears bursting through them; even though he had been stabbed, and in his head he may have cost the church a lot of money, lost its most valuable treasure, but somehow he was made to feel the most special person in the world.
Paramedics took Cletus into the ambulance and left, finally Elijah turn his head on and looked at Mortis, his eyes full of shame as he faced the Detective. Elijah may be very loving onto others but he was harsh upon himself.
"Detective Mortis, I have no words, I am so sorry."
After the words Elijah gave to a simple handyman Mortis could not be angry at the Priest, Mortis had a gut feeling all of this happened because of the box.
"Elijah, why don't you tell me what happened from the beginning. Let's see if we can catch the thief" said Mortis.
Elijah walked Mortis into the church as fire-fighters contended with what happened at the back. Elijah explained how he was working in the church's archives with Mortis's box when he heard Cletus shout. Worried for the man Elijah rushed to the Church's office where he saw Cletus on the floor, the flimsy vault open, and the money of the poor boxes missing. When Elijah tended to the man someone shut the door closed behind them and tried to set fire to the kitchenette by microwaving the cutlery and setting paperwork of the archives on fire. According to the fire-fighters damage was minimum compared to what the assailants tried to achieve, still it was a serious action, and Mortis was sure it was his fault , after all that the box was in the church because of him
"I am sorry to hear Elijah" said Mortis.
"It is okay my friend, it is not your fault this happened. The assailant really worked to get things done fast. With the flock not coming in as regularly as it once did the main altar may have been an easy prey for the man" said Elijah.
"He took the Chalice, and the collection box?"
"An old Silver Chalice that has been here for half a century, a gift from the New Orleans dioceses, it was a simple chalice engraved with the symbol of the Holy Cross and the image of the Pelican feeding its children" the Priest's voice carrying a lingering sadness for the spiritual loss.
"Must have been a valuable piece, pure silver" suggested Mortis.
"It is more than that my good Detective, a good man has been harmed because of this, and the artefact you entrusted me has been stolen. To top it all up the Chalice was made from donations of Fishermen to their local Church over a century ago. The amount of love and dedication that came from humble men, it is a tragedy that such piece of history may have been lost forever" lamented Elijah. Event the way the priest felt sorrow was moving. Mortis could not believe this man was not an actor.
Mortis took notes, and as he wrote something felt wrong.
"Show me the scene of the crime" asked Mortis.
"Let's go through the altar first then, firemen may still be working in the archive" pointed Elijah.
From the main entrance to the church you could see the mess. The cloths covering the altar had been vandalized, and the big candle holders tossed aside, the tabernacle had been broken open with such lack of grace the thief may have as well used a crowbar. Mortis could see the tears in Elijah's eyes as they approached, the whole scene crashing his very soul.
"Is okay Eli, I can take it from here" suggested Mortis.
"No Detective, I must face the fact of what happened. I must be strong" the words sincere and pure it made Mortis feel bad that a man could be so committed and loving. Heck, any other man saying that may have made Mortis roll his eyes in pity, but Elijah believed, he truly believed.
Mortis took a quick glance at the scene, and the mess bothered him, something was really off. With as much care as he could Mortis approached one of the tossed candle holders and examined it closely, the metal glimmered with silvery pride.
"Eli, is it me or is this chandelier made of silver?" asked Mortis.
"They are, they were gifts as well, pure silver candle holders" explained Elijah.
Mortis's mind made gears turn, something was clearly amiss. "Why would a thief steal a silver chalice, but not silver candle holders?"
"Maybe they did not know they were silver" said Elijah as he went to pick up a candle holder but was stopped by Mortis.
"No, you need to wait for fingerprints to be taken."
Elijah frowned in sadness but relented and stepped back. Mortis further observed that both candle holders had been tossed randomly, the reliquary had been broken open, yet nothing else had actually been disturbed or damaged. Mortis then noticed the altar cloth being rolled into a ball and tossed aside, which meant the criminal handed it.
"Elijah, would you mind if Cicero were to take the scent of the place?" asked Mortis.
"Please do."
Mortis let Cicero take a sniff of the Altar Cloth.
"What do you smell boy?" asked Mortis. Cicero in turn sniffed around the altar until a trail was found, a trail that went from the altar to the office door and then to the main entrance.
"Is that it boy? No scent anywhere else?" asked Mortis.
Cicero sniffer around, but the scent kept coming back to the same place, making Mortis's gears turn.
"Fascinating."
"What does it mean?" asked Elijah.
"Father, please show me where Cletus was attacked" requested Mortis.
Elijah took Mortis to the side of the church, back when this buildings held mass amounts of records for births, deaths, religious events and so on. The back room lead to the small office where Elijah worked, which doubled as the room for priests and altar boys to prepare for mass; the small room opened to a long hallway down from which they passed besides the records room and old library, a place where fire fighters were clearing, pass the kitchenette and access to a back door and the basement, into the main office, a larger room once meant for the head priest when they used to work more often on church grounds. In the room a cabinet with a lock on it had the word 'charity' labelled on, it was vandalized open.
"I found Cletus here, in front of the desk, knocked out. I knelled to help Cletus when I heard the door behind me close and locked. I first tended to Cletus's wound and proceeded to contact emergency services when I smelled the fire. Fortunately for us the Lord gave me the strength and skill to take Cletus out the window onto safety" Elijah pointed towards the open window.
Mortis observed the scene, the work was simple, but not amateurish.
"I think it may have been a lost soul in search of quick cash. Unfortunately for the thief we do not keep money in the premises unless is a weekend" thought Elijah out loud.
"You are wrong" Mortis replied, flat and sure.
"Pardon me?"
"Why would you think the thief would bother to set fire to the archive?" asked Mortis.
"Maybe he thought he could cover his tracks?" stated the Priest.
"No, this was premeditated. I can assume your man was hit with a crowbar" pointed Mortis.
"Cletus was stabbed first before he was knocked unconscious" said Elijah.
"The attacker must have hit the handyman's shoulder blade, classic mistake when trying to stab someone from behind" Mortis looked around and followed the trail of blood to a switch blade hiding near the wall. Elijah gasped as Mortis pulled a handkerchief and carefully lifted the weapon from the blade to not disturb the fingerprints. "I can deduce that your 'thief' tried to kill Cletus out of desperation, he might not have expected the man to come into the room. When the old man fought the assailant must have lost the knife and used the crowbar instead."
"Dear Lord" gasped the young Priest, his eyes filled with concern.
"There is something else. Cicero" Mortis passed the blade to the dog, the beast sniffed, quickly catching a faint trail that lead Mortis and Elijah not to the church but rather outside the library, then the office, and then to the back door towards the parking lot where Cicero ended up circulating a spot where a light smear of recently burnt rubber indicated a hasty escape.
Motis clicked his tongue in anger.
"What is it Mortis?" asked Elijah, not sure of what was happening.
"It wasn't one person in the church." said Mortis.
"Come again?" the Priest was slightly confused at the statement.
"Two men came in, one went through the main door, the other through the back. I assume the two men where meant to ambush you and take the box, but the presence of Cletus might have throw their timing off. One man panics, improvises the plundering of the meagre cash in the cabinet, then hides and locks you in. The two thieves meet near the small office where the other thief tells the first thief it did not find what he was after. The thief in the front steals the chalice and makes a mess to make pretend this was an act of religious hatred while the other one takes the silver box from the library and tries to set the place on fire to cover their tracks, and with luck get rid of a potential witness" reasoned Mortis.
Elijah becomes baffled and worried at the explanation. "But-but why? Why would they do such a horrible thing?"
"The Box" said Mortis.
"The Silver Box?"
"They were after the Box, but why? That is the question" said Mortis.
"All of this for a humble box?" Elijah could not believe the idea at first hand, but he did not doubt the Detective's skill.
"Yes, that Box must hold a bigger clue of what is going on" Mortis face bittered as he walked back to the church.
"I am sorry Mortis" said Elijah full of shame.
Mortis sighted, feeling back for the earnest Priest. "It was my fault, I left the box here."
"And to make matters worst they burnt the paperwork, I can just pray to the Lord you find it expeditiously, or at least this event helps you lead to the bottom of this mysterious series of events" said Elijah.
"Do you at least managed to find something about it?" asked Mortis as both men stepped into the church building.
"Oh yes, those emblems on the side. They are symbols of Wallachia" explained Elijah.
"Wallachia? As in near Transylvania?"
"Romania, the very same. The symbols and heraldry correlate to the region in question, sometime in the late sixteen hundreds" further explained the young priest, recovering his happier disposition.
Mortis quickly scribbled the statements of the Priest and ruminated over them. "I guess it gives some answers, but still makes me want to have the box in my possession."
"The Lord knows what he does Detective, we just need to listen" pointed Elijah.
"Sorry Eli, but the only sign I want is to find that box" said Mortis.
The two men where interrupted when a fireman appeared holding the very same box in his hands as he offered in to the priest.
"Father, is this the box you claimed to be stolen?"
Elijah looked at Mortis with neither a smirk nor a smile but happy for the gift, The Detective in turn pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Not a word Elijah."