At Home ~ Part IV

  

#NoPower ~ ‘I will tear off your veils and save my people from your hands, and they will no longer fall prey to your power. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ ~ Ezekiel 13:21

            

           He stared at the words, waiting to get the joke. It was the first one that he had seen, but according to most of the people in town, it had become their daily check-up. He backtracked to the first one of the total six. They were similar, and all out of the Bible. And people are buying into this crap!?!

            Started up by Brittany King almost a week ago. Six tweets… going on four hundred followers!! He felt the blood pumping through his neck, against his temples, coming out in hot seethes through his nostrils. “No. No, no…”

            He swung around, kicking the floor lamp to the floor. It barely had time to crack before he was kicking the end table over too, relishing in the shattered pieces. Next door, the neighbor’s pit bull started its gruff barking.

            “It’s my spotlight!” He narrowed his eyes across the room, to nothing in particular. “People know who their focus should be on; me! Not some Disney Channel reject, and definitely not God! They couldn’t measure up to me if they tried!”

`&`&`&`&`&`

            #NoPower ~ ‘Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours.’ ~ 1 Corinthians 29:11

            
          Declan had to smile at the glance he took over Officer Aber’s shoulder, while his colleague checked his Twitter account in the break room; nicknamed to all the ‘Hut’. Declan had strolled in for his sixth cup of java and couldn’t resist noticing. He was too lazy to get one of his own. Patty had one and that kept him abreast with anything that she felt was important.

            However, with the all the talk his little girl was getting in and out of the station, Declan didn’t need an account. Her grounding was over tomorrow. Whatever verses Brittany had wanted posted over the last week Patty had put them in, giving them both a glimpse into their daughter’s impressive research skills. And it was paying off; her tweets were becoming the talk of the town.

            I don’t even know how to categorize my pride on this one. Declan strolled from the Hut and took the back stairs to the locker room. The usual fatigue of the morning wasn’t there to bother him. If the workload is light enough this afternoon, I’ll hit the gym. I should be home by six…

            “King.”

            Or not. Declan straightened at the door to the locker room, turning to see Chief Wray coming. His face said it all, but Declan asked anyway. “What is it, Chief?”

            “A bigger mess then any of us needs.” Chief Wray started, and then paused. “Dispatch picked up a news bulletin from Channel 8. Apparently, the Blank Burglar gave them a call and an open invitation to his latest crime scene.”

            Uh no. Declan observed the obvious. “He’s ahead of schedule.”

            “Must be following a new one.” The chief cocked his head and they went in to the locker room. No one else was there to overhear.

            “It was the home of Mr. and Mrs. Szekely,” Chief Wray told him. “Mr. Szekely was home at the time… he killed him.”

            Declan’s blood chilled. It didn’t matter how many years one worked at this job, the news of a death dropped the bottom out of your stomach.

            “He’s too well-organized to make a mistake like that.” Declan looked down the silent row of lockers. Each represented a hard-working man’s life; lives brought together to catch these guys so that THIS didn’t happen! “It was deliberate.”

            Chief Wray nodded. “I’ve got a unit, the ME, and the tech guys out there and we’ll be de-briefing in a couple of hours. That list of suspects we came up with a few days ago, we’ll be picking that apart.”

            Declan nodded. “I’ll…”

            “You won’t be joining us.” Chief Wray stated.

            “WHAT!?”

            The chief pulled out his phone and handed it to Declan to show him a picture. “He took all the pictures and artwork down again. Only, in purple spray paint, he covered the living room wall with this.”

            Declan eyed the picture. He didn’t comprehend for a few seconds, but then the message went through. WHO HAS THE POWER NOW?

`&`&`&`&`&`

            “So, this’ your way of telling me- gently- that he’s coming after us?” Patty stared at Declan across their bed. “Coming home early, announcing this newfound vacation time, and this sudden urge to keep a firearm upstairs and down!?”

            “You’re just upset that it’s your firearm that’s downstairs.” Declan attempted a tease. Patty’s eyes blazed. “I’m serious here, Declan. I’m angry and I’m serious, so don’t push it. You haven’t told Brittany.”

            “Because I knew we needed to talk first.” Declan said.

            Patty made a face at him. “Nice to be considered… why?”

            “Because I already know what you’re going to say.” Declan sat on the bed, patting at the space beside him. Patty sat, her jaw squared. Declan took her hand, tracing the knuckles. “We’re narrowing the suspect list, and efforts to find him are doubled now that… you know.”

            “Oh, I’m well aware.”

            “That being said,” Declan squeezed her hand. “We need to let Brittany continue her tweets.”

            Her entire face exploded and she ripped her hand from his. “Are you insane!?”

            “Probably.” Declan admitted. 
            “That goes against every police tidbit that you’ve ever taught us!”

            “Honey…”

            “Don’t taunt, don’t antagonize,” she was off the bed now, pacing. “Let the police do their job!”

            “Patty.” Declan hardened his voice enough to get her crazy-eyed attention. “I know what I’ve said. But what have we been teaching Brittany? That God’s controller and Father of the universe. Well, she’s living that out. What message would we be sending if we asked her to stop?”

            “That we want her to be safe.” Patty said. “That we want our baby out of the sights of an ex-burglar, now murderer!”

            “I want that more then anything.” Declan told her. “But she’s already there. Patty, I will do everything as an officer and a father to keep him away from her. But as a Christian, I don’t see how Brittany could have any better weapon then her tweets right now.”

            Patty’s eyes misted. “Declan, he has the power to kill…”

            “And that’s more powerful then God?” Declan took her arms. “Please, don’t take this as callous or that I’m using her as bait. But I just keep thinking, what good are our teachings if we’re not going to believe in them?”

            Patty’s features had simmered, her breath evening out. She studied him, eyes trailing over their years together. They had trekked through houses, jobs, fertility treatments, Brittany, friends, and in-laws. They had lived it all through faith, as best as they could. Would they stop now?

            “Declan,” Patty placed her hands on the sides of his face. “You have hunted down burglars, junkies, and yes, a psycho or two; but it has always been you and a hundred other officers. A hundred other targets standing between you and this twisted psychopath… They’re not there this time and I… I’m terrified.”

            Declan drew her in, folding his arms around her. “I know. Me too.”

            It said in the Bible somewhere to give that terror to God, along with trust in Him. But Patty didn’t need any more words right now. Declan kept his cheek nuzzled in her corn-silk hair, keeping his grip on her body. The first time he saw Patty’s hair, he’d been tempted to touch it, to see if it was even real.

            Now he knew it was real. Gracing the head of the most loud, impulsive, and overachieving woman he had ever known. Declan couldn’t lose her, or Brittany. He knew it had crossed the Blank Burglar’s mind. Now he just had to trust that God’s plans were above that thought.

~To Be Continued~