Promises Pt. 04

As Johansson sat down Bill walked into the courtroom and handed a note to Henderson. Henderson rose and addressed the Judge. "Your Honour, the higher authority that Mister Johansson just mentioned, in the person of one Pastor Calvin Coolidge Jones has just been arrested by the police in Brisbane trying to flee the country, and he has been charged on a police warrant with the murder of Cynthia Mayotte. It seems that he was using a false passport, in the name of Harlan Sanders, the founder of KFC, and had taken a circuitous route in an attempt to avoid apprehension. The police have seized certain items that they allege tie him into the crime, and have information from various sources that further point to his guilt."

"While this news should have little effect on the outcome of this case, it further strengthens our contention that Pastor Mayotte should have questioned his higher authority." There was uproar in the courtroom as the media contingent ignored the court ruling and used their mobile phones to check whether they should stay with the case or follow up on the announcement.

Judge Foley banged his gavel repeatedly and, for a time at least, ineffectually, calling for order. It was eventually restored. "I am going to adjourn this court while I consider the evidence in this matter. Because I need some time to go over the transcripts and prepare my direction statement to the jury, we will resume again on Monday at 10:00 am. This court is hereby adjourned." The gavel had a finality about the way it hit the block. Everyone rose as Foley exited the court through the door behind the bench.

"What are our chances?" Frank asked Michael.

"I think we are going to win. Foley gave us a pretty good hearing and I don't think that Mayotte handled the questions with any sort of confidence, he had to resort to his claims of scriptural authenticity and faith in his teaching."

"You don't think you were a little too hard on him, do you?"

"Actually I don't think that I was hard enough. His own counsel was pretty hard on him, branding him stupid. I get the impression that Johansson has already come to the conclusion that Mayotte made the promises, not God. He gave Mayotte the best possible, the only defence, available to him. People like Mayotte who are in a position such as his purely for the money should be treated with the utmost contempt. They have destroyed the lives of thousands of trusting people, they have condemned even more to entrapment in the poverty cycle by their insistence on those people who can least afford it contributing to their wealth. If Pastor Mayotte wanted, deserved, my sympathy he would have had to earn it by, at the very least, giving some thought to any counter argument instead of insisting, without thinking, that he was a hundred percent right. No-one especially not me, can be a hundred percent right a hundred percent of the time. One of my tenets that I live by is that the day that I lose my desire to learn, the day that I think that I know it all, that is the day to shuffle off this mortal coil, because there is nothing more to live for. The same philosophy goes for a sense of humour, lose your sense of humour and life becomes a dull, lifeless and unbearable existence, not something that I fancy at all."

As they left the court the media circus was in full swing. Mayotte was facing a barrage of questions. Janine was hovering in the background and Henderson walked over to her, a move that was noted by both Mayotte and Fenton. "Who would have thought it would turn out like this?"

"I never trusted the man. It was him who came up with the idea for me to try and seduce you. I knew that it wouldn't work but there was no telling him, it was almost as if he thought that we were a third world country and was treating us as idiots."

"Do you think that we could get together and discuss what will happen when this is over?"

"I would love to, but, I really have to stand by him for the moment at least, but when this is over I would love us to get together."

Chapter 10: The wash up

Sunday morning:

"I hope that they can enjoy their ill-gotten gains, unlike Judas Iscariot who became so remorseful and wracked with guilt over his betrayal of Christ that he took his own life."

The music team at the Shining Light Christian Church were nothing if not professionals. They sang and played their way through the mandatory forty-five minutes of up-tempo choruses with unmatched enthusiasm. The newcomer to the church, and there were many people whose curiosity had been aroused by the court case, could have been forgiven for thinking that nothing had happened over the last week or so in the life of this church.

Mayotte walked up onto the platform and silence descended on the auditorium. "My people, I am not understating the situation when I say that the last couple of weeks has really tested my faith, my faith in God and the Lord Jesus Christ, my faith in my fellow man, all have become a burden on my shoulders. My friends I now understand exactly how Job must have felt. One minute the world was perfect then in the blink of an eye it all came crashing down."

"As you know I have lost my wife, she was taken from me in tragic circumstance, and there is a huge part of my life that is now empty. The man that I had faith in, the leader of our parent church, Pastor Calvin Coolidge Jones has been taken into custody in relation to the death of my Cynthia. I know in my heart that he couldn't have killed her, but it has been alleged that he either killed her or arranged for her death. I don't know why the police think this, but I'm sure that we will find out eventually."

"Tomorrow is not a day that I look forward to with any confidence at all. If the Judge had been a strong Christian he would have seen through the deceitful way that the questions that I was asked were formulated so that, no matter what answer I gave it would have sounded to the unchurched to be wrong. The media have pounced like a flock of vultures onto my predicament, glorying in the opportunity to sell more newspapers and air-time on television. I have even been informed that these mercenaries of the media have syndicated these news stories and commentaries world-wide. I hope that they can enjoy their ill-gotten gains, unlike Judas Iscariot who became so remorseful and wracked with guilt over his betrayal of Christ that he took his own life."

"My friends I think that we should join together in prayer, let us raise the roof of this church and claim a victory for God! Let us shout our demands for justice to the heavens so that God can hear us united as one! God will answer our prayers, Victory will be His, victory will be ours!

'Patahayemlaguwintpolitsonemistuardefintasquantifastuscaluntjongularesgoflintaxokla, mundetbignastiumduntolcedminustarwistacureglobimestudefroigudestotristoplamgrid, losethhigmostifvurthoslungedivomursydlomestinfregunlovtjisdrikgjusmpitklestraniuch, fravilogijabuyhesdikplistewuvhjbzujfrucrudjesaklumwutzokvichujksaxlosmikgastwok, limasvuhsk. In the name of God I claim victory tomorrow!"

The sheep all stopped praying at the same time and a huge cheer erupted through the crowd, they were on his side. Fenton was not. Fenton had his plans dashed with the death of Cynthia. His plans to take over this church and create it into his own empire had been cruelly dashed by the wanton act of violence that saw his beloved Cynthia shot down in cold blood when she answered the door of her own home. His visions of himself preaching with the same fervour as Mayotte had shown in his prime, with Cynthia seated in pride of place in the front row looking up to him, in the physical as well as spiritual sense, were gone, and it was all Mayotte's fault.

The Mayotte of today was the Mayotte of old, strutting about the stage like a caged lion, snarling at the media for not giving him a fair go, snarling at the media for not giving God a fair go, snarling at Henderson for questioning his beliefs, his faith, his ideology. He snatched fragments of Scripture out of the air to justify his position and threw them back out into the air in a show of defiance, daring his opponents to challenge his faith, his knowledge and understanding of Scripture. What he said, he shouted, was 'Biblical' and therefore true, and he grabbed them to himself and threw them away with a newfound speed, making it impossible for anyone to keep up with, but hell it sounded good! It felt good! It was good to be back in control, back on safe ground! The up swelling of support lifted his feelings to a level that he had not known for some time, except for those times that he spent alone with Janine. What was it she wanted to tell him? She had said that it was important but that it would have to wait until after the trial result was made public. She said that it was personal and for him only. What was it?

The service finished with the usual rendering of a couple of choruses, but this service was different. There was a spontaneous 'altar call', dozens of people came forward and wanted to join hands with him and pray for his success tomorrow. Mayotte was overwhelmed by the show of support. He looked around, and noticed Janine standing off to one side with that look on her face that spoke of her affection for him, her love for him, and he felt better than he had felt for a long time. Behind her stood Fenton, and his feeling of well being came crashing down. The hatred in Fenton's eyes was palpable, the disappointment in Fenton's eyes was obvious, and the anger in Fenton's eyes spoke of revenge.

Mayotte moved through the crowd of well-wishers to the 'New Friends Lounge' where he was met by Janine with a cup of coffee. He sipped it and marvelled at how she always made it just as he liked it, something that Cynthia never quite perfected. "You were great up there today." Their fingers brushed together as she handed him the cup and he felt a tingle run through him, the doubts that had troubled him since he saw Henderson talking to her on Friday night slipped into the background, but not entirely from sight.

"Thank you. Do you have to rush off this morning?"

"I was going to see Mum for lunch, but if you want me to stay I'll ring her and reschedule it to another day."

"Thank you, please do. I need you so much right now." He worked the room as normal, moving from person to new person asking them about themselves, shaking hands and personally presenting them with a welcome pack.

The crowd dispersed, the takings for the day had been counted and placed in the safe ready for banking tomorrow. The team had cleared the chairs from the auditorium ready for the cleaners to come through during the afternoon. Mayotte sat on the sofa in his office. Janine sat on the sofa in his office. They held hands, they kissed. "What is it you have to tell me?"

"Please be patient, don't worry it's good news, in fact it is really good news." They sat there for some time while Janine comforted him and fended off his demands for her to reveal her secret to him. They then left and drove, individually for appearance' sake, to the other side of the city where they hoped to be able to have lunch in peace without being recognized. It didn't work, his celebrity status taking care of that. Janine noticed that during the meal Matthew did not seem the be the person who, not an hour ago strutted the stage exhorting the congregation to support him, whipping them into paroxysms of enthusiastic support, exuding such confidence that she was convinced that he was confident of success in the court case.

They did manage to have a meal of sorts before driving, separately, back to Janine's small apartment. Janine could sense that something was bothering Matthew.

"Did you tell Henderson that Matt didn't have cancer?" Mayotte's face was within inches of Janine's but it wasn't there because of love, it was very much confrontational.

"No! How could you think such a thing?"

"Don't fucking lie to me! Who else would have told him?"

"I don't know, all that I know is that it certainly wasn't me." Janine was calmness personified, she felt that by remaining calm she could defuse the situation before it got completely out of hand.

Mayotte grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "How can I be sure of that, after all you did spend the night with him? For all I know he fucked you and you let him, you enjoyed it. And the next morning you lied to me when you told me that you had slept in. And just what were you talking about on Friday after court? Were you arranging to get together for another night? Who's place will it be this time, yours or his? How do I know that you aren't lying to me now, how do I know that you didn't tell him about Matt, or about other things? How can I ever trust you again?"

It took all of Janine's willpower to remain calm in the face of this attack. "I didn't tell him anything. I told him nothing, I did nothing. Look it isn't rocket science, anyone looking at Matt would realize that there was absolutely no way that he could have been afflicted by the disease that he claimed, there was no weight loss, no chemo induced baldness and apart from him taking himself off for treatment, on his own, there was nothing to back-up his claims, no medical evidence. If someone hadn't blown the whistle when they did you and the church would be in even more strife than it is now. Someone has been feeding Henderson information, he doesn't know who it is but he suspects Pastor Fenton. He hasn't used all of the information that he has, surplus to requirements he said. He hasn't gone to the media with all of the information that he has. The media would hammer the fact that you, a so-called man of God, had not been warned by God of Matt's deception. As for Friday, he just said that Pastor Jones having been arrested couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke, he knew, he had guessed, that Jones was behind the plan for me to seduce him."

"Please tell me that you didn't make love, no that's not the term, have sex with him."

"Matthew! This is ridiculous! Yes I spent the night with him but I didn't make love to him, I didn't have sex with him. I just needed someone to talk to, someone that I wasn't close to, someone who could look at my problem from a different perspective. Nothing happened that could affect the way that I feel about you, I wish that you would believe that."

"I want very much to believe you. I want to feel that I can trust you, of all people, in everything." He bowed his head and stared at the pattern in the rug on the floor. He was waiting for her to come to him, to comfort him, offer her sympathy to him, to feel her touch on him, to feel her love flowing through him. He stopped waiting and looked at her, into her sad eyes. "I'm sorry if I shouted at you, it's just that I'm scared, scared of losing this case and scared of losing you." He held his head in his hands and his body shuddered as the tears flowed.

Janine looked at him and realized that this was not the man that had taken her from her previous life and shown such compassion. How could this man accuse her of having sex with Henderson? Was this a sign of his love? Her answer had to be 'no'. The news that she was about to break to him was going to hurt him even more than he already was. She steeled herself for his reaction, took a deep breath and in her calmest voice, spoke the words that she had been putting off for some time. "Matthew, I'm pregnant. We are going to have a baby."

"What!" His head snapped up and he stared at her in dis-belief. "Tell me it isn't true! This is all that I need what with all that is happening to me right now all I need is to be told that you are pregnant." He had lost control, his anger frightening her, momentarily. Janine stood firmly in front of him. "How could this be? I thought that you had taken precautions against this sort of thing happening."

"I thought that you'd be happy." His reaction confirmed her realization that Matthew was not the man, the strong man, that she had fallen in love with, had wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

"Of course I'm happy, just a little surprised, that's all. What am I going to do?" Mayotte had missed his chance, his concern was mis-directed and had come too late, and then he was questioning their next move, the implication being that he didn't want the child.

"What do you mean, 'how could this be?' What do you mean, 'what am I going to do?' There are two of us involved in this, you and me, and a third, our unborn child. This is a 'we' situation Matthew, not a 'you' situation. Do you want this child, our child, or not?"

"I do." Mayotte realized too late that he had said the wrong thing and was playing catch up. "But think of the implications of this, I was still married when this child was conceived, and the church can count, they will realize that fact and where would I be? How could I explain that?"

"Tell them it was a miracle. I'm sorry I didn't mean that, it just slipped out. I was right in thinking this would be your reaction. I have given this considerable thought since the pregnancy was confirmed and, as I see it, we, I, have three alternatives. I can have an abortion, but you would have to help me with the money for that. I could go off somewhere and have this baby, on my own, and raise it, on my own. I would have to ask you for Child Support. The last choice, and the one least attractive to you, is that I should have the child, you accept your parental role and we face the church together and beg them for their understanding."

"There must be some other solution."

"I can't think of any other."

Silence descended on them. For Janine the disappointment was real, the man who she had idolized for the past year had let her down, his reaction spoke of his selfish reasoning, thinking of himself first, could she ever compete with him for his love.

For Mayotte, he felt betrayal. He had assumed that Janine would have taken the necessary precautions to ensure that this would not happen. How could he explain it away? He could not stand before the congregation and admit to his sin of the flesh. That would see the end of his career as a Pastor, something that he was not yet prepared to consider. But what was the alternative?

After some several tense minutes Mayotte jolted upright. "Please tell me that you didn't mention this to Henderson."

"He guessed, and yes, we did discuss it. He was very helpful."

"I bet he was! I can see him now, chuckling to himself and plotting where and when he can broadcast the news! Do you realize that everything that I have worked for is in ruins and it's all because of you? I felt sorry for you, and felt that I had to save you from the world that you were trapped in, and how do you repay my concern? You betray me to the enemy!"

"Matthew! Be reasonable, please." Her voice became deliberately quiet. "If Henderson had wanted to use this he would have done so already, he's an honourable man whether you like him or not. I never meant for any of this to happen, and I do appreciate everything that you have done for me. I don't know how I got pregnant, I was on the pill, and have never had problems before, but what you need to realize is that you were a willing participant in this, I didn't force you to love me, make love to me."

"So all of this is my fault is it?"

"No, I didn't mean it that way. Look, he has known this for days and hasn't mentioned it to anyone because he looks on this as a personal matter, not something to be aired in public."

Silence descended on them once more, both feeling that their individual worlds were about to come crashing down around their ears. Sometime later it was a subdued Mayotte who left in time to drive home and have a bite to eat before going to the church for the evening service.

Seated in a car some 50 meters from where Mayotte's BMW had been, a man watched as its brake lights glowed briefly as it braked at the intersection before turning left and disappearing from sight.