The Trouble with Angels (Angels Everywhere #2)(5)

"Does Maureen date?”

Gabriel gave a short, sharp laugh. "Hardly. A couple of men from the office asked her out, and she all but bit their heads off. She isn’t interested in a new relationship. I believe I heard her tell a friend recently that all men are scum.”

Shirley’s eyebrows shot toward her hairline. "I see.”

"According to Maureen, men are never to be trusted.”

Shirley folded her wings and started to pace, apparently deep in thought. Pausing once, she turned to Gabriel and was about to ask something, then seemed to change her mind. Shortly afterward she resumed pacing.

"Can I help Karen?” she asked abruptly.

"That’s not for me to know,” Gabriel answered.

"The key is her mother.”

"Yes,” Gabriel agreed.

The prayer ambassador grinned then. "You know, I can’t help thinking there’s horse in this somewhere.”

"A horse,” Gabriel repeated, thinking he’d rather not know how she intended to manage that.

2

"His name’s Paul Morris,” Goodness said to Mercy, leaning over the Book of Prayer and studying the lengthy list of entries. "Reverend Paul Morris.” She ran her finger down the narrow column. "According to what it says here, his wife died two years ago.”

"How sad.”

"His name’s popped up at least six times in the last two pages.”

"He must be deeply loved for that many people to be praying for him.”

Goodness agreed. "What do you think could be wrong?”

Mercy raised her hands in a defeated gesture. "Your guess is as good as mine.”

"He lives in Los Angeles, too.”

"How’d you find his name?”

Goodness twisted around to look at her friend. "It just seemed to leap off the page at me.”

"Goodness.”

It was the Archangel Gabriel, just when Goodness least expected his return. She straightened quickly and noted that their cohort, Shirley, was no longer with him.

"Hi,” she said, tense at being caught reading out of the Book of Prayer. She raised her right hand as if preparing to make a solemn vow.

"You were asking about Reverend Paul Morris?” Gabriel inquired.

"Yes,” she said eagerly. "His name’s listed several times in your book, and…well, it’s just a matter of curiosity, you understand.”

"Perhaps you’d care to drop in and visit him yourself?”

Goodness was convinced her ears had deceived her. She opened her mouth and flattened her palm over her breast. "Me? Really?” she managed in a squeaky, high-pitched voice. "I thought you said…I mean, I was under the impression…” She snapped her mouth closed before she talked herself out of meeting Paul Morris.

"It doesn’t do any harm to look, now, does it?” Gabriel asked.

Goodness was almost giddy with delight.

"Go on ahead without me,” Mercy said with a defeated sigh and with the dramatic flair of a stage actress. "I don’t mind waiting here all by myself.”

"I’m sure you won’t,” Gabriel said gruffly.

To be fair, Goodness did feel mildly guilty to be leaving her best friend behind. She’d gotten adept with guilt of late. She’d acquired the skill by hanging around with Catholics, who were proven experts.

"Let’s take a look at Paul,” Gabriel suggested, and raised his massive wings. With a wave of his huge arms, the clouds parted, and the scene that had once been inaccessible and unclear unfolded in vivid colors. The setting, appropriately so, was the church building itself.

Goodness scanned the polished wooden pews and saw no one. The area around the altar was empty as well.

"That’s Paul at the organ,” Gabriel explained.

Goodness found him in the choir loft. He must have sat down only recently because no music swelled through the church. No song of joy or triumph. Goodness heard only an empty silence.

"His wife played the organ for the church,” Gabriel explained.

"Ah.” Goodness wasn’t sure she understood, but if Paul Morris found some whit of comfort sitting on a bench with his hands poised over the old ivory keys, she could find no harm in it.

"What you’re hearing is a symphony of emotions,” Gabriel explained. "A ballad of loneliness.”

Goodness strained her ears and still heard nothing. She inserted her index finger into her ear and jerked it back and forth several times.

Gabriel’s hand on her shoulder stopped her. "I didn’t mean for you to take that literally. The music is coming from his grief. From the deepest, darkest corner of his heart.”

"Oh.” Goodness felt foolish now.

"Wait and watch,” Gabriel instructed her. "I’ll be back soon.”

Goodness had a long list of questions, but apparently none of them were important because Gabriel was gone in the blink of an eye. The prayer ambassador was left alone, watching the lonely, hurting human below. Sadly, she was powerless to do anything more than observe.

Paul Morris slipped from the organ bench and headed for the church office. A glance at his watch told him he was already ten minutes late for his meeting with the worship committee. He hadn’t meant for the time to slip away like that and, with renewed purpose, increased his pace.