Randy Jessup motioned Cory over with a Cadillac grin. He turned Jessa so she could see him bring a pinewood box over with a chicken wire door on top. She almost fell from her feet when she saw—but Randy helped her stand. Cory sat it on the ground in front of them, and the preacher pushed Jessa to her knees. She went slow and cried once her knees knocked against the floor. Cory shook the box around to stir up whatever was inside, unlatched the chicken wire door, and let it spring open.

“What the hell’s going on here?” I asked.

Cody dug his fingers into my shoulders, and the preacher turned to us. He said, “You will keep your mouth shut while Sister Jessa is judged by the Lord. If you refuse to do so, I’ll allow Cory to do what he sees fit.”

Jessa wailed at the threat and balled up on the floor. She held her hands over her head. Cory looked down at her and then at the preacher. He didn’t have to say a word because his body language did the talking. He’d already thought of everything he wanted to do with Jessa.

Randy Jessup waited to see if I’d speak, but I didn’t open my mouth. He reached down to Jessa and put a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged away from him, and he grabbed her arm and said, “Don’t make this worse than it has to be, Sister Jessa. I will force your hand in that box.”

Jessa turned to the preacher, and all the fear drained from her face. It left her cheeks colorless and her eyes blank. She knew she couldn’t put her hand in that box. Randy Jessup fell backward when Jessa lunged at him. He tried pushing her away, but she was too quick for him. She dug her nails into his face and tried tearing the skin. Cory leaped over the box to help Randy. I tried ejecting myself from the pew, but Cody wrestled me over the back of the seat with a surprise headlock from behind.

He threw me down into the aisle and pinned me to the floor with a knee between my shoulder blades. Cody grabbed my hair and pulled my head back. Cory pulled Jessa off Randy Jessup and tossed her onto the altar. She skidded ass-first down the steps, wailing like a child all the way. The preacher came off the floor and shoved Cody. His greased back hair stood in a cockeyed mohawk with bloodied scratches swelled out on either side of his face. He snarled at Jessa like he wanted to cuss her out.

“Sister Jessa, you’ve heard me preach from the book of First Chronicles where God says, ‘touch not My anointed and do My prophets no harm.’ Do you not recognize my office in His kingdom?” He wiped a hand over his face and smeared bloody streaks across it. Randy bent at the waist and said to her, “The Spirit of Jezebel’s done got ahold of you, girl. I now see why the Lord led me to use you to bring this Dooley to me. I was starting to fear I’d misheard Him. It was the Lord’s desire to expose your wicked heart. Get your hand in that box.”