Logan left, and Tess finished her coffee, trying to clear her thoughts. Fatigue meant jumbled, out-of-order, murky, and somewhat-random musings, and Tess needed clarity. The tension in her relationship with Oliver was one area she wanted to clarify.

She thought about her brief relationship with Steve. One good thing about dating a cop was that he knew the job, the pressures, the demands, the responsibilities. Oliver would never fully understand her job as chief. He’d proved that by taking her to task about conducting the search.

Maybe if Tess were chief of hundreds instead of seven, she could take the easy way out, but she wasn’t. Would that be a rub in her relationship with Oliver forever?

On the other side of the coin, she would never fully understand his job demands and responsibilities.

On cue, Oliver walked in with a plate of sandwiches, Bronwyn on his heels with glasses of tea. He sat next to Tess. “You’re exhausted.”

Tess blew out a breath, so thankful for the food. “I am. And I’m concerned. There’s an armed killer out there somewhere and I need to find him.”

“You’ve done all you can for now. Eat. Try to recharge,” Oliver said.

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” She picked up a ham sandwich and ate half of it before she spoke again.

Harp returned to the living room, walking slowly down the hallway. To Tess, it looked as if she’d been crying. Oliver picked up on it as well.

“Ms. Harp, are you okay?”

“Yeah, it’s been a long day.” She settled into an easy chair but sat stiffly, not relaxing. “How do you deal with this?”

Oliver frowned. “With what, exactly?”

“Evil men hurting innocent people. And evil that seems never-ending, that goes on for years. Evil men getting away with being evil. I still struggle with this and with God. Why does it just go on?”

“I wish I had a pat answer for you, but I don’t,” Oliver said. “If I understood God completely, then he wouldn’t be God. But if it is any comfort at all, I don’t believe that anyone gets away with anything. There will be a reckoning—we may not see it, but it will happen.”

“You’re just as certain of that as you are that the Bible is true?”

“I am.”

Tess watched Harp try to process this, even as she had to process her own thoughts on the matter. After about a minute, she said, “I hope you’re right, Pastor. I do. I’ve not stopped reading the Bible and trying to understand it. The only hope I have is that evil people won’t get away with their evil forever.” She got up and went into the kitchen.

Oliver turned to Tess. “I’m glad she’s still reading, still asking questions.”