It took them two and a half hours before they arrived at Centralia. By then it was nearly one o’clock in the morning.
“Doesn’t look like much, does it?” Sean said as they slowly moved through the streets. “Especially in the dark, you can’t tell where the houses used to stand. In daytime it’s easier to spot some of the foundations. There are even some telephone poles still standing here and there. When it gets really cold, you can see steam coming out of pockets around the area.”
Graffiti marked the road in several places. As they passed a gated cemetery, the pickup’s headlights splashed large shaky letters in white on the macadam.
WELCOME TO THE UNDERWORLD
“Some of the caskets have been relocated,” Sean said, “most of the others haven’t. The ground is beginning to buckle in spots. Years ago I walked through there and some of the grave markers were beginning to fall over. Little by little the earth’s shifting and falling in on itself. That’s why they kicked everyone out.”
“Looks like we passed one house already,” Daniel said.
“Yes, and there are a handful of others still in town.”
“Why?”
Sean shrugged. “For some people, this is their home. I don’t think you can explain it much more than that.”
“Now where are we headed?”
“Turn left up at the next road.”
Daniel checked his rearview mirror on instinct. Nobody behind them. Nobody had been behind them for miles.
“How’d you find out about this place, anyway?”
“I honestly can’t remember. I think maybe I read about it in the newspaper, or maybe I saw an article about it online. Places like this have always fascinated me.”
“Ghost towns?”
“Not just ghost towns. Any place in the country—in the world—where the earth has begun to takeover. Where did you grow up, Lieutenant Marsh?”
“Elmira, New York.”
“Has it changed much since you were a boy?”
“Sure.”
“But I bet it’s changed for the better, right? They’ve built new businesses, new houses. People keep trying to make things better. If you wanted to—if you weren’t a wanted man—you could return there any time you wanted and see the house you grew up in and the school you attended and places you hung out with your friends. But then you have a place like this town that doesn’t even exist anymore. People who grew up here can’t return with their own kids to show them where they grew up and what schools they attended. I mean, sure, they can bring their kids here, but what is there for the kids to see? I’m by no stretch an environmentalist, but you can never predict what the earth is going to do. One day it may just decide it wants its land back and will take it. There’s nothing you or me or anybody can do about it.”
Daniel had made the left and was now coasting down the street, open fields on either side of them.
“Now where are we headed?”
Sean pointed out the windshield. “See the church up there on the hill?”
“Yes.”
“It’s time we found Jesus.”
Daniel placed the pickup in park, killed the engine. He’d turned off the headlights when they started up the hill to the church so that they wouldn’t draw attention. Not that there was anybody around that might notice. Besides the few houses spread out around the ghost town, the area was deserted. Now the three of them sat in the pickup staring out at the white church perched on top of the hill overlooking the town that the earth had reclaimed.
“In there?” Daniel asked.
“Yes,” Sean said.
“You hid one and a half million dollars in that church?”
“No.”
Daniel looked at him. “I’m getting tired of your bullshit.”
Sean stared out through the windshield. “One and a half million dollars is a lot of money. If I buried it somewhere, what stops someone else from stumbling over it and taking it as their own?”
Daniel said, “I’m beginning to lose my patience.”
“Keep calm, Lieutenant Marsh. By this time tomorrow, you will be a half million dollars richer and sipping margaritas on a beach somewhere.” Sean patted Ashley’s thigh, squeezed it tight. “Now let’s go get closer to God.”
There were two entrances to the church, a front door that overlooked the remains of the town and a back door.
They used the back door.
Sean forced it open and led them inside. They each carried a flashlight. Once the door was closed, they flicked on the flashlights and swung the beams around the anteroom.
Coatracks stood bare in each corner of the room. Empty hangers hung from the pole along the wall. A small table with brochures and other literature about the church.
They moved deeper into the church, through the anteroom and into the chapel.
Based on the number of pews, the church didn’t look like it could hold more than two hundred people.
Daniel asked, “What are we here for?”
Sean aimed his flashlight at the cross hanging against the wall at the front of the church.
“Like I told you, Lieutenant Marsh, it’s difficult to make one and a half million dollars in cash disappear. Or if you do, it’s difficult to make sure it’s secure. That’s why Ashley and I worked out a system. She put the money someplace secure and gave me the key, and I took that key and hid it. I’ve known where the money’s been all this time, just as Ashley has, but she can’t access the money without the key, and only I’ve known the location of that key.”
They moved down the aisle to the front of the church. At both ends were narrow steps that led down to the basement. Sean climbed to the lectern.
“This church,” he said, “has been one of the mainstays of the town since everything had gone to hell. Even if those other residents eventually moved out and there was nobody living in town, this church would still be here. Last I knew it still held regular services every Sunday. People drive in from outside towns to worship here. Which is kind of ironic, if you think about it, people leaving their prosperous towns to a church overlooking a town that God has decided should no longer exist.”
He turned back to the cross on the wall. It stood eight feet tall from top to bottom, made from a solid piece of rugged wood. It was clamped against the wall, but the clamps weren’t that secure. All it took from Sean was several yanks before the clamps loosened and gravity pulled the cross forward off the wall. It crashed down with a vicious impact that caused the lectern to tip over into the aisle.
“Jesus Christ,” Daniel said.
“Quiet,” Sean said. “He might hear you.” Then he grinned. “If I had a religious bone in my body, I might feel bad about doing that, but as it is, I haven’t been to church since I was a kid.”
He picked up his flashlight and shined the beam at the top of the cross. Taped there was the key.
“When I put it here two years ago,” Sean said, “I used a ladder. I also made sure when I broke in not to leave a trace. But I figure now”—he shrugged—“what the hell?”
He bent and tore the key from the top of the cross, and as he stood back up, the chapel lights came on to reveal Agent Gloria Ramirez standing at the top of the aisle, her weapon aimed directly at Sean.