The week leading up to the meeting went by quickly. Shante spent it fasting and praying. She had come to feel whatever happened would be the will of God. She was prepared to humbly accept whatever decision God made for her life. Still, it was hard to let old habits go, so she found herself cleaning up and rearranging the furniture in her bedroom to relieve the stress of thinking about the meeting. She knew she would have a lot of support whatever happened. Gary was going with her as her attorney. Even though it wasn’t a trial, he wanted to be there to defend her.
When she moved the chaise lounge to the window, the envelope Shelby had given her fell from under one of the pillows. She had forgotten about it. She had tossed it onto the lounge after the service Friday night and it must have fallen behind a pillow. She opened it and removed some pictures, a DVD, and various documents.
She spread the pictures and papers on her bed and put the DVD in her player and turned it on. What she saw was shocking. She hurriedly picked up the phone.
“Gary, this is Shante. I need to see you today. It’s important.”
Shante looked around her office. It looked so big, yet seemed small. She should be nervous, but she wasn’t, for she had peace. God, whatever your will, let it be done. Bishop was talking to Ron as Mother and Gwen sat quietly listening. Shante had separated herself as she was wondering if Gary was able to get everything he needed on short notice. She responded to a knock at the door and was surprised to see Patrice and Camille.
“Camille, Patrice, I wasn’t expecting you here. Camille, don’t you have exams coming up? You need to be back at school studying.”
“Mom, we thought it would be best if we came here to support you. I can study when I get back. This is more important.”
“Yeah, we couldn’t miss this for anything. We wanted you to know we have your back,” Patrice added, hugging her.
“I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Is Gary here yet?” Camille asked.
“No, but he should be here soon.”
Minutes later, Pastor Kay and her husband joined the growing gathering of well-wishers. Shante insisted they stay until time for the meeting. Shortly thereafter, Gary and Max arrived.
“Max? You’re here? I didn’t think you were coming.” Shante was so happy to see him she couldn’t hide her excitement.
“You knew I would be here to support you,” Max said embracing her.
Gail came in and asked if she could get them anything. “No, Gail, we have all we need. Could you leave us alone? Thank you.”
Shante closed and locked the door and then they joined hands and prayed. Afterward, Gary pulled Shante to the side.
“I found him; he’ll be here this morning. I knew this would work out.”
“Gary, I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. I don’t know how to repay you.”
Tank came to the door to let her know it was time for the meeting. His expression was somber and he could not look her in the eye. She touched his shoulder and whispered that everything would be fine. He shook his head and left.
Shante and her supporters walked into the sanctuary and she, Camille, Gary, and Max took seats in the first row. The sanctuary was filled to capacity; however, since it was a public meeting, the media was there. To Shante’s surprise, police officers were standing along the wall.
Tank opened the meeting with a prayer and then introduced Deacon Curry as the board’s spokesman. Curry explained what had led to the investigation and began to lay out the evidence. The ushers handed out a budget sheet showing the amount of money missing— more than twenty thousand dollars. Shante didn’t look at her sheet; instead, she folded it and tucked it into her Bible. Deacon Curry explained each figure. He had copies of credit card receipts and statements that showed numerous hotels, department stores, restaurants, and travel charges that had not been authorized by the board. He completed his report and sat down.
Tank then introduced Sarah Turner. She opened with a reminder that Christians are expected to live a moral and righteous life. She read the minutes of the board meeting at which they had asked Shante to walk in a way that would glorify God. She went on to relate that she and her husband had seen Shante and Max at a restaurant in Greensboro. She over exaggerated how Shante had been dressed. She showed a credit-card receipt for a hotel on that same day in Greensboro. The crowd gasped. She then turned to her most damaging piece of evidence, and motioned to the men in the media booth. Pictures of Max and Shante dancing on the beach at Hilton Head came onscreen. And although quite fuzzy, pictures of two lovers having sex on the beach were shown. Shante heard Gwen gasp.
“Oh, my God,” Gwen said to herself.
Sister Turner looked at Shante as the pictures were shown, a slight smirk on her face. She concluded her presentation with a direct attack on Shante’s character. She urged the congregation to vote to dismiss Shante and proceed to find a new pastor of high moral character. As she returned to her seat, the room was totally silent. Everyone seemed in shock. Tank went to the podium; he appeared to be holding back tears. Clearing his throat, he asked Shante if she wanted to defend herself. Shante stood and asked if it was okay for her attorney to speak for her. Tank approved, and Gary got up and faced the crowd.
“I know this isn’t a court of law; however, the Bible says if you have something against your brother, you are to go to that brother and try to work things out. If this doesn’t accomplish its purpose, then you are to bring in witnesses to try to set the brother on the right path. Today, I would like to bring a witness who can clarify many of the issues that have been brought forth this day. May I be permitted to do so?” he asked Tank.
Tank nodded his approval, and Gary motioned to Max, who then went to the media booth in the balcony and handed the video operator an envelope.
“I would like to call Mr. Anthony Panzenetti to the front.” A tall, burly white man stood up and walked down the aisle and stood next to Gary. There was a quiet tenseness in the room. A baby started crying, breaking the silence. “Would someone please give me a chair?”
A man placed a chair near Gary and gestured to Panzenetti to sit. Another man put a microphone stand near him so everyone could hear what he had to say. After looking toward the sound booth to make sure Max was there, Gary began his questioning of the man.
“Sir, please let everyone know who you are.”
“I’m Anthony Panzenetti. I’m a licensed private investigator. I own Panzenetti Investigations here in Charlotte. I’ve been in business twelve years. I have several investigators on my staff.”
“Mr. Panzenetti, can you tell me if you’ve been following my client, Miss Shante Dogan.”
“I was hired to investigate another minister in the area. Ms. Dogan became part of that investigation by default.”
“Can you tell us who hired you and for what reason? Also, tell us how this separate investigation was linked to Ms. Dogan.”
“I received permission from my client, Mrs. Shelby Bryson, to appear at this meeting and give you whatever evidence I have found that may be relevant to this case.”
“Please proceed.”
“I was engaged by Mrs. Bryson to investigate her husband, Reverend Kevin Bryson, because she thought he was having an affair.”
“Was he having an affair?”
“Yes, he was having several. Anyway, it turned out he is the ex-husband of Ms. Dogan. My investigation revealed they were divorced due to physical cruelty. He began coming to this church pretty regularly. I thought he was having an affair with Ms. Dogan; however, he wasn’t seeing her. There was someone else.”
“Who was that?”
“A Miss Gail Jennings,” he answered, flipping through the pages of his notebook. The congregation gasped. Gail jumped up.
“I don’t know a Kevin Bryson. I never heard of him. Why are you putting my name in this mess?”
“Miss Jennings, please sit down. Let us continue,” Gary said, signaling Max. A picture of Gail and Kevin came up on the large-screen monitor at the front of the church.
Gail sat there shocked. Deacon Curry leaned forward to get a better look at the picture and began coughing. An usher gave him some water.
“That’s not a Kevin; that is David. He told me his name was David Templeton,” Gail said, jumping up again and pointing at the picture on the screen.
Tank asked Gail to sit down, and Gary continued his line of questioning. “Mr. Panzenetti, can you tell me who these people are in this picture?”
“That’s a picture I took of Mr. Bryson and Miss Jennings here at the church. Apparently he always knew when Ms. Dogan would not be here. The other picture is of them having dinner at a local restaurant.”
Gary went through a number of pictures of Kevin and Gail in various restaurants, stores, and hotels. Shante resisted turning around to look into Gail’s face. She was sorely disappointed Gail had done this to her. She considered Gail a friend and had never remotely imagined she would betray her trust. She realized Gail did not know anything about Kevin because she hadn’t told her, but she nonetheless betrayed her by using her credit cards and taking money from the church to finance her relationship with a man. She hadn’t thought Gail was that vulnerable, that gullible. But she knew Kevin could be very manipulative, and for a moment, Shante felt sorry for her.
“Did you ever see Mr. Bryson with Ms. Dogan?”
“There were times when he would follow her. He wouldn’t do it a lot—I guess whenever the opportunity arose. He followed her to the beach at Hilton Head last March, according to my notes.”
“He was at Hilton Head?”
“Yes, he was with a Mrs. Sarah Turner, the lady who addressed the audience earlier. They were attending a conference of ministers there. They shared a room at the same hotel where Ms. Dogan was staying.”
There was a loud gasp. The congregation was paying rapt attention to everything being said and shown. It was as if they were watching a racy motion picture. Shante had no qualms about staring at Sister Turner to see her reaction to the pictures. She wanted to see if Sister Turner would have a reaction similar to hers when she had seen the pictures for the first time the night before. Gary began to show pictures of Kevin and Sister Turner in compromising positions. Sister Turner passed out and was taken from the room. Shante could not feel sorry for her. For months Sister Turner had called her all kinds of names and had labeled her a tramp. On this day, God had uncovered Sister Turner’s own secret sins and revealed them to everyone at once. She wondered if Sister Turner knew about her and Kevin. And was that knowledge the reason she had fought so hard to get rid of her? She glanced up and saw Brother Turner walking out of the sanctuary. Her heart went out to him, and she prayed silently for him.
“Can you tell me what happened on the night the pictures were taken of Ms. Dogan and Mr. Patrick on the beach?”
“I was following Mr. Bryson. Apparently, he had spotted Ms. Dogan and Mr. Patrick and was following them. So I followed him following them. I guess he saw them dancing and he went to his car and took a camera out of his trunk and began taking pictures.”
“You saw them dancing?”
“Yes. It looked innocent. They seemed to be acting silly, curtseying and stuff. Nothing too romantic—none of that bumping and grinding stuff.”
“So are you saying the pictures allegedly of them in a compromising position didn’t happen or were not them?”
“I can’t say that. I can say I didn’t see them do anything. They left walking back toward the street. Mr. Bryson stayed behind and started taking pictures of a couple making out on the beach. There was a party nearby. I figured it was someone from the party, and Mr. Bryson wanted some freaky pictures. I stayed on him until he returned to his room.”
“So you did not see Ms. Dogan and Mr. Patrick in a compromising position on the beach that night?”
“No.”
“Can you tell me about other times you saw Mr. Bryson near or around Ms. Dogan?”
“There were a few more times. Once he came to the church and threatened her.”
“Threatened her? How do you know?”
“I’m a private investigator. I have my ways.” “Any other time?”
“Yes, at her house. My investigator said he forced his way through her door, and she heard loud screaming. She contacted me and I alerted the police. I didn’t want my investigator to get involved; I need to protect my employees. Mr. Bryson was arrested that day, and Mrs. Turner posted bail for him. Here’s a copy of the bondsman’s paperwork. It shows Mrs. Turner’s signature.”
Somebody in the crowd cried out, “Lord, have mercy.”
“Now you said earlier you followed Mr. Bryson to hotels, stores, and restaurants. How did he pay for all of this? Surely Mr. Bryson was not rich enough to have a wife and carry on several affairs, too.”
“No, he isn’t rich. His church is small, and so his salary is very limited. However, he would get the money from the women he was seeing. The two I named here were not the only ones. The others are not relevant to this meeting. Many of his hotel stays were paid using this church’s credit card or with money withdrawn from this church’s bank account.”
“What!” somebody said loudly.
Gail tried to run out of the sanctuary, but was stopped by a police officer. Turning to see what the commotion was about, Shante saw the police officer escorting Gail back to her seat. She was crying. Shante watched as she sat down; their eyes met briefly. Shante turned around. She couldn’t look at her anymore.
“Can you explain that, Mr. Panzenetti?”
“My report shows that Miss Jennings took money from the church petty-cash account. She would forge Ms. Dogan’s signature. I followed Miss Jennings and Mr. Bryson to the bank on several occasions. Once, they dropped the withdrawal slip and my investigator picked it up. We traced the number and found that money had been withdrawn from the church’s account. The copies of the checks shown earlier look like the same ones we have. At first they were small amounts, but then the withdrawals were in the thousands from the various church accounts at the bank.”
“In particular, one for two thousand dollars—did Ms. Dogan authorize this withdrawal?”
“No. Miss Jennings and Mr. Bryson went to the bank and withdrew the money. I followed them to Atlanta, where he met with his and Ms. Dogan’s daughter, Camille, and gave her the money. I believe you have pictures of that.”
Camille began to cry when her picture came on the screen. Shante hugged her. Patrice leaned over and rubbed her back. “Mom, I didn’t know. I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Don’t blame yourself. I know you didn’t know. It’s all right,” Shante said reassuringly.
“I hate him. He’s so evil.”
“Camille, don’t say that. You need to pray for your father.”
“I can’t. How could he do that to you, to us?” She began to weep harder. An usher gave her a tissue.
“Is there anyone else in the church who became a part of your investigation?” Gary continued. Deacon Curry began coughing loudly, and Gary paused. Tank went to him and asked if he was okay. He said he was and drank some water. After he settled down, Gary repeated his question. “Is there anyone else in this church who played a part in your investigation?”
“Yes, a Curry—William Curry.” A low rumble of voices filled the sanctuary at the mention of Deacon Curry’s name. “Mr. Bryson met with Mr. Curry several times at a bar called Juices off 85. I have pictures of those meetings.”
Shante looked at Deacon Curry sitting in the pulpit with Tank. Tank gave him a pained look. She thought about all the things she had done for Deacon Curry over the years. She thought how she invited him and his family to live with her temporarily when their house burned down. She thought about the many nights she had spent counseling his family about the problems that were besetting them due to his son’s drug abuse. She thought about the times she had paid for his children to go on church trips when they couldn’t afford it. She was deeply disappointed that this was how he showed his gratitude.
“On one occasion, Mr. Bryson gave Mr. Curry a package. He put the package into his car, and they went into the bar. My investigator managed to retrieve the package. It contained the pictures shown here today. We photographed the contents of the envelope and returned it to the car. We watched them until they left.”
“You are telling me that Ms. Dogan’s ex-husband had been meeting with the chairman deacon of her church?” “Yes. I guess that’s why we’re here.”
“Thank you for your information. I don’t have any more questions. I appreciate your cooperation with this investigation.”
“No problem,” Panzenetti said, getting up and returning to his seat.
Gary began summing up all the PI had revealed. The videos of Kevin’s meetings with Sister Turner, Gail, and Deacon Curry were shown again. He said all the evidence pointed to a plot to get rid of Shante as pastor after the county council stopped Kevin’s club. He said there was no evidence showing any wrongdoing by her or on her behalf. But there was, he charged, ample evidence of misconduct by Gail, Sister Turner, and Deacon Curry. Speaking as her attorney, he called for their immediate resignation from their positions in the church. He also asked that the church vote to keep Shante as pastor, stressing her innocence and reciting a long list of things she had done for the church, particularly how it had grown during her pastorate. After he concluded, a grateful congregation rose as if cued and applauded clamorously.
* * *
After a celebration lunch, everybody went their separate ways—except for Gwen and Patrice, who elected to continue celebrating at Shante’s home. Her phone had not stopped ringing since the church vote. She was gratified and delighted that the overwhelming majority of her church members still had confidence in her and had voted to keep her as pastor. She couldn’t wait to get into the pulpit Sunday morning. She imagined the celebration they were going to have. She felt it was going to be one of those mornings when the Spirit would be so high she would not have to preach. She could feel a praise coming in her spirit at the thought of the good time they were going to have the next day.
Camille went straight to her room when they got home. She had very little to say during the meal. Shante could see she was still upset about Kevin having used her.
She waited a while to see if she would reappear and join her and the others as they laughed and talked about what they had seen and heard that day. Shante finally went to see what was going on. Camille was lying across the bed holding onto a pillow.
“Camille, honey, it’s all right. It wasn’t your fault.”
“He used me. How could he do that to me? I wanted to believe he had changed. He apologized for not being there for me. He said he was going to do better. He asked me to forgive him and told me he hoped we could get to know each other. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted him.”
Shante hugged her shattered daughter and prayed for her. She was angry with Kevin for using Camille to hurt her, vowing to call him and let him know exactly how she felt. She wasn’t afraid of him anymore. This time he had hurt her daughter, and her maternal instinct wanted to protect her. That could wait. Right now, she was mainly focused on helping her daughter heal.
“Honey, I don’t know how I can help you right now. All I can say is God knows you are hurting. He can heal your hurt. Aren’t you the one who told me that you could be in a situation but not allow the situation to have you? Well, don’t allow what your father did kill your joy. I can’t say why he did what he did, only God knows. I do know he missed out on eighteen years of the beautiful young woman you are, and one day he will regret it all. But you can choose to love your dad without being a part of his life. I have always taught you that. Accept who your father is and pray for him. I know it’s hard now. But soon you will realize that it is not good for you to hold on to anger and unforgiveness and you will look at your dad and feel sorry for him.”
“I can’t stand that man,” Camille said.
“Camille, it’s okay to get angry, but don’t stay there. In a couple of days, you will be able to see that what he did to us did not stop God from blessing us. You will thank God for showing you a side of your dad you never knew and making you wiser in case he tries something like that again.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“Am I always?” Shante asked. Camille managed a slight smile. “Now take a minute and get yourself together and join us. I’m going in the kitchen to see what Gwen and Patrice are doing.”
Shante returned to the kitchen where Gwen and Patrice were sitting on barstools at the island. Patrice looked at her. “Is she okay?”
“She’ll be fine.” Shante pulled a pint of Ben and Jerry’s chocolate fudge brownie ice cream from the freezer and passed spoons to Patrice and Gwen. “I can’t believe Kevin would stoop so low as to put Camille in the middle of one of his schemes.”
“I don’t know what you saw in him in the first place,” Patrice said, shoving a large spoonful of ice cream into her mouth.
“That’s because you never saw what I saw or how he used it.”
“Shante!” Gwen screeched.
“Well, it’s true. We had a lot of sex before we got married, but we could not have a decent conversation. He was cute. With everything that has happened over the years, I don’t even remember what I originally saw in him. I was so naïve. I thought his passion for ministry would help us have the perfect marriage, even though I wasn’t saved at the time. But I was wrong.”
“That was horrible. He didn’t have to include Camille. Some people are going to bust hell wide open.”
“Don’t say that, Patrice. I know you are new in the faith. You’ve got to learn to pray for your enemies.”
“You pray. God is still working on me.” The three of them laughed.
“We are going to have a good time in church tomorrow,” she said, going to answer the phone. “Let me see who is calling to congratulate me now.” It was the sheriff’s department. She expected the call, but not this soon. She hesitated before picking up. She didn’t want to talk about Gail, Sister Turner, or Deacon Curry. She especially did not want to talk about Kevin. She wanted to bask in her victory a while longer.
“This is Shante.”
“This is the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Department. We would like for you to come down to the station to give a statement,” the officer said.
“Do I have to do it today? I would like to have my attorney present.”
“We can do it next week. However, we will be issuing warrants for the arrest of Gail Jennings and Kevin Bryson on several felony charges related to the theft of money from your church.”
Shante was sad to hear Gail and Kevin would be arrested, especially Gail. She considered her a friend, and was trying to forgive her, but she knew it would take time.
“Who was that?” Patrice asked as she hung up the phone.
“That was the police. They are going to arrest Gail and Kevin.”
The phone rang again, but the number did not register on the caller ID. Shante answered anyway. “Shante, this is me, Kevin. Don’t hang up.” Shante sat on a barstool, in disbelief that he had the nerve to call her. “I guess now you know about some things. I had to do what I had to do. Don’t blame Gail; she’s a good person. I needed the money.”
“So you decided to steal it from my church and hurt your daughter?”
“I didn’t mean to hurt Camille. I wanted to do something for her. I finally had the chance, and I took advantage of it. I haven’t been the best example of a father for her. I’m really proud of her. I wanted to tell her that at her graduation from high school, but the two of you and your family and friends looked so happy. I didn’t want to rain on her day. So I walked away.”
“You were at her graduation?” Shante stood and began pacing.
“Yeah. I was proud of the speech she gave. Do me a favor. She probably doesn’t want to talk to me right now. Tell her I love her and I’m sorry. I didn’t want to hurt her. I better go. I think the police will be looking for me soon.”
“Kevin. Why did you do it?”
“I thought I could pay it back before anyone noticed it was gone. It didn’t work out that way. Anyway, I better go.”
“Kevin . . . Kevin,” Shante yelled into the phone. But he’d already hung up.
“No, he didn’t have the nerve to call you,” Patrice said as she stood and walked over to Shante.
“What did he want?” Gwen asked.
“He wanted me to apologize to Camille. He said he loved her and hadn’t meant to hurt her. He said he wanted to finally do something for her.”
“And he did it by stealing money from your church?” Patrice asked.
“He manipulated Gail. She’s young. It was easy for him to do. He said he was going to pay it back.”
“Yeah, right,” Patrice said. “I hope they arrest him soon.”
Gwen and Patrice began speculating as to the real reason Kevin had called. Shante could not join in. For the first time, she truly felt sorry for him. She thought about all that he had lost and was apparently willing to give up, all because he was unwilling to change. She knew she would eventually have to tell Camille what he had said. But she couldn’t right now. The phone call had only made her angrier. She herself would have to find a way to forgive him in order to minister to her daughter about forgiveness.