A Prayer for the Devil Read Online Free

many of the funerals he had presided over and his distant words of advice that were intended to comfort the grieving families and make them feel better, while now understanding that at the time he had no idea what those people were feeling. He now knew exactly what they were feeling, and he had never imagined it would be this hard. Thinking back to his days in Africa, he wondered why the inner ragehe felt now was so different. He had experienced murder up close and personal in Johannesburg, and it felt terrible, but not like this. Maybe the fact that Aaron was identical to him in almost every way meant that the murderers not only killed his brother, but they killed a piece of Luke also. Even in the pictures, it was difficult for Luke to tell the two of them apart. If it wasn’t for a small, almost unnoticeable scar on Luke’s chin, only God would know the difference.
    Luke sat down on the shoulder press machine and started the circuit-training routine that he and Aaron had done so many times together. He worked hard and fast, finishing in about half the time it normally took to do this workout. Drenched in sweat, he moved on to one of six treadmills and began running at a seven-minute-mile pace. He was in great shape from a physical standpoint, but emotionally he was a wreck. No matter what he did, Aaron’s murder was on his mind. Looking around the gym, the full-length pictures that he once loved had now become a constant reminder of his brother’s death. Every time Luke looked in the mirror, he saw Aaron. His nights continued to be filled with nightmares of death, anger, and revenge.
    After running three miles, he decided to move on to the heavy bag, feeling that this would be a better outlet for the suppressed rage he was feeling. The punching bag was strategically fastened to a steel beam underneath the garage floor, making it virtually soundless to the people upstairs. Starting slowly, he hit the canvas and waited, then hit it again. The more he thought about his brother, the harder and faster his punches became. After several minutes, he was grunting loudly while hitting it with both hands as fast as he could. Seeing something move in the mirror’s reflection, he turned his head quickly and noticed Abel standing on the last step, watching him. Luke stopped abruptly and quickly draped a towel over his wet shirt while walking over to pick up the fragile child. Silently, he carried the boy upstairs and intothe family room. Several minutes later, Abel was sound asleep in his arms as silent tears fell down Luke’s flushed cheeks and blood dripped from his bruised and swollen knuckles.

     

 
    LUKE WALKED OUT TO the backyard and took the piece of paper out of his pocket that the church secretary had given him. He dialed the number and asked for Jim Hathaway. After a few minutes, Jim picked up the phone. “Hi, Luke, and thank you for calling. Please accept my sincere condolences. I am, I mean, was, a business associate of your brother’s and also a friend.”
    Trying to ease the awkward silence that followed, Luke replied, “Thank you, Jim. Have we ever met?”
    “No, I went to law school with Aaron while you were in the seminary. About a year ago, we were reacquainted when I began working with Aaron on estate planning, but I’ve heard a lot about you.”
    Confused, Luke asked, “From who?”
    “Luke, even though you and Aaron had some disagreements, he always spoke highly of you and admired your passion and conviction. My firm specializes in financial planning, so I spent a substantial amount of time with him discussing his investments and his will. We talked for hours, and in great detail, about your family so that he could decide the best way to take care of everyone if something ever happened to him. You should know that as recently as three weeks ago, heasked me to include a provision in his will that gave you sole custody of his children if he and Deborah both died before the kids were of legal