" we are all sinners and come short of your glory , almighty but tonight make us a new creature " the priest prayed 

" amen" the church chorused

" mom" a 5 year old girl tapped  her mom beside her" mom, I'm hungry " 

Her mother kept her eyes shut tightly and ignored her daughter .

Rule number one of the church : never open your eyes during prayer .

" mom" the little girl called out again 

" and dear lord may we-"the priest was cut off by the little girl 

" mom" 

" little girl" the priest said looking at her with piercing eyes " come here " 

Little Maria left her mom's side and went out to the altar

"When the priest prays-" he said slowly bringing out a sword 

"-all eyes closed " and with that said he stabbed the little girl.

*                    *                    *

" what do we have here ?" Detective griffin asked his partner,george  as he climbed down to the scene and walked towards the church .

" a 5years old girl was murdered" george replied 

Griffin looked at George " that's obvious, what else you got ?"

"Oh, her name is maria . "

Griffin showed the officer guarding the church his ID and the officer allowed him and George in.

Griffin walked towards the altar , squat down and observed the blood on the floor " from the looks of it , we can't tell if she wants murdered here or elsewhere but dumped here. If she was murdered here, were there any witnesses?"

" no "

Griffin nodded his head " who reported her missing?"

" her mother"

" you got her address?"

"Yes" 

Griffin stood up " then let's go "

When they got into the car, Griffin opened the dashboard and took out a burger , George who was at the driver's seat looked at griffin in awe 

" what?" Griffin asked" we are going to a woman's house who just lost her child, she's obviously not going to offer us food "

"That's right ,then can I have some?" George reached out to open the dashboard but griffin slapped his hand 

" focus on driving, next time come prepared. Let's go "

"Yes, yes" and the car took off.

Meanwhile , Christina carter was on the phone talking to the cops in tears , she hasn't heard about the news of her daughter's death yet. To her, Maria is still missing 

" any news yet?" She asked the officers over the phone 

" ma'am, we are doing the best we can . could you just relax?"

" relax?! How can you tell me to relax, my daughter's been missing for 12 hours now and you are telling me to -" she was cut off by a beep on the other end " hello? Hello?!" . the officer had hung up on her ,she threw her phone on the floor in anger and dragged her hair as she cried . where could her daughter be ?

A knock on the door , made her to compose herself a little and open the door .

She saw two men infront of her, they didn't look like police officers at all 

" who are you , people?" She asked in a shaking voice 

Griffin showed her his ID" detective Griffin and this here is my partner, George"

" hello" George greeted 

" we have some questions for you concerning your daughter , if you don't mind " griffin said 

Finally , help came . Christina thought " yes, please come in " she said in a hurry as the two gentlemen walked in " pardon me, the house is quite messy "

" it's alright " 

" would you like some cup of tea?"

"No"griffin said 

"Yes"George said 

Griffin looked at George 

" on second thought, I'm alright "

Christina smiled 

" so when was the last time you saw your daughter?"Griffin asked

" yesterday, we went to church together.after the service was over she said she was going to play with her friend , Aaron"

" and who is this Aaron?"

" I assumed he's a friend from her school , she talks about him a lot "

" do you know where he lives?"

" no , I've never even seen him . she always went out to meet him but he never comes to meet her"

"Is that all?"

" I told her she shouldn't stay out late that she should be back before dinner and she left . when it was suddenly getting late ,I made a search to look for Aaron so I'd called her school Teacher but -"

"But?"

" she told me there was nobody bearing that name in her year"

George who was taking down christina's statement suddenly stopped writing and looked up " what's this ?" 

" what's what?" Griffin asked 

" this chill I'm getting "

Griffin shook his head " can you be serious for once ?"

" hey , think about it huh? How can that kid not exist then who has she been seeing?"

" are you sure the kid and maria goes to the same school ?" Griffin asked christina

" I'm positive, she said it so many times " 

" thank you for everything, we'll get back to you, when we get some more information" griffin said and stood up and turned around to leave when christina called out

" detective, you'll find her , won't you ?"

Griffin looked back " haven't you heard?"

" heard what ?"

" maria is-"

"Still missing , we'll find her ,have a nice day " George said .

When they were outside griffin said " why did you lie?"

" didn't you see how she looked, she's barely holding on. If you tell her now she might faint from shock or do something worse "

" so where to now ?"

"We need to find this Aaron kid ,get in "George said and entered the car.  As griffin was about to enter , his phone rang. It was an unknown number 

" hello?"he answered

" detective"

" who am I speaking with ?"

" later, I'll tell you later . we need to meet "

" meet, why?"

" I'm a witness. I witnessed maria's death"

" who are you ?"

" I'll tell you when we meet, come to the address I'll text to you " and the unknown caller hung up 

" hey , get in!" George called out to griffin 

Griffin entered the car " change of plans "

" why?"

" we just found ourselves a witness "

" really ? Is it Aaron?"

" I doubt . the person sounded too mature to be a kid "

" so where are we going ?"

Griffin's phone beeped and griffin showed George the message "here"

" on it" george said and sped off .

Meanwhile at the bar john, the unknown caller after he ended the call ordered another beer, he needed to take his mind off what he saw and he needed to warn people about that priest .

Feeling the urge to use the restroom, john made stumbling movements and went to the bathroom

" excuse me " the priest said to the bar attendant that served john his drink 

"Yes?"

" when that young lad gets back , tell him that his father is waiting for him outside  in a red car and is with his phone "

"Okay "

" thank you" the priest said . with john's phone in his hand , he walked out and patiently waited in his red car.

When griffin and George got to the location sent by the witness, they were accomplished by nothing but silence 

" hello" Griffin called out 

" hey, you don't think he changed his mind , do you ?"

" no , he seemed  eager to talk,let's split up "

George nodded and the two went that separate ways 

" Griffin!" George called out 30minutes later 

Griffin ran to meet George " did you find him?"

"Look" George said pointing at something and when griffin looked in that direction , they saw the dead body of john walker with a sword stabbed in his heart that read: create in me a clean heart, oh lord .

A/N: Enjoy and share , thank you 💞