* * * *
After an early breakfast, it was during the examination of the documents the next morning that Father Hernandez came upon the private journals of Father Ynez. “I can’t believe it,” he said, “these journal entries written by Father Ynez are invaluable. Oh my gosh, these equate to a mini-timeline concerning what happened during the first supposed visitation. How did these get past the Church?”
Michael eagerly studied the same journal. He was in his element, researching information. “I remember some of these events noted here. They probably didn’t think these were important at the time, since most of the information didn’t cover the major event, just daily administration b.s. There’s a hell of a lot of paperwork here. They probably didn’t collect everything and then never got back to it after what happened a week later with the disappearances and the confusion--planes dropping out of the sky, cars crashing into each other.”
Father Hernandez continued with his train of thought. “It must have been missed altogether when someone just skimmed through the beginning pages of the ledgers and thought they didn’t contain anything interesting. Listen to this,” Father Hernandez read in Spanish from the pages, sometimes having to slow down for the benefit of Michael and Sister Justine, though knowledgeable, but not fluent.
After Brother Simon came out to assist with several confirmations, a baptismal, and a christening, due to the quarantine established in the area, he called to brief the situation. He was then directed to return to Our Lady of Hope.
Hearing about the death of his mentor Father Lopez has shaken Brother Simon very much. He is devastated, just as much also for those attending the funeral of Victorio Garza. Brother Simon mentioned that there is one survivor of what had happened in the sanctuary. An email has been forwarded to Cardinal Jimenez in Mexico City and Cardinal Millhouse in Los Angeles.
Father Hernandez skipped over several of the administrative entries and continued:
Brother Simon has called to pass on extraordinary information. The one witness and survivor inside the church claimed he was there for confession to relieve his soul of the guilt concerning something he had been working on. Upon waiting, he claimed the sweetest aroma embraced his nose and it was then an angel did appear. The name of this possible entity was said to be called Abriel, being the same one prompting him to leave some sort of compound before an appointed time. He claims the angel was the source responsible for the deaths of all the souls within the church. May God have mercy on their souls.
“So is this where you encountered the name Abriel before?” Father Hernandez asked, directing his question to Michael and Sister Justine.
“Yes, during the brief time we spent with the survivor, I can’t remember his name, he was the one who mentioned the angel’s name,” Sister Justine answered.
Father Hernandez continued reading.
To my surprise, the Holy Church, by means of Monsignor Grielle, who has been assigned to oversee the events at Our Lady of Hope, did communicate they would send one or more clergymen to come and investigate said angel. After telling His Excellence to dispatch a team would not be necessary, as it is believed the deaths were natural in cause due to a virus outbreak. Aversol Industries, our loving patron supporting our program to feed and immunize the less fortunate, has it upon themselves to open up their local clinic in El Refugio for the treatment of others who may become infected and maintain the quarantine on the one survivor in the church when all others expired.
“Ok, here’s another entry.”
The two investigators, sent on behalf of the Holy Church, are willing to accept the legitimacy of the one survivor. For reasons untold, they were instructed not to reveal to anyone, except unto Monsignor Grielle, what they have found to date. According to Brother Simon, it is said that the condition of the deceased was one of the reasons for the acceptance of the veracity of the survivor.
“Here’s the final entry before the disappearance of Brother Simon and Father Ynez.”
I was briefed by Monsignor G. that the Church recalled our brother and sister in the Lord for circumstances unknown. We’re extremely puzzled by Brother Simon’s report that the World Health Organization team is unable to find anyone else infected or casualties of a virus to have killed the leadership, congregation, and church visitors at Our Lady of Hope. It is believed that whatever did happen here is natural in occurrence and warrants no further investigation, regardless of what was thought by the team that was recalled. I find I must disagree with the findings of the two sent to investigate the reported angel sighting.”
There was silence for several minutes. Michael commented first, “A lot of this we already knew. As a matter of fact, if I had my notes...” Michael stopped midsentence and gave Sister Justine and Father Hernandez an angry stare before continuing, “we could compare them to see if anything stands out that we may have missed.”
“Michael, grow up. Your notes weren’t stolen and I’m quite sure there’s enough here to help us figure out what’s going on.”
“So why did you two think there was something supernatural?” Father Hernandez chimed in.
“A couple of days after the deaths, the state of decomposition was abnormal, the eyes and tongue appeared dissolved or rotted out, just like those who died in L.A.,” Sister Justine answered.
“Hence the entry by Father Ynez about the deceased bodies,” Michael added.
“So how come there's no name for the alleged witness?” Father Hernandez asked.
“He didn't have a passport, no identification or anything to determine who he was. During the course of the next week, well, he disappeared with the others,” Sister Justine responded.
Michael, now a bit more interested, jumped in and started reviewing the journal pages with greater attention. Father Hernandez continued going through paperwork. Sister Justine searched some of the other boxes to determine the order they were arranged in and focus her search. Many of the boxes were initially organized by year, then month. She zeroed in on the apparent one for the month of the decade-old episode. She came across many of the journals and logs for officiated christenings, baptismals, confirmations, and funerals. Then she remembered to focus in on the funeral of the first incident. During their first visit, with the rush of activity from the medical teams, security forces, and news media, they weren’t able to logically sit and consider the variables surrounding the situation. Scanning the pages, she found the dated entry for the funeral at Our Lady of Hope. It matched the other related entries on other documents that the angelic episode centered on the decedent Victorio Garza. Sister Justine perused new information on his membership in the church, and the date and cause of his death. Father Hernandez glanced in her direction and observed the expression on her face. He wasn't sure if she was perplexed or intrigued. Through the long days since the investigation began, he thought he might be further along in understanding her mannerisms.
“What's so interesting?” he asked curiously.
“Nothing, it’s just kind of strange. Looking at some of the information here, it seems Victorio Garza was a deacon for the congregation and worked for a clinic sponsored by the Church in the area, volunteering time. On top of that, it mentions he was some sort of medical researcher,” Sister Justine noted as she rustled through several more papers. “Yeah, here it mentions the company he worked for was called Aversol.”
“Hmm, that is interesting. I think I recall going through Ynez’s journal about the company being a sponsor organization of the local church. It was some sort of biomedical company,” Father Hernandez added, searching through the papers. He stopped midway through after thinking about the first event in Los Angeles. “What's really a strange coincidence is that in the States, a lot of those who died either worked, or were family members of the ones who worked, for a biomedical company.”
“Wasn't it a different company name though?” Sister Justine asked.
“Yeah, Waterfall
Medical Research, a subsidiary of Everest Groups International, if I recall correctly.”
“And what company did the survivor, Stephen Williams work for?” she continued.
Father Hernandez responded, “I think it was Everest as well.”
“OK, aside from two different medical research companies both here and in the States, are there any other similar connections?” Michael jumped in. Both his associates remained quiet.
Reviewing the documentation before them, they couldn't come up with a response. “It’s probably all just a coincidence anyway. We shouldn’t waste our time,” Michael continued.
Perusing more baptismal logs, funeral logs, confirmation logs, and other church administration documents for Our Lady of Hope, both Father Hernandez and Sister Justine could not find anything they considered of importance. Michael, unphased, had moved from his previous mild euphoria of finding the earlier journal entries.
“Are we really going to find anything else?” Michael asked skeptically.
“I don't know. Besides, it’s getting late and I'm getting tired,” Father Hernandez answered.
“Well good, because I want to go for a run,” Michael said, making an untidy attempt to stack the papers, journal books, and other documents into logical stacks on the tabletop. “Plus, I'm getting hungry.”
Michael partly told the truth. As much as he enjoyed researching, and was feeling the onset of jet lag, he did intend to go for a run. Yet he also wanted to try to recall as much as possible of what he read and add it to his personal journal clandestinely to avoid losing his notes again. He trusted Sister Justine but considered Father Hernandez an appendage to the serpent Bishop Grielle.
“We'll get with Father Dominguez and get something to eat when you get back from your jog,” said Father Hernandez.
Michael took that as implied consent and didn't waste any time in departing. Father Hernandez thought Michael was weary and losing focus. Sister Justine was becoming frustrated there were no logical pathways to concrete answers. She continued perusing the documents with the feeling that something would jump out and tie it all together. After firm encouragement from Father Hernandez, she decided to call it an evening and accomplish her evening prayers and devotional study.