Chapter 18: Oh, that breakfast

I do not know how long I slept, but when I woke up, I left the room and saw Samuel sitting in the same place. He was jotting something down or sketching in his notebook. I was surprised to see that his notebook contained everything he wrote and drew, considering how often he wrote in it. Judging by what I could see, he probably had not slept yet.

"Good morning, James," Samuel addressed me.

"Good morning," I replied simply, and then asked, "Did you sleep last night?"

"No, I did not. Although I forgot to wake you up," Samuel said.

"What time is it now?" I asked.

"It's almost 10 AM," Samuel replied.

"I see. Where are we headed now?" I asked.

"As we planned yesterday, I think we should visit all the churches and talk to their congregations," Samuel said.

"I think that will take us the whole day, considering that many of them have their own secrets," I said.

"We'll have to finish this quickly because we have to go to another place," Samuel said.

"What place?" I inquired.

"While you were asleep, I received a good lead," Samuel said.

"So we're going to follow this lead?" I asked him.

"Maybe. Right now, my people are checking the veracity of this lead," Samuel replied.

"Can I have more information? After all, I'm helping to solve this case," I said to him.

"In the local workshop database, there were records of drone repairs. Two of them had their lower compartments knocked out, and three had their casings damaged at the bottom, as if they had crashed into the ground. We just need to figure out whose drones were repaired, and possibly one of them is our suspect," Samuel replied.

"That's more like it," I said to him. "Then let's go to Oliver's first, although I think we should go to another place."

"It's not necessary, I ordered food. It should be here any moment now," Samuel said to me.

"What did you order?" I asked him.

"Pizza and two burgers. I think it's enough for the two of us. And coffee too, to keep us productive today," he replied.

As he spoke, someone rang the doorbell.

"Hello!" I heard a shout.

I approached the door and opened it. There was a teenager with a bag in his hands. He quickly opened it and took out the food that Samuel had ordered. I looked at Samuel.

"It's $50. Please pay, James," he said to me.

I had no choice but to pay. I gave the boy $50 plus $20 as a tip. And then I went to Samuel, who was still busy with his work.

As I got closer, I noticed that he had already packed most of his things, leaving only his tablet and notepad on the table. Seeing his tablet, I immediately wondered why he was jotting everything down in his notepad when he could do it on his tablet.

"I noticed you have a tablet. Why don't you write all your notes on it?" I couldn't help but ask him.

"Mm..." he made a thoughtful sound. "To be honest, I can do it, but I can't seem to make sketches on the tablet. It's as if something is preventing me from doing it," he answered.

"I understand you. Once, I tried to make a self-portrait by following the instructions, but it turned out to be completely different from what I expected. Maybe you're facing a similar problem," I said.

For some reason, right now I felt that Samuel was just like me, a human being with flaws. Although before, he had made me feel unpleasant, as if on an instinctual level, we were incompatible. But it was nice to feel that he wasn't as perfect as he seemed at first glance. He suppressed his key emotions, justifying it with his calm demeanor for the sake of the investigation.

I opened the pizza and saw something that infuriated me. It was topped with seafood. I loathed it. Luckily, Samuel had also ordered burgers, so at least I could have those for breakfast, I thought to myself.

"Pizza for me, and two burgers for you," Samuel said.

"Didn't you order a burger for yourself too?" I asked him.

"I figured you wouldn't like this type of pizza, so I ordered two burgers, plus they had a deal on them," he replied.

"Oh...well, thanks for the burgers," I said, continuing, "Where are we heading to first?"

"The nearest church. I'll pretend to be a civilian and try to find out some information, while you talk to their council," Samuel said, adding, "By the way, James, there are over 50 registered churches in your city. We mainly need to check the Christian churches, such as Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant, as they mainly use exorcism in their practices. Exorcism may not be performed or used differently in other denominations, such as Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism, so we should focus on studying them."

"I actually belong to a Protestant denomination," I told him.

"Then that's where we're headed. I'm sure you have a good relationship with the council there," Samuel said.

"I hope so," I said, taking a bite of my burger.

Although it was not the proper way to have breakfast, I had no other choice. So, I quickly finished the burgers and left the house, waiting for Samuel, who had also eaten his food quickly.

I started the car, and we headed towards the church where I often went with Kate. As I drove, my mind was flooded with thoughts and memories of those days. They weren't the most exciting, but they were certainly joyous memories. It wasn't necessarily fun to spend time with my beloved in church, even though the church shouldn't be fun as it is the Lord's house.

But considering that we are almost divorced, even these memories are happy for me. I never thought of myself as a sentimental person, but that's not quite true. I'm pathetic. It was only after I lost her that I realized how important she was to me.

Remembering something about her, I feel like I'm sinking into joyful days, and then, after drinking bitter medicine, I remember who I am. I am a weak and selfish person, and only recently did I realize this. I try to win her back out of love, but it's a selfish and pathetic love. It's like trying to glue a vase back together, but even if I manage to restore it to its original state, the cracks that filled the vase will still be visible.

And so, we arrived at the church.