“We’re just walking the last few steps.”

The heavy double oak doors of the boardroom groaned open, and Elder Miller came out into the anteroom carrying a stack of printed agendas.

He stopped short when he saw me standing by the coat rack in my pastoral robes.

“Tom,” Elder Miller said, his gray eyebrows lifting.

“Arthur told the whole council you drove out of town last night.”

“Parish business held me up,” I said quietly.