Altarboy novel · Chapter 21 of 24
Chapter 21: The Tower
"It's been sawed," Fintan said. "Not frayed. Sawed, with a serrated blade, from the top."
He held the cut end under the flashlight.
Kaz crouched beside him on the cold stone.
"You think Halina."
"I think somebody with a key to a church whose locks were changed in October."
"So Halina."
"I can't prove it."
"We don't have to prove it. We have to ring a bell." Kaz stood up. "It's Christmas Eve, Fintan. Midnight Mass has a bell."
Fintan looked at the dark tower stair.
"The rope is thirty feet and it's sixty-year-old hemp. I can't buy that today."
"The hardware store opens at eight."
"Kaz."
"The man gave Gene five hundred dollars. He'll give us a rope."
By ten o'clock the hardware man had arrived himself, with a coil of new manila line over his shoulder.
He brought two of his sons, and he refused to take money for it.
Kaz went up the tower to hang it.
He didn't ask whether he should.
He climbed the ladder from the ringing room to the bell chamber, up through the open trap.
The wind came through the louvers, and the great bronze bell hung dead still above him.
He threaded the line through the wheel and tied it off with the knots his mother's brother had taught him on a fishing dock.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of Altarboy are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
← Chapter 20 · All chapters · Chapter 22 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend