Chapter 522: 522

Chapter 522 Just Wait A Little Longer

Zhang Heng and Holmes got to the church as quickly as they could . The rusty brass lock on the door wasn’t about to stop them from getting in . Holmes struck the lock with his cane with oomph and hurrah, only to find the stubborn old thing not budging an inch .

Defeated, he stepped aside and watched as Zhang Heng pulled out his revolver, firing a deafening shot at the lock . The two then ran into the church .

As was the case with Father Jacob’s residence, there was no one here . Moonlight poured through the stained-glass windows and lit up the pews with a kaleidoscope of colors, creating an atmosphere of enigmatic tranquility and stillness .

“Find an entrance,” Holmes instructed Zhang Heng before the pair split up .

Irene Adler, now underground, heard the movement above her . She struggled, twisting and squirming hard, but her hands and feet were tightly bound . Gagged with a piece of cloth, the only sound she could manage was a muffled whine .

Father Jacob continued praying fervently by a wooden table as if he hadn’t heard the gunshots .

But who the opera singer feared more was the other person in the room-a man between the ages thirty and forty, his skin paler than a ghost, as if he had never spent any time under the sun at all . His long and unkempt beard looked like it hadn’t been shaved for a long time, and he was thin, except for his pair of sinewy arms . A tattered old coat covered his body, and as he sat by the bed, he watched on at Irene with intrigue .

The priest seemed to have read the opera singer’s mind . “They won’t be able to get in . This secret room was a shelter built during the Middle Ages, and even if you were to dig your way, it’s not something to be accomplished in a day . ”

Upon hearing that, Irene stopped struggling . The pale man was getting impatient . “Are you done yet? Can I start already?”

“Not yet . Just a little while more,” replied Father Jacob without turning around to look .

The priest picked up a blood-stained leather apron from under the table . He turned to Irene, “You must be wondering why we’ve chosen you… This is all because of mebecause of a mistake I made when I was young . ”

“Can we leave the stories for later?!” the pale-skinned man snapped, but when he saw the apron, his eyes lit up .

“It won’t take long,” said Father Jacob . “Don’t you remember what I taught you? We have to be polite and patient . ”

The pale-skinned man immediately stopped talking, and his face flushed red .

Father Jacob continued, “As I said—I’ve made a mistake . I was only nineteen then . Father Matthew wrote a letter to the church saying how short-staffed Sacred Heart had become . But at that time, priests were scarce, and barely any of them were willing to come to the East End . But I was young, zealous, and fervent, so I volunteered to go and help .

“I must admit-I came from a family of squires, and at the beginning, I had great difficulty adjusting to life here . I came to London when I was sixteen and stayed with Father Abelson . We occasionally visited the poor here in the East End, but it’s different when you actually live here . When I first arrived, I was a little depressed . I wanted to go back to Father Abelson badly, but I was afraid people would think less of me because I couldn’t bear the hardship .

“It was also around this time that I met a girl, Emma . She was a prostitute, only sixteen, and new to the trade . Her father died, and her mother ran away with another guy, so she had no choice but to do what she did to survive . But unlike the other girls, she would attend church every week, and that was also how we met .

“Perhaps because we were about the same age, that she felt I was different from the rest of the congregation, and she would often come to talk to me . I was in a rut myself, and many a time, she ended up being the one to comfort me . ”

Father Jacob seemed to be lost in the past as he spoke .

“Father Matthew had warned me before, but I did not take him seriously . I thought I was doing a good thing, leading a lost soul onto the right path . I became so complacent until one night, she came to see me . It was very late; a demanding customer had just hit her, and she cut her arm on some glass . I patched her up, and as I was getting up to leave, she kissed me . It took me by surprise, and my mind went completely blank . She then threw herself on me, and I wanted to push her away, but I don’t know why I lacked the strength to do so . And then, it just happened .

“She disappeared before dawn, leaving me behind . Only then did I realize what I had done . I was filled with guilt and shame, knowing that I would have disappointed many

– Father Abelson, Father Matthew… and myself especially . Whatever the excuse, whatever that happened that night, shouldn’t have happened! I wanted to fix it . So, from then on, I made a decision to avoid Emma . She came to church to see me several times, but I pretended I wasn’t there . At night, I would lock the door of my lodging and wouldn’t open it no matter who came knocking . After a while, she finally disappeared from my life .

“It was a huge relief, at first . I thought I had gotten away with it, but what I didn’t know, was how it was the beginning of a nightmare . ”

“Can we start now?” the pale man interrupted, reaching for a scalpel from under the pillow . “Give me some time,” replied Father Jacob, in a stern and commanding tone prompting the pale-skinned man to put the scalpel back .

“About a year later, I found an infant at the door of the church . Amid the shrouds covering it, was a letter with no signature . But I recognized Emma’s handwriting . She claimed that it was our child and although there was nothing to prove it, I don’t know why I believed her,” Father Jacob paused . “…I just believed her,” he repeated .

Irene looked at the pale man, and suddenly, she came to an understanding . Father Jacob nodded . “Yes, he is the child . I sent him to the orphanage, but he did not live a good life there . After he came out, I helped him get a job at the hospital, but he could never last long in one place . Only five years ago, Father Matthew retired and moved to the suburbs, so I was left alone in the Church of the Sacred Heart . I allowed him to live down here, and I told him the truth about his mother and me . I only wanted him to know where he came from, and I definitely didn’t expect him to blame his mother for his miserable life . ”

“Can we start now, Father Jacob?!!!”

The pale-skinned man screamed at the top of his lungs . Obviously, his patience was running thin .

“She’s all yours! I’ve never let you call me father, but now, you can call me your father,” said Father Jacob .

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