Jason got there first. You know how he works. He has the county officials in his back pocket. Nobody else could have gotten into the door that day. Nobody.

Julie's excuse sounded hollow, even to her own ears. She had failed. She knew she had failed. She took a deep breath, folded her hands on her lap, and waited for Andy to finish his phone call, feeling very much like a schoolgirl called to the principal's office.

But when Andy turned to face her, there was no fire in his eyes; no caustic edge to his voice. Instead the seasoned newspaper editor simply acknowledged that she had gotten scooped. By a TV reporter. Not the end of the world... but next time might be, at least as far as her employment at the Springfield Daily Press was concerned.

"You can redeem yourself on your next assignment," he said, the steel in his voice offsetting the smile on his face. "It's a simple assignment, really, with some long distance travel involved. You'll fly to Ephesus and spend a couple of days doing on-site research, then you'll head to the Isle of Patmos."

Patmos? Julie bit her lower lip, the sinking feeling that she was being set up to fail tied her stomach in a knot.

"The island where the Apostle John was supposed to have been exiled? Why?"

"There have been reports from credible witnesses that John might still be there," Andy replied. "Waiting for Jesus to return. I want you to find him."