Father Sean Flannery remarked. “Much more rapidly than I’d have expected.” “It sure is, Father,” Ben answered. He, Joe Nash, and Father Flannery were heading a crew building a new church on the site of Edith Pettigrew’s burned down home. Despite having a contentious relationship, to put it mildly, with the late widow, Ben had inherited the house when she was murdered, decapitated by assassins hired by Tsu Chiao, owner of the Red Chamber. Mrs. Pettigrew had been deeply indebted to Tsu Chiao for opium, and before her death Ben had saved her from being pressed into service as one of Tsu Chiao’s prostitutes to work off her debt. However, several weeks after that Tsu Chiao had her killed. Later that year, when Father Flannery arrived in Wolf Creek to establish a Roman Catholic mission, no one was willing to rent or sell him property where he could hold services. Ben had offered him use of the empty Pettigrew house, which was subsequently burned down by a still-unknown arsonist.
