by Diane Noble
“Milk’s in the back of the fridge,” Kate said, her smile widening. Denver reminded her of what it was like to have her own teenage son at home. She blinked back the sting of tears.
Paul retrieved glasses from the cupboard while Denver grabbed a half gallon of milk and headed to the table, cookie plate in one hand, milk container in the other.
“So, how was school today?” Kate asked as she sat down opposite Caleb King. She tried hard not to look or sound suspicious.
Caleb suddenly looked uncomfortable. She knew why. Next to him Ashley flipped back a strand of her long blonde hair that had fallen across her forehead.
“Great for the rest of us, but somebody I know cut geometry this afternoon.” She raised an eyebrow toward Caleb, whose pale face turned even paler.
“Yeah, well, I had stuff to do,” he said, concentrating on the cookie he’d just picked up.
“Yeah, right, man,” Denver said. “Convenient, since we had a quiz today.” He stuffed a whole cookie into his mouth and reached for his glass of milk. “And I aced it. You got an F for no-show.”
Caleb shrugged.
They chatted a few minutes about school and upcoming events they’d been asked to play for, then Paul turned the conversation to the music they would be playing at church.
“These two wanted heavy metal,” Caleb said, brushing his hair out of his eyes and pointing to Ashley and Denver, “but I talked them out of it.” He listed the songs they’d ordered.
Kate hadn’t heard of a single one. She exchanged a glance with Paul, who leaned forward to grab a cookie. “Some of our older parishioners prefer the standard hymns, and honestly, trying something new with the music is difficult for them.”
The young people nodded, then Ashley added, “But I thought the idea is to attract other kids from school.” She shrugged. “We downloaded clips from some albums on Denver’s iPod and picked music we thought would appeal to the kids.”
“Cool stuff,” Denver said. “Got good words too. Made me decide to maybe bring the drums down a notch so we can hear ’em.” He grinned at the group around the table. “Gave us the idea that we ought to name ourselves.”
“Your group?” Kate said, delighted. “That’s a great idea.”
“The trouble is,” Ashley said, “we can’t agree on which name we like best. I want to call us The Lord Is My Shepherd, ’cause I remember my grandmother reading me those verses from someplace in the Bible when I was little and got scared at night.”
“Cheesy name for a group,” Denver said. “I like mine better: David, for the story about the shepherd-kid who brought down a giant with a slingshot. Always thought that was pretty cool.”
“David?” Ashley stuck her finger down her throat. “Talk about cheesy.” She tousled Denver’s hair, and he laughed and elbowed her back.
“How about you?” Kate asked Caleb.
“Nah, he won’t say,” Denver said. “We’ve been trying to get him to tell us which name he likes, but he’s keepin’ his opinion to himself.”
Caleb grinned. “I was saving the best idea for last, and that would be mine. I remember seeing a picture of a cross that had a flame behind it, like the cross was on fire but not burning. Always thought that was cool.”
“That’s a symbol of the Holy Spirit,” Paul said.
Their eyes opened wide as they took in the information. It struck Kate how much they had to learn, and they seemed so open.
“Whoa,” Denver said. “That’s pretty cool.”
“Yeah,” Ashley agreed and took a sip of milk. “Like really cool.”
“Flame.” Caleb sat back and crossed his arms. “That’s the name I choose for us. I like Flame.” His tone said there was no room for argument.
Ashley and Denver didn’t hesitate to agree, and Paul said he would make sure the new name was in the bulletin on Sunday.
As the teens stood to leave, Paul invited them to stop by anytime after school. “Our home is always open to you,” he said as he walked them to the door. “I know we’re all in for a huge blessing because of your talent.”
He closed the door after them and turned to Kate. “I just hope the blessing part happens soon. The church office was inundated with calls today.”
“Protests?”
Paul nodded. “And it doesn’t help that my own secretary agrees with them right down the line.”
They walked back into the kitchen, and Kate told him what she’d seen at Willy’s Bait and Tackle.
“Maybe there’s another explanation.” Paul gathered the empty cookie plate and took it to the sink.
Kate put the milk back in the fridge. “I hope so,” she said, trying to ignore the uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Chapter Eleven
Several days passed without incident, then early Friday morning, the phone rang, jarring Kate from her morning devotions. She glanced at the clock—6:37—and hurried to the kitchen to grab the phone before it woke Paul.
“Kate?”
“Renee, hello.” Kate wasn’t at all surprised to hear Renee’s voice this early. She often called Kate with urgent messages at the start of the day, or worse, stopped by. This was a quality Kate considered strange but endearing.
“Kate, there’s been another break-in.”
Kate slumped against the counter. “Oh no,” she said. “Where?”
“Out on Pine Ridge Road, a ways outside of town. Found out from my neighbor Lola, who heard it from—”
“The grapevine,” Kate filled in.
“Happened around four in the afternoon yesterday. Sad, sad, sad. As if the family didn’t have enough to worry about. You should see the house—big two-story affair in shambles from an unending remodel job. Not only is it a monstrous eyesore, it must be, well, just terrible for that family.” She paused to catch her breath. “You know what else?”
“No, what?”
“You know that kid that plays the guitar at church?”
“Caleb King?”
“That’s the one. He lives in a trailer with his mom out in that same area. I happened to see him walking home from school yesterday just before four.”
“That doesn’t mean he had anything to do with the break-in.” Kate refused to assume the worst just yet.
“Well, it’s certainly a coincidence, don’t you think? He could’ve dropped off his guitar and book bag and easily had the time to burgle three houses if he’d wanted to.”
“Was anything taken, do you know?”
“Just have the preliminary report for now—from my eyes on the ground—that being my neighbor Lola, her sister Maude, and of course, Skip Spencer’s mother. No details about what the thief took. But I intend to get to the bottom of this and see that justice is done.”
Kate sighed. “Let’s not jump to any conclusions about Caleb.”
Renee harrumphed into the phone. “I saw what I saw.”
Kate returned the phone to its cradle, padded back to the living room, and curled up in her rocking chair to finish reading the one hundredth psalm, one of her favorites. Then she bowed her head in prayer.
She was praying for those whose homes had been broken into when her eyes flew open.
Her mind went immediately to the most recent break-in, and then to the names on the angel-votive list.
She sat up, her eyes wide, and smiled. She trotted to her studio and picked up the list of angel recipients.
Lorna Easterwood.
She couldn’t wait to see if she was right.
BY MIDMORNING, Kate was on her way to Pine Ridge Road. She turned her Honda onto the tree-lined street and slowed down to peer at each house, searching for the monstrous two-story that fit the description Renee had given her. The homes in this rural part of town were a mix of midcentury and older. Some had undergone face-lifts, but most were in grave need of repair and remodeling. Sprinkled here and there were single- and double-wide mobile homes, some fairly new and modern, others looking as if they’d been there for generations. Many of the houses wer
e almost hidden by overgrown foliage.
She had driven about two miles when she spotted a faded, gray two-story house on her right and slowed the Honda as she approached a rusty front gate. An old mailbox sat to one side of the entrance, its post stretching to the left like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
She squinted into the sunlight, shading her eyes as she took in the tarp-covered roof, the smattering of plywood-covered windows, and patches of bare ground that appeared to have become a permanent home for toolsheds and cement mixers. It certainly fit the description Renee had given her.
The screen door banged, and two chubby preschoolers raced out in a gale of giggles and squeals. A toddler in a diaper trailed behind them, then was swiftly scooped up by a haggard-looking woman, probably in her twenties. Kate could hear a baby crying in the house.
She got out of the car and waved to the woman, who looked confused as she walked toward Kate, the toddler propped on her hip.
“I’m sorry, but I’ve got to get back in the house. My baby...” She shot a nervous glance toward the front door, then combed her hair away from her face with her fingers. “Do you need directions or something?”
Kate quickly introduced herself and said she was looking for a house that had been broken into the day before.
The woman’s face revealed the answer Kate already knew.
“I don’t know why you need to know, but I really must get back inside,” she said. “I left the baby in his crib. I thought he would fuss himself to sleep, but it’s obvious he’s going to outwait me.”
From inside the house, the wailing kicked up a few notches.
Kate nodded, then explained, “I wanted to find you because my home was recently broken into. I wanted to see if there were any similarities.”
The guarded look on the woman’s face softened. She swiped back her hair again. “Well, then, that’s a horse of a different color.” She smiled. “Why don’t you come in and tell me what happened at your place.” She reached for the gate and unlatched it. “We’ll swap stories, though there’s really not much to tell on my end. I’m just glad it wasn’t worse.”
She cast a glance at Kate. “By the way, my name is Lorna Easterwood.” They dodged tricycles and Big Wheels as Kate followed Lorna to the house. “What did you say your name was again?”
“Kate Hanlon.”
“Oh yes, the minister’s wife.”
Kate nodded.
They stopped briefly at the bottom of the porch stairs while Lorna called out to the two little tow-headed boys to stay in the yard.
“Twins?”
Lorna grinned. “Just turned four years old, and they’re a handful. They take after their dad—” Her eyes filled as her voice faltered. She quickly recovered. “They’ve got more energy than that silly pink rabbit on the battery commercials.”
“They’re darling little guys,” Kate said, curious about why Lorna had choked up.
Lorna rolled her eyes as she held open the screen door for Kate. “Yeah, darling...when they’re asleep.”
As soon as they were inside, the younger woman went over to a crib in the corner and peered down at the now-sleeping baby. She smiled. “Guess I outwaited you after all, little buddy.”
She turned back around and laughed when she saw Kate’s sympathetic face. “We’re a work in progress. Literally.”
The inside of the house looked worse than the outside, if that was possible. Kate was stunned that the young family could live in such chaos. Tarps hung on the walls, covering who knew what, the ceiling rafters were exposed, and the floor was little more than bare planks.
“Remodeling is always a challenge,” Kate said when she’d recovered her voice.
Lorna laughed and rolled her eyes again. “Now that’s an understatement. Join me in the kitchen, and I’ll put on some coffee.”
“I’d love some, thanks.”
Lorna thrust the toddler into Kate’s arms. The little girl smelled of baby powder and baby shampoo. She looked up at Kate, studied her for a moment with large eyes the color of a mountain lake, then leaned back in Kate’s arms and popped her thumb into her mouth. Kate closed her eyes as memories of her own children at this age flooded her heart.
“What are their names...your kids, I mean?” Kate slipped into a chair at the kitchen table.
The breakfast cereal box was still in the middle of the table. On its side. With berry-colored puffy bits scattered around it. Lorna finished pouring water into the coffeemaker and crossed the kitchen to join Kate at the table. She touched the toddler’s cheek with her fingers, her eyes suddenly welling.
She blinked and took a deep, shaky breath. “The twins are Matthew and Mark, the baby in the crib is John.”
“And this little one?” Kate played with a strand of the toddler’s curly blonde hair. “Wait, let me guess: Lucy?”
Lorna laughed in surprise. “Exactly! We thought I was going to have another boy, and we’d already decided we wanted four children. We wanted our children to be named after all four of the Gospel writers, but when we found out she was a girl, we went with the next closest thing.”
Kate squeezed the little girl, who rewarded her with a pat on the face.
Lorna got up to check on the twins through the window, then retrieved two mugs from the dishwasher and poured coffee for them both.
“Now...”—the word came out in a sigh as she sat down again—“I’ll tell you about the break-in, but I need to tell you what else is happening first. I think it might have something to do with the break-in.”
Lucy’s head was nodding sleepily, and Lorna stood to take the child from Kate. “Let me take her to bed, and then I’ll go into it.”
Lorna disappeared down a hallway, then returned a few minutes later. She wore the wired, stressed look of someone unable to sit still for more than ninety seconds. And probably not by choice. Four children under kindergarten age would do that to a young mother.
“My husband left me two weeks ago.” She looked away from Kate, fixing her gaze on something distant through the window. “He says he wants a divorce.” She started to cry and reached into her pocket for a tissue. “I can’t believe it’s happening to us. Things have been pretty rocky around here, as you can imagine.” She raised her hand in a sweeping gesture, encompassing the whole interior of the house.
“We couldn’t decide what color to paint the upstairs bathroom. And we weren’t even through with the major renovations. We argued on and on. I wanted pale green and rose. Stephen—that’s my husband—wanted red, white, and blue. Can you imagine? Finally, he simply threw down his hammer and stomped out the door.”
Kate watched Lorna’s face crumple again as she fought a new flood of tears. She suspected the trouble between Lorna and her husband ran deeper than the frustrations of working on a fixer-upper. They both were probably bone tired.
Kate listened as Lorna poured out her complaints about her husband, how he always seemed to be starting projects and not finishing them, how she knew she probably nagged him too much, but wasn’t it understandable, considering what she had to put up with?
“The saddest thing about this is that I love him, and I don’t know how I can live without him. I’m mad at him for leaving, but...” She dissolved into tears again just as the baby in the living room crib started to fuss. With a deep sigh, she stood, brushed the tears from her eyes, checked on the twins as she went by the window, then retrieved the infant from his crib.
“Matthew, put down that stick!” she yelled as she came back by the open window. “Mark, don’t run into your brother with the Big Wheel, you hear?”
She plumped down at the table again, the infant over one shoulder with a burp cloth.
“I’m so sorry for what you’re going through, Lorna. You said you think it has something to do with the break-in?” Kate reminded her gently.
“When I came home yesterday, the lights were on. At first my heart just about jumped into my throat. I thought Stephen had come home. Then I remembered. I was so mad at hi
m when he left, I had the locks changed.”
Kate leaned forward, her heart warming. “The lights? Every light?” She thought of the angel votives, the list she was given. She thought of how the lit candles would emanate light through the stained-glass angels. It clicked in her mind: acts of angels. The light, turned on in the homes and shining through the votive holders, symbolized the dispelling of darkness, the act of bringing healing.
“Every single light, upstairs and down. I just don’t get it.”
“That’s what happened at my house.”
“Was anything missing from your house?”
Kate shook her head. “No, but whoever it was left something. And I’d be willing to bet something was left here too.”
Baby John burped and gurgled. Lorna patted him, rocking him back and forth. Outside the window, one of the twins yelled then started to cry. Lorna thrust the infant into Kate’s arms and raced outside.
“Mama, Mark’s hitting me!” yelled one of the boys.
“No I didn’t!” the other twin yelled. “Matthew threw dirt at me.”
Once the melee had quieted, Lorna came back in the house. She started clearing the table, continuing to speak as she worked. “Whoever broke in here didn’t take anything, though I’d be hard-pressed to know for sure.” Lorna chuckled as she glanced around the messy kitchen, dining room, and living room beyond. “I did find something strange in the upstairs master bathroom, though.”
Kate leaned forward. “What was that?”
“A basket of beautiful French-milled soaps, a lavender-scented candle, and a book I’ve wanted to read for ages.” She blinked back fresh tears. “But the bathtub plumbing isn’t hooked up, even if I could find a few minutes for myself.”
The twins raced in just then, saying they were hungry, and from a back bedroom, the toddler started yelling, “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!”
Kate stood to leave. “I’ve taken up enough of your time. It sounds like our intruder is one and the same: leaving things instead of taking them, turning on the lights...” She wasn’t ready to share her revelation about the lights just yet.
Lorna nodded. “Oh, and there was something else, though I found it this morning in my mailbox, so it might not be connected.”
