Faith and Justice

by Peter O'Mahoney

  “You promise you’ll be careful as well, Tex.” The joy was erased from Esther’s face. Her serious side had returned. “They’ve hurt people before, and they won’t hesitate to do it again. These men are dangerous and full of hate. Promise me you’ll be careful.”

  Hunter smiled again, his heart rate increasing. “Yes, boss.”

  CHAPTER 13

  The late afternoon sun was shining, warming people enough to ditch their coats, bringing out smiles that hadn’t been seen since November. Caylee Johnson was full of laughter, sitting on an outdoor bench, planning her next summer trip with her friends. The Northeastern Illinois University campus was abuzz with students outdoors, trying to soak in every bit of vitamin D that they could.

  “On our last trip, you met that boy in Miami! He couldn’t get enough of you!”

  Caylee laughed as her friend, Maria, scrolled through the photos of their last adventure—of the nights where they were drunk and wild, of the memories that would last a lifetime. “He followed you on Instagram, didn’t he?”

  “He might’ve been a bit crazy, but he was really toned. I loved his abs. I think he was more interested in you though. He loved that stunning city girl look. Most boys do. I only get the ones that you reject.”

  “Stop it.” Maria playfully slapped her friend’s arm. “You could get any boy you want, redneck or not.”

  “Funny.” Caylee scoffed. “So where to next summer?”

  “Maybe Cancun?”

  “Maybe.” Caylee shrugged. Her father didn’t like the idea of her owning a passport. “I think I’d rather stay in the US. I don’t think I’m ready to travel abroad yet.”

  “Come on. You’re twenty-one now. It’s time to spread your wings and see the world. Me—I would love to go to Africa. I would love to see it all—the safaris, the coastlines, the cultures. It would be mind-blowing.” Maria looked longingly into the distance. “Where would you go abroad, if money wasn’t a factor?”

  “I’m not sure.” Caylee looked down, and the next words slipped out her mouth without a second thought: “My family wouldn’t like it if I went abroad.”

  “You’ll have to introduce me to this family of yours one day. Perhaps they can come around for dinner with my parents?”

  “No.” Caylee was blunt, and it caught her friend off-guard.

  “Okay, okay. I get it. You’re embarrassed by your family. We all are. But I do find it strange that nobody on campus has met your family, and you’ve never posted anything about them on social media. We’re all a little bit embarrassed about our families, but it’s like you wish yours didn’t exist.”

  “I just…”

  Caylee tried to invent a new excuse. For the last three years, she had made a deliberate choice not to mention her family on campus. But her university friends were the closest friends she had ever had, and it was a subject that she couldn’t keep avoiding. She covered her tracks online, and used her mother’s maiden name, Smith, on her university enrollment, so nobody could connect her back to her father and his organization.

  “My family is complicated.”

  “It’s okay.” Maria rubbed her arm. She could see the tears welling up in Caylee’s eyes. “I understand. In time, I’m sure I’ll meet them.”

  “Thanks for the afternoon hit of caffeine.” Caylee shook the half-empty takeaway coffee cup. “We’ll plan more about the trip tomorrow, but I have to get to class. I’ve got a geology lecture now with David Stone.”

  Caylee hugged Maria, said goodbye, and then began the walk across the yard towards the science building. She enjoyed studying Earth Sciences, and majoring in geology, but it was the people she met on campus that she valued more.

  When she first came to the campus, she was stunned by the variety of people that she interacted with. She had never even known there were that many different races on the planet, let alone in her own city. Slowly, she came to realize what a sheltered life she had led tucked away from the real world.

  Walking across the campus grounds, she noticed a tall blonde woman watching her from under a tree. She was too well dressed, and her makeup was too perfect to be a student.

  Never one to take a backward step, Caylee immediately confronted the woman. She walked across the grass, ignoring the wetness underfoot. “Can I help you?”

  The woman walked closer to Caylee, leaning down to make a statement. “That girl you just hugged; she’s African American.”

  “And?”

  Esther Wright looked around the campus, making sure they were out of earshot of anyone else. “I don’t think your father would be very happy to hear that.”

  Caylee’s eyes widened, and she took a step forward. She never thought she would meet a White Alliance Coalition supporter on campus grounds. She wasn’t prepared. “I don’t know who you are, lady, but my family is my business. No one around here knows who my family is.”

  “They don’t recognize the Johnson surname?”

  “That’s none of your business.”

  Esther could see the fire in the girl’s eyes, could feel the power in her voice. “How do you think your father would react if he found out? Perhaps if he saw a photo of you hugging her?”

  Esther waved her phone at Caylee.

  Caylee was quick to think on her feet. It was a skill she had learned when it became clear she could easily manipulate her father and uncle into believing anything she told them. A nicely placed word and a tear could get the men to do anything. She was the only connection her father had to his wife, and Caylee knew how to exploit that.

  “I’m planning something at the campus. That’s what my father knows. He knows how far I’ll go. I need you not to say anything to the people on campus. They trust me. I need that to happen if I’m going to do it.” Caylee looked around, then lowered her tone. She touched the woman’s elbow, making sure her voice couldn’t be heard any further than their conversation. “If you know my father, then you know he doesn’t have long left. The doctors say the cancer means he only has a few months, maybe a year. When he…” She paused. “When he goes, the world will change, but I need you to promise that you won’t say anything, for the sake of the White Alliance Coalition.”

  Esther was confused but she agreed. “I won’t say anything.”

  Caylee went to walk away, but then stopped and turned back to Esther. “Aren’t you too old to be on campus?”

  “Thanks.” Esther took the comment as a jibe. “I only just turned thirty.”

  “Still too old for around here. And you’re too pretty to be an active member of the White Alliance Coalition. It’s usually smelly old men at the meetings. No one like you. Who are you?”

  “I’m a friend,” Esther lied. “I won’t say anything. I’ll keep your secret safe from your father.”

  Caylee turned, unsure if it was the truth, and then walked away.

  The time for a decision was coming.

  She knew that.

  But that didn’t make it any easier.

  CHAPTER 14

  Nancy Bleathman placed the new book on her large bookshelf.

  Everything was perfectly in order; first, the author’s surname, then if the author had more than one title, the title of the book. The colors of the books ranged from bright orange to dark black, but she liked that. She liked that there was no order to the colors. A little bit of chaos amongst the strict order.

  Despite the fact that there were over three hundred books on the wall-sized bookshelf in the living room of her downtown apartment, there were only two fiction books; The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma. The others were self-help, psychology, and human behavior books.

  She bought all the books not because she wanted to understand other people, she couldn’t care less about them, but because she wanted to understand herself. She wanted to know what made herself tick, why she got up in the mornings, and why she chose the career path in statistics. She wanted to know why she ate pancakes every morning, why she was addicted
to coffee, and why she found solace in alcohol. Why was she single and childless at fifty? Why did she have no long-term friends? And why did she still hate her parents?

  She wanted to understand herself deeply.

  She thought she could find answers in the books. She thought that if she could understand human behavior, then she could understand herself. From philosophers to scientists, from motivational speakers to self-help gurus—she thought that she could find the answers to her questions about her life in the knowledge of others.

  And she knew a lot. Decades of knowledge had seeped into her mind. She knew so much about life.

  Everything, except how to enjoy it.

  Nancy dusted her coffee table and waited for the buzz of the intercom. She knew what she was going to say to the lawyer, she’d spent the last twenty minutes rehearsing her answers in the mirror, as she did before most social interactions.

  The lawyer had said that he would be there at 6 p.m. and it was now four minutes’ past. She didn’t like it when people were late. When the intercom finally buzzed, two minutes later, she sighed. She had almost given up on the fact that he was coming.

  She buzzed him into her apartment and welcomed him at the apartment door. She offered him a cup of coffee, to which he said “yes.” She was impressed by him; his good looks, easy charm, and the dimples in his cheeks. His charisma was disarming.

  “This is a lovely place, Ms. Bleathman,” Tex Hunter said as he looked around the living room, then out to the view of Lake Michigan. The floor-to-ceiling windows highlighted a spectacular vista. “The Gold Coast is a lovely part of Chicago.”

  “It is,” she agreed. Nancy wished, like she did about many things, that she could enjoy the view more, but it had become part of her everyday background. “I’m very blessed.”

  She said ‘blessed’ without a hint of feeling because she didn’t really feel that way at all. She had only just finished reading Gratitude Is Attitude, a self-help book, which stated that she should repeatedly say that she was blessed for everything she had, but she didn’t feel it. Perhaps, if she kept saying it every day for a month, then it might work.

  “As you’re aware…” Hunter sat down on the white leather couch. It felt new, but the style was at least ten years old. “I’m defending Amos Anderson against the murder charge.”

  “I’m not sure I should be talking to you. I read that anyone that’s involved in a trial shouldn’t say more than necessary.”

  “I can assure you that I want the best for Amos. Anything that you can tell me about your relationship with him may help.”

  She smiled, leaning forward with her hands cupped around her coffee cup. “Lucas and Amos saved my life, and I don’t say that lightly. I had…” She thought about what she had rehearsed. “I had become addicted to painkillers. Codeine. It was destroying me from the inside out. I tried to kick the habit, but nothing worked. I would be good for a while—clean—but I would always fall back into the cycle of addiction.”

  Hunter looked at the bookshelf and saw many books on how to overcome addiction. “And that’s when you met Amos?”

  “I found his website online, and I thought, why not? Nothing I was doing was working. I would do something for a week, and it would work, but then I would fall back down—straight back into the habit. When the addiction started to affect my work, I called Amos.”

  “And what did he do?”

  “He cured me. Just like that.” She snapped her fingers. “I paid him a large sum of money, and then he waved his hands around. I felt a force surge through me. I’d read about faith healing before, I have three books on it, but this was the first time I had used it. There’s no doubt—the Faith Healing Project saved my life.”

  Hunter looked back at the bookshelf—not at the books, but at the bookshelf itself. Despite its bright white color, he couldn’t see a spot of dirt on it, not even some dust.

  “If called to the stand in a trial as a character witness, what would you say about Amos Anderson?”

  “That he’s a wonderful man, and that I would be sad when he’s convicted to life in prison.”

  “Pardon?” Hunter coughed.

  “He killed a man. A Baptist minister, no less. He deserves to go to prison, and probably hell after that, if one exists.” Her voice was emotionless. “I’m not going to save the skin of a killer.”

  “But what about the faith healing?”

  “Lucas has told me that he has thirty other healers ready to take Amos’ place. It’ll be better for me with all those others, and it would be so much cheaper. It’s a very expensive healing process.”

  Hunter was shocked. That was not what he expected. He narrowed his eyes. “Nancy, where were you on February 1st?”

  “I was there at the Congress Hotel.” She looked away. She knew he would ask that question and had prepared her answer accordingly. “I try to go to all of Amos’ speeches; he’s so impressive, and there’s always non-believers at those sorts of things. I like arguing with them, telling them that it worked for me. I think people are shocked when I tell them because I don’t look like a person that would believe in that New Age talk. I look like a professional, and that surprises people.”

  “Did you talk to Amos that night?”

  “I talked to him, and I talked to Lucas as well. I was there from the start of the speeches until the end, and I talked to them after the speeches had finished.”

  “And then what did you do?”

  “What do you want me to say?”

  “The truth.”

  She sipped her coffee as if the truth was an easy concept for her to change. “Since Amos has been arrested, I’ve done a lot of thinking. Amos deserves to be locked up. He’s a killer. I’ll say what needs to be said to send him to prison.”

  He stared at her. “How did you get home that night?”

  “Is that why you’re here? To try and get me to confess to killing Reverend Green?” Her blue eyes and intense stare made Hunter uneasy. “You’re going to have to work harder than that, Mr. Hunter. I’ve read about you. You have a reputation for drawing confessions out on the stand. But I must warn you—I’m ready for you. I even bought two new books about the psychology of the courtroom.”

  “I’m searching for the truth.” Hunter placed his cup down.

  “I wanted Reverend Green out of the picture. His attacks on the Faith Healing Project were destroying the business.” She looked away again. Everything she said was going according to her script. “Lucas told me that Green was going to present a piece of evidence to the public that would absolutely destroy the company. Lucas couldn’t let that happen.”

  “Where did you go after you left the conference?”

  “I walked home.”

  “You walked?”

  “It was only forty to fifty minutes away, and it wasn’t too cold that night. It wasn’t even an hour’s walk, and after all the appetizers that I ate, I needed the exercise. That’s not unusual; I walk a lot. I’d prefer that to talking to people. I took stock of the weather, the suburbs I would be walking through, and the shoes I was wearing before I made the decision to walk. It was a good judgment call to exercise at that time. Most people are so lazy that they don’t even exercise good judgment.” There wasn’t a hint of humor in her voice.

  “Can anyone verify where you were walking during that time?”

  “I wouldn’t say so. I didn’t see anyone I knew.”

  “What time did you arrive back here that night?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Hunter stood and slowly walked to the bookshelf. He studied the books again for a moment before realizing it was the most ordered bookshelf he had ever seen outside of a library.

  “I assume that this building has security footage?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then I’m going to need to check that.”

  “You have my permission to do that. I’m sure you’ll find I arrived that night alone.” She stood. “Will you need me to be a witness?”


  Hunter didn’t respond, casting his eyes once more over the books.

  “I’ve never been to court before. If you want me to testify, you’ll have to take me through what to do that day.”

  Hunter turned back to her. He needed time to think, time to mull over what she had stated. “My assistant will be in contact if we need you. Thank you for your time, Nancy.”

  He picked up his briefcase and walked out of the apartment, but he was leaving with more questions than answers.

  A lot more.

  CHAPTER 15

  Lucas Bauer walked out of his apartment at 8 p.m.

  He looked like the wealthy man he was. Although once broke, he had hit the jackpot with the Faith Healing Project. He had a Rolex watch, Armani suit, and Ferragamo shoes. He walked with his head held high, full of poise and audacity. He didn’t have far to go. The black Mercedes, perfectly matching his outfit, was parked by the sidewalk near his house.

  Despite the obvious trimmings of excess wealth, Lucas Bauer had a record. Fraud, in one case. Extortion in another.

  Apart from his criminal record, Tex Hunter didn’t have much to go on. Most people wouldn’t talk about Lucas Bauer. It was clear that he wasn’t liked, but it was becoming clearer that he was dangerous. There was no easy method for gathering information on him. Phone calls didn’t work. Checking criminal records didn’t reveal much. There was barely a mention of him on social media.

  Finding information about him involved old-fashioned investigative work. The hard yards.

  Hunter followed the Mercedes as it drove for twenty minutes, staying two to three cars behind.

  The Mercedes stopped on the Magnificent Mile, and double-parked outside one of the new bars. After a quick Google search on his phone about the establishment, Hunter found it was the sort of place where rich men buy drinks for beautiful young women, and beautiful young women get paid for their time.