“How absurd!” Aunt Millie’s face grew beet red. “You’re overreacting.”
“Oh really?” Emily cursed under her breath. “You’re not the one who has already gotten mowed down by a boat-sized Cadillac.”
“Now, Emily Franklin,” Aunt Millie simpered. “You know that didn’t have a thing to do with little Carlos.”
Emily shook her head. “I disagree. I think it’s all related.” She counted back from ten, took a deep breath and looked at her aunt. “Okay. I’m going to let it alone. Just you and Nick, and Grady, too, if you talked him into this scam, start working on alternative plans for Carlos. He’s not staying here more than a week.” She started down the stairs.
“He’ll grow on you,” Aunt Millie said, her voice returning to its normal lilt.
Emily sighed. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
****
“Down here,” Nick said, nodding his head to Carlos. They walked over the path tilting toward the lake. Nick stared into the distance and took a whiff of the cool spring air. Fog still lay low in spots just off the water, but he knew in less than an hour it’d probably lift to a beautiful warm day. All this reminded him of when he was a kid and his dad had taken him fishing, when he could take a break from shooting for his TV program. Nick blocked out the memory and watched Carlos as the boy gasped at the boat docked there.
“That’s ours.” Nick pointed. “I called ahead and made arrangements.”
“Really, Nick?” Carlos grinned up at him, his side tooth missing since yesterday.
Nick laughed at him. It had taken him a day, but Nick had gotten Carlos to call him by his first name only instead of Señor Nick. As for the tooth, Nick got the honors of pulling it. He’d keep it for the rest of his life. After all, the Tooth Fairy had bought it fair and square. “Will you stop asking me if it’s real? Yes, it’s real. Now, tell me, can you swim?”
“Un poco.” He held up his thumb and forefinger close together.
Nick frowned. “Oh, no, no no. It has to be mucho.” He held his hands out wide. He laughed. “I’ll show you, okay.”
“I don’t know, Nick.” Carlos rubbed his forehead and looked out at the water. “Aye Chihuahua, I’ll drown with you.”
Nick shook his head. “No, you won’t.” They reached the John boat. Nick picked up a life preserver. “Here, put this on. While we’re in the boat, wear it. Swimming lessons later.”
Carlos took the preserver and stuck his head in it, then watched as Nick put one on. “If you can swim mucho, how come you put one on, eh?”
Nick laughed, his heart soaring. “Skeptical, are you?”
Carlos. “No entiendo, ‘skeck tickle’.”
“That’s okay for now. I’ll tell you about the word skeptical later.” Nick winked. “Let’s just say, you don’t have to worry you’ll get hurt with me, okay?”
Carlos nodded as he climbed into the boat. “Okie, dokie.” He looked down at the two rods spread out to the side of the seats. “We fish?”
Nick nodded. “Have you fished before?”
He shook his head. “I saw on TV last night. Big monster fish. The man had to spend a long time. The fish had big long sharp nose. Looked like a sword.” He held his arms far apart.
“This is different fishing,” Nick said. “Ocean fishing isn’t the same as lake fishing, kiddo. You’ll see. Now, sit down so you won’t fall, and I can push the boat out.”
Carlos’s eyes looked like they’d bug out of his head. “Aren’t you coming with me?”
Nick nodded, chuckling again. “Don’t worry buddy. I’ll jump in.” He was still laughing as he gave the boat a shove and rushed to jump over. Looked like it’d be a long day. One of the happiest he’d had in his life.
****
Sam glanced up at Luke Lincoln and adjusted the stole on his vestment. Why the hell did they give a strip of cloth with weird writing that you threw around your neck a name like stole? “Have you gotten used to wearing all this gobbled-gook yet?”
Luke looked down at his brother and chuckled. “For a hundred grand under the table, I’d cross-dress.”
“I hear you, bud.” Sam rubbed the back of his neck. “I just wish Kingpin would let up the pressure. With that hothead Monstruo, I’m going around cleaning up shit instead of listening to the undercurrent.”
Luke cleared his throat and picked up his Bible and notes. “Look, take it in stride and don’t screw up. These people are as green as mold on month-old cheese. If we take it nice and slow, we get out of this hellhole with a great reputation, an adoring public that can keep this preacher gig going somewhere else, and you, with all the alternate names and personas you’re so good at becoming, can do what you do so well. Weasel into places where the average Joe’d get spotted in two shakes of a wet dog.”
“Shit, Luke, your speech is beginning to sound like theirs.”
Luke grinned. “That’s the general idea, brother. The general idea.”
Sam leaned back against the wall, his hand in one pocket. “So, how come you look like you’re preparing for a TV interview instead of a regular old Podunk hellfire and pass the offering plate sermon?”
Luke spread a little lip balm on his mouth and rubbed his lips together. “’Cause I am, kid. I understand the News Channel still has a scout here. Of course, there’s always that damned offering. Hello, come home to me, sweet Jesus.” He smiled in Sam’s direction. “I don’t have anything caught between my teeth do I?”
Sam laughed. “Just your ego.”
****
“Okay, ladies.” Cindy stood in front of her assembly and adjusted the hem on her skirt. “Do it right and do us proud. When we walk into that church, we march right up to the front to the very first two pews and make sure that low-down….”
“Don’t go through all the adjectives again, Cindy.” Aunt Millie pointed at her. “We all get the message from here to tomorrow’s sundown. Any real final instructions?”
Emily stifled a laugh as she watched Cindy change her stance and stare down at her aunt. After all, Cindy had to stand four inches or more over Aunt Millie.
“Millie, I have the utmost of respect for you,” Cindy told her. “Especially after last year when you nigh on took that dead polecat outta this world before Blue had a winning shot at blowin’ his brains out. But, fact is you need to know when to zip your lips. I was getting to the meat.”
“Now we’re talking.” Aunt Millie licked her lips and let out with one of her bawdy laughs.
Emily cringed. “Aunt Millie, I do have to agree with Cindy on this one. We’re here for a purpose. Let her be in charge.”
“Please do.” Justine Burton spoke up. “I’m joining this group on principle, and Lyle is so supportive. I want to make a difference.” Justine, her hair perfectly coiffed as usual in her short silver hairdo, fingered the top button on her blouse nervously.
“And you will.” Maggie offered.
Emily smiled as Maggie finally asserted herself. She was such a tiger, but she’d fought her own natural tendency to be flamboyant since she came to town to live and tried valiantly to fit in. She usually let her buddy, Cindy, carry the load on assertion. Emily had to admit the woman who’d been so rigid had mellowed a lot since marrying good old laid-back Blue.
“As I was saying,” Cindy said, taking her cue from Maggie, “We march in and sit in the front. After the service, we shake hands with the preacher.” She closed her eyes and made a face like she was taking medicine. “Then we try to get him to the side to talk.” She took a deep breath. “Which means wait to go out until the very end.”
“I wanted to escape at the last Amen,” Emily said. She saw Cindy’s scathing look. “But, your plan is great. Absolutely.”
****
“Good going!” Nick laughed as Carlos pulled the smallmouth bass over the side of the boat. Nick grabbed the fish in his hand and gave Carlos a glance of warning. “Don’t move the rod. I wouldn’t want this fish to cut me or get nabbed by your hook. Just hold steady.”
“Nick,” the little boy squealed, trying to hold his line still but overflowing with excitement that was palpable. “How you do it? How do you take it from the hook? Show me. Puh-lease.”
He grinned. “You grab the fish here, so his fins don’t cut you, and see, apply just a little pressure. You don’t want to squeeze his eyeballs out.”
The kid giggled, laughter gurgling up like bubbles from a bottle. “No. Don’t want smushed fish. Ees good fried. Mama makes it.”
He suddenly frowned, his eyes darting downward, as Nick popped the mouth of the bass off the hook.
Nick froze at Carlos’s sad eyes and carefully considered what he was going to say. “Sorry about your mom, bud. Maybe they’ll find her yet.” He watched Carlos’s bottom lip quiver as he struggled to keep tears from rolling out the corners of his eyes. “You know, men cry too. What they tell you,” he patted the little boy on his back. “It’s just a lie grown men tell to make you believe.”
“Si, señor?” He stared up, embarrassed. “I mean Nick. You mean it?”
Nick nodded.
The boy’s body began to convulse, as the poor thing cried uncontrollably.
Nick sat there, frozen, at first not sure what to do. For God’s sake, the kid was making him want to cry right along with him. He knew that kind of pain. He’d felt it when his own dad died.
The slice of a cold steel blade, laying open your heart like a filleted side of beef. The icy sting of raw bitter reality, always knowing no one was there anymore to cover your back, hug you when you had a cold, laugh at you when you fell on skis when you tried for the first time.
Skis.
Nick blocked the memory. This was about Carlos, not him.
He did the only thing he knew how to. He grabbed the child and drew him against his chest, rubbing his back as his own tears streamed down. He concentrated on Carlos, begging his own tear ducts to cease. “Shh. Easy. Cry all you want. Just know there is a God, and he’ll protect you against all the bad things. Always. Even if your Mama and Papa don’t make it back, I won’t let anything happen to you.” He leaned down and hugged the boy closer. “I’ll never let anything happen to you.” He took a deep breath, letting it rattle out in ragged short spurts, as he realized the truth.
He’d sealed a covenant, just as sure as if he’d bled for it.
CHAPTER NINE
The women all stood demurely singing A Mighty Fortress is Our God, as all of the choir and the preacher trailed out down the center aisle.
Luke Lincoln raised his hand from the back of the church and said, “Let us Pray.”
Emily watched the others in amused delight. Cindy cocked up her eyebrow at Millie, who stood with her arms crossed, rolling her eyes. Maggie pursed her lips to keep from laughing. Only Justine bowed her head and closed her eyes.
“Heavenly Father,” Luke began, “We have been plagued with the trouble of Job these past few days.”
“I’ll Job him,” Aunt Millie muttered under her breath.
“Shh,” Emily hissed. “Don’t you dare cause a scene.” Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a young Asian woman with sleek black hair and a suit that didn’t belong in a tent in Central Virginia. “Newscaster,” she whispered to Aunt Millie.
“What?” her aunt asked, a tad too loud. Emily saw the woman turn and eye them.
“But,” Luke continued, “just like the man who had the terrific faith, we will not give up hope.”
Emily looked out of the side of her eyes, grinding her teeth as she growled in a low, barely audible voice. “News, stage right.” She nodded her head in the woman’s direction.
“For God’s sake, what are you muttering, sugar?” Aunt Millie asked, in a lispy loud whisper.
“Jesus, Millie,” Cindy said. “The whole damned church can hear you. Pipe down.”
“So,” Luke said, oblivious to it all. “We will never give up hope and we will fight with all our will to stop this scourge.”
“News, national, other side of church,” Emily whispered, nodding her head violently, her neck barely escaping whiplash.
Cindy leaned over and tapped Millie on the shoulder. “She said there’s a frickin’ snoop over there in the pew.” Cindy pointed with less than appropriate diplomacy
Emily closed her eyes and grated her teeth. That wasn’t even close to a whisper.
Luke paused for a minute and stared over at the woman across from them, his mouth opening up in a big grin as he closed his eyes again. “Help us to ban together against this blight that has descended upon us like the black cloud of hell, and let it be parted by the sword of David, showing the world that these people are Christians!” He raised his arms to the heavens. “These people are worthy!” He made a sweet saccharin smile. “These people will win with the hand of God!” He paused bowing his head in fake reverence. “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.”
“And bullshit artists everywhere,” Maggie whispered to Cindy.
“Amen.”
“And praise the Lord and pass the ammunition,” Emily said. “I suggest we make a quick exit.” She grabbed Aunt Millie’s arm.
The woman jerked it out of her hand. “Not hardly. I want to talk to that preacher. Have a real heart-to-heart with the stinkin’ liar. Maybe I’ll have my national debut.”
“No doubt,” Emily muttered. Why hadn’t Carolina come to help her control these women? She shook her head. Because Andy had the good sense to tell her no, for the sake of the baby she couldn’t.
I wish I had that excuse.
****
Breaking News from the News Channel
Blue grabbed Andy’s arm. “Tell Carolina to get back in here. I don’t know how I know, but I’m sure without a doubt our womenfolk are messin’ up something fierce on live TV.”
Andy grappled to his feet and tore into the kitchen bustling Carolina back to the living room. “Believe me, I’ll get the chips and dip in a minute. Your dad says Climax is going to be on the tube again.”
Carolina shook her head. “Oh, no. I was afraid of this. Mama’s finally broken out of her shell, hasn’t she? I knew it was just a matter of time.”
Blue shook his head as he pointed at the screen. “Millie Franklin front and center.”
The announcer spoke as a voice over as the action continued, Millie red-faced, staring at Luke Lincoln.
“The woman in front of Lincoln,” the woman said quietly, like she was announcing a golf tourney, “is the owner of Franklin Pharmacy and Grill and the sister of the mayor.”
“Oh, my word,” Carolina said. “Robert’s going to go ballistic.”
“Looks like Millie’s doing a good job of that,” Blue told her, as his eyes stayed glued to the screen.
“I’m telling you right now,” Millie said, “You’ve been saying things about townspeople without their input to what’s true and false. Calling ’em all sorts of names a man of the cloth shouldn’t do.”
“True,” Andy said, pointing at the screen and nodding.
Blue picked up a figure of a hillbilly moonshiner and began to whittle as he watched. “The news isn’t interested in what’s true and false. Just what’s sensational. After all, they have to sell advertising to all those pharmaceutical and oil companies stealing our money.”
Andy grinned at him. “Don’t forget the insurance companies and the personal injury attorneys.”
Blue pointed back at the screen.
Lincoln stared directly into the camera. “Ma’am, with all due respect, a man who struggled to get here from another country, just a lowly man of poverty, a man of a minority race trying to scrape a living in the land of the free and the home of the brave, died just outside your town.”
“By the hands of a bunch of drug lords who have laid claim to our community. Dazzle isn’t to blame.” Maggie stepped forward.
Blue beamed. “Tell it like it is, sweetheart.”
“And you, madam,” Luke stared down his nose at her, “I detect a Northern accent. Are you imply
ing you’re a native?”
“Low blow,” Carolina said. “I knew I should have gone. I could spar with that shit and leave him hanging by his toolies.”
“Mind explaining what toolies are?” Andy asked. At her wicked grin he chuckled. “Never mind.”
Blue winked. “She learned that word from me. Watch Maggie now. I can see she’s getting her ire up. Hasn’t spoken nigh on ten seconds”
“I was born in New York,” Maggie said, “But I chose to live here where the people are real, caring, and don’t place residents on a pedestal for ridicule in the name of the divine. These people, the natives, would never hide behind a Bible.”
“Wow, when she gets started,” Blue said, “She’s really something. I’ll have to give her an extra-special brand of loving tonight.”
“Shh!” Andy put his hand up. “Let’s see what the fraud says next.”
Luke placed his hand over his heart. “Are we to turn our backs on those who simply wish to lay their heads on a pillow without fear of harm? Are we to turn our backs and not fight against large conglomerates who wish to profit from the little money poor men everywhere have scraped together?”
The preacher held his arm straight up in the air, his chin tilted upward. “We must be strong for them. For it is written in Isaiah 25:4, ‘Thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.’”
He turned directly to the camera. “What does the American public think? Should we let this go without taking down the bad guy? Come on Taylor Franklin. Take Dazzle elsewhere. Have mercy on the poor. Let the meek inherit the earth.”
“You’re not going to badmouth my brother on national TV.”
Blue watched in horror, as Emily, already black and blue from her hit-and-run, raged forward, swinging at the preacher. Deputy Quent Proctor grabbed her, dragging her back as she placed her heels down on the floor and resisted.
“Carolina,” Blue said, “I think it best you skedaddle over to the sheriff’s office and get ready to post bail.”
Unforgettable Heroes II Boxed Set Page 133
