The Only Solution (Crowley County Series Book 3)

by T. E. Killian

  He continued anyway. “Like I told you at the restaurant, I’m ready to accept the Lord. I know what it all means now and I know how to go about it. But like I also said before, I wanted you to be with me when I do.”

  Daisy couldn’t help it then. The tears began falling in earnest. She reached out to Mike who was sitting on the sofa next to her. And before she knew it, he had drawn her into his arms and was kissing her and she was kissing him back.

  Somewhere in the back of her mind, the thought surfaced that Mike was the first man she’d kissed since Richard. But just as quickly as it had popped up, it disappeared.

  Mike drew back first and said, “I would like to pray now.” He snorted. “That will be another first. I’ve never prayed before in my life.”

  Daisy still had her arms around his neck. She didn’t let go but squeezed him and gave him a little nod along with a watery smile she hoped would encourage him to continue.

  He did. When he bowed his head, so did Daisy. He quickly and softly prayed the sinner’s prayer, which was so perfect, she had a suspicion that Gil had told him what to pray.

  When he finished she pulled him back to her and they kissed again.

  “Oh Mike, I’m so happy for you.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  When Mike awakened on Sunday morning, he wasn’t surprised to have that feeling again, that feeling of anticipation that something was about to happen. In fact, he was getting used to it by now. This time, he knew immediately what it was. He was not only going to church with Daisy and Lucy again but he was going to go up to the front with Gil at the end of the service to proclaim his salvation and to be baptized at a later date.

  He was nervous. Of course, he was. He’d only been in church one other time in his life for a church service. He didn’t know all those people who would be there. Then he thought about that a bit and realized that he did know quite a few of those people.

  He started ticking them off in his head. Of course, his mom, Daisy, Lucy, and the residents of the home came first. Then Jason, Karen, Brandi, Floyd and his wife. There were more, but that was enough to make him realize that he would be among friends after all.

  Parking his wheelchair in the living room, Mike walked with his cane into the kitchen and sat at the table in a regular chair.

  His mom, who had been turned away, looked over at him just as he was lowering his body into the chair, let out a cry. “Oh Mike! It’s so wonderful to see you out of that wheelchair.”

  When Sarah sat down at the table across from her son, she looked closely into his eyes. “Son, what is it. Is something troubling you this morning.”

  Mike had meant for it all to be a surprise for his Mom at church today, but he couldn’t hold it back from her any longer.

  “No Mom, I’m all right. In fact, I feel better than I ever have before.”

  When she gave him a puzzled look, he laughed and said, “You’re not going to believe what happened here Friday night after you went to bed.”

  He didn’t give her time to react. “I prayed to accept the Lord and I’m going up to the front at the end of the service this morning.”

  Tears sprang to her eyes as she let out a whoop and rushed around the table to draw him into her arms.

  “Oh Mike, I’m so proud of you and so happy for you too.”

  She leaned back and a faraway look came into her eyes. “If only your father could have been here for this. We always prayed for you that you would eventually come to the Lord. He’d be so happy too.”

  Then all of a sudden, Sarah jumped up and said, “I’ve got to get busy. I’m going to have a celebration dinner here after church. I’ve got to get started planning it. It’ll just have to be takeout pizza on such short notice. But I don’t think anybody will complain.”

  With that, she raced out of the kitchen. A few minutes later, he could hear her talking on the phone. He had to laugh. He should have known she’d get this excited.

  Daisy and Lucy were there soon to take him to church. When he settled into the front passenger seat of Daisy’s rental car, he turned to her and said, “You won’t be picking me up like this much longer.”

  When she gave him a perplexed look, he said, “Tomorrow, Jason’s going to get me started driving again. Karen said that if I took it easy and practiced a lot away from traffic, then I could start any time now.”

  Daisy reached her hand across to him and he took it in hers. “Oh Mike, everything good is happening so fast that I just can’t keep up with it all.”

  Last week Mike had thought that Sunday School was okay and he guessed it was today too, but it sure was one of the longest hours of his life. Not that he was having any second thoughts, but he just wanted to get this whole thing over with as quickly as possible.

  Finally, they were in the sanctuary and Gil was about finished with his message. Mike was glad for he wasn’t sure how much longer he could have sat there without jumping up and getting it all over with.

  As soon as Gil stepped down in front of the pulpit and began the invitation or time of commitment, Mike pushed himself to his feet, grabbed his cane, and began walking slowly down the aisle. Right then, he was very much glad that Daisy and her group always sat on the second row. He was sure that he could make it that far easily.

  He wasn’t too surprised when after taking two steps, he noticed Daisy on his right walking with him. That was great! She didn’t touch him though. She must have known that he wanted to be able to do it without help.

  Then he really was surprised as he looked down into Daisy’s eyes to feel a little hand slip into his left hand. He looked to his left and there was Lucy beaming up at him.

  Mike thought later that this was the closest that he had ever come to crying in public. He couldn’t get over how they must have looked going down that aisle together. Then it hit him like a two by four to the side of his head. They looked just like a family!

  When he made it down to where Gil had stepped up to meet them, Gil tried to place his arms around all three of them and then he prayed with them.

  When the music stopped, Gil held up his hands and made a downward motion with them to seat the congregation. Then he turned his lapel mic back on to address them.

  “Many of you know this man who stands before you today. But for those who don’t know him, I would like to present to you, Mike Bates who comes to us this morning having accepted the Lord as his Savior and also for baptism.”

  Mike wasn’t paying too much attention to what Gil was saying until he heard his name a second time. He looked at Gil who smiled at him and repeated what he’d just said.

  “Mike, would you like to say a few words this morning?”

  That was the last thing in the world that Mike wanted to do. He was a cop not a public speaker. But he was a full time teacher now.

  He looked over at Gil and surprised even himself by saying, “Yes I would.”

  When Mike turned back to the congregation, he couldn’t think of anything to say. But then Daisy squeezed his hand and he knew exactly what he wanted to say.

  “As some of you know, for eleven years I was an agent for the U. S. Drug Enforcement Agency. I worked most of that time undercover. And that’s what brought me to Crowleyville a little over a year ago.”

  He paused and looked down at Daisy for encouragement, which her beautiful smile gave him.

  “All the time I was an agent, I was always searching for clues to solve crimes and put drug lords in prison. You might say my whole life revolved around finding solutions. But this week, I discovered the most important solution of my life. In fact, as most of you know Jesus Christ is the only solution.”

  With that, the muscles in his legs began to quiver and he had to sit down quickly. Daisy must have realized that for she took his arm, led him to the front row, and helped him sit down just as the whole congregation stood again and applauded.

  * * *

  Daisy was so excited but as she looked in her mirror at Lucy in the backseat, she realized that he
r daughter was even more excited. Lucy was actually bouncing in her car seat and singing Amazing Grace at the top of her lungs. Of course, she didn't know all the words but that didn't stop her. She just made them up as she went along. It didn't help that Bert was back there with her and singing too.

  Seeing her daughter like that made Daisy’s happiness even greater.

  Then she looked over at the man sitting next to her. Mike! This man was quickly becoming so much a part of her life. If there had ever been any objection to a relationship with him, his accepting the Lord had wiped it out.

  They were only a few blocks from Mike’s house when she noticed that he turned in his seat and looked back where they’d just come.

  “Is something wrong Mike?”

  He continued looking back then slowly turned toward her. “I’m sure I just saw the pickup that ran us off the road last Sunday.”

  He started to pick up his cell phone but they were approaching his house and they could both see Floyd’s personal vehicle pull to the curb up ahead.

  He put the phone back in its holster and said, “I’ll tell him when we get up there.

  When she parked in Mike’s driveway, she turned to him and leaned close to whisper in his ear, “Thank you for inviting Bert. He thinks the world of you.”

  Mike just grinned at her and opened his door to pull himself out and walk to the door where Floyd was standing waiting for them. So much for that hated wheelchair.

  When Daisy released Lucy from her car seat and stepped back to let the little girl race to the house, she noticed that Floyd was talking on his cell phone. Hopefully, they would catch whoever it was before they hurt someone.

  Daisy looked into the family room to make sure Lucy was okay and realized she would be just fine. She was sitting on the sofa between Floyd’s nine-year-old daughter, Penny, and Sue Ann’s seven-year-old son, Andy. Lucy took turns beaming up at first Penny then Andy.

  Well, Daisy breathed a sigh of relief and went in search of Mike. She found him and Floyd coming out of his bedroom with grim looks on their faces.

  She still couldn’t get over how much he was walking now. But just then, he leaned forward and almost fell into an armchair. He grinned up at her when he realized she saw it.

  “It's great to be walking again, but I don’t think I’ll be running any races anytime soon.” He winked at her. “At least not without resting every so often.”

  Daisy went over to him and sat on the chair arm placing her hand on his shoulder. He reached up, pulled her arm all the way around his neck, and smiled up at her. “That’s better.”

  She smiled into his eyes then remembered the pickup. “Did they find the pickup?”

  He shook his head. “No. One of Floyd’s deputies saw it going away from her, but before she could turn around, it had disappeared.”

  Floyd snorted. “I had another deputy go out to the Hollis place but there was nothing in sight.” He shook his head. “Still can’t search the place without a warrant.”

  Just then, Gil and Jo came in and Daisy found herself sitting on the sofa holding Luke while his parents made the rounds.

  When Jo came back to sit next to Daisy, she reached up and touched Daisy's cheek.

  “Wow. She must have slapped you awfully hard for it to bruise like that.”

  Daisy nodded. “Yes, she’s a big woman and she sure can hit hard.”

  Jo shook her head. “I never really knew Suzette before she left town. She’s two years younger than I am and we never ran in the same groups. But what I did know about her was that she had a violent temper that almost got her expelled once.”

  Daisy shook her head. “I think it’s gone far beyond a bad temper Jo.”

  When Jo looked up from smiling down at her son in Daisy’s arms, her face was questioning.

  Daisy frowned. “Yes, I think that either Suzette has lost control of her emotions or she’s high on some kind of drug. Mike said that he thought it was probably both.”

  “Oh. I didn’t know.”

  Just then, Sarah and Jason came through the front door with each carrying a stack of pizza take-out boxes in their arms.

  After that, everyone was too busy eating pizza for much conversation.

  Several hours later, after much talking and laughter, Daisy herded Bert and a sleepy Lucy out the door to her car. On the way over, as she expected, Lucy fell asleep in her car seat.

  Once they arrived at the home, Bert volunteered to carry Lucy into their apartment. Daisy went ahead to open doors and to pull back the covers of Lucy’s bed.

  When she covered Lucy and was walking through her living room, she realized she’d left her purse in the car. So, she slipped out the back door to go get it.

  As she was leaning back out of the car with her purse in her hand, she heard something behind her. Before she could turn around to see what it was, she felt something poke her in the back.

  “Don’t move. Don’t even breathe or I’ll put a hole clear through you right now.”

  After Friday night, Daisy had heard that voice in her dreams. She knew it was Suzette and the crazy woman had a gun in her back.

  “Okay. Now. Real easy. I want you to turn around.”

  While Daisy did as she was told, Suzette stayed behind her with the gun still poking her in the back.

  “Now we’re going to get in the open door of that truck.”

  Daisy noticed what looked like the pickup that had run her off the road last Sunday sitting there with the passenger door standing wide open. Why hadn’t she seen it when she came back out just now?

  “Move!”

  Daisy felt the gun poke her in the back again so she started walking toward the open door.

  “Now get in and slide over to the driver’s side.”

  Daisy did as she was told and watched as Suzette climbed in and closed the door. Then she waved the gun at Daisy again.

  “Drive out onto the street and I’ll tell you where to turn as we go.”

  * * *

  Mike was saying goodbye to Floyd and his family at his door when his cell phone rang. He started to ignore it but he was afraid it might be Daisy. When he saw the caller id said the home, he answered quickly. He noticed that Floyd didn’t move from the porch.

  “Hi Daisy what did you forget?”

  “It’s me Mr. Mike. Bert. She got her and I don’t know where she took her. She had a gun.”

  Mike could feel panic trying to take hold of his mind and body. “Who Bert? Daisy?”

  Bert was talking nonsense now and Mike was relieved when a mature sounding female voice came on the line.

  “Hello, this is Wilma the cook. Is this Mike?”

  “Yes it is. What’s going on?”

  “Well, I hate to tell you this but Bert saw a dirty old rusty pickup in the parking lot and a tall blond woman with a gun pushing Miss Daisy into it. He didn’t see anything else. But Miss Daisy is gone and her purse was lying near her car with the car door standing wide open.”

  Mike was now almost in full panic mode. He had to get ahold of himself and quick. “Thank you Wilma. We’ll take it from here.”

  He disconnected and looked up at a worried looking Floyd.

  “It sounds like Bert saw Suzette take Daisy away in that pickup you’ve been looking for. Apparently, she had a gun on Daisy too.”

  Floyd pulled out his cell phone and called dispatch. When he finished, he turned to Mike and said, “My chief deputy, Hal Lewis, will be here in a minute to get me. You want . . .”

  “Yes, I’m going with you. Give me a second to get my gun.”

  He wheeled himself back to his bedroom and grabbed a holster to clip on his belt then slipped his handgun in it. He was back out front by Floyd again before Lewis pulled up.

  Mike abandoned his wheelchair, grabbed his cane, walked out to the vehicle, and climbed into the backseat thankful that it was like Floyd’s and a regular backseat instead of a cage.

  Hal raced out of the subdivision and onto the highway in record time.
They were soon through town and going south on the county road toward the Hollis farm.

  Mike only half listened to Floyd and Hal in the front seat as they discussed what all was being done to find Daisy before Suzette could do anything to her.

  Everyone was of the opinion that Suzette would take Daisy back to the farm where she would have her four brothers to protect her. But just in case, Floyd had ordered roadblocks on all the highways going out of Crowleyville.

  * * *

  Daisy had been trembling when she’d driven the pickup out of the parking lot. She knew that Suzette was beyond reasoning with. She’d just have to try and watch for an opportunity to escape. That was all there was left for her to do.

  She was secretly glad that the truck was an automatic. She was sure Suzette never would have believed her if she’d had to tell her that she couldn’t drive a stick.

  Suzette had directed her to drive south on County C and when they’d gone about five miles, to turn on a narrow lane. At the end of that lane, had been the Hollis farm house. But when Suzette had Daisy drive into the barn she really began to worry. Lucy! Would she ever see her little girl again? And Mike too?

  It was then that she realized how much she loved Mike and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. Somehow, she had to get out of this situation. She had to get to Mike so she could tell him how she felt about him.

  Suzette had then found two lengths of rope in the barn and tied Daisy’s wrists together with one and draped the other piece of rope around her neck. Then she tied what looked like a large bandana round Daisy’s head and in her mouth as a gag. She poked Daisy in the back with the gun.

  “Start walking.”

  When they emerged from the barn, Suzette said, “Walk toward that shed directly behind the house.”

  Suzette opened the door to the shed, pushed Daisy into it, and followed her in. “Lay down.”

  When Daisy didn’t move fast enough, Suzette pushed her and she fell onto the dirty wood floor. Once Daisy was down, Suzette kneeled beside her and tied her ankles together with the other piece of rope.