Rick Hall Fiction

I blinked my eyes and began to focus on Tamyra. She was staring at me as if my hair was on fire. She smiled when she realized that I was looking at her.

“Where have you been?” she asked.

“With my Dad. He knew this would happen. He’s known all of my life. He raised me to be strong for this one event.” The enormity of that statement struck me harder than any branch of that sycamore tree I slammed into when I jumped off of the singing bridge.

“He couldn’t have known this would happen,” stated Tamyra as her eyes grew as big as saucers.

“But, he did. I don’t know how he did, but he’s known this since I was at least eleven or twelve, maybe even longer.” I tried to ponder on it as I realized how silly my words were and then it hit me.

“Mally!” I shouted. “It had to be Mally. She had to have known.”

“How could she have known? How could anybody have known?”

I smiled at her question. “Obviously, you don’t know Aunt Mally. She has this ability to see things in vivid color. She can see things years and I guess decades in advance.”

“Are you saying she is some kind of psychic or something?”

“It goes way beyond that. We call it ‘the gift’ and it runs heavy in the women on my Mom’s side of the family. My Dad, who is Mom’s fifth cousin on that side of the family, has some skill in it. Even, I have a touch of it. But, no one has the skills of Aunt Mally. She can see things just as plain as though she were watching them on a flat screen television.

“When I was a sophomore in high school, we were playing the Elkhorn City Cougars for the district championship. We were down by five points and had the ball on their twelve yard line with only six seconds left to play.

“Coach took a time out and called us over to our side of the field. He called for the quarterback, Jim Tackett, to pass the ball to his twin brother Gary who was supposed to run off of my flank for the touchdown. It was a long shot, but it was all we had.

“As we started to head back onto the field, Aunt Mally called to me. I looked over at her. Do you remember how the men used to walk up and down the sidelines at the old Bracket Field?”

“Yes,” replied Tamyra with a chuckle. “There would be more men wandering up and down the sidelines that were sitting in the audience. I don’t remember many women rambling up and down the sidelines.”

“Neither do I, but when I looked up, there was Aunt Mally shouting for me. When she got my attention she hollered for us to run a sweep to the right. ‘If you pass,’ she shouted, ‘then you’ll lose for certain.’ I nodded my head and made my way to the field. When I got to the huddle, I told Jim to run a sweep to the right. When he asked why I told him that Aunt Mally told me to do it. He was resistant until his younger brother Todd agreed with me.”

“I remember that,” interrupted Tamyra. “You guys ran the sweep and ran into the end zone. That was one of the proudest days of my Dad’s life. He talked about that for weeks. I was only about eight or nine and I still remember that like it was yesterday. I was so proud of you.”

“That’s was the thing about Aunt Mally. She saw what would happen in advance and she warned me to take action. Apparently, she saw this whole thing we are now involved in on the day I was born.”

“I’ve heard of such things, but I thought they were merely stories.”

“Most probably are, but Mally’s is genuine. She’s spooked the family on more than one occasion with her uncanny abilities to see things in advance.”

“Maybe she has the answers you are looking for,” said Tamyra.

I’d never thought of that before. It was right there in front of me and I was too close to notice it. Mally had all the answers I needed but I had never thought to talk to her about it. She probably wouldn’t have given me the answers anyway, but you never knew with her.

“Great idea,” I said. “Would you hand me one of those cell phones so that I can call her?”

She nodded her head, hopped out of the bed and made her way over to the dresser on which the phone sat. I watched her as she covered the short distance between the two. She moved with the grace of a gazelle. Her body seemed to move in perfect synchronization with itself. My heart did back flips as I watched her. I smiled as I realized that this exquisite creature was in love with me.

“What are you smiling at?” she asked at she turned to face me.

“I was watching you move. You have the poise and grace of a cat. I could sit and watch you move back and forth all day and never grow tired of it. You’re the closest thing to perfection I’ve seen in a long time.”

She smiled and then shot me a naughty gaze. “You keep talking like that and who knows where it will lead?”

“I hope it leads to the telephone,” I input trying to stop this from leading to somewhere I wasn’t ready to go.

“Kill joy.”

“Look part of me wants that, but there’s another part of me that believes waiting is the best road to take. That is the part that I want to listen to at this time. I’m crazy over you, but am not ready for such a commitment. I’m looking for a wife and not a tryst.”

“Is that a proposal or the worst line used to dump someone in the history of mankind?”

“Let’s just say it is a hope for things to come.”

“Too bad, I would have said, yes to a proposal.”

“Maybe, that will happen in the future? And, then again, maybe not?”

“Then I accept when you ask?”

“Give me that phone,” I said trying desperately to change the subject.

“Are you trying to change the subject on me?”

“Guilty, it’s getting too scary for me. Besides, I need to find out about Dad. You understand?”

“Unfortunately, I do.”

She handed me the phone and I began tapping in the numbers that would reach my aunt and hopefully the answers for which I am looking. She picked up on the first ring.

“Lance, good morning. I’ve been expecting you. How’s your chest? It’ll be sore for a few days, but I don’t think anything is broken.”

“If you know it’s me, then you know why I’m calling,” I said shocked by the fact that she knew I had been hurt. I know I shouldn’t have been shocked that she knew it, but I was.

“He’s fine and he’s waiting for you. I’ll give you directions to where he’s hiding. Once there, he’ll explain everything to you.”

I could hear doubt and pain in her voice. I thought about questioning her on it, but was too focused on the questions I needed answered to give it any more thought.

“Mally, I’ve got so many questions to ask I don’t even know where to begin.”

“Tim will explain everything to you. Do you have a pen a paper?”

“Just a second,” I put my hand over the voice piece of the phone and looked at Tamyra. “Get me a pen and paper, please?”

She nodded, ran over and grabbed her purse off of that same dresser that now seemed to engulf the room. She began to dig in her purse and within a few seconds was able to produce a small pad and a black government issued pen.

“How’s Tamyra doing?” asked my aunt.

“How did you know?”

She began to laugh. “Honey, I know everything. She’s got the makings of a fine wife, but then so does your nanny?”

“What do you mean by that?” I asked annoyed at her for saying what she said.

“Time will tell,” was her response.

“What did she say?” inquired Tamyra.

I was convinced that there was no way she could have heard Mally, so I did the one thing I hate to do, I lied. “Nothing, she’s talking romance to me.”

Tamyra smiled and then gave me a seductive look. “Tell her to keep talking.”

“You ready?” echoed Mally’s voice through the phone. Again, I heard tension in her normally calm voice. Nothing got to her, but she had something on her mind. I could sense it right through the telephone. For the second time, I blew the chance to ask her what was bothering her.

I took the pen and pad in hand. “Let’s have it.”

She gave me the directions to where I could find my Dad. He was less than an hour away. He was hiding in the generator room of a private parking structure he owned in Frankfort.

I hung up the telephone and cursed Dad for being a fool. The capitol was crawling with the governor’s henchmen. Why he was doing something that foolish was beyond me. Still, if he was willing to risk it, so was I.

As I hung up the phone, I asked Tamyra to get me some clothes.

“Are you going some where?” she asked.

“I have to go to Frankfort to meet Dad?”

“Is he crazy? He’ll get both of you killed. I won’t allow it!”

“If Mally says I must go, then I must go. Besides, she’d let me know if I were in danger. I’ve got to do this. It’s the only way. I have to see it through.”

“Your sense of honor be damned!” shouted Tamyra. “I’m sick and tired of your overburdened sense of right and wrong! I love you! What am I supposed to do if you get killed?”

Without saying another word, she turned and stormed out of the room. As she was leaving, I heard her mumbling to herself. “Of all the men in the world, I had to fall in love with an idiot.”

I smiled because it felt good to hear her say that she loved me. I wanted to call after her, but was afraid she’d talk me out of this fool’s errand on which I was about to embark.

I listened to her stomp across the living room floor. She opened the door and slammed it as she made her way outside. That’s my girl, I thought to myself as I heard the door rattle the house as she yanked it close behind her.

Convinced that she was gone, I struggled to get out of bed. I trembled as I fought my muscles in order to force them to do my bidding. My chest nearly exploded when I pulled on a bedpost in order to help myself exit that comfortable prison.

With great effort and intense concentration, I was able to drag myself to my feet. From there, I had to override my body’s desire to lie back down and sleep the pain away. “Step,” I said as I forced my right foot to inch out in front of my body. “Again,” I whispered as I forced my left foot in front of my right. I would repeat the process over and over again until I was standing in front of the dresser.

I didn’t bother showering or even washing up for that matter. My sole concern was getting to Frankfort. I didn’t even bother changing the white T-shirt that I was wearing, but I did manage to slide out of the shorts in which I had slept. The most difficult part was putting on the jeans. I had to sit down to do that and still had trouble sliding them past my knees.

Once I was dressed and ready to go, I made my way outside and called for Tamyra. “Tamyra, are you here? Sweetie, I need to talk to you.”

She still hadn’t answered after several more such calls. With that, I shrugged my shoulders and made my way to the car. The movements were getting easier but they were still excruciatingly painful.

Before I crawled into the car I called to her. “I know you’re watching. I love you. Nothing will change that.”

When she didn’t answer, I half crawled and half fell into the driver’s seat. Once there, I bowed my head and began: “Dear God, please protect Tamyra and my Dad. I’m ready for whatever you have planned for me, but I plead for their safety. Watch over my son and Maria. I love them more than life itself and they don’t deserve what’s happening to them. One last thing if I may, please let this end today? I’m at my wits end and don’t think I can go much further. In the precious name of Jesus, I pray, Amen.”

I started the car and backed out of the drive way. I scanned the area for her as I left. She was there watching and probably crying. I knew that and I took great comfort in knowing that for the first time in a while, I had someone who loved me enough to cry for me.

I arrived at the parking structure less than an hour later. I circled the block around the building three times before I entered the back and least observable entrance to the building. The parking structure was four stories tall and could accommodate more than two-hundred and fifty vehicles.

Once I entered, I followed the arrows to the top of the building and parked on the top of the structure. It is open to the sky and gave me a greater line of visibility than did the other floors. I didn’t expect Dad to be here, but I did expect him to notice me when I drove by where ever he was hiding. He was well hidden because I hadn’t seen so much as a hair of his when I drove by and I had circled the whole structure.

Once I stopped and parked the car, I slid a pistol into my jeans near the small of my back. It hurt to do that, but the pain was becoming more tolerable the more I moved around.

I exited the vehicle and began walking down the path in which I had driven. I moved in a slow deliberate manner due to the fear of being caught off guard. I was afraid that given the state of my body my reflexes would not flow as easily as they normally did. I kept my right hand low and near my hip. I wanted to give myself as much of an advantage as my pain wracked body could handle.

Once I reached the bottom of the building, I walked to the other side and began walking up the down path. I was about half way through the second floor when I heard a voice call to me.

“Lance,” whispered a voice. “I’m over here.”

I looked to my right but didn’t see anything. Then I turned to my left. I hadn’t got halfway around when I saw something head of me. I stopped, looked ahead and saw my father waving to me. My heart skipped a beat when I laid eyes on him. Something inside of my body grabbed my heart and held it as chills began to gnaw on my spine.

“Get down!” I shouted with a whisper. “There might be people watching.”

He ran towards me as I struggled to do likewise. I felt like a five year old running to his father after he had fallen and scraped his knees. When he was within three feet of me he stopped suddenly as though he had hit an invisible wall. I followed suit.

“Let’s have a look at you,” he said as I came to a halt. “You look awful. What in the world happened to you?”

I smiled delighted that he was alive. I’d been having this feeling that I’d seen the last of him. My eyes began to moisten and I choked on my words. It took great effort, but I was eventually able to force myself to speak.

“You know that old cliché; I took a long walk off of a short pier. The humidity got to me the other night and I just had to take a plunge into the river. Someone forgot to tell me that there were trees below.”

He tried to laugh, but I could tell that his heart wasn’t into it.

“Let me have a look at you,” he whispered through the tears that were now flowing down his face. He said something else, but I couldn’t understand it. I was too busy trying to remember if I’d ever saw my father cry before today. For the life of me, I couldn’t.

“You’ve made me proud,” he whispered and nearly choked on his words. “I knew you would. I was harder on you than I was on the rest of the kids. I knew that you’d be the one to clean up this mess I helped make.”

He stopped as if waiting for me to say something, but I couldn’t. I stood there staring at him. How could this man be a murderer? It didn’t make sense to me. My father was incapable of harming anyone.

I kept waiting for this nightmare to end and I knew this had to be the moment. I closed my eyes and held them shut. I counted to ten and opened them again. I was convinced that when I opened them, I’d be back in my own bed in Lawrenceburg. I also made myself a promise that I’d never eat Chinese food after eight o’clock again as long as I lived.

When I opened my eyes, there was my Dad standing no more than three feet in front of me. I looked around and sure enough, we were standing in a parking structure. This wasn’t a nightmare. It was real and that scared the socks off of me.

“Let me explain,” he said as my eyes began to focus on him.

“That night we’d been out drinking and carousing. We were heading to Jonathan’s house were we were going to sleep off the liquor. As we started to turn to go up Branham Hollow, David saw Albert.

“’Let’s have some fun with that boy,’ shouted David as he pointed towards that lone figure walking on that empty street. ‘I owe him a beating and I aim to collect.’

“’Albert is my friend,’ input Michael as he tried to talk us out of it.

“He was the only one of us that didn’t want to prank with Albert. You tell his daughter that he was the only innocent one of the four of us and he was the one that took it the hardest. I guess he felt like he didn’t do enough to stop things. I don’t know what happened to him, but he never was the same after that. That night two men died. One was a promising athlete and the other a future surgeon.

“Jonathan, he was driving. He turned the car around and began chasing Albert. He almost ran him over a couple of times. The odd thing about it was that had Albert ran another way he would have made it. But he ran the direct opposite of the way he should have went.

“I thought we were just pranking with him until we chased him to the dump. Once at the dump, Jonathan began to openly speak about killing the man. David kept egging it own. He talked about how he hated Albert. He refused to call Albert by his name, but screamed all kinds of racial slurs at him.

“I don’t know what happened to David. I saw his face reflect off the light one time and there was an evil to it that shook me to my very core. I knew he was going to kill Albert and I knew Jonathan would do it just for the sport of it. Jonathan is a real piece of work. If ever there was such a thing as a sociopath, it’s him.

“Michael, God bless him, tried to talk some sense into the other two, but they wouldn’t listen. I was too afraid to say a thing. I kept my mouth shut and said nothing. To this day, I believe I could have saved Albert had I stood up to them like Michael did. I didn’t. I was a coward and kept my mouth shut for fear that they’d turn on me.

“It was at the dump when things got out of hand. Albert had been hiding behind an old refrigerator, but slipped when he tried to run when we got close. Jonathan was on him before he was able to get on his feet. As Albert struggled to stand, Jonathan began to kick him. He was soon joined by David. Together, they kicked Albert until he was unconscious.

“My heart sank with each thud against Albert’s body. I nearly wretched when I saw them still kicking on him after he went limp. As I turned away so that I would not have to witness that act of brutality, I saw Michael emptying the contents of his stomach on the ground no more than ten feet from me.

“The next thing I know, those two were loading Albert into the trunk of Jonathan’s car. From there, Jonathan drove us to Wayland. He stopped at a clearing just outside of the town.

“’Let’s finish this,’ said Jonathan just as pretty as you please. He wasn’t even bothered by what he was doing.

“’I’m ready,’ piped David. ‘I owe him one and I aim to collect with interest.’

“I should have said something. Had I stood up then, we could’ve saved Albert, but I didn’t. I remained silent. The other two took my silence as agreeing with them. Michael sat there beside me crying like a baby.

“Jonathan stopped the car, walked back to the trunk, popped open the hood and dragged Albert out of the car.

“’What are we going to do with him?’ Jonathan asked.

“’The Klan hangs fellows like this all the time,’ input David and that’s exactly what they did.

“They hanged him and I didn’t do a damned thing to stop them! You want to know what my sin was that night? It was the sin of omission and that is the greatest sin you can commit. ‘Evil flourishes when good men do nothing.’

“By not doing a thing, I’ve allowed a great evil to become governor of this state. Those days are over. Now, they’ve come after my family. Now, they’ve come after you. Even a coward like me will not allow such a thing as that to happen. Together, we are going to bring down this monster and his henchmen.”

I stood there in stunned silence. This was not my father. I didn’t know who it was. Perhaps some evil doppelganger had taken control of his body and was trying to destroy me by playing with my mind.

“We’ll bring him down,” said my father. “Just you wait and…”

I heard a low whistle buzz in my ears and then I saw my father’s eyes become as big as saucers. His body went stiff and he began to stumble. I heard a second whistle the same instant my father began to stumble. A third would ring out before I was able to react.

My father stumbled forward and fell into my arms. I reached out and caught him with one hand as he fell against me. His weight against my weakened body caused me to stumble. As a result, I fell backwards about the same time I heard a fourth whistle buzz by my head.

At that instant, I knew that someone was shooting at us but didn’t know from which direction the shots were coming. I struggled to pull the pistol from the small of my back as I tried to move my father’s body which now was lying on top of me. A fifth shot whistled past me about the time I managed to pull the pistol from my waste band.

Once I had the pistol out and ready, I began to scan the area for any signs of the shooter. Just off to my right, I saw some movement so I began to concentrate my attention in that direction. I could make out something but had trouble focusing on it. It looked like the buzzing of a bee’s wings, but given that I could see no other movement, I stared at it until it came into focus.

It took a couple of seconds but I could tell that the flicker I was watching was actually the movement of feet resulting from steps being taken. Unsure of whom it was, I laid there perfectly still not even allowing myself to breathe. I kept my pistol hand out in front of me in order to allow me to take a quick shot, but I wouldn’t allow it to move for fear of giving away the fact that I had not been hurt during the melee of bullets.

Slowly, the feet came closer and closer towards me. Whoever that person was, he was taking too long and being too cautious for me. My heart was racing as I struggled to keep my breath under control. For a second or two, I thought I was going to pass out from lack of oxygen and probably would have to have my father not moaned at the exact second I nearly lost conscious. When he moaned, I was so overjoyed to know that he was still alive that I released my breath and sucked in a lung full of sweet soothing oxygen.

My father’s moan did a second thing as well. Whoever the shooter was, he heard my father and began to rush over to where we lay. Whether he was doing that to finish the job or to check on us, I didn’t know. What I did know was that the instant I got the opportunity to take a good shot I was going to take it.

As the footfalls became louder and louder, I took a deep breath, opened my eyes, raised my pistol and without taking aim squeezed off two short spurts. The first round when wide, but the second caught the man, and it was a man, square in the chest.

I still hadn’t seen the man’s face and suddenly became afraid that I may have shot an innocent person. Struggling against my own battered body, I managed to move my father from on top of mine. Once I had pushed him off of me, I raised my pistol and pointed it towards the man whom I had just shot. I kept it pointed in that direction as I fought to stand on my feet. Once I managed to gain my footing, I walked over to where the other guy lay on the cool concrete floor.

My heart tried to leap out of my mouth as I inched my way towards this unknown person. I was about ten feet away from him when my entire soul was washed by a tsunami of relief as I noticed a pistol lying on the concrete just out of the man’s reach. Keeping my pistol pointed towards the would be assailant, I walked over and kicked the pistol out of the way.

Once I had kicked the gun away from him, I moved in closer. When I was standing over top of him, I noticed that it was Governor Arnett. My heart nearly stopped as I realized who it was. My legs wobble underneath me recognized my predicament. I thought he had been arrested earlier today day, but obviously he hadn’t.

He looked up at me with pure hatred in his eyes. “You shot me you son of a …”

“Shut up or I’ll put another one in you!” I interrupted

“Don’t do it Lance,” gurgled my father. “He’s not worth it.”

“Dad,” I cried before I ran over to where he lay.

He had rolled over and was looking directly at me as I raced towards him. I could see the life in his eyes and secretly began to pray that God would spare him from all this. His eyes followed me and he smiled as I bent over him.

“I knew you’d come,” he said as a pinkish liquid began to trickle from his lips. “The day you were born Mally predicted that you would save me from my youthful folly. She said you’d do it while destroying my enemy at the same time; looks like she was right as usual.”

He smiled at me and then began to cough.

“Dad, hang in there. I’ll call for help.”

I picked up the cell phone and began to tap in the numbers nine-eleven. “Hang in there Dad, I’ll get help!”

“Don’t worry about me. Make sure Jonathan is secured. He’ll get away and all this will be for nothing.”

“I’ll kill him before I let him get away,” I stated defiantly.

“And end up like me,” retorted my Dad just before he coughed out a mouth full of blood.

“I’ll kill both of you bastards!” screamed the governor.

“Shut up or, so help me God, I’ll finish the job!” I shouted.

Part of me wanted to do just that. In my mind, he was a man that deserved being killed. God would understand if I did this world a favor my ending the life of this sociopath. For several agonizing seconds, I thought of doing just that and probably would have had it not been for my father.

“Don’t,” responded Dad. “I’ve taken care of him. I hid a camera in the corner over there.” He tried to raise his hand and point off to his left, but couldn’t. “There’s enough on that camera to see that he gets the chair.”

“You double crossing weasel!” screamed the governor. “I’ll make you both pay for this! I’ll see that everyone you ever loved dies a horrible death. I promise you that.”

“Hush,” croaked Dad and I could tell from the tone of his voice that the end was near.

I closed the phone, by the time the ambulance got here, he’d be gone. Therefore, I decided to spend these last few minutes telling my father how proud I was to be his son.

“Look at me,” whispered Dad as he motioned for me to come closer. I obliged. As my ear neared his mouth, he reached up and kissed me on the cheek.

“I raised you to be a better man than me and I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. You have all my strengths without the accompanying weaknesses. Had I been like you, then Albert would still be alive.

“God bless you, son, I’m proud of you! You’ve turned out to be a better man than I ever thought to be.”

“No, I’ll never be the man you’ve been,” I interrupted.

“I’m thankful to God for that. I’ve prayed all your life that you would be a better man than me.” He paused and then smiled at me. Blood streamed from his mouth and his pearly white teeth were drowning in a sea of pinkish red. “Thankfully, he allowed me to live to see my prayer come true.”

He raised a bloody hand up and gently stroked my face. “I’m very proud of you and I love you more than life itself. Don’t worry about me, I’ve made my peace with God and know that He’ll welcome me with open arms. Tell you mother that I love her and couldn’t have asked for a more loving and loyal wife. Tell your sisters, that I was blessed with the most wonderful set of girls ever to have lived. I am truly a lucky man.”

Without saying another word, he quietly slipped from this world to the next. I watched as his face changed from a mask of total pain to one of complete bliss as he passed between this dimension and the next.

Once I realized he was gone, part of me wanted to walk over and finish off the governor, but that part of me that I inherited from my father refused to take vengeance upon the man. Dad’s soul, which I know was standing there beside me, began whispering to me. He was telling me that I was to let the law take care of that truly evil man. Justice was his way, but not my way. I wanted vengeance and I wanted it to be done by my own hands, but the specter that was the essence of my father refused to let me destroy the life he spent a life time shaping.

“Justice always wins out in the end,” Dad whispered to me in my ear. I smiled knowing that he was right there beside me. I thought about it for a second before I decided that he was right. I’d let the legal system punish the governor for his crimes.

Without saying another word, I cradled Dad’s head in my arms and rocked him until what was left of his life oozed out of him. I didn’t speak a word during those almost placid few minutes. It was one of the most precious moments of my life and as morbid as it sounds, I’ll treasure that time for the rest of my life. It was the only time in my life where I could remember my Dad and I being completely honest with each other. As I cradled his spent body in my arms, I thanked God that He, in His wisdom, had seen fit to bless me with the Dad that He had given me.

Some how, I didn’t find it strange that the my most cherished memory of my father and my hero would be of me holding his empty shell of a body as I came to know a man truly greater than all the images I’d ever possessed of him. His death would teach me more about true character than all of the preaching he had aimed at me during my life time with him.

All my life I’d been trying to make and failing to make a connection with my Dad and had never been able to get past these boundaries that we both had erected between us. With his death, those self-imposed prisons that had been our way of coping with the feelings of inadequacy we each felt when we gazed upon the other, were removed and revealed our true selves. It was the most profound moment of my life.

This time it was different. I felt nothing but love and admiration for my father and I know that he felt the same for me. I find it strange that it would take my father’s dying breath to teach me that the giving of love, unconditional love, was the most important lesson a person would ever learn while walking in this body. My father had sacrificed everything for me while asking for nothing in return, except for my acceptance of his majestic gesture. I would honor my Dad’s sacrifice by raising my son to be a better man than me. Perhaps, if Alex was lucky enough, he would prove to be as good of a man as his grandfather had proven to be.

We spent the next day lying around the cabin as I tried to heal up from the beating I had taken from the jump off of the bridge the night before. My body ached from the various rips and tears I had received when I grabbed the limbs after I went over the side of the bridge. My chest felt as though I’d been hit by a Mack truck and I assumed that I had a cracked sternum.

I slept most of the day away and was awakened several times by Tamyra as she came in to check on me. When I asked her why she kept waking me, she stated that she was doing that to ensure that I didn’t have a concussion.

Some where during the night she crawled into bed beside me. I awoke the next morning to find someone curled up next to me. I was startled at first, but relaxed once I realized that it was Tamyra lying beside me.

She was still asleep so I decided to lie there and let her continue resting. I stroked her hair and relived the events of the past week. Seven days ago, I was all alone and had nobody but Alex. Now, I was lying in the bed with the most beautiful woman in the world. I was developing deep feelings for her; the kind of feelings I hadn’t experienced since Mary.

That bothered me. I felt like I was cheating on the only woman that ever truly loved me. Mary had been my entire world. She laughed at my jokes even when they weren’t funny. She was there to pick me up when I stumbled. She could encourage me even when I was inconsolable.

I fell in love with her early on in our relationship. She was the only person that ever believed in me. I still remember dropping her off at her apartment after our fifth date. She looked at me and said, “I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. I’m dating this very handsome man who I know will do something special one of these days and that means the world to me.”

Twelve years later, I can still remember that event as if it happened only this morning. The funny thing about that night is that I remember nothing after that statement. I can’t remember kissing her goodbye, I can’t remember driving home and I can’t remember going to bed. My next recollection is waking up the next day and knowing that I was hopelessly in love with Mary.

The fear that was racing through my body as I wandered around that small house came from having my heart stretched in two places. I was experiencing things with Tamyra that I hadn’t experienced since the early stages of my relationship with my wife. I was becoming confused by the whole situation. I kept wondering to myself, would Mary approve of Tamyra. Until, I could come to a conclusion on that, I was going to keep my distance. Even though I was falling for Tamyra, I was not going to allow this relationship to go any further until I could figure out how Mary would react if she knew.

I was sitting next to her stroking her face when, Tamyra began to stir. I stopped when she rolled over to face me.

“Don’t stop, I was enjoying that,” she said.

I smiled at her. “I didn’t think it was possible, but you’re even beautiful in the morning.”

She began to gently rub my arm. “A girl could get used to this.”

“You reckon?”

“Uh huuum, it’s cozy and comfy here with you. How are you feeling?”

“I feel like somebody has put a Tennessee dog whipping to me, but other than that I’m okay.”

She shot me an odd look and then began to chuckle. She stopped after a few seconds. “What does that mean; Tennessee dog whipping?”

“I don’t have a clue, but I’ve heard it all my life. Whenever someone or something got beat to a pulp, someone always said that somebody had put a Tennessee dog whipping to it.”

“I’ve never heard of that one before.”

“I know hundreds of them. I have a great uncle named Larry Honeycutt and he’d have a statement like that for every occasion. My favorite was when he had to make a hard choice. He’d say, ‘I’d rather get bit in the hind end by a snaggle-toothed bear as to have to do that.’”

Tamyra began to laugh. “I can see that in my mind’s eye. Snaggle-toothed bear, that’s funny.”

“He had a million of them. I loved being around him because I’d pick them up from him and use them later on with other people.”

“You hungry?” she asked while still wearing that angelic smile.

“Starved, but I’m too sore to get up and get something.”

“I can get you something, if you want? It won’t take that long.”

She got out of the bed and made her way into the kitchen. I watched her go as she left the room. She looked amazing. Part of me wanted to rip off her T-shirt and have my way with her. Were I not so sore, I might have been tempted to do just that, but I ached too much to do anything but rest.

Some time during the next few minutes I fell asleep. I don’t know how long I slept, but it must not been that long. I was awakened by Tamyra. When I sat up in bed, she was holding a tray. On it, was a plate holding two eggs, two pieces of toast, three strips of bacon and a cup of warm tea.”

She smiled as I sat up in bed.

“Hungry?” she asked.

I shook my head and attacked the food like a ravenous wolf. I grabbed a piece of toast and snapped a large piece off it into my mouth.

“I love to see a man eat,” she teased. “It makes me feel appreciated.”

I smiled my approval of her statement.

She continued to watch me for a few seconds and then she snapped her fingers. “I almost forgot the milk and juice. They’re in the kitchen. Stay right there and I’ll go get them.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” I said through a mouth of food.

“Don’t go anywhere.” She got up and pecked me on the cheek. I’ll be right back. She hadn’t been gone but a few seconds when she returned holding two small glasses. She set them on the tray.

“Would you like to watch some television?” she asked as she pointed to a set sitting on a raggedy looking dresser located just below the foot of the bed. I bobbed my head up and down. With that she switched on the television and began to adjust the antenna until the reception became clear.

Once it came into focus, I noticed that the local station was running some type of talk show that was titled, “Is It Your Baby or Your Brother’s.” I groaned when I saw that.

“Is there anything else on?” I asked. I looked at the clock and noticed that it was fifteen to eleven. “The news will be on in a little over an hour. I guess we can wait until then. I haven’t seen the news in nearly a week and would like to see what’s happening in the world.”

“I can change channels,” input Tamyra. “We don’t have to watch this.”

“I’d say the antenna only gets three or four channels probably all from Lexington. I don’t think you’ll pick any up from Louisville, but you never know.”

“I’ll try. Is there any channel you’d like to see?”

She walked over and picked up the remote and pointed it towards the television. “What channel do you want to watch?”

“Try channel three. If that’s not clear, then try twenty-seven.”

“I know channel twenty-seven. Let’s try it?”

“Okay, have at it.”

She began pressing buttons and the screen blinked.

“Thanks,” I said as I began to lie back on a pillow.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“I feel as though I’ve been kicked by a mule. It hurts too much to swallow. I’ll try again later.”

“You’ve not eaten enough to keep a mouse alive. I’m beginning to worry about you.”

“Don’t, I spent a week without eating during jungle survival training in the Marine Corps.”

“You were younger and fitter then. Plus, you weren’t hurt, were you?”

Before for I could respond, the television broke in with a news alert.

“This is Sheila Tyrell, with a special report,” said an attractive woman who appeared on the screen as if by magic. “We here at eye witness news have just received a report from the FBI that stated that an arrest warrant has been issued for Governor Arnett. Reports are sketchy and we will go live to thee capitol where reporter Lacy Adams is on the scene. Now to Lacy.”

The screen when blank for a split second and when it cleared, there standing in front of the state capitol in Frankfort was an even more attractive woman. This one was blonde whereas the other was a brunette.

“Good morning, Sheila,” said the blonde from in front of the capitol building.

“Good morning, Lacy,” replied the brunette. “What have we learned so far about the governor’s arrest?”

“At this time things are a bit sketchy, but we have learned that the governor, three of his top advisors and believe it or not, five state troopers have had arrest warrants issued by the FBI. Charges stem from the federal RICO laws and have something to do with voter fraud or so we’ve been told. There also has been rumor that murder or attempted murder charges are being talked about due to an attempt on the life of Ricky Lee Little, who we are told is the sheriff of Floyd County which is in Eastern Kentucky. Floyd County is also the home of Governor Arnett.

“We’re waiting on the governor’s spokesperson, a Michael Grey, to give us the official word as to what has happened. A press conference is scheduled in about fifteen minutes from now.

“We’ll keep our ears and eyes opened and will contact you as soon as we hear more on this developing situation. Back to you Sheila.”

The screen blinked and the brunette reporter was back on the air. This time she was joined by an attractive man. He began to speak before his attractive colleague had the chance.

“Over the weekend, eye witness news received a package containing the taped confession of former state senator and associate of Governor Arnett. The man is Senator Timothy Paul of Wheelwright.”

“In this video,” began Sheila Tyrell, “the former senator confesses to a murder that happened nearly fifty years old. He also implicates the governor during his taped confession. The video is over thirty minutes long and contains some explosive allegations against the Governor. We would like to show you three different segments of the video.”

The screen went dark and then is if a lightning flash had struck the television set, it brightened again. As I watched, I noticed that the scene was one I was very familiar with; it was the conference room in my Dad’s law firm.

Tamyra reached over and increased the volume what time we were watching. She was so mesmerized by things that she raised it too loud and my father’s voice began to boom like a thunderclap echoing in that tiny room.

“Good morning,” began my father’s voice. “My name is Timothy Alan Paul and I sit here being of sound mind and body. I freely admit that no one is forcing me to state what I am about to say. I do this of my own volition. I do this freely and openly. I do this out of a sense of shame and duty. I do this to free my conscience of a burden I have been carrying with me for nearly fifty years.

“On late Saturday and early Sunday, August twenty-ninth and thirtieth, nineteen and fifty-nine, my self and three others were involved in the murder of a young man by the name of Albert Washington.”

My heart began to race and I looked at Tamyra as if demanding her to turn off the television. She paid me no mind because she was glued to the screen.

“Tamyra,” I called, but she didn’t seem to hear. She was mesmerized by what my father was saying. I, on the other hand, could care less about what was being said. I was having a hard time believing that my father was capable of such an act. Sure, her dad was the town drunk and thus was liable to do anything for a drink, but not my Dad. He was the most responsible, level-headed and honest man I’d ever known. He could not be capable of committing such a crime.

“The three others involved with the crime were, Michael W. King, deceased; David Lee Harmon, current minister at the Wheelwright First United Methodist Church; and Jonathan R. Arnett, governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

“At the time of the murder, all four of us were attending Georgia Southern University on either a sports or academic scholarship. We were home because of the death of one of our old coaches. Since our first football game was the following week, our coach let us come home for the weekend. We were due to travel back to college that following Monday.”

“Turn that off!” I shouted. “I don’t want to hear this!”

“I do! I want to know why my father changed. What drove him from being a medical student to being a drunkard? Please, I have to know.”

I wanted to scream at her, but I couldn’t. I wasn’t angry with her. I was angry at my Dad for keeping this from me, but mostly I was angry with myself. I felt as though I had destroyed everything my father had ever accomplished. All my life I had tried to compete with this image I had of my Dad. He was Mr. Everything, and I was a poor parody of his success.

All though I knew that I could never achieve the greatness that he had mastered, I struggled to show him that I was worthy of being his son. All my life I dreamed of doing something so great that I would prove myself to be his equal even if this equality took place only in my mind. Now, I had succeeded in doing just that. Unfortunately, I did it by bringing him down to my level rather than raising myself up to his.

“We’d been out drinking that night,” echoed my father’s voice from the television. “We’d not meant to cause any trouble. As we drove past the old company store, we saw movement up ahead of us.

“’Who’d be out walking at this time of the morning?’ asked Michael Wayne as he spotted the fellow coming towards us. None of us had an answer.

“’Want to have some fun?’ asked Jonathan as he sped up the car and made a bee-line towards Albert.

“We just missed the young man and I thought that Jonathan was going to keep on driving and he probably was, but David Lee shouted, ‘That’s Albert Washington! I say we have some fun with that…’ I won’t repeat the word he said.

“Without even hesitating, Jonathan locked-up the car and then turned the automobile around. Once he had the vehicle righted, he began to chase after Albert.

“Had Albert been walking on the right hand side of the road, he could have shot through the park and ran behind the company store. That would have given him a straight shot to Hall Hollow. He, for whatever reason was walking on the left hand side. Therefore, when we chased after him, he had to run through some people’s yard to get away from us. He kept running until he made it to the road that ran up to Apartment Hill.

“He was going up that hill when we started driving up after him. As we neared him, he began running towards Seventy-Nine Hill.

“Knowing that he was about to get away Jonathan stopped the car and sent David Lee chasing after Albert on foot. I remember hearing David Lee cursing Albert as he took after him.

“Jonathan then put the car in reverse and backed down off of the hill and then proceeded to head up Seventy-Nine Hill, which, for those of you that aren’t familiar with Wheelwright, is located right next to Apartment Hill.

“We drove to the top of the hill and saw no sign of David or Albert. Once at the top of the hill, Jonathan stopped. Whether he was having second thoughts or if he was trying to get his bearing, I don’t know. All I know is that he stopped for a few seconds and we sat there in silence.

“We hadn’t been sitting there twenty seconds before I spotted David. Even though I saw him, I wasn’t about to tell Jonathan. This joke had gone too far for my liking and I wanted it to end.

“Apparently, I wasn’t the only one that was having second thoughts. Michael Wayne, shouted from the back of the seat, ‘Let’s go home boys. We’ve given him a good scare. There’s no need to push this any further. I like Albert.’

“’Shut up!’ shouted Jonathan. ‘We’ll go when I say we go.’

“’I agree with Michael Wayne,’ I said to Jonathan. ‘This is going too far and I don’t want to have a thing to do with it.’

“Before I could say another word, Jonathan pointed a head of us. ‘There’s David. Let’s go get him.’

“David was puffing loudly when he hopped into the car. ‘He’s headed towards the dump,’ whispered David through loud gasps of breath. ‘We can catch him if we hurry.’

“’Then what will we do?” shouted Michael Wayne. He was the only one of us that was thinking clearly at that time. I was too afraid of what my friends would say so I kept my mouth shut.

“The next thing that happened still haunts me to this day.”

I looked up at the television. Until now, my father had been using his lawyer’s voice. He had stated things in the same voice he would use during a trial to rattle off facts of importance but that were not significant. Now, he was speaking with authority. That was the voice he used whenever he wanted to move a jury to his line of thinking.

I took a deep breath as I began to focus on the television. About that time Dad began to speak.

“There was a brief moment of silence in that car. It was broken by Jonathan. I still get chill bumps whenever I think about it.

“Jonathan flipped on the interior light, looked a0t David, who by then was sitting in the front seat, then he looked back at Michael and me.

“It was at this moment I knew what Jonathan was capable of doing. He smiled and asked, ‘Haven’t you always wondered how it would feel to kill somebody? You know, to hold the power of life and death in your hand? To force that person to pray to you to spare their life; even though you have no intention of sparing them. That’s as close to feeling like God as any of us will ever come.’

“’You’re crazy!’ screamed Michael Wayne. I wanted to join the argument on his side, but was so overwhelmed by the moment, I sat there is silence. Jonathan took my silence as acquiescence and to my great shame so did Michael.

“’That settles it,’ shouted David in an almost gleeful tone. ‘I’ve got a score to settle with that boy and I aim to collect with interest!’

“Again, I sat there like a bump on a log and said nothing. Even though I didn’t have the courage to stand up to them, Michael did.

“’I won’t do it! Albert is my friend!’ he screamed.

“Without saying another word, Michael looked at me. His eyes were begging me to help. It was as if they were demanding me to stand up with him. To this day, I believe had I stood up with him the whole thing would have ended right then and there.

“To my everlasting shame, I didn’t. I was afraid to stand up to Jonathan. He was the captain of my college football team and he was the president of my fraternity. I was afraid that he would make my life a living hell were I to stand up to him. So, I sat there in silence and secretly prayed that God would make it all go away. He didn’t.”

Tamyra looked at me and she was smiling even though tears were streaming down her face. That struck me as odd. How could she be smiling and crying at the same time?”

“What?” I asked as our eyes locked on to each other.

“He wasn’t a murderer,” she responded. “He did have a good soul. Don’t you get it? My father didn’t hate himself for being a murderer. He hated himself for not stopping it. That’s why he said he was cursed. He thought that he could have prevented it, but he could not have stopped it even if he had tried. He destroyed himself worrying over something that was not his fault. I knew that his was a soul too wonderful to commit murder.”

“Let’s finish watching this,” I said in a hateful tone as I pointed towards the television. If she was feeling relief towards her Dad, I was suffering shame towards mine. How could a guy who preached doing the right thing at all times not stand up when he was needed the most?

The enormous lie that has been my life began to wrap itself around my soul and began choking the life out of me. Suddenly, I had trouble breathing on my own and had to force myself to take air in and push it out of my lungs. My body began to tremble as it fought within itself to maintain its normal functions.

Tamyra’s eyes became as big as saucers. She reached over and put her hand on me as if to steady me.

“Are you all right?” she asked. “You’re as pail as a ghost.”

“Fine,” I answered, but the word refused to slide from my lips. All she heard was an incoherent grunt.

She went to put her arms around me, but I pushed them away. I pointed at the television and grunted. She must have understood my meaning because she backed away from me and began focusing on the tube in front of us.

It took a few seconds, but eventually I was able to concentrate on what my Dad was saying even though I was still struggling to keep the oxygen flowing into my lungs. I began to focus on the television hoping against hope that I would wake up and this nightmare would be ended. As I stared at the screen, my father’s voice began to echo in my ears. It took a couple more minutes before I was able to understand what he was saying.

“’Come on out, boy!’ shouted David and he seemed to be enjoying this. Maybe it was the alcohol talking or it may have been that he was suffering from a jealous rage. Whatever it was, he wanted to hurt Albert and he seemed to take a perverse pleasure in doing it.

“He kept taunting Albert as we sat there parked at the edge of the city land fill. He cackled like an evil witch as he continued with his incessant chatter. ‘We won’t hurt you. Well, not too bad.’

“I remember hearing Jonathan laugh at that statement by David. Once he quit laughing, he threw out his own taunt.

“’I know you’re out there. All we want to do is talk to you.’ Then he whispered, ‘And, break the scrawny black neck of yours.’”

Dad stopped and looked right into the camera. Before that, his eyes had been lowered and he seemed to have been focusing on the table that sat directly in front of him. Now, he was staring straight forward. I felt as though he were speaking only to me. It was as if he knew, I would be watching this and he wanted to speak to me one-on-one via the camera.

“I am greatly ashamed of what I am about to say,” said my father as his unblinking gaze fixed on mine for an eternal second. In those few seconds, I lived a life time. His gaze told me more than a volume of words could ever adequately tell. As he began to speak, tears began to meander down my cheeks.

“I am the world’s biggest phony. I’ve preached one thing all my life, but was never able to live up to the standard I demanded from others, especially my beloved son, Lance.”

I began to sob when I heard those words. As the tears began to pour from my body like blood streaming from a wounded animal, I began searching my memories for any hint that my father was capable of such madness.

I became frustrated as I picked through my mind trying to find that one tidbit that would clarify his actions to me. When everything else failed, I settled on a cherished memory from my childhood.

I must have been about twelve when this memory happened. It was some time in the fall, probably during those few days where October and November overlap each other. Dad had decided to take me to a place located near our home. The name of the place was Collier Rock.

It is a formation of large rocks nearly as big as a football field and half as tall. It is nestled almost at the epicenter where three mountain ridges converge. From the top of that formation, a person can see forever. Stretching out in the distance are waves and waves of the rolling Appalachian Mountains.

The various reds, yellows and oranges of those hills gave the appearance of intermittent fires spontaneously combusting in a sea of green. It is impossible to look upon those mountains during mid-autumn and not experience some type of religious moment.

To be upon those rocks and to stare out into that kaleidoscope of dancing colors, is the closest a person can ever come to feeling like a god. It creates within the mind a sense of complete awe and oneness with the world.

When we reached the top of the rock, Dad put his arm around me and pulled me close to him. “Have you ever seen anything as wonderful as this?” he asked.

I stood there for several long minutes just drinking in the beauty that lay before me. It was like a wondrous tapestry woven by the hands of a genius rug maker. I stared at the sheer majesty of it all for a few minutes and then I took in a deep cleansing breath. It was as if I was trying to drink in the divinity of this sacred place.

As I opened my lungs to absorb my surroundings, the air roared as it entered my lungs and made its way through my system. I could almost feel the cleansing that was taking place with in my body as the air of this lost paradise seemed to remove even my thoughts that were not in tune with the miracle that was happening before my very eyes.

“I come up here whenever I have a problem or when I need an answer,” stated my father mechanically. “I call it my sacred place.”

“That’s a good name for it,” I agreed.

“I know this is going to sound strange, but there is something almost magical about this place.”

“I can feel it!” I shouted in agreement. I looked up at him and smiled, but he wasn’t smiling like I expected. Tears were in his eyes and he seemed to have left me for a second. I don’t know where his mind had gone, but he was not there sharing that religious moment with me.

As I stared at him, I could tell that he was tormented by something, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.

“Are you alright?” I asked. My emotions had gone from an ecstatic high to fear in less than a second.

He didn’t answer at first. He acted as though he was mulling my question over in his mind. After several long and agonizing seconds, he smiled at me and said, “I’m fine. Just relieving some old memories.”

“Good ones or bad ones.”

“Both, but mostly good. I was thinking of the day you were born. Mally said you’d make me proud one of these days and she was one hundred percent correct.”

I smiled, but didn’t believe him. His face had the look of pain on it instead of pride. Was I doing something that was causing him pain? I searched my memory and couldn’t find a single thing. Sure, I had done the little things all kids have done by the time they hit the age of twelve, but I couldn’t think of a thing I had done to make him sad.

He looked at me and smiled through his pain. “I love you and I want you to be strong when you grow up.” He reached out and cradled my face in his hand. He then lifted my chin so that I was forced to look him in the eye. “Do you understand what I’m asking from you?”

I shook my head to indicate that I did not. I was not being honest about it. I didn’t have a clue as to what he was talking about. I stood there trembling as I tried to make sense of what he was telling me.

As if he anticipated what I was feeling, he said, “I know this doesn’t make sense to you at this time. It will one of these days. I promise you that. One of these days you are going to look back on this day and everything will fall into place and make perfect sense to you. Do you believe that?”

“Yes,” I muttered. It was the first time I ever remember lying to my father.

“Good,” he said with a smile. “You must always remember that a real man does the right thing at all times…”

“Regardless of the consequences,” I interrupted.

He shot me that pained smile again. “Know this, my son, I love you and I’m very proud of you. There’s a strength locked deep within you that I can only dream of having. It is that strength that will save us both one of these days, God willingly.”

I looked up at him but didn’t say a word. He must have recognized the confusion on my face because he smiled at me and gently stroked my cheek.

“Enough of this,” he said with a smile. “Let’s find something else to talk about.”

I nodded my head in agreement because I was too confused to do anything else.

He held up his pointing finger on his right hand. “Do you hear that?”

I looked around to see if I could see something because I had heard nothing. As I was gazing at my surroundings, I heard a faint chirping sound that was a cross between a parakeet and a song bird.

“There it went again,” he said. “Did you hear it?”

“What is it?” I asked. “It sounds like a bird.”

“It does, doesn’t it? But, it’s not a bird.”

Thinking it might be a panther or a wildcat, I became frightened. “What is it?” I asked in a low tone. I was thinking whatever it was it might be out to get us.

“It’s a squirrel,” answered my Dad with a chuckle. “He’s either happy as a clam or else he’s looking for a girlfriend. He might even be both. If we listen we might be able to find out where he is. Would you like to see him?”

I didn’t say a word, but nodded my head vigorously to show my enthusiasm for his words.

“Keep listening, we’ll find him eventually.”

I took a deep breathe and held it thinking that would help me find the squirrel. It chirped again and my lungs nearly exploded with excitement. I let out a large burst of air in my excitement.

Dad began to laugh. “It’s okay to breathe. You don’t want to pass out before you see the squirrel, do you?”

I smiled but out of pain instead of amusement.

The squirrel chirped again and Dad pointed off to his left. “This way,” he said as he let go of me and began making his way in the direction he was pointing.

We rambled around those rocks for ten minutes before we found the tree in which the squirrel was sitting. He was about eighteen feet up in an oak tree. It sitting on a branch that jutted out like a malformed arm. The squirrel was dark gray with a splash of brick added to its belly. The brick was especially prominent near the tail.

We watched it run around the branches of that tree for several minutes. Once it seemed to tire, it stopped on that same twisted branch and began to chirp again. I laughed the first time I saw it call to a mate. It stood up on its hind legs and folded its arms out in front of it. It looked as though it was about to say a prayer. Each time it chirped, its whole body would hunker down and then spring up as though it was about to jump. The part that was so amusing about it all was that the tail shook like a baby rattle with each chirp.

After watching the tiny rodent perform this dance for the fifth or sixth time, I began to chuckle which soon turned into a cackle. As my laughter got louder, the animal became frightened and began scrambling higher up into that tree. Once it was about sixty feet in the air. It began to run out on a limb as fast as it could.

My amusement instantly changed to horror as I realized that it was moving to fast to stop and thus was going to come crashing down to its death. As I held my breath waiting for the inevitable, the squirrel neared the ended of the branch and leaped off of it. I let out a moan of fear as I watched the creature sail out into nothingness. As I stood there horrified at what I was witnessing, the creature seemed to float across the sky. My terror soon turned to celebration as that piece of flying gray fur gently landed on the branch of another tree some thirty feet away.

“Did you see that?” I screamed with excitement. “That squirrel must be kin to Superman. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life!”

“All squirrels can do that,” responded my father. “That’s how God made them. He made them for a special purpose and they fulfill that purpose even though there is danger involved. We are like that as well. God made each one of us for a special purpose and we are to fulfill that purpose regardless of the dangers it involves.”

I understood that he directing that speech towards me, but I wasn’t sure why he was doing it. I looked up at him hoping he’d say something else to clarify his words for me. He must have sensed my confusion because he looked at me as though he was trying to gauge my understanding of his words.

“You understand what I’m saying?” he asked.

“Kind of,” I responded. “You’re saying that I have a purpose in this world and that I am to fulfill it regardless of the outcome?”

“Precisely.”

“But, what if that purpose is for evil? Then I should never fulfill it?”

He laughed but I could see tears forming in his eyes. He pulled me into him and hugged me like he had never hugged me before or since.

“I’m proud of you,” he struggled to say. “You will be my salvation one of these days. You’ll prove yourself to be the man that I could never be. God has granted my clemency through you.”

His word frightened me so I pushed him away. “Why are you talking so crazy?” I asked.

“You’ll understand one of these days!”

I couldn’t drive after hearing my mother’s words. I sat there, shook violently and tried to make sense of my world. I was now questioning everything I’d ever believed. How could I be living this nightmare? Was everything about my family nothing but an illusion, a childhood fantasy created and then sustained by my overactive imagination?

I began to question everything I’d ever known. To me, the greatest thing my father had ever accomplished was to stand up for a local man named Andre “Rowdy” Johnston. Rowdy was from my home town and his father was the pastor of the Missionary Baptist Church, which was one of four Black churches in the community.

Rowdy had been dating a white girl when they were stopped by three thugs bent on mischief. They carried baseball bats with them and it was their intention to teach Rowdy that it was not his place to be dating white girls. The first few hits did not strike a body blow but were rained on Rowdy’s vehicle, a cherry, dark blue sixty-nine Camaro. Once Rowdy got out of the car, the men threaten him and one even took a swing at him. Unbeknownst to the three drunken thugs, Rowdy had began carrying a pistol with him due to the threats he’d been receiving for dating this girl, whose name escapes me at this time.

When the first guy missed, Rowdy pulled out his pistol. As he reached to pull out his pistol, the other two decided to attack. What happened next has never been fully explained, but over the next few seconds Rowdy received a broken arm and a bruised thigh, while two of his attackers received fatal gunshot wounds and the third was left paralyzed from the waist down.

When they went to trial, Rowdy’s former girlfriend, I believe her name was Evelyn, refused to collaborate his story. We would later find out that she and her family had received many death threats and she was too frightened to tell the truth. After the trial, she would leave for Indiana, as far as I know, she’s never returned.

The whole time the trial was taking place we got ten to twelve death threats a week. It got so bad, that the state police put a trace on our telephone. We managed to keep one of the callers on for a couple of minutes one time by telling him that my father was in the restroom and if he’d hold we’d go get him. The guy did and the police were able to trace the call. They promptly arrested the father of one of the boys that had attacked Rowdy. After that, the threatening phone calls slowed but didn’t cease. It would take months for that to happen.

My Dad defended Rowdy with every bit of energy he had. He was like a man possessed during those four trying weeks. He got home after we went to bed and was up and gone before I awoke. In the end, an all white jury took less than two hours to acquit Rowdy.

He too would leave the state right after that. Rumor had it that he had gone to Indiana to marry the girl involved, or that’s the way I like to remember it. I enjoy the fact that love won out in the end.

I was thirteen when Dad defended Rowdy. Even though he hadn’t noticed me doing it, I followed the trial with great interest. I remember being both terrified by the police being stationed in front of our house and fascinated by them as well. I understood that what Dad was doing was of great consequences. I also knew that he was in the right.

Mom had let me miss school the day that the lawyers gave their closing arguments. The prosecutor rambled on for a couple hours but basically said nothing. My Dad simply looked at the jury and asked them one question.

“What would you do if three known hoodlums were attacking you with baseball bats? Would you simply take the beating and perhaps death or would you fight back? If you choose fight back, then you have to vote not quilty.”

They would vote that way. Two years later Dad would run for governor. His largest supporters were the African-American communities located throughout the state. They had heard about what he had done for Rowdy and they supported him wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, in a state that loves liberal politicians, the same people that always voted Democratic because Democrats are “for the people” couldn’t make themselves vote for a true man of the people and they elected the most incompetent governor of the twentieth century. The stigma that my Dad favored “those people” over us couldn’t be overcome.

In the end, those same people that preached equality and equal opportunity to others were not going to apply those same rules to them. Dad would lose by six percentage points because those same progressives that forced reform on everyone else refused to force it on themselves. Prejudice won out and the administration that ran on the platform of “Sticking Up for Our Values,” won. That same administration holds the record for the most indictments against its participants to this day.

I had known Rowdy as a child. He had been an athletic and academic star at Wheelwright High School. His senior year he was voted Mr. Trojan, which was given to the best all around male student in the graduating class.

I’d never been as proud as my Dad as I was when I saw him work the jury the way he did. Had anybody else been defending him, Rowdy would probably still be in prison. It was at that trial that I decided that I wanted to be a lawyer. It was there watching all that magic that I decided that I wanted to be just like my Dad. I wanted to help people when no one else would. That flame still burns in my heart to this day. God willingly, it always will, but the news I got this day has diminished its luster.

“Are you okay?” asked Tamyra. “You’re crying.”

“I don’t know. I feel like my whole world has crumbled all around me. It’s like a two ton elephant is sitting on my chest choking the life out of me.”

I started to say something else, but stopped in order to open my car door so that I could empty the contents of my stomach on road. I retched three times. With the last one, I thought my very soul was going to ejaculate from my body.

Once I finished, I tried to make sense of everything for the second time. How could this be happening to me? How could I have been so wrong about my own father? Dad was everything I ever wanted to be and now, I find that he’s a murderer.

My body convulsed as my mind tried to override the anger I was feeling at his betrayal. For the first time in my life, I saw a different side to my father. Growing up, he had been the standard to which I measured myself. I always came up lacking when I compared myself to him. He’d been everything I hoped to be, but now all I saw was darkness when I tried to relive memories of him. How could I have been so foolish?

As I thought about it, I knew that I had to make things right. How I was going to do that I didn’t know. He’d done so much good surely that outweighed one little misstep in his youth? It had too?

I sat there and thought about what I could do to fix this problem. The first thing that came to mind was to end the investigation. Were I to do that, then maybe the governor would call off his dogs and things could go back to the way they were less than a week ago.

I knew that could never happen because there was a dead cop involved. Even though this man had been on the take, his fellow officers wouldn’t see it that way. They’d eventually come to know who did it and they’d love nothing better than to bring down a cop killing member of the KBI. They like every other state employee hated the KBI and with my arrest, they’d kill two birds with one stone.

I knew that I had to ride this investigation out to the bitter end. If I didn’t I’d never live to see it finished. Those that were chasing us would shoot first and ask questions later. All they had to do was silence three people and their secret would be forever safe.

My only choice was to bring down the governor in a way that would also protect my father. As I thought about how I was going to go about accomplishing this task, one person came to mind, Aunt Mally. She’d know what to do. She always did.

I began to take some deep breathes in order to force myself relax. Tamyra must have sensed that because she spoke to me.

“Are you okay this time?” she asked and I could hear the concern in her voice.

“Some, but I still need to figure out what I’m going to do. Did you hear what I said to mom?”

“Not all of it, but I know what it’s about. I’m sorry I didn’t know your dad was one of the men. I’d never have let you gotten involved with this had I known.”

“I know, but that cat is out of the bag and we can never put her back in. I need to figure out what I’m going to do. Hand me that phone. There’s only one person who can help now and I’m going to call her.”

Mahalia answered on the second ring. Whether she expected me to call or whether it was her use of the gift, she knew it was me calling.

“Hello Lance, I’ve been expecting you to call,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Aunt Mally, I’ve got to talk to you.”

“I know, I’ve been expecting your call all morning. Your dad’s out of town and your mom is at your Aunt Lizzie’s house. They’re both safe for the time being.”

I took a deep breath to allow myself time to form the question. Before I could ask it, she answered it.

“Yes, he was one of them, but he and Michael didn’t commit the act. Their sin was one of omission. They didn’t do it, but they didn’t stop it either. It destroyed them both. Michael would have been a great physician.”

“How?” I asked not knowing what else to say.

“I saw them,” she replied. “It was many weeks later. After the investigation had began to cool. I was awake lying in my bed when Albert came to visit. He touched my face and I saw everything through his eyes.

“I felt his pain and his terror. His biggest fear was not of dying but of disappointing his mother. He had deliberately disobeyed her and he was ashamed of his actions. His final thoughts were of Samantha Jacobs. He was in love with her even though they had never kissed.”

“Is that why Dad dedicated himself to helping the downtrodden?” I asked even though I already knew the answer.

“Yes, he had many offers from large firms coming out of law school. He’d graduated first in his class and had made Law Review, but he chose to stay and help the poor of our area. He especially wanted to help the Black community. It was his way of paying penance for what he had failed to stop.”

“You’ve known all this time and have never told a soul?” I was having trouble understanding things and was hoping she would help to clarify them for me.

“Why didn’t you stop me? Had you explained the situation I would have dropped this investigation, went back home and never spoke of this again.”

“I couldn’t do that. It’s not my place to mess with someone’s destiny.”

“Destiny!” I shouted. “What’s destiny got to do with this?”

“Everything.” That’s all she said but I needed more and I knew that she had the information I needed. I was not about to let her withhold that from me.

“Why can’t Dad change his destiny?” I asked.

“His fate was set on the night he failed to stop a murder. We’re not talking about his destiny, we’re talking about yours.”

“Mine! What are you talking about?”

“We’ve known since the day you were born that you would be the one that would bring Albert’s killers to justice.”

“Bull! That’s crazy!”

“And yet it is happening just as I said it would over thirty-five years ago.”

“What do you mean? You’ve know since I was born!” I was shouting because she wasn’t making sense on an intellectual level, but something inside of me was telling me that she was speaking the truth.

“When Rachel was able four months pregnant with you, Albert Washington came to visit me one night. He said he had a message for Tim. He said that were the child Rachel was carrying a girl, then nothing would be forgiven and Timothy would take his secret to the grave. But, he also said that were the baby a boy, then all would be forgiven, but the boy, you, would be the one to bring his killers to justice.

“Your father has known since the day you were born that you would be the one to bring him down. It took him years to accept his fate, but he has accepted it.”

“You’re crazy! This is crazy! There’s no way you could have known this was going to happen!”

“I didn’t,” she replied, “but Albert did.

“He holds no ill will towards Tim or Michael, but he cannot rest until justice in meted out to the others. Tim’s salvation can only come through you. You must see this through in order to redeem both Tim and Michael King.”

“Mally, this is crazy. You have to see that. This makes no sense at all.”

“I don’t make the rules. I simply see them in advance. I can’t interfere and am afraid that I have gone too far as it is.”

“I won’t bring down my Dad! I can’t do it! I love him too much to hurt him.”

“You’re his only hope!” I’d never heard her raise her voice before. “Unless you see this through, there’s no hope for Tim or” – she stopped for a long pause – “or Alex. For you own son’s sake, you must see this through.”

“You’re scaring me,” I said in what had to be the understatement of my life.

“You have no choice,” she reiterated. “Your father has been grooming you for this your entire life. He’s known since before you were born and he’s done everything in his power to ensure you would do the right thing when the time came.

“That’s why I’ve love him the way I do. I’ve known the burden he has carried. He could have gone another route. He could have tried to stop you, but he understood that no good would come of it if he chose another direction. Therefore, he raised you to be strong so when the time came you’d do the right thing.

“Just think of his favorite statement. It was designed to create such a sense of right and wrong within you that you’d do the right thing no matter what. Do you remember what he always said when you were growing up?”

“I remember,” I replied and I felt as though a stone had been dropped in the pit of my stomach.

“What did he tell you?” she asked even though I know she knew the answer.

He said, “You must always do the right thing…”

“Regardless of the outcome,” she interrupted. “He knew this day was coming and he was preparing you to do…”

“The right thing,” I said.

“And you will. I know that because Albert has told me.”

“God help me!”

“He already has,” replied Mally. “God’s been preparing you for this moment your entire life. “You’ll do the right thing.”

“Even though it will destroy my entire family?”

“It will redeem them, but it will require a sacrifice. One that Tim willingly made the day you were born.

“That’s why; I love him so much. He could have raised you another way, but he didn’t. His life was secondary to yours so he raised you to be strong so that when the time came you’d do what was required of you. He loved you enough to…”

She stopped and I could hear her moan on the other end of the connection. I sat there and tried to think of something to say, but I couldn’t. I looked in the rearview mirror and watch two large tears meander down my face like two small waterfalls pouring from holes ripped from my deepest darkest innermost thoughts. After a couple of minutes of silence, she began to speak.

“Lance, do you remember when your dad went into work earlier a couple of days ago? He videotaped his confession to me. We mailed a DVD to your office in Frankfort. It contains all of the information about the murder. Tim thought that you should see it. He didn’t have the courage to tell you face-to-face. He didn’t want to see the disappointment in your eyes.”

Without saying another word, she hung up on me.

I sat there crying for the next several minutes. Tamyra, God bless her, tried to comfort me, but I refused to be consoled. It took several minutes, but I was eventually able to gather my wits about me. Once I had control of my emotions, I put the car into gear and got back on the road. We arrived at the Cabin on Herrington Lake about three o’clock in the afternoon.

During summer, the sun doesn’t fully set in central Kentucky until well after nine. Still, people would be stirring until well after two in the morning on a Saturday.

I had made up my mind to slip into my office and retrieve the package sent by my Dad. Given that there were several bars and clubs located near my downtown office, I decided that the best time to make my move would be around two o’clock in the morning. Most of the clubs and bars would be closed or closing at that time and there would be a crowd of people milling around trying to figure out what they were going to do next. If there ever was a time when I didn’t expect to be noticed, that would be it.

Once I found the key to Brett’s cabin, I let myself and Tamyra in and then began packing in what little luggage we had. Once finished, I drove around back and parked the car under some trees. This would protect us from any prying eyes.
We rummaged through the cabin and found only a few can goods on which we could eat. The shelves also contained a box of tea and two boxes of Zesta Wheat Crackers.

“At least we won’t starve,” joked Tamyra even though I could tell she was not happy with our selection.

“There was a small store just outside of town,” I said. “I could pick up some groceries there.”

“They know you. I should be the one to go shopping. I’m less likely to be spotted.”

“Not the way you look. If they see you, they’ll remember it. Beautiful women are hard to forget.”

She smiled and then began to purr like a kitten. “Flattery will get you everywhere with me,” she whispered in her most playful voice.

I blew out a puff of air not knowing what else to do. Part of me wanted to take her up on that offer, but another part of me, the part instilled there by my Dad, insisted that I be the gentleman. Even though my body ached to ravish her, I had way too much respect and self-control to step into something I wasn’t ready to fully handle in both a physical and mental capacity.

“I’m still not ready,” I whispered and part of me regretted saying it.

“Tease,” she responded jokingly. “You promise an awful lot, but you deliver very little.”

I thought about it for a second. “Were I a woman, I’d want a man that respects me the way I respect you. That kind of man will be faithful and loyal to you.

“Let’s supposed I jumped into the sack with you on our first date. Could you really trust a guy or even a girl that would do that? Think about it. Let’s supposed we got married and ten years down the road we were having some marital problems. Who do you think would be less likely to cheat on you, the guy who slept with you the first night or the guy who was willing to wait?”

“The second one of course.”

“See, if I’m willing to wait then don’t you think I’d be willing to turn from that temptation should it arise?”

“I guess, maybe, but don’t you think all guys cheat?”

“I never did and neither did Dad. Not all guys are like Ricky. As matter of fact, I think that women secretly yearn for the Ricky’s of the world.”

“What do you mean by that?” I heard a tone of anger in her voice.

“Simply this. It’s been my experience that were I to line up one hundred women and one hundred men in order to have them to pair off into couples two things would happen. The men would for the most part chase the pretty girls, but the women would nearly all chase the jerks in the crowd. As a matter of fact, I believe that were all things equal including looks, the men would be divided in three groups. Those groups are the men looking for the bad girls; those looking for good girls; and those just happy to have a girl. Those three groups would be equally divided in to thirds.”

“And what about women?” she asked.

“Twenty percent would try to find the richest guy in the group. One percent would be happy to have a man and seventy-nine percent would look for the biggest jerk of the group. I believe that were the jerk also rich, then ninety-nine percent of the women would trample the ninety-nine good men, I’m talking about the type of men women say they’re wanting and needing, in order to get to the lone jerk of the crowd. When the dust settled ninety-nine good men would have been trampled to death as the women made a mass charge to be the first in line to sleep with the one ass in the crowd.”

“Somebody has really done you wrong!” she stated flatly.

“Nope, I’ve just lived a life time of being the best friend that women loved, but not the man they wanted to marry. Do you know how many times I’ve been told? ‘If only jerk wad was more like you, he’d be perfect?”

“From the anger in your tone, I’d say a lot.”

“More than I’d care to count. That’s why I married Mary. She was different. That’s why I like you; you’re different.”

“Have women really been that cruel to you?”

“Find any nice guy, you know the type women say they yearn to have as a husband, and you’ll hear thousands, no millions of stories like that.”

“I see women on these talk shows saying: ‘There’s not any great guys left anymore.’ I want to laugh when I hear that. What they’re really saying is that they want the completely self-absorbed jerks they’re in love with to be more like guys on soap operas. The sad fact of the matter is that there are millions of great guys out there that would love to me a nice girl. The only problem with that is that most girls won’t give a nice guy a second look until they’ve been used and abused three or four times by a string of jerks.

“I’ve heard women all my life say that they won’t play second fiddle to any man, but they expect nice guys to play forth or fifth fiddle to the jerks that these same women want to possess.”

“You’re awfully hard on women aren’t you?”

“Let me ask you one question? You’re from Eastern Kentucky, how many men do you know are married to a woman that has a baby by someone else?”

“A lot, why?”

“They’re forcing a good man to raise the jerk’s baby and that good guy is usually thrilled just to have a woman to love. Now here’s a second question. How many of those marriages end in divorce because the woman usually goes back to fooling with the jerk that knocked her up in the first place?”

“Probably half of them.” She looked at me and I could tell the anger was gone. It was replaced by curiosity.

“These are the same women that go on talk shows and degrade men as being dogs and animals, when they should be telling the world that they are self-absorbed, two-faced idiots who don’t want a good man.”

“Where’s this anger coming from?”

“Most guys feel this way, but we don’t have the media and men’s groups telling us that we are better off without women. We know we need women. We are just looking for a fair shake, but society is stacked against us so we do the best we can.”

She harrumphed. “I disagree with everything you said, but I can see some valid points especially about the women who run around on their husbands with old boyfriends.”

“Happens more than you know.”

“Probably, but I don’t want to talk about that. Now, run me to the store.”

I smiled. “Sorry about getting up on the soapbox. It happens to me on an occasion. I’m not angry at you, and I’m sorry for taking it out on you.”

“That’s all right. It explains a couple of things for me. You’re afraid of me, aren’t you?”

“Terrified, I don’t play games and I failed ESP in college. Even Mary, played mind games with me on occasion. She had my heart; she didn’t need to confuse my mind.”

Two hours later we were back from the grocery and I was trying to take a nap on the couch in the living room or family room to the cabin. Tamyra had gone into take a bath in the Jacuzzi tub. She’d asked me to join her but I refused.

I still wasn’t ready to totally surrender my heart. Trust doesn’t come easy to me, but when I give someone my heart or my loyalty, it’s for life. It takes a great deal to earn that trust and it takes even more to lose it.

I must have fallen asleep what time she was in the bathtub, because the next thing I knew she was nudging me in order to wake me.

“Wake up,” she whispered as she gently shook me.

After several shakes and a couple of seconds, I began to stir.

“Wake up sleepy head. I thought you were going to sleep all night.”

“What time is it?” I asked.

“After ten, you’ve slept for nearly five hours.”

“Ten! It can’t be that late. I must have been in a coma.”

“I’ll say,” she said in a teasing tone. “I walked around here naked even pretended that the house was on fire and still you didn’t stir.”

“Are you serious?”

“No, but I thought about it.”

“You aren’t mad at what I said earlier.”

“No, should I be? You were merely stating your opinion. I agree with some of it, but you didn’t have a clue on other parts.”

“Probably. It may not be true, but it sure feels that way.”

“Trust me, it’s not. You’ve just had some bad luck with women.”

“Fact!”

“Told ya.”

“I need to get ready. I have to get there before two so we have to leave right at one.”

“Well you’ve got nearly three hours to get ready. What time are we leaving?”

“We’re not leaving at anytime. I’m leaving at one.”

“You’re not leaving without me!”

“I can’t chance it. Were something to happen to you, I’d never forgive myself.”

“And I would feel different?”

“No, no, it’s just that, well, I wish I had a clue as to what I want to say.”

“You were saying that you’d love to have me along.” She began to laugh and somewhere along the line, I began to laugh with her.”

“You have to stay in the car, if you go.”

“Does that mean I get to be the get-a-way driver?”

“Stop joking, this is serious.”

“I know,” she responded, “but silly humor is how I deal with stress.”

“Me to.”

“Told ya, we’re perfect for each other.”

“You’ve already got us married off,” I barked playfully.

“Not, now, but I always wanted to have my wedding on Christmas Day. It makes the day doubly special and no guy could ever forget the anniversary.”

“Whoa, slow down there cowgirl. That horse is moving way too fast for me.”

“Good, that keeps you off balance.”

Nearly four hours later we were parking across the street from the new Paul Sawyier Library. I tossed her the keys as I turned off the car.

“Move over to the driver’s seat and wait on me until I return,” I told her as I got out of the car. “Stay low and don’t let anybody see you until I return. If I haven’t got back by two-thirty, then get out of here. Other than that, stay here no matter what. Is that understood?”

“Perfectly.”

I kissed her on the cheek and made my way down St Claire Street towards the Old Capitol Annex. As I passed over the railroad tracks running through the center of Broadway, I glance over my shoulder to see if any one was following. Convinced that I wasn’t being following, I crossed over the other side. The instant my foot hit the sidewalk on the other side of the street, lightning began to strike and a downpour started.

By the time I made my way to the front of the building less than two hundred feet away, I was soaked to the bone as the rain fell as though it was being dumped out by buckets.

I took a deep breath and ran my badge across the basement door. To my surprise, the scanner buzzed and the door opened. Realizing that I may have just tripped a silent alarm, I ran up the four flights of stairs to my office. Once there, I flipped on an overhead light and made my way to desk. There sitting unopened on the top of my “In-Box” was a federal express package.

I grabbed the package and saw that the sender was my father’s law firm. Without hesitation, I turned and began running down the stairs. I ran down to the first floor and made my way out of the exit at the bottom of the steps.

“Freeze,” shouted a man’s voice as I ran out of the building. A pair of car headlights flicked on to my right. Since the Old Capitol blocked me from going forward, the Annex blocked me from going backwards; I took off running to my left. That also happened to be the way in which I had previously came.

As I ran past the front of the Old Capitol, I heard shots being fired. Whether they were shooting at me or up in the air as a warning, I couldn’t tell and didn’t care. My only thought was getting away from there.

About the time I made it across the railroad track, a bolt of lightning struck a building and the town went pitch black accept for the policeman’s car lights which were now fading in the back ground.

“He’s heading up St. Clair,” shouted a voice.

I was thankful that there were a number of people coming out of the club and bar located on that hundred yard stretch of street. With reckless abandon, I ran as hard as I could. The lights form the cruiser shone on the people and for the most part I was able to avoid hitting them. Still, I bumped into several people and was knocked to the ground on one occasion.

“Everybody get down, this is the police!” shouted a voice somewhere behind me.

Fortunately, his command had just the opposite affect on the people as they began to scream and several ran past me.

Somewhere just behind me, I heard a man call. “Run you sum bitch, I’ve got you. You ain’t getting away.”

I was less than fifty feet from the singing bridge that separates the older section of town from the newer section. I had to round a curve to get there and when I did, things became pitch black. I felt my foot strike the loose metal plate that marks the footpath for the bridge. The instant I heard that noise I counted fifteen more steps and then leaped to my left.

The drop from the bridge to the Kentucky River below is about sixty to seventy feet. Most people could survive that drop, but nobody is crazy enough to jump off the singing bridge. There’s enough debris floating in the river to make such a jump suicidal.

That was the reason I jumped when I did. I have walked across this bridge two times a day, five days a week for three and a half years while taking my morning and afternoon walks. I knew that about twenty-five feet from shore hung a series of large sycamore tree branches. It was my hope when I leaped that I would land on one of these branches and then ride it into the water.

“Whooopf,” screamed my lungs as my chest landed again something hard. Hoping that this was one of the branches, I instinctively wrapped my arms around in front of me. I felt the flesh ripping from my hands and I prayed that I hadn’t broken the DVD when I curled my arms around the branches. I felt my foot become wet and I released the limb I was holding. I dropped a couple of feet into the water and then began feeling for my package. I still had it.

“You can’t get away from me that easily,” came that same gravelly voice I heard chasing me only seconds before hand. “He’s in the water. Get over here.”

I heard something rattling the fence surrounding the bridges footpath. “You’re dead when I get a hold of you,” shouted that same hateful voice.

I looked up about the time a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky. I could see the man climbing atop the fence. As the thunder clapped, I began swimming towards the bridge. It was the closest way back to the library and it was the last place I thought the man would expect me to go. He would expect me to move away from him, not towards him.

“I’m gonna get you,” he shouted as he jumped.

“Yeaaaah,” he screamed on his way down.

He smacked the water with a loud thud rather than a splash. I stopped swimming and listened for him, but heard nothing. I was still floating there listening for him when I felt something strike against me. Acting on pure instinct, I turned and slugged with all my strength whatever it was that had bumped me. My fist made a devastating contact with the man’s flesh, but he didn’t react the way he should have. His body popped, but that was the only sound it made.

I tightened myself up waiting for his blow to fall and when it didn’t I became curious. Suspecting some type of trap, I moved in cautiously. My left hand felt something and I grabbed it. I pulled it towards me as I twisted it in order to keep him off guard.

As I was getting ready to make another strike, I realized that this man was not resisting my efforts. His arm was dandling limply in mine and he was not struggling with me. As I moved in closer, I felt a large log bump up against me.

That’s when I knew. He’d landed on a log when he jumped. That accounted for the large thud that I had heard earlier.

I began to search his body and within seconds I found that for which I was searching. In the holster located under his shoulder, was strapped a Glock nine millimeter service pistol. I don’t know why I hadn’t brought my weapon with me, but now that I had a weapon, I felt a tiny bit more secure.

“They were heading across the bridge the last I seen ‘em,” shouted a voice from above me. “You two keep going, Benny and I will look around here.”

I reached up and grabbed the log. It was floating down stream towards the boat ramp which was located directly behind the library. Once there at the ramp, I could make my way around to the front of the library and then get out of town.

“Benny, bring a flash light over here,” shouted the man who had spoken earlier.

“I left it in the car,” returned a younger voice.

“Go get it. The governor will have our heads if we let him get away.”

“Be back in a minute.”

Another bolt of lightning flashed and I could see that I was less than fifteen feet from the ramp. I let go of the log and slowly and quietly began to paddle myself towards the concrete path. After about six short silent strokes, I felt my feet strike ground. From there, I began to slowly and soundlessly walk my way up the concrete ramp. Once into the parking lot, I began to feel my way around the building. I was on the far side of the library and completely out of sight from the cops, when the overhead lights began to blink at irregular intervals. I was almost to the car when they finally flickered back on and lighted the entire area.

Once the over head lights began to shine, I looked for Tamyra. There about sixty feet from me set Robbie’s muscle car. I ran over to it and opened the passenger’s side door.

“Where have you been?” shouted Tamyra.

“Let’s get out of here and I’ll explain that to you later.”

She looked at me. “You look hurt. Are you all right?”

“We’ll both be dead unless you get out of here,” I snapped.

“Where do I go?”

“Go to the end of street and take a right. Go through the first stop light and take a left at the next one and you’ll be home free. Stay straight from there. You’ll go through the next few light and then you’ll have U.S. one-twenty-seven to take us out of here.”

She did as instructed. There were several other cars leaving. Most of them contained the departing party goers. I was thankful for the disturbance created by the blackout because it allowed us to blend in just as pretty as you please with the rest of the departing crowd. By three o’clock, we were back in Burgin with no one the wiser as to where we were.

We spent the next thirty minutes trying to patch up all the tears I’d received from the tree. None of them were serious, but the next morning I would have several new bruises with the grand-daddy of them being a basketball sized one on my chest.

After talking to Hattie Faye, I was determined not to go to the cabin at Cave Run, but I needed somewhere else to lay low until I could plan my next move. I thought about it the whole time I was getting ready. About the time I was finishing showering, an idea hit me. My friend Brett Bates has a cabin on Herrington Lake in the town of Burgin which is near Lexington and Frankfort. He’d taken me to it a few years earlier. We’d spent a couple weekends cleaning it up and painting it a few months after his father died.

He had thought about selling it, but hadn’t the last time I talked to him. He said that it had meant so much to his father that he didn’t have the heart to get rid of it. He told me that I could use it any time I needed it. He had a key hidden in a magnetic container below the mail box.

Even though I knew it wasn’t that great of a plan, it was all I had. The thought of being half an hour from Frankfort both thrilled me and frightened me. It thrilled me to be that close to the capitol because I figured that would be the last place they would look for me. They would assume I was hiding somewhere in Eastern Kentucky because that was where I was from and that was the place I knew the best.

Staying close to Frankfort would allow me some measure of cover but it was also very risky. Even though it would be the last place they would expect me to be, I ran the risk of being spotted by someone that knew me. Still, that was a risk I was willing to take at this point because I had no other choice. Still, I had to be cautious.

I decided to wait until we were on the road before I’d tell Tamyra where we were going. I chose to take U.S. Sixty to Lexington instead of Interstate Sixty-Four. I did it for two reasons. The first was that it was a longer and more relaxing drive than the interstate. The second and most important reason was that I ran less of a risk passing cops than I would by going the other route. Once I got near Lexington, I’d take an alternate route to Burgin and then hole up as long as I could.

Normally, the trip from Cave Run to Burgin would take about two hours but I wanted stay out of the way. Therefore, I expected the trip to take three or more hours.

Before we left, I packed the car with as many groceries as I could scrounge from Robbie’s hideout. I’d find away to reimburse him and thank him for all he’d done for me.

My plan was to proceed east to Morehead and then take the U.S. Highway west to my final destination. About thirty minutes outside of Morehead, I began to relax. With that I began a conversation with Tamyra. While still keeping my eyes on the road, I began our talk with a question.

“So, Tamyra, tell me about your Dad?”

“What about him?” she asked. I could hear the panic in her voice.

“Nothing, I was just trying to start a conversation. I meant nothing by it.”

“Sorry, I get nervous talking about my Dad. Given how things turned out, I’m sure you can understand my reluctance to talk about it.”

“Yeah, I think I can, maybe, I hope, you, know, relate to that.”

“My Dad,” she started and then stopped. “He wasn’t the monster you might think he was. He was a wonderful, incredible man and I feel blessed to have had him as a father.

“All you knew as the pathetic drunk. I’ll be honest with you; his alcoholism caused me no end of grief. The thing that bothered me the most about him was his wasted potential. He had the greatest mind of any man I’d ever known. He’d read anything he could get his hands on and he’d remember everything that he read. His mind was like a sponge and it absorbed everything in came in contact with.

“He once spent thirty minutes lecturing me on the basics of rocket propelling. You should have seen his face when he was talking about it. It glowed with a form happiness that I’d seen on very few faces. I could tell that he was completely in his element and I was more proud of him than at any other time in my life.

“Did you know that my Dad had an IQ of over one hundred and eighty? They couldn’t measure his true abilities because his intelligence was so high.”

I took my eyes off the road and looked at her. She was beaming with pride. I smiled knowing that she was enjoying this moment. She still loved and respected the man even though part of her saw him as a monster. As I thought about it, I reckoned that was just part of being human. We’re all capable of doing the vilest of things. For a brief second, my thoughts of Tamyra’s father began to soften and I tried to see him through the eyes of his loving daughter.

“Dad was in his senior year Georgia Southern University when he quit for no apparent reason and then began drinking heavily. I never understood why he did that until he dictated that letter to me. Albert Washington was one his best friend’s. He looked on Albert as a student and Dad was his mentor. He never forgave himself for what he did. I don’t think it was the actual act that hurt my father so much as it was the destruction of all the potential Albert must have possessed. I think Dad thought by giving up his potential he was doing penance for his crime. I know that sounds funny, but that’s how I see it.

“The guilt ate away at him and there were times when I could see the pain in his eyes. I know that he would have changed places with Albert in an instant. That murder killed him just as much as it killed the other fellow.

“My Dad had so much promise to offer, but he never realized his potential because he saw himself as the vilest of creatures. He loved me with everything in him, but he hated himself more than he loved me. His drinking was his way of slowly torturing himself for the crime he committed; the crime of destroying such boundless potential.”

She paused and I looked at her. I tried desperately to figure out if she was talking about Albert’s life, her Dad’s or both. She shrugged her shoulders and moaned. It was the kind a child does after she has dropped her ice cream cone on the ground and realizes she’s not going to get to finish enjoying her treat. Then, just as suddenly as she stopped talking, she started back again.

“I never understood my father until after his death. The man I’ve got to know since his death is a much better man that the one I knew as a child. As a kid growing up in Wheelwright, I was ashamed of my father. He could have been something and I hated the fact that I was raised on welfare because he refused to work.”

She began to cry. I slowed the car and pulled off the road to hug her. “You gonna be all right?” I asked as I embraced her.

“I’ve never been so ashamed and proud of my Dad at the same time. He was a good man with a good heart. He made one mistake but his heart never forgave himself for that.”

I began to rub her back with my good arm and I whispered soft words in her ear. “He passed that wonderful heart on to you. He’s going to have a wonderful legacy and that legacy his you.”

“Thank you for the lies,” she said as she began to moan as the pain of it all hit her.

“I don’t lie,” I replied as I pulled her in even tighter.

I held her for several minutes as her body shook from the pain she was releasing through her tears. Once she’d released the demons that were eating at her soul at that moment, she let go of me and gently pushed me away from her.

“This is not the time or the place to get frisky,” she whispered trying to change the subject.

“You wish.”

“We can go now, if you want to?”

“You sure?”

She didn’t say a word but shook her head to indicate that she was. I smiled and pecked her on the forehead.

“You’re adorable even when you cry,” I whispered softly.

“And you are the world’s worst liar, but I thank you for that.”

I patted her hand and smiled. “Four days ago my biggest worry was if my son and I were going to have Chinese or Mexican food for supper. Today, I’m running for my life and I don’t know if I’ll even live to see tomorrow. The upside is that I am accompanied by the most beautiful and wonderful woman that ever lived…”

“And she’s madly in love with you,” interrupted Tamyra.

“There’s that.”

“And you love me,” she sighed.

“Maybe,” I countered not willing to concede the obvious.

“Told you that you were the biggest liar I know.”

“Got me.”

With that she pecked me on the cheek and pointed towards the road. “We’d better get going before a cop comes by and gets curious.”

“Yes, mother.”

We had traveled about ten miles before either of use spoke. There was something wonderful and peaceful about the silence. It was as though each of us knew that the other needed this time to sort things out in our heads. What she was thinking about? I had know clue, because I was busy cursing myself for getting her involved in this mess in which I now found myself.

She was the first to speak. “Tell me about your family. You know about my Dad. I never knew my mother. She abandoned us two months after I was born. She ran off with some guy from home that was in the army. She died in a car wreck a few years later or so I was told. Daddy blamed himself for her actions, but he blamed himself for everything.”

“Where do I begin?” I asked never having been comfortable with talking about myself.

“How about the beginning?”

“I guess that would be the logical place to start.”

“Sure would.”

I took a deep breath. “Here goes.”

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…”

“You know what I mean.”

“Sorry, I’ll move up a bit for you.”

“That’ll be nice.”

“As far as we know, the Paul clan began in the lowlands of Scotland.”

“Are you afraid of me knowing the real you?” she asked.

“Petrified of it. I’m terrified by the whole thing if you want to know the truth of it all.”

She reached over and began to stroke my face. “There’s no need to be afraid of me. I’m just an ordinary girl that has fallen for an extraordinary guy and am hoping that he loves me back.”

“Things are moving way too fast for me,” I interjected.

“That’s not why you are scared and you know it. Is it your wife?”

“Yes, what if I were to lose you like I lost her. I couldn’t handle the pain so soon after losing Mary. I don’t want to go through with that gut-wrenching type of pain ever again.”

“How did she die? I hope you don’t mind me asking?”

I blew out a puff of air and even though everything in me screamed that I did mind, I said. “No, go ahead. I’m ready to talk about it.”

“So, what happened?”

“She was hit by a car parts delivery truck. Not head on, but side swiped. She was taking Alex to the Louisville Zoo for a field trip. About halfway there and just outside of Shelbyville, this truck driver passes her on the left and then cut over on her. She never had a chance. The doctors said she was killed instantly.

“By some miracle of God, Alex was unhurt. He was still strapped in his booster seat and was screaming for Mary when her best friend who had been following them got to the car.”

“How as he taken it?” asked Tamyra as she began to gently rub my arm.

“He still has nightmares and is afraid to sleep by himself to this day. There are nights when I don’t sleep. I just sit there beside him and stroke his back as he sleeps.

“Sometimes, I rub his head hoping that will keep the nightmares at bay. It doesn’t always work because I see him shaking in his sleep. Sometimes he screams and other times he cries and even wakes himself. I then have to hold him what time he cries himself back to sleep. As I cradle him in my arms, I pray that God will take his pain from him. He’s too young to be going through this.”

I stopped and tried to find a way to change the subject, but couldn’t. I proceeded only because I was beginning to become angry at the man who in my opinion murdered my wife.

“You know what really burns my biscuit? That idiot who hit Mary had eight different drugs in his system. He’d been in and out of rehab for the last ten years. His parents owned the company for which he was driving and they sent him out on the road knowing he was a danger to society.”

“What happened to him?”

“He’s in prison. His parents spent a million bucks trying to keep him out of jail. In the end, the spineless Commonwealth’s Attorney allowed him to plea the case. He’ll be out of jail before Alex is old enough to go to high school.”

“That’s awful,” she exclaimed.

“That’s why I sued them,” I responded. “I want to take everything those people have and then give it to my son.”

“Is that how you are able to afford a nanny?”

“Gracious no. Mary is the reason. Granted I loved her with everything in me, but Mary was from an extremely wealthy family. Her dad owes a string of shopping malls, restaurants and grocery stores. He’s worth over one hundred million dollars. His present to us at our wedding was two million dollars. That is how I’m able to afford a nanny for Alex.”

She became silent for several minutes and I was wondering if I said something to offend her. When I couldn’t think of a thing that I said that could be considered offensive, I began to wonder if she was jealous of Mary. Not knowing what else to do, I tried to talk to her.

“Is everything all right?”

“Yeah, I was thinking about you wife. She must have been a wonderful woman.”

“The best, that’s why I loved her as much as I did.”

“I’ll take your feelings for me as a compliment.”

“You should. I’m reserved with my feelings.”

She shrugged. “I’m feeling a bit hypocritical at the moment and it’s eating at me.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“How do I say this and not sound like I’m evil?”

“How could you be evil?”

“What if I told you that I’m thankful that your wife is gone because that leaves you for me? What do you call a woman that is thankful that another woman died so that she could have this wonderful man?”

“I’d call her human, wouldn’t you?” I lied. Her words did hurt. They hurt not because there was an evil intent behind them, but they hurt because they served to remind me how truly wonderful the woman I had married had been.

“I don’t know what to think about,” she said and I could hear the pain in her voice. “Can we move on to another subject?”

“Sure, anything you’d like to talk about?”

“How about your parents, I’d like to talk about them. Is that okay?”

“There’s really not much to tell.”

“Your Dad is a local legend. What do you mean there’s not much to talk about?”

“I don’t know. I always considered him Dad. I never considered him anything special. Now my mom on the other hand, she and her sisters were all beauty queens. Mom was Miss Southeast Kentucky, Aunt Lizzie was Miss Kentucky and finished second runner-up in the Miss America Pageant. Lastly, Aunt Leah was first runner-up in the Miss Kentucky Pageant.”

“So that’s where you get your good looks?” she asked.

I smiled and blushed at her words. I both loved them and doubted them at the same time, but it definitely warmed my soul to hear them.

“I guess if I had to choose the person who has been the biggest influence on me, it would be my Dad. He was a rare man. He was the type that not only preached values he lived them. He taught me that I was to do the right thing regardless of the consequences. All my life, I’ve heard how doing the right thing required strength and character.

“When that letter you typed came across my fax machine, I didn’t want have a thing to do with it. Ricky didn’t either, but we both agreed to do it because that was the way we were raised.

“I kept thinking that this is what my Dad had prepared me for and that he’d be disappointed where I to fail him. I know this sounds silly, but I felt as though he’d be ashamed of me were I not complete this investigation. Even though he’d never know about it, I had to do this. I could never look him in the eye again were I to let this pass.”

“I have a confession as well,” she stated. “I too did what I did because I didn’t want to disappoint my father.

“I know what you’re thinking. He was the town drunk, right? But he was so much more than that. He was, how do I say this, brilliant beyond belief. Did you know that he started college at sixteen? He would have finished college in three years and was being nominated for a Rhodes Scholarship. He’d already been accepted into medical school, but had asked for a delay what time his father got sick.

“I always thought he began drinking because of grandpa’s death, but now I know that it was this murder that caused it all. The guilt that ate at him all these years must have been worst that living in Hell. You know, now that I think about it, I believe there were times when he wanted to tell me. When I went off to college, he told me that he wanted to tell me something. When he started, he began crying. I started to cry, but he wouldn’t let me. He told me that he was proud of me and that he didn’t deserve such a wonderful daughter.

“Most people only saw him as a drunk or an idiot. He was much more than that. Did you know that he could recall facts, even insignificant ones, faster than anyone?”

“Sounds like a remarkable man,” I interrupted.

“So’s yours,” she returned.

“Do you know the most disappointing thing that every happened to me?” I asked.

“Tell me.”

“The most disappointing thing to happen to me was not getting into Tulane University Law School. My Dad had gotten a full scholarship to the school and he was very proud of that fact. I applied and got put on awaiting list, but never got accepted. Other schools, UK and Louisville, Chase and Cincinnati all accepted me, but I felt like a failure because I couldn’t follow in his footsteps and go to Tulane.

“He said it was no big deal and it may not have been for him, but I was devastated. That was the reason I joined the Marine Corps. I wanted to punish myself for being such a failure. I’d done okay in school and wish I had done better, but I still felt like a failure when I was rejected by my first choice in law schools.

“Without telling my parents until the day before, I made all the arrangements to join the military. I was only twenty-one at the time and was convinced that my life was over with and that I had succeeded in becoming the world’s biggest failure. I couldn’t even look my parents in the eyes when I told them that I had joined.

“The truth is I joined hoping to be killed in action. I was so convinced that I was such a big loser, I thought the only way to redeem myself was to be killed in combat. I thought, surely that would remove the stain of failure from me. Who could call me a failure if I were to be killed defending our country? Well, I could call myself one. It took me years to get over that self-imposed stigma of being loser.”

I looked at her and tears were forming in her eyes.

“We’ve both been blessed and cursed by our fathers” she said.

I didn’t reply, but nodded my head in agreement.

“It takes a long time to get over those feelings of total inadequacy that comes from a major failure; even it that failure is only in your mind.”

“When did you get over it?” she asked and I could hear the pain and concern in her voice.

I looked at her, smiled and said, “Soon, I hope, or at least that is my prayer.”

“Was your Dad that tough on you?” she asked.

“No, but I always felt inadequate around him. I felt like I had to achieve great things to be half the man he is. I have this image of my father being bigger than life. All my life I’ve heard about what a great man he is.

“I’ve had advantages he would have killed to have gotten, but I’ve done far less than him. Did you know that by the time he was thirty-seven he had established a firm and already had two lawyers and a secretary working for him? Look at me, I’m thirty-seven and I’m not much more than a glorified auditor searching the government for tax cheats and defrauders.”

“I think what you are doing is noble,” she said. “I think corrupt officials should be held accountable for their actions.”

“Maybe,” I reluctantly agreed. “But I’d rather be the crusader for the little man like my father is. He’s helped hundreds of people over the years. He’s kept dozens of people out of jail that didn’t deserve to be there. Just look at Robbie, he was willing to suffer a beating rather than give us up to the cops. He did this out of a sense of loyalty to my father. I wish I could instill that type of loyalty in people.”

“Yeah, your father is a real saint,” she input.

I slammed on the brakes and nearly put the car in a ditch when I heard those words.

“What did you just say?” I asked.

“I said your Dad is a great guy.”

“No, you didn’t! You said my Dad was a saint!”

“So, many people feel that way.”

I looked at her and began to tremble. I spoke slowly and deliberately. “Were your Dad and my Dad ever friends?”

“Not that I know of, why?”

“Where did your Dad go to college?”

“Georgia Southern, in the fifties and sixties, there was a pipeline from Wheelwright to that school. Anybody with half a brain from home went to school there.”

“Oh no!” I exclaimed and suddenly I realized what had been staring me straight in the face the whole time.

I stopped the car, flipped open the disposable cell phone and frantically began dialing my parent’s number. My mother picked the phone up on the third ring.

“Hello,” she said. I could hear a strain in her voice.

“Mom, this is Lance. Is Dad in? I need to talk to him.”

“He’s at the office tying up some lose ends. You can call him there, but…”

“Mom, I know!”

“Know what?”

Her voice cracked when she spoke and I knew the truth at that instant.

“He was involved wasn’t he? And you knew it. That’s why you tried to talk…”

“Of course, I knew,” she snapped.

“How?” I couldn’t go any farther.

“He’s still haunted by nightmares to this day. When we first got married he had them every night. After a couple of years, he told me everything. He didn’t do the murder and neither did Michael, but the other two did. David hated that Washington boy…”

“His name is Albert,” I interrupted.”

“Albert, that’s right. David hated Albert for taking his girlfriend. But Jonathan, he killed Albert out of pure old meanness.”

“Your Dad’s guilt was in being there and keeping silent all these years.”

“Is that why Dad was so influential within the African-American community? He did things out of a sense of guilt?”

“Partly, but he really cares for people. He’s given more than he ever took.”

“I doubt Albert would agree with you on that.”

She slammed the phone down on me. I sat there in complete silence for a couple of minutes. After that, my body began to shake and I couldn’t hold the pain inside any longer. It started out as a small pain within my gut, but it was a raging storm within a few minutes.

Suddenly, I knew that my entire life had been a lie.

I slept until noon and was awakened by Tamyra. She called to me. I winced as I put weight on my shoulder.

“Owwww,” I cried as the pain seared through my shoulder as though I had been stuck by a flaming sword.

“You all right?” asked as she ran into the bedroom to check on me.

She was wearing a pair of fire-engine red running shorts and a white T-shirt. She was sweating as though she had been working out and the shirt clung to her body in certain strategic places. She had her hair pulled into piggy tails on each side of her head.

“Have you been working out?” I spurted out because I was afraid she’d notice me staring at her.

“I found a workout video and was playing it.”

“I’ve never seen a woman in pig tails look as good as you do. You’re very attractive when you sweat, you know that?”

“I’m glad that pleases you.”

“Oh, it does; very much so.”

I blew out a puff of air hoping it would expel the embarrassment I was now feeling. It didn’t. I couldn’t stop staring at her. She looked amazing. Part of me wanted to run over and scoop her in my arms and tell her that I loved her. Yet another part of me wanted to look around the room for the hidden camera that I knew had to be lurking nearby. How else could I explain the fact that the most beautiful creature in the world was claiming to be in love with me?

Women like Tamyra weren’t normally attracted to me. Sure, Mary was incredibly beautiful and, thanks be to God, Alex got her looks, but she was the exception. On a scale of one to ten I was a solid seven and given the deviation rule of one up and one down, I could date in the six to eight range. Both Mary and Tamyra, and even Maria for that matter were all tens. Even if they went slumming around, they should be dating no lower than an eight. They were out of my league and I knew it. I considered myself blessed to have gotten Mary to love me, and now, here, another perfect beauty was claiming to be in love with me. I didn’t know whether to jump for joy or to try and not act surprised when the “Candid Camera” television crew jumped out and told me that this was all a perfectly planned gag of which I was the victim.

“What’s on the agenda for today?” she asked as she wiped sweat from her brow.

“I’m going to get us to Cave Run. Once there, I’m going to call Dad and Rodney and see if I can’t get some help.”

“If you can’t?” she interrupted. “Then what?”

“If I can’t get some help, then we’re screwed, royally.”

“Thanks for sugar coating it for me.”

She looked at me and I could see fear in her eyes. She was at her wits end and I could tell. As I stared at her, I was hoping that she wouldn’t notice the fear in my eyes.

Although, I assumed she was terrified of this ordeal, she was probably better off not knowing what these men were capable of doing. Where we caught, I could look forward to a bullet in the head. My death would be easy and quick, but hers wouldn’t be. Given her looks, they’d take their time with her. They’d pass her around until they tired of her. Once they’d finished degrading her, they’d taunt her until they grew weary of that. After a few hours, one of them would mercifully put a bullet in her brain and end it all.

The thing that frightened me most was the not knowing what to expect. That there was a conspiracy against us, I knew that much. How many were involved and how high up the food chain they were was the horrifying part. Who could I trust? At this point, I was convinced that there was no one other than Tamyra and Ricky that I could rely on during a pinch.

Everyone I had talked with over the last few days was now a suspect within my mind. Even Rodney, my boss and mentor, was not above suspicion. I couldn’t help but think he had to be involved. How else had things gotten out of hand so quickly? He had to have informed the governor and as a result, he had either knowingly or unknowingly signed my death warrant.

I got up out of the bed half-staggered into the living room. “Have you seen my cell phone?” I asked as I passed Tamyra.

“Good morning to you to.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m worried about Ricky. I was going to call Robin and check on him.”

“How do you know Robin’s number?” she questioned. I thought I could detect a hint of jealousy in her voice.

“I don’t but she had Rick’s phone last night. I’m hoping she still has it. If she does, she’ll be able to tell me his status.”

“Is Sheriff Little okay?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I need my phone.”

“It’s on the table in the kitchen,” she supposed. “Seems like that’s where you left it.”

“I believe you’re right. I’ll run and get it.” I began to head towards the kitchen but stopped before I had gone three steps. I turned and looked at her once again. “There’s nothing more attractive to me than a beautiful woman in sweaty workout clothes.”

“You should see me naked,” she replied.

“Don’t tempt me. I’ve got to call and check on Ricky. Once I’m finished we’ll clean up and head towards Cave Run.”

She touched my chest with her hand as she walked pass me. “I’ll be in the shower if you need me. I suggest that you need me. I’m going to get all lathered up and you can rinse me off.”

My heart skipped a beat or two at her words. I began to shake as the image of what she just said entered my mind. Part of me wanted to join her right then and there, but the part of me that was my father made me stay focused on the task at hand. Without letting on that I was thrilled by her words, I picked up the telephone and began punching in the numbers.

She walked over to me and kissed me on the cheek. “I’ll be waiting for you. Don’t be too long.”

My legs nearly collapsed out from under me, but I managed to keep a straight face despite the sudden urge to jump for joy while humming the tune Stars and Stripes Forever.

Robin picked up on the fourth ring. “Hello,” she shouted.

“Robin, this is Lance. How’s Ricky?”

“He’s in critical condition, but the doctors are optimistic. They say he’s young and fit and he’s got a better chance than most. You know how he is. He’ll survive just to spite those who tried to kill.

“Lance,” she paused and I could hear her taking a deep breath. “Who would try to kill my baby brother? It wouldn’t one of his women was it?”

“No, it’s an evil man. He’s also a powerful man. He won’t dirty his hands but you can bet he’s pulling the strings.”

“It’s not the governor, is it?”

I was stunned that she knew. How could she have known that? I hadn’t told her and I knew Ricky hadn’t. Given his propensity with the ladies, he had learned to keep secrets long ago. If not him or me, then who could have told her?

“Where did you hear something like that?” I inquired. I was secretly hoping that it was a wild guess on her behalf. That hope was dashed by her answer.

“Daddy told me.”

I stood there in shocked silence as she began her story.

“Daddy was fired from his job at the mines yesterday. He’s less than a year from retirement. They pulled him out of the supply room and told him to go home. When he asked why, they told him that he was fired. Then they said the strangest thing…”

“What did they say?” I shouted through the phone.

“They said that the governor, who owns the company, said to give his regards to Ricky. Within hours of Daddy being fired, Ricky was shot.”

“How’s you dad taking it?”

“Being fired, fine. They have to pay him his vacation and sick leave. He’s probably got six months of time built up there. Plus he can draw unemployment for six months. He’ll turn sixty-five in January. He’ll bring home more money unemployed than he did working.”

I thought about what she was saying. Her father was something special. He’d quit high school in the tenth grade in order to work in the mines. He was married at eighteen, a father by nineteen and had six kids by the age of twenty-nine.

When Ricky, the only son, was born Esmond, got his GED. He took night classes for the next several years and graduated college by the time oldest child was graduating college. Once he got his degree, he began working in the business office of Apple Jelly Coal Company. When the company went belly up three years later, he got a job with Mighty Necessary Coal, and worked in the office ever since. He was demoted when the governor bought the company two years ago. He thought about leaving, but was too close to retirement to start a new career.

“Ricky has got him spooked,” continued Robin. “Baby Brother has always been Daddy’s favorite. I don’t know if he’ll survive long if something happens to…” She paused and the phone was silent for several seconds. “Ricky has to live.”

“He will,” I reassured her. “He’s a fighter and he’ll make.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“I promise you. He’ll make it.”

“I have to go,” she said and hung up without saying goodbye.

As I clicked off the phone, I had a picture of Ricky and me fishing on Paintsville Lake. I kept this picture in my mind for several seconds. It was so real to me that I began to smile. The longer I thought about it the more convinced I became that I was right. Ricky was going to make it and we were going to take that fishing trip. I was still smiling when Tamyra entered the room.

“You thinking about me?” she asked.

I looked over at her and she looked amazing. Her hair was wet and pulled back at the shoulders. All she had on between her and God was a pink towel that went from just above the knees to just above her chest. I wanted to say something but my tongue froze to the top of my mouth.

She noticed my struggle and smiled. “I’ll take that as a compliment,” she cooed.

I was unable to speak so I smiled and nodded my head in agreement.
She moved in closer and shot me a naughty look as she neared me. “We don’t have to leave at this moment,” she whispered. “There are other things that we can do to keep up busy for the next few hours.”

She closed in on me and began to kiss me. The instant our lips touched. A telephone rang in the kitchen.

“Just my luck,” she whispered. “The instant I’m about to get lucky, something always happens.”

The phone rang four more times before the answering machine picked up.

“Lance,” came a voice over the machine. “This is Hattie Faye. If you’re there, pick up the phone.”

I ran in the kitchen and grabbed the phone.

“Hattie Faye, what’s going on?”

“They’ve arrested Robbie. He won’t talk, but you’d better change your plans. Use the car there. He’ll know enough not to give up that information no matter what they do to him.”

“Who picked him up?”

“State boys got him. He ain’t done nothing to deserve this.”

“They want me and Ricky. We’ve got the goods on some powerful people and they want to shut us up and are willing to do anything to do it.”

“Who did you make mad?”

“Don’t ask. It’ll get you killed. Listen to me, you need to get your kids and get out of there until this thing blows over.”

“I’ve already hid them kids. They’ll never get to my babies. I ain’t going no where until I get Robbie and can take him with me.”

“You be careful.”

“I got to go,” she said. “Them punks may be tapping this phone. Be careful Lance.”

“I will.” With that I hung up the telephone.

I walked back into the living room began looking for Tamyra. She wasn’t to be seen so I decided to call for her. Before I could speak, she entered from the bedroom. She had on a pair of skin tight blue jeans and was pulling a dark T-shirt down her torso.

“We’re never going to seal the deal,” she complained. “I been dreaming about this since I was a little girl and I’m yet to make love to you.”

I smiled and then spoke. “Told you that I was an old-fashioned type of guy. I’d prefer to wait until we’re, married.”

“You’re kidding, aren’t you?”

“No, I’d prefer to wait, but I’m also weak. I’m afraid that if you keep trying, I’ll wind up giving in to me desires.”

“So, you desire me?”

“I thought that was obvious. Still, I got some heavy things resting on my mind and I can’t think about, you know, with you, until I figure away out of this mess. Even though I desire you like I’ve craved few other things in this world, I have to focus on not getting us killed. Loving you, as pleasant as that is, must be a secondary thought.”

She began to laugh. “Bull, you’re scared. The mighty Lance Alexander Paul is scared. Why do you fear me so much? I’m just a girl.”

“You’re wrong about that! You’re not just a girl. You’re a woman. An incredibly beautiful woman that has swept through my life like a category five tornado and you’ve left a path of destruction on my heart from which I may never recover.

“Look, I’m not the type of guy who gives his heart away all that easily. The only time I’ve ever rushed into things was with Mary. I still carry the scars her death left on me.

“Now, here I am with you.”

She looked straight into my eyes and focused on them.

“I’m a simple man. I know my station in life. I’ve always been the second fiddle. Beautiful women always looked to me for friendship and nothing more. Sure, I have some luck with women, but not those rare beauties that you represent.

“The only other beautiful woman to ever care for me was Mary and I married her out of shear gratitude. She took a major step down to marry me and I thank God for that. I also thank Him that Alex got her looks.

“I guess, what I’m trying to say, is that I’m terrified of you. Look at you, you’re perfection to behold.”

She looked at the floor and then back up to me.

“That is what you are afraid of?” she asked. “You think I am too pretty for you?”

She began to laugh. “I’ve had guys dump me for some crazy reasons before, but I’ve never had one dump me because I was too beautiful for him.”

“It’s not just your looks,” I interrupted. “You also have a great personality and you’re totally confident in yourself. I struggle with the opposite sex.”

“As do I, but I don’t think it’s my looks that has got you spooked. You’re afraid of me. The looks are just a convenient excuse. Admit it, I frighten you.”

“You do. I’ve only loved three women in my life. The other two were taken from me; one by another man and Mary by God. I couldn’t handle losing you.”

She started to say something, but I waved her off.

“I’ve never, not even with Mary, been blown away the way you’ve blown me away. But, I still think that I’ll lose you if a bigger and better deal comes along.”

Before I could say another word, she slapped me.

“How dare you compare me to someone else!” she shouted. “I don’t give my heart away all that easily. As a matter of fact, I’ve only given it to one man and I’ve been in love with him since I was a little girl and now he’s throwing my love away because he’s afraid of being hurt by me.

“Spare me the self pity,” she spat. “With me you’re either committed or not. Now which one is it? Are you in or out?”

“In!” I shouted. “But scared to death to be there.

She wrapped her arms around me pulled me close and whispered, “Join the club. It’s made especially for two.”

I pulled her into me and planted the most loving kiss I could muster on her lips. She reciprocated.

Once inside of the garage, she closed the overhead behind us with a flick of the remote. As the garage door shuddered to a stop, she looked at me and spoke.

“Let’s get you inside and have a look at that shoulder. I don’t want it to get infected.”

“It hurts like crazy,” I said. “It feels like somebody’s touched me with a red-hot poker.”

We searched until we found the bathroom. In the cabinet below the sink, we found a bottle of alcohol and a large box of band-aids.

“Take your shirt off,” she said and I’ll disinfect that wound for you.

I shook my head and began to comply, but found that it hurt too much to remove it.

“Need a hand?” she asked and I nodded my approval.

She reached up with the gentleness of a mother handling a newborn and slowly began to remove my shirt. Some of the blood had dried into the cloth and I winced when she pulled the shirt off of my shoulder.

“This is going to hurt,” she whispered as she began to unscrew the cap to the bottle of rubbing alcohol. “Let me know when you’re ready and I’ll pour it.”

“Kiss me,” I stated flatly.

She shot me and odd look. I couldn’t tell if she was weighing the seriousness of my request of if she was thinking that I had lost my mine.

“Why should I do that?”

“It would go a long way to ease the pain in my shoulder.” I smiled at her. “Besides, if you give me the right kiss, I’ll never feel that alcohol burning through my shoulder.”

She smiled at me and wrapped one arm around me neck. With the other, she held the bottle of alcohol near the open wound.

“Never let it be said that I did anything to stop medical science,” she whispered as she moved in close to me.

Our lips touched softly at first. She seemed to be hesitating and I was trying to follow her lead. After a couple of seconds, she began to open up and her kiss became more passionate and wet. The instant I reciprocated she began to pour the disinfectant on my shoulder.

I shuddered and nearly went limp from the combination of pain and pleasure I was experiencing at that moment. The shear delight I was experiencing in her kiss coupled with the agonizing pain ripping through my arm burned with such chaotic intensity, I doubt that I will ever forget the almost surreal experience those two sensations created within both my mind and body.

The greater the agony burned in my shoulder the more intensely I kissed her. Somewhere during that experience the two sensations merged and I was unable to discern where the agony stopped and the ecstasy began. All I know is that when she finally let go of me, I knew that I had to have this woman. I had to possess her and I had to own her. Not just tonight but for the rest of my life. I don’t know how I knew that; I just knew it.

She whispered something soft and wonderful when she let go of me. I don’t know what it was, but I do know that I felt all gooey and warm inside when I heard it.

“This is nuts,” I said as she pulled away from me. “I refuse to believe this is happening.”

“What’s happening?” she inquired as she was reaching for a large two inch by two inch bandage.

“I’ve only known you for two days. I’m not falling in love with you.”

She looked me in the eye and smiled. We stood there locked in each others gaze for a couple of minutes before she broke the spell.

“This is going to hurt and hurt a lot,” she whispered. “Ready?”

I nodded my head and closed my eyes so that I wouldn’t have to look in her eyes what time she was bandaging me. I felt an intense pain jolt through my body for a split second, but it subsided once the bandage was secure.

“Now what were you saying before?” she asked.

I was afraid to look at her so I gazed at the floor. “I was asking if you were hungry. Are you?”

“Starved, but that’s not what we were talking about and you know it.”

“I don’t remember what we were talking about,” I parried without looking at her. I knew that were I to look into her eyes, I’d say something that part of me wasn’t ready to say.

“Liar,” she teased. “You said you love me.”

“I did not!”

“So, you don’t love me?”

I couldn’t tell if she was teasing me or hurt by my words.

“I didn’t say that either and you know it!”

“So, you do love me? It’s not that hard. You can say yes or no.”

“It’s complicated,” I responded.

She put her arms around my shoulders. “Let me uncomplicated things for you. I have been hopelessly, desperately in love with you since I was a little girl. I’ve been dreaming about this for years. Now, it’s so close I can taste it. If you think for one second that I’m not going to fight for your love, then you’re crazier than a loon.”

“Don’t put too much pressure on me. I don’t want to disappoint.”

“You won’t,” she replied and then shot me a devilish grin.

As I tried to figure out what she meant, she spoke. “Look I’ve been kissed enough in my life to know the meaning of a kiss.”

“The meaning of a kiss?” I asked. “What do you mean by that?”

“Don’t interrupt and you might learn something,” she retorted. “Men basically have four to five kisses in their repertoire. The first is the clumsy, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing’, kiss. The second and most common is the, ‘I’m only doing enough to get you into bed’ kiss. The third is the, ‘I’ve got what I wanted from you but don’t know how to get rid of you’ kiss. The fourth is the, ‘I’m your friend and don’t want to pursue a relationship’ kiss. The kiss you gave me was none of those.”

“Who made you the love doctor?” I asked.

“Common sense,” she responded. “Your kiss was one with permanence attached to it. Yours is the kind of kiss all girls dream about. Yours said, ‘I love you and you are the perfect girl for me.’”

“My kiss said all that?”

“And then some.” Her voice was dripping with seduction. “Deny it and I’ll drop the subject. Admit it and I’ll make your dreams come true.”

“My big dream right now is to get something to eat and get some sleep. Tomorrow we’ll get to the cabin and hideout for a few days until this thing blows over.”

Her eyes became as big as saucers. “You’re kidding, right?”

“I never kid about food.”

“So you’re blowing me off?”

“No, I’m just stopping a situation before it develops into something I’m not ready to handle.”

She stopped and paused for a moment. I watched her as she thought about it. Within a couple of seconds, a smile raced across her face. “So, you admit a relationship might develop from this?”

“I thought I already had.”

“Good answer. That’ll get you off of the hook for now.”

“I don’t want off the hook,” I replied. “I just want to move slowly. I still have deep feelings for Mary.”

She started to say something, but I stopped her. “I know it’s been almost two years, but when I love; I love intensely. I don’t just throw my heart to anyone. When I give my heart away, it’s forever.”

She smiled and then tears formed in her eyes. Her voice quivered as she spoke. “And you’re going to give it to me?”

“That’s what I’m afraid of. I don’t want to lose you like I lost Mary.”

She grabbed me and pulled me in close to her. “I love you,” she shouted. “I love you, I love you, I love you!”

“I’m beginning to be frightened by all this talk of love. Let’s see what he’s got to eat in this place.”

She gave me an odd look, shrugged her shoulders and puffed out a breath of air. “And that’s what you want to do?”

“For now it is,” I replied.

We searched the house and found several cans of tuna, a box of crackers and some mayonnaise. The refrigerator contained a jar of relish, a family pack of Dr. Pepper and a pack of cheese.

“I guess it’s going to be tuna salad and crackers for dinner,” I said as I began to open one of the cans of tuna.

“I’d prefer a spicy chicken sandwich from Wendy’s,” she responded.

“Me to, that’s my favorite. They have the best fries in the world.”

“And great frosties,” she input.

“I only have two words to describe their frosties. The first is ‘nast’ and the second is ‘ty.”

“You’re kidding. They’re awesome.”

“As hungry as I am, I’d probably eat one if I had it here if front of me,” I quipped even though I didn’t really believe that. There were few things I hated more than their frosties. They taste like the frost from old time refrigerators to me. That’s probably how they got their name, or that’s my theory.

We were sitting in the kitchen finishing up the tuna salad when she put her hand on my knee and then looked me in the eye. “I’m real sorry I got you into this,” she said and I could tell that she meant it.

“No need. This is what I do. Besides, what’s happening between us wouldn’t have happened had you not gone to Ricky.”

“Do you know he thought I was there to hit on him when I asked to speak to him alone? I’ve never seen a man that conceited in my life.”

“Ricky’s not conceited, he’s convinced,” I input and we both began to laugh.

“Don’t blame him,” I said. “He’s had beautiful women throw themselves at him all his life. He just assumed you were like the rest.”

“The shear gall of that man shocked me that’s all. I believe he thought I wanted to take him right there in his office. Paleeeease, give me a little credit.”

“Speaking of Ricky, I need to check in on him and see how he’s doing. You mind?”

“No,” she replied.

I pulled out one of the disposable cell phones and began tapping in the information that would get me in touch with my friend.

She stood and gave me a peck on the lips. “I’ll leave you alone what time you’re on the telephone with the lover boy.”

“He’s mine friend,” I corrected her as the first ring echoed in my ears.

She was exiting the room when I heard a voice reverberate in my ear.

“Hello,” came a female voice from the phone. I assumed it to be Ricky’s latest love interest.

“May I speak to Ricky?” I asked.

“Who is this?” she shouted.

“Who is this?” I responded in kind.

“Robin,” was her response. Robin was Ricky’s older sister by two years. She was one of the most beautiful women I’d ever known and I had a crush on her in high school. She’d married a coal baron and spent her time raising her three daughters who had the good fortune to inherit their looks from their mother.

Sensing something must be wrong, I tried to size up the situation before I spoke. Not sure of what else to do, I decided to play it coy.

“Listen to me Robin,” I began. “Don’t speak and let me do the talking.”

“Okay.”

“This is Lance. Is Ricky okay?”

There was silence on her end. I waited for a couple of seconds for her response, but when she didn’t, I spoke again.

“Answer me!”

“He’s been shot and we’re at the hospital right now. He’s been in surgery for about three hours. The whole family’s been called in by the hospital.”

“Who did this?”

“No body knows. He was shot three times and left for dead. It’s a shear miracle he’s made it this long. If some boys hadn’t come along and drove him to the hospital, he’d be dead already.”

“No one saw anything?”

“Nothing, but Sergeant Thornsberry claims Ricky was on the phone with him when Ricky said that he was being pulled over by a state police. That was the last we heard of him.”

“Listen to me,” I shouted. “When he gets out of the OR, have his men post a guard on him twenty-four hours a day. Don’t and I repeat, do not, let a state trooper get near him. Some of them were involved with this. I can’t explain it right now, but don’t let them near him.”

“Do you want to speak with Sergeant Thornsberry?”

“No,” I replied, “but you tell him what I told you. “Ricky will pull through this, but keep the state boys away from him. Is that clear?”

“Yes,” she said and then burst out into slow soft sobs.

I clicked off my phone and checked the time. I had talked to her for less than two minutes. Good, I thought. They won’t be able to trace that call. With that, I dropped the phone, placed my face in my hands and silently began to pray for my friend.

Two minutes later, Tamyra entered the room.

“You okay?” she asked.

“I’m fine. Just exhausted,” I lied. I figured she had enough to worry about so I decided not to burden her with this news. “I need to get some sleep.”

“My bedroom is in here in case you want to join me.”

“Don’t tempt me. I just need some time to sort things out. This has been the worst day of my life.”

“Amen to that,” she responded.

“I’m going to make another phone call and then I’m going to bed.”

“My door is open,” she teased. “Come on in if you get the notion.”

I didn’t say a word. Over the last few minutes, I’d begun to get that witchy feeling I get before something happens. I couldn’t shake the feeling of dread that had suddenly over taken me. Not knowing what else to do, I picked up the phone and began punching in the numbers to Maria’s disposable unit. She answered on the second ring.

“Hola,” she said and I could hear the tension in her voice.

“Maria, are you all right?”

“Senor Lance, I have been worried about you. Are you okay?” She stressed the word okay.

“Fine, and you and Alex, how are you doing?”

“Alex is asleep, but he had, how do you say, difficulty going to sleep. He is worried about you. He heard the colonel talking to me and he knows you are in trouble. He prayed for you when he went to bed.

“I told him that I was proud of him and he told me you would be okay. He said that God had told him and that he was no longer worried about you. After that, he went right to sleep. It frightened me.”

Chills shot up my spine. I began to wonder if my son had been both blessed and cursed with the family gift of sight.

“It frightens me as well,” I croaked as I tried to choke down my feelings.

“How about you? How are you holding up under this?”

“I worry about you. You are a good man and I don’t want to lose you.”

“Don’t worry about me. Take care of my boy.”

“Si’, Senor Lance. I will watch Alexandro as if he were my own.”

I fought back tears, but knew that I couldn’t stay on the telephone that long so I forced the tears into the back of my mind. Once I had control of my emotions, I forced myself to end the conversation. I wanted to ensure that we were not being traced over the telephone.

“Maria,” I said as I gathered up the remainder of my strength. “I have to go now, but I appreciate what you have done for Alex. I’ll never forget you for this.”

“I love Alexandro,” she injected.

“I know and he loves you and I love you both,” I said before I had a chance to even think about it.

“And I love you,” she returned. Chills shot up my back and choked the words forming in my throat. It took a second, but I managed to swallow my emotions before I was able to speak again.

“Goodbye,” I said and then clicked off before she had a chance to respond.

Once the phone went dead, I cursed myself for being a fool. How could I have said that to Maria when Tamyra was no more than twenty feet away from me? Had I forgotten the emotions raging in the pit of my stomach for Tamyra? I hadn’t even sorted out my feelings for one woman when I began spouting off love talk to another.

I sat there and chewed on that thought for a moment. It had been over eighteen months since Mary had died. It was time I started dating again and I knew it, but I still had difficulty letting go of my wife’s memory. I’d never loved any one like I loved her. That was why her death had hit me so hard. When I lost her, I felt like I’d lost the best part of me.

Mary was everything I ever wanted in a woman wrapped up in a fireball package that was exceptionally pleasant to behold. I knew within three weeks of dating her that I was going to marry her. The thing about it was that our relationship was always hot and cold. We were two extremely strong willed people that would argue over the color of leaves. Half the time we spent angry with each other and the other time we spent making up for that anger.

Even though it went against everything I claimed to like in a woman, there was something about Mary that attracted my soul to her. The statement that opposites attract may be true, but she and I were just a like in many ways. It was this sameness that made us soul mates and kept the fires of passion and disagreement burning years after most would have called it quits. It was this sameness that still held my heart and made it difficult to let others in even though I had two amazing women that seemed to be knocking at the door of my heart and awaiting an invitation to enter.

Not wanting to deal with my emotions any longer, I decided to call and check on my parents. I hung up once the answering machine clicked on after the fifth ring.

I tried to sleep. Even though my body desperately needed it, my mind was racing with the events of the day and I knew I wasn’t going to get a wink of sleep on this night. Therefore, I decided to replay the past week over and over in my mind. I kept thinking that were I able to find the exact second where things began to unravel, then I could figure out a way to correct the mess that now was my life.

I sat there staring into nothingness for hours. I moved only when the pain in my shoulder forced me to move. It was as though I believed that were I to remain completely motionless, then the answers I was seeking would come to me. I don’t know why I thought this way, but I did. The whole time I sat there I kept repeating a single Bible verse over and over in my mind. “Be still and witness the miracle of God,” kept playing as the memory of my beloved grandfather’s favorite saying played over and over in my mind. Even though I sat there waiting on it, the miracle that I was looking for never came.

As the dawn started to break through the front window, I got up to get an aspirin. As I was walking past the door that leads to her bedroom, I heard Tamyra calling to me.

“Are you still awake?” she asked as I made my way towards the kitchen.

“I couldn’t sleep. I had too much on my mind,” I replied.

“What time is it?”

“About day break, I reckon. Go back to sleep.”

“I can’t, I’m too worried about you.”
“I’m all right. My shoulder hurts too bad to sleep all that sound anyway. I’m getting an aspirin hoping it will help.”

“You need to get drunk and that will help you sleep.”
“Why don’t I just get high on coke or something like that?”

“That’s not funny,” she shot back at me.

“I’m sorry. I just can’t get my mind wrapped around these things. I’m so wound up I’ll never get to sleep until I can relax. And, I won’t be able to relax until I can get this whole mess figured out in my head.”

She got up and flicked on the light. I flipped the kitchen light on almost the same instant as she flicked one on in the bedroom. It took a second for my eyes to adjust to the brightness, but when they did I caught sight of her shadow standing in the bedroom door.

All she had on was a large white Morehead State University Eagles T-Shirt. The light silhouetted her body underneath the over sized shirt. She looked amazing and I gulped as I caught a site of her perfectly proportioned legs.

“Wow,” I squeaked before I was able to restrain myself.

She smiled and then motioned for me to come to her. Like a lamb being lead to slaughter, I obeyed without questioning.

As I neared her, she opened up her arms and allowed me into her zone of privacy. As we embraced, she reached up and grabbed my face with her hands. Almost immediately, she began smothering my face with hot, wet, passionate kisses. Her lips continuously slapped against my face for several seconds before they found my mouth. Once there, she engulfed my mouth with hers.

Her kiss was raw and animalistic and she was writhing in my grip. After a minute or two more of kissing, she began to back through the door. The whole time she backed up she pulled me with her. She did this several times until she backed into the bed. Once she felt the bed, she fell back on it pulling me on top her as she went.

“I love you,” she whispered as we bounced off the bed. She then wrapped her legs around me and pulled me closer to her. “I’m yours,” she said. “Just say the word and I’m yours forever.”

“I love you,” I whispered. I said it knowing that I meant it. How it had happened in such a short period of time I couldn’t say. All I knew that I was in love with this woman just as sure as I knew it back when I first fell in love with Mary.

“Say it again,” she moaned.

“I love you.”

“Again.”

“I love you.”

“Again and again and again.”

“I love you. I love you. I love you!” I shouted out the last one.

“I knew you would,” she replied. “I’ve always known you would.”

The instant we pulled into Robbie’s driveway I knew something was amiss. Given his proclivity towards illegal activities, Robbie was one who liked to keep a tight lid on his activities. A large wooden fence outlined his property and large dogs were constantly running around the yard.

When I pulled into his drive, the hair on the back of my neck began to stand on end. Things looked no different than when we had left a few hours ago, but something was causing an emotional stir deep within the pit of my stomach.

I stopped the car just short of the first overhead light because I wanted to stay within the shadows so as not to be seen. I looked around for signs of trouble but when I saw none, I pulled the pistol from the small of my back and released the safety mechanism.

“Stay here,” I whispered to Tamyra. “Keep low just is case. Also, I need for you to get into the driver’s seat and be ready to go at a moment’s notice.”

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Nothing, I hope, but if you hear any type of commotion going on in that garage get out of here as fast as you can. Is that understood?”

“Yeah,” she croaked in a low whisper.

I handed her the keys after I rolled down the window so that I could crawl out the door. A few seconds later, I was squatting beside the car holding my pistol at the ready. Realizing that darkness was the only advantage I had, I made my way around the car and up into the woods that were present throughout Eastern Kentucky. As I began to make my way up the hill that stood adjacent to the fence, I silently prayed that the dogs wouldn’t spot me.

I inched my way towards the garage because it was the only place around with a light coming from it. As I neared the garage, I could hear a soft moan coming from the building. Unsure what was causing this sound, I snaked my way up a tree located beside the fence. From there, I jumped over the fence and landed with a soft thud onto the ground below.

As I hit the ground, I listened. If they were waiting to ambush me, this would be the most likely time it would come. I remained there for another couple of minutes before I decided that it was safe to move.

Staying within the shadows as much as I could, I made my way to the front of the building. Once I got to the front opening, I checked my nine millimeter. Convinced it was in working order, I took a deep breath and jumped into the building. I landed on the floor with a thud but came up running. I hadn’t gone three steps when I noticed Robbie.

He was lying on the floor at the far end of the garage. He looked as though he’d been hit by a speeding train. His oil stained T-shirt was covered with blood and a black gooey substance was caked throughout his hair. Off to his left, lay three large dogs and two more laid to his right.

As I moved in closer, I called to him. “Robbie, is that you?”

“Lance,” he returned. “They shot my dogs.” With that, he let out a howl that sounded like a wolf howling in the night. “They shot my dogs,” he repeated.

I ran up to him and he looked even worse up close. “Where’s your woman and the kids?”

“I knowed you’d be trouble.” Blood spurted from his mouth and his lips were three times their normal size. “Tell your daddy that we’s even.” He tried to laugh.

“I put up a good fight,” he said and then coughed. “I believe they broke a bunch of my ribs.”

“Where’s your woman?” I shouted believing that the worst had happened.

He tried to laugh, but coughed instead. “I knowed you’d bring trouble on me so I sent them out to a safe place. Them state boys won’t get my kids.”

“Did you say that state troopers did this?” I asked. I was stunned by what I had just heard even though I shouldn’t have been.

“It took three of them with them big old slap jacks to take me out.” He said defiantly. “I gave just as good as I got. Two of them old boys will need some medical attention. I handled them first two, but that third one hit me with one of them electric guns and I knowed then I was whooped.”

“We need to get you to the Emergency Room,” I said as I tried to help him up to his feet.

“No sir, they’s looking for you. I didn’t tell them where you went. They knowed you been here because your car was sitting out front when the pulled up. I told them that somebody had picked you up and that y’all left hours ago.”

“You did fine,” I assured him. “I don’t care if they are looking for me; we need to get you to the hospital.”

“Get me over to my desk. I’ve got a cell phone hid in there for just such an emergency.”

I helped him to his feet and steadied him as we walked to a large metal writing table that stood in the far right corner of his office. Once there, he reached around the side of the desk and then gave a quit yank with his hand. His hand held a small device that had duct tape attached to it.

He smiled at me. He looked bad. They must have beaten him to within an inch of his life because his face had already started to swell.

“This thing has saved my bacon on more than one occasion,” he said, but he struggled with the words.

He was a game rooster, I could tell that. He was staying conscious and on his feet by shear force of will. A lesser man would have given up by now, but not Robbie. He was a fighter.

I watched him as he tapped in some numbers. To me, he represented everything I had been taught about my heritage. He was strong, self-reliant and feared nothing. Sure, he may have his roguish tendency, but that just added to his charm. There was a sense of loyalty about him that forced you to trust him regardless of his reputation. He may skirt the law on an occasion, but when you were in a pinch, he was a man you wanted on your side.

For the first time in my life, I actually felt jealousy. As I looked at this bloody piece of meat, I wondered if I’d have the same strength of character he was demonstrating at this moment. All my life, I’d been trained to be a leader and in many ways I was. Still, I’d carried this niggling doubt within my soul that I’d not be able to perform when all the chips were on the table. Robbie on the other hand excelled where most would collapse like a flimsy plastic lounge chair.

That’s what ate at my soul. He had nothing going for him and I had every advantage given to me, but I couldn’t help but feel that he’d be the better man to have on your side were you in a bind. That thought ate at me like a worm gnaws at an apple and that was what made me envious of him. I wanted to have his inner strength.

This man was the son of a bootlegger and the grandson of a moon-shiner and he’s been raise to follow in the family business. I don’t think he sold drugs, but I do believe he was involved in the fencing of stolen property, most likely cars.

His voice broke my concentration. “You can go now,” he said. “That was Jamie Darrell. He’ll be here directly to pick me up.”

“I’ll wait.”

“And let them cops come back? Are you crazy?”

“I need to pay you for fixing my car.” I said this to act as a stalling tactic, but he saw right through it and began to laugh as though I had told him the funniest joke he’d ever heard.

He stopped just as quickly as he started. He pointed towards a large metallic box that was mounted on a wall near the desk. “See that box over there?” he asked as he pointed. “Walk over there and pull out two key chains.”

I obeyed without saying a word.

“You see a set a with Dale Earnhardt number three on it? Bring that one and the Dale, Jr., one over here to me.”

I pulled both key chains out and brought them to him. He took the number three set and held them up in front of me.

“This set goes to my truck,” he said. “It’s a red Ford Explorer. I got it parked around back.”

With that, he stopped, looked back at his dogs and shook his head. “I’m gonna kill them sums of…” He stopped looked at me and I could see tears flowing down his cheeks. “They killed my dogs, Lance. They killed them. They’s good dogs! I loved ‘em like I loved them kids of mine.”

“It’s my fault,” I stated with all the conviction I could muster. “I’m sorry.”

“It ain’t your fault. It’s them. They had no cause to do what they did. They just up and shot my dogs over nothing.”

I shook my head and silently promised that I’d nail every one of them to the wall. “Who were they?” I asked.

He shot me a red-toothed grin. “Nope, I’ll keep that secret. You’ll know when they start dying.”

Chills shot up my spine. Those Burke’s were a wild bunch and they didn’t make idle promises. He’ll do it, of that, I was sure.

He stood there in silence for a few seconds before he spoke. “Do you know where my cabin is located at Cave Run Lake?”

I shook my head to indicate that I didn’t.

“It’s three cabins down from Lige Cook’s. You know where his is, don’t you?”

“Yes,” I replied. I’d been fishing with Lige’s boy Randy a few times and I knew that area well.

He slipped a golden key from off the key chain. “This will get you in,” he said as he handed me the key.

He then took the number eight key from my hand. “I have a house near the Kroger store in Stanton. It’s white with green trim, you can’t miss it. These keys will get you in.” He grinned and coughed before proceeding. “I store various items in that house for, you know, safe keeping. In the garage is my pride and joy, it’s a sixty-nine Camaro RS.

“Once you get there, park the truck in the garage and take the Camaro and drive it to Cave Run. That’ll keep the cops off your trail for a little while. The hardest part will be getting to Stanton. Once there, you should be home free. If you need food and such, there’s a little grocery store near the cabin. Tell the owner that I sent you and he won’t ask many questions.”

“What about you?” I asked not knowing what else to do.

“I’ll be fine and Jamie Darrell is on his way. He’ll be here directly and he can take me to the doctor. Now get on before them cops come back.”

“I won’t leave you until I know you’re safe. If those guys return, they might be too much for Jamie to handle. If you’re going to stay here it’s best if you get out of sight; just in case.”

“That reminds me,” I said and I ran out the door.

I began waving my hands as I exited the building. As I made my way towards the Prius, the lights flashed on and temporarily blinded me. I held my hands up to shield my eyes and within seconds the lights flicked off. It took a couple of seconds before my eyes were able to adjust to the darkness.

“What’s going on?” shouted Tamyra.

“Come on in,” I returned, “and bring your bags with you. We’re changing vehicles.”

Without waiting for a response, I turned and ran back in to the building. By this time, Robbie had managed to sit down on an office chair and had rolled himself over to a refrigerator that was located a few feet from his desk. He was guzzling a bottle of beer as I approached him.

“Alcohol’s not a good thing for you right now,” I said. “It thins the blood. You don’t have much to spare.”

“If I’m going to meet the Lord, I’m a going drunk,” he responded. “Besides the alcohol will kill any germs I might’ve picked up from them rascals.” He spat and took a long pull from the bottle.

I chuckled. “You haven’t changed a bit, have you?”

He raised his beer in a salute. “Here’s to drunken fools.”

He stopped half-way in the middle of that third drink when Tamyra entered the room.

“Tamyra King, as I live and breath,” he said as he looked up at me and grinned. “You ain’t sparking her, are you?”

Not knowing what to say, I shrugged my shoulders, but Tamyra spoke up instead. “He’s only doing what you and half of your friends have been trying to do for years.”

Robbie began to laugh. After a few seconds, he saluted me with his beer a second time. “And to think that I always thought you was one of them Bible thumpers. Guess I was wrong.”

“I don’t know what you’re thinking,” I stated flatly, “but let me assure you that my actions towards Tamyra have been honorable.”

“Is that what we’re calling it?” asked Tamyra. There was a devious sound in her voice. It sounded as though she was trying to impress Robbie by showing how naughty she and I had been.

Robbie looked at her. “Sorry Tamyra, but I believe Lance. Girls have been throwing theirselves at him all my life and he’s been side-stepping them just as long. No, I know him,” he pointed at me, “he’s telling the truth.”

He looked at her. “You don’t need to lie to me, just because I tried to do what you want him to do. I ain’t worried about your virtue as long as Lance is around. He’s the perfect gentlemen. You may’ve tried to come on to him, but I bet he turned you down.

“I know my friend. There’s two kinds of religion in this world. There’s the talking kind and there’s the walking kind. Most people can talk the talk, but they can’t walk the walk. Lance is a true believer. He’s the kind that does the walking and not the talking.”

Tamyra looked at him for a long second. I couldn’t tell if I saw admiration or anger in her eyes. After she finished staring at him, she looked at me a smiled. There was something about that smile that seemed to lift a burden off my shoulders. It was as if her smile was a sign from God Himself. For a brief instant, all my doubts and frustrations seemed to melt away and I was left basking in a feeling of liberation and release. I took a deep breath as I tried to suck that feeling into my soul and for the briefest of seconds I did.

“Where do you want me to put my bags?” asked Tamyra.

It took a couple of seconds before her words registered with me. When they did, I held out to her the keys to Robbie’s vehicle. “It’s a red SUV parked around back,” I said.

She looked around the room. As her eyes fell on the dead dogs, she went pale. “What happened?” she croaked.

“State boys killed muh dogs,” shouted Robbie. “I’ll make them pay for it. I guarantee you that. I’m gonna bag one of them. Mark my words.”

Tamyra gagged for a split-second but didn’t puke. She seemed to shiver and then appeared completely composed.

“Give me those keys,” she barked as she walked over and snatched them from me. She then grabbed her bags and made her way out of the side door.

After she had left, Robbie smiled at me. “That’s a fine woman you got there. How do you do it? I’ll bet she’s done everything but beg you to sleep with her and you won’t do it. Why’s that?”

“I love sex the same as the next man, but I believe it should be within the confines of a marriage. The greatest gift anyone ever gave me, except for Jesus, was the gift of Mary’s virginity when we married. That was a gift I regretted not being able to reciprocate. I felt like I had robbed her of a beautiful, wonderful gift. On my wedding night, I felt grateful to her, but ashamed for myself. I never want to make that same mistake again.”

“You mean you’d done something before you were married.”

“Much to my great regret, yes.”

“Who? I’ve got to know this.”

“I’d rather not say. It still shames me twenty years later.”

About that time Tamyra came back into the garage. “There’s a light coming in the distance,” she shouted as she entered.

“You two had better hide,” Robbie said.

“I won’t,” I shouted.

“Then hide her.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Where?”

He smiled. “Behind the garage, there’s a big dog house. Push back on it a few inches and then raise it up. There’s a room buried under there.” He shot me a devilish grin. “A man can’t never be too careful.”

I nodded my approval and hid her. The room was huge. It must have been fifteen feet by fifteen feet. It had concrete walls, a bed, a port-a-john and a refrigerator.

“Get in there,” I said to Tamyra as I pushed open the door.

“Aren’t you coming?”

“I can’t leave him there by himself. If those crooked cops return, they’ll kill him. You stay here until I come for you.”

She thought about arguing with me but didn’t. She was a strong woman and that’s what attracted me to her. After a few seconds of hesitation, she obliged.

“I love you,” she whispered as I closed the door over her. I pretended not to hear her even though I had. Once the door was closed, I smiled and then tried to shake off the chills that had snaked their way up my spine.

I hid off in a dark corner were I knew I wouldn’t be seen. There I waited for what seemed like forever before a vehicle pulled up into Robbie’s drive way. I stood there with baited breath as I held my pistol in the ready. From my vantage point, I could see into the building but not out of it.

After what seemed like an eternity, I heard a voice call out into the night. “Robbie, you there?”

That call was answered by Robbie. “Jamie Darrell, that you?”

“Yep, you all right?”

“Come on out Lance,” shouted Robbie. It’s Jamie Darrell.”

Cautiously, I stepped out from my hiding place and began to look around the area. As I scanned the building, I noticed a tall thick-necked man running towards Robbie.

The man called to Robbie as he ran over to him. “What the world happened to you?”

“Three state boys beat me to an ace shy of my death,” answered Robbie. “I give them boys as good as I got until one of them hit me with one of them stun guns.”

“Who was it?” asked Jamie Darrell.

As I approached, the other man looked up at me and let go of Robbie. “Who are you?” he shouted.

“He’s a friend,” input Robbie. He’s my lawyer’s boy. He’s who them police is looking for. They catch up with him, he’ll get worse than I got. He’ll get a grave.”

Robbie tried to stand and could only manage it with the assistance of Jamie Darrell. As he stood, Robbie looked at me and spoke. “Here’s the other set of keys to that truck. They might be looking for my family and think that truck is gone. They didn’t have time to look around when they was here earlier. You be careful and take care of that woman or I’ll do it for you.”

He tried to laugh, but winced instead.

“We’d better get you to the hospital,” interrupted Jamie Darrell.

“Good thing McDowell ARH is just a couple of miles away,” input Robbie. He was trying to be funny but no one was laughing.

I wrapped one of his arms around my neck and Jamie Darrell did the same. We half walked him, half carried him to Jamie Darrell’s car. As we put Robbie into the passenger’s seat, he pointed towards me. “Don’t try to leave this hollow. They’ll be awaiting for you. Take the road on up the hill until it forks. There take the right fork and you’ll be going on an old rocky road. If you stay on that, it’ll bring you out to Garrett. From there, you know your way to Stanton.”

As I got ready to close the door, I nodded my head to this wild mountain boy. “I owe you big time Robbie.”

“Don’t worry about it; I owe your daddy a whole lot more. He’s kept me out of prison more than once. This little beating ain’t nothing. I’ve been roughed up by the cops before.”

With that, I closed the door. I looked at Jamie Darrell and smiled. He favored his cousin a great deal. They looked more like brothers than cousins. I stuck my hand out to him and he gripped it with an iron hold.

“Take care of him,” I said as I let go of the man’s grip. “Robbie’s a good old boy.”

“For an outlaw,” stated Jamie Darrell with a wink and a grin.

“I won’t forget this,” I promised.

He waved me off and then made his way over to the driver’s seat. He hopped in the car and began to back out of the drive. He flashed me three high beams as he rolled to a stop.

Within seconds they were gone and I stood there in the dark all by myself. How had things gotten this far in such a short time? I tried to find an answer, but couldn’t. Apparently, I had ticked off the wrong person.

Five minutes later, Tamyra and I were heading up into the head of the hollow. Neither of us said a word for a long while. Less than fifteen minutes after we took the right hand fork of the hollow, we came upon to a rural road. A sign with an arrow pointing to the left indicated that we were a mile away from Garrett. I looked both ways before I pulled on to that road.

We’d gone about fifty miles when I noticed that clouds were beginning to cover the moon and stars. I smiled when I noticed this. The darkness that these clouds would bring brought a strange comfort to me. I don’t know why it did, but it did. Perhaps, I thought we’d be harder to spot in complete darkness.

We were about ten miles outside of Campton heading west on the Mountain Parkway when we passed a state police cruiser heading east towards Salyersville. I looked in my rearview mirror as the cruiser passed.

I was about to breath a huge sigh of relief when I noticed the brake lights flashed. My heart began to skip a beat when I noticed the cruiser’s blue lights began to blaze.

I pushed the gas pedal to the floor. “Get ready,” I shouted to Tamyra. “Here comes trouble.”

Less than a minute later, the cruiser was on my tail flicking his lights from high beam to low beam as his siren moaned in the night.

“What are we going to do?” asked Tamyra in a low voice that did little to hide the panic I she was feeling.

“Up here about a mile is a place that is secluded. I’m going to stop there. When I come to a stop jump out of the car and run for the hills.”

“Why?”

“Just do it!”

I looked into my rear view mirror to see how close the cop was to me. All I could see was his lights so I assumed he must be right on my bumper. I thought about slamming my breaks and letting him slam into us, but was afraid that I might hurt Tamyra in the process.

Not knowing what else to do, I waved to him. He responded by flashing his lights several times in rapid succession. It acted like a strobe light because everything seemed to move in slow motion.

As we neared the place where I wanted to stop, I began to whisper a prayer. “God, please let him be alone. Protect this woman from harm and look after my son. I’m not afraid of dying, but I’d love to see my son grow up to be a man, if that is Your will?”

As we came to a rolling stop, I shouted to Tamyra. “Get out of here, now!”

She didn’t argue. She unbuckled her seat belt and was crawling out the door before the truck completely stopped. Once she was out of the vehicle, I threw it into reverse and slammed the cruiser with the SUV’s bumper knocking out both of the cop’s headlights in the process. That was exactly what I was hoping to do.

I slammed the truck into park, grabbed my pistol, opened the door and rolled onto the pavement. Three bullets passed just inches above my head at I hit the asphalt. Once my body was on the ground, I changed directions and rolled under the four-wheel drive.

I heard two more rounds ricochet near where I had landed. I kept rolling hoping these few precious seconds would allow me the time I needed for my eyes to adjust to the darkness.

“There’s no use in running,” called a man’s voice. “You’re only delaying the inevitable.”

I wanted to scream at him, but kept quiet. If I were lucky, then he was just as blind at the moment as I was. If that were true, then he was trying to get me to talk so that he’d know where I was. Had he seen me roll under the truck? Did he know where I was? He had too; there could be no other way to look at it. I assumed he was a man of logic. Therefore, he would know that the only logical place I could have gone to hide from his murderous intent was under the vehicle.

He was playing some kind of cat and mouse game with me, of that I was sure. I was basically at his mercy. Only a miracle could save me now.

I lay there trying not to breathe fearing that my very essence might alert him to where I was. As I looked around me, I saw nothing but pitch blackness. It was only a matter of time before he’d find me and I’d be dead.

I heard a soft scrape against some gravel come from the back of the truck and I looked in the direction in which that sound came. I aimed my pistol in that direction even though I couldn’t see a blessed thing. About the time I pointed my pistol towards the back of the vehicle, a bolt of lightning flashed and for a split-second I could see the world as if it were a bright summer afternoon.

There about six feet directly in front of me, I could see the bottom few inches of the man’s legs. Hurriedly, I squeezed off two rounds. The instant the first round expelled from my pistol the thunder clapped like a military barrage.

Convinced that I had missed, I began to curse my luck. For some unknown reason, I was compelled to look in the direction where the man had stood only seconds before. Keeping my pistol pointed towards his last know whereabouts, I tilted my head in that direction.

A second bolt of lightning lit the sky. This one was much longer than the first. As I looked back, I could see the man’s face. He was writhing in pain, but his face wore a mask of grim determination and hatred.

Our eyes locked for a second. An evil smile flashed across his face, as he brought his pistol up to aim at me. What happened next is beyond my comprehension. It was as if my pistol dragged my arm up and forced it to take a shot.

Two rounds rang out and I felt a burning sensation roll across my left shoulder. I waited for another round to rip into my flesh, but it never did. I lay there for a couple of minutes listening to see if I could hear him.

When I heard nothing for a long while, I looked down to where he had been. I stared there for a couple of minutes before another flash lit up the night. As I stared at him, I could see a dark round spot on his head about an inched above the top of his nose. A dark liquid was trickling from that spot.

I tried not to, but the tears inside of me began to meander down my face. I’d never taken a life before and had secretly prayed that I’d never have to. I felt dirty and grubby, both on the inside and the outside. The pain in my shoulder had been replaced by an even greater pain in my soul.

I lay there a couple of minutes before I managed to muster up the strength to crawl out from under the truck. It took great effort and I winced every time I moved my left shoulder, but I eventually managed to wiggle myself free.

As I stood up in order to survey the area, a voice called to me from the edge of the turn off near the highway. “Lance, is that you?”

A rush of relief flooded my body as I realized that the policeman I had just killed had acted alone. I had secretly feared that he had been accompanied by a partner. I smiled when I heard her voice. It also helped to ease the pain burning both in my shoulder and in my gut.

“I thought I told you to high tail it out of here,” I said even though I was thrilled that she hadn’t.

“I couldn’t leave you here by yourself. I’d never forgiven myself if something happened to you.”

“I’ve been shot,” I stated flatly. “I don’t think it’s serious but it hurts like the devil.”

She walked over to where I was standing. A bolt of lightning flashed as she neared me. I don’t know if it was a trick of my mind created by that bolt of light or if the pain I was feeling inside my mind was playing a trick on me, but whatever it was it made me see Tamyra for the exceptional beauty that she truly is.

That flash has created a bluish almost elfin glow upon her face and she looked almost angelic. I was still thinking of that image of her when she touched me. When her hand made contact with my skin, my body quivered as if I’d been dropped into an icy river.

Not knowing what else to do, I pulled her in close to me with my good arm. As she tumbled into me, my mouth began to probe for hers. When our lips touched, mine refused to kiss her as I had the night before. My heart was hungry for hers and my lips began to engulf her. For a minute or two, I behaved like as ravenous wolf as my lips sought to devour her affections for me. My kiss went from soft and tender to hard and starving as I sought to drown my sorrows with her mouth.

She fought my advances at first. Whether this was due to the fact I was coming on too strong or whether she feared me, I can’t say. All I know was that at that exact moment I was willing to give my entire self; mind, heart, soul and body to her. For a minute or two she was compliant and we stood there locked in an animalistic embrace.

Somewhere during that kiss, she whispered, “I love you Lance,” and then pushed me away from her.

“I really want to,” she said, “but I can’t. We got to get out of here.”

It took me a second before I was able to understand what she was saying, but eventually her words did manage to sink into my mind.

“Give me the keys,” she commanded. “You’re in no shape to drive.”

I didn’t argue. I slid the pistol into the small of my back and made my way to the passenger’s side door. “Let’s get out of here before somebody comes along and sees us.”

We drove for about twenty minutes before we passed another car. By that time we were about to pull off of exit twenty-two. Once there, we were less than ten minutes from Robbie’s safe house.

I held a tissue to my shoulder the whole time she drove. A couple minutes after we had left the scene of the shooting, I turned the overhead light on and looked at my wound in the mirror attached to the sun-visor. The bullet had only nicked me. It hadn’t entered the skin, but had ripped the flesh as it passed. It was going to hurt like the dickens and it was going to leave a scar, but it was not serious.

As she pulled into the driveway, she clicked all three of the remote controls attached to the driver’s side sun visor. As she pressed the one in the middle, a door began to rise and a light flicked on in the garage. She waited for the large two car garage door to meander its way up the track upon which it rested.

“Here we are,” she said triumphantly as the door came to a halt.

“I told you it’d be a piece of cake,” I said. We both tried to laugh but both failed miserably.

The trip to Wise should have taken only about forty to forty-five minutes, but it took me over three hours to get there. I was not going to take the most direct route just in case I was being tailed even though I didn’t think that I was.

Working in intelligence teaches you how to spot a tail even one that has multiple layers to it. The first thing you learn is to never develop a pattern. Once you become predictable, then you can be followed without you ever knowing it. Never take the same route twice and always do the unpredictable, those are some of the keys to keeping your watchers off guard.

I made several stops during that trip to Wise, Virginia. I stopped at several service stations to pretend as though I had to make a bathroom stop. Once I pretended to be finished, I would reverse my course and then take a side road in order to keep mixing things up so that not even I knew what I was going to do next.

With each stop, I’d watch for the cars behind me to see how they were reacting. If the driver of a vehicle looked my way, then I’d make a mental note of his vehicle and then change directions.

As I pulled up into the dirt road that leads to the Colonel’s cabin, I stopped at a place just out of sight so that I could spend some time watching the cars go past. I hopped out of the car and walked back to where I could see the road. I stood there for five to ten minutes before I was convinced that no one was following. With that, I hopped back into the Prius and made my way to the cottage.

As we pulled into the drive way, I flashed my lights three times. Once finished, I reached behind me and pulled a pistol I had tucked in my trousers at the small of my back. I sat there waiting for a response and was thrilled when the porch light flicked on and off four times.

“Everything’s clear,” I said as I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

A large burly man with graying blonde hair stepped out onto the porch. He was also carrying a firearm. He tucked it into the back of his trousers as he began to wave to me.

“Old Marines never die,” he challenged.

It was a signal that we had used in the intelligence community while I served in the Marine Corps.

“They just smell that way,” I answered.

He roared with laughter. “Welcome Captain Paul. You’re a sight for sore eyes.”

With that, he made his way over to the vehicle. As he approached, he nodded his head towards Maria and Alex. “Ma’am,” he said as he made his way past Maria. Without saying another word, he grabbed up two pieces of luggage and then began to head back towards the house.

Half an hour later, we were sitting around his kitchen table eating sandwiches and drinking milk. As I finished the last of my sandwich, I stood up, wiped my mouth and walked over to where Maria was sitting.

As I came near her, she stood. We embraced. I could feel her tremble as her body came into contact with mine. She held me longer than I had anticipated.

As we parted, I whispered gently to her. “I’m sorry for getting you into this. You don’t deserve it.”

“Is okay,” was her response. “You are a good man. There are so few like you left.”

“Thank you,” I said.

She nodded and then burst out into tears. She hesitated for a second and I thought she was going to say something, but she didn’t. She ran out of the room instead.

I looked over at my son. Tears were rolling down his cheeks.

“Daddy, are you going to die?”

“Not today,” I whispered and then nearly choked on my pain.

“I’ve got a shotgun,” Alex said. “I can go with you and protect you. If a bad guy comes near, I’ll put the lead to him.”

I laughed because his words were comforting to me. “I know, but I need you here protecting Maria.”

Alex pointed towards the Colonel. “Can’t Uncle Mark do that? You need me!”

With that, I scooped him into my arms and began covering him with kisses. After peppering him with several sloppy smooches, I yelled, “Tickle monster,” and began tickling him. He began to squirm in my arms but I wouldn’t let go of him.

“Stopped,” he shouted. “I can’t take any more.”

“Okay,” I said and paused for a couple of seconds. Once he relaxed, I shouted, “Attack,” and began tickling him all over again.

As I was tickling him, I said a small prayer of thanks to God. If my son was going to lose his dad this night, I wanted him to remember me laughing. That was also the way I wanted to remember him.

We continued this for a couple of minutes and would have continued had Mark not interrupted. “You’d better get going it you’re going to get back to Frankfort tonight.”

I nodded to him and tickled Alex one more time. As I put him down, I planted a big kiss on the top of his head. “I love you,” I whispered as I released the kiss.

“I love you too,” he said and he began to cry.

“Maria,” I shouted as I wiped away the tears that were rolling down Alex’s face. He pulled me into him and began kissing my face.

“I’ll pray for you,” he whispered. “God won’t let nothing happen to my Dad.”

“See,” I responded. “I’ll be all right.”

About that time Maria, re-entered the room. Once she saw me, she ran over to me and embraced me. “Please be careful, Senor Lance. I want no harm to come to you. I love you and Alex and want to be a part of this family.”

“We love you too,” I said.

“I hate to break up his love-fest,” interrupted the Colonel. “But you need to get going.”

I nodded and hugged Maria and Alex one more time. With that, I left. The Colonel followed me to the car. As I was climbing into the vehicle, he spoke.

“You’re a lucky man. That is a wonderful boy you’ve got there.”

“Thanks,” I replied. “Maria has been a godsend for me.”

“That’s the other thing you’re lucky with. I’d trade my left leg if a woman like that was in love with me.”

“Who wouldn’t?” I asked.

He began to laugh. “Good gracious, you don’t get it do you?”

“Get what?”

He laughed even louder. “Nothing. If you don’t know, then I’m not telling you.”

I shrugged pretending not know what he meant.

“Take care of them,” I said as I started the car.

“I will.”

As I got ready to leave, the Colonel called. “Lance, since you aren’t interested, you think I could ask Maria out on a date?” He began to chuckle at his own words. “Just think it over; you’ll come to my meaning.”

Not really wanting to know as to what he was driving at with that statement, I waved and began to back out of the driveway. As I made my way down the drive, I took one last look at the cabin. I was thankful Maria had kept Alex inside. I don’t think I could’ve handled the image of my beloved son and Maria waving to me as I drove away.

The trip back to Wheelwright took less than an hour. I stopped at the top of Pound Mountain, which acts as the border for Kentucky and Virginia. On the Kentucky side of the mountain is an overview which seems to look on forever. I stopped there and took a few minutes to reflect upon the day.

I stared out into the distance as I relived the events of the past few hours. I had trouble concentrating so I began to look at my surroundings. Directly in front of me was one of the most beautiful sights I’d ever seen.

There were dozens of mountain tops stretched out for miles and miles. As I scanned them, they made me think of gentle waves rolling in off the ocean on an early spring day. Waves of various shades of green gave the appearance as though the mountains were moving and breathing and for a second I thought they were.

I smiled as that thought hit me. Where these mountains to move then couldn’t they talk also and if they could talk, boy did I have some questions to ask them. Something as old as these mountains would have gained a great deal of wisdom over the millennia.

Maybe these hills could tell me what to do. I sure as heck didn’t know. I wasn’t even sure that I should be running. All I knew is that every fiber within my body was telling me that I was being hunted. I’d known that since the instant that lawyer entered the interrogation room this morning. I don’t know how I knew, but I knew and that was what frightened me the most.

Somewhere deep down inside of me the answer was there. I had the answer. I’d gathered enough information to piece together this murder, of that, I was certain. Now, I had to figure out what it really happened. I was over looking something and that something I knew would be the key to all of this. I just had to figure that out and then this thing would resolve itself.

When all else failed, I bowed my head, closed my eyes and began to pray.

“God, I know that I don’t do this as often as I should and I’m truly sorry for that. But, I’ve got the lives of at least two people, maybe more, riding on the outcome of this case. I need both your help with this thing and I need you to protect Alex and Maria. I don’t care about me, but I need my son, the child you gave me, protected.”

I sat there a couple of more minutes before I opened my eyes. I tried to smile but couldn’t. After that, I started the car and pulled back on to the road. Before I’d gone half a mile, I turned on the radio and Marty Robbins’ Town of El Paso began to blare in my ears. I smiled and sang along with the song until it ended with the cowboy’s death.

As I was wondering if that song had been an omen from God, the deejay’s voice began to thunder within the confines of than tiny little vehicle.

“This is Pound Gap Pete sending that request out to an old cowboy over there in Whitesburg. I hope you liked it.”

I smiled. If he didn’t, I did, I thought to myself. That song had been my favorite since I was a child.

“This next one goes out to my wife, Tamara,” shouted the voice over the radio. “Daddy’ll be home soon and we’ll have all evening together, just the two of us.”

I nearly locked up the car when I heard that. His words hit me like a cold slap in the face. Were I unsure of what I was going to do two minutes ago, I was now one hundred percent positive of what I was going to do next. With that, I pulled off the side of the road, picked up that disposable cell phone and began tapping in Tamyra King’s telephone number.

She picked up on the third ring. “Hello,” said Tamyra.

“Hey,” I replied. “What are you doing? You got plans for tonight?”

“No, but I was hoping you’d call. Where are you?”

“It’s best if you don’t know.”

She paused and I could hear her take a deep breath. “You’re not in trouble, are you?”

I thought about lying to her, but couldn’t bring myself to it. Therefore, I tried to avoid giving her a straight answer. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

“I’m worried about you. I don’t want something to happen to you.”

“Nor, I you,” I responded. “I’ll be there directly. Pack some clothes and I’ll take you with me for a couple of days. I’ve got to figure out what’s going on before I make another move.”

“Great, maybe we can finish up where we left off?”

“Let’s take things slowly. I still haven’t completely gotten over some things.”

“Okay.” She sounded disappointed. “I’ll be ready when you get here.”

“I’ll be in a blue hybrid car when I get there. Don’t be alarmed when it pulls into your driveway.”

“Be careful.”

“I will.”

Less than an hour later, I was pulling into the gravel driveway that led to her house. She was sitting out on the porch swing and had two bags and her purse sitting beside her.

The first thing I noticed when I got out of the car was the drop in temperature. Summers in Appalachian can be stifling, but this night it was cool and a soft wind was blowing. I could hear the trees rustling over the purr of the engine.

“Ready?” I asked as I made my way on to the porch.

“This is just my luck,” she said. “Here I am going away for a weekend with a guy I really like and we’re going not for romantic purpose but to run from the law. That could only happen to me.”

I chuckled before I spoke. “I guess I’ve got nothing to do with it.”

“Aren’t we the pair? If we ever get married, we’ll have to change our last name to Luck. That way you can be called Hard Luck and I can be called Bad Luck.”

“Things will blow over,” I assured her, but those words were more for my own comfort than for her.

As I dropped her bags into the back seat of the hybrid, she put her arms around me and pulled me into her. As we embraced, she placed her lips on mine and gave me a long soft kiss. It was beautiful and wonderful, but lacked the lust her kisses held the night before. It was the way a first kiss should feel. It was both inviting and promising without bearing the weight of hidden sexual promises.

“Wow!” I whispered when we quit kissing. “That’s the kind of kissing I like.”

“Me too,” she purred. “That one was for luck and this one is from my heart.”

She moved in closer and continued where she’d let off. This kiss was even more incredible than the other. Like the first, this one spoke of tenderness and hopefulness without sinking to an animalistic yearning.

I began to tremble as her lips pressed harder and harder against mine. My knees nearly buckled under me. Unable to contain the joy that was racing through my body; I pushed her away from me, and then struggled to maintain my balance.

“You all right?” she asked as she helped to support me.

“Never better,” I responded. “That kiss literally knocked me off my feet.”

She smiled and pecked me on the cheek. “That might have been the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Help me get to the car and we’ll go,” I said.

“Where are we going?” she asked as she settled into the seat beside me.

“Robbie Burke’s.”

She laughed out loud. “First Ricky, now Robbie; you’re determined to show me off to every guy that I’ve ever turned down after they asked me to go out with them. Unfortunately, those two only wanted one thing from me.”

“I know I’m going to regret this but what was that?”

She moved in close to me and whispered seductively, “They very thing you refuse to take even though I’d give it to you in a second.”

“The body is nice,” I replied. “But I want the heart and soul and not just the naughty parts.”

She pecked me on the shoulder. “Good answer.”

“I always was a charmer,” I teased.

“Don’t ruin it.”

I obliged her.

A few minutes later we were winding our way up that winding hollow road that lead to Robbie’s place. About the time we pulled out of her drive and onto the main road, a small drizzle began to fall.

“I love weather live this,” stated Tamyra. She seemed to be reliving some memory so I didn’t respond, but let her continue.

“It reminds me of my grandmother’s place when I was a little girl. We’d sit out on her porch during rainy summer evenings and she’d tell us stories about growing up in the coal camp.”

“Mamaw would do the same for us,” I agreed. “I always wondered what it would be like to grow up in a bustling coal camp.”

“Me too, buy the time I was old enough to take notice of things the coal camps were no longer in existence.”

“I don’t remember them either, but I recall hundreds of stories told to me by Mamaw. She grew up in Weeksbury. She told me all my life that she had an easier life growing up than did her kids and even her grandkids.”

She nodded her head and smiled. “My grandparents grew up in Seco in Letcher County. Granny told me that she had it better than I did.”

She paused, looked away and became silent.

“Did I say something wrong?” I asked.

“No, I was thinking about Daddy.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to stir up bad feelings inside you.”

“It’s not that. You’re so easy to talk to. You could never stir up bad feelings in me. I was just reliving memories about Daddy.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but thought better of it. So, I set back and decided to let her proceed at her own pace.

“Daddy was Granny’s pride and joy, or, he was until he took up drinking. I never understood why he drank so much. He hated himself for being that way. He once told me that he was a complete waste of God given talent. I believe he drank to hide his guilt and shame.”

She paused, took a deep breath and then continued. “This is hard for me, but I’m angry with my Dad. His death has created a void with in my heart and that void is being filled with hatred for him.”

“Hatred!” I had spoken without even thinking. “I find that hard to believe. You talk as though you idolized the man.”

“I do or I did. I don’t know. My dad is the smartest man I’ve ever met, period! He once bragged that his IQ was in the one eighty range and I believe him. He was a genius at Jeopardy and he could memorize anything by reading it.

“Did you know that he was a senior at Georgia State University majoring in Biology and Chemistry when he quit. He made straight A’s and was being looked at by Johns Hopkins, Harvard and every major university in the south. He was going to be something great.

“All that changed when he became involved with the murder of that man.”

“Albert,” I interrupted.

“What?” she asked.

“His name was Albert and he was the uncle to a couple of friends of mine. From what I understand about him, he was extremely gifted and talented just like your dad was.”

“Are you trying to make me mad?” she asked. “Because, if you are, then it’s working.”

“No, I was just pointing out that this murder ruined the lives of two outstanding young men. Both of which were full of promise and potential.”

“Oh,” she responded and then remained silent for a few minutes.

Not sure what I was supposed to do, I chose to remain silent and allow her to work through this on her own.

As the rain increased, she began to open up to me. “My life was very difficult as a child. Less than a year after I was born, my mother ran off with another man. I haven’t seen her since. I can’t tell you what she looks like, but I heard she was beautiful. I’ve heard tales that she lives with some man down in North Carolina, but I can’t say that’s the truth or not.

“I was raised my Granny King. Grandpa died from lung cancer when I was six and Daddy was always out drinking and was never home. Granny always said Daddy had a death wish and that he’d never be happy until he extinguished the fire of life burning in his soul.”

“You believed her, didn’t you?” I asked.

“Sometimes, I did, but mostly I didn’t. Daddy had a spark about him that told you he was special. I knew that he was meant for greatness and I always hoped that my desires for him would become contagious and that he’d want to be the type of man I yearned for him to be.

“Do you know why I love football so much?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“That was the one passion my Dad shared with me. The love of reading, football and liquor were the only three things I thought my Dad loved. I hated the liquor for what it did to my Dad, but I grew to love the other two. To this day, I’m still a book worm and I majored in Biology in college hoping that it would inspire him. It didn’t. It was the same for football. I know more stats than most men. Again, I failed to inspire Dad.

“I know this is going to sound cruel, but I’m relieved that I discovered this murder information. All my life, I had blamed myself for my Dad’s drinking and now I know that it was something beyond my control. Believe it or not, that has helped to ease the pain. Now, I have to find away to let go of all the anger I have towards Daddy. Being the daughter of the town drunk creates a great deal of shame within a kid. I also hated having to live off of government hand outs as a child.

“My grandmother helped and had it not been for her, I don’t know what I would have done. She worked hard and scraped by in order to give me things that other kids had. She even signed me up on welfare so that there would be extra money in the house that she could use to buy my school clothes.”

She became quiet all of a sudden. I looked over and could see that she was crying. She sat there is silence as the tears meandered down her face. I watched for a couple seconds and then I looked back towards the road. I did this several times and each time I wanted to speak to her but couldn’t.

After a couple of minutes of this, I saw a small area where I could pull off the road. As the car rolled to a stop, I looked at her and she did likewise.

“You gonna be okay?” I asked.

She threw her arms around me and began to sob. “Make it all go away, Lance. Please make it go away.”

I took her in my arms and pulled her close to me. “That’s what I’m trying to do.”

I held her until her sobbing subsided and her body quit shaking. Once she calmed down, I held her for a few more minutes.

“I’m ready to go now,” she said. It seemed as though she had just pulled that statement from out of the dark-blue sky.

“You sure?”

“Yes, thank you for that.”

“Let’s see, I got to hold an incredibly beautiful woman in my arms as she opened her heart to me. I’d say most guys would’ve killed to be in that position.”

She laughed, but it was a forced laugh. “You’re not most guys and that’s what’s so attractive about you.”

“You’re making me blush,” I said and at that exact instant I felt my face flush.

“And that’s the other thing that’s so wonderful about you.”

“We’d better get on to Robbie’s,” I said as I pulled the car back out onto the road. “He’ll be wondering where I’m at. I promised him, I’d be back within a couple of hours and it’s been almost five.”

“He’ll be all right,” input Tamyra. “He’s got a habit of bouncing back. He must have been born under a lucky star. He’s beat more prison time than anyone I’ve ever seen.”

“That’s true,” I agreed, “but I still trust him. We go way back and that means something to us mountain boys.”

We stopped at the Dollar General Store located next to where the old branch bank used to be. I had disposed of our personal cell phones but I still needed away to communicate with those around me. A couple of years ago, I had spent months tracking down a drug dealer that had a connection with a state senator out in Western Kentucky. The guy seemed to always be one step ahead of me.

It was not until things actually went to trial that I was able to learn how the man was able to keep us running around. He was able to keep a low profile by going off the grid. He did all transactions in cash. He maintained communications with his network via pre-paid telephones. If I were to be asked, I would have said that was his greatest achievement because it allowed him to stay all but invisible. That was what I wanted to do. I admired his abilities and now was hoping to duplicate his feat.

He’d simple go into a Wal-Mart or Dollar General Store and purchase two telephones and a couple of cards with a couple of hundred minutes on each. He then would keep one and give the other to his top lieutenant. They had a system where they would call each other at a particular time and they stuck to that schedule religiously.

It worked beautifully for months and probably would have worked forever had we not busted the girl friend of the man’s chief lieutenant. Once we had the girl on a charge, we used her as leverage against her boyfriend. Not wanting to see his beloved go to jail, the man finally agreed to turn on his boss.

By the time that investigation ironed itself out, we had arrested two state senators, four lawyers, three prominent businessmen in the Bowling Green area and had busted three corrupt state troopers.

I learned three things from that investigation. The first was that it is nearly impossible to catch a man that has completely gone off the grid. The second is that no one can be trusted during an investigation and the third was that even the slightest electronic trail will lead to your capture. I learned that fact because it was an odd entry in an Excel spreadsheet that lead to the arrest and conviction of the three state policemen involved in the drug investigation of the Western Kentucky state senator.

I checked my wallet and money clip before I entered the store. I had less than three hundred dollars on me and I knew that I needed more than that to do what I needed to do. Therefore, I decided to take a calculated gamble. Since the manager of the store was a sister of an old friend, I decided to ask her for a favor or at least I would if she were in the store.

As I walked into the building, I looked at the two counters located in the front of the place to see if she was there. God must have been smiling on me because she was standing next to the closest register. She was reading one of those tabloid magazines that are always located next to the checkout stand so I couldn’t see her face.

Her name was Wanda Anne Hamilton and I hadn’t seen her in years. Her brother Elmer had been one of my best friends as a child. They both had the blond hair, dark skin, blue eyes, short statures and the great looks for which their clan was noted. Other than their looks, they had nothing in common. Elmer was a good natured boy that grew up to be a banker and a preacher and he set a great example for his sister who was eight years younger than him.

Wanda on the other hand was a wild child. She had been the head cheerleader at Wheelwright High School and she was tougher than any boy in the school. She could out fight, out drink and out love any boy in the school. She was exceptionally beautiful and would do anything for attention.

“Wanda,” I shouted as I walked over to her spreading my arms as I went.

She looked up from her magazine, looked at me for a second before her eyes shot open wide and she began to run towards me. We met in an embrace.

After a couple seconds, she pushed me away, smiled and said, “Let’s have a look at you.”

She looked me over like a farmer looking over a prized heifer. Once she finished, she smiled and embraced me again.

“Man, you’re fine,” she whispered as she let me go. “You’ve got to be close to forty and you can give everyone of these twenty-year-old boys around here a run for their money.”

“You’re still as nasty-minded as ever,” I responded in a teasing tone.

“Shore am.” She gave me a naughty look. “If you ever want to find out how naughty I really am, all you got to do is name the time and place and I’ll be there. I want to say with bells on, but I’ll probably be naked.”

“Wanda Anne Taylor, you nasty thang.” I began to slip back into my eastern Kentucky accent in order to play up to her. “Child you’re married with a couple of young’uns.”

“Divorced,” she countered. “Besides the twins usually spend the weekends with their daddy and his new woman; that old tramp. I swear, she’d have anything that walks, talks and could lay on top of her.”

“Wanda Anne, you shouldn’t talk like that.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “Truth’s the truth.”

I began laughing and she joined in and for several long seconds we stood there laughing at our own embarrassment.

I was the first to break the silence. “I have to tell you something. I came here looking for you.”

A huge grin raced across her face. It was purely sexual in nature and I flushed when I saw it. Seeing my reaction, she moved in close to me and began to rub her hand on my chest.

“Just what is it,” she purred. “We can go back into my office where I have a big desk and we can talk, you know all alone.”

Whether she did that just to embarrass me or because she actually was trying to seduce me, I couldn’t tell. With Wanda Anne, you never really knew. She could be trying to aggravate me in which case she was succeeding on a grand scale or she could actually be trying to seduce me.

She still was a beautiful woman and having the twins had done nothing to hurt her body, but I never was attracted to the wild girls. They never came across as being genuine to me. I always felt like they were trying to cover up for something and acted as if they only got their acceptance through being the center of attention of everything. I always felt sorry for such girls. The pain that drove them to such extremes must be nearly unbearable.

As we entered her office, she closed the door behind me and shot me a serious look. I was stunned by her change in demeanor. Three second ago she was acting up and speaking loudly and now here she was addressing me with a serious look on her face.

“Okay,” she said with a straight face. “Let’s hear what’s going on.”

I was taken aback by her change. “What’s with the act back there?”

“When I first started working here three years ago the girls treated me as a friend,” she said. “I was part of the group until I got promoted to manager. Since then, they’ve kept their distance from me. I didn’t like that. I wanted things to be like they’d been before I was promoted.

“One day your cousin Rodney was in here and I started flirting and acting all crazy with him. Well, shore enough, that day the other girls started treating me like they had before I was the manager. I was their friend again and not their boss.

“Ever since that day, I act the fool with everybody that comes into this store. Now, the girls still like me and we even won an award for having the friendliest store in the whole chain.”

“That’s good thinking,” I replied.

“Now, what is it I can do for you?” she asked.

I wiped my hand across my face before I started. “I won’t lie to you Wanda Anne, I need a favor.”

“Name it.”

“I need to purchase some items, but don’t have the cash to buy them and cannot use a credit card because those transactions are traceable.”

“If you need cash,” she interrupted, “I’ll be glad to loan you as much as you need.”

“No, I’m fine with cash.” I stopped before continuing with my thoughts.

“I’m going to pull a thousand dollars out of the bank at Martin. I’m being followed by some people in high places. Since they already know I’m here in Eastern Kentucky, I’m willing to chance taking the money out of the bank. But, once I do that, I have to get lost for a few days and will need cash to do that.”

“If you don’t need cash, then what do you need?”

“I have a couple of favors to ask.”

She looked at me and she must have recognized the fear in my eyes because she straightened up and began nodding her head to indicate that she’d help.

“The first one is a promise that you’ll check in on my mother for me.”

The pace of her nod increased to indicate that she would do that.

“The second one could get you in trouble.”

She shrugged her shoulders and grinned at me. “Now, you’re in my world,” she said with a smile.

“I need to purchase three prepaid phones and calling cards to go with them. The problem I’m having is that I need to pay for them with a check. But, I need you to hold off on depositing the check for a couple of days.”

She smiled. “Checks get lost here all the time. It’s Thursday. A check could get lost and go a week before she’ found. And, as long as it gets found, headquarters doesn’t ask too many questions. Our registers don’t register checks like Wal-Mart and K Mart so no one will know you’ve written them until a week to ten day after you’ve wrote them. By that time who’s going to know what you’ve bought.”

“That’s precisely my thinking,” I replied.

“That’s all you need?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“That’s nothing. I’ll do it. You didn’t even have to ask for that.”

“Thanks, Wanda Anne. I owe you one.”

With that, I put my arms around her and hugged her. As we released our embrace, she yanked on the left side of my shirt and pulled it out of my trousers.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“We have to make this believable,” she responded.

She then reached up with both hands and began disheveling my hair. After that, she unbuttoned three of the buttons on my dress shirt. She unsnapped several of the buttons on her blouse and only stopped once her bra began to show.

She looked in to my eyes and smiled. “Be sure you follow my lead when we get back out in the store,” she stated as a wild grin shot across her face.

“Wait here for about another five minutes or so. That’ll make think.” With that she smiled and began knocking a few boxes on the floor and banged her fist off of her desk a couple of times. After ten minutes or more passed, she whispered, “Let’s go put on a show for ‘em.”

As we left her office, she took a hold of my left hand with her right. Half way down the center aisle, she stopped, turned to face me, and then pulled me into her. She grabbed my head and pulled my face into hers. Once we got close, she began covering my face with wet sloppy kisses. As I went to protest, her lips met mine. The instant they touched, she began probing my mouth with her tongue. This lasted for several seconds before she let go.

Once she was finished, she winked at me and made her way to the front of the store. As she neared the first of the two registers, she covered her chest with her hands and pretended to be embarrassed by the fact that her bra was showing. The young girl at the other register just smiled and gave her a wink.

“Is this your new man?” asked the small impish girl.

“Yep,” replied Wanda. She pointed at the girl and then at me. “I’ll take care of him, again, Ruthie.”

Both girls began to giggle.

As I approached her register, Wanda Anne reached out and grabbed my belt. It was a deliberate show for the girl’s sake but it seemed to work.

“Wanda Annnnnne, you nasty thang,” stammered the girl. She seemed to be both shocked and titillated by Wanda Anne’s action.

Standing next to the register was a metal rack that contained every thing from magazines to potato chips. On it were several small cell phones of various sizes and shapes. Below them were hanging small plastic objects that looked like credit cards.

As I stood there nervously looking around the building. Wanda Anne began rummaging through the phones and picked out three. “

These are the best they have to offer,” she said. “I used these when I was spying on that no good ex-husband of mine. They are not the most expensive, but they have good reception even up in some of these hollers.”

“Good, I’ll take them,” I responded as I sifted through the pre-paid cards and pulled out three of them. All three had been charged for three hundred minutes.

“Is that all or can I get you something else?” asked Wanda Anne in her most seductive voice.

The other employee began to giggle. I looked around the store thankful that no one was up in the front of the building.

“No, I’m fine,” I replied. “I’ll take these and go.”

With that, I pulled out my check book and began filling out the information on it. As I was completing the check, the impish young woman spoke.

“How long have you two been seeing each other?”

Before I could speak, Wanda Anne responded and I noticed that she too was overplaying her hillbilly accent. “You member when I went outta town couple weeks ago.”

The girl didn’t say a word but nodded her head to indicate that she did remember.

Wanda Anne shot her a naughty grin. “Well, I spent it in a hotel room in Lexington with Lance. We did thangs they don’t even do in them dirty movies.”

“Wanda Anne,” I scolded. I was embarrassed by the lie she was telling and wanted to make her stop. Unfortunately, all my comment did was make the tale all that more believable to the young employee.

“Ignore him,” Wanda Anne said with a wave of her hand. “I know how to handle him.”

The young lady tried to keep from laughing but couldn’t.

“I know how to take care of my man,” bragged Wanda Anne as she began to walk her fingers up my belly.

I recoiled in embarrassment. That made the girl laugh even harder.

“He’s a shy one ain’t he?” asked the impish young woman.

“Not when you’re alone with him,” replied Wanda Anne and then she roared with laughter.

“I got to go,” I remarked as I took possession of the bag Wanda Anne was handing me.

“Do you know how to work these?” asked Wanda Anne. All her teasing had disappeared and now she was as serious as she could be.

I shrugged indicating that I wasn’t sure.

“Men,” whispered Wanda Anne in a loud voice. “If you weren’t so talented in, well, you know, I swear I’d let you go.”

“Wanda Annnnnne,” roared the other girl.

“Well, I would,” intoned Wanda.

She then led me outside and took a couple minutes to explain to me how to work the phone. When asked if these could be traced, she said only through the card, but she had taken precautions to ensure the cards could not be traced to me.

As I got ready to leave, I bent in close to her and whispered, “Thanks.”

“We’ve got to finish this show,” she responded. “Now kiss me and it had better be a long, passionate one.”

“You’re aren’t going to let me out of this one are you?”

She pointed to the front door. “We’ve got an audience and had better give her a good show.”

I shrugged thinking that kissing her hadn’t been an unpleasant experience and she certainly was a pretty woman. Still, I felt as though I was betraying both Tamyra and Maria. Why I included Maria in that thought was beyond me. Maybe it was due to the fact she and my son were watching me.

As I lowered my head to kiss Wanda Anne, Ruthie exited the building.

“Go for it,” she shouted and that caused me to pull back before my lips met Wanda’s.

“I’d better go,” I said.

I saw disappointment in Wanda’s eyes. Did she really want to kiss me? I had until that second assumed that she was putting on an act, but something in her eyes told a different story. I looked over towards where Ruthie was standing and then back to Wanda Anne. This time, the spark I had seen earlier was gone and I began wondering if I’d really saw it.

With that I pecked Wanda Anne on the lips, and turned to leave.

“He looks like a keeper,” shouted Ruthie as I made my way towards my SUV.

“Any man that’ll a kiss you after what I did in my office is definitely a keeper,” replied Wanda Anne.

Embarrassed once again by my friend’s words, I turned and waved to the two women. “Thanks for everything,” I said.

“T’weren’t nothing,” replied Wanda Anne. “I ain’t had this much fun in years. Come back and we can finish where we left off.”

I waved to her to let her know that I appreciated what she did and I knew that she understood my gesture because she shouted, “Be careful,” as I began to crawl in to my vehicle.

“What was that all about?” asked an angry Maria.

“That’s one of my best friend’s sisters just giving me a hard time.”

“It looked like she wanted to give you more than a hard time,” responded Maria.

“Daddy and that woman are love birds,” shouted Alex and then he pretended to be kissing the air.

Maria shot me an odd look. “I thought you were, how do you say, having a relationship with the school teacher?”

“Look,” I said, “Wanda Anne is a friend and there’s nothing more to it than that.”

“Daddy and Wanda Anne sitting in a tree,” shouted Alex and then went on to attempt to complete the rhyme by spelling out, “K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

“Knock it off!” I shouted and both complied although neither one was happy about it.

I spent the next few minutes setting up those prepaid phones. Once finished, I handed one to Maria and gave her the telephone number to the one I had what time I wrote down the number to the one she carried. I then attempted to call her and it worked. After that, I had her call me back in order to ensure both functioned properly. Once I was convinced that they worked properly, I pulled out of the drive way and began heading towards McDowell.

“Where are we going?” asked Alex.

“To the bank,” responded. I’m going to pull as much money as I can and after that I’m going to go see a man about something.”

The ATM at the bank had a sign above it that read, “There is a five dollar service fee for cash withdrawals from all non-affiliated cards.”

“Great, just what I needed,” I said as I input the first of my three credit cards. Ten minutes later, I held sixteen hundred dollars in cash and took one hundred for myself and gave the rest to Maria.

As I handed her the money, I informed her of my plans. “I have to go up here and see an old friend of mine. He’ll have to do something to the vehicle. Once he’s finished, I’m going to take you two to visit a buddy of mine. He lives in Virginia. He’ll take care of you two until this situation blows over.”

The angry expression on Maria’s face changed to one of fear. “What situation are you talking about?”

“I don’t know,” I replied. “Call it a hunch. I can’t place my finger on it, but something is about to go down and I don’t want you two around when it happens.”

“Daddy can see stuff other people can’t,” input Alex. “Granny can do it to and so can I.”

“What?” inquired Maria.

“Don’t ask me to explain it to you,” I told her. “We call it the gift. But my mom’s family has a great many of them. It’s like they know what is going to happen even before it happens. My great-grandma could see things in vivid color. Grandma, mom and some of her cousins can see things. On my dad’s side, Aunt Mally has it in spades.

“I have an aunt that can tell a woman is pregnant by looking at her. She can also tell if it’s going to be a boy or a girl. And, she can tell if the baby will go full term or not.”

“We have people like that in my home,” input Maria. “We call them the prophetesses. They are usually women. How is it that you have this ability?”

“I don’t or at least I don’t possess it to the degree the women in my mom’s family have it. I can’t see things. What I can do is get feelings about things. I can’t explain it to you, but whenever something bad is going to happen, a feeling of dread comes over me and I have to do something or else I’d be consumed by those feelings.”

“And you trust them?”

“Completely, that is why I need to hide you and Alex. If I act upon my feelings, they can usually guide me. If I take a course of action and the feeling intensifies, then I know I have taken the wrong course. If the feeling decreases, then I have taken the correct action.”

“And that is why you are doing this?”

“Over the last few hours, a feeling of dread which has focused on you and Alex has been burning within my soul. That is why I’m doing what I’m doing.”

“And your mother?” asked Maria.

“She’ll be fine. I don’t know how I know that, but she’ll not be hurt or not hurt physically by all of this.”

“And what about you?”

“That is the one blind spot with my form of the gift. I can’t tell a thing about my situation. I just have to feel my way through it.”

“So, you don’t know if you’ll be hurt or even killed by all of this?”

“That’s right, but I can ensure that you two are safe.”

“I don’t want to be safe if you are not there with me.”

“Excuse me?”

“What will I do and where will I go without you?”

“Oh.” I began to laugh nervously as I realized she was worried about her job. For a second, I thought she was expressing feelings for me and was surprised to find that I enjoyed that thought. “I thought you were about to, never mind.”

“I was about to what?”

“Nothing, I misunderstood.”

About a mile from the bank, I pulled off on to a side road called Lawson’s Creek. I went about half a mile up that hollow until I saw a sign which read: “Burke’s Body Shop.” The shop was an old cinder block building painted white but that had grayed with age. It was located less than fifty feet from the dilapidated house where the owner lived. There was a door on the side which had stenciled on it “OFFICE.” Located in the front of the building was a large roll-up garage door that was opened halfway.

Remembering that the owner had a thing for big dogs and therefore usually kept several of them around at all times, I began honking my horn as I pulled into the parking lot. After a few seconds, a frazzled looking heavyset woman in a paisley housecoat exited the front door of the house.

“What do you want?” she called coarsely.

“I’m looking for Robbie Burke,” I replied. “This is his place, isn’t it?”

She looked at me suspiciously for a few second before she spoke again. “I know you, don’t I?”

“Maybe, my names Lance Alexander Paul. I,m…”

“You’re Tim’s boy, ain’t ye?” She smiled and began to motion for me to come up on the porch. “If I’d knowed you’s Tim’s boy, I’d not aggravated ye like that. Your daddy’s as fine a man as these mountains ever made. They’s none better.”

“I thank you,” I input. “I’m proud of him.”

“You should be. When my brother Jimmy Ray got in some trouble, Lord knows what we’d a done if it hadn’t been for your daddy. He got Jimmy Ray off free as a bird. You know that boy has walked the straight and narrow ever since. My family owes your daddy, big.”

As I approached her, she held her hand out for me to shake. I took it and was shocked at the firmness of her grip. She stared at me as though he was evaluating a prized hog. She smiled and then let go of her grip.

“You don’t know who I am, do you?”

I was embarrassed by her words. “Not really, I’m sorry.”

She waved me off with a flick of her wrist. “Don’t be. I’ve changed a lot since you last seen me. I’m Hattie Faye Burke. I’m Jimmy Ray Amburgey’s little sister.”

Jimmy was an old friend of mine from high school. He and Robbie Burke had been the starting tackles for the team when I played. The last I’d heard of Jimmy he was working for Craft Brothers Coal and was ordained as an Old Regular Baptist Preacher.

“Booger Nose?” I said in astonishment as I searched my memory for her.

“That’s me.” She roared with laughter when my face flushed. “I ain’t been called that in years.”

“I’m sorry,” I stammered.

The girl I remembered was a tiny little thing with stringy blonde hair. She was nothing like this large brutish woman standing in front of me.

“Don’t be. My family still calls me Booger and they call my little girl Little Booger.”

“You married to Robbie?”

“You mean legal like? No, but in the eyes of God we are. We’ve got three young’uns together. You got any?”

“One, a boy named Alexander.”

“Alexander, like your middle name?”

“Yep.”

“Me and Robbie has two boys, Robert, Junior, we call him, Juner, and Jackie Ray; he was named after my daddy and brother. Robbie’s pride and joy is our youngest, Katherine. We call her Katie Bug or Little Booger. She’s four and them boys are seven and nine. They going to be as big as their daddy.”

“Where’s Robbie?”

She motioned with her thumb. “He’s a bit hung over today. He had a big night at the poker table last night. He’s still in bed.”

“I can come back later,” I said but was secretly hoping that she’d go wake him.

“No you won’t,” she roared. “We owe your family a big favor and he’ll do whatever you need done or I’ll put a boot,” he lifted up her foot to emphasize her point, “up his hind end.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

She waved me off and then headed into the house. Over the next couple of minutes, I heard those two continue cussing and vamping at each other until Robbie emerged from the door a few minutes later.

As he poked his head out the door, he smiled and shouted, “Lance Alexander as I live and breath but you’re a sight for sore eyes.”

I began to laughed and then spoke. “The way Hattie Faye talked your eyes aren’t the only things that are sore this morning.”

He laughed and then put his hand up to his head. “Brang me a beer out here,” he shouted as he stepped out on to the porch.

I looked him over. The Robbie I remembered from high school had long flowing blond hair, which was complimented by golden skin and piercing green eyes that always seemed to be smiling at you. Except for the eyes, this man was nothing like the teenager I remembered. This man had a Benjamin Franklin hairdo and a gut that looked as though he was pregnant with triplets.

“I can come back later,” I said.

He looked at me and then chuckled. “You’re the worst liar I’ve ever seen. What do you need?”

“I need a favor and I need you to keep quiet about it.”

He smiled a devilish grin. “Son, in my line of work, I have to keep quiet about ever’thang. Most of what I do is,” he moved closer to me and then whispered, “semi-legal.”

“Good, then we understand each other.”

“Tell me what you want done, and I’ll tell you what it’ll cost.”

“Nothing much, I want you to disable the On-Star device in my vehicle.”

He began to laugh and then suddenly stopped. “I heard you’s a cop or something like that. Why should I do it?”

“I’ve made an enemy of a powerful man and I don’t need him tracking me.”

“Don’t say anymore,” he interrupted. “I don’t want to know about it. That way I can protect you and my family both.”

“Can you do it?” I asked.

“Oh yeah, even Juner can do that. That’s a ten minute job.”

“How much will it cost me?”

“Nothing, your daddy’s got me out of more than one scrape. I’ll do this’un for free.”

“I owe you one. You want me to bring it around so you can get on it.”

“Can’t, or I can’t right now. I’ve got a paying customer in front of you.” He smiled. “He needs a ratty looking old car in top running condition, if you know what I mean?”

“Now, I don’t want to hear about it. How long are we talking?”

Hattie Faye stepped out on the porch about that time and handed him a bottle of Budweiser. He started to put it up to his lips and then stopped. “You want one?” he asked.

“I can get ye one if you want.” input Hattie Faye.

“I’m fine,” I replied. “I really need to get this taken care of as quickly as possible.”

“How about a pop?” asked Hattie Faye. “We got Pepsi, Sebem Up and Dr. Pepper. If you don’t want one, can I get one for your woman and that boy of yourn?”

“Three Dr. Peppers would be fine,” I said. With that, she went back into the house.

Robbie stared at me as though he was thinking about something. After a couple of seconds he spoke. “Where do you need to get to is such an all-fired hurry?”

“I can’t tell you. Believe me, it’s for the best.”

“Will you be coming back by this way? If you are, I got a plan that just might suit you.”

“Go ahead.”

Before he spoke, Hattie Faye was back and she was carry three cans of Dr. Pepper with her. “Here,” she said as she handed me one. “I’ll take these out to your woman and the boy. What’s their names again?”

“He’s Alex and she’s Maria,” I replied. “She’s his nanny.”

Hattie Faye shot me an odd look and then smiled as though she had a secret that she was dying to tell. After that, she made her way to the car.

“As I was saying,” whispered Robbie as though he thought some one was listening. “I got a plan that will help us both out.”

I didn’t say a word, but nodded my head to him.

“If you can get back here before the end of the day, I can have the thang ready for you. Just leave her here, and take one of the cars I’m working on to wherever it is you need to get. When you get back, you’ll be good to go.”

“What about the other vehicle, won’t the owner get mad?”

He shot me an evil grin. “Not if I change the license plates on it.”

“Isn’t that illegal?”

“Son, everything we’re doing is illegal. What’s one more crime going to hurt?”

“Let’s do it,” I replied.

Fifteen minutes later, Maria, Alex and I were loaded up in a small cramped Toyota Prius. It was so small, there was barely enough room for our luggage.

As we were getting ready to leave, Robbie took my hand and wished me luck.

“Do me a favor?” he asked.

“Name it.”

“Run the living snot out of that car. The man that owns it is one of them hoity-toity jerks that thanks he’s better than ever’body else. The only reason he drives this little car is so he can pretend like he’s better than ever’body else.” He winked. “A little damage to this souped up lawn mower will do him a world of good.”

“Will do,” I said as I began to drive away.

I drove about a mile down a small winding country road before I found a place to pull of the road. As I came to a stop, I picked up one of those pre-paid cell phones and began tapping in some number.

“Hello,” echoed a voice after the second ring.

“May, I speak with Mark Baldwin?” I asked.

“Speaking. Is this Captain Paul?” he asked and then began to chuckle. He had been my commanding officer while in the Marine Corps. To this day, he refused to call me by my first name and referred to me by my former rank even though I hadn’t been in the military in over ten years.

“Yes sir,” I replied. “How are you doing Colonel?”

Never one to beat around the bush, he came right to the point. “Captain Paul, I haven’t heard from you in over two years. The last time I seen you was at my retirement ceremony. If you’re calling, then something must be wrong. What is it?”

“You’re right as usual,” I responded. “You still have that cabin in Wise, Virginia?”

“Yeah, I’m there right now. I was going to do a little hunting and fishing, but I believe something more interesting just popped up. Now, what’s going own with you to make you think of me?”

“I need a safe house to store my child and his nanny until some heat blows over.”

“Are they with you?” he asked. I guess he was sensing my uneasiness.

“Affirmative.”

“Don’t say another word. Let me ask the questions?”

“Do they know the amount of danger they are in?”

“Negative,” I said.

“But they are aware that they are at risk for something?”

“Affirmative.”

“Are you in danger?”

“Affirmative.”

“Do you know where my cabin is located?”

“Affirmative, you took me hunting there three years ago. That’s when you said you were planning on retiring.”

“Can you be here in an hour or two?”

“Affirmative.”

“Get here and I’ll see that no harm comes to them. I’m still connected in the intelligence world you know.”

“I know that sir, that’s why I called,” I said as I choked on those last two words.

“You’ll never get away with this,” screamed Reverend Harmon. “You don’t know who you’re messing with!”

“Oh, I’ve got an idea,” responded Ricky. I could hear the sarcasm dripping from his words. “You really frighten us!”

“I’m not the one you should be afraid off,” whispered the minister.

There was an evil hiss in his voice. It was the way I had always assumed the Devil would talk. His voice had a snake-like tone to it. Whether that was the actual case or my imagination, I couldn’t be sure. It was real enough to me because I recoiled at the sound of his voice.

There was one thing of which I was sure. This man had my skin crawling as I thought on him. He was the pasture of the largest church in the area. What type of pastor was he? Given what I’d observed about the man, I wouldn’t be shocked if a bunch of rumors involving sexual infidelities would soon begin to revolve around this man. I got the willies just being near him.

As Ricky was putting the cuffs on the minister, Esther entered the sanctuary.

“What are you two doing?” she shouted. Her voice echoed off the walls of the auditorium.

“What does it look like?” retorted Ricky with a question of his own.

“They’re harassing me,” bellowed the clergyman. “They’re accusing me of something I didn’t do and now they’re arresting me.”

“Is that true?” asked the Mrs. Tackett.

I turned to Ricky to see if he was going to say something, but he didn’t. He was too busy trying to get the man to cooperate with him. I then looked at the elderly woman. I could see the confusion and terror etched on her face. She looked like a frightened child who had just finished watching a scary movie.

“It’s okay,” I said as I struggled to find the words to make her feel better about the situation. “We know what we’re doing?”

“Then why in God’s name are you arresting David?”

“This is nothing but pure harassment,” roared the preacher. “They’re trying to pin something on me from fifty years ago.”

“Is that true?” she asked in a commanding tone.

I could see the change of emotion in her face. She was no longer confused and frightened even though I could tell that the fear was still there. Now, she was angry and resolute.

“I’ll not allow you to take him out of this building,” she shouted in a defiant voice. “This is the house of God and you have no right to be here. You cannot arrest him here because this is sacred and sovereign ground!”

“No, ma’am,” countered the sheriff. “We’re not only going to arrest the man, we’re going to charge him with murder.”

“Ricky,” I shouted. He wasn’t supposed to say that. The correct answer was that we merely wanted to talk to the man. Ricky had broken the protocol by announcing his intent before we had the evidence with which to book the man. Sure, we had his near confession but without video evidence, that would be our word against his and he was a very prominent member of this community.

The sheriff looked at me and shrugged. He understood that he had gone too far, but he also knew that there was nothing he could do about that now. Therefore, he seemed to change tactics on me. Where we had formerly played to the man’s ego in order to get him to drop his guard, now Ricky was beginning to play to the man’s fear.

As he finished cuffing the man, he moved in close to the reverend and began to grimace. He then clicked his throat and began to speak.

“Do you know the only person convicts like being in the same cell with better than a cop?” He paused and waited for a response. When one didn’t come, he continued. “They love being in the same room with a child-molester.”

“But, he’s not a child-molester,” shouted Esther.

“I know that,” replied the sheriff. “Of course, he’s not a child-molester, but he is a well known preacher. If he gets put into general population, and he will, how long do you think it will take for one of those harden convicts starts to put two and two together and come up with the notion that the good reverend was put in there for child molestation.”

He stopped and let that hang there like specter haunting the room.

“You wouldn’t dare!” screamed the clergyman. He was trying to look defiant, but I could tell that he was frightened. The seed Ricky had planted had found fertile soil within the man’s imagination.

“I won’t stand for this!” barked Esther. “I’m going to call an attorney right now.”

“Call the governor instead,” bellowed the reverend. “His number is in my address book.”

She didn’t say a word, but she nodded her head and then shot an icy stare at the sheriff. She started to say something, but then ate her words. She turned and then began stomping her way towards the back of the building.

“I guess I’ll not be getting a Christmas card from her this year,” stated Ricky in mocking tone.

“You’ll never live to see Christmas,” hissed the good reverend. Again he sounded like a snake when he spoke and again I had to shake the shivers from my spine.

Given my “gift,” I made myself a promise to be extra careful over the next few days. Something was telling me that this man’s words were more prophetic than even he realized.

Less than an hour later Ricky and I were both standing in the interrogation room of the Floyd County jail talking to Pastor Harmon. He sat in a chair tapping his fingers on the table that stood between us. Ricky was pacing back and forth across the room as he was summing up the conversation that we had just finished with the reverend.

“Now, let me get this straight,” said Ricky as he looked at the tiny notebook he held in his hands. “You used to date Samantha Jacobs Jackson, but you broke up with the prettiest girl in the school so that you could.” Ricky took a dramatic pause before he continued. “So, you could be alone.”

“I was going through a rough time at that point in my life and I needed some time to be alone with my thoughts,” countered the clergyman.

“Huh uh,” mocked Ricky. “I understand exactly what you mean. If ever I had a problem and a beautiful woman wanted to help make me feel better about it, I’d dump her too. That makes perfect sense to me.”

He began to chuckle. I could tell that he was trying to bait the man.
“It makes sense to me,” repeated the sheriff, “but only if you’re gay.”

“What!” roared the man as he slapped his hand against the table.

This is too easy, I thought to myself. Ricky was playing this man like a violin virtuoso. The pastor was smart, but vanity and arrogance were his weaknesses. Ricky was using the man’s inflated view of himself as a weapon against him.

“Aaaah,” purred the sheriff. “We’ve hit a sensitive spot with the man.”

Ricky looked at the man and then turned to me. “He’s awful defensive about this, don’t you think?”

“Mebbe,” I said in my best aw shucks accent. “He might be hidin’ something.”

“Are you two crazy?” exclaimed the reverend.

“Probably,” answered Ricky, “but at least we’re straight. Can you say the same?”

The man slammed both fists on the table and jumped to his feet. He pointed at the sheriff and started to shout at him. “I think you’re a…” He never finished his thought. He sat down instead and began smiling.

“Nice try,” he said. “You almost had me, but you over played your hand.”
He looked at me then back to Ricky and then turned back to me.

“You’re clever like your father. I hope you have more of a backbone than he does. I know your dad and he has his share of secrets as well.”

“Don’t we all,” I countered.

“Not like his,” replied the man.

Before I could ask him what he meant by that, he turned to the sheriff.

“Sheriff Little, my hat is off to you. I always thought you were nothing but a pretty boy. Yeah, I’ve seen how girls throw themselves at you. I was once in your shoes. I didn’t know it until now, but you’re more than your looks. You’ve got a brain behind that handsome face. My hat’s off to you. You almost had me stirred up enough to get frazzled.”

The reverend turned to me and pointed at me. “I’m no lawyer, but I know that I am entitled to a phone call and I want to have my lawyer present before we go any further.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “That suits me just fine.”

I reached in to my pocket and pulled out my cell phone. “Who would you like to call?”

“Your father of course,” replied the clergyman. “He’s by far the best lawyer in this area and probably the state as well.”

“That’s easy,” I stated with as much bravado as I could manage. “I’ve got his number on speed dial. It’s number three on my cell phone. Shall I call?”

“Please do,” replied the man and I could hear the snake hiss in his voice once again.

Three hits on my phone and a couple seconds later a ringing tone began to echo from the speaker on my cellular phone. I’d pressed the speaker so that all could hear the conversation. As the phone rang a second time, a knock came from outside the entrance to the interrogation room.

Ricky walked over and opened the door. Standing there was a short heavyset woman in a policeman’s uniform. She looked nervous and seemed hesitant to speak.

“What is it Darlene?” asked the sheriff.

“We just got a call from a Mr. Casey. He said he was a lawyer for Pastor Harmon. He said that we were not allowed to talk to the reverend until he arrived. He should be here within the hour because he said he was calling from outside of Salyersville.”

“Is that all he said?” inquired the sheriff.

“Yes,” replied the woman.

“Thank you, Darlene.” With that, the sheriff closed the door behind her.

“This is Tim,” echoed my dad’s voice over the cell phone. This was followed by a robotic female voice that said, “If you’d like to page this person press one, otherwise, please leave a message at the tone.”

“We don’t need your father,” said the good reverend. I could hear the smugness in his voice. “The governor has sent his partner to take care of things.”

“Lucky you,” sniped Ricky.

“Indeed,” replied the pastor. “That Esther’s going to get a raise.”

“Does she know you’re a murderer?” asked the sheriff. I could hear the disgust in his voice.

Pastor Harmon turned to me and smiled. I could see evil in this man’s eyes. “We all have something to hide,” he stated and then shot me a diabolical grin that sent chills up my spine.

With that, he sat down and refused to say another word no matter how hard we tried to bait him.

Forty minutes later, a short, elderly, bald-headed man was lead into the interrogation room by Darlene.

As the man entered the room, he walked over to Ricky and handed him a business card. He then did the same to me. I looked at the card. It read, “Roger D. Casey, Attorney at Law.”

“Gentlemen,” began the attorney. “I understand that you’re holding a client of mine. Have you charged him with anything as of yet?”

“No,” replied Ricky.

“Then we’re free to go,” stated the man flatly.

Ricky shrugged his shoulders and then motioned toward the door with his hand. The good reverend smiled and made an exaggerated wave to us.

“I’d like to say it’s been fun,” commented the reverend, “but I don’t like to lie.”

“You know that you’re now expendable,” I input. “I’d watch my back if I were you.”

“Is that a threat?” asked Mr. Casey.

“No,” I replied. “I need the man alive. But there are others that would prefer him dead. He needs to think about that.”

“Take your own advice,” injected the clergyman. “I’d make my peace with the Lord if I were you.”

I laughed and then spoke. “I have. Have you?”

This angered the reverend, but he kept his tongue.

As he exited the room, the reverend left us with one last piece of information. “There’s people out there that won’t like what you’re doing and they don’t play as nice as I do. They won’t just come after you; they’ll come after your families as well.”

“Get this piece of crap out of here before I break his neck!” shouted the Sheriff.

The reverend wanted to say something else but was stopped by his attorney as he exited the room. Once they were gone, I looked at the sheriff as he slammed his fist into the table.

“What are we going to do now?” asked Ricky. “He’s the only witness we had.”

“He wasn’t gonna say anything else,” I injected. “Back at the church, he all but implicated himself in the crime.”

“I noticed that. We should’ve arrested him right then and there.”

“On what charge?” I inquired. “All he said was that he put Albert in his place. That didn’t mean that he killed him. He could’ve been talking about humiliating the guy.”

“But he wasn’t. Nope, everything in me says that he’s guilty. I know it and he knows I know it. I’d got it out of him if I had a few more minutes with him.”

“No you wouldn’t,” I interrupted. “He’d caught on to our game and he’d already shut up before that lawyer got here. Nope, the good reverend is smarter than he looks.”

“I don’t care. That piece of crap is guilty.” He stressed the last word.

“True, but we can’t prove it and there’s not a jury in this state that will convict him on the flimsy evidence we have.”

“Now what do we do?” asked the sheriff.”

I looked at my watch. “It’s nearly three o’clock. I’m going to call and check in with Maria and see how Alex is doing. After that, I’m going to call Samantha Jackson again and see if I can schedule an interview with her tomorrow or this weekend.”

“You wanting to call it a day?”

“No, not really, I’m going to go over that letter again. Maybe there’s something in there that I’m missing. Maybe, there’s a clue that will blow it open for me. I don’t know, but I’m gonna look just in case.”

Ricky nodded his head in agreement. “I need to knock off a little early anyway. Tonight is patrol night for me. I’m going to go home a catch a couple hours sleep so that I can patrol the county tonight.”

“That’s fine. I guess I’ll meet you back here tomorrow morning. Nine, okay?”

“I’d prefer ten.”

“Done,” I replied. “Get home and get some sleep.”

“I won’t. I’m too mad at that phony preacher to sleep. I feel sorry for his church.”

“I’ve had that same thought. It’s in my craw and I can’t get it out. Something tells me that the preacher man is the key to this whole thing.”

“Do you think he’ll carry through with his threats?” asked Ricky.

“No but the governor might. He’s an awful lot to lose.”

He nodded his head but never said another word. He closed the door behind him and I was left in the interrogation room all by myself.

I began to think about what the reverend had said. He had openly threatened me and that angered me. Sure, I’d been threatened before, but none of those others had the means to carry through with their threats. This guy, if he was involved like I thought he was, had the might of the entire state government behind him.

The instant I realized that fact, the full gravity of my predicament him me like a bolt of lightning. I had scant little evidence on which I could arrest the governor, but should he desire my arrest, all he’d have to do is say the word. But he wouldn’t do that when he had enough connections, I assumed, to have me eliminated and be able to make it look like an accident.

Icy fingers grabbed my spine at that exact second and the only thought that entered my mind was my son’s name, Alex. As I tried to shake off the frozen grip that terror now had on my entire nervous system, I reached for my cell phone and in a panic touched the buttons to speed dial Maria.

Within in seconds, her phone buzzed once; then twice and a third time before it went into voice mail. I don’t remember what was said, but I do recall hearing the tone that would allow me to leave a message.

“Maria,” I bellowed. “This is Lance. Call me the instant you get this message. I need to know how you and Alex are doing.”

I was trembling when I clicked off the phone. Not knowing what else to do, I decided to head back to my parents house as quickly as possible. Panic over the whereabouts of my son and his nanny had a death grip on my mind and I could think of nothing else but the thought of them being hurt or killed.

As I dropped my phone into my briefcase, it began to buzz. I grabbed it and flipped it open without even looking to see who had called. “Hello,” I said before the second ring had even begun.

“Senor Lance,” came Maria’s voice through my speaker. “This is Maria. Is every thing okay?”

“Where are you?” I demanded.

“Outside at the pool,” she responded. “Why do you ask?”

“Is my mom there?”

“Si’, do you want to speak with her?”

“Put her on.”

There was a long pause. A million images, all of them bad, raced through my mind during those few seconds.

“Lance,” whispered a familiar tone. I’d never heard as sweet a sound as that voice which now emanated from my phone. “Are you all right?”

I blew out a huge sigh of relief and then had to force myself to speak as the emotional overload of the past few seconds began to overwhelm me.

“I’m fine,” I said as I blew out a second breath.

“Are you at home?” I asked even though I already knew the answer.

“Yes, why do you ask?”

“Listen, I need for you to pay close attention to what I have to say. Understand?”

“Wh-what’s going on?” mother asked.

“I don’t know, but I think Maria and Alex may be in danger. You and Dad may also be. I don’t know. All I can tell you is that I received a threat and am taking it very seriously.”

“Your father warned you that this might happen, but you had to proceed, didn’t you?”

“This is not the time!” I snapped. “You need to get Maria and Alex out of your house. Take them someplace where they’ll be safe. Don’t tell me where you’re going just get out of there and stay somewhere for the next day or two.”

“You can make this go away,” she replied. “Call your father and tell him that you’re dropping the case for lack of evidence. He can call the governor and make things right.”

“And allow a murderer to not only go free but to continue being governor and then get elected senator? I can’t do that. That goes against everything I was raised to believe.”

“There’s more at stake here than your precious ego,” she input with a biting tone before she closed the phone.

Forty-five minutes later I pulled into the drive way to my parent’s home. I saw that the curtains to the picture window in the living room had been drawn together. Unsure what this meant, I pulled my pistol from my shoulder harness as I turned off the vehicle. Cautiously, I made my way to the front door. I didn’t know what to expect and was mentally preparing myself for the worst.

As I neared the front door, it opened and Alex popped his head out at me.

“What are you doing?” I demanded. I didn’t intend for it to sound as loud and harsh as it did. I was relieved that my son hadn’t been hurt but upset with myself for having let my anger slip out over top of my sense of relief.

The smile that Alex had been wearing had changed instantly. He gave me a shocked look and then acted as though he was going to cry.

“What’s the matter Dada?”

“Nothing,” I replied. “I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

I ran over to the door and scooped him up into my arms. I began to cover him with kisses as I raised him up off the ground.

“Daddy’s sorry for being so hateful. Please forgive me?”

He began to wiggle his way out of my grip and attempted to slide out of my arms.

“Daaaadddd, you’re not supposed to kiss me in front of people. Boys shake hands!”

I smiled at his words and for a split second the tension that had been building up in me over the last hour began to wash its way out of my system. As I entered the house, I silently said a prayer of thanks for the protection that had been given to my child.

“That’s too bad,” I replied as I held him a little tighter so that I could cover him with kisses once again.

Mom and Maria were standing off to the side but I never noticed them until I set my child back on the floor.

“What’s going on?” demanded my mother. “What’s got you so spooked?”

“Reverend Harmon,” I replied.

“Senor Lance, are you hurt? I was frightened for you.”

I looked toward Maria. I could see the fear written on her face. She’d live through things like this before and I could tell that she was frightened by it all. Of the four of us standing in that room, she was probably the one that had the best idea of what was taking place in my investigation.

“I’m fine,” I reassured both of them. “I was frightened for the three of you. I’m fine now.”

“How did David Harmon get you so stirred up?” asked my mother in a monotone voice.

I shrugged my shoulders and tried to dismiss it with a wave of my hand. “Nothing, I just got worked up over nothing.”

“That’s a relief,” said my mother. “I thought you’d gone off the deep end the way you were talking. You know, going somewhere and all.”

“No, I still want you to leave here.” I rebutted. “I’ve got a friend that owes me a favor. I’m going to let you three stay with him for a few days. He’ll take good care of you.”

“What about you Senor Lance? What will happen to you?”

I turned to look at Maria and noticed something on her face that I’d never noticed before. Her expression was one of genuine concern. The thought that she was concerned for me moved me in an unexpected way. I was flattered that a creature as incredibly beautiful and as warm and wonderful as she was would actually be concerned about me.

As quickly as that thought entered my mind and I began mentally berating myself for thinking about my physical attraction for my child’s nanny at a time like this.

“I’ll be fine,” replied. “I’ve got a plan, but I need to know that you guys are safe before I can act on it.”

“What do you want us to do?” asked my mother.

I could tell that she was not convinced that I knew what I was doing, but she was convinced that I was convinced that their lives were in danger so she went along with my demands.

“Gather up enough clothes for a three or four day trip. As soon as you’re packed we’ll leave.”

My mother hesitated before she spoke. “What about you father?”

“I’ll take care of him. Don’t worry about that?”

As my mother stood there trying to figure out what to do next, Maria began clapping her hands and ordered Alex to pick up his things. Once he began doing that, she went up stairs to begin packing or that was what I assumed she was doing.

My mother was still standing there staring into space as Maria made her way to upstairs. I began writing a note to Dad and as I paused to think of what I was going to say, I notice that my mother was still in the same place I had left her when I had started to compose my letter to Dad.

I walked over to her and gently but firmly put my hands on her shoulders. “Look at me,” I commanded and she obeyed. As our eyes met, I began to speak and added a small shake to emphasize the gravity of the situation.

“We don’t have much time. Do you understand me?”

She nodded to indicate that she did.

“Good, because you have five minutes to get packed. If you don’t, so help me God, I’ll leave you. I love you mother, but I’ll not risk Alex because you refused to act. Is that clear?”

She looked at me and began to whimper like hurt puppy. I know I should have been more sympathetic to her because her world was crashing down around her, but I didn’t have the luxury for such theatrics, therefore, I grabbed her and shook her.

“Look at me,” I spat in anger. “Get up there and get ready, now!”

She began to cry so I let go of her and began to make my way up the stairs. I made my way into my parent’s bedroom and began throwing various items of clothing on their bed. Once I had five outfits ready, I began to look for a suit case so that I could put them into it.

I was nearly finished when Maria entered the room.

“I have packed Alex’s stuff and my stuff,” she said.

“Could you pack mine as well?” I asked.

“Si’ Senor Lance.”

Ten minutes later I was packing the luggage into my SUV.

“Where are we going?” my mother asked.

“Somewhere away from here,” I replied.

My mother began to moan. “What’s going to happen to us?”

I looked at her and shook my head out of anger. Mother had been a woman that was used to getting what she wanted. As a result, I always thought her to be a strong woman, but seeing her like this changed my opinion of her. I still loved her, but I also knew that she was a weak fragile woman who had spent her life building a wall of protection to the outside world. She was strong and confident as long as she was behind that wall of protection. Now that it had been breached, she crumbled like a house of cards.

“Where’s your cell phone?” I asked.

“In my purse,” mom replied.

“Can I borrow it?”

She didn’t say a word but reached into her purse, pulled it out, and handed it to me. I took it from her, held it above and then dropped it on the ground. When it hit the driveway, it shattered into pieces, but I stomped it anyway.

“What are you doing?” screamed my mother.

“Taking you off the grid!”

“Why? I need my cell phone.”

“It will get you killed,” I hissed through clinched teeth. “If you want to kill yourself that’s one thing, but I won’t allow you to get Alex hurt.”

Watching her fall apart like this frightened me. I didn’t want her getting scared and then calling Dad. She would, of that, I was certain. She’d become frightened and then she’d call. Of course, it would be traced and that would lead the governor right to her and then she, my son and his nanny would become innocent victims to a tyrant’s ambition.

I don’t know how I knew all this, but I did. I was seeing it play out in my mind like a movie. The gift had never failed me and now it was warning me that unless I got my family out of harms way, they were going to die. I don’t know how I knew this, but I knew it just as sure as I know that George Washington was our first president.

I grabbed her and shook her. “Can you handle this? If not, I’ll leave you here by yourself.”

She said nothing and I was too frightened by what might happen to continue with this course of action. I’d wasted enough time trying to get her to cooperate and had failed miserably at my efforts. Therefore, I grabbed her and shoved her into the passenger side seat. She began to beat on me as I tried to buckle her into the seat.

She hit my lip with a rather hard blow. I looked at her as rage burned in my heart. She stopped for a second and I thought that she had finally calmed down and had begun to see the necessity this maneuver. The silence lasted for a few seconds before she started again

“I hate you,” she screamed as she began to pummel me once again.

After taking several more blows to the head and back, I threw up my hands in frustration. I looked at her and spoke to her. “If that’s the way you want it, then you can have it that way.”

I then reached in and grabbed her by the arm dragged her out of the vehicle. Once she had exited the SUV, I shoved her off to the side.

“Stay here and die!” I shouted.

Maria and Alex were standing next to the vehicle when I did this. “Senor Lance,” shouted Maria. “She’s your mother!”

I then looked at Maria and then down to Alex. His face was a mask of terror and he seemed to be trembling.

“What are you doing to Mim Mim?” he screamed.

“Leaving her,” I bellowed. “You and Maria get in the truck, now!”

Neither one spoke but both obeyed. I then looked at my mother.

“This is your last chance. You coming or going?”

“I can’t, they’ll kill you and your father if I go.”

Her words hit me like a ton of brick. Suddenly, I understood everything. I nearly collapsed as the gravity of the situation hit me. Had I not be so concerned for Alex I would have forced her into the vehicle, but my son was my top priority and I was going to protect him first and foremost. I’d try to help my parents only after I was sure that my son was safe.

Without saying another word, I walked to the driver’s side of the vehicle, opened the door, climbed in and started the engine. I took one last look at my mother. My eyes were pleading with her to come with us, but she just stood there sobbing.

With that, I put the vehicle in reverse and began backing out of the driveway. I watched her the whole time and not once did she even indicate that she was willing to come with us.

I felt a sickening nausea in the pit of my stomach as the vehicle started and I put it into drive so that I could hopefully take my child to a place of safety.

I gave my mother one last look. It was a plea begging her to come with us. She stood there with her shoulders bobbing up and down as though she was floating in water. Part of me wondered if I’d ever see her again, but there was another part of me that was angry with her for delaying our departure as long as she did.

I had not gone twenty feet before I slammed on the break and put the car into park.

“Maria do you have your cell phone?” I asked.

She handed it to me without saying a word.

Once I had it, I threw both hers and mine out of the vehicle. After that, I hopped out of the vehicle and walked back to the back hatch. I popped it and reached in to grab my mother’s luggage. Once I had a grip on its handle, I yanked it out of the car and threw it as far as I could send it.

I then closed the hatch, walked back to the driver’s seat, hopped in the vehicle and proceeded to drive off and leave my mother to what I was sure would be her death. I almost vomited as I thought about the past few minutes. I didn’t want to be cruel to her, she was a wonderful mother, but I was not going to take a chance on Alex’s safety.

I began praying that I would be able to forgive myself were something to happen to her. I also prayed that my hunch was wrong. I also thought that I’d learned something back there. If it were true, then the world had just turned upside down on me.