Faithless

Lena asked, “Why do they call you Cole?”

“That was my father’s name,” he explained, his eyes wandering back to Jeffrey. “Got tired of being beat up for being named Cletus. Lester’s not much better, so I took my daddy’s name when I was fifteen.”

Jeffrey thought that at the very least this explained why the man hadn’t come up on any computer checks. There was no doubt that he had been in the system for a while, though. He had that alertness about him that came from being in prison. He was always on guard, always looking for his escape.

“What happened to your hand?” Lena asked, and Jeffrey noticed that there was a thin, one-inch cut on the back of Co

“Working in the fields,” Co

Lena asked, “How long were you in the service?”

He seemed surprised, but she indicated the tattoo on his arm. Jeffrey recognized it as a military insignia, but he wasn’t sure which branch. He also recognized the crude tattoo below it as of the prison variety. At some point, Co

“I was in twelve years before they kicked me out,” Co

“That must’ve been hard.”

“Sure was,” he agreed, placing his hand on the Bible. Jeffrey doubted this meant the man was going to tell the truth, but it painted a pretty picture. Cole obviously knew how to answer a question without giving away too much. He was a textbook study in evasion, maintaining eye contact, keeping his shoulders back and adding in a non sequitur to the equation. “But not as hard as living life on the outside.”

Lena gave him a little rope. “How’s that?”

He kept his hand on the Bible as he explained, “I got banged up for boosting a car when I was seventeen. Judge told me I could go into the army or go to jail. I went right from my mama’s tit to Uncle Sam’s, excuse the language.” He had a sparkle in his eye as he said this. It took a few minutes for a man to let down his guard with Lena, then he started to treat her as one of the boys. Right before their eyes, Cole Co

Co

Jeffrey wished he had a dollar for every man on death row who had gotten his start robbing convenience stores.

“One of ’em ratted us out before we got there- cut a deal for a reduction on a drug charge. I was cuffed before I even walked through the front door.” Co

“You served your full term?”

“That’s right,” he said, his chest puffing out. “Ticked off the judge with my attitude. Had me quite a temper once I was inside and the guards didn’t like that, either.”

“I don’t imagine they did.”

“Had my fair share of those”-he indicated Jeffrey’s bruised eye, probably more to let him know he was aware that the other man was in the room.

“You fight a lot inside?”

“About as much as you’d expect,” he admitted. He was watching Lena carefully, sizing her up. Jeffrey knew she was aware of this, just like he knew that Cole Co

“So,” she said, “you found Jesus inside? Fu

Co

Lena pressed a little more gently. “Jail gives a man a lot of time to think about himself.”

Co

She kept her tone light, though, trying some of Co

“True enough.”

“Some men succumb to it. There’s a lot of drugs inside.”

“Yes, ma’am. Easier to get ’em there than it is on the outside.”

“Lots of time to sit around getting stoned.”

His jaw was still tight. Jeffrey wondered if she had pushed him too far, but knew better than to interfere.

“I did my share of drugs.” Co

“That’s quite a transformation,” she pointed out. “What made you decide to change your ways?”

“My last year there, Thomas started making the rounds. He is the Lord’s conduit. Working through him, the Lord showed me a better way.”

Lena clarified, “This is Lev’s father?”

“He was part of the prison outreach program,” Co

“But then you met Thomas Ward?”

“He’s been sick lately, had a stroke, but then he was like a lion, God bless him. Thomas saved my soul. Gave me a place to go to when I got out of prison.”

“Gave you three squares a day?” Lena suggested, referring to Co

“Ha!” the old man laughed, slapping his hand on the table, amused at the co

Lena asked, “You notice anything suspicious around the farm lately?”

“Not really.”

“No one acting strange?”

“I don’t mean to be flip,” he cautioned, “but you gotta think about the sort of people we’ve got in and out of that place. They’re all a little strange. They wouldn’t be there if they weren’t.”

“Point taken,” she allowed. “I mean to say, any of them acting suspicious? Like they might be involved in something bad?”

“They’ve all been in something bad, and some of them are still in it at the farm.”