Faithless

“Meaning?”

“They’re sitting in a shelter up in Atlanta feeling all sorry for themselves, looking for a change of scenery, thinking that’ll be the final thing that makes them change.”

“But it’s not?”

“For some of them it is,” Co

Lena said, “We were told that some petty cash was stolen.”

“That’d be several months back,” he confirmed. “We never caught who did it.”

“Any suspects?”

“Around two hundred,” he laughed, and Jeffrey assumed that working with a bunch of alcoholics and junkies didn’t exactly foster a lot of trust in the workplace.

Lena asked, “No one more interested in Abby than they should be?”

“She was a real pretty girl,” he said. “Lots of the boys looked at her, but I made it clear she was off-limits.”

“Anyone in particular you had to tell this to?”

“Not that I can recall.” Jail habits were hard to break, and Co

Lena asked, “You didn’t notice her hanging around anybody? Maybe spending time with someone she shouldn’t?”

He shook his head. “Believe you me, I have been racking my brain since this happened, trying to think of anybody who might mean that sweet little girl some harm. I can’t think of nobody, and this is going back some years.”

“She drove a lot by herself,” Lena recalled.

“I taught her to drive Mary’s old Buick when she was fifteen years old.”

“You were close?”

“Abigail was like my own granddaughter.” He blinked to clear his tears. “You get to be my age, you think nothing can shock you. Lots of your friends start getting sick. Threw me for a loop when Thomas had his stroke last year. I was the one what found him. I can tell you it came as a hard reckoning seeing that man humbled.” He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. Jeffrey could see Lena nodding, like she understood.

Co

“From what we’ve gathered, she was a remarkable young woman.”

“That’s the truth,” he agreed. “She was an angel. Pure and sweet as the driven snow. I would’ve laid down my life for her.”

“Do you know a young man named Chip Do

Again, Co

“How about Patty O’Ryan?”

“Nope.”

“I guess you know Rebecca Be

“Becca?” he asked. “Of course I do.”

“She’s been missing since last night.”

Co

“We know she’s run away before.”

“At least she had the decency to leave word this time.”

“Do you know where she might have gone?”

He shrugged. “Usually camps in the woods. I used to take the kids out when I was younger. Show ’em how to get by using the tools God gave us. Teaches them a respect for His kindness.”

“Is there any particular spot you used to take them?”

He nodded as she spoke, anticipating the question. “I was out there first thing this morning. Campsite hasn’t been used in years. I’ve got no idea where that girl might’ve gone off to.” He added, “Wish I did- I’d take a switch to her bottom for doing this to her mother right now.”

Marla knocked on the door, opening it at the same time. “Sorry to bother you, Chief,” she said, handing Jeffrey a folded piece of paper.

Jeffrey took it as Lena asked Co

“Going on twenty-one years,” he answered. “I was there when Thomas inherited the land from his father. Looked like a wilderness to me, but Moses started out with a wilderness, too.”

Jeffrey kept studying the man, trying to see if there was a tell to his act. Most people had a bad habit that came out when they were lying. Some people scratched their noses, some fidgeted. Co

Co

Lena cut off the sermon. “He’s still not well?”

Co

Jeffrey opened Marla’s note, glancing at it, then doing a double take. He suppressed a curse, asking Co

He seemed surprised by Jeffrey’s abruptness. “Not that I can think of.”

Jeffrey didn’t need to motion Lena. She stood, and Co

Co

“We should be talking to Lev first thing in the morning,” Jeffrey told him, hoping this information would get back to Lev Ward. “Why don’t you come in with him?”

“We’ll see,” Co

Jeffrey opened the door. “I appreciate you coming in and bringing everybody.”

Co

Jeffrey said, “You can go ahead and take back everybody else. I’m sure there’s work to do. We don’t want to waste any more of your time.”

“No problem,” Co

“Appreciate it,” Jeffrey said, feeling the bones in his hand crunch as Co

Co

Lena started to follow him out, but Jeffrey held her back. He showed her the note Marla had given him, making sure Co

They had found Chip Do

Twenty-five Cromwell Road was a nice home for a well-to-do family living back in the thirties. Over the years, the large front parlors had been divided into rooms, the upper floors sectioned up for renters who didn’t mind sharing the one bathroom in the house. There were not many places an ex-con could go to when he got out of prison. If he was on parole, he had a finite amount of time to establish residency and get a job in order to keep his parole officer from throwing him back inside. The fifty bucks the state gave him on the way out the door didn’t stretch that far, and houses like the one on Cromwell catered to this particular need.