Faithless

“You laying carpet?” Jeffrey asked, wary of the tool, which held an extremely sharp safety razor capable of cutting through just about anything.

Lev seemed confused. “Oh,” he said, looking down at his side as if he was surprised to find the sheath there. “Opening boxes,” he explained. “Deliveries always come on Thursdays.” He stopped in front of an open door. “Here we are.”

Jeffrey read the sign on the door, which said, “Praise the Lord and come on in!”

“My humble abode,” Lev told him, indicating the room.

In contrast to his brother, Lev did not have a secretary guarding his space. As a matter of fact, his office was small, almost as small as Jeffrey’s. A metal desk stood in the center of the room, a rolling chair without arms behind it. Two folding chairs were in front and books were stacked around the floor in neat piles. Child’s colorings, probably Zeke’s, were pi

“Sorry about the mess,” Lev apologized. “My father says a cluttered office is a sign of a cluttered mind.” He laughed. “I guess he’s right.”

“Your brother’s office is a little… more grand.”

Lev laughed again. “Papa used to get onto him all the time when we were little, but Paul’s a grown man now, a little old to be taken over the knee.” He turned serious. “Vanity is a sin, but we all have our weaknesses.”

Jeffrey glanced back out into the hall. There was a short corridor opposite the office that held a Xerox machine. He asked, “What’s your weakness?”

Lev seemed to really give it some thought. “My son.”

“Who’s Stephanie Linder?”

Lev seemed puzzled. “Why would you ask that?”

“Answer my question.”

“She was my wife. She died five years ago.”

“Are you sure about that?”

He turned indignant. “I think I know whether or not my wife is dead.”

“I’m just curious,” Jeffrey said. “You see, your sister Mary came in today and told me she has a daughter. I don’t remember anyone mentioning that before.”

Lev had the wisdom to look contrite. “Yes, that’s right. She does have a daughter.”

“A daughter who ran away from her family.”

“Genie- Terri- that’s what she likes to go by now- was a very difficult teenager. She had a very troubled life.”

“I’d still say it’s a bit troubled. Wouldn’t you?”

“She’s straightened up,” he defended. “But she’s a proud girl. I still have hopes for a reconciliation with the family.”

“Her husband beats her.”

Lev’s mouth opened in surprise. “Dale?”

“Cole put her in a box, too, just like Abby. She was about Rebecca’s age when he did it. Did Mary ever tell you that?”

Lev put his hand on his desk as if he needed help standing. “Why would…” His voice trailed off as he obviously began to realize what Cole Co

“Three times, Lev. Cole put Abby in that box three times. The last time, she didn’t come out.”

Lev looked up at the ceiling, but Jeffrey was relieved to see it was to try to staunch the tears in his eyes instead of to break into spontaneous prayer. Jeffrey gave the man some space, letting him wrestle with his emotions.

Finally, Lev asked, “Who? Who else did he do this to?” Jeffrey didn’t answer, but he was glad to hear the fury in Lev’s tone. “Mary told us Genie ran away to Atlanta to have an abortion.” Obviously, he thought he could anticipate Jeffrey’s next remark, because he said, “My father has strong feelings about life, Chief Tolliver, as do I. Still…” He paused, as if needing a moment to collect himself. “We would never have turned our backs on her. Never. We all do things that God does not approve of. That doesn’t necessarily mean we’re bad people. Our Genie- Terri- wasn’t a bad girl. She was just a teenager who did a bad thing- a very bad thing. We looked for her. I looked for her. She didn’t want to be found.” He shook his head. “If I had known…”

“Somebody knew,” Jeffrey said.

“No,” Lev insisted. “If any of us had known what Cole was up to, there would’ve been stern repercussions. I would have called the police myself.”

“You don’t seem to like getting the police involved in anything.”

“I want to protect our workers.”

“Seems to me you’ve put your family in jeopardy while you were trying to save a bunch of strangers.”

Lev’s jaw tightened. “I can see why you view it that way.”

“Why didn’t you want to report that Rebecca was missing?”

“She always comes back,” he said. “You must understand, she’s very headstrong. There’s nothing we can do to…” He didn’t finish his sentence. “You don’t think…” He faltered. “Cole…?”

“Did Cole bury Becca like he buried the other girls?” Jeffrey finished his question for him, watching Lev closely, trying to figure out what was going on in the other man’s head. “What do you think, Reverend Ward?”

Lev exhaled slowly, like he was having trouble absorbing all of this. “We need to find her. She always goes into the woods- my God, the woods-” He made to go, but Jeffrey stopped him.

“She’s safe,” Jeffrey said.

“Where?” Lev asked. “Take me to her. Esther’s beside herself.”

“She’s safe” was all Jeffrey would tell him. “I’m not finished talking to you.”

Lev saw that the only way out the door was past Jeffrey. Though he would certainly win that fight, Jeffrey was glad the bigger man didn’t push it.

Lev asked, “Will you at least call her mother?”

“I already did,” Jeffrey lied. “Esther was very relieved to hear she was safe.”

Lev settled back down, relieved but still obviously conflicted. “This is a lot to absorb.” He had the habit of biting his bottom lip, the same as his niece. “Why did you ask about my wife?”

“Did she ever own a house in Sava

“Of course not,” he replied. “Stephanie lived here all of her life. I don’t even think she’d ever been to Sava

“How long has Paul worked there?”

“About six years, give or take.”

“Why Sava

“We have a lot of vendors and buyers in the area. It’s easier for him to do business with them face-to-face.” He seemed a bit guilty when he added, “The farm is a slow pace for Paul. He likes to be in the city sometimes.”

“His wife doesn’t go with him?”

“He has six kids,” Lev pointed out. “He’s obviously home a great deal of the time.”

Jeffrey noticed he misinterpreted the question, but perhaps in this family it was normal for husbands to leave their wives alone with the kids every other week. Jeffrey couldn’t think of a man out there who wouldn’t be happy with this kind of arrangement, but he was hard-pressed to think of any woman who would be.

He asked, “Have you ever been to his house in Sava

“Quite often,” Lev answered. “He lives in an apartment over the office.”

“He doesn’t live in a house on Sandon Square?”

Lev roared a laugh. “Hardly,” he said. “That’s one of the wealthiest streets in the city.”

“And your wife never visited there?”

Lev shook his head again, sounding slightly irritated when he said, “I’ve been answering all of your questions to the best of my abilities. Is there ever going to come a point when you can tell me what this is all about?”

Jeffrey decided it was his turn to give a little. He took out the original insurance policies from his pocket and handed them to Lev. “Abby left these for Rebecca.”

Lev took the pages, unfolding them and spreading them flat on his desk. “Left them how?”

Jeffrey didn’t answer, but Lev didn’t notice. He was leaning over his desk, tracing his finger down each page as he read. Jeffrey noticed the set to his jaw, the anger in his stance.

Lev straightened up. “These people lived on our farm.”

“That’s right.”

“This one”-he held up one of the pages-“Larry. He ran off. Cole told us he ran off.”

“He’s dead.”

Lev stared at him, his eyes moving back and forth across Jeffrey’s face as if to read where this was going.