The Devil's Alphabet

The girl who’d walked off was returning with another beta, a man wearing a baseball cap. Tommy. Sandra and Rainy were nowhere in sight.

Pax ran a hand across the back of his neck. He and Weygand could leave now, but that would look like they were doing something wrong. Pax waved hello and waited.

Tommy stopped a few feet from the gate. “What can we do for you, Paxton?”

“I was worried about Sandra and Rainy,” Pax said.

Tommy tilted his head. “Why would you be worried?”

Pax couldn’t read Tommy’s tone. Did he know that the twins had been visiting him?

“I heard about the stuff in Lambert Friday, at the Wal-Mart. I thought maybe they’d be upset by what was happening.” It sounded lame even to himself. “I can see you guys are taking precautions.”

“There are hooligans on the road. Knocking down mailboxes, vandalizing. We thought it better to keep an eye out.” Then: “The girls are fine.”

“That’s great,” Pax said. “Do you think I could see them?”

“Who’s your friend?”

Pax looked back at the Prius. “His name’s Andrew. He was a friend of Jo’s.”

“No he wasn’t,” Tommy said.

“You didn’t know all her friends, Tommy.” He wasn’t about to tell Tommy anything about Andrew, or about Brother Bewlay and Jo’s online life. “So how about I talk to Rainy and Sandra for a while, and then leave you alone.”

Tommy stepped forward and put his hands on the gate. The man was trembling-from rage? Something else?

“The girls are staying home, Paxton. You may be too distracted to notice, but there’s a crisis going on. We’re not going to have them-I’m not going to have them-ru

“What? I’m not-”

“I don’t know how this works up in Chicago, but here in Te

Paxton stepped back, his face hot.

“Good-bye, Paxton.” Tommy stood with his hands at his sides, unmoving. After a long moment, Paxton turned, got back into the car.

Tommy was still standing there when the car pulled away.

Chapter 18

“WE CANNOT BE late for the appointment,” Do

Deke laughed and plucked the plastic sacks from behind the driver’s seat. “They’ll keep warm for a couple more minutes. We’ll just drop this off and leave.”

The only other cars in the Martin driveway were the Reverend’s old Crown Vic and Paxton’s Tempo-no Prius in sight. He’d heard that Andrew Weygand had left town again, and it looked like he hadn’t come back-yet.

The house was looking better than it had in several years. The lawn had been cut sometime in the last week, and the tall growth that had been encroaching on the yard had been hacked back several feet. The old swing set had been dismantled and lay in a pile beside the driveway, next to the ancient plaid couch. Deke made a mental note to take care of those for him-Amos could haul them to the dump in the company truck.

The front door was open. Deke knocked on the frame and leaned in. “P.K.! You up?” It was 9:30 in the morning. He wasn’t sure what kind of hours he was keeping.

Paxton walked into the living room, drying his hands on a kitchen towel. “Hey, Deke. Hey, Do

He’d lost more weight, and he hadn’t been fat to begin with. At the town meeting a couple weeks ago he’d looked too thin for a skip, but now he was gaunt, his head too big for his neck. If he’d been growing taller at the same time he was thi

Pax motioned them in. He asked them how they were doing, if they’d like something to drink.

“We can’t stay,” Do

“We just brought you some chicken and mashed potatoes, some greens,” Deke said. “Do

Pax’s smile looked a little forced. “You didn’t have to do that. I’ve got plenty of food.”

“Not my food,” Do

Deke started to hand her the sack and Paxton quickly said, “I’ll do it.” He took it from Deke’s hand. “Are you sure I can’t get you a Coke or something?” He walked back into the kitchen.

Do

Pax said, “I’m out of Coke, but I’ve got, uh, water.”

“No thanks,” Deke called. He walked through the living room-it was surprisingly clean-and stooped to get through the kitchen door.

Paxton closed the freezer door, then the fridge door. “So. Nothing serious I hope,” he said.

“The doctor?” Deke said. “Naw, just fertility stuff.” He squatted and was still taller than Paxton. “So I heard that that Weygand guy was hanging around a couple weeks ago.”

“He left to try to sneak into Ecuador.” Pax shrugged. “I haven’t heard from him since. He’s either in by now or dead.” Two weeks after the second outbreak, the Babahoyo quarantine was still in full effect. Nobody knew how many were dead in the country, how many had been transformed. Rhonda’s Helping Hands campaign had raised close to two million dollars even though it wasn’t the only relief fund going. No relief trip had been scheduled yet-she hadn’t gotten permission from either government to send a group of volunteers to the city.

Do

“For what?”

“I talked to Rhonda about what happened with Clete and them-what they did to you, how they tried to take your father.”

“That didn’t have anything to do with you.”

“Yes, it did. I should have seen it coming. I was supposed to be watching out for you and I-”

“Watching out for me. Really.” A tight smile. “Oh, but that’s right, you’re the Chief. That’s your job.”

“This is not about my job.”

“You’re the Chief, you’re on the town council, all the argos look up to you… You and the Reverend and Rhonda run everything.”

“Come on, P.K…”

“Help me out here. How’s Rhonda doing it, Deke? Where’s she getting all this money? What is she doing with the vintage? Rhonda told me the smart people figure it out on their own. Now, I’m not that smart, but you’re the Chief; you must have worked it out by now.”

“Now you’re just being an idiot,” Deke said. He sighed. “Rhonda was talking about Jo, P.K. She was the smart one.”

Pax waited. After a moment Deke said, “Rhonda’s been skimming the accounts. The TEMA grants, the school funds, especially the medical grants. Jo told me about it. She said she had proof. Copies of the grant forms, bank statements, e-mails. After she died I looked in the house for documents like that but didn’t find anything. I was hoping it was on her laptop.”

“Jesus, man, you knew all this, and you kept working with Rhonda?”

“I told you, I didn’t have the proof. But even if I did-listen, even Jo wasn’t ready to take action against her. What Rhonda’s doing is illegal, but it may not be bad for the town.”

“That’s crazy. If she’s stealing-”

“Pax, Switchcreek’s just a small town, and the clades could be wiped out at any time. Somebody’s got to do what it takes to guard the future.”