Long Lost, page 20
“It is pleasing unto the Lord to have a pure race in covenant with him, without any of the blood of Ham running through it. The boil that holds such blood must be lanced and cauterized with fire.”
Steve murmured, “Oh, brother.”
A little too loudly. He got a frown from Bill Reagan. The LaSalleites were vigilant.
And, Steve shuddered to think, completely sold out to the man in the wheelchair.
The sermon continued. Steve tuned it out. He was more interested in scanning the faces of the men who were listening.
Especially Johnny’s. But his expression was blank and unreadable.
Something moved in the back of the room. Steve turned and saw one of the women. He recognized her as the one who had briefly made eye contact with him in the dining hall. She was thin, with brown hair worn short and plain, and was holding what looked like a jar of pickles.
She placed this carefully on the table that held refreshments. She looked nervous. Then she turned back the way she came.
“Stop!” The voice of Eldon LaSalle thundered as if from the clouds.
The woman froze in place, head down.
In the dead silence that followed, the only sound was the ominous whirring of Eldon’s motorized chair heading straight for the woman.
Steve watched, fascinated. The poor woman looked like a dog who knew its master approached with a rolled-up newspaper. The other men in the room watched silently, some with amused looks.
Like they’d seen this before. They knew what was coming.
The old man stopped in front of the woman and waited. She didn’t move, didn’t look up.
Then Eldon slowly reached out and stroked her hair.
“You were wrong, weren’t you?” he said.
The woman nodded.
“It comes from not being careful, doesn’t it?”
Another nod.
“From a lack of total commitment.”
Nod.
Steve tried to figure out what was so wrong about bringing a jar of pickles into a meeting.
“You have had this trouble before,” Eldon said.
The woman’s head did not move.
Until Eldon slapped the side of it.
It sounded like a gunshot. Steve lost breath. He started to get up but felt a hand on his arm. It was Bill Reagan. He shook his head at Steve, a clear warning not to interfere.
“Now,” Eldon said to the woman, “this is not going to happen again, is it?”
Slow shake of her head.
“That’s right. Now, down on the floor and look at my shoes.”
The woman sank to her knees, staring down at the feet of the great Eldon LaSalle.
He sat looking at her for a painfully extended moment.
No one said anything.
Then Steve heard a small sound, like the beep of a child’s bicycle horn. A sob. The woman had obviously been trying to hold it in. Her body jerked.
“That’s enough,” Eldon said softly, reaching down to stroke her hair. “Enough now. No need for that. I am here.”
Another cry burst out of her, louder this time, followed by another.
“No no,” Eldon commanded. “I said none of that.”
Too late. She was sobbing uncontrollably now.
Eldon looked around the room, at last making eye contact with Steve and holding the gaze. He may even have smiled, but Steve could not be sure.
The woman was sucking in air, trying to stop crying.
“Turn that noise into something useful,” Eldon said. “Scream it out. Scream out the sin.”
That suggestion brought a couple of muted guffaws from the mob. Steve felt goose flesh on his arms even though the room was warm.
“Be a good girl, and give us a scream,” Eldon said.
She couldn’t. Her sobs deepened.
Eldon LaSalle tipped her head up and slapped her again.
“Stop!” Steve lurched out of his chair. In the next moment, several things happened at once. Eldon looked up as if he’s been shot in the butt with a BB gun. Heads around the room turned to look at the crazy man.
Bill Regan’s hand gripped Steve’s arm like a trap.
Steve yanked free and surged to the spot where the woman was on the floor.
He’d better think fast and talk even faster. “As your legal counsel,” he said, “I’m telling you to cease and desist.”
Before Eldon could say anything—not that he looked like he would, preferring instead the hard stare of the truly ticked off—Steve leaned over and put his hand under the woman’s right arm. He pulled. She came up halfway so she was on her knees.
Her surprised face, streaked with tears, looked at him. Confusion and fear merged in her eyes. He tried to help her to her feet, but she pulled her arm away and shook her head.
Steve heard Johnny say, “Steve, back off, you can’t—” then stop when Eldon raised his hand. Silence filled the room. Even the girl had stopped crying, probably shocked out of it by Steve’s butting in.
The goose bumps on Steve’s arms came back, pebble sized.
Steve cleared his throat. “As your lawyer, in advising you on your status as a church and all the benefits that go with it, I’m telling you abuse like this can’t be justified in any way.”
Eldon’s face did not move, though the crags in his face deepened. Like there were little daggers hidden there waiting to be pulled out and inserted variously in Steve’s body.
“So,” Steve continued, “it doesn’t make legal sense to set yourself up for charges of abuse. No sense at all. The costs and benefits”—and what am I doing trying to convince this crazy old man of costs and benefits? What am I doing here at all?—“weigh convincingly in keeping the practices of the church in line with community standards.”
A long pause gave no sign that Eldon LaSalle cared about what Steve was saying. Steve raised his eyebrows to communicate that he was finished.
“Is that all?” Eldon said.
“That’s pretty much it,” Steve said, hoping the woman would get up and get out.
But she didn’t move. Eldon looked at her and said, “My dear, do you feel abused?”
The woman’s eyes darted to Steve for one quick look. Then she shook her head.
“Are you sure about that?” Eldon said. “Because my lawyer here needs to know. He needs to hear it from you.”
The woman shook her head again.
“So you don’t feel abused?” Eldon said.
Another shake.
“You see?” Eldon said to Steve. “Do you know now that your assumptions are based upon lack of knowledge?”
Right. A woman scared out of her gourd, surrounded by neo-Nazi hominids, is going to offer a contradiction? Steve thought about reminding Eldon and everyone else that the fact of abuse does not rely on the opinion of the victim.
“You are a pagan,” Eldon said. “You do not understand the things of God. That’s why you’re here.”
“I thought I was here to be your lawyer,” Steve said.
“We are more interested in souls. Eternal souls, pure and undefiled, white as snow before God.”
Steve said, “Sure. Sounds great. Now why don’t you let her off the hook this time? Isn’t there something about mercy in the Bible? Then you and I can sit down and you can straighten me out to your heart’s content.”
Which, Steve suddenly realized, might include something like what this woman had just gone through.
Eldon stared into Steve’s eyes, and this time Steve did not flinch. He looked right back into those dark orbs, wondering how many people had fallen under their curse.
Finally, Eldon LaSalle spoke. “There is much you don’t understand yet, Steven. And I don’t wish to take up any more of our time with it.” To the girl on the floor he said, “Go.”
With a couple of large blinks, the woman slowly got to her feet. She looked around at the crowd once, then turned and scampered from the room. The big wooden door slammed behind her.
“Well,” said Eldon. “Let’s not let this little setback interfere with our devotions. Let’s get back to our seats, eh?”
A quiet search for seats began. Steve didn’t move.
“You too,” Eldon said.
Steve said, “I need to get back to the office.”
“That would not be advisable,” Eldon said.
“Well,” Steve said, “I’ve never been very good at following advice.”
He turned and walked from the room.
Johnny caught up with Steve at the front steps outside the house.
“Steve, man, what is up with you?”
“Me?” Steve turned to him, faced him fully. “What is up with the whole crazy program here? When do you all start howling at the moon?”
“Don’t be a jerk.”
“What do you call making a girl scream at some shoes?’ What is wrong with you people?”
“If you’ll shut your hole for more than a second maybe you can get it.”
“I don’t want to get it.”
“You need to get it. Don’t you believe in freedom of religion?”
“Religion, yeah. But this isn’t religion. What Eldon did to that woman—”
“She wants it that way.”
“Oh sure, the way a dog wants to be whacked.”
“No, the way a repentant sinner wants to be disciplined.”
“Okay, you’re going to have to explain that one.”
“Exactly what I’ve been trying to do. Now listen, will you?”
“Go for it.”
As if Johnny could make any sense out of it.
“She was a whore,” Johnny said. “And an addict. We found her on the streets when she was sixteen, man, hooked on the Kokomo. And you know what that’s like.”
Steve said nothing.
“We found her and brought her here to clean her up and save her life. And her soul. Look at me.”
Steve looked at him, seeing the outlines of his face in the dark. His eyes seemed to burn. “She asked to stay here, to be helped, to stay clean.”
Steve did not know if he could believe him. And he had to know. “Johnny, I’ve got to ask you a question.”
A slight flinching in the eyes, then: “Go ahead.”
“How much of this is just an act?”
“Act?”
“To please Eldon. How much does he control you?”
“You got it all wrong.”
“Do I? He’s the divine master of everything up here. He butters your bread, and if he tells you to jam it, you do. Isn’t that right?”
Johnny didn’t answer.
“You’re better than this,” Steve said. “You don’t need to carry water for Eldon LaSalle.”
“I don’t carry for anybody.”
“That’s what I’m talking about. I know he raised you up and all that and you’re probably connected to him in a way that’s hard to break.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Then why don’t you tell me.”
Johnny grabbed Steve’s shoulders. “Listen to me, Steve. Listen carefully. There’s gonna be changes coming down. You don’t even have any idea. But you will. Soon. If you’ll just stick with me. You’re part of me. We’re part of each other. I’m your guardian angel. Just trust me. Things are going to be happening. And when they do I’m gonna need somebody I can trust without question. That’s you, my brother. Tell me it’s you.”
Steve couldn’t. Not then. But he couldn’t pull away completely. He’d come too far with his only brother. “I don’t know what to tell you right now.”
“Then just chill for a while. That’s all. You’re still getting your Verner legs. When you get them all the way, you’ll be ready to dance.”
50
Steve spent a restless night on the sofa in his office. Weirdness did that to you. What he’d seen at Beth-El last night was weirdness on wheels. Literally.
He woke up in a sweat, got up and padded to the kitchenette, flicked the switch on the Mr. Coffee machine he’d set up before trying to sleep. It would take more than a couple cups of joe to clear the cobwebs of disquiet from his mind.
He had no professional prospects at all, other than the LaSalles. He’d jumped at the money and the chance to start over.
Had he sold his soul?
Metaphorically speaking, of course.
And what would happen to him if he tried to get it back?
He poured himself the first cup of the morning, sat looking out the window of his office. He had a wonderful view of the parking lot.
He felt alone and lost. Like he’d been plucked out of Los Angeles by a huge, cosmic kidnapper and placed here, in an alien world, where his only link to sanity was a brother who might be too connected to a certifiable old man.
Or was there another link?
He grabbed his phone and speed dialed Sienna Ciccone.
“Mr. Conroy,” she answered, surprised.
“Is this a bad time? I know it’s early. You’re not in church or anything, are you?“
“Actually, I was just doing some Real Property reading.”
“How exciting. When you get to the doctrine of incorporeal hereditaments let me know.”
“Is there something I can—”
“Can we just talk?” he said.
“Um. Sure. Is there a legal issue you’d—”
“I’ve got an issue, but it’s not legal.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I have to decide what to do.”
“About what?”
“About staying here.”
“In Verner?”
“Yeah.”
“But you just got there.”
“Can I tell you what happened last night?”
“Yes, sure.”
“I went to a Bible study.”
“You did?”
“You sound shocked.”
“Surprised, maybe.”
“It was up at Beth-El, the mini fortress where Eldon LaSalle rules his little world. It was bizarre.”
He gave her the whole account, all the way up to the woman forced to her knees and slapped—and seeming to accept it as discipline.
When he was finished, Steve asked, “Does that sound like any Christianity you are familiar with?”
“Of course not.”
“How wide is the free exercise clause?”
“Not that wide,” Sienna said.
Steve took a deep breath. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Walk away.”
“Just like that?”
“Chalk it up to experience and come back to LA.”
“But there’s Johnny,” Steve said. “I’d be leaving him. Part of me thinks I’m supposed to get him out. I couldn’t save him when I was five. Maybe I can now. Maybe that’s what my whole life has come down to.”
It was the first time that thought had come to him so clearly.
“That’s a pretty heavy burden to put on yourself,” Sienna said.
“Why don’t you come up here?” Steve said.
“Excuse me?”
“To Verner. Come on up. I’ll show you my new office. I’ll—” he paused, looked out at the parking lot that held only one car, his. “I just would like to see you, that’s all.”
After a moment, Sienna said, “Mr. Conroy, I don’t think . . .”
“I know. I just gave it a shot, okay?”
A beep. His call-waiting.
“I’ve another call here,” he said. “Sorry I took up your time.”
“No, it’s not that—”
“Later,” he said, then hit the talk button.
It was Johnny.
“You feeling any better today, my brother?” he said.
Steve said, “Don’t really know yet.”
“Give it time. Remember what I told you. You know what you need? You need some work, to get in the game.”
“Game?”
“You’re a lawyer, right?”
“I used to think so.”
“You know the criminal law, am I right?”
“To a degree that’s kept me in cheap suits.”
“Then I got some work for you to do. Think you can find your way to the county jail?”
51
The county jail in downtown Verner was connected to the courthouse and run by the sheriff’s department. It was a two-story, cream-colored design, able to hold a relative few, considering the size of the town. If there were ever a riot, Steve thought, the place wouldn’t be able to accommodate more than a hockey team’s worth.
Right now, though, it held one LaSalleite named Neal Cullen. The place was quiet, it being Sunday, so only the weekend staff was around. Steve showed his bar card at the counter and said he was representing Cullen. They gave him the booking sheet. He gave it a scan as he was led by a dark-haired female deputy to the attorney room. There were four stations, all of which were empty at the moment. No crime wave in Verner. But the day was young.
Another deputy, a robust man of linebacker size, brought in Neal, dressed in blues, hands shackled in front of him. He took a place opposite a one-foot partition. Smiling.
“Hey, Steve,” Neal said brightly. “What up?”
“What do you mean what up? You’re in jail, that’s what up. You’re going to be charged with felony assault.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
The linebacker deputy grunted and moved to the other side of the room. Technically he wasn’t supposed to listen, and anything Neal said was privileged. Still, Steve kept his voice low. “I’m not the one who needs to worry. Felony assault is not a minor thing. It’s no misdemeanor.”
“Steve, I’m going to walk out of here. I got a witness.”
“A witness?”
“Rennie.”
“How convenient.”
“Huh?”
Steve opened his briefcase and took out a yellow legal pad and pen. “Why don’t you just tell me what happened, from the beginning.”
“Sure, Steve. Here’s how it went down. Me and Rennie, we went down to shoot some pool at Vic’s. You can ask Vic. Vic Cook, owns the place. We shoot there almost every Saturday night. You shoot pool, Steve?”
“So you’re telling me you went to shoot pool after your Bible study, is that it?”
“Yeah, nothing about not shooting pool in the Bible, right?”
