A Test of Faith

by Carol Cox

  He paused. Nothing broke the silence except for the sound of Skip’s pen scratching away at the notebook.

  “Where was that?” Sheriff Roberts prompted.

  Josh’s voice grew stronger as he went on with his story. “It was back in the woods, way off the road where no one could spot me. There was this nice little clump of pine trees, and I thought it would make a great place to hide. I decided I’d sleep there and get started for Memphis in the morning.”

  Kate pictured the pine grove again, this time with Josh huddled in the grass, trying to keep warm. “That was a cold night,” she commented.

  “Yes, ma’am, it was. But the trees helped keep the wind off me. And I had a candy bar to snack on.” He flashed a furtive glance in her direction.

  “But it got even colder after the sun went down. I could see this place at the bottom of the hill in the moonlight. It looked like there were a jillion cars sitting around there, so I figured I could crawl inside one of them and stay warm.” He shrugged. “Warmer, at least. So I went on down the hill and got inside the Mustang. That’s when the idea hit me.”

  Sheriff Roberts rolled his pen between his fingers. “What idea was that?”

  “The idea that if I could get the car started, I could drive myself to Memphis. I was pretty sure there was enough money in the wallet to pay for the gas. And with so many cars lying around, I didn’t think anybody was going to miss one. It was more like borrowing than stealing, you know?”

  Kate frowned. “Are you old enough to have a driver’s license?”

  The boy’s face turned dark red. “No, ma’am, I’m not. I just kept thinking about it being a faster way to get to my dad and how great it would be to drive a classic like that Mustang.”

  His eyes lit up, and his face took on an expression of awe. “Man, that is one sweet car.”

  The light in his eyes dimmed. “Or it was, anyway.” He looked down again and twisted his hands together. “I guess it was a pretty dumb thing to do.”

  Skip snorted, and Sheriff Roberts wiped his hand across his mouth.

  “How did you get it started?” the sheriff asked. “Hot-wire it?”

  Josh looked genuinely offended. “No, sir. I don’t know how to do that. But I do know people keep spare keys hidden away sometimes. My mom keeps hers in the ash tray, so I looked there first. Then I saw a rubber band wrapped around the visor. My uncle puts his spare key there, so I checked, and there it was.”

  He shifted in his chair. “I did think hard about what I was going to do, believe it or not. And I had plenty of time to think, because that man who lives there...”—the boy’s voice took on an aggrieved tone—“well, I thought he never would go to sleep. He must have been watching a late movie or something. It was really late by the time he turned off all his lights. Then I had to wait even longer to give him time to go to sleep.”

  But not nearly long enough. Kate remembered Roland Myers’ comment about hearing the car drive away.

  Josh rubbed his palms together. “Like I said, I found the key, and the car started up right away. It was already pointed toward the road, so I just headed down the driveway and kept going. I didn’t turn the headlights on until I was sure no one at the house could see me.”

  Sheriff Roberts propped his elbows on the desk and rested his chin on his fist. “But you didn’t exactly make it to Memphis.”

  “Well, no. You see, Mrs. Hanlon was right. I’m not old enough for a license yet.” Another quick glance at Kate. “But I’ve driven my grandpa’s truck around out at his farm. It’s an automatic, though. I’ve never driven a stick shift. It isn’t as easy as it looks.”

  Kate wanted to laugh at his bewildered expression.

  “I was doing pretty good until I got into town. Then I thought maybe I ought to shift gears again. It kind of got away from me, and I hit the curb. Next thing I knew, that big window was right in front of me, and there wasn’t anything I could do to keep from going through it.”

  Kate couldn’t keep from asking, “Were you hurt?”

  “Not then, but I was pretty stiff for the next day or two. The only thing I could think of right then was that I’d really messed up, and I needed to get away.”

  “A regular one-man crime wave.” The barely audible comment came from Skip’s part of the room.

  “I found a phone booth and used some more of Mrs. Hanlon’s money to call the number I found on the Internet.” Josh’s voice caught. “All I got was a message saying the number wasn’t in service. I guess my dad has moved on. Again.”

  Sheriff Roberts seemed unmoved by his show of emotion. “And after all this, you still didn’t leave town. Why?”

  Josh threw his arms out wide. “Where could I go? I knew how mad my mom would be if I went home. The best thing I could think of was to stay out of sight except for when I needed to come out and get some food or find a place to get warm. There weren’t too many places I could do that, though. The library was okay, because I could get on the computer and try to find out more about my dad. I tried going to one of the basketball games, because I thought it would be a good way to get in out of the cold for a while.”

  He looked over at Kate and shook his head. “But I saw you there, so I took off. And after a while, it seemed like no matter where I went, I kept running into you.”

  The corner of Kate’s mouth twisted upward. “Literally, that first time.”

  “Yeah. Every time I turned around, you were there. I almost thought you’d figured out I took your wallet and were going to get back at me somehow.” He gave a shaky laugh. “It was kind of creepy.”

  “Or maybe God kept bringing us together for a bigger reason.”

  Josh took a deep breath and held her gaze. “Yeah, maybe. You’ve been really nice to me when I didn’t deserve it. I’ll try to find some way to pay you back.”

  “Is that why you gave back the money we paid you for cleaning up our yard?”

  The sheriff shot a sharp glance at her but didn’t say anything.

  “That’s right.” Josh nodded eagerly. “It wasn’t much, but I thought it might help a little. That and putting the shingles back up on the church with Mr. Griffin.”

  Sheriff Roberts cleared his throat again. “Where have you been staying all this time? The weather’s been too cold for sleeping outdoors.”

  “Don’t I know it.” The boy shivered. “I started out sleeping in the church basement the night after the accident.”

  Kate stared. “At Faith Briar?”

  “Yes, ma’am. But I didn’t know your husband was the pastor there. I was so busy trying to keep away from you, I wouldn’t have gone within a mile of the place if I’d known that.”

  Kate bit back a smile. “But how did you get in?”

  He shrugged. “The door was unlocked the first time. I thought maybe that was something churches did. But just in case, I stuck a little rock in the doorjamb. That way everything looks fine, but the door doesn’t close all the way.”

  Kate made a mental note to remind Paul to double-check the doors before he left the church from here on.

  Josh’s cheeks bulged as he blew out a puff of air. “You scared the socks off me that time you stopped by, you know.”

  Kate spread her hands. “Which time?”

  “You know, about a week after the crash. I think it was a Saturday. I was down in one of those little rooms off the basement when I heard somebody come in. That really shook me, because I wasn’t expecting anybody to come around until Sunday morning.”

  The light dawned. “Saturday. The day I went in to clean for Avery. So it was you I heard slipping out the front door?”

  Josh bobbed his head up and down. “You nearly caught me that time. I was beginning to think I was jinxed or something.”

  The sheriff cut in. “So you’ve been sleeping in the church all this time?”

  “No way.” The boy’s tone left no room for argument. “Not after that. It was too many close calls all at once.”

  He rubbed the back
of his neck. “I found an old barn out on the edge of town. It’s a really run-down place. Nobody’s living there. I checked first this time.”

  Kate put her hand to her lips. “You’ve been sleeping in a barn? In this weather?”

  Josh shrugged. “It isn’t so bad. I found some old blankets, and I crawl in under a pile of hay. The hardest part has been getting enough to eat...”

  He trailed off and looked at the sheriff. “I guess I’m in a lot of trouble now, aren’t I?”

  Sheriff Roberts tapped the end of his pen against his desk and pursed his lips. “Let’s see. Petty theft, grand theft auto, reckless endangerment, destruction of property...”

  Josh sunk lower in his seat as the tally grew.

  “. . . breaking and entering, trespassing.” The sheriff leaned back and regarded the boy thoughtfully. “That’s a pretty impressive list of charges already, some of them felonies. And I can probably come up with a few more if I put my mind to it.”

  Except for his bobbing Adam’s apple, Josh could have been made of stone.

  The sheriff let the silence stretch out before adding, “I do have some leeway in the matter, but a lot depends on what some other people decide to do about it. Namely, Mrs. Hanlon, Mr. Myers, and Mrs. Sweet.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  And so the sheriff released him into your custody?” Paul helped Kate pick up the last of the serving dishes and carried them to the counter.

  Kate waved him back to the table. “Just for tonight. The only alternative was for them to let him sleep in one of the cells. I couldn’t do that.”

  She sank into the chair opposite Paul’s and lowered her voice so as not to disturb the exhausted boy stretched out on the foldout couch in Paul’s study. “He needs a good night’s sleep, and he wasn’t going to get it there.”

  Paul dropped his tone to match hers. “I didn’t want to ask too many questions during dinner. It was obvious he’d already been through the wringer. What I’ve picked up so far is that he ran away from home and came here looking for his father, then he wrecked the Mustang when he tried to drive it to Memphis. Right?”

  Kate smiled wearily. “That’s the short version. We’ll save the details for after this is all over.”

  “Which will be . . . ?”

  “Tomorrow around lunchtime, if all goes according to plan. The sheriff got ahold of both Josh’s parents. It seems his dad is still in Memphis. They had a storm that knocked out the phone lines for a couple of days, and Josh assumed he had moved when he’d been there all along.”

  Paul shook his head. “Poor kid.”

  “His mother agreed to let his dad bring him back home so they could all sit down together and sort things out.”

  Paul’s lips curved. “I have a feeling he’ll be glad to have some backup when he faces her after taking off like that.”

  “I have a feeling you’re right.” Kate managed a laugh. “She’s been beside herself ever since he left, and who can blame her?”

  Paul stretched his leg out and leaned down to adjust his moon boot. “It was a foolish thing to do, all right, but I guess we all do some foolish things when we’re young.”

  “Amen to that. But I suspect this particular young man has learned a good bit in the past couple of weeks. I can just about guarantee he’ll never be tempted to take something that doesn’t belong to him after this. Especially after Sheriff Roberts told him he could have spent the next three years in a juvenile detention center for what he did.”

  Paul let out a low whistle. “Does he have any idea how fortunate he is that Myers and Loretta chose not to press charges?”

  “He does now. He was a very shaken young man by the time it was all said and done.” She stifled a giggle. “At least by the time Loretta got through with him. She and LuAnne came down together and read him the riot act. I thought he was ready to break down and cry when Loretta told him he could do her more good by coming back and working off his debt during the next couple of summer vacations than sitting in juvie somewhere. It won’t begin to cover what the insurance paid for the damage, but he’ll be taking some responsibility for his actions.”

  Paul grinned. “She’ll spoil him to death once she gets over being mad. Does he know that?”

  “He will.” Kate chuckled. “At least he won’t have to worry about being hungry the next time he comes to Copper Mill.”

  “What about Roland Myers? I get the feeling his reaction may have been a whole different story.”

  Kate pressed her hand over her mouth to hold back her laughter. “I’ll say. He was so relieved to have an excuse not to work on that Mustang, I think he would have pinned a medal on Josh if he’d had one. It wasn’t quite the response Sheriff Roberts was expecting.”

  “And what about you?” Paul reached over and tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear. “I assume you didn’t press charges against him for stealing your wallet and landing you in the middle of this whole mess.”

  Kate tilted her head and pressed her cheek against his palm. “Mercy triumphs over judgment,” she quoted from one of her favorite verses.

  “There’s a lot of good in that boy, Paul. We both felt it. More than anything, he needs a father’s guidance. I think this will be a turning point in his life.”

  Paul’s eyes took on a tender gleam, and he leaned across the table to touch his lips to hers. “I love you, Katie girl.”

  “YOU OKAY BACK THERE, SON?” Paul turned and looked over his shoulder at Josh riding in the rear seat of Kate’s Honda. “You’re jumpier than a jackrabbit at a coyote convention.”

  Kate peered in the rearview mirror in time to catch sight of the boy’s shamefaced grin. “Sorry. I guess I’m just nervous.” He resumed his fidgeting, but in a more restrained manner.

  Paul turned to look at Josh over the seat back. “I know it’s a big moment for you, but it’s going to be okay. Just take it one step at a time.”

  Kate put her left blinker on and turned south down Euclid. “He told the sheriff he’d meet us at the clock tower, so I thought I’d park somewhere by the Town Green. But look! All the parking places are full, every last one of them. What on earth is going on?”

  “I have no idea.” Paul turned back around and looked out the windshield. “I’ve never seen it like this on a weekday morning.”

  He scanned the parking slots as she drove along the east side of the green, then turned right onto Main Street. “Maybe we should try over by the library.”

  Kate pressed the accelerator. “That’s probably our best—”

  “Hey, look over there!” Josh scooted forward, pointing between them across the green toward the corner of Smith and Hamilton. “What are all those people doing?”

  Kate looked toward the spot he indicated and saw a mob of people coming from every direction, converging on the diner like an army of ants.

  Oh no. Not again.

  “Over there!” Josh shouted, practically in her ear. “There’s a place to park between that blue van and the white truck.”

  Kate eyed the slot. It was barely wide enough to qualify as a parking space. She took it anyway, trying to leave more room on Paul’s side of the car.

  She eased her own door open and squeezed out, then ran around the front of the car and motioned to Paul and Josh. “Come on.”

  The three of them hurried across the green as quickly as Paul could manage with his moon boot. Just as they reached the outer edge of the crowd, Paul grabbed Kate’s hand. “Wait. It isn’t another demonstration. Look up there.”

  Kate looked over the heads in front of her and felt as if she’d traveled back to a time before the accident. The tarps were gone, and the building looked just as it did before.

  No, not quite. Stretched across the front of the building, a brightly colored banner proclaimed: Welcome to Our Grand Reopening!

  Tears stung Kate’s eyes. She dashed them away, then squeezed Paul’s arm. “I don’t believe them. Neither Loretta nor LuAnne said a word about this yesterday.”
>
  A familiar voice rang out. “May I have your attention!”

  Kate craned her neck and saw Loretta Sweet, apparently standing on some kind of platform that put her in view of the whole crowd.

  The hum of voices diminished, then quieted altogether.

  Loretta cleared her throat. “I’ve been in this town a long time, and I’ve spent a lot of hours back in that old kitchen. When the accident took out the dining area, I really wondered if this wasn’t an opportunity to turn lemons into lemonade ...in other words, to grab the cash from the insurance and run off to Florida and live happily ever after. But the loyalty of my customers made me rethink that idea—even if some of you carried it a little too far.” Her pointed glances brought ripples of nervous laughter from various spots in the crowd.

  “Anyway, the good news is, I’ve decided to stay. The Country Diner has been a fixture in Copper Mill for a good many years, and it’s going to continue to be just that as long as I’m around.”

  She raised both arms into the air. “So thank you all for coming out today. We’re going to reopen the doors now, and we want to invite you inside for a look at the all-new Country Diner!”

  Cheers erupted, and the mass of people started moving forward. Kate looked hopefully at Paul, but he shook his head.

  “There’s no way we’d be able to move around inside with all those people. Let’s wait until after Josh’s dad comes. Things should thin out by then.”

  They stood back in a little knot while jubilant customers descended on the diner. Kate leaned against Paul. “I’m glad she decided not to take the money and run.”

  “Me too. Copper Mill just wouldn’t have been the same without—”

  “Pastor?”

  They turned at the sound of the voice behind them. Avery Griffin stood next to Josh, shuffling his feet.

  “I’m glad I ran into you,” he said. “I wanted to tell you good-bye.”