Vince shook his head. “I haven’t seen him since I entered the house. There were gunshots, but I heard Chen’s explosions afterward, so I guess he didn’t get hit.”
“Explosions?”
“Yeah, he used them as diversions.”
A hand flung Vince to the ground.
“Man, you’re noisy.” Chen glared at Vince in the leaves. “I think that Perkins dude is back,” he whispered. “He’ll find you guys for sure.”
“Perkins is dead.” Cassandra said, trying to keep the image of his vacant eyes from coming back.
Chen’s brow narrowed. “You sure.”
“Yes.” Vince stood. “Where’s the kid?”
“The blond guy? He’s under a tree.”
Cassandra sighed so hard she deflated. “He’s dead?” It made her sad as well as relieved.
Chen hesitated. “Hope not.” He looked between them. “Kid saved my life.”
“I heard him shoot at you.”
“Naw. He wasn’t shooting at me. He shot into the air, trying to threaten me so I’d leave. When I set off the last blast, a tree came down toward me. The kid shoved me out of the way and got hit instead.”
“I thought you knew what you were doing.” Vince glared.
Chen shrugged. “Never used explosives before. Loud’s not my style.”
Cassandra started to run. “We better find him.”
Calling 911 as they followed Chen’s direction, she rounded bushes and jumped over fallen trunks. Finally, they came to the spot where the young man lay, face down. “Sky?”
No answer.
Vince felt for a pulse. “He’s still alive.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
“Punch Billy’s number in for me, Sophie.”
The young girl in the passenger seat of Vince’s Elantra took his cell and scrolled through the names. The new layered haircut Kat had given her after Vince’s knife sliced through it to free her from the duct tape, looked cute.
“I bet he’s had the whole crew at the Crenshaw house for an hour already.” Vince wanted to be insulted that Billy still had such little faith in Vince’s ability to help in the repairs, but since Cass asked him to take both Sophie and Tibo to the event so she could catch up on a few things, he didn’t care so much today. It was good to have his daughter safe beside him. And it was good that Cass trusted him to take them. He’d been concerned their truce had turned cold since the rescue. Cass had seemed distracted. A little aloof.
Vince looked at the beautiful girl thumbing through his cell, still sporting traces of the red swellings from the duct tape on her face, and his heart filled with pride. When would those tests come back to confirm it so he and Cass could finally tell her the truth? Would Sophie be glad to know? Or would she hate him for the role he played in her mother’s sacrifices?
Sophie pressed on the screen. Ringing.
“Hey.”
“How long you been there, Billy?”
“Uh, I don’t know.” Some shuffling in the background. “You got me on speaker?”
“Yeah, Sophie and Tibo are with me.”
“You know I hate speaker.”
“Comes from having too many secrets.” Vince winked at Sophie.
She giggled.
“So, did the extra hour put you ahead of schedule?”
“It might’ve if I hadn’t forgotten my tools. We’ve been sharing all morning.”
“I’m on my way. I’ll swing by your house and get your box.”
“Uh, no, that’s okay. We’re good.”
“You just said—”
“No, no Vince.”
“I’ll get it. See you in ten.” Vince heard the guy sigh before ending the call. What was up with that?
“Are you really that bad with a hammer?” The traces of Cass in Sophie’s smile unnerved him.
Vince turned to the windshield. “No. I just need more practice, that’s all.”
Once in front of the Lewis’s house Smokey greeted them.
“Oh, they have a dog? Tibo loves dogs. Is he friendly?”
Vince pointed to the grass. “Yeah. There’s his favorite toy. Why don’t you and Tibo play with him until I come out.” His eyebrows wiggled. “You know how Kat likes to talk. It might be a while.”
“Come on, Tibo,” Sophie grabbed the ragged tennis ball from the lawn. The dog leapt and barked until she threw it out to the side of the house.
Tibo shrieked in laughter as the dog ran back, dropped it at his feet, and licked his hands.
Kat opened the door before Vince even ascended the stairs. “What are you doing here?”
“I feel so welcome.” Vince eyed the woman blocking the entrance. “I came for Billy’s tools.”
“He sent you?” Why was she so incredulous?
“I offered.”
She stood there.
“Are you going to get them, or should I search the garage myself?”
Uncertainty played through her face. She pivoted and strode through the living room. Vince meandered around as he always did there. After all, he’d lived there once too. He’d always appreciate the way they’d given him a home when he had none. But that was who they were.
Kat met Vince in the kitchen. “Here you go.” She hefted up the large, multi-drawered box.
He took it from her then noticed a person outside on the deck. “Who’s that?”
Kat’s eyes turned warily. She played with the pages of a recipe book on the counter. “It’s Sky.”
Vince’s body tensed. “What’s he doing here?”
“We took him in.” She lifted a shoulder. “At least until after his hearing. He had nowhere else to go.”
“You took in a stranger?”
“He’s not a stranger. I’ve known him since he was six. His mother used to work the sub shop next to the salon, and Sky always hung out with me.”
Vince’s jaw went slack. He didn’t know how to respond.
“Besides,” she swallowed hard, “I feel a little responsible for him ending up with Kevin.”
“How’s that?”
“When his mom worked, he’d come and help out at the shop, collecting towels from the stations and sweeping the hair off the floor.” Her smile was melancholy. “The industrial broom was twice his size.”
She shrugged. “He was always such a good boy. He even drew pictures for me. Those are the ones I framed in the shop.”
“He drew those?” Vince never expected that from Sky
“Yes.” She grimaced. “One day, when he was about ten, I noticed these awful scars on his hand. I suspected they were cigarette burns and called Social Services. I never saw the boy again, and always wondered if he was okay.” Her voice cracked. “Then Billy told me what happened … I can’t believe he ended up with that creep.”
Vince pointed emphatically. “That boy helped to kidnap my—uh—Sophie, and you’re letting him live here?”
“If you really believe he’s so bad, why did you tell the police how he’d saved Chen, and that you believe he’d been coerced?”
“A weak moment on my part.”
She leveled her gaze on him. “You know that’s not true.”
“Still, I don’t want him anywhere near Sophie.”
~*~
Sophie threw the ball. It rolled into the water. Smokey leapt in after it. Uh-oh, Kat might not want the dog sopped.
Tibo’s laugh was infectious as the large animal trotted over then shook so hard her brother was splattered with the smell of wet fur.
“C’mon, Tibo, we need to go inside and save Pastor Vince from conversation.” She trotted up the stairs of the large back deck.
Sky’s brown eyes met her at the top. Her lungs squeezed with the strange dance of averting and staring at the same time. Her mind played images of the fun they’d shared, interspersed with the evil mask she’d created of him in her tape-bound visions. She’d heard the discussion between Pastor Vince and her mom about what he’d done for Chen, and none of it made sense.
&nb
sp; She rubbed at the itch the adhesive had left on her face. “I heard you saved Chen’s life.”
He lifted a shoulder.
She thought about what her father had taught her in her visions about loving your enemies. Still the words were bitter on her tongue. “I’m glad you’re okay. I mean, from the tree.”
His attention fell to the drawing on the table in front of him. She narrowed her vision to the detailed sketch of the view from the deck—small boats docked at piers, water rippling around them. She didn’t know he could draw like that. Why hadn’t he shared that with her before?
Because their friendship was a lie.
“Thanks,” he finally said.
Sophie checked behind her to make sure Tibo was coming. He was. She headed for the sliding glass door.
“Soph?”
A shiver erupted at the familiar use of her name, but she couldn’t turn back. “What?”
“You talked about forgiveness … well …in the … before.” The pause was immeasurable. She couldn’t move. Her emotions so jumbled there was no way to make them behave.
His intake of breath was audible. “Do you think some day you could forgive me?”
Her eyelids lowered with the ache in her heart. Her lips could barely form the words. “I forgive you Sky.”
“Then—”
“I forgive you, Sky … but I will never—ever—trust you again.” She rolled the door open and turned to prompt Tibo inside.
Tibo ran up the stairs giggling, the dog nipping at his heels. His eyes lit when he saw Sky.
“Hey, little man.” Sky wheeled from the table and held up his hand.
He’s in a wheelchair?
Tibo slapped a high-five, and Sky pointed toward the door. “Your sister’s waiting. You better get going.”
~*~
Vince watched Sophie help Tibo out of the car. His chest burned for the girl after her run-in with Sky. She didn’t want to talk about it and Vince didn’t push, not officially having that role in her life … yet. It probably didn’t help that her project with Tibo working in the garden would remind her of Sky even more. Vince would have to check on her intermittently and make sure she was okay.
When would those genetic tests come back? He couldn’t wait for the day he could tell her all.
He hefted Billy’s toolbox from the trunk and lugged it past Eddie who was edging the lawn. “Eddie, what are you doing here?”
Eddie turned off the weed-wacker. “It’s my mom’s house. Wasn’t gonna let your saints do all the work.”
“Couldn’t you just pay someone to do the lawn work?”
Eddie’s cheek twitched. “That’s what I was thinkin’, till that Yolanda chick came by to drop off another casserole.”
“Uh-oh.”
“Gave me an earful about how I should take care of my ‘mama’ and spend more time with her.” His eyes widened. “Man, that woman was cold.”
“Sorry about that.”
Eddie shrugged. “S’okay.” A smile edged up one side of his face. “She had all this fire in her eyes and passion in her voice. It was kinda hot. I think I might ask her out sometime.”
Vince hitched up Billy’s tool box and turned before Eddie could see his eyes bulge. “Good luck with that one.”
He lugged the tool chest to Billy in the side yard and dropped it at his boots.
Billy clapped him on the shoulder with a Cheshire grin. “You found them.”
“Yeah, that’s not all I found at your house.”
Billy released a nervous laugh. “Glad you were lucky, then.” He pulled the drill from the box then headed down the walk.
“Hey, what do you want me to do?”
Billy grunted and smirked. “Ask Pop. He’s got some ideas.”
Vince liked this plan. At least Lew was willing to teach him. Vince caught the man as he walked past, carrying a two-by-four. “Billy says you have a job for me.”
A slow grin grew. “Yep.” He dropped the wood.
“Is it the fence? I’m getting better at fences.”
“Nope.” Lew threw an arm around him and led him inside the house. “You know how you made the speech at church about how we’re all different parts of the body? You know, different gifts working together?”
“You were there?”
He nodded. “Way in the back … in case I snored.”
Vince gave him the evil eye.
“You sure know how to work an audience, Preacher Boy.”
“Thanks, Lew.”
“That would definitely be your gift.”
“Okaaay.”
Lew caught his gaze. “But buildin’ stuff ain’t.”
Vince stilled.
“And frankly, we don’t have the manpower to take you to the emergency room today.”
Vince gestured to the busy workers all over the house. “So what am I supposed to do here? Stand on a table and give a sermon?”
Lew’s heavy-lidded grin sent a chill through Vince. “Nope. Got another project for you.” He reached behind to extract something from his back pocket and thrust it in Vince’s face.
A toilet brush.
“You want me to scrub the toilet?”
He nodded. “And the sink. The tub. The floor needs a good work over too.”
Vince pressed his lips.
“You too country club to scrub toilets?” His eyebrow rose. “Didn’t that Jesus of yours wash feet?”
What other sermons had Lew snuck into?
Vince grabbed the brush and headed toward the bathroom.
“I’ll come by this week and help you with your deck. Maybe give you some pointers.”
“You’d do that?”
It was almost a full smile on the former racer’s face. “Yep. Already loaded Emergency on speed dial.”
~*~
Cassandra parked near the Crenshaw’s house, dropped her head back, and rested her eyes. This news would change everything, and she was unsure she could deliver it to Vince without a shaky voice.
Was he ready to hear the truth? Cassandra had spotted the envelope this morning as she plodded through the stack of mail that had piled up over the last week. Who could care about junk mail and bills when one’s daughter had been abducted? Even Tibo’s therapies had been delayed. She had forgotten all about the genetic testing until many days passed after Sophie had come home. She’d just wanted to revel in her daughter’s presence, but worried this news could take her away again.
When Vince had shown up offering to drive them all to the work-day event, Cassandra had jumped at the opportunity to let him take the kids so she could open the envelope alone. Now, she couldn’t put off the inevitable. If she didn’t tell him today, she’d never find her voice.
I’ve got this.
God’s reminder filled her soul. Hadn’t she learned over the past week His will is perfect. Still, she knew it wasn’t always easy … but His will was always good.
Entering the house, she looked around. “Is Vince here?”
Some guy chuckled. “Bathroom.”
“Oh.” She clutched the envelope folded neatly in her shorts pocket.
“He’s not using it. He’s cleaning it.” The guy pointed down the hall.
Cassandra followed the direction. As she stepped past a couple bedrooms she heard the humming. He Loves Us. Good song. It came from behind a cracked-open door.
Pushing it wider, she spotted Vince on hands and knees scrubbing the floor as though around the throne of grace, rather than a porcelain one.
He startled. “Cass.”
She pulled the envelope from her pocket then thrust it out to him.
His hands shook as he took it from her and scanned the return address. “What’s it say? Is she mine?”
Tears burned her eyes. How she could wish Sophie to be the daughter of Vince Steegle, she did not know. She shook her head.
He stood and wilted at the same time.
“She’s not your daughter.”
He placed the envelope on the sink.
“But I want her to be.”
Cassandra sniffed hard. “We don’t always get what we want.”
Vince’s hands were slippery wet when he took both of hers. “You don’t understand, Cass.” His eyes seared into hers. “I still want her to be.”
“And how do you plan to make that happen?” Had he grown that attached to a child not his own?
He stepped closer, the scent of pine and musk mingled around her. “I hope to marry her mother.”
Could he feel her pulse in his grip at her wrists? “You’d marry me just to be Sophie’s dad?”
He wiped a palm on his shorts then pulled a stray curl around her ear as his eyes took in every inch of her face. “For a woman so capable, Cass, you can be really dense.”
His smirk infuriated her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He pulled her into him. “It means I want to be your husband—Tibo and Sophie are gravy.” He kissed her forehead, her nose, her mouth.
She closed her eyes and whispered against his lips. “Gravy?”
“Mm-hm.” His mouth trailed her jawline up to her ear, his voice low. “I mean, I like gravy and all, but—”
“Whoa! What’s hap’nin’ in here, Pastor?” Billy’s eyebrows arced as he glanced between the two.
Cassandra pushed at Vince, but he pulled her closer. “Just askin’ a girl to marry me. Is that okay with you, son?”
“You two gettin’ hitched?” Billy’s fu-man-chu stretched wide at his cheeks.
Cassandra gasped. Did he have to say it so loud? The whole house would hear.
Vince looked into Cassandra’s face. “She hasn’t answered me, yet.”
Billy stepped into the bathroom, eyes wild with anticipation. “Well?”
Cassandra felt like little bubbles tickled up through her as she looked between the two best-buds. Both wore the same lines on their foreheads.
Finally Billy made an emphatic questioning gesture with his hands while Vince seemed to hold his breath.
She tilted her eyes to meet Vince’s startling blues. “I think I will.”
Vince’s body sagged relief while Billy whooped and hollered. “Hey, everyone,” he yelled out the bathroom door. “Vince and Cassandra are gettin’ married!”
Cheers, whistles and claps followed.
Flee From Evil Page 25