by David Nees
Chapter 26
As soon as they arrived back in Hillsboro, Catherine and Kevin went to police headquarters and went through a directory of churches in town. Kevin wrote down the addresses and they left to find a minister. With the dangers confronting them, they both felt the press of time, but they wanted to complete this task before events intervened and scattered their plans. Catherine was almost bubbling over with excitement at this first concrete step in their wedding plans. Most of the churches were empty with clergy working at the food centers or the hospital, often counseling people who were feeling overwhelmed. Like others in the city, the clergy were under the strict control of martial law. After visiting three churches, they found an older minister who was in his church. He was frail looking, slightly stooped with a shock of white hair on his head. He invited them into his office.
“I’m Pastor Randolph, what can I do for you?”
“Lieutenant Cameron and I want to get married. We’d like you to perform the ceremony,” Catherine told him.
“Why don’t you have a chaplain perform the wedding?” the minister asked.
“There isn’t a chaplain assigned to our platoon. We’re pretty slim on the staffing,” Kevin said.
The pastor sat back in his chair. “We don’t get many weddings since the attack. Why are you coming to me? Aren’t either of you members of a church, in the area?”
Both Catherine and Kevin looked at each other.
Catherine replied, “Before the EMP attack, my parents took us to the Baptist church in Clifton Furnace. But Mom stopped going after my dad left.”
The minister looked at Kevin. “And you?” he asked.
Kevin blushed and shook his head. “I’m afraid I’ve been pretty inconsistent since joining the army. On base I attended chapel when I could, but not since the EMP attack.”
The minister sighed. “Well, it’s pretty irregular to perform a wedding on strangers, especially strangers with not much church connection. I’m not a justice of the peace and this wouldn’t be a civil ceremony. It would be a church wedding.” He leaned forward. “Do you understand that? It’s a sacrament of the Christian faith, not to be taken lightly.”
Catherine felt some alarm as she looked at him. “I’m sorry I’m not a regular church member, but these are pretty irregular times. The one minister that might know me is gone. Who knows where? There’s no one left alive in Clifton Forge.”
Pastor Randolph winced at her comment.
“We do live in difficult times,” he said. There’s a noticeable lack of support for churches these days. You’d think people would be flocking to us in these times, but I’m not seeing it.” He paused to reflect. “And those in charge don’t seem to want to encourage church attendance.”
He seemed to come to a decision. “Okay, I’ll do the wedding. I appreciate your desire to have it in a church rather than go to your commanding officer or city hall. When do you want this wedding?”
“Well, we’re not sure,” Catherine said. The pastor gave her a puzzled look. “There are a number of things happening right now and we don’t know how they’ll play out. We think we can be ready in a week, but we can’t give you a firm date yet.”
“That’s a bit odd. But I’m not going anywhere. Let me know when you’re ready, but give me a couple of days’ notice.” He stood up. “And I can’t do it on Sunday, I have services. I’m trying to grow a congregation again, even without help from the city.”
“That’s wonderful. We’re pretty flexible on our end. Thank you so much.” Catherine stood up, beaming at him and shook his hand.
Kevin stood and shook the pastor’s hand. “Thank you. You have been a big help to us in an uncertain time.”
“You’re welcome. I want to see you come around church sometime as well. That’s my fee for doing the wedding.”
“It’s a deal. We’ll take it,” Catherine said, still smiling.
She and Kevin walked out of the office. Catherine felt a joyful spring in her step as they left the church. She put her arm through Kevin’s as they walked.
“That went well, don’t you think?” she asked.
“Yes.” He smiled at her. “When are you planning to tell him we want to be married in the valley?”
Catherine winced. “We’ll let him know later. I didn’t want to hit him with everything at once.” She gave Kevin a smile and leaned her head against him. “We have us a preacher.”
Looking up at Kevin, she couldn’t help but notice that his smile had faded. There was a serious look in his face.
“Why so glum, then?”
“Not glum, just concerned about how these other events will turn out, that’s all.”
That night, when it was fully dark, Kevin led Catherine quietly out of his office and out to the rows of vehicles beside the tents. She looked just like a soldier in the army fatigues he had given her. Wilkes and Gibbs were already waiting beside a turreted Humvee Kevin had chosen. They all got in, with Wilkes standing up through the hatch to man the machine gun. Kevin pulled out of the compound and drove out into the silent town. If they were seen by the militia, they would look like a normal night patrol.
“I hope Chief Cook can help us,” Catherine said behind Kevin. “We know the best plan would be to just avoid this attack, but can he change Stansky’s mind?”
“It’s a long shot,” Kevin replied. “I don’t think he really has Joe’s ear. Frank might have more of a chance, but I don’t think we can ask him. Not if what Charlie told me is half right.”
“Captain Roper can’t be willing to allow this,” Catherine said. “Even if he’s getting paid on the side somehow, he’s not going to be a part of attacking civilians…is he?”
“I could go to Captain Roper,” Kevin said. “But it’s the same problem as Frank. I don’t know how far he’s in. I only know he’s in. It may only alert Stansky that we’re on to him. If Stansky guesses right, it could even have repercussions for Charlie.”
Wilkes’s faint voice came down from the turret. “I wouldn’t worry about Chief Cook. Seems to me he got his conscience back a little late. I’d let him deal with the repercussions.”
Kevin looked over at Gibbs sitting next to him. Gibbs raised his voice. “What you don’t realize is that the repercussions could take Cook out of the game and we lose an important ally. A big one. Man your gun and pay attention to keeping a lookout.”
“Yes sir.”
“Not wrong though,” Gibbs said under his breath.
They arrived at Charlie’s home without incident. There was a driveway that went past the house back towards a garage set to the rear. Kevin drove all the way back before he stopped. They piled out and started for the front door when Kevin saw a man holding a candle standing where the back door must be. Charlie had a quizzical look on his face, but he quickly let them in without a word.
There was a pale-looking woman in a nightgown in the kitchen with Charlie. “This is my wife Mary,” Charlie said. They all introduced themselves, and she nodded with a nervous politeness. “It’s all right,” Charlie said. “She knows everything.”
Charlie led them into the dark dining room, where he used the candle he was carrying to light a bigger one standing in the center of the table. He motioned for them to sit, and they found places.
“Charlie, I know you told me about the plans to attack the valley, but I want to hear you tell all of us which side you’re on now,” Kevin said.
Charlie looked embarrassed. Mary sat next to him with her hand in his, looking at him. “I’m with you,” he said. “I… Mary and I, will not be a part of what’s going on. I’m not proud of the fact that I turned a blind eye to so much, in order to make life easier for us.” He was looking down at the table. Raising his head, he continued, “Stansky’s going too far. Martial law is one thing, we had to establish control. But attacking civilians is another. He went too far when he killed Jim Bishop.” He shook his head as if to clear his mind of the thought. “Lord knows if it’s happened to others. I could
have kept a closer eye on what was going on, but I was focused on working with Joe. We thought we had to—”
“I’m not looking for a confession. I just want you to be clear, in front of the others, where you stand.”
Charlie nodded. “I’m with you,” he said again.
“Now, we need your help to get us in touch with this resistance group,” Kevin said.
“Are you going to start a revolt?” Charlie asked.
“Maybe, maybe not,” Kevin replied.
“Chief Cook, we want to try every possible way to avoid that, but we need to be ready if we can’t negotiate something with Mason and Stansky,” Catherine said.
“You can call me Charlie. I don’t feel much like a chief of police right now,” he said. Mary squeezed his hand. “All right, I’ll get a message to the group recommending that they set up a meeting with you directly.”
“Sergeant Gibbs will also be at the meeting,” Kevin said. “He’ll be another point of contact for them.”
“Sergeant Gibbs. I’ll tell them.”
Catherine now spoke up. “Mr. Cook, do you think you can find someone here in town?”
“Maybe. Who do you want to find?”
“Well, I have an idea…thinking about all the help we can get. Billy Turner, he’s from the valley, he came to town after the trading day. He’s a hunter for the town, I think, and maybe helping to make whiskey.”
Kevin looked at Catherine. “Why find him?”
“He may be able to help.”
“He also could be on the side of the gang,” Kevin said.
“If I could meet him, maybe in the context of inviting him to our wedding, I could sound him out to see if he could or would help.”
“I don’t know,” Kevin replied.
Gibbs spoke up. “You said he was hunting for the city, so he’s working for them. Have you heard back from him since he left?”
“No way to.”
“So how do you know he’s a hunter? He could be in the militia.”
“No, he told Jason he had it lined up. He talked to Goodman during the trade, and Goodman made him an offer.”
Gibb’s face was grim in the candlelight as he looked at Catherine. “Goodman could have been thinking about food, but it’s not reassuring. The lieutenant’s right. If Billy’s on the side of the gang, he could expose our plans.”
“I know. I wouldn’t let him know anything unless I can figure out for sure which side he’s on. He must have some loyalty to the valley, even though he left it.”
Kevin’s feelings mirrored Gibb’s doubtful expression. “Okay, but you’ve got to be careful about this,” he said.
Catherine turned back to the police chief. “So, can you find him?”
“If he came after the trading, like you said, he shouldn’t be too hard to find. I’ll work on it.”
“Please hurry. I’m only here for a few more days.”
The next morning Charlie sent Les Hammond out to find Billy. It didn’t take Hammond long to find the apartment building where Billy had been assigned a room. The problem was that Billy’s room was completely empty, with the door ajar. Asking around didn’t get Hammond much information. Few of the militia would even stop to talk with him. It wasn’t clear what happened to the kid or where he might have gone. People who dropped out of sight like Billy often never surfaced again.
That first day Hammond reported back to Charlie around one o’clock. After hearing Hammond’s report, Charlie sent him back to the militia compound to learn more. Someone had to have seen Billy. He was a hunter; he had to be bringing game to the food centers.
That afternoon, Hammond talked with the bartender at the militia bar. The bartender had heard that Billy had taken up with a prostitute named Lori Sue. It seemed that Billy had killed someone who was trying to rape her. The timing of the incident matched a corpse Hammond and Charlie remembered from a couple of weeks back. The problem was that no one knew where Lori Sue lived; she didn’t stay anywhere near the compound.
Hammond went over what he had found with Charlie that evening. “I could hang around the militia bar. The bartender says she often shows up there. I could talk to her…you know, get her to take us to Billy.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. She’ll be suspicious. I doubt she’ll believe Billy’s not in trouble. Remember, he killed a man in town, and we’re the police. She’d probably lie to us and get Billy to move so we’ll never find him.”
“What do we do, then?”
“You hang out there—out of uniform. When she shows up, follow her home. We need to know where she’s staying. I’m betting Billy’ll be there.” Charlie paused for a moment. “You think you can do it?” he asked. ”It isn’t going to be like sitting in a squad car down the block. You’ll have to blend in on the street.”
“I can do this, Chief,” Hammond said with a smile on his face. “Like being a real cop again.”
The next morning he greeted Charlie at the station with a big grin. “Found her. She showed up and I was able to follow her back to an apartment building in a seedy section of town on the south side. It’s an empty area. Hardly anyone lives there now. ‘Course I had to wait until she got finished with her work at the compound, so it was a late night.”
Charlie smiled. “You see Billy?”
“No, but if we stake out the place, I’ll bet we’ll find him.”
“We’ll go tonight,” Charlie said.
That night Charlie and Hammond took up a position in an alley across from the apartment building. Before he had left, Charlie told another of his trusted officers to take a message to Lieutenant Cameron to meet him at his house later that night. They had been waiting a little less than an hour when they saw two people approaching the building.
“Is that him?” Hammond asked.
“It’s him. I saw him with the convoy, didn’t know that kid had come back to town.” He grabbed Hammond’s arm. “We can’t let them get in and close the door.”
“Don’t worry, Chief. The front door doesn’t close all the way. I checked it last night.”
After waiting a minute they crossed the street and quietly entered the front hallway. The stench of human feces hit them hard. They stopped to listen but heard no sounds above. With a hand over his face, Charlie took his little flashlight out of his jacket pocket, with its precious two batteries, and turned it on, screening most of the intense beam with his fingers. Barely breathing, they quickly climbed the stairs to the second floor.
“We’ll have to check each floor,” Hammond whispered.
Charlie nodded. The carpet was filthy, un-vacuumed since the power went out and now strewn with debris. They walked down the hall, being careful to not step on anything that could crunch and give them away. They listened at each door, hoping to hear if anyone was inside. Finally they stopped at one door that had no trash in front of it. The doorknob was shiny, indicating regular use. They could hear someone moving about inside.
Charlie gently knocked on the door. If this was not the right apartment, they didn’t want to alert others that strangers were in the building. Someone knocking on doors at night would be alarming.
Nothing happened. Charlie knocked gently again, and did it again after another pause. Finally he heard someone moving close to the door. “Who are you? What do you want?” an older voice asked.
“It’s Police Chief Cook. You’re not in trouble. We just need your help.”
“We haven’t done anything wrong. We help, we work and do what we can. We’re old, please leave us alone.” The voice sounded frightened.
“You’re not in trouble,” Charlie repeated. “Please open the door. I just want to ask you some questions. We’re looking for someone.”
The doorknob turned and the door slowly swung open a few inches, stopping where a security chain held it. A white-haired man peered through the gap. “What do you want to know?”
“There’s a young woman living in the building. She has a guy staying with her. We need to know w
hat apartment they’re in.”
The man shook his head. “Don’t know anything about that.”
“Look, they’re not in trouble, but I have to talk with the young man. It’s important. You must know where they’re living.”
Again, the man shook his head.
Charlie leaned forward and looked the old man in the eye. He kept his voice low, but he put a new threatening tone in it. “You’re not in trouble, they’re not in trouble, but if you don’t tell me, you will be in trouble.”
“Okay, okay,” the man said. “We don’t want any problems. She lives on the fourth floor. She’s nice enough, but we don’t see her much. Don’t know what apartment she lives in.”
“That’ll do. Now close your door and stay inside,” Charlie said. “Everything’s going to be fine. Don’t worry.”
The door closed. They headed back to the stairs. “Gotta be quiet. We don’t want them to bolt now that we’re almost there.” Hammond nodded.
On the fourth floor they again stepped quietly down the hall, looking for signs of doors being used. Halfway down the hall, they spotted a pathway to one of the doors. They stepped close and listened at the door for a moment. Inside they could clearly hear a woman talking. Billy had to be there.
Charlie straightened up and knocked loudly on the door. Inside the talking stopped. Hammond put his hand close to the gun on his belt. Charlie knocked again.
“Who’s there?” Lori Sue finally asked.
“Chief of Police. We need to talk to you.”
“I ain’t done nothing,” she said, her voice sounding tense. “You better not mess with me or you’ll have trouble with Leo.”
Hammond’s eyebrows rose at the name, and he looked at Charlie and soundlessly whistled.
“You’re not in trouble,” Charlie said. “I just need to talk with you and with Billy Turner. I know he’s in there. Neither of you are in trouble, but you will be if you don’t open this door.”
Billy was standing in the hallway outside their bedroom, shirtless and barefoot. Lori Sue had gone into the living room with an oil lamp in her hand when she had heard the knocking. At Billy’s name, her head jerked around and they looked at each other, wide-eyed.