Silent Killer

by Beverly Barton

  “I’m very disappointed in you, Seth,” J.B. said, his voice deceptively calm.

  “Yes, sir, I understand.”

  “Do you, son?” J.B. focused directly on Seth. “There will be consequences. Except for church and your sports activities, you’re grounded for the rest of the summer.”

  Seth stood straight as an arrow, his expression solemn as he nodded his head in agreement, taking his punishment like a man.

  “And today, at church services, when Brother Hovater calls for sinners to repent, I expect you to go before the congregation and—”

  “No,” Cathy said adamantly. “Seth didn’t commit a sin. It’s ridiculous for you to expect him to stand up in front of the entire church and confess to something he didn’t do.”

  “He disobeyed the rules. He violated my trust.” J.B. glanced at Mona and Elaine. “Our trust. He shamed us and himself by his actions.”

  “He made a mistake,” Cathy said. “He’s not perfect. You can’t expect him to never make a mistake.”

  “I expect him to live up to the high moral standards I’ve set for him, the same standards Mark would have set for him.”

  “If Mark were here, he would never ask Seth to—”

  “How dare you presume to tell me what my son would and would not do,” J.B. said, anger in his voice.

  “And how dare you presume to make yourself the sole decision maker when it comes to my son,” Cathy retaliated.

  “Please, J.B.” Mona laid her hand on her husband’s arm. “Cathy, dear, this arguing isn’t good.”

  J.B. jerked his arm away from his wife’s gentle grasp and aimed his hard gaze at Seth. “You’ll do as I say. Your mother has no authority over you whatsoever, legal or otherwise.” He turned to Cathy. “Seth is leaving with us now. And if you try to interfere, I’ll contact the police. Mona and I are Seth’s legal guardians, not you.”

  Cathy had difficulty restraining herself from lunging at J.B., claws out and teeth bared in defense of her child. But there was a better way to deal with this issue.

  “You’re right,” Cathy said. “But I intend to reclaim my son. I had hoped we could come to some sort of agreement, but I know that’s impossible. I’ve hired Elliott Floyd as my attorney, and I will take you to court if necessary. My days of rolling over and playing dead for you, J.B.”—she glanced at her mother—“or anyone else are over.” She looked back at her father-in-law. “Seth is my son. Today you may be able to force him to obey you, but that is going to change. And soon.”

  Seth had remained completely quiet during the entire exchange between her and J.B. She looked at him and smiled. He didn’t return her smile, but she noted a hint of relief in his eyes.

  “We’re leaving.” J.B. issued the decree and motioned to his wife.

  Mona held her head down as she passed Cathy and followed J.B. to the front door. With her mouth puckered tightly, Elaine frowned and shook her head, her actions silently telling Cathy of her displeasure. Seth paused in front of Cathy, but didn’t say anything.

  She caressed his cheek. “I’ll be at church today.”

  He leaned over and whispered, “I’ll go talk to Mr. Floyd whenever you say.” Then he hurried out the front door and caught up with his grandparents on the porch.

  Bruce Kelley helped his wife dress. She had chosen a blue linen suit. He watched her while she struggled to hook her bra and then finally offered to help.

  “Silly me, I’m all thumbs this morning.” When she laughed, she sounded like herself, the Sandie he had known and loved most of his adult life.

  If he could suffer this disease for her, he would; but then if it were he and not she that had been afflicted, she would be the one condemned to watch the person she loved die by slow, pathetic degrees. They were both victims.

  In the past, he had never understood how someone could choose to end their spouse’s life when that lifelong partner was suffering unbearably. He’d been such a pompous fool. Arrogant. So smug in his safe, happy life. He had judged others so harshly, never once considering the love and sacrifice made by those poor spouses who could no longer bear to see their loved one suffer.

  If not for his deep faith in God, in the Savior’s benevolence, in a great plan for all mankind, Bruce wasn’t sure he would have the strength to see this thing through to the end. Sandie still had good days, and even on the bad days she still had good hours. The worst was yet to come. But he was not in this hell on earth alone, as many were. He and Sandie had three fine children, all willing to do whatever was necessary to help him. But the last thing his sweet Sandie would ever want was to be a burden on anyone, least of all her children.

  “I should wear my pearls with this outfit,” Sandie said as she looked at herself in the vanity mirror. “But I can’t seem to remember where my pearls are. Don’t I have a jewelry chest?”

  Bruce came up behind her and placed his hands lovingly on her shoulders. She glanced up at him from where she sat on the vanity stool and smiled at him.

  Dear Lord, how he loved her smile.

  There would come a day in the near future when she would no longer smile when she saw him, a time when she would not know who he was. Would he be able to bear it?

  “Your jewelry box is in the closet,” he reminded her. “You stay put, and I’ll get your pearls.”

  “Thank you, darling.”

  Just as he walked away and headed toward the walk-in closet, she called to him, “Bruce, are the children ready for church? I can’t remember if I packed everything in the diaper bag that little Kevin will need. He was so fretful last night. I’m afraid he’s cutting a new tooth.”

  Bruce stopped dead still. His heartbeat accelerated. He closed his eyes and prayed for strength and courage. And the ability to see Sandie through to the end, no matter how long and difficult the path might be. She had no idea that her mind had wandered back more than thirty years to when their now-adult son had been an infant. This was not the first time it had happened, and heaven help them both, it would not be the last.

  Faye Long stared at her reflection in the cheval mirror. She looked like an old woman, far older than her fifty-eight years. Guilt and regret weighed heavily on her shoulders. And fear.

  Thirty-nine years ago, when she had married Charles Long, she had been a beautiful, desirable young woman. She could have had her pick from dozens of men, but she had chosen the man she believed worshipped the ground she walked on, the man who would be a good husband and father to their future children. Charles had been a handsome, dashing, charismatic young minister, and she had fallen under his hypnotic spell, never questioning what lay beneath the alluring façade he presented to the world.

  She had made a horrible mistake by marrying him, and she had paid dearly for her stupidity. And she was still paying, as was her daughter and her granddaughters.

  If only she could go back and redo her life, go back to the first time she met her future husband. She would run as far and as fast from Charles Long as she possibly could.

  When Ruth Ann and John Earl had returned home a little after six o’clock this morning, with both Charity and Felicity in tow, she had known something was wrong. When she had gone to the kitchen earlier this morning at five-thirty, she had found Ruth Ann’s note.

  John Earl and I have gone to pick up the girls. There’s been a slight problem. I’ll call you if we aren’t home in a few hours.—Ruthie

  Ruthie. Her only child.

  The spawn of the devil.

  God, how she hated to think of her daughter in such a way. Ruth Ann could no more help who her father was than she could help the horrible things he had done to her. The things he had done to both of them.

  She often wondered what would have happened to the two of them that night after fire had consumed their home and killed her husband if it had not been for John Earl. At the time, he and Ruth Ann had been dating for nearly a year, and she’d known how much he loved her daughter. He was such a good man, and she thanked the Lord every day that both of her
granddaughters were growing up in a home filled with love and goodness.

  But a shadow of evil hovered over all of them. Charles Long’s evil. Even now, after all these years, Ruth Ann still had nightmares. And the emotional scars left by her father’s cruelty had created an emptiness inside Ruth Ann that affected her relationship with both of her daughters.

  No doubt Felicity and Charity’s unfortunate escapade would be the talk of the town by the time church services began today. Poor John Earl. What an embarrassment for him.

  But they would all hold their heads high this morning when they arrived at church. Let the busybodies talk. No one except she, Ruth Ann and John Earl knew that her granddaughters were predisposed to wickedness, that they had inherited a weakness for evil from Charles Long.

  As soon as her mother and in-laws took Seth away, Cathy knew what she had to do today. She could waste her time crying and bemoaning the fact that J.B. and Mona had custody of her son. Or she could get ready, go to church and be there for the most humiliating moment of Seth’s young life.

  She showered, washed and dried her hair, chose one of two new outfits she had recently purchased on a shopping trip with Lorie and unpacked her makeup case. Only moments after she added the last touches—blush to her cheeks and a peach gloss to her lips—the doorbell rang.

  Maybe it was Lorie, but she doubted it. She had phoned her best friend and filled her in on what had happened, everything she knew about Seth’s misadventures and her confrontation with J.B. Lorie had offered to go to church with her this morning, but she’d assured her that it wasn’t necessary.

  “I know how much you’d hate it,” Cathy had said. “You haven’t been inside a church for worship services since you moved back to Dunmore.”

  “I’d do it for you.”

  “I’ll be okay, and so will Seth, so don’t worry too much. I have a feeling that God’s on my side.”

  When she reached the front door, Cathy peeked through the viewfinder and gasped when she saw Jackson Perdue standing on her porch.

  She opened the door. “Well, hello. What are you doing here?” She surveyed him from his neatly combed hair to his polished dress shoes. He wore khaki slacks, a white shirt without a tie and a blue blazer.

  “I thought I’d go to church with you today,” he said.

  “Lorie called you, didn’t she?”

  “Yeah. She…uh…she thought you might need a little backup this morning.”

  “You don’t have to do this, you know. I mean, it’s not as if you and I…That is, this is my problem. Not yours. You—”

  He gently shoved her backward into the house. With the front door still partially open, he cupped her face in his hands. Startled by his actions, she hushed immediately and stared up into his blue, blue eyes.

  “Let’s not analyze our relationship,” he said. “There’s been a lot of muddy water under the bridge. So, how about this—I’m here as a substitute for Lorie. She thinks you need a friend at your side this morning, and I agree.”

  “She thinks I need a keeper, doesn’t she? She’s concerned about what I might say or do without someone there to rein me in.”

  “Look, I wasn’t around when you unraveled at the seams last year, so I don’t actually know how bad it was for you. But having been there myself, I can imagine. Don’t blame Lorie if she’s worried about you.”

  “I don’t blame her. I don’t blame anyone for waiting to see if or when the crazy lady will go bonkers again. But that’s not going to happen. I won’t let it.”

  “Good for you.” He looked her over. “Now get your purse and let’s go. I believe Lorie said early morning services begin at nine, right?”

  Cathy knew when to give in gracefully. Jack wasn’t going to back down, and in all honesty, she didn’t want him to. For more reasons than she dared admit, she not only wanted Jack at her side this morning, she needed him.

  Cathy and Jack walked into the church three minutes before services began. They could have sat at the back, but when she saw Seth sitting in the front row beside J.B., she knew what to do. Jack didn’t hesitate when she marched up the red-carpeted aisle and found a half-empty pew directly behind her son.

  She and Jack got a lot of curious stares, which took the people’s minds momentarily off the rumors that were no doubt circulating about Seth, Missy and the other teenagers who had been hauled into the sheriff’s office before daylight this morning. Let them talk about her. She’d been fodder for the Dunmore gossip mill since the day Mark was murdered.

  Poor Cathy, losing her husband so tragically.

  Poor Cathy, having to raise her teenage son all alone.

  Poor Cathy. You heard about her nervous breakdown, didn’t you? She went completely off her rocker and wound up spending a year at Haven Home.

  As soon as she sat, she leaned forward and placed her hand on Seth’s shoulder. Startled by her touch, he jerked around and looked at her. His mouth formed the word Thanks. She smiled and patted his shoulder. Just as Seth glanced at Jack, J.B. turned around and glowered at Cathy. Seth looked back and forth from her to Jack and then turned around just as the song leader called out the number for the first hymn.

  This church service was not going to be easy for any of them, but it would be pure torture for Seth. If only she could spare him from being on public display. If Mark were here…But he wasn’t. Mark was dead. Seth had no one but her to protect him.

  Jack reached between them and took Cathy’s hand in his.

  Was this a sign from God? Was the Almighty trying to tell her that she wasn’t all alone?

  Chapter Sixteen

  Cathy had grown up attending church services every time the doors opened. Sunday school, Sunday morning services, Sunday night services, Wednesday night services, vacation Bible school and week-long gospel meetings. No one who knew Cathy’s mother could say Elaine wasn’t a devout Christian, but her single-minded obsession with religion bordered on fanaticism. To Elaine Nelson, anything that was too much fun, too enjoyable, had to be a sin. But by the time she was a preteen, Cathy had realized most members of their small Church of Christ in Dunmore were not fanatics but simply good people trying to live the best life they knew how by following the teachings of Jesus. As a teenager, she had become exposed to other Protestant religions through her school friends and learned that there were indeed people like her mother in all the various denominations.

  At seventeen, she had begun feeling trapped by her mother’s restrictions, so when home-on-leave Jackson Perdue had noticed her, she had been ripe for the picking. She didn’t blame Jack, at least not now, and hadn’t for a long time. He’d been twenty, almost twenty-one, and more than three years her senior, but a dozen years older in experience. His bad-boy persona had intrigued her. He’d been moody and intense and drop-dead gorgeous. What teenage girl could have resisted him? She had fallen madly in love with him during their two-week whirlwind romance. And with dreams of happily ever after in her head, she hadn’t hesitated to have sex with him.

  Suddenly, when everyone in the congregation stood to sing and Jack tugged on her hand, Cathy snapped back from the past to the present, realizing that she hadn’t heard one word of the last few minutes of Brother Hovater’s sermon. The hymn was an invitation to sinners, both members and nonmembers alike. Members could come forward and ask forgiveness for their sins. Those who had not been baptized into the Church of Christ faith could confess their past sins, proclaim their belief in Jesus as the Son of God and be baptized. This plea to sinners was part of every church service.

  Halfway through the chorus, Seth rose to his feet and stepped forward, extending his hand to Donnie Hovater. Missy, who had been sitting several rows behind them, also came forward and placed her hand in her father’s. Both teenagers’ movements were stiff, as if they were robots, their actions programmed into them.

  “Please be seated.” Donnie raised and then lowered his hands, emphasizing his instructions to the congregation.

  He then took the two teenagers
aside and spoke to each of them quietly, their conversations entirely private. Then he guided Seth and Missy to the front bench, where the song leader scooted down to make room for them. As soon as Seth and Missy were seated, Donnie faced the audience.

  “Two of our beloved young people have come forward today asking for the Lord’s forgiveness and mercy,” Donnie said, his tone soft and filled with sympathy. “They were led astray by others and found themselves in bad company. They both deeply regret having made an error in judgment that has caused pain and embarrassment to their families.” He bowed his head. “Pray with us as we seek God’s loving goodness and ask Him to forgive Missy Hovater and Seth Cantrell and guide them in the paths of righteousness from this day forward.”

  The congregation hummed with whispers and a few louder comments ranging from “Bless them” to “Amen.”

  Tears threatened to choke Cathy. How many times had her heart bled for people who came forward during this phase of a church service to confess to some minor indiscretion that could hardly be called a sin. Not unless you considered everything that wasn’t pure and holy a sin. Apparently, many people did. There had been a time, long ago, when she’d been a child, that she had lived in fear of not being good enough, worthy enough, of dying and going to hell. And even though she had been a minister’s wife for more than fourteen years before Mark’s death, she had done her best to raise Seth within the framework of a religion that was based on God’s love and goodness and not on fear.

  Just as she had been a product of her upbringing, so had Mark, but he had managed to become his own man despite his father’s iron-fisted approach to fatherhood. And although he had often agreed with J.B.’s strict dogma, more times than not, he had disagreed. Mark had been far more his mother’s son than his father’s, for which Cathy had been exceedingly thankful.