Precedent: Book Three: Covenant of Trust Series (28 page)

The knock at her apartment door startled her. With a hand on the deadbolt, she leaned against the door. “Who’s there?”

“
Tommy. I called about your television.”

“
Right.” Shannon unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door just wide enough for the guy to squeeze through. “It’s right here.”

He picked up the remote and began scrolling through the channels and the menu on her TV. “What’s wrong with it? Why are you selling it?” The stale smell of cigarette smoke swirled around him. At least Shannon hoped it was just cigarette smoke. “Is it stolen?”

“
Good grief, no. I’ve got the receipt for it. There’s nothing wrong with it. I’ve only had it four months, but I’m in a tight spot, and I need some cash.”

“
Gotta support your habit?”

You’d know about that, wouldn’t you?
“Rent’s due.”

He crossed his arms across his broad chest, showing off his dragon tattoo. “You know, a girl like you . . . you could make some quick cash—”

“
Do you want the television or not?”

“
Three hundred?”

“
I paid five for it, so yeah, I think it’s more than fair.”

“
I’ll give you two.”

“
Excuse me? I just said I paid five hundred dollars for it. It’s practically brand new!”

“
I heard you say you’re desperate for cash. Two hundred dollars. Unless you want to negotiate.” He blinked slowly and grinned. “You know?”

Her hands went icy cold, as she realized how stupid she was for letting this jerk in her apartment. He stood between her and the door and outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds. Losing a hundred bucks on the TV was a small price to pay if it meant he would just go away. “Fine. Two hundred dollars.”

Tommy pulled a huge wad of cash from his front pocket. He peeled off two one–hundred-dollar bills and handed them to her, then he stuffed the remote in his back pocket and jerked the set’s power cord from the wall.

He balanced the set on his knee as he fumbled to get her door open, but Shannon stood rooted to her spot. Maybe he’d drop the TV. As soon as the door closed behind him, she rushed over and locked the door once again and burst into tears.

She slid down the door to the floor, held her face in her hands and sobbed. What she wouldn’t give to cry on her daddy’s shoulder, or to hear he mother say, “Shhh, baby, it’s okay. Everything is okay.” Instead, she was alone in a rat hole.

Really taught my dad a lesson, didn’t I? Taught him the boys listen, but not me. Showed him how one of his own can turn her back on every good thing he’d ever given her, humiliate him and ruin her life in the process. Yep, I sure showed him.

And with her savings exhausted, she had seven days to come up with the rest of the rent money.

* * *

Sunday, October 26

Chuck sat at the kitchen table enjoying a cup of coffee with his wife. He’d given up trying to read the paper, because he couldn’t take his eyes off her. Her spark, her energy, her very life had returned, and he felt a thousand pounds lighter.

She set her cup on the table. “So, how much notice do you think I have to give Glen?”

“
For what?” Chuck asked.

“
I want to talk to him about . . . things. I need some insight.”

“
About fifteen seconds.” Chuck reached for the phone. “I’ll see if he and Laurie are free for lunch.”

“
That’s fairly nonthreatening.”

Chuck rolled his eyes at her. “Glen Dillard’s about as threatening as my grandmother.”

“
I never knew your grandmother.” She arched her eyebrow and he nearly melted when she smiled. Chuck punched their pastor’s number in and waited for him to pick up.

“
Do you all always get up this early on Sunday?” Glen asked.

“
For Bobbi, this is sleeping in,” Chuck said. “Listen, are you free for lunch? You and Laurie?”

“
You mean with you and Bobbi?” Glen’s voice dropped to a near whisper. “Thank You, Jesus.”

“
So that’s a yes.”

“
I’d cancel church to talk to Bobbi. You name the place and we’ll be there.”

“
We hadn’t thought that far ahead.”

“
So what happened? What changed her mind?”

“
Probably someplace out of the way,” Chuck said, glancing at Bobbi.

“
She’s right there, isn’t she?”

“
That sounds good,” Chuck said.

“
You can tell me later, then. Let’s eat at Rico’s so you don’t have to lie to your wife anymore.”

“
All right, Glen. Thanks a lot.” Chuck hung the phone back in its cradle. “Rico’s after church.”

“
What about Jack?”

“
What about him?”

“
Is he invited or not?”

“
That’s up to you, I guess.”

“
I want him there. I don’t want to keep things from him or you or anybody else.” She finished off her cup of coffee. “Now that I have the grace of a second chance.”

* * *

Bobbi flipped a menu open and tried to find the right spot to hold it to bring the print in focus, while Chuck stood behind her chair watching the door. “What sounds good, Jack?”

“
Meatloaf,” Jack answered with a grin. “They have the best!” Bobbi dropped her jaw. “Except for yours,” he quickly added, “and Aunt Rita’s.”

Bobbi winked at him. “Theirs probably is better than mine. I think that’s what I’ll have, too.”

“
Hey, there’s Glen.” Chuck waved, then waited to shake Glen’s and Laurie’s hands before he took his seat. “You got here pretty fast,” he said.

Glen held the chair for Laurie, and then took his place beside her. “I’ll probably have folks lined up outside my office tonight.”

“
I’m sorry,” Bobbi said. “We should have—”

Glen pointed a finger and gave her a teasing smile. “Ma’am, we will get off on the absolute wrong note. This is the most important item on my agenda this afternoon. Everybody else is just gonna have to understand that.” They made small talk long enough to order lunch, then Glen took a long drink from his tea. “Bobbi, you’ve put me off for weeks, then you wanted to meet out of the blue. What changed?”

“
Everything,” Bobbi admitted. She recounted the conversation with Jack and her time at the cemetery the previous day. “I know I’m wrong, and I’m ready to get back to where I should be, but I need some help making peace with Brad’s death before I can even think about Shannon.”

“
What’s the biggest frustration, the biggest hurt?” Glen asked.

“
It just . . . it’s so senseless. He was so gifted. He had a wonderful heart. He could have done so much more good . . .”

“
So much lost potential,” Laurie said with a gentle understanding.

“
Exactly,” Bobbi said. “There was so much that could have been.”

“
When we lost our babies, I could not get that thought out of my head, and I knew Glen and I would be good parents. It made no sense.”

“
So how did you get through it?” Bobbi asked.

“
Part of it was a realization that God equipped us to do a wide range of things, but this was the path He was asking us to follow. Maybe it’s that way with Brad. With his talents, he could have accomplished any number of things for God, but giving his life this way was the one God chose for him.”

“
But why?”

“
You probably won’t get a decent answer to that until you can ask God Himself,” Glen said.

“
So in the meantime?”

“
Two things. Are you reading?”

“
I will. What’s your suggestion?”

“
God is still the same God He was five months ago, and His plan is still proceeding on schedule. I want you to read about His character, Psalms or the prophets. You’ll find something.”

Bobbi scowled. “The psalms or the prophets or something? That’s it?”

“
See, he’s no help,” Chuck teased.

Glen waved at Chuck to be still, then he turned back to Bobbi. “Second, ask God to show you the good things that He’s doing. I promise you it’s there, and you’ll be able to let go of this if you can see Brad’s death wasn’t wasted.”

She knew Glen was right, but everything in her screamed his death was a waste. She dropped her head and blinked back tears, then she felt Chuck’s hand on hers. “That’s a tall order.”

“
I know it is,” Glen said. “It’ll take awhile.”

“
Got any hints about those good things?”

“
You’re sitting across the table from one of them.” Glen nodded at Jack.

“
Me? How do you figure that?” Jack asked.

“
You are completely focused, self-assured,” Glen said. “You’ve got a purpose I don’t think you would have ever found otherwise.”

“
He’s become a man almost before my eyes,” Bobbi agreed. “I owe him quite a bit.” She squeezed Jack’s arm and he blushed.

“
Bobbi, did you get to see Brad before he died?” Laurie asked.

“
No, he was in surgery when we got there—” No more words would come, and Chuck squeezed her hand. “No, I didn’t get to see him.”

“
I think it’s a lot harder when you don’t get to say good-bye.”

“
That’s the thing I remember most about when my mother died,” Bobbi said. “I was too young to go in the intensive care unit, so I never got to tell her good-bye.”

“
Shannon slipped away, too, didn’t she?”

“
Yeah, she did,” Bobbi said.

“
It may not help, but one of the things Glen and I held onto was the story of David, when his and Bathsheba’s son died. He said, ‘I will go to him. He can’t come to me.’ Bobbi, I’ll see my babies again. I didn’t have to tell them good-bye. They’re waiting for me, and I’ll spend eternity with them.”

“
The question is, will I see Shannon again before heaven?”

Chapter 18

Resumption

Monday, November 10

Chuck had to take a step backward to keep his balance when Christine threw her arms around his neck. “Mr. Molinsky! You’re back!” she squealed. When Chuck’s face flushed, Christine quickly let go and widened the distance between them. “And Mrs. Molinsky is better?”

“
We’re getting there. She hasn’t gone back to the doctor yet, but she’s had a breakthrough. She’s spending a lot of time studying, trying to sort out all of this.”

“
But you feel good enough about it to come back to work.”

“
Yes and no. I’m here, but I’m not ready to get back to work yet. I’m still trying to track down Shannon. I think it’s easier on Bobbi if she can’t see me searching and not finding anything.”

“
You haven’t heard from her even?”

“
Not a word since the twenty-ninth of June.”

“
Let us help you,” Christine said. “I don’t know anyone here who wouldn’t drop everything to work on this.”

“
Isn’t that a little unethical?” Chuck protested.

“
What good is it to be in charge of everything if you can’t take advantage of it once in a while?” She winked at him and headed back to her desk. “Bring me a list of phone numbers to call as soon as you get settled.”

“
Thank you,” Chuck said. “Thanks for praying, too.” He unlocked his office and turned on the lights. Even the ink pens on his desk were untouched in the seven weeks he’d been gone. He turned on his computer and pulled a folder from his briefcase. He spread out the pages of handwritten notes, phone numbers, lists, hand-drawn maps and printouts from Internet searches.

Hours of work, with nothing to show for it, not a lead, not even a sighting. He picked up the top sheet and walked back out to Christine’s desk. “I don’t have a magic formula,” he said. “I’m assuming she’s still in St. Louis, she’s using her real name, and she has a job somewhere, so I’ve been calling every business in the phone book asking for her. I’m on
K
.” He handed the sheet to Christine. “Of course, if I’m wrong on any of those assumptions, I’m sunk.”

“
Oh, Mr. Molinsky.”

“
I know. It’s very tedious and discouraging. I’m open to better ideas.”

“
No one has talked to her? She hasn’t contacted any of her friends?”

“
There was a punk that helped her leave, and her cousin spoke to her the morning after she left. Those are the only contacts we know of.”

“
You’ve talked to them, right?” Chuck nodded. Christine swiveled around to her computer and began typing. “What’s the punk’s name?”

“
Dylan Snider, but he’s not going to help.”

“
Maybe not directly,” Christine said quietly as she continued to type.

“
What are you doing?”

“
ZIP is a social site, like Facebook or MySpace. Kids have pages where they leave each other messages, pictures and so forth. It’s mostly silly stuff. However, you’d be amazed at how much information they’ll give up.”