Snakes Among Sweet Flowers (9 page)

He entered the kitchen through the garage door and tossed his keys on the counter, then opened the refrigerator to grab a beer. He twisted off the cap and took a healthy swig before leaning back in to collect the fixings for a sandwich. Once his meal was made, completed with a handful of Barbecue Lay’s chips, he dropped onto one of the stools next to the island and pulled out his cell phone.

“Why didn’t you come over for lunch? You have plans this afternoon?” his dad asked in lieu of a greeting upon answering the call.

“Nah, just having a sandwich at home,” Jackson responded.

“You missed your momma’s roast, boy. What’s wrong? You feeling poorly?” His father could always read Jackson more clearly than a billboard, and now didn’t seem any different.

“Dad, can I ask you something?”

“You just did.” There was a chuckle in his dad’s voice, but then he cleared his throat and answered, “You know you can.”

“Am I judgmental?”

There was silence on the line. Jackson had been unsure if asking his father this question was the right course of action. But then, he’d known better than to ask his mother. She would have immediately told him he was the best man ever and then asked who she needed to tell off for saying any different.

After a moment, the sound of a voice clearing came again over the line, then his father said, “Son, what’s this about?”

“I just…. Can people change, Dad? I mean, really change?”

“Well… sometimes it sure doesn’t look that way, does it? But I have to believe a person can. God teaches it, doesn’t he?”

Jackson smiled. Walter Rhodes was the best man that Jackson had ever met. He wasn’t in other’s faces about his faith, but Jackson knew he fell back on it and truly believed.

“Yeah,” Jackson said as he thought that over.

“But,” his father continued, “as a policeman, we have to try to predict the actions of others. We have to use our gut. It’s hard to mesh those two sometimes. Who you judging?”

“I—” Jackson huffed.

“Spit it out, boy,” his dad encouraged.

“What do you think of Camden Sanders?” Jackson asked.

“Never met the man. Should I? And even more to the point, what do you think of him?”

Jackson sighed. “I don’t know, Dad. He seems nice enough most of the time, but he’s got a record. And sometimes, I don’t know, sometimes there is something….” How did he describe the feeling he had? And was that feeling justified? He sure didn’t know how to rationalize it, even to himself.

“So you don’t know. That doesn’t sound judgmental. It sounds more like you’re withholding judgment. Get to know him better. If your gut is telling you something, son, listen to it. You’re smart, and a good policeman. Don’t ignore your instincts.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.” Jackson meant it. His dad had indeed been the right person to talk to.

“We are about to head back over to the church to get it cleaned up before evening services. You coming?”

“No, I think I’m gonna sit it out tonight. But can you do me a favor? If you see Ruby Mae, can you tell her that I’m gonna pick up the oldest tomorrow morning to do some yard work in town?”

“Yeah, I’ll tell her. You have a good evening. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Night, Dad. Tell Mom I love her.” Jackson hung up and went back to eating his sandwich with much to think about.

CAM WAS
back on the front steps, surveying the relatively small amount of improvement he’d managed to his front lawn. It had taken most of the day and he still wasn’t even to a point where he could mow. At least the long list of work he needed to do around the house kept his mind off all the worrying he could be focused on.

And speaking of worrying. What had he been thinking to accept an invitation to dinner from Ida and Charles? How was he going to sit at the table and look them in the eye after stealing all their money? Yeah, that was going to make for a pleasant evening. But Jackson Rhodes had clouded his brain or something, and all he’d been able to think about was showing the policeman that he could do whatever he wanted. No matter that what he’d agreed to do wasn’t even close to anything he wanted.

Tommasina approached and nudged his arm with her big knotty head, and Cam scrubbed behind her ear. “I can’t just not show up. I mean, they know right where I live. What am I going to do, Tom?” The cat looked at him, and Cam corrected, “Tommasina.” He was a fucking idiot.

After a few minutes of staring off into space, Cam had a sudden idea and pulled his phone from his pocket. It was a dumb idea and he knew it, but it didn’t stop him from punching in the phone number and listening to the ring as the call connected.

A soft voice answered just as he’d about given up, but he lost all use of his tongue and simply sat there as the voice again said, “Hello?”

The line went quiet except for breathing, then finally the voice said, “I’m alone.”

Cam breathed a sigh of relief. “Are you okay?”

He could imagine Detra nodding on the other end of the line, finally realizing he couldn’t hear and answering, “Yeah. He’s mad, but he doesn’t know I had anything to do with it. Are you okay? Tell me you are halfway around the world right now, Cam.”

“I’m halfway around the world right now.”

“You are such a fucking liar. And stupid as hell too. You are still in Georgia, aren’t you? He isn’t gonna play if he finds you, Cam. Get on a plane and get gone.”

“I found a place to settle, Detra. It’s pretty good here, quiet and nice. You should run too. It’s a little town called Hog Mountain. You could come and—”

“Shit! Cam! Don’t tell me that. Don’t call here again. He’ll find out. Just be happy, okay?” Detra didn’t wait for an answer before the line went dead.

Cam felt the sting of tears as he stared at the phone in his hand, wondering if he had just made the biggest mistake of his life.

THE SUN
lit up the entire bedroom early the next morning, and Cam covered his head with a pillow to ward it off. It wasn’t like him not to get up immediately, but he’d had a lot of trouble sleeping the night before as his mind continuously played over his phone conversation with Detra.

Although Detra still held out hope that her love would somehow change Harold, Cam would feel better if she gave up that entire life and move out to Hog Mountain with him. He could see her fitting in and enjoying the slow, easy life in the country. He could also see her blossoming without Harold around to keep her under his thumb. But Cam couldn’t force her to leave. So all he could do was worry.

While Harold was the one in control, other people had come and gone from their little band of thieves. Cam supposed Harold would have let him do the same except for one small detail. Cam had left with a huge chunk of change, most of which belonged to Harold.

Cam finally threw back the covers and climbed out of the bed. He straightened the sheets and pillows quickly and headed toward the bathroom. He was going to need an extra-large cup of coffee to make it through the morning, that was for sure. And he had a long day ahead of him, too, what with his dinner at Ida and Charles’s that evening. He sighed at the thought and stepped under the shower spray.

Cam was just stepping out the front door, second mug of coffee in hand and cat under his feet, when a familiar police cruiser pulled into his driveway. Cam couldn’t think of a less welcomed event. What the hell was he doing back again today? Had they not had enough of each other already? Or was Rhodes back to finish the fight they had almost started the day before?

Cam waited on the top step until the policeman stepped out of his car, then called across the lawn. “Mornin’, Officer Rhodes. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

To Cam’s surprise, the policeman smiled and returned the greeting. “Morning, Mr. Sanders. I brought the manual labor you requested yesterday.” Rhodes opened the back door to his squad car and three kids piled out.

Cam frowned and glanced between the children and Rhodes. “What—”

Seeming to understand what Cam meant, the officer continued. “Give them the tools they’ll need and tell them what you want done. They’ll require a little supervision, but they are good kids. You should feed ’em, though, and make sure they don’t get too hot out here, drinks every once in a while. You can pay ’em what you see fit at the end of the day when I come back to get them. This is Galen, this is Tony, and this is Luanne. I expect you to be good to ’em.” Then he turned to the children. “Listen to Mr. Sanders and work hard for him, okay? And we’ll go to Walmart like I said.”

“Look,” Cam started. The last thing he wanted was a bunch of kids in his yard all day. “I have enough to worry about without babysitting.”

The three kids all frowned, and the oldest—Galen, wasn’t it?—said, “We ain’t babies, mister.”

Cam held up his hands in surrender. “Fine. I got trash cans out back behind the house. Pick up all the trash in the yard, front and back. Then gather all the rocks big enough to get thrown by a lawn mower and make a pile of them over here.” He pointed to a dry creek bed over to the right of the house. “I’m gonna be in the garage, but Tommasina, here”—he gestured to the lazing cat on the porch—“is watching every move you make. Don’t make her tattle on you.”

The kids snickered and started to head for the trash cans. Cam glanced at Officer Rhodes and saw he was grinning too.

“I’ll keep an eye on them,” Cam assured him. “Thanks for bringing them.”

“They’re good kids,” Rhodes said, then seemed to search for something more before simply nodding and opening his car door. “I’ll be back this afternoon.”

Cam watched him leave, then headed for the garage to open up for the day. He had plenty of cabinets in the garage area to clean out. It would keep him busy between the trickle of actual paying jobs that came in. None of which he happened to have at the moment.

Throughout the morning, he found himself peeking out the back window at the children on his lawn. For the most part, they stayed busy, but from time to time, they chased each other across the yard or sat on the porch to pet Tommasina, who seemed quite pleased with their attention. He had expected them to be trouble, but he had to admit they seemed like good kids and it wasn’t as horrible as he had thought to have them around.

When the day started heating up, Cam opened the back door and headed across the lawn for the house. The trio quieted and tried to look extra busy as if nervous he would be mad at them for something, which Cam thought was funny since they had been working hard enough as it was. He waved them over as he passed.

“Come on. Let’s make some iced tea and sandwiches, why don’t we?” Cam directed the kids toward the house.

WHEN JACKSON
pulled into Mr. Sanders’s driveway about three in the afternoon, it was to find the trio of kids laid out on the porch. They looked completely worn-out but each had a smile on their face and money in their hands. The yard still had tall grass, but there were large bins full of all kinds of trash, so Jackson figured the kids had done a good job.

Galen and Tony stood up when they saw him, but Luanne had a large orange tabby in her lap and seemed content to stay where she was. He heard the back door of the garage open and close as he made it to the stairs.

“Did y’all get a lot done today?” Jackson asked the three, but Sanders answered from behind him.

“They were a big help.”

“He paid us ten dollars apiece,” Tony exclaimed, waving his money to stress the point. Luanne and Galen waved theirs too.

“I guess that means you’re all ready to go to Walmart, then?” Jackson grinned at the kids. He was pretty sure they had never had that much money to call their own, and he loved to see the happy grins on their faces.

“Gonna get a new toy?” Camden asked curiously.

Galen and Tony got quiet and looked at each other as if unsure how to answer. Jackson didn’t want to embarrass them by saying more than they wanted Camden to know so he decided to let them decide on how to respond.

Luanne spoke up. “We all need new school clothes, Mr. Sanders, and we figure we ain’t gettin’ ’em otherwise.”

Camden glanced over at Jackson, his expression serious, then mumbled, “Ain’t getting much for ten dollars, even at Walmart.”

“All right, kids, to the car so we can get going,” Jackson ordered and watched as the three clambered down the stairs and to the patrol car. After they had gotten into the backseat, Jackson turned to Camden. “I figure this trip will cost me money, but they are good kids, and they do without more than they should.”

Camden nodded and turned to look toward the patrol car again. “Can you bring them again tomorrow?”

Jackson was surprised by the request but nodded. “Yeah, I can manage that.”

“Then let’s tell ’em they still have work to do.” Camden started across the lawn toward the car and Jackson followed behind. Camden opened the back door to the patrol vehicle and announced, “There’s still work to be done, and I need a reliable crew to do it. How do you three feel about staying with this job for another day?”

Galen and Tony cheered and Luanne nodded happily. Jackson was sure they would do just about anything for the chance to get away from their house, sad as that fact was.

“Okay, then,” Jackson said. “Why don’t we put off our trip to Walmart ’til tomorrow afternoon?”

The cheering subsided and the backseat got awfully quiet. Finally, Luanne spoke up. “Is it all right if we leave our pay here ’til tomorrow, sir?”

Shit.
Jackson hadn’t even thought of what would happen if the kids brought home thirty dollars cash. That money would surely not be in their possession by the next day if it even stayed there for ten minutes. It seemed Camden had gotten at least an inkling of the problem too from the frown on his face.

Jackson held out his hand. “Tell you what. I’ll lock up your money in the glove compartment of the police car. We can get it out tomorrow, okay?”

All three nodded in unison, and the money was quickly handed over for safekeeping.

When they backed out of the driveway, all three kids waved good-bye to Camden as he stood on his porch steps, and Jackson found himself raising a hand as well.