Wings of Deception (10 page)

Back at the ACAA Jacks screamed at his assistant.
“What do you mean she said to
call tomorrow
?
W
ho the hell has a day off in the middle of the week
when a child is involved
?
”

Jacks was
not just a little irritated at the
Magill
woman
;
he was furious.

“Call her back...
naw
, give me that phone, I will call her myself. Of all the
rude
unprofessional
nerve
…
”

He dialed the number
but
there was no answer. After three tries he quit.

“Are you sure you got the right woman?”

“I am
sure;
she told me who she was. She just said no business on her day off
.
T
hat’s all.”

“
So we
call her tomorrow
and
won’t
worry about it
now
.
Maybe t
hen
she will feel like helping a kid
.
I am going to run down to the
diner
and get a sandwich
.
T
hen l
et’s
work
on that case where the mother’s boyfriend burned
her
baby
with
cigarette
s.
I want him real bad!
Do you have the papers ready
for me
on that one?”

“Yes sir.”

When he returned the girl forgot to mention that
Honey
had called back.
After working another hour
,
he was
still
thinking
of the little girl
,
Carol
,
who had to be hospitalized after they forced her from her mother’s arms. She
had
become hysterical
and then
just
passed out. Not being sure of her medical history, they were taking all precautions. Magill was
the only child therapist at
the mental health
facility
in the town
in which
Carol
lived.
He
had
hoped
to
have her go
with him to
see
Carol
at the hospital
since s
he
was supposedly an expert with children.

He was thinking the woman
was
probably a s
notty, stuck up, old stick in the mud type
and
h
e took a perverse pleasure in picturing a wrinkled up old prune face
who would be
shocked at what he
could
say to her!

“
W
hat did you say?
”

He realized Tina had spoken to him.

“I asked if you wanted me to have Sandra file this at the court house first thing in the morning.”

She always looked at him with th
ese
funny little look
s
which w
ere
very annoying and he found himself thinking
I do not like this woman very much.
Realizing that it was probably his rotten mood that was at fault he said a bit nicer,
“
Guess I
am just
preoccupied
...
.
why don’t we call it a day
? I a
m ready to get the hell out of here
and I
am
sure you are too
.
”

She was.
They wrapped it up and left the office to others who were working late.

Jacks
stopped
on the way home
and picked up some steaks for the grill thinking he would invite someone over for dinner. He
would
enjoy
some
company
and
there was
this
Billy Ann
he
met
the
week
before
who indicated an interest in seeing him on a more personal level. Maybe he would call her.

By the time he got home
,
he had called
her and two
other
women he knew and none
could make it to dinner.
Well,
he chided himself,
it was a last minute thing
, what did you expect?
He was not
discouraged and
was determined to
grill anyway. He had
bought
one of those
homemade
barrel-looking grills
from one of the guys at work, whose uncle made them
and had yet to try it out.
He said to
himself
,
“
Who said
you
need company to enjoy a good steak?
”
 
Then h
e
laughed and
answered himself
,
“
You did, you fool
!”
It was true, he always said to enjoy a good meal a person had to share it with someone or it just was no
t
good.

He made a salad and
toasted
some garlic bread wh
i
le his steak marinated
and
he thought about
Sheila’s
phone
call
the day before
. Something still bugged him about
it
but he could not figure out
what
. She
was not the Sheila he remembered from the office
.
Was she trying to
warn
him
of
something?
It seemed so, but
what?
He was certain she was being monitored
on the call,
but why
?
And why did they want him personally to handle the case?
He was not the only non-religious person who could
have
handle
d
the
Bowler
case.

He
cleared
his mind
of Sheila and work related things
, put some jazz on and went
out
to grill his steak.
It was a beautiful evening and he was going to enjoy it even if it was by himself
. A strange
feeling of
revelation
came
over him as he
suddenly
realized he was
feeling
lonely.
He
brought
his dinner out to the deck and went back in for a beer.
He popped the tab
off
,
taking a long drink
.
F
or the first time in his life
,
he
wondered what
his life
would
be
like if
he had
married and had
a family
like
most
of his friends and peers.

As he prepared
for bed
later that night
,
he
had
the weirdest feeling he was not alone.
Could he have seen into the spiritual realm, he would have
witnessed
a war being waged and the prize
?
H
is
immortal
soul.

                                                                  
 
SIX

Brenna
had
cried until there just were no more tears and Joe wore a
bewildered
woe-be-gone look that made
Honey
’s heart ache.
Honey
made th
e
m
all hot tea and they were sitting around
an
old fashion
ed
kitchen table trying to
make sense of what had happened that day
. Andrew
had
brought them home and
stayed for a
short
while but then had to leave.
He
aimed to
get their case heard the next day because of Carol’s illness.
T
he judge
had
said if at all possible she would
hear their case.

Before he left,
Andrew pointed out that they needed to be at their best
the next day
and advised them to get some sleep
.
Dwight
and Honey stayed until
Joe and Brenna
had
plenty of Chamomile tea down th
e
m
before saying
goodnight
.

Joe and Brenna
knelt at the
ir
bedside and
prayed
for God to keep their baby safe.
They both cried until sleep gently took over and gave them a reprieve from their grief.

For
Dwight
,
i
t had been a long day and
night.
He
let himself in
his house
silently
after dropping
Honey
off,
trying not to disturb Mildred or the baby.
It had been a trying day with the Bowlers but he
couldn’t help but feel
a burden had been lifted from him
and knew it was because for the first time since
Kim
died, he
was
able to talk about her to someone.
Since her death he had to be strong not only for his daughter but because everyone expected him to be. As a pastor
,
it was his job to do the listening and his feelings had been shut up for months until today. He
had
just blurted it all out to
Honey
.
She
was a good listener
and he could understand why she was considered a
good
therapist
.
He went to sleep with prayer on his lips interceding for the Bowlers.

Honey
crawled into
her
bed thinking about what she
c
ould say to the
people
at the ACAA the next day to
undo any damage she may have done earlier
. If she had taken
the
call, they would know what this was all about.
She had mentally kicked herself a dozen times for putting them off. Hopefully she would have another go at it tomorrow, if it was indeed about Carol.

She fell into a dreamless sleep minutes after
she
lay
her head
on
the
pillow.

But sleep eluded
Jacks
who
was
restless
.
His mind kept
reflecting on his move to Mississippi and his life
in general
.
He was glad he made the move
but
now
he
just felt
like something was
out of sync
.
He kept thinking about the lonesome feeling that had washed over him.
It was a
new
feeling
for him, as
he was self sufficient and needed nothing or no one.
Something he learned from a very early age was that you could count on no one but yourself. He had been disappointed too many times.
When he did sleep, it was a disturbing dream filled sleep that left him tired
and aching
when he woke.