Wings of Deception (8 page)

Dwight
still mourned
Kim
, but since
his
‘
dream
’
, he was
more
at peace
with her death
. He took extr
e
m
e delight in watching their baby go through all the baby stages
.
S
ometimes looking so much like her mother it hurt and sometimes looking so much like him it was funny. She had golden red hair and the bluest eyes that sometimes
had a hint of
green
in them
when she cried.

He was
also very
content
at Faith Chapel. A
wonderful
congregation
of a
hundred if not a few more, that w
ere
good people
. Unlike
some
churches he had
worked in
, this one believed what the Bible said and not what man said it said. Another thing he had grown to love was
that
the people had such a
real
love one for
another. When there was work to be done,
they were
ready to help
,
s
ometimes even waiting to get a turn to help
each other
.
The few probl
e
m
s they did have
,
they worked out with prayerful consideration. Not a perfect bunch but might
y
near and
Dwight
felt honored to be called
their
Pastor.
If he was not happy, he was at least content
with his life
.

The grandparents
all visited as often as they could to spend time with Gem
and him
. They were always a welcome interlude to his single parenting life. It was also a time when he could go hunting and fishing with some of his friends from the church. He loved the outdoors and Gem loved being spoiled by grandparents.

His
mourning
for Kim was quiet and soulful
and though his outward cheerful facade did not fool his relatives
,
they were reluctant to invade his private grief for fear theirs would become greater. So the months went by and he suffered in silence with no one to share his pain. He had learned that no matter what happened in the world, good or bad, life stopped for no one.

                                                                         FIVE

Jacks
settled in
to
his
new
surroundings as easily as he had ever done anything. The
realtor
did
a fantastic job in finding just what he envisioned.
A cabin built in the late sixties
,
overlooking
the Ross Barnett Reservoir
,
recently
listed
on the market
.
W
ith the five year lease advanc
e
m
ent
promised
by his new
e
m
ployer, he made a down payment. It needed
a lot of
work
,
mostly minor
stuff
but
the upside was that
he could almost fish from his back yard.
The swing was hanging from an old oak
tree
instead of the porch
,
but he thought he could live with that
,
too.

His position with the ACAA
turned out to be much more interesting than he had
originally
thought. The Abused Children
Advocates
of America reached far beyond Mississippi’s borders and he was working with some genius legal brains
from
every
where, including New York. He had not realized the extent of the
opportunity
given him until he became familiar with some of these people. To head a department such as
this
was probably a greater privilege tha
n
being a state senator would have been
, and much more satisfying.
 

He was
terribly upset and
disturbed when he found out that Sheila married Morgan Belk
. He
wonder
ed
how it could have happened
and
blam
ed
himself for taking her to the dinner that night. She was way out of her league and nothing good could possible come from
being married to him
.
She was a Christian married to a known atheist and some claimed he was
involved in Satanist activities
.
She would not return his phone calls
,
so he finally stopped trying
to reach her
.

When it came to work, Jacks kept it straight up. He fought hard and he fought tough and he got things done, earning him admiration from the rest of the staff. He was no push over
when it came to
the courts
.
T
his
area of law
was his expertise
, so the
legal
world in Mississippi began recognizing
his name.

When it came to his personal life, he
had m
ore
social
invitations than he could attend and
was working on filling up his new ‘little black book.’
He was no saint and
not interested in being
one
either
.

It was late
one
evening
,
just as
he was about to meet some of his
colleagues at a nearby
sports
bar
to watch a college basketball game
that he got a phone call from
Sheila
.

“
A
fter all this time of not returning my phone calls
,
what could you want
with
me now?”
His sarcasm was oozing.

“Jacks
this is a professional call and
I will get straight to the point.
”

“Professional
,
hell
!
Y
ou can’t answer a phone call from me and you want to be professional now? What the crap is wrong with you besides the fact you are
now
married to a moron
?”

Sheila’s voice remained cool and aloof. “
It happens that
Mick’s
firm has a
client with a problem
which
involves
a child in your area
.
An
abuse
case
and they would like you to investigate. It is right there close by where you are
.
A friend of o
ne of the child’s relatives contacted our office when they returned from a visit there. They are concerned for the child’s welfare
,
Jacks
,
and
it sounds serious.”

Jacks
was immediately concerned when child abuse
was
mentioned
. Still,
she was not sounding just right. For one thing she had never let him get away with swearing. His curiosity was pe
a
ked though and he said,
“
Okay
,
so
I am listening
, tell me more
.”

“
T
he parents of this young girl are using her for questionable purposes. They take her to see people and have her tell th
e
m
that she had some sort of vision or something and was sent to give th
e
m
a message. Our client witnessed this while there visiting mutual relatives and on top of that the child has a terminal illness!”

“Hmmm, sounds
out of the ordinary
. What are the parents gaining from this
,
m
oney?

“I have no idea Jacks. We are in New York and you are in Mississippi
,
so
i
nvestigate it and get the girl away from her parents.”

“I will look into it
.
G
ive me some names and what information you have.
”

He scribbled while she gave him details.

“And Jacks, they want you to personally handle this for th
e
m
.
It is mixed up in the religious sect so we do not need a sympathetic Christian handling the case.
”

“
We
,
s
ince when are you anti-Christian
?”

“
I am
not
aware of such things that are not relevant here
.
It is an awful situation. T
he client wants to make sure the little girl is protected.
”

“I see.”
But he didn’t for she was talking strange
,
as if trying to give him a double meaning to her words.
Knowing
she was representing Morgan’s attorney
made him
nauseous
.

“Why are they having you contact me about all this
?
W
hy not someone else?”

“
They know you will listen to me.”
She
lowered her voice
as if trying to keep someone from hearing.
“I can’t really talk Jacks about how things are here
,
but you must be careful!”

“Why can’t you tell me Sheila, how things are, really?
What is keeping you from it or maybe I should say who?
”

There was a pause on the other end
with a voice talking in the background
and
when she spoke
her
voice
again
became unfamiliar and cold.

“We will be contacting you for an update on this soon
,
for our client.”

“Sheila?”

“
As I said, w
e will be in touch for our client soon. Good-bye.”

“
Huh!
” Jacks hung up the phone.
Odd
,
but
then
so was having your kid go around delivering weird messages to people
saying they were from God
,
Himself
. He would be interested in this one but how even weirder that the call would come from
New York and from
the
same
men responsible
,
in a roundabout way
,
for him being in Mississippi.
He supposed it could be coincidental and shoving
the paper into a drawer
for the next day
,
he
left for the bar. He was already late and the game well under way.
He was puzzled by Sheila’s demeanor over the phone but
if she was going to talk in circles she could do it to someone else.

By the end of the next day, Jacks had completed a thorough investigation of the girl and her parents de
e
m
ing
it
a definite case of
passive
child abuse.
Alerted
officials cut
through red tape
and
soon had
all
paper work in order
. W
ithin forty-eight hours the child was in the court’s custody
to be
placed in a foster
home. The parents were charged with criminal intent to use a minor for
exploitation and
unjustifiable purposes.