Web of Deceit (6 page)

“I insist.”

Elliot nudges
Beth’s arm.
“Isn’t that Sarah pulling onto this street?”

“Yeah,”
Beth
answers in awe.
“How does she do that?”

“I don’t know,”
Elliot says.
“But it never fails.”

“Thank you for the
kind offer, Mrs. Freedman, but it appears a friend has arrived,” Beth says,
shaking Mrs. Freedman’s hand while bidding her a good day.
Elliot can finish
dealing with her.

Sarah parks her
truck and jogs across the street to meet Beth. Her long blond ponytail bounces
as her radiant smile beams below her bright blue eyes framed with bangs.
She
is wearing an oversized blue sweatshirt and blue jeans. “Need a lift?” she asks
in a crisp New England accent.

Beth gives her a
curious grin.
“OK, ‘fess up.
You’ve got a GPS tracking device on
us somewhere.
Right?”

“Yeah, that’s it.
Like I’ve got the money for that.” Sarah laughs.

Beth considers her
friend.
She could have lots of money if she would take any of my advice. But
no, not Sarah, she’s got to give it all away.

“Hey kid!” Elliot
says as he approaches Sarah and gives her a hug.
Elliot nicknamed Sarah
“Kid” because she has a sweet innocence about her.
Usually, it is only
found in children.
“How’d you find us this time?”

“Normally, I stay
on Columbia, but today I felt an urge to turn right onto Dorchester,” she
explains.
“Out of the corner of my eye I saw a shiny red car, and I had
to check it out.”

“Wow, you must
have ESP or something,” Elliot says.

“No, it’s God’s
divine appointment.” Sarah’s smile widens.
“He keeps showing himself to
you through me.”

“Well, I don’t
know about that, kid, but you definitely seem to be there when we need you.”

“I hope you don’t
mind. I need to make a few stops before goin’ back to Boston,” Sarah says.

“Not at all,” Beth
and Elliot say in unison.

“Oh, one of you
will need to hold my new friend, Fleshling.” Sarah grins.

“Cute.” Beth picks
up the fuzzy brown puppy and sets him on her lap.

The three friends
are packed into the front seat of Sarah’s Ford F150 pickup.

“Why did you name
her Fleshling?” Beth asks, sandwiched between Sarah and Elliot, holding the
six-month-old, brown, fuzzy Cocker Spaniel.

“Well, without a
master this little dog would get into all kinds of trouble, right?”

“Actually, dogs
find trouble even with a master.”

“Exactly!” Sarah
says. “And that’s why I call her Fleshling.”

Beth, sensing a
“Sarah lecture,” nudges Elliot.
He is as curious as her this time so he
gives the nod:
OK, ask her:

“I know this is
probably another hidden sermon, but you’ve got our curiosity piqued on this
one.” Beth says while nuzzling the puppy.

“Why, Beth,
what
do you mean?” Sarah’s eyes twinkle as she glances at her captive audience.
“Say
you are at a party or a bar and you’ve had a little too much to drink.
Your
brain says, ‘That’s enough,’ but you have a smiling friend come over and they
hand you a couple more.
Your first thought is, ‘I can’t drink this. I’ll
be sick,’ but after you notice all the fun your friend is having, you forget
about it till the next morning
—
when you realize that you should’ve
listened to your brain.
It would’ve saved you from your severe headache
and more.”

Elliot sticks his
finger down his throat and feigns the gag reflex.
Beth rolls her eyes.

“Well, that’s your
flesh.
Its motto is, ‘If it feels good, keep doin’ it.’ ”

Beth throws Sarah
an uncertain scowl. “Hence the dog.”

“Exactly,” Sarah
says.
“And don’t scowl at me that way.
I know that you know what
I’m talkin’ about.”

Elliot and Beth
cheer, saying, “Sarah to the rescue!” in unison.

All three laugh.

“All right, kid,
you better finish up, because you are starting to lose my interest.”

Sarah hits the
lock button as she raises her eyebrows at Elliot. “You’re not goin’ anywheres.”

He pounds on the
truck window and mimes screaming.
Everyone laughs again.

“All right.
So
we’re all in agreement what flesh is?” Sarah asks.

“Yes!” Elliot and
Beth say in unison again.

“I named my dog
Fleshling because she needs my help, or she would find all kinds of trouble.
And it’s the same with me.
Before I let God into my life, my flesh
lead me into all kinds of trouble.
But now that I have God, he has
changed my wants and desires. Do I get tempted? Absolutely, but, as I am master
and friend to this little puppy, so is my God to me.” Sarah stretches her arms
wide to illustrate, “only a lot more.”

“Sarah!” Elliot
says as the truck drifts toward oncoming traffic.

“We get it.” Beth
says. “Keep your hands on the wheel.”

Beth and Elliot
help Sarah deliver supplies to the shelters on her route. On the way back to
Boston, Elliot receives a phone call from Howard, his car’s mechanic. Howard
tells Elliot that it will take three days to order the wheels and that the
dealership can hook him up with a loaner till then. Sarah gives Elliot a ride
to the dealership and takes Beth back to her office.

“Did you hear
about a kidnapping last Thursday?” Beth asks, staring out the pickup’s window
at the gray overcast moving in from the southwest.
More snow.

“No … someone was
taken? Where?”

“From the house
you picked us up at.”

“Odd, something as
serious as that usually hits the prayer chain by now. Are you sure?”

“According to Mrs.
Freedman, yes. She’s the grandmother.”

“Boy, that name
sounds familiar. What’s the girl’s name?”

“Vicky … her
mother is missing as well.”

“I’ll ask around and
see what I can come up with,” Sarah says. “By the way, thanks for the help
today. It was great having you and Elliot along.”

“No, thank you.
Something about Mrs. Freedman doesn’t rest well with me. I would’ve walked back
to Boston before getting into her car.” Beth considers Sarah for a moment. “It
felt great helping all those people today. No wonder you are always so happy.”

“Is that what you
think? I always have a smile? You know me better than anyone else.” Sarah
reaches for Beth’s hand, as if to comfort her. “After your parents died and you
came to live with us, you became my closest friend. Remember all the trouble we
used to get into?”

“Yeah.” Beth
smiles.

“Why did I change,
Beth? Would I have helped people like this before I changed? It’s OK—be honest—how
was I?”

“I don’t know. You
weren’t any different than the rest of us,” Beth answers. “No, I guess not. You
felt that people who didn’t have anything brought it on themselves. If they
wanted something, they should work for it. They didn’t deserve a handout.”
When
did she change?
“Yeah, I think I remember—you switched majors. You would’ve
made an excellent lawyer. I’m still amazed your parents supported you.”

“Do you really
think that change happened by itself?”

“I’ll be honest. I
thought you lost it,” Beth says with sincerity.

“Well, yeah,
you’re kinda right. I did lose it. That’s the crazy thing. I had to lose it to
gain everything.” Sarah studies Beth, disappointed with her friend’s apparent
lack of understanding. “OK, Beth.” She pauses to collect her thoughts. “God
talks to each of us in different ways … through the Bible, other people. For
me, it was a dream.”

Beth watches
Sarah’s countenance glow.

“I had this dream
and there was a mighty King who was giving everyone a job. He asked each
person, ‘What are your talents?’ One said, ‘carpenter,’ another ‘tent-maker.’
Others shouted, ‘tax collector,’ ‘doctor,’ or ‘lawyer.’ Then it was my turn. He
said to me, ‘What do you want to do?’ And I said proudly, ‘I want to help
people.’ ”

With tears in his
eyes, the King asked, ‘Will you help my people?’ Suddenly I was surrounded by
hundreds of people. They were poor, lonely, and sad. They had no one. They
needed someone. They needed … God. It dawned on me who the King was. I yearned
to see the King again, but he was gone. The world says ‘Give a man a fish and
he will eat for a day. Teach a man how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.’
Jesus says, ‘Feed my sheep.’ ”

Beth is motionless
for a moment. Inside, a confusing rush of emotions start to well up from the
pit of her stomach. Feeling out of control is never an option for Beth.
Instinctively, her mind dissects the dream at lightening speed. Within seconds
she begins to rationalize with Sarah. “You changed your life because of an
intense dream that you took far too seriously, causing yourself to make a rash
decision. And—you’re happy about it,” Beth says, not comprehending why,
watching Sarah gaze at her with a knowing satisfaction. Not a smugness, but as
if some sort of progress had been made.
Maybe she really did lose it.

Beth, walking into
her office, notices Symphony talking on the phone.
She’s actually quite
pretty behind all those layers of Goth gear.
Symphony’s long hair is coal
black with blue overtones. Her rounded face and dark brown eyes are accented by
her razored bangs and layers that frame her soft features.
She appears
normal enough. Elliot is overreacting
…

Symphony catches
Beth staring at her and takes the phone away from her ear. “I put your messages
on your desk.”

Caught off guard
mid-thought, Beth stumbles. “Oh, thanks.” She goes to her office.

Symphony returns
to her monotoned conversation.

Beth takes her
coat off and hangs it next to the door. In the back of the office is a
well-organized desk. Beth places the overstuffed purse in the middle of the
desk. On the right is a phone with sticky notes posted in random order.
Slightly annoyed, Beth rearranges them into a straight line in ascending order
by time. Beth reads them to herself exactly as Symphony wrote them.

8ish AM weird
guy wants to know hours and what we do/Told him # salt.

9ish AM guy/has
your home #/wanted your partners #/I said is same & hung up

10ish AM
Frank/will call cell

1ish PM Sam

1ish PM
Frank/no 1 showed/ try again @ 5 -you can come

Beth glances at
her watch.
It’s four thirty, better hurry.
In the bottom right desk
drawer she neatly places the contents of her purse
.
Then she closes and
locks the drawer, throws her purse around her shoulder, grabs her coat and
leaves.

“I have to go,
Symphony.” Beth grabs the keys for the company’s Jeep Grand Cherokee from
behind Symphony’s desk. “I’m going to be late, so you can leave early.”

Symphony gets up
and reaches for her coat on the back of her chair.

“Would you like a
ride?”

“Um, nah.”
Symphony points to a large, round pin printed in a bold, black font on her left
jacket lapel reading, “No Solution in Pollution.” “I’ll pass.”

“OK then, you have
a great weekend, and I’ll see you Monday.”

Symphony points to
the other pin, below the first, reading “Day by Day Man.”

“Great pin,” Beth
says.
Who do I know that needs a receptionist?

Beth pulls the
Jeep Grand Cherokee to the curb behind the police cruiser. Twilight has brought
the January chill to the air again. Beth pulls her coat tight around her as she
approaches Frank waiting in his patrol car with the steam from his fresh coffee
swirling out his open window.

“Get in.” Frank
motions Beth to the passenger side.

Beth gladly hops
in to escape the cold. “What’s going on?”

“People upstairs
ain’t back,” Frank replies. “Landlord won’t be here for another five minutes.”

“Where’s Chip?”

“He’s got a
special meet’n he goes to on Friday’s. He can’t miss ‘em.”

“Oh … that kind of
meeting,”

“Yeah. Ya know,
church. That must be him.” Frank points to a skinny middle-aged guy walking
toward the apartment building.

Beth and Frank get
out of the police car to introduce themselves.

“How are ya?”
Frank asks.

The slender man
wearing a derby cap considers them with uncertainty.

“I’m McDonough.”
Frank flips his badge for the landlord to inspect and continues, “and this is
Ms. Doyle. We’d like to ask you some questions ‘bout Kelly Thompkins in
Apartment Three.”

“Why?” the
landlord asks flatly.

“We think she has
been abducted,” Frank says.

“No … too bad.
Nice girl, that one.”

“Can we see her
apartment?” Beth asks.

“Yeah, I’ve got
the key. Name’s Berny.”

“Thanks for the
help, Berny,” Beth says genuinely.

“Let me know if
there’s anything else I can do to help you find her,” Berny says. “She always
paid her rent on time. She never complained … real quiet. Only person I’ve ever
saw visit her was her grandmother.” Berny continues to ramble aloud as he takes
the heavy ring from his belt and flips through the keys. “Here it is.” He
points toward the stairs to the upper apartments.

Beth and Frank
enter Kelly’s apartment. To their astonishment, the apartment is fully
furnished.

Frank scratches
his head. “Man, Beth, it was empty. This whole place was empty.”
Unless my
eyes are playin’ tricks.
“No, I know what I saw. This place was empty.”
Immediately he grabs his cell phone and dials Chip. After two minutes, he slaps
the phone shut. “He said he took my word for it and didn’t look, that he
assumed it was empty. I had him stakeout the apartment all day. He didn’t see
nobody.”

Beth scrutinizes
the apartment biting the inside of her lower lip. “Well, it’s full now. So,
let’s find something that stands out.”