Baptist DISTINCTIVE: An Adam Mykonos Mystery (The Adam Myknonos Mystries) (26 page)

The summer crowds at the battlefield were sparser
then I would have thought. I guess the tourist glitch of Gettysburg with its
antique shops and ghost tours attract more people than the stark reality of the
bloodiest day in American History.
 
The
die heart Civil War folks would come by and see the sacrifice made on these
fields but Joe Average did not seem to care.

I stopped the car and got out; as I marched
down the battlefield lane I saw them before they could see me.

They were sitting on a marble bench near
one of the Irish Brigade monuments along the Bloody Lane. For the entire world
at a first glance they looked like a Father and Daughter engaged in deep conversation.
His hand was draped over her stooping shoulders. She looked even from a
distance ready for tears. He looked as if he were conforming her. A familial scene
played out on a hot summer afternoon. Sad in a way but peaceful. Unless you
noticed the gun in his hand as it rested near her thigh.

I came as close as I dared. I reached habitually
to the small of my back; the piece I carried for so many years was of course
not there.

“Hallman.” I yelled.

He raised his head, and then leapt up
keeping a grip on Miriam’s arm. She was a placid Raggedy Ann Doll, defeated by
whatever she knew.

“Mykonos this is no concern of yours.”

I shook my head. “Really? You’re going to
go with that trite line? I’ve been investigating this thing since the night it
happened. Of course it’s my concern.”

I stopped and moved my eyes to Miriam and
said, “Hi sweetheart do you remember me? It’s Mr. Adam.”

“Don’t speak to her.” Snapped Hallman.

“Miriam it’s all going to be okay, honey,
your Uncle Luke and the Police are on their way.”

Hallman cursed then added. “Now why did you
have to do that? How stupid are you?”

I almost laughed at him.
 
“I’m stupid. You killed Joshua Lexington and Mackenzie
Daniels and I’m stupid.”

“I did not kill Mac!” He screamed almost
before I was finished. “Lexington did.”

“Oh for God’s sake Hallman, The fact that
she choose Josh over you does not mean he killed her.”

I kept looking for an opening to leap at him;
he never loosened his grip on the girl.

“He killed her. I came into the house. I
arrived early for my meeting and went to see Mac.”

“I know.”

“How?”

“You ate breakfast every day at Lighthouse.
Eight days in a row, including Tuesday morning, meaning you were here Monday
night. You would have slid under the radar if you weren’t such a jerk to my
daughter.”

“Clever.” He said. “I came in early to see Mac
to try to talk some sense into her. When I pulled up in the driveway I heard a
shot I raced in, she was on the floor, dying Lexington was heading towards the
kitchen running away. The gun was near the front door.”

Three shooters I thought.

I waited he blinked back tears. “She was so
beautiful a blessing from the Lord, amazing kind sweet considerate.”

He was getting off track. I snapped him
back on “Yes Mac was a real girl scout till she stole another woman’s husband.”

For the first time he swung the gun towards me. Good.

“That monster seduced her. And then he killed
her. She was dead when I got there. Shot. He was running so I grabbed the gun
and shot him.”

“Then like the coward you are you ran
away.”

“Why should I have to give up my freedom
for the life of a killer like Lexington?”

“Josh did not kill Mac.” I said flatly.

Miriam grew wide eyed.

“Shut Up you fool. I saw him running out of
the room. The coward killed her and then ran.”

“No, Josh was chasing the shooter.”

“No, if he loved her he would not leave her
lying there in her own blood.”

“He would if the shooter was someone he
loved.” I said.

Hallman looked puzzled but Miriam’s eyes
were clear for the first time in a while.

“She yelled at me” The little girl said
softly. “I didn’t …I couldn’t do anything right. It wasn’t a house it was a
museum. I ….she yelled at me. Sent me upstairs to ‘think about things’ like she
was my mother.”

Hallman loosened his grip on her, but not
enough.

“But she wasn’t my mother.” Miriam stated
softly. “I knew she had a gun in her bedroom. Daddy had shown it to me weeks
ago. I just meant to scare her, so she would know.
 
But…it went off as I …..”

She tapered off and went silent.

For a second the only noise was the ghosts
of the battlefield. Then the child screamed. It was a scream torn in agony, a
scream of a loss and despair the scream of a child breaking maybe never to be
repaired again. She screamed louder and louder.

“Shut up.” Yelled Hallman. “Stop.

He snapped his arm back and slapped her
across the face. As he did his grip loosened. I bolted grabbed the still
screaming Miriam around the waist and tucked and rolled. Every piece of my body
felt fifty as I came out of the roll with the girl on the ground behind me and
me facing the barrel of Hallman’s gun which was now only inches from my face. Behind
me I could tell that Miriam’s face was still contorted in a scream but now
there was no loud noise only her sobbing and saying “I’m sorry” over and over
again.

“You killed Joshua for nothing Hallman.” I
said. “Give up.”

“No” He looked insane, his eyes wild with
fear.
 
“He was still responsible he corrupted
her. He did this.”

“Mac was killed by accident by a poor
troubled little girl.
 
You killed Josh.”

“Yes” he said loudly “I killed em. But….I
can’t go to jail.” He waved the gun at me.

“Only you and the girl know.”

“And so you’ll shoot us both?”

In the slow motion in my mind I saw him
begin to squeeze the trigger. As I dove to cover the girl I heard the pop and
then a second round louder closer. The bullet from his gun whizzed past my
cheek as I fell on the child. I felt the burn welt rise from my skin the bullet
had passed that close. I waited for the next retort.

There was none. I rolled over. Beauregard
Jefferson Longstreet still resplendent in his white suit stood ten yards away.
An ancient Colt 45 in his hand. I turned back and saw Hallman on the ground,
the small bullet hole between his lifeless eyes and the blood painting the
ground behind his head.

I got to one knee and then almost fell
back. Longstreet reached out a hand. I took it.

“How did you find us?” I asked.

“Prayed.” He said simply. I had to give it
to him

“Did you call the police?”

He took his cell phone out of his pocket.
“I’m about to.” He paused. “What are we going to tell them?”

I looked at the child. “What did you hear?”

“All of it.” He said.

I nodded. As he dialed I went over to
Miriam.

“Miriam, honey?”

There was no response.

“The police are on their way.” Longstreet
said. He looked at Miriam and knelled down next to her.

“Miriam its Uncle Bo.”

She looked at him vacant. He took her in
his arms and she wept.

We were like that for a long moment. Two
men knelling on the ground while a young girl cried.

The sirens in the back ground broke the
spell.

“I heard Hallman say he ‘killed em’. He was
about to shoot the two of you when I fired at him” said Longstreet as a
statement.

I looked at the girl. “She needs help.”

“That she will not get from the State of
Maryland. We handle our own Brother Adam. Whatever else we disagree about we
are a separated people.”

“That make their own laws?”

“That answer to higher laws.”

The first police car swung onto the lane by
the bench.

I was weary and tired. “Okay.” I said.

Epilogue

Hours of questioning spread into days and
finally the sheriff’s office was satisfied, the county prosecutor released Ivy
and I rested and dealt with the decision I had made.

Friday afternoon found me back in Longstreet’s
office.
 
I had brought him a Starbucks.
We sat drinking coffee silently for a moment.

“You manipulated me.” I said.

He cocked his head. “How so?”

“You knew that Miriam knew something. You
kept that knowledge from me in order to send me down paths that lead to Sinclair
and the Prihor’s.”

“You came here asking questions about
them.”

“You bought Jim to the reading of the will.
Knowing that would set things in motion.”

He laughed. “You give me too much credit.”

“Or not enough.”

He seemed to think for a moment.

“This area is changing. The world is
changing. We are living in the end times. You know that.” He said.

I nodded.

“Joshua and Luke believe that there is
still a time to win souls, to lead others to salvation. I am no longer sure
that there is any one worth saving.”

“Sad statement.”

“Be that as it may it is how I feel. A
child like Miriam suffers because her parents are immature.”

“Is that what we are saying?”

“In a nut shell. Then my Nancy suffers because
her husband is a fool. Or poor Dennis Prihor dies because his wife is a witch.”

“You knew about her and Tim? “ I asked

“Yes. A pastor learns things”

I laughed “I have heard that.
 
So you used me.”

He held up a hand. “I was saying the world
is changing. This city is changing for the worse. My son-in-law is not the only
foolish racist.
 
Your daughter’s
boyfriend is not the only drug dealer. Tim not the only corrupt business man.
The Prihor’s have brought a level of organized crime to this town that I can
barely understand.”

He took a long pull on the coffee. “I built
this place. Joshua expanded it and I am grateful. But he wanted too much to be
a part of the changing world, to reach others. I believe we should go on
defense so to speak.”

“So you ran him out of this church.”

“No. “He said haltingly. “His inability to
handle his own family. His attraction, no matter how platonic, to Mac and his
refusal to see that the people were turning against him ran him out of this
church. I simply exploited the event.”

“And then exploited me.”

“You my friend are a hammer. Like Judah Maccabee,
so yes I used you. So did your lawyer friend and so has Joshua.”

“By placing me in the middle of the radio
station mess.”

“And his own death.”

“I could have side stepped that.”

“No. see this is what it boils down to my
friend. Josh and Luke think they can save the world one person at a time. Ryder
thinks he can save it en mass though his media. I think we need to protect our
own, and you, you serve the cause of all three. A sharp blade. “

“Iscariot.” I said.

“Excuse me” He asked offended.

“Iscariot is considered to be a transformation
of the Latin sicarius, or dagger-man".

He stroked his chin for a moment than said.
“Yes.”

I stood up.

“Pastor, are you sure we did the right
thing?”

“Yes.”

“I’m not. Which is what makes us different.
“

“How so?”

“I am still human enough to doubt my own
infallibility”

I walked out.

Rita was waiting by the car in the lot
outside.

“You okay 5-0?”

“Not sure.”

We sat on the hood of the car holding
hands.

“Will he make sure she gets help?”

“Yes.” I said. “He will.”

“The truth will come out then.”

“Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in
darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear
in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.”

She smiled “Luke 12:3”

“Yes. I expect it will come out but by then
Miriam will be strong enough to handle it.”

Rita nodded. “And now?”

“And now we go home.”

“Until next time.”

I looked off at the sun and prayer there
would not be a next time. But I knew

“Yes till next time.”