Blackmail (13 page)

Caleb took the steps two at a time, stopping mere inches from Jon. “I think it's very appropriate. She's my sister, my only family. She's a good person, not somebody you toy around with.”

Jon noticed the moisture in Caleb's eyes, mixing with fierce determination as the young man continued. “I haven't been around many honest-to-goodness good people in my life, but she's one of them. I won't let you hurt her.”

“I didn't mean to.”

“Maybe not. But right now, she's resting. I think you should leave.”

“But I need to apologize to her. Explain.”

Caleb raised a single eyebrow. “Why don't you give her some time? I don't think she's up to seeing you just yet.”

Which meant she was still mad, understandably so. Jon considered the protectiveness in Caleb's eyes—almost reflective of the look in Sadie's eyes when she'd tossed the water in his face.

“Okay. I'll go. But I intend to call her later.”

Caleb shrugged and took a step backward. “Your funeral, dude.”

Jon got back into his car and drove toward his house, replaying his conversation with Caleb over in his mind. He was struck by two things: he'd hurt Sadie to the point where she'd cried—talk about really blowing it—and Caleb had changed faster than anyone Jon had ever seen in his career.

Which made him question if he'd become too cynical to do his job.

In the past week, he'd learned he was wrong about Sadie, and now about Caleb. He was batting zero in the judgment department.

“F
ather, Son and Spirit, Give me grace, that I, Still may live a Christian, And a Christian die.” The last organ note of the song held as if being lifted on seraphs' wings.

Sadie closed the hymn book, her heart full of God's glory. Beside her, Caleb stood still, quiet and respectful. He looked handsome in his khaki slacks and polo-style shirt. She'd been worried he'd fight about attending church with her, but he hadn't. Hope filled her that Caleb, with his questions and perception, would soon hear the call of Christ.

Pastor Bertrand lifted his arms. “Please, bow your heads.”

As one, the congregation bent their heads.

“Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your love and mercy, and for Your Son, Jesus Christ. Through His blood, all of us are washed clean. We pray You will walk with us as we leave from this place and go out into the world to shine Your light. In Jesus's precious name we pray, Amen.”

Sadie always felt filled with the Spirit of God after every service of Pastor's. Today was no different. She cut another glance at Caleb. Had he been moved?

They filed into the aisle toward the door.

The former voodoo priestesses Tanty Shaw and Marie LeBlanc, now new but very strong Christians, stopped to meet Caleb. “We're so glad you came today, Caleb. It's nice to have you here.”

Caleb lowered his head and responded in muffled tones. Sadie understood well how it felt to be addressed by older ladies. Most teens just felt uncomfortable. She put her hand under his elbow. “I want to speak to Pastor. It was lovely seeing you ladies.” She kept leading him down the aisle, weaving around other members of the congregation filing out from the pews.

When they reached Pastor, Sadie gripped his hand. “Wonderful message today.”

“
Merci.
Felicia's waiting outside for you.” He released her hand and took hold of her brother's. “And you must be Caleb. Nice to have you worshipping with us today.”

Caleb mumbled a reply, then stuck to Sadie's heels as she made her way down the stairs toward the parking lot.

Felicia Trahan-Bertrand stood chatting with her cousin Monique Harris and Monique's fiancé, Deputy Gary Anderson. Felicia smiled widely as Sadie and Caleb approached. “Good morning, Sadie. I wanted to ask you and your brother to our house for lunch. We always have a few members over. Say y'all will come, yes?”

Who could resist the woman with such grace and gentleness? Sadie glanced at Caleb, who'd taken a sudden interest in the cars parked in the lot. No help. She turned back to Felicia. “We'd love to,
merci.
What can I bring?”

“Nothing. I put on a big pot of gumbo this morning.”

Sadie's mouth watered at the mention. Aside from being a lovely person, Felicia was one of the best cooks in the parish.

“Y'all just head on over to our place. We'll see you there straightaway.” Felicia linked arms with Monique and moved toward her car.

Sadie touched Caleb's arm. “Come on.”

Once inside the car, she broke the silence. “If you don't want to go to Pastor's for lunch, I can call and give our regrets.”

“Nah, that's fine.”

“You don't mind?”

“For gumbo?” He laughed, breaking the awkward tension.

She joined in. “And Felicia's one mean cook.”

The drive was short, but peaceful. Caleb stared intently out the window. Sadie's thoughts went to Jon.

She needed to apologize to him for her behavior. It was inexcusable. She'd acted out of anger and hurt—emotions that shouldn't dictate her actions. As soon as she saw or spoke to him, she'd ask his forgiveness.

Something had occurred to her during Pastor's sermon this morning. She'd been more hurt by Jon because she'd begun to open her heart to him. That'd never happened before. Oh, she'd been involved with men before, many men, but she'd always known she wasn't the marry-and-live-happily-ever-after type of woman in their mind.

But Jon was different. With him, she wasn't constantly reminded of her shameful past, because he never treated her that way. He opened doors for her, bought her meals out, wasn't afraid to be seen in public with her. Maybe it was best that he wasn't local, so he didn't care as much what others thought.

“Can God forgive anything?” Caleb's voice jerked her from her woolgathering.

“Well, now, there is one sin that is considered the unpardonable sin.”

“So what's this unpardonable sin?”

“You know, Pastor can answer your question much better than I can.”

Her brother turned red. “Nah, that's okay. I don't want to know that badly.”

She parked the car and laid her hand on his wrist. “Caleb, never be embarrassed to ask questions about God and salvation. I'm just saying I'm still learning and growing in Christ, so I have a hard time explaining.” She patted his arm. “Pastor's a good man, but he has a not-so-flattering past. He knows how it feels to be treated like a second-class citizen. He'll answer your question and won't make you feel stupid, if that's what you're worried about.”

Relief marched across Caleb's face. She caught movement from her peripheral vision. “Look, Pastor's outside by himself. Would you like to ask him while there's no one around?”

Caleb ducked his head and looked at her through his lashes. “Will you ask him for me?”

“Sure. Come on.” She opened the door and stepped onto the driveway. “Hey, Pastor.”

He turned and approached. “Hello. So glad y'all could make it.”

Caleb stood silently beside her.
Lord, this could be what he's been searching for. Please surround him with peace and open his heart to Your word.
“Pastor, I was wondering if you could explain the unpardonable sin to my brother. I'm having a hard time on my own.”

Pastor Bertrand tilted his head and looked at Caleb. “Of course.”

Caleb's brows bunched. “What's that mean?”

“Basically, denying Jesus is God's son, profaning the Spirit of God is the unpardonable sin.”

“So everything else is forgiven?”

“If you've accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior and you confess, ask for forgiveness and repent in your heart, then yes.”

“Even if you broke the law?”

Pastor laughed and tossed his arm over Caleb's shoulder. “Son, come with me. I have a story to share with you.”

Caleb moved easily with Pastor Bertrand. Sadie felt like an intruder on a spiritual bonding moment.
Thank You, Father, for putting the questions on his heart at the right time, when Pastor was able to answer and share. I beg You to touch his spirit, Father.
With tears in her eyes, she climbed the steps and knocked on the front door of the house.

CoCo opened the door. Sadie took a step back. She knew CoCo was married to Felicia's brother Luc, but she hadn't expected CoCo to be here.

The woman didn't look stunned to see Sadie. CoCo stepped onto the porch and motioned Sadie toward the porch. She hesitantly joined the alligator conservationist on the swing.

CoCo rested her hands atop her protruding tummy. “I didn't intend to ambush you. I just wanted to talk with you.”

Sadie didn't trust herself to speak, but didn't want to come across as a mute
cooyon.
“About what?”

“Whatever you did to get Mr. Wynn to shut down those facilities in the bayou, well, it's very much appreciated.”

Sadie's heartbeat slowed back to normal. “Well, he's very interested in protecting th—”

“Oh, puhleeze.” CoCo laughed. “I know good and well Deacon Wynn is most interested in protecting his pocketbook. So I know the suggestion came from you and I just wanted to thank you.”

“You're welcome.”

CoCo looked out to the bayou. “I know you think I don't like you because of Luc.”

Sadie's heartbeat returned to racing speed.

“But that's not true.” CoCo stared into Sadie's eyes. “I used to be jealous of you because men were drawn to you, but I never disliked you.”

Swallowing hard, Sadie struggled to find her voice.

“What I'm trying to say is, can we be friends? I respect how you've changed your life and would really like to get to know you better. And I know how hard it is. I think some people will always remember me as a voodoo priestess.”

Sadie chuckled. “And I've hoped people would forget about my past.”

“Accept it…we might forever be known as the voodoo priestess and the harlot.” CoCo laughed louder and looped her arm through Sadie's. “But we'll face 'em all together. Look at how far we've come.” CoCo patted her belly. “Who would've ever thought I'd be the maternal type?”

They stood and walked to the front door. Pastor and Caleb approached, both wearing smiles. CoCo dropped her arm and stopped Sadie. “Oh, I did want to warn you about something.”

“What?”

“After I heard you'd gotten Wynn to shut down the wells in the bayou, I called the group and told them. Nearly everyone seemed satisfied.”

Pastor and Caleb reached the porch steps.

“Thanks. I appreciate your doing that.”

“Well, there's one man who isn't happy. A Derrick Roberts.” CoCo lowered her voice. “He's a hunter and he's a little unstable. We've locked horns before because he sometimes poaches gators out of season.”

Sadie's pulse thrummed. “What do you mean by unstable?”

“I think he could get violent if he doesn't get his way. I'm just warning you to watch out.” She smiled brightly at Caleb. “Hey,
Boo,
I don't think we've been introduced. I'm CoCo.”

Derrick Roberts could be violent and he was unhappy with her? Could he be unhappy enough to try to blackmail her?

 

Her driveway sat empty.

Jon parked on the curb in front of Sadie's house. He'd tried to call her last night, but there'd been no answer. Not even voice mail. Who in this day and age didn't have an answering system of some sort?

After a sleepless night, he knew he couldn't go another day without apologizing and trying to make things right between them. So here he sat, in front of her house, waiting for her to return. She was probably at church, he surmised.

Church. Religion. Salvation. They were all fairly foreign ideas to him.

Oh, up until his parents had died as a teen, he'd been raised to believe in God and His Son, Jesus. But then he'd gone to live with his aunt Torey, who'd told him God was nothing more than a glorified Santa Claus. After the way she'd treated him, he'd begun to believe her. What kind of God would take his parents and leave him in the care of his irresponsible aunt? But lately, he'd begun to understand that he should have continued in his parents' faith and ignored his aunt's nonsense.

Now he wondered why he'd ever given her the power over his faith.

He realized Sadie was genuine. Her faith was real, life-changing. Hadn't her faith been what prompted her to turn her life around and become the lady she was today?
That's
the kind of faith he wanted. The kind of faith his soul yearned for. So, at five-something this morning, he'd done something he hadn't done in years—pulled out his Bible and read. He ended in
Romans
12. Tears leaked from his eyes as he finished reading verse eight. Jon set the Bible on the table and fell on his face, praying to God and asking forgiveness for being so angry, and so weak.

Tires sung on pavement beside him, drawing him from his musings.

Sadie emerged from her car, staring back at him. Now or never.

God, please help me apologize right.
He slowly made his way up the driveway. “Sadie, please hear me out.”

“I'm so sorry for my behavior, Jon. Please forgive me.”

Whoa! Not at all what he expected. “No, I understand. Let me explain.”

She raised a single palm in the air. “No explanation necessary.”

Befuddled, he glanced at Caleb leaning against the trunk of the car. Not a shred of belligerence or ill-will lingered on the boy. He turned his attention back to Sadie.
Thank You, God.
“Then let's both forgive each other and move on, shall we?”

Sadie smiled and his world righted. “Agreed. Come on in. I have something interesting to share with you.” As she headed up the walkway, she told him about the potential suspect—a possibly violent and very unhappy Derrick Roberts. Jon made a mental note to check the name tomorrow.

The three of them were on the porch before he noticed Sadie and Caleb had both gone stiff and tense. He followed their stares. A white envelope lay on the mat in front of the door. An envelope with Sadie's name written in black, in bold letters.