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“— it's gotta be Melissa, Silas. It had to be her.”
“Mama?” Angel asks, a note of concern in her voice. He bounces her hand in his meaty paw.
“Don't worry about it, Angel,” he reassures her. “It's all right. Your mom is everybody's Mother Melissa now.”
“What does that mean?”
“She's the new leader of Kingdom Come. We gave it to her. It's hers now.”
“Oh, I bet she will love that!” Angel scoffs. We all chuckle at that, knowing just how true it is.
“What made you give it to her?” I ask, careful to not sound too judgmental. As I’m finally realizing, Owen typically has very good reasons for his decisions.
“Well, I left the bar and headed home, thinking I would just grab whatever I could to get out of there, and I realized pretty quickly that Dustin’s guys were going to be right on my tail. It's not like the compound location was some kind of secret or anything. And I knew if they got me, I wasn’t going to be getting out. But if I left the compound undefended… I think you know what Dustin would do with Kingdom Come.”
“Yeah, I see what you’re saying,” I concede, slightly embarrassed that I didn’t anticipate that scenario. All I could think about was Angel.
“So I took a little chance.”
“What kind a chance?” I ask him.
“I pulled off at the Gas ’N’ Sip and called Sheriff Dooley. Told him the compound was gonna be in trouble. That Dustin’s guys were headed over there. But that we were gone for good. I just wanted to make sure he got there first, to head them off.”
“That's pretty good thinking there,” I have to admit.
“Whoa, a compliment? From you? Wow.”
“Oh, give it a rest, Owen. Don’t you get enough affirmation in your life?”
“Hey, Angel, maybe you need to write this down. On this day, Silas acknowledged that I can do something useful with my life!” Owen crows.
Angel chuckles deep in her chest, slapping us each lightly on our legs. “Yeah, I guess you guys really are brothers after all, huh? You sure bicker like brothers.”
“So anyway,” Owen continues, “I had a feeling that Melissa had some kind of thing going with the Sheriff. I had seen her a couple of times sneaking around in the middle of the night, going to meet somebody. And once, I saw his lights come on his cruiser when he went to go to a call. Sort of put two and two together.”
“Mama? Was going out to meet somebody?” Angel wonders aloud. “That’s… amazing. I never even suspected.”
“Don't you ever sleep?” I ask.
“Wow, Silas, you really think you're the only one who cares about the Family, don't you?”
I shift uncomfortably. Maybe he’s got a point. Maybe I haven't always relied on him like I should, or given him the respect he deserves. He may have just saved everyone’s bacon tonight.
“Well, I hope he still has a few more brilliant ideas,” I say, shaking my head. “I only picked up about six hundred dollars at the bar, and that is not going to get us very far.”
“Yeah, you're probably right,” he sighs. He hauls himself off the mattress and walks back to the door in the darkness, stretching and yawning. He pulls off his shirt and folds it neatly on the dresser before picking up the satchel next to his boots.
“I got what I could out of your desk drawer —”
“— my what?”
“Oh, you know, the fake desk drawer bottom you don't think anybody knows about? Yeah. I found it. I got all the crap out of there.”
“Well that's good, I guess. Thank you?”
“Yeah, you should be thanking me,” he quips. “I left the deed for Melissa and took the money and other goodies, and then another envelope of papers —”
“Show me that envelope!”
