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Edward spotted Gabe. His mouth set in a mulish line. "He's too loud."
Rachel quickly turned him away. "Let's get dressed."
He let her take his hand without protest, but as she opened the screen door he muttered a word that she fervently hoped Gabe hadn't heard.
"Butthead."
By the time she and Edward were dressed, Gabe had disappeared, but as she entered the kitchen to help Edward with his breakfast, she caught sight of him on the front porch with a can of paint and a brush. She poured milk on Edward's cereal, then went out to him.
"You don't have to do that."
"Yes, I do." He'd covered the graffiti, but it still showed through. "It's going to take a second coat. I'll finish it up after work."
"I'll take care of it."
"No, you won't."
She knew she should insist, but she didn't have the stomach, and she suspected Gabe knew it. "Thanks."
Not long after, he poked his head in the house and told her to get in the truck. "We're going to see Odell Hatcher."
Twenty minutes later, they were seated in front of Salvation's chief of police. Rail-thin, with sparse, grizzled hair and a meat-hook nose, Hatcher regarded Rachel over the top of a pair of black plastic half glasses as he took down the information Gabe gave him.
"We'll look into it," he said when he was done. But she detected a glimmer of satisfaction in his eyes and guessed that he wouldn't extend himself more than he had to. Hatcher's wife had been a Temple member, something that had no doubt embarrassed him after the corruption was uncovered.
She decided it was time to go on the offensive. "Chief Hatcher, your department confiscated my car the day Dwayne ran off. There was a Bible inside, and I'd like to know what happened to it. It's a family piece, of no value to anyone, and I want to get it back."
"The car and everything in it went to cover Dwayne's debts."
"I realize that, but I still need to know where the Bible is now."
She could see that Hatcher didn't want to extend himself in even the smallest way; however, it was one thing to ignore the televangelist's widow, but quite another to do it with a member of Salvation's most prominent family watching.
"I'll check," he said with a grudging nod.
"Thank you."
Odell disappeared. Gabe got up and wandered over to the room's only window, which looked out onto a side street that boasted a dry cleaners and an auto-parts store.
He spoke from the window, his voice low and troubled. "You worry me, Rachel."
"Why?"
"You're reckless. You plunge into things without any thought to the consequences."
She wondered if he was talking about yesterday. So far, neither of them had alluded to what had happened.
"You're too impetuous, and it's dangerous. So far, no one has actually tried to harm you, but who knows how long that will last?"
"I won't be here long. Once I find the money, I'll leave Salvation so fast…"
"If you find the money."
"I will. And then I'm going as far from here as possible. Seattle, maybe. I'll buy a car that runs, and a pile of books and toys for Edward, and a little house that feels like a home. Then I'll—"
She stopped speaking as the police chief reentered the office and set an official-looking document in front of her. "Here's a list of everything we found in the car."
She gazed down at the neatly printed column of items: window scraper, registration papers, small chest, a lipstick. On it went, listing everything that had been in the car. She came to the end.
