A Shred of Evidence (35 page)

“Hello.”

“Pastor, you’re probably wondering why I’m calling so early. I—”

“Actually, I was expecting you.”

“You were?”

“Yes. The woman who came to us before left a note in our
mailbox, suggesting you weren’t telling the truth about the affair she’s accused you of.”

“What? Of all the nerve! I’ve told you the absolute truth!” Ellen paused and softened her voice. “Ms. Busybody also left a judgmental note in my mailbox and made reference to Proverbs 12:4. Of course, she didn’t sign it so I have no idea who I should reply to. It’s been very disconcerting, but has nothing to do with my reason for calling. I have a huge favor to ask and wondered if you could tell me how I might quickly enlist a core of volunteers.”

Ellen told Pastor Crawford about how she had met Julie and Sarah Beth Hamilton, and then quickly recounted all the events that had led to her change of heart toward Ross. She also told him about the flyers she had printed and how she and Ross and Julie had already distributed two thousand.

“Pastor, I feel impressed to help the Hamiltons any way I can. I don’t know for sure that the little girl Mr. Kaufman and I saw is Sarah Beth, but how can we afford not to act on it? The police can only do so much. I need the help of a few able-bodied citizens willing to help us finish distributing the flyers. I thought I would start here, with my church family.”

“I’m glad you did. I’ll get Dorothy to start calling. I’m sure we can round up some volunteers. Why don’t you come by the church in an hour?”

Ellen pulled her Thunderbird over to the curb and picked up Julie and Ross, then headed down Flamboyant Street, juggling her attention between the road ahead and the two faces visible in the rearview mirror.

“Okay, here’s what I’ve got going so far,” Ellen said. “My pastor is getting some volunteers to help us distribute the flyers, so we’ll need to go by the church around eight. In the meantime, let’s go to Wal-Mart and I’ll talk to the manager while you put flyers on cars in the parking lot.”

“Your pastor’s gonna help us?” Ross said. “I’m surprised anyone would want to help me after everything I’ve been accused of.”

“I did.”

“And we appreciate it,” Julie said. “But you’re the exception. It’s been a long time since people have been kind to us.”

Ellen spotted the Wal-Mart Super Store at the next intersection. “I can only imagine the nightmare you’ve been living. But I think you’d be surprised how sympathetic people might be if you were plugged in at church.

“Oh, please,” Ross said. “Like anyone ever gave us the chance. After the article came out, we started getting hate mail and anonymous phone calls and disgusting messages left on our answering machine.”

“From the people at church?”

“I don’t know who they were,” Ross said. “I stopped listening to the messages. What difference ’does it make? We couldn’t go back to that church anyway.”

There was a long, uncomfortable silence. Ellen wondered if she’d overstepped.

“Ross, in all fairness,” Julie said softly, “we hadn’t been to church in a year
before
that article came out. People tried reaching us for months. We never returned any of their calls. And after the article came out, even Pastor Helms called several times. But we never called back.”

“How could I face him,” Ross said, “after his mind had been poisoned by that reporter?”

“That was just a convenient excuse. Isn’t the real reason we stayed away from church because we blamed God for letting Nathaniel die?”

The silence that ensued told Ellen that this was probably the first time the Hamiltons had discussed this. And she wasn’t about to make ripples in the quiet by throwing in her two cents.

Gordy Jameson walked in the front door of the crab shack and went back to his office, a grocery bag in one hand, his keys in the other. He dumped the contents of the bag on his desk and put both packages of lemon drops in the top drawer. He picked up the paper that had fallen out and noticed Sarah Beth Hamilton’s picture on it. He read the flyer, thinking what a shame it was that someone could hurt a cute little kid like that.

He pushed the flyer to one side of his desk and went through a stack of orders Weezie had approved. He double-checked them, feeling confident that soon she would be able to do this without his input. He pictured Jenny, healthy and happy, standing in front of his desk, looking through the in-box that was once hers but now belonged to Weezie. The memory dissipated at the sound of the front door opening.

Gordy looked at his watch: 8:50. He got up and went into the dining room and saw Billy Lewis getting his bucket out of the supply closet.

“You’re late again, Billy.”

“I will work now.”

“Son, look at me,” Gordy said.

Billy slowly turned around, his face flushed, his eyes darting from side to side.

“What can I do to help you be on time? I don’t want to lose you, but I can’t let you do as you please.”

“I am sorry, Mister G. I was needed at home.”

Gordy shook his head. “You’re gonna have to give me more than that. Is there a problem?”

Billy passed his bucket from one hand to the other. “Lisa said we cannot talk about it.”

“Is it something you can talk over with your parents?”

Billy turned and started walking toward the door to the deck. “I will work now. I will do an ex-cel-lent job.”

Gordy put a firm hand on Billy’s shoulder and turned him toward the hallway “Let’s go in my office and talk man-to-man.”

Gordy prodded Billy into his office, then closed the door. “You can sit there in that chair, and I’ll sit in this one. Okay, we need to get somethin’ straight. I know I’m friends with your folks, but you work for me. I’m the boss. Now I can be understanding of just about anything reasonable, but bein’ late without a darned good excuse isn’t one of them.”

Billy stared at his hands. “I am sorry, Mister G. I was needed at home.”

“You’ve said that twice. Wanna tell me what it means?”

Billy shook his head.

“If you and Lisa are having a problem, why don’t you talk it over with your dad? I bet he’ll have some good advice.”

Billy rocked in the chair even though it didn’t move. “Lisa said we cannot talk about it.”

“The last thing I wanna do is fire you, son. I’m pleased with your work. But you’ve gotta do a better job of gettin’ here on time, you understand?”

Billy’s head bobbed, and then he suddenly seemed distracted by the flyer on Gordy’s desk.

“That’s Ross Hamilton’s daughter—the one who’s missing,” Gordy said. “Two people think they saw her yesterday at the park. The police are searching for her all over town. They may be close to finding her.”

“No! The po-lice cannot pro-tect chil-dren from Ross Hamilton! Eddie said Ross Hamilton is dan-ger-ous! He told me to stay away from Ross Hamilton!”

Eddie’s the one I wish you’d stay away from
. “I promise you, Billy, Ross Hamilton’s not gonna hurt you. I don’t want you worryin’ about this, okay? Why don’t you go on out back and get to work.”

“I will do an ex-cel-lent job.” Billy got up and left the office.

Gordy heard the back door slam and decided he should call Billy’s dad and give him a heads up about the sudden
change in Billy’s work ethic. And give Eddie Drummond another piece of his mind.

Ellen walked out of Wal-Mart, her hands empty and her heart satisfied. She moved her eyes across the parking lot and noticed flyers on every car windshield except her Thunderbird, where Ross and Julie sat in the backseat.

She walked over to the car and looked in the open back window. “Well, that was a huge success. The manager took a thousand and said they’ll put them around the store, in the restrooms, and also in customers’ bags. Couldn’t have asked for a better response than that. Why don’t we head over to my church now and see if Pastor Crawford was able to get someone to help us distribute the rest of them.”

Ellen exited the parking lot and headed toward the church, aware that Ross and Julie hadn’t spoken. She was tempted to break the silence with empty chatter and then thought better of it.
Lord, I’m trusting that whatever is going on with them is Your doing. Help me know when to talk and when to he still
.

Ellen drove about a mile, then turned into the circle drive at Crossroads Bible Church and pulled up to the front entrance where a small gathering of women sat on the steps. The ladies stood and came over to the car, and Ellen recognized a couple of them from her Sunday school class.

“Okay,” Dorothy Crawford said to Ellen, her eyes stealing a glance at Julie and Ross. “There are twelve of us, and we—”

“Thirteen,” Pastor Crawford said, approaching the window. “Tell us what you want us to do. We’ve all got cars.”

Ellen got out and leaned against the car door. “Okay, everyone, this is Ross and Julie Hamilton.” She motioned toward the backseat. “The three of us have already taken flyers to the managers of Wal-Mart, both Publixes, and Walgreen’s, and they’ve
agreed to put one in the bag with each customer’s receipt. There are seven thousand flyers still in my trunk. Let’s each take a box and go a different direction. Put flyers on car windshields, especially in shopping areas where people come and go regularly. Put them anywhere that will draw attention—light posts, telephone posts, front doors in neighborhoods. Surely ten thousand of these in a town this size will produce someone who knows where the Hamiltons’ daughter might be.”

“Okay, let’s do it,” Pastor Crawford said. He reached in the open window and shook hands with Ross and then Julie. “We’re praying for you.”

Ellen opened her trunk and handed Pastor Crawford a box, aware of others talking to Julie and Ross.

“Thank you for doing this,” Ellen said softly. “You can’t imagine what this will mean to them. They’ve felt abandoned by God for a long time.”

“I’m glad to help. Think I’ll head over to Old Seaport.”

Ellen handed a box to each of the others. She checked to see which direction each planned to go, then slammed the trunk lid, satisfied that most of the city would be covered with flyers.

“Why don’t we meet back here at noon?” Pastor Crawford said. “I’ll order lunch in for everyone. But I’d like us to pray before we go.”

Pastor Crawford went over to the car and opened the back door. “Won’t you please join us as we ask the Lord to help us find Sarah Beth?”

Ross and Julie looked surprised and a little tentative, but they got out of the car. Pastor Crawford stood between them and offered his hand to each. The others joined hands and formed a circle, and the pastor began to pray.

“Father, we’re desperate for your help. You who
are
love understand how Julie and Ross feel about Sarah Beth and how much they’ve suffered, not only by the torment of not knowing
what’s happened to her, but also by the cruelty and condemnation of others.

“Father, we ask for Your peace that passes understanding to settle on Ross and Julie and comfort them.

“And Father, we ask You to direct us. Help us do whatever we can to bring about Sarah Beth’s safe return. We ask these things in the name of Your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.”

Ellen opened one eye in time to see Ross’s lips form the word, “amen.”