Ever Present Danger (7 page)

“What is heaven, anyway?”

“It’s a faraway kingdom where God lives. And it’s the happiest place you could ever imagine—better than Casa Bonita or Six Flags or even Disney World. Only you never have to go home because heaven is your
forever
home.”

“Will I ever see you again?”

Lu looked up, her eyes colliding with Ivy’s, her hand stroking Montana’s hair. “Ask your mom to tell you about Jesus. He’s God’s Son, and He knows the way to heaven. You just need to follow Him.”

Ivy was surprised and a little annoyed that Lu had put her on the spot like that, knowing it would force Ivy to confront her spiritual roots that seemed to have long ago withered and died. How many years had it been since Ivy had even said the name of Jesus, much less felt loved by Him? And God’s stealing Lu away so tragically certainly didn’t make her want to trust Him again.

“When are you going?” Montana said, his voice sounding shaky.

Lu pressed her lips to his cheek. “Sometime soon I’ll close my eyes and go from here to heaven, just like that.”

“Will you disappear?”

“No, my body will be buried. But my spirit—the special part of me you can’t see with your eyes—will be alive in heaven with God. And someday He’ll bring my body back to life and change it into a much better one that won’t get old or feel sick or sad.”

“Like Wonder Woman!” Montana said.

“Oh, even better.” Lu tilted Montana’s chin and looked into his eyes. “I don’t know how many days I’ll be here, but there’s something I need you to remember always.”

“What?”

Lu placed her hand on his heart. “Even after I’m gone, a part of me will be in your heart. And you’ll remember things I’ve said and happy times we had. Those are yours. No one can take them away.”

Montana’s chin quivered. “I don’t want to
remember
. I want you to stay here.”

“I know you do, but I need you to be the bravest you’ve ever been. It’s a little sad and scary when someone you love is dying. But remember I’ll see you again. I’ll be waiting for you in the heavenly kingdom.”

Ivy dabbed her eyes and got up quietly and slipped out of the room, thinking this conversation should belong only to them.

“I don’t know what else we can do, Elam.” Carolyn Griffith stared at the flames in the fireplace. “It’s a horrible situation. But I’m grateful that Ivy brought Lu to us instead of trying to deal with this in Denver by herself. Can you even imagine what would have—”

“Settle down, Carolyn, I agree with you,” Elam said. “It’s just that everything this girl does involves a drama of some kind. When does it end?”

“I don’t know. Obviously not today.”

“Are they up there telling the boy right now?”

“I think so.” Carolyn sighed. “Maybe Montana would seem more like your grandson if you stopped calling him
the boy
.”

“I’m not about to get attached to him till I know Ivy isn’t going to take him away from us. I don’t trust her to do anything she says. She’s manipulating us, just like I said she would.”

“Well, don’t punish Montana for Ivy’s mistakes. He needs a male figure in his life, and right now you’re it.”

“What if I don’t want to be it?”

Carolyn heard footsteps on the stairs and seconds later saw Ivy
standing in the doorway. “Come in and sit by the fire, honey. Did you tell him?”

Ivy nodded but couldn’t seem to get any words out. She sat on the couch across from her parents, then wiped her eyes with a tissue and blew her nose. “Lu told him.”

Ivy recounted the conversation in short, emotional sentences.

“Then Lu’s a believer?” Carolyn said.

“Yes, but she never pushed the envelope till today. I can’t believe she put me on the spot like that in front of Montana.”

“Has the boy ever been to church?” Elam said.

Ivy shook her head. “I haven’t been since I left home.”

“Well, after Lu’s remark about Jesus, the boy’s bound to have questions. So I take it you lied yesterday morning when you said you were exhausted and couldn’t go to church with us?”

“Don’t be mad. I didn’t know how to tell you I don’t know what I believe right now.”

“Why don’t you try leveling with us?” Elam said. “You’ve got to stop the game playing if we’re ever going to put this family back together.”

“I’m sorry, Dad. I wasn’t sure you would understand that I need to get my head on straight before I try to be any kind of spiritual example.”

Elam rolled his eyes. “Trust me, I get it.”

THE BLENDED AROMAS of freshly brewed coffee and warm fruit muffins permeated Jewel’s Café at six o’clock on Tuesday morning as Ivy Griffith pinned her name tag to her uniform shirt and prepared to start her shift.

“Don’t be nervous, doll.” Jewel Sadler put her hands on Ivy’s shoulders and looked her in the eye. “And don’t expect not to make mistakes on your first day, okay?”

Ivy nodded, aware of the front door opening behind her.

“There’s your first customer,” Jewel said. “I’m sure you remember Sheriff Carter.”

Ivy turned and watched Flint Carter walk over and sit at the table closest to the moose head, thinking the age difference between them didn’t seem as huge as it once had. His sideburns were graying and his waist was thicker. But he looked good. And less intimidating.

She walked over and handed him the menu. “Good morning, Sheriff.”

“Good morning.”

“You don’t recognize me, do you?”

Flint studied her, a blank look on his face. “Can’t say that I do. Have we met?”

“It’s me, Ivy. Elam’s daughter.”

His face turned pinker than the grapefruit half pictured on the
menu. “Good grief, Ivy, I…uh…ten years is a long time. You’re all grown up.”

“Don’t feel bad. Nobody recognizes me.”

“Actually, I knew you were back because my son told me all about meeting Montana at the ice rink yesterday. I guess the boys are going to be in the same class at school.”

“It was so sweet of Ian to make Montana feel welcome. Moving here from Denver is a huge change.”

“I’ll bet. So, you ready to take my order?”

“Sure, what can I get you?”

“A ham-and-cheese omelet with rye toast, a side of hash browns, a small orange juice, and a black coffee.”

Ivy jotted as fast as her pencil would move, hoping the cook would be able to read her writing. “Anything else?”

“No, that’s it.”

“Okay, I’ll get your coffee right out to you.”

Ivy walked through the swinging doors to the kitchen and slid the first order of the day onto the peg. “Order!”

Jewel smiled and winked at her. “Atta girl.”

Ivy went back out to the dining area and waited on several more customers, aware that Sheriff Carter was on his cell phone. She eased her way over to a nearby table and pretended to be arranging condiments.

“Are you absolutely sure?” Flint said. “Because I can’t afford to raise false hopes…So you’re saying that the dental impressions on the Joe Doe are a perfect match to Joe Hadley’s dental records?…No chance you could be wrong?…Okay, then. That’s good enough for me. Let’s consider the case officially reopened.”

Ivy’s heart pounded so hard she was sure her name tag must be moving. What if investigators found Pete’s DNA at the site? Or Reg and Denny’s? What if the boys decided to tell police that she had gone along with concealing the truth about Joe’s disappearance?

Ivy held the back of a chair and let a wave of nausea pass. She couldn’t go to jail now—not when Lu was dying. Not before Montana was bonded to his grandparents.

“You doing okay, doll?”

Ivy looked up into Jewel’s face and forced a smile. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m starting to get the hang of it. I just need a few more customers.”

The door opened and two ancient-looking men came in and shuffled over to the first table by the window.

“Recognize those old coots?” Jewel said.

“Deke and Roscoe? I can’t believe they’re still alive. They were old when I was a kid.”

Jewel chuckled. “Shoot, they were old when
I
was kid. Roscoe’s nearly deaf as a door yet seems to know everything that goes on in this town. Just take their orders and tell them you’ll put it on their tabs. But you can tear up the tickets. I’m not about to collect anything. It’s just a game we play. Their tab’s been running for twenty years.”

Brandon Jones blew on his coffee and looked out the window of the Three Peaks dining hall and saw Elam Griffith getting into his Suburban.

“That was a bummer of an update,” Jake Compton said.

“Well, at least we know what we need to be praying about,” Brandon said. “I can’t imagine the pressure of adding a dying woman to the mix. It was already hard enough for them to deal with Ivy coming home—and a surprise grandson.”

“Elam and Carolyn are strong in their faith. We just need to pray they have wisdom.”

Brandon pinched off a piece of a glazed doughnut and popped it into his mouth. “Jake, have you and Suzanne met Ivy yet?”

“No, I thought we might drop by the Griffiths’ late this afternoon after Ivy gets home from work. What’d you and Kelsey think of her?”

“She was nice. Her son Montana is a kick in the pants.” Brandon smiled. “I had a blast playing in the snow with him and Sasha. I told Elam I’d get him on a snowmobile this week. This might be his last chance now that April’s got her foot in the door.”

“You’re really just a kid trapped in a thirty-one-year-old body,
you know that? You gonna work on the website today?”

“Yeah, till three. I told Buzz Easton I’d ride down to Durango with him.”

“I didn’t realize you were hanging out with Buzz.”

“He wanted to show me the ticket office and gift shop he’s building for his rafting operation. Is that a problem?”

Jake scratched his ear. “Just be careful, okay?”

“What does that mean?”

“Just don’t let him rub off on you.”

Brandon took a sip of coffee. “Could you be a little more specific, Jake?”

“I don’t like bad-mouthing people. Just don’t lose sight of the fact that your values and his are at odds.”

Brandon grinned. “What—you think I’m going to start swearing, telling locker-room jokes, and drinking tequila?”

“I hope not.”

“Don’t worry. I blow off two-thirds of what Buzz says and does. But I
really
want to get on the white water, and he’s the man. Besides, how is he going to get saved if he’s never exposed to the Word?”

“So you’re sharing your faith?”

“I will one of these days. But first I think it’s important to build a relationship. He’s not going to listen to me unless he knows I care about him. You know that.”

Jake held up his palms. “Hey, you’re a big boy. Just be sure you’re praying about it and not jumping in blindly, thinking you can handle whatever Buzz throws your way.”

“Why do I get the feeling this is personal?”

Jake pushed his glasses to the bridge of his nose. “It’s really not. Forget I said anything.”

Ivy walked in the front door of her parents’ home and found her son sitting in a chair, staring out the window, his arms folded across his chest.

“Hi, sweetie.” Ivy went over and sat on the arm of the chair
and kissed the top of his head. “What’d you do today?”

“Nothing,” Montana Griffith said.

“Didn’t you go sledding?”

“No.”

Ivy put her arm around him. “Are you mad at me for going to work and leaving you here?”

“No.”

“Where’s your grandmother?”

Montana shrugged.

Carolyn Griffith came out of the kitchen and shot Ivy a knowing look. “Well, as you can tell, it’s been a
quiet
day around here. How was your first day at Jewel’s?”

“Good. Montana, would you believe my very first customer was Sheriff Carter? That’s Ian’s father.”

“Duh.”

Ivy had never seen her son act this way and decided to ignore his behavior. “We had a busy couple hours right off the bat, and then again from eleven to one. I think I did really well. I was surprised how many people I knew. Of course, none of them recognized me till I told them who I was—except for Deke and Roscoe. I can’t believe they’re still around.”

Carolyn smiled. “Roscoe supposedly can’t hear worth a hoot, but he somehow manages to hear everything in the gossip mill. So it was somewhat enjoyable as first days go?”

Ivy nodded. “Yeah, not bad.”
Thanks
, Ivy mouthed to her mother, gesturing toward Montana. “So why’s everybody so quiet?”

“I think we’re having a mental health day,” Carolyn said.

“Did Lu come downstairs?”

“Actually she did for both breakfast and lunch. I was going to have Montana bring her a tray, but she insisted on coming down. She watched a little TV before lunch and then crashed afterwards. I checked in on her a few minutes ago, and she’s out.”

Ivy combed her hands through Montana’s hair. “Did you spend some time with Gramma Lu?”

“Everybody acts like she’s not even gonna die!” He jumped up
and stomped up the staircase. A few seconds later a door slammed.

Ivy winced, then turned to her mother. “Has he been like this all day?”

“Pretty much. Nothing I say seems to help. I think he just needs to feel the grief. And we need to help him through it.”

“I’m really sorry, Mom. I had no idea he would be a problem for you. I’ve never seen him behave this way.”

“Well, he’s never had to face losing someone he loves before.”

Ivy waited fifteen minutes and then went upstairs to Montana’s room and knocked on the door. “Sweetie, it’s Mom. I’m coming in.”

Ivy slowly opened the door, surprised to see Lu sitting in the rocking chair, holding Montana in her lap.

“We’re having a little quiet time.” Lu’s eyes looked tired and sallow. “How was your first day?”