Chapter Forty-Five

Sunday morning

  

Blu reread the front-page headline on the Sunday edition of the Palmetto Pulse one last time and dropped it, facing up on the coffee table in his living room. It read: Mayor Sails Last Cruise and it was coauthored by Harmony Childs, Darcy Pelton, and Tess Ray. Of course, Patricia published it as a sendoff for her empire.

Crome asked Blu if it was okay to take some time off and get Maureen out of town for a while. At first, Blu didn’t know what to make of Crome’s request. When the biker went on his three-year sabbatical, the only thing Blu got was a phone call from Key West with Crome saying he’d be gone for a while after he’d already been gone for a month.

As for Maureen, well, she’d need time to heal. She was a strong woman. She’d have to be to put up with Crome for any length of time, but the man Fields had tried his best to do a number on her. Only time would tell how she’d pull through.

Harmony’s resilience came from the fact that she had overcome her assailant. Blu’s take was she’d proven to herself that she could handle what life threw at her. God help her next man.

One of the few good things to come out of this tragedy was the article’s exposure of their peeper source. While they didn’t divulge their source directly, there were enough pictures of his house and camera system taken from the beach that left little doubt.

Blu dressed in his best button-down shirt and linen slacks and walked out to his truck. The horses, Dink and Doofus in particular, seemed to sense his trepidation and steered clear, eyeballing him from the water trough.

Hope, who had taken the job of office manager at Blu Carraway Investigations a little too seriously and had practically moved in to get the place organized, said, “Good luck, Dad.”

He kissed the top of her head, gave the horses a wave, and drove away, steering his way toward North Charleston.

As he drove, he contemplated how many different ways this could go and settled on two. Both were scary, but for different reasons.

Because he hadn’t given himself quite enough time to get to the Church of Redemption, Blu pulled into the rough asphalt parking lot five minutes after the service had started. He found a spot in the very back and locked his truck.

His phone vibrated in his pocket. It was Tess. Not the distraction he needed right now.

He let her call go to voicemail and walked to the recently renovated church. Brother Thomas had relocated with his flock as the tourist section of King Street continued past Calhoun Street. The Ravenel Bridge had been both a blessing and a curse depending on which part of the income chart people found themselves. While businesses had moved in, a lot of the people residing in the area had to move out. The tax value of their homes had increased and their landlords had decided to cash in.

The double doors on the white, clapboard-sided building opened easy enough given their heavy, all wood construction. Someone must be greasing the hinges. The church, air conditioned thank God, was packed. Everyone, mostly African Americans, stood facing the front. Brother Thomas, the church leader, was in his element while standing in front of them. Six-foot-three and three-hundred-and-fifty pounds, the man was a force to be reckoned with. Wearing his trademark black suit and minister’s collar, he spoke about Jesus while a choir serenaded the congregation with background vocals.

It took Blu a few seconds to spot Billie in the choir. Even if he hadn’t been able to pick her out, it wouldn’t have mattered. After Brother Thomas finished speaking, she moved away from the rest of the choir. The preacher handed her his microphone and she began to sing a song Blu remembered her humming in the shower when they’d still been together, “All In” by the Chapel Band.

As the tempo built, the congregation began to dance around the church.

Blu wondered what he was doing here. Billie was with her family. He wasn’t sure he could give her what she wanted and needed. They’d been working up to being together for twenty years and now everything he’d hoped would happen was falling apart in his mind.

The woman he loved had found God and Blu wasn’t sure she’d accept him as he was. His relationship with God was sketchy at best. He believed, for sure. Over the course of the last year, Billie had gotten closer to her connection with Jesus and farther from Blu. He didn’t resent it. She was a stronger person now than she’d ever been.

In the midst of everything going on around him, Blu realized he didn’t belong here. These people were freely worshiping and he was intruding. He got up from his seat, ready to leave.

Brother Thomas blocked his exit and held out a hand. His black minister’s suit and white collar took up what space there was in his seat row.

It was too loud to have a conversation so Blu nodded and took the offered hand. The preacher motioned for him to step outside, exactly where Blu was headed. In the lowcountry sunlight, Brother Thomas said, “Good to see you, Brother Blu.”

Not sure what to say, Blu said, “You, too.”

“Billie sure sing like a bird, don’t she?”

The one thing about Brother Thomas that Blu had learned was not to underestimate the man. His simple words had tricked better people than Blu into thinking they were dealing with some yokel.

“She sure does,” Blu said. “I missed hearing her voice.”

“She miss you, too.” He gave Blu a sympathetic smile, which normally would seem odd on the three-hundred-and-fifty pound man who matched Blu’s six-three height, and put a hand on his shoulder. “She tol’ me she wanted to see you again and here you is.”

Blu looked away, unsure what to do. “I wondered if I’d see her again, too.”

“You’re a good man, Blu Carraway. Don’t let the enemy tell you different. Billie ain’t no naïve teenage girl with a crush. She a grown woman with a good head on her shoulders.” He paused, then said, “And she love you, son.”

With that, Blu met the Preacher’s gaze.

Brother Thomas said, “Don’t take my word for it. Come back inside and talk to her after the service. She’ll tell you herself.”

“I, um,” Blu began, measured his words, and said, “I was about to leave.”

“I know. Still can, if that’s what you want.”

Blu thought about Maureen and Harmony and what happened to his daughter two years ago. He thought about how his partner reacted when he found out Maureen was in trouble. There was no doubt in his mind he would have gone off the rails just like Crome did if a woman he cared deeply about was taken. He didn’t want that for Billie or Crome or any of his friends.

He extended a hand to the preacher. “I’d appreciate if you didn’t tell her I was here, Brother.”

The preacher shook his hand. “You are always welcome in God’s house. Ain’t no such thing as a bad time to be in it here.”

Walking back to his truck, Blu did his best to ignore Brother Thomas’ last words, especially how they mimicked his own but with a positive spin. He loosened his tie and thought about the biggest mistake he had ever made in his life and wondered if this was it.