Chapter 65
“I felt like my heart was going to burst wide open,” Jonah said. “It was the most confusing, but liberating experience I’ve ever had.”
“Confusing?” Faith asked, thinking how glad she was that Yvette had dropped her off and borrowed the car while the air conditioning was being fixed in hers. Otherwise she would have to ride separately from Jonah. She didn’t want to miss a second of the peace that was radiating from her husband’s face. “What was confusing?”
“The fact that I felt compelled to go out to that tent. I couldn’t just walk away from the whole thing. As badly as I wanted to, in my heart I couldn’t.” He shook his head. “It was like . . . God was calling me.”
Faith was silent. She was almost afraid that if she said something, the blessing of this evening might disappear.
“All these years, I’ve been angry and rejecting God, and the truth is, you can’t reject God. He’s always there,” Jonah said. His cell phone rang, and he reached into his jacket pocket. “It’s Les.”
“Hey, Les,” he said. “Let me put you on speaker. Faith and I are in the car.”
Faith took the phone, pushed the speaker button, and held the small device between them so they could listen.
“Good news. April Thomas’s case is finished.”
Jonah let out a breath. “What happened?”
“She hasn’t been reached. Even her attorney can’t get her on the phone, so he had no choice but to drop it. Even if she files a motion in court, with the previous sexual assault thing in her history, there’s no way her word against yours is going to work. Ms. Jacobs can kiss her case goodbye as well.”
“I’m glad to hear it’s just about over,” Jonah said.
“What’s the next step, Les?” Faith interjected squeezing Jonah’s knee.
“I’ll go back to mediation with Ms. Jacobs. You don’t even need to come. In fact, you not showing will actually help the case because at this point, the mediator will just do some hard reality testing with her,” Les said. “That’s where we get her to think things like—if I go to court with this, what is my chance of winning? Do I have witnesses? Do I have evidence? Is there really a case?” Les paused for a moment. Chatter with another party could be heard coming through the speaker before Les returned and said, “Sorry about that. I was ordering dinner. Anyway, without Miss Thomas or some other witness, it’s her word against yours. Christian Brothers will close the investigation and simply tell her she has to accept the reassignment. Either she’ll stay or leave, but it’ll be over.”
Jonah took both hands off the steering wheel and shook his fists in victory. “That’s what I wanted to hear.” He put one hand back on the wheel and slid the other into Faith’s waiting hand. She winked at him before he turned his attention back to the road.
“I’ll call you tomorrow after I talk to Lewiston. You two get some sleep. And plan that celebratory dinner at Pegasus.”
“Will do,” Jonah chuckled. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
Faith pushed the end button on the call.
“I’m glad that’s over.” Jonah took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
Faith raised his hand to her lips and kissed it. They rode in silence for a few minutes, and then Jonah spoke. “I want to go to April’s apartment.”
“But weren’t you told we couldn’t go near her?”
“I need to apologize to her. I want to do it tonight.”
Faith was quiet for a moment, and then she said, “Apologize?”
Jonah turned and caught her eye for a moment again. “Yes, but not for what you think.”
He sighed and said, “Les said something that cut me to the core today. He said that April and I worked together every day for eight hours a day for two years. I should have known, Faith. I should have known something was wrong.”
Faith released a long breath. He could tell she was relieved.
“It’s not just the apology. Something doesn’t feel right. The way she left today, the allegation, you know. I want to check on her.”
He could see Faith nodding her head in his peripheral vision. “Let’s go.”
After plugging the street address into the vehicle’s navigation system, Jonah pulled the car into the parking lot for the street April lived on. It was a small townhouse subdivision with about thirty homes. They knew the street she lived on, but neither one was sure of the number.
“There aren’t many of them. I remember it’s a yellow house,” Faith said, thinking of the one time Jonah and she had attended the housewarming when April had purchased it. “Maybe her car will be in front too.”
“It’s there.” Jonah pointed. Even in the shadow of light from dusk, he could see the little red Mazda she’d purchased last summer.
“Good. She’s home,” Faith added. “Now all we have to do is get in.”
They both exited the vehicle and walked to the front door.
Faith halted him with a hand on his arm. “Are you sure you don’t want to wait until you hear from Lewiston?”
“No. I have a feeling she needs someone.”
Jonah could see new concern etched on his wife’s face. He needed to reassure her that everything was going to be okay. “I have a feeling . . . I don’t know how to describe it . . . it’s like something is telling me to come here.” He raised a hand to knock, but when he did, he saw that the door was slightly separated from its frame. “It’s not really closed,” he said, looking at Faith.
He knocked anyway, but all that did was cause it to open wider.