Read The White Mountain Online
Authors: Ernie Lindsey
The White Mountain (27 page)
She spent lots of time
fretting over the fingerprints she’d left behind, wondering if the agent would
ever come back. She lost a lot of sleep.
Three days later, Mary sat on
her front porch, waving her sister’s cigarette smoke from her face, watching
that summer’s infinite rain. Jesse fiddled with a remote control car,
disappointed at yet another downpour, waiting patiently for a break in the
clouds.
Alice blew a smoke ring, creaking
back and forth in a rocking chair. “They said
what
on the news?”
“Lover’s quarrel. Hans
Schmidt, that guy I told you about. He killed Herb Richmond. Their evidence
was so convincing, I almost believed it myself. All of it complete and utter
lies, obviously.”
“Of course it’s all lies.
They covered up Randall’s mess, they can cover up yours.”
“I know, Al. And God, I hate
it. Hate it that they blamed it on him. I feel so guilty. I don’t know what
to do.”
“It ain’t like you to let
something like that go. I know it, Lamb. I know two wrongs don’t make a
right, but you got to let it be. If they ever change their minds, I can’t lose
you and Randall both, hear me?” She patted Mary on the leg. “Let it be. For a
spell, anyway.”
Mary dabbed at a tear,
sniffed. “It’s not right.”
“And never will be. They had
something to hide, like every other family. Like us, too. But we got to keep
ours together, at least as long as we can.”
“Family secrets need to stay
hidden, huh?” Mary gave a half-hearted chuckle. “Some are bigger than
others. A lot bigger. Jesus. My guess is—and this is all just wild
speculation—is that Jessica Walters had something to do with it.”
“First Lady pulling the
strings?”
“Could be. I keep expecting
to wake up to a knock on the door, but it hasn’t happened yet. I figure I’ll
tell the truth, as much as I can, if the time ever comes.”
“Wait. Let ‘em come when
they’re ready, if they ever do. Without Randall around, I need you here.”
“So what exactly did he say
when he called this morning?”
“Lamb, for the fifth time—”
“Humor me.”
Alice sighed. “He said he’s
fine, he lost Jeff outside of Chattanooga but had a good idea of where he
needed to go, and that he’d be home as soon as he took care of things. You
want to know any more than that, you gotta track him down yourself. I love that
man to death, but when he’s got something on his mind, there ain’t no stopping
him. I’ve said my prayers. Nothing more I can do than have faith. He’ll be
back, one of these days.”
Mary smiled. “I believe
you.”
Jesse stood up from the porch
and muttered a quiet, “When’s Daddy coming home, Mama?”
Alice rocked back and forth.
Rocking, staring out into the rain. “We’ll see him soon enough.”
“Yeah, but when?”
"Not for a while, honey.
Not when there’s a reckoning.”
—
end
—
Continue for a note from the author
AUTHOR’S
NOTE
Thank you for reading THE WHITE
MOUNTAIN! I hope you enjoyed it. The support I’ve received for my previous
work has been humbling, and I wouldn’t continue this writing journey if it
weren’t for those of you that have offered so much encouragement. A huge
thanks are in order to all my readers and fans; you’ve made this maddening
process worth all the effort. I offer my deepest appreciation for the
pre-release readers who took the time to help, inspire, and offer feedback.
For those of you wondering about Randall,
don’t worry, he’s fine (so far). Based on reader demand and time constraints
due to other writing projects, I intend to tell the story of Randall’s pursuit
of Lakeland sometime in the near future. You may have noticed the mention of
Mary’s nemesis, Sledge, throughout this novel. Their history is detailed in a
short story I published in 2012, and you can learn more about their encounters
here:
SLEDGE
.
Would you like to hear about new releases first?
Sign up for the New Release Mailing List.
(My
pledge: No inbox clutter and no sharing of your email address.)
I take
great pride in my work and had a number of readers and a professional editor go
over THE WHITE MOUNTAIN before publishing it, but the occasional
oops
does occur, which only serves to remind us of how much we miss, even when we’re
looking at something under a microscope. If you happen to catch anything and
would like to point it out, please feel free to let me know at
[email protected]
.
Or, if you’d just like to send me a comment, you’re more than welcome. You can
also visit my website at
http://www.ErnieLindsey.com
to
learn more about me and my other works. (In particular, my novel SARA’S GAME,
a former Kindle Daily Deal in February 2013, which reached a bestseller status
of #2 in the entire Kindle Store on Amazon.)
Join Me on Facebook:
Lastly,
if you enjoyed THE WHITE MOUNTAIN and would like to support the author, nothing
is more effective than word-of-mouth. Please give some thought to posting a
review and sharing with your friends and other readers on your social networks.
Thank
you!
-Ernie
Lindsey, March, 2013
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