The Whole Truth (11 page)

“Hey, doesn't the Bible say, ‘Judge not'?”

“Right on! We'll make you a believer yet.”

Don't knock yourself out on that one
, Steve thought. “Do you consider yourselves a church?” he asked.

“Of course.”

“What sort?”

“Independent. The only kind the Bible ever talks about.”

“No denomination?”

“Name me a denomination in the Bible.”

“I'm not really up on — ”

“Go on. Try.”

“Baptist?”

“Not there.”

“What about John the Baptist?”

Johnny laughed and Neal joined him.

“I like you, Steve. We're going to get along fine, like brothers should.”

Johnny took Steve out to the backyard. The grass was patchy and there was no fence. Pine and birch all around. A nice-looking, peaceful place, Steve thought. Not like city life. But not a place he thought he could ever live. He liked the beat of the city. He'd go crazy here.

Steve heard a growl and turned. A dog with a big black head and eyes blacker than death was tied to a stake in the ground. Checking Steve out.

“That's Ezekiel,” Johnny said. “After the prophet. He's a Presa Canario. Good-looking, huh?”

“He thinks I look like lunch,” Steve said, feeling some wetness under his arms. He once had to defend a man who owned a pit bull, one that had mauled an eight-year-old girl. It was not pretty what the dog did to her. It wasn't pretty what the judge did to the owner, either.

This dog was bigger than a pit bull. Scarier.

“Don't you worry about Zeke,” Johnny said. “We trained 'im. He's gentle as a kitten. Unless he thinks one of us is in trouble, of course. Then he's got a whole Old Testament thing going on.”

They sat at a redwood table in the sun. Neal made up tuna-fish sandwiches and brought out a big bag of Lay's potato chips. Neal drank a Coors and Johnny a Coke. To keep from getting sloppy, Steve followed Johnny's lead.

Johnny noticed. “I like it that you're watching yourself.”

“How's that?” Steve said.

“Alcohol. It's the root of so many problems. I gave it up myself. Neal's on the way. Right, Neal?”

There was a snap of authority in Johnny's voice. Neal nodded obediently.

“You staying off the 'caine?” Johnny said to Steve.

“You know about that?” Steve said.

Johnny smiled. “I know all about you.”

“What, you had somebody looking into me or something?”

“You're not mad, are you?”

“I don't know — ”

Johnny put his hand up. “It was all part of finding you, Steve. I didn't know if you ever wanted to see me again, and I had to try to figure that out. So Neal here did some Internet searching and found out about that disciplinary thing. I'm only asking because I want to help you any way I can.”

“How can you help me?”

“By showing the deliverance of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the freedom we have in him.”

“Why don't we start with me just being your lawyer?” Steve said.

“Let's talk about why you don't believe in God — ”

“Johnny, I believe in the law and in getting things done. And I believe everybody is free to believe the way they want. If religion brings you peace, great.”

“What about the truth?”

“I'm all for that too.”

“Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

Steve took a bite of his sandwich to buy time. He didn't want this to turn into a high-pressure religious sales job. He washed the bite down with Coke and said, “What's the nature of the work you want me to do for you?”

“Set us up as a church under the laws of the State of California,” Johnny said. “I want to do it up right. I've decided to go into the ministry.”

“He's got the anointing,” Neal said.

“What's that?” Steve said.

“God has set me apart,” Johnny said. “That's the way he used to do it. Anointing with oil. Making people holy. Now it's done by the Holy Ghost. I didn't ask for it, Steve. It just happened.”

“In prison?”

“That's right. Best thing that ever happened to me. Do you know the story of Joseph in the Bible?”

“Jesus' dad?”

“No, way back. Joseph, son of Jacob. Jacob favored him and Joseph's brothers got bent about that, faked his death, sold him into slavery.”

“Okay.”

“Joseph ends up in prison, but God is with him, right? God eventually makes it so Joseph is head dude in Egypt, right behind Pharaoh. There's a famine, Joseph got Egypt to save up food, then Joseph's brothers come down there looking for food, and that's how God gets Jacob's family down to Egypt and saves them. See, Joseph says it was all God's plan.”

“Prison was God's plan? I should use that with my clients.”

Neal laughed.

“So what do you say, Steve? You can be part of God's plan too.”

Steve wasn't sure about that. “Setting up a church shouldn't be too hard to do. The law is pretty liberal when it comes to legitimate religious organizations.”

“That's your job, then. Make us legit. Neal's got another five thousand for you. And there will be more, Steve. I can see you being like an in-house counsel. What would you say to that?”

“You making an offer?”

“Suppose I did? Suppose it meant a steady income?”

Steve cleared his throat and looked at Ezekiel the dog. He was staring at Steve like he wanted to get to know him. Or his ankle.

“First,” Steve said, “I have a question. Last night a couple of feds came to see me at my apartment. They knew we were talking at Wendy's. Maybe they had me or you under surveillance. I'm guessing you, because you're the one who would be easy to watch on parole.”

Johnny shot a look at Neal, who shrugged. “Isn't that what I've been saying?”

“What exactly is it about? You said they're after you for something. What is it?”

“They just don't leave you alone! They don't think a guy can change. A guy does his time, and they're waiting when he gets out! Can you do anything about this, Steve?”

“I have to know what it's about first.”

“It's nothing but a fishing expedition. They've been in our face for years. I just want to serve the Lord, and this is what they give me. Steve, can you do anything to stop the harassment?”

“Well, your parole status is High Ser vices. That's a break.” In California, a parolee with a record like Johnny's would usually be classified as High Control
.
That designation had the most restrictions. Johnny must have been a model prisoner.

“You do have a search condition,” Steve said. “They can work with the local departments and search you or drug test you without probable cause.”

“This is worse than North Korea!”

“What is the local situation here? You have run-ins with the sheriff or anything?”

Johnny and Neal exchanged looks. “Mott? He's been around forever. He doesn't hassle us. No need. We keep to ourselves.”

“As long as you're not doing anything wrong — ”

“Who says we're doing anything wrong?”

“Nobody — ”

“Then don't put it that way.”

Silence. A little wind blew through the pines. Johnny put on an easy smile.

“Do what you can to get me legitimized,” he said. “I'm going to have a ministry and we're going to need a good lawyer. There's guys in the flock who still have some legal troubles. Maybe you can help them too. And as an organization, I'll need somebody I can trust, really trust. That's why I've come to you, Steve. God has given you to me.”

Ezekiel barked. Loud. Startling Steve. Someone was coming out the back door.

NINETEEN

He was someone out of the biker outlaw hall of fame.

He had a hacksaw face and arms forged, no doubt, in a prison yard. If he wanted to advertise his ex-felon status, Steve thought he couldn't have done it any better. A lot of exes, who could no longer vote and knew they'd never get very far in society, let it be known they didn't give a rip. This guy was one of them, from his sleeveless T-shirt to the jeans and boots.

Johnny didn't seem all that happy to see him.

“This your brother?” the guy said.

“What are you doing here, Rennie?” Johnny said.

“I gotta have a reason to come over?”

Rennie met Steve's eyes with a cold steel gaze. It could have been Cody Messina, all grown up and worse than ever. For a long moment he looked Steve up and down. If he was a member in good standing of Johnny's “church,” Steve was going to have to say something about the social customs being taught.

“Hey, OK, Rennie,” Johnny said, “this is my brother Steve.”

Rennie didn't offer his hand.

“Hi,” Steve said.

A simple nod from Rennie, who then looked at Neal with an expression Steve couldn't quite read, but didn't fall on the friendly side of the ledger. There were tense crosscurrents all over the place. Ezekiel watched, ready to spring any second, like he expected fresh meat.

Rennie said nothing more, then turned and walked over to the dog. The dog started jumping around. Rennie knelt and put the dog's head in his hands. The dog started licking Rennie's face.

“Friendly sort,” Steve said, quietly so Rennie wouldn't hear.

“Rennie's a work in progress,” Johnny said.

Rennie got up and walked back into the house, the dog barking.

“Zeke!” Johnny shouted. “Shut up!”

The chastened dog did as he was told. Johnny, who seemed to have unchallenged authority over people, apparently had the same over the animal world.

Johnny said, “God. He's just amazing. You're here. We're together. This is just awesome. Now I got a question for you, little bro.”

Steve waited.

“What happened to you after I got kidnapped? I mean, what was your life like?”

“Not a real smooth ride,” Steve said.

“Can you tell me about it?”

“I don't know. Our dad killed himself. Did you know about that?”

Johnny nodded slowly. “You remember much about him?”

Steve shook his head. “Mom didn't talk about him much. Once she said something about his being no good and I was better off. But I don't think she ever got over losing you. She died when I was ten. Bad cancer. Did you know about that?”

Johnny shook his head. “Must have been tough on you. What happened to you after that?”

“Went into the foster-care system. Woo-hoo.”

“No relatives?”

“Back east, Mom had a sister.”

“I never knew that.”

“Aunt Kate was her name. Not one of the good people. She didn't want me. I went through a couple of foster homes, ended up with a couple named Rust. They were good to me, but by that time I was . . .”

“Go ahead.”

“Nah,” I said.

“Drugs?”

Steve shrugged. “I got through school. I was pretty good at it, despite all the other stuff.”

“You got through law school,” Johnny said. “That's something.”

“It wasn't the best school. Not your Ivy League. But yeah, I got through and passed the bar and everything, and did okay. Worked for the DA's office for a couple of years before I had my problem.”

“The coke thing?”

Steve nodded.

“Never got married?” Johnny asked.

“Oh, that's another great mark on my record. My divorce is almost final.”

“Yeah? Who was she?”

“A lawyer. Like me. Met her in law school, as a matter of fact.” Steve paused to catch a glimpse of the memories flashing around in his head.

“Whose idea was it? The divorce, I mean.”

“I drove her to it, no doubt about that.”

“Kids?”

“No. Probably a good thing.”

Johnny put his hand on Steve's arm. “Then this is a new start, Steve. Your new family. You and me. It's God's plan.”

Steve didn't know whose plan it was, but it did feel like Johnny was extending the thinnest of reeds. If Steve grabbed it, it could keep him from being carried downriver, toward the falls.

Steve grabbed. “I want to get to know you again,” he said.

“Same here, Bro. And now we have all the time in the world.”

TWENTY

“Good news,” Steve said on the phone as he drove through Verner.

“I've got a client for sure.”

“Mr. LaSalle?”

“The same. And here is something that will interest you. He wants to form a church.”

Pause. “What kind of church?”

“A Christian church of some kind. That's why I'm calling you. I figure you can help me figure out all that religious stuff.”

“Stuff?”

“Yeah. My brother wants to be a minister. He's a convicted felon. I don't know anything about people going into the ministry, if there's a license requirement and all that. You seem to be an expert on these matters.”

“Hardly.”

“So when can we start?”

“I have classes today.”

“Tomorrow then. Noon. My office. We'll do lunch.”

“Do lunch? Are you a lawyer or a movie producer?”

Steve didn't care at this point. All he knew was he wanted to see her again.

That she was religious didn't seem to be an obstacle. The same way it wasn't an obstacle between him and Johnny. People were people, right? They all had the same junk inside; some dealt with it one way, some another.

Some did drugs, then got off drugs, then thought about doing drugs again.

Some used religion as a drug. The opiate of the masses.

Big deal. Of all the places to be born into, the world was about the worst, and everybody was on the same boat. You had to snag whoever came by who seemed like a halfway decent person and see if you could keep each other warm.

Once, Ashley had kept him warm, and he liked her warmth. But it was gone now and that was that. Sienna Ciccone was here now, and that was also that.