The Whole Truth (25 page)

That was more than a little strange.

At four in the afternoon, he drove to Beth-El for a client meeting with the LaSalles. His bread and butter now. Yes, the butter smelled rancid if you were to judge by the past. Maybe his being here was going to be a good thing for Eldon LaSalle. And Johnny. Maybe he'd be able to guide them along a way that was not completely nutty.

And make a nice, tidy, ongoing sum.

Yes, it could all work out very nicely. Except that driving into the Beth-El compound reminded Steve of
The Godfather
movies. The men standing around trying to look attitudinal were just like the mafia soldiers who were always around to protect the don.

Yep, religion was certainly a force for good. At least it was keeping these guys off the streets.

Steve met with Johnny and Eldon LaSalle in another room of the compound. It had the same hunting décor, but was set up like a conference room. The table in the middle looked like the cross section of a giant redwood. Glass was fitted over the top, shaped to fit the natural shape of the cut. Impressive.

And like every other room in the house, this one had a large, active fireplace.

“It looks as if there is not going to be any impediment for your official designation as a church,” Steve said. “The free-exercise clause is a wide protection these days.”

Eldon LaSalle nodded. “In principle,” he said. “But what about views that society deems out of the mainstream? Such as that the Bible teaches racial purity, which it does. What's to stop the politically correct machinery of government sticking its nose in our business?”

“The Supreme Court,” Steve said. “Back in 1993 there was a case involving Santeria. A city in Florida passed an ordinance that targeted a Santeria church because they have this little practice they call animal sacrifice. The court said, No way, Jose. In almost exactly those words. They said this was a sincere religious belief that was targeted by the city. Now, you don't sacrifice animals, do you?”

Johnny smiled. “Only for food, dude.”

“So,” Steve said, “this
practice
is protected. It follows that
beliefs
are even more protected, and expression of those beliefs also gets the benefit of free speech. As long as you're not inciting violence, you can believe whatever you want, teach it, promulgate it. You can be a church that does this. And the state can't touch you.”

Eldon LaSalle leaned back in his regal wheelchair and smiled. “Well done.”

Johnny winked at Steve.

Steve felt gratified and sick at the same time. He liked being a lawyer. He didn't like what Eldon LaSalle was all about.

But he kept reminding himself that this was no different than representing defendants who were guilty. Sienna would have approved.

Sienna.

He wondered what she was doing now. Wondered if she ever gave him a passing thought.

Then told himself not to think about her anymore, which made the thought all the stronger.

Eldon LaSalle backed away from the table a bit and positioned his chair between the fireplace and Steve.

“Son,” Eldon said, “I can't tell you how glad I am to have you with us. To have you on our side. To have you working with Johnny.”

“Thank you,” Steve said.

“Do you know what I love about fire?” Eldon said.

Steve waited for the answer.

“It is both an instrument of wrath and an instrument of cleansing. Have you ever been near a forest fire, Steve?”

“Nope. Nearest was looking up at the wildfires in LA County, but I was in the flatland.”

“Son, you don't ever want to be caught anywhere near such a thing. The sound is almost as bad as the heat. It's like hell coming up from the earth to visit for a while. And that's what God's wrath is like, Steve. It is going to be just like that for the wicked when the Lord returns to judge the nations. When he sends his angels to gather up the wheat and the chaff, and he throws the chaff into the unquenchable fire where the worm dieth not.”

Steve swallowed. “Worms, huh?”

“Do you have any idea what it would be like to be eaten by worms for eternity?”

“Like having
Wild Hogs
on an endless loop?”

Eldon LaSalle did not smile. Steve looked at Johnny. He gave Steve a half smile. It was better than nothing.

Eldon said, “The Lord's judgment is nothing to be made light of, Son. For ‘when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.' ”

“Bummer,” Steve said.

“Our camp is somewhat the same, Steve. It's an instrument of the Lord. And that's why we'd like you to consider yourself more than just a lawyer for us, more than just someone who is being paid. We want you to think of yourself as part of a family. A big family.

You see, I know what it's like to need family and not have it. I know what you've gone through.”

Steve sensed Eldon was on a preacherlike roll and said nothing.

“And as part of the family,” Eldon said, “I'd like to think we're all on the same page, so to speak. Do you know what I'm talking about here?”

Without knowing the specifics, Steve certainly sensed the gist. He felt one of those mountain fogs starting to descend, or maybe an avalanche, covering the landscape.

“Do you?” Eldon repeated.

“Maybe.” Steve cleared his throat. “You have a view of things that is rather well known. And controversial.”

Eldon waved his hand. “I've been lied about for many years. That's why I stopped talking to the press. They never report what you say. They never make an effort to truly understand. They are tools of the corporations and the government. They have no interest in the truth. Do you have an interest in the truth, Steve?”

“Of course.”

“Think about your answer.”

Johnny, sitting on Steve's other side, added, “Think real hard, Steve.”

Pressed between the rock of Eldon and the hard place of Johnny, Steve swallowed and said, “Yeah. Of course I do.”

“Then do you believe in good and evil?” Eldon asked.

“Well, yeah.”

“How? Tell me, how do you determine what is good and what is evil?” Eldon took a pipe from the carousel on the conference table and opened up the tobacco jar.

Steve did not want to get into this. He had better things to do than talk philosophy with a former associate of white supremacist groups. Yes, that had been in the past, but that sort of poison never leaves a system. Steve had come across many neo-Nazis over the years, and even the ones who “reformed” never completely gave up their views. It was like the fat drippings on a barbeque. Scrape all you want, the residue remains.

What he really wanted to know was what Johnny thought of all this. How much was Johnny invested in the warped views of his stepfather?

“I think everybody pretty much knows what's good and evil,”

Steve said.

“I disagree, Son.” Eldon lit his pipe. “Unless people have a common frame of reference, they can't distinguish good from evil. You have to start with a source, and that source is God. God is the one who created good and evil to begin with.”

“Okay,” Steve said.

“Now wouldn't you agree if God says something is evil, then it is?”

“I'll go along with that.”

“And if he says something is good, then it is good?”

“Pure logic.”

“All right then.” Eldon sucked his pipe a couple of times, issuing smoke. “All I want to know is if you will make an attempt to understand my views.”

“Mr. LaSalle, I'm not a religious guy. I don't mind if anyone else is. I'm good with that.”

“I don't think you are.”

“Excuse me?”

“I sense your disapproval.”

The old face of Eldon LaSalle took on the impression of a Halloween mask. Steve looked quickly at Johnny. Johnny was looking down.

“It's not up to me to approve or disapprove,” Steve said. “Just to make sure you stay within the law.”

“I want more than that, Steve. I want you to
see
. Will you at least keep an open mind?”

“Open mind? I can do that.”

“Good. And a good job on rendering an opinion.” Eldon LaSalle smiled. “You're one of us now. Don't ever forget that. I want you to come to our Bible study tonight. I think you'll find it most edifying.”

“I don't know, I thought — ”

“I really would appreciate it if you'd come.”

The Eldon LaSalle eyes bore into him.

“Well, you know,” Steve said. “I wouldn't miss it.”

“What the heck was that all about?” Steve asked Johnny out on the driveway.

“What do you mean?” Johnny said.

“I don't like being told what to do.”

“Who's telling you?”

“Who do you think? He orders me to a Bible study.”

Johnny patted Steve's arm. “I think it's a good idea.”

“I think I'm being set up,” Steve said. “I think you and Eldon want me to start thinking like you.”

“Is that such a bad thing? To try to convince you that what we're doing is something that's right?”

“I find it hard to believe that your God would be a racist.”

“You don't think everybody's racist to some degree?”

“No.”

“You were never in the joint. You find out real quick it's all about race. It's how God wired us — ”

“Come on.”

“Can you honestly say that mixing the races has given us any good thing?”

“I don't want to get into that,” Steve said. He looked at the sky the way a prisoner might out in the yard. “Johnny, I need to know. How much of this do you actually buy into?”

“Why do you need to know that?”

“Because that's why I'm here! That's the only reason. It's
you
. It's you I want to be with and know and help and be around for. I don't care about all this. It's you I care about.”

“Steve — ”

“You're my brother. We're the same blood, but are we the same at all? Or is it too late? Has it been too long, too many turns by each of us?”

“No, don't say that.” Johnny looked Steve straight in the eye. “Trust me, will you? Stick with me. There's more going on.”

“More?”

“This is just between you and me, okay?”

“What is?”

“What I'm about to say.”

“All right.”

“There is more going on here than you know. But the thing you want, you and me together, it will happen. If you can just trust me and wait, it will happen.”

“What will happen?”

“Just be patient. Get to know us, get to know the town. Settle in. One step at a time, huh?”

Just like recovery. Well, what else did he have? He'd made the break, he was in with one foot if not two.

“Okay, Robert. Johnny.”

Johnny said, “That's the ticket, my brother. Tonight. Here. Seven o'clock. Just come on in and see what we do. I guarantee you won't be bored.”

Of that Steve was certain. It was the one certain thing about this whole deal.

FORTY-NINE

The Bible study gathered in the largest room of the compound, bigger even than the dining hall. Steve was amazed that Beth-El seemed to grow larger each time he visited.

Tonight he was with an assemblage of LaSalleites, maybe twenty in number. Not your average Sunday school class.

A friendly bunch, though. They greeted Steve warmly, pumped his hand, gave him a brother-of-Johnny welcome.

One of them was Rennie, the muscled guy Steve had seen at Johnny's place. He was convinced the guy loved to put serious hurt on people for the sheer fun of it.

Now, at least, Rennie had a smile. With one gold tooth in the front.

He squeezed Steve's hand harder than necessary. “How you doing?”

“Better than most,” Steve said. “Not as good as some.” From this distance he could see more clearly the tats on Rennie's arms and neck. Prominent on the left side, just under the ear, were the letters
FTW.

Which had a particular connotation, depending on one's view of the world. Steve must have been staring because Rennie said, “For the Word.”

“Excuse me?”

“That's what it stands for now. The Word. The Word of God. That's what it's all about.”

Steve remembered Neal's muttered warning that last time, about Rennie ending up killing someone someday. WWJK? Who would Jesus kill?

He did not want to be here.

He wanted to be with Sienna. He wanted to be sitting across from her in a local bistro, just talking. He didn't care what she said. Just hearing her voice would have been enough.

The women who had served dinner also laid out refreshments for the Bible study. These included a large platter of deli meats, with bread and condiments on the side, and a washtub of ice for beer and soft drinks.

No, not like any Sunday school he'd ever heard of. Wasn't there supposed to be a flannel board with Bible characters?

Beer?

Johnny offered Steve a Coors. Steve went for a Pepsi instead. Then Johnny introduced him around. Steve shook hands with Axel LaFontaine, a friendly sort in a Hawaiian shirt who had done time at Soledad.

Don Stead was a dog lover who had once been in prison for shooting cows. “Target practice,” he said.

Mike Dietz was a fast-talking, guitar-playing ex-con from Fresno.

All regular guys with one thing in common — loyalty to an old man who preached the gospel of racial segregation and white superiority.

The sooner this thing was over, the better Steve was going to like it.

A little after seven, the big door opened and Eldon LaSalle drove his thronelike wheelchair into the room. Steve wondered how fast that baby could go if he cranked it up.

On his lap was a big black book with gilt edging. A Bible. Everyone took Eldon's entrance as a cue to find a seat.