Sharon Sala - Family Sins

Charles picked up his Coke and headed for the door.

“Well, it certainly wasn’t me. I’m just now hearing that these people even exist, so I hardly have a reason to want one of them dead,” he said, and left the room.

Justin’s face flushed.

“I’m going to pretend you did not just seriously ask me if I killed a man,” he snapped, and walked out behind his nephew.

Nita looked at Fiona. “Did you do it?”

Fiona rolled her eyes. “I don’t know how to shoot a gun. You’re the one who beats everyone at target shooting. Did you do it?”

Nita giggled. “No, silly. I wouldn’t have had the faintest idea where to find him, even if I’d wanted him dead.”

Fiona shrugged. “Someone’s lying,” she said, and walked out of the library, leaving Nita on her own.

Nita glanced at the liquor cabinet and then headed to her room. Getting sloshed would serve no purpose other than a temporary fix to this horrible news. She was getting a headache, and needed to take one of her pills and lie down.

Bowie was packed and waiting at the helipad for the incoming chopper. He’d showered after removing his work clothes and unbraided his hair to wash it. All of his brothers’ hair had a curl to it, like their father’s. His hair was like his mother’s-straight, and so dark a black it almost looked blue, growing from a widow’s peak at his forehead and hanging well below his shoulders. Because it was still wet and drying, the ocean breeze was rolling it into tangles, but he didn’t care. He didn’t know what strings his boss had pulled to make this happen so quickly, but he was grateful.

Word about what had happened to his father had spread quickly on the rig. He’d been working with the men on this shift off and on for about a year and considered most of them friends. One by one they’d gone looking for him to express their condolences. Bowie was touched, but the sympathy made it hard to maintain control over his emotions. It had been a little over an hour since he’d talked to Samuel, and in that short time he’d lost one of the most important people in his world.

As children, they’d always known their daddy would keep them safe at night, and as they’d grown older, Daddy had taught them how to keep themselves safe during the day. He’d seemed larger than life then, and even though Bowie had grown bigger and taller than his father, right now his world was shattered. He could only imagine how his mother was feeling.

All of a sudden Claude yelled down at him from above and then pointed to the north.

“Bowie! Incoming!”

Bowie saw the helicopter in the distance. And so it began. It was time to call Samuel.

The phone only rang twice before he heard his brother’s voice.

“Hello. Bowie?”

“Yes. The chopper is landing in a few. I can’t give you an exact time frame for the trip from offshore Louisiana to Eden, but I’m guessing something between two and three hours. You’ll have to come to Eden to pick me up at the helipad.”

“I’ll call Chief Clayton to let him know. Unless I send you different info, consider yourself clear to land there,” Samuel said.

“Will do,” Bowie said. “How’s Mama?”

“Chin up. All business. Taking care of Jesse. Ready to shed blood. Devastated. Broken.”

Bowie sighed.

“Damn it. Is there anything new?”

“Well, Mama got a notion to call out her family in the middle of the street in front of the police station. Michael and Aidan and I went with her-armed, at her request. It was a show of force, but also a visual of a family united. Half the town was there. She’s given the killer the only warning they’ll get. She pretty much promised to take them down.”

“Good. Wish I’d been there beside you guys.”

“You’re on the way, and that’s enough. Safe flight. See you soon. I’ll be waiting, and don’t be surprised if Mama wants to come with me.”

Bowie took a deep breath, thinking about that first moment and seeing her face.

“Whatever she wants.”

“That’s where we’re all at right now,” Samuel said.

The chopper was overhead now, and the noise was deafening.

“Gotta go. Chopper’s here. See you soon.”

Bowie disconnected, dropped the phone in his jacket pocket and picked up his duffel bag.

The chopper landed. Bowie tossed in his bag, then took a seat beside the pilot and put on the extra headset.

“Ready?” the pilot asked.

Bowie gave him a thumbs-up.

And then they were gone.

“Was that Bowie?” Leigh asked, as she saw Samuel slip his phone back in his pocket.

“Yes. He’s on his way, Mama. He’s got a chopper bringing him straight here. I’m going into Eden to pick him up in a couple or three hours.”

“I want to go, too,” she said.

The other brothers heard the news, and when it was finally time for Samuel to head down the mountain, the rest of them loaded up, including Jesse, and followed behind him.

Stanton’s brother and sister and their spouses were still at the house to take care of things. The men had volunteered to do the evening chores, while the women moved to the kitchen to begin making supper for everyone. Their church family had already heard the news and had begun bringing food to the house so the cooking would be minimal.

The ride down was fairly quiet. The closer Samuel got to town, the faster he drove. Bowie was the oldest and the missing piece to the family that Leigh needed.

He glanced up in the rearview mirror at Jesse, who was sitting quietly in the backseat of Samuel’s pickup. Jesse seemed calm, but it was always hard to tell.

Leigh was in the front seat beside him. Her hands were in her lap, clenched into fists. There was a muscle jerking at the side of her jaw, but she had dressed up for Bowie in one of her church dresses and had tied back her hair. If it hadn’t been for the raw scratches on her face and arms, no one would have guessed they were a family in crisis.

They drove into town without the fanfare they had created earlier in the day, and then turned off Main toward the hospital. There was a block of parking spaces in front of the helipad where Samuel parked to wait. Michael and Aidan pulled up beside him. They all rolled down their windows to let in the evening air.

Leigh couldn’t focus. Her thoughts were filled with horror. She knew in her heart that her last day of true happiness had ended with Stanton’s last breath. Yes, she would go on, because that was the burden of the living. And, yes, there would be laughter again one day, and there would be times of calm, and times she felt peaceful in her heart. But it would be the absence, the longing, the loneliness, that would be with her always. She took a deep breath and tried not to cry. She was holding on so tight for so many when all she wanted to do was weep.

The sounds of kids playing nearby and a dog barking at a passing car made everything seem so ordinary. She heard a siren somewhere off in the distance. The police were at work. An ambulance pulled out from one of the bays behind the fire station next door and took off with lights and sirens running.

Jesse leaned forward and touched Samuel’s shoulder.

“Someone’s hurt,” he said, pointing to the ambulance as it turned a corner and drove out of sight.

“Looks like it,” Samuel said.

Jesse looked at his mother.

“Mama, do you reckon I better say a prayer for them?”

Leigh turned around, reached for Jesse’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

“I think that would be a fine thing for you to do, son.”

And so they sat in the swiftly fading light with the breeze on their faces and aches in their hearts, listening to the sweet halting words of a gentle, broken man.