Lynette Eason - A Silent Terror & A Silent Fury

Saluting the phone, he’d said, “Yes, ma’am.”

“Good, glad we got that straight.”

“I’m supposed to meet her after she gets out of school. Once again, I want to find out if she remembers anything else from any of the incidents, especially the one last night.”

“Let me know what she says. Listen, I’ve got class— gotta run. But call me if you need me, seriously.”

He knew she meant it. And she knew he’d call if he needed her. That’s what good friends and partners were for. And that’s all it was between them. Once upon a time, they’d tried for something more, but both had quickly realized they were only meant to be friends—period.

Ethan had been disappointed at first, then grateful. Now as he thought about Marianna, he wondered what God was doing in his heart and if, after all the craziness was done, God had something in mind for Ethan and Marianna. The thought made him a little…antsy.

Right now, he didn’t have time to explore that weird feeling. His phone buzzed as he pulled open the door to his car.

He glanced at the number and his heart chilled once again.

Six ten in the morning and Marianna was texting him.

Uh-oh, that couldn’t be good.

* * *

Marianna kept her eyes glued to the television, absorbing the news, the shock sending shivers through her body.

Josh’s father had been killed in a car wreck. The station went to a commercial. Her fingers flew over her Black-Berry keypad as she texted the message to Ethan that she wouldn’t be able to meet him today. Already she was making plans to be the one to drive Josh home to his grandparents. She knew they’d want him there, especially for the funeral. And she planned to be there for him, too.

When the station came back from the commercial, she read the captions unable to tear her eyes from the breaking news story. The reporter announced, “Roland Luck, campaign manager for Clayton Robertson, was killed in a car wreck early this morning. Roland apparently lost control of his car soon after leaving a private meeting at a secluded resort atop Breakaway Mountain, just twenty-five miles north of Asheville, North Carolina. His car swerved over the side and crashed into the wooded area below. His body has been recovered. For now, Steven Marshbanks, Roland’s assistant, will take over the campaign management until a replacement is named. Mr. Marshbanks is currently unavailable for a statement. We’ll have more details as they become known.”

With hands shaking, Marianna closed her eyes. Lord, what is going on? My world is spinning out of control, and the only thing I know to do is hold on to You and pray You make everything work out how it’s supposed to. And poor Josh, I don’t even know if he’ll understand what’s happened. Just…help me, Lord. Wrap us all in Your strength .

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned. Her mother stood there, concern in her gentle brown eyes, her apron already tied around her ample waist. Maddelena signed, “What’s wrong, honey?”

Marianna hadn’t realized she been crying until her mother’s soft fingers reached up to wipe a few tears from Marianna’s cheeks. She flinched when the woman brushed the cut she’d incurred on the bleacher the night before. It throbbed a steady beat, encouraging her to find some aspirin soon. And hide it from Joseph. He’d been asleep when she’d gotten home, leaving her mother and Twister to greet her at the door, to smother her with care and questions Marianna had only partially answered.

“Oh,” she sniffed, “thanks. One of my students’ father was killed in a car accident this morning.”

Her mother’s eyes went wide. “I’m so sorry.” She gathered Marianna close for a tight squeeze, pulled back and signed, “I think we need extra prayer these days. I’m going to e-mail my ladies’ Bible study group if that’s all right with you.”

Marianna nodded and brought her hands up to say, “More than all right. Thank you.”

“Now, come eat.”

A watery chuckle escaped her lips. Of course, tragedy had struck and her mother’s solution was food. Right now, it worked for her. She’d need her strength in the coming few days. It was only Tuesday and already she felt as if she’d done enough, had enough happen, to fill the entire week.

Twister sat at her feet while she ate. Absentmindedly, she rubbed one of his ears and thought back to the incident of the night before. She’d purposely avoided thinking about it—one of the reasons she’d turned on the news— but now she needed to make sure it was all right for her to leave with the ongoing investigation. Most likely it would be fine as long as she left a contact number where she could be reached.

Swallowing the last of her eggs, she reached once again for her BlackBerry and typed a message to her principal, asking permission to be the one to drive Josh home and attend the funeral. Within minutes, she had a reply giving her permission. Relief flowed over her. Her principal promised to have a state car ready and waiting for her.

After explaining her plans to her mother, who promised to take care of Twister, Marianna headed to school. When she arrived at her classroom, her five homeroom students, Josh, Peter, Christopher, Lily and Sarah, were already there, seated at their desks. The two girls had their Sidekicks out, texting. A firm look from Marianna had them tossing her sheepish smiles and tucking the devices away.

Her assistant, Dawn, stepped into the classroom, mug of coffee in hand.

“Good morning, Dawn.”

“Heard you had quite an adventure last night.”

Marianna winced, reaching up to touch her cheek. “I suppose it’s all around the school.”

“Yep. Your activities are a hotbed of gossip.”

“So, is it accurate?”

Dawn shrugged. “I don’t know.” She gave a small grin. “Whatcha think I’ve been waiting to find out?”

Before she could answer, she got her usual greeting from Josh, since he couldn’t stand it anymore and leaped up out of his seat. He signed her name sign, fingers shaped in the letter M and pulled it down from scalp to shoulder, symbolizing her long hair.

“Hi, Josh.” She forced herself to smile through her sadness for him. He didn’t have a clue. But then his life probably wouldn’t change that much in the coming days, although he would probably wonder where his father was eventually. Possibly. Who knew what he would think, how this would affect him?

Marianna started to answer Dawn when Peter, one of her higher level, if extremely shy and sensitive students, with a rapt expression on his face, caught her attention and waved her toward the door.

She turned to find Ethan standing there, one shoulder leaning negligently against the doorjamb. Her heart caught her by surprise and did a little flip-flop before resuming its normal rhythm.

She stared. What brought him here? Biting her lip, she prayed it wasn’t more trouble.

Accurately reading her expression, he gave that little one-sided quirk of his lips that did funny things to her stomach. Then he said, “After you sent me that text this morning telling me about Josh’s father and that you were going to take him home, my boss thought you might need a little extra protection with everything that’s been going on. He asked me if I’d be willing to take on the job.”

The inscrutable expression in his blue eyes caught her attention, and she wondered at the meaning behind it. Instead of asking, she looked around the classroom with alarm churning through her. “Does he think I’m endangering the kids by being here?”

Ethan shook his head. “No, not really. We did discuss it, but his theory is that you have something this guy wants and he’s only going to come after you.”

She chewed her bottom lip. “I don’t know whether to be relieved or scared.” A half laugh escaped.