Leaning forward, Greg sent her a long, searching glance. “If we can rely on Ellen’s testimony, meaning that she’ll be able to hold up under questioning, the prosecution will probably be able to make the charges stick. Which will mean a long time in jail.”
“And if not?”
David might not be able to touch Martha, but he could feel her tension.
“Then he’s already admitted to hiring and having sex with a prostitute which, in this state, is an offense.”
“What about all the others?” Martha asked, her voice thin and without inflection, as though she felt she had to ask but didn’t really care. “All of Shane’s other clients and the middle men who were part of this. Are they going to be standing charges, as well?”
David’s heart turned over.
“No,” Greg said, gazing directly at Martha, and David knew immediately that the other man was avoiding his eyes.
“When I showed up at the dealership talking about charges of kidnapping and rape, Shane’s partner handed me Ellen’s attacker. The hell with anonymity—he figured he could deal with a prostitution charge, assuming he’d serve little or no time for that, but he wasn’t going down for kidnapping.”
“Nice guy,” David said.
“Yeah, well, it’s funny sometimes where people draw the line. Anyway, it’ll take some digging to find the other clients but as many of them as possible will be called to testify. Shane and his partner are threats to society. We’ll make deals with the others, offering to drop any charges against them in exchange for their testimony.”
Although he’d already been given immunity, David felt the noose tightening around him.
With an ever-increasing sense of dread, he wondered whether he had enough faith and optimism to start a new life once again.
AS WRUNG-OUT AS SHE WAS, Martha still knew a moment of relief when David didn’t leave with Greg Richards a few minutes later. Not that she planned to make a habit of relying on the preacher. For anything. But he had a way about him, a sense of calm and reassurance, that made her feel, however briefly, that everything was going to be okay.
Was it wrong for her to give in to that fantasy? Just for a few minutes before she closed her eyes tonight? She’d wake up refreshed tomorrow, determined to make the day better than the one before, resolute in her plan to make life better for her children.
All she needed was a little—
“Is there anything else I can do for you?” David Marks asked, standing in the archway between the living room and the foyer leading to the front door.
He was planning to leave. He couldn’t leave yet.
“Yeah,” Martha said, sliding down to sit on the floor, facing him, with her back resting against the love seat. “You can tell me how you knew what to look for at that dealership when Greg didn’t.”
Head bent, he stood quiet, fixed, until Martha wondered if he was going to answer her.
Their agreement had been “no questions asked,” but surely that didn’t still apply?
Eventually David moved. He slowly approached her, settling in his previous position on the love seat. She could no longer see him, as he sat just behind her and to her right.
“I’d had some contact with an earlier version of Shane’s operation.”
She’d never heard him choose his words so carefully. The preacher who’d always been the epitome of open heart and mind.
“Contact, how?”
There was another long pause. “After I joined the ministry, one of my first assignments was at a small church in that neighborhood we visited in Phoenix.”
“So that’s how they knew you.”
“I had a church there, yes. Though Jeb, the guy on the street corner, probably hasn’t been in a church in his life. He was just a guy I knew.”
Wishing she was back on that love seat, that she could get up there again without looking obvious or appearing to ask for something she definitely was not, Martha stared at the carpet directly in front of her.
“So what’s the connection between that neighborhood and the rest of this?”
“At one time, Jeb had some pretty impressive electronic equipment that allowed him to run illegal ID checks on just about anyone. He was bragging one night about a lucrative job he had, doing background checks on wealthy businessmen.”