The Rez! The Whispering Earth church! The only church on the Santee reservation. Catholic denomination!
"My daughters are bleeding me dry. They must presume my congregation is throwing hundred-dollar bills into the collection plate. All of these dresses are costing a small fortune."
Mordecai Sage had resolved his temper over the last few days concerning Nick Sanchez and the Amador clan. More himself at home, his church built directly attached to his home of the last fifteen years since establishing his fellowship here. While the Santee were not all that religious in the beginning, many had come around to a one true God. The good pastor's hands were not just pressed together to pray, but to hold out and help others join him. The Santee needed more than the Earth they hunted upon to survive. The ancestors might have had other beliefs, but it all boiled down to a creator God. Mordecai was his own creator, while he did indeed believe in God, he also used the deity to earn a living. Fast talkers made the world go around. The earth made sense as a name for his home. Let the spirits whisper their opinions.
Working on his scriptures for the following Sunday service Mordecai sat in his office, not just dabbling with verses but his checkbook. Having just paid Rayna Waterfall to make two dresses each for his beautiful daughters his account was seriously depleted. Hardly rich but not poor either, any loss made him feel ill. A large family was hard to manage, it was good that most of them had jobs at least even if their paychecks were pathetic. Trying hard to keep his girls honest and away from sharks like Nodin Merrick was never easy. Nodin had his dirty hands in everything.
Only a family portrait in his office kept him sane. As much as he hated having his late wife Mary staring back at him each and every day, he had to keep it there for his children's sake. Yes, he loved her, but the woman was treacherous. Teary eyed, he had to stop staring at it. Good thing considering someone had just returned home.
"Daddy?"
"Office!"
"I figured as much." At his doorway stood his middle daughter 23-year-old Ophelia. "Just got off work at the casino." So, much for keeping her away from Nodin Merrick. Her job at least paid well. Nodin owned the casino.
"Of course, you did."
"Did you hear the news?"
"News? What news?" He settled back in his swivel chair and folded his arms over his chest. "I have been here all afternoon."
"I overheard some of the Santee workers who are employed by that Mister Sanchez talking. They discovered a dead body out there at the Shoals."
"WHAT!!!" Mordecai sat up clutching his desk, his abrupt response spooking her. "I knew this Sanchez was no good. Did they arrest the man?" Nice cover up, Pastor! He was sweating bullets and as pale as a ghost. Funny, considering so many ghost stories about the Shoals.
"I don't think he had anything to do with it daddy. The workers said the floor of the main house caved in and they found an old crypt. I guess there was a headless skeleton down there. That's really all I know. The workers are on call once the investigation is over with. Anyway, what do you want for supper?"
"Oh! Just fend for your sisters. I'll just grab a sandwich later. Let me finish my sermon and I'll step across the threshold into our home."
"Okay! Hamburger Helper it is." Ophelia took her leave, Mordecai left to palm his forehead, elbows on his desk.
"Dear God! That was close." Lifting his head, he glanced once again at his wife Mary on the wall. "You must be laughing your ass off right now; my blood pressure is elevated." Possibly!
Resting back into his chair he closed his eyes and went down memory lane. Flashbacks consuming him he followed his wife one day out to the Shoals where they used to meet before marriage. It was their special spot, their courtship cove as she called it. That is until he discovered that Mary was secretly meeting the missionary Pastor that helped them their first four years to build and bring the Santee nation into God's house. The photos of he and that pastor long removed from his wall it still seemed as if the man was staring back at him like Mary was now.
Dustin Yi, Korean American born, came to South Carolina on a mission to bring the Santee closer to God, quickly coaxing Mordecai in his younger days to his side. Dustin was charismatic and a charmer. So much so that Mary fell for the man and began sleeping with him behind Mordecai's back. Not smart! Brash Mordecai who had learned to tame his temper back in the day realized their unspoken connection.
Waiting for just the right moment to strike Mordecai tracked her to the Shoals. Catching the lovers having sex on the rocky beach. Mordecai lost it that day. Reciting scriptures, he took a rock and bashed in Dustin's skull, killing the man. Thou Shalt Not Kill was lost to him that day. Pleading for her own life Mary told Mordecai that she was pregnant. Uncertain as to the father Mordecai's temporary insanity led him to murder his own wife, inevitably an unborn child.
Living the remaining years a lie to protect his daughters he simply filed the necessary missing persons reports and left the future to chance. With Dustin also MIA the law concluded that they might have run off together. Mordecai had buried his wife at the Shoals, far enough away that finding her would be impossible. Dustin, he fed to the sharks, tying his body by the neck and weighting his body down until one day the man's body was no longer existent. Mordecai was never the same. Never caught!
"Dear God! I know there is no forgiveness for my sins. If I must fall over this, I accept my punishment." With an investigation out there into this new body he knew there was the chance of further exploration. After thirteen years now since that fateful day, surely finding her grave would be unachievable. "Damn! I forgot the stone markers for each of our daughters." Stupid move Mordecai, chipping first name initials of each child into the stones as his only tribute to Mary. "Hopefully, they are not found." Too late! Nick found those rocks when he visited Butterfly Island, he simply had not connected any dots. "If I go out there now, I will only make someone suspect my motives. I have to keep my son's away from there."
No wonder Mordecai acted as he did when his boys went to work that day at Harbinger Shoals. Forbidding their going back there so close to misery was the smartest thing he thought. So far, the boys had listened. Time to bawl! It was all hitting too close to home.
********
Sunset! The borrowed beach house of Nick Sanchez. The waves of the Atlantic crashing harder than usual.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Fucking cellphones! Obsibian Opal Savage woke up on her hammock to the ruckus of waves. What should have been serene was interrupted by an alarm that she herself did not set. Grumpy and groggy she just looked at her phone laying in the sand below. The screen had the words "GET YOUR SEXY ASS UP"
"Fuck you, Dyson." She mumbled, "DIKESON!" Nick Sanchez had his personal computer hacker do his dirty work in reviving the beautifully chiseled bounty hunter and former Black Ops warrior. Nick having pulled her away from the wars and secret missions to work for him exclusively she was beholden to the Major. Her bank account worshipped the man. With her job technically concluded once locating Cybercock aka Jasmine Rivers aka Riviera, more Cybercunt, she needed the downtime. The beeping was not going to stop so Opal rolled out and reached for her phone in the sand. Answering it on speaker she let it be known her distaste. "WHAT GODDAMMIT?"
"Check on your ward. Major's orders. Just in case she becomes a flight risk." Dyson spoke up.
"So, now I'm a babysitter? Just send me back to Malaysia where I can find peace between firefights."
"You know you don't mean that. This life is a heck of a lot more relaxing."
