Native Bones (Zeb Hanks by Mark Reps

Author:Mark Reps [Reps, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mark Reps

18

On Wednesday nights all else in Sun Rey’s multi-pronged business world came to a halt. One evening a week he became the Most Reverend Sun Rey of the Church of God Holiness. In the recent past Zeb had attended a revival meeting in which Sun Rey had seemingly saved souls. Zeb’s crisis of faith, from the loss of Doreen, had led him to the revival tent. Had he been seeking redemption or merely deliverance from the pain in his soul? It didn’t matter because this night he had a much different reason for attending the gathering. Sun Rey had moved high up on the list of suspects in the death of Elizabeth Townes and, by proximity and time, Rainen Kayita. He needed to see with his own eyes if Sun Rey was unfettered by conscience.

Sun Rey’s revival tent relocated frequently. Part of the time it was set up on his own private land east of Safford. Other times the revival tent was erected on Talkalai Lake, a small man made reservoir created by the Blue River and the San Carlos River. Zeb knew the area well, having fished for largemouth bass with Song Bird from its banks. Tonight Zeb knew Sun Rey would be performing his snake handling religious ceremony there. Zeb’s mind and senses were razor sharp as he headed out to the Rez. When he arrived at the destination, he was somewhat shocked and angry to see Deputy Dawbyns sitting on a fallen log that served as a pew.

“What are you doing here?” growled Zeb.

“Getting saved,” replied Devon. “Isn’t that the general idea of these meetings?”

Zeb placed a tight grip on Devon’s shoulder and squeezed down hard. He bent forward and whispered in his new deputy’s ear.

“Did you follow me to see what I’m doing?” asked Zeb, bearing down even harder on Devon’s shoulder.

“If you ease up on the Vulcan grip, I’ll tell you exactly why I’m here,” replied Devon.

Zeb loosened his grip ever so slightly.

“My grandmother gripped me hard than that when I was a screwing off as a kid,” said Devon.

His remark caused Zeb to laugh and completely let go of his grasp.

“Too bad you didn’t learn a little more from her,” snapped Zeb. “It might have saved me some trouble.”

“Okay, okay. Your grip made your point,” said Devon. “Why do you even care if I am here or not? It’s a public forum.”

“I don’t care that you’re here,” said Zeb. “It’s just that I wasn’t expecting you. It almost feels like you are subordinating me by being here. I specifically told you Kate was lead on Sun Rey. I can handle this situation. I don’t need your help.”

“I’m not here to back you up, but I will back you up if it becomes necessary. I’m here because Senator Russell advised I learn about all of the people, that is, if I hope to be Governor of Arizona one day,” replied Devon. “He told me religious people vote in the primaries, and I need their bloc of votes to win.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.