This is the penultimate chapter in what I am trying to decide - either Chapter 1 - 9 of Book Three, or the end of Book Two - Center Game. I favor the latter, but I'll let you all decide! This is a short, but intense chapter which lays the groundwork for what is to come.
Chapter Eight
Lonnie was sitting with Carol and the earl, and, after a few minutes Chris joined them at Amanda’s funeral. Lonnie was finding it difficult to follow, but she did try. And then, when it came time for her to speak, she got up nervously and went up the aisle to the front. After getting herself set behind the lectern, she looked down at her small card, but as she got to speaking, she neglected her card, as the words just flowed.
“Amanda was, to my way of thinking,” she began, “one of the truly rare finds in my life. She was, she was… Well, let me tell you of how she transcended everything and everyone around her. Even though I was older than her by a long shot, I always regarded her as so much wiser than myself. You see, when confronting an illness like she had, she seemed to regard it as just another pebble along her path. And she could see around the bend of your path too, that path which you walked brought her light and entertainment, which made her light up with an energy you could also sense. She was inquisitive, not in a nosy way, but the way of friends seeing each other again after a long absence – she wanted to share what you had discovered and add it to her own experience.
“And that was why she became the confidant of her sisters at the home. And by that I mean, not just the Sisters of the Poor, but also her fellow orphans. She knew, deep down inside herself, that she was in touch with something eternal. And so it was that she spoke of Francine Swinney, and she told me that Francine, another of her little sisters at the orphanage, was in danger. And then later she knew that she had died, and she even knew how, but never told anyone else. Now, what you might ask does this have anything to do with the here and now? Well, I’ll tell you. Just this morning in the paper there was a little blurb, and believe it or not, I know that Amanda’s spirit moved me to look at the paper, and to turn to this little story on page three. It told of someone who had just escaped from prison, named Albert LeGace, who was Francine’s stepfather, and was the one who had killed her.” She paused and swallowed back a tear, then resumed. “And I know she died horribly, as did Amanda, with that knowledge.”
A slight murmuring spread through the church.
“Now you might ask,” continued Lonnie, “how do you connect these things, and what do they mean? I know that the death of these two youngsters in and of themselves should not bear any significance, but I know they do, in ways that it may be difficult to explain. But I feel quite certain that God has touched me, and that His ways and His angels, including Amanda, have much to say to us here and now.
“And I want to close with this. If you should happen to think of Amanda, just remember that she is not done doing what she has always done – that is, getting under your skin, and going straight for your vulnerable heart.”
As Lonnie stepped down from the lectern, and began to walk back to her seat, she looked at the back of the church, and there she saw him. Sitting alone, and with the same look of disdain and smugness. He mouthed the words, “Later, Alonza.” Her heart skipped a beat as she sat down, pale and shaken, next to Chris.
“What is it, Lonnie?” Whispered Chris, “you look as if you’ve seen a ghost…”
“It’s him! He’s here, in the back of the church,” she answered in a tense whisper.
But as Chris and Lonnie both turned and looked back, he was not there. Yet there, it seemed to Lonnie, was still his essence, his pervasive and evil essence.
It was in a back booth at Guido’s Café that the two women sat and looked at each other for a long while, each sipping on their cappuccinos. Eventually, Christine spoke up and asked Lonnie to explain just what she had seen, and what had shaken her to the core.
“Oh, my! You should have seen him. Just sitting back there in the church, looking as if we were just a bunch of pawns, and he then mouthed the words, “Later, Alonza.” I almost froze, but I did make it back to the pew. Oh, Chris, I can still see him, all smug and evil, and I can feel his presence! What do you suggest I do?”
Chris hesitated, then answered carefully, “For now, nothing. But be assured, we will provide some police back-up. I can arrange for that, as you are vital for our ongoing investigation. But to tell you the truth, Lonnie, this is more of that awful stuff which gets thrown in my direction. You know, even my boss thinks that this whole business with Shepperton has taken a toll on me. He even talked to me today, to see if there was any way that someone else could step in to help. I told him I didn’t think so, not at the moment, anyhow. I didn’t tell him about your helping me.”
Lonnie took another sip of her cappuccino before saying, “At least, for the moment, while he is still on the loose… Oh, Chris, I feel there is an otherworldly spirit or something like that afoot. And I have no idea what I am supposed to do, how I am supposed to help.”
“I hate to say it, Lonnie, but your help to me is not measurable in any way. Yet it is as necessary as it was for you to go to the funeral.”
“You think so?”
“Uh huh. I most certainly so.”
“Well, then, you tell me how I can help – maybe it will keep down the feelings of inadequacy.”
“Oh, Lonnie, for now I would just say to go about your business as normally as possible. You let me worry about security. And, after your little encounter, it would definitely seem to me that our Albert LeGace has plans to meet up with you.”
“Gee, thanks a lot!” Lonnie answered with all the sarcasm she could muster.
For the next half hour, the two women sat and commiserated. Finally, Lonnie stood up, and said, “Well, I guess I’d better be going. And thanks so much for the coffee.”
Chris got up as well, and the two women hugged, as if in some way this could be a final goodbye.
Lonnie then walked out of the café, got into her car, and drove back toward her house. She did not notice the black Oldsmobile which followed her.
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