Rescue

serious.“
    She cocked her head, enough like Nancy does that I noticed it. “You are serious, aren’t you?“
    “Yes.“
    In the purry voice, Dawna said, “You’re gonna have to take those off, you know.“
    “What?“
    “Your Dockers, there. You’re going to have to take them off for me to sew them.“
    “And wear what in the meantime?“
    “Oh, no, don’t tell me. You’re one of those guys who doesn’t believe in underwear?“
    “I believe in underwear.“
    “Well, then there won’t be anything for me to see, will there?“
    Kicking out of my shoes, I undid the belt buckle and took off the pants.
    Adair said, “Solid all over.“
    I tossed the Dockers to her, but she made no attempt to catch them, just letting them fail onto her legs. When I didn’t do anything, Dawna leaned over to her night table, taking out one of those miniature sewing kits some hotels give you for free in the room.
    Using her lips to stiffen the thread toward the eye of a needle, she said, “How come you’re so interested in the Church of the Lord Vigilant?“
    I’d been debating how much to tell her, and given how poorly I’d done with my lies, I decided to try the truth.
    Adair stopped sewing about halfway through my story- When I finished, she went back to the tear in the pants, but worked more slowly.
    Dawna said, “You’re serious about all that?“
    “I am.“
    “And you think this Eddie is with the Church somehow.
    “Yes.“
    “Well, I don’t know much that can help you. I was there only the once.“
    “There?“
    “On Little Mercy. Little Mercy Key, I mean. That’s where they have the Compound.“
    “How did you happen to be there?“
    “I knew this other bartender, Mack. I was kind of helping him—sisterlike—through his divorce. He was from Wisconsin , originally, and he didn’t have any real friends down here. Mack kind of caught the religious fever, I guess you’d call it. At least, that’s what he called it, a ‘fever.’ Anyway, he started going to meetings at that tent ground on the way to Little Mercy.“
    “I went to one, too.“
    “You did?“
    “To get a look at Reverend Wyeth.“
    “He is a trip and a half, isn’t he?“
    “Very effective preacher, though.“
    “Mack said that’s what sold him on the idea at the beginning, that this reverend really seemed to be... genuine, maybe? But then, when Mack brought me to the Compound—kind of as a guest, to see it?—it was really weird.“
    “How long ago was this?“
    “Gee, maybe a year, on account of Mack’s been down on Key West since last Thanksgiving.“
    “What’s it like?“
    “The Compound, you mean?“
    “Yes.“
    “Well, it’s... weird, like I said. There’s this security gate you have to go through, like for an Air Force base or something- And there are these guards, they don’t look like guards, they look like they’re all dressed up to go country dancing, but they’re guards all right. And once you’re inside, all the people are dressed the same.“
    “The same?“
    “Like the guards. And the buildings are white, too, with, like, navy blue trim. They’re just tiny places, all in neat rows like beach cottages only no frills. And whole families live in them, ‘on vacation,’ Mack said, but it seemed to me that it was all kind of... artificial, like they’d built this little make-believe town for the people to playact in for a week or two a year.“
    “Did you see anything called the Center for the Study of Sin?“
    “No. Well, I mean, I did see it, I suppose, on account of it’s, like, part ofthe Compound, but... I’m not explaining this too well, am I?“
    “You’re doing fine.“
    Adair seemed to concentrate. “The Compound itself is like I said, rows and rows of these tiny ‘vacation’ houses, but they also have a dining hall for everybody, and a little office building—the big one’s on the Overseas, ocean side.
    “I’ve been there.“
    “Okay, where was... Oh, yeah. And at the back of the Compound, there’s like this other wall, and the infirmary kind of butts into it, and Mack said the Center place was beyond that.“
    “Beyond the infirmary.“
    “And the wall.“
    I thought about it. Why wall off the Center, and why have it be attached to the infirmary?
    “Dawna, did you see anything else while you were there?“
    “Yeah, some people who I didn’t know were members.“
    “Members?“
    “Of the Church. I mean, everybody’s dressed the same, it’s kind of hard not to