Shoe Strings

to
get off the phone.   “I’ve got to go.   My meeting is about to start.”
    “Are you in expansion meetings?   Have you moved forward with your
decision?”   Was it her imagination
or did she detect a hint of desperation in his voice?
    “We’re still feeling out the possibilities.   I really can’t get into it now.”
    “Angelita?” His tone made her stop pacing.   “It may be more than my life at stake.”
    Her imaginary meeting forgotten, she fell into the
chair.   “What are you talking
about?”
    “If you won’t cooperate, your life could be in danger too.”
    “I don’t understand.   How can I be in danger?”
    “They won’t stop with me, Angelita.   If you can’t come through for me and our
country, your life, your pretty little business partner, anyone you care
about...” He let the threat hang in the air.   “Is it worth the risk?”
    He’d just tightened the noose around her neck.   “How much time do I have?”
    “A week, at best.   You need to come home, Angelita, so we can head off the danger.   The longer you’re away, the more
perilous it becomes, for everyone.”
    “I’ll be home within the week.   Davi?”
    He answered her with silence.  
    “Leave Sophie alone.   I’ll call you when I get back.”
    “I look forward to it.”   She heard the click of the disconnect and could have thrown her phone at
the wall.   She’d never be free of
him, never be able to live without his interference or control.   True or not, threatening Sophie and
others made her decision easy.   Hadn’t she wished for an easy solution to her problem?   She should have been more careful what
she wished for.
    ***
    Cal swung into the parking lot of Sequoyah Falls Federal
Bank, right next to his old reserved spot under the sycamore tree.   It had gotten so big since his
retirement it had left a five-foot crack in the sidewalk.   When he’d been president, he’d have had
that fixed right away instead of waiting until some little old lady tripped and
attorneys got involved.   But it
wasn’t his place to say anything and that fact really chapped his hide.
    He’d been fuming since wandering over to Lita’s porch the
night before to extend an olive branch to Jesse when he’d made that outrageous
comment and sent him scurrying away.   He should have known making things right with him wouldn’t be
simple.  
    He slipped the deposit slip and checks out of his billfold
and waited in line for the next available teller.   The girl on the end must have been from
the new family who’d just moved to town from Knoxville.   Cal hoped he got to deposit his money
with her instead of Molly Pearson.   She and Sally Robinson were thick as thieves and she never let him
forget he’d missed the boat as far as Sally was concerned.  
    “Next,” Molly called.   Hell.   Luck just wasn’t on
his side.    He moved to Molly’s
spot on the counter and watched her eyes twinkle.   “Well, well, Mr. Bloodworth.   It’s always a pleasure to see you.”   She had a smudge of bright red lipstick
on her teeth and it made her look like she’d taken a little sip of the last
customer’s blood.   “What can I do
for you today?”
    “Just a deposit, Molly.”   He didn’t encourage small talk, but
always managed to get sucked in anyway.   The woman loved to gossip.
    “Sure thing, hon.   Oh, I don’t need that,” she said as he tried to pass his driver’s
license across the counter.   Of
course she knew who he was, but rules were rules.   What kind of operation were they running
here anyway?   “Say, I just got back
from a late lunch and saw the strangest thing.   Walked right past the tavern and
happened to look in the window.   Do
you know who I saw, slumped against the bar tying on a good one?”   She didn’t give him a chance to ponder a
guess, but he never would have imagined the name that came out of her
mouth.   “Bryce Jenson, can you
believe it?   Patty Scoggins was
having her smoke break outside as I passed.   I don’t know why they don’t just let her
smoke inside; it just drifts right back in the screen anyway.”   She leaned down and spoke in a whisper
loud enough for everyone in line to hear.   “Patty said he’d been in there since she got there at eleven.”   She shook her head and pushed the
deposit slip across the counter, but didn’t lift her hand so he could take
it.   Clearly, she hadn’t finished gossiping
yet.   “I sure hope he