Page 83 of Gideon

“Yeah. Ty and Mary got it for us. With so many meetings, they thought it would be good.”

“Thoughtful.”

“Yeah.”

He cleared his throat and walked to the stage. “I wanted to say thanks for your prayers.”

“You’re welcome.”

“You’re doing really well here.”

She sat slowly on the pew. “You sound like you have bad news.”

He looked at his hands and picked at his fingers before saying, “I came to say goodbye.”

He heard her sharp intake of breath, but her voice was steady. “You’re going. For real this time?”

“I did everything I could.”

“Yeah. I know I’ve said it before, but you’ve done a lot.”

“You should think about taking your mom away from here.”

“We’ve already had this conversation. And I’m certainly not going to leave as things are picking up at the church. I don’t know what to do with them all, but I can’t leave. Not with everyone looking to Jesus finally after all these years.”

“You won’t get Fairfax out of this town. There’s nothing that can be done.”

“How can you say that after everything that’s happened?”

“I’m serious, Nikki. I don’t know how he does it.” He shook his head. He’d rather leave this part out, butshe had to know what she was up against. “I had a meeting with an agent from ICE.”

“You mean immigration ICE? The one I told you not to contact?”

“Yes.”

She let out a slow breath. “You think that was wise?”

“I thought—” He couldn’t tell her about the mat. “I didn’t know what else to do, and part of their job is to protect any immigrants who are being abused. Legal or illegal. Or at least I thought so.”

Nikki pressed a hand to her chest. “Are they going to deport everyone?”

“No. They’re not doing anything. Fairfax and Peters turned up for the meeting.”

“What?”

“It was over before it started. They spent most of the time talking about what a bad influence I was in town.”

“The sheriff was there?”

“Yeah. After the agent left, they threatened me. Said I should get out of town now or no one would find the body.”

“They said that?”

“There’s nothing else I can do here.”

“Gideon, I?—”

Nikki’s phone rang. She looked at it and frowned. “Just a second. Don’t leave yet. I need to take this.” She answered. “Hey, Mae.” As she listened, her frown deepened. “That’s terrible…. I’m at the church now. Do you want to come down?” She nodded. “Okay, I’ll see you soon.”

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