Page 30 of The Tomorrows After You
His smile faltered briefly. He blinked at me.“We do what we can.”He pulled my move and sat in silence with a thin-lipped smile. I had underestimated him. He wasn’t fooled by my playing dumb. He knew I was after information, and he was going to make me work for it. Time to try something new.
I dropped my façade and sat straighter in my chair putting my elbows on his desk.“Where does all that money come from, Pastor Blackwell?”I tilted my head.
He examined me and I studied his face.
Watching Pastor Blackwell maintain his thin-lipped smile, the Gotchya Moment was subtle, but it was there. I tried to suppress a smile. He broke our stare down and leaned back in his chair.
“Did you know I’m not originally from Godot?”he asked.
“I did not.”
He nodded.“I was born in DC. My parents were military, and we moved around a lot before landing in Baltimore.”He paused, studying me.“I’ve seen a lot of this world, Nicolette. Some might say more than I cared to.”A genuine sadness passed over his eyes.“What I hope you’ll understand is that when I moved here from Baltimore thirty years ago, I had a much more worldly view than… most. And I knew the town was going to need more support.”
I’m not the dumb, Bible-thumping redneck you think I am, girl.
“So, you’re funding all these projects out of your own pocket?”
He smiled and shook his head.“No, not exactly. In the beginning, yes, but then the need grew too great, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before the resources demanded more than I could give. We needed a steadier source of income.”
I nodded.“The mine.”He hummed in assent.“So why outsource it?”
“The mine was profitable in the early years. But its profitability waned when the health problems arose. I can’t say which came first but by then I couldn’t very well ask these people to keep going into those mines day in and day out. The money was irrelevant; it was producing itself by then anyhow.”His eyes darted around the room before landing on me.
“Producing itself?”My head tilted and Pastor Blackwell studied me before blowing out a sigh.
“The day I was elected Board President and senior clergyman over twenty-five years ago, I knew this town needed more than it could feasibly support on its own. I took a careful look at the finances. I brought in some chosen experts, and we began... investing. Everything we could spare. Into properties and businesses. Eventually low-risk hedge funds.Housing and healthcare. The only two consistencies people will always need.”His tone mimicked whomever had first spoon-fed him that phrase.
I pictured the man from the Center handing over crumpled dollar bills.
“That’s what you’re doing with their donations,”I said out loud, more to myself. Elias shifted in his seat.“So, all the money that funds the Center... all the money you spent rebuilding the Valley… It’stheirmoney.”
“It’s legally the church’s money,”he corrected.“They give to the church because the church gives back to them. But make no mistake, they don’t have enough money to make the kind of difference that’s needed here.”He waved his arms as if describing the town.
“So, you invest it into hedge funds. And that’s enough to pay for the entire Centerandthe entire Valley being rebuilt?”
“Some years the market is kinder to us than others, but gosh darn it, if my advisors weren’t right about housing and healthcare.”He paused as if considering something.“Well, we were in the lucky few who shifted their investments out of the housing market before it collapsed in 2008.”He shrugged.
I sat back. That was the big secret? He invested poor people’s money to make more money to pay for the town that was too sick to work and too broke to afford healthcare?
Not much of an exposé there.
“Do they know? Do you tell them where their money goes? How much it yields, where the profits go?”
Blackwell frowned and almost looked ashamed.“Nicolette… I am not blind to the ignorance you think you see here. I know you are a woman of the world and you’ve seen more of this planet, the good and the ugly than that entire congregation might ever see combined. There is a certain…skepticismsurrounding things that aren’t easily understood. And hedge funds?“He shook his head with a frown.“Aren’t easily understood. Heck,Idon’t even totally understand them. But if I told them their money was going to Wall Street, they’d stop giving and then we would no longer be able to help. And within five years this entire town would look like the Valley.”He ran a hand over his chin, a forlorn expression decorating his features.
“Don’t you think they have a right to know where the money goes?”
He bit the corner of his mouth and looked down before nodding.“Yes, they probably do. I know that. But sometimes, as leaders, we have to make decisions for the better of our community when they can’t make those choices themselves.”
My head swam. His words made sense; perfect, logical, infuriating sense. But I still sat unsettled. I stood up and thanked him for his time.
“Miss Parker,”he said before I exited.“I tell you these things out of respect for you and your time. You are a bright young woman, and you have a choice. Now, I can’t, and I won’t stop you from making any of this information public. That is a matter you will have to settle for yourself. But I hope you’ll consider what the future might look like either way.Thinkabout the people who will have to live in it. And if you decide that candor is the more important route…” He looked away and the momentary look of hopelessness on his face stabbed me with hesitation. “Well, I respect your decision.”
I held my breath, needing to get fresh air before digesting any of this. I nodded and turned but when I opened the door, I smacked right into Katie Plainbottom.
“Oh, gosh! I’m so sorry!”She scanned me up and down.“Oh, Nicolette, I heard you were back.”Her smile was sweet but there was a tightness to it. She breezed past me, not waiting for a reply and she already rubbed me the wrong way.“Pastor Blackwell, I wanted to let you know that we’re still down a body on the marketing committee but I’m confident I can fill Mrs. Coleman’s place as the chair.”
Blackwell sighed.“I appreciate that Katie. I can’t tell you how important this year’s Field Days are for winning that tourist grant from the state.”His eyes darted to me. Katie turned around as if surprised I was still standing there.
