Obsidian Faith by Bev Elle Page B

and ran straight into his arms.
    “Trevor. I’m so glad you came. I’m so sad.” She was so overwrought she was trembling. “And I’ve missed you so much.”
    “I know, squirt. Let’s go inside so the neighbor’s dog’ll stop yapping.”
    When they got inside and sat on the sofa together, Trevor tried to get some further answers to the questions he had.
    “Do you know what happened?”
    “We’d come home from lunch after church and Mom fed the boys and bathed them, but she said she needed something to add to the casserole she was making for dinner, so she went to the grocery store.”
    Shanice’s eyes got glassy as she was telling him the story. “She just went to the Publix around the corner to grab a few things. After she’d been gone an hour, Dad got worried and took his truck to go look for her.
    “He called me back ten minutes later and told me he was on his way to the hospital. Mom’s van was being towed when he got there, so he asked some of the folks standing around what had happened. They said a beat-up, black jeep with two men in it ran a red-light and hit her van on the driver’s side.”
    That was confirmation it was Frick and Frack. Frick owned an old black jeep that he called his fishing truck. He usually didn’t drive it when he was around Phil’s, but Trevor had seen it once when they went to work on their boss’s slots.
    “Dad called me an hour later from the hospital and told me Mom had lost the baby.”
    “Is Brenda okay, though?” Trevor asked anxiously.
    “Dad said she had a broken leg, and they were going to do something to stop her from bleeding from the baby.”
    “But she’s going to be alright?”
    “They think so.”
    Trevor breathed a sigh of relief but he was devastated for the Baileys over the loss of their child. No one loved children more than Isaiah and Brenda Bailey. And Shanice had been over the moon about having a little sister. The phone rang as he was contemplating what he should do about the current state of events. If he went to the authorities, there could be other members of the Bailey family targeted. If he told Isaiah what he knew, it would likewise put the rest of the family in danger.
    Shanice picked up the phone. Trevor could tell by the conversation it was her father. “Well, Trevor’s here right now.” She adjusted the phone and addressed Trevor. “Dad wants to know if you would stay here with us until my grandma and grandpa can drive over from Sanford.”
    “Sure,” Trevor said. He was happy to stay at the Baileys for now and help out. Although he wasn’t supposed to be there at all since he’d spent months trying to convince Phil and his cohorts the Baileys weren’t important to him.
    A fat lot of good that had done him because, apparently, Phil had made good on his threats and Trevor knew why. He’d been giving them the runaround regarding expanding their operations to other states. Now it looked like he was going to have to relent and give them what they wanted.
    Trevor hated how his stupidity had hurt the people he loved most, and the least he could do now was to console Shanice and her little brothers until Isaiah’s parents came. He was in no hurry to get back to Phil’s in his present state of mind anyway. His anger would only put himself and the Bailey family at further risk.

Chapter Twelve
    Of course, Trevor’s continued absence from the Baileys made them and Shanice suspicious and angry, in that order, especially after he went back to his plan of avoidance after the baby’s funeral. Brenda and Isaiah called often, a conversation that would go something like:
    “Hey Trevor, we’re worried about you. Did we do anything to hurt your feelings? Or something?”
    “No, I’ve just got a lot going on. You know, school, activities... and I’ve got a part time job now.”
    “Really? Where?”
    He scrambled for a quick response that sounded credible, given the nature of his true work . If you could call it that. “Um, it’s a