She straightened and gave Gabe a look of cold fury. Reaching down, she snatched the snake from his hand and pitched it over the railing. "See. We'll let it go so it can find its family."

Gabe regarded her with reproach. She was never going to make a man out of the boy if she kept protecting him like this. Gabe had exposed Jamie to snakes when he was a toddler, making sure he could tell the good ones from the poisonous ones, and he'd loved touching them. The voice of reason told him there was a big difference between a child who'd grown up with snakes and one who hadn't, but his son was dead, and he couldn't listen to reason.

Edward curled against her. She patted his head. "How about some breakfast, Mr. Early Bird?"

He nodded against her belly, and Gabe could barely make out his words. "Pastor Ethan said I was s'posed to come to Sunday school today."

Rachel looked annoyed. "Maybe some other time."

He mentally cursed his brother for planting the idea in the boy's head. Ethan hadn't given a moment's thought to what Rachel would go through if she walked into a church service.

"That's what you said last Sunday," Edward complained.

"Let's open the new box of Cheerios."

"I want to go today."

Gabe couldn't stand listening to the kid argue. "Do what your mother says."

Rachel whirled on him. She began to speak, only to clamp her mouth shut and hustle her son inside.

Gabe avoided them both by taking a long walk in the woods until he found the place where he used to keep his animal sanctuary. He'd built some cages when he was. around ten or eleven and used them to doctor whatever wounded animals either he or his friends happened to find. Looking back, he was surprised at how many he'd been able to save.

The memory brought him only sadness. Now he didn't even want to be around animals. He'd been able to heal so many living creatures, but he couldn't heal himself.

He wasn't ready to face either Rachel or the boy, so he headed into town, where he picked up coffee at McDonald's. Afterward, he made his way toward Ethan's church and parked in his accustomed place a block away. He'd been attending services the last few Sundays, always sitting in the back, coming in late and leaving early so he didn't have to talk to anyone.

Rachel had turned her back on God, but he'd never quite been able to do that. His faith wasn't strong like his brother's, and it hadn't helped him. But something was there, and he couldn't let it go.

Despite his recent irritation with Ethan, he liked hearing him preach. Ethan wasn't one of those irritatingly righteous men of God who thundered absolutes and acted as if they had the only pipeline to heaven. Ethan preached tolerance and forgiveness, justice and compassion-everything, Gabe realized, that Ethan wasn't showing to Rachel. His brother had never been a hypocrite, and Gabe couldn't understand it.

He glanced across the congregation and saw that he wasn't the only latecomer. Kristy Brown sneaked into a rear pew long after the Prayer of Confession. She wore a yellow dress with a very short skirt, and her expression practically dared people to make something of it. He smiled to himself. Like everyone else in Salvation, he'd never paid much attention to Kristy unless he'd needed something done. Now she'd become a force to be reckoned with.

After the service, he drove to Gal's house and called his brother to tell him he was moving out for a while. When Cal heard why, he exploded.

"You're moving in with the Widow Snopes? Ethan said you were tangled up with her, but I didn't believe him. Now you're living with her?"

"It's not like that," Gabe replied, even though that wasn't quite the truth. "She's become a target around here, and I think she's in danger."

"Then let Odell take care of it."

Gabe heard a soft little mouse-like squeal in the background, and realized it was coming from his niece. Rosie was a beautiful baby, full of mischief and already itching to try her wings. A small pain lodged in his chest.

"Look, Gabe, I've talked to Ethan. I know you've always had a weakness for wounded animals, but this wounded animal is a rattlesnake. Anybody who's been with you for five minutes can tell you're an easy mark when it comes to money, and-Hey!"

"Gabe?" His sister-in-law's voice cut in. Although Gabe had only been with Dr. Jane Darlington Bonner a few times, he had immediately taken to her. She was brainy, assertive, and decent, exactly what Cal needed after making a career out of youthful bimbos.

"Gabe, don't listen to him," Jane said. "Don't listen to Ethan either. I like the Widow Snopes."

Gabe felt duty-bound to point out the obvious. "That's nice to hear, but I don't believe you've ever met her, have you?"

"No," his sister-in-law replied in her no-nonsense voice. "But I lived in her awful house. When Cal and I were having all our trouble-I know it sounds silly, but whenever I was in her bedroom or the nursery, I'd feel this funny kinship with her. There was this wickedness about the rest of the house, and a goodness about those two rooms. I always thought it came from her."

He heard a bark of skeptical laughter from his brother in the background,

Gabe smiled. "Rachel's the farthest thing I can imagine from a saint, Jane. But you're right. She's a good person, and she's having a tough time. Try to keep big brother off my back for a while, will you?"

"I'll do my best. Good luck, Gabe."

He made some other calls, including one to Odell Hatcher, then packed up the perishables from the refrigerator and headed back to Heartache Mountain. It was mid-afternoon when he parked next to the garage. The cottage windows were open and the front door unlocked, but Rachel and the boy weren't inside.

He carried the groceries into the kitchen and unloaded them in the refrigerator. When he turned around, he saw the boy standing just inside the back door. He'd entered so quietly that Gabe hadn't heard him.

Gabe remembered the way Jamie had flown into their big old rambling North Georgia farmhouse, door slamming, sneakers banging, usually yelling at the top of his small lungs that he'd found a special earthworm or needed a broken toy repaired.

"Is your mother outside?"

The boy looked down at the floor.

"Please answer me, Edward," Gabe said quietly.

"Yes," the boy murmured.

"Yes, what?"

The boy's shoulders stiffened. He didn't lift his head.

The child definitely needed some toughening up, for his own sake. Gabe forced himself to speak quietly, patiently. "Look at me."

Slowly, Edward lifted his head.

"When you talk to me, Edward, I want you to say, 'Yes, sir' or 'No, sir' 'Yes, ma'am' and 'No, ma'am' when you talk to your mother or Kristy or any lady. You're living in North Carolina now, and that's the way polite children speak around here. Do you understand?"

"Uh-huh."

"Edward…" Gabe's tone carried a soft warning note.

"My name's not Edward."

"That's what your mother calls you."

"She's allowed," he said sullenly. "Not you."

"What am I supposed to call you?"

The child hesitated and then muttered, "Chip."

"Chip?".

"Don't like Edward. Want everybody to call me Chip."

Gabe considered trying to explain to him that Chip Stone might not be the best choice of names, then abandoned the idea. He'd always been good with children, but not this one. This one was too strange.

"Edward, did you find the ball of string?"

The back door opened and Rachel came in. Her dirty hands and smudged nose indicated that she'd been working in the garden. Her gaze immediately flew to her son, as if she were afraid Gabe might have used thumbscrews on him when she wasn't looking. Her attitude made him feel guilty, and he didn't like that.

"Edward?"

The boy went over to the old cupboard, tugged open the left drawer with both hands, and pulled out the twine ball that had been there, in one form or another, for as long as Gabe could remember.

"Put it with the bucket I was using, would you?"

He nodded, then gave Gabe a wary glance. "Yes, ma'am."

Rachel regarded him quizzically. Edward let himself out the back door.

"Why'd you name him Edward?" Gabe asked, before she could start in on him about what had happened that morning with the garter snake.

"It was my grandfather's name. My grandmother made me promise to name my first son after him."

"Couldn't you call him Ed or something? Eddie? Nobody calls little kids Edward anymore."

"Excuse me. I seem to have forgotten… Exactly which part of this is your business?"

"All I'm saying is that he doesn't like his name. He told me I have to call him Chip."

Dark-green storm clouds gathered in her eyes. "Are you sure you're not the one who told him something was wrong with his name? Maybe you told him he should call himself Chip."

"No."

She stalked forward, finger pointed toward his chest like a pistol. "Leave my son alone." Bang! "And don't you dare interfere between us again the way you did this morning." Bang! Bang!

She'd never been one to mince words, and she kept after him. "What you did with that snake was cruel, and I won't allow it. If you try anything like that again, you can move right back out of here."

The fact that she was right made Gabe feel cornered. "In case you've forgotten, this is my house." It was his mother's. Close enough.

"I haven't forgotten anything."

A small flutter of movement in the periphery of his vision caught Gabe's attention. He looked past Rachel's shoulder toward the screen door and saw Edward standing there, taking in the argument.

Even through the screen, Gabe could sense his watchfulness, as if he were guarding his mother.

"I mean it, Gabe. Leave Edward alone."

He said nothing, merely looked past her toward the door. Edward realized he'd been spotted and disappeared from view.

The lines of strain at the corners of Rachel's mouth put Gabe out of the mood to argue with her. Instead, he wanted to pull her back to the bedroom and start all over again. He couldn't get enough of her. But they weren't alone…

He extracted the square of paper he'd stuck in his back pocket and unfolded it. It was his guilt offering for what had happened that morning, but she didn't have to know it. "Odell gave me the the names of everybody who was at the airstrip the night G. Dwayne escaped."

Her bad mood vanished. "Oh, Gabe, thank you!" She snatched the list from him and sat down at the kitchen table. "Is this right? There are only ten names on the list. It seemed as if there were a hundred men there that night."

"Four from the sheriff's office, and Salvation's entire police force. That's it."

Just as she started to study the list more closely, they heard a car approaching. He went into the living room ahead of her, then relaxed as he saw Kristy get out of her Honda. She was dressed to kill in khaki shorts and a slinky green top.

Rachel hurried to greet her. Edward raced around from the side and threw himself at Kristy. "You came back!"

"I told you I would." She bent down and kissed the top of his head. "I'm tired of working, so I came by to see if you want to go to the pig roast with me this afternoon."

"Wow! Can I, Mom? Can I?"

"Sure. But go clean up first."

Gabe wandered back to the kitchen and was pouring himself a cup of Rachel's pansy-assed coffee when the two women came in.

"But why would you want Dwayne's Bible? What do you-" Kristy broke off as she caught sight of him. He knew she'd been worried about Rachel being here alone, and he detected relief in her expression. "Hi, Gabe."

"Kristy."

"I want the Bible for Edward," Rachel said, without looking at him. "It's a family heirloom."

So, Gabe thought. She wasn't even going to tell Kristy the truth. He was the only one who knew.

Kristy sat down at the table and studied the list.

"One of these men had to have stolen it the night they confiscated my car." Rachel picked up the cup of coffee Gabe had just poured for himself and took a sip. He didn't know why, but it felt nice to be taken for granted. Rachel seemed to be the only person who expected anything from him these days.

Kristy regarded the list thoughtfully. "Not Pete Moore. He hasn't been inside a church in years."

Rachel leaned back against the sink and cradled the mug in both hands. "The person who took it might not have done it for religious reasons. He could very well have wanted it as a curiosity piece."

In the end, Kristy entirely eliminated six names and said the other four were highly unlikely, but Rachel refused to be discouraged. "I'll start with those, but if I don't discover anything, I'm talking to the rest."