Blood of the Lamb Read Online Free PDF

the door and I stepped inside.
    She nodded, but looked away. When she looked back, she said, “I’m just a little tired. I don’t have Bobby Earl’s stamina.”
    “Where’s Nicole?”
    “In the bathroom,” she said, nodding toward the narrow door in the corner.
    “I’m sorry to do this,” I said, “but I may never see you again.”
    As though she knew where I was going with this, tears began to fill her eyes. Blinking them back, she said, “What?”
    “I couldn’t help but notice the bruises on your wrists.”
    Instantly, she jerked her arms back, and began to shake and move, as if no longer in full control of her body.
    “I’m sorry,” I said. “But I had to ask. Are you okay?”
    She nodded, her eyes flattening, her face becoming a impenetrable mask. “I’m fine. But it’s sweet of you to ask.” She glanced down a moment, then back at me. “They look worse than they are. I bruise very easily.”
    “They look like they were made by someone grabbing you,” I said.
    “Even men of God can lose their tempers,” she said. “Besides, I can be nagging and disrespectful.”
    “If—” I began, but she put her fingers over my mouth in a gesture that expressed an intimacy we didn’t share.
    “I’m fine,” she said. “Really. Please don’t make a big deal out of it. It’s very sweet of you to care, but they really look worse than they are.”
    “Okay,” I said. “But if it ever gets—”
    “Then I have friends and family I can call,” she said.
    I nodded, embarrassed.
    When I walked into the sanctuary, I found Coel still alone and Bobby Earl giving an impassioned altar call.
    “Where’s Whitfield?” I asked.
    Coel shrugged and shook his head.
    “I’m going to check the bathroom again,” I said.
    “Ten-four,” he said.
    Two steps into the back hallway, I bumped into Theo Malcolm, the institution’s only literacy and GED teacher. Without a word, he shoved past me and rushed out the door.
    I turned and considered him, wondering what he was doing here, and why he was in such a hurry to leave. I called after him, but he didn’t even pause, so I decided to go ahead and check the bathroom. I could always talk to him later.
    In the bathroom, I found Officer Whitfield washing the sweat off his face with water he splashed from his cupped hands.
    “I’m glad you’re back,” I said. “Coel needs some help.”
    “I’m heading in there now,” he said.
    Tim Whitfield was tall and lean, but seemed soft. His dark brown hair was thick and wavy and sat high on his head. The front of his hair was damp and small rivulets of water snaked out of it and down his long forehead.
    “Anyone else in here?”
    “Just two convicts,” he said, looking at the dull reflection of the stalls behind him in the sheet-metal mirror bolted above the sink. “You convicts get back in the service.”
    “Yes, sir,” Dexter Freeman said, stepping out of the stall.
    “Just a minute,” the voice of what sounded like a young black guy called from inside the other stall.
    “Just make it fast,” Whitfield said.
    When I walked back into the sanctuary, Bunny was singing “Just As I Am” while Bobby Earl finished his altar call.
    I searched the stage for Nicole, but she wasn’t there.
    “Where’s Nicole?” I asked Coel.
    “Who?” he said.
    “The little girl,” I said.
    “The black one?” he asked.
    Making no attempt to mask my anger, I said, “There’s only one little girl in this entire institution.”
    “She’s still in your office, I guess,” he said. “She didn’t come out with her mother.”
    “Who’s with her?” I asked.
    “No one right now,” he said. “The preacher went in while his wife was singing, and since he came back out for the altar call, I’ve had my eyes on both doors. He hasn’t been out of your office long.”
    Relief washed over me when I saw that the altar call was over and Bunny was slipping back into my office, Bobby Earl remaining behind to say one last prayer.
    Bobby