The Redeemers Read Online Free PDF Page A

force her with a gun.”
    “I don’t think she’s ever getting better,” Quinn said. “I think she’s fried her mind.”
    The men stood together in front of an old flickering television playing Family Feud in the Tibbehah General waiting room. Lots of old magazines lay on beaten tables between couches and chairs with ripped upholstery. Black-and-white pictures hung on the wall from when the hospital first opened in 1968, with young men and women who were now old or dead. Luke was a shaggy-haired, handsome guy, who liked to duck-hunt and ran marathons. He’d gone to Vanderbilt and Tulane while Quinn had been running and gunning in Trashcanistan. Quinn often wondered if Luke suspected anything about him and Anna Lee. Maybe he was too proud to confront them.
    “It’s not her fault,” Luke said. “It’s not just a weakness. She went back to needing this high because of some kind of stressor, maybe a reminder of when she was using before. Do you know what she was doing in Memphis?”
    “Nope.”
    “Or who she might’ve seen?”
    “I don’t know anything about her life up there,” Quinn said. “She’s never talked about it. Some very bad things happened to her when we were kids. You know all about that. The situation with her boyfriend getting murdered certainly didn’t help her mind-set. I asked her about Memphis. She wouldn’t say.”
    “I guess we all keep some secrets.”
    Quinn nodded. Here it comes.
    A black man in nurse’s scrubs walked into the room and Luke held up his hand and told him he’d be right there. An ambulance pulled up outside the portico. Luke didn’t move an inch. A couple EMTs hopped out of the ambulance and busted open the back doors. Quinn stood tall and waited.
    “So she just up and disappeared?” Luke said.
    “Right before Thanksgiving, there was a service out at The River to remember Jamey Dixon,” Quinn said. “I don’t think it set well with her. She got pretty upset. We talked the day after, and I thought everything was OK. She was really in love with that son of a bitch.”
    “That’ll do it.”
    “And then she goes back to what she’d been before Jamey?”
    “I’m not a psychologist, but that sounds about right.”
    “Caddy.”
    “She says she’s not going to another goddamn detox center,” Luke said. “I’d gather the family together and try and change her mind. Like I said, she’s a mess. She came within a few hours of killing herself.”
    “Going from preacher to junkie is a hard fall.”
    “How are things out at The River?” Luke said. “I heard it’s all shut up.”
    “Diane Tull’s taken it over for a while,” Quinn said. “She’s taking care of the spring planting. They got a visiting preacher from Ackerman to come and help out. He’s a crazy-ass hippie like the rest of them.”
    “So where will you take Caddy?” Luke said.
    “Back to the farm,” Quinn said. “She’s always found peace there. My mom and I can take turns watching her until we get a plan and she agrees. I can take her wherever she needs to go when she’s ready. I’m guessing she’ll want to see Jason first. That’s the one thing that will keep her strong.”
    “You think that’s such a good idea?” Luke said. “For Jason?”
    “Nope.”
    Luke nodded, thoughtful, looking as if he had something on his mind. Quinn stood there, waiting for Luke to go get Caddy or tell him more about how to handle his junkie sister. But instead he took off his expensive glasses and cleaned them with a Kleenex that he pulled from his coat pocket. The buzzer for the wrong answer sounded on the Family Feud and then the host talked about the other family having a chance to steal. They were wanting to Name something that you have to catch.
    “Appreciate it, Luke,” Quinn said. “I appreciate your help.” He offered his hand.
    Luke didn’t accept it. He looked at it as if it were dog shit. The hospital doors were open, an old woman on a gurney was being wheeled in by the EMTs. A