wants you to be free from the past. You have a wonderful life in front of you, you know. Fight for it.”
Kaely stood. “I will,” she choked out.
Melanie walked her to the door. “I’m sorry for everything you’ve been through and so glad you and your brother recovered from your injuries. If you ever need someone to talk to, call me. I’ll be glad to listen.”
“Thank you.” Kaely stuck out her hand, and Melanie took it. “I really do appreciate your time. You’ve helped more than I can say.”
“Good. Let me walk you out.”
A few minutes later Kaely was being escorted out of the prison. When she reached her car in the parking lot, she got in, then put her head on the steering wheel and cried until she couldn’t cry anymore. But it wasn’t from sadness. It was release. And joy.
Forty-Four
It wasn’t quite time to leave for the drive to Mort’s, but Kaely was already packed and ready to go. She sat down on the couch to relax a bit. This would be her third trip to the restaurant during her trip to Iowa. She and Noah had taken Jason and Audrey there before they left for home. Audrey had braved a flight to be with him in the hospital.
Kaely couldn’t stop thanking God that her brother had survived the awful knife wound Kenneth Beck inflicted. She was also thankful Beck had thought Jason was dead when he dumped him into the hole he’d dug for both of them. Jason admitted he was actually conscious for some of it.
“I kept trying to help you, sis,” he’d said. “But I was too weak. Then when he pushed me into that hole, I passed out again. I didn’t regain consciousness until I woke up in the hospital.”
“If you’d angered him, he would have killed you, Jason. I’m so glad you didn’t do anything to set him off.”
“And I’m grateful the cavalry showed up just in time,” Jason had said, looking at Noah. “A few minutes later . . .”
Noah had been pretty quiet while Kaely recovered. She’d seen him like this before, when he had something on his mind. She had no idea what it was, but she wasn’t worried. She trusted him.
She couldn’t stop thinking about what Melanie said, that her father might have accepted God’s forgiveness before he died. She had no way to know what happened, but she wasn’t going to dwell on it. It was better to simply put him in God’s hands and leave him there.
After having his body cremated, she’d looked for a cemetery where his remains could be buried. Of course, there was no funeral. Couldn’t be one. But it seemed no one even wanted The Raggedy Man buried in their hallowed ground. Kaely had no intention of taking his ashes home with her, though. Finally, one small cemetery, owned by a church, accepted his remains.
“We’re not his judges,” the pastor had said. “Our job is to love. If Christ loves the world, then we should as well. And that includes your father.”
They would allow her to pay only for the cost of having the ground opened and closed, wanting to be a blessing to Kaely and her family. She paid them the small amount they asked for and then sent a larger check after the burial. Kaely and Jason talked about going to the cemetery, but the media was inflamed over the death of the infamous Raggedy Man. Somehow, they’d figured out where he was buried and were scouting out the small cemetery, no doubt hoping to see his son and daughter there—all much to the chagrin of the church. The pastor and his parishioners had actually been called traitors by a columnist in one of the local papers.
Kaely called the pastor to apologize for the attacks, but he’d just chuckled. “People of faith have endured a lot harsher persecution than this. It will pass. Something else will happen in our town, and the media will trot after that. We’ll be forgotten.”
Kaely’s eyes misted thinking of the kind pastor and his long-suffering congregation. She had driven past the cemetery once, early in the morning before the media vans arrived. She spotted the newly turned earth and was touched to see flowers on the grave. She was certain the church had placed them there. No one else in Des Moines would be brave enough.
She believed her invisible friend, Georgie, was gone for good. She didn’t feel sad. Georgie lived inside her. Always had. But