Riven - Jerry B. Jenkins [196]
“An awful lot of stuff is going to have to come together before this gets that far, son. I may need a pit bull like your attorney here in my corner before it’s all said and done.”
“You want my card?” Ravinia said.
Thomas and Ravinia went all the way back to the administrative wing with the warden without saying a word until they stopped before Yanno’s office.
“Got to tell you,” the warden said, “I’ve been through all kinds of stuff on this job, but this is a first. Has to be the craziest mixed-up deal I’ve ever heard. Ma’am, I expect we’ll be seeing a lot of each other for a while. You realize this thing is just insane enough to happen.”
It was all Thomas could do to keep from shaking his head until Ravinia had followed him into his office and the door was shut.
“I can’t believe what I just heard, Rav. You played him like a fiddle.”
Ravinia kicked off her heels and propped her feet on the edge of his desk. “I’ve never even considered writing a memoir,” she said. “But this would be chapter one.”
Thomas studied her. “This whole idea has captured you, hasn’t it?”
Ravinia lowered her feet to the floor and looked away.
“What is it, sweetheart?” Thomas said.
She shook her head. “I told Brady it would take a miracle to make this happen.”
69
Adamsville
Gladys’s husband, Xavier, was a tall, knuckly man whose arms glistened black in the autumn Saturday sun. He labored over the charcoal grill in Thomas’s backyard as Dirk cavorted with Summer. Ravinia sat with her mother, who—despite the Indian summer day—sat in a chaise longue bundled in a blanket to her neck.
Grace would tell Thomas later that the highlight of the day for her was discovering that Gladys shared her love of the old hymns and getting the chance to sing the melody on some of her favorites, countered by Gladys’s bluesy alto.
After the little impromptu concert, Thomas and Gladys watched Xavier work from a respectable distance. “I’m glad you let him do this,” Gladys whispered. “He won’t admit it, but I think you offended him by implying he cooks for a living. You know he owns the place and just supervises now, only cooks in a pinch. He’s loving this.”
Thomas worried where everyone would sit at the picnic table, what with Dirk and Ravinia still living apart and enduring this only for the sake of their daughter. He decided to just sit next to Grace and let the others sit where they wanted.
“C’mere a minute, Rev,” Gladys said, moving into the shade. “You got to tell me what’s going on at work. I promise not to say a word, but what in the world is it with all the meetings with Andreason and even the governor? They gonna shut us down?”
“Shut us down? Really, Gladys. What would they do with all the inmates?”
“I don’t know, but it has to be about money. It always is. I mean, this state is proud of all of its prisons, but the budget is in deep trouble.”
“That’s nothing new,” Thomas said. “You think it’s worse than it’s been?”
“I’m not blind,” Gladys said. “Something is going on.”
Thomas was debating how much to tell her when Summer squealed that she wanted to see Grandpa, and his son-in-law brought her over. “Anything new with Darby’s scheme?” Dirk said as Summer climbed onto Thomas’s back.
“Darby’s what?” Gladys said.
“Nothing,” Dirk said, looking sheepish. “You heard nothing from me.”
“Me either,” Thomas said.
“All right,” Gladys said. “I told you about the budget; you tell me what else is going on.”
Dirk looked stricken and apologetic. “Goodness, Dad, I thought sure she’d know.”
By the time they sat to eat Xavier’s award-winning barbecue spare ribs and chicken, everyone was talking about Brady Darby’s bizarre idea.
“No specifics in front of little ears,” Ravinia said, dabbing her mouth. “And needless to say, none of this can go farther than this yard.”
Two weeks later, the incendiary news engulfed the world. No one knew how the information had leaked from the prison to the International Cable Network