The Everborn - Nicholas Grabowsky [72]
19.
Knocking On Scratch’s Door
Matt McGregor had at first taken Max’s disconcerting dismissal from their meeting with a neutral curiosity. It was neutral in regards to his putting two-and-two-together, his dormant awareness, and it made him curious as to where in the hell Max went. He was also distracted by the matters-at-hand kind of things which always demanded the attention of the people in charge and today he was the person in charge.
When Max’s motives were first suspected by McGregor, he was immersed in Mrs. Clipboard’s show-and-tell flip-book of reports. He didn’t quite catch the tail-end of her presentation but instead found himself overwhelmed with insight and wondering what to do. His first impulse was to get Max on his cell phone, which was the safest option he had; he’d always respected Max’s instincts, as well as Max’s impulses and ingenuity. Before Matt dove into any extremes which would wound Max’s cause, contacting him first proved to be the best measure possible. But Matt had seen many a man proclaim to know what he was doing and soon afterwards end life or limb in an ill—foreseen demise.
Matt didn’t want that to happen to Max.
Not to mention the often times when Matt would ask him if he knew what he was doing, and Max would answer that he didn’t know, that he was making it up as he went along.
Well, that would be fine and swell for Indiana Jones to say, but Max didn’t have the happenstance charm of a screen character, and Max worried Matthew.
He went to his car at the end of the motel parking lot, a ‘91 Chevy Caprice of weathered white and misty chrome, went for his own cell phone and dialed Max’s number. There was a busy signal. This confounded him, and he swore harshly and dialed again. Busy. He dialed Max’s home number, on a whim. Busy also. Max must be speaking to Melony, was what came to mind.
And he swore harshly again.
For a moment he reasoned. It never occurred to him to radio in Max’s description to the guys at the church, for Max to be held at bay until Matt arrived. If it had occurred to him, there would’ve been a number of reasons --a number of good reasons-- for enforcing the idea.
But this was Max. He had faith in Max and he had to have legitimate reasons for the officers at the church to detain him. Reportable reasons, and he didn’t want to deal with that bullshit. He decided to keep it mum and he would handle it himself.
Immediately.
Just in case.
He returned to the motel room crime scene, caught the homicide detective Hugh Updike on his way ou, and confided that he was on his way to the Church on the Rock to continue his investigation. It was kind of like a child informing his parents where he was going to be and he felt that way.
If these were normal circumstances, he would’ve let other officials know just the same. Almost the same.
But this wasn’t normal and under the circumstances, he nevertheless had to be ready for anything.
As was usual, immediately.
As was now, just in case.
He set out, alone, for The Rock.
***
Max followed the pastor up the rear stairwell within the church after a brief jaunt past the consoling glances of a handful of church attendees, up past the second-story choir room, until the two arrived at a door at the stairwell’s head.
“I thought I saw Simon earlier at the service,” Bradshaw said to Max. “He usually sits toward the back. He’s so self-conscious of his looks...”
“He must be,” Max commented.
“You’ve seen him before, I take it.”
“On occasion,” Max said. “But it’s been quite some time since I last did.”
“Well, if he’s here, you’ll be seeing him again.”
Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of, Max thought to himself, and yes, he was afraid, a little afraid, even more so than he cared to admit, but he had company, he wasn’t going to meet Simon alone, he was going to meet this prized enigma with someone whom Simon apparently respected. This gave him a subtle comfort, although his anticipations were