Free Fort Lupton by Claudia Hall Christian

Charlie, he said to me,
‘You help Sissy find the best place,’” Ivan said. He stood up
slowly. “We make sure this is best place. Otherwise, they can take
the girl with horse teeth.”
    Sissy giggled at the reference to the other
girl. Ivan nodded toward the door.
    “ Time to go,” Ivan
said.
    Sissy followed Seth inside. She turned and
held out her hand to Ivan. He took it and they walked to the
table.
    “ Miss Delgado?” the woman
moderator asked. “May we call you Mitzi?”
    “ Sissy,” she
said.
    “ Sissy?” the woman
asked.
    “ My brother called me
‘Sissy’ when I was born.” She swallowed down her sorrow. “Now most
people call me Sissy.”
    “ Sissy it is, then.” the
woman smiled. “Let’s begin.”
    ~~~~~~~~
    Thursday morning — 8:53 a.m.
     
    Sandy slipped into the back pew of the
Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. She didn’t have a
lot of time. She hadn’t slept more than a few hours since Charlie
got hurt.
    Charlie got hurt.
    She rubbed her forehead at
the pain that lived there. Charlie didn’t get hurt. Charlie didn’t do anything wrong. Charlie went work so he
could help out the family. Charlie walked home so that he could be present for his
girlfriend, who was in crisis. Charlie had done everything right,
so right that some men decided to hurt him because of some of the
right things Charlie had done.
    The men were in jail.
    The DA was talking about a plea deal. If
they admit to almost killing Charlie, they’ll get less time in
jail. All she knew was that Charlie had struggled to breathe while
the men who almost killed him wormed their way out of their
responsibility. She’d told the DA that when he’d come to see her.
She’d told the DA that “he could go to hell if he thought she
wouldn’t fight tooth and nail for the men who almost killed her
brother to spend the rest of their lives in jail.” He’d looked at
her like she was crazy.
    She was crazy. She saw a light travel across
the pew and turned to look. Tanesha slipped in the back of the
church. Tanesha sat down next to Sandy and took her hand.
    “ I’ve lost my mind,” Sandy
whispered.
    “ Welcome to the club,”
Tanesha whispered back.
    “ I was thinking
about killing those men,” Sandy whispered. “You know the ones who hurt
Charlie.”
    “ I was thinking about
killing Annette,” Tanesha said. “That woman.
She . . .”
    She turned to look at Sandy and raised an
eyebrow. Sandy nodded. They sat in silence watching the church.
Even though mass had been over for an hour, the church was oddly
busy. A few elderly women shuffled around the vestibules cleaning
up the mess of burned candles. The priest was talking to a group of
people near the front. Tanesha and Sandy watched the activity and
listened to their own thoughts.
    The light flashed when the back opened
again. Heather squeezed passed Sandy to sit next to Tanesha near
the middle of the pew.
    “ You okay?” Sandy leaned
over to whisper to Heather. “Didn’t see you last night.”
    “ I couldn’t deal,” Heather
said. “Went home to cry myself to sleep.”
    “ Hmp,” Tanesha said.
“We’re thinking murder and you’re crying yourself to
sleep.”
    Tanesha glanced at Heather and then back at
Sandy.
    “ I think she’s more
honest,” Tanesha said. Sandy nodded.
    “ Why?” Heather whispered.
“What did you think?”
    “ Murder.” Sandy raised her
eyebrows.
    “ No, I think murder is
more honest,” Heather said. “I’m just not sure who I’d
kill.”
    “ Enrique?” Tanesha asked.
“He gave Blane hep C.”
    Heather became very still while she thought
through what Tanesha was saying. She shook her head.
    “ I don’t have the energy
to murder anyone today,” Heather said. “You?”
    She looked at Tanesha and then at Sandy.
They thought about it for a moment before acquiescing that they
were too tired for murder today.
    “ But . . .”
Sandy started. She stopped talking and stared at the altar for a
moment before