Chapter 20
The following spring brought a multitude of storms across the nation.
Mother Nature had lost her mind. Briar was disgusted with the constant downpours in New Orleans, and nervous about possible flooding in the city, but the storms always moved through too fast to cause much damage. The levees held, and life moved on.
Every night as they watched national news, they saw news clips of torrential rains flooding the plains, and in the rivers running through mountain valleys.
Water overran riverbanks, swallowing houses, cattle, and people into the flood.
The world was washing away, and there weren’t any magic words to stop the onslaught.
Back in Star Ridge, the faithful river where kids went swimming and anglers dipped their hooks in the flow, where Abel taught Tate to fish, had turned into a raging monster.
The roads both east and west of town were washed out. The river had long since overflowed its banks and was still plowing a new tributary, bringing it closer and closer to the south side of town.
The lives of the people who’d lived outside of Star Ridge, and closer to the river, were forever changed.
Houses had washed away. Livestock drowned—their bloated bodies moving with the flood like gory barges.
In the county alone, twelve people had drowned, and in Star Ridge, people were missing, and grieving families, having searched in vain for days, were now praying to be delivered, one way or another.
They’d contacted outside authorities for help, but short of air-dropping food supplies, they couldn’t get to the town from either direction. They’d become an island at the bottom of a mountain. One more violent rainstorm, and the river would be in their streets, washing the rest of them away.
They were scared, weary, and at the point of giving up, when someone suggested a town meeting tomorrow, which would be a Sunday. Residents quickly agreed, hoping someone knew the magic word that would show them what to do next.
They met after church in the city park and set up the speaker station beneath the gazebo.
Police Chief Pliney Watts furnished a battery-powered mic, then stood back and let the people have their say.
One by one, they came up to the mic, said their piece, and handed it to someone else.
The general consensus was that everyone needed some measure of help, but no one had an answer.
Then Andy Sparks from Sparks Grocery stepped up and unloaded a painful truth.
“It’s a damn shame that the people of this town treated the Bandy family so badly.
If Tate Bandy was still here, he would help us find the missing.
He would know if there was more rain to come.
If it wasn’t for him, I would likely have been shot dead the day two men tried to rob me at the bank night deposit.
I know he’s done things for many people here.
Warning us even when we didn’t heed the warnings.
He was the best employee I ever had, but the day he quit was hard to swallow.
He quit the store, and in his heart quit this town, because we all kept making his mama, Lilith, cry.
I still hear that in my dreams. I look back at this town and wonder if this is God punishing us for shunning the blessing that boy was.
Just look at what he has become, and what he continues to do to help people find closure. ”
Silence followed Andy as he walked off the stage.
Roger and Mariah Lowe were standing on the edge of the crowd, but when Tate’s mother was mentioned, they turned and looked at Mariah.
She had come back begging, and Roger caved like she knew he would, but he stood firm when she wanted to remarry. She moved a little closer to him, but he didn’t budge or offer any solace.
Abel’s old boss, Curly Gibson, took the mic.
“I thought the world of that family. They were good people. If you’d admit it, you all know Tate Bandy has become famous.
In New Orleans, they call him the lost-and-found man.
He’s worked miracles for people needing answers ever since he left, and has become a wealthy, successful man because of it.
I know he’s found the lost and the dead.
He’s helped the police close cold cases.
Sometimes he flies to other places for his work.
I know people can contact him through a website of sorts, but I don’t know how those things work, and I don’t know where Briar went after she graduated college.
Those were two of our brightest and best kids, and we never let them feel welcome here.
He said he’d never come back. I wouldn’t have the guts to ask him now. ”
The crowd turned again, this time looking at Roger.
He shuffled nervously, uncertain about what they thought he could do. And then somebody in the crowd shouted.
“Roger could ask Briar. She’d know where he was. She could ask him for us. My son is missing. I need to know what happened and where he is.”
Roger froze. They didn’t know that he hadn’t talked to her since the day she called to tell him that she’d sent back his credit card.
The day she left Star Ridge, she called him a coward, and she was right.
He never knew when she graduated, and didn’t bother to ask.
Their last phone call was nothing but a polite call, like one of his clients thanking him for his service.
Mariah liked being the center of attention, but not like this. The court of disapproval was staring her down, and there was nothing to be said in her own defense.
Chief Watts declared they were getting nowhere, took the mic, and announced that it was settled. Roger would call Briar. She would intercede with Tate for them, and he told everyone to go home.
The crowd was pleased. They dispersed with relief. Tate Bandy would help.
Mariah grabbed Roger’s arm. “I want to go home now.”
“Don’t whine, and we’re already walking,” he muttered.
“They were mean to me,” she said and sniffled.
“They don’t like you anymore. I told you when you wanted to move back, and you’re free to leave at any time. I won’t stop you,” Roger said.
They walked a short way in silence before Mariah spoke again. “Well, are you going to call her or not?”
Roger stopped in mid-step. “Her? Her? You can’t even bring yourself to say your daughter’s name?”
He snorted in disgust and started walking faster. By the time he reached the house, Mariah was half a block behind, huffing and puffing with every step.
He went up to Briar’s old bedroom, knowing Mariah would be too winded to climb the stairs, and made the call.
* * *
It was Sunday, Tate and Briar’s sleep-in day, and their time to be together without interruptions. She’d made brown beans and corn bread in honor of their country roots and had a little plate of sweets she’d bought from a local bakery for dessert.
Briar was putting away leftovers, and Tate had fallen asleep on the living room sofa. She knew he was mentally and physically exhausted by the week he’d just had, and she was trying to be as quiet as she could.
Once she finished, she carried a handful of wet dish towels to the laundry, then came to the living room, sat down at the end of the sofa, and gently lifted Tate’s feet into her lap. Before she could get settled, her phone rang. She’d meant to mute it, but now it was too late.
“Shoot,” she muttered, and started to let it go to voicemail when she saw caller ID. The first thought in her head was, What the hell has happened to be receiving this call? Then she answered.
“Hello, Dad. What’s wrong?”
Tate’s eyes flew open.
“I’ve been designated by the townspeople to find Tate. Do you know where he is?”
“I always know where my husband is. What do you want?”
A long moment ensued.
“Hello? Dad? Are you still there?”
“I didn’t know you were married,” he said.
“You also didn’t come to see me graduate. You also do not know where I work or where I live. Why are you calling?”
She heard him take a deep breath and knew immediately that whatever it was, it was about to intrude into their world.
“Sorry Briar, I was just taken aback,” he said.
“Okay, you’ve been taken aback, but why are you calling? There has to be a reason, because we don’t have regular father-daughter chats, and you still haven’t said why you need to know where Tate is.”
Tate swung his feet off her lap and sat up. When he did, she put the phone on speaker.
“I don’t know if you are aware, but Star Ridge has suffered terribly due to the floods.
The river south of town has been out of its banks for days, and it’s still rising.
Houses just outside of town have been washed away.
People are missing. Children were swept away in the floods.
Searching for bodies is impossible. Cattle are floating down the river, and so many lives have been ruined.
The roads are washed out on the east and west sides of town.
We’re basically an island at the bottom of a mountain.
There was a town meeting today. It was going nowhere until people began mentioning Tate.
They know he’s in high demand. They hear about the lost people he finds and the cold cases he solves.
They want him to come to Star Ridge and help us find our missing. ”
“I can’t speak for him, and I won’t beg him to do anything. And if the roads are impassable, then you are asking the impossible.”
“So, the answer is no?” Roger asked.
Tate was trapped by his conscience.
Briar looked at him.
Tate ran his fingers through his hair, then pulled her close and took the phone. “Roger, I’m here. I heard what you said. I won’t…can’t…leave innocent to suffer. But there’s a catch.”
Roger frowned. “How much does it cost to hire you?”
“I’m not for hire. I don’t work for anyone but the lost, so if you want me there, shut your mouth. Your passive-aggressive snipe at me won’t fly, dude.”
Roger blinked.