45. Nicolette
Nicolette
W ith his permission, I told Melody the truth about Riot Asher.
That not only had it not been Riot, it wasn’t even one of her sons.
It had been one of Grace Asher’s colleagues from the church who strangled her so she wouldn’t uncover the major drug operation he had been building in the old coal mine.
Itwasa better story. Wrongful conviction. Brother sacrifices himself for brother. A villainous church treasurer deceives everyone for years. Drug distribution. Stock manipulation. Insidertrading. Allwrappedup in a love story.
It was a way better story. But it no longer belonged in Beyond Bizarre so the episode was squashed.
Melody would come calling if the producerswereinterestedin whathappenedin Godot, West Virginia. Itoldher I couldn’t guarantee Riot would talk and I wouldn’t ask him to. If hewantedto tell his story, itwasgoingtobe his choice.
That could meanburningone of my last bridges with Melody. But journalistic integrity and my career standing didn’t seem nearly as important as theyusedto.
Itwasscary. Having no direction. No purpose. No objective. But itwasthe first time in all my years that aimlessness didn’t worry me. A part of mewasexhilarated at the endless possibilities.
The following Sunday, I didn’t want to go to church with Riot. But we had gotten wind that it was Pastor Blackwell’s last service, so I felt obligated to go since I was the one who almost got him arrested.
Hewasquestionedat length about the investments, the clinical trial, the building contractor that latergotsued, and the stock shortage.
Theyfoundit hard to believe that hehadno knowledge of it.
After all, anywhere that Geoffrey Brown’s nameappeared, Elias Blackwellwasright there next to it.
I foundit hard to believe that hewascompletely guilt-free, even if his crimewaslookingthe other way.
What’s crazy is that, in the end, it wasn’t the claims of insider trading that forced him to step down.
It wasn’t his connection to the coal mine that ended up being the very place that caused half of his parish to fall victim to addiction.
It wasn’t even the fact that he commissioned a community to be built on land that was so high in radon that it gave one out of every six people some form of lung disease.
Nope. It was the goddamn fluoride.
The good folks of Godot were most upset that he asked for fluoride to be added to the water without their knowledge. The absence of a choice for healthy teeth and gums was what didn’t sit well with the community. They demanded his removal.
Fucking wild, I know.
I rapped twice on Elias’ office door.
“Pastor Blackwell?” I peered in to find him packing up his personal effects and I couldn’t help the stab of guilt that struck me.
“Nicolette, please, call me Elias. No longer a pastor, and all.”
I entered the office but remained a good distance away. “I’m sorry about all this.” My eyes roamed over the packed boxes.
He waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t be.
You were following your instincts. And you have good instincts.
Geoff was my best friend for a very long time.
He was always the smart one. I used to think he had good instincts too.
Turns out those instincts were quite... manufactured .
” Elias twisted his mouth in contemplation.
“Given all the facts, I would have assumed the same thing about me.”
“You really didn’t know? Anything he was up to?” He shot me a flat look. “Off the record, I swear.” I held my hands up. “Purely human curiosity.”
He sighed and sat down, steepling his fingers.
“I like to think I didn’t but if I’m being incredibly honest with myself…
Some part of me had to have an inkling. When the dividends started coming in after the lawsuit…
” His tongue clicked. “Well, it was just a lot of money. And I guess I didn’t want to ask where it came from.
I was eager to believe the lie that it was from a legitimate investment.
” He shrugged. “It was almost time to pass the torch anyhow.”
“Yeah, who’s planning to take over?”
“Excuse me!”Icringedat Katie Plainbottom’s singsong voice, brushing past me.
I smiled ironically at her. “You know, you should have been my first guess.”
She ignored me, busying herself with unpacking a box.
Elias Blackwell took his opportunity to excuse himself. “Be well, Nicolette. Whatever you do. Go with your heart.” He hugged me before disappearing down the hall.
Katie and I were alone. I took a step toward her and she eyed me warily. She peered around the large office as if trying to distract herself.
“Not sure I really need all this space. More for the optics, I guess...”Her shouldershruggedwith a nervous giggle.
“To be the senior pastor, don’t youhaveto be, like, I don’t know, a good person? You know someone who would never intentionally humiliate someone in public?”My heartthrummedwith adrenaline.
She appeared defensive at first and then sighed, shrinking away like a dog that had been caught chewing the new couch.
“That’s what I thought.” As I turned to go her voice followed me.
“It was an accident!”shefinally choked out.
Spinning around, I stalked toward her. “Pardon?” I cupped an ear in her direction. Her pink cheeks reddened.
“It was an accident, I swear. I’ve taken on way too much with the church this year, so when Jeremy asked me to put together a highlight reel for you…
I cut some corners. I heard about this AI tool that was supposed to make my workload easier.
I asked it to give me the most popular clips of Nicolette Parker and…
” She looked positively miserable. “I never double checked what those clips were.”
My eyes narrowed in her direction. “I’m supposed to believe that?”
The guilt on her facewasonlyeclipsedby the shame. “I swear I didn’t know. I would have never put something like that in front of the Field Days.” She swallowed. “But it was my responsibility. And…” She sighed with closed eyes. “And I definitely took advantage of it.”
She looked genuinely disappointed in herself.
“I should have taken accountability and apologized immediately. But I didn’t.
"Her breath sped up and it was as if I was watching something burst inside her. “It was just so hard to watch Riot fall away from me the moment you waltzed into town. He was…” She looked me square in the eyes. “He was everything. And he was supposed to be it for me. He was my happy ever after, you know?” She shrugged, a tear rolling down her cheek. “I’ve never been like you, Nicolette. You shine. Brighter than all of us. And it was like he saw you coming from miles away. With everything I’m part of, everything I do for this town…
I can’t even remember the last time someone asked me how my day was.
Or how I’m doing. I don’t shine for anybody. ”
I wanted to scoff at her crocodile tears but her final words hit me like a gut punch. The words carried an undertone of relief and I wondered if she’d ever admitted this to anyone. The grief that flashed across her brow almost made me feel guilty.
The woman had literally quit seminary school to help Riot, harboring the dream of being his wife one day. It was batshit crazy but there was something respectable about that level of self-sacrifice.
“None of this would have anything to do with Jeremy’s sudden one-eighty for Riot’s endorsement, would it?”
Katie’s eyes went a little wide.
“That was mostly Jeremy. He knows his department screwed up all those year’s ago. But I may have nudged him in the direction of how to start fixing it. Anyway,”shecontinued.“I reallyamsorry. I don’t deserve your forgiveness butI’llspend the rest of my lifeprayingfor it.”
Ichokedback a laugh,picturingKatiekneelingat her bedside,askingGod for my forgiveness at night.
I didn’t want to forgive her. But did I really want to be a prayer on this woman’s lips for the rest of my life?
Icrossedmy arms andleanedagainst the door jamb,chewingon the inside of my mouth while Iassessedher.
Her tiny framedwarfedby the massive office.
An ideasnakedthrough my brain as Iregardedher.
“You want to make it up to me?”
Her eyes lit up. “I’ll do anything I can.”
Emboldened by the two women flanking my sides, I strode right up to Jacob’s massive porch and landed three hard knocks.
When the front dooropened, his eyesregisteredsurprise. Itookup as much space in the doorway as possible.
“Hi Uncle Jake, ” I said, pushing past him, without an invitation.
“Nicolette,” he feigned happily. “What... are you doing here?” he asked with a phony smile.
“What, I can’t drop by my uncle’s house for a visit with some friends?”I bat my eyelashes.
He chuckled nervously. “Well, of course you can! If I’d known you were bringing company, I would have tidied up a bit.” He clasped his hands, looking around.
I stepped toward him. “No need actually, Jake. This is your official eviction notice.” The smile dropped from my face like a rock plunking into water. His phony grin faltered. He blinked away the confusion.
“I’m s-sorry, wh-what?” he stammered.
I pushed an open palm in Katie’s direction, never letting my eyes divert from his uncomfortable, confused twitches. Katie placed a short stack of papers in my hand. I pushed them into Jacob’s chest. He fumbled with the packet.
“Transfer of ownership? Nicolette, what is this? ”
I walked deeper into the farmhouse so that the three of us encircled him.
“You see, my best friend Chelsea herehasbeenholedup in a tiny little two-bedroom ranch with three little girls and one bathroom for several years now. She needs more room. And you need to leave Godot. So, Ithought, what a perfect opportunity for you to pay your good fortune forward.You’regoingtosign this over to her and then youhavetwenty-four hours to vacate the premises. ”