“I’ve also hurt the rest of the family. Mam and Jill are fighting because of me.”

Karl let out an exhale before he responded. “Do you remember what the most dangerous animal in the woods is?”

“A mother defending her young.”

“And once a mom, always a mom. It doesn’t matter that you and Dulsie are all grown up now. Dulsie is the daughter Jill finally got.” Karl’s voice seemed to become even gentler. “And you’re the son Maddie finally got.”

And Mam and Pap were the parents Shad finally got. Had it not been for them, the trouble he was in right now would seem miniscule to the trouble he could have created entirely on his own. Yet this mess was the only reward he had to give them for their efforts.

Karl continued when Shad didn’t respond. “Jill and Maddie are evenly matched. They just have different styles. Their maternal instincts have got the best of them lately, but believe me, the bond that ties them isn’t any weaker. In fact, this could make it even stronger.”

Shad was familiar with the concept Karl was sharing with him, but this morning it sounded more like empty words of consolation than encouragement that all would work out for the better.

“It’s still all my fault.”

“Speaking of which....” Karl cupped his elbow in one hand and the other hand curled around his chin as he studied Shad. “You got any ideas why someone would be after you? I mean, besides the fact you’re a lawyer and somebody’s just starting on you before they get to the rest. Do you have any idea why somebody would want to kill you?”

Shad looked up with a start. “What?”

“It wasn’t just a potential burglar out here last night. He began shooting as soon as a person came out of the house. He was here to kill. Dulsie doesn’t have an enemy in the world, but – you are a lawyer. You have the potential to get people upset with you.”

Shad gaped at Karl in disbelief. The deputies had also asked him if Shad had any enemies, but the way Karl was phrasing it, especially when Shad finally had some information about the night’s events, the possibility seemed more concrete, except –

“I mostly handle family law. Wills, real estate, that sort of thing. The family’s more likely to get upset with each other than with me.”

“You handle a few divorces, too. And from what I hear, you pick out the dicey ones.”

Shad frowned. He didn’t handle many divorces, but it was true he gravitated to those that were highly charged, like Charissa’s case, for example. Yet it was precisely for children like her that he devoted himself to the insane goal of becoming a lawyer. Why else would someone as conflict shy as he was get entangled in such hostile affairs? It could only be that aggressive streak Karl mentioned earlier.

“Nothing immediately comes to mind,” Shad murmured, although the complexities of Charissa’s case naturally lingered in his thoughts. The next realization that surfaced was the possibility that Shad’s “choice” of career had contributed to Dulsie winding up in the hospital. A fresh wave of guilt surged through him and Shad wondered how Karl was managing to remain so benevolent toward him. He was really more deserving of the man’s vehemence, although Shad figured he’d rather face the mother ship than the honey locust.

“It might not be a current client.” Karl seemed to scrutinize him. “It might be a case you thought was all settled and done and over with.”

Shad shook his head. “Nothing seems obvious.”

“If they’ve got any intelligence at all, they want to not be obvious. Think about it. And I mean really think about it. You want the goon who did this to Dulsie to get what he deserves, don’t you?”

Something new flickered inside Shad. Actually, it wasn’t so much new as rather disused for a while. Somebody besides him had been instrumental in hurting Dulsie, and Shad had been so busy berating himself that Karl’s question was almost like a revelation to him. There was somebody else that justice needed to pursue. There was somebody else that needed to pay for his actions. And if Shad possibly held the key to identifying who that person was, then he owed it to Dulsie to utilize every means available to discover that person.

Before Shad got to express any of these thoughts to Karl, they heard the drone of an engine approaching them. Shad looked toward the road and immediately recognized Pap’s pickup coming toward the house.

Shad looked at Karl, who shrugged and smirked.

“Sorry, son. I finked you out.”

Chapter Seventeen

A person is obligated to bless God for the evil that befalls him just as he blesses Him for the good.

--Berakhot 9:5

Pap was all business when he stepped out from the truck. It was an attitude Shad had seen a few times, but not since he’d graduated high school.

“Thanks, Karl.” Pap nodded to his brother-in-law, then turned his attention to Shad. “Come on. Hop in your truck and we’ll get back to the house.”

Shad felt as though he’d just been snagged into an intervention. “I need – I’ve got stuff back at the motel.”

“We’ll leave your truck at the house and both go to the motel to get your stuff.”

Shad wasn’t inclined to argue. Pap had used this technique in the past whenever he needed to impress something upon Shad and wasn’t about to let the boy get by with avoiding something he needed to do. Having never dealt with this action before as an adult, Shad could only respond to it as he did when a kid. Besides, with his life currently at the mercy of the currents of chance or destiny, Shad figured he might as well let this newest wave carry him wherever it willed.

So he drove to his childhood home, parked the pickup, and got into the truck with Pap.

“Where’s Mam?” Shad asked as Pap drove back out to the road.

“Still at the hospital with Jill.”

Shad had another twinge of guilt. “Is that a good idea?”

“They seem to think so.” Pap glanced toward him. “It pleased Jill satisfactorily when you left with the deputies, so she won’t need to vent so much. And Maddie can take her grumblings better when you aren’t there to hear it. Maddie reckons you heard enough put-downs when you were younger, so it gets her ire up that you should have to hear any more.”

“So you and Karl left to get the chores done?”

“That, and we hoped between the two of us we’d be able to catch you up once the sheriff was done with you.”

On the way to the motel Pap quizzed Shad about the interrogation, then inquired about Shad’s conversation with Karl. When he told Pap about Karl’s assertion the gunman was really there to kill Shad, Pap pursed his lips together.

“I wondered about that, myself,” Pap murmured.

A new realization sent a flash of panic through Shad. “If somebody’s trying to kill me, I can’t stay with you!”

“Yes, you can.” Pap’s eyes narrowed.

A fresh wave of guilt washed over him. “You and Mam would be put in danger. I’m not gonna do that.”

Pap stayed focused on the road and his voice was gruff. “I’d rather face down a passel of assassins than have to worry and fret again about where you are and if you’re safe.”

Shad lowered his head and rested it in his hands. Why did he have to devastate the lives of the people he cared about? He was like a vector of ill fortune, unable to refrain from harming others no matter what he did or tried to do.

Pap’s voice became steady again. “Besides, I doubt there’s that much to worry about. Whoever shot Dulsie wasn’t any pro. He’s probably scared off for good and he’s not likely to find you when you aren’t home.”

“I wish I’d been home last night.”

Pap released an exhale before he responded. “Why weren’t you?”

Shad cursed his disorder and himself as well. “I’m a waste of flesh.”