Blind Spot by Chris Fabry Read Free Book Online Page A

alligator’s teeth?”
    Cassie took another bite of pizza. “Just listen to the voice. The Shepherd is pretty good about guiding; don’t you think?”
    Suddenly Jamie got that old feeling. Like she was late to a party and had forgotten the present—and it wasn’t a costume affair and she was dressed as the Sugar Plum Fairy. The old hit to the pit of the stomach.
    Had she ever heard the Shepherd’s voice? Was all this church stuff she’d been doing just an act?

Chapter 8
Another Option
    WHEN LISA, THE SOCIAL WORKER , found out Tim had hitched a ride with someone, she scolded him and shook her head. After lecturing him about the dangers of doing such a thing, her demeanor changed, and she asked what he had found at the storage place.
    Tim told her, and she said, “What did you do after you opened all the boxes?”
    Tim shrugged. “Just looked through them. Read some stuff my dad wrote down.”
    “And you stayed in that storage place all night?”
    “It was late. I didn’t have a way back home. And I guess the guy at the front forgot about me. It was dark anyway.” He looked up at her; the woman’s mouth was open. “There was a mattress in there. A lot firmer than the one backat Tyson’s place. I think he pulled that thing out of the trash anyway. It smells funny.”
    “How did Tyson find you?”
    “He put two and two together. Saw that the key was gone. He showed up the next day.”
    “What precipitated your leaving?”
    “Ma’am?”
    “Why did you leave in the first place?”
    “We had a disagreement.”
    “About what?”
    “Tyson wanted me to apologize to his neighbors, and I said I wouldn’t.”
    Lisa took a sip of her double-espresso caffe mocha. “Apologize for what?”
    “I kinda rearranged their mailbox.”
    “You have a reason?”
    “Yeah. Not a real good one, but I had a reason.”
    “What did they do, look at you wrong?”
    “No, the kids over there took my hat. Threw it in the mud.”
    “The one your dad gave you?”
    Tim nodded.
    Lisa sighed. “I thought you said it was going okay at Tyson’s.”
    Tim pulled the top off his Big Gulp and took a drink of Mountain Dew. They were sitting at a picnic table in a park not far from his house. He crunched anice chip and looked away. “Tyson said the next place I’d go was some home for wayward youth. That not even foster parents would take a 15-year-old with troubles.”
    “That’s not true,” Lisa said. “If it’s a bad situation, I want to get you out of there. I may have another option for you.”
    “Somebody else who needs money on the side? Tyson sure doesn’t use the money he gets for food, because the fridge is pretty empty except for his favorite beer.”
    She reached into her purse and pulled out an envelope. “I want you to hang tough with Tyson and Vera. It won’t be much longer. Just try to stay out of his way. In the meantime, I want you to have these.”
    She handed him the envelope. It had something written on the front in a fancy cursive, so curly and flowing he almost didn’t recognize his own name. “What’s this?”
    “Open it.”
    He took out four red and white tickets with Daytona 500 written across the top. “You gotta be kidding me.” Tim stared at the tickets. Four passes to the infield at Daytona. He could see some of his old friends. Catch up on the latest with the crews. Maybe even see Charlie Hale if the guy had gotten a job. “How’d you get these?”
    “The people at NASCAR have good memories. The lady I talked with said any race you want to see, you’re there. If you feel okay about going back into that world.”
    Tim smiled. “Better than the one I’m in right now. You want to go? You and your husband and somebody else?”
    “I wish I could. And I’m sure my husband would kill me for turning you down. But I’ve got a trip scheduled that weekend. You have any problem getting over there?”
    “I know the road like the back of my hand. Just hop on 10, turn right on 95.”
    “I meant,