Read Thread of Deceit for Free Online Page B

rely on our patrons for funding. Our volunteers add their ideas to make this a better place. Nobody has all the answers to help these kids.”
    “So what’s your motivation?”
    “Like I said. Helping kids.”
    “Really?” She sounded skeptical. “Terell wants to help children, too, I suppose.”
    “Yes, he does.”
    “Why these kids? And why you?”
    He put his head on the padded chair back and closed his eyes. How could he explain the complex and painful reasons why he had sought out Terell Roberts after so many years? How could anyone even begin to understand what had compelled him to spend every last cent he had saved, to work countless hours tearing out old plaster and making the place habitable, to come each morning knowing it might be the last day Haven’s doors would open?
    Lifting his head, he gazed at Ana Burns. She sat across from him, her notebook propped up and her pen poised. Her straight shoulders and long neck were held in that regal pose now so familiar to him. But for the first time, he noted a small pendant at her throat. A gold cross set with garnets.
    “Your necklace,” he said.
    Her hand moved up to touch the cross. “My mother gave it to me on my fifteenth birthday—the Quinceañero. It’s a special occasion.”
    “It’s a reminder of your family…and your faith?”
    “God is important to me.” Her dark eyes pinned him. “Without Him, I wouldn’t exist.”
    Stunned at her bluntness, Sam couldn’t respond for a moment. She dropped her focus to her notebook, as if reading over what she had written, but he could see that her eyes weren’t moving.
    He let out a breath. “Then maybe you’ll understand this. I started Haven because I believed it was what God wanted me to do.”
    She had stopped taking notes and was moving her pen tip around on the paper in a tiny blue circle. “You believe God talked to you?”
    “In a way.”
    “Is it the same with Terell?”
    “Terell is a strong Christian. When we were in college together, he led me to Christ.”
    She looked up. “Led you to Christ?”
    “To salvation. I’d been raised in a Christian home and had believed in Jesus from early childhood. Terell helped me see that it’s not enough to believe. A person has to commit his life to Christ.”
    She wrote something in her notebook. “So, your patrons…you run Haven as a religious organization?”
    “We get some financial support from churches, and we maintain Christian principles. But Haven is nondenominational. We’re not-for-profit, and we operate under those governmental regulations. We don’t qualify for any exemptions as a religious group.”
    “You’ve met state guidelines in every area except this lead paint situation?”
    “As far as I know. They allowed us to go ahead and open, but different agencies keep coming around to inspect. We’re doing our best.”
    He stood, the subject touching a sore place in his gut. “The codes, the regulations…the whole thing is difficult. When Terell and I found this building and bought it, we thought we’d just need to clean it and then get the center going. We had big plans for the outside—turning the parking lot into a top-notch basketball court with bleachers and a snack bar, setting up a tennis court, even putting sod down for a park area with picnic tables. But we haven’t had time to start on any of that because of all the work we’ve had to do inside—wiring, plumbing, rehabbing the whole basic structure. We had to widen doorways and enlarge the bathrooms. Had to buy special toilets. Had to put in ramps. Lights. Exit signs. Washer and dryer.”
    He moved across the room and began restacking the books on his small shelf. “Don’t get me started on the kitchen,” he continued. “We’re not even close to code there. We’re not certified, so we can’t provide hot meals or homemade refreshments—which was one way we hoped to make a little money. At this point, all we can sell is packaged snacks, popcorn and sodas,