Page 44 of Devil and the Deep Blue Fish

“Your sister,” his mother sniffed, “is moving to Europe for three years to participate in a study on the effects of infectious diseases on the heart, and taking her husband and my grandchildren with her. And while there will still be visits at least twice a year, I think it’s safe to say you and Jackson might need me more than she does.”

“But Mother,” Ellery said, truly scrambling, “don’t youhave a job,one that demands frequent trips to Washington?” Hismother had started out as a criminal attorney, but her specialties had branched out into international law and human rights, and she did a lot of work with the Department of Justice. She’d pulled strings for Jackson and his friends more than once, and he’d always been under the impression she loved her work.

God knows, enough people in DC were terrified of her that sheshouldlove it.

She sighed. “Of course I would still do some work here. But your father is retiring this year, and I’m thinking of cutting my work down, and frankly, Ellery, I miss my children. Is that such a terrible thing?”

“No,” Ellery said, his voice softening. “And you’re right. Three to five hours away would be a vast improvement over a minimum of twelve hours travel time. And Jackson may not admit it, but he loves seeing you too.”

“Don’t tell me that, my boy,” his mother urged dryly. “It’s not as much fun if I don’t think of him panicking.”

Ellery chuckled. “Understood.” And then, pleasantries and family business out of the way, it was time to get back to the matter at hand. “But, uhm, about our little situation….”

“Oh yes. Moms for Clean Living,” she muttered. “How could I possibly forget. You’re positive Henry will be okay?”

Oh God. “No,” Ellery said softly. He hadn’t wanted to say this to Jackson because Jackson knew the truth. “Mom, you know the statistics on infection and internal bleeding with gunshot wounds as well as I do. Jackson’s wound from a year and a half ago is going to hurt him for the rest of his life—as will every other wound he’s ever sustained. WethinkHenry will be okay, but we won’t know until he’s out of the hospital and recovering.”

She let out a sigh. “I don’t know how you do it, son,” she said after a moment, surprising him badly. “Loving that boy when you know what he may be doing on any given day. When youknowone day he might not come back. I raised my children to be strong and self-sufficient and so many things, but in a thousand years, I never thought you’d find this much iron will.”

Ellery caught himself gaping, opening and closing his mouth like a fish. His mother loved him, but she rarely gave out compliments this generous, so he felt compelled to reply with the truth.

“The only other option was walking away from him,” he said at last. “And who in their right mind would dothat?”

She laughed softly. “I most assuredly didn’t raise a fool. Okay, then. We shallwillour young friend into health and wellness in the same way we’ve willed Jackson. Now on to your little problem with a whole lot of psychopaths.”

Ellery frowned, opening up the files on his laptop again. “What can you tell me about them?” he asked.

“Well, they are notyetconsidered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, but I know Beatrice Campbell, the assistant director there, and I’ll ask her if they’re on the watch list. Like the rest of America, I’ve seen their operatives infiltrate small elections and literally conduct raids on elementary school libraries, then hound the local law enforcement and school authorities with lists and law measures forbidding students from reading, well, anything really that isn’t straight and white. It’s a way of starting the brainwashing early, and it’s surprisingly effective.”

“I know it is,” Ellery said sourly. Every now and then Jade would bring in gossip from the teacher’s union—a depressing amount of their time was spent defending teachers from charges of teaching “inappropriate content” because a student was surprised or a parent offended by things such as science, math, history, or reason. Derek and Rico, the men who ran the headhunting firm on the far end of the second floor, had similar stories but farther up the food chain.Theyhad to deal withnew graduates whose inability to face actual education had left them unprepared not only for Derek and Rico’s commitment to diversity in their firm, but also to the jobs that they would be expected to do.

Keeping schoolchildren ignorant was costing the world so much, and yes, sometimes that cost reallywasfinancial.

“Well, the election didn’t help,” his mother was saying, “but the underlying idea has always been there. By depriving children of progressive ideas, organizations like this hope that the next generation will be more willing to turn the clock back pre-civil and -LGBTQ rights—children without libraries are like little time bombs of hatred. It’s appalling.” She paused in her unusual diatribe—Ellery knew that keeping children away from learning and reason offended her not only on an intellectual level but on amaternalone, someplace visceral and angry, but suddenly she grew thoughtful. “And while theideasthey’re so fond of aren’t far removed from the pray-the-gay-away movement, theirfacilitiesandpersonnelhave yet to be associated with that particular abomination. Are they licensed as a church in your area?”

Ellery grimaced, wishing badly for Galen to be there. He knew his business partner had been up late and was going to take a turn sitting by Henry’s bed when he woke up, but Galen’s specialty was tort law, and that dealtwith things like facility use and contract violations. More often than not, Ellery’s branch of the law dealt with actual physical things like guns, knives, drugs, and money.

“I don’t think so,” Ellery said. While he was speaking, he took out his trusty legal pad and added to the list he and Jade had started. “As far as I know they’re listed as a nonprofit, but their status as a religion is on our list of things to research. But it’s a good thought. And what are their licenses regarding custody of minors. One of Jackson’s jobs today was to see if theboy’s mother had given them permission to evenhavecustody, and what she thought the custody was for.”

“Well, it would be worth looking into.” His mother paused, and Ellery could sense she was troubled, possibly skimming through something she thought was relevant. “Son,” she said softly, “the thing with these organizations is that they’re usually run with Political Action Committee money—as in, they’re politically funded to align with whatever highly conservative candidate wants to pick on schools this cycle. In November, as you know, their candidate probably won. I need to talk to Beatrice, but I would imagine the other chapters have expanded with that funding. If that’s true—and I do need to check my facts—the big question would be does this PAC know where their money is going. Remember Law 101—it’salwaysabout the money.”

Ellery grunted. “Until it’s about the kid and the bullet and the blood,” he reminded her, not even able to joke about it.

“Until then,” she agreed soberly. “So let me tap my sources, and you need to keep digging. But I want to add something here, and it goes along with what I just said.”

Ellery knew it was coming, but he valued his mother’s opinion and wanted to hear her say it. “Go on,” he told her.

“Groups like this are often as devoid of reason as their causes. But that leaves two things driving them. One is money, of course, but the other is blind loyalty.Yousaid you tracked this group of women back to the same school in Florida. How long ago was that?”

“Twenty, twenty-five years,” Ellery said, needing to check his timeline again.

“That’s plenty of time for blind loyalty to do its damage, son. Add the religious overtones and you’ve got some dangerous thinking here. Somebody shot Henry through a wall becausethey were trying to get to a fourteen-year-old boy. That speaks toverygoal-oriented thinking. Keep that in mind.”

Ellery grunted. “And be careful,” he filled in.

“And be careful,” his mother added soberly. “And tell Jackson the same thing.”

“ThatI can do,” Ellery said, feeling overwhelmed.

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