Deceit

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“Would it turn out well if [God] examined you?

Could you deceive him as you might deceive men?”

Job 13:9 (NIV)

“God sees not as man sees,

For man looks at the outward appearance,

But the Lord looks at the heart.”

1 Samuel 16:7 (NASB)

ONE

FEBRUARY 2010

Some evil shouts from rooftops, some scuttles in the dark. The greatest evil tips its face toward light with shining innocence.

Baxter Jackson shone with the worst of them.

In my sister’s kitchen I focused out the sliding glass door to her backyard. Relentless rain pummeled the night. The weather matched my mood. The Vonita Times, our town’s weekly paper, lay on the square wooden table across from me. Its front-page headline glared: Skip Tracer Accuses Police Chief of Shirking Duty.

My sister followed my gaze. “Maybe it really was an accident, Joanne.”

I shot her a look of accusation and hurt. “You too?” As if the rest of the town weren’t enough. “I thought you agreed with me.”

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