"Okay," Emily said when she claimed her chair. "I just want to take this chance to thank everyone. For the job, for the help moving, for being so good with Zeke. All of it! I know that none of you needed to do any of this, so I want to make it clear just how much I appreciate it."
"Pay it forward," Berto said from the grill.
"That's what Luke said about the doorknob," Emily groaned.
"It seems to be how they do things around here," Luke explained. "If you can't pay the favor back, then you pay it forward. Since none of these rich idiots need a job, it means you have to help someone else. That, Emily, is why I fixed your door. Well, and because I really hated the idea of something happening because you couldn't get out of the house. The last thing Faith needed was to lose her only friend in the world."
"Zeke's the same way," Emily admitted. Then she looked over and smiled at where the kids were playing with the puppies just out of earshot. "You know what I don't understand? Ever since those two have been hanging out, people keep telling me that I need to be careful about Southwind. Why? What's going on?"
"It's the same reason they spray-painted a threat on the door," I told her. "People tend to be scared of what they don't understand. It doesn't matter if that's the way Violet dresses or the fact that some of us like kissing guys. It's easier to not deal with it than to rock the boat."
"But isn't breaking down your gate and spray painting your door rocking the boat?" she asked.
Berto passed his spatula to Luke and came over to the table so he didn't have to yell. "They don't see it that way. They think of it as winning and keeping their space safe. No, that doesn't make them right, but that's what they think they're doing."
"I told Violet that she needs to start making friends," Billy said. "The more the people of Southwind mingle with everyone in town, the less terrifying we'll be."
"Just one problem with that," I told him. "In order to make friends, we need people to be willing to be friendly. We can't exactly force ourselves on them."
"Actually," Berto said, "you can. What do you think politicians do? We stand up and make a production that gets us noticed, then we proceed to say things that you want to hear anyway. That convinces you that we're not so bad. Once you're listening, we just have to talk about how hard we're working to helpyou. That makes us an ally. The fact that so many people are listening to us makes us impressive. Combined, it's human nature to want to make friends with the most powerful people on your side that you can find. The trick is to become that most powerful person."
"And right now," Billy said, "Paul Simmons has that title."
"But Paul Simmons is an asshole," Emily pointed out.
Berto just pointed at her as if she'd made his point for him. "Exactly. That man is only in a position of power because so many people rely on him. I have a feeling that if you give them a better, nicer option, then it won't be hard to convince them that Southwind isn't necessarily evil."
"Which means," Ash said, "that we should not be shy about saying Simmons is out to get us?"
"You don't want to play the victim card," Berto said, "but if you're dismissive about it? That's probably the best way to handle it."
"Like how?" Violet asked.
I actually knew the answer to this. "Don't start out a conversation by saying Simmons hates us. If someone brings up something Simmons has said, then just casually mention that he hates you because you won't sell your land. Dismiss it. Don't hide the conflict that's happening, but act like it doesn't bother you. That removes all of his power to negotiate and will make the people not involved start asking their own questions."
"Wouldn't just refusing to talk about it be better?" Emily asked. "I mean, why do we need to even deal with Paul Simmons?"
"The problem," Darnell said. "Is that Simmons won't stop. He got involved with Luke's custody case when it had nothing to do with him, just because he thought it might help him get this land. We also can't forget that the graffiti on the door was an actual threat."
"And I don't think it was an empty one," I told them all. "Maybe that's because I've been out since I was Zeke's age, but usually when someone wants to do a little gay-bashing, they mean it."
Luke shut the grill, leaving the fire to warm up, and came to join us. "They already tried jumping Ash. Don't forget the cops around here are crooked too."
"I'm already working on that," Berto promised. "The investigative board has a lot of questions. Ironically, the fact that I'm involved with Southwind has them wondering if it might be politically motivated. However, ignoring the threat of a child predator is making the most impact. It seems that the FBI agent who assisted with that case is rather highly decorated. He's one of the leads in a cybercrimes unit - which online child pornography falls under - and his report makes it clear that the local police were very muchnotcooperative."
"Put that in layman's terms, Cobalt," Ash requested.
"There's a third-party source saying the cops here dropped the ball," Berto clarified. "That doesn't look good."
"My guys have been looking into the contract Simmons is hoping to close if he can get this land," Billy said. "Apparently, Paul Simmons has a lot of influence with various county officials."
"We already knew that," Luke pointed out. "He clearly knows someone in the ag assessor's office."
"He also threatened to have the zoning for the land changed to increase the taxes," I said.
Billy nodded, taking it all in. "Well, he has business dealings with the mayor of Cats Peak, the county zoning agent - which is tied to the agricultural office - the fire chief for this town, and a few others. Now, all of these ties are innocent enough on the surface. In many cases he's buying young cattle from them to raise up and sell later. Some are long-term contracts for his truck drivers and other aspects of his cattle ranch. On their own, it's still all innocent. The problem is when you add all of that up and then look at the resource limitations for this town."
"You just turned into a fixer," I told him. "So what you're saying is that he's burying the lead?"
