Her choice of words cut her father. “I would appreciate you not using that language when you are in my home. I might not have been the perfect father, but I know I taught you not to swear.”
“Sorry,” Sin said.
Thomas looked down at the cup of coffee in his hands. There was a slight tremble to the cup and the coffee began to spill. Carmelita slid her hand down his arm toward his hands. There was an intimacy in her touch and the tremble subsided. She took the cup from him and used her apron to wipe the spilled coffee from his hands.
“If you plan on staying, mi hija, then I need to go grocery shopping.” She took Thomas’ chin in her hand and looked into his eyes. “Tell her everything, and then, we will all talk when I get back.”
Thomas closed his eyes and nodded.
Carmelita gathered her things and Maria and was out the door in minutes.
“Smart woman,” Sin said.
“She has been my whole life since Heap took the church.” His voice cracked as he spoke. “She was the only person who stood by me when I told everyone that Heap was a false prophet and a fraud.”
“How could the entire community turn their back on you?”
Thomas clenched and relaxed his hands. He then closed his eyes and shook his head. He opened them, leaned forward, and rested his hands on his knees. “They didn’t turn their backs on me right away; in fact, they stood by me and told Heap to leave.”
“What changed their minds?”
“Heap told them that he had a premonition. An angelic visitation, he called it.” Thomas shook his head in disgust. “He told them that unless the people of Tumbleboat followed him and his ministry that the fishing business would dry up. He told them that the prosperity that they had seen would all disappear.
“I told everyone that God would not let that happen and to stand strong. Two days later, the Tumbleboat Fishing Company closed its doors citing insolvency.”
Sin shook her head. “That company has been in existence for more than fifty years. The fishing has never been better in this part of the Keys and tourism is bigger than ever, how could they cite insolvency?”
“Heap,” was all he said. “I don’t know how, but I know he somehow got to Patrick Smithers, the owner of the fishing company, and had it closed down.”
Sin sighed. “You said earlier that you thought Heap probably owned the company.”
She watched as her father rubbed his arthritic knuckles, It appeared to be the same type of action she had used when trying to scrub another’s blood from her own hands—as if the rubbing would erase the memory.
“I did. It’s the only way that company would close,” her father said. “Through good times and bad, the Smithers’ family has stuck by Tumbleboat and its fishermen. The Tumbleboat Fishing Company took a big hit from the hurricanes over the past few years, but they wouldn’t have closed their doors without Heap pulling the strings.” His eyes drew to mere slits. His demeanor appeared to chill.
“Even if the fishing company closed, all the restaurants in the lower Keys rely on the fishing off of Tumbleboat to make a living. Why didn’t the fishermen just sell straight to them?”
“They tried, but Heap’s influence ran deep. No one would buy anything from the Tumbleboat fishermen.”
Sin sat back down. “I don’t get it. All this so he could pastor a church.”
“In my opinion, Heap didn’t and doesn’t give a hoot about the church. It’s all part of his taking control of this island.”
“Why?” asked Sin. “What is so important about Tumbleboat that he would go to such lengths to control it?”
Thomas shook his head. “I don’t know. At first, I just thought it had to do with his inflated ego, but . . .”
The involuntary tremor increased in proportion to his apparent frustration.
Sin’s heart grew heavy. She reached out and took his hands in hers hoping to still the stormy waters. “Is the shaking a side-effect from the chemo?”
A sad smile emerged on his expression. “I wish.” He looked down at his hands. “Two years ago, I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. I can usually control it with medication, but I had to stop taking my medication when I began my treatment. The doctors said they lowered my immune system and in order for me to get the most benefit from the chemotherapy, I would have to stop taking my other medications. It gets worse when my stress levels increase.”
A lump formed deep in Sin’s throat. “I’m sorry.”
He looked at Sin as he spoke. “Don’t be. I can take almost anything. I can take the ravaging effects of the drugs they pumped into me, I can take the disease and the fact that even with them I will probably die soon, but I can’t take your pity.”
Sin nodded and slid a cigarette from her pocket. She held it in front of her. “Is it all right if I smoke?”
“Only if you give one to your old man.”
Sin was surprised at his answer. “You? You quit when I was a little girl.”
“I started again after I was first diagnosed with cancer. It didn’t seem to matter to me at that point. The cancer will kill me long before the cigarettes will.”
Sin handed him a smoke and lit it with her pearl colored Zippo.
Taking a deep drag, he sat back and relaxed. “Carmelita doesn’t like it, but she tolerates my indulgence. It
