Good Lord, Deliver Us Read Online Free Page A

Scherer thought would be
his ticket to Clay County politics.
    Could the Vice Chancellor have made a
mistake about Captain Scherer's hostility toward Z? ...... Z didn't
see how. ...... Meaning that, no matter what Ashlock's title, the
little man behind the big desk ... was lying.
    Z said nothing, of course.
Tried to make his face say nothing. For some reason, catching a liar in the act was
thought to be bad manners. ... Z wondered why.
    "But down to business." Ashlock leaned
forward again, arms stretched on the desk, sphinx-like. "Dr. Calder
has explained this distressing situation about some ad hoc
citizen's committee recently formed to delay this college's
progress?" Z nodded. "Most depressing. We've a timetable for
renovation. Do it while the market's oversupplied with labor. Get
lower bids that way. Save the college money." Z nodded.
    One thing Z had noticed about
educated people was that they talked more than other folks. While
often saying less . "The truth is," the chancellor continued, "I'm more
concerned about this ghost business than with the preservation
group. The chairman of the historical committee -- the troublemaker
-- is a woman who is reported to be in
extremis ."
    "What?"
    The Vice Chancellor smiled while
condescending to explain. "In what might be commonly called, 'bad
shape.' Rearing a child alone -- that kind of thing. This fuss on
her part may be nothing but a plea for societal recognition. An
appeal for someone to come to her aid, as it were. A situation
that, should she desist, the college might undertake to alleviate."
Translation. The Vice Chancellor thought the lady could be bribed
to get off his back.
    "A committee?" Z asked. Vice
Chancellor Ashlock nodded. "Perhaps you know some of the
members?"
    With a fluid movement, the
administrator opened a whisper-quiet drawer and floated a piece of
paper across the desk.
    Z took the list. Scanned
it.
     
    Ms. V. I. Smith,
Chairperson
    Mr. Roger Lake
    Ms. Peggy Ludlow
    Ms. Janice Alexander
    Ms. Mary Krag
    Mr. Mario Uribe
     
    To find that none of the names were
familiar to him, Z putting the page back on the desk.
    "Now to this business of
the property being haunted. Nonsense, of course, but troubling." Z
nodded. "And that's where you come in." Suddenly, the man's eyes
flashed the kind of fire the devil hurls to probe for souls.
"Captain Scherer, while not ...." Ashlock paused to think of the
weasel-words he wished to use for whatever nasty things Captain
Scherer had said.
"While not praising you in every particular, said something that
interested me. He said you got results for your clients without ...
how shall I put it? .... Without bothering about legal
technicalities."
    "Sometimes," Z admitted.
There had been
occasions when, to get justice for a client, Z had interpreted the
law ... leniently. On the other hand, following the Zapolska code Z
had made up for himself, Z never broke the law ... unless absolutely
necessary!
    "Exactly. Exactly." The man leaned
back in his large chair, fingers tented before his made-to-order
vest. "An admirable trait, determination. Most admirable. One I
have, as well. One shared by the great men of history. Napoleon.
Bismarck. Edison." Also, Z thought, by Attila the Hun, Ivan the
Terrible, and Hitler. "My role at Bateman College is to be a
'take-charge' kind of guy."
    The Vice Chancellor smiled at being
able to talk the kind of down-home language he imagined Z could
understand. "The soccer field project is my first assignment. While
I think I can handle the historical committee, this business of
ghosts -- and a prying television reporter has already made calls
to the school -- is preventing me from fulfilling my assigned
task.
    "But ... let me put you in the
picture." Ashlock leaned forward again to give the impression he
was taking Z into his confidence. "A wealthy family in the Midwest
-- made their money in lead -- has, for many years, been granting
bequests to private colleges. Generally for the improvement of
athletics.