He walked on and left Tess to think about that. Jethro’s statement echoed Oliver’s, and she thought about their dinner. In spite of his use of murder and the law to parallel grace and redemption, Tess could not wrap her mind around Beck being redeemable. To her, Cyrus Beck was past saving, unredeemable. Was that a lack of faith, another nail in her relationship with Oliver?

17

Monday morning, Tess heard the call crackle over the radio, and before Bender responded, she got up to go help.

“Boy-2, copy a call at Blackberry Hollow, space 24. Disturbance, loud voices, possible domestic violence. We have three CPs on this call. Handle code 3.”

She recognized the address in the trailer park and knew that the space number was where the Coopers were staying. Aside from the conversation she’d had with Oliver the week before, she’d heard from several people that things were tense between the pair. Her friend Casey Reno had even expressed concern about letting her daughter babysit for the couple.

“I almost want to say no,” she’d said the other day. “But I feel sorry for Janie. She works so hard and Garrett has never been a help.”

“You don’t think Kayla is in danger, do you?”

“No, no. I don’t think Garrett would hurt her. But she doesn’t need to hear the fights and the language.”

Tess had left lunch frowning about the Coopers and hoping none of the fights got physical.

Then Oliver doubled down about the situation with his comments at dinner. Garrett Cooper was a hothead and not pulling his weight. On one hand, Oliver sounded like he wanted Tess to intervene and on the other that he believed prayer would solve the problem.

“He’s immature, and I sense a lot of anger. He uses Janie to vent.”

“Doesn’t necessarily mean he gets physical.”

“Emotional abuse can be every bit as dangerous as physical abuse.”

“While I agree, it’s harder to prove for a cop.”

“I lift that family up in prayer every day. Their eyes need to be open to the fact that they have three children to raise and nurture. The fighting and division have to stop.”

She knew Oliver believed prayer was the answer to every problem, every situation. And she’d read enough of her father’s comments in his Bible to know he’d felt the same way. Just like the idea that there was hope for everybody. Tess wasn’t there yet. Prayer was a nice topping, but to her way of thinking, it wasn’t the whole pie. They hadn’t yet finished that conversation, and she wondered what would happen when they did.