I woke with a start. I wasn’t sure, at first, what had woken me. Ruth moaned beside me, moving slightly to readjust her position against my body. But then the sound came again: a knock on the door.

I slipped out of bed and snapped my jeans closed as I made my way to the door. Patrick stood there, fully dressed, a look of discomfort on his face.

“I’m sorry to wake you, but Quentin called. There’s been trouble at the shop.”

I inclined my head slightly. “What time is it?”

“A little after three.”

Three. That meant we’d only been asleep for a few hours. I glanced over at Ruth, admiring the depth of her slumber. I’d have to wake her because Patrick wouldn’t have woken me if this didn’t require all hands on deck. We couldn’t leave her alone here.

“Give us a few minutes,” I told him.

Patrick stepped back and nodded respectfully.

“Ruth,” I said softly, shaking her shoulder. She opened her eyes, a soft smile touching her full lips. But then she must have seen something in my face because she suddenly sat up in alarm.

“What is it?”

“They’ve hit Alli’s shop. We have to go help her out.”

She got up immediately, no hesitation in her movements as she pulled on a pair of trousers and a long blouse over the complicated underwear her church required of its devotees. She took my hand, and we walked out of the office together. I felt her stiffen at the sight of Patrick waiting for us, but she didn’t blush. I was impressed.

Alli’s shop was lit up like it was the middle of business hours. We walked inside, Ruth at my side, to find shelves turned over, new product crushed and broken on the floor. The place reeked like a port-o-potty on a hot summer day, and I quickly found the reason for that. The vandals had defecated on the counters, the floors, leaving their mess anywhere they felt like it. One had even written words on the wall in his own mess.

“Animals!” Alli cried, tears choking her throat. “They say I’m the one who’s amoral, the one who’s tainting their souls. But what kind of person does this sort of thing to another’s way of life? This is how I pay my fucking bills! I don’t drag their bishops in here at gunpoint!”

“Alli…”

She glared at Quentin. “Don’t you chastise me! You should be just as angry as I am!”

“No one’s telling you you shouldn’t be angry,” I said, catching the way Quentin looked uncomfortably toward Ruth. I crossed to Alli and grabbed her by the shoulders. “You should be pissed. I think he just thought you should watch your choice of words.”

“Fuck him! Fuck you! Fuck all this!”

Alli jerked away from me and marched to the back of the store, kicking damaged product out of her way as she went. I started after her, but Ruth grabbed my arm.

“Can I talk to her?”

I knew that wasn’t a good idea. I turned to her and brushed my hand over her face. “Ruth…” But she was a stubborn woman, and I should have known that already. She pushed past me and followed Alli to the office.

All I could do was watch.

“What they did is wrong,” she said softly as she reached the doorway.

Alli was pacing inside like a caged tiger. She reminded me of Harry when she was angry this way. And, like Harry, I was afraid she’d lash out at the nearest irritant, and, at the moment, that was Ruth.

“You think?” Alli spat out.

“This is not how we are taught to conduct ourselves in our church. We are taught to love our neighbors no matter what they might say or do.”

“This is love?” Alli demanded, waving her hand toward the destroyed store.

“It’s not. And it’s wrong.”

“Then why do you sit back and let them do it?”

“That’s a good question.” Ruth looked around her, stooping to pick up the crushed package of a rather large dildo. She blushed when she realized what it was, furiously, but she didn’t put it down. She ran her hands over the plastic, attempting to smooth it back into something presentable. Alli laughed as she watched her, slipping the package from her hands.

“You’re going to give yourself a stroke, sweetheart.”

Ruth looked up at her. “You have as much a right to live in peace as anyone else in this city.”

“Damned straight.”

“If people knew what was happening, maybe they would step in and do something.”

Alli shook her head. “Harry went to the police more times than I can count, and they killed him. Your people drove him off the fucking road and took him from us!” Alli choked a little as she spoke those words. “He was a good man.”

Ruth lowered her head. “I know.”

“This can’t keep happening! Someone else is going to get hurt. Me or Quentin or Patrick. Or Jack.” She looked at me. “They’ve already beat the shit out of him. You know that, right?”

Ruth nodded.

“Then do something!” Alli suddenly charged at Ruth, wrapping a hand around her throat. “I know who you are. Your father is a bishop in the church. Your brother is one of these dumb fucks! He was probably in the car that killed my Harry! And you just sit here, filling me with platitudes. You want to help? Make them stop!”

“Alli,” I said, hard warning in my voice. Ruth raised a hand and waved me off.

“You loved him. Harry.”

Alli wouldn’t look up.

“And you reached out to Jack in your grief. He was there for you because that’s what he does.” Ruth wrapped her hands around Alli’s wrist. “We all have our own way of dealing with pain. Mine used to be to run away.” She glanced at me for a brief second. “But not anymore. I will do whatever I can to help you.”

“Thanks, sweetheart,” Alli said in a deep tone dripping with sarcasm. “I don’t need your help.”

Alli let go of Ruth, turning away and slamming the door of the office, locking herself apart from the reality of what was happening in her little store.

“Ruth.” I moved up behind her and rested my hands on her shoulders. “I’m sorry.”

She shuddered a little, lifting a hand to brush away a tear. And then she turned, pulling up the sleeves of her blouse. “We should get to work. It’ll take some time to get this place ready to open in the morning.”

She marched off, going to a far corner and beginning to pick up the broken, shattered collection of glass toys that had been on display at the back of the store. I watched her, amazed and so filled with pride that it took a moment for the things she’d said to Alli to make their way into my thoughts. But then they did.

“We need a camera,” I announced.

“Why?” Quentin asked. “Alli won’t let me call the police, so I doubt she could make an insurance claim.”

“Not for that. For flyers.”

“What?” Patrick and Quentin both asked. But Ruth had turned, and there was a spark of amusement in her eyes.

“Harry told me one of the first things the Guardians did to him was to produce flyers that accused him of overcharging his customers. It caused a slight downturn in his sales.” I looked around the room, focusing on the fecal matter smeared across one wall. “What if we take a page from their playbook and do the same to them? What if we show the people in town exactly what their Guardians are up to?”

Patrick shrugged, but Quentin laughed. “That’s a fucking brilliant idea,” he said, glancing at Ruth. “Sorry for the language.”

Ruth rolled her shoulders. “I’ve heard worse.”

“I saw one in the back,” Patrick said, making his way through the mess toward the storeroom at the back of the store. He was back a minute later with a digital camera. I took it and began walking around the room, snapping pictures of the mess, everything from the overturned shelves to the products on the floor. The feces showed up quite well, but I wasn’t sure how it would all translate to a paper flier. We could only give it a try.

“Nothing too vulgar,” Ruth advised. “People will only see the nastiness of it and won’t understand the purpose of the flyers.”

I nodded. When I felt like I had enough photographs, I knocked on Alli’s door. She reluctantly let me in, shooting a glance toward Ruth before shutting the door behind us.

“Why did you bring that girl here?”

“I couldn’t leave her alone at the warehouse.”

“Quentin told me what they did to her, what they threatened.” She looked at me with something deeper than curiosity. “Do you think they were being truthful? Do you think they’re capable of that?”

“I wouldn’t put anything past these people.”

Fear burst through her eyes. “Then I’m glad I sent my girls away.”

“Me too.”

After a while, Alli went out to help clean up the store. I stayed at her desk, designing the flyers, picking through the pictures and struggling with the words that I should put under them. I wanted the flyers to be powerful, but I wanted them to create discussions, not promote the hatred that had led to this mess in the first place. It was tricky, walking that thin line between accusation and hate speech, but I thought I walked it pretty well.

“What do you think?” I finally asked, stepping out into the store just as the sun began filtering in through the high windows.

The store was nearly back to its old condition, with the exception of a large amount of inventory that had to be discarded. Ruth walked over, wiping her hands on a thin paper towel. She took one of the flyers from my hand and studied it a long moment as the others wandered over, each taking a flyer. Patrick shook his head. Quentin whistled under his breath. Alli laughed. But it was Ruth’s opinion I was waiting on.

“Perfect,” she finally said, smiling up at me as she handed it back.

“You think so?”

“You made it clear what they’d done without throwing around accusations. That’s exactly how it should be done.”

I returned her smile, leaning close to kiss the center of her forehead. She moved close to me, sighing as she slipped her arms around my waist.

“Get a room,” Alli grunted. But when I glanced at her, she smiled and dropped me a wink. “Back to work, gentlemen. We open in four hours.”