Chapter 27: The talk

The ginger kitten slept in Tagas's feet. Beth leveled the angel with a hard stare. She cleared her throat, as he dipped some bread in the tomato sauce that was in his plate.

"Little devil, for how long have you been banished?" Beth asked, and Tagas looked at her.

"Well, do you remember the first night I came, looking for work? That was the first time I have ever been here," Tagas told her, and then ate his bread.

"And you, sly devil. You say you came in here to guard Tagas, on the orders of the unholy one?" Beth then turned to Harry, who nodded. A meatball halfway to his mouth.

"Well, calling the boss the unholy one is a stretch. He keeps the criminals out of Heaven. Not a bad guy, even if he likes to make us take lava baths," Harry confirmed and Beth sighed.

"And you, Arthur. You knew what they were, before getting tangled up with them?" She turned to Arthur finally.

"Not from the start. Although, I found out when Tagas showed me his wings the same evening. After dinner," Arthur said, as he took a sip from his apple juice.

"You all thought old Beth didn't need to know," Beth grumbled. The three busied themselves with their food. "And would have kept me in the dark for how long, exactly?"

"Forever," Tagas admitted. "Beth, we didn't mean any disrespect, but it is too dangerous for people to know."

"I know," Beth sighed again. This was quite the mess, she decided. If Tagas was not an angel, she would have chased him from her house. She disliked liars on principle.

"Mother, you know now. What are you going to do with the information?" Arthur asked, and Beth looked at him.

"Keep it to myself," Beth told him with a hard look. "Your worries are justified. There are sick people out there who would love to get their hands on these two. More than that, there are people who would want to turn them into a circus act."

Beth shuddered at that. She remembered all the TV shows where preachers had been found to have healing powers.  Whatever they did or no was not the important part. The fact that they had been reduced to money grabbing was something she didn't want for Tagas and Harry.

"We are glad that you think so," Tagas told her. "Now, to answer your other question. At night, we solve missing children's cases."

"Like what you did when you found Andrew?" Beth asked, and the three nodded.

"I just joined in tonight. Tagas just needs to touch a female relative, and then he gets a location," Arthur told her, looking at Tagas with a softness that made Beth want to gush.

"Why was Tagas mopping this morning, then?" Beth asked. Tagas had not been his usual cheerful self this morning.

"We couldn't find the child. A girl by the name of Dianna, who died twenty years ago in a car accident," Tagas told her with a bowed head. "The only thing we could find of her were her bones."

"That is better than nothing," Beth told him, as she shook her head. "You brought someone closure by doing so."

"We did, but Tagas wants to beat himself over it," Harry said, and he looked at Tagas. "Even though it was my fault for stumbling onto such a cold case."

"It was neither Tagas's fault, nor yours, sly devil," Beth said, and then looked at her uneaten meal. She dipped some bread in the sauce, and then ate it. The chewing gave her time to think.

Sure, she had suggested that Tagas had been send down on this Earth for a purpose. Yet, this turned out to be the truth. He could find more children than the police. More than private detectives.

Still, when a case turned out like the one about Dianna, he would beat himself up. It was something that Beth wanted to show him he didn't need to do, but how? She looked to Arthur.

"What was today's case about?" Beth asked her son, after she swallowed.

"A boy and his sick mother. Tagas healed her mind," Arthur said, awe in his voice. "Her eyes stopped being misty and everything. She stopped shaking, after he asked her to be healthy. Just like that."

Beth's eyebrows rose.

"Are you a patron angel of just children, Tagas?" She asked, and Tagas shook his head.

"There is no such thing as patron angels. I was going to be assigned a human baby to watch over as a guardian angel, but then got kicked out of Heaven," Tagas told her. He had looked forward to that assignment. Of helping the child be the best it could be. Now, that was something that might not happen in a while.

"Then, would you please consider healing other people?" Beth asked him. She had a couple in mind. Just the neighboring farm had a lady with Alzheimer that was looked after by her daughter.

"I don't really think that attracting attention is the best thing to do," Tagas began, but Beth looked at him pleadingly. "As long as they don't spread the word. I suppose I can make them forget after the healing. Or, Harry can?"

Harry nodded at that.

"Sure thing. We already pulled out this number on a woman named Bethany, when we returned her son, Robert, to her," Harry told Beth. It hadn't taken anything out of him to make the mortal forget. He was sure that all the times that followed would be the same.

"Then, please go and heal Thea. I can call, and ask if we can visit. Her daughter won't mind a social call," Beth said, and then went to the phone and began to dial a number.

A couple of minutes later, Beth returned with a beaming smile.

"Ok, we can go as soon as you all finish your meals," Beth leveled them with a stare, urging them to eat faster. After the meal, they took the car, as Beth had refused to teleport, and then drove to the next farm.