My heart was pounding rapidly in my chest. ‘What color was it?”
She frowned thoughtfully. “It was either black or dark blue.”
“Would you be willing to tell this to the police?”
Nodding, she replied, “If it will help that sweet friend of yours, I will.”
I stayed long enough to have lunch, then said goodbye and went out to my car to call the girls. Kayla said she left Leroy’s house shortly after eleven and Deacon Williams reported he didn’t find Leroy’s body until after one. So, if that was the case, what was his car doing pulling away from the neighborhood around midnight? Ms. Ruby seemed confident about the time.
While dialing Danielle’s number, I couldn’t help grinning. I had finally found something to connect Deacon Williams to the murder.
Chapter 43
Danielle
She picked up a pair of booties and her heart fluttered. She was going to be a grandmother. A smile curled her lips. Teenage pregnancy was nothing to be proud of, but there was nothing she could do about it now except support her daughter’s decision and get ready to spoil her grandbaby.
Danielle put the booties in her cart, then moved to the next aisle. She had come to Wal-Mart to buy food, not shop for baby clothes, but as she was moving down the aisle, she couldn’t resist. As she gazed down at a pink ruffled dress, she couldn’t help but hope that Portia had a little girl. However, after having only one child herself and the drama that came with girls, maybe she needed to pray for a grandson. Nadine had a boy and so did Renee, and both claimed that little boys were so much easier to raise.
“Excuse me, can you suggest a gift for a baby shower?” she heard someone ask.
“Sure, the easiest...” She swung around and her voice trailed off as she gazed up to find Calvin standing over her. Danielle’s heart started to pound rapidly. He had a fresh new haircut and was casually dressed in jean shorts that showed off fabulous legs and a shirt that strained across his massive chest. “Calvin.” She said his name like she was almost afraid to believe it. “Hi.”
“Hey, yourself. I’m surprised to see you here.”
She shrugged, then swallowed as she finally managed to pull herself together. “I’m supposed to be grocery shopping, but I couldn’t resist.”
His smile widened. “That means you’ve accepted your daughter’s pregnancy and it’s sunk in you’re going to be a grandmother?”
“Yeah, you know what they say—if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. Besides, I think this whole experience is going to have a positive effect on my daughter. She’s been reading baby books and asking a lot of questions about her future, especially college, a subject I couldn’t even get her to consider before,” Danielle said while nervously fingering her hair.
“Good, I’m happy for both of you.” He touched her arm and they shared a smile before Danielle dropped her eyes back into the basket. “Think you can spare a few minutes and help me pick out a gift?”
She nodded and looked up again. “I would love to.”
“It’s for my niece,” he explained. “She and her husband are expecting their first child in four weeks. The doctor told her it was a girl.”
“Okay, girls are easy to shop for. But I learned a long time ago that the easiest thing to do is to buy a gift card. They’ll know what they need more than you will. It also prevents buying the same gift as someone else.”
Calvin removed a gift card from the display. “Then a gift card it is.”
“Good choice. Just go up to the register and you can put as much money on the card as you want.”
“Thanks, Danielle.”
“No problem.”
There was a long silence before Calvin cleared his throat. “Well, I better get out of here. Good seeing you again.”
He then turned on his heels and was several feet away before she finally found the courage to shout, “Wait! Calvin! Can I ask you a question?”
He slowly turned around and eyed her with measured curiosity. “Sure.”
Her expression grew serious as she took a step forward. “Do you miss me?"
“Yes,” he said without hesitation.
“Good, because I miss you, too.” Without ceremony, Danielle dashed over to where he was standing, tossed her arms around his neck, and kissed him passionately on the lips. She was relieved when she felt him relax against her. Danielle didn’t care who was watching. All she cared about was how good it felt to be held by him again. What a fool she had been to let him go. Her thug days were finally over. After her experience with Ron, she had learned to appreciate someone like Calvin. Good, single men were few and far between. Now that she had a second chance, she wasn’t going to blow it.
“You must really miss me,” he replied when she finally released him.
“I do.” She kissed him again. “You think maybe you can sneak away with me next weekend? I would love to spend some time in St. Louis, getting to really know each other in more ways than one.”
He nodded. “I think that can be arranged.”
“Good. I’ll call you later.”
He kissed her once more, then went to the register up front. Danielle stood there for the longest time, grinning like a damn fool.
Chapter 44
Renee
Later that afternoon, I rushed over to Danielle’s and we spent the next hour discussing the case. “Okay, according to Ms. Ruby, she saw Deacon Williams’s car around midnight, but he said he didn’t arrive at the house until after one o’clock. And even then, David said he was driving his Lincoln.”
Danielle’s face collapsed. “So, what did he do, kill him then run home and change clothes and switch cars?”
“Hell, yeah,” I replied and shifted uncomfortably in the chair.
“Is David going to question him?”
“He’s going to look into it,” I said sarcastically. “I guess we’re going to do his job for him.”
“So, what are we going to do?” Danielle asked, biting her bottom lip.
“I rode by the church on my way over here and the bulletin out front said they are having a concert this evening, which means Deacon Williams is going to be at the church.”
“What are we going to do, rob his house?”
I chuckled. “Nope. I’m crazy, but not that crazy. But we are going to find that raggedy-ass VW Bug of his and break into it.”
“Oh, good. For a minute there I thought you wanted me to do something illegal,” Danielle replied sarcastically.
“It’s only illegal if we get caught.” At her skeptical face, I dropped my feet to the floor and sat up straighten “Come on, Danny. Who else can I do my dirt with but you? Nadine can’t risk being disbarred. Kayla is out on bail. That leaves you.”
“You remember what happened with your last crazy scheme.” At my silence, she released a heavy breath, then said, “All right, I’m game.”
“I knew you’d have my back.”
Portia stepped into the room. “Mama, would you like me to cook dinner tonight?”
Danielle looked over her shoulder and smiled. “Yeah, that would be great. Nae-Nae, you eating?”
“As long as it ain’t Hamburger Helper.”
“It’s not,” Danielle reassured me.
I flashed a wry grin. “Sure, then I’ll stay for dinner.” As soon as Portia left the room, I turned to her and asked, “What’s she cooking?”
“Tuna Helper,” she said and laughed. Before she could duck, I tossed a pillow at her.
As soon as we finished eating, which I have to admit tasted mighty good, we hopped in Danielle’s SUV and drove over to Deacon Williams’s house. He lived on the side of town not many black folks could afford.
Big, two-story, stone-front houses with large backyards and immaculate lawns. I turned off the main road, then climbed a wooded hillside, passing miles of farmland. At a fork, the road circled to a secluded neighborhood surrounded by mature woods. Deacon Williams’s house was on the corner.
“You think anyone’s ho
me?”
I slowed the car down almost to a crawl. “I hadn’t thought about that. I assumed everyone had gone to church.” I looked up at the house. In the driveway were three cars—one had a plastic cover over it. “Let me park around the corner so we can get out.” I made a left and pulled up the street, then parked. I got out and glanced around to see if anyone was looking. We started walking up the street and passed his house while gazing up at it surreptitiously.
“You think anyone’s home?” Danielle asked again as we turned around to pass his house a second time.
“There’s only one way to find out.” I made a quick detour across his front lawn to the front door.
“Wait a minute!” Danielle called after me. “What are you planning to do?”
“I’m not planning to do anything. You are. Lula knows my face, but she doesn’t know you. Just go up to the door and pretend you’re at the wrong house.” I moved over to the side of the house and waited as Danielle reluctantly climbed the stairs and rang the doorbell. After she rang a second time and no one came, she moved away.
“I don’t think anyone’s home,” she said with a sigh of relief.
“Cool.” I signaled for her to follow me. “Let’s check these cars and see if we see that same red clay from that new construction site.”
While she looked at a Cougar, I walked over and looked under the plastic cover and frowned when I found a red Cooper instead. “Damn!”
“What?” she cried, clearly startled by my voice.
I shook my head. “Nothing.” I walked over to the Tahoe and checked each of the tires and was disappointed not to find any red mud.
“Okay, now what?”
I nibbled on my lips. I wasn’t sure what to do at that point. “We need to find that Bug.”
“Maybe one of his kids drove it to church,” Danielle suggested.
I snapped my fingers. “That’s a good idea. I knew I kept you around for some reason.” Danielle nudged me in the arm. “Okay, let’s get to the church and see if we can find it. The Lincoln is missing, and I know they had to have traveled in more than one car.”
We hopped back into her vehicle and drove out to the copy shop to make sure it wasn’t there. It wasn’t. Then we made the ten-minute drive to Mt. Carmel Baptist Church. Slowly I drove through the large, unpaved parking lot on the side of the church, searching for the VW Bug. I spotted the Lincoln parked in front.
“There it is!”
Sure enough, at the back of the church was another group of cars, and there in the far corner was the Bug. I parked at the end of the dirt road and we climbed out and ran over to it. It was the same one with the sticker on the window I had seen parked outside the copy shop.
“Okay, this is it and it has red mud on the treads of the tire. Now what do we do?”
I frowned. There was red mud at the church as well. That was not going to be good enough unless they were going to take some soil samples, and who knows how long that mess would take or if they would even take my claim seriously. “We need to come up with something else.” I checked all of the doors and found them locked. Damn! Peering in, I didn’t see anything that looked incriminating. “You got a crowbar or a hammer and screwdriver in your car?”
“As a matter of fact, I’ve got my daddy’s toolbox still in my trunk.”
While she ran back to her car, I leaned back and waited. The church was rocking with the song, “The Presence of the Lord Is Here.” There was so much sin going on behind those walls it was ridiculous. And Christians wondered why so many people stray from their faith.
“Okay, here,” Danny replied, all out of breath.
I positioned the screwdriver directly over the lock and hit it with the hammer several times before finally knocking it through. After lowering the tools to the ground, I raised the trunk and we both looked inside. Danielle and I glanced over at each other at the same time, stunned.
Inside the trunk was a bloody shirt, a Bible engraved with Reverend Brown’s name, a white, bloodstained towel, and a pair of white gloves. It was too good to be true.
Danielle shook her head. “He couldn’t possibly be that stupid.”
“No. He thinks he’s untouchable and smarter than everyone else, and because of that, he didn’t feel he needed to hide the evidence.” I reached for my phone and called David. My fingers were shaking so hard I could barely punch the numbers.
When he finally answered, he sounded sleepy. “Hello?”
“David. I got it!” I cried excitedly. “I got the evidence we need to prove that Deacon Williams is responsible.”
“What? Okay, slow down.” He suddenly sounded wide awake.
“I said,” pausing to take a deep breath, “I found the evidence we need to clear Kayla.” Tears were running down my face and as soon as Danielle noticed, she started crying as well. Somehow, I managed to tell David what we had done.
“I’ll get an officer over there as soon as possible. Don’t touch anything! We can’t do a thing until we get a search warrant.”
“How long is that going to take?”
“Probably at least an hour. We—”
“An hour! I can’t sit here that long. Church will be over by then!”
“Renee, just calm down. That’s why I’m going to send over an officer. Now sit tight and try and stall.”
I hung up the phone.
Danielle nudged me in the side. “What did he say?”
I wiped my face, then leaned back against the car and looked over at her. “He said he’ll send an officer over right now. We need to guard this evidence until he gets here. When does church get out?”
“Now.”
Oh, shit! She was right People were slowly coming out of the church and moving toward the parking lot.
Danielle looked nervous as hell. “What’re we gonna do?”
“I don’t know!” My heart was pounding so hard I thought it was going to come straight through my chest. Now that I had broken the lock, the trunk refused to stay closed. Quickly, I leaned back against it and crossed my ankles like it was the most natural thing to do. Danielle leaned against the side of the car and we tried to pretend we didn’t notice folks staring and pointing at us. It wasn’t long before two men headed our way. My heart started pounding even faster until I recognized one of them. “Cary! Whassup, cuz?” He was my Uncle Larry’s son.
“Whassup with you, cuz?” He gave me a hug. “I didn’t know you were back in town.”
“I just got back,” I said as my eyes traveled to the man standing beside him.
“Yo, this here is James Groves.”
I smiled. “Whassup? This’s my girl, Danielle.”
She rolled her eyes. “We already know each other.” The look she gave meant there was a story to be told and I couldn’t wait to hear it, but right now I needed my cousin’s help.
“Hey, Cary. I need you to stand here with me until the police come.”
His brow arched. “Why? Whassup?”
I didn’t have time to be explaining. “Trust me. Something big is about to go down.”
Sure enough, I spotted Deacon Williams coming out the church with some woman who pointed in our direction. The damn busybody had gone running to tell on us.
“Oh, shit—oops, I mean shoot.” Lord, please forgive me for cussing at your house. “Here comes Deacon.”
He hurried over to where we were standing, eyes narrowed dangerously. “What are you doing?”
“Waiting for the police.” I grabbed onto my cousin’s arm and pulled him closer for protection.
“Get away from my car,” Deacon Williams demanded.
I shook my head. “Sorry, but this car contains evidence to a murder.”
Standing there, he raked a frustrated hand across his face. “I told you I didn’t have anything to do with that—now leave.”
“No.”
He reached for me and tried to yank me from the car, but Cary grabbed his arm and pushed him away. “You back up. That’s my cousin you messin�
�� wit’.”
Deacon Williams gave him a nervous look. “Then talk some sense into this girl and send her away.”
“The police are on their way,” Danielle chimed in. It grew quiet and I noticed several church members gathering around, trying to figure out what was going on. I was more than happy to fill them all in. Glancing over at Deacon Williams, I pursed my lips, then said, “I finally figured it out. You were afraid Reverend Brown was going to bring you down with him, and because of it, you killed him. You were so afraid the whole city was going to find out you were gay as well.”
“I’m not gay! Leroy was the fag. He was the one that insisted on meeting those faggots every month. Not me!”
“Yeah, but you went with him and was gettin’ a little booty as well. If that don’t make you a fag, I don’t know what does.” By now, more church members had started to gather around a large oak tree nearby.
Deacon Williams glanced around frantically, almost pleading for us to hear him out. “You don’t understand. He called me talking about ending his life. He said that he was confessing everything, including the role I played. Don’t you see? We couldn’t let him destroy us as well.”
My brow was drawn. “We?”
Danielle caught on as well. “Who’s us?”
Tossing his head back, he gave a short, sinister laugh that ended with tears streaming down his face.
“You’re obviously not as smart as you think. What you don’t understand, young lady, is that if Leroy wanted to take his own life, then fine, but he didn’t have to take me down with him! Then Sister Sparks stabbed him in the shoulder and by the time I got there, he was going on and on about how he had to make it right. We got into an argument and the next thing I knew, he was dead! You see, we had to.” He repeated it over and over as he looked around at the congregation standing and listening. At that exact moment, Darlene’s anorexic-looking ass walked across the parking lot in a wide-brimmed hat and an expensive pink suit, wearing white gloves. Her eyes traveled from Deacon Williams’s teary-eyed face to the congregation.
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