by Dynah Zale
Olivia tapped her foot on the floor, trying to hold back her tears. It was important for her to remain strong for her son. When the time came for Olivia to explain to Bryce that Uncle Julian had died, she was unsure of how he would react. Since Bryce’s father wasn’t in his life, Julian stepped up as a surrogate dad and he often did a lot of father-son things with Bryce. They were close, and she feared her son would act out in a negative way.
Christmas morning was when Olivia told him the news. She didn’t plan to, but when he kept asking for Val and Julian she felt as though she had no choice. His reaction to the news was not what she expected.
“Honey, did you hear what Mommy just said?” Olivia sat in one of her son’s miniature beanbags in his room.
Bryce walked around his room, picking up toys from off the carpet. Olivia had been trying to get him to clean his room for weeks, and she wondered why he had chosen that moment to start listening to her.
“Yes, Mommy. Uncle Julian is in heaven and I won’t see him anymore because he’s with God.”
She watched him put his books back on the shelves and store board games away under his bed before suggesting they go out to dinner to talk some more.
Olivia felt Bryce had taken the news too well, and she kept a close eye on him for any unusual behavior.
It wasn’t until they were getting ready for the funeral that Bryce started asking questions.
“If Uncle Julian is in heaven, how can he be at the church?” His innocent eyes waited for an answer from his mother.
Olivia knelt down in front of him and searched for the right words to say. She knew it was too confusing for a four-year-old child to understand.
Dean could see Olivia was nearing her breaking point. He intervened and brilliantly explained how important it was for them to say their final good-byes to Julian’s memory. Olivia was thankful.
Now they sat in the church, surrounded by hundreds of flower wreaths, songs that serenaded the dead and enduring heartfelt words that made the funeral that much sadder. Several people spoke beautifully about Julian’s short life, and afterward the choir sang one final song before the last viewing.
The choir stood, and just as Danyelle opened her mouth to lead the choir, the church doors abruptly swung open and Val entered the sanctuary. The entire church gasped loudly at the horror they witnessed.
Val marched slowly down the aisle in her white Jessica Zamir backless wedding gown. The form-fitting twentyseven-thousand-dollar gown was badly wrinkled and looked slept in. A tattered train with small holes and dirt stains trailed behind her. Over one hundred man hours was needed to custom make the veil that hung haphazardly over her head. She held a bouquet of red roses directly in front of her belly.
She paraded down the aisle and stopped directly in front of Julian’s casket.
Scared of what Val might do next, Olivia lifted Bryce up from off her lap and handed him to Tressie. She raced out into the middle aisle. “Val.” Olivia walked up behind her and placed one hand on her shoulder. “Sweetie, let’s go.”
Olivia tried to steer her away from the casket, but Val refused to move.
From the back of the church Val’s father raced in after her. He charged toward them, but Olivia put up her hand to stop him.
“I can’t . . . I can’t leave without . . .” Val whispered before pressing her hand against the top of the casket, searching for a piece of herself that was lost. She dropped her bridal bouquet to the floor and cried for the first time.
Olivia hugged her in front of the church for several minutes before again trying to get Val to leave with her.
“Are you ready?”
Val looked down at her engagement ring one last time. She pulled it off her finger and placed it on top of the casket. “I will always love you,” she whispered before she allowed Olivia to lead her out of the church.
When they walked outside, the photographers snapped pictures, and reporters asked for comments, but Val remained silent as Olivia led her to Val’s Mercedes Benz, left running in front of the church.
Olivia took Val back to her parents’ house and, once they were safely inside, Olivia helped Val out of her wedding gown and back into bed.
Val balled herself into a fetal position and cried into her pillow. Olivia lay next to her and rubbed her back for over an hour. She knew the girl was releasing grief she had been carrying around for over a week.
After Val’s cries subsided, Olivia went into the bathroom to run her a bath. She lit a few of her aunt’s aromatherapy candles and hoped it would help Val relax.
She was gone for less than ten minutes before she went back into Val’s bedroom to find her missing. Olivia panicked. She searched Val’s parents’ room and then the guest bedroom before she smelled something burning.
Olivia rushed down the stairs and toward the living room. When she walked in she saw Val standing in front of the fireplace with nothing on but her underwear.
“Val, what are you doing?” Olivia didn’t realize until she stepped closer that Val had stuffed her wedding gown into the fireplace and set it ablaze. She rushed over and tried to pull the remains out of the fire, but it was too late.
“Olivia!” Val cried. “Why? Why did Julian leave me? Again?”
Olivia pulled Val into her arms.
“It’s not fair!” She fell into Olivia’s arms. “It’s just not fair.
Chapter 4
January 2008
From his cot, Judge West could see the sun sprouting rays of light across the sky. “Lord, thank You for allowing me to see another day.” The judge never missed an opportunity to give God praise for the things he took for granted.
He stood to his feet and stretched his limbs. Against the far wall, right beneath the window West had started keeping track of how many days he had been locked away. He picked up a piece of drywall that he used as a pencil and drew another mark down on the wall. Today was the twenty-first day of his incarceration. Twenty-one days, and he hadn’t seen anyone. No visits. No letters. No lawyers.
After his arrest he was shoved into an unmarked car and brought here. No newspaper. No books. No radio. He did nothing but stare at the four walls. He had no idea what was going on, but he had a funny feeling that his past had come back to haunt him.
The first few nights he spent in that cell he racked his brain, trying to figure out what was going on. He wondered if he had done something wrong. Then he thought back to when he was a confidential informant for the agency. They had worked on numerous cases together, and he had helped them convict a lot of heartless murderers, but it had been over twenty years since he’d last heard from the bureau.
West sighed heavily and sat back down on his cot. For the time being, he would have to wait for them to come to him. The government was known for taking its time in everything they did, so he expected this to be a long wait.
“Are you hungry, West?” a familiar voice shouted out to him from outside his cell.
West jumped up. “Stevens, is that you?”
Stevens, a white man in his late thirties, stepped in front of West’s cell, holding a tray of breakfast food. He stuck his hand through the bars for a handshake. “Sir, how are you doing?”
West was happy to see an old face. “It’s been years, but I would recognize that voice anywhere.” West looked him over. “It looks like you finally grew up. When we first met you were a fresh face in the bureau.”
“Yes, it’s been some years.” He handed West the tray of food.
“Listen, if you wanted me to come in to talk with you, guy, you didn’t have to set me up and take me out in front of my family like that.”
“I know it was kind of harsh, but we were in a hurry. Ernie . . . they found you.”
Judge West knew the day would come when he would have to face the group of people he went against and helped put away. “I knew it would only be a matter of time.”
“Yeah. They put a huge contract out on your head. Remember what I said the last time we were together?�
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“You said that if they ever found me, I would die,” West repeated slowly.
“Yes, and because of what happened to your son and his wife, I made a promise on behalf of the bureau that no harm would come to you or your grandson as long as I was alive.” Stevens stepped back away from the cell and folded his hands. “We always knew that there was a great possibility that because of your position as a judge we wouldn’t be able to keep your identity a secret forever.”
“That was a chance that I was willing to take. The number of lives I have helped save far exceeds me living another day.”
“You’ve always been such a noble man. The day of your arrest we intentionally leaked the story to the newspapers and television stations so that they would be there waiting for you by the time you were brought in for processing.”
“But I—”
Stevens held up his hand to stop him.
“We brought you in the back entrance. We set up a decoy that looked just like you to act like you.” Stevens held up the newspaper for him to see.
West stared at a snapshot of a man who looked just like him hiding from the press as he is ushered into the county jail. The headlinereadTHEMANWHOCONVICTEDMURDERERSISACCUSEDOF MURDER.
Stevens folded the paper back and stuck it under his arm. “Remember that murder you told us about the black kid that was found stoned to death next to the church?”
West nodded his head yes.
“They are pointing the finger at you as being responsible for that.”
“But I told you exactly what happened that night,” West protested.
“Yes, we had that story and we were following up on some leads against that story when your name came up.”
“What now?” West asked.
“I’m not sure. My superiors have taken me off the case, because they feel as though I’m too close.”
“You don’t have any additional information you can tell me?” West was anxious for any news he could get. “Stevens, you’re just about the only person I trust in the bureau.”
“Well, one thing I know for sure is that they hate you. They want you dead. The bounty on your head is for one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.”
“What about my family? Will they be safe?”
“They haven’t made any threats against your grandson, but I’ll make sure they keep an ear out for anything suspicious.”
“So what’s going to happen to me?”
“For now you sit and wait.”
At his reply Judge West dropped his head. There was nothing more he could do.
“Excuse me.” Danyelle pushed her way through a crowd of college kids loitering in the middle of the registration office. She navigated down several wrong corridors until she found her final destination, the student lounge area.
Anxious to enroll for the spring semester, Danyelle arrived at the Bible College before its doors opened. At seven-thirty in the morning she raced inside to secure her name on the roster for each one of the classes she desired.
Four and a half hours later she was still registering for school. The process wasn’t going as smoothly as she had hoped it would. At the start of her day she learned that students who attended last semester had pre-registered, leaving most of the classes she wanted already closed.
Danyelle spotted an empty seat and raced to it before another lazy teenager got to it first. She placed her backpack down by her side and pulled out the school’s catalog. She was determined to carry a full load this semester, and she wasn’t leaving until she picked out three more elective classes. She focused hard to find classes that revolved around her work schedule, but the girls sitting close to her kept breaking her concentration each time they bobbed their head or snapped their fingers to the music blasting through their earphones. Danyelle sent annoyed looks their way as a hint that they were disturbing her, but they appeared to be in a music-induced coma and never acknowledged her presence.
She scanned her most updated list of available courses. It was a long list, which made it more difficult for her to narrow down which ones were the best.
The aggravation of such a long day gave Danyelle a throbbing headache. She massaged her temples to relieve the pulsating pound against her head, but the suffering continued.
Tired, Danyelle peeked inside her book bag, searching for her medication that could cure all ailments. She breathed a sigh of relief when she spotted the stash she stuck in her bag before leaving home that morning. In a hurry to relax her mind, she raced out of the student lounge and into the brisk, cold air.
The temperature outside hovered around the freezing mark, and the weatherman predicted snow for the remainder of the week. Upset because she forgot her gloves, Danyelle wrapped her scarf tight around her neck and pushed her naked, cold hands deep into her coat pockets. The powerful winds pushed her across the courtyard. To shield herself from the cold she ducked behind the library.
A few feet away she saw a cluster of trash dumpsters. That would be the perfect place for me to get in a few puffs. Once she was safely behind one huge dumpster, she dropped her bag on the ground and dug for the blunt she rolled that morning. She found it and stuck it in her mouth. It was going to be hard to get a light, so she turned away from the wind. After several tries she finally lit the blunt and inhaled.
After only a few puffs she heard footsteps walking in her direction. She stood still, praying that whoever was coming her way wouldn’t notice her. She held the blunt down by her side and listened intently. The footsteps stopped, then the sound of gravel underneath feet alerted her that she was caught.
In a hurry, she extinguished the blunt against the trash dumpster and tried to wave the smoke away. Her heart was beating fast. She was scared she would get caught using drugs on school property. It would be embarrassing to tell her sister that she was kicked out of school before she even attended her first class.
When her unwanted visitor rounded the corner, she was surprised to see a familiar face staring back at her. “Danyelle, I thought that was you.” Reverend Montgomery greeted her with a huge smile.
Her eyes were filled with surprise. “Reverend Montgomery, what are you doing here?” Danyelle wrung her jittery hands in front of her pastor.
“I teach here.”
It wasn’t until he said those words that she remembered that he was a professor at the college.
“I was in the student lounge when I thought I saw you head out the door.” He looked around at her surroundings. “What are you doing out here?”
“I um . . .” Danyelle tried to think of an excuse, but her mind went blank.
He was amused and tried to help her out. “Are you registering for classes?”
“Yes. I was registering for classes and it was so stuffy in that building that I had to come outside for some fresh air. I thought maybe if I cleared my head it would help me decide what electives to take.”
“Oh! If you need some help, I’ll be glad to help you. I have an office on campus. We can go there now and I’ll answer any questions you may have.”
Reverend Montgomery’s generosity made him sexier than usual. Typically, Danyelle wasn’t impressed with the reverend, but looking at him now she understood why more than half the single ladies at First Nazareth were chasing him down. He had a physique molded after one of football’s greatest running backs, Terrell Owens, and a face that closely resembled basketball sensation Dwayne Wade.
“Are you coming?” he asked when he realized Danyelle hadn’t gathered her things to follow him.
“Yes.” She quickly grabbed her book bag and followed him to his office.
Unfortunately, Colin’s office wasn’t in close proximity, and they had to walk to the far end of the campus. As they settled in, Danyelle’s teeth chattered from the cold.
“I’m sorry. It’s not as warm in here as it is in the registrar’s office. Let me get you a cup of hot chocolate.”
He disappeared out of the office and minutes later returned with two steaming
cups of hot chocolate from the vending machine. He placed her cup down in front of her, while she peeled out of her hat and scarf.
Danyelle wrapped her numb fingers around the hot Styrofoam cup. Eager to thaw herself out, she drank. When the hot chocolate reached the back of her throat, she gagged and pushed her lips out. “This stuff is horrible.”
Colin rushed to her side and patted her back. “I’m sorry. I know how you feel, but this is the best we have.”
Danyelle rolled her eyes and sucked her teeth.
He wasn’t offended by her response. In fact, it made him sit up and take notice of how Danyelle’s beauty was blossoming right before his eyes. Her curvy body, rosy cheeks, and sexy eyes drew Colin into a trance.
“Rev. Rev.” She lightly nudged him with her arm. “Are you ready?”
Lost in his own thoughts he looked around.
“Reverend Montgomery, are you all right? Maybe I should come back another time. I think maybe you were standing out in the cold for too long.” She got up to gather her things, but he stopped her.
“No, I’m fine.” He reached behind his desk to boot up his computer. “Why don’t you show me what you have so far?”
Then they were interrupted when Reverend Baxter barged into his office. “Colin, I have this great opportunity for you and I hope”—He stopped when he saw Danyelle—“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude. Hi.” He studied her face for a moment. “I remember you. You’re the one with the angelic voice. Don’t you attend Reverend Montgomery’s church?” He saw her book bag on the floor by her feet. “Are you going to school here this semester?”
She said yes.
“That’s great. Isn’t that great, Reverend?” He turned to Colin and, for the first time, noticed the look of infatuation in his eyes. It was the same lovesick expression he wore on his face the entire time he courted his wife.
Instantly, he felt like he was intruding on something special. “I’m going to excuse myself and allow the two of you to get back to business. I’m sure the registrar’s office could use my help.” He quickly let himself out.