Iona laughed. “Okay, now I’m really scared.”
“Come on, Iona. Can’t you see how interested I am in you?” He lifted his right hand and did a sweeping motion around the church. “I don’t even like organized religion, but I came to church tonight just to be near you.”
Iona smiled and then asked, “What did you think of my father?”
“What is that phrase King Agrippa used after Apostle Paul preached to him?” JL hesitated in thought for a moment and then snapped his fingers and said, “He almost persuaded me to become a Christian.”
“A Bible scholar as well as an attorney. I’m impressed.”
“Well, you know.” JL popped his collar. “I know a little somethin’ somethin’.”
Iona remembered the bald man and looked down at the dispersing crowd. He was gone, but she saw her father walk out of the sanctuary toward his office and Nina got up to follow behind him. Then she saw Johnny head toward her father’s office also. He stopped and looked toward the balcony. Iona smirked. Johnny always tried to quickly scan the balcony for her and then turn and keep doing whatever he was doing after spotting her.
JL said, “I know you’ve been busy this week, but are you too busy to go to dinner with me tonight?”
Iona would have turned down JL’s invitation except for one thing. Johnny hadn’t turned away from the balcony as he normally did. He was still staring in her direction with a look of wonder on his face.
“All right, JL, where would you like to take me?”
JL smiled. “Do you like Italian?”
“Love it,” Iona said, still watching Johnny watch them.
JL stood. “I know of a little mom and pop Italian restaurant that will have you acting like you’re hitting a crack pipe.”
“What do you know about a crack pipe, Counselor?”
“Just what your clients tell me.”
“Ha, ha, very funny. You’re a real funny man,” Iona said as she stood and walked down the stairs with JL.
“Do you want to follow me?”
Johnny headed their way as they descended the stairs, so before Iona could answer JL, Johnny stood next to them and nodded at JL. “Nice to see you at church.” He told JL, then turned to Iona and asked, “Are you going to check in with your father before you leave tonight?”
Sometimes Iona wondered if Johnny thought he was her daddy. “No, Mr. Dunford, I don’t have time to visit with my father right now. I have a date.”
Johnny grabbed her arm and told JL, “I need to speak with Iona for a moment.” He then moved her away from JL and said, “I don’t think you should go out with this guy.”
“What’s wrong, Johnny, you don’t think JL has enough money to date me either?”
Johnny rubbed his forehead and eyes in frustration. “Forget that I said that, okay?” He was repentant now as he said, “Matter-of-fact, I’m sorry that I said that to you. I was just trying to give myself a reason to leave, because I really did want to stay with you. I was wrong, but please listen to me, Iona. This guy is bad news.”
Iona rolled her eyes, walked away from Johnny and ushered JL out the front door of the church. “I’ll follow you,” Iona told JL when they were outside.
The restaurant was in Kettering, Ohio and Iona had to admit that JL had been right. This was the best pasta she’d ever had. She was licking her lips when JL asked, “So why are you going to be in Chicago for so long?”
Iona put her fork down and looked at JL as she said, “My mother has cancer. I want to be with her in case she doesn’t beat this disease.”
“I’m sorry,” JL said. “I didn’t mean to pry.”
“Hey, anybody that treats me to the best pasta I’ve ever had can pry into my life. Don’t worry about it.”
He sipped his Pepsi and looked at her over the rim of the glass. When he put his drink down he said, “And now you’ve got to deal with this stuff that’s going on with your father.”
Defensively Iona asked, “How do you know what’s going on with my father?”
“Calm down, Iona. I am the assistant to the DA. I think that makes me privy to things that go on at the police station.”
“Okay, all right. I’m just a little suspicious of everybody right now.”
“Maybe not suspicious enough,” JL said as he brought his glass to his lips and took another sip.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
JL shook his head. “Nothing. Forget I said anything.”
“Oh yeah, that’s what I do for a living; I forget what people tell me.”
Smiling, JL said, “You seem to forget that your clients are truly guilty easy enough.”
She pointed her fork at him. “Hey! Not funny. Anyway, I’m not about to forget this, so just go ahead and tell me what you’re talking about.”
He hesitated for a second, took a deep breath, blew it out and said, “Okay. Now I know this is going to come as a shock to you, especially since your family seems to trust him so much.”
“Wait a minute.” Iona raised her hand to halt JL. “Is this about Johnny? Look, I’m out with you so you don’t have to dog out the competition. It’s been two years since I last dated Johnny, and he dumped me, so you don’t have to worry about him trying to win me back.”
JL shook his head. “You’ve got the wrong idea, Iona. I don’t see Johnny as competition. I know for a fact that he never cared anything about you.”
After a sharp intake of breath Iona asked, “Why would you say something like that? H-how would you even know anything about it?”
He put his hand over Iona’s and said, “I didn’t tell you that to hurt you.”
Iona snatched her hand from JL’s and stood up. “I demand to know what you are talking about.”
“The reason Johnny started seeing you was to get close to your father. The DA’s office had been investigating him.”
Iona sat back down with a stunned look on her face. “Why would you be investigating my father?”
JL put his hands to his chest and said, “I never wanted to investigate your father. But Johnny wouldn’t let it go. He came to my office with all sorts of stories about how your father was stealing from the church. I think his obsession with your father began when the good pastor bought that Hummer.”
“But Johnny and my father are so close.”
“I guess everyone needs a Judas in their life. I’m told it builds character,” JL remarked snidely.
“Why did you ask me out?” Iona demanded.
“I wanted to get to know you.”
“You’re investigating my father, and you want to get to know me. Are you crazy?”
He raised his hands. “You didn’t let me finish. I am no longer investigating your father. Johnny was never able to turn up any incriminating evidence against Pastor Walker.”
“Of course he wasn’t. My father is the most honorable, upstanding man I know.” She looked JL over and added, “Present company included.”
“Hey, no need to get upset with me. I’m the one who called off the investigation. I told Johnny that if he hadn’t found anything after two years of digging, there probably wasn’t anything to find. But Johnny doesn’t listen. He’s not giving up, Iona. So, you and your father need to steer clear of him.”
Still finding JL’s accusations hard to believe, Iona asked, “Why would Johnny do this, huh? What would be his motive?”
JL looked at her with sympathetic eyes. “You really don’t know do you?”
“Know what?” Anger was causing Iona’s voice to rise. A few people at tables close by glanced at them, but she didn’t care.
JL leaned back in his seat and dropped a bombshell on Iona. “Johnny’s father is a pastor.”
“No he’s not. Johnny’s father was a cop. Johnny had never even attended church before I took him to my father’s church. He was completely ignorant of everything religious.”
“Is that what he told you? Well, I guess that line got you to go out with him.” JL leaned forward and Iona coul
d tell that he was enjoying this. “Johnny’s father is a married preacher. But he’s not married to Johnny’s mother. As a matter of fact, Johnny’s mother committed suicide after waiting eight long years for that wonderful pastor to divorce his wife and marry her. His mother was a deaconess and little Johnny spent every free moment in church until he was seven years old.” JL leaned closer to Iona and whispered. “Do you want to know what happened to Johnny when his mother died?”
Iona didn’t answer, but JL told her anyway.
“He was shipped off to an orphanage when daddy never showed up to claim his little boy. That’s why Johnny believed your father was up to something. Johnny believes that all preachers are up to something.”
Iona stood, composed herself by straightening her dress, pulled her purse strap onto her shoulder and said, “Thank you very much for the good food. Your company, however, I could have done without. I will see you in court, Counselor.”
“Iona, why do you want to shoot the messenger?” he yelled to her departing form.
***
Johnny was parked outside of St. Peter Missionary Baptist Church as Iona drove home from her date with JL. He used to sit in front of this church every night when he finished his shift. But after attending the House of God, he hadn’t needed to come by here every single night. Now he only made his rounds about once a month. One time he went two whole months without visiting this church.
Johnny wondered if the church had changed much since the last time he and his mother attended services. But he never went in. He just sat in the driveway like an outsider and watched the parishioners file out of the church. But Johnny wouldn’t leave until the man of the hour, Bishop Thomas Tewiliger, opened those huge double doors and stepped out of the church.
Sometimes the good bishop would look over at Johnny’s car and nod as he headed toward his big Lincoln Town Car. It was on those nights that Johnny wondered if the man knew who he was, and if that nod was his simple form of acknowledgment. It was like he was saying, ‘Oh there’s my son that I never did anything for. Look, he’s stalking me again. Let me nod so he can go away and I can keep pretending that I didn’t have anything to do with his mother committing suicide’.
Those nods made Johnny angry – made him want to hurt somebody. Johnny gripped the steering wheel and decided to leave, because if Bishop Tewiliger came out and nodded at him, that might force him to do something he would regret.
He turned on his car and drove off. But Johnny knew; knew with everything in him, that he would one day have to face down the demon that haunted him.
Chapter 18
Iona was awakened at six in the morning by the loud ringing of her telephone. She grunted, rolled over and picked up the phone. “Yeah, what’s up?” Iona asked while rubbing her eyes.
“Iona we need-”
Recognizing the voice, Iona said, “Hey, Nina-Mama, what are you doing up so early?” Being a writer and one who could make her own hours, Nina normally didn’t get up until eight a.m. She would then spend an hour with the Lord, fix breakfast and then begin working on her current book.
“Your father has been arrested, Iona. I need you to meet me downtown.”
Iona sat up, fully awake now. “What did you say?”
“Can you meet me downtown? I have to see about bailing him out of jail.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know, honey. This is a nightmare.” Nina started crying.
“Don’t worry about anything. Just meet me at the police station in thirty minutes.”
Iona hung up and bolted out of bed. It took her no more than seven minutes to shower and another seven minutes to throw her clothes on, grab a comb, brush and her keys. She was out of her apartment and rolling down the street in under fifteen minutes of hanging up with Nina. Her mind was so shook-up that she almost didn’t stop at the red light as she got off the highway and drove onto Main Street. An elderly man was crossing the street and Iona narrowly missed hitting him. Thoughts of her being arrested for running a red light and killing a pedestrian flashed through her mind as she tried to calm down.
Iona looked to heaven and asked God, “How much more do you think I can take?” Tears streamed down her lovely face as she thought about her mother’s illness, her brother’s defection, Johnny’s betrayal and now her father’s arrest. “What? Do you want me to just lay down and die? Do you hate me that much?”
A horn honked behind her and Iona brought her eyes back to the traffic light and saw that it was now green. She wiped the tears from her face and kept it moving. She had to go handle her father’s business. If God wasn’t going to help her family, Iona decided that she would be all the help they needed. After arriving at the police station, Iona got out of her car and walked into the Dayton Police Station and told the desk clerk that she needed to see her client.
“Client’s name?” he asked without looking up from his computer.
“Isaac Walker.”
The officer hit a few keys on his computer and then looked up with disapproval in his eyes. “We’ll get right on that,” he said snidely.
“See that you do,” Iona told him as she gave him a don’t even try to mess with me today stare down.
She waited for fifteen minutes, all the while wondering what was keeping Nina. Iona went into the visitation room and somberly waited for her father to be brought out. Although Iona knew her father had spent three years in prison for drug trafficking over twenty-five years ago, she had never been able to imagine the dynamic, resilient and charismatic Pastor of the House of God behind bars.
As he slowly walked toward his seat in ankle chains and that awful red jumpsuit, tears sprang forth, and Iona couldn’t force them back. This was her father. How could the police think this awesome man was a killer?
Isaac sat down and said, “No tears, Counselor.”
Sniffling she said, “I’m sorry, Daddy. This is just so unbelievable. You would cry too if I had been brought to you handcuffed and shackled.”
“Yes, but I’m your father. You’re my lawyer, so buck up or I’m going to hire someone else.” He smiled as he said the words.
“That’s not funny, Daddy.” She wiped her face and then got down to business. “But your point is taken. I’ll be professional and treat you like a client.” She hit her forehead with the palm of her hand. “I forgot to ask what the charges were. Okay. I was thinking like a daughter, but I’ll make this work, don’t worry. Just tell me what happened. What reason did they give for arresting you?”
The sadness in Isaac’s eyes was so apparent, that it caused another tear to cascade down Iona’s face as he told her, “Do you remember that kid that gave his life to the Lord at church last night?”
“His name was Dwight, right? He was the one that turned to the congregation and told all his business.” Iona slowly finished her comment as she remembered that Dwight had told the congregation that he had stolen from his mother. “No, Daddy?”
Isaac nodded. “They found him dead at five this morning. His mother told the police that I was the last person she saw with him.”
A look of puzzlement shot across Iona’s face. “Why would she say that? Was she at church last night?”
“No. I drove Dwight home and introduced myself to his mother.”
“Daddy, why would you drive him home? We have a church van. Why didn’t you just let one of the van drivers take him?”
“I was worried about the kid. When he said what he did, I started thinking that the person that killed Clarence and Vinny would probably come after Dwight next. So I wanted to make sure the kid was safe. Turns out I didn’t help him after all.”
Iona rubbed her temples. “Okay, so you gave him a ride home. How did the police then link that to murder?”
“Someone called their house this morning claiming to be me. He asked Dwight to meet him outside. Dwight walked outside and got shot.”
Iona hung her head, then as she remembered the bald man that she’d seen in church the night before
Dwight was killed, she lifted her eyes toward her father and said, “I think I know who is doing this.”
“Who?” Isaac asked.
“This guy who is a contract killer came to my office wanting me to represent him. I turned him down and we ended up getting into a fight.”
“You did what?” Isaac exploded.
“Calm down, Dad. I won the fight.” When she saw that Isaac was going to say more about the situation she raised her hands and continued. “Anyway, I think I saw Larry at church last night.”
Isaac looked skeptical. “If this guy is a contract killer like you said, then he’s working for someone.”
“You might be right about that. But if we find Larry, we just might find the master mind, right?”
“Right,” Isaac agreed, then added. “But I don’t want you looking for this guy, and I especially don’t want you in another fight.”
Iona stood. “Don’t worry about a thing, Daddy. I’m going to get you out of here.”
When Iona walked back through the police station, Nina was at the front desk arguing with the clerk about seeing her husband. Iona pulled her to the side and said, “I’m sorry about this, Nina, but you’re not going to be able to see Daddy until visiting hours. They won’t make an exception.”
“What do you mean I can’t see my husband? He’s an innocent man!” Nina screamed. “He doesn’t belong in jail; he belongs at home with me.”
“I know. But we have to convince a judge of that, so let’s get moving,” Iona told her, then asked, “What took you so long to get down here anyway?”
“Girl, I wasn’t about to leave the house without praying for my husband. I had to let the Lord know what was going on.”
“I thought God was all knowing,” Iona said snidely.
Nina shook her finger in Iona’s face. “Don’t you get smart with me today, Iona Walker.”
Iona raised her hands and backed away from Nina. “Hey, I’m on your side, remember?”
“Well, then come on. Let’s go down to your office and figure out what’s what.”
“Okay, but first I need to find something out.” She turned back to the clerk and said, “I need to know the charges my client is being held on.”
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