“I’d like to see you old friend. I was wondering if you could drive out on my next visitation day.”
“Hell no,” Deacon Howard responded, surprising himself. He hadn’t cursed in thirty years. “I don’t know what’s going on here but please don’t call this number again.”
There was silence on the line. “Deacon Howard, how are Ms. Mary and Salinda doing?”
The deacon looked back to see if anybody was watching him as the blood began draining from his knuckles the tighter he held onto the cell phone. Fury ran through the deacon’s veins; his lips began trembling as he spoke. “Are you threatening my family?”
“I’m your pastor; I would never threaten your family because I care about your family. I was just wondering how everyone’s doing.”
“You’re not my pastor or anybody else’s pastor, Leon. Don’t ever call me again.” Deacon Howard clicked the call off. Deacon Howard heard his name being called. He turned around to see the young technician calling out to him from the entrance of the family center. He put his finger up to the young man to give him a minute. He really needed more than a minute. He had been a Marine, a war vet, and had survived Jim Crow yet nothing had ever rattled him like that call from Leon.
Chapter 26
Deacon Howard didn’t know which was making him more nervous, the fact that Mary was doing 50 in a 45 mile per hour zone or her constant full-pitched “thank you Jesus” outbursts that startled him every three to five seconds. Her joy over his decision to finally purchase a shiny new late model silver Buick had come to fruition.
Mary spent the last three years nagging Howard about getting rid of her thirteen year-old black Chrysler. Stubborn as he was, he assured her that what she had was fine until he realized that he also spent the last three years throwing money out of the window on repairs for that old heap of junk. Now sitting beside her in the passenger seat, he rubbed his left temple and fussed at her to watch her speed. They weren’t even a good 10 minutes from the ink drying on the sales contract and she was about to blow the engine.
Mary fiddled with the knobs on the stereo. “Howard, this has Sirius XM, I always wanted Sirius.”
The deacon bit his bottom lip at Mary’s erratic driving. Between her speeding and taking her eyes off of the road to admire the console with its flashy knobs and gadgets, he thought he was going to lose his mind. “Mary, I told you to slow down,” the deacon demanded. “You don’t know nothing about these new cars nowadays. They don’t make em like they used to. You’ll end up blowing the engine.”
“Calm down Howard. I’m going 47 in a 45.” She began humming. Mary looked over at him with a smile. “The salesman said that this car can go to 70 in 15 seconds.”
“Woman, you won’t ever be finding that out,” he snapped at her, shifting in his seat.
Ignoring his angst, Mary continued humming. About to get at her again about slowing down before she killed them or somebody else, he paused and stared at her. She was happy. She wore the prettiest smile that he ever did see on a woman. Even at 63, she was still the most beautiful woman he knew and he was a mighty blessed man. He slowly reached his hand across their seats and placed it on her thigh. She looked over at him as he turned on the oldies station; he and his honey sang together.
Mary and Howard knew all the words to the last five tracks and were singing an old Temptations song in harmony by the time they pulled up to their house. Mary pulled her new Buick past their driveway and mailbox to back the car into the garage. Howard nearly had a heart attack when he realized what she was trying to do.
“You can pull it right on in to the garage, Mary,” he insisted.
Mary put the gear in reverse. “It’s my car and I want to back it in. It’ll make it easier to pull out in the morning when I meet the girls to go walking. I can’t wait till they see my new car.”
The deacon knew that once Mary made up her mind, it was made up. “Well, at least wait a minute,” he said unbuckling his seatbelt, “let me get out and help you get it in the garage without you scratching up the paint job.”
Deacon Howard could hear the cracking of his bones as he got out of the car and began walking up the driveway. He looked over his lawn, noticing a little unevenness and making a mental note to get his clippers out later this afternoon. He didn’t see his newspaper in the driveway and wondered if that delivery boy had put it where he was supposed to. He glanced up on the porch for the paper but saw Rex stretched out on it. That dog is supposed to be inside the house; how in the world did he get out?
The deacon clapped his hands. “Rex, come here, boy!”
The dog didn’t budge, causing the deacon to step up his pace toward the house. Howard whistled loudly but there was no movement from the dog. With his heart pounding, Howard called out again, “Rex!”
Howard’s stomach turned. “Rex! Come here boy!” He clapped his hands again, louder this time.
The dog didn’t move. Mary honked the horn. Howard couldn’t even look back to respond to her as he rushed to the porch. The deacon put his hand to his dog who was stiff to the touch. He wanted to shake the dog but he knew it wouldn’t change a thing. He wouldn’t ever be moving again. The man’s heart dropped to his stomach; his friend was gone.
Deacon Howard didn’t want to cry, at least not in front of Mary, but he couldn’t control the tears. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand then turned back to Mary and shouted her name. She immediately got out of the car and ran as fast as her short aged legs would allow to the porch. Still bent over Rex, with eyes that continued to water, Howard noticed a piece of paper beneath the dog’s hard body. Deacon Howard picked the white folded notebook paper up and read it. Visitation is Thursday.
Chapter 27
Evan placed Gracie in her crib. She stared at her for just a moment. Everything that God had brought her through was worth it to have this little girl. Evan may have birthed Gracie but Gracie had given Evan life. She tiptoed out of Gracie’s room and into the extra bedroom which she and Greg made into their shared office space. Greg had a traditional desk area complete with monitor and keyboard, phone, printer: the works. Her space was a bay window seat covered with a soft pink cushion, her laptop and a place for her tea cup. It was perfect.
Evan sat cross legged on her bay window seat and turned on her laptop. She hadn’t originally intended to finish Leon’s email but the notion of not knowing the full content of it gnawed at her. She opened it.
I was thinking about you the other day. You were this shy, skinny preacher’s kid who never kissed anyone. Do you remember how afraid you were to kiss me? I am the man that made you a woman. I built you a church and I made you a First Lady just like you always wanted to be. I made you proud to be like your mother and I became the pastor that your daddy wanted to be but never could and that’s why he hated me. I wanted to build a home with you, make a family with you but you betrayed me in the worse way by making a family with my enemy. You somehow managed to turn everyone against me and I can’t forget that. I cannot forgive you for that.
“Hey baby,” Greg stood at the doorway looking in at her.
She was so engrossed in Leon’s email that she didn’t hear him walk in. “You scared me.”
Greg raised his brows. “I did?”
Even preoccupied with Leon's letter, seeing Greg standing in the doorway in his crisp white button down shirt and blue slacks excited Evan. She stood up from the window seat and walked over to him. “Oh, you’re like a piece of red velvet cake on the beach,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him on the lips.
Greg laughed. “Oh, do I look that good?” He locked his arms around her waist, looking into her big brown eyes.
“Better,” she flirted.
He kissed her nose. “What were you working on?”
“Oh, just some emails sent to the center. I’m trying to catch up.”
“Is everything okay at the center?”
“Yes. You? How was your day?”
The look Greg
gave Evan made her think he was going to question her about her hesitation. He didn’t; instead he took a deep breath as he released her. “I’ve been thinking a lot about Ms. Delilah.”
“I know. Has the chief made any progress?”
“No, I’m not sure what’s going on,” Greg said. “I have so much going on in my head.”
“You need to relax and clear your mind.”
“Yeah, I’m going for a run before I sit down and convince myself not to exercise. You and Gracie want to come?”
“No,” Evan answered, thinking only of Leon’s email that she wanted to finish reading. “I’m going to finish going through the center’s stuff.”
“Okay then,” Greg said, scanning the top of his desk before walking toward the door. He looked back at her as she settled back down on the window seat in front of her laptop. “Are you sure?”
“Sure of what?” Evan panicked, wondering if he saw right through her.
“That you don’t want to run,” he said.
Relieved, she let out a breath. “I’m sure, baby.”
“Okay,” Greg said, giving her one last look before walking out of the room.
Chapter 28
Deacon Howard was nervous and his hands shook as he removed his keys and wallet from his jacket and placed them in the bowl to go through the rolling belt of the metal detector. With his arms raised, he walked through the metal detector and it beeped. He stepped back as instructed by a burly man and tried again. Again it beeped. He nervously patted his body down and looked into every pocket to make sure that the prison security knew he wasn’t attempting to smuggle anything in.
Finally after being pulled aside and patted down by a large rosy faced fellow and then passed along to a round Latina who scanned him with a hand detector, making no eye contact, he was given his wallet, keys and his watch back. Deacon Howard looked around the eerie environment as he followed instructions closely, afraid of doing something suspicious and getting mistakenly locked up. Still, he knew that the real fear stemmed from being there to meet someone he despised and feeling powerless to be anywhere else.
Deacon Howard stared at his watch, convinced that he heard every tick of the hands. He listened as the voices around him seemed jubilant to see the individuals in their prison uniforms come out to meet them. The deacon watched as children ran ecstatically to their fathers and women kissed their men while he wanted nothing more than to run.
Howard began drumming his fingers on the table top as he sat waiting nervously. He made the two hour long trip to sit face to face with Leon to personally deliver the message that he wasn’t going to terrorize him or his family again and there was to be no future contact with him. Howard heard a laugh that was unmistakably Leon’s and looked up to see him garbed in a dark gray prison suit with a slick grin spread across his face. Howard hadn’t known what to expect but Leon looked healthy, strong and confident just as he always had.
“Deacon Howard, it’s good to see you.” Leon held out his hand to shake Howard’s.
Howard struggled to look Leon in the eyes to send the message that he wasn’t afraid of him. It was the first time since being saved that he realized that he could probably kill a man without remorse. “What’s this about, Leon?”
“You look healthy, Deacon.”
Howard stared at him, holding his jaws so tight that he was sure they were trembling. “Are you serious?”
“I am.”
Howard could take it no longer; he pounded his shaky fist on the table. “Why are you bothering me? I never did nothing to you, man, I always supported you as pastor!”
Leon grinned. “What? I’m not bothering you Howard. I thought we were friends.”
“You’re a sick person. You killed my best friend so you and I will never, ever be friends,” Howard spat out with his lips quivering, pressing his index finger into the table with every syllable.
Leon’s demeanor changed as he stared the deacon in the eye, then smiled. “Look at you.” He laughed. “I like this new you.”
Howard refused to back down. He pointed his shaky light brown index finger at Leon. “I came here to tell you to stay away from my family and don’t ever contact me again!”
Leon leaned toward him, “Or what?”
Deacon Howard couldn’t respond. Honestly, he didn’t know what he would do. After all, he couldn’t prove that Leon, who was incarcerated, killed Rex or threatened his family.
“Exactly,” Leon whispered.
The deacon looked around with his head spinning and his anger boiling up inside. He had made the trip to the prison to set this lunatic straight but he was feeling less and less confident that he was making an impact.
“How are the new pastor and First Lady of JMC doing? I can’t imagine that he’s anything close to the pastor that I was.”
“Take comfort that he isn’t anything close to the pastor that you were.” Howard stared blankly at Leon. “He actually has God in him.”
Leon grinned. “I always thought he was boring. He’s a boring person, living a boring life and he’s a boring preacher. And it’s not just me that thinks that. I’m surprised that you all voted for him to replace me.”
Howard felt as if he was staring the devil himself in the face. He turned away.
“There’s nothing worse than a man that’ll stab his friend in the back and then take the man’s wife.”
“There’s worse,” Howard said.
“Anyway, I need you to do something for me.”
“Never.” Deacon Howard didn’t know what he was thinking in coming out here. He scooted his chair back to leave. “This conversation is over. Don’t contact me again!”
Leon watched Howard stand up then sighed. “How’s Salinda doing? Is she still in school?” He shook his head as if recalling new information. “No, she graduated, right?”
Howard stopped, frozen in place. Hearing Salinda’s name roll off of Leon’s dark tongue was like a million needles stabbing him all at once. He fixed his eyes on Leon unable to blink, unable to look away. The one person he despised above any other human being had purposed his mouth to speak the name of the one miracle in his life that he would die for.
“Don’t say her name.”
“Is she teaching yet?” Leon laughed. “Your miracle baby; I love the story. God is good.”
Howard didn’t respond. Salinda was his and Mary’s miracle baby. After getting married at age 19, Mary suffered four miscarriages by the time she was 25. Finally, a doctor told them Mary would never have a baby. They grieved, devastated, until they were finally at peace that it wasn’t God’s will for them to have a baby. Then at the age of 40, Mary became pregnant with Salinda and carried her full term. Howard would never forget how God remembered him. Howard could feel heat rush over his body as he looked at Leon. He wanted so badly to wipe the smirk permanently off of the other man's face but the thought of being in prison if he attacked Leon stopped him; he simply closed his eyes and tried to remain calm.
“I know you certainly love her more than you loved that dog of yours,” Leon said.
Howard opened his eyes. Leon had gotten his attention. “What do you want with me, Leon?”
“I want you to step down as head of the board of trustees. I have someone that’s ready to take that spot.”
“It’s not going to happen.”
“I’ll give you one more chance. You either move or be moved.”
Chapter 29
James stood at the edge of the cliff throwing rocks as he waited for officers Hernandez and White. He loved the spot, 30 minutes outside of the city known mostly to avid hikers but he often came to be alone, loving the seclusion of the location. Hernandez and White were just now pulling up in a patrol car.
“What’s up, Chief?” Officer White asked.
“Chief,” Officer Hernandez greeted.
James threw another rock out over the cliff. “Gentlemen, I hope you have good news for me.”
Officer Hernandez rubbed the back of his ne
ck. “We found the boy. He’s at his grandmother’s house.”
“Pick him up,” James said.
Officer Hernandez and Officer White looked at each other.
“Why?” Hernandez asked.
James looked sharply at Hernandez. “There’s a warrant for his arrest; he’s being charged with the murder of Devon Rice.”
The officers’ eyes widened in alarm. “What?” Hernandez asked.
White laughed and scratched his head. “Is this a joke?”
James glared at the rosy faced man. “Do I look like I’m laughing, Officer White?”
“No sir,” White responded. “It’s just that we took care of our little problem and its business as usual now.”
James threw another rock over the cliff. “After examining all of the evidence, it appears that Devon’s best friend retaliated against him for a disagreement that the two had over money and drugs.”
Hernandez shook his head in disbelief. “Chief?”
“Is there a problem?” James asked the officer in a tone that he knew wouldn’t be challenged.
Officer Hernandez stood upright from the patrol car. “He’s not even on the street anymore. Our beef wasn’t even with him.”
“You suddenly have a conscience, Hernandez?” James asked.
The officer looked down at the ground and began kicking rocks. “Chief, I just don’t get this. I mean, I’m just saying, sir, that I checked on this kid and he started taking classes at the community college. I think we’re playing with fire with this kid,” Hernandez said.
James stopped throwing rocks and swiftly walked up to the man and stood nose to nose. “I don’t care if he’s performing brain surgeries now, pick him up.”
The darkly tanned man flushed. “Yes sir.”
“Chief, this is just a little absurd isn’t it?”
The Believer Page 11