Gospel According to Prissy

by Barbara Casey

  Lara tried calling Carole from the office late in the afternoon, but got a busy signal. When she tried again later, a recorded message informed her that the line was no longer in service. Lara left campus early and drove over to see how Beth was. Considering everything, she looked surprisingly calm and refreshed. Carole was a total wreck.

  “Bob went to the office. He had a deposition scheduled.”

  It sounded like an apology.

  “It’s probably best,” said Lara. “There’s nothing he can do here.”

  Carole looked stricken.

  “Tom Dillard will take care of everything. You have to leave it in his hands.”

  Carole nodded.

  Beth left the room and in a few minutes returned with a tray and three glasses of iced tea. It was amazing to see her so much in control of her emotions – especially after that horrible experience in the jail.

  “Tom thinks the one thing in our favor is the fact that the police can’t find a motive for why Beth would kill that man.”

  “There, you see,” said Lara. “He’s figuring it out already.”

  “Of course, apparently no one else had any motive either. He was married and had three young children. They were active members of the First Methodist Church downtown. He was a volunteer for the Rocky Mount Fire Department. Apparently he had been the night security guard at Schlage ever since it opened six years ago. And during the day, he did odd jobs around – kind of a handy man type. A model citizen, really.” Carole’s voice trailed off.

  “Well, someone knows something about him that apparently no one else knows. And it has to be Darnell.” Lara looked at Beth. “What does Tom think?”

  “He’s tried to talk to Darnell and Cathy, but they’re not saying anything. They gave their statements to the police claiming they went straight home that night from school after working on the scenery. They said I left before they did.”

  “Beth, you said Darnell and Cathy hadn’t been your friends before that night. That they ran around with other people.”

  “That’s right.”

  “Do you suppose they had planned to set you up all along? Maybe they were mad about something you did or said, and they just wanted to get even.”

  “I don’t think so, Lara. I mean, Darnell didn’t know I was going to be working on the scenery, and she didn’t know I was going to be standing at that door when she came running out. In fact, she was as startled as I was.”

  “And that’s when she shoved the knife in your hand?”

  “That’s right.”

  “What about fingerprints? Darnell’s fingerprints must have been on the knife.”

  “The only prints that were on the knife were mine – and, of course, that man’s. If there were any others, they were too smudged to identify.”

  “Well, whatever happened, Tom will get to the bottom of it. Just try not to worry. I know it isn’t easy.” Lara and Beth both looked at Carole who was staring blankly into her glass of tea and bobbing an ice cube up and down with her finger.

  * * *

  Lara stopped at the grocery store on the way home. She bought mostly frozen dinners and canned goods – things that would be easy to heat up. She also picked out two steaks, some baking potatoes, and fresh vegetables – lettuce, carrots, an onion and tomato – to make a tossed salad. Her conscience was bothering her that Randall had done all of that work over at Carole’s and then raked up her yard and still he hadn’t gotten a meal out of it. She picked out a frozen pecan pie and some vanilla ice cream as well.

  An elderly gentleman who worked at the store pushed the groceries out to her car. “Shame about the college closing down,” he said. Apparently the story was already circulating.

  As she backed out of the parking space, she noticed the dark green SUV in her rearview mirror. She deliberately drove out of her way going home, taking streets she normally didn’t travel. When she was sure she wasn’t being followed, she turned toward Hawthorne Way. It was already past six o’clock. Randall was there in his usual place. Lara stopped the car.

  “Do you like steak?” she asked.

  “Depends,” he answered.

  “What on?” Lara felt the dread of having to go back to the grocery store to pick out something else that Randall would eat.

  “On whether I can cook it,” he answered.

  “It’s a deal,” said Lara smiling.

  While Lara put away the groceries, Randall washed the potatoes and wrapped them in foil. After he stuck them in the oven he started on the salad. All of this was done with very little conversation. Randall never talked much anyway, and Lara was too preoccupied to even make an attempt at conversation.

  “The yard really looks nice,” she finally said remembering the fresh piles of pine straw raked into the beds of azaleas. “Thank you.”

  He nodded and began slicing up a carrot.

  The steaks Randall cooked were delicious. He had sautéed mushrooms to go with them, and they were delicious as well. In fact, everything was, and Lara felt a great deal better after she had eaten.

  “You do so many things well.” She smiled at Randall. “Do you ever think about settling down?”

  “You mean in a regular job?” he asked.

  “That, and maybe finding someone to share your life with.”

  Randall laughed.

  “I’m sorry. Did I say something wrong?” Lara was confused by his reaction.

  “No,” he said. “You didn’t say anything wrong. It’s just that this is as regular as I get. And I have all the sharing in my life that I can take.”

  Lara wanted to ask more questions, but didn’t. If Randall wanted her to know, he would tell her. She watched Randall get up from the table and begin gathering up the dishes.

  “Don’t bother, please,” said Lara. “I’ll take care of it.”

  “I’d like to,” said Randall, and he continued stacking dirty dishes and carrying them over to the sink. “In fact, I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll do the dishes if you tell me what’s been worrying you all evening.”

  Lara felt slightly uncomfortable that someone she hardly knew could sense when she was feeling down. “I didn’t realize it showed.” She watched Randall fix two cups of coffee, setting one of them down in front of her, and then start washing the dishes. She told him about the murder and Beth’s involvement in it. And then she told him about the college closing at the end of the term. Randall listened with no comment. Randall finished wiping off the counters and stove and then sat down at the table opposite Lara with his coffee.

  “What will you do?”

  “I don’t know yet. I really enjoy working in a college atmosphere. The students make me feel young and alive.”

  “You are young and alive.”

  “After these past few days, I’m not too sure.” Lara sighed.

  “I’m sure you’ve made a lot of contacts through your job at the college. Have you met anyone you’d like to work with?”

  “I could probably find something. But for some reason I feel like I need a change from an office routine. Sylvia, my secretary, is thinking about packing up her two sons and taking them to Ohio to live with her parents on a farm.”

  “Do you want to live on a farm?”

  Lara laughed. “No. I’m a city girl through and through. Rocky Mount is as country as I want to get. I guess what I’m not sure about is if I can stand the regiment that comes with a nine-to-five job. At the college I have a lot of freedom. And I only report to Dr. Peters. If I want to take a three-hour lunch, I don’t have to ask anyone. I know what work has to get done and I do it. Sometimes I have to work on weekends and late at night to get it done, but I like that too. I just don’t think I can find anything else like that around here. And yet I don’t want to move away from here either. I have my home, and in spite of everything, I really like it here.” Randall stood up and took his jacket off the back of the chair where it was hanging. “You’ll figure it out,” he said. “And as far as your friend goes – Beth? The tr
uth always comes out. Sooner or later. Thanks for dinner.” He walked toward the door.

  “Can I take you anywhere?” asked Lara jumping up when she realized he was leaving.

  “Nope.”

  “Thank you for . . .” Lara didn’t get to finish. Randall was gone.

  CHAPTER NINE

  THE NEXT DAY a memorial service was held outside in the fields where Tanya had enjoyed working before she got sick. She hadn’t known anything else but working in the fields on the old farm where she had grown up as a child. It was only natural that when the land was donated to Braden for growing vegetables and other things, Tanya was one of the first ones to sign up to work in the garden. No one knew exactly when she became ill or how; it happened so suddenly.

  Prissy seemed to be unaffected by the events. Of course Miriam explained to her that her mother had died, but it didn’t make Prissy unhappy as everyone had feared. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer is with me,” Prissy told Miriam. While the minister preached, Prissy stood quietly holding Roylene’s hand, adding her own gospel whenever there was a pause in the service. “The Tooth Fairy brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up.” Those who were in attendance saw nothing wrong with it. They knew Prissy; they expected it. Toward the end of the service when everyone started singing “Amazing Grace,” a hymn that Tanya had been particularly fond of, Prissy stood up and clapped her hands. “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. Santa Claus gave and Santa Claus has taken away; may the name of jolly old Saint Nicholas be praised.” This was all right, too. After all, it was Prissy. Her words weren’t loud, nor did they seem meaningless or inappropriate. It was the gospel according to Prissy, and everyone who had been exposed to that gospel understood her meaning and had been touched in a special way. Prissy’s gospel at her mother’s memorial service was no different. If anything, it gave each of the women strength and hope to face another day.

  After the service, a car from the Social Services came to pick up Prissy and her belongings. She would go to live with an elderly grandmother and an aunt, Tanya’s younger sister, Darnell. There wasn’t even time for the inmates to say good-bye. All they could do was watch Prissy wave from the back window of the departing car and blow them kisses.

  “Now we’ll see what kind of cloth I’m cut from,” Miriam said to herself as she watched the tearful inmates return to their cells. The next few weeks would be challenging, to say the least. She only hoped and prayed that she would be up for it.

  * * *

  The next week went by with no one on campus knowing what time it was or what day of the week. Everyone was stunned. Once Peters announced the Board’s decision to close the college to the administration and faculty, word spread all over campus and all over town. The records office stayed in a state of turmoil as students tried to arrange for transfers and get copies of their records and transcripts. Coeds passed in and out of Lara’s office in tears. Most of the faculty stayed huddled in little clusters talking in hushed tones, or they walked around the halls in a state of semi-consciousness.

  Newspapers and television programs blasted the news of Piedmont’s death knell. No one knew what to do. Teaching was impossible. The only bright spot was that Tyree took the Blue Bulldogs to the 2-A National Basketball Championship for the fourth straight year.

  After two weeks at home, Beth returned to school to finish out the final three weeks of her senior year of high school. And Carole returned to her office. But the investigation wasn’t going well. Tom Dillard had pinned his hopes on someone coming forward with information – any information – that would have put Darnell and Cathy at Schlage the night of the murder. No one did. The trial date was drawing closer, and he had no defense.

  “Lara, this is Tom Dillard.” Lara was cleaning out files, sorting what she wanted to save into cardboard file boxes and throwing the rest away. Most of it she was throwing away.

  “Hello, Tom. This is a surprise.”

  “The reason I’m calling is because, quite frankly, I am desperate.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I want to ask if you would try to talk to Darnell. You work around students all day. Maybe you can get something out of her. I’m afraid if I push any more she’ll have me up on harassment charges. She’s hired a lawyer, you know. A Dukey.”

  “A Dukey?”

  “A graduate of Duke Law School.”

  “Oh, I see.” Lara thought for a minute. “It doesn’t sound like it’s going too well.”

  “It isn’t. Cathy and Darnell are sticking by their story, and with the circumstantial evidence against Beth, the prosecution has a good case.”

  Lara got Darnell’s address from Tom and left her office about 3:30 thinking Darnell should be home from school by then.

  The house was located on the east side of the railroad tracks in a poor community known as the “Pearl District.” Lara went up to the door and knocked. There was no doorbell. She could hear what sounded like a small child laughing inside.

  Darnell opened the door. She was holding a little girl with one hand and a box of cereal in the other.

  “Yeah?” Her dark eyes flashed their impudence.

  “What a beautiful child,” said Lara. The little girl stared at Lara with open curiosity. Her caramel skin and hazel eyes contrasted markedly against Darnell’s own dark skin and eyes, but the child had Darnell’s high cheek bones, perfectly shaped lips, and soft, curly hair. There was no doubt in Lara’s mind that this was either Darnell’s little girl, or certainly a close relative’s.

  “So what do you want?” Again Lara was aware of the hostility and resentment in Darnell’s voice.

  “Darnell, I want to talk to you for a few minutes. I promise not to stay long. May I come in?”

  The little girl reached out her chubby little arms to Lara and smiled. “Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one’s friend springs from his earnest counsel.”

  Lara opened the screen door and held out her hand to the child. “May I?” She smiled at Darnell. “Was that Proverbs?” she asked, stepping inside and taking the child by the hand.

  Darnell glared at Lara. “What of it?”

  “What’s her name?” Lara walked into the house trying to ignore Darnell’s obvious rudeness and sat down on a well-worn couch covered with a wrinkled spread.

  “Her name is Prissy,” Darnell said watching the little girl.

  Prissy continued staring openly at Lara, smiling. Lara lifted her up onto her lap and straightened the soiled shirt she was wearing.

  “You are a beauty,” she said. And then to Darnell, “I bet she’s a handful.” “Sometimes. What do you want?”

  Darnell was wary. Everything about her told Lara that this was a girl who was fighting for survival – and she was scared.

  “Darnell, I am a friend of Beth’s.”

  Darnell immediately reached for the child.

  “Please, Darnell, just let me talk for a minute. Then I promise, I’ll leave.”Prissy had reached for Lara’s locket she wore on a gold chain and was trying unsuccessfully to open it.

  “I told that lawyer I ain’t got nothin’ else to say.”

  “I know,” said Lara. “I also know that sometimes we are forced to say things because we feel we don’t have any choice.” Lara watched Darnell’s face. “Beth didn’t kill that man. And I think you know she didn’t. I just want you to tell the truth about it. If you just tell them that you know that Beth was outside of the building when that guard got killed, that would be enough to prove her innocence. As it is now, there is no one else who can help her.”

  Prissy touched Lara on her face. “Mama,” she said, glancing over at Darnell. “The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.”

  Lara smiled at Prissy and continued with the verse, “I did no
t see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” The words came easily, something from the Book of Revelations that she, too, had learned as a small child. Lara wrapped her arms around Prissy and held her close.

  “Darnell, I swear to you, I’ll do anything I can to help you. Anything. But you must tell the truth. Beth is going to be convicted for something she didn’t do if you don’t.”

  Darnell was getting upset. “Prissy, leave that woman’s necklace alone!” She snatched the small child out of Lara’s arms and Prissy immediately began to cry.

  Lara caressed Prissy’s cheek and left. She would tell Tom about her visit, but there was nothing else she could say or do. She couldn’t tell if she had persuaded Darnell or not. She didn’t think so.

  * * *

  The old woman came out of the back bedroom to where Darnell was holding Prissy. As usual, she was wearing her black sweater over a loose-fitting house dress and her favorite pink scuffs. She didn’t like clothes to bind her, and she wanted to be able to wiggle her toes whenever she sat down.

  “Grams, you shouldn’t be up. You should be resting.” Darnell wondered how much her grandmother had overheard. Even though she was practically stone deaf, she could still pick up on things. She always seemed to know what was going on.

  Bulah Tilden slowly shuffled over to the door and looked out. “That woman’s just trying to do what is right for her friend, Darnell. Her intentions is good; she means no harm. Harm comes when people lie, ‘In a horrible tempest of fire and brimstone, God will rain upon the wicked in hell, as their deserved portion…And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.’” She turned and waggled her finger at Darnell.