A Simmering Dilemma

by Tyora Moody

  Amos looked up from his phone and peered at me.

  I don’t know what had his attention on that phone, but I needed him to pay attention. I pointed and mouthed, “Look.”

  He walked up behind me to observe what I insisted he see.

  I whispered loudly, “That’s Sondra’s mom.”

  When his eyes widened, I knew he was thinking what I was thinking. He stated, “We better get out there.”

  I marched outside behind Amos, my eyes glued on Gladys Howell facing off with Theo. The woman was almost a foot shorter than the large man, but she had her finger directed in his face.

  “You did this. I know you did. My daughter loved you and had your kids. You mistreated her and them all this time. I told her to stay away from you. You were going to be her downfall. Look what happened! You killed her. I know you did.”

  Theo backed up, his eyes blazing. “I didn’t do anything to Sondra. Don’t you be telling people I did. I never laid a hand on her.”

  Gladys shrieked. “Don’t you lie. Don’t you dare. I know. I know you hit her before.” Overcome with rage, Gladys stumbled forward.

  Amos and I both rushed towards her, he grabbed one arm and I grabbed the other. Despite our effort, she still sank to the ground.

  “Gladys, are you alright?” I begged. Her body shook from the fierceness of her anger, her mouth opened, but nothing spilled out. I stared at Amos, “Do we need to call an ambulance?”

  “Yes, this isn’t good.” Amos yelled at Theo, “Call 9-1-1 now!”

  Theo’s face was a mixture of anger and fear, but he pulled his phone out of his pocket and began dialing. By this time, the auto shop’s employees, including Damion and Charlene, were all standing around watching. No one was working, and I noticed a few of them had their phones out. Why were they filming this? I don’t know why people’s first instinct now is to pull out their phones. But I guess it would have been a good thing if Theo turned ugly. Here I was worried about Amos getting laid out by the big man.

  Still the last thing Gladys needed was her obvious grief and anger over her daughter’s murder going viral. Despite Gladys’s impulsiveness, her motherly instincts may be on to something. I just wished she’d thought of her own health before confronting this man.

  I regarded Theo who had begun pacing. Damion had walked over to him, appearing to try to calm his brother down. I couldn’t hear what was being said, but I was pretty sure the words coming out Theo’s mouth were not pleasant ones. An occasional expletive pierced my poor ears.

  So, Theo was the father of Sondra’s children. I didn’t see that spin on the current situation coming. I was reminded last night that there wasn’t a single picture of Theo on Sondra’s page, not even with the children. Was that on purpose? Was the man not a part of his children’s lives at all? Somehow that didn’t strike me as right.

  The man ran a family business with his brother. Seemed like family should be important to him.

  I turned my attention towards Amos, wondering how he was absorbing the revelations. My husband already didn’t like the man, now he was glaring at Theo something awful. I wasn’t sure if Amos’s anger was because of what Gladys accused Theo of doing or because of the young man being back in Briana’s life.

  It certainly didn’t look good. This was all making Briana seem more and more suspicious.

  Chapter 10

  This was starting to be a bad habit, one I was familiar with from past incidents. There was no doubt that Amos and I were fully invested in finding out who murdered Sondra now. So invested that sleeping had become a losing battle. Since being retired, I rarely had eight hours of sleep anyway.

  I tossed and turned most of Wednesday night, barely getting four hours of sleep. My mind was stuck in a loop, trying to process what turned out to be an extremely long day. Gladys had suffered a mild heart attack outside of the auto shop. I had a feeling that she had been ignoring the pains in her body even when I saw her on Monday at church. The tragic loss of her daughter and then the confrontation with Theo had been too much on her grieving body.

  Amos and I stayed with her until some relief arrived. Volunteers from Missionary Baptist including members of the Women’s Missionary Society, the usher board and Pastor Jones were more than happy to sit with Gladys. She’d been placed under strict orders to rest, but that was hard for a woman who’d just lost her daughter. I was pretty sure Gladys had been administered some serious medication at the hospital. She didn’t appear to notice anyone coming in and out of her room. That might have been a good thing. If I’d just faced down a potential murder suspect for my daughter, I would need to be medicated too.

  Once we left the hospital, it was already late afternoon. My mission was to find someone to take care of the kids. Sondra had two children who not only suffered from the loss of their mother, but now their main caregiver had been hospitalized. Amazingly, the Brown sisters stepped up. The children knew them from summer camp, and the twins embraced them as if they were their own grandchildren. I was relieved. I wanted to bring the children back to our house, but I still couldn’t get past this triangle that had started to form in my head.

  Sondra. Theo. Briana.

  Amos said he saw Theo at the house Saturday night, and Briana had been acting peculiar, and not just because she’d found a dead body. There were photos of the two of them on her Facebook page. Something was up and it was starting to make me a bit afraid for what could be in store for us.

  As I tried to shake myself awake, other worries assaulted me this morning. Somewhere in the early hours of the morning, Amos had left the bed. I’d flipped over to find his side of the bed cold and empty. I had no idea where he was or how long he’d been up. The sun had started to peek through the blinds. I knew I needed to rise myself, but I just couldn’t find the energy to lift my body from under the covers.

  My phone rang on the nightstand by my bedside.

  So much for being lazy. The Lord has a funny way of getting a person in motion.

  I have to say I wasn’t too surprised to see my daughter’s phone number. Please don’t tell me she needs me to watch the kids was my first thought, but then it hit me. I hadn’t reached out to any of my children to tell them what was going on. If Gladys was privy to what happened to her daughter, I was sure my family had found out from the news reports last night.

  I grabbed the phone and placed it to my ear, immediately regretting the shrill sound bursting from the ear piece.”

  “Mama, what’s going on? We need to talk. Why didn’t you tell me someone was killed next door? Again? Didn’t this happen a few years ago to Louise’s son? And what happened at Nichols Brothers Auto Shop yesterday? It’s all over Facebook.”

  I sighed, “Good morning to you too, Leesa. I’m sorry, child. Things have been a little crazy.” I sat straight up in bed, “But what are you talking about? What’s all over Facebook?”

  “Crazy is right! Mama, there is a video with you and Amos in it. Well, you show up later in the video. It looks like you are pulling Ms. Gladys off Theo Nichols. Is she actually accusing him of murdering Sondra? How is she doing anyway?”

  My daughter’s questions were about to have me dizzy. I slid back down in the bed, my body melting into the mattress from exhaustion. A memory from yesterday struck me. I completely forgot about people holding up their camera phones.

  “Mama, are you okay? Is Ms. Gladys going to be okay? This is a big mess.”

  I sighed, “You don’t know how big of a mess this is going to be. I should probably get with you and your brothers if you don’t already know.”

  “Oh I know. Believe me we all know. Mama, how did Sondra’s body end up at Amos’s house?”

  “Leesa, if I knew, the case would be solved. Look, I can talk to you about this later. I need to drag myself out of this bed and check on Gladys this morning.”

  “Are you working at the summer camp today?”

  “Not today. The Brown sisters are keeping Sondra’s children and I needed a break. We have
some fill-in volunteers handling the camp today.”

  “Mama, I need to see you soon. After you check on Ms. Gladys, can you meet me at Good Eats for lunch? My treat!”

  Leesa never treats me to lunch, so I wasn’t about to turn that down. “That sounds like a plan. Now that I think about it, you have been awfully quiet lately. Are the kids doing okay?”

  “Yes, Mama. Tyric and Keisha are visiting with Chris’s mama this week, I meant to tell you.”

  That had me jumping out of the bed. “What? Since when?”

  Leesa remained quiet for a half a second too long making me anxious. “They’ve been in Columbia all week. Chris is bringing them back to Charleston on Friday.”

  “Okay. It was good to see Chris at Junior’s Fourth of July barbecue.” My oldest son lives in Greenville with his wife and children. I don’t see them as much with his schedule. His wife, Judy, had their daughter last year. I’ve mainly seen my most recent grandchild, Jessica, on Facebook. Every time I saw the twins, they seemed to have grown an inch or two. We decided a few years ago since Junior traveled this way for Thanksgiving and Christmas, that the Pattersons would visit them for the Fourth of July.

  Leesa cleared her throat. “Chris and I are seeing each other more often. You know, for the kid’s sake. We will talk more later, Mama.”

  We would indeed. This was a new development. At least to me.

  Chris Black was the father of Leesa’s second child and son. My daughter had a peculiar relationship with him. When I first met Chris he appeared to be an intimidating guy, dressed in his police uniform. Since then I’d only seen him in plain clothes and my initial impression of him had improved.

  From what I could tell, Chris always made an effort to be in their lives, but sometimes, especially after Tyric’s birth, Leesa seemed to want nothing to do with him. Maybe it was her postpartum depression, but it didn’t help that she moved with the kids from Columbia where Chris lived. At the time, with her being the mother of two young children, I wanted to keep an eye on her so I liked that she moved near me.

  Both of my sons were happily married and I wanted to see the same for Leesa one day, with the right man. The past few times I’d been in Chris’s presence, I wondered if he could still be the one.

  I pushed my daughter’s love life to the back of my mind and got ready to visit the hospital. As I moved around the house, I noticed how quiet it was inside. There wasn’t even any barking or snoring from Porgy. By the time I made it downstairs, I determined that Amos and Porgy must be outside. Instead, when I glanced around the backyard, neither male specimen could be found.

  Wandering back around to the front of the house, I saw Amos’s truck was gone. That kind of upset me. The man just took off and didn’t say a word. Now I was confident he’d taken Porgy along with him. That little booger loved to sit in the front of the truck with his nose up to the window. I wasn’t a fan of riding around with the Corgi in my car, but Amos didn’t seem to mind, making Porgy all the more endearing to his new housemate.

  I soon found the answer to the missing males on my phone. Amos had sent me a text earlier.

  I know yesterday was a hard day. I didn’t want to wake you. Porgy and I are going for a ride this morning. Will be back soon.

  Okay, well a sister had things to do too. I couldn’t be waiting around. I fixed a cup of coffee and then perused the refrigerator for something to eat. I struggled with a diabetes type II diagnosis two years ago, but with weight management and changing how I cooked, I’d been able to manage the disease. Still my sugar levels tended to be higher in the morning which was normal. I decided to go with a cup of plain Greek yogurt, something that I’d acquired a taste for as long as I could add fruit.

  Blueberries became my choice of fruit today. I ate slowly, still contemplating Amos’s text. I checked my sugar levels again and headed to get ready. It wasn’t until I climbed inside my car, almost thirty minutes later, that I decided to return his text.

  Amos, I’m heading out to the hospital to check on Gladys. Then Leesa wanted to grab some lunch. I will get with you boys later. Don’t get into any trouble.

  Before I cranked the car up, a text message arrived back.

  You stay out of trouble too, Eugeena.

  I laughed sharply. This way of communicating with technology was something else. I was still a bit upset he left the house this morning without saying a word.

  We’d have to talk about that later.

  Chapter 11

  Pastor Jones was praying with Gladys when I peeked inside her hospital room. I held my head down and joined the prayer. I was always amazed how much our young pastor resembled his dad, the great Reverend Tennessee Jones. He sounded like the man who’d remained at the helm of Missionary Baptist for most of my life. It struck me that Gladys left the church because this young man stepped into the role as pastor. He grew up as a preacher’s kid, so he got into a few things before the Lord captured his attention. None of us truly escaped those periods of our lives when we wanted to rebel against it all. We all surely had a past.

  Pastor Jones had his own way of pastoring the church which was a bit more modern than his predecessor, but he shepherded his flock with just as much passion. I was happy that Gladys returned to the church. None of us at Missionary Baptist were perfect, but we treated each other like family.

  Pastor Jones glanced over at me after closing out his prayer. “Sister Eugeena, it’s good to see you this morning.”

  “You too, Pastor Jones. How’s our patient?” I stepped further into the room, getting a good look at Gladys. She still appeared in a weakened state, but more conscious than when I left her yesterday.

  She smiled faintly, “Good morning, Eugeena. I owe you an apology.”

  I frowned, “For what?”

  Gladys shook her head, “I don’t know what came over me yesterday. I saw the video. I can’t believe I acted like that.”

  Pastor Jones patted her hand. “Gladys, you’re grieving. Don’t beat yourself up.”

  A tear rolled down her face. “That’s no reason to act like a foolish old woman. I shouldn’t have done it.”

  I stepped closer. “You mean you shouldn’t have confronted Theo? So, have you changed your mind?”

  The pastor looked over at me and frowned. I’d been warned by Pastor Jones in the past about my sleuthing. He didn’t approve of citizens getting involved in police investigations. It wasn’t like I picked this stuff out for myself to do. Incidents that involved a dead body kept falling into my lap.

  Gladys shook her head. “I don’t know, Eugeena. Theo hasn’t been around lately, but I know he’d been violent with Sondra before.”

  “He has? Have you mentioned this to the police?”

  Gladys nodded, “I did. I told them everything I knew.” Tears spilled down her face. “I saw her, Eugeena. The man pulled that sheet back. My girl was gone. I told her that night she should stay home with the kids. They needed her. If she had stayed home that wouldn’t have happened to her. They said someone hit her across the head. I just thought, Theo hit her before and …” her voice trailed off.

  Pastor Jones patted Glady’s arm, “Sister Howell, let the police deal with this. You need to remain calm, let your body heal. Your grandchildren are going to need you now more than ever.”

  I nodded, “Pastor is right. Don’t you worry. I’m sure the police will talk to Theo.”

  Pastor Jones cleared his voice, “Well, ladies, I need to visit some other patients. Gladys, if you need anything else please reach out. As soon as you hear from the police, we can start talking about the services. I will ask the members to continue to pray for your strength.”

  I waited until the pastor left before I asked any more questions. I didn’t want him looking at me disapprovingly. I mean the man was young enough to be my son. That just felt weird. I had my own reasons for finding out more about any involvement Theo may have had in Sondra’s death. I wanted to find out if Gladys knew about Briana. Of course, I didn’t want to ask
her directly. I pulled up the chair that the pastor had just vacated. “I’m not going to hold you long. I have one question.”

  The woman looked exhausted, but she shifted in the bed to direct her attention towards me. “What is it, Eugeena?”

  “When we talked at church on Monday you mentioned that Sondra had mood swings and that she wasn’t doing too good. One of the reasons why you left her alone. Do you know if she was upset with Theo about something?”

  Gladys nodded. “I don’t know. Probably. I heard her yelling at him on the phone one night last week. He was supposed to be spending this past weekend with the kids, but he had something else he wanted to do.” She frowned as though she was trying to force herself to recall the conversation, “I overheard her say, ‘You got another woman now. This is how it is when you get someone new. Nobody and nothing else matters.’”

  New woman.

  That funny feeling like something was making my stomach sink was returning again. “Do you think she found out about this woman? Have you known Sondra to have words with the women in Theo’s life?”

  Gladys looked at me, her eyes suddenly alert. “Theo cheated on her the whole time they were together. I knew of one or two confrontations. You think a woman did something to my girl?”

  I shook my head. No way was I trying to put that thought in her head, especially because she didn’t seem to be aware of Briana just yet. “I don’t know. I just want to figure out what happened.”

  “Yes, I want to know who took my daughter from me. She was my only child, Eugeena. I don’t know what I’m going to do. How can I raise her babies without her? I’m so old.”

  I reached over and patted her arms. “It’s going to be alright, Gladys. You have people from the church helping you and we will continue to be there for you. Right now you have to take care of yourself.” I pulled my phone out to check the time. It was time for me to meet up with Leesa soon. “I’m so sorry, Gladys. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call me.”

  I walked down the hall of the hospital, feeling burdensome. With every step, I had to wonder about the person that confronted Sondra that night.