The Future of My Past
Page 22
“TELL THEM WHAT HAPPENED, RODNEY. TELL THEM WHAT HAPPENED TO MY FAMILY!” Artis was sobbing loudly by then but kept the gun pointed at Dr. Rodney’s head.
He didn’t notice that Griff and Enoch were in the house. Miss Aurelia had let them in through the back door. I could see them through the reflection in the mirror behind my uncle. Griff motioned for Enoch to step back out of sight for fear that they would be noticed.
Dr. Rodney continued his explanation, “One of the helicopters was filled with crew and children. Artis wanted his children and their mother to go on a later flight so that he would go with them, but we had orders to stay until the last person was airlifted. So I put his children and their mother on the earlier flight. I thought it was best for his family to get to safety. There was no guarantee that we would get out alive. The helicopter crashed and everyone was killed. We didn’t find out until two weeks after we left the city.”
He then turned to look at Artis and said, “I have thought about them every day, Artis. I never meant to cause you so much pain. I was only thinking about their safety. I never imagined they wouldn’t make it out alive. I’m sorry.”
I began to understand what had motivated Dr. Rodney to work with young people. He was trying to make amends for the deaths of my cousins and their mother. It had haunted him as much as it had my uncle.
“Uncle, is that why you framed Dr. Rodney for both murders? You did kill Barney Austin, didn’t you?”
By this time my uncle was nodding his head and crying so hard that my father walked up to him and gently took the gun out of his hand and handed it to Dr. Rodney.
He hugged his brother as my uncle wept. We were all crying now. My father led his brother to a couch and held him as he cried for his family. I sat next to him and told him that it was time for someone to call the police, and that my father and I would make sure that he got the help that he needed. I turned and saw Miss Aurelia heading for the phone to place the call. I asked her to speak with Maceo. I didn’t want anyone else taking my uncle to the station. Then Enoch stepped up to him and I introduced my son to his uncle. He grabbed Enoch and hugged him, as he continued to cry, and we found ourselves doing a Jones group hug.
A few minutes later, Maceo arrived and I told him what Artis had done, that he was sick and needed some help. I would call Nobel and ask her to meet them down at the station. I was sure she would represent him. Maceo was like family and knew how to treat my uncle. He shook hands with my father, and then I introduced him to Enoch, and the two shook hands as well.
By the time they were ready to leave, Uncle Artis had stopped crying. As he was being led away, he turned to me and said, “I killed that Austin fellow for you. I don’t like liars, and he was always spreading lies in the paper about you. You never have been nor will you ever be crazy. You had some tough breaks in life, but you never let them defeat you. He didn’t know that about you. But I did. You never let your past troubles get the best of you.”
I didn’t see my uncle again for several weeks.
The newspapers ran the story about my uncle and the murders of Tabitha Day and Barney Austin. Nobel defended him, but he was sent back to prison for fifty years. Pastor Day spoke at the sentencing hearing on his behalf, as did Dr. Rodney. I saw my father weep for the first time in his life as they led my uncle away to start his prison term. Enoch, my mother, and I held him as we walked to the car. It really hurt him to see his brother like this and I imagine that he felt a certain amount of guilt for neglecting him.
My mother is crazy about her grandson and is trying to get him to stay. But he can’t, he has a mission and he won’t stop until he finds his Treasure…
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It’s been six months since my uncle went to jail and things are going well for all of us. Pastor Day and Dr. Rodney held a press conference to announce their plans to start a halfway house for men being released from prison. The church purchased the land from the city and the program should be up and running in a few months. Mattie Lightfoot was installed as the new Assistant Minister. I attended the ceremony; I think the church will continue to grow with the two of them leading their flock. I have started listening to Pastor Day’s Saturday morning radio program. His lessons have become a source of comfort for me. I listen to what he says as basic instructions on how to live in this world.
I read in the paper that Mrs. St. James has purchased some land on the east side of the city near the town of Hobart, and she and Nathan are planning to build a film studio to produce independent films.
“I always knew that demon would land on his hoofs,” Poo Poo told me over a drink at Club Escapades the night before Bookie and Nobel’s wedding. Griff and Enoch are with us and Enoch will be leaving right after the wedding. Everyone is cracking up at Poo Poo’s remark about Nathan. I feel so much joy as I sit there with my son and my friends. I am thinking about Bookie and I am finally at peace with the events from that chapter in my life.
The wedding was held at Marquette Park and the day was perfect for it. Nobel looked so beautiful, and Bookie cried as he watched his bride walk down the aisle. I am so happy for them, and I am crying tears of joy. Antoinette tells me to stop crying because I’m making her cry. She kept hitting me and finally we start giggling, until Donald Webber turns around and gives us his ‘look’. He turns around and we start giggling again. Now we’re laughing at him. He is such a prick.
Dr. Rodney is there with Miss Aurelia and I am seated at their table. I then complete the conversation with him that started when I was an angry teenager. I now know the answer to his question.
“Dr. Rodney, I know the answer to that question you asked me years ago in high school. So, ask me again.”
“Gemini, what is the future of your past?”
“My past has no future; it remains where it was created.”
“Good answer, my child, good answer.”
“The lady always has the right answers; I always knew you were smart, Gemini.” I turn to see who made the statement. It is Omar Robinson, the former prosecutor. He has been ill for quite some time, but you can’t tell by the way he looks now.
“I didn’t expect to see you here, Attorney Robinson, but then you were always a man who had to be seen.”
He laughs and sits in the chair that is empty next to me.
“I’m in remission now, Gemini, and life’s good. I haven’t any plans right now, especially about returning to practice law. What about you, I hear you are still on leave from the firm. How do the partners feel about that?”
“I haven’t announced this to anyone, but I’m leaving the firm. I made a lot of money for them and it’s time for me to move on. Roy “the ghost” Karwatka wants to retain me as his attorney. Even the devil has a right to legal representation. So, when I’m ready, I will be starting my own firm.”
I spend the evening talking with Omar and we agree to meet for lunch in a few days. We exchanged numbers and he called me later that night. We talked for hours.
The day my son left, he asked me to meet him at Marquette Park. When I arrived, he and Griff were standing outside of Griff’s van. Griff’s friend, the man who had assisted him with Nathan, was also there. Enoch opened the door for me and walked me to Griff’s van. Griff and his friend opened the back doors and the person inside shocked me at first, but then I smiled. I knew the reason for this visit. It was Enoch’s father, Maurice Haynes. He looked disheveled, which meant that Griff and his friend had worked their magic on him. Enoch had brought him there to apologize to me for what he’d done the day that our son was conceived. He seemed generally sorry, saying that he was young and had come to understand that a woman’s body should be cherished and not violated as he had done. He apologized to Enoch for not stepping up and taking responsibility for me when I got pregnant. Maybe things would have turned out better for all of us.
My son left me that day to pursue his love. Ruthann will be going with him,
and although I still worry about her, I know that my son will have someone with him who loves him almost as much as I do. I hug my son and the tears will not stop flowing. We are both crying, and he promises that he will return to me. He likes the feeling of having a real family and pets!
I return home and decide to take Charlie and Marley, whom I have nicknamed ‘Ken’ (after the doll) and ‘Pony’, for a walk. Omar is waiting at the house when I arrive and the four of us take a long walk around the neighborhood. I love my city, with all of its problems. There is no other place on Earth I’d rather be. I am a part of Gary, Indiana, and its spirit dwells in me.
Savannah continues to appear in my dreams; she tells me that I will find peace and love and that she will always be with me. The dreams I have of her are the only ones I remember when I awake. The peace that contains me, I credit to her spirit and her love. She and Ruthann will always be as close to me as people with no bloodlines can be. We were three young girls who experienced unspeakable pain, and came out of it scarred, with the exception of an undying love for each other. Because of them and good people who intervened in my life, like Dr. Rodney, my life is good. Many doors have been closed, and I look forward to the ones that will open.
Weeks later, I am sitting at home going through the mail and I see a letter addressed to me. I don’t recognize the handwriting and open the letter to read the contents. I am shocked by what I read:
Gemini,
Mitch the snitch lies dead in a ditch,
He died at the hands of a bomb maker’s switch.
If the police want to find ol’ Mitch,
They need to find the ditch, then they will
Find Mitch.
Take care…
I placed a call to Maceo Weaver at his home. He answered after the second ring. His caller ID informed him it was me.
“You’re calling me at home, Gemini? This must be good. You never call me at home. What’s up?”
“Murder, Maceo, murder. Someone killed Mitch the Snitch.”
The End
Also by Veronica Faye
Book 1
Gemini Jones: My Past Came Knocking (The Savannah Wooten Case)
Book 2
Gemini Jones: The Dr. Marquise Crawford Case
About the Author
Veronica Faye is the author of three novels in the Gemini Jones mystery series: Gemini Jones: My Past Came Knocking (The Savannah Wooten Case), Gemini Jones: The Dr. Marquise Crawford Case, and her latest book, Gemini Jones: The Future of My Past (The Rodney Earls, Ph.D. Case). A devout reader of mysteries and good story telling, Veronica’s influences include Agatha Christie, Walter Mosley, and Jeffrey Archer. She lives in Gary, Indiana.