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  “And it’s why you are refusing to help Cynda,” Keith continued. “Now, I’m not saying that you don’t have a legitimate beef with both of them, but when are you going to realized that you did more to God than anyone has ever done to you, and yet He still forgave you?”

  Isaac leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin. He looked to heaven. Lord, why is this world full of so many people who need to be forgiven?

  My son, they are just like you were. In need of a Savior.

  Isaac turned back to Keith. “I’ll let you see Iona, but I will not allow her to be badgered. Is that clear?”

  “Cynda has already expressed that to Jim,” Keith said.

  “And we all know how much Cynda cares about the well being of her child, don’t we?” Isaac said sarcastically.

  Son.

  Isaac looked at his watch and said, “Nina and Iona should be home by now. Come on. You two are invited for dinner.”

  Keith said, “That’s not necessary, man. We can grab something before we check into the hotel.”

  “Now you know as well as I do that Nina would have my head if I didn’t invite you over for dinner.”

  “She always was the more sensible one,” Keith said with a grin as they all headed out of the church. Keith and Jim followed Isaac home.

  When they arrived at the house, Nina ran toward Keith and embraced him. “It’s so good to see you,” Nina said to Keith.

  Isaac scratched his throat loud enough for the next-door neighbors to hear him. Nina and Keith turned to face him. Lovingly, Nina said, “Yes?” While her arm was still around Keith’s neck.

  “All that running should have been for me, not this knucklehead. I mean, I am your husband. I don’t see you getting all excited like that when I walk in the door,” Isaac said while striking a Mac-Daddy pose.

  Nina waved him off. “I see you everyday.” She nodded in Keith’s direction. “But, this is the man who helped to bring my son out of a coma.” Nina still didn’t understand how Keith had done it. But after Donavan had gotten shot, he was in a coma for days. Nina and Isaac watched and prayed, but nothing happened, until the day Keith walked into Donavan’s room and started talking. Donavan’s eyes opened as he called out for Keith.

  “Yeah,” Keith agreed with a smile.

  Isaac pulled Nina away from Keith. “I keep telling you that Donavan was getting ready to wake up anyway. Ain’t nothing magical about Keith’s voice,” Isaac said jokingly.

  “Whatever.” Nina extended her hand in the unidentified man’s direction. “Hello, I’m Nina Walker.”

  “I’m Jim Reid. I’m Cynda’s attorney,” he informed her.

  She looked back at Isaac then at the attorney. “Well, how did you know?” Nina asked Jim.

  “Know what?” Jim replied.

  Her eyebrows furrowed. “How did you know about Iona?”

  Keith frowned. “Nina, we’re not following.”

  She explained, “When Iona and I were at lunch today, she said something that led me to believe that she might know more about Spoony’s murder than she has told anyone yet.” Pointedly looking at Keith, she said, “I was going to call you after dinner tonight.”

  Jim’s brown eyes lit up. “We really need to talk to her.”

  “Well, y’all come on in here and get some dinner before you do anything else,” Nina insisted. “I just fixed a big pan of lasagna and we’ll have tons of leftovers if you two don’t help us eat it.”

  As they all broke bread together, Keith talked with Donavan about school, grades, and football practice. Donavan made sure to include Iona in the conversation. Nina tried to involve Jim by asking questions about his work and the church they attended. Isaac stayed quiet through most of the meal, watching Iona, trying to determine if she was nervous and feeling uncomfortable.

  When dinner was over, Nina and Iona stayed behind to wash the dishes.

  Iona complained, “Why do I have to wash the dishes? Y’all just got me here to be the maid.”

  Putting the cups in the sink, Nina asked, “Was Donavan our maid when he washed the dishes last night?”

  Rolling her eyes, Iona stepped to the sink.

  “Don’t say nothing when your eyes get stuck,” Nina mimicked her eye roll, “like that.”

  Iona rolled her eyes again and Nina tickled her.

  “Stop. Leave me alone,” Iona said between giggles.

  Still tickling her, Nina said, “Every time you roll your eyes, I’m going to tickle you.”

  Laughing, Iona begged, “Stop. I’m going to pee on myself.”

  “Are you going to stop rolling your eyes?”

  Jumping around,” Iona replied. “Y-yes, I’ll stop.”

  “Good, now let’s get these dishes done.”

  Isaac told Jim and Keith, “I want to be in the room when you talk with Iona.”

  Keith held up his hands. “That’s fine. I’ll just hang out with Donavan until you are finished.”

  When Keith turned to go find Donavan, Jim told Isaac, “I think you might want to know a few things before we bring Iona in here.”

  “Like what?” Isaac asked.

  “Well, first, it’s going to be important that you don’t get upset at some of the things Iona might have to say – she needs to feel comfortable exploring the events of her past.”

  Isaac hollered into the kitchen and told Nina to bring Iona into her office when they were done with the dishes. He took Jim into the office and shut the door behind them.

  “I will sit behind this desk and quietly observe while you talk with Iona. I’m not in here to interfere, I just want to make sure you don’t go overboard,” Isaac said.

  Jim touched Isaac’s shoulder and stopped him from walking to the recliner behind the desk. “Sit right here please, Mr. Walker,” Jim pointed to the chair in front of him.

  Isaac sat down across from Jim and asked, “What’s up?”

  “The reason I asked that you not get upset while Iona is speaking is because I believe she will divulge some things that a parent might become very angry over. But it is important to remember that Mr. Davidson is dead. He can’t hurt your little girl anymore.”

  Isaac was seeing red. His hands clenched around the armrest. “What things do you think Iona will tell you?”

  Jim cleared his throat. “I think Mr. Davidson was about to turn your daughter into a prostitute.”

  “What?” Isaac exploded as he barreled out of his chair. How could Spoony do such a thing to his daughter? Had their old friendship meant so little to him? Isaac vigorously rubbed his forehead as he walked in circles around Jim. “You mean to tell me that this man was so low that he would prostitute a ten year-old-child?”

  “I don’t know how far he would have gone. All I know is that he supposedly threatened your daughter with it. That’s why Cynda was at the house that day. She was trying to get Iona’s clothes so they could get away from Mr. Davidson.”

  A knock came on the office door. Jim reminded Isaac, “I need you to be calm.”

  Calm? Isaac thought. How could he be calm when he just found out that someone he once trusted wanted to prostitute his only daughter? The door opened and Iona stood there with her white and sage green ribbons in her hair, a pleated skirt, and knee-high socks on. What type of sick freak would want to destroy her innocence?

  “Have a seat right here, Iona,” Jim said as he pointed at the chair Isaac had evacuated.

  Iona sat down and put her hands in her lap.

  Jim started slowly. “Iona, I want you to know that I’m not here to make you talk about things you don’t feel comfortable discussing. But I do have some questions for you and I think your answers might be helpful.”

  “Is this about my mother?” she asked.

  Jim nodded. “Yes, it is.”

  “She told me that you were coming to see me.”

  I sure wish she had told me, wish she’d told me a lot of things, Isaac thought as he pulled up a seat next to his daughter.

  Iona continued
. “She told me to tell you what I know only if I feel like it.”

  Jim asked, “Do you feel like talking to me today, Iona?”

  “Yeah. I want to help my mama. I don’t want her to go to jail.”

  “Okay.” Jim opened his briefcase and took out his note pad. “Can you tell me why your mother wanted to get you out of Mr. Davidson’s house?”

  “Who’s Mr. Davidson?”

  Isaac responded, “Spoony.”

  “Oh,” Iona replied.

  Jim tried again. “Do you remember why she wanted to get your clothes and leave his house?”

  Iona turned to Isaac, but kept her eyes downcast. “It’s bad, Daddy, I don’t know if I should say it.”

  This was the first time she’d called him Daddy, and a spring of emotion bubbled in Isaac as he grabbed his daughter and held onto her. He wanted to protect her from the world her mother had created. But to do that he had to know the demons she was dealing with. Pulling back and releasing her Isaac said, “I’m here, pumpkin. I won’t let anything happen to you. But what I want you to do right now is tell Mr. Reid why your mother wanted to leave Spoony’s house.” He wanted her to do this, not to help Cynda, but to help herself. If she said it out loud, she could release herself from it.

  Looking down and fidgeting with her hands Iona said, “Spoony told me that my mama wasn’t bringing in enough money, so I was going to have to…” she buried her head in Isaac’s shoulder. “I can’t say it, Daddy.”

  “That’s all right. You don’t have to say another word about it,” Isaac told her.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Walker, but she’s going to have to tell me what Mr. Davidson said to her.”

  Isaac glared at Jim. “She didn’t cause Cynda’s problems, and you’re not going to sacrifice my daughter to save that -- that.” He clamped his mouth shut.

  Jim looked down at his pad, and then said, “Okay, let’s skip that one. But can I ask her some other questions?”

  “No. You cannot ask her another thing. She’s done!” Isaac roared.

  Iona peeled herself off Isaac’s chest and sat back up. She told Jim, “I want to help my mother.”

  “You don’t have to do this, Iona,” her father informed her.

  “I want to, Daddy. She actually wants my help this time,” Iona said.

  Isaac relented. “Go ahead.”

  “Can you tell me what happened when Mr. Davidson came home?” Jim asked Iona.

  Twisting her hands again, Iona said, “He told my mother that she wasn’t going to take me out of his house. Then he grabbed her by her throat and slapped her.” She held onto the cushion of her chair. “I begged him not to hurt my mama, but he didn’t listen. He just kept hitting her.”

  “What happened then?” Jim asked as he took notes.

  “Linda took me into the back room so I wouldn’t see what else he did to my mother,” Iona said.

  Jim was writing so fast on his note pad that he didn’t bother to look up when he asked, “Did you hear anything?”

  “I heard my mom screaming. She begged Spoony to just let us go. But he said he was going to kill her. So I asked Linda to help my mother.”

  Jim looked up. “What did you say?”

  “I said, I asked Linda to go help my mother. Linda can’t stand to see me cry. So she went back into the living room.”

  Jim’s eyes lit up again. “Now this is real important, Iona. How did Linda help your mother?”

  Iona leaned back in her seat and rubbed her chin. Isaac smiled. Like father-like daughter.

  “I don’t know how she helped her. I wasn’t in the room.”

  “Okay, right after you asked Linda to help her, what did you hear going on in the front room?”

  “Well, Linda took the plastic flowers out of the vase that was in my room. Then I heard a crash, but I didn’t hear my mother screaming anymore. Then Linda went in there.” Rubbing her chin again she told him, “I think I heard Linda say, ‘no, you’.” She hunched her shoulders and continued, “Then I heard another crash. Only it wasn’t really a crash, more like a boom.”

  Jim asked, “What kind of vase did Linda take out of the room?”

  “Linda made a ceramic vase for me. She’s an artist,” Iona smiled. “She decorated my vase with all kinds of colors. But it’s broke now?”

  Isaac couldn’t help himself. “Why do you think it’s broke, Iona?”

  She turned to her father. “Because she didn’t have it when she came back to the room. I asked her where it was, but she told me to be quiet. She said we had to get out of the house.”

  Jim asked, “When you left the house, did you see anything else?”

  “No, Linda covered my eyes when we got to the living room. But when we got outside she called the police. I heard her tell them that there were two dead bodies in the house. I started crying because I didn’t want my mama to be dead.”

  “How did you find out that your mother wasn’t dead?” Jim asked, still vigorously scribbling notes.

  “When the police got there, Linda opened the door and we heard mama screaming, ‘I killed him. I killed him’ then she started laughing. The police put handcuffs on her and then I saw her spit on Uncle Spoony.”

  Jim looked up.

  “She didn’t mean to do it. I think she was just mad,” Iona said. Twisting her lip, she continued. “I’m sure she would take it back if she could.”

  Isaac turned to Jim. “Would you step out so I can talk with Iona for a minute?”

  “Yeah, sure. No problem,” Jim said.

  When Jim left them alone, Isaac turned to his daughter and put his arm around her. “You’ve been through a lot more than any ten-year-old should have to endure.”

  She snuggled closer to her daddy. “Sometimes I dream about Uncle Spoony. I think he’s coming back to kill me,” Iona said.

  “Do you feel comfortable talking to me or Nina about some of your thoughts and feelings?” She shook her head. “If I took you to see someone. Like a counselor, would you talk to her?”

  She shrugged.

  “Would you try?” Isaac asked.

  Her answer came softly. “I’ll try.”

  ***

  Upstairs Keith was trying his best to whoop Donavan at a game of Need For Speed, but since the last computer game he’d ever played was Pac-man, he wasn’t coming out on top. Donavan racked up more points. Keith shook his head.

  “You aren’t going to take Iona are you?” Donavan said out of the blue.

  Keith tried to play this game, but resigned himself to losing, put the control down, and looked at his Godson. “No. Why would you ask me that?”

  “No reason.”

  Keith grabbed Donavan’s arm and turned him around. “Talk to me.”

  Putting his hands in his pockets Donavan said, “I was just hoping Iona would stay with us. Mom needs the company. You know, I’m getting older and she’s not going to have me around much longer.”

  Keith lifted Donavan’s strong chin. “Look me in the eye, young man.” When Donavan looked up Keith scolded, “How many times do you have to be told that your mom does not blame you for what happened?” Donavan turned away. “Are you listening to me?” Keith asked.

  Donavan’s eyes clouded with sorrow. “I’m the reason she can’t have anymore kids.” His voice broke. “If I hadn’t gotten involved with those guys, she wouldn’t have gotten shot.”

  “Donavan, you were shot too. Remember that? Your mother doesn’t blame you. Hear me on this one.”

  Isaac knocked on Donavan’s door then opened it. He looked at Keith, and then said, “We need to talk.”

  20

  “We think Linda may have also been involved in Spoony’s death,” Isaac said to Keith as they stood on the porch outside of Isaac’s house.

  Jim added, “She told the police that the only time she came out of the back room was when she and Iona ran out of the house, but Iona just told us that Linda went into the living room with a vase in her hand before she and Iona left the room.”
Keith’s eyes widened. Jim continued, “And the autopsy report indicates that there was more of a ‘foreign’ particle in Spoony’s skull than glass from the lamp Cynda admits to throwing?”

  “And you think the foreign particle was the ceramic vase?” Keith asked.

  “It’s quite possible, but we won’t know for sure until we talk with Linda,” Jim replied.

  Keith pulled the keys out of his pocket. “Well, let’s go talk to her.” He started to walk off the porch.

  Isaac said, “Not so fast. Linda isn’t going to let us in her house if we show up there at two in the morning, which is how long it will take us to get there. The two of you can bunk here, then we’ll go see her in the morning.”

  Keith couldn’t keep the unbelief out of his tone. “You’re going to go to Linda’s with us? To help Cynda?”

  Isaac let out a long sigh. “I’m not interested in helping Cynda. But I don’t want Iona having to visit her mother in prison if she didn’t actually do the crime – and I don’t want you wasting your life waiting ten years for this woman to get out of prison to figure out she wasn’t worth it.”

  ***

  When they arrived at Linda’s house the next day, Isaac told Jim and Keith to let him do the talking. He had history with Linda. They’d always gotten along well, so Isaac thought she would respond to him.

  “Let’s get this done,” Keith said.

  Once they were in the house, Linda fixed each of them a cup of coffee. Her eyes weren’t as clouded over with sadness as they had been on the numerous occasions Isaac had visited this house.

  “How you doing, Linda?” Isaac asked. He cared about this woman, and wanted her to know he was in her corner.

  She ignored his question and just kinda stared off into space when she asked, “You remember those letters you sent to Spoony years ago? The ones ‘bout how you turned your life around, and fell in love with Jesus?”

  “Yeah, I remember,” Isaac said. When he was in prison he had sent similar letters to all the peeps he’d run the streets with. He still didn’t know how much good came from those letters.

  “Spoony laughed at what you wrote. Said you’d gon’ soft, lost your nerve with all of them rough necks facing you down in prison.” She smirked. “I didn’t agree with him though.” She looked at Isaac. “I didn’t agree with Spoony about a lot of things. Anyway, I kept your letters. And the other night I was listening to one of them TV preachers. He said Jesus Christ was the atonement for our sins. I was lying in bed about to take some sleeping pills and die because I was so filled with guilt, but when he said that – I remembered your letters.”