Tangled Roots (25 page)

“So, now what?” I asked. He leaned his head back against the car seat and shook his head.

“God only knows,” he said, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

I watched him for a few minutes. I was mad at the man for what Timmy had been through. But I felt sorry for him, too. Here was a man who had taken care of his responsibilities to not only his own children but his brother Rondell’s illegitimate children, as well. That had to count for something. On impulse, I leaned over to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. He turned to say something and our lips met. What was supposed to be a peck on the check turned into a five-minute-long tongue wrestling match that left us breathless and staring uncomfortably at each other. We’d even fogged up the windows.

“Take care, Reverend Rollins. Thanks for the ride,” I said finally, and jumped out of his car before he could respond. I ran up my steps and opened my door. I looked back before stepping inside my apartment and was happy to see he was gone.

I
t
was the last day of classes at the literacy center before Thanksgiving. I looked around the classroom and smiled, happy to see it so packed. Dorothy’d been back from Michigan for almost a month and everything was back to normal. Her mother still hadn’t healed as fast as she’d hoped, so Dorothy brought her home to Willow to recover at her house. Inez’s ex-nurse was caring for her while Dorothy was at work. Noreen retired to Florida, which was just fine by me and everybody else. It seems the students, led by Rhonda, walked out in protest after I left and refused to come back until Noreen was gone. After spending two days in an empty classroom, and getting reprimanded by the superintendent for overstepping her authority, Noreen conceded defeat and left with her tail between her legs. Touchdown, Kendra.

Inez planned to open her own beauty shop called the House of Braids sometime next year. I heard she renewed her relationship with her father. No charges were ever filed against her for Nicole’s death. The police determined that she’d acted in self-defense. There was a new funeral for Nicole, which I didn’t attend. I decided it was best I put some distance between Morris Rollins and myself. Besides, he had more than enough on his plate. He managed to dodge the bullet on obstruction and insurance fraud charges. But even if he hadn’t, the members of his church would still see him as a hero. He was more popular than ever, still packing them in every Sunday. Donations were at an all-time high and plans were in the works for a new community center for the church. There’s even talk that his show
The Light and the Way
could be headed for syndication.

All of the charges against Timmy were dropped. He passed his GED exam with flying colors and was planning to enroll in the local community college at the first of the year. He was currently taking care of Olivia, whose recovery from her breast cancer surgery was going well. Luckily, the cancer hadn’t spread to her lymph nodes so she didn’t have to undergo chemo. I finally got Timmy to tell me what he’d stolen from Ricky Maynard. Turns out Timmy had stolen Ricky’s electronic Rolodex. Timmy had been after Vaughn out of revenge for his ex-girlfriend’s death from a drug overdose. But while Vaughn was very discreet in his drug dealings, Ricky ran his operation like a true businessman and had all of his drug clients’ and contacts’ numbers programmed into his Rolodex, including Vaughn’s. Timmy had been planning on handing the Rolodex over to the police in the hopes of implicating Vaughn. But at some point while Ricky was chasing him, Timmy tripped and the Rolodex flew out of his hands into the street and got run over.

Vaughn hadn’t been so much interested in revenge for his friend after all. He’d been heavily snorting his own supply of cocaine and had become extremely paranoid knowing that Timmy was out to get him. Vaughn set Timmy up to get rid of him. It was determined that Rondell Kidd’s gun was the same gun that had killed Vaughn Castle. The theory was that he’d beaten and killed Vaughn after finding out about his relationship with Shanda. But, thinking back on Rondell’s obvious shock when I’d told him about Shanda and Vaughn, and knowing that Timmy was the one who beat Vaughn up, I knew that wasn’t true.

Shanda was taking time off from school to care for Bonita. The strain of Rondell’s suicide and the knowledge that he’d murdered three people, coupled with the realization that she was inadvertently responsible for Nicole’s death, had taken a hard toll on Bonita. And even though Rollins forgave her, he also told her there would never be anything romantic between them. Bonita took that harder than her husband’s death. She almost had a nervous breakdown. Shanda would not believe that her uncle could be her father and adamantly refused to take a paternity test. She also never would admit to her part in helping Vaughn set up Timmy. It was almost like she convinced herself it never happened. Since there was no evidence, no charges were ever filed against her.

Oddly enough, I was thinking about Shanda when I ran into her at the grocery store after work that day. I almost didn’t recognize her. She was no longer wearing her hair in braids and had gained some weight. I had to chase her down in the parking lot to get her to talk to me.

“How’s it going, Shanda?” I asked breathlessly once I caught up with her. She looked at me suspiciously and shrugged.

“Aside from my father being dead and having his good name dragged through the mud, and my mother falling apart and spending every day crying in her bathrobe, I’m just peachy. How about you, Kendra? Still chasing down evildoers in the name of justice?”

“I’m really sorry about your parents, Shanda. And if you’d been the one in Timmy’s shoes, I’d have helped you, too.” I did feel sorry for Shanda over the loss of a father she loved but I wasn’t about to tell her I was sorry about Vaughn. I was sure he was probably slinging dope in hell right about now. Time and the absence of Vaughn’s influence still hadn’t ignited any sense of responsibility or remorse for what she’d done to Timmy. She was definitely Rondell’s daughter as far as I was concerned.

“Whatever, Kendra. I gotta go,” she said, turning away.

“Look, Shanda. I know I’m not your favorite person but I do know how much you enjoyed working at the literacy center. I know you’re taking time off from school to take care of your mom. But if you’d ever like to come back and volunteer at the center, we’d love to have you back. I know the students would love to see you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, turning away from me and opening her car door.

I happened to glance in her car and saw the infamous blue scarf, the one Vaughn had used to strangle Aretha Marshall, tied around the rearview mirror. The same scarf I’d stuffed in Vaughn’s mouth when Timmy and I had tied him up. There was only one way she could have gotten the scarf. Shanda noticed me looking at it. She smiled and winked at me before starting up her car and driving off, leaving me staring after her in shock. I walked back to my car, determined to forget what I’d seen. Though I couldn’t quite shake the images that popped into my head of a distraught Shanda sneaking out of the house with her father’s gun after getting home from the hospital, going to the wooded area in back of Briar Creek, where she used to have sex with Vaughn — to see if he was there with another woman — and finding him tied up in his car. I could imagine Shanda breaking the window and pulling the scarf out of his mouth only to have Vaughn berate her and call her names, and an already fragile Shanda snapping, and shooting him. I didn’t need any more drama in my life. I went home.

A few hours later, I arrived at the Red Dragon dressed to kill in a clingy, low-cut cranberry sweater dress and black, knee-high high-heeled boots. I was meeting Carl for dinner. He said he had something to tell me that he was pretty excited about. I couldn’t wait to find out what it was. Carl was already seated when I arrived.

“All right, what’s this big news?” I asked, snuggling up next to him in our booth and inhaling his warm scent of Obsession.

“Well, I’ve been thinking for a long time about ways I can give back to the community. I do pro bono work. But I’ve still been feeling like I could do more. Recently, I was approached about the possibility of helping provide legal aid to low-income people in need of legal assistance. And the best part is, it’s an organization right here in Willow. We can spend more time together.” He was so excited it was hard not to get caught up in his enthusiasm.

“So, what is this wonderful organization?” I asked. I took a sip of my water and saw someone walking towards our booth out of the corner of my eye. I looked up, thinking it was our server, and almost choked.

“It’s Holy Cross Ministries. Kendra, you know Reverend Rollins, right?” Carl asked, oblivious to my discomfort, and gesturing towards the tall, handsome figure standing in front of us.

“Yes, I know Reverend Rollins,” I said, my throat suddenly tight.

Morris Rollins looked down at me like a wolf eyeing its prey. And I felt like a big fluffy sheep.

TANGLED ROOTS

A Sepia Novel

ISBN: 9781426800986

Copyright © 2006 by Angela Henry

All rights reserved. The reproduction, transmission or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without written permission. For permission please contact Kimani Press, Editorial Office, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

® and TM are trademarks. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and/or other countries.

www.kimanipress.com

Don’t miss all-new titles from Kimani Press next month including eBooks by Gwynn Forster, Angela Henry and Monica Jackson.