The Pirate Queen (42 page)

Tobias came out of Eddie’s room sometime in the night. He made a bed in the lounge chair next to Bender in the library, and that was how Saphora found him the next morning. He was still asleep when the doorbell rang. She closed the door behind her, not quite ready to rouse them both.

Saphora let Sheriff Langford into the house. She had a speech ready but did not get to give it. Two Wilmington cops came in the door right behind Langford.

“I’ve not gotten Tobias up yet,” she said.

“We’ve got orders,” said one of the cops.

“I know this is hard, ma’am,” said the other cop. “It’s good the boy trusted you enough to come here.”

“If you will, Mrs. Warren, it’s time to bring him out,” said Langford.

“Give them a moment,” the benevolent policeman told Langford. “We’ll take some coffee. When you’re ready to bring him out, we’ll escort him back to his aunt.”

“Has his daddy been called?” asked Saphora.

Langford exhaled in obvious impatience. “The last time we talked to him he was firm that the boy should live with his aunt.”

“When was that?”

“Yesterday afternoon.”

Saphora showed them where to find coffee mugs. She pushed open the library door.

Tobias stood next to Bender’s bed. He was crying.

“I’m sorry, Tobias. I guess you heard from in here. The police have come to take you back.”

“It’s Dr. Warren, ma’am. He’s passed.”

Bender lay still, his hands on his chest.

“Tobias, are you sure?” Saphora rushed into the room. “Bender.”

“He’s dead, Mrs. Warren. I know. I’ve seen it.”

“Oh, my love. You can’t leave me,” she said.

“Should we do something?” he asked.

Saphora checked his pulse. She pulled the covers back. There was the Bible Pastor John had given him.

“He wanted it,” said Tobias. “It took me awhile to figure out his words. First I got him his socks and then his heating pad. But finally I got him what he wanted.”

Saphora stood over Bender’s bed. She did not know how long she stood over him. She remembered how Luke had said the soul travels south after death. She imagined him walking right out onto the Neuse with the sun coming up, going south until he could catch a boat skyward. She kept taking Bender’s hand, cupping it as if she could keep the warmth intact. Then she wiped her eyes. She cried and called out to him as if he were still walking on the river. She could only imagine Jamie’s surprise when he came through the gate.

Finally the nice-faced cop appeared at the library door. “We need to go.”

Saphora said, “My husband, Bender, has just passed on.”

The cop was so surprised that he opened the door all the way. He told the other officers, “We’ve got a situation here.”

First the coroner was called. Saphora got in touch with Jim Pennington. He was down fishing and told her it would only take him forty-five minutes to get there. He asked her to put the sheriff on the phone.

Whatever Jim told the sheriff stalled the police for the time it took Gwennie to show up.

Her hair was pulled back, and she had not put on any makeup.
She was wearing a disheveled knit shirt and flip-flops. “I got Mr. Linker to sign new papers,” she said. “I flew in to Wilmington on the red-eye. I was up with him hours on end, but finally he agreed Dora was not the one to raise Tobias.”

The cop took the papers from Gwennie and read them.

Gwennie saw Tobias standing in the library door. “Where’s Daddy?” she asked him.

Tobias looked sadder than he had since losing his mother.

“I’m sorry, honey,” said Saphora. “We’ve lost Bender.”

“Daddy?” she cried, and Tobias put his arms around her.

Saphora asked the police to excuse them. She followed Tobias back inside the library and closed the door behind Gwennie.

“When did he die?” asked Gwennie.

“Not too long ago,” said Saphora. “Tobias slept beside him all night. He’s been such a comfort to your daddy.”

“I think he was trying to save me,” said Tobias. “He threw the cops off my trail this morning.”

Saphora held on to Gwennie and let her have her cry.

The sheriff knocked at the door. “Mrs. Warren, we need to ask you some questions about the child.”

Saphora was opening the door just as the coroner came in. Jim Pennington followed right behind. He greeted her and kissed her cheek. “I can’t believe he’s gone. My best friend, ever.”

“Mine too,” said Saphora.

Jim promised to see her through Bender’s arrangements in the coming days. He told the coroner, “I’m Dr. Warren’s doctor.” He followed him into the library.

Tobias and Gwennie came out into the den.

Sheriff Langford said, “Mrs. Warren, this document, signed by Mr. Linker, gives you temporary guardianship.”

“Me?” she asked.

“I meant to ask,” said Gwennie. “But nothing’s gone exactly like I thought it would. When I saw Mel Linker’s full name on the custody agreement, I suspected it was more than a coincidence.”

“What coincidence?” asked Saphora.

“He’s the one suing my client, Francis Pierce. Mel Linker is Robert Melvin Linker. Francis was Mel’s best friend. He trusted Mel, telling him about his software program. Mel found out my client had never filed for a patent. Mel took advantage.”

“So he stole it?” asked Saphora.

“I heard my mom fighting with him about it,” said Tobias. “She was mad and told Daddy he was a thief and a backstabber.”

“When I told my client about Tobias, he said to offer Mel a settlement to buy back his own patent. But on the condition that he sign custody to you, Mama,” said Gwennie.

Tobias hugged her. “I love you, Gwennie. You’re a rock star.”

Saphora had not thought of much else the past few days other than Tobias’s fate at the hands of Dora. It was a lot to think about. All at once she remembered the quiet afternoon she stood on the landing with her suitcase packed. She had planned to come and live alone in her house by the Neuse River.

“Give her time,” said the cop.

“I don’t need time,” said Saphora.

22

Davidson Prep had planned an outdoor ceremony for the senior graduation. Black thunderheads grew from south of Lake Norman. They grumbled like hungry bellies. Five hundred parents and grandparents grabbed seats on the folding chairs in rows along the front lawn. Some of the parents pulled out plastic rain parkas, maybe because the air smelled like rain. But right overhead was a triangle of blue, the shape of a pool ball rack.

Saphora saved six seats beside her. Even though it was May, the air was chilly. She buttoned her yellow sweater. She sat only one row behind the graduation candidates.

Gwennie yelled across the school lawn, “Here we are!”

Saphora got up and waved at Gwennie’s two girls running in sundresses and sweaters. Finally girls in the Warren clan had balanced out the loud boys congregating in the summer house at Oriental. Luke blamed the female progeny on his gene pool. Gigi and Evanley hugged Saphora and then climbed into chairs on either side of her. Gwennie carried a gift wrapped in Davidson Prep blue.

“Luke’s parking. He drove us round and round until I was going nuts, so I told him to drop us off,” said Gwennie.

Turner walked alongside Eddie, who had grown taller than his daddy. He had to bend his knees to kiss his Nana. Eddie sat beside his Aunt Gwennie. Turner was still arguing over Eddie’s not having gotten a haircut.

“I like his hair,” said Saphora. It was blond and curled around his shoulders. “We’ve got a minute to spare,” she said. “I don’t see Tobias.”

“The Ws are seated right in front of us. He should be there somewhere,” said Gwennie.

Saphora counted the boys in front of her, the boys she had gotten to know the past few years because they seemed to congregate in her basement and around her refrigerator.

Andrew Watson, Jeffrey Warlick, Matthew Wade, all the boys who either played baseball with Tobias or had come to the games for the past few summers. Andrew Watson had won a baseball scholarship. Tobias had brooded over it but then found the character to congratulate him.

“I made it,” said Luke. He picked Evanley up and sat down with her in his lap.

The school’s dean made opening comments and a minister prayed. The valedictorian was slated to make her speech. But the dean took the podium again and said, “Davidson Prep has a longstanding tradition of honoring its scholars. As I name the following scholarship awards, I would ask the students receiving them to take the platform.”

Saphora was beginning to worry. Tobias still struggled with the unpredictable consequences of his illness.

The dean named seven scholars. Each student came from the
front row and took the platform. As they did, they were handed a gold tassel that they each affixed to their graduation caps. The dean said, “There was one scholarship awarded yesterday. It was given to a Davidson Prep student for outstanding achievement in science. Tobias Jefferson Warren is the recipient of this award at Elon University, where he will take studies in medical research.”

The parents came to their feet. Saphora gasped. Tobias was standing slightly shorter than his peers but holding the gold tassel over his head.

“Mama, did you know?” asked Gwennie.

“He didn’t tell me,” said Saphora. She was near to bursting with joy.

“All right,” said Eddie. “That’s my man.”

The scholars filed down the aisle, taking their seats alphabetically. Tobias walked past his friends along the back row, each of them giving him a high-five.

The salutatorian read her winning essay and then introduced the valedictorian. She was a funny girl who gave a speech for which all the students cheered.

The crowd was seated as the front row of graduates stood to receive their diplomas.

Tobias handed the cap back to Saphora. “Can you put the tassel on for me, Mom?” he asked.

“I can, but it’s not a hard thing to do,” she said.

“I wouldn’t have gotten it without you,” he said.

“Tobias, you are a surprise,” she said.

Tobias asked to leave flowers on Bender’s grave before heading off to the senior parties that would end with a sleepover back at his house.
Saphora drove him to Mt. Zion where Bender had been interred back in that fall season when Saphora had decided not to run away from home. He laid flowers from Saphora’s garden on the grave. He’d tied blue and white ribbons around it, his school colors.

Saphora took him home where he changed before Andrew picked him up. The house was going to be very quiet come August when Tobias headed off to Elon. There was not much summer ahead when she thought like that.

Sherry had opened the patio door drapes full-blown. The sun warmed the potted begonias setting outside on her green garden cart. The light filtered into the living room that she had repainted the color of olives, a tint that she could nearly taste.

She might sell the house. Luke had finally sold his house in Oriental since Gwennie had been taken on as a partner in a Charlotte law firm. She had been nagging Saphora about moving into one of those upscale condominiums in uptown. Saphora tried to imagine herself in a place where the views glistened with car windshields, not a rippling lake.