Watercolored Pearls

by Stacy Hawkins Adams

"Bethany Miller."

  "Did you two talk regularly before this summer?"

  "Not really, except for holidays and birthdays," Grant said. "She called me sometime in June to say hello and invite me to visit the family, since I was spending my summer just a couple of hours away, in North Carolina."

  Bethany had inquired about his studies at Harvard and asked if, by chance, he knew Tawana, whom she had recently met through a couple she knew.

  "I asked her why, but Aunt Bethany never really answered," Grant said. "She went on and on about how nice Tawana was and mentioned that Tawana was working with a prominent Richmond law firm for the summer, on a big case. She hinted that I should come up and take Tawana out."

  Grant looked briefly in Tawana's direction, before continuing.

  "I mentioned that I had had a brief relationship with Tawana, and Aunt Bethany seemed thrilled.

  "When I asked her why she was so interested in my love life all of a sudden, she stumbled over her words, but then she asked me again to come up to Richmond to see Tawana.

  "Aunt Bethany can usually steamroll her plans through, but I couldn't let that happen this time," Grant said. "I told her that Tawana and I hadn't parted as friends. She kept pressuring me for details, and I don't know why, but I told her some things that I hadn't shared with anyone else. She seemed elated after I had spilled my guts, and instead of making me feel better about some bad choices, she rushed me off the phone. Later that week, I picked up a copy of the The Washington Post and read that a Harvard law student, T. Elise Carter, was helping with a big murder trial in Richmond. I knew it had to be Tawana. And I remembered some shameful things I'd said to Tawana about her name."

  Tawana turned to look at her mother and Serena. With her eyes, she pleaded with them to leave. Ms. Carter shook her head and mouthed, "It's okay" to her daughter.

  Tawana closed her eyes and waited for Grant's full revelation. She was startled when someone reached for her hand and squeezed it.

  She opened her eyes and looked into Arlen's reassuring ones.

  Bob cleared his throat. "What was this great news Mrs. Miller had received during your chat?"

  "I confided in Aunt Bethany that I had taken Tawana on a date and that at the end of the night..."

  He paused and looked apologetically at Tawana, who with Arlen's support, had decided to hear the revelations with her eyes open.

  She returned Grant's gaze but showed no emotion.

  "Go on, sir," Bob prodded.

  "I had asked Tawana if she wanted to go back to my apartment and she indicated that she would—for a price."

  Judge Roberts was forced to bang the gavel again, to restore order in the courtroom.

  Tawana looked at Serena and her mother again. Ms. Carter's eyes were closed. Serena nodded at Tawana and slightly smiled. At least they hadn't fled in shame.

  "Did you sleep with Tawana Elise Carter during your date?"

  Grant answered softly. "Yes, I did."

  "Did you pay Tawana Elise Carter for sex that night?"

  Grant looked at Tawana and spoke firmly.

  "No, I did not. It was strictly consensual."

  "Is Tawana Elise Carter a prostitute?"

  "No, sir," Grant answered. "Not to my knowledge. I, too, bear some of the blame for what happened that night."

  50

  Bob Wallace quickly had Grant ushered out of the court- room and put Neal back in the witness seat.

  "You are still under oath," Bob told him.

  Neal nodded to indicate that he understood.

  "We heard your earlier testimony about how you didn't mean to seriously injure Drew Thomas and how Mrs. Miller coerced you into going along with her plan," Bob said. "Why didn't you go to the police instead?"

  "When Mrs. Miller showed up in the utility room to break up the argument between Drew and me, I told her that my dad was Walker Lewis. I could tell right away that she knew he was a Washington bigwig," Neal said.

  "I knew that was why she said I could stay at the party but Drew had to leave.

  "She supervised me as I rolled Drew's body in some pool tarp and lifted it onto a delivery cart in the utility room. As she watched for guests, I rolled the cart to her SUV and put Drew in the back. Mrs. Miller drove along some back roads to a secluded spot, and along the way told me that she and her husband had chatted with my parents on several occasions, during social events hosted by the D.C. chapter of Stanford’s alumni association.

  "Mrs. Miller had graduated from the university as well, but since there wasn't a chapter in Richmond, she and her husband would participate in the D.C. functions, for networking purposes."

  Neal recounted the information as if he were delivering a school report.

  Bob interrupted. "So you were intimidated by this woman because she might run into your parents at an alumni event and 'tell' on you?"

  Neal shook his head.

  "She knew that my dad was under consideration by the President of the United States to join the Federal Reserve System's Board of Governors. After a presidential appointment, Dad would still have to be confirmed by the Senate, which would mean the entire family would be under scrutiny.

  "If the media or political officials inside the Washington Beltway got wind of what I had done, my dad's career could be over," Neal said. "Mrs. Miller promised to make that happen if I didn't do as she said."

  Neal looked into the courtroom gallery at his father, who sat just behind the defense table with his lips pursed and his arms folded, glaring at his son.

  "Go on," Bob prodded.

  Neal was visibly shaken by his father's demeanor, but returned his focus to his attorney.

  "Mrs. Miller had talked to my mom at one of the alumni functions and knew that I had been accepted to Stanford. She said her brother was a Stanford grad and San Franscisco-based plastic surgeon who sat on the university's admissions board. She didn't come right out and threaten me, but I took what she did say to mean that he could get my admission to the college revoked," Neal said. "That would kill my parents."

  "She knew so much about my family that I believed her threats," he said. "She had my dad's dream job and my future in her hands. She promised me that if I kept quiet and went along with her plan, we'd never get caught."

  "But you did," Bob said.

  Earlier testimony from Richmond detectives revealed that a silver pendant bearing the Seward School emblem had been found in Drew's shallow grave. Strands of auburn hair were lifted from his clothing.

  Neal continued with his testimony, stating that Bethany Miller didn't relent.

  "She visited me in jail and promised that if I insisted I was innocent, there would be enough reasonable doubt to get me off," Neal said. "She came back a few weeks later and told me she had some dirt on one of my attorneys that we could use to secure my freedom or to get the charge against me lessened.

  "Mrs. Miller said that Elise's real name was Tawana and that she had come close to breaking the law herself. She was counting on the fact that Elise would help us out to save her own skin." Neal shook his head. "At that point, I just didn't trust her anymore.

  "My mom came to visit me and told me she would stand by me no matter what happened. I decided to come clean."

  Neal looked at his father. "I'm sorry it cost me the love of my dad. But at least now I can sleep at night."

  51

  Victoria returned to the witness stand and admitted to being present when Drew died.

  The girl wept uncontrollably as she described how her mother prevented her from calling 911.

  "She told me to suck it up, to smile, and to go back to the party," Victoria sobbed. "She told me to keep the other kids distracted so they wouldn't see her and Neal leaving with Drew's body."

  "How were you able to pull that off, knowing Drew was lying there dead, just feet away, inside that utility room?" Vincent Johns asked.

  "I think I was in shock," Victoria said. "I couldn't believe my mother was doing something like this.

  "S
he was afraid for my father to find out that she was throwing me a party. He had told her to cut back on spending, but he was out of town on business that weekend. She spent thousands that night alone, all because I had begged for this party," Victoria said, as the tears flowed. "I felt guilty; if I hadn't wanted a big bash, I wouldn't have put my mother, Neal, or Drew in this position."

  Vincent continued his questioning. "Why was your financially successful father, a leader in the banking industry, concerned about money, given his lucrative career and the exclusive area in which you lived?"

  "Mom told me that she had overextended herself on credit and that Daddy had no idea how serious it was," Victoria said.

  Ian, who had been in the courtroom since Grant testified, sat shell-shocked. Tawana wasn't sure if he was still listening.

  "She loved to shop and could spend up to three or four thousand dollars a week, if not every few days," Victoria said. "We liked to look good and have a good time."

  When jurors filed out of the courtroom so Judge Roberts could speak privately with the attorneys, Bob requested that, given the circumstances, Neal be offered a plea agreement.

  "Your star witness just sat up there and perjured herself," Bob told Scott Rodham.

  The city's top prosecutor couldn't argue.

  At nine o'clock the next morning, Neal Lewis pleaded guilty to the lesser crime of manslaughter, based on the fact that Drew Thomas's killing was committed in the heat of passion and not premeditated, and that Neal had tried to revive his victim. Neal would be sentenced in six weeks and face one to ten years in prison instead of twenty to life.

  Drew Thomas's parents had been informed of the agreement before court went into session. After the terms of the plea were read aloud, Neal asked to address them. He looked at Drew's weeping mother and began to bawl.

  Across the aisle, his own mother shed tears. Neal's father refused to make eye contact with him.

  "I am so sorry for all the lives I have ruined," Neal said. "If I could go back in time and just walk away, I would. I would. I am so sorry. If you can find it in your hearts, please forgive me."

  Drew's extended family and friends filed silently from the courtroom, holding on to each other. His parents were the last to leave. When Drew's mother reached the door, which the bailiff held open for her, she turned and looked at Neal, who had returned to his seat at the defense table and sat there with his head bowed.

  Mrs. Thomas called out to him.

  "Neal?" She dabbed her eyes with her tissue and waited for him to look her way.

  Slowly, he did.

  Judge Roberts watched but didn't interrupt. The courtroom fell silent.

  "My son was a good kid," she said. "The best part about him was that he loved God. He would want me to pray for you, so I will."

  She turned away and left the courtroom.

  ~~~

  Neal shook hands and traded hugs with his slew of attorneys before being led back to jail.

  "Thank you all for what you did for me. I could have been facing life."

  Tawana embraced him tightly.

  "Remember what I told you—it's who you are inside that counts," she said. "Don't let prison turn you into someone you don't want to be."

  Neal didn't respond.

  Anything he said right now wouldn't matter much anyway, she realized. He was at the oyster stage; how he handled the rest of his long journey would determine what he became.

  The same would be true for Victoria, who had been taken into custody and sent to the city's juvenile detention center for girls. She would be arraigned in two days on accessory to murder charges.

  "I'm sorry, Daddy," she said through her tears as she was led away.

  Bethany went kicking and screaming.

  "This is a mistake! Neal is a liar. Grant is a liar, and someone has brainwashed my daughter! I can't go to jail! I'll die! Please, somebody help me!"

  Ian hadn’t budged from his seat in the courtroom. When he failed to emerge an hour after the trial had ended, Tawana went to retrieve him.

  She sat next to him and bowed her head, in unison with his.

  "I'm really sorry."

  "I know," he said. "I've lost my entire family. And for what? A glamorous image? A hip pool party? My wife's secret spending habits? Why is God doing this to me?"

  Tawana didn't have ready answers.

  "You aren't the one going to jail, Ian," she finally said. "Unfortunately, you have to suffer because of someone else's choices. As you heard during the trial, I made wrong ones too, but I have to believe that God is bigger than any problems either of us is going to face because of what happened in court today."

  Ian kept his head bowed. "Maybe, maybe not. Can I be alone?"

  Tawana left him sitting there and asked the deputy to give Ian ten more minutes. The sobs she heard as the door swung closed behind her told her he needed every second.

  52

  Sorry I'm late, but you have to read this."

  Erika waved a greeting card in Serena's face. "Where is Tawana? I need some legal advice."

  "Calm down," Serena said. "What is it?"

  Serena took the card from Erika and rested her hands on her stomach, which was growing larger by the day. She scanned the words and her head snapped up.

  "Elliott has lost his mind."

  Erika nodded. "Now you see why I'm late. The potato salad and lemon pound cake were ready to go. But when I opened this card and read the documents folded inside, I lost it."

  Serena shook her head.

  "I wouldn't be too worried. Elliott will be in jail for at least three more months for assaulting Mara. This request for visitation won't wind its way through the court system by then," she said. "I'm not a lawyer, but I'm sure of that."

  Tawana entered the kitchen with an empty plate in her hand.

  "The ribs are smokin', Serena," she said. "Micah put his foot in them!”

  She glanced at Serena and Erika and frowned.

  “Why are you two in here looking so pensive?"

  "Elliott is suing me for visitation rights," Erika said. "He's trying to force me to bring Aaron to see him while he's incarcerated."

  "Elliott has lost his mind," Tawana said.

  Serena laughed. "You've been living here too long; you're starting to sound like me."

  "Ah, so that's why you're throwing me a farewell party," Tawana teased.

  The late August barbecue was serving numerous purposes.

  It was indeed a farewell gathering for Tawana, Misha, and Ms. Carter, who would be returning to Boston soon; but it was also a welcome-to-Richmond party for Micah's sister Evelyn, who had arrived that morning for a two-week visit with her children, Zuri and Tyra. Although their scheduled summer visit had been delayed by an emergency at the day-care center Evelyn operated, she had been determined to come.

  The barbecue was also a thank-you celebration for New Hope's ministry leaders, who had been so wonderful during the transition from Stillwell Elementary to Zion Memorial. The backyard was overflowing with food, music, and mingling men, women, and children. Serena's dad was there with Althea and Kami. Rev. Tolliver, the pastor of Zion Memorial, had come with his wife, Ruth.

  Tawana looked out of the kitchen window and burst into laughter. A youth leader from New Hope was trying to teach the Tollivers the electric slide.

  "I think Reverend Tolliver's got it! He doesn't wear a pacemaker does he?"

  Serena swatted Tawana's head and peeked over her shoulder at the dancing minister. "Behave yourself, girl. Here come your friends from the law firm."

  Tawana turned to Erika. "Don't worry, Erika. With Elliott's history of abuse, coupled with the fact that he's behind bars, there's very little chance he can force you to take Aaron to the city jail for visits. Before he is released, I'd advise you to request from the court that he be required to undergo counseling and attend parenting classes before he can see Aaron again. For the time being, though, you're okay."

  Erika sighed and mouthed "Thank you."


  Tawana smiled and headed for the door.

  "No problem; let me go say hello to Arlen."

  "Just Arlen?" Serena asked, one eyebrow arched.

  Tawana paused and smiled. "Let me greet all of my friends, including my bosses."

  She stepped outside and Serena turned to Erika. "Feel better?"

  Erika nodded and hugged her.

  "It's been a rough few weeks, with the drama from Elliott and, well, you know."

  Erika picked up the dish of potato salad she had made. "I'll take this outside."

  "Not so fast," Serena said. "Someone on the patio wants to talk to you."

  Serena slid the door open and stuck her head outside.

  "She's here," she said.

  Erika almost dropped the food when Derrick—and the striking woman who had been at his home last month— entered the kitchen.

  Serena swooped the dish from Erika's arms and disappeared.

  The woman stepped forward and extended her hand.

  "Erika, I'm Delaney. Derrick's cousin."

  53

  "You fled from the house before I could introduce you," Derrick said, and stood at his cousin's side.

  "Delaney recently moved here from Michigan to enroll in grad school at Howard University. She stopped by to visit me for a few days last month and scout out an apartment for the fall semester."

  Erika felt like a bug. She wanted to squash herself. How had Serena convinced them to come?

  Delaney smiled gingerly. "I came prancing into the foyer that morning like I was the lady of the house, on purpose," she said. "I've seen all these women throwing themselves at my first cousin. He's good looking, successful, and single. He needs me around to help him weed through the women who just want a sugar daddy."

  Derrick rolled his eyes, but let her continue.

  "That morning when you showed up, in your sundress and sandals looking like a miniature Barbie, I wanted to size you up before he fell for whatever lines you might use to reel him in."