There were more than half a dozen police cars, parked out front, lights flashing, painting the house red and blue.
Sissy skidded her car to a slanted halt, threw the door open, and rushed out toward the house.
A young officer held out a hand, trying to stop her.
“Let me through!” Sissy demanded. “This is my house!”
She was allowed to pass.
As she stumbled toward the door, she had expected the worst. She didn’t know exactly what that would be, but she knew it was coming.
Making her way inside, she ran down the hallway. In the living room, she saw that the situation was bad, but nothing that she hadn’t expected.
There were four uniformed cops standing around, radios squawking on their hips, and three plainclothes detectives. On one side of the room, Sissy saw Eric in jeans and a bloody, torn T-shirt, his hands cuffed behind his back, a detective standing over him, looking as though he was about to read him his rights. On the other side of the room, she saw Austen and Cobi standing. They looked frightened. Sissy made her way to her brother to try to comfort him.
She gave Cobi a hug, but he did not hug her back. She understood, considering all that was going on.
“I told you it would end like this. I told you not to have anything to do with that criminal,” she said, cutting a look across the room at Eric. “But he looks like he’s getting what he deserves, so you can just relax and tell me what happened.”
Cobi didn’t speak, but Sissy heard her name being called by Eric.
She looked around at him, then back to Cobi, and said, “Why is he calling me?”
Still Cobi didn’t say a word.
The detective stood Eric up. Another detective took him by the other arm and started him toward the door.
“Sissy,” Eric called again, more frantic this time. “It’s me, Cobi.”
Sissy turned to who she thought was Cobi, a bitter scowl on her face, then turned and rushed over to the man she now realized was her brother. The detectives stepped forward, as if to shield Cobi from her.
“I’m his sister. I need to speak to him. Please!”
The detectives stepped a few feet away, allowing Sissy to speak to her brother in private.
She looked at the man in front her, wearing those sagging jeans, that bloodstained shirt, and could not believe it was her brother. “Cobi?” she said, as though not sure.
“It’s me, Sis.”
“What the hell is going on? Why are you in cuffs? Why is he over there?”
“I told you,” Cobi said. “Everything went wrong. I went to talk to Blac. He pulled a gun on me. We struggled, it went off, and I accidently killed him.”
Sissy felt the room spin and thought she was about to faint but regained her balance. “No,” she said. She looked back at Eric and Austen. Saw that they were hiding something, saw it in their faces that some deal had been struck, and what Cobi was telling her was nothing but a lie. “No!” Sissy said, trying to grab her brother by the arm. “You didn’t do this. I know you didn’t.”
“Ma’am,” one of the detectives said, rushing over, pulling Sissy off of Cobi. “He’s already been read his rights. If you want to continue to speak to him, you’ll have to come down to the station.”
“Cobi,” Sissy said, crying now. “I’m right behind you. Do you hear me? You have nothing to be afraid of. I’m right behind you.”
To Sissy’s surprise, Cobi looked calm. “I’m not afraid, Sis. Come down to the station, and we’ll work it all out.”
Sissy gave Cobi a quick, tight hug, then stormed back over to Eric and Austen.
“I don’t know what the fuck is going on,” Sissy said, stabbing a finger at Eric. “But I know this is all you. I know you had everything to do with it and somehow managed to convince my brother to take the blame. I’m not going to let that happen. I’m going to find out what really went on, and I’m going to have your ass sent back to prison for killing that man. And it will be for life. Do you understand me?” Sissy screamed hysterically. “For life!”
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Eric stood in the front doorway and watched as Sissy sped away.
Moments earlier, as the police walked Cobi out to their car, Sissy continued to curse and threaten Eric, looking over her shoulder as she hurried to her own car. She promised to devote her life to making sure Eric paid for what she was sure he had done, and by the look in her eyes, Eric knew he had reason to be concerned.
He thought back to half an hour earlier. He and Austen were downstairs on the sofa. She was near tears with worry, clutching his hands in hers. “Are you sure he’s dead? Maybe he’s just—”
“Austen, he’s dead, okay?” Eric said. “I killed him, and I’m gonna have to ’fess up to this. His girlfriend saw me.”
“Won’t they put you back in prison?”
Eric believed her fearing the answer to that question was what caused the tears. He knew in the short time they saw each other, he had developed deep feelings for her, but he was surprised to know she might have felt the same for him.
“Yeah, they probably gonna send me back. There’s no other way it can go.”
“Maybe there is,” Cobi said from the stairway. He descended the last couple of stairs and walked into the living room. “I’ve been thinking and I came up with something, but I’m going to have to tell you quickly. The police should be here soon. I called them and told them what happened.”
Eric heard a gasp from Austen, felt her grip tighten on his hands. “Already? You called and told them? Couldn’t you have—”
“Don’t,” Eric said. “He did the right thing.”
“That’s right,” Cobi said. “It was self-defense. If that is truly what it was, then there is nothing to hide. We have to report what happened.”
“But Eric won’t stand a chance when—”
“Blac had photos that could do serious harm to my reputation, and he threatened to blackmail me with them,” Cobi said, ignoring Austen, and then sitting down on the sofa opposite her and Eric. He focused very closely on the both of them. “When I went over there to confront him—”
“What?” Eric said, releasing Austen’s hand and standing.
“I said, when I went over there to confront Blac about the blackmail, he pulled a gun on me. In my attempt to defend myself, we struggled, the gun went off, and he was killed.”
Eric turned to look at Austen, then back to Cobi, not believing what he had just heard. “But Theresa saw me,” he finally said.
“Theresa saw me.” Cobi stood, an unsure smile on his face.
“You can’t do this,” Eric said.
“There is no other way.”
“This can’t work.”
“Did you touch anything while you were there?”
“I don’t . . .” Eric started, reviewing the steps he took leading up to the shooting. He knocked on the door, Theresa opened it for him. He didn’t touch the door when he walked into the bedroom and pushed it closed with his elbow. He tussled with Blac, but once Eric put his hands on him, he didn’t let go, until they were around Blac’s hands as they held the gun. “Only thing I touched was the gun.”
“And you brought that with you,” Cobi said. “There are no fingerprints there. His girlfriend doesn’t know it was you there and not me.”
“But you’ll go to jail for something I did,” Eric said, worried.
“Will I? I’m Cobi Aiden Winslow,” he said, extending his arms out to his sides. “State’s attorney, member of the powerful Winslow family, and Blac is an ex-con who’s been in and out of the system since he was a child.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” Eric said shamefully.
“No time for that now. I will tell the story and it will be believed. There will be an investigation, but considering what I just told you, would you convict me?”
Eric didn’t think he would, but Cobi’s experiences were on the right side of the courts. Having been a defendant, Eric knew unanticipated things could happen. �
��No, I wouldn’t. But what if they do?”
Cobi forced a smile again. “Then I do the time, shoulder the weight. It’s the least I can do, considering the hell you went through all your life for me.”
“I ain’t do it for you. I did it because I had to.”
Cobi shook his head. “You did it for me. You just didn’t know it till I found you. Now come on, the police will be here any moment.”
“If you do this, everyone will know you’re gay,” Austen said, standing.
“I’m tired of hiding.”
“And what about the arrangement?” Austen asked, taking Eric’s hand.
Cobi glanced down at their interlaced fingers, then he looked back up at Austen. “We’ll figure it out later. But now—” Cobi paused.
Eric heard police sirens in the distance.
“Take off your clothes,” Cobi said to Eric.
“No. I can’t let you do this. It’s wrong.”
“Do you hear the sirens?” Cobi said forcefully, pointing angrily toward the front room windows. “Do you want to go back to prison? Do you want never to see Austen again, never to see your daughter again? If not, shut up and take off your fucking clothes, Eric. Please!”
Eric continued to stare out of the front door of the mansion, wondering what would happen to him and what would happen to his brother.
Cobi told Eric he had nothing to worry about. He knew that Sissy would come after him. “This is my home, but till I come back, it’s yours. Sissy can say what she wants, but she can do nothing to you,” Cobi said, a reassuring hand on Eric’s shoulder. “You and Austen are safe here.”
They had switched clothes, and Eric stood staring at Cobi, as if looking into some weird 3-D mirror. Eric could’ve cried at that moment. He felt the tears ready to fall, but he pushed them back. No one, no one in the world had ever sacrificed a thing for him, but Cobi was risking his reputation, all that he’d worked for, even his freedom. Eric threw himself into his brother, wrapped his arms tightly around him, and said, “I love you for this, Cobi. And for everything you did.” The tears started to fall, and he buried his face into his brother’s shoulder.
Cobi hugged Eric back for a moment, then leaned away from him. “Everything is going to be all right, you hear me? All this will work out, and I’ll come back home, and then we’ll work on catching up on those thirty years we lost, okay?”
Eric wiped the tears from his face, smiled as best he could for his brother, then said, “Yeah, okay.”
Eric felt an arm move around his waist, then felt Austen’s body behind his. She kissed him on the back of his shoulder, lay her cheek there, then said, “Are we going to be all right?”
“I’m gonna do everything I can to make sure we are,” Eric said, staring out into the distance before him. “And Cobi said we will be, so we will.”
I thank God for blessing me with my son, and allowing him to be a part of my life for fifty-four years. He was a good child and I truly miss him. Written with his friend, RM Johnson, to whom I am forever grateful, this book was a departure for Lynn and also very dear to him. It could not have been published without divine guidance and the help of those around me who kept me encouraged, especially my granddaughter Roshaunda C. Rand.
I am very fortunate that Dermot Damian Givens, Esq., Karen Hises, Esq., and publishing attorney Lloyd Jassin were there to help me navigate the unfamiliar publishing waters, among other things. I am grateful to my lil’ cousin Gail Burney for her important role in my life and the life of this book; and to Kerri Kolen, my son’s editor, for her concern, patience and respect. To the bookstores, book clubs, students of E. Lynn Harris from U of A Fayetteville, up-and-coming authors he helped to get started and all the readers who have supported him from day one: Thank you and may God bless each and every one of you.
Discovered on his computer and cowritten with RM, this book, and also the other published and unpublished material my son left behind, are fragile gifts from God and reminders of his artful gifts, humor and courage.
—Etta Harris, 2011
Table of Contents
Cover
Description
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Back Cover
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