“So it’s likely my father may have taken your twenty dollars and the DVD player.” Gabrielle shook her head with obvious disappointment of her conclusion. “I was so hoping he was being sincere about having changed. I’m sorry, Miss Crowe. I’ll replace your money. Did you notice anything else missing from your purse? Credit cards . . . your license, anything like that?”
“You know, I didn’t even think about checking any of those things. The only reason I realized the money was gone was because Jasmine wanted something from the ice-cream man.”
“Oh, no,” Gabrielle said. “Don’t tell me they’ve already started their run?”
“You know you can hear that sound all the way on the other street. It’s like the Pied Piper charming the children out onto the streets and the money out of our pockets. Did you know a chocolate candy-covered vanilla whatchamacallit cost two dollars and seventy-five cents these days?”
Gabrielle laughed. “Well, we both know it’s the experience the kids are paying for. Plus the ice-cream man still has to buy gas. And gas ain’t cheap.”
“Yes, I know. And don’t you dare worry about that twenty dollars. But I do need to check my other things. I used my credit card night before last when Jasmine and I were ordering some stuff for the wedding.”
“The way you and Jasmine are ordering stuff, we can have three weddings with stuff left over,” Gabrielle said.
Miss Crowe got up and went to her room where she’d put her purse. She came back down to the kitchen. “Everything seems to be there. Just the twenty dollars is missing.”
Gabrielle went up to Jasmine’s room to check on her. Jasmine was still upset about her DVD. She’d taken it over to her friend Jade’s house a few times. But it had definitely been in the player yesterday so she was certain it was in the player now.
Gabrielle told Jasmine to come on down for supper. As they descended the staircase, the front door opened.
Bennie looked troubled. “Oh, hello, Gabrielle. I didn’t know you were home already.”
“Trying to beat me here, were you?” Gabrielle asked. “Jasmine, go and help Miss Crowe in the kitchen, will you?” Jasmine nodded, hugging Bennie as she went. Gabrielle turned her attention back to Bennie. “So were you trying to beat me home?”
“Not really. I just finished up some business today.” He started sniffing into the air. “Something smells mighty good around here. That friend of yours, Esther Crowe, knows she can burn in the kitchen. That woman can throw down.”
“Daddy, did you happen to take the DVD player out of the den, possibly to your room last night?” Gabrielle asked as unac-cusingly as possible.
“DVD player? Honey chile, I wouldn’t know a DVD player if it came and bit me on the foot.”
“You’ve seen it. We play movies on it. It’s that thin black box in the den.”
“I’ve seen the movies, sure enough. But if you asked me to put a disc in and get it going, I’d look at you like you’d just told me to translate Russian,” Bennie said.
“So you didn’t take it to your room?”
He shook his head. “Nope. Perhaps it was Chef Esther Mae. That woman knows she can put her foot in some food. Did you check with her?”
“Of course, I checked with Miss Crowe.”
“Well, you don’t have to get testy about it,” Bennie said. “I was just asking.”
“Daddy, I’m going to ask you something and I need for you to tell me the truth. Did you go in Miss Crowe’s purse and take twenty dollars out of her wallet?”
He held up his hands in surrender. “Hold on, hold on. I don’t go in women’s purses now. You can accuse me of many things, but the cardinal rule clearly states that a man never—I don’t care if the woman tells him to do it—he never goes in her purse for nothing. If she wants something from her purse, you bring the whole purse to her and let her get it herself.”
“But if you were stealing from it, you’d have to go in it, wouldn’t you?”
He frowned. “You think I stole money out of her purse?”
“I don’t know. I’m asking. She said she asked Jasmine and Jasmine didn’t take it. I didn’t since I was the one who brought it to her. The only person left is you.”
“And naturally, since I’m the ex-con, it had to have been me.”
“That’s not what I’m saying, Daddy. The DVD player is gone as is the twenty dollars, and ironically, you’ve been gone all day today. So where did you go?”
He nodded. “I’m telling you that I didn’t steal anything: not from Miss Crowe, not from you, not from this house, not from anybody, not ever.”
“Then where were you today?”
He released a loud sigh. “If you must know, I got a call for a temp job and they let me start today.”
“A temp job, huh? Where is this job? Doing what?”
Tears filled his eyes. “You don’t believe me. After everything I’ve tried to show you since I arrived here and you don’t believe me.”
“I want to believe you, Daddy; I do. I’m just scared that if I let myself go and fully trust you, you’re going to let me down.” Gabrielle was crying now. “It’s been hard trying to pick up the pieces you left me with.”
“But you’re strong,” Bennie said. “You’ve more than proven that. What would have crushed others merely brought out the true fragrance of who you really are. And that fragrance fills a room when you enter it. I messed up. I was wrong.” Bennie wiped his eyes. “Nevertheless, look what God has birthed out of both our pain. I’m trying to walk the right path now. I told you I don’t want to do anything to hamper the progress we’ve made over these past three months.”
He went to Gabrielle and hugged her. “I didn’t do it. Please . . . please, I need to know that you believe me. Tell me that you believe me.”
Gabrielle pulled away from his attempt at a fatherly embrace. Miss Crowe was standing in the foyer now with her hands clasped together as though she was praying. For what, Gabrielle wasn’t sure.
Gabrielle looked up at her father; his face worn, (far older looking than his actual age of only forty-eight) from the years incarcerated life had taken on him. His eyes spoke to her. She saw deep into them, past his soul, that he really did love her, and he really was sorry for all the pain he’d caused. She saw that much.
“I believe you,” she finally said a little above a whisper. “I believe you.”
The phone rang.
“I’ll get it,” Miss Crowe said, exiting the area as Bennie grabbed Gabrielle and broke down completely.
He was sobbing heavily now. As he knelt down, he was crying and began lifting his hands as he thanked God. Gabrielle couldn’t help herself; she knelt down alongside her father and the two of them were praising God together. Miss Crowe eventually came back and joined them along with Jasmine. They were on their knees, all four of them, giving God praise.
The doorbell rang. Miss Crowe struggled to her feet and answered the door. It was the police.
Chapter 25
Evil pursueth sinners: but to the righteous good shall be repaid.
—Proverbs 13:21
“I’m sorry to bother you at this obvious dinner hour, but we’re looking for Gabrielle Mercedes,” one of the police officers said.
Gabrielle heard her name and made her way up and over to the door. When she saw the police, she glanced back at her father, who was making his way to a standing position with a little help from Jasmine.
“I’m Gabrielle Mercedes. How may I help you?”
The other officer with a badge that said HOLMES stepped forward. “We’d like to come in for a minute if you don’t mind.”
“What’s this about?” Gabrielle asked. Miss Crowe stepped up to stand closer to Gabrielle, demonstrating a unified front. Jasmine was now there under Gabrielle, who instantly placed her hand on top of her head to make her be still.
“We were wondering if this is yours.” Officer Holmes held up a DVD.
“My Finding Nemo!” Jasmine said with pure joy in her voi
ce. “Where did you find it?”
“So, this is your DVD?” the other officer asked.
“Yes, it is,” Gabrielle said, taking the DVD and looking at it. “That’s the label I put on it in case my daughter happened to forgot it somewhere. Where did you find it?”
“May we come in?”
Gabrielle opened the door wider to allow them both to pass.
Officer Holmes nodded to Bennie, who nodded back. “Evening, sir.”
“Evening, officer,” Bennie said, then bowed his head again.
“Miss Mercedes or is it misses?”
“It’s miss,” Gabrielle said.
“For now. In a few more months it will be Mrs. Morgan,” Jasmine said. “Mrs. Gabrielle Mercedes Morgan.”
“Jasmine!” Gabrielle said with a playful roll of her eyes. “I’m sure these nice officers don’t care about any of that.”
“Well, I care!” Jasmine said as she twisted from side to side.
“We won’t hold you long, miss,” said the other officer whose name tag read PHILLIPS. “We received a call from a pawn shop about the sale of some questionable items. You know there’s a law that pawn shops can only buy things from folks they know are not stolen, which is not always easy to ascertain, for sure.”
“But in your case,” Officer Holmes said, “there was this DVD inside of a DVD player someone was attempting to sell with your name, phone number, and address on it. Were you aware that your DVD player was missing or did you intend for it to be sold to a pawn shop?”
“We noticed it was gone today when I went to go look at Finding Nemo,” Jasmine said.
“So it was stolen?” Officer Phillips said. “Is that what you’re telling me?” He was looking at Gabrielle for an answer at this point.
Gabrielle had to think quickly. If she said yes and it turned out her father had taken it and sold it, they would surely arrest him on the spot. She knew the pawn shop kept a record of people who sold them a particular item. But if she believed her father didn’t steal it, she could comfortably say it had been stolen and know that her father wouldn’t be in trouble. She thought about looking at him to see if he was attempting to give her some kind of signal, but if she did, it would be relaying to him that she wasn’t sure he hadn’t stolen it.
“Yes,” Gabrielle said. “It was stolen.”
Gabrielle heard Miss Crowe release a sigh that sounded like relief.
Officer Holmes nodded a few times. “Have you noted any other items missing from your home?”
“Not right off the bat. But then, it appears we weren’t robbed in a conventional way. Our robber seems to have just taken a few items in hopes of them not being noticed,” Gabrielle said.
“Like?” Officer Phillips asked.
“Like Miss Crowe’s twenty dollars,” Gabrielle said.
Miss Crowe waved it away. “Not something I would call the police and report, that’s for sure.”
“Well, Miss Mercedes,” Officer Holmes said. “We will have your DVD player down at the station as soon as we wrap up the investigation on this case, first being to arrest the perpetrator. Your DVD player wasn’t the only thing brought in by this apparent thief. Fortunately for us, you had this DVD in the player with your name on it assisting us in catching him red handed. And I have a feeling the haul he brought in today will turn up a lot of other stolen property, hopefully things reported.”
“So we can keep my DVD?” Jasmine asked Officer Holmes.
“Yeah,” Officer Holmes said. “We’re going to process the DVD player for evidence, but I have a feeling you’ll be getting that back in a few days as he’ll likely cut a deal and plead guilty. We have your contact information. We’ll call you if we need anything more. But hopefully, it’ll be for you to come down to the station and claim your stolen property.”
“Well, thankfully, we have another DVD player here,” Gabrielle said. “But this Finding Nemo DVD would have made me have to go out and purchase another one if you hadn’t located it.”
“Do you mind telling us who the suspect is?” Miss Crowe said.
“He hasn’t been formally charged as yet,” Officer Phillips said.
“The reason we’d like to know is because we believe it has to be someone we know. We’d just like to protect ourselves,” Miss Crowe said. “You understand?”
“Yeah. I do. I can’t tell you on the record, but off the record, it looks to be one Jesse Murphy. Does that name ring a bell?”
It was only then that Gabrielle looked over at her father. She saw him shaking his head, then holding it down in what appeared to be total dejection.
Chapter 26
And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
—1 John 5:19
Zachary passed the policemen as they were leaving. He looked at Bennie as though he was asking what he’d done now.
Gabrielle closed the door and they all laughed. Zachary looked from one to the other. “What did I miss?” he asked.
“Here’s your DVD,” Gabrielle said to Jasmine as she handed it to her.
“I’m putting it in its case right now,” Jasmine said, skipping toward the den.
“Why were the police here?” Zachary said, this time to Bennie exclusively.
“Zachary,” Gabrielle said. “Those fine men in blue came by to bring Jasmine back her DVD.”
“Okkkaaaay,” Zachary said with a singsong to it. “So policemen not only get cats out of trees but they bring back little girls’ lost DVDs? Is that what I’m hearing here?”
“What police have you ever heard that got a cat out of a tree?” Miss Crowe said. “That’s pure Mayberry stuff, made for sixties television shows.” She shook her head. “Goodness gracious. You’re almost as much of a throwback as me.”
“Will somebody just please tell me what’s going on around here?”
“The food I cooked is getting cold,” Miss Crowe said. “That’s what’s going on around here. I hate when that happens. All my hard work for nothing.”
“Microwave, Aunt Esther. That’s why we have microwaves,” Zachary said.
“Well, I’m going in the kitchen to see what I can do to salvage things.”
“Aunt Esther, we’ll just fix our plates and stick them in the microwave. But I want somebody in this place to tell me why the police were here and why nobody is apparently talking,” Zachary said. “Bennie, were they here because of you?”
“Oh, noooo,” Bennie said, shaking his head. “I’ve been thoroughly vindicated, thank the good Lord for His mercy and His grace.” Bennie turned to Miss Crowe. “Why don’t I go with you so I can get started on warming up my plate? I’m starving. I worked today, but without money for lunch, and only corn flakes for breakfast, I’d eat the food cold and be as happy as a tick on a dog.”
“Of course, you would. You are one eating man; I’ll give you that,” Miss Crowe said.
“That’s because you can cook, Esther Mae,” Bennie said.
“That’s just because you ate prison food and you probably don’t know what good food tastes like,” Miss Crowe said with a giggle. “And don’t ever call me Esther Mae again or I promise you: It won’t be pretty if you do.”
“All right, Esther Crowe. I won’t make that mistake ever again. And I know good food. And like I said to Gabrielle earlier, to which I’m sure you were likely listening in on, with your eavesdropping self, you can throw down in the kitchen.”
Miss Crowe pretended to hit at him as they disappeared toward the kitchen.
“Okay, Gabrielle. What all did I miss?” Zachary said.
“Let’s see now,” Gabrielle said with a grin as she recapped all the things that happened, including how her cousin Jesse had apparently stolen from them.
“Wow. So while he was here in the den, I suppose, he must have figured out how to hurry and get the DVD player unplugged. I wonder why that’s all he took?”
“Probably because that was all he could get in his little backpack without drawing too much att
ention to himself,” Gabrielle said. “Maybe he’d planned to do more and either my father spoiled his plan or your aunt. And when Miss Crowe called me and I got here, that pretty much nipped all the alone time he and Aunt Cee-Cee had in here.” Gabrielle shook her head. “I still can’t believe that boy had the nerve to come up in my house and steal from me in broad daylight, no less.”
“So you say he went in Aunt Esther’s purse and stole twenty dollars?”
“Yes,” Gabrielle said. She still couldn’t believe his boldness in doing that. “I’m just glad he didn’t take any of her credit cards or her ID. Then again, it very well might have been my aunt Cee-Cee who took it. Who can say?”
“It was probably him. He was likely just looking for something easy to get to and easy to get rid of so he could get enough money for his next purchase of meth,” Zachary said. “We really do need to try and get him some help. I hate seeing our young men go down the path of destruction the way some of them are doing. And it doesn’t matter how much you try and warn them, they always think they’re the exception to the rule when it comes to getting caught or caught up. Then they’re left trying to school the next ones to come along who, just like them, won’t listen.”
“Well, it sounds like what Jesse stole from here isn’t all he took. He’s likely about to go to jail. Maybe he’ll get some help now because of this,” Gabrielle said.
“Maybe. We can only pray for him at this point. But I have a feeling your aunt is going to be none too happy with you about this,” Zachary said.
“Not happy with me?” Gabrielle pulled back. “What did I do?”
“You had this stuff here and it was your house. When the police showed up, you had the nerve to admit something had been stolen,” Zachary said. “See, your fault.”
Gabrielle nodded. “Oh, yeah. I see it clearly now. The whole world lies in wickedness, but somehow it’s the fault of those who are trying to follow God. Got it.” Gabrielle began to wipe tears.
Zachary grabbed her gently by her shoulders. “Gabrielle, what’s wrong?”
The Other Side of Divine Page 17
