by Angela Henry
“Inez, your father told the police that it was you who’d been killed. He’s been passing you off as Nicole. He even dressed you up in Nicole’s clothes and passed you off as her at your own funeral.”
“You mean that funeral was real? I thought I was dreaming. Why would he do this?” Inez asked, looking as bewildered as I felt.
“I don’t know, but we’ve got to get you to the police so you can tell them your story. The police think a friend of mine, an innocent young man, was the one who killed you. Come on,” I said, grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet.
We left the room, crept down the steps, and were heading towards the front door when we heard the nurse’s voice behind us.
“Mrs. Rollins, what in the world are you doing? Who is this person?” She apparently didn’t recognize me from my earlier visit to the house. But we weren’t about to stop and give her an answer.
I pulled the front door open and ran, quite literally, straight into Morris Rollins. I let out a yelp of surprise and jumped back like I’d been scalded. Inez started to cry. Rollins looked from me to his daughter and I could see the muscles in his neck tighten. Anger and rage contorted his features. He was so mad he could barely speak.
“I want to know what the hell you’re doing in my house, Kendra! Where do you think you’re going with my daughter?”
“Daughter? I thought you said she was your wife. What’s going on here?” The nurse was looking very confused and when no one answered her she turned her attention back to me. “Reverend Rollins, I swear I have no idea how she got into the house. She must have broken in. I’ll go call the police,” she said, hurrying off in the direction of the kitchen.
“That won’t be necessary,” Rollins called out, stopping her in her tracks.
“Oh, I think calling the police is an excellent idea, Reverend. They would be quite interested to know that you’ve been passing your very-much-alive daughter off as your wife and trying to cash in a life insurance policy on her,” I said, feeling quite smug.
“Daddy? What’s she talking about?” Inez looked from me to her father while Rollins reserved his dirty looks for me alone.
“I wasn’t trying to get the money for myself. I don’t have the money I used to. My first wife’s family cut me off after she died. The insurance money was for Inez so she could go start a new life someplace else. I will not let them put my baby in prison,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Prison? Daddy, I told you it was an accident,” Inez said, walking over to Rollins and clutching the front of his sweater. “Why don’t you believe me? You were there, too.”
“Baby girl, all I saw when I got to the shop that night was the gun go off. I know you’re no murderer. But too many people know about the bad blood between you and Nicole. That’s why I went back to the shop after I brought you here that night and took the gun and Nicole’s wedding ring. When the police contacted me the next day and asked me to come identify a body, I lied and said it was you. I even tried to use my influence with some city officials to prevent them from doing an autopsy. I couldn’t risk the police thinking you killed Nicole on purpose. They’ll lock you up and throw away the key.”
“But it would be okay for an innocent man to be locked up for the rest of his life for a crime he didn’t commit, huh, Reverend Rollins?” Now it was my turn to glare and grit my teeth.
The fact that Rollins would let someone else go to jail for something his daughter did made me want to throttle him. He must have seen the outrage on my face because he went over to the staircase, sat on the bottom step, and buried his face in his hands.
“I swear, I never thought the police would actually pin the murder on someone else. Once they did, I didn’t know what to do. I’ve been praying and praying that they would realize that young man is innocent. I would never have let him go to prison. I would have gone to the police if it came to that.”
“Well, what about your other children, Reverend? Ricky, Gina, and Joseph, what about how you profited from their deaths? You didn’t also happen to rush them to their deaths, did you?”
Rollins looked like he’d been punched.
“Daddy? What’s she talking about? What other children?” Inez went over to sit next to her father. He grabbed her hand but remained silent and staring straight ahead.
“We’re waiting, Reverend. Your daughter deserves to know the truth,” I said, walking over to stand directly in front of him.
“You think I killed them?” he asked slowly, looking up at me like a lost and helpless little boy.
“I don’t know what to think. That’s why I’m asking. I’m sure after the police see this folder they’ll be wondering the same thing.” I had pulled the folder out of my purse and was waving it in front of him.
“You got that from my office. I could have you arrested for theft.” He stood up like he was going to try and grab it from me, but I jumped back out of his reach.
“Forget about that file,” Inez said, grabbing her father’s arm. “Who are those people she’s talking about? I need to know. Daddy, please.”
Rollins’s shoulders slumped and he sat back down. Inez sat next to him. “I’m not a perfect man, Inez. I loved your mother but we had problems from the beginning. Your mother and I were going through bad times when you were growing up and I was unfaithful to her. I was weak and sinful and, because of my actions, I fathered a child by another woman. There may also be a chance that I’m —”
“Shanda’s father!” said a loud voice behind us, interrupting Rollins midsentence. We all turned to see Rondell Kidd standing in the open doorway. He looked like hell. In addition to his usual too-tight clothing, his eyes were red from crying, his nose was running, and his Afro was matted on one side. “How could you do it, man?” he asked, his gaze never wavering from his brother’s. “You’re my brother. How could you sleep with my wife? You know how much I love her, Morris. How could you?”
Rollins stared at his brother in shock. “Rondell, I’m not —”
“You’re not what? Huh? Are you trying to deny that you slept with my wife? Are you trying to deny that you’re Shanda’s father? Huh? Is that what you’re trying to do?” Rondell asked, pulling out a gun and aiming it straight at Rollins. A collective gasp went up from everybody in the room except Rollins. He remained silent, staring at his brother and the gun.
“Rondell, calm down. What did Bonita tell you?” Rollins asked, slowly standing up and not taking his eyes off Rondell.
“Calm down! You slept with my wife. You could be my daughter’s father. And you want me to calm down. Man, I oughta shoot you like the lying dog you are!”
“Answer me, Rondell! What exactly did Bonita tell you?” pleaded Rollins, his voice cracking. Rondell stared at him for a few seconds, but he didn’t put the gun down.
“She told me the two a you had an affair and that you might be Shanda’s father, not me.” Rondell was now openly sobbing.
“Rondell, I am so sorry. But, as God as my witness, it only happened once. I would bet any amount of money that you are Shanda’s father. Come on, man. Don’t do this. Put the gun down, please.”
Rondell finally noticed Inez standing in the foyer and his mouth fell open in shock. He almost dropped the gun. Rollins crept closer to him with his hand outstretched to take it from him. But Rondell quickly recovered from his shock and aimed the gun at his brother again. “I don’t believe it. The Lord gave you your daughter back and now my child might be yours, too.” Rondell shook his head in disbelief.
I was too scared to move or look away. Where the hell were Harmon and Mercer? Any other time they’d show up when I didn’t want to see them. I wondered if they’d even gotten my message. I heard a car pull into the driveway and I breathed a sigh of relief. But, to my great disappointment, it wasn’t Harmon and Mercer who came running through the open door. It was Bonita Kidd. She screamed when she saw the gun in her husband’s hands.
“Oh, my God, Rondell. What are you doing?”
“S
hut up, you whore!” Rondell spat out at her.
“Don’t you talk to me like that, Rondell,” Bonita said, as tears rolled down her face. “You have to share the blame in this, too. You helped create this mess as much as Morris and I did.”
“Me? How can you say that? You slept with my brother. I’m not stupid, Bonita. I know you’ve always loved him. You just settled for me. I even know you lied to him and told him Nicole was cheating on him. I overhead you tell him you saw Nicole kissing another man. You’re a liar, Bonita. You never saw any such thing. Why were you trying to break up his marriage if you didn’t want him for yourself?”
All eyes were on Bonita, who had finally noticed Inez, too. “Inez? My God, you’re alive! But, how?” Bonita went over to embrace her newly resurrected niece, but Inez was having none of it and moved out of her reach.
“Yes, I’m alive, Aunt Bonita. But look around. Who don’t you see? Nicole’s the one who died that night. She’s dead because of your lie.”
“Bonita, I believed you when you told me you saw Nicole with another man. I even threatened to divorce her,” said Rollins, shaking his head. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Do you?” he shouted.
“Morris, I swear I had no idea this would happen. Nicole was no good for you. All she did was spend your money. She wasn’t even interested in Holy Cross. With you being so much older than her, she was bound to cheat on you one day. I thought I was doing you a favor. I was trying to save you some pain down the road.” Bonita buried her face in her hands and sobbed. No one moved to comfort her.
I glanced over at Inez. Her eyes were shooting daggers at her aunt. Rollins’s anger had subsided and he just looked sad and deflated, like someone had stuck a nail in a tire and the air was slowly leaking out. Bonita’s lie had set this whole chain of events in motion. She had a lot to answer for. But, apparently, she wasn’t the only one.
“Rondell, I’m not covering for you any longer,” said Rollins, shaking his head. “Kendra,” he continued, turning to me. “You wanted to know about Ricky, Gina, and Joseph? Okay, I’ll tell you. I fathered Ricky. He was the son I had with a woman named Vera Maynard. My wife and I were on the verge of divorce. I fell in love with Vera, but I knew I had to give my marriage one last try. She went back to Detroit brokenhearted and I didn’t see her again for a long time. I didn’t even know about Ricky until he was a teenager. I provided support when I did find out. I tried to be a father to him, but he wasn’t interested. He was killed in a hit-and-run accident. As for the insurance, I have policies on all my loved ones. There’s nothing strange about that. But I did give most of the money to Vera and I used the rest for the church.”
“What about Gina and Joseph?” I asked. My voice came out in a croak because my throat was so dry. Rondell still had the gun trained on Rollins. I’m no big fan of guns.
Rollins looked at his brother. “You’ll have to ask Rondell about them.”
Bonita let out a strangled sob. Rondell’s eyes flew to his wife. He was looking decidedly less indignant and outraged.
“Don’t you have anything to say, Rondell?” asked Rollins, turning to his brother. Rondell stared at the floor.
“Bonita found out about you and Carla Porter. The night she found out you were running around with that girl, she was a wreck. She came to talk to me, and one thing led to another. It never happened again. When Bonita got pregnant, I always knew there was a chance I could be Shanda’s father. We should have told you, but I just didn’t want to believe it,” Rollins said, shaking his head sadly. Rondell was looking from his wife to his brother. His anger was starting to return, and he opened his mouth to speak. Rollins pressed on, cutting him off before he could say a word.
“But Carla was just a teenager, man. She came to me and told me she was pregnant by you. She threatened to drag you, Bonita, and the church through the mud. I covered for you, like always. I paid Carla child support and told her it was from you to keep her from going after you in court. I was trying to keep Bonita from finding out you’d fathered a child with another woman. She and Carla were pregnant at the same time and I was trying to save your marriage. I even tried to be a father figure to Joseph to make up for your neglect. I thought you’d learned your lesson. You and Bonita were getting along so well after Shanda was born. Then damned if you didn’t turn around and do the same thing again with Melvina Carmichael.”
Bonita let out an anguished moan and covered her ears like she couldn’t bear to hear one more word. Instead of going to comfort her, Rollins walked over to Inez, who clearly looked stunned, and put his arm around her. Surprisingly, she didn’t pull away, and Rollins continued.
“Once again I covered for you and paid support for Gina. I even encouraged Gina to join the choir so the two of you could get to know each other and maybe you would see what a special child she was in a way that wouldn’t ruin your marriage. I’ve been cleaning up your messes ever since we were kids, Rondell, and I’m not doing it anymore. You’re on your own now.” Rollins sat back down on the steps.
Rondell lowered the gun but he didn’t drop it or put it away. He rocked back and forth on his heels and looked nervously around the room. Bonita wouldn’t meet his gaze. She was too busy staring tearfully at Rollins, who was comforting Inez.
“Morris, man, I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself. All those women wanted to get next to you. They were just using me to get to you. And Carla Porter was a little tramp. I wasn’t the only one she was running around with. Her son could have been anybody’s. Melvina’s been in love with you for years. We started spending time together when she would hang around the church after services, trying to see you. None of them women meant a thing to me. I swear. You believe me, don’t you, baby?” he asked, turning pleading eyes to his wife. Bonita still wouldn’t look at him. Rondell fell to his knees and started rocking back and forth.
“Morris, I love you. I’d walk through fire for you. I helped you build Holy Cross and take it from just some wishful thinking to a reality. You have no idea what I’ve done for you and for Holy Cross, no idea. I always made sure you had whatever you needed for the church, didn’t I? Didn’t I!” he shouted when his brother wouldn’t look at or answer him. Rondell’s eyes had taken on a dazed, faraway look. I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
Suddenly it was all clear to me. All of the bills I’d seen in Rollins’s desk drawer for repairs and upkeep on Holy Cross. Joseph and Gina both being members of the church choir, thus having contact with Rondell, the organ player. Rollins had been in Detroit when Ricky had been killed, but so had Rondell. I mistakenly figured that Rollins had killed Ricky, Joseph, and Gina for the insurance money so he could support his lavish lifestyle. But, the money hadn’t been for luxuries. It had been for Holy Cross.
“My God! You killed them, didn’t you? Ricky, Joseph, and Gina. You killed them for the insurance money so Reverend Rollins could use the money for Holy Cross,” I said, as all eyes turned to Rondell.
Rollins slowly got up and walked over to his brother. “What did you do, Rondell? Did you hurt those kids? Man, tell me what you did.” Rollins was towering over Rondell’s kneeling figure.
“I did it for you. I did it for the church. They were no good, Morris. They were sinners. They needed to be punished.”
“Punished for what?” cried out Bonita. Rondell stood and faced his wife. He started to walk towards her, but she backed away from him in horror.
“Joseph showed me the way,” Rondell began, turning to the rest of us. I looked around the room at the disbelief frozen on everyone’s face. You could have heard a pin drop. It was as if everyone had forgotten to breathe.
“Morris was always after me to get to know that boy even though I knew I wasn’t the only one Carla had been with. But I decided I would try. That day at the barbecue I saw him walking off towards the beach. So I followed him. I was going to tell him I was his father. But when I got down to the beach I saw that he wasn’t alone. He was hugging and kissing some man. I couldn
’t believe it. I knew then that he couldn’t be from my seed. When the other man left, I confronted him about his sinfulness. He started crying and saying he couldn’t help himself. He begged me not to tell on him. I dragged him over to the water and made him kneel at the water’s edge to pray with me. I dunked his head in the water to wash away his sins. He fought me, but I held on. But, then he stopped fighting. I didn’t mean to kill him.”
“Lord! God! Noooo!” screamed Bonita, lifting her arms heavenward.
“It was an accident,” Rondell said, sighing and rolling his eyes, like Joseph’s death had occurred in much the same way as a bug that had gotten accidentally stepped on.
“Then what did you do?” I ventured after a moment, since no one else seemed capable of speech. Bonita was still wailing and Rollins and Inez were hugging like they were afraid to let each other go.
“I took off his clothes and put him in the water so everyone would think he was swimming and drowned. Then a few weeks later that big life insurance check came for you, Morris. I found out you had a policy on Joseph because you were paying support for him. That money came just in time, didn’t it? The church needed a new roof when that tree fell on it during that big storm. The insurance company called it an act of God and wouldn’t cover the cost of a new one. We didn’t have enough from donations and you didn’t want to go to Jeanne’s parents again for the money. It was divine intervention,” he said. Rollins looked like he might be sick.
“What about Gina and Ricky?” I asked. Rondell walked over to me but I stood my ground. He still had the gun in his hand, pointed at the floor.
“Gina,” he said, shaking his head. “Now, that one really disappointed me. I thought she was a good girl. She was raised right but she still turned out wrong.”
Rondell’s face frowned up like he had a bad taste in his mouth. More than likely he was just tasting his own hatefulness. I hoped he’d choke on it.
