The Future of My Past

by Veronica Faye

  “Do you really think he could have killed his wife and Austin?”

  “Finding out that someone you care for betrayed you can make you do crazy things; I know firsthand.”

  “Anything you care to discuss?”

  I told him no. I was going to keep Nathan’s beat down between those who were in attendance. Dr. Rodney dropped me off at home, and as I unlocked the front door to enter, I saw Griff’s car turn the corner and park in front of the house. My car followed his and pulled into my driveway. There was another person in the car with Enoch, but they were hidden in the back seat. I opened the garage door and Enoch drove the car inside.

  That is when Ruthann emerged from the back. I was overjoyed to see her, and we cried as we hugged each other. She, too, looked as tired as Enoch when he first arrived. I decided that I was going to let her stay the night. I was sure that she could use a home cooked meal and some rest.

  There was plenty of food to go around. The dogs were a bit bewildered with all the company — they had never seen so many in my house at once. But they got used to the idea and settled down at Enoch’s feet. During the meal, I asked Ruthann where she had been and about my visit with Harold Cartier. I told her that he loved her until the day he died. He wanted her to know that. I also found out about the snare that they had set. And it concerned Mamie Wells.

  One of the men that Mamie did business with had a direct tie with Lucerne Gorsuch, the man who was the target of Enoch’s search. He had been scared out of hiding by Mamie and held until Enoch and Griff had a chance to talk with him. Enoch now had the information he needed to track down the man that had bought the woman he loved, his Treasure. Ruthann had helped with the trap, and she told me that she knew where Mamie lived. She was going to keep her promise—the one she made to me that day last year in Greenwood Cemetery. She was going to kill Mamie Wells for turning her son into a person capable of shooting someone in front of hundreds of people. How funny, I thought, Mamie turned my son into the exact same person. Someone capable of murder.

  I asked her to stay with me, but she declined. She was still being sought by the police and didn’t want to compromise my position as an attorney. She and Griff left shortly after dinner. Enoch kissed me on the cheek, thanked me for the meal and retired to the basement. That left me alone with my thoughts of my visit with Ruthann, and thoughts of Pastor Day. Could he have murdered his wife and Barney Austin? The dogs were restless, so I went to the back door to let them out. But instead of going outside, they both went to the basement door.

  “You want to go downstairs?” I asked them, pointing to the door.

  They both barked, and I knew that they wanted to go downstairs to be with Enoch. I called down to him and asked if he felt like having visitors. He knew who I meant and called their names. Both ran down to be with him. I closed the door and went into my room. I did my meditation exercises and watched TV for the rest of the night.

  My son spent the next three days with me. We talked, laughed, and played with the dogs. We took long walks on the beach and walked around Marquette Park, each walking one of the dogs. He prepared a meal for us on his last night with me. He was leaving town but promised to come back; he had business he had to attend to. I didn’t ask for details, nor did he offer them. I had gone to the bank earlier that day and withdrew two thousand dollars, which I insisted he take. He thanked me by planting the biggest kiss on my face and the tightest hug I’d ever received from anyone.

  The morning he left, my heart was heavy. I fought back tears as I watched Griff drive away with my son—the love of my life that God had allowed me to get to know and love as a mother.

  I was feeling better, beginning to once again feel like the old Gemini before the episodes of depression and mania took hold. But I was not ready to return to work. Quinn called and asked me how I was feeling. I told him I was still struggling, and I wasn’t lying. I was struggling. Struggling with the decision as to whether I wanted to return. I was beginning to enjoy being at home and doing nothing. I had spent most of my adult life in the pursuit for justice for my clients and little time for me. Why should I go back now? I certainly had enough money to last; I could retire today and not have to worry about finances. I could travel, write my memoirs, or simply take the dogs and go lie on the beach.

  I had turned on the radio before Griff and Enoch left, and the news caught my attention. The police were going to interview Pastor Day regarding the deaths of his wife and Barney Austin. They had obtained a search warrant for the pastor’s home and the church. They found a work shirt in the pastor’s office, and the fibers matched those found on Barney Austin. The truck that the witness saw leaving the area where Barney Austin was later found was in the church parking lot. The pastor had been released from the hospital and was said to be cooperating with the investigation.

  The phone rang, and when I answered, I was shocked to hear my Uncle Artis’s voice on the other end.

  “You gotta help the pastor,” he screamed. I could hear the panic in his voice. “You ain’t representing Rodney Earls no more, so you gotta help the pastor! I got money I can pay you, or I can work it off, but you gotta help him!”

  “Uncle Artis, I am on leave again from the firm. Besides, Pastor Day has a slew of lawyers who are more than capable of representing him.”

  “No, it’s gotta be you, Gemini. You! He trusts you and you’re a good attorney. Get dressed, I’m on my way!”

  “Uncle Artis, I told you that I am on leave from the firm and I can’t represent him. Besides, my firm is representing Dr. Rodney at my request. The police are only questioning the pastor. He hasn’t been charged with anything. His attorneys know how to protect him. He is in good hands, I’m sure. Talk with Mattie Lightfoot if you are concerned about his defense.”

  “You are not listening to me. I said that you are going to represent him! I am on my way to get you, and you better be ready. Who do you think you are, Gemini? When I tell you to do something, you better do it. Now, get dressed! I am on my way!”

  I did not like the tone of his voice; I was familiar with what was going on with him. He was out of control and his fits of rage were not pretty, and could be deadly. The last time he went into a rage, he killed a man for coughing without covering his mouth. He spent twenty years in prison for that murder. I had to think fast and try to reason with him.

  “Uncle Artis, I can’t help him, but I can recommend someone to you. Let me make a few phone calls and I will call you back.”

  “BITCH, YOU AIN’T LISTENING. GET YOUR CLOTHES ON AND BE READY WHEN I GET THERE!” The phone went dead.

  I had to think fast. Who should I call? I decided to call Griff and ask him to come over. He answered on the first ring. I told him the situation and asked if he could come over.

  “I’m on my way, Miss Gemini!” he said and hung up the phone.

  I prayed that Griff would arrive before my uncle. No such luck.

  chapter ten

  I could hear the car racing as it came around the corner, hit the curb and stopped in front of my house. I looked out the window to see him get out of the car and run up the walkway to the front door. I made my way to my door as he began to pound on it. Lucky for me, the door was made of very thick wood or I’m sure he would have broken it down. I was not afraid of my uncle, so I opened the door. He looked like a wounded animal backed in a corner. I knew that look and had experienced the feeling. He was out of control with a mixture of pain and rage. To make matters worse, he noticed that I was not dressed.

  “BITCH, I TOLD YOU TO BE DRESSED WHEN I GOT HERE! YOU HAVE GOT TO HELP THE PASTOR, HE AIN’T KILLED NOBODY, NOT THAT SLUT OF A WIFE OF HIS, NOR THAT LYING ASS REPORTER. GET YOUR CLOTHES ON AND LET’S GO!”

  “Uncle, I can’t represent the pastor. He has lawyers and I told you, my firm is representing Dr. Rodney. Sit down and let’s talk about this.”

  I knew that statement was pointless. He wa
s beyond reason.

  “YOU WOULD RATHER REPRESENT THAT EVIL SON OF A BITCH RODNEY EARLS THAN A MAN OF GOD! A MAN OF GOD, A TRUE MAN OF GOD, IS THAT WHAT YOU’RE TELLING ME?”

  There were tears in my eyes as I said, “Uncle, I’m no good to represent anyone right now. I’m not myself. I need more time to heal before I go back to work…”

  The sight of the gun in his hands made me stop.

  “FOR WE ARE NOT FIGHTING AGAINST FLESH-AND-BLOOD ENEMIES, BUT AGAINST EVIL RULERS AND AUTHORITIES OF THE UNSEEN WORLD, AGAINST MIGHTY POWERS IN THIS DARK WORLD, AND AGAINST EVIL SPIRITS IN HEAVENLY PLACES. GET DRESSED OR I WILL KILL YOU!”

  The dogs were still in the basement. I could hear them barking from the top of the stairs. They sensed something was wrong but were powerless to help.

  “Then you might as well shoot me, Uncle, because I’m not getting dressed and going with you. I can’t help the pastor and you are not helping him either. I’m not fit to help anyone right now, even the pastor. The only thing I can do is pray for him.”

  He aimed the gun at me and shouted, “THEN PREPARE TO ENTER HELL.”

  Before he could pull the trigger, Griff put a gun to his head and ordered him to drop it. My uncle did as he was told but swung around quickly and connected his fist with Griff’s jaw. I saw another man behind Griff, but my uncle didn’t. He delivered a punch to my uncle’s jaw, knocking him to his feet. It was Enoch. Griff was dazed but had managed to remain on his feet. Together the two men lifted Artis from the floor and held him while I talked with him.

  “Uncle Artis, you need help. Let me call someone from the church or take you to the hospital. You don’t want to risk going back to jail. You know you are not supposed to be carrying a gun. Let me get you some help. Do you want me to call my daddy? I’m sure he will go with you.”

  Uncle Artis managed to break loose from Enoch and Griff and made his way to the door. He was at his car by the time we reached the door to stop him. He drove away fast and I had no idea where he was headed. I went to the phone to call the police. Griff stopped me and explained that he and Enoch would go looking for him, that he would surely go back to prison if the police found him.

  “Mother, that was Uncle Artis?”

  “Yes, that is your grandfather’s brother. He is bipolar just like me, and he went to jail because of it. Please find him and bring him back here. I will call my father and have him go with us to the hospital. I won’t mention the gun.”

  Then I realized that Enoch was supposed to be leaving the area and told him so.

  “When you called, I was meeting with some people who were going to take me where I needed to go, but Griff told me that you were in trouble, so I came back to help. I think I’d better stay with you until we find our uncle.”

  “I’m going to call my father, your grandfather. Maybe he can tell us where Uncle Artis will go.”

  I placed a call to my parents’ home; I hadn’t spoken to them in months. My father answered the phone and listened while I explained the reason for my call. I asked him if he had any idea where Uncle Artis was living or would go. I told him that he was sick again and that we needed to get him to a hospital. My father said he hadn’t spoken with his brother since he was released from prison and returned to Gary. That was not unusual for my father and his brother not to speak. My father really didn’t want to have anything to do with Uncle Artis after he was convicted of murder. He hadn’t approved of his brother’s lifestyle. Uncle Artis was also on drugs at the time he committed the murder.

  He did say that he would go looking for Artis with us, and to give him time to get to my house. I agreed that we would wait for him. If we found him, my father would be the only person who could convince him to enter a hospital for treatment. Artis had a lot of respect for my father and would go if he commanded him to go. My father didn’t ask, he demanded.

  “My father is on his way over to the house; he is going to look for Uncle Artis with us and suggest that he go in for treatment.”

  “I’m going to get a chance to meet my grandfather,” Enoch said. “The great Cornelius Jones. I was going to wait to meet them when I returned from my business trip, but I guess it will be now.”

  I didn’t know how my father would react when he found out that Enoch was here. I was anxious about their meeting.

  Enoch, sensing my fear said, “Mother, if you are not ready for us to meet, you can always introduce me as a friend. Until you are ready.”

  “I’m going to introduce you to your grandfather, Enoch. I’m not going to hide you any longer. I don’t care. You are my son and I love you. No more hiding from my past. You are my present and that is where you will remain.”

  My father arrived and I introduced him to his grandson.

  He stood there looking at his only grandchild and said, “I see your mother in you. Had I known you were here I would have brought your grandmother with me. Glad to meet you, son.”

  The two hugged and I cried with joy. Our happy family meeting was interrupted when the phone rang. It was Dr. Rodney asking me to come to his house alone. That request struck me as odd until I heard the voice of my uncle.

  “Slaves obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you serve Christ.” Then I heard the dial tone.

  “I know where my uncle is. He’s at Dr. Rodney’s house and he wants me to come alone.”

  “You are not going by yourself, Gemini,” my father said. “I’m going with you. My brother may be out of control, but he won’t hurt me. I’m going with you.”

  “Enoch and I will park down the street and go through the alley,” Griff said. “At this point we don’t know what your uncle is capable of doing.”

  My father drove his car as I gave him directions to Dr. Rodney’s house. Griff and Enoch turned off at the corner of the street and headed for the alley. My father is not a very talkative man, so we drove to the house in silence. He is a deeply religious man, and while I have not always understood him and the decisions that he made for me, I do know that he thought he was doing the right thing for the family. My father was always concerned about being pleasing to God.

  Miss Aurelia met us at the door. She was frightened, but only those who really knew her would know. She smiled as we walked in. She recognized my father, which is why she didn’t object to his presence.

  Uncle Artis and Dr. Rodney were in the den. My uncle had a gun to his head. When he looked up and saw my father, he winced but continued to hold the gun to Dr. Rodney’s head. He was not ranting as he was earlier, but his eyes were blazing, and the sweat poured down his face as if he were a human waterfall.

  “I told you to come alone! You were always hard-headed, Gemini. That is what got you in trouble all your life. Why are you here, Cornel? This is between Gemini, this piece of shit, and me.”

  “Artis, put that gun down and talk to me. What is wrong with you? Do you know that you can go back to jail for this? Now put that gun down and we’ll talk.”

  It was my father doing the talking, and as he walked towards his brother, Uncle Artis pointed the gun at him.

  “You just stand back, Cornel. I will shoot you and this piece of shit. I ain’t got nothing to lose now—nothing—and I’ll take you and Rodney with me!”

  I grabbed my father’s arm and gently pulled him towards me. Everything was making sense to me now, and I needed to do the talking with my uncle to convince him to turn himself in.

  He murdered both Tabitha Day and Barney Austin, and I needed to get him to admit it if we were ever going to convince him to go into treatment. That is why he panicked when the police turned their attention to Pastor Day. And, he is the only person who hated Dr. Rodney to the point that he would frame him for both murders. I walked toward my uncle and he pointed the gun at me. I wasn’t afraid. I knew he wasn’t going to hurt me. He wanted to talk, and I was going to help him.

  “
Why did you kill Tabitha Day, Uncle? She was the wife of your beloved pastor.”

  “Ahab would have been a better king if he hadn’t been married to Jezebel. I killed Jezebel so that the King could live in peace and rule over his people.”

  “Uncle, you did an honorable thing for your king,” I was trying to reason with him in his present state, “but, you tried to frame Dr. Rodney. How honorable was that?”

  Artis looked down at Dr. Rodney and said, “Tell her about Vietnam.” Then he hit Dr. Rodney with the gun and repeated his demand.

  Dr. Rodney looked at me and told us the events that took place when Saigon fell.

  “It was 1975. Some called it the fall of Saigon, others called it the liberation of Saigon. It didn’t make a difference what people called it, the truth is the People’s Army of Vietnam and the Viet Cong had captured the city and there was wide spread panic to get the hell out of ‘Dodge City.’ By the second day of the invasion, the People’s Army occupied most of the important parts of the city and had raised the flag of the presidential palace. There was a rush to get all the American civilian and military personnel out of the city. Then the plan was to evacuate the thousands of South Vietnamese civilians. They were to be airlifted by helicopters. My company was there, and we were assigned to assist with the evacuation. Artis had found his way there, to make sure that his family got out okay.”

  That statement shocked my father and me. No one knew that Uncle Artis had family.

  Dr. Rodney continued, “He had made arrangements for his children and their mother to be taken out of the city. By April, the plans to evacuate had increased in speed and nonessential personnel were being taken out of the city and sent to Clark Air Base in the Philippines. Artis’s two children and their mother were supposed to be airlifted there until he could make arrangements for their coming to the States. You must understand it was a crazy time. Fear and desperation ran rampart and people were afraid of being left behind.”