Tangled Roots (23 page)

I wrapped my hand up in my scarf and punched through a pane of glass on the door. I crouched down, expecting a loud alarm to sound, but was rewarded with silence. I reached inside, unlocked the door, and let myself into the house. The first thing that struck me immediately was the smell of Rollins’s cologne. It smacked me in the face as I crept farther into the large room. His closet door was open and I could see all of his numerous suits hanging inside. A royal blue bathrobe was lying across the large, unmade, king-sized brass bed. I tripped over a pair of his big shoes and almost chickened out. I pulled myself together and quickly headed out the bedroom door into the hallway. I recognized where I was from the last time I’d been in the house.

I hurried down the hallway past the landing overlooking the foyer, towards Inez’s bedroom. I was reaching for the doorknob when I saw it turn slowly. I took a step back as the door opened, revealing Inez Rollins. She was dressed in pajama bottoms, tennis shoes, and a sweatshirt. Her braids were wild and medusa-like, sticking up all over her head like she’d stuck her finger in a light socket. She jumped back when she saw me standing outside her door.

“Kendra?” she whispered, clearly stunned to see me. “What are you doing here?” she asked. Before I could answer she pulled me inside the bedroom and closed the door. “Never mind. Look, Kendra, I really need your help. Is my father here? ’Cause I gotta get outta this house. They’ve been drugging me. I only pretended to take my pill this morning. I need your help, please,” she pleaded with me.

“I don’t think your father is here, but that nurse is downstairs watching TV. It’s okay, Inez, you’re safe now. I know your father tried to kill you and killed Nicole by mistake. Come on. We can make a run for it.” I grabbed the sleeve of Inez’s sweatshirt, but she pulled away from me.

“What are you talking about? My daddy didn’t kill Nicole. I killed her.”

Uh-oh!

I
felt like I was going to faint. I backed away from Inez, who, sensing my sudden fear, rushed to explain.

“No, Kendra. You don’t understand. I didn’t do it on purpose. It was an accident. I swear,” she said and started to cry.

“You need to tell me what’s going on, Inez. Do you know everyone in town thinks you’re dead?” I licked my dry lips nervously. I couldn’t believe I’d rushed in here to play the hero and was face-to-face with a murderer.

Inez went over and sat down heavily on the edge of her bed. I joined her and patted her back until she stopped crying. She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her sweatshirt.

“I was at work at the shop that night, minding my own damn business. I went to take the trash outside and when I opened the door, Nicole was standing there. She scared the shit out of me. I asked her what she wanted and she told me that she knew what I’d done and she was going to make sure I fixed it. I didn’t know what she was talking about. Then she accused me of telling my daddy that she was having an affair. She said he confronted her about it and threatened to divorce her. I laughed and told her that I hadn’t talked to my father in a month. Then I turned to go back inside and she pulled a gun on me, and told me she was taking me home with her so I could tell him I was lying. I should have gone with her. But, Kendra, I got so mad. I grabbed for the gun and tried to get it away from her. We ended up on the ground and I almost twisted the gun outta her hands when it went off. It hit her in the face. There was blood everywhere. Kendra, you believe me, don’t you? I didn’t mean to do it,” she said, unable to finish before sobs overtook her.

Actually, if Mona Carter hadn’t told me the story of Nicole attacking her nephew for spreading lies about her in high school, I probably wouldn’t have believed Inez. What was it that Mona had told me about Nicole? “Little Miss Nicole takes her reputation very seriously.” She couldn’t have been more right. Anyone who’d confront someone with a gun over a lie meant serious business.

“Did you call your father afterwards?” I asked, rubbing her back.

“No. He just showed up. He must have been following Nicole. I told him we needed to call the police. He said he would as soon as he took me home so I could clean up. I was covered in Nicole’s blood. But, when we got here, he gave me something to drink to calm me down and he must have put a sleeping pill in it or something. I woke up in this room and Daddy told me that everything would be okay. But he wouldn’t let me leave. He had that nurse watching me all the time and they kept giving me those pills that made me sleep.”

“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?”

“Shut 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.