Drama in the Church Saga (34 page)

Anxious to get back to their cabin and get ready for dinner, the girls retreated back down the mountain trail. “Thank God the climb is always easier going down than the climb up,” Danyelle hollered, out of breath.

In their absence, the campgrounds grew into a stampede of activity. Buses carrying passengers from different churches passed them by. Men and women, young and old, hauled luggage, duffle bags and coolers in search of their cabins.

“Look at the shortage of men around here,” Tressie griped. “I knew I should've stayed home.”

The moment the girls stepped foot in their cabin, the bickering between Danyelle and Tressie began. They fussed over who would be the first to take a shower. Then they argued over who would sleep closest to the window. The final straw came when Danyelle threatened to put Tressie's things out.

“Would you two stop it?”

Olivia was tired of hearing them act like children. She snatched her cell phone off her bed and stormed outside to call her son. Pressing the number three speed-dial number on her phone, she called her aunt. “Hey, Auntie, how's everything?” Olivia shouted.

“Olivia!” Val's mom sounded relieved to hear from her. “Did everyone get there safely?” Her aunt wasn't as concerned about everyone as she was about Val. That's why she sounded the way she did.

“We had no problems, and everyone is fine,” Olivia replied.

“Good!” She released a sigh of relief. “I know you're anxious to talk with Bryce, so here he is.”

“Mommy, we've been waiting for you to call,” Bryce sounded upset.

“Why honey? Is everything okay?” Worry filled Olivia's mind.

“Aunt Stephie was going to take me to Chuck E. Cheese, but she said we couldn't leave until after you called. Can we go now?” He spoke away from the phone and toward his aunt.

Olivia could hear her in the background telling Bryce they could leave once he hung up the phone.

“Bryce, I'm not going to hold you up. I just wanted to make sure you were all right and tell you that I miss you.”

“I miss you too, Mommy.”

She thought he was going to hand the phone back to Aunt Stephie, but he continued to talk.

“Mom, why couldn't Kennedy and Clinton come with me? Aunt Stephie said it was okay.”

“Bryce, I explained this to you before we left home. It was time for Kennedy and Clinton to get their shots. The kennel is going to take care of that and give them each a bath. By the time we pick them up on Monday, they will be as good as new.”

“Okay, Mommy.”

Olivia wasn't sure if he was satisfied with that answer, but he handed the phone back to his aunt and went to the guest room to get his jacket.

“Olivia, don't worry about us,” Aunt Stephie said. “We'll be fine. Enjoy your trip and make sure my daughter has some fun while she's there.”

When Olivia hung up the phone, her heart stung a little from the way Bryce brushed her off for Chuck E. Cheese. The hardest part of being a mother was watching her child become so independent. He demonstrated new self-reliance in the mornings by dressing himself and rushing off to class without giving her a kiss good-bye. She could feel him pulling away from her, but there wasn't much she could do about it. Dean warned her that eventually she would have to allow her boy to grow into a man.

After dinner a small group of campers gathered around a bonfire to sing church hymns. The sky was clear, the fire blazed high, and the songs they sang sounded like a professional mass choir. Part of the reason was due to Danyelle. She had taken the initiative to divide everyone into groups and instructed everyone on different song arrangements. When it came to music, Danyelle was a professional.

Late into the night, Olivia announced she was tired. “Danyelle, I'm glad you're the musically inclined one in the family, because I can't sing one more song. My tonsils hurt. I'm going to bed.” Olivia placed her hand on Danyelle's shoulder.

“You're leaving already?” Then Danyelle noticed that everyone was leaving. “It's still early.”

“It's close to midnight. We're tired.” Tressie lifted herself up from off the log she was sitting on.

Olivia ran to catch up with Dean. “Are we still going canoeing in the morning?”

His eyes flashed an affirmative response. “I'll meet you on the dock.” They kissed good-night and retired for the night.

“Danyelle, are you going to walk back to the cabin with us?” Tressie asked.

Disheartened that her singers had bailed, Danyelle looked over her shoulder and responded with a no. “I think I'm going to sit out here a bit longer and review a couple pages of notes from class. I have an exam Monday morning, and I need to be prepared for it.”

The girls left her alone, and Danyelle picked up a three-ring binder that sat at her feet. She flipped it open to the first page and began testing her memory. To help her relax, she grabbed her book bag and pulled out the only blunt she had brought with her. She used the bonfire to spark it up.

I can study better once I get a few puffs in.
Danyelle took a small hit and focused her attention back on her schoolwork.

“Can I join you?” Startled, Danyelle jumped up and dropped her notebook to the ground. It was Colin Montgomery. She quickly hid the blunt behind her back and smiled in his direction.
Why is it that this man always manages to find me when I'm trying to get high?

“I'm sorry, did I scare you?” He walked around to one of the logs that was positioned around the campfire and picked up her notebook. “I'm glad to see my star pupil is studying. I wish all my students were like you.”

Danyelle wanted to respond, but the smoke that filled her lungs prevented her from saying anything. She didn't want to blow smoke in the reverend's face, but she couldn't hold it in any longer. Her eyes began to water. The smoke started to choke her. She finally had to let it out. Loudly, she coughed, bending over to release the smell of marijuana into the air.

“Are you all right?” The reverend patted her on the back. “You know you really shouldn't be smoking out here.”

Danyelle cleared her throat, her face red from embarrassment. This was the second time he had caught her. She pushed his hand away and told him she was okay.

An uncomfortable silence filled the air.

“Does it help you to study alone?” He walked around to the opposite side of the fire, where she could barely see his face.

“Yes, there are fewer disturbances. I can concentrate and retain more. I have this teacher who likes to kill us with scripture.” She gave him a playful smile.

“Sounds like a man after my own heart.” He walked around the fire closer to her, but she backed away.

She still held the blunt behind her back as it slowly burned.

When he realized she was intentionally avoiding him, he stopped coming toward her. He tried a different approach. “What did Jesus say is the first great commandment?”

“We are commanded to love the Lord with all our heart, mind and soul,” she replied with ease.

“And the second?”

“Love our neighbors as ourselves.”

Their eyes locked. The bonfire danced around them, and their body temperature rose ten degrees.

Danyelle felt an unfamiliar feeling in the pit of her stomach. She shifted her eyes away from him. It was the first time she felt nervous being the center of attraction.

“Danyelle, you are a mysterious young lady. What made you enroll in Bible College?”

“Although my parents are gone, they left my sister and I with a gift that I consider priceless: a Bible full of God's infinite wisdom.” She pointed toward her Bible. “Daddy would often tell us that securing the Lord's Word in our hearts would benefit us later on in life.”

“It's obvious that your parents were a big part of your life.”

She smiled to herself. “I really wish my dad were around to see my nephew. Bryce walks just like him.” She laughed out loud.

“I'm sure they would be so proud of you.”

He reached out to hand Danyelle back the notebook she'd dropped earlier. When she grabbed a hold of it, he used it to pull her closer to him. Then he kissed her.

The feel of lips locked around hers was something she had never experienced before. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of his tongue wrestling with hers.

They kissed for thirty seconds before she abruptly pulled away. She couldn't believe she had just experienced her first kiss and it was with the pastor of her church.

“Reverend, I'm sorry. I don't—” Danyelle stuttered.

“Don't be sorry.” He gently kissed her again. “It was my pleasure.” He checked the time on his wristwatch. “I have to get back to the cabin. The men are waiting on me to lead them in prayer. Would you like for me to walk you back to your cabin?”

She looked at him with a dumbfounded expression on her face, but he laughed at her response and asked the question again.

This time she replied, “No, Reverend. I'm okay.”

Then, as he disappeared into the night she couldn't help but wish he had kissed her again.

At the midnight hour West tossed from side to side. His sleeping mind replayed the last time he saw his son alive.

“Pop, are you sure you don't want to go?”

“Son, I've been to plenty of these charity events. I've got so many invitations this month that it won't hurt if I miss this one. The same people you see tonight will be the same people I see next month at the next gala event.”

“Belinda and I really appreciate this.”

“I'm glad to do it. I know how excited she is to finally get out of the house. Since she had the baby, you two don't go out anymore. It's okay to get a break and go out to dinner every once in the while.” Judge West took his eight-month-old grandson into his arms. “Plus, I think this would be a great place for you to network with other young lawyers.”

At that moment Belinda descended the stairs. She looked radiant in a black and silver form-fitting gown that shimmered every time she moved.

“Bye, Dean.” She walked over and kissed the baby's fingers.

“Don't you cause your grandparents any problems tonight.”

“You two get out of here.” Judge West shooed them out the door. “Enjoy yourself and don't you two worry about the boy.”

His son opened the door and led the way to the limousine waiting by the curb.

After the limousine safely pulled away from the curb West held his grandson up to face him. “Dean, you're going to be a lawyer just like your father and I, but you're going to be better.”

Judge West's wife, Martha, interrupted their private conversation, “Ernie, don't put expectations on my grandson. He could be an athlete, an engineer or better yet a billionaire.”

“You're right about that. He's a West; he could be whatever he put his mind to,” Judge West replied.

“Honey, why don't you take the baby out on the back patio while I make a few glasses of fresh lemonade?”

“Okay.” He walked out on the patio and relaxed in his usual lounge chair. Then he heard the phone ring.

“Ernie!” Martha released a loud high-pitched cry. “Ernie!”

He could hear trouble in the way she shouted. He jumped up and raced in the house.

A look of horror covered Martha's face. Her right hand covered her mouth and she used her left hand to hold the phone out to him. When he took the phone she took Dean in her arms.

He listened a moment before he said, “I'll be right there.” He hung up the phone and rushed out the door. As he pulled out of their driveway, he could hear Martha yell.

“Ernie, I love you.”

When Judge West arrived on the scene, police cars, ambulances, detectives and the media surrounded the limousine that his son and daughter-in-law left in. He stopped his car and ran to the scene.

“Judge West.” A detective stopped him. “We need to prepare you—”

Judge West slapped the young detective's arm away from him. When he ran over to the limo the first thing he saw was the limo driver with a gunshot straight to the temple.

West's eyes doubled in size. “What happened here?” West screamed. “Somebody needs to tell me exactly what is going on.”

Another police officer, this time a sergeant, came over and pulled West over to the side.

“Apparently, this limo that carried your son and daughter-in-law was ambushed by unknown assailants, who apparently fled the scene, and we have no witnesses. Whoever shot the driver is responsible for the kidnapping of your son and his wife.”

“Kidnapped?” Judge West was in shock.

“Yes, they were not killed. We know they were in the car because their identification was left behind. Do you know who would do this?”

Tears welled up in the corner of West's eyes.

“Sir, I don't think that your son and his wife were the intended target.”

The judge spun his head in the sergeant's direction.

“We called the charity event, and this limousine was reserved for you and your wife. I think that whoever raided this car was expecting to find you, and when they found your son and his wife, they took them as hostages. Right now our number one priority is to find your son and his wife.”

Days passed. The police placed a wire tap on Judge West's phone, and their house was under twenty-four-hour watch by the police, but they heard nothing from the kidnappers. No ransom. No bodies. Nothing. Judge West went into work every day with nothing on his mind except finding who was responsible for the abduction of his grandson's parents.

Two weeks after their disappearance, the identity of the kidnappers were revealed. Judge West sat in his chambers reviewing cases when he came across a plain manila envelope that he hadn't seen before. He opened it up, and inside were pictures of his son and daughter-in-law blindfolded, their hands tied behind their back. They looked scared, and he could plainly see they were badly beaten. Scrawled on top of the photo were the words:
HELP HAINSWORTH OR THEY DIE
.

Judge West shifted through the file folders until he came across Darden's file. He was already familiar with the contents of his file. Creighton Hainsworth, a doctor who volunteered his time at the free clinic in one of the poorest sections of the city, had injected over two hundred and thirty babies with HIV. During the trial, Hainsworth showed no remorse for his actions, and when he got on the stand, he blatantly admitted he would do it all over again if he had the chance.

This was a high-profile case that had received national media coverage. The city was in an uproar over it. West was expected to give the doctor the maximum sentence allowed by law, but was confronted with giving him the minimum sentence of eighteen months in jail. If he did anything different than the maximum, every African American and Latino civil rights advocate in the city was ready to storm his office.

West stared at the picture of his son for over an hour. In his heart he knew who was responsible for their disappearance. This was a group of people he was very familiar with. He knew because he used to be one of them. The brotherhood was a powerful organization, and he knew what they could and could not do. He wasn't sure before, but he now knew they were trying to blackmail him into releasing one of their own.

Finally, it was time for him to announce Hainsworth's fate. For the first time in his career, West was still unsure of what would happen to the guilty. He sat down and looked out at the crowd of people. The courtroom was full. West rubbed his temples then began to speak.

“Mr. Hainsworth, would you please stand?”

Hainsworth stood to his feet.

“You have been found guilty of a heinous crime that has crippled an entire generation of children.” Judge West paused and took a small sip from his glass. He stared out at the families of each victim then looked at the doctor. Just the mere sight of him made the judge sick. “On behalf of the state of Pennsylvania I am sentencing you to”—He looked out at the families of the victims—“two years in a state correctional facility.”

The families gasped and cried out in anger.

West abruptly left the courtroom and rushed back to his chambers. He grabbed his things and told his secretary he had an emergency at home.

When he barged through his front door, he found his wife and grandson sitting in the living room watching television.

“Martha, I know who's responsible for the kidnapping.”

“Who?”

At that moment, the nightly news interrupted the program they were watching. The news correspondent reported, “This just in, a few hours ago a fisherman discovered two torched bodies floating in the Chesapeake Bay. Speculation suggests that these could be the bodies of Judge West's missing son and daughter-in-law.”

Martha screamed out. “No!”

The judge hugged his wife as she grieved her only child's death.

“I had a feeling they were already dead.”

He pushed her away from him and looked her in the eye. “It's the brotherhood.”

“Nooooo!” Martha cried. “Not my babies.”

“Martha, we have to go. We have to pack our things and leave town.”

Martha rushed over to the phone. “Call the police, Ernie. You have to tell the police what you know. They have to pay for what they did to our children.”

Ernie walked over and took the receiver out of her hand and placed it back in the phone cradle. “I can't do that.”

With her eyes she asked why.

“Our first priority is to take care of the baby. If we point the fingers at anyone in that organization, they will kill us and Dean.”

Martha wept in Ernie's arms because she knew he was right.

Suddenly West woke up from out of his sleep. He looked around at his surroundings. It was still dark outside. “Martha,” he said out loud, “you were right. I should have turned them in when I had the chance.”