“You sit right there,” she said, indicating one of the two chairs facing the television set. It was one of those old tube-style console monsters that must have weighed half a ton. The sunlight came through the front window, filtered through the white lace curtains. I sat there in my chair, looking around the place, still feeling like I was in a waking dream.
A minute or two later, she came back with a slice of chocolate cake and a glass of milk.
“Gotta have milk with cake,” she said. “I’m sure you’d agree.”
I nodded and smiled. I wasn’t about to argue with her.
She went back into the kitchen and brought back her own slice and her own glass of cold milk. It was now officially the most unlikely thing that had ever happened in my life. Me sitting down with the mother of a murderer, a murderer I’d helped put away myself, and eating a slice of her chocolate cake.
I took a bite. It was pretty damned good. I hadn’t had any breakfast, so I had no trouble finishing it.
“That was excellent,” I told her. “I really do appreciate it.”
“I made this cake as soon as I found out Darryl would be coming home. Right after I moved back into this house. But it was kinda silly of me, because he’s not really coming home until the end of the week. So I’ll have to make another cake then.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“So you’re doing me a favor,” she said. “Seeing as how I have to get rid of this one. Believe me, I’d have no trouble eating it all myself.”
I looked over at her. She was taking her last bite of cake, and clearly enjoying it.
“I know it’s going to be a hard adjustment for him,” she said, putting her plate down. “A man with a record, that’s one big strike against you, no matter what the circumstances might be.”
She was right, of course. It was already nearly impossible for a black man to find a job in this city. Add a felony conviction and your chances get much worse.
“There’s a man in my church who says he’ll give Darryl a chance,” she said. “That’s a real blessing.”
“That is. I hope it works out for him.”
She studied me for a moment.
“What was your name again?”
“Alex. Alex McKnight.”
“The years have been kind to you. You don’t look much older at all.”
If only you knew, I thought. It sure as hell doesn’t feel that way.
“But like I said, Alex… I know why you came here.”
“Actually,” I said, not sure where to go with this, “I came down here to catch up on things, see a couple of people. I ended up just driving around today…”
“To an empty block with one house left standing,” she said. “On the way to nowhere. You expect me to believe it was just an accident you ended up sitting here in my living room?”
“I admit,” I said. “When I saw this street… I mean, it all kinda came back to me. After all that hard work, we were just about ready to give up. But then…”
“But then you found my son.”
Yes, I thought. We found your son, after finally catching a break, one of the most unlikely breaks ever, a break that led us right to your front door. Then you lied to us about him being here. A forgivable lie, but a lie just the same. Then the way you wailed as we put your son in handcuffs and dragged him away.
I wasn’t about to say any of that, of course.
“Now you’ve come back,” she said. “Just like I knew you would. Someday. It must have been hearing the news about Darryl getting out that made you finally come here. Am I right?”
I just looked at her.
“You didn’t have to wait so long. You could have come years ago. You might have even helped get him out, you know.”
“Ma’am, I’m sorry. You’ve totally lost me.”
“You came here to apologize,” she said, her voice fortified with resolve now. “And it’s about damned time. Pardon my French.”
“Ma’am, apologize?”
“For taking my son away. Even though you know he didn’t kill that woman.”
I looked at her for a while, then down at the plate I was still holding in my lap.
“I’m so sorry,” I finally said. “I’ve accepted your hospitality, but I don’t think I’ve come bearing the message you wanted to hear.”
“Listen to me,” she said, moving forward to the edge of her chair. “Look me in the eyes and listen to me.”
I leaned forward in my own chair. I looked her in the eyes.
“My son did not kill that woman. As sure as there’s a God in heaven. As sure as the sun is going to come up tomorrow morning.”
“Mrs. King…”
“There’s a lot of things my son was capable of doing back then. But killing somebody was not one of those things. Dragging some woman into a train station and cutting her up with a knife was not one of those things. Do you hear what I’m telling you?”
“I hear what you’re saying.”
“Do you believe me?”
I hesitated. “I believe that you believe that. It’s only natural that you’d-”
“Oh, stop it,” she said. “Just stop that right now. I don’t need you to pat me on the head and tell me I’m just blinded by motherly love. I don’t need that one little bit.”
“Mrs. King, where is your son serving his sentence?”
“He was in Jackson for a while. Then when that got closed down, he ended up in Harrison.”
“You went down there to visit him.”
“Of course.”
“I don’t know about Harrison,” I said, “but I’ve been in Jackson. There’s a big waiting room there, right? Lots of people waiting to see their loved ones?”
“Yes, with all the guards’ shooting trophies on display,” she said. “I guess that’s in case you’re getting any ideas about helping somebody escape.”
“I do remember that. But let me just ask you this. I don’t mean to be rude, and you can ask me to leave your house right now, but when you were sitting there with all those other family members, how many of them do you think believed their sons or fathers or husbands were guilty of the crimes they were convicted of?”
She thought about it for a second. “Not more than a few, I would think. I’m sure even if they knew their man was involved with something, it was probably all a big misunderstanding. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time or whatnot.”
“Exactly. And even those prisoners who were in the visiting room when you finally got in there to see Darryl… If you’d asked them, how many do you think would have told you they were innocent?”
“I know what you’re getting at, Alex. But to tell you the truth, Darryl never said anything one way or another about it. Not to me, anyway.”
“He never said he was innocent?”
“No,” she said. “Never once.”
“And he did confess to the crime. You realize that.”
She shook her head.
“Mrs. King,” I said, “I wasn’t there to see the confession, but I know for a fact that you were. You had to be, because he was a minor. Am I right?”
“I was there, yes.”
“So you heard him say that-”
“I don’t care what some detective made him say.”
I let out a long breath. I knew we could keep taking laps on this same track all afternoon, and we’d still get nowhere.
“He promised he’d look after his little brother and sister,” she said, finally looking away from me. The resolve in her voice was gone, replaced with what sounded like a hundred years of misery.
“Mrs. King…”
“He promised me, Alex. He never broke a promise. Not ever.”
I sat there and watched a tear run down her cheek.
“Now his little sister is dead from drugs. His little brother ran away not long after Darryl went to prison. I haven’t heard from him in years, so God knows if he’s even alive. I’ve got nothing left.”
“You have Darryl now. He’s coming home.”
“Most of his life is already gone,” she said, shaking her head. “How much bitterness is my boy carrying in his heart now?”