Blake eyed her suspiciously. “You say you’re with the government? You got something that says that?”
Pine pulled out her cred pack and badge and showed them to Blake. “I’m with the FBI. I was meeting with another Army investigator when the shooting happened. We’re working the case together.”
“What you want me to tell you?”
“What did you tell the police?”
“The truth, but they don’t want to believe it.”
“I’d like to hear it,” said Pine.
Blake settled back in her chair and rubbed her eyes and blew her nose into the tissue. Then her softened features turned hard and her expression became fierce.
“Look, I’m not stupid, okay? I know the police come here and think, ‘Okay, here we damn well go again. Same old shit. Black man kills a white man, so he got what he deserved.’ But see, the picture here is different. Way different.”
“Tell me,” said Pine.
“For starters, Jerome was smart, real smart, the smart that you’re born with and then you get smarter by sucking up all the information you can. He got straight As in school. He was going to college, already getting scholarship offers and he’s still a junior. Because of his brain,” she added sharply.
“Okay,” said Pine. “Keep going.”
“Now, the police came here and start telling me that what happened last night is because Jerome was doing some gang thing. Kill someone. Kill a fed, they said. Initiation shit.”
“They actually said that to you?” asked Pine incredulously.
“Sure as I’m sitting here talking to you.”
“And you didn’t believe that?” said Blum.
“Course I didn’t ’cause it isn’t true. There are gangs all over this damn place. Everybody knows that. Look out the window, they’re out there right now. My oldest boy, he was in a gang. But he got out. Only reason Willie moved away. Hell, I made him go. I don’t want that for my kids. Too many getting shot and buried before they’re even grown. My husband’s dead now fourteen years. He was just coming home from the grocery store with ice cream for me ’cause I was pregnant with Jewel and I needed something cold. He went out for damn ice cream and ended up in a box just ’cause he was walking down the street late at night with a brown paper bag and some cops driving by had a problem with that. They said he resisted arrest, that he was going for one of their guns, and they shot him. Yeah, he was going for their guns all right. Bullshit.”
“Was there an investigation?”
“Oh yeah. Took all of like a week. Justifiable shooting, they said. Feared for their damn lives, even though it was four against one. Those cops went right back to work. They might still be out there for all I know. Shooting people for carrying damn ice cream.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that.”
“But Jerome never wanted no part of any of that. He was home every night doing his schoolwork. He was on the Honor Roll. He wanted to be whatchacallit when he graduated. You know, number one?”
“Valedictorian?” suggested Blum.
“Yeah, valedictorian. And he was gonna be, sure as I’m sitting here. So he didn’t have time for gangs. They got a robotics team at the school. Jerome was head of the whole damn thing. They won the state competition last year.”
“That’s all very impressive,” said Pine. “But it doesn’t account for him being in an alley across from where a man was shot. Or him running from the scene with a gun. That’s what I want to work through. How was he when he came home from school yesterday? Did he seem troubled or anything?”
Blake nodded her head. “He came home looking all upset and worried. I asked him what was wrong. He said, ‘Momma, I messed up on a test. Missed a couple questions.’ I told him that ain’t the end of the world. He looked at me funny, like…like maybe it was.” She pulled a fresh tissue from her pocket, dabbed at her eyes, and looked down, shaking her head. “I can’t believe this is happening. I can’t believe my baby’s gone. Not Jerome.” She started to rock and moan. “Lord help me, not Jerome.”
“Momma?”
They all turned to see a tall, athletic girl around fourteen at the bottom of the stairs. She was dressed in a set of two-piece pajamas and her eyes were red from crying.
“Momma, please don’t cry.”
Blake jumped up and wiped her eyes. “Oh, baby, Momma’s okay. Just blubbering a little bit.” She turned to Pine. “This is Jewel. Jewel, these ladies are with the FBI. They’re here to help find out what happened to your brother.”
Jewel looked at Pine and Blum, turned, and fled back upstairs.
Blake watched her go, her lips trembling. “Poor baby. Poor baby. Our lives just turned upside down. I didn’t let her go to school today, of course.” She shook her head. “I don’t know when I’ll send her back. I don’t want to let her outta my sight.”
Blum rose and put her hand on her shoulder and gently rubbed it. “This is every mother’s worst nightmare,” said Blum. “I am so sorry.”
Blake sniffled and said, “You got kids?”
“Yes. All grown, some with children of their own and their own problems. Some I can help with, some I can’t, so I just worry. You never stop being a parent. Not until you take your last breath.”
“That’s the truth, honey. That is the truth.” She patted Blum’s hand and composed herself while Blum retook her seat.
“When did he leave the house yesterday?” asked Pine after a few moments of silence.
“After dinner. He told me he got to run back to school to work on a robot. It’s just down the street from here. He said the principal said it was okay. I don’t like him being out at night around here. But Jewel was feeling sick and I was taking care of her, so I just told him to call me when he got there and call me when he was leaving. But I was still worried about him.”
“So he had a cell phone?” asked Pine.
“Oh, yeah. He bought it himself. Worked for a company over the summer building gadgets and such.”
“No cell phone was found on him,” said Pine. “Did he call you last night?”
Blake’s eyes filled with tears and she shook her head. “He texted me around seven. Say, ‘Momma, I’m at the school.’ And he’d let me know when he was coming home. When he wasn’t back by ten, I texted him. Then I called. No answer. I was starting to get real worried. I was gonna go looking for him. Then the police showed up to tell me my baby boy was dead.”
She jumped up and hurried into the adjacent room, where they could hear her sobbing.
Blum rose and said, “I’ll see if she has any tea or coffee and make her a cup. Give me a few minutes alone with her.”
Pine nodded as Blum walked into the other room.
Pine went over to the window and looked out. The young men had now surrounded her car and were showing it uncomfortable interest.
She walked out the front door to face them.
Chapter 14
CAN I HELP YOU?” asked Pine as she stood on the front sidewalk staring at the group. To a person they all stared back at her. The oldest looked to be early twenties, the youngest fourteen or so. It was one thirty in the afternoon, so Pine wondered why the school-aged among them were not where they should have been. She could read in their eyes and attitudes one very clear reality: They didn’t trust anyone who wore a badge.