'It's going to rain tadpoles and bull frogs,' the colored driver said.
'It'll be a blessing,' she said.
She had her own set of keys to the apartment, but it took her a long time to get in because Grave Digger and Coffin Ed had left the locks unlocked and she locked them thinking she was opening them.
When finally she got inside she had to sit for a moment in the kitchen to steady her trembling. Then she took the key from the shelf and unlocked the bedroom door from the hall. She noticed that the bathroom door was standing open but her thoughts were so confused it held no meaning for her.
Dulcy was still asleep.
Maime covered her with a sheet and took the empty brandy bottle and glass back to the kitchen. She began cleaning the house to occupy her mind.
It was ten minutes to twelve and she was scrubbing the kitchen floor when the thunderstorm broke. She drew the shades, put away the scrub brush and pail and sat at the table with her head bowed low and began to pray,
'Lord, show them the way, show them the light, don't let him kill nobody else.'
The sound of the thunder had awakened Dulcy, and she stumbled toward the kitchen, calling in a frightened voice, 'Spookie. Here, Spookie.'
Mamie looked up from the table. 'Spookie ain't here,' she said.
Dulcy gave a start at sight of her. 'Oh, it's you!' she exclaimed. 'Where's Johnny?'
'Didn't he tell you?' Mamie asked.
'Tell me what?'
'He flew to Chicago.'
Dulcy's eyes widened with terror and her face blanched to a muddy yellow. She flopped into a chair, but got up the next instant, got a bottle of brandy and a glass from the cabinet and gulped a stiff drink to quiet her trembling. But she kept on trembling. She brought the bottle and glass back to the table and sat down again and poured herself half a glass and started to drink it. Then she caught Mamie's look and put it down on the table. Her hand was trembling so violently the glass rattled on the enameled table top.
'Put on some clothes, child,' Mamie said compassionately. 'You're shaking from cold.'
'I ain't cold,' Dulcy denied. 'I'm just scared to death, Aunt Mamie.'
'I am, too, child,' Mamie said. 'But put on some clothes anyway, you ain't decent.'
Dulcy got up without replying and went into the bedroom and put on a yellow flannel robe and matching mules. When she returned she picked up the glass and gulped the brandy down. She choked and sat down, gasping for breath.
Mamie dipped another lipful of snuff.
They sat silently without looking at each other.
Then Dulcy poured another drink.
'Don't, child,' Mamie begged her. 'Drinking ain't going to help none.'
'Well, you got your lip full of snuff,' Dulcy charged.
'That ain't the same thing,' Mamie said. 'Snuff purifies the blood.'
'Alamena must have took her with her,' Dulcy said. 'Spookie, I mean.'
'Didn't Johnny say nothing at all to you?' Mamie asked. A sudden clap of thunder made her shudder and she moaned, 'God above, the world's coming to an end.'
'I don't know what he said,' Dulcy confessed. 'All I know is he came sneaking in the back door and that's the last thing I remember.'
'Was you alone?' Mamie asked fearfully.
'Alamena was here,' Dulcy said. 'She must have taken Spookie home with her.' Then suddenly she caught Mamie's meaning. 'My God, Aunt Mamie, you must think I'm a whore!' she exclaimed.
'I'm just trying to find out why he flew to Chicago all of a sudden,' Mamie said.
'To check up on me,' Dulcy said, gulping her drink defiantly. 'For what else? He's always trying to check up on me. That's all he ever does, just check up on me.' A roll of thunder rattled the windowpanes. 'My God, I can't stand all that thunder!' she cried, jumping to her feet. 'I got to go to bed.'
She grabbed the brandy bottle and glass and fled to the bedroom. Lifting the top of the combination radio and record player, she put on a record, got into the bed and pulled the covers up to her eyes.
Mamie followed after a moment and sat in the chair beside the bed.
The wailing voice of Bessie Smith began to pour into the room over the sound of the rain beating against the windowpanes:
When it rain five days an' de skies turned dark as night
When it rain five days an' de skies turned dark as night
Then trouble taken place in the lowland that night
'Don't you even know why he locked you up?' Mamie asked.
Dulcy reach over and turned the player down.
'Now, what'd you say?' she asked.
'Johnny had you padlocked in this room,' Mamie said. 'He phoned me from Chicago to come over and let you out. That's how come I knew he was in Chicago.'
'That ain't nothing strange for him,' Dulcy said. 'He's chained me to the bed.'
Mamie began to sob quietly to herself. 'Child, what's happening?' she asked. 'What happened here last night to send him off like that?'
'Ain't nothing happened no more than usual,' Dulcy said sullenly. Then after a moment she added, 'You know that knife?'
'Knife? What knife?' Mamie looked blank.
'The knife what killed Val,' Dulcy whispered. Thunder rolled and Mamie gave a start. Rain slashed at the windows.
'Chink Charlie gave me a knife just like it,' Dulcy said.
Mamie held her breath while Dulcy told her about the two knives, one of which Chink had given to her and the other he'd kept for himself. Then she sighed so profoundly with relief it sounded as though she were moaning again.
'Thank God then we know it was Chink who done it,' she said.
'That's what I've been saying all along,' Dulcy said. 'But ain't nobody wanted to listen to me.'
'But you can prove it, child,' Mamie said. 'All you got to do is show the police your knife and then they'll know it was his that killed him.'
'But I ain't got mine no more,' Dulcy said. 'That's what I'm so scared of. I always kept it hidden in my lingerie drawer and then about two weeks ago it come up missing. And I been scared to ask anybody about it.'
Mamie's complexion turned a strange ashy gray, and her face shrank until the skin was stretched tight against the bones. Her eyes looked sick and haggard.
'It just don't have to be Johnny what took it, does it?' she asked piteously.
'No, it don't have to be for sure,' Dulcy said. 'But there ain't nobody else who could have took it but Alamena. I don't know why she'd have taken it unless just to keep Johnny from finding it. Or else to have something to hold over me.'
'You has a woman to come in here to clean,' Mamie said.
'Yes, she could have taken it too,' Dulcy admitted.
'It don't sound like Meeny,' Mamie said. 'So it must have been her. You tell me who she is, child, and if she took it I'll get it out of her.'
They looked at one another through frightened, white-circled eyes.
'We just kidding ourselves, Aunt Mamie,' Dulcy said. 'Ain't nobody took that knife but Johnny.'
Mamie looked at her and the tears rolled down her old ashy-black cheeks.
'Child, did Johnny know any reason to kill Val?' she asked.
'What reason could he have had?' Dulcy countered.
