”I burned them when I was little.” The words were flat, monotone, and the expression on her face went completely blank.
”How?”
”I was making oatmeal for my brothers and sisters.” She paused for a long moment. ”And I. . I dropped the spoon into the pot … by accident.” She paused again.
”And?” I said.
”Mother Betty. She pushed my hands down into the oatmeal and made me get the spoon out.”
”Jesus, Angel. And your hands look like that from the burns?”
She nodded.
”How old were you?”
”I’m not sure. Maybe five. Or six.”
I shuddered. She’d described the event as if she were describing a walk down an empty hall in a burned-out building. She’d become distant, disconnected, as though she’d suddenly been unplugged.
”What about your adopted father? Did he do bad things to you, too?”
Another nod.
”Do you want to tell me about it?”
Tears were forming in her eyes. She didn’t answer the question. She didn’t have to.
”Did it happen a lot?”
She nodded again as a tear slid down her cheek.
”Angel, is there something you’re not telling me?”
She started to speak but stopped herself. I suddenly realized I was in a tug of war, and Angel was the rope. Someone else was pulling on the other end, and I suspected it was Erlene. She broke into tears and stood up, leaning against the table. Her shoulders began to shudder and her lips were quivering.
The intensity of the sobs increased with each passing second, and before I knew it, she was hysterical.
”Please,” I said when she paused for breath after a high-pitched wail, ”you need to stay calm, Angel.
All I want is the truth.”
She gave me a look that told me I’d gone too far and gathered her breath.
She turned and started to pound on the door with her fist.
”Wait, please. Please calm down, Angel. I
The door opened and she nearly fell into one of the two guards’ arms. I started out the door towards her, but the second guard stuck his finger in my chest.
”Step back,” he said. He meant it, he was armed, and I had a feeling he would do anything to protect this particular prisoner.
I raised my hands and stepped backwards into the interview room as he slammed the door in my face.
June 28
1:30 p.m.
Ronnie came into the back office on Saturday afternoon while Erlene was catching up on her paperwork. She could see right away that something was bothering him. Ronnie had this cute little cleft in his chin, and when he was upset he set his mouth a certain way and the sides of the cleft swelled up like little knots on a birch branch. The cleft reminded Erlene of Gus, which was only natural since Ronnie was Gus’s nephew. He wasn’t as handsome as Gus, but he was still a looker, tall and well built, with dark blond hair and blue eyes. Erlene just wished he didn’t have those icky tattoos all over him. They came out of his shirt up his neck and ran clear down his arms to his hands. They made him look like a thug.
”What’s the matter, sugar?” Erlene said. ”You look like somebody just shot your dog.”
”They shorted us again.”
Shitdammit. Erlene hated that he was bringing up such unpleasantness, especially after the visit she’d had with sweet little Angel down at the jail. Angel was as tore up as Erlene had ever seen her, poor thing. She said Mr. Dillard had come down and asked her all sorts of embarrassing questions. She even asked Erlene if she thought they needed a different lawyer, but Erlene set her straight real quick on that. Mr. Dillard was exactly what they needed.
Erlene talked to Angel for as long as they let her stay, and by the time she left, she could tell Angel was feeling a whole lot better. Erlene even managed to make her smile a couple of times. But she still felt so bad for Angel. She’d already been through so much. It hurt Erlene’s heart to see her suffer more.
”How much did they short us?” Erlene said to Ronnie.
”A little over two ounces.”
Erlene didn’t much like fooling with the candy trade, but Gus had made so much money doing it over the years, she’d have been a fool not to pick up right where he left off. It was an all-cash business, and since Ronnie handled the pickups and the deliveries and the inside sales, it wasn’t too much of a bother for Erlene. The problem she was having was that some of the people she bought the candy from were greedy and mean. They were always trying to pull one over on her, as if they thought she wouldn’t notice or wouldn’t do anything about it even if she did. She reckoned because Gus was gone, they thought they could get away with most anything.
Shitdammit, why couldn’t they just play fair?
”Do we have other folks we can use?” Erlene said.
”Four besides these guys. One in Atlanta-”
”Don’t tell me, baby doll. I don’t want to know where they are. I don’t want to know much of anything about them.”
”Sorry,” Ronnie said. He was such a considerate boy.
”I tell you what let’s do, then,” Erlene said. ”First off, you go ahead and deal with your people in Atlanta or wherever you said. Can they give us the same price?”
”The price will be the same and the quality will be better,” Ronnie said. ”The only reason I was dealing with these fools was because they were so much closer and they were willing to meet me halfway.
Saved me a lot of road time.”
”I think it’s worth the inconvenience, don’t you?”
Erlene looked up towards the ceiling and pursed her lips. ”Now,” she said, ”what to do about those others?”
Erlene knew Ronnie had a mean streak in him as wide as the Tennessee River, but underneath all that meanness, he was really a good boy. He’d just hit a few bumps in the road was all, although Erlene had to admit that Ronnie hit the bumps a little harder than most boys. He’d spent several years down at the state penitentiary in Morgan County after he got into some trouble with the law. When he got out, he didn’t have a place to go and couldn’t get a job, so he called his uncle Gus. Gus had always felt close to the boy and invited him to come up to work in the club. When Ronnie got there, Gus sat him down and told him that if he’d pay attention and be honest, Gus would see to it that his brother’s oldest son made a good living.
Erlene had to give Ronnie credit; he took right to it. The first thing Gus told him was that people who sell candy have to stay out of the candy. One of Ronnie’s biggest problems when he was younger was that he snorted and smoked so much candy he couldn’t think straight, so Gus told him if he got so much as an inkling that Ronnie was using, he’d be gone. The second thing Gus told him was that he who steals pays the price. Ronnie had gone to prison for stealing, among other things, and Gus told him he wouldn’t tolerate his stealing a single dime.
Ronnie went to work in the club, tending bar and selling candy. Gus kept a close eye on him the first year, and he did a wonderful job. Before long, he was pretty much running Gus’s whole candy business. Gus got to where he trusted Ronnie so much that if something went wrong, Gus just stepped back and let Ronnie take care of it. And from what Gus told Erlene, Ronnie was excellent at taking care of problems, especially if it involved Ronnie getting to hurt somebody.
The best part, though, was that Ronnie never stole the first penny. Erlene was proud as punch of that boy, although she suspected his honesty was at least partly due to the fact that he was afraid his uncle Gus would kill
