Just like Eddie told them at the trial.
* * *
Later, Eddie drops him off.
Payton walks into Grandma's living room, half-expecting to see that girl lying on the carpet, face turned sideways with her mouth still open. But all that's there is Rennell, lying on the couch so sluggish in his baggy clothes he's looking more like a pile of laundry than a person. Except he looks glad to see Payton, like always.
'Hey, bro',' he says in that slow way of his, trying to sound cool. 'What's up?'
'Nothin',' Payton answers and flips the TV back on as if things are still the same. Then he feels his hands start shaking.
* * *
'Rennell never had no clue.' Payton paused, his voice plangent with self-disgust. 'But then he never figured I'd fuck around with no little girl. Don't know why that happened—only time I did.'
'But then they'd locked you up,' Terri answered coolly. 'Did Eddie 'fuck around' with little girls, too?'
Still Payton averted his eyes. 'Far as I know, just that one time. But it's not the kind of thing he'd go braggin' about.'
'What about Rennell?'
'Rennell?' A faint smile reappeared, directed at the table. 'I don't think he had sex with a woman his whole damned life, young or old. 'Ceptin' Mama when he was nine.'
Terri sat back. 'Let's skip Mom and Dad. You're the one who helped Eddie Fleet put your own brother on death row.'
Payton gazed up at her, impassive. 'Things got all screwed up. I didn't know that old white lady would be lookin' out the window, and mix up Rennell with Eddie. The plan was for Eddie and me to shut up.'
* * *
The night of the day Payton sees Eddie come out of the interrogation room with Monk and the other cop, Payton meets him at the Double Rock Inn.
A few nobodies are hanging off the bar. Payton and Eddie are sitting in a dark corner drinking malt liquor, voices too quiet for the others to hear. Payton stares into his face. 'You don't know nothin',' he orders. 'Let the cops start fuckin' with us, we both go down. You don't want to be on trial for no dead little girl even if they're what you like best. If I ever feel you even thinkin' about any more talks with Monk, last thought you'll ever have.'
Fleet looks antsy. 'What Rennell know?'
'Nothin',' Payton snaps. 'Think I'm the kind of fool tell secrets to a fool? Like it or not, this fucking secret belongs to you and me.'
* * *
'I was right about that,' Payton said to Terri. 'I was more the kind of fool let Eddie set me up.' He shook his head in anger and disgust. 'Couldn't say nothin' against Eddie without implicatin' myself, and Rennell couldn't say or do nothin' to help. That's what Eddie figured out before me.'
Pen clasped in her hand, Terri stared at her client's brother. 'So you decided to help yourself. Starting with the brilliant idea of asking Jamal Harrison to cap Eddie.'
Payton shrugged. 'County jail was short of talent. Weren't nobody better in the next cell.'
'What did Rennell know about Jamal?'
'Nothin', like always. When Jamal saw me whisperin' to Rennell, all I was tellin' him was everything was cool.' Payton's voice was soft with irony. 'Rennell smiled 'cause he believed me.'
Dismayed, Terri rubbed her temples. 'Same with Tasha Bramwell's alibi?'
'For all Rennell remembers, maybe it's true. Near as I can make out, his days sort of run together.'
The full dimensions of Rennell's potential innocence, Terri realized, were hard for her to grasp. 'Does anyone else know what you've just told me?'
'Just Eddie.' Payton looked somber. He paused and then asked softly, 'Do you know what ever happened to her? Tasha, I mean.'
Surprised, Terri heard the regret in his voice, a sense of loss that involved more than his own death. 'No,' she answered, 'I don't know anything about Tasha.'
Payton closed his eyes. 'She just disappeared, 'bout a week after we was convicted. Don't blame her, really, the shit I did, even things she never found out about. Just wish I knew . . .'
His voice trailed off. In a tone devoid of sentiment, Terri redirected his attention to Eddie Fleet. 'Do you think Fleet told anyone what you two did?'
After a moment, Payton shrugged. 'Why would he do that?'
'Why would you do that?' Terri stood, palms resting on the table as she stared down at Payton Price. 'You're the smart brother, after all. So you let a judge and jury sentence Rennell to death for a sex crime committed by you and the principal prosecution witness. Then you watched him sit here for fifteen years, waiting to die, and said nothing. All to save your own ass.'
Expressionless, Payton met her eyes. 'Maybe so, counselor. But you tell me this—if I'm inside, and he's on the streets, how's Rennell gonna survive?' The mirthless smile returned. 'Least here I could keep an eye on him.'
Terri drew a breath. 'But now you've found religion. At last.'
Payton gave her a long, cool look. 'You're a caring person, Ms. Teresa. You know Rennell can't stay here no
