Page 36 of Justice Delayed

“That would be great.” Brogan loved spending time with the Trents and their low-key family. Nolan might be a well-respected musicologist with several popular histories of folk songs, but he wasn’t stuffy or pretentious. Aunt Colleen mothered Brogan more than his own mom, always giving him a safe haven to relax when the world pressed in too tightly. After his downfall, he’d spent a few months living in their basement apartment. They hadn’t asked questions or hounded him to explain his action. They’d simply given him space to come to terms with what he’d done.

“Wonderful. Colleen will be thrilled. Now tell me what’s on your mind.”

“You know me too well.”

“Well enough to know that my favorite nephew is a busy reporter and he doesn’t call out of the blue for no reason.”

After drawing in a deep breath, Brogan plunged in. “I have a favor to ask. It’s a big one, and I’d understand if you said no.”

“Hmm. That sounds mysterious. What’s the favor?”

“Someone I know—and her cat—needs a place to stay.” Brogan scanned the Walmart parking lot for Melender, who’d needed to pick up a few necessities since not much had been salvageable from her apartment.

“We’re always willing to help.”

Brogan had expected his uncle’s quick response, but Nolan should hear the entire story first. “I know, but this one has special circumstances.”

“Okay, tell me.”

“First of all, I’m not sure for how long she would need a place. She works nights for a cleaning company and came home this morning to find her apartment had been vandalized and all her stuff completely destroyed. Her landlord kicked her out on some pretense, so she can’t move back in even after the place is repaired.”

“That’s terrible,” Nolan interjected when Brogan paused.

“Yes, it is. The police hold out little hope of finding whoever did this, but I’m not sure they will look very hard.”

“Why’s that?”

Brogan gripped the steering wheel. Now for the hard part. “She’s a former convict.”

“What was her crime?”

“Murder. She was convicted of killing her one-year-old cousin.”

Nolan didn’t say anything for several seconds. His aunt and uncle loved God and attended church regularly. They had a heart for the downtrodden, with Colleen working for a local charity that helped single mothers acquire training and skills to get better jobs. While having no children of their own, they had been foster parents for numerous children over the years. But for all that, asking them to take in a convicted child killer might be more than they would want to take on.

“God indeed has a sense of humor.” Nolan finally broke the silence.

Whatever Brogan had expected his uncle to say, it wasn’t that. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve always known that an Almighty hand directs my path, but there are times in life when that becomes clearer. This is one of those times.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’ll explain it all when you bring Melender Harman over.”

* * *

Sittingpoolside on a chaise lounge in the shade of an umbrella, Ruby flicked through the photos on her phone with her freshly manicured fingers. The before-and-after shots of Melender’s apartment would never make a glossy home-and-garden magazine spread, but she couldn’t be more pleased. Her contact had done a superb job of methodically destroying the place. Absolutely nothing remained intact, from shredded pillowcases to a decimated box of cereal.

Again, Ruby went through the photos, more slowly this time to savor the scene. She imagined the look of horror and surprise on her niece’s face. If only the man could have stuck around to photograph Melender’s reaction. For she had been very clear in her instructions to the man on what words to scrawl on the bedroom wall. To an outsider, it would have simply been read as a typical, foul-mouth rant against a convicted baby killer. But Melender would have immediately recognized the phrasing as one Ruby had said several times over the course of her niece’s arrest and trial.

Ruby’s conscience piped up that maybe she was taking her need for vengeance too far, but she ignored the nagging voice, much as she had done since leaving Maple Hollow. Uttering a word Sudie would have washed out her mouth with soap for saying, Ruby exited the photo gallery. She would enjoy looking at them again. But Quentin would be arriving home soon, and she had to be ready to pretend like everything was as usual. It wouldn’t do to have him suspect she was harassing Melender.

“Ruby?”

She froze as her husband came out onto the pool deck, loosening his tie. He wasn’t supposed to be home for another hour.

Quentin paused by her chair. “Darling? Are you okay? Consuela said you have been sitting out here all afternoon.”

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