God Only Knows (25 page)

If she had any illusions that her friend’s climactic, sacrificial act would be easily reversed, God allowed plenty of signs
to the contrary. The Wednesday morning after news of Cassie’s confession hit the local papers and broadcasts, Julia answered
her front doorbell to find both Terry and Toya standing on her porch. Her two old classmates were a study in contrasts: Toya
stood, with her back arched, covered in a knee-length black fur coat, business slacks, and high heels, while Terry slumped
next to her in a velour tracksuit worn underneath an aged tweed overcoat.

“Hey, Julia,” Terry said, stamping out a cigarette and pulling her overcoat tighter around herself. “You mind if we come in?”

If it had just been Terry, Julia might not have been so surprised. After all, Cleveland wasn’t even a four-hour drive away,
and she knew Terry’s family was still in Dayton. They had probably called her the minute Cassie’s confession hit the news.
It was Toya’s presence that left Julia feeling a little dizzy. “Hey, you two. Uh —”

Toya scrunched her nose, frowning as she checked her watch. “It’s chilly out here, old friend. Do you mind stepping aside?”

Julia stepped back involuntarily, replying as she did so, “I was heading out in a few minutes for work and to drop Amber at
school. . . .”

“That’s Julia Turner,” Terry replied, a
hmmph
underriding her tone as she and Toya stepped past Julia into the foyer. “Julia never breaks stride, doesn’t matter what type
of hell breaks loose. I always wished I could be that cool.”

“She’s not that cool,” Toya said, chuckling as her eyes took an indulgent glance around, indicating she was less impressed
with Julia’s home than she had expected to be. She removed her coat and handed it toward Julia. “I trust you have a good-quality
wood hanger for this, yes?”

Julia frowned freely at Toya as she took both her coat and Terry’s. “So, did Terry call you? I have to admit, Toya, I never
thought you would actually cross the ocean over this.”

The two women stood facing Julia down, both looking a little annoyed not to have been offered a seat. Arms crossed, Toya replied,
“Terry didn’t have to call me, I called her. I still have three aunts in town, all of them the worst gossips. Somehow they
put two and two together when they heard about Cassie’s story, figured that she must have been my same class year. Two of
them e-mailed me the night of, the other one called me the next day.”

Terry cut her eyes in Toya’s direction. “Go ahead and tell her why you came back into the country, though.”

Toya sighed as she began to unbutton the beige jacket of her pants suit. “I think you have the heat on overdrive in here,
Julia. Look, you might as well know that I paid for Terry’s plane ticket and coordinated for us both to arrive around the
same time so she could ride with me. I’m here, Julia, because if I stayed over in Paris, you’d invoke your leadership skills
and react to this mess in the way you see fit. I’m here to make sure I have a say in all this.”

Julia pinched the bridge of her nose, saying a prayer under her breath. “Have a seat,” she replied finally, walking over to
her hall closet to hang the coats. “I appreciate the effort you both made coming here, so we will talk this nightmare out.
I will need a minute to run Amber to school at least, okay?”

“You do what you need to do,” Toya replied dismissively, reaching for a cell phone from her purse. “I’ll just have a seat
in your kitchen and catch up with my family.”

Terry walked into the family room and collapsed onto the couch, her gaze on the entertainment center. “I see a stereo. Where’s
your TV?”

“Oh,” Julia replied, “we don’t have one downstairs. I’ve worked hard to minimize Amber’s exposure to television. I let her
watch approved content on the idiot box in my bedroom, weekends only.”

Terry raised an eyebrow but chuckled. “Sound like child abuse to me, Julia.”

When Julia returned, she put on some coffee, called in late to the office, and warily took a seat across from Toya and Terry,
who each sat on the family room’s couch. “I wish I had the right words,” she said, searching her old friends’ eyes. “Cassie’s
actions put all of us in a bind, but I understand it’s even more of an imposition on you two. Cassie’s decision was her own,
but at least I should have seen it coming, especially once M.J. got drawn into the middle of everything.”

“Never mind all that,” Terry replied, the fingers of one hand absentmindedly tracing a circle into the glass on the coffee
table. “I’m here because I know out of all of us, you’re the one with both smarts
and
common sense. Do I need to get a lawyer, Julia? I mean, a real one, like the kind I can’t afford?”

“You’re getting ahead of yourself,” Toya said, patting Terry’s hand condescendingly. “No one besides Cassie will need a lawyer
once she recants her confession.”

Julia frowned. “What are you talking about, Toya? She can’t take back her statement, not with any credibility.”

“Oh, you’d be surprised,” Toya replied. “We just need to find her the right high-priced lawyer, after we hire a private detective
to get us some leverage against Peter Whitlock. All we need is the right piece of blackmail to make it look like he coerced
Cassie into confessing. I mean, let’s be honest, that’s what he basically did by threatening her and M.J. in the first place.”

“Her mind was made up long before I could reach her,” Julia replied, shaking her head at Toya’s irrational certainty. “The
cat’s out of the bag —maybe Cassie made up some parts of her account, but the fact is there’s a lot of truth in it. She can’t
just recant it now and win a ‘get out of jail’ pass. For that matter, she doesn’t want one.

“Now, for Terry’s question about a lawyer.” Julia took a sip of her coffee before clasping her hands in thought. “To be honest,
if I thought you had unlimited resources, I would suggest getting one. But right now, if money’s tight, you might be able
to hold off and see how this plays out.”

“Plays out?” Terry narrowed her eyes. “What you mean? Eventually the truth will get out, right? Cassie won’t get away with
trying to act like she was the only one who roughed the boy up, will she? Not to mention this fantasy about her pushing him
in front of that truck? We all know she left the scene with us, she wasn’t around when the boy walked out into the street.”

Toya grimaced. “You said Cassie doesn’t want to recant her story,” she said. “That’s because she wanted to make this false
confession, is that it?”

Julia had prayed about whether to share her next words, but she had peace now. “I’m going to tell you both something, okay?”
Patiently now, she told both women about the deal Cassie had made with Detective Whitlock, the reason that her confession
would not be getting much scrutiny. “Cassie waited until after confessing to explain her reasoning, but here it is. She made
a deal with Eddie’s brother, the detective. In exchange for giving him the satisfaction of seeing her prosecuted for supposedly
putting Eddie in front of that truck, he had to admit to starting the shoot-out with M.J. and her cousin’s son.”

“So,” Terry said, squinting, “that’s why M.J. and the other boy’s charges were pleaded down, or whatever?”

“Yes. So now Cassie says that she has Detective Whitlock’s word —well, he’s not a detective anymore, he was basically forced
into retirement as a result of his confession about the shoot-out —that he will never question her confession or whether others
may have been involved. The only way our involvement would ever come to the authorities’ knowledge is if one of us chose to
confess in some fashion too.”

“Wouldn’t that be bad for Cassie?” Toya replied before resting her forehead in her hands. “What are you saying, Julia? That
the best move is for us to just keep our mouths shut?”

“I have to be honest,” Julia said, walking over to the couch and taking a seat on the armrest near Terry. “I really don’t
know what we should do. I always wanted to take Whitlock’s early threats head-on, just do a coordinated group confession and
trust the Lord to protect us. Let’s not forget, we were all victims that night too. What we did to Eddie, we did in self-defense.”

Terry chuckled dryly. “Yeah, we’ll look real honest after having waited twenty years to tell anyone —”

“God knows why we waited,” Julia replied, “and I believe He will honor that.”

Against her best efforts, Toya’s voice rose in pitch as she said, “But how do we do what you suggested? How is that even possible
now?”

“I don’t know,” Julia said, biting her lower lip in thought. “I’ve been in consultations with my attorney about that. Bear
in mind, I had already told him about my being present the night Eddie was attacked.”

Terry’s eyes grew wide. “Oh, Lord! Does that mean he’s going to go to the police and tell on you? Will he send them after
me and Toya too?”

Julia patted Terry’s shoulder. “Don’t get worked up yet. Attorney-client privilege restricts him from sharing our conversations
with anyone. The only situation where things could get complicated would be if I became the subject of a trial related to
Cassie’s. My attorney might be limited in the case he could make on my behalf, if my defense required him contradicting things
I told him.”

Terry squinted at her friend. “So you don’t think that’s likely to happen? Toya and I are safe, as far as your attorney goes?”

Toya sighed loudly, standing as she reached for cell phone again. “Terry, Julia doesn’t know that answer. Do you want the
harsh truth? You’re going to need a lawyer. Maybe I can get you a deal on one.”

“For right now, I think you both are safe.” Julia checked her watch, determined not to let Toya’s smart remarks rattle her.
“I’ll be happy to talk about this some more when I get off work tonight. Are you both staying in town all day?”

“Our flights leave in the morning,” Toya replied. “Would you mind if Terry stayed here tonight? I have a room reserved at
the Crowne Plaza.”

Julia inhaled, buying time as she calculated whether she could trust two women she really hadn’t spent any time with in two
decades. “You’re both welcome to stay here. We’ll make the guest bedroom up tonight, how’s that?”

“Okay,” Toya said with a speed that surprised Julia. “I’ll call and cancel my reservation. That will give us all more time
to work a game plan.”

“And it’ll keep Toya from spending a night in miserable Dayton all by her lonesome,” Terry said, winking at Julia. “I know
we were impulsive coming over here so suddenly, but we needed to know what we’re up against,” she said, pinning Julia with
her eyes. “We all need to be smart about this, for the sake of our kids, if nothing else. I can’t be going to jail.”

“I can’t even think that way,” Julia replied, touching a hand to her chest. “I won’t even think about telling Amber about
my exposure in all this, at least not until things turn that way. She’s already worried sick about her aunt Cassie and her
godbrother, M.J.”

“Well, we better stop holding you up.” Toya stood and gathered the women’s coffee cups. “We may as well get our coats and
leave with you. We’ll take my rental car to the nearest mall and hang out there all day.”

Julia indulged in a hearty laugh. “That’s cute. You really haven’t spent much time in Dayton lately.”

Terry raised an eyebrow. “What you mean?”

“Girl, there’s not a mall within a ten-mile radius of Dayton. You do know the Salem Mall was brought down a couple years back,
right?”

“Oh, I did hear that,” Terry said, frowning. “So the only malls are way out south or by the base, huh?”

Toya shook her head. “No class, this town’s got no class.”

“Pretty much,” Julia said, “not to mention the big-time complex they built ten minutes between Dayton Mall and Fairfield Commons.
Economic racism is alive and well in the Miami Valley. You have time to drive all over the metropolitan area, though, if you
really want to do a mall.”

“We’ll handle it,” Toya replied, shrugging into her coat.

Terry smiled as she removed her coat from the closet. “We should thank you, Julia. I’m still scared to death, but you’ve already
made me feel better. Can we do one thing that will make us all feel better?” She stretched out her hands, her eyes closing
at the same time.

Julia took a look at Toya, one of her own eyebrows arched.

Toya rolled her eyes but took one hand each of Julia’s and Terry’s. “Oh, go ahead.”

“Terry,” Julia said as they formed a weary circle, “your suggestion is right on time. Let’s pray.”

W
hen Julia emerged from Cassie’s home office, she bustled past Marcus and Maxwell, who were awkwardly attempting to make small
talk in the Gillettes’ kitchen. She was relieved when Maxwell got the hint and quickly excused himself. “Looks like we should
go, Marcus,” she heard him say. “We’ll keep praying, okay?”

“We appreciate it,” Marcus said, his voice growing closer until Julia felt his hand on her arm. “Hey, sis. No matter what
she just told you, please don’t let her fool you. She needs you, Julia.”

“She has a funny way of showing it,” Julia replied. Realizing that she had torn away from Marcus’s grasp, she tried to soften
her tone. “I’m sorry, it’s just that I want to fix all this, and she won’t let me.”

“We’ve talked about this,” Marcus said, his hands in his pockets now. “I know this woman better than any other person in my
life. I had to finally accept that her mind’s made up. I can either keep fighting her and lose her altogether, or support
her decision and keep her close.”

“Marcus,” Julia said, embarrassed to feel her eyes brimming with tears, “she won’t be very close if she’s in prison for the
rest of her life.”

Maxwell stepped closer to Julia, gently tugging at her right elbow as he spoke in an even tone. “Everyone’s under immense
pressure right now,” he said, his eyes on Marcus. “I know you and Cassie are ready to unwind some, so we’ll get out of your
way.”

Marcus held up a hand as if to slow Maxwell down. “This woman could never offend me,” he said. “Well, maybe I should say she’s
done all she could to offend me over the years, being my wife’s best friend and all.” He opened his arms. “We love you, Julia,
both me and Cassie.”