The Choir Director 2 (26 page)

“Come out with your hands up. We have you surrounded.”

I looked to Lynn, my eyes wide with terror. “What are we going to do?” I'd never been so scared in all my life.

“Fuck! I don't know. How did they find us?” She stroked her hair as if there was something to pull out as she started pacing. Normally it was Lynn who kept me together, but she looked like she was about to totally lose it.

I grabbed her hand to stop her from moving around. “Lynn, think. We gotta get out of here.”

“I know. I know,” she said, though she didn't look like she had any more of a plan than I did.

When I rented this warehouse space a while back, we thought we'd found the perfect out-of-the-way place. The neighborhood was so run down that most of the storefronts were boarded up, and people rarely bothered to come out of their homes.

“How the hell did they find us?” I asked. Turning to look at Aaron, I felt like it was somehow his fault. This guy had killed my father, and just when I thought I was finally going to get my revenge, the cops showed up. I swear he had made some sort of deal with the devil. How else could he be allowed to live the happy life he'd had while I still suffered every day from the loss of my father?

Lynn turned my face so I didn't have to look at him anymore. She pulled me into her arms and gave me a long, deep kiss. It was the sweetest, warmest kiss I'd ever had.

“Why did that feel like good-bye?” I asked.

Tears were running down her cheeks. “I'm so sorry it turned out like this. If I hadn't fucked up and killed your uncle this morning they never would have come looking for us. We could have killed this son of a bitch and been long gone. I can't bear the thought of you going to jail, especially not for murders that I committed. I'm going to tie you up, and when we go outside, you'll tell them you were one of the hostages.”

The fact that she was willing to sacrifice herself for me broke my heart in two—but I couldn't let it happen.

“No,” I said. “It's not going down like that.” I turned to look at Aaron, feeling pure hate coursing through my veins. “I'm going to finish what we came here to do, and then…whatever happens, we're together to the end.” I raised the gun and pointed it at Aaron.

When I first heard the NYPD officer outside the building, I felt a rush of relief. Lynn and Desiree were pacing around like a couple of cornered rats, and I figured it was only a matter of time before they realized they were out of options and would surrender. But I quickly learned that I had underestimated Desiree's desire for revenge. Apparently she was willing to go out Thelma and Louise–style if she had to, as long as she finished me first. Before I knew it, I was staring down the barrel of a gun. Desiree's hand was shaking, but she stood her ground, staring me down with hate in her eyes.

“Aren't you going to beg for your life?” she hissed. “I want you to beg for your life.”

“You do know we're
all
going to die in this warehouse, don't you? You kill me and they are going to kill you. Is that what your father would have wanted? For you to die in a hail of police bullets?”

“You don't know anything about my father.” Tears were streaming down her face.

Lynn prodded her to toughen up. “Don't listen to him. Shoot his ass, Des.”

I refused to give up. “You don't wanna do this, Desiree. Hasn't there already been enough bloodshed?”

“Not yet.” She closed her eyes and pulled the trigger.

I heard the bullet whiz by my head, but I felt no pain. She had missed. There was another shot, but this time Desiree dropped to the ground. Lynn started screaming.

Before my brain could fully comprehend what had just happened, police officers broke down the door and came storming into the building. There was broken glass on the floor behind Desiree's lifeless body. The shot that killed her must have come through the small window above her.

Lynn fell to her knees and grabbed Desiree, sobbing now. Then she turned to me, full of fury, screaming, “You motherfucker! This all your fault! I'm gonna kill you!”

She dove for the gun, but barely got her hand on it before the cops opened fire, killing her instantly.

“Sir, are you okay?” I looked up to see ten emergency response cops surrounding me.

It took me a moment to find my voice, but finally I said, “Yeah, I'm alive.”

One of the officers laughed. “And that's a good thing, sir. Now, let's see if we can get you untied.”

It took a few minutes for them to cut all the duct tape they'd wrapped around me, during which time I kept looking at the two dead women, wondering why it had come to this. Why had my past come back to haunt me in such a horrific way? Truth was, I might spend the rest of my life wondering about the answer to that question, but at least I was walking out of there alive. I left that building with my heart full of gratitude.

Outside on the sidewalk, Tia came rushing toward me and threw her arms around me.

“I've never wanted to hold someone so much in my life,” she said.

“Me too.” I pulled away and looked in her eyes, searching for answers. After all this time that she spent running away, was this really what it took to bring her back to me? Sometimes God works in mysterious ways, I guess.

“Oh my God, Aaron, I love you so much,” she said, tears running down her face.

“Me too,” I said as my lips fell sweetly onto hers. I had never felt so blessed and so happy to be alive.

The armed guard led me in handcuffs from a small holding cell, down a long corridor, into the side entrance of the courtroom. I would be arraigned in front of Judge Warner, a man I had actually known for years. I'd had to phone him many times in the past to offer myself up as a character witness for parishioners who had gotten themselves in trouble. I had certainly never dreamed I'd enter his courtroom under these circumstances.

A quick glance to the back of the courtroom told me that I was surrounded by supporters. I saw all of the people closest to me, as well as what seemed to be half of my congregation squeezed onto the benches. Just seeing them made me feel a whole lot better—until I was led over to a chair next to my attorney and I got a look at who was sitting at the prosecution's table. Instead of some young assistant DA, it appeared I would be prosecuted by the district attorney herself. She didn't normally show up at a trial unless it was a case that could garner her lots of press. Was she here because she thought my conviction was a slam dunk? The knot in my stomach twisted itself a little tighter. If only I hadn't touched the knife when I found Jackson on the floor. Or better yet, if only I'd used good judgment and called the police instead of going over there in the first place.

I bowed my head, praying fervently as I waited for the arraignment to start.

Once things got underway, my heart was pounding so loudly in my chest that I could barely focus on what was being said. And then the district attorney spoke the words that came to me like an answered prayer, as clear as a bell:

“Your Honor, in view of the new evidence submitted to the court, we'd like to dismiss all the charges against Bishop TK Wilson.”

The courtroom erupted in chaos. People were shouting “Hallelujah,” “Praise Jesus,” and “Amen!” The judge brought down the gavel and demanded order in the court.

“I would like to tell you, Bishop Wilson, that you are now free to leave this courtroom. Will the bailiff please remove the handcuffs?”

And just like that, the nightmare had ended. I could go home. I raised my hands to heaven in thanksgiving.

“Congratulations!” People were patting me on the back, giving hugs and prayers, as I tried to make my way out of the courtroom. Off in the distance, I saw Aaron and Tia, and they were actually holding hands. My heart swelled with joy. Monique and Ross were standing with them.

I locked eyes with my wife, and she came toward me tentatively. The people standing near me dispersed to give us a moment. She stood in front of me, hesitant for a second, and then she threw her arms around me.

“I'm sorry,” she whispered in my ear.

Believe it or not, until that moment, I had almost forgotten about our marital difficulties. I felt a momentary twinge of my earlier jealousy creep back in, but this was not the place, and definitely not the time to discuss it with her.

I kissed her on the cheek and whispered back, “We'll talk later.”

I untangled myself from her arms and stepped toward Aaron and Tia.

“Congratulations.” Tia came into my arms, hugging me tight. This child really did feel like a daughter to me, and I was happy to have her back.

“Congratulations to you,” I said, looking over at Aaron and then back to her. Yeah, prayer really could make miracles happen.

Ross came over to me and held out his hand. He had been there to see me at my lowest point, and he never lost faith in me. I pulled him in for a hug.

“Ross, I don't know what you did or how you did it, but thank you.”

“Wasn't just me,” he said. “It's a long story, but Aaron deserves credit too.”

“Thank you.” I put an arm around Aaron's shoulders. We'd been through so much together, all of us, that we felt like family now.

Monique and I had lots of things to talk about. Coming so close to losing everything, including my freedom, I realized that I couldn't walk away from my marriage without making sure we tried everything to fix it. I asked her to come back to the house with me so we could talk.

“I still can't believe everything that's happened at First Jamaica Ministries recently,” I said in the car on the way home. “And I can't believe we didn't sense anything was wrong with Desiree. I should have known.”

“Don't blame yourself, TK,” Monique said. “We were all fooled. She and Jackson were great actors. They set out to destroy Aaron and everyone around him, and they almost succeeded. I mean, look how bad things got between us.”

I shot her a look to let her know she shouldn't be so confident that all of that was in the past. As far as I was concerned, it wasn't. “Yes, well, they wouldn't have succeeded as well as they did if you hadn't been so easily wooed by promises of stardom. You completely disregarded my feelings about the subject in order to pursue a pipe dream. Is your job as first lady and as my wife not enough for you?”

She reached for my hand, but I moved my arm away. I wasn't ready to let her off the hook that easily.

“TK, I'm so sorry,” she said. “I was a fool.”

“I'm not going to argue with that.”

“What are we going to do?”

“I don't know right now. I'm certainly not past this, and to tell the truth, I'm not sure that I ever will be. I'm going to have to put it in the hands of the Lord.”

As I entered her, I felt all of the tension leave my body, as if every­thing I'd been holding in for so long could be released. We'd finally reached this point, the moment I'd been dreaming of for almost two years. I had thought she was gone forever, but now I was holding the woman I loved, and I never wanted to let go of her again.

I connected with the rhythm of her hips, and we both rode that wave, our bodies closer than they'd ever been.

“I love you,” she whispered, her face glowing with ecstasy.

“I love you too. I love you more than anything in this world.” If someone had asked me to describe heaven, this would no doubt be it.

We made slow, sweet love for a while, until the heat became too much to contain. Tia rolled me over and climbed on top, gyrating her hips until the friction sparked an explosion. She rode me through wave after wave of pleasure, until we were both totally spent.

“Wow,” she murmured as she slid off of me, lying on her back all loose-limbed and relaxed.

“Exactly.” I reached over and grabbed her hand. “I always knew that it would be like this with you. It feels like coming home.” I knew I sounded corny as a mofo, but it was truly how I felt. After all we'd gone through, I'd almost given up hope that this day would ever come.

“What are you thinking about?” I asked her.

“That I'm really glad we did this.” She squeezed my hand.

“Me too. You wanna know what I'm thinking?” I leaned up on one elbow and kissed her face.

“What?” she asked, looking more beautiful than ever.

“That I can't wait for you to be my wife.”

It felt amazing to have my life back, to know that everything that had passed would one day be a little blip on the screen of our perfect life together. We had each other, and there was nothing standing in the way of us being together anymore. The storm had passed—or so I thought.

When she didn't respond to my mention of marriage, I looked down at her and saw tension in her face. Something was bothering her.

“Tia?”

She looked into my eyes, and I saw sadness there.

“This has been the most pleasurable moment of my life,” she said. “It's everything I wanted to happen, but it won't ever happen again.”

“Baby, what are you talking about? Once I make you my wife, I'm going to make sure you feel this loved every day.”

“I have no doubt you would try, Aaron,” she said, sitting up on the side of the bed with her back to me. “But I can't marry you. I can't spend every day with you knowing who you are and what you did.”

I was flabbergasted. Why was this happening? Why was our perfect moment crumbling before my eyes?

I moved next to her and turned her face to mine. “Tia, are you seriously going to judge me for a mistake that happened ten years ago? I thought you understood that the accident wasn't totally my fault. Desiree's father was drunk too. And I already paid my debt to society.”

She shook her head. “Aaron, I couldn't lie in bed next to you every night and pretend that what you did was okay. I can't have children and build a family with a murderer.”