Free Sugar & Spice by Keith Lee Johnson Page A

delicately as she could. I stood right next to Bernard with my hand on his shoulder.
    â€œNo. Nobody at all.” Bernard sobbed. “She was the sweetest woman I’ve ever known.”
    Kelly looked at me. I could tell she didn’t want to ask the next question but we had to get his reaction. As far as we knew, he could be the killer.
    â€œDid you two have a falling-out?” Kelly asked tentatively. “We know how it is with wedding plans. Sometimes couples get scared when their wedding date nears. Did something like that happen between you two?”
    â€œYou suspect me?” Bernard asked incredulously.
    â€œNo,” I interjected. “We’re just doing our best to eliminate you as a suspect. We have to do it, Bernard. It’s standard procedure.”
    â€œWhere were you today, Bernard?” Kelly asked.
    â€œI was at the school all evening grading papers,” Bernard said. “I was trying to get ahead. You guys know the school’s demanding schedule. Sarah and I can’t afford to get behind. We’ll never catch up.”
    â€œAnybody see you there?” Kelly asked.
    â€œOnly about twenty other teachers who are also preparing for the last break before the fall semester.”
    I looked at Kelly and smiled. Then I patted Bernard on the shoulder. I was genuinely happy that he had a solid alibi. At least we could verify that Bernard Rodgers didn’t kill her, which also meant that maybe Sarah Lawford had nothing to do with Nelson Blake, Louis Perkins,and Norrell Prison. However, that left another nagging question. If Sarah Lawford wasn’t involved with Blake and Perkins, why was she raped and murdered in the same fashion as Perkins and his wife?
    Kelly’s cell rang. “Hello,” she said. “Oh, hi, Sterling.”
    She looked at me, grinned and gave me a thumbs-up sign.

CHAPTER 31
    Kelly offered to drop Bernard Rodgers off at his mother’s house. It was on her way to the Willard Intercontinental Hotel where she planned to meet Sterling Wise. As I walked out of Sarah Lawford’s house, I was deluged with questions from local reporters who probably hoped to make names for themselves. Bright lights were blinding me as I forced my way through the crowd.
    I stopped in my tracks when I heard an eager reporter ask, “Is there any truth to Matthew Henson’s most well-liked teacher being involved with Warden Louis Perkins and Washington’s drug king, Nelson Blake?”
    Without thinking, I turned around and faced the reporter. The cameras were rolling. For all I knew, the feed was going out live. But it irritated the hell out of me for the accusation to be made without hard evidence. Reporters always find a sucker to bite on the information hook; especially once they learn you’re personally involved. A well-liked teacher at my daughter’s school was beaten with a bullwhip, raped and murdered in her own home right across the street from where I lived. Yeah, I was personally involved. So I took the bait and became the fool they were looking for. The young reporter shoved the microphone in my face, and I lit into her like there was no tomorrow.
    â€œIt’s that kind of reporting that sullies people’s reputations. Have you no shame, Madam? Don’t you even friggin’ care that her family could be watching this tonight? Sarah Lawford had parents and siblings who lovedher and a fiancé she was going to marry just a few weeks from now. Do you even know if they’ve been notified of her gruesome and brutal murder?”
    The young reporter poised herself and looked me right in the eye and said, “So, Sarah Lawford is dead? And you say her death was gruesome and brutal? I never said anything about Ms. Lawford being dead, Special Agent Phoenix Perry. You did.”
    I felt like a complete idiot. They had me on camera telling the world that Sarah Lawford was dead before her parents had been notified. I looked at