Chapter Five
“Candace, I just don’t know if I can handle this. I just lost Granddad,” Angel confided on the phone.
“Honey, I know. It’s only been about six months, right? Look, Fredricka is strong, and she’s going to come through. God won’t give you more than you can bear.”
Angel felt grateful that Candace Johnson had taken the time from her busy Saturday morning schedule at the Crown of Beauty Salon to encourage her. If anyone knew about going through difficulties, it would be the woman who had become her surrogate big sister in the past year. Angel had observed Candace’s strength through the trial of the woman who had murdered both Candace’s husband and best friend. It was because of Candace that Angel began participating in the Overcomers Women’s Ministry, a ministry that Candace had started at Victory Gospel Church.
Angel confessed, “When we left the church the other night, we argued about my mother.”
“Did you tell her about the project you are working on?” Candace asked.
“No. When I started working on the documentary years ago, everyone seemed to be uptight about me digging up the past. I think Grams thinks my mother is going to walk back into our lives after all this time.”
“Angel, you know your grandmother is a woman of faith, but she would want you to do what you needed to do. Lord knows this has to be hard. I’ve lost loved ones, but I can’t imagine one of them simply disappearing and not knowing what happened to them.” Candace grew quiet and then inquired, “Angel, do you need me to come sit with you? I have a new stylist in the salon now, and she’s working out pretty good.”
“No, no. I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me. I know Saturday mornings are busy.”
“You know how much I love you and Fredricka. You both are family and were there for me and the kids this past year. Be sure to let Fredricka know I will stop by and take care of her hair. I know how she likes to be looking foxy.”
Angel laughed. “She would love that. Thanks, Candace.” After saying good-bye, Angel thought about Wednesday night’s birthday surprise, which she now knew Candace had secretly planned. Angel smiled. She’d missed what it felt like to have a genuine friend who cared.
She checked the clock on the wall. Right now Grams needed her. Angel rose from the chair to head back toward the hospital room. The CT scan and MRI had determined that the type of stroke Grams had Wednesday night was the result of a blood clot. Blessedly, they were able to arrive at the hospital in the crucial three-hour time frame for stroke victims, allowing the emergency room doctors to restore Grams’s blood flow. Now it was all about preventing a second stroke from occurring.
A bit of aphasia had set in, causing Grams to slur her words, and her right arm was not cooperating. The doctor seemed optimistic that with rehabilitation, Grams’s brain would rewire itself, giving her her mobility back. They needed to prepare for rehabilitation for a few weeks in the hospital before Grams could return home.
Angel walked into the hospital room and was startled by a figure in the room. At first she thought her uncle Jacob had snuck past her, but her uncle would never be caught in a cowboy hat. She grinned as the man rose from the seat in the corner, where she’d slept the night before.
“Uncle Eddie.” She crossed the room and hugged the tall, dark man. Eddie Gowins, better known as Eddie G., wasn’t really her uncle, but a longtime family friend. He had played the drums in the band with her granddad.
Angel stepped back to look up at him. “I haven’t seen you in ages.” Eddie was well over six feet tall, muscular, and almost imposing, especially today with his cowboy hat and boots.
Eddie had stopped smoking a few years ago, but the raspiness remained in his voice. “I heard through the grapevine, Fredricka wasn’t doing too good. You know I had to come see about Nick’s girl.”
Angel chuckled at Eddie’s reference to her almost eighty-year-old grandmother as her granddad’s girl. “She will be happy to see you.” Angel sat down at the bottom of the bed.
Eddie G. shook his head. “Man, I miss Nick. He knew how to live life to the fullest. Always admired your grandparents.”
“I miss him too, Eddie.”
For an awkward moment, they sat quietly. Angel folded and then unfolded her arms.
She peered at Eddie and asked, “So how’s Denise doing?” She cleared her throat so she wouldn’t choke on her next comment about Eddie’s daughter. “I hear she is getting married soon.”
Eddie stared at her for a moment before he answered. He shook his head. “Yes. The wedding is later this summer. I was just talking about you the other day. Would be nice if you could film the wedding. I’ve heard great things about your video business.”
Her business, Angel Media, was booming due to the fact that the wedding season had just begun. She’d worked hard last year starting up the company and putting together a portfolio. Angel felt she brought a unique style to the footage she shot and edited. Despite reservations from her family, she was doing the entrepreneurial thing, something that awed her sometimes.
Angel crossed her arms. Despite her success, she couldn’t see offering her services to Denise. How could she when three years ago, Kenneth Morgan, now Denise’s fiancé, was the love of Angel’s life? That day when Angel walked in on Denise and Kenneth together at his apartment, she’d lost her best friend and boyfriend. Later, when she found out Denise had had a baby boy with Kenneth, Angel lost herself. It had only been by building her business and becoming a Christian in the past year that she’d found her footing.
She shook her head. “Sorry, Eddie. I’m not sure if I could. Don’t get me wrong. Things worked out the way they needed to. I just don’t know if I should be anywhere near the wedding.” For years, both she and Denise had talked about how they would be the maid of honor at each other’s wedding. All that was history now.
“I’m so sorry to see you two girls are not friends anymore. You were like sisters.”
Before she could respond, Angel heard movement behind her. The nurse was rolling Grams back in from rehab. Her grandmother looked at her, but Angel couldn’t read Grams’s expression, because her eyes lacked the usual spark.
Eddie bowed his head toward Grams, not speaking a word until the nurse helped her back into the bed.
Grams quietly nodded in Eddie’s direction.
Eddie bowed his head again. “Fredricka, I just wanted to check on you. You know I promised Nick I would look after you and Angel. I’ll come back when you are up to it.” He winked at her and then placed his cowboy hat on his head. “Angel, let’s talk soon. I’d like to help you get some business.”
“Thanks, Uncle Eddie.”
As Eddie approached the door, a man swooped in. Both men almost collided with each other.
Her uncle Jacob looked like he hadn’t slept in days. His chocolate brown face was covered with a several days old beard peppered with gray. Jacob glared at Eddie. “Eddie. What are you doing here?”
Eddie retorted, “I’m leaving, Jake. No need to upset your mother.”
Angel could hear the tap of Eddie’s cowboy boots as he made his way down the hallway. She had never understood why Jacob disliked Eddie. The feelings were mutual. Eddie wasn’t too fond of Jacob, either. She had often wondered if the rivalry stemmed from Granddaddy always including Eddie in family events, almost like he was a son.
Grams sputtered, “Jake . . .”
Jacob moved to the side of the bed and leaned his head against Fredricka’s forehead. “Mom, it’s okay. I’m here. You are going to be all right.”
Angel was glad he was there, but wanted an explanation. “Jacob, I’ve been trying to reach you.”
Her uncle kept his attention on his mother. “I’m here now, Angel. I will take over from here. Go home and get some rest.”
What? He was just going to sail in here and dismiss her? Where had he been? He could at least reveal what was up with him and Aunt Liz. Angel’s rising emotions were interrupted by her vibrating phone. She reached in her pocket and pulled out the phone. When she looked down at the caller ID, her anger toward her uncle switched to anxiety.
Angel glanced at her family and then slipped out into the hallway to answer the call. “Hello.”
“Angel? Angel Roberts?”
Angel answered, “Yes.”
“Hello. This is Jennifer from the Bring Them Home Foundation. We used to keep in touch with Nick Roberts about cases that came in.”
A few weeks before he passed away, Angel’s granddad had given Angel a shoe box full of correspondence, most of it from this organization. “Yes. He passed away late last year. I touched base with someone in your office a few months ago to let you know that I wanted to receive those updates.”
“I will be happy to work with you. I worked with Mr. Roberts for many years. Now Elisa, she’s your mother.
“Yes.”
The woman on the other end of the line was quiet for a few seconds. “I do want to warn you this process can be difficult, and it’s been a number of years now.”
“I understand. I need to do this.”
“Okay. We have had a few Jane Doe cases come in.”
Angel leaned against the wall and gripped the phone.
“But I’m sorry none of them were a match for your mother.”
Angel let out the breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. “Okay.”
“You know, I preferred not to dash Mr. Roberts’s hopes, but he wanted any information we had. I think it was important to him to know we were still actively working to find your mother.”
“We appreciate your organization doing this. Please keep me updated too.”
After saying good-bye, Angel clicked the phone off. It was definitely time for her to move forward. She needed to start by putting together the events that led up to the night her mother disappeared. There had to be some clues people have been overlooking all these years.
There was one man who could help her. Her granddad had lost faith in him, but when Angel started on the documentary a few years back, she realized Detective Lenny Cade’s obsession would become her main connection to the past.