Page 64 of Passion’s Song

“What are you talking about?” Damien asked. “The police were never even able to identify the suspect. How do you know that he’s dead?”

“I knew who shot me,” his brother answered. “He was shot and killed himself just a few weeks after I was shot.”

Damien shook his head, as if that would clear the confusion caused by his brother’s words. “Kurt, what in the hell are you talking about? You were just walking down the street and you were shot in the back.”

“I was selling drugs,” Kurt said.

Damien could do nothing but sit there as a wave of shock crashed into him.

He jumped out of his chair and paced to the other end of the kitchen, trying to physically distance himself from the lie his brother had just told. Because it was a lie. It had to be a lie.

“You were not selling drugs,” Damien argued. “Why would you even say that?”

“Because, I was,” Kurt answered. “The person who shot me had come to buy drugs, but he didn’t have the money. He tried to steal them from me. I was shot in the back because I turned to run away from him.”

Damien collapsed into his seat again. It felt as if the world had just slipped out from underneath him. His older brother? The person he’d looked up to for all these years? A drug dealer?

“How? You...” He couldn’t bring himself to say the words out loud.

“I made stupid choices,” Kurt said. “I did that, and I paid for them. You want to know why I’m not angry? It’s because I realize that I’m lucky to be in this chair. I’m lucky to be alive, Damien. I could have died that day. I put myself in that situation. Don’t put the blame on the Ninth Ward. The only one who deserves blame for what happened to me is me.”

Kurt backed his chair away from the table and came over to sit right in front of Damien. Kurt clamped his hands over Damien’s shoulders and gave them a firm squeeze.

As he looked up at his brother, Damien felt as if his entire being had been caught up in a tornado of confusion.

“Look, Damien, you explained what you wanted to do with that land you bought, and I supported you because you’re my brother and I’ll always support you. But I don’t believe in it.

“There’s a lot of good already going on in the old neighborhood. It’s had a bad rap for a long time, but people like April are trying to change it. She and the rest of those folks at that youth center are seeing to it that the kids who live there now won’t make the same choices I made.” Kurt tapped him in the center of his chest. “They need to see people like you. Those who made it out the right way. If you really want to leave a legacy in the world, help those kids make something of themselves. Help give them a neighborhood they can be proud of.”

And just like that, Damien knew what he needed to do.

Chapter 12

April entered the NOPD’s seventh precinct on Dwyer Road, her heart beating as wildly as it had when she first received the call from the arresting officer. She walked up to the service counter.

“I’m here to see Officer Pickney,” she said in a breathless voice.

“Are you April Knight?” came a voice just beyond her shoulder.

April turned to find a middle-aged officer with a full beard and a gleaming bald head.

“I am,” she answered. She reached her hand out to shake his hand. “Are you Officer Pickney?”

He nodded.

“Thank you so much for calling me,” she said.

“Thank you for coming.” He gestured for her to follow him. “They’re in here.”

April followed him into a small room. Linsey and another girl, one April had seen around the neighborhood but whom she’d never met, sat at a plain wooden table. April wasn’t sure she could feel any more dismayed after her argument with Damien, but she’d been wrong. Disappointment pummeled her as she looked down on Linsey’s bent head.

“They were caught stuffing various items down their shirts. The convenience store has them on surveillance tape. When we asked her who we could call, she gave us your name and number.”

April nodded. “Have they been charged?”

“The owner of the store is still in with another of the deputies. He hasn’t decided yet if he’s going to bring charges.”

“Linsey,” April called, but the girl refused to look at her. “So, you had me come all the way over here, but you’re not going to speak to me?” April asked her.