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Back Heaven, My Home Save as PDF
Chapters (40)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. Marion County
  7. Part One
  8. 1.
  9. 2.
  10. 3.
  11. 4.
  12. Part Two
  13. 5.
  14. 6.
  15. 7.
  16. 8.
  17. 9.
  18. Part Three
  19. 10.
  20. 11.
  21. 12.
  22. 13.
  23. 14.
  24. 15.
  25. 16.
  26. Part Four
  27. 17.
  28. 18.
  29. 19.
  30. 20.
  31. 21.
  32. 22.
  33. 23.
  34. 24.
  35. Camilla
  36. Acknowledgments
  37. Discover More
  38. About the Author
  39. Also by Attica Locke
  40. Praise for Attica Locke’s

“Him and another little rat-faced punk that stay down there. I’ve caught them red-handed spray-painting my house. Took me and Margaret’s boy half a day to put a fresh wash of paint over it. Told you I didn’t like the boy none.”

Darren nodded as if this were perfectly reasonable. But he felt something tickle the back of his neck. Keeping his voice calm, his tone almost offhand, as he said, “Hey, Mr. Page, tell you what, long as I’m here, you don’t mind if I search your property, do you, sir? Be a shame not to be thorough about this.”

The air in the room got sucked out as if by a cyclone.

Mr. Page’s eyes narrowed as he reconsidered Darren and his purpose here, his gaze lingering on the silver badge. Then he shot a quick and furtive glance at the tool belt hanging high up on the kitchen wall; the decorative paper behind it was salt and pepper shakers in orange and red. The belt held the flashlight but also a sheathed knife and a holster that cradled the .45 revolver he’d carried before.

Darren moved his left hand to his own pistol, rested it on the grip.

Mr. Page, now looking again at Darren, studying the gun and the badge, suddenly dropped all talk of peppers and collards and tales of black Texans going back a hundred years. He looked angry with himself, as if he’d left the back door open and a coyote had wandered into his home. “No, Ranger, I don’t believe I will let you search my home nor none of this out here I still own. Not without a warrant. Sorry, but I been burned before.” And then, smug in the protection of the law, he said, “You come back again, I want a lawyer present.”

“You have a lawyer?”

“Come back, and I guess you’ll find out.” He motioned Darren to the hall that led to the front door. Darren nodded to show he understood he was being dismissed. “Just tell me one thing,” he said. “Did you see anyone else out Friday night around the same time Levi was locking up the boat shed? Anybody out for a stroll, walking a dog, anything?”

“The only dogs around here is wild. Bite your hand off if you try to give ’em even a cold biscuit,” Mr. Page said. “Like I said, I’ve been burned before.” He walked Darren to the front door and promptly put him on the other side of it.

9.

9.