An intense feeling of homecoming overtook me right then and there. It was one of those transcendent moments that grabs you a little by surprise and reminds you all at once about the good things. Whatever else happened, there was this, where I needed to be, where I belonged.

Snapshot—remember the feeling for the next time I need it.

The feeling of intimacy didn’t last long, though, as the house soon began filling up with other guests. A few of my old guard from DCPD were the next to show up; Jerome and Claudette Thurman came with Rakeem Powell and his new girlfriend, whose name I didn’t catch. “Give it a week,” Sampson told me on the side. “If she’s still around, then you can worry about it.”

Aunt Tia and my cousin Carter were the first actual family to come, followed by a string of warm and familiar faces, several of them bearing some vague resemblance to my own.

The last to arrive was Dr. Kayla Coles, and I greeted her at the door myself.

“Annie Sullivan, I presume?”

“Excuse me? Oh, I get it. The Miracle Worker.”

“The Miracle Worker—the one who got my grandmother to put turkey in her chili. I’m guessing that was your work. Well done.”

“At your service.” She curtsied playfully in her turquoise dress, which looked very comfortable even while it clung to her. Kayla didn’t usually show off much of herself, and I couldn’t help noticing. She definitely looked different than she did in her usual preppy-practical work clothes.

Instead of a medical bag, she carried a large covered crock.

“Now this might be your biggest trick yet,” I said. “Bringing someone else’s food into Nana’s kitchen? I want to see this.”

“Not just the food; I brought the recipe, too.”

She turned the crock around to show a white index card taped to the side.

“Heart-healthy baked beans for a woman who knows all too well how to cook with bacon fat.”

“Well, come on in,” I said with a sweeping gesture. “At your own risk.”

The sounds of Branford Marsalis Quartet’s Romare Bearden Revealed ushered us through the house, where the party was gathering up steam and everyone looked glad to see Dr. Kayla, who happened to be a saint in the neighborhood. I couldn’t help feeling a little giddy. At the end of the week I’d be on another plane. But for now, this was as good as it gets.

Chapter 77

Chapter 77

I FOUND SAMPSON AND BILLIE just as he was opening a beer in the kitchen, and I took it out of his hands. There was something I wanted to get out of the way with the big man before the festivities really got rolling.

“Follow me. I need to talk to you—before either of us has a drink,” I told him.