“I doubt you could have done anything to stop Ezra,” I said, recalling the scene at my house. “When a man’s that angry . . .”

“Ezra has a terrible temper. He has prayed for so long, asking the Lord to help him overcome it. But he never can.”

Did he take that terrible temper out on his wife as well as his son? After what I witnessed earlier, I was afraid he did. Could that explain the stiffness in Julia’s movements?

Julia perhaps sensed my concern. She looked at me again. “Ezra has never struck me, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“I’m relieved to hear it. But he struck Justin this morning. Very hard.”

Julia’s hands clenched, and her breathing grew labored. From the glint in her eye, I figured it was just as well Ezra was already in the hospital or Julia might have put him there herself.

“How badly is Ezra hurt?”

“Not as bad as he’s going to be if he strikes Justin again.” Julia made an effort to regain control of herself. For a moment I thought she might go flying into Ezra’s room. “Sorry, Charlie, this is all so sordid.”

“You don’t need to worry about that with me. We’ve known each other too long.” I took her right hand and patted it. “Now, tell me what happened to Ezra.”

“It was ridiculous, a man his size laying into Godfrey like that. Godfrey hit him twice, once in the nose and once in the eye, and it was all over. I don’t think Godfrey did anything except bruise his knuckles a little.”

“Did he break Ezra’s nose? Or injure the eye badly?” I could picture the scene all too easily. I fought Godfrey a couple of times myself in the folly of adolescence. Godfrey won both times, but thankfully my face didn’t suffer lasting harm.

“Ezra’s nose is pretty swollen. So is his eye. I don’t think there’ll be permanent damage, except to his pride. There were several of our church members in the restaurant. Ezra shamed himself in front of them.” The grim satisfaction in Julia’s voice didn’t bode well for Ezra. Any sympathy I could have felt for him evaporated the moment he struck Justin. “What can I do for you?” I said.

“I’ll be fine,” Julia replied. “I’m sorry that you got dragged into this, but I know you’ll help Justin if you can. Just be there if he needs someone to talk to, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course I don’t.” I paused for a moment. There was a question I felt I had to ask, but Julia might not want to answer it. “What made you decide to get in touch with Godfrey after all this time and tell him about Justin?”