McBride barked a laugh. “That crafty jezebel? Oh, she knows plenty.” He snapped out his handkerchief again, and spat into it. “We lost Lily over her. Lily used to be a highly esteemed member of this church, a veritable force of nature for the Lord.”

“Lily had adopted Grace, from what I remember, correct? Grace was only a teenager, eighteen or so. Practically a kid.”

“She wasn’t no kid, son.” McBride started to laugh, but it evolved into a spasm of phlegm-filled coughing. When he had composed himself, he went on. “Oh, she said she was eighteen or something. But she didn’t act it, no sir. She was wise beyond her years.”

“No disrespect, but it sounds like you took advantage of a very young woman, reverend,” Troy said.

Crimson bloomed in McBride’s cheeks. He adamantly shook his head.

Troy pressed on: “When you hear about grown men taking advantage of girls, one of their defenses is always, ‘she acted wise beyond her years,’ or some self-justifying crap like that. We’re in your church, sir, before the altar. But you’re going to sit here in the house of the Lord and lie to me?”

“Boy, how dare you speak to me like this, in my church!”

“Then tell me the truth, goddammit!” Troy shot to his feet.

McBride thumped Troy’s thigh with his cane.

“Hey!” Troy’s knee almost crumpled under him. “What the hell’s the matter with you?”

“Not in this house, son.” McBride pointed a long, gnarled index finger at Troy. “You will not use that foul language here. You will respect this house of God or you will leave.”

Troy ground his teeth. He nearly charged out of there. Under any other circumstances, he would have given the pastor the finger and cut bait. He took pride in his reputation as a man who didn’t tolerate foolishness, who didn’t take any shit off anyone and did things his way, on his terms.

But he wasn’t there for himself. He was there for Monica. He was there for his family.

He pulled in a deep breath.

All right, I can do this. For her.

He eased into the pew again.

“I’m sorry,” Troy said. “But I need to understand what actually happened, reverend.”

“You had this old man’s heart jumping.” McBride sighed, mopped a fresh layer of sweat off his face. “Thought I was gonna have to run this cane up your tail.”

“We got off on the wrong foot,” Troy said.

“Grace said she was a teenager, but she didn’t behave or look like one, like I was saying.” McBride shook his head. “She flirted with me, but I didn’t encourage her, didn’t take her devil’s bait. To this day, I believe she sedated me.”

“With food?”