“That’s my car,” I screamed. “Don’t take my car.” He just shook his head at that and got in and started driving. I walked back into the house and picked up the phone. “I’m sorry. What’s happening? What’s going on down there?”

“Malcolm’s there?”

“He was here. He’s gone. He’s leaving me. Never mind. He doesn’t know you were here. Tell me what’s going on down there.”

“They took her off downtown. Her kids are home and her sister’s got them. I’m going to the police station. Did you get Hilton on the phone?”

“No, I never did. You want me to call her now?”

“No, I’ll call. Just meet me at the police station as soon as you can. I’ll call my cousin Edmund. He’s a lawyer. He’ll help, I think. There were five people there, Rhoda. They all witnessed it and they all say she fell on the knife. They swear she fell on the knife.”

An hour later I was down at the jail with Robert talking to policemen and lawyers. “She always had a knife,” I kept saying over and over. “She used it to cut up things. She needed it to cut up vegetables and things. She always had a knife.”

“Did you know this Delmonica was having an affair with her husband?” This from a tall redheaded cop.

“How could anyone have an affair with him? He was in jail. Klane went down to see him every day. She spent the night on Sundays.”

“Well, one of the neighbors said there was bad blood over a man. Maybe it wasn’t a husband.”

“She didn’t stab her,” I kept saying. “Klane wouldn’t stab anybody. My little boys just love her. She’s so good with children. She wouldn’t kill someone. Delmonica fell on the knife. I want to see her. I want to talk to her.”

Finally, I was allowed to talk to Klane. They took me down a hall into a concrete cell with iron bars. Klane was sitting on a cot. She looked so small, so frightened, her shoulders bent into her chest. “Rhoda,” she said. “Oh, Rhoda, where have they put my children?”

“Your sister has them. Is that okay? Are you okay?”

“Where’s she keeping them? At her house or my house?”

“I don’t know. I’ll go find out. Where do you want them to be?”

“At my house. I don’t like her husband. He’s not a good man. They shouldn’t be over there.”

“Klane.”

“Yes.”

“We’re going to get you out of here. They’re setting bail. We’ll get you out by tomorrow. Robert said they’d have you out tomorrow. His cousin Edmund who’s a lawyer is going to get you out.”