Daddy stops. Grimaces. Swallowing up that pain before he speaks. There have been so many reasons I thought Jackson locked himself in his house. The guilt because he’d gotten Daddy to take one more meeting with Mark. Maybe that decision brought them to the wrong place at the wrong time. How he couldn’t face my daddy knowing they were getting pinned as the murderers. Jackson might’ve convicted himself for that reason alone.

“Promise me.” His voice shakes. “You’ll forget about helping me and just find Jamal. Keep praying that things end up better for him. I need you to keep him strong.”

I hang on to each word, nod at promises I want to keep, so he can let go when it’s time. But when I look at him, I can’t convince myself it’ll be his time in less than nine months now. I shake my head. I smile, tell him I’ll be somebody.

But inside I know I can’t let Daddy give up. Every person who was against his partnership with Mr. Davidson is a suspect, and that history Daddy keeps trying to make me forget might be what I need to hold on to.

“What were you doing over there at Mrs. Ridges’?” Daddy gives me a mischievous grin. I know what he’s going to say next. He always has a way of turning my questions back on to me. “You know, Quincy has to ask me for permission if he’s going to date my daughter.”

“Daddy.” I tap him playfully. “That’s not happening.”

“I remember you two as kids, right when we moved here.”

I smile shyly. We were kids. Daddy knows how Quincy was my first crush—before Dean—one of those mysteries he knows about. He used to know everything about me. Before the shooting, before all our lives turned upside down. He’s always been observant.

“Quincy’s not the same boy you knew, Daddy. He has a million girlfriends.”

“I know Quincy. He comes here with Jamal sometimes. He ain’t forgot me, and I ain’t forgot him.”

I didn’t know this. I wonder how often he comes to visit, but I know if I ask more, Daddy will think I care too much and prove him right.

“I guess since you and Dean are dating now, that won’t work out. Maybe when you get a bit older.”

Daddy loves acting like he can see everything I do from his prison cell. I have to chuckle.

“I’m not dating Dean, either. Who has time to date? I’m a lawyer in training now.”

“Well, I’d like to see that. My daughter a lawyer.”

“What, you don’t think I can?”

“You can do anything. I’ve never heard you talk about college, let alone a profession. I’m glad you’re starting to listen to us.”