I had gotten really good at darting across that courtyard over the last couple of weeks, even in the dark. Two officers tripped over the tennis balls that Owen had lobbed over onto the brick the walkway and the other three fell into good old Mr. Gilbert Fanciworth’s empty grave. That gave me plenty of time to dash off into the night. I ran through back yards and alleyways until I made it to Forsyth Park. There was a maze of civil war era tunnels underground and they led up to the basement of Madame Essie’s House of Jazz. Essie used them to store her liquor and she had showed me where to hide whenever someone was looking for me to collect on an overdue bill or a lost bet. I could hide there during the day and slip out at night to gather the evidence I needed to clear my name. Essie was right, this was the case of a lifetime.

I made my way through the tunnels and into Madame Essie’s basement and fell asleep on the cot in the corner. The sound of her high heels clicking woke me up.

“I didn’t see that coming,” she said plopping down next to me. “I knew they were hateful enough to kill that cat, but their own mother?”

Essie handed me a plate of food and an envelope with Lady Glady’s will and Mr. Gilbert Fanciworth’s long awaited autopsy report.

“You’re going to need your strength,” she said. “The will proves their motive, the autopsy report shows that the cat was beaten to death with a blunt object- something round and small. Now you’ve got to figure out how they got close enough to that crazy cat to do it.”

Essie got up to leave and I grabbed her arm.

“Essie I’m done,” I sobbed. “There’s no way. I’m a drunk and a loser and I was too stupid to realize they were setting me up and I’m never going to be able to figure out how they planned this murder, not even to save my life.”

Essie grabbed me by my shoulders and shook me hard.

“Listen here Rubie,” she said as she stared into my eyes. “Pull yourself together.You’ve got to get your head straight and figure this out. You’ve got a brilliant mind when you’re not drinking and if this ain’t enough to sober you up I don’t know what will. Everyone knows Lady Gladys’ children are no good. All you have to do is figure out a reasonable explanation for how they set this all up and you’ll be off the hook. You can do it Rubie. You’ve been a big help to a whole lot of black folks in this town when they had legal trouble now we’re all going to help you - me, Antwan, Bozier and even Pinkney.

I had always thought Essie was helping me out when she would send black clients from Frogtown my way. I never realized they were looking to me for help because the legal system in the segregated South was stacked against them and they had nowhere else to turn. I just figured they needed cheap legal advice. I was always focused on helping myself and getting the big break I needed to earn my life back across town on the other side of the tracks. I guess I wasn’t much different than the Emmas, Jeromes and Owens of this world. I looked past the poverty and racial injustice in Savannah and right through the people who were suffering because of it. I had never really put much thought into the people on the outside of white society, even when I became one of them. And I had never bothered to think the little things I was doing in Frogtown could actually be a big help to people in need. All I really thought about was myself. But that was going to change. If I could somehow get out of this mess I was going to be different. I was going to live my life with my eyes and my mind open wide open.

Essie sat me back down and handed me an overnight bag.

“Get your rest Rubie darlin’,” she said. “Tomorrow night we’re going to sneak you back into that house and keep you hidden so you can come up with the proof you need to pin this back on them.”