Stand Your Ground: A Novel by Victoria Christopher Murray Page B

baby.”
    But then, Tyrone rushed from the living room to where we sat. “They don’t have our son anymore,” he said.
    Syreeta and I looked up with matching frowns.
    Tyrone reached for my hand, pulled me up, and as he wrapped his arms around me, he said, “We don’t have to wait anymore, baby. We can go see our son.”
    I didn’t dare lean away to ask him if his words were true.Because I would’ve been so hurt if somehow his words had gotten jumbled in my head and he hadn’t just told me that I could see Marquis.
    “Are you saying that the ME has released him?” my best friend asked for me.
    Tyrone leaned back just a little so that he could look at me, but at the same time, he still held me as if he knew I needed his strength. “Yes, I just got the call. This is one of the things we’ve been working on, but I didn’t want to tell you. Didn’t want to get your hopes up.”
    “So you got the police to release him? For real?”
    “We did,” Tyrone said, glancing at Raj. “It just took a little bit of—”
    I didn’t even let him finish before I wrapped my arms around his neck. I wanted to say thank you aloud, but I couldn’t get words past the clog in my throat. “Where is he?” I asked. There were tears in my eyes and a smile on my face, the manifestation of all that I was feeling: elation . . . I was going to see my son . . . devastation . . . I was going to see my dead son.
    “They sent Marquis where I told them . . . to Marshalls Funeral Home. That’s where you wanted him, right?”
    I had never thought about where I would send the body of anyone that I loved. But Marshalls was a staple in our neighborhood.
    “That’s fine,” I said. “Can we go now?”
    “Yes.”
    That was all I needed to hear. I didn’t even look around for my purse. Tyrone would be with me; I wouldn’t need a wallet, I didn’t need makeup. I just needed to go.
    Spinning around, I was the first one to the door, but as I grabbed the knob, three voices behind me shouted, “Wait!”
    I turned around and frowned. As long as I’d waited, I couldn’t imagine why these people were standing there, telling me to wait.
    It was my best friend who stepped up. “I know this has been tough, girl. And I know your heart is broken. And I’m going to be with you all the way.” She paused. “But I am never going to go anywhere with you while you’re dressed like that!”
    Her words didn’t make sense. Until I looked down, and took in my bathrobe and slipper-covered feet.
    Really? If they hadn’t been here, would I have walked out of the house dressed like this?
    I looked back up, then down again. And when I raised my head and looked into their faces, I laughed. I mean, I really laughed. I leaned my head back and let go of a big one. I laughed in a way that I’d never thought would happen again. I laughed until tears came out of my eyes.

Chapter 10
    I waited for the appropriate time. I waited until after Vincent and Pamela Marshall met us at the door of their funeral home and led us into a room where Tyrone, Syreeta, and I sat on one side of the table and the funeral-home directors sat on the other.
    I waited until the Marshalls gave us their appropriate condolences and then waited through all of their promises of how they were going to take care of us and our son. I let them get through all of that, not really hearing too many of their words, before I asked the only question that was important to me. “Is Marquis here now?”
    “Yes.” Pam nodded solemnly. “He arrived just an hour ago,” she said as if my son had come to her place of business of his own volition.
    Again I let an appropriate moment pass. Then, “I want to see my son.”
    Vincent Marshall nodded. “We’re thinking that we’ll just need a few days. We’ll work straight through the weekend and you can have the funeral on Monday. I know that’s soon, but you’ve been waiting so long. And it would be a week since.” He paused, and when neither