“That’s not all you called to say, though.”
Eli laughed. “Your sister said you were discerning. I just wasn’t sure if you were aware of the nature of the job. Nahla is a great kid, she’s just?—”
“Ambitious and reckless,” Cannon said, finishing Eli’s sentence.
“Uh, . . .yeah, precisely. I just wanted to give you a heads-up. If she senses she’s being followed, she’ll definitely try to give you the slip. I didn’t tell her I hired you, because that would only make your job harder, so?—”
“I understand, Mr. Hill. I need to be discreet while tailing her.”
Letting out a relief-filled sigh, Eli said, “Yes, that’s exactly it. Thanks again for doing this.”
“It’s my job. I’ll check in with you on her status by the end of tomorrow.”
With that, Cannon hung up. He pulled up her file again, for no reason other than to stare at her photo a minute longer.
It was a professional headshot, and in his opinion, it gave off the perfect vibe for someone in her line of work. Instead of smiling, her expression was serious; her eyes, determined. As angelic and doll-like as her face was, in this photo, she looked like a woman whosebitewas much worse than herbark.
Cannon would be able to confirm that soon enough.
Nahla scribbledanother sentence in her notebook before focusing on Mr. and Mrs. Howard again.
“So, before your land was seized, deputies were sent to inspect it?” she asked.
Mrs. Howard nodded and said, “They came by three times, talkin’ ’bout they received complaints about criminal activity.” She scoffed.
“I am sixty-four years old, and my husband is sixty-seven. We spent our whole lives makin’ an honest livin’. You think we gon’ wait tillnowto be criminals? Chile, please.”
Nahla’s heart broke at the woman’s words. The people with power in this city were really out here ruining lives.
“I’m so sorry,” was all Nahla could think to say. It was how she truly felt about all of this—sorry.
Mr. Howard, who hadn’t said much in the thirty minutes the three of them had been together, cleared his throat. He grasped his wife’s hand and lifted it to his lip. Nahla couldn’t help but smile softly as he kissed the back of it.
“We’ve lived in Lyle all our lives, Miss Avery. We’ve owned that land for thirty-two years. We worked hard and paid off that land fair and square, and what has happened to us just ain’t right.”
Nahla nodded. “It isn’t. Not at all. Do you all remember the names of the officers who initially came to check out your land?”
He shook his head. “When all this started, we didn’t even think it was that big of a deal to be writin’ down badge numbers and names. When the police first came sniffin’ around our property, they made it seem like the whole thing must have been a mistake and that we’d get the land back, no problem.
“But . . . they never returned it.”
Mr. Howard scowled. “Hell no. They bulldozed it and sent some young ass officer to explain to us what happened. They made it seem like they uncovered some major contraband on the property and were doin’ us a favor by not lockin’ us up.”
Mrs. Hill chimed in. “And we told them to show it to us, because we ain’t have nothin illegal. They never did, though. They just stonewalled us and wiped our property clean like we never existed.”
The room fell silent as their words permeated the air. If Nahla hadn’t already heard a similar story from the Green family, she would have probably been more shocked at their admissions. Knowing that there wasn’t much she could say to make things better, she sighed and repeated her words from earlier.
“I’m so sorry.”
Mrs. Howard shook her head.
“Don’t be sorry, child, just tell the truth. That’s all we need. Folks who can really do somethin’ about it . . . They listen to people like you.”
Schooling her face, Nahla asked softly, “People like me?”
“People with education and credentials. They won’t be able to get away with labeling you a liar. Not easily anyway. We ain’t the only ones they done this to. Plenty folks got stories that ended worse than ours, but they got shut down as soon as they started tryin’ to speak up about it.”
Nahla raised a brow. “Do you think they would be interested in talking to me?”
