His grave was hidden to save the lives of his wife, son and daughter. Old Tobias Brand was seventy-two years old when his Maker called him home.
Tobias, his wife, Alloya, son Simeon and daughter Davonne, were all born in Georgia before Lincoln became president.
They lived on the Brand plantation in a wood planked shack. Alloya was cook at the Big House, a fact she felt proud of. Alloya could make catfish taste like a prime cut of beef. She was glad to be out of the plantation fields and hot Georgia sun.
Brand was the name of the plantation owner. Tobias never did know his real surname, if ever he had one. Leland Evans Brand had made a name for himself among the wealthy of Georgia for his tobacco plantation that produced rich, aromatic tobacco, the choice of men of money in those days.
None of the plantation slaves were allowed to leave the plantation...ever. Such was the fear of plantation slave owners of losing their free labor.
Still, Tobias would come to a place where he wished he hadn't seen what he did.
He loved fishing the creek that ran along the back of the long line of slave shacks. The water in that creek was so pure, fish could be seen swimming past clearly. Tobias knew a half dozen fish for dinner was a easy meal Davonne could prepare.
Alloya was only allowed to visit the family shack after the last meal at the Big House was cleared away. She was usually so tired from twelve hours of preparing meals that cooking for Tobias, Simeon and Davonne was more than she could manage. Tobias understood...so long as his beloved could share his bed every night, it was fine by him.
When autumn came in the year 1846, James K. "Bucky" Polk was president. Whispers were that the country was going to war with Mexico. Land known to some folk as "Washington DC" went back and forth being ceded to Virginia, unceded and then receded.
Times were hard for men like Tobias. Their lives were lived in an invisible rat trap held in place by a leg iron. Try to run and you ended up dead. Plantation owners felt a dead slave was better than wasting money trying to capture them.
"Alloya, I know what'll happin' if I run," Tobias said, one night lying beside his wife.
"Oh Toby, don't even whispuh it," Alloya said.
"I'm jes sayin' it's in my mind ...runnin'. Maybe, hop a freight goin' north or west," he said, in a whisper.
"What about me and the chillun'?"
"Maybe, I could get settled in and make enuf' money to send for you and them," Tobias said.
Alloya hugged her husband tightly. Rightfully, she feared for his life and her children. There were plantation bosses who lurked around slave shacks at night looking to overhear plans of runners. Alloya worried all the next day about Tobias.
She felt relief when she returned the next night. But, Tobias had a tale to tell she wouldn't forget any time too soon.
They made a habit of sitting on the top step of their porch to catch the cool of the evening. Tobias liked to whittle wood while Alloya tended to the family's mending. Some evenings they sat in silence just looking at the swaying of the moss on the huge trees that separated their shacks from the Big House.
"I went fishin' after sundown. Caught a batch of porgies. Davonne cooked 'em up nice," Tobias said.
Alloya knew her husband well. He was a man of few words and many facial expressions she "read" easily.
"Something more to tell?" she asked.
"Yes m'am" Tobias replied.
"Massa's been sneakin' round to Ella's shack. Saw 'im plain as day. He looked over his shoulder twice a'fore he entered the shack. No good goin' on in there," Tobias said.
"Toby, you didn't see nuthin'" Alloya warned.
Tobias shook his head.
"Saw 'im I say" he insisted.
"nuhuh" she answered disapprovingly.
"Did Massa see you?" she asked.
"Don't 'spect so. He looked too werried Missus was watching from the veranda," Tobias said.
"Who'da think Massa would have such werries" Alloya added.
"What y'all mean?" Tobias asked.
"She, being so uppity, cain't put a comb through her hair. Who'd think she care what Massa does?"
Sherlene McClintock Brand was a celebrated Georgia beauty of the kind men have midnight fantasies about. Her beauty could be called ethereal. She had skin white as porcelain and a waistline barely more than four inches wide. Course, the rest of her was concealed by those huge balloon gowns real southern belles wore.
"Missus changes her gowns four times in a day, 'ccordin' to her maid," Alloya said.
"You been spendin' too much time nosing around part of the Big House you got no business in," Tobias answered.
Alloya knew Tobias was getting his mean in for her earlier disapproval. She ignored it.
Life on Brand Plantation went on in endless hours of hard work, oppressive humidity and burning sunlight by day and retreat down the long dirt path back to their shacks by eight every evening.
"Davonne, I'm goin' down to da fishin' hole. We'll be needin' suppah," Tobias said.
The shacks formed an odd curved line with several acres, mostly heavy with trees, of land behind them. The trees started on flat ground and ended on a hill. The creek where Tobias fished ran along the foot of the hill. A man fishing was pretty much covered by brush at the edge of the creek. Most saplings and scrub were thick with foliage the year round.
Tobias had his favorite place picked out. It was a slight inlet where he could dangle his line and where fish came for his bait...crickets and cicadas he collected and attached to his hook. His bait worked every time. He could usually count on at least four or more fish the size and fatness of a small log.
This particular night, Alloya was still working up at the Big House. Simeon was busy patching a knot hole in the wall of the shack and Davonne was cooking up greens and fat back.
All was a peaceful Georgia night until Tobias thought he heard an odd sound. He remained stock still. He wouldn't be punished for fishing. He would be punished for seeing something he shouldn't have.
He saw Leland Brand carrying something heavy. He nearly rose to his feet to ask if the Massa wanted his help, until he realized the heavy thing he was toting was wrapped in an old blanket. Instead, he stayed still and didn't even dare breathe.
He saw the Massa tie two long ropes on either end of the blanket. Then, he tied two heavy stones on the ends. He dropped it quick as he could into the creek. He started to hurry off. Then, he thought he heard something. He stopped again and look around. Seeing nothing, he hurried back to his mansion.
Tobias waited about forty-five minutes before he stood up and walked back to his shack.
Leland Brand sat taking in the evening breeze on the second floor veranda, cigar in one hand and whiskey glass in the other watching his slave Tobias walk to his shack with a mess of fish and his makeshift fishing pole.
Alloya returned from her day's work. They sat on the shack steps, as was their habit.
"Massa and the Missus sure did have a real dust up at dinner tonight. Right in front of company too," Alloya said.
"Wouldn't guess the Massa would let her get two words in," Tobias said.
"She was frightful that one. Never before heard her speak more'n two words at dinner. This night, she was in a pure white heat rage. He made his apologies to their guests and grabbed Missus by her arms and hauled her firm, up the stairs. Sounded like glass breakin' up there. When her maid came downstairs, she said the Massa was sending for the doctor. He told her maid Missus was having a bad "spell."
Several days later, Leland Brand came out to review the work on his land. He stopped where Tobias was standing, with an armload of tobacco leaves and the hanging bag he wore on his left shoulder so full, it made Tobias appear he was standing tilted to his right.
The Massa tipped his hat at the plantation boss. Tobias didn't like the glances the Massa and plantation boss exchanged. It meant trouble. Tobias couldn't figure out what he could have done to be on Massa's wrong side.
Tobias finished out the day as usual. He heard Alloya on the steps of the shack. Then, they both heard heavy footsteps and the shack door slam open. It was Sam Hardle, the plantation boss.
"Tobias, come with me!" Hardle demanded.
"Boss, what'd I do?" Tobias said.
Hardle yanked Tobias roughly by the arm, out the door of the shack.
"You been fishin' the creek lately?" Hardle asked.
"Yessuh. The Massa say we kin fish for our suppahs," Tobias said meekly.
"You see any trespassuhs while you wuz fishin?" Hardle asked.
"No suh. I seen none of them what shouldn't be on Massa's land," Tobias said.
"You seen any of them who should?" Hardle asked.
Tobias knew what Hardle wanted him to say.
"No suh, Boss. I fish late evenin'. No one but me, de fish and da trees," Tobias said.
"If you did see someone, anyone, who don't seem to belong, you'd say, right?" Hardle asked.
"Yessuh, Boss. I sure would," Tobias answered.
"To make sure you do, I'll help you," Hardle answered.
Hardle removed the long leather strop he wore attached to his belt. He used it to hurry the field slaves and to get them to fear him more than they feared dying from heat exposure or exhaustion.
"Turn around!"
"But Boss..." Tobias started to say.
"Turn around, I say or would you rather be blinded first?" Hardle said.
Tobias knew what was coming. He steeled himself for the blows with the strop. He heard Alloya in the shack doorway crying. He heard Davonne scream and Simeon yelling, "NO!"
When the beating was over, Hardle rode off. Alloya, Davonne and Simeon helped Tobias back into their shack as the rest of the slaves remained inside their squalid living quarters.
Tobias felt a rage inside him. He knew the Massa sent Hardle to keep Tobias quiet.
"Why'd Massa send Hardle?" Alloya asked.
"I won't say jes now."
A few days later, Alloya announced that the Missus left the plantation. The Massa told her maid she would work in the fields. She was no longer needed for the Missus service. All over the Big House, the whispers among the house help spoke of the absence of Sherlene McClintock Brand.
Massa's butler, Ben, hinted the Missus had been put in a special place under a doctor's care. Tobias knew better. He figured out what the heavy bundle was the Massa threw in the creek.
When war came to Georgia, Yankees burned Atlanta and several other cities to the ground. When the new president, Lincoln, set the plantation slaves free, many fled their southern homes. Tobias took Alloya, Davonne and Simeon as far as North Carolina. Always, he and Alloya felt as if they were being followed by one of Hardle's men.
During the war, they called themselves "home rule men." In reality, they simply transferred their violence on the plantations they had bossed for plantation owners, to the poor whites left in abject poverty by the war. Now, no one was safe from these men of cruelty.
The Brand plantation was sold to the US government in 1866. It stood in the way of a proposed railroad. The government men came in and dredged the creek and filled in the traversing part where Tobias had once fished for his family's suppers.
As men shoveled away creek rocks, they found human bones wrapped in an old blanket. The men assumed it was a slave who tried to escape from the plantation. Until they found a strip of lace handkerchief clinging to the inside of the blanket.
"Can't be a slave. That's a woman's body," the government engineer said.
They sent the bones off to the local morgue. No one claimed the body. No one really tried.
An Savannah reporter, John Shockley, found the unclaimed body a huge curiosity. He dug up all the information on the Brand plantation and Leland Evans Brand.
From what he could find, Brand had a wife, but no children. According to several of his sources, Sherlene McClintock Brand, Leland's wife had gone mad and was sent off to an institution to protect the family from the disgrace of mental illness.
Yet, Shockley could find no institution or even a physician who attended Brand's wife. Shockley knew there was a story in this somewhere. He met with several of the Brand house workers who told him Brand's wife had an angry outburst at dinner one night and disappeared the next day. No one asked questions. It was the way in Georgia. Still, Shockley's journalistic experience and sixth sense told him to keep digging.
Now and then, he printed bits and pieces on the Brand plantation and the mysterious disappearance of Brand's wife. Leland Brand caught one of those news releases and threatened a lawsuit. Shockley decided to check the institutions in Georgia and surrounding states. It was unlikely Brand would send his wife up north to any institution. He was well-known for his hatred of the North. He blamed the loss of his plantation on the Yankees. When he was approached by the Yankee government to buy his land, Brand was amused.
"They're buying up Dixie land like it's a gold rush. All they're getting are useless tobacco fields," he laughed.
After he sold his plantation to the government of the Yankees he so hated, Leland opened a bank in North Carolina. He prospered quite well and even considered buying an antebellum mansion near the mountains. He had his agent check out the property. It was perfect, although, it wasn't the hundred acres Brand Plantation had been. Still, it had a wide expanse of woods surrounding it. Leland bought the place and called it, Brand Acres. He raised horses and raced them in Kentucky for which he earned additional income.
His wealth grew so that he could afford to buy the bank he managed. He named it Brand Savings and Mortgage Bank.
One morning, Leland sat in his office. As he studied the bank's asset report, he glance up and noticed a face he knew all too well. He saw the black man sit down at Howard Barnsley's desk. Barnsley was the bank's loan officer. He studied the man to make sure his memory matched the man's name: Tobias Brand. As Barnsley and Brand stood, Tobias stretched out his hand to shake Barnsley's hand.
"We haven't come as far as those Yankees yet," Barnsley said, rejecting Tobias hand.
After Tobias left, Leland went directly to Barnsley's desk.
"That man, what was he doing in heuh? I thought I told you we don't do business with them," Leland said.
"Suh, he has collateral and wants to buy a house up in Parkersburg. I told him we don't do business with "his kind. But, I'd check with you. Odd thing, his last name is "Brand," like yours.
"I know who he is. Did he leave an address?" Leland asked.
"He filled out some government loan application papers. Said that any bank would grant him a loan and if they refuse him, he was told to inform the government," Barnsley said.
"I'll not be held hostage by no Yankee govuhmint," Leland snarled.
"We can't tear up his application. If we do, he'll report our bank and we could be shut down," Barnsley said.
Leland grabbed the application on Barnsley's desk, not without noting the address first. He tore it to shreds.
"That's how little I care what those Yankees do," Leland bellowed.
Tobias felt he'd lived an entire lifetime even though he was barely fifty years old. But, he had managed to get a railroad job and earned enough to finally put a roof over his family's head. All he needed was a loan. He applied through the government. He knew no southern bank was going to give him a loan. He and Alloya saved enough to make a down payment. He also knew the home he wanted to buy was deliberately priced so he couldn't afford it.
Leland Brand sensed there was only one man who could ruin him: Tobias Brand. He'd gotten rid of that newsman who was dredging up trouble. Then, one morning as he was sitting in his bank office, he caught a headline and his heart sank. It read,
"Government finds woman's body buried in creek on Brand tobacco plantation."
Leland felt dizzy for a few seconds.
They found the body. It won't be long before that journalist figures out who the body belongs to, Leland thought.
Alloya picked up the morning paper and was startled by the headline.
"Tobias, look at this!" she said, handing him the paper.
Alloya knew the myriad facials expressions she seen over nearly four decades of marriage to Tobias. Never had she seen this one.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Sugar, sit down. Remember the night Boss Hardle came to our shack?" Tobias asked.
"Yes. Who could forget the beating you took from him?" Alloya said.
"There was a reason he did that," Tobias said.
"What reason? You did nuthin'," she answered.
"One evenin' I went fishin'," he said.
"You always did, everyone knew that," she replied.
"Let me finish, woman! Will you?" Tobias said, impatiently.
Alloya looked contrite and sat quietly.
"I went fishin' and heard something while sittin' behind those bushes where that little bend in the creek was. I was scared it was Boss Hardle coming after me. It wasn't. It was Massa Brand. He was carrying a heavy bundle wrapped in an old blanket. He tied it at both ends and then tied to heavy rocks on those ends," Tobias said.
"When was this Tobias?" Alloya asked.
"Before you told me his Missus went missing."
"He must have seen you. That's why he sent Hardle to make sure you kept quiet. You could have been killed. You were the only living witness to what he did to his Missus," Alloya said.
"He musta figgahed so long as he knew where I was, I couldn't do him no harm," Tobias said.
"He just never figgahed we'd all be set free," Alloya said.
"Was that the reason you were in such a hurry to move to North Carolina?" Alloya asked.
"Yes. Once we was freed, Massa Brand would have had one of the home guard boys kill us all," Tobias said.
"Tobias! He owns the bank near Parkersburg where you went to get that loan!" Alloya said.
"I know. I saw him. Don't worry. He won't do bizness with no black man. We'll leave the state now he knows where I am," Tobias said.
"We'd best move where he can't ever find us," Alloya replied.
"Simeon is taking a job in Chicago and Davonne can finished up her studies there. We'll get some property in Beecher. It's rural farm land. We could own a farm and grow all we need to eat and Massa Brand would never find us up there," Tobias said.
"You had this planned all the time Tobias Brand!" Alloya said.
Tobias grinned wide and shrugged his shoulders.
"That's an end to Massa Brand's shadow hanging over us," Alloya added.
But, it wasn't. Not then, anyway.
John Shockley wasn't the man to ever let anything go without closure. For almost four years after that body was found, he scoured every institution in the country, spoke with hundreds of people connected to Brand Plantation and still that lace handkerchief nagged at him like the bunions on his calloused feet from miles of searching for clues. The last, most valuable clue turned up without a search.
He received an anonymous phone call in late spring from someone claiming to have worked for Leland Brand. He wanted to make a deal in exchange for information he had on Brand's missing wife. At first, the caller refused to identify himself. Shockley persisted.
"If you want a reward, I have to have your name," Shockley told the caller.
"It's Hardle. Sam Hardle. I know what happened to Missus Brand," the husky male voice said.
"How do you know the Brand family?" Shockley asked.
"I was his plantation boss," Hardle replied.
"I'll meet you here only at our paper," Shockley told the man.
"I'll be there tomorrow. I want $10,000 for the information," Hardle demanded.
Hardle had become a big time gambler after the war ended. He was in dire straights. He'd heard the rumors about Brand's missing wife. He had a plan. That journalist would pay him $10,000 and he could pay off his gambling debts.
"You only get that if the information you give pans out," Shockley said.
"Fine."
Hardle rang off.
The two men met the next day. Shockley wasn't prepared for the unkempt, six-foot four inch tall man who introduced himself as Sam Hardle. Hardle was expecting Shockley to be a younger man. What he saw before him was a man nearly his own age of fifty with a swath of salt and pepper hair and gray eyes. Shockley didn't like the looks of Hardle. His demeanor was of a man used to bullying others. His hair was practically white and his eyes were an angry blue streaked with red veins, likely from years of boozing and gambling.
"Sit down, Mr. Hardle," Shockley said.
"Sam..or Hardle...is just fine by me," Hardle snarled.
"Okay, Sam..now what have you got in the way of information about Mrs. Leland Brand?"
"She was killed by a black man, Tobias Brand. They met secretly in the woods where he used to go fishing. She musta done somethin' to cause him to kill her. Probably threatened to tell her old man," Hardle lied.
"Tobias Brand? Is he...was he ...a Brand Plantation slave?" Shockley asked.
"Course. Warn't no black man allowed near a white woman in those days," Hardle said.
"Where can I find this Tobias Brand?" Shockley asked.
"That's what you'll have to find out. I gave you what you wanted. Now, I want my reward," Hardle demanded.
"Well, $10,000 it isn't worth, but...a deal is a deal. Here's your check," Shockley said.
"Check? I thought it was gonna be cash!" Hardle said.
"Sorry, my paper only pays by check. We have to answer to our accountants you know."
Hardle didn't know and didn't really care. He stormed out of the news office with the check gripped tightly in his hand.
So...Tobias Brand, a plantation slave killed Mrs. Brand? Sounds possible. Shockley thought.
He located Tobias through the loan application when Shockley checked out real estate deals. He went to the Brand Savings and Mortgage bank near Parkersburg. To his surprise, he saw the bank's owner, Leland Brand! He knew he had to interview him. He concocted a plan.
"Mr. Brand? I'm John Shockley..." he started.
"I know who you are. I threatened to sue you once. Are you back for more?" Brand asked.
"No. suh. I'm here to ask if you know where to find Tobias Brand, a former slave on your plantation," Shockley said.
"And just why would you be wanting to find Tobias? You best not be on that same old track you were on when I threatened to sue," Brand said.
"No. Actually, I'm looking for him for another article. I haven't quite worked out the angle just yet," Shockley lied.
Brand knew how sly news reporters could be.
"Actually, Tobias was looking to buy a home near Parkersburg. I guess he changed his mind. He never came back to fill out the loan application or work out the loan terms," Brand lied.
"So, he could be anywhere by now," Shockley said.
"I'm sure a sharp eyed news reporter like you knows he has two children, a son, Simeon and a daughter, Davonne. They must be about twenty or so by now," Brand said, slyly.
Shockley thanked Brand for his help and hurried out of the bank like a hurricane was about to hit town. Brand laughed so hard, Barnsley came into his office to ask why.
"The trademark of the Brand family is that we know when ruthlessness is the best tool," Brand said.
Shockley found Tobias and Alloya through their son's work and school records. He took a train out to Chicago to meet with Simeon.
"What do you want with my father?" Simeon asked.
"Just to ask him a few questions about his life on Brand Plantation," Shockley said.
"I can tell you all about Brand Plantation. I worked there too," Simeon said.
"What can you tell me about Mrs. Brand?" Shockley asked.
"Nothing. I wasn't a house worker. I was a field slave," Simeon answered.
"See? That's why I need to speak with your father," Shockley said.
"My father was a field slave too. You might want to speak with my mother. She was a house worker, a cook, actually," Simeon put in.
Simeon foolishly gave Shockley the address of his parents farm in Beecher. It was like no man's land trying to find the place. It was hidden behind walls of huge trees. The only access road was two miles long from a main dirt road that was more mud than soil.
Shockley knocked on the screen door to the porch.
"Simeone? Davonne? That you?" Alloya called out.
"No. Miz. Brand, It's John Shockley. I wonder if I could speak with you," he said.
Alloya came out onto the grey painted wooden porch. She spoke through the screen door.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"I'm a news reporter. I'm doing a story on the Brand Plantation. I wonder if you could fill in some blanks I have?" Shockley asked.
"I was only a cook there. I don't have nuthin' for no news reporter anyone would want to read," she said.
"Is your husband around? Maybe, he can help," Shockley said.
"Mah husband is busy working the fields," Alloya said.
"What is it y'all want to know?"
"It's about Mrs. Brand..the other Mrs. Brand...Leland Brand's wife."
"She's in a mental institution. Like as not, dead by now," Alloya said.
"That's just it. Government engineers found a body in the creek. They think it might be Mrs. Brand," Shockley lied.
Alloya tried not to lose her composure. Suddenly, she felt dizzy.
"Did you know a man named Sam Hardle?" Shockley asked.
"Everyone knew Hardle. He was called "Boss Hardle" then. Mean and cruel a man as God ever put on this earth. Why do you want to know about Hardle?" she asked.
"I should tell you. He's making quite an accusation about your husband and Mrs. Brand," Shockley said.
Alloya started laughing hysterically.
"My husband? And Missus Brand? Is that what Hardle told you?" Alloya asked.
"Yes'm. He said he thinks it was your husband who might have killed her to stop him from telling her husband about them," Shockley said.
"Mistuh Shockley...is it? Mah husband worked those fields near to twelve hours a day. That's how Massa Brand worked his field slaves. The Massa expected slave families to do for themselves by growing what we needed to eat, mostly greens. Now and then, I'd bring home fatback the Big House told me to throw out. Best meals we had was when the Big House was throwing out remains of suppahs. Some of our men would steal an egg or two from the hen house.
Let me tell you. Missus Brand was a lady, a real southern belle. Ain't no such way she would even look at mah husband. Now, I tell you...I love my Tobias more than the world, but he ain't no handsome man. Here...see for yourself...there he is...coming up from the fields," Alloya said.
What Shockley saw was a man about five feet ten inches tall, spine severely curved from years of bending in the fields, a few thin threads of black and silver hair and short, bowl legs. It was true what his wife said. His face was heavily lined and he had white hairs on his chin. His brown eyes had those blue rings that divulge a man's age quickly.
"I don't believe I've had the pleazuh, suh," Tobias said.
"Toby, this is Mistuh Shockley, a news reporter. He's been speakin' to Boss Hardle. Seems Hardle is accusin' you of killin' Missus Brand. Told Mistuh Shockley here, you and Missus Brand were lovers," Alloya explained.
Tobias didn't know whether to laugh or feel flattered.
"What is Boss Hardle playin' at Mistuh Shockley? I ain't never laid eyes on Missus Shockley 'cept from half a mile away," Tobias said.
"Why would he accuse you, Mistuh Brand?" Shockley asked.
"Because he is a mean, mean man and hates all blacks," Tobias answered.
"Mr. Shockley, suh, I kin tell y'all that one night when I was serving dinner, Missus Brand took a fit. Massa Brand hustled her off, up the stairs. He told house workers the next day she was taken to a place where doctors would look after her. Then, her maid was told to take all her clothes and get rid of them," Alloya said.
"Mistuh Brand, Hardle said you went fishing in the evenin'. That so?" Shockley asked.
"Yessuh. It's how I fed my family," Tobias said.
"Did you ever see anyone near the creek?" Shockley asked.
Tobias went silent for a few seconds.
"Mistuh Shockley, I tell you this. A slave man didn't nevuh evuh dare say what he seen. Massa he'da strung anyone of us up for such talk," Tobias said.
Shockley thanked Tobias and Alloya. He made his way back to his office.
In a peculiar way, Tobias answered the question of who killed Sherlene Brand. Now, he could report Sam Hardle and Leland Brand to the cops. The former for taking money under false pretenses and the latter for murdering his wife.
Leland never discovered the whereabouts of Tobias Brand. He went to prison based on testimony given by his former plantation boss, Sam Hardle.
When Sam lied to Shockley about Tobias murdering Sherlene Brand, Shockley put two and two together. Hardle got on the stand and implicated Brand. The court found no evidence of the lie Hardle told. A jury found Brand guilty based solely on the evidence of the blanket he used to wrap his dead wife's body in. It was the old blanket that belonged to Sherlene as a child.
When news broke over Sherlene Brand's murder by her own husband and Sam Hardle's arrest, Tobias felt uneasy. Leland and Sam might be in prison. But, one day, they'd be out. Already Leland was appealing the verdict.
"At least, the court didn't need to call you as a witness. At least, Massa Brand will never find us," Alloya said.
"Never say never," Tobias said.
Tobias Brand, the former slave and only witness to a murder of Leland Brand's wife, Sherlene, died quietly in his sleep. Simeone buried his father in the woods on their Beecher farm property with the sound of the babbling waters of the creek nearby. Now, the only witness to a murder took it to a grave no one would ever find to keep his family safe.
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