True to the Game III Read Free Page B

me?” Dr. Brant asked.
    Amelia nodded. She could use something to eat. Besides, she wanted to run a few things by Dr. Brant. He was her mentor, and she trusted him completely. It had been Dr. Brant who had trained her and helped her to hone her surgical skills to what they were today. Benny Brant was probably one of the top surgeons in the country. And for him, a wealthy Jewish surgeon from New York, to have taken a poor black girl from the Alabama countryside under his wing was unfathomable. He had dozens of doctors from some of the finest families all over the country trying to intern under him, some of whom where the sons of his colleagues. The fact that he had pulled her under his wing was something that she would forever be grateful for.
    The two of them headed for the elevator.

Game Plan
    A melia moved through the parking garage with the ferocity of a cheetah on the prowl. Her determined steps took her rapidly through the parking structure to the secluded corner where her meeting was to take place. The person with whom she was to meet was already there.
    “Viola Richards?” she asked.
    Viola nodded. “What’s going on? Why did you ask for me to meet you here?”
    Amelia peered around the parking garage to make sure they were alone. Still, she thought it best that they move to the even more secluded second level. She clasped Viola’s arm and led her off.
    “I wanted to meet you here because I had some questions about your son. I operated on him in the emergency room.”
    Viola sniffled. “Do the police have any suspects or leads in the case?” she asked, shaking her head. “You know how they are. My son was a young black man whose occupation was questionable. In situations like these, they don’t care about finding the killers. They just chalk him up as another statistic.”
    Amelia nodded. She knew exactly what Viola Richards was talking about. Young black men, drug dealer or no drug dealer, were all statistics. They would lump their deaths in one of two categories: drug related or gang related.
    “I take it that you don’t have great faith in our police department,” Amelia observed.
    “Could as well been them that killed my baby,” Viola told her.
    Amelia nodded. Good. She now knew that Viola was no fan of the police department, which meant that in all probability she would cooperate with her request.
    “Any idea who did this to your son?”
    Viola shook her head. “No, it could have been anybody. You know how things are; nobody wants to be a snitch. It could be your best friend, your mama, even your own child. That’s just the way it is.”
    “Take care of it in the streets, huh?”
    Mrs. Richards nodded. “But the only problem with that is that it’s just more kids getting killed.”
    Amelia nodded. “I believe in taking care of our own.”
    Amelia led Viola to the upper level of the parking garage and stopped just in front of a black Mercedes S Class. “Are you a religious woman, Mrs. Richards?”
    “Of course. I go to church every Sunday.”
    “Sometimes God has a plan for each of us. And sometimes we don’t understand what His plan is. Sometimes he works in ways so mysterious, even we doctors can’t explain it.”
    “Amen! I know that’s right.”
    “Sometimes when we doctors have exhausted all medical means possible, God steps in with His hand and touches a person. Even when we have given up, sometimes God says
I ain’t done using this person yet.
”
    Viola smiled. “I know that my Quadir is with the Lord. I know that God still has a plan for him, and for each of us.” She clasped Amelia’s hand and shook it. “I want to thank you for all that you did to try to save my son.”
    Amelia smiled. “Don’t thank me just yet. You may want to lean up against this car right here.”
    Viola leaned back against the Mercedes and stared at Amelia. She was truly puzzled.
    “After the surgeon worked on your son, he thought that he had lost him. He declared your son deceased. A short