by Angela Henry
FOURTEEN
I drove home the next morning after Carl cooked breakfast. He made a mean omelet and again I wondered about his other skills. While reaching for my car keys in my purse, my fingers brushed against the box of condoms I’d brought with me. I guess I could have tried to seduce him between games of Ms. Pac-Man, but after the rock incident, my heart wasn’t in it. The mood, along with the window, had been shattered. I made him promise me he’d think about getting a restraining order. And he made me promise I’d let him make it up to me for our ruined evening. He didn’t have to twist my arm.
When I got home, I had a visitor waiting for me. It was Mama. She was sitting on Mrs. Carson’s porch drinking iced tea. They had been laughing and talking until they saw me. Then Mama’s face changed into a thundercloud and I almost ran. I would have rather faced Carl’s love-struck stalker.
“Where have you been? I’ve been calling all over the place looking for you since yesterday. I was so upset I missed church! Girl, you may be damn near thirty but Annie Ruth here had to keep me from cutting a switch and taking it to your behind! After what happened to you last week, I can’t believe you’re out running the streets.” She leaned back into her chair dramatically like I was just going to be the death of her. The urge to roll my eyes was killing me. I didn’t give in to it because I didn’t want to see my seventy-two-year-old grandmother fly off the porch and beat the crap out of me. I could have kicked myself for not calling her.
Mrs. Carson was looking everywhere but at me, and I could have sworn I heard her raggedy cat Mahalia, who was lounging in her lap, hissing with laughter. Two little girls who were riding their bikes down the street had stopped to stare and rode off snickering at seeing a grown-up getting scolded. I just sighed and walked up onto the porch. I wrapped my arms around her and buried my face in her neck. She smelled like roses.
“I’m sorry, Mama. I got tied up in Columbus and forgot to call you. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Well, I won’t ask what you were doing in Columbus, who tied you up, or why you’re lookin’ like something the cat dragged in. All I ask is that you show me a little consideration. It would just kill me to have to call your parents and tell them something bad had happened to you. Do you understand?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Now that I’d been properly chastised, I was given a glass of iced tea and sat and listened to the two of them gossip. I didn’t dare tell them about what I’d found in Jordan’s tape case, about my visit to his old neighborhood, or about Carl’s stalker. Mama would have killed me. I just smiled and sipped my tea, all the while listening for my phone to ring. I was very interested in what Dee Dee’s sister had to say.
“As I was saying, Estelle, I could have just killed her. I was all set to pull into that handicapped spot at Kroger and she just whipped right in and snatched it from me. She ain’t handicapped, unless those tight skirts of hers have restricted the supply of blood to her brain and she’s mentally handicapped. And me with my bad knee had to park halfway across the parking lot. I was sore the rest of the day.”
“Did you say anything to her? ‘Cause I would have. You know me. If a person needs tellin’ what’s what, I tell ‘em.” Mama shot me a glare. I wasn’t completely forgiven.
“Naw, I didn’t want to cause no scene. I just picked up my prescriptions and left. I did see her in the store with her little miniskirt on. She’s too old to be dressin’ like that. She looked like a middle-aged hooker in that getup she had on.”
“Who are you talking about?” I asked finally.
“Diane Gibson,” they both said simultaneously. Mama took a sip from her glass and continued.
“See, she forgets that there are people in this town who remember when she wasn’t so skinny or so rich. When she first came here she was a chunky heifer. And talked like she had a mouthful of mush, her Southern accent was so thick. It wasn’t until she set her eyes on Ben Gibson that she lost weight and gained an attitude. Althea couldn’t stand her. Thought she was strange from the start and that it was weird how she never talked about her family or her past. Ben couldn’t see it though. He was too much in love.”
As I sat there and listened to them talk, a familiar burning sensation started in the pit of my stomach. My heart started beating so loud that I could hear it pounding in my ears. Diane! Twenty years ago, Diane had been Dee Dee Briggs. Why hadn’t I seen it before? Diane who came from Macon, Georgia. Diane who had everything and everything to lose if anyone found out she never divorced her first husband. She was married to Bernie’s brother and could have known about Raymond Hodge. Did she track him down so he would come to town and implicate Bernie, and then killed him when he was no longer useful? She knew about Frieda Barlow rummaging for cans in the alley behind Archer Street. Diane didn’t work, so there was no way to track her movements on any given day. Bernie had told me that Diane had some strange eating habits just as Tangy Lambert had. Dee Dee would be a suitable nickname for a Delores D. Did the D stand for Diane? She had enough access to Bernie’s house to plant any evidence she wanted.
Could I be right? If this were true, how could she have gotten into the house on Archer? Did she steal Bernie’s keys? I had always wondered why Jordan had chosen Willow for his new home. Had he come here to blackmail his now-rich wife? How had he managed to track her down? Was she responsible for Joy’s accident and if so, why? A lot of things still didn’t add up. I had to be sure, which is why I needed to speak to Carol Briggs-Mason. I just prayed that she would call me back soon; then I would take what I found and everything I knew to the police.
I was eating dinner at Mama’s at five o’clock. Usually I’m able to do her cooking justice, but I still hadn’t gotten my phone call and was nervous and on edge. Alex and Gwen were also at Mama’s for dinner. They told me that Joy would be released from the hospital soon into the care of Cory, much to the dismay of her aunt Clara. That information, coupled with the fact that Gwen and Alex were making goo-goo eyes at each other, led me to the conclusion that Gwen now knew that Joy was a lesbian and was no threat to her and Alex’s relationship. I’d seen this honeymoon phase with them before. It wouldn’t last long.
After dinner, Gwen and Alex volunteered to do the dishes. I made a quick call to Bernie. There was no answer, so I left a message telling her to call as soon as possible. No sooner had I hung up the phone, it rang again. It was Carol Briggs-Mason, finally.
“Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I had to wait until I was home alone and had some privacy. I haven’t caught you at a bad time, have I?”
“No, not at all. I won’t keep you. I just wanted to know about Dee Dee and when you last saw her.”
“Let’s see, it must have been 1976 around Christmastime. She came home unexpectedly. We were surprised to see her. She had gotten a job taking care of an elderly lady who had Alzheimer’s in Columbus, Ohio.”
“How’d she end up in Columbus?” I heard Carol make a disgusted sound.
“I’m sure she followed that slick pretty boy, Wallace Graham. She met him when she was at Spelman. He went to Morehouse and was from Columbus. When I think about that whole situation it just makes me sick.”
“What happened?”
“He used her, that’s what happened. Dee Dee was never much to look at. Always struggled with her weight. She got picked on and teased so much she developed a real complex about eating in front of people. Anyway, she was very smart and got a scholarship to Spelman. That’s where she met Wallace. He was gorgeous all right, but soulless. He’d use anyone to get what he wanted. He started paying Dee Dee a lot of attention, you know, really building her up. It started out that he would get her to type his papers; then she was actually writing his papers. She also did all of his projects and was helping him cheat on exams. Making up crib sheets for him. Morehouse prides itself on turning out men who help build up the black community. I don’t know what the hell happened to this guy.”
That wasn’t actually saying much for Dee Dee either, but I knew b
etter than to say so.
“So what happened with Dee Dee’s education?” As if I had to ask.
“It went straight down the toilet. She was so busy doing Wallace’s work, she flunked out of Spelman. She tried to hide it from us, but our mother found out. She was so hurt. Dee Dee was too ashamed to come home. She ended up going through a nurse’s aide program and got a job at a nursing home. It was just such a waste. Hell, she could have been a doctor, not just some damn nurse’s aide. And of course, Wallace graduated from Morehouse. Whatever his degree is in, it should have my sister’s name on it.”
“Did you know that Dee Dee married Wallace in December 1976?”
“What are you talking about? Dee Dee never said anything to me about marrying Wallace. As much as she loved that fool, she would have shouted it from the highest mountaintop if he’d wanted to marry her.”
I told her about the marriage license I found.
“I can’t believe it! When she came home that year, she seemed happy, but I just thought she was just happy to be home. She never said a word to me about Wallace. Probably because she knew how I felt about him. She said the lady she was taking care of died and she was taking time off before finding another job. We were hoping she’d go back to school.”
“The lady she was taking care of was Wallace’s grandmother, Ina Graham. I understand you were looking for her at Ina Graham’s address several years ago. You didn’t know it was Wallace’s grandmother?”
“No, I had no idea. I just had an address from a birthday card she sent me when she worked there. I was hoping maybe the woman had relatives still living in the house that might know where Dee Dee was. I talked to a woman who lived across the street, but she hadn’t seen her in years. Dee Dee left right before Christmas, and we never saw her again. Then my mother became ill about five years ago and wanted to see Dee Dee before she died. I never found her.”
“Just out of curiosity, what was Dee Dee’s middle name?”
“Diantha, after our grandmother. Why?”
“Just wondering. Listen, I know this has been hard for you. I won’t take any more of your time. Thank you for calling.”
“Wait! Do you really think my sister killed Wallace? Do you know where she is?” She sounded close to tears.
“I’m sorry, I can’t say. I really didn’t mean to bring up any bad memories.”
“If you do know where she is, give her a message for me. Tell her she broke our mother’s heart.” I heard her choke back a sob. Boy, I really knew how to rake up some shit. I listened to her blow her nose. When she came back on the line, she had pulled herself together. “No, don’t tell her that. If she has any kind of a conscience, she knows that already.”
Dee Dee may have known. Diane Gibson, however, was another matter.
It was late when I got home. Gwen, Alex, and I had played cards for a while until Mama shooed us home so she could go to bed. When you get up at the crack of dawn, you tend to go to bed early. I was planning on working a double at Estelle’s the next day to make up for the hours I’d missed the week before when I’d been attacked. I was going to see Detectives Harmon and Mercer first thing in the morning, but I needed some sleep too.
Before I got out of the car, I pulled the picture of Wallace and Dee Dee, aka Jordan and Diane, out of my glove box for another look. I had a small penlight attached to my key chain and I held the picture under the light. Try as I might, I couldn’t see Diane Gibson anywhere in Dee Dee Briggs’s sullen face. “Well I’ll be damned,” I said out loud. I did see something I’d missed before. Ina Graham was decked out in pearl jewelry. The pearl choker she had on was identical to the one Diane had worn to Jordan’s funeral. The fact that she could wear her victim’s grandmother’s jewelry to his funeral answered any questions her sister and I had had about her conscience.
My phone rang as soon as I walked in the door. It was Bernie.
“I just wanted to touch base and see how things were going,” I said.
“Emmett is hoping we can get a trial date in a few weeks. Kendra, I’m so scared. I can’t believe any of this is happening.” She sounded so defeated. I was beginning to think it would be better to take everything I’d found and see the detectives that night.
“Bernie, this is going to sound strange, but when did Diane first move to Willow?”
“Diane? Why do you want to know?”
“Just humor me, please.”
“Ah, I think it must have been early 1977. I remember because our regular receptionist left right after Christmas. Her husband was in the military and got transferred to Japan. I had to take her place until someone permanent was hired. Mother hired Diane as her replacement. Why?”
“Do you know anything about her family?”
“She told us her parents were dead and she was an only child. What’s this all about, Kendra?”
I gave her a brief account of what I’d found out. She was stunned. We both agreed it would explain a lot. Bernie got off the phone. She was feeling overwhelmed by all of the implications of what I’d just told her. But not before she told me that Ben’s will left everything to Diane since she was his wife. That will would be null and void if they weren’t legally married.
I kicked off my shoes and headed to the bathroom to run myself a bubble bath. I flipped on the bathroom light and froze. Diane Gibson was sitting on the side of my bathtub with a gun pointed right at my heart.
FIFTEEN
“How’d you get in here, Diane?” I couldn’t take my eyes off the gun in her hand.
“Did you forget that Mrs. Carson lists all of her rental properties with Gibson Realty? We have copies of all the keys.”
“What do you want?” My legs were shaking, and I leaned against the doorjamb for support, still not taking my eyes off the gun. Diane was dressed in jeans and a black sweatshirt. She had a Bengals baseball cap turned backward on her head. She looked like a teenager. She also looked crazy. Her eyes had a strange glaze to them, and I wondered if she was on something.
“You’re looking a little shaky there, Kendra. Why don’t you come on in here and have a seat? I’ve been waiting for you all night.” She motioned with the gun for me to sit on the toilet seat. I did what any intelligent person in my situation would do. I sat.
“What do you want?” I repeated, my voice barely a whisper.
“Oh, come on, girlfriend, you know what this is all about, don’t you?” She was eerily calm, and it was freaking me out.
“Jordan. I know you killed him and Raymond Hodge. You really need to turn yourself in, Diane.” Her head jerked back a little in shock.
“You surprise me, Kendra. Why would you care who killed Jordan? I know you couldn’t stand him. And you never even knew Raymond Hodge. What difference could it possibly make to you that they’re dead?”
“It makes a big difference when Bernie could go to prison for it.”
“Emmett’s not a bad lawyer. He might even be able to get her off, though I doubt it. Then I’ll finally be able to sell Gibson Realty. Jordan was a real bastard, and it cost me a lot of money to keep his mouth shut. I really need some money.”
“Were you paying Raymond Hodge too?”
“Ben told me about Raymond Hodge and Bernie years ago. Althea paid Raymond to get out of town after Bernie attacked him. He ended up working for a real estate company in Atlanta. But his dumb ass was screwing his boss’s wife for years. The man found out and made sure Raymond never worked in real estate again. I tracked him down and brought him to town. He wasn’t hard to find on skid row. He’d do anything for a drink. He was useless most of the time. I got him all cleaned up to make his big statement against Bernie. After that, he got all big time on me and started blackmailing me. He had to go. Besides, he had one foot in the grave anyway, cirrhosis of the liver. I just helped him along a little faster.” She said it like she was talking about taking out the trash.
“So you were the one who attacked me?”
“It wasn’t personal. I had to get away, and you
had no business being there in the first place.” She emphasized each word by tapping my knee with the barrel of the gun. I was so scared I had to concentrate on the towel rack to keep from peeing my pants. As long as I could keep her talking, I might be able to think of some way to get out of this alive.
“How did Jordan find you after all this time?”
“There was an article about Gibson Realty that ran in both the newspaper here and in Dayton about a year and a half ago. There was a picture of Ben and me with the article. Jordan saw it because he was living in Dayton at the time. I still can’t believe he recognized me. Next thing I know, he was screwing Bernie and threatening to tell Ben we were still legally married unless I paid him.”
“So he had to go too?”
“Oh yes! He had to go. After everything I did for him, he stabbed me in the back. He used me, then threw me away. After I’d found happiness, he tried to take it from me—not once but twice.” She was staring off into space as if she were reliving some distant past. If I positioned my foot just right, I might be able to kick the gun out of her hand. But suddenly she came back to Earth and tightened her grip on the gun.
“You must have hated him very much. I saw what you did to him, Diane.”
“Trust me, he had it coming. I was Mrs. Ben Gibson; slim, rich, beautiful. But he came to town and made me feel like fat ugly Dee Dee all over again. Sure I was good enough when he wanted me to do all his damn schoolwork for him or when he wanted a blowjob. Or even when he wanted me to make sure his grandmother didn’t wake up from her nap one day.” She noticed my shocked expression.
“Why do you think he married me? It wasn’t because he loved me. It was all part of the plan. He was afraid she’d change her will and leave him out. She wasn’t in her right mind, and he thought she might actually do it. So, one day when she lay down to take a nap, I smothered her with a pillow. He got his grandmother’s house and money, and I got him. Only I didn’t know that he never planned to keep his end of the bargain.”