by Lynn Emery
“Yeah, funny.” Willa thought about Ryan’s sudden interest in Anthony and Jack’s travels to the Caribbean. She kissed Anthony’s cheek. For once he didn’t act embarrassed or too grown to be babied.
MiMi was on the phone when Willa returned to the kitchen. “Right, six egg rolls, and give me some of those spicy chicken wings. An hour? Guess it’ll have to be okay, thanks.” She hit the button turning it off. “I just ordered from Hong Kong House.”
“Excuse me?” Willa blinked at her.
“Girl, you been through too much to be cooking this evening. I hope they get here faster than an hour ‘cause I’m starving.” MiMi rubbed her baby bump. Then she glanced at the door as though looking for Anthony. “Well?”
“We need to find out how Jazz, Ike and Strafford, Inc. are linked together.” Willa frowned and went back to considering the puzzle pieces of what she knew.
“We will. Nothing a good team like us can’t handle.”
“Right, go team,” Willa retorted with a roll of her eyes, but the sarcasm was lost on her target.
“Oh, there’s the bus dropping off Mikayla. I’ll go meet her. You fix us some sweet tea. I brewed it while you were talking to Anthony. It’s cooling on the stove.” MiMi went through the kitchen door and was striding down the driveway before Willa could react.
“I’m trapped in some weird Sci-Fi channel episode,” Willa mumbled. Still she followed instructions and went to the large glass kettle that held brewed tea.
Chapter 14
Two days later Willa arranged for Aunt Beryl to baby-sit so she could meet up with her brothers. The twins had come through in a pinch for her again. Shaun and Dion found Jazz and brought her back to Baton Rouge. And Jazz wasn’t happy about it either. Willa didn’t mind facing her little sister’s legendary wrath. At least Jazz was still alive. Once Willa got over being relieved she got mad. She was more than ready to tangle with Jazzmonetta Vaughn. Yes indeed.
Rush hour traffic had eased as Willa drove across town. She didn’t take the quickest route to the Vel Rose Motel on Airline Highway. Instead she pretended to be doing errands like any normal single mom. She stopped at the Piggly Wiggly and emerged with a bag of stuff she didn’t need. Next she drove to the drug store. This time she bought something she did need, pills to ease her growing headache. All the time Willa reverted back to her old street life habits, her cop radar working overtime. After more trips down side streets Willa took a circuitous route to meet her brothers and get answers. Thirty minutes later she pulled into the Vel Rose Motel parking lot. Two rows of single story rooms stretched out behind on either side of the scruffy looking office. The buildings formed a U-shape. She looked at the dirty orange doors with black numbers on them searching for number fifteen. She found it and pulled her car into an empty space. When Willa got out and knocked on the door Jazz pulled it open.
“You crazy? Get out of sight.” Willa hurried into the room pushing Jazz ahead of her.
“You need a valium or something,” Jazz quipped.
Shaun sat in a big chair, his long legs stretched out as he watched ESPN on the hotel television. Dion paced and twisted his hands together. He seemed to have taken on the nervous task of fretting for his siblings. Shaun gave off a strange vibe. He sat like a coiled spring ready to shoot into action at any moment. When Willa’s cell phone rang she grabbed it after checking the caller ID and punched the talk button.
“MiMi, we’re busy. Yes, we’re all right and yes, we found Jazz. What are you doing at my house?” Willa groaned and looked at her brothers with a grimace.
“I kinda like her,” Dion whispered aside to his brother, but Willa overheard and glared at him. “I mean, I’m not into the black princess type usually, but her heart is in the right place.”
“Oh you were admiring her heart. I thought you were staring at her chest for some other reason.” Shaun smirked at him.
“Shut up.” Dion grinned back and pretended to aim a slap at his brother’s head. “I’m hungry.” He flipped open his slim cell phone.
Willa shook her head then turned her back on the pair. “Don’t you dare let Mikayla polish her fingernails blue and gold. I don’t care if you’re both Southern Jaguar fans. And do not dress her in those ugly pink and green colors of your sorority either. Put my aunt on the phone.” After instructions to Aunt Beryl not to let MiMi do anything stupid Willa ended the call.
Willa gestured to Jazz with a wave of one hand. “Tell us what the hell is going on.”
“Good to see you, too, sis,” Jazz said in a dry tone. She brushed back her long golden fake hair.
“The police found a dead dude in your spare bedroom,” Willa shot back.
Jazz flinched at the blunt description. She sat down abruptly, her bravado tempered by reality. “Von.”
“Von didn’t die of natural causes. You and your boyfriends are on the short list of suspects in a murder. So don’t give us any crap.” Willa pointed a finger at her.
“Bet you ready to roll over on me, too,” Jazz grumbled.
“You’re in serious trouble and we’re trying to help,” Dion sat down next to her on the bed.
“Trouble? You don’t know the kinda trouble y’all asking for taking me out of Houston. Felipe don’t play.” Jazz fidgeted with the metallic gold purse in her lap.
“Jack hooked up in some business deal with Felipe. You’re not leaving this funky room until you say something that sounds close to the truth.” Willa stared at Jazz who smacked her lips. “Jack was hanging out at Candy Girls. Is that where all this started?”
“Miss know-it-all big sister ain’t got one clue. I didn’t need to hook Jack up to anything. He was already in deep by the time I— ” Jazz stopped when her cell phone lit up in a kaleidoscope of colors signaling an incoming call. “It’s Felipe.”
“Don’t answer it,” Dion said.
“Keep him guessing for a little while,” Shaun agreed.
“We’ll get more time if he hears my voice. Let me handle this.” Jazz didn’t wait for more debate as she hit the on button. “Hey, baby. I had to get some things from Walmart. You know we left in a hurry and I’m running out of underwear. Your ghetto thug friends don’t have a washer and dryer. Man, you need to class up your associations.”
Dion and Shaun exchanged a glance then both looked at Willa. They all had to count on Jazz’s ability to shoot a line of bull to keep them out of serious danger. Jazz began with sweet talk to the dangerous man. She went to a far corner of the cramped room and said a few X-rated things to him. When Jazz gave a raunchy laugh Willa shook her head.
“I just hope Jazz has him whipped enough that he lets his guard down,” Willa whispered.
“He won’t for long,” Shaun predicted. “Not that dude.”
“Okay, baby. I’m gonna hang with my girl Toni tonight. You’re right. Probably best if we split up for awhile. Kisses.” Jazz turned the phone off and stared at it. “I need to got back to Houston.”
“No way,” Willa said.
“You don’t understand.” Jazz closed her eyes. She looked tired, and suddenly ten years older than her twenty-seven years. “Felipe killed Von because he stole money from him. I played on that and convinced Felipe that Anthony doesn’t know anything about the missing money. If they think you or Anthony knows where that eight hundred thousand is…”
“Eight hundred thousand,” Willa and Dion blurted out together
“Dollars?” Shaun asked. His mouth hung open.
“The offshore account,” Willa whispered. “But the letter from Ike Nelson talked about seventy-five thousand.”
“That was the first payment to Jack for hooking up Strafford with some shady guys who work at the port. Jack called it a ‘consulting’ fee. He didn’t care what was going on. He just enjoyed sticking it to ‘the man’ as he called it. Jack talked like he was a hero in one of them old school black-exploitation films sometimes.”
Willa felt a stab of sadness. “Yeah, he did. But back to this scheme.”
&n
bsp; Jazz rubbed her eyes and fell back in the chair. She kicked off the three-inch heel gold sandals she wore. “Just let me catch my breath. I hope you realize I’m not supposed to know all these details. But Felipe likes to talk when we… you know.”
“Too much information, little sister,” Shaun muttered.
“Aw, look at big brother blush,” Jazz teased.
Willa frowned at her. “Listen, we got three dead men and my son on the hook for some crap you and Jack started. You can catch your breath later. I don’t believe you. I’ll bet you set up this whole deal with Felipe, Ike and Jack.”
“What do you mean— ” Anger made Jazz’s light brown eyes flash golden.
“You’ve been lying about what you know since Jack got killed. That’s what I mean.” Willa stood over her.
“If you think you can whip my ass then try,” Jazz shot back and stood.
Shaun stepped between his sisters in one long stride. “We don’t have time for this.”
“And we sure as hell can’t draw attention to ourselves or have the police showing up.” Dion stood on the other side of the women facing Shaun.
“This dump is the original No-Tell Motel. All the stuff going down here, the last thing anybody wants is to call the police. That includes the manager,” Willa said. Still she unclenched her fists and stepped back.
“Damn it, Willa. I’m doing this to protect y’all. Felipe may be hot for me, but he’s not stupid. I managed to get him outta Baton Rouge. If I don’t go back to Houston he’ll come looking for me.”
Willa felt a chill flow through her veins. “He won’t risk it. He must know the police are going to get the connection to him sooner rather than later.”
“The police have that dumb ass Kenton. That fool probably led them right to my apartment. Besides, Felipe is not scared of the police. You gotta let me go,” Jazz said.
“Not going to happen, Jazz,” Shaun said before Willa could reply. “You’ll end up dead for sure. He’s probably got eyes all over anyway. He knows your first loyalty is to Willa. Don’t kid yourself that you’re safe.”
“I’ll take care of me like always. I gotta do what it takes to keep Felipe off my family.”
Dion’s smooth, easy-going demeanor was gone. Back was the street-hard expression he’d worn as a teenaged gang member. “We might be a mixed bag of nuts as far as families go. A collection of throwaway kids brought up on the streets, in foster care and group homes. But like you said we’re family, and family sticks together. Besides, me and Shaun know how to handle our business, too.”
Willa rubbed her forehead. The pounding headache building behind her eyes made her feel weak. She felt like there was no good choice to be made. Still she knew what they had to do. Her three siblings looked at her, waiting in silence for guidance.
“Dion is right. We’ll face whatever goes down together.”
Willa hugged Jazz, ignoring the way her sister stiffened at the touch. After a few moments Jazz relaxed a little. Then Dion and Shaun joined for a group show of support by putting their long arms around both of their sisters. Jazz broke away first.
“Okay, that was a real sweet moment. But group hugs ain’t gonna help us when Felipe starts putting together the pieces, which should be any minute now. My game with men is good, but I’m not that good. Not when you’re dealing with a coked-up gangsta who is mad about losing his money.”
“We don’t have a choice. Eventually he’s going to come after Willa or maybe even Anthony the way I see it.” Shaun looked at his twin brother and Dion nodded after a few moments of thought.
Willa sat down on the frayed bedspread. “I have an idea.”
“Fantastic. Let’s hear it,” Dion said.
“Uh, part of it involves Jazz getting arrested,” Willa said and cleared her throat.
Jazz’s eyes narrowed as she stared at Willa hard. “I should have known you’d throw my ass to the pit bulls.”
***
For the next three days life seemed to settle into a normal routine again, at least on the surface. Willa went to the office. She met with Cedric about contracts, payroll and cash flow like any other business owner. Shaun and Dion went to work during the day. The kids went to school each day. In the evenings Willa cooked dinner and helped them with their homework. Sure. They were all back into the same old everyday schedule. Almost. Willa’s plan was for Jazz to surrender to Detective Miller and give him enough information to arrest Felipe, and have the gang leader indicted by the grand jury. With Felipe out of commission Willa figured both her son and her sister would be safe. What she hadn’t planned was that Jazz would decide not to talk immediately for her own reasons. So Jazz sat in jail, a crazy gangster on the loose wanted his money back, and Willa’s ex-husband’s mistress was driving her nuts. Through it all Willa managed to hold onto her sanity. Just barely.
The dreary November day didn’t help. Willa glanced out the window. So much for trying to see the sunny side of life, she mused. She shivered just looking at the steady drizzle of rain that had hung on since dawn. Most working people would be celebrating getting through half the work week. Back in the day Willa’s father would call Wednesday “Hump Day,” as in getting over the hump and closer to the weekend. To Willa it now meant visiting day at the parish prison where Jazz was being held. Willa had been watching the clock all morning counting down. Visiting hours were noon to one-thirty. At eleven Willa prepared to leave.
“Kay, I’m going to lunch early. Call my cell if something urgent comes up.” Willa stared to say more when she saw MiMi waving at her through the glass entry doors. “Call security, please.”
“Hi ladies,” MiMi said with her brightest smile. “How are you, Kay? Love the new do.”
“Thanks,” Kay said and smiled back. “Love those earrings. Gold looks good on you.”
“Girl, show me a woman that doesn’t look good wearing gold,” MiMi quipped and both women laughed.
“I heard that. Now if you could just drop that tip on my man,” Kay said and rolled her eyes in mock frustration.
Willa blinked at the exchange and shook her head wondering when MiMi had managed to charm Kay. “I can’t visit, MiMi. I’m meeting someone for lunch.”
“I know. I’m coming with you,” MiMi looped one arm through Willa’s and waved goodbye to Kay with her free hand.
Once they were outside the office suite Willa shook off her unwelcome companion. “I’m not playing around with you today. I have business to take care of, and you are not invited.”
“You’re going to visit Jazz at the Parish Prison. Dion told me, and don’t you climb his butt about it either. Few men can resist confiding in me.” MiMi lifted a shoulder and smiled.
“Seems Jack found you quite resistible. You didn’t know about the money he stashed away or his extra trips to the Cayman Islands. Without you.” Willa hit the elevator button and smiled back at a now frowning MiMi. “I’m betting Jack had a woman on the big island as well, or two.”
“That was downright nasty,” MiMi snapped back. She fumed for several moments in silence. When the elevator door opened she followed Willa inside.
“So have a nice lunch,” Willa said.
MiMi ignored the three people already on the elevator. “I’m already prepared to be searched. I’ve never been to a jail before. Kind of exciting.”
“No.” Willa clenched her teeth to keep from saying more.
“I’m not going to argue. This whole mess with the police affects me and the baby.” MiMi patted her tummy. “I’m coming with you.”
“No,” Willa hissed.
The woman standing behind them leaned forward. The two men exchanged a glance with raised eyebrows then stared at the wall. All three seemed eager to learn more. When the elevator bumped to a smooth landing on the first floor the woman actually sighed in disappointment. Willa hurried off the elevator with MiMi right behind her.
“Hell no. No damn way no,” Willa snapped and squinted at the woman who had exited the elevator right behind t
hem. She stared at Willa and MiMi with interest. Once the woman left the building lobby, Willa gave MiMi her full attention. “Listen, they don’t allow more than one visitor.”
“That’s not true. We’re wasting time. Let’s be green and carpool. I’ll drive. You must be exhausted with everything going on. By the way, I talked to Mama Ruby and she cooked her special gumbo. We’ll pick some up later.” MiMi grabbed Willa’s arm again and forcefully directed her toward the shiny BMW sedan parked in a handicapped space.
“What?” Willa blinked.
MiMi waved at one of the two building security staff, a male. “Charles said it was okay. I was only going to be a few minutes and of course I’m pregnant.”
“Listen, Jazz won’t talk in front of you, MiMi, so forget it. Besides, this whole situation is getting dangerous. I don’t want you or that baby on my conscience. Now go.”
Willa spun and marched off to a section where building occupants were allowed to park. She got in her Honda Pilot and drove off the parking lot. At the stop sign leading off the parking lot she looked in her rearview mirror and muttered a curse. MiMi waved to her from her BMW. For thirty aggravating minutes Willa continued to swear at the traffic and MiMi. She pulled up to the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison security booth with four cars ahead of her. MiMi’s BMW was three cars behind. The small crowd went through the usual security process of making sure no cell phones or prohibited items were being carried in. Willa came prepared. She had put her purse in the trunk of her car and only carried her keys. After another fifteen minutes Willa entered the visiting room. Cement benches attached to the floor were scattered around. Two vending machines stood in one corner. A few visitors fed them coins to buy treats for inmates they would visit. Moments later a door opened and several women came through.
“Got here fast as I could. Where’s Jazz?” MiMi sounded out of breath.
“You’re like a rash I can’t get rid of, you know that?” Still Willa eyed her closely. “Sit down over there before all the benches are taken.”