Healing Inc.

by Tarbox, Deneice

  Swallowing the lump that had risen in his throat, Marcus took the opportunity to distract himself by diverting his attention from the man to the cell he sat within. Although the walls matched the cement gray of the building, it was a little homier than most with a comfortable looking mattress and a clean toilet. Pictures of a little blond girl, in most of which she sported a pigtail on either side of her head, embellished the walls making them a bit more bearable. They showed her at various ages with her hamming it up for the camera. He noticed that each picture had a note scribbled in childlike writing underneath it.

  As the girl matured in the pictures, so did her writing skills. In the one Marcus thought to be the last in the series she appeared to be about twelve or thirteen years of age. She wore a smile that didn’t quite reach her pretty brown eyes and her demeanor was much more somber than in all the others. Her hair hung past her shoulders flat, stringy and lifeless. He couldn’t help but feel her sadness.

  Noticing the look on his visitor’s face, Thomas followed his gaze to the picture. “Pretty, ain’t she?” He was smiling at the picture. Just as quickly as it came the smile faded, replaced by a look on indifference. “She ain’t hurt no more… She’s dead,” he continued speaking in his unusual dialect. He turned from the picture back to face Marcus, making eye contact with him. “She don kilt herself shortly after that picture was taken. She be sixteen went it happen.” With that said, he returned to the consumption of his meal.

  Marcus stood watching him, unable to fully understand why Thomas was so nonchalant about his daughter’s death. He decided that he didn’t have time to find out. Ratcliff was scheduled to be executed in two hours and he had wasted enough time already. He needed to find out why the man had summoned him there.

  “I don’t want to keep you from your meal, Mr. Ratcliff, but why did you request to see me?”

  Popping the last of his steak in his mouth, he repositioned himself in his comfy chair ready to give Marcus his full attention. “You had a brotha, older than you… Randy Cole, right?”

  “I did.” Eighteen years later, the sadness of the loss of his brother still haunted him.

  “Ya brotha…” he faltered, “ya brotha was my first victim.” He hung his head, unable to deal with the shock then pain that came to the other man’s eyes. “Ya see, he and my Kathy been going together. She hid it from me…not knowing how I’d re-act. I guess that’s my fault. I never says anything good about those not like us. Well, she come up with child she scared, she know’t the baby might be colored. She tole me he raped ha.” His eyes grew distant with the horrors of years passed. “I couldn’t take it! The thoughta some nigger! Some black bastard touched my lil girl in that way!” He spoke the words as though they were acid in his mouth.

  “I follow’t him one day afta he leave work. First chance I get, I hit him in the head with a pipe iron an shove em in my car. Drove him to where I hunt an waited til he woke up. At first, I din’t know what to do with him. Then he starts screaming, I had ta shut him up. Thas when I cut his throat. He didn’t die directly. He was alive when I cut his thing off.”

  He chanced a quick look at the other man who was now collapsed against the opposite wall from his cell. He was bent over with his hands on his knees, all the color gone from his face. Thomas thought the man was going to be sick but he had to finish telling him.

  “Something came alive in me afta that. You know, I din’t stop with him. One day my lil girl tol me she lied, she lied about the whole thing. She says she love em. She was the first to find out what I done. Looking in ha eyes that day was tha worst day o my life!” Emotion captured his voice, silencing him temporarily. “I turn myself in after that. Couldn’t bring myself to confess to ya brotha’s murder cause that one brought the most shame. He haunts me most of all. Kathy kilt herself… I hope she not in pain no more. She left that lil gal wit no motha. Mr. Cole…you ha uncle. She’s beautiful, Mr. Cole, beautiful!” Thomas was sobbing now. “She won’t rememba her mother…she never know her father. Don’t want her ta know me. I beg you sir – please let her know you ha family! Please!”

  Marcus remained in the same position; the wall was the only thing rooting him to consciousness. His mind was reeling at what Thomas had just told him. At that moment, emotions both foreign and familiar were bombarding him. He and his parents had assumed after all these years that Randy was gone, and he was somewhat relieved to finally put an end to the mystery. However, hearing how and why was like a punch in the gut. He felt like the wind had literally been knocked out of him. He was angry, hurt and confused.

  After a few minutes, Thomas was able to collect himself and continue. “Outta guilt I felt I need to give back. In prison I made friends wit a black man, Raheem Jones. I protect him. I could’t squash them damn demons o his. He would’t say who, but someone offer him a lot of money to kill his best friend and his gal in that ole club. They sent three thugs to help him do it. He says they promised to keep his drugs coming for life. He told me he was using so much he could’t pass it up.”

  Marcus had sobered with this new information. He was once again watching Thomas as his tale continued to unfold. How did he know I’ve been assigned the Johnson case? How did he know it had been reopened? he wondered.

  “You find her, let ha know he was sorry. He just messed up, that’s all. It tore him up something bad; he kilt himself cause of it. I tol ya this cause I owe ya. I owe Raheem too. I gone die tonight with a clear mine. Goodbye Mr. Cole.” With that he turned to his cot and laid down with his hands under his head. His harsh eyes softened, as a sense of peace fell over him.

  Once again, Marcus found himself staring at the man behind bars, noticing that those cold gray eyes had tempered considerably. It wasn’t fair. He wanted him to live longer, to feel his pain longer after what he had taken from his family. He had to get past this yearning because it wasn’t going to happen. The guard reappeared and escorted him out. Ratcliff’s confession would undoubtedly keep sleep at bay for him tonight.

  Chapter 5

  Evy hardly noticed the weather during the second Friday of October. As far as she was concerned, it was cloudy with a chance of disarray. The girl working at the boutique had gone into labor during her shift. The other young employee purposely put on shift with her in case this should happen panicked and ran from the store. The one in labor was so scared and confused she wasn’t sure if she should call an ambulance or Nita to inform her of what was going on. Fortunately, mall security had seen the other girl running from the boutique and had investigated the situation. By then the girl’s water had broken. He managed to get her on her way to the hospital and apprise Nita of the situation.

  Evy had to fill in until Nita could get someone else to cover, which she was all but thrilled about doing. The boutique was different from the consignment shop. Evy didn’t like working there because she found the crowd to be a little too snobbish for her liking. Grinding her teeth the whole time, she had dealt with it only to find that her stock broker had been trying to get in touch with her all day. He was in a tizzy because he thought he had purchased ten times as much of a particular stock she had requested. After she had calmed the perpetually hyper man down, she was able to verify that no mistake had been made and assured him all was well.

  After resolving that issue, she had gone to the Healing Inc.’s official headquarters for the usual Friday meeting only to discover that Nita had rushed to the hospital to check on the girl who was in labor. She had not been able to complete payroll, which had to be in before close of business. Fortunately, it was one of the few jobs they shared. Evy jumped on it immediately, completing it just under the wire. Nita had called during that time to inform her that the girl’s parents couldn’t be reached, leaving her as the only one who could remain with the terrified girl until a relative could take over. Evy offered to relieve her but Nita reminded her that she had to tutor Tyler tonight.

  “Oh, shoot! Tyler!” Using the office phone, she called him to let him know she was running l
ate and gave him the option to reschedule. Showing no interest in cancelling, Tyler asked her to meet him at his office again as they had done the previous Friday. Evy readily agreed as she felt it had worked out well enough.

  As she left Healing Inc. heading toward his office, she reflected on the last Friday evening they had spent together. During that time they had become more acquainted. The session had started off with them going over the course work. Evy had noticed how stressed he was and prompted him to relax to one of her favorite songs, U Will Know by Black Men United. Tyler had poked fun at her, claiming she was neither young nor a black male. In actuality, he was happy for the opportunity to discover something else about her. She showed him how she stretches and moves about while reflecting on the words of the song, but prompted him to let the song move him in any way that came to him. She was surprised when he started dancing to it, not to mention a bit disturbed from liking the way he moved.

  After study time ended they had talked. They were excited to find out that they both enjoyed a good run in the morning. Tyler had feigned fear when Evy exposed her martial arts background to him and cringed when he found out how early she rose to get a complete workout in every day. She easily guessed that he used weights as his bulging muscles were a testament of it.

  Eventually, he had asked her why that song was one of her favorites. She told him about her childhood dreams of being a singer, how it hadn’t work out and that she had refocused her energy to become the happy being that she was today. He had then confided in her about his childhood and how he stayed with the Wilsons while his mother ran around wild. He went on to mention his ex-wife in New York and the daughter they had together. Evy had been fascinated by the way his eyes lit up when describing his daughter.

  Somehow during the course of their conversation, she had gone behind him as he sat in his office chair and started idly massaging him. She hadn’t realized what she was doing until he looked up at her with pure lust in his eyes. As usual, she had found an excuse to end the session and get as far away from him as possible.

  She drove into the garage of the tall building that housed his office and parked. Just as she did so, a loud growl escaped from her stomach.

  “Ah man! I can’t believe I forgot to eat today!”

  She sat there for a moment, wondering if the tuna salad she had left in the work refrigerator would cause problems for her on Monday. Her nose scrunched up in memory of a similar incident in which her abandoned egg salad sandwich had resulted in a near quarantine of the office kitchen a few summers ago. The staff had been on the verge of stringing her up until she offered to take everyone out to lunch on her dime. She briefly contemplated heading out to grab something but her thoughts were interrupted by her cell phone.

  “Yes, it’s me,” she answered, recognizing Tyler’s number.

  “Hi me,” Tyler started. “Where are you?”

  “Uh, I’m actually sitting in the garage of your building.”

  “Well come on up. I’ve been waiting. The cleaning crew wants to come in early so they can go to some concert or something. I didn’t have the heart to say no.”

  Evy decided to suck it up and not to make him wait any longer. She would be sure to make a bee line to the nearest convenience store as soon as she finished with Tyler. That stale burrito with her name on it would have to wait for now.

  Gathering her backpack, she made her way to the elevator. As the elevator rose closer to the top floor that accommodated his office, she started to think that she was losing her mind. The hallucinogenic scent of her favorite food, Indian cuisine, was infiltrating her senses and growing stronger by the minute. Stepping off the elevator, her notion was confirmed when her nose pinpointed the aroma coming from his office.

  She walked the short distance past the reception area to his office door which stood wide open. There, on his desk, lay a buffet of some of the most delicious foods known to man, mango lamb, coconut soup and of course, nan to name a few. On instinct, her mouth began to water. She stood in amazement, eyeing the spread, repeatedly swallowing her saliva so that it wouldn’t overflow in an obscene cascade to the floor.

  “Hey there! A little birdie told me you might be a wee bit hungry,” Tyler said with a sly smile.

  “I…I…I’ll be alright.” With difficulty, she refocused her gaze from the food to him. She was determined not to let him win their ongoing standoff over him buying her dinner. “We need to get started so that we don’t hold up your cleaning crew,” she reminded him.

  “Oh, I see. I hope you don’t mind if I go ahead and eat while we’re studying. Boy, am I starving! This is the first chance that I’ve gotten to eat all day,” he exclaimed as he sat down rubbing his large hands together.

  “Go for it,” she replied, shrugging her back pack off her shoulder and taking the seat across the desk from him. Attempting to ignore the fare before her, she started pulling items from her back pack in preparation for their study session.

  “You know, I’ve never tried Indian cuisine before. I think I rather like it,” he teased, munching on the savory meat and bread. “Are you sure you don’t want any?”

  “I’m fine!” she fired a little more harshly than she had expected. Her cheeks heated with embarrassment which was hidden by her deep brown skin color. She continued to avert her eyes from him and his banquet by pretending to look for something deep within the confines of her back pack.

  “Umm-umm! This is some good cooking here!” He closed his eyes, rolling them heavenward as he scrumptiously mowed down on the cuisine. “Wow! You know the smell doesn’t do it justice. This stuff….”

  He was cut off by a loud noise emanating from Evy’s stomach. Without warning, she reached across the table and snatched the food out of his large cupped hand. Tyler roared with laughter as he watched her devour it, forgoing any ounce of poise or dignity.

  Once finished, she addressed him. “Oh you fight dirty Mr. Moriatti,” she seethed with narrowed eyes as she licked her fingers clean. Then she lowered her eyes, addressing her stomach, “You treacherous bastard you!”

  Tyler could no longer contain himself. He laughed so hard it brought him out of his overpriced office chair and onto the carpeted floor. The fall did nothing to abate his mirth, which went on for another five minutes while Evy fixed a plate, unable to keep from snickering as she did so. His joy was contagious.

  They finished eating, with Tyler confessing that Nita had clued him in on her missing lunch. He had hit the redial button to see if Evy wanted to reschedule after hearing that the cleaning crew wanted to come in early. Nita had just gotten back to the office and informed him that Evy was on her way. It was then Nita had asked him to pass on that the tuna fish sandwich had been taken care of. He let the crew clean as he ran out and got the food, telling them not to worry about his office if they didn’t get to it before he returned. With that out of the way, the study session ensued.

  “Okay, I think it’s time for a break,” Evy suggested after noticing the growing tension in Tyler. She was beginning to think that the subject of humanities really was difficult for him.

  “I get to pick the song this week,” he claimed with enthusiasm.

  “Fair enough,” she affirmed as she walked around his desk to use his computer. He was almost childlike as he stood from his chair, offering it to her. “What’s it going to be?”

  “Aretha, Sing One for Me. The George Jackson version, please.”

  Evy looked up at him from her place at the computer. “Are you serious?” she asked with a lifted brow. “This song inspires you?” She failed to keep the condescension out of her voice.

  “Oh my! Look who’s judging this time,” he challenged, smiling the whole time. “If you must know, yes- it- does. It gives me hope that I will be able to find the right person some day and that no matter what happens, I’ll be able to win her back.”

  “Oookay. If that’s what you want,” she conceded.

  Wasting no more time, she went to her website of preference and
added the song to the queue. She stood and prepared to do her stretches only to find herself swept up into Tyler’s arms. The swiftness of the act took her breath away, with the proximity of him making it difficult for her to catch it.

  “Let the song move me any way I want, remember?” he reminded her. The music seemed to take forever to start allowing ample time for them to gaze into each other’s eyes. Their breathing became more problematic to control. A moment later, they began to sway together as the song started to play. Tyler pulled her closer to him, moving his hips in a seductive manner. Evy was lost in the song and his closeness. He lead her fluidly, twirling her away from him, turning her this way and that way to the music break in the song. Then he took her in his arms again, both of them smiling, feeling lighthearted and at ease with one another as the world outside of them fell away.

  Tyler brought his lips downward lightly brushing them across hers. He could taste her sweetness despite the strong spices from the food they had just eaten. Liking the taste of her, he went back for more, placing a light peck on her sensuous lips. He pulled back from her just enough to read her expression. As she returned his gaze she noticed that something special was projecting from those deep blue eyes of his. It spread warmth throughout her body, awakening a longing that she thought had died many years ago.