by Gayle Tiller
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The old man's face looked like I had taken the life out of him. Tears starting coming out of his eyes and he said, "That can't be true. You is ly-in' to me."
"Sir, no I am not. Here is a copy of today's paper."
"You know I can't read. Read it to me. No, wait I don't trust you. Call a nurse to read it."
I got the redhead nurse and asked her to read the newspaper to him.
The redhead nurse said, "Mr. Grady, the article says that San Jose Fire Chief Melvin Grady was killed in a train accident yesterday."
"My grandson is dead. The paper has to be lying. Nurse, can you call the Fire Department and check for me?"
The nurse dialed information and obtained the phone number for the San Jose Fire Department. The nurse dialed the number and handed the phone to the old man.
He said, "Hello, I would like to speak with Fire Chief Melvin Grady."
His face turned ashen, "So you're saying, he was killed in a train accident last night. Okay." He hung up the phone.
He stared at the phone and said, "Those colored folks killed him. I know they did."
"Mr. Grady, he died in a train accident."
"No, he didn't. He was killed by them."
I turned to the nurse and said, "I would like to have a private conversation with Mr. Grady if that would be okay."
She responded, "Sure." And she left the room.
"Mr. Grady, I told you yesterday that your grandson fabricated your death in order that he could launder drug money."
"Miss, I told you that my grandson ain't no drug dealer."
"But there are court papers saying you died in 1983."
"I didn't die back then. And for all I know you is makin' everythin'
up."
"Sir, I am being truthful with you."
"Miss, it was your people who killed him. Melvin was a good boy.
And if you hadn't come here, he would still be alive."
"What are you saying?"
You colored folks really ain't too smart. If you don't know what I is talkin' about, that's too bad."
"I think his wife killed him. She got too greedy and she was afraid of losing everything if the drug dealing came out."
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"His wife killed him? Is you crazy? She is a pure white woman. Ain't no woman like that, gonna kill her man. No, if anybody killed him, it was a colored."
"Do you know who this person is?"
"I know it was a colored and that is all I need to know miss. Now, I need to be makin' some arrangements, so you best be goin'."
"Sure."
* * *
When I got back to San Jose, I was in heaven. I had the old man on tape and all I needed to do was to confront Rebecca with it and she would be history. She had killed for money and now she was going to have to pay for her actions. When I arrived at Rebecca's home, there was yellow tape blocking the entrance.
Goddamn, what had happened?
I saw a police officer who was in his early thirties at the front door.
I said, "I am a private investigator and I am here to see Rebecca Grady."
He looked at me and said, "I am sorry ma'am, but she just died a few minutes ago."
Rebecca was dead. How could she be? Who had gotten to her?
"How did she die?"
"She apparently choked to death on a piece of hard candy. She called 911, but when the paramedics arrived, she was already gone."
"So it was an accidental death."
"At this point, we're not sure. You know that her husband was killed in a train accident yesterday. Everything looks suspicious. Anyway, Lt.
Myers was just out here and he's not ruling out anything."
Dad had been out here. With Rebecca's death, he would finally come to grips that Kristal was not the killer. How could she be responsible for the deaths of Loretta's father, Melvin, and Rebecca Grady? It was impossible, because she was in jail.
But setting Kristal free would not end the killings. Someone had gone off on a killing spree and he had to be stopped.
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When I arrived home, my answering machine had five messages. I clicked on the first one. It was from Dad. He said, "Jasmine, I need to speak with you as soon as possible."
I dialed Dad's phone number. He answered the phone and I said, "I got your message. What is going on?"
"We need to find Chuck Roberts as soon possible. His killings are out of control and he has gone too far."
"Dad, I thought you already have a warrant out for his arrest."
"Jazz, Chuck Roberts is a very dangerous man, he just killed two people in the last two days-Melvin Grady and his wife."
"I thought Melvin Grady died in a train accident."
"We did some investigating and the train lights were tampered with."
"I don't see the link to Chuck Roberts."
"You really don't know Chuck. The man is out of control. He was blackmailing Grady, because he knew about Grady's side job."
"His side job?"
"His side job of drug dealing. Twenty years ago, Grady was a hardcore drug dealer, but nobody had any hard evidence. There were rumors, but that was it."
"Dad, how come all of this coming out now?"
"Jazz, you know the answer. It is because of your investigation."
"My investigation?"
"When Phillip Meeks heard that you were digging up Melvin Grady's grandfather's probate, he knew that you would find out the truth that everything was fabricated and that his grandfather was still alive. Meeks was scared shitless and he didn't know what do. He called Grady and tipped him off, because he didn't want to be a victim of Grady's wrath.
"Instead, Grady went off on him and told him his life was over. Meeks knew that he had only one option and that was to kill himself. That is why he committed suicide."
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"But what does this have to do with Chuck Roberts?"
"When Chuck learned about Meeks, he knew that everything was going to be exposed. So he did what he needed to do. He killed off Grady and his wife."
"But Dad, Rebecca choked on a piece of a candy. There is no way that Chuck could have killed her."
"Jazz, she was forced to take the candy in order to make it look like it was an accident. The reality is that Chuck choked her to death."
"Do you have any proof like fingerprints?"
"Chuck is too smart for that. But we did find something, a money belt buckle with the initials C.R. We ran it through forensics and it is definitely Chuck's."
Shit, the evidence was there. But that didn't mean that Chuck did it.
Maybe he and Rebecca had something going on and he left it by accident.
"But Dad, what evidence do you have that Chuck killed Grady?"
"Jazz, do you know what Chuck used to do before he became a firefighter?"
"I have no idea."
"He used to work for the railroad repairing tracks and traffic signals."
Goddamn. This was unbelievable. I swallowed hard and said, "Dad, even if Chuck used to work for the railroad, how would he be able to get Grady to cross the railroad at the exact time that the train was crossing?"
"Because Chuck knew Grady's schedule. He knew the time every night Chuck left the department and when he would pass the tracks to get home. Chuck had Grady's schedule down to a science."
I then asked the question that I needed to ask, "If Chuck was blackmailing Grady all these years, why would he and Kristal kill her husband for money? That doesn't make sense."
"Chuck wasn't blackmailing for money. It was for something a lot more. It was about power. He had control over Grady's every action. He knew when to turn on his power and when to turn it off. And that was more important to Chuck than money."
"But Dad, why would he kill Kristal's husband for money?"
"He didn't kill Ralph. That was Kristal's own doing. But once he found out Kristal's plan, he knew that he h
ad to protect her. That's why the others were killed in order to insure that she would get the money and no one would blame the murders on her."
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Dad seemed to have the answers for everything. But still, I couldn't believe that Chuck had committed the murders. But then again, I didn't know him.
I swallowed hard and said, "Dad, I need to get going."
"Jazz, you are wasting your time with working for Kristal. She is guilty and so is her boyfriend. The best thing that you can do now is to help us find Chuck. He is out of control and there is no telling who his next victim will be.
"Dad, I still haven't checked out everything about Kristal."
"There is nothing else. Kristal will continue to lie to you about being innocent."
"I need to see her and there's still a couple things."
"Like what?"
"I never had a chance to check out Ralph's e-mail."
"Don't waste your time doing that. If you haven't found out anything now, there won't be anything in his e-mail."
"You're probably right. But still, I need to go through it."
"Well, do whatever you want to do. But like I said before, you are wasting your time on this case. Promise me one thing. If you find out where Chuck is, you have to tell me. We can't let the killings continue."
"Of course, I will tell you."
* * *
Kristal's eyes were bloodshot. She looked like she had been crying for days. I said, "Have you heard the news?"
She nodded and said, "They're trying to blame the murders of Rebecca and Melvin on Chuck. That is totally fucked up. There is no way that Chuck would kill them or anyone else."
"They found Chuck's money belt buckle in Rebecca's house. How did it get there?"
"I have no idea. But just because it was there, doesn't make him guilty."
"Was Chuck seeing Rebecca?"
Kristal looked at me like I had said something stupid. She said, "There is no way that Chuck was seeing Rebecca. He was my man and no one else's."
"Why would a single man be loyal to a married woman?"
"Jasmine, because he is totally in love with me."
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Damn, Kristal had an ego. I said, "Let's say he wasn't totally honest about his feelings for you. Is it possible that he could be seeing Rebecca?"
"Jasmine, even if Chuck were not seeing me, there is no way he would have been with Rebecca."
"Why not? She's a beautiful woman and it is not like her being married would have stopped him."
"Chuck is not into white women. In fact, Chuck has never been with a white woman. He is into everything but them. And frankly, over the last fifteen years, he has only gone out with black women. So your theory about Rebecca has no merit."
"If Chuck were not seeing Rebecca, how did his money belt buckle wind up at her house?"
"I don't know. But as far as I am concerned, it either got there by accident or the real killer planted it."
"How would the killer get access to Chuck's belongings?"
"I don't know. That's your job to find out."
"To be honest, everything is pointing to Chuck."
"And what about Grady's death? There is no evidence."
"Yes, there is. Chuck used to work for the railroad years ago maintain-ing its traffic signals. And he knew the time that Grady had to pass the railroad tracks every night. So he could have made the traffic signals not function that night."
"That's bullshit. Just because Chuck used to work for the railroad, doesn't make him the killer. Someone wants to see Chuck and me go down bad. I don't know who it is, but you need to find them."
"Kristal, I am going to be honest with you. There is nothing in you and Chuck's favor."
"Jasmine, I am innocent and so is Chuck. You have to believe me."
"Do you know where Chuck is?"
Kristal looked at me suspiciously and said, "No, I don't. It's not like Chuck can waltz in here and see me."
"Are you sure you don't know?"
"Jasmine, I don't know where he is. And when Chuck decides it's time to come forward, he will."
"If Chuck is innocent, why is he hiding?"
"I don't know. When he appears, I am sure he will tell us."
"He better come out soon before anyone else is killed. Because everything is looking really bad for him."
"Why would anyone else be killed?"
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I remembered what Dad had told me about the killer. I said, "Because someone is out of control and they are on a killing spree. And who knows, who the next person will be."
Kristal looked at me and pleaded, "Jazz, please don't give up on me or Chuck. I know that you will find the real killer. I just know that you will."
I wanted to say that I had found the real killers and they were Chuck and her. Everything was pointing to them and the case was becoming a waste of my time. And unless Ralph's e-mail showed something else, I was going to close the case.
I swallowed hard and said, "I'll keep trying."
She looked at me "Thanks for having faith in me."
I wanted to tell her the truth, but I couldn't. Instead, I shook her hand good-bye and left.
I knew if something did not turn up soon, Kristal needed to start preparing herself for the death penalty. That was where her case was headed.
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It was 1:30 in the morning and I couldn't sleep. I pulled out the disc where I had copied everything from Kristal's hard drive and started looking through the e-mail. There were over three thousand e-mails.
Most of them had to do with fire safety and training. A few were press releases from the San Jose Black Firefighters Association.
I also found e-mails from Kristal. I glanced through a few of them.
They had to do with various community projects.
I saw one addressed to K. Rawlings. Because I was too tired to read it from the screen, I hit the print key and printed a hard copy. I started to read the e-mail.
To: K. Rawlings
From: Kristal Woods
Date: March 3, 1999
Re: Personal
Keith,
I am tired of our undercover relationship for the past three years.
Yes, we have incredible sex and you definitely know how to satisfy a woman.
But I need more than that.
For three years, I have been the "other woman" and what has it gotten me?
Not a goddamn thing.
When I got pregnant with your child, you went off on me and said it was my fault. You then accused me of "screwing another man."
The only other possibility was Michael. Michael was a minister and he didn't believe in sex before marriage. In fact, the last time Michael had sex was over ten years ago. And that was before he got his calling.
Michael and I were physical to a point, but he and I never had sex.
The only way Michael and I would ever have sex was to get married. And that wasn't going to happen, because his so-called girlfriend Loretta was a Sunday school teacher.
So there's no way in hell that Michael could have gotten me pregnant.
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You were the father of my child or should I say the child I could have had. Because of you, I had an abortion despite the fact I wanted to have it. When I told you I was carrying your baby, you told me that I had two choices- abortion and abortion.
Why did you do this to me?
Of course, I know why. You're married to Jasmine and you hold her up on a goddamn pestle. But why wouldn't you? She pays over half the bills and after a ten hour workday, she cooks and cleans for you.
The only thing that she wasn't good at was satisfying you in bed and that's why you chose me as your mistress.
But as for other things, I just could not compete. I wasn't making money as a teacher. As for cooking, the closest thing I came to cooking was microwaving my dinner. And as for cleaning, I wasn't a slob. But hell, my house
would never be in a magazine.
Besides you were color struck. You were all into her light skin. You felt that you could be seen publicly with her, because of her skin color. But I didn't meet the paper bag test, because I was too dark. Sure, you liked my long hair, because it was real and not artificial. But that wasn't good enough. You were always complaining about how I got too dark in the summer and that I needed to stay out of the sun.
The truth is that you needed a real sister like me to satisfy you sexually; but as for anything else, you needed a light-skinned woman who couldn't suntan to be your partner.
So the bottom line was that we were just sex. You never loved me.
You also knew damn well that Jasmine would leave your ass in a second if she knew there was another woman.
So because you couldn't afford emotionally or financially for the so-called great Jasmine to leave your ass, your only option was to tell me to have an abortion.
Besides you were afraid that the baby might have my color.
You know my values. I don't believe in bringing a child in the world without a father. I believe that two people create a child and when one person doesn't want the baby, you shouldn't have it.
I did what you told me. A part me died when I had the abortion, because I really wanted to have this baby.
I wasn't a young girl anymore. I was 31 years old. But hell like a fool, I listened to you anyway.
You were also right in picking me as your mistress, because I was not one of those women who will go to the wife and tell her that her husband is cheating on her.
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No, my self-esteem was too goddamn low. Instead, I pretended that nothing was going on between you and me.
Keith, I am tired of playing this goddamn charade. When I told you that I was leaving you, because I wanted a husband and children, you told me that you were never going to leave your wife. But the closest thing I would come to a husband was you.
Yeah, I know I have told you at least a hundred times that I was leaving you.
And the only reason why I kept going back was the sex. Yes, you satisfied me physically. And I used to love the way you would sneeze before you would come.