Alibi II

by Teri Woods

  “That’s how they do ’em. Trust me, if she gets a hold of him real good, he won’t never talk to none of y’all no more without Maeleen telling him what to say,” said Ray Ray, already knowing the 411 on his witch-brewing neighbors from across the street. “I watched that girl’s mammee and she was a voodoo witch doctor. She stayed digging dirt out there in Mt. Vernon Cemetery right there off Thirty-third and Lehigh. I’m telling you what I know. And if Revere knows what’s good for him, he’d get the hell away from her.”

  “I better tell Donna,” said Beverly, picking up the phone to call her best friend.

  “You better tell Donna, but hell, Donna can’t save his black ass from no Maeleen. She got him and it’s probably too late.”

  “Uncle Ray Ray, what you talking about it’s probably too late.”

  “What I said, once them people get a hold on you, can’t nobody save you. Donna and the rest of them can kiss Rev good-bye,” said Uncle Ray Ray, slowly limping on his bad foot back to his favorite lounging chair. “How’d that boy make out today?” he said, asking about Nard.

  “Well, it don’t look good. Some stripper girl claimed she was paid to say Nard was with her and when she took the stand, she said he really wasn’t,” said Beverly, wishing there was something she could do to help her son.

  “Nope, that don’t sound good at all,” said Uncle Ray Ray, already knowing Nard’s fate. “That boy could have been somebody. Nard started selling them drugs and running them streets and they got a hold of him, and once the streets get you, they don’t let you go.” He mumbled something else, then tuned out his niece and tuned in to a Sanford and Son rerun.

  “Hill Street Blues come on at nine o’clock,” he added, as if Beverly needed to know the television lineup.

  Beverly picked up the phone hanging on the wall and called Donna, her best friend for the past twenty-five years. First thing Donna asked about was Nard. Beverly told her everything that had transpired in the courtroom and all the drama that unfolded.

  “It don’t look good for him. I just don’t know what to do,” said Beverly, beginning to feel the stress of the past six months since Nard had been arrested and held without bail.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll be right up in there with you tomorrow. Damn, I wish I could have been there today,” Donna added, just before Beverly remembered why she had really called her in the first place.

  “Wait, guess who I just seen?”

  “Who?”

  “That damn Rev.”

  “My brother, Rev?”

  “Yeah, honey, with my neighbor Maeleen.”

  “Oh, snap, hold up, Bev, don’t you know it’s a mess, honey, Revere done brought that Maybeline girl over here and Momma told him she didn’t like her, not one bit. Don’t you know he got mad and ain’t spoke to nobody since.”

  “Aww, Rev know he not right, he better talk to his momma, that’s the only momma he got.”

  “Momma said let him go on with Maybeline…”

  “Maeleen?” interrupted Beverly, trying to help her friend get the woman’s name right.

  “Maeleen, Maybeline, shit is all the same, Beverly. Don’t nobody care what that woman’s name is. Momma told Revere don’t come back in her house with her no more.”

  “Well, you know, Uncle Ray Ray said she’s a witch, her and her momma is both witches, and she’s into that root shit or whatever the hell it is.”

  “I believe it ’cause she came in here and sat down on the sofa and I don’t know what the hell kind of smell she got in her ass but you can still smell her in the air. It’s a funny smell, too, the weirdest thing.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Beverly.

  “Bev, I swear to God if you come over here right now and sit down on the sofa where she was sitting you can smell her, and she was here like two weeks ago and ain’t been back.”

  “Did you try to wipe the sofa down or something?”

  “Girl, Momma done tried everything, even ammonia. But the weird thing is, you only smell her if you sit directly behind her. If you sit at the other end of the sofa you don’t smell a thing.”

  “And it hasn’t worn off?”

  “Nope, I don’t know what to say, but this bitch ass is permanently in my momma’s sofa. I know that.”

  “What in the world is wrong with Revere?”

  “Who the hell knows, all my brothers is retards. I don’t understand it. They always get hooked up with crazy ass women and end up putting everybody out their minds. Revere is doing too good for himself to be messing with the wrong woman.”

  “Well, you know she got like four or five kids?”

  “Four or five kids? He don’t even like kids. He won’t help me with none of my foster kids. I asked him to watch Trey and Lashawn so I could go to the store and he acted like he was gonna die. I know he done lost his mind now. Rev don’t mess with no women with no kids, ever!”

  “Yeah, they’re something awful, too. Them kids of hers is real bad. I swear I ain’t never lie.”

  “You know what, let me call you back. I’ma tell my momma and see what she says about all this.”

  “Okay, I’ll be here, just call me if you need me. Oh, wait, you gonna meet me in the morning at the welfare office?”

  “Yeah, girl, I need them food stamps, too. You know Hong’s be cashing them shits in, girl, seven dollars for every ten.”

  “No way, Wu’s only gives me six.”

  “Fuck Wu’s, you better cash them chumpies in with Hong’s, honey, seven dollars is good money all day.”

  “It sure is. I’ll see you in the morning and then we’ll go to court.”

  Beverly hung up the phone. She couldn’t help but to think about her son and all he must be going through. She remembered his outburst and the way she had looked at him. Their eyes had locked for a split second, and she saw right through him without him saying a word. She could see his fear, she could see his anger and she could see his pain. There’s got to be something that the lawyer can do to save his life. The girl done said he wasn’t with her. What is going to happen to him now? What’s going to happen to my son?

  Silence Is Golden

  Liddles was parked in the back of Pathmark’s Shopping Center at Forty-fifth and Sansom Street out in West Philadelphia. His man, Luck, pulled into the lot driving a red Volvo with a black rag top. Luck got out of the car, his short frame moving quickly as he hopped into Liddles’s yellow Volvo, graced with the same custom black rag.

  “You good?” asked Luck, greeting his man with a shake of the hand as he closed the car door.

  “Yeah, you got that?” asked Liddles as Luck passed him a plastic City Blue clothing bag.

  “You said for the .45, right?” asked Luck.

  “Yeah, or the .38,” said Liddles as he looked in the bag, making sure Luck came correct. “This is it,” Liddles said, shaking his head as he looked at the silencer.

  “You straight?” Luck asked slapping a five before hopping out of the car.

  “I’m good and plenty,” joked Liddles. He watched Luck get back into his Volvo before pulling out of the grocery store lot.

  “I needed this,” he said out loud to himself, thankful for Luck, as his cell phone rang. His man Reese had the plate information, including name, address, date of birth, and social security number.

  Truth be told, Liddles would fall in line to run the city. It was his destiny. His brother Poncho never wanted Liddles around, he always kept him on the sideline, always kept him out of harm’s way, but it was destined for him to run the city.

  “I don’t want you out here and that’s that. Go home!” He could hear his brother Poncho screaming at him to get off the block.

  “How you gonna tell me I’m not to be out here and you’re out here. Nobody’s gonna have your back like me. I’m supposed to be out here with you.”

  “Why?” shouted Poncho, tired of arguing with his kid brother. “Why the fuck you think you supposed to be out here? You not my keeper!”

  “Yes I am, I
am my brother’s keeper,” said Liddles, knowing the infamous line from the scriptures about Cain and Abel.

  “Nigga, no you not, I’m your keeper. Get your young ass in the house, you understand? And you do what I tell you to. If I need you, I know where you at, but you not my keeper, you understand?” He could remember his brother telling him, “Go on, man, go in the house where you’ll be safe. This shit is a jungle out here. I don’t want to have to worry about you, too.”

  See, I should have been there, like I told you, now you know I would have saved you.

  It didn’t matter, though, because now that Poncho was gone, Liddles was where he wanted to be, and he had taken Poncho’s place. He filled the void that Poncho left behind. Who better to fill his brother’s shoes? And they fit perfectly. The only thing missing in his life was his brother, and for his brother, he would kill everything moving, it was only a matter of time.

  “My case is going down the drain. They’re going to hang this guy, literally,” Bobby DeSimone casually explained. “I told him before this trial even started to take the plea. I told him that the police had found the girl and he didn’t listen. Had he listened to me, we wouldn’t be in this mess,” said Bobby as he stuffed a piece of salmon in his mouth. “Are these the best mashed potatoes in the world or what?”

  “They are,” agreed Joanne.

  “So, anyway, this fuck bag DA is sitting there smirking at me the whole time. I just wanted to put his head in a chokehold and pull out his eyelashes with a pair of tweezers. And this girl, this Daisy Mae Fothergill bitch, just completely sank the entire case with her fucking testimony. ‘No, I never saw him before in my life.’ Thanks a lot, Daisy, and then this fucking make pretend cop, Delgado, takes the girl and calmly and quietly escorts this stripper slut whore away into seclusion in some comfy witness protection program.”

  “Really?” asked Joanne, listening to how serious the case was.

  “Really, she’s probably in fucking Disney World stripping for Mickey, Donald, and Pluto as we speak.”

  “Wow, I love Disney World,” commented Joanne, in utter ignorance and agreement at the same time.

  “I’m serious, Jo, I’m fucking serious over here.”

  “Honey, so am I. You know I love the castle.”

  Bobby wondered if she even got half the conversations he had with her. He looked at her breasts and thought about what her only contribution to his life was. His mind pictured himself fondling her naked body with her legs spread wide apart. Stay focused, remember the kid, remember the case, I have to stay focused.

  “You know, you are really stressed. I can fix that,” she said in a devious whisper. She realized he wasn’t paying attention to what she was saying. “Hey, Bobby, you are so not listening to me,” she said, nudging his arm.

  “What?” he asked, upset she interrupted his moment.

  “I can’t believe you, you weren’t listening to a word I was saying.”

  “Umm,” he said as he played her back. “You said, ‘I can fix that.’” He smiled; he was right.

  She smiled back, and it was as if those four words were all she needed to hear; they made her night. For Joanne it meant he was paying attention to her, even if she didn’t think he was.

  “Come on. You done, let’s get out of here?”

  “Sure,” she agreed.

  She watched Bobby rise up from the table and take out enough money from his pocket to cover the bill and a hefty tip. He never asked for the bill, just left the money, already knowing how much it would be, that was how often they had dinner at Cutters.

  Just as the elevator doors closed, Bobby pressed P2. They reached the lower garage level where Bobby had parked his car. His mind was scrambling as he thought of losing everything. The case was too big and was receiving too much media coverage for him to come out looking like the biggest loser ever. He had everything riding on this one. If he won, the key to the city would be his. He’d be noted as one of the best criminal attorneys in the city. He needed the win, just like Nard needed an alibi. But Nard didn’t have an alibi and it didn’t look like DeSimone would be a winner.

  He opened the door and got into the car. He put the key in the ignition and turned the engine on. He sat there thinking of what his next move could be, his next witness, his next line of questioning, and truth was, at the moment, he didn’t have a clue what he was going to do. The girl, Daisy, and her testimony had his case sunk in the mud.

  “Hello, Bobby, don’t you hear me knocking on the window,” said Jo, her face to the window as she looked at him, wondering why he wouldn’t unlock the door for her.

  She tapped on the glass again and he looked at her. She was bent down with her face pressed up against the glass staring him dead in the eyes.

  “Are you kidding me? Open the fucking door, Bobby! Why are you looking at me like that?”

  His mind was reeling with thoughts of frustration, anxiety, and impatience for the answers he so desperately needed, and just as he lifted his finger, pressed the button, and unlocked the door for her to get inside, inspiration struck and he had the most amazing revelation.

  “What in the hell, Bobby, I’m standing out there tapping on the window and you’re like a zombie,” she said when she finally was seated next to him.

  “Wait!” he said, scaring her half to death. “Wait one minute!” he yelled. “They came through the window! Jo, that’s it, they came through the window!”

  “Yeah, who?” she asked, as if he was nuts.

  “They came through the window and grabbed the guy. That was his original statement, that’s the first thing Nard said to me,” said Bobby, his head ready to explode from the rush of anxiety and overwhelming excitement. He was sweating.

  “Who?”

  “The bad guys. That’s it, that’s it, that’s the key, the window,” he said, loudly enough to echo throughout the parking lot. “Suck my dick, Zone!” he shouted, looking like a madman.

  “Who’s Zone?” she wanted to know, hoping it wasn’t competition for her.

  “Yes, the window, I have to go,” he said, realizing he needed to get back to his office. He had tremendous tenacity and an excellent work ethic. He would fit all his pieces together, as if he were playing Battleship, and tomorrow, he would blow Zone right out of the water.

  “You have to go? Go where?” asked Jo, not wanting to give up date night.

  “Back to the office; I can’t believe it. Fucking around with this stripper bitch, I’m all throwed off and I’m losing, but the window is open, baby!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, his mind now moving a mile a minute. “I’m sorry, here, I got to go,” he said, reaching in his pocket and pulling out cab fare.

  “You’re not taking me home?” she asked, as he handed her the money, reached over her, and opened the car door, pushing it wide for her to exit.

  “No, I can’t, I have work to do. I have to go. No, you have to go. Out…the door,” he confidently said, as if she were an afterthought.

  “But, I thought…”

  “Jo, no thinking for you, it’s not the time, you have to get going and call me and let me know you’re home,” he said, helping scoot her ass out of the passenger seat, pushing her butt and slapping her ass. Then he used his hand to usher her to close the door. Pulled off and left her standing there as his red taillights lit up the parking lot. He reached the exit, pulled out into the street, and turned into the oncoming traffic.

  He’s so unbelievable, she said as she counted the money he had left her with. One hundred and seventy-six dollars? Why would he give me all this money to take a cab? She decided to take the bus, using her monthly bus pass, as she did to get back and forth to work, and tomorrow she’d give him back his money.

  The ringing of the phone not only startled Tommy and Vivian but woke their black Lab, Prince, who started barking and howling as if he were staring up at a full moon. Tommy rolled over and answered the phone as Vivian looked at the clock.

  “Prince, shut up!” they yelled at the
dog simultaneously.

  “It’s three in the morning, Tommy. Who is it?”

  “Okay, I’m on my way,” said Tommy, hanging up the phone.

  “What now.”

  “It looks like a young woman was raped and killed a few hours ago,” he lied. “Even on my time off, I gotta work. They gave the case to me. I got to go,” said Tommy, as he threw back the covers, got up, and walked down the hall to the bathroom.

  Vivian was going to share her big secret with him over breakfast, but the timing once again was off for her.

  “I swear, if I could just get one good night’s sleep. If it’s not you, it’s me. If it’s not me, it’s my mother. If it’s not my mother, it’s your mother. I need a vacation.”

  “Me, too, Viv, me, too,” said Tommy, kissing his girlfriend before he slipped on his clothes.

  “You’re not going to take a shower?” she asked, as if he needed one.

  “No, I don’t have time.”

  “You’re wearing the same clothes you had on yesterday?”

  “Viv, I don’t have time.”

  “Aren’t you scheduled to testify in court today on that Somerset case?”

  “Fuck! You’re right,” he said, doubling back and opening his closet door. He pulled a red tie off a hanger, then a green one. “Hey Viv, which one do you think?” he asked holding up the ties.

  “Go with the green, it really makes that shirt from yesterday pop, honey.”

  “Don’t be a wise-ass.”

  “Just kiss me good-bye,” she said as he bent over the bed, hugging her and pecking her lips. “God, Tommy, you didn’t even brush your teeth.”

  “I’m going to work. I’m not going to see my mother, Viv,” he said, walking down the hallway.

  “Geez, maybe we should go visit your mother so you’ll take a bath and brush your teeth, for God’s sake.”

  “You hate my mother,” he hollered, closing the door behind him.

  “You’re right, don’t bathe, don’t brush, the hell with it,” Vivian mumbled to herself before turning off the night light next to her bed and wrapping herself back up in her covers.