NOTHING STAYS THE SAME

by Suzetta Perkins

  She sat in the shadows of the darkness, performing her own surveillance service. At least an hour and a half had gone by since the partygoers had entered the house on Lake Front Drive. That’s where she should have been.

  Peaches wasn’t sure why she was sitting in front of this house in this upscale neighborhood. She had followed Marvin but hadn’t counted on him leaving the house with a troupe of people. She hadn’t formulated a real plan to force him to give her the money she had demanded, but she planned to give Marvin a reminder that his deadline was today. He had ignored her warning.

  She saw movement at the lakefront house—a woman was leaving the house alone. Peaches watched as the woman crossed the street and got in Marvin’s car. It had to be Rachel.

  Rachel started the car, turned on the headlights, and headed away from the house. Peaches waited a minute, not wanting to be detected. After a minute had elapsed, she started her car and headed for Marvin’s house, driving slowly. Peaches knew the street by heart and prepared to turn onto it.

  As she passed Marvin’s house, she noticed Marvin’s car in the driveway. Peaches kept driving, proceeding to the end of the street. Turning her headlights off, she quickly made a U-turn and drove right into the driveway of the neighbor two houses down from Marvin’s. The long driveway was shielded by a cluster of trees and the house sat back from the street. Peaches had a clear view of Marvin’s house. She waited and saw movement again.

  Quietly, Peaches opened her car door, got out, and crouched down so Rachel couldn’t see her. Instead of walking to her car, Rachel walked next door. Peaches sighed, her adrenaline flowing out of whack. She moved away from her car and stood by one of the trees that offered no cover, since the leaves had recently fallen to the ground. She waited.

  Voices reached Peaches’ ears. She opened her purse and pulled out a gun. She heard a door close and crouched down so she wouldn’t be detected. Peaches inched forward just as she saw Rachel head toward her car. She’d have to hurry and cross the hundred feet of lawn in order to reach the car before Rachel got in it.

  Peaches sprinted across the lawn, dressed from head to toe in black. Just before Rachel could close the door, Peaches nudged up behind her and put the gun to her back.

  “What...what’s...” Rachel tried to say.

  “Shut up, and you won’t get hurt. Get in the car. You and I are going for a ride. Don’t try anything; I’m getting in on the other side.” Peaches hit the unlock button.

  “It’s you. What do you want?” Rachel snapped.

  “I said be quiet if you value your life and you want to see your little girl again. Now I’m going around the car and get in.”

  Peaches zipped around the car and hopped in the front seat next to Rachel. Rachel turned and looked at Peaches.

  Peaches pointed the gun at Rachel. “Drive. Don’t do anything stupid. All I want is my money.”

  “What if Marvin can’t get the money?” Rachel’s voice quaked.

  “Do I have to spell it out?”

  “Peaches, I don’t know why you’re doing this to us. I’m not sure what went on with you and Marvin, but I can tell you this, my husband is a decent man and doesn’t deserve this. He’s gone through enough. It may take time to raise the money because we just don’t have it.”

  “It sounds like you are in trouble then, but he’ll raise the money because he loves you. You’re the one link in this equation that’s going to make your husband come to his senses. Said he wasn’t going to pay, but I guarantee you he will now. Now stop talking and drive.”

  Frightened, Rachel drove through her neighborhood and took a chance and drove toward Lake Front Drive.

  “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “I’m driving like you told me.”

  “Think you’re smart, don’t you? Where do you think I picked up your scent? I followed you all earlier this evening to this street. Party dresses and all. I saw you and your bourgeois girlfriends strutting like you got a million dollars stuck up your behind. Now turn this car around and drive out of this subdivision so I can think. Remember, you want to see your little girl again.”

  “Let me tell you one thing. I may be a hostage in my own car, but don’t mess with my child.” Peaches took the butt of the gun and slammed it on Rachel’s wrist. “Ouuuuuuuuch!”

  “And what were you saying? I didn’t think so. Now drive the damn car!”

  Fear and anger gripped Rachel as she continued to drive. She glanced over and saw that the gun was still pointed in her direction.

  “Where are we going?” Rachel finally asked Peaches.

  Peaches cocked her head and sneered at Rachel. “Don’t ask me any questions. Drive where I tell you. You’ll see when we get there. Just be glad that you’ll be alive to see where you’re going.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t be good to you dead. Would I?”

  “You are a stupid-ass bitch,” Peaches ranted. “If I want to know what you think, I’ll ask for your opinion. You act as if this gun isn’t loaded.”

  “Why, Peaches? Why Marvin?”

  “That’s how hostages get killed. They don’t listen. Keep your mouth shut.”

  “But Peaches, I need to know. I’ve made so many wrong turns in my life, and just when I found the yellow brick road and finally made it home, another tornado hits and my life gets turned upside down again. You can’t begin to know what my life has been, but for once I understand why people say they believe in miracles and what living your best life is all about. I have that with Marvin.”

  Peaches stared at Rachel, her eyes becoming glassy. “Maybe I do understand. I, too, have made a few wrong turns in my life, but unlike you, I haven’t found the yellow brick road.” There was a long pause before Peaches spoke again. “I killed my husband because he was abusive.”

  Screechhhhhhhhhhhh. Rachel’s hands shook on the wheel. She pulled the car back into her lane just in time. The driver in the next car shook a fist at Rachel.

  Unmoved by the near accident, Peaches continued, setting the gun down in her lap. “I only had to do a little time in the slammer because it was not premeditated and...he, my late husband, tried to kill me first,” Peaches lied. “Since then, I found it hard to have a real relationship with a man, and to compensate for my insecure nature, I prey on those men that I probably can’t have.”

  “Why Marvin?” Rachel ventured.

  “He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. An easy target.” Peaches stared out the window. “It was evident that he was in a bad way when he came into Earl’s. I just know that he was a fine brother who had come in to get drunk and became fodder for Peaches’ vast appetite. If it eases your mind, he was too drunk to have sex with me. I made it look as if he did so that I could blackmail him.”

  Rachel’s face relaxed. For the first time in days, she heard some real good news. She’d wanted to believe Marvin when he said that he might have been set up by this woman, but so much had happened in their lives that it was hard to have faith in anything that Marvin said. Rachel looked at Peaches. “So why are you telling me this now?”

  Peaches shook her head. “Didn’t you just ask me why I chose your husband? That’s what kills me about women like you. Got a good man, living large, but got a head for a coat rack. Have you ever done any manual labor?”

  “Peaches, I worked hard all my life to obtain the things I owned prior to me becoming Mrs. Rachel Thomas. I paid for the clothes on my back, the food in my refrigerator, the home I lived in, and the car I drove. I paid my own light bill, gas bill, mortgage, hair, and nails. Not until I married Marvin did I experience what it was like for a real man to take care of me.”

  “You’re fortunate. I don’t know what that’s like.”

  “Maybe you haven’t given love a chance. There’s someone out there for you, Peaches.” Rachel watched Peaches as she pondered what she had said. Now, if she could talk Peaches into letting her go.

  Rachel’s cell phone rang. Peaches picked up the gun. “Don’t answer it.”
>
  “But it’s my husband,” Rachel said. “I was supposed to be gone only a few minutes. If I don’t answer it, he may—”

  “I said, don’t answer it.”

  “Where are we going? We’ve been on Interstate 85 for fifteen minutes. We’ll be in South Carolina if we don’t stop. You don’t have a plan, do you?”

  “I’m thinking,” Peaches said, irritated.

  “Let’s try to work this out, Peaches.”

  “I’ve let you talk, now hear me. I want my fifty thousand dollars. And so what that I’ve told you I set Marvin up. He makes a wrong move, his lovely wife won’t be around to tell anyone.”

  The phone rang, startling the two women. “You have an incoming call.” Rachel hit the Bluetooth button on the roof of the car.

  “Rachel?” boomed Marvin’s voice. “Are you alright? Where are you?”

  “Do you have my fifty thousand dollars?” Peaches asked, taking over the conversation. “I’ve got a gun on your wife.”

  “Jesus!” Marvin shouted. “Please don’t hurt Rachel. She hasn’t done anything to you. Let’s talk this out.”

  “I’m done talking. You underestimated me...didn’t take me seriously. I didn’t take you for stupid either, but you and your goons just didn’t get it.”

  “Cut the crap, Peaches. Hurt my wife, and you’re going to an early grave.”

  “Say please.”

  There was a sigh. “Please don’t hurt my wife.”

  “That’s more like it,” Peaches said with some satisfaction. “Now, when do I get my money?”

  “I’ll get it. And when I have the money, how will I get it to you?”

  “Not so fast. Give me a call when you’ve got it, and we’ll go from there. Oh, if you involve the police, you won’t see your precious one again. Ask your wife what happened to my first husband.”

  Marvin was quiet. “Are you okay, Rachel?” he asked again, worry in his voice.

  “Yeah,” Rachel said softly. “Serena is at the babysitter’s and—”

  “That’s enough,” Peaches cut in. “Sorry, we’ve got to cut you off. Call when you have my money.”

  “I promise you, Peaches, if you lay a hand on Rachel, you will be a dead woman.”

  Peaches cut the conversation short. Her nostrils began to flare. “He doesn’t have the guts to kill me. Did a sloppy job of trying to kill himself.”

  Anger swelled up in Rachel. She kept her eyes straight ahead as she continued to navigate the car along Interstate 85, trying to quiet the thoughts that roamed in her head—thoughts about how she was going to get out of the car, even if it meant killing Peaches. Silently, she prayed. God deliver me from the hands of the enemy.

  “Get off at the next exit. There’s a motel up ahead. You’re going to pay for a room for the night.”

  Panic gripped Rachel. She didn’t have one credit card on her person, although they wouldn’t have done her any good if she had them since they were inactive. As she exited the interstate, she saw a gas station. An idea came to her. “I’ve got to get some gas, Peaches,” Rachel said.

  “Don’t try to play me. I’m not your fool and, anyway, we won’t need any gas because you’re going to drive across the street to the motel. You aren’t good with numbers, are you?” Peaches teased. “A two-year-old could’ve figured your game plan.”

  “I wasn’t trying to play you, Peaches. I need some gas; you can see for yourself. What if we have to move out in a hurry?”

  “The only reason I would have to move out in a hurry is if that fool husband of yours calls the cops, which will give us a reason to be on the run. I don’t buy your story, sister. Now drive to the motel and get us a room.”

  “It’s going to be hard for me to do that now,” Rachel said, her bright idea smashed to smithereens. She’d plan to pretend like she was getting gas and then run and get help from inside the store. It might have been too dangerous.

  Peaches pointed the gun at Rachel’s heart. “I’m being very calm about this. What do you mean by it’s hard for you to do? And your answer better be good.”

  Rachel stared into the barrel of the gun. “I don’t have any credit cards, and the few dollars I have in my purse may just get us a couple of gallons of gas.”

  “Pull over into the gas station. I’ve had about enough of your stalling. You irritate me to no end. I don’t understand what Marvin sees in you.”

  “I’m everything to him you’ll never be. I’m his woman; his only woman. I’m the mother of his only child. He loves me inside out as I do him. But what Marvin knows that you’d never understand is that I’ll always be there for him—through the good times and the bad, and I respect and honor the man that he is because he is worth it all.”

  “Whatever. Right now, he’s the man that’s going to make Peaches fifty thousand dollars richer. You can have him. Now pull over to the side and stop the car.”

  “I might as well get gas since we’re here,” Rachel said, trying to re-engineer her idea.

  “I said pull to the side.” Rachel did as she was told. “Give me your purse, and if you’ve got any credit cards, you’re going to be sorry.”

  Peaches snatched the small black-sequined clutch away from Rachel’s hand. Tearing into it, the only contents Peaches found were Rachel’s Georgia driver’s license and a ten-dollar bill.

  Peaches sat back in her seat in defeat. “We’ll sit in the car all night if we have to. I’ve been in a holding pattern all my life, and I can certainly hold out a few hours longer for fifty thousand dollars.”

  CHAPTER SIXTY

  Everyone gathered around Marvin, anxious to hear word about Rachel. Mona paced the floor, then sat down on the couch and placed her hand under her chin, deep in thought. Claudette stood still like a wooden statue, arms intertwined with Tyrone’s, waiting for instructions that would put them into action. Kenny and Harold stood like military soldiers with legs gaped apart, waiting to receive orders before going into battle. Trina and Cecil sat at the bar, sipping on cocktails, accessing the mood of the now somber group, and Sylvia stood behind Marvin, her hand racing up and down his back for support as his face announced that the news he’d just received was not good.

  “Where’s Rachel?” Sylvia asked quietly, not wanting to get Marvin more upset than he already seemed to be.

  “She’s been kidnapped.”

  “What?” was the collective response.

  “We’ve got to help her,” Mona shouted as she jumped up from the couch. “We can’t just stand around talking about it.”

  “Hold up, Mona. Rachel’s been kidnapped by Peaches. She wants her fifty thousand dollars before she thinks about releasing Rachel. The woman is more clever than I’d given her credit for.”

  “Look, Marv. I’ve got your back on this,” Harold said, moving over to Marvin and giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder. “I’ll finance this and worry about Peaches later. She won’t get away with it.”

  “Thanks, Harold, but there’s no need since I’ve got this check from Ashley. The problem is putting my hands on the cash tonight. I’m afraid that if I don’t, Rachel will be at Peaches’ mercy.”

  Trina stood up and took charge. “Okay, guys. We’ve got to remain calm about this. It’s time that we called the police. Peaches and Rachel can’t be that far. I don’t know how long it takes, but the police can probably trace their location through cell phone records. I say we move fast. They may be able to use a helicopter to search for her.”

  “You’re right, Trina,” Marvin said.

  “Why don’t you make another phone call to Rachel and Peaches just to let them know you’re working on getting the money,” Cecil said. “We don’t know if this woman has a weapon, and this may calm her down, at least for a minute.”

  “Good idea,” Harold said.

  “She’s armed,” Marvin said in a daze. “Peaches has a gun.”

  “I’ll call the police,” Sylvia said, pulling out her cell phone.

  “No, let Marvin do it,” Trina offe
red. “He’ll have more of the details since he talked to Peaches. I think the rest of us need to pray for Rachel’s safe return.”

  Sylvia put her phone back in her purse, looked at Trina, and smiled. Trina was right; Sylvia bowed her head in silent prayer.

  Rachel shuddered. She gripped her forearms, then rubbed the length of them, trying to brace herself against the coolness of the night air that penetrated the car. She and Peaches had been sitting in the car for over twenty minutes, waiting on a phone call that would set them both free.

  Cars whizzed by on the interstate below while others pulled in and out of the gas station at two-minute intervals, although no one seemed to notice them parked off to the side. Rachel made noises with her mouth and squirmed in her seat, unable to get comfortable.

  Annoyed, Peaches sat up straight, her fingers still wrapped around the gun, and looked at Rachel. “Turn the damn heat on if you’re cold. And stop making all those hissing sounds. You shouldn’t have come out the house naked in the first place.”

  Rachel ignored Peaches. She turned the ignition on so they could get some heat.

  Rachel’s phone rang. They jumped. “You have an incoming call,” the Bluetooth recording said.

  “Answer it!’ Peaches said, waving the gun. “That’s probably Marvin with my money. Yes, I’m feeling better already.”

  Rachel reached up to the roof and opened the line.

  “Rachel, this is Marvin. Baby, are you alright?”

  “Yeah, Marvin. Under the circumstances, I’m doing the very best I can.”

  “Hang in there, sweetie.”

  “Enough,” Peaches cut in. “Do you have the money?”

  “We’re working on getting the cash,” Marvin said calmly. “No one has that kind of money lying around. This is Friday night; all banks are closed. Now, if you want to take a check—”

  “Would you take a check from me?” Peaches screamed, waving the gun in Rachel’s direction. “Don’t play me, Marvin. I won’t hesitate to take out your precious little wife.” She gave Rachel a look, then sat the gun in her lap.