by Mary Monroe
“What did you tell him?” I asked, glancing out the window to make sure my vehicle was still parked in front of Wade’s house, with my mother-in-law in it. I knew of two other people who had been carjacked in this same neighborhood. One woman’s car had been taken with her toddler strapped in his car seat.
A painful memory shot through my mind, which distracted me momentarily. I sucked in a deep breath and closed my eyes. It felt like the floor was moving beneath my feet, and I had to lean against the door for a moment to keep from falling. I recalled a night during my teens when I had participated in a carjacking myself. My friends and I had needed a ride to Oakland and decided it was cheaper to jack somebody’s vehicle than it was to waste our money on bus fare. Other than the terrified driver, there had been no one else in the car. But even if there had been, that would not have stopped us. Those crime-filled days were behind me. It saddened me to know that I’d backslid all the way to orchestrating a kidnapping. And, it angered me now to find out that my plan had been compromised without my knowledge or consent. I let out air that I’d just sucked in and opened my eyes. Wade and Jason were standing there, looking at me like I’d just sprouted a mustache.
“Christine, you ain’t got nothin’ to worry about. Your secret is safe with me,” Jason said, his hand still out for me to shake. I glared at him before he finally got the message. He threw his hands up and moved off to the side.
“I thought my secret was safe with Wade,” I wailed. I looked at Wade with so much contempt, he flinched. “You can forget about everything,” I said, turning to leave.
“It’s now or never, baby,” Wade yelled after me. “If you want me to help you do this thing, it’s now or never.”
“What’s Jason supposed to do? What is he going to get out of this?” I asked, turning back around.
“Don’t you worry about that. That one’s on me,” replied Wade.
“Wade can’t do it all and do it right, baby,” Jason said. “He might need somebody to watch his back.”
“And why would he?” I snarled. “All he has to do is get a place for me to stay for a few days, make a few phone calls to my husband, then collect the money. Why would he need somebody to watch his back? I can do that myself,” I insisted, pointing at my chest. I shook my head and let out a deep breath. “How do I know I can trust you?” I asked Jason. “How do I know you won’t drag one of your homeboys into this mix?”
“You don’t. But this is the way it’s going to be if you want me to help you. Otherwise, you can get yourself another boy,” Wade said, his words taking me by surprise.
“All right,” I said, slapping the side of my throbbing head. “The sooner we do this, the better. I want it to happen on Monday. My car will be in the shop for maintenance, so he’ll have to drop me off at the beauty shop to get my hair done.”
“What about that old woman you take care of?” Wade asked.
“I’ve already taken care of my mother-in-law. One of my friends agreed to stay with her until Jesse Ray picks me up from the beauty parlor and brings me back home.” I had felt guilty about asking Nita to come to the house and sit with Miss Rosetta until I returned. Especially since I knew that I’d be gone a lot longer than a couple of hours like I’d told her. The twins got home from school around three in the afternoon, and Adele and Mel got home from work shortly after that. Nita could go home then. She had no idea that she was part of my plan, and I didn’t want her to know.
I would have trusted Nita and Jeanette with my life, but I knew that this was one thing that I could never share with them. Even years down the road, when we would all be sitting on a porch, sipping tea and complaining about various ailments. This was one secret that I would carry with me to my grave. And I prayed that Wade and Jason would, too.
CHAPTER 57
The following Sunday night was as typical as all the others. Around nine thirty Harvey rushed into the house and led Jesse Ray into the kitchen. As usual, he’d left his lady friend in the car in our driveway, with the motor running. A few minutes later, Harvey rushed back out of the kitchen, almost knocking me to the floor as I passed him in the hallway on my way into the kitchen.
“Christine, I didn’t even see you,” he said and grinned. I guess that was his way of apologizing for almost knocking me down, because that was all he said before he fled, brazenly clutching in his hand a wad of bills that he’d just gotten from my husband. I nodded at Harvey and smiled to myself because that greedy motherfucker really wouldn’t see me after tonight.
In the back of my mind, I was wondering how my departure was going to affect my in-laws. They would never know about the kidnapping plot unless they heard about it from Jesse Ray, and I prayed from the bottom of my heart that he wouldn’t tell them. But once they heard from Jesse Ray that I had “moved” to Hawaii, they would probably try to come visit me so they wouldn’t have to pay for a hotel. I smiled again when I pictured them and Jesse Ray calling a fake telephone number in Hawaii, and I hoped that they would show up unannounced at the fake address I planned to give them. I wouldn’t be there to see the looks on their faces, and I didn’t care. Jesse Ray had saved me from a dismal life, and I would always be grateful to him for that. But now it was up to me to save myself, and he was one of the things I had to save myself from.
I seduced Jesse Ray that Sunday night. Not because I was in a sexy mood, but because as far as I was concerned, it would be the last time. I didn’t plan on staying with him more than a week or two after I returned from my kidnapping ordeal. And, during that time, I would be so “traumatized,” and he probably would be, too, that sex would not be on our agenda.
Ironically, he was more passionate than he’d been in years. Instead of lying there like a corpse, or rising up to make a phone call because he’d forgotten to tell one of his employees something, he was wild and insatiable. And I had his undivided attention. It was almost like he knew he was fucking me for the last time and wanted to get as much out of it as he could. I couldn’t remember the last time he’d kissed so many parts of my body that I felt like I’d had a tongue bath.
“Oh, baby, that was so damn good,” he crooned after coming for the third time in an hour. He was still lying on top of me, with his face against mine. Then he sat up and clicked on the lamp. “Christine, things are going to change for the better around here real soon,” he said in a gentle voice. They sure are, I told myself. “I know it’s been hard for you, taking care of my mama and all. And, I know Adele, Mel, and the kids are getting on your nerves. And, to tell you the truth, I’ve been working on a few things. Things that I know will make you real happy.”
“Like what?” I asked, not that it mattered now. But I was still curious.
“I still can’t bring myself to put my mama in a nursing home. I’ve heard too many stories about how they abuse and neglect those old people, who can’t fend for themselves. How would you feel about me hiring a full-time live-in nurse?”
“Where is a live-in nurse going to live? Every bedroom in this house is occupied now. Are you planning on buying a bigger house?” I asked.
Jesse Ray laughed and playfully thumped the side of my head with his finger. “That’s the other thing I’ve been working on. Mel has been after me for years to give him a management job, but the only way I could have done that was to let one of my other managers go, and I don’t work that way. But Kim Loo is getting married and moving to San Jose. And, you know, I can’t manage the store on Alcatraz by myself. I’ve interviewed a few folks to replace her, but I haven’t been impressed by any of them.”
“And you are thinking about making Mel your assistant manager?” I gasped.
“I could pay him a decent enough salary so he could take my sister and the twins and live anywhere they want to live.” Jesse Ray threw his head back and laughed loud and long. “But I plan to tell him I’ll hire him only if he agrees to find them a place way across town.” Jesse Ray got quiet and looked at me, but I had to turn away. I didn’t want him to see my eyes.
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br /> “That’s nice, honey,” I replied, my voice dragging.
“Well, you don’t have to jump up and down and shout about it. I promised you a long time ago, I would take care of my business with my family. I thought this was what you wanted.”
“It was,” I muttered.
“Was?”
“Uh, it is,” I said.
Jesse Ray had promised me a lot of things where his family was concerned. But so far he had not kept any of those promises. I had no reason to believe him now.
Even if Adele and her family moved into their own place today, and a nurse moved in to take care of Miss Rosetta tomorrow, it would still be too late. What would I say to Wade? How would he react? He was counting on that fifty grand. And then there was Jason for me to worry about. What if he blabbed to one of his numerous lady friends?
“Why don’t we have lunch tomorrow, baby? Is Nita still coming to sit with Mama while you get your hair done?”
“Uh-huh,” I replied, still feeling bad about dragging Nita into my mess.
“Well, I’ll pick you up from the beauty shop, and we’ll drive into Frisco. We haven’t been to Fisherman’s Wharf in a while. How about dinner at Alioto’s? How’s that sound?”
“That sounds good, baby,” I said. It was so ironic that tonight Jesse Ray was behaving like the man I’d fallen in love with so many years ago. But like I said, it was too late.
CHAPTER 58
That Monday morning, I rose from bed ahead of everybody in the house so that I could bathe Miss Rosetta, comb and brush her hair, and change her soiled underwear. It was something I did almost every morning. Even on weekends.
Miss Rosetta got pretty sticky during the night, so by morning she was pretty ripe. Every now and then, Adele got up on a Saturday or Sunday morning and took over that unpleasant chore, but it was something I never counted on. I didn’t mind doing it this particular morning, because I believed that it would be the last time.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen or spoken to my parents, but I promised myself that I would spend some time with them before I fled the area. It saddened me to know that Miss Odessa didn’t even have a grave where I could go and leave a bouquet of flowers before I left.
I deliberately stayed upstairs until I was certain that Adele and Mel had left for work and that the twins had left for school. Nita showed up a little early so that we could have a cup of coffee before Jesse Ray drove me to the beauty shop.
“Is everything all right?” she asked, leaning across my kitchen table. I loved Nita like the sister I never had but always wanted, but at the same time I was jealous of her. Not in a bad, malicious way. But in a way that made me believe that I’d be happy if my life had turned out like hers.
“Uh-huh,” I nodded. “Why do you ask?”
“You seem a little more distracted than you normally do when I come over here. Anything going on that you want to talk about?”
I shook my head.
“Did Jeanette ask you about next weekend?”
“What about next weekend?”
“We’re going to drive up to Calistoga for the whole weekend. After a tour of some of the wineries, she thought it would be nice for the three of us to get mud baths and really pamper ourselves. We don’t get to do things like that with you since … well, you know. You can’t get away as easy as we can.”
“If Adele doesn’t have any plans, I’d love to go,” I said in a meek voice. “She said something about going to Fresno with her bowling team.”
“Girl, sometimes I want to slap the shit out of you! Now I don’t mind one bit coming over here to baby-sit your invalid mother-in-law so you can get out of the house. But to be honest with you, I’m getting a little fed up with you letting these people take advantage of you the way they do. You could stop all this shit if you wanted to!”
“I know, I know,” I said in a low voice, looking over my shoulder.
“I don’t care if J.R. does hear me! I’ll tell him the same thing I’m telling you. You need to put your foot down and tell these motherfuckers to go to hell. These grown-ass, able-bodied niggers need to get out and get their own place. They had a place of their own before! This has gone on long enough!” Nita shrieked, her big brown eyes shining with fury.
“Nita, I’m working on it,” I said. It took a lot of effort for me to remain calm, because I was burning with anger inside. “I’m not going to put up with too much of this too much longer.”
“Well, sister, you better work harder on it. You’re losing weight, you’re looking older than you should, and it’s a damn shame that you let this mess get this far. When are you going to sit your man down and give him an ultimatum? I don’t know any sisters from Prince Street that would let this kind of shit go on for as long as you have.”
“Prince Street is a million miles away from me now,” I told Nita. “I’m not a round-the-way girl anymore. Do you expect me to get a stick and start swinging at my in-laws?”
“Why the hell not? Nothing else seems to be working. And, to be honest with you, if I was them, I wouldn’t be trying to leave, either. They got it made up in here,” Nita said, making a sweeping gesture with her hand.
“Nita, you are beginning to sound like my mama,” I quipped.
“Now don’t get me started on that sister. I’ve seen her several times in the last month, and not once did she ask me about you. Have y’all stop speaking altogether?”
“I’m going to go see her soon. She’s getting old ….”
“We are all getting old, baby girl. And, that’s all the more reason why you should take care of your business in your house. Sit that man of yours down, and talk some sense into his head.” Nita slammed her fist down on the top of my table so hard, the salt and pepper shakers fell over.
“We are going to talk about things over lunch today. Jesse Ray wants to take me into San Francisco for lunch after I get my hair done. Can you stay a couple of hours longer?”
“Girl, I don’t have to be home till the kids get home from school. And, to tell you the truth, I don’t really need to be there then. Those monkeys are old enough to fend for themselves for a little while. You spend as much time with your husband as you want to,” Nita said in a much softer, calmer voice. She gave me a warm smile and a big bear hug. I don’t know how much of the conversation Jesse Ray heard, but he had a strange look on his face when he came into the kitchen. He barely acknowledged Nita. He didn’t mention her until we’d climbed into his SUV.
“Baby, we need to do something nice for Nita soon. I appreciate her coming to sit with Mama when you need a break,” Jesse Ray told me.
“I’ll tell her you said that,” I croaked, blinking hard. There was a construction crew on Shattuck, so we had to take a detour down Prince Street to get to the beauty shop. When we drove past the apartment building where my remote parents still lived, my head started spinning. I knew that no matter where I ended up, I had to see them at least one more time. Especially if the unthinkable happened and I ended up in jail.
The beauty shop where I got my hair done a couple of times a month was just three blocks from Jesse Ray’s beloved Video-Drama, where he planned to go after he dropped me off.
“Give me a call when they get through,” he told me, giving me a quick peck on my cheek.
“It’s only a short walk, and I really need the exercise. I’ll walk,” I told him.
“All right, baby. I’ll see you in a bit.”
About an hour and a half later, I left the beauty shop. I didn’t even look in the direction of the video store, let alone walk toward it. It took me an hour to walk to Wade’s mama’s house. It would have taken less time if I had not avoided walking down Prince Street. I didn’t think that I could stand to see my old apartment building twice in the same day. Especially on this particular day.
Wade was waiting for me, with the kitchen door open, as I stumbled up onto the back porch of his mama’s house, the place that was about to become the scene of the biggest crime I ha
d ever pulled off.
“You ready to get this thing off the ground?” he asked, pulling me inside.
“I guess so. If we don’t do it today, I can’t go through with it,” I said, my hands trembling. “I saw somebody peeping out of the window next door,” I said, with a worried look on my face.
“So? Everybody knows you know my mama, and they’ve seen you over here before. And, besides, if we can convince our boy not to call the cops, nobody but us ever has to know about this.”
“You didn’t say that when I talked about us renting a car. You were so concerned about us leaving a paper trail.”
“Well, I am not worried about any of that now.” I watched as Wade pulled a telephone out of a plastic bag on the table.
“What’s that?” I asked, watching as he plugged it into an outlet by the door.
“A little something I picked up at Wal-Mart. It’s got a speaker on it, and I want you to hear everything your man says when I call him up.”
CHAPTER 59
“Wake up back there!”
I wasn’t asleep, but my mind was not alert, anyway. I had just relived the last half of my life. It took me a while to realize where I was and who was talking to me.
“Jason? Where are we?” I said as I lifted myself up enough to look out the window. All I could see was a Dumpster. My neck hurt when I turned my head to look out of the window on the other side. All I could see was another Dumpster. The stench coming from both receptacles was unholy. It smelled like everything dead had been stuffed into these two containers.
“I ain’t got all day,” Jason told me as he snatched open the back passenger’s door on his side, snapping his fingers. “Come on. I got places to go, things to do.”
“Where is this place? How am I supposed to get home? What is going on with my husband? What am I supposed to say to him?”
“Baby, you don’t tell him nothing but what he already believes what happened.”