by Lacey Legend
“That is very true,” Emmanuelle said, seating herself on the bed.
“So, Ms. Diamond . . .”
“Wilson. Diamond Wilson.”
“Ms. Wilson. Who do you think broke into your apartment?” Dubois asked.
“To be honest with you, I know who it probably was. It just seems impossible that he was able to find me here, that’s all,” Diamond explained.
“And what is his name?” Dubois asked, ready to write it down on his notepad.
“Malik. Malik Brown,” Diamond said with a sigh.
“And how might we recognize him?” Dubois asked, writing feverishly.
“You recognize him cause he the only black man in this town, that’s how you recognize him. If he here,” Diamond said humorously.
“Come now, Diamond. We need more help than that. If I walk around arresting every dark-skinned man that I see, then I will not be able to live with myself,” Dubois said.
“Well, I appreciate you saying that officer,” Diamond said warmly. “He is a bit taller than me. Maybe six feet tall. The last time I saw him he had short hair and a goatee. Likes to dress like a baller . . .”
“A baller?” Dubois asked.
“You know. Like he plays basketball or something. Like he real tough.”
“I see.”
“He also has a scar on his chin. From a fight that he once got into,” Diamond added.
“Alright. I think that I have all of this down in my notes. I’m going to return to the precinct and get all this information on paper,” Dubois said.
“From the looks of it, you already got it on paper,” Diamond said with a smile.
“Oh, this silly thing,” Dubois said, holding up his notepad. “Just scribbles. I need to get it down on paper that is more official,” he explained.
“Well, alright then.”
“Will the two of you be alright if I return later this evening?” Dubois asked.
“I think we should be fine,” Emmanuelle said.
“Yah, we’ll be okay,” Diamond added.
“Very well, then. I will see you later.”
With that, Officer Dubois exited the room and Emmanuelle and Diamond were left with a huge mess to clean up.
“I’m so sorry about this,” Diamond said.
“Please, don’t you worry yourself. I’m more interested in your safety,” Emmanuelle replied.
They got to work straightening the apartment up. Emmanuelle made more chamomile tea, and the job was done in no time. Yet still, even after things were straightened out, Diamond couldn’t deny the terror that she was feeling. Was it really true that Malik had found her? And if it wasn’t Malik, who else might it have been? The only other person that knew her in any way was Baptiste. But surely, he couldn’t be responsible for what happened that afternoon. She had upset him that morning, but that wouldn’t warrant anything like breaking and entering, right?
“Where did you get these flowers?” Emmanuelle asked, noticing the vase of exotic flowers that sat by the door. Diamond had carried them home, and upon stepping through the door and seeing her ruined apartment, she simply placed them on the floor where she stood.
“I bought them for Baptiste, at Le Petite Fleur,” Diamond explained, having totally forgotten about them.
“That is such an odd shop,” Emmanuelle said, shaking her head. “But rather remarkable flowers.”
“I met Clement for the first time today. He’s as odd as his shop,” Diamond said, happy to discuss anything that had nothing to do with her apartment being ransacked.
“Yes, rather an odd bird. Has always been that way.”
“Well, I brought him some chocolate to cheer him up,” Diamond said. The incident with the chocolate seemed like ages ago. So much had happened in that small interval of time.
“Why did you buy Baptiste flowers, might I ask?” Emmanuelle said.
“I think that I said something to offend him this morning.”
“Oh?”
“Yah, I made some comment about him having women come in and out of that place on a frequent basis. It was a dumb thing to say, and he seemed to be really hurt by it,” Diamond explained. She walked over towards the window directed at the sea, and saw Baptiste’s estate off in the distance.
“He can be rather sensitive, you know. Has been since he was a child,” Emmanuelle explained. “I think that he covers it with that tough, businesslike exterior. It is a kind of armor.”
“That makes a lot of sense, actually,” Diamond replied.
“I’m sure that he’ll greatly appreciate the flowers,” Emmanuelle said, pouring herself another cup of tea.
“Well, I don’t know if he’s expecting me tonight or not,” Diamond said. “I kinda just thought I’d walk them over there. Or maybe, have the driver come and pick them up.”
“Yes,” Emmanuelle replied, looking at Diamond with a knit brow. There was concern on her face, and Diamond didn’t know where it came from. “If you’ll excuse me,” Emmanuelle said, making her way towards the door.
“Everything okay?” Diamond asked.
“Yes, I fear that I’m just tired from all this commotion. I’m going to go lie down for a bit,” she said.
“Okay. I’ll let you know when Dubois returns.”
“Please do,” Emmanuelle said, and promptly left.
That was weird, Diamond thought to herself. Her demeanor changed on a dime. Was it something that I said? About the flowers?
Diamond brushed it off and got back to work, cleaning up her place. She was picking up the pieces; literally and figuratively. She felt as though she were in a dream. Was it really happening? Had he found her? There was only one place to turn, and that was her phone.
“Tanesha?” Diamond said into it.
“Hey,” Tanesha replied. There was something odd in her tone.
“I gotta talk,” Diamond said, stepping out onto her balcony. The fresh air would do her some good.
“What’s going on?” Tanesha asked. There was something incredibly somber in her tone, which was very un-Tanesha-like.
“My apartment has been broken into,” Diamond said. This statement was met with silence on the other end of the line. “You still there?”
“I here.”
“I don’t know, but I think that it was Malik. The thing is, I have no idea how he could have found me.” There was silence again, and Diamond felt her stomach flip. “Are you not hearing what I’m saying?”
“I hear you. I just . . .” Tanesha said, her voice trailing off. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Well, girl, say something! I need you right now,” Diamond said.
“I told him . . .” Tanesha finally replied, sounding as though she were in tears. “I told him . . .”
“Told him what? You told Malik? Girl, what you sayin’?”
“I told Malik . . . where you were.” Tanesha was fully in tears then, and Diamond clutched her phone tightly. She couldn’t quite comprehend what she was hearing.
“You told Malik where I was at?” Diamond finally asked.
“Yah, I did,” Tanesha replied, her words hard to decipher through her grief.
“Why you do that?” Diamond asked in disbelief.
“Just, let me explain. I gotta pull myself together here . . .” Tanesha said, trying to get control of herself.
“Well, yah. You pull yourself together right quick because I need an explanation,” Diamond said, her voice increasingly filled with anger and disbelief.
“He threatened me, Diamond,” Tanesha finally said.
“When? When he threaten you?”
“Couple days ago. He came to my place and he started threatening me.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Diamond asked.
“He said that if I told you, he be coming back to kick the shit out of me,” Tanesha said, the tears strangling her voice again.
“Okay now. Calm down,” Diamond replied, hoping that she might calm down as well. She sat herself down on one of the ch
airs on the porch. “How much you tell him?”
“I told him where you at, and I told him I wouldn’t say a word.”
“Tanesha, this is some fucked up shit,” Diamond finally said.
“Girl, don’t you think I know that? He said he was going to kill me . . .”
Diamond took a deep breath and looked up towards the sky. Her heart was racing and she felt like she might be sick. There was no way that she could be angry at Tanesha. She knew all too well how scary Malik could be when he was after something. She was amazed that she even had the courage to leave him in the first place. But the thought of escaping to France was the only thing that made it seem possible. Of course Tanesha gave him the information that he wanted. Malik was far too terrifying to refuse.
“I’m not mad at you Tanesha, I just . . . I need to have some space for a while,” Diamond finally said.
“Girl, don’t hang up on me, please. I’m scared,” Tanesha said.
“I gotta hang up. I gotta fix this now,” Diamond said, sadness emanating from her voice.
“Please, please!” Tanesha pleaded.
Diamond hung up the phone. There was nothing that Tanesha could do to help her. In fact, her dearest friend had ruined everything. But the blame only lay with Malik; Diamond had to remind herself of that. She was furious, heartbroken, and afraid, but with time, she’d managed to strip Tanesha of any blame.
“Oooh, child. This no good,” Bernice said.
“Mama, thank God you’re here,” Diamond said, her mother appearing in a chair across the way. “I know this ain’t no good.”
“I always had my doubts about Tanesha,” Bernice said, shaking her head and taking a sip from a mug in her hands.
“Come on now. She my best friend.”
“This shit ain’t strong enough,” Bernice said, holding up her tea. “I could down me a whole damn field of chamomile and ain’t do nothing for the nerves I got right now.” Bernice pulled a flask from her pocket and poured the contents into the tea.
“Mama, where you get that flask?”
“Diamond, I’m just about in the worst position any mother can be in. I make that flask magically appear like this,” Bernice said, snapping her fingers.
“Shoot, I could use some of that right now, too,” Diamond replied.
“No, no, no. You need to have your head screwed together straight. More than ever,” Bernice explained.
“I suppose you right.”
“That man is one terrifying motherfucker,” Bernice said.
“Mama, I never heard you say that word once while you was alive,” Diamond said in shock.
“Well, it is time to say it now. Motherfucker, motherfucker, motherfucker,” Bernice went on.
“Okay, I get the point.”
“Motherfucker,” Bernice said one more time for good measure.
“What should I do?” Diamond asked.
“Get your ass out of this town, that’s what you gotta do,” Bernice said.
“I can’t leave now. I’m just starting to make a life here.”
“Child, you stay here much longer and you not gonna have no life left, if you know what I mean,” Bernice said.
“I do know what you mean. Unfortunately.”
“So, I says, pack up yo bags, get on the damn train, and find some other cute French town to spend your days. And don’t you dare tell no one where you gone. Especially Tanesha!”
“Unfortunately, mama, you have a point.”
“Of course I got a point. I dead and I see everything with perfect clarity,” Bernice said, taking another hearty sip.
“Well that all gonna change if you be drunk and dead, so put down that tea,” Diamond said.
“Ain’t nobody touching this tea,” Bernice said, holding it close to her chest.
Diamond started to laugh, and she was grateful for it. It was a nice break of the tension.
“I never seen you clutch something so close as you’re doing with that boozy chamomile,” Diamond said with a big smile.
“Oooh, that gonna be my stripper name. Boozy Chamomile,” Bernice said, throwing her head back with flair.
“Stop it mama. I shouldn’t be laughing right now,” Diamond said, clutching her midsection.
“Nah, you should be answering the door. That’s what you should be doing,” Bernice said.
“What do you mean?” Diamond asked.
Just then, the doorbell rang. When Diamond looked back to where Bernice had sat, she was gone. More than ever, Diamond hated that Bernice disappeared in that moment. She needed her more than ever.
“Coming!” Diamond called out, exiting the porch. Just then her stomach flipped all over again. She had no idea who it was. What if it was Malik ringing her doorbell? Hopefully it was Dubois, or maybe Emmanuelle. It struck Diamond that more than ever, she was going to have to be on guard at all times.
She walked slowly towards the door, the ringing becoming more insistent.
“Who is it?” she called towards the door, but the only response was more ringing. Her heart began to race so fast that she thought it was going to pop out of her chest.
“I said, who is it?” she called out again, with no response.
Maybe Bernice was right. Maybe Diamond needed to pack up her bags and get out of that apartment instantly. Hell, maybe she even needed to leave her stuff and just make a run for it, going out on the porch, climbing her way down, and running to the train station. All these thoughts swirled through her head as she slowly opened the door to her apartment.
“Baptiste,” she said in shock.
“Let me in,” Baptiste said, his voice was strangled with worry.
“What are you doing here?” Diamond said, opening the door for him.
He walked in on a mission, looking from side to side and inspecting the rooms, as though trying to find someone or something.
“What are you doing?” Diamond asked.
“Why didn’t you call me, Diamond?” Baptiste finally said, worry and anger on his face.
“What do you mean?” Diamond asked.
“I had to receive a phone call just now from Emmanuelle, explaining what had happened. Why didn’t you call me yourself?” Baptiste asked.
“I don’t know. I just didn’t think about it.”
“You didn’t think about it?” Baptiste said back.
It was a standoff. They looked to one another in silence. Finally, Baptiste walked towards her and took her in his arms, grasping her tightly.
“Don’t do that to me again. Please,” he said.
“Okay,” Diamond replied, sinking into his arms.
Chapter12
“I have you on lockdown,” Baptiste said.
“Don’t tease me,” Diamond replied.
“I’m not teasing you, it’s the truth. I don’t want you to leave here without an escort.”
“Baptiste, I can’t have some bodyguard following me all the time. It isn’t as serious as that.”
“Isn’t as serious as that? Your ex travels all the way to Veules-les-Roses, tears up your apartment, and no one can find him. You think that is not serious?”
“Okay you have a point,” Diamond said, having to concede that the whole situation was scary. “I’m just saying, this isn’t your problem to fix. It’s my problem.”
“I feel as though it’s my problem, too.”
Baptiste took Diamond by the hand and led her into the kitchen. There was a gathering of servants there, relaxing in the hours between lunch and dinner, and Baptiste shooed them away. He opened a window above the kitchen sink and lit a cigarette.
“I’ve never seen you smoke,” Diamond said.
“It’s been a trying day.”
“For you and me both. Can I have one?” Diamond asked. She didn’t smoke often, but if there was any time that she was going to do it, it would be in that moment.
“I don’t want you smoking,” Baptiste said, taking a hungry drag.
“You don’t want me to smoke, and yet you stand
right in front of me smokin’?” Diamond asked.
“That’s precisely it.”
“Jesus,” Diamond replied with a laugh. She hoisted herself up on the butcher block and sat there, watching Baptiste smoke, and she had to admit to herself that he looked sexy while he was doing it.
“How long have you known this man?” Baptiste asked.
“All my life.”
“How did he find you?” Baptiste was drilling her with questions as though he were Officer Dubois.
“I’m afraid that a close friend of mine told him. I was so angry at first when she mentioned it, but it wasn’t her fault. He threatened her. And from what I know of Malik, when he makes threats, he’ll actually follow through on them.”
“I see,” Baptiste said, knitting his brow.
“Can I please have a drag of that cigarette?” Diamond asked, seriously needing something to calm her nerves.
“No,” Baptiste said definitively, throwing it out the window. “I have something better for you.”
“You do?”
“Yes, here,” Baptiste said, opening the door to the fridge. “Pinot Blanc,” he said, taking a cold bottle of wine out. “Tarte aux fruits et fromage.”
“Are we seriously gonna start drinking at this hour?” Diamond asked, still seated comfortably on the counter.
“Yes.”
Baptiste arranged the glistening fruit tart and assortment of cheese right on the butcher block. He got two glasses and poured the white wine.
“We are not leaving here today— rather, you’re not leaving here today, so may as well enjoy ourselves.”
“Does that mean that you’re leaving here today?” Diamond asked.
“Yes, I have a business meeting.”
“So you mean you keeping me on lockdown while you go out into the world?” Diamond asked with indignation.
“That’s precisely what I mean. We will wait to hear back from the police but until then you cannot leave here. I have expert security. There’s no way that he could find you here, and if he did, we have weapons.”
“Okay, now I don’t know if you’re joking or not,” Diamond said.
“I assure you that it is no joke. The Laurent family has endured threats in the past. We’re equipped for all kinds of situations.”