by Mary Monroe
“Well . . .”
“Tell me now. Can you think of anybody your wife would want to do harm?”
“Not really.” I sucked on my teeth and gave Tim’s question a little more consideration. “Now that you asked, she dislikes a few people, my daughter’s lover especially. But as long as I’ve known Vera, she’s never even hurt a fly. I don’t think she hates Curtis enough to shoot him.”
“Dude, there’s a first time for everything.”
“Yeah, I know there is. Tim, I’m feeling like hell right now, so I really need to get off this phone. Call me again tomorrow morning and I’ll let you know what to do next.”
I had no idea that this would be my last conversation with Tim.
CHAPTER 62
SARAH
THE NEXT MORNING I GOT UP EARLIER THAN USUAL. EVERYBODY ELSE was still in bed when I left the house.
Last night, after Bo had been asleep for a couple of hours, I tiptoed into the bathroom with my cell phone and dialed Curtis’s number. He didn’t answer so I left him a voice mail.
“Curtis, as soon as you get my message, call me on my cell phone. I’m going to leave it on all night. If it’s not convenient for me to talk when you call me back, I’ll pretend you’ve called a wrong number and then I’ll call you back as soon as I can,” I told him. “It’s really important.” I wanted to add, “It’s a matter of life and death.” But there was no need for me to tell him that. He’d find that out soon enough.
It was Thursday. He had one more day to live. And so did I.
Knowing that my time was running out, I was determined to do everything I needed to do. My “bucket list” was so short I had only one item on it. And that was I had to see my daddy one last time.
Before I went to the hospital, I cruised around the city, looking at some of my favorite spots. I drove to the graffiti-covered apartment building where I had lived with my mother until she got married and dumped me on Grandma Lilly. The building had not changed at all. Several generations of bitter-looking people still occupied the porches, the balconies, and the street in front of it. As usual, most of them were drinking beer and hard liquor straight out of cans, bottles, and mayonnaise jars. Discarded furniture, dog shit, and other litter covered various sections of the ground like an ugly, unfinished patchwork quilt. Next I drove to the building where I had lived with Grandma Lilly. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the owner had at least painted it from a dull shade of gray to a light blue. I didn’t see any of my old friends and that saddened me. Had there been more time, I would have tracked down some of my former homegirls. I knew they would have appreciated inheriting my designer outfits, my top-of-the-line electronics, and my Jaguar. I would have even greased their palms with a few thousand dollars. But in a way it was a good thing I didn’t have time to do any of that. People would have started asking me questions as to why I was giving my stuff away. And I wouldn’t have been able to tell them. But there was another reason why I was glad I didn’t have a lot of time left. I was afraid that if I really thought about what I was going to do, I’d change my mind. And I didn’t want to back out now. With Curtis dead, my life would not be worth living.
I didn’t realize how long I had been driving around until I glanced at my gas gauge and saw that I was almost empty. By the time I gassed up my car and stopped for a cup of coffee at a Starbucks across the street from the gas station, it was almost ten. Before I finished my coffee, I called Daddy’s hospital room.
“I want to come see you this morning,” I told him as soon as he answered. “Do you feel like having company?”
“I’d love to see you, honey. But I’m not doing too well right now. I had a really rough night.”
“Oh?”
“They tell me I had a mild stroke a couple of hours ago. They hadn’t even noticed something else was wrong until they had poked and prodded me for a while.”
“You had a stroke? I’m definitely coming over there!”
“I’m fine now, sugar! If you do come today, wait at least a couple of hours. By then they’ll have finished running a few tests and poking and prodding me some more. As a matter of fact, I doubt if they’ll let you in if you come now anyway.”
“Daddy, I’m family. I don’t know much about hospital rules, but I think you need to have a family member present in case . . . in case your situation gets worse. I don’t want you to die alone!” I immediately regretted my last sentence. “I didn’t mean that!” I said quickly. For a woman who had only one more day to live, I didn’t understand why it was so important to me now what I said about death.
“Honey, I know you didn’t mean that. And that’s not going to happen.” Daddy snorted. He suddenly sounded like he was as strong as a bull. “I told Vera the same thing a little while ago when she called.”
“Oh. What else did she say?”
“Not much. I told her the same thing I told you—call me or come see me later in the day. Like around noon or so.”
“All right, Daddy.” I hung up and ordered another cup of coffee, this one to go. I was just about to leave when my cell phone rang. It was Curtis.
“I’m sorry I’m just getting back to you, honey. My mama and one of her friends went to one of those Indian casinos near Sacramento and had car trouble. I had to go pick them up. You know what a rattrap I drive. By the time I got up there, it had conked out and had to be towed. I had to call around to find somebody to come pick us up. I just got home a few minutes ago.”
“I’m so glad you called. I was going crazy,” I said in a shaky voice.
“I guess you know I got fired for coming in late too often. Had that been the real reason, everybody else would have been fired by now. Bo didn’t say anything about you and me, but everybody at the store knows. You know how Cash and Collette like to spread gossip. Anyway, Bo gave me my pink slip and he had two other security guards escort me off the premises. They even checked my backpack to make sure I wasn’t walking out of there with any unpaid for merchandise.”
“I’m not surprised he fired you. But I’m surprised he hasn’t done it before now. Besides, the way things have been going, you would have had to quit soon anyway.” I sighed. “Things have been so tense in our house lately I can barely breathe. I didn’t realize until now just how sick and tired I am of everybody I live with trying to control me. Including my daddy.”
“Well, you won’t have to put up with that too much longer. You know I won’t try to control you. I’m going to treat you like an equal partner, not a child like everybody else has been doing. When will you be moving out?”
“Uh, real soon. I’ve already packed up some of my stuff.”
“My buddy downstairs has a truck.”
“Oh! I don’t need a truck. I’m only bringing some of my clothes and I can fit them in my car. Besides, I don’t think you should be coming over here with a truck to help me move. That would be pretty stupid.”
“Well, we’ve done some pretty stupid shit already.”
“I know that. Uh, I want to come see you tomorrow night.”
“That’s cool. What time are you coming?”
“I’ll come after your mama leaves for work. She is going to work tomorrow night, right?”
“She is as far as I know. Listen, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about her. My mama knows everything about us. I know you think she’s not the friendliest person in the world, but she is pretty cool. Once you get to know her, you’ll see what I mean.” Curtis laughed. “And by the way, the same buddy downstairs with the truck, he manages that body shop I’ve been doing piece work for now and then. He’s going to let me work full-time, starting next week.”
“That’s nice, honey.”
“And Mama said she could help you get on at that warehouse where she works. You don’t have to work if you don’t want to, though. But if we want to get our own place eventually, and in a much better neighborhood, we’ll both have to be bringing in some money. Mama’s got her a new man friend and I have a feeling she’s anxio
us for me to leave so she can move into his place with him.” Curtis laughed again.
“I’ll come over around eight tomorrow night. Do you want me to bring something?”
“A six-pack of Miller Lite and some smothered chicken from that place on Harrison Street like you brought the last time. I hope you can stay more than a few hours this time.”
“I will be staying a lot longer than a few hours,” I said. I had to force myself not to cry.
CHAPTER 63
VERA
BO ENTERED MY BEDROOM WITHOUT KNOCKING, BUT I DIDN’T MIND. He only did that when he had something important to tell me or ask me.
“Well, it’s official,” he started. He paused and began to pound his fist repeatedly into the palm of his other hand. “Sarah just told me with a straight face that she’s leaving me for Curtis.” He then turned with his fist poised to pound the wall facing my bed, but he didn’t. He had told me that when Gladys told him she was leaving him for another man, he punched a hole in their bedroom wall. I made Bo promise me that day that he’d never do something that childish in my house. “I’m sorry,” he said in a small voice. “I almost forgot where I was.” Then he smiled!
“How did you react when Sarah told you she was leaving you?”
“I called her a few choice names and I raised my hand to slap her, but I didn’t. I took a few deep breaths and told her we’d talk about it tonight when I come home. I also told her I wouldn’t be home until around ten or so.”
“Curtis will be dead by then. Or he should be.”
“Uh-huh. He will.”
Before I left my bedroom, I called the hospital to see how Kenneth was doing.
“Vera, I’m doing just fine,” he told me. He sounded tired and impatient and I didn’t really want to prolong the call anyway.
“I’m praying for you every hour on the hour, baby,” I said in my sweetest voice.
“You keep doing that.” Kenneth hung up before I could say another word. I knew that he belonged in the hospital and that he was on all kinds of medication, but it had affected his behavior in the strangest way. His whole personality had changed. He had never talked to me the way he’d been talking to me lately. I told myself that it was nothing to worry about. After all, he was a confused and elderly man, so he didn’t know any better. However, something in the back of my mind kept nagging at me: Tim Larkin, the private investigator. Had Kenneth hired him to check up on me? I wondered. I didn’t want to believe that he had. I had been careful, so Kenneth had no reason to think I was doing anything inappropriate with another man. And with Kenneth being so close to death’s door, what good would it do for him to find out about Ricky and me now? At the end of the day as long as I ended up with a few million dollars—and stayed out of jail—it was all good.
I took a quick shower, got dressed, and pranced downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast where everybody except Sarah was already at the table enjoying Delia’s homemade pancakes. As soon as I approached the breakfast table, everybody stopped talking.
I knew that Bo and Cash had not told Collette anything about what we were planning to do, but I was still paranoid. Especially when she gave me one of her sly looks like she was doing now.
“What do you have planned for today, Vera?” she asked. I noticed how she nudged Cash with her elbow as she stared at me, blinking like a damn night creature.
I cleared my throat and gave her one of my most annoyed looks. “Other than a hair appointment this afternoon, I don’t have anything else planned. Why do you ask?”
“You’ve been real jumpy these last few days,” Collette noticed. I wanted to slap that smirk off her face.
“The woman’s husband is in critical condition. If it was me in that hospital bed, you’d be jumpy too,” Cash said. For him to be such a nitwit, he occasionally said something smart. Then he turned to me and said one of the stupidest things he ever said! “Cuz, did you rent that car?”
I stopped breathing for a few seconds. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bo give Cash a look that was so full of contempt I was surprised Cash didn’t turn to stone. “What car?” Bo asked.
“Yeah, what car? With all of the vehicles here, why would Vera need to rent one?” Collette wanted to know.
“I thought I heard you telling Kenneth over the phone this morning that your car was acting up and you was going to rent one for the weekend,” Cash replied, his tongue snapping clumsily over each word.
“You heard wrong,” I said casually. I sat down in the chair directly across from Bo. “There’s not a thing wrong with my car.” I looked up at Bo and he must have read my mind.
“I think my fan belt needs to be tightened up. Can you give me a ride to the store after you eat, Vera?” Bo said, winking.
“Why can’t you ride with Cash and me?” Collette asked, wiping bits of poached egg off her lips and chin at the same time. “We’re all going to the same place. But we won’t be leaving for at least an hour, though.”
Bo looked at his watch and frowned. “I can’t wait that long.” Then he looked at me, still frowning. “Some buyers from a couple of high schools are coming by this morning. That’s a whole lot of computer sales. I need to be there in case they show up early.” He rose, not taking his eyes off me. I was glad the frown was no longer on his face. But now he looked nervous.
“Oh! Uh, yeah. Let me get my keys. I guess I’m not as hungry as I thought, so I’ll nibble on something later.”
As soon as I drove out of our garage with Bo in the passenger seat, I turned my head just enough to look at the side of his face. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to rent that car now.”
“How are we supposed to get to Curtis’s place and back tonight? On the bus? Or should we take a cab and have some sharp-ass cabbie finger us?!”
“Calm down, cuz,” I replied, my eyes back on the road in front of me. “I’ll have Cash tell Collette he has to work late so she’ll have to get one of her coworkers to give her a ride home. Drive his SUV and park it a few blocks away from Curtis’s place or I’ll think of something else. If I have to drive you guys over there, I will. I can’t rent a car now. I don’t trust Collette. She doesn’t miss much. If she even thought we were involved, she’ll remember a detail like me renting a car on the same day of the crime. And as dumb as Cash is, I don’t think we should trust him too much either now.”
“I agree with you on that.” Bo slapped the dashboard with the palm of his hand. “I wish we hadn’t even involved him in our plans!”
“I wish we hadn’t either. But up until that stupid comment he made at the table, he was pretty cool. He knows too much now and if we change our plans, things could fall apart and we might have to postpone our project for a while!” I stopped for a red light and turned to Bo again, this time with a pleading look on my face. “We can’t put it off any longer. We have to get this thing done tonight.”
“Yeah, I know. Sarah’s already packed some of her stuff,” Bo snarled.
“If we don’t do what we need to do before she moves out, there’s no telling what she’ll do if she’s already moved out after Curtis and her daddy are dead. As long as she’s still in the house, we can maintain some level of control. And, her daddy is our ace in the hole. If he gets well—heaven forbid—we’ll put more pressure on him to talk some sense into her head. If he succeeds in turning her around, she’ll behave the way a good wife should, the way she did before she got involved with Curtis.”
“I don’t think Kenneth is coming home this time. The thing is, we need to move before Sarah bolts and before Big Daddy goes to meet his maker,” Bo said. “That little stroke he had last night pushed him a little bit closer. I hope you’re getting yourself ready for the lavish funeral you’ll have to throw for a prominent big shot like him.”
“I am.” I still hated funerals and I wanted to get Kenneth’s over with as soon as possible so I could go on with my life. And at least I was sending him away in style. The Armani suit that I had purchased for him to be buried
in was on a hanger in one of my walk-in closets, hidden behind my evening wear. I planned to pick out his casket in a day or so. I had also begun to plan a three-week cruise to the Caribbean for myself and Ricky as part of his “payment” for helping me out with the gun. And as a way for me to celebrate Curtis’s departure—not to mention Kenneth’s. But I couldn’t finalize my travel arrangements until Kenneth had taken his last breath.
I was still looking at Bo. I didn’t realize the light had turned green until the motorist behind me blew his horn. I stepped on the gas and resumed the conversation at the same time. “Uh, what I will do is drop you and Cash off a couple of blocks from Curtis’s place. Then I’ll go back home. Sarah will be my alibi. I’ll make sure of that.”
“Vera, believe me, nobody will suspect us, so we don’t really need any alibis,” Bo insisted. “Especially a woman like you.”
“I know. But we can’t take anything for granted and get sloppy. So just in case somebody does suspect a woman like me, I want to be accounted for during the time that this, uh, incident takes place. When the cops can’t find out who killed Curtis, Sarah just might get a notion in her head that you had something to do with it. She’ll recall how mad you got when she told you about him and her and how soon Curtis got killed after that confrontation.”
“Well, the cops won’t be able to prove a damn thing!” Bo yelled, slapping the dashboard again. “I’m just worried about Cash.”
“You don’t need to be. I’m going to sit his ass down and have a real long talk with him. I will tell him in no uncertain terms that if he ever mentions this situation again, in any way, he’s going to be out of a job and a place to live. And he just might end up in jail holding the bag by himself. Nobody would believe him if he tried to bring us down with him!” I was so excited, I didn’t notice the next red light in time and I shot straight through it, thankful that no other cars were close enough to crash into mine. Bo and I panicked at the same time. Once again he slapped the dashboard. “I’m sorry!” I hollered. “I’ll be glad when this is over. I’m going crazy!”