“What’s his name? I’ll follow up.”
“S. Marcus Pinkston is the name he would be registered under.”
“Okay. I will follow up on that. Do you want me to check up on Ava?”
I looked around the bleak room, thinking of what she had gone through. “Yeah.”
“I will get your address before I leave, and I will send one of my assistants over to your house to see if she is there.” He pulled out his BlackBerry and made a quick notation. Looking up again, he asked, “How long have you known this Pinkston guy?”
“About four months,” I said.
“Where is he from?”
“Miami, I think.” I was feeling like such a fool now. Obviously he had set me up. What I couldn’t understand was why.
“Do you think he was a drug dealer?”
“No,” I said, dismissing the idea outright. “He told me he was in finance. He was backing my reality show.”
“Reality show?”
“Yeah, S. Marcus was shopping a reality show for me. We’d already shot a lot of film.”
He looked as puzzled as I felt. “I need to find him. Do you have any other numbers for him?”
“No,” I said, realizing for the first time how strange it was to have only one phone number for a businessman.
“Are you sure that was his name?”
That question had never occurred to me. “Why would he lie about his name?”
“First we just need to find him, Yancey. Also, I might have to bring somebody else in. It’s been a long time since I’ve worked a criminal case, but Basil just wants me to let you know that we are working on this. We need to see if we can get bail and worry about finding this mystery guy later,” Raymond said.
“Just do whatever you can to get me out of this place.” My mind raced over what to do next. Then, of all things, it occurred to me that it was Election Day. “Can you believe I didn’t get the chance to vote? Of all the years not to have that chance. I’m heartbroken.”
“It doesn’t seem like President-elect Barack needs your vote,” Raymond said.
“I also missed a callback and a chance to sing at a victory party. Can you call my agent and tell her what’s going on?”
“Yeah, I will. What’s your agent’s name and number?”
“Regan Reynolds and I don’t know her number off the top of my head. I just signed with her agency, but I’m sure she’s listed.”
“Okay, I will look it up.”
“Thank you, Raymond,” I said, taking his hand in mine.
He gave it a slight squeeze. “Don’t thank me, Yancey. I haven’t done anything yet.”
“But you will,” I implored. “I know you can prove that I’m not dealing drugs. This is a horrible mistake.”
Raymond looked into my eyes as if he was trying to figure out if I was telling the truth.
“Let me get out of here and get started. I will work on bail and then see if I can find this S. Marcus character.”
“Please hurry. I don’t think I can last a night in this place.”
“I’ll do what I can, Yancey.”
I watched Raymond being escorted out by a guard. I was feeling so abandoned that I might have welcomed seeing even Ava, wherever she was.
CHAPTER
38
The lead detective had been questioning Ava for an hour. “Why do you think your daughter would be dealing drugs, Ms. Middlebrooks?”
“Because she’s broke and spoiled. Those two don’t go together,” Ava replied.
“She lives in this big town house in the neighborhood and she’s broke?”
“Looks are deceiving. The bitch has no money and no career and no husband. I was a much better actress and singer. But I always married well. I think you guys should nail her to the cross. Selling drugs to our youth.” Ava shook her head in disgust at the thought. “I’m ashamed of her.”
“So you’re saying most of her customers were young people?” the second detective asked.
“That’s who used to show up here,” Ava lied. Yancey hardly had visitors, especially young ones, but that was what Steven told her to say. He’d come up with a brilliant plan, and now Yancey would know how she had felt when Ava spent so many nights in a dingy jail cell. Serves the bitch right, Ava thought.
“Lots of traffic?”
“You got it. She told me she was mentoring these kids. I should have known. Yancey doesn’t care about anybody but Yancey. Do you know that big teen star Madison B.? Well, that’s her daughter. She gave her up at birth because she was too selfish and self-absorbed to be a mother. I should have done the same thing. My daughter plays the blame game.”
“The blame game?”
“Blames everything on someone else. Doesn’t take responsibility for shit!” Ava caught herself. “Oh, excuse my language. But this upsets me so bad. Think of how this is going to damage our family name. Think about poor Madison B. She will have to learn that her mother is a liar and a drug dealer. My Lord.”
“Who is Madison B.?”
Ava glanced at him like he was the stupidest man on earth. “That’s the daughter she gave up at birth who’s now a bigger star than Yancey ever was. What a shame.”
“Are you willing to testify at her trial?”
“Tell me where to be and I’m there,” Ava said eagerly. “We can’t have people, especially Yancey, bringing drugs into our community.”
The detective scratched his head, as if something wasn’t adding up. “Do you know how long she’s been dealing drugs?”
“Who knows? I just got back to New York a couple of months ago. I was out of the country.” For a moment she thought maybe the policemen knew she’d been in jail and immediately regretted the lie. But both the officers stood up and told her that they would call her if they had any further questions.
“Has bail been set for Yancey yet?” Ava asked.
“I’m not sure. But with the amount of drugs and money involved, bail will be high. We’re talking liquid cocaine,” the first detective said.
“Good,” she snapped, “because I’m sure she should be considered a flight risk. Who knows how much money Yancey has stashed away? You officers know how easy it is to get a private plane to take you out of the country these days. Oh, you should take a look in her room at all the stuff she has in there.”
Sensing more drugs, the detectives asked in chorus, “What kind of stuff?”
“Clothes. Expensive ones, designer dresses, shoes, purses. About a month ago, I guess when her business got going, she started spending money like it was water. When I asked her where all the money came from, she told me the producers of her alleged reality show gave it to her. Gave it to her, indeed,” Ava scoffed. “Shouldn’t that stuff be confiscated since it was bought with drug money?”
“That will be up to the prosecutor but most likely. We will come back and take a look.”
“Suit yourself because you don’t have to worry about me touching any of it. I’m not that type of woman.”
“Is this your daughter’s home?”
“Not anymore. I paid the down payment and right now I’m in the process of getting it changed back to my name.”
“If she makes bail, will she be able to live here?”
“I don’t think we have to worry about that. Yancey won’t make bail,” Ava said, pleased at the prospect. “She doesn’t have her own money, and I’m sure any friends she has left will be as disgusted with her as I am.”
The first detective nodded. “Thank you for your time, Mrs. Middlebrooks. You’ve been very helpful.”
“Any time, Officers. Let me know if I can help.”
CHAPTER
39
Come here, Daddy! Come look at this!” Madison yelled. A few moments later Derrick walked into Madison’s bedroom, where she was sitting on the bed with her legs crossed, staring at the flat-screen television on the wall.
“What are you yelling about?”
“Can you believe this? It’s on the news. The
y are saying that Yancey Braxton has been arrested for drugs. Did you know she used drugs?”
Derrick’s face went ashen. “Are you sure it’s Yancey?” he asked, moving closer to the television. “This must be some kind of mistake.”
Madison didn’t think so. “OMG. This is crazy. Yancey Braxton will do anything for attention.” She turned to her father in horror. “Can you imagine if I’d let her into my life? This could ruin my career. There’s no way in the world Disney would pick up my show if they knew my birth mother was a drug pusher.”
Derrick snapped, “Madison, this isn’t about you and don’t convict Yancey before she’s had a trial. I’m sure this is some mistake.”
As she suspected, her father was still in love with his old college flame. “Like I said, Daddy, maybe you don’t know Yancey Braxton like you think you do.”
Part
Three
CHAPTER
1
I found myself lying on a ratty, nasty iron cot in an eight-by-ten-foot jail cell, not believing all that had happened to me today. As I looked up at the mattress above, waiting for lights out, I tried to stop myself from crying. This had been the worst day of my life.
After I explained to my stupid public defender I wasn’t able to post my own bond, I was told I would have to be processed and thrown in jail. A pair of corrections officers came over to the courthouse and marched me and some other women in handcuffs back to the jail across the street.
There, the most humiliating things were done to me. We were corralled like livestock and then marched down a hallway.
“Okay, take off your clothes,” a very large woman, who looked more like a man, said.
“Excuse me?” I said.
“Take off your clothes. All of you!” Almost six feet tall, the woman wore a dark blue uniform and had hair braided back in corn-rows.
The other dozen female inmates started disrobing quickly. I still hesitated, folding my arms over my breasts.
The officer walked over to me, smiling meanly. Her name tag read Jenkins. She had skin the color of a shelled almond. She could’ve been pretty, I thought, with a little eyeliner, maybe some lip gloss. But she wore nothing, so she looked like a man.
“Problem, missy?”
“I’m not accustomed to just stripping off my clothes in front of people like this.”
“Aw, that’s sweet. Miss Thang is shy,” the officer said over her shoulder to another mannish female officer, standing in a corner.
“If you could point me to a private dressing room, I could—”
All the officers and even some of the new inmates burst out laughing.
“Ain’t no dressing rooms! This ain’t The Gap, missy. Take off all your shit, or I’ll take it off for you,” Officer Jenkins said, looking me up and down. She licked her lips. “And I might just enjoy that.”
Moments later, standing naked, the other twelve women and I were strip-searched. We were told to squat and cough. We had to open our mouths, and move our tongues around, so the officers could make sure we weren’t hiding anything there.
After that degrading session, we were given back our clothes, and each of us was given an inmate number.
This was when it really started to hit home that this was real. I felt like I wanted to cry, and I did my best to hold back my tears.
I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I jumped, startled.
“It’s okay,” the woman standing behind me said. She was a thin, petite, mildly attractive Latino woman. “Everything’s going to be all right.”
“And how do you know?”
“’Cause I been through this more times than I wanna admit,” the woman said with a Puerto Rican accent. She held out her hand. “Marcella.”
“Yancey,” I said, shaking her hand. “What happens next?”
“We’re going to be separated now, depending on what you’re being charged with. Some of us will go to minimum security, some medium and some maximum.”
I shuddered when I thought about being sent off to some little room with some huge woman. I felt someone’s eyes on me. I turned to see a very large white woman staring at me. She was squat and broad shouldered, like a defensive linebacker. Her short red hair was parted down the center and twisted into two pigtails that sprouted from either side of her head.
“Why is that woman looking at me?” I asked Marcella.
Marcella turned in her direction. “She’s choosing.”
“What do you mean, choosing?” I said, a chill racing up my spine.
“Not that I’m a lesbian, but you’re kinda hot. That woman is sizing you up. Hopefully, you didn’t commit a crime that puts the two of you in the same division. And if so, you better hope you don’t get the same cell as her. Unless you find her equally attractive.”
The idea totally repulsed me. “I don’t! And how will I know what division I’m going to?”
“They about to tell us now,” Marcella said. “What you charged with anyway?”
“Drug possession, with intent to distribute. But they weren’t my drugs. I’m not guilty.”
Marcella smiled, and then broke out laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
“Ask any of these women. There’s not a guilty person in this entire jail.”
After our charges were read off to us, we were separated and taken to our divisions. There were four women in the group I walked with. Marcella was one of them. There was another black woman. And then there was the big, white woman who could not keep her eyes off me.
All during the rest of our processing, while we were having our clothes taken from us and given the jail uniforms, I was praying that I would not be put in a cell with that gigantic woman. But each time I looked at her, she seemed to be licking her chops like she was a dog and I was some meat-covered bone.
The heavens must have heard my prayers, because when all was said and done, I stood in a small prison cell and Marcella was on the bottom bunk.
“Are they fucking kidding?” I practically screamed, looking at the toilet. It was a weird, stainless-steel thing, and the sink was actually connected to it. The sink and the toilet were actually one piece. “I’m supposed to wash my face and shit in the same place. This isn’t real!” I said.
“Pinch yourself. It’s real,” Marcella said.
“Don’t they know who I am?”
“They don’t care, but who are you, honey?”
“I’m Yancey Harrington Braxton. I have been on the Broadway stage, movies, and I had a big, big hit song.”
She started to look more interested. “Oh yeah. You do look kind of familiar. You ever been in any Tyler Perry movies?”
“No.”
“What about Spike Lee?”
“No, I haven’t.”
That seemed to be the limit of her exposure to actresses. “And you say you’re a big star. Well, I ain’t never heard of you. What about BET?”
“Some time ago, but mainly I was onstage. Have you ever heard of Dreamgirls?”
“Of course I’ve heard of Dreamgirls. You were in that? Tell me, how is Beyonce really? And Jamie Foxx? Girl, I loved it when he used to play Ugly Wanda on In Living Color. He was so funny. He played that role well. So, how were they?”
“I wasn’t in the movie,” I had to admit. “I was in the stage production. It came out before the movie.”
She made a face like I was an impostor. “I never knew it was a play. If you’re such a big-time star, why didn’t you get a private suite? I’m sure that if you tell them, they might move you.” She saw how doubtful I looked, and she added, “But I wouldn’t tell them you haven’t been in any Tyler Perry movies.”
I smiled politely and walked over to the mirror. It was nothing more than a square of reflective metal. I looked in it, and it looked as though I was staring at myself in a funhouse mirror. “How the hell am I supposed to do my makeup?”
Marcella laughed, like I was her private jokester. “Which bunk you want? Top or bottom?”
“It
doesn’t matter. I won’t be sleeping.”
Marcella climbed to the top bunk. She lay back, comfortable, like she was returning to her childhood bed back home. “Relax. It gets easier. You’ll make friends, get used to things. You’ll see. It’s not all that bad.”
I turned and looked at the woman, thinking what a sad, sorry life she must’ve led up till now if she thought this wasn’t that bad.
“Okay,” was all I could say.
“So get to bed,” Marcella said. “Lights out in about half an hour.”
As I lay in bed, staring up at Marcella’s mattress, I felt the warm tears slide down the side of my face. I didn’t bother to wipe them. They were tears for Marcella, but mostly for me. How did I get myself in here? But the more important question was, how would I ever get out?
CHAPTER
2
Well, looks like Yancey got what she wanted. Publicity,” Ava said. She had been watching the news unfold all day. The coverage was giving the election returns a serious run for their money. She had been on Entertainment Tonight, E and CNN and not in a good way. “ ‘Former Broadway and recording star arrested for distribution of drugs.’ I couldn’t have planned it better myself. Steven, you’re brilliant,” Ava said, raising her wineglass in a toast.
Steven smiled at Ava across the table. “I told you to trust me.” He reached into his pocket and produced an envelope. “Here is your check. Certified, of course.”
Ava quickly ripped the envelope open and eyed the check that read 2.5 million dollars. Her smile instantly turned into a frown.
“This is not what we agreed on. You promised me five million. What the fuck is this?” Her rage gathered steam the longer she eyed the check. “Are you trying to mess me over, Steven? I did what you asked me and I want my money. All of it!”
Her outburst didn’t faze him in the least. “Calm down, Ava. This is only a down payment. Once we get that bitch of a daughter of yours convicted, you will get the balance.”
“But you didn’t tell me that,” she cried. “Don’t change the rules in the middle of the game. That’s bullshit! I’m not the goddamn prosecuting attorney. It’s out of my hands.” His face remained blank, and she waved the check at him. “I’ve made plans for this money. Do you realize the chance I took getting those drugs and dealing with that low-life Donnie Ray?”
Mama Dearest Page 25