The Devil You Know

by Mary Monroe

  “Lola, don’t you blame yourself for what happened. It was not your fault.”

  “Libby thinks it is. When I got to the hospital, she cussed up a storm and accused me of killing Bertha. The next thing I knew, she slapped my face so hard I saw stars. And right in front of Reverend Clyde and Dr. Wilcox. She even said some nasty shit to them when they tried to calm her down. I don’t know what she’s going to do or say when we get back to the house. If Jeffrey hadn’t been there to keep her off me, you probably would have read about me in tomorrow’s newspaper.”

  “Listen to me. You don’t have to deal with her tonight. I’m more afraid for her than I am you because I don’t want to see you behind bars for beating her ass. Calm down and come over here. My liquor cabinet is full, there is plenty of food in the refrigerator, and you can even spend the night if you want to.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  Chapter 33

  Joan

  IT HAD BEEN HALF AN HOUR SINCE I’D SPOKEN TO LOLA. I STARTED pacing my living room floor, and every few seconds I checked my watch. I was so anxious to see her, I called her number just to make sure she was still on her way. “What’s up, girl? Where the hell are you?”

  “I got stuck behind a stalled car on the freeway and the cops closed all but one lane, so that slowed me down. I just turned onto your street. I’ll be there in a couple of minutes,” she told me.

  After a quick trip to the bathroom, I returned to the living room. Just as I was about to pour myself another drink, Lola rang the buzzer. I let her into the lobby and waited for her in my doorway. When she stumbled out of the elevator there was a look on her face that was so sad, it made me want to cry. She practically fell into my arms.

  “I have a drink ready for you,” I said with my arm around her shoulder as I led her into my living room to the couch. Wine was too mild for this occasion. I had set two glasses of rum and Coke on the coffee table because we both needed a strong buzz tonight. Lola dropped her purse onto the table and snatched her drink before she even sat down. I remained standing for a few moments, looking at her and shaking my head. She looked more despondent than she had the night her daddy died.

  “Lola, everything is going to be just fine.” I sat down at the other end of the couch and reached for my drink. I took a long pull before I continued. “I’m sorry Bertha is gone, but this could be a blessing in disguise,” I said with a heavy sigh. “You’ve been under her thumb so long, you may have a hard time adjusting to a real life.”

  Lola looked at me and blinked. “If you don’t think my life is not already real, what is it?”

  “First of all, you haven’t been able to do a lot of things most women our age do. The way Bertha controlled you, it was more like you were her hostage. Now you can come and go as you please without making up a bunch of lies. And you can finally get married and have the family you’ve been wanting all your life—when you meet the right guy.”

  Lola dropped her head. “I already know who the right guy is, and you know too.”

  “Calvin,” I said, giving her a pathetic look. “Before we talk about him and Bertha again, tell me how your date went tonight.”

  Lola looked away for a few moments. When she returned her attention to me, there was a mysterious smile on her face. “I had a marvelous time. They were both nice.”

  “Both? Oh shit! I’m scared of you. Since when did you start doing threesomes?”

  She exhaled and gave me a strange look. “I don’t do threesomes. After I left Lester’s hotel room, I checked my messages in my car. There was one from Calvin. He wanted me to meet him as soon as possible.” She paused and took a quick sip. And when she put her glass down, she stared straight ahead and remained silent.

  “Go on,” I prodded, nudging her with my hand.

  “I had a really nice time with Lester. He was real cool and charming and even cuter in person. He showed me such a good time I told him I’d see him again.”

  “You don’t have to give me all the details about how good he was in bed. You can tell me that later. I want to hear what happened with Calvin.”

  “To make a long story short, before I could get back to him my cell phone battery conked out. I sat in the hotel parking garage and charged it enough for me to use my phone again. I called him and told him why I hadn’t responded to his message right away and I asked if he still wanted to see me tonight. Of course he said yes.”

  “What hotel did you go to?”

  “We didn’t.” There was such a glassy-eyed look on Lola’s face, when she blinked she reminded me of an owl. “He didn’t want to have sex. He just wanted to spend some time with me. I met him at a pizza parlor and all we did was share a pizza, drink some beer, and talk.”

  “Oh? I’m surprised to hear that a sex machine like Calvin only wanted to see a . . . uh . . . sex machine like you just to talk.” Joan cackled. “I guess Reed’s not the only dark horse we know, huh?”

  “I guess not. I can’t wait to sleep with him again though. I can’t tell you how happy I was to hear that he is interested in more than just sex from me.” The glassy-eyed owlish look was still on Lola’s face. “I think the man’s in love with me.”

  I was amazed to hear her make such an outrageous statement with nothing to back it up. I didn’t want to add to her distress, so I decided to keep my comments to myself for the time being. “I’m glad you think that.” I couldn’t think of anything more neutral to say, but there were all kinds of thoughts dancing around in my head. One was, if Lola had convinced herself that Calvin was in love with her, she was going to be even more love-struck than before. Despite what I thought, I was happy for her. Especially now that Bertha was out of the picture. “Did you tell him about Bertha?”

  “I left him a voice mail a few minutes after I talked to you. He hasn’t replied yet. I am so sorry he never got to meet Bertha. After all I had told her about him praising me for taking care of her, she was as anxious to meet him as he was to meet her.” Lola paused and her eyes suddenly got big. The look on her face was so serious, it scared me. I was not prepared for what she said next. “It’s time for me to let Calvin know how I feel about him, and I need to know how he feels about me. And the sooner the better. I’m going to talk to him about it within the next week or so.” She gave me a hopeful look. “What do you think?”

  I didn’t have the nerve to admit what I really thought. I couldn’t believe what she’d just told me—with a straight face—she was going to do. “If you think he’s in love with you, why do you need to ask him?”

  “I just need to hear him say it.”

  “What if he’s not in love with you and doesn’t even want to be in a serious relationship?” I asked, squeezing Lola’s hand.

  She gave me a thoughtful look before she answered. “If he tells me that, I’ll be disappointed but I’ll live. At least I’ll know that I have to keep looking for Mr. Right and put Calvin on the back burner. Now that Bertha is gone, I’m going to have to make some serious decisions about what to do with myself now. Especially about Calvin.”

  “It’s about time,” I said as I squeezed her hand even harder.

  Lola gave me a sharp look and snatched her hand away. “It’s about time for what?”

  “It’s about time for you to look at your obsession with Calvin from a different point of view. You saw that message the Mexican woman posted about her upcoming date with him, so you know he’s not sitting around biding his time, or fantasizing about living happily ever after with you.”

  “So what if he’s going to hook up with that woman from Mexico? I’m still going strong with other club members too. We’re all in the same game, remember?”

  “And some of us lose,” I said, giving Lola a woeful look.

  “Tell me about it.” I was happy to see her smile. “But I’m going to be okay, Joan.”

  “Well, this has been one hell of a night for you. You hooked up with two men, Bertha died, and Libby cussed you out, accused you of killing Bertha, and slapped you.
What’s your next move?”

  “I’m not sure. I’ll go home and face Libby tomorrow. We’ll probably lock horns big-time, but whatever happens, happens.” Lola’s voice turned harsh. “If she puts her hands on me again, I will fight back like I did that time she attacked me when she thought I was having an affair with Jeffrey.” She stretched her arms high above her head and yawned. And then she chuckled. I was glad to see that she was not too broken up about Bertha. Her eyes were red and slightly swollen, so I knew she had already shed a few tears, and I knew she’d be shedding a lot more in the next few days.

  “What’s up with you and DrFeelGood? Is your date with your Jewish honey still on for tomorrow? Between him and John Walden flying in and out of town, they must have racked up thousands of frequent flyer miles by now,” Lola teased.

  “Yes, our date is still on. I need to stay on good terms with him if I want to get those free breast implants and any other surgery I may need someday. I’m going to meet up with Ezra around two. With Reed gone until Sunday night, I plan to take full advantage of that. I told Ezra I’d spend the whole night and part of Sunday.” I swallowed hard and squeezed Lola’s shoulder. “But I can postpone my date if you want me to.” I held my breath. Lola was my girl. Whenever she needed me, I went out of my way to be there for her. I wouldn’t trade my relationship with her for all the men on my roster put together.

  “Don’t change your plans on my account. Go have yourself a good time tomorrow and don’t worry about me. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to get some rest. I’m going to need all of my strength tomorrow when I face Libby.”

  Chapter 34

  Calvin

  AS MUCH AS I DESPISED LOLA, I HAD ACTUALLY ENJOYED HER COMPANY tonight. Just being in her presence and looking at her miserable face reinforced my belief that killing her would set me free. This bitch was the main source of my pain, so her murder would be even more grisly than the others. “Lola, thank you so much for allowing me to cry on your shoulder tonight,” I’d told her.

  “Calvin, I want you to know that any time you need to see me only to talk, or because you need some company, just let me know,” she’d answered. She had already scarfed down three slices of pizza and was eyeballing the one I had in my hand. That was another thing about the bitch. She was a damn glutton! I had never seen a woman suck up as much food and beer as this one and still have a decent body.

  I had kissed her passionately before we’d parted, and she had felt so good in my arms. By the time I got home, my desire to have sex had returned. I couldn’t let Lola know how weak I was by calling her again and asking her to come back out and meet me at a hotel so we could have sex after all. She was a dingbat and probably would have done it, but I was afraid that if I saw her again too soon, it would be the last time she’d ever see me, or any other man. I would see her soon enough, so I was determined to stick to my plan. Until then, I had to rely on other sources for my pleasure.

  I sat in my driveway for only two minutes before I knew what I had to do next. I didn’t even bother to call up Sylvia to let her know I was on my way to her house. It was past midnight, and we’d already spent intimate time together earlier, but I knew she’d be glad to see me again.

  * * *

  When I opened my eyes Saturday morning around nine, I was naked and had an erection that was as hard as blue steel. I was ready to start humping again already, but not with Sylvia. The more I thought about the good time I was going to have with Maria on Tuesday, the harder I got. As a matter of fact, during my romp with Sylvia a few hours ago, I had imagined it was Maria’s luscious body I was on top of. I smiled just thinking about her.

  My sudden appearance at Sylvia’s house in the middle of the night had surprised her, but she’d been happy to see me. I had had two intimate sessions with her in less than twenty-four hours, and that was enough for now. I had not planned to use her as a crutch to hold me up until Tuesday when I’d meet up with Maria, but that was exactly what I’d done. If I had taken Lola to a hotel last night for sex after our pizza break, there was no telling what I would have done to her, because her presence had enraged me more than I’d expected. I had to keep telling myself that I needed to stick to my plan. After being with her last night, I knew then exactly when I was going to kill her: She would die the very next time I saw her.

  Sylvia was in the kitchen. I could smell bacon cooking and hear her talking to her sister on the telephone. My future sister-in-law was long-winded. I knew she’d keep Sylvia occupied for a while, so I pulled my cell phone out of my pants pocket to check my messages.

  There was a voice mail from my jackass cousin Willis. He wanted to know if he could borrow three hundred bucks. I rolled my eyes and deleted his message. I was not even going to answer it. Dude already owed me a grand, and each time I mentioned it to him, he told me one tale of woe after another and that he would repay me “whenever” he could. I had money problems like everybody else I knew, but I was generous even when I couldn’t afford to be. Last month when my brother Ronald asked to borrow half a grand to get his car fixed, I didn’t have the cash to spare at the time, so I borrowed it from my boss. My brother was good about paying me back, so I always came through for him. The second message was from him. He wanted to know if it was okay for him to put the money he owed me in an envelope and slide it under my door or leave it in my mailbox. I immediately texted him and told him to hold on to the money until I was able to see him in person. There was no way in the world I would allow him, or anybody else, to snoop around my property when I was not present. A few weeks ago, my neighbor Robert told me that while I was on a haul, he’d seen Ronald peeping in my living room window one night. When I confronted my brother, he claimed he had been doing a welfare check because I hadn’t responded to his last three messages. Now whenever he left one, I got back to him right away.

  The only other voice mail had come from that damn Lola. I held my breath as I listened: “Hello, Calvin. This is Lola. I have some bad news to share with you. While I was out tonight, my stepmother had a heart attack. She passed away a few minutes before I got to her hospital room after I left you. With her funeral and everything else I’ll have to deal with, things will be hectic for me for a while. I thought you should know, because I might not be reachable or able to respond to messages in a timely manner. I’ll talk to you soon. Bye.”

  I listened to her message twice, wondering how this new development was going to impact my plans for her. I wanted her dead before my wedding. And if things went my way, she would be. I didn’t want to call her back, because I couldn’t stand the thought of hearing her annoying voice. I sent her a text:

  I am so sorry for your loss. If there is anything I can do, give me a call. Let me know when things return to normal so I can see you.

  I made a mental note to send her some flowers at her work, but I dismissed that notion right away. For one thing, I didn’t want her to know that I knew the location of that pooh-butt grocery store she worked for. I couldn’t send flowers to her home address, because she had no idea that I already knew where she lived. Before our first sexual encounter, I had discreetly cased her house and “stalked” her from afar. Then, in a clever disguise, I had visited the grocery store and watched her work.

  Right after I sent the text, I turned off my phone. “Bitch, the next funeral you attend will be your own,” I said under my breath.

  Chapter 35

  Joan

  WHEN I ROLLED OUT OF BED AND ENTERED MY LIVING ROOM AT seven a.m. Saturday morning, Lola was already up and dressed. “Did you sleep well?” I asked, joining her on the couch.

  She nodded and offered a weak smile. “Your guest room is so comfortable, I didn’t want to leave.”

  “And you don’t have to leave until you are good and ready.”

  “I need to change clothes and . . . I need to go to the house and get whatever is going to happen between Libby and me over with so I can move forward.” Lola looked at her watch and began to rise. “I guess I should be on
my way. I know you have to get ready for your date with DrFeelGood.”

  “Pffft!” I waved my hand. “I won’t be seeing him until this afternoon, and so what if I’m late. I didn’t tell him to come back out here again so soon in the first place.” I was so glad Reed was out of my hair for the whole weekend. I could really relax on my date and spend more time with Lola. Even though she claimed she had slept well, she looked tired and beaten down. And she probably was. Losing Bertha and having another run-in with Libby was enough to wear even the strongest person down to a frazzle. “You should at least have some breakfast. I know you don’t want to deal with Libby on an empty stomach, now, do you?”

  “It wouldn’t matter whether my stomach was empty. Dealing with a pit bull like her under any circumstances would be bad.” Lola paused and gave me a frightened look. “Something tells me I won’t be living in Bertha’s house too much longer.”

  “Hold on, now.” I held up my hand and gave her a stern look. “Don’t get too far ahead of yourself. Libby and Jeffrey will be moving back into their house when all the renovations are done, and that should be in a few weeks or a few months at the very most. Bertha’s house is completely paid for and it has been your home since middle school. You don’t need to move out now, because you won’t have to deal with her mess anymore.”

  “That’s true. And I have every right to continue living there. Humph. I paid the property taxes, the monthly home owner’s association dues, and the landscaping and other maintenance expenses for the past twelve years all by myself.”

  “That’s all the more reason for you to stay on there. Not only that, it’s a nice house in a nice, safe neighborhood. And keep in mind that you’d still be living rent free. Once Libby and her crew get their asses out of there, that place will be paradise.”