The clerk becoming nervous, pushed Joy more under the counter and stood in front of her trying to hide her. Joy held her breath and tried to calm down. She was so scared that Dre would see her that she began to shake.
“Did you see a girl like 5-5, brown skin?”
“No, it’s been pretty dead in here.” the clerk said, cutting Dre off.
Dre walked out the store mumbling, “racist muthafucka.” thinking the clerk was being short with him because he was a racist white man. Joy peeked out from the counter. Both her and clerk watched Dre get in the car, he sat there for two minutes before he started the car. Then something must have dawned on him. He jumped out the car and ran to the trunk. He tried to pull it open. He ran back, popped it open. “Fuck.” he yelled at the top of his lungs. “Joy you dirty bitch.” He pulled the gun from his waist. He heard some cars pull up and car doors slam. Before he could turn around he heard, “Freeze. Drop the gun.”
Chapter Four
Dre’s heart sank. He didn’t know why the police showed up but he guessed it was Joy’s doing. He knew that he had no way out of this because the gun he brought off his cousin might have bodies on it. He was glad he dumped the other guns he used after robbing Shawn. All these thoughts ran through his head in the three seconds between the cops pulling up and them repeating for him to “drop the gun.”
The cops took Dre’s no response as a threat, and opened fire.
Joy watched from behind the counter, as Dre’s body jerked and fell against the hood of the car. The clerk was so engrossed in what was happening, he didn’t notice the young woman he went out of his way to help, slip from behind the counter and into the back of the store. She looked over her shoulder to see if the clerk noticed. He hadn’t. Finding the back room, she entered and noticed an exit sign over a door. Joy went to the exit, peeked out and after seeing no one stepped outside.
Once outside, she took a deep breath. She heard the police walkie-talkies and her heart pounded. Lifting the chair out, she looked down at the bag with the money. She reached down to pick it up, when she heard, “What are you doing back here?”
Joy turned around to face the voice. A tall and skinny, young white dude wearing a smock stared at her.
“Shit, why you sneaking up on people?” she replied, reaching down grabbing the bag and her sneakers. She reached in and took a few bills from out of one of the rolls of money and handed them to the dude. She put her finger to his lips, as if to say shush, leaving him there with his mouth open. He looked down at the few hundreds in his hand, placed them in his pocket and walked off.
Joy continued down the road, hoping the police weren’t looking for her yet. She knew that they would want to know what happened. The thought of having to talk to the police again made her walk faster. No cars passed and that made Joy wonder what the time was. Since she knew she was close to Philly, she needed to find a bus stop. With no clue to as where to go, she walked.
Flipping open her phone she saw that it was almost midnight. Joy began to think that she should have come up with another plan of getting rid of Dre. A plan that didn’t include her hungry, tired and in the middle of nowhere. She wasn’t surprised that she didn’t feel the least bit sorry that the police killed him.
Joy opened the bag and took out a couple of rolls of money and put them in her pocket book. She looked around before placing the bag on her back. Finally, she thought when a car coming her way, she could find a way out. The car slowed down as if to help her but passed right by her. When cars began to pass frequently Joy felt like she maybe close to a highway or maybe a bus stop.
One of the drivers beeped the horn and Joy looked back to see that he had pulled over. She kept walking, not wanting to get in a strange car but she thought about how long she been walking. The car moved forward about to pull off. Joy ran a little. The driver noticed, waited for Joy to come to the car. Joy went to the open window and looked in.
Inside was a middle age woman, with a warm smile. Joy was surprised and relieved that it wasn’t a guy. It clamed her nerves and Joy got in and relaxed in the seat.
“So where you headed?” the woman asked.
“I was hoping to get back to Philadelphia.”
“Oh, I headed that way. That’s not that far. What’s your name?”
“Joy.”
“Joy. I like that. I’m Brenda. So where in Philly are you going?”
“It doesn’t matter. You can drop me at a bus stop.”
“No, I’ll take you where you got to go. It’s getting late and the streets aren’t safe. I don’t mind driving. I actually enjoy it. I just came from Harrah’s casino.”
“Oh.” Joy not really paying attention.
“Yeah. I lost my rent money but I had a good time.”
“Damn.” Joy looked out the window. The road seemed familiar. “Is this Roosevelt Boulevard?”
“Yeah.”
“I‘m headed to Frankford. I don’t know how I’m going to tell my daughter I lost seven hundred dollars.”
Joy shook her head. A little irritated with the lady talking about the money she lost.
“I only live right over there in Frankford, you can spend the night. I have an extra room.” She hesitated, and then said, “It is kind of late.”
“Umm.” Joy didn’t know what to say. She thought that maybe it was a hint that she was too tired. “Okay.” She didn’t like the idea of staying at her house. She figured she could handle her if it came down to it.
“Good.”
They rode the rest of the way in silence. Five minutes later they arrived at a three-story building. Brenda parked and led Joy through the building. Joy was nervous because the hallway was dark. She flicked a switch and everything lit up. Right in front of them was a staircase but Brenda led them to a door on the right.
Opening the door, she let Joy go first. Joy stepped in and looked around. It was clean but cluttered with too much furniture and stacks of opened mail.
“The bathroom is right there to your left and where you’ll be sleeping is back here.”
She led Joy to the back of the apartment where there was two bedrooms. She opened the door. Joy quickly looked in and noticed a made bed and television.
“Thank you so much for letting me stay here tonight.”
“No problem. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
Brenda walked back towards the living room. Her bedroom must have been the door Joy noticed to the right when she walked in. Joy went in the room and shut the door behind her. Sadness swept over her. Here was someone else, helping her. Tears swelled in her eyes but she refused to let them fall. Her throat burned and she had to swallow to wet her throat and relieve the sensation.
She took her shoes off and lay across the bed. Joy felt lost. She thought of Kevin but she realized that she didn’t think about him as much any more. Maybe she didn’t care about him after all. She wanted to feel loved but when she may have had it with Kevin, she messed it up.
And when Shawn showed her that he cared about her she had him robbed and murdered. She blinked to get rid of the image of his dead body in the bathtub with a bullet hole in his head. For the first time, she thought about the murder. She thought about Shawn’s little boy who would grow up without a father and it hit her. She was destroying the love of the people that Shawn, Josh and Dre loved and those who loved them. In some sick way she was showing them her pain.
Chapter Five
Joy opened her eyes for what felt like the thousandth time. She knew at least an hour passed and still she was unable to sleep. Her body felt exhausted and she hardly wanted to move. She needed to leave. She had something on her mind and she had to handle it.
She reached in her bag and began counting the money. There were twenties, hundreds, tens, fives and one. When she was done, she was speechless. The amount she counted, adding the money she gave dude outside the store came to 334,300. Which was way less than the little over 500,000 Dre quoted earlier. She was happy since she never had this much money in her lif
e. Plus, she didn’t have to split it with Dre any more. That thought made her think of something else. Picking up the pen and paper she used to calculate the money amount, she divided the amount in half.
“Shit. 167,150. Just like in the dream,” she thought to herself.
She couldn’t believe it. The dream was trying to tell her something after all. She flipped the paper over and began to make a list of things she needed to do. She needed a car and a place to live. Where? She wasn’t sure. Maybe New Jersey or maybe she’d go back to New York. She had people she knew there and she wouldn’t be totally alone. It would be easy for her to get an apartment.
Joy counted out a stack and laid it on the bed. She gathered the rest of the money and her belongings and placed them all in her bag. She put her shoes back on and opened the room door. It was too dark to see. Slow, she moved with her hands out. It was a straight shot to the living room. She found the door, cracked it open and went out and closing it behind her. She went through the second door and let out the breath she was holding. She really hated to sneak out like that but she wasn’t for all the questions when she didn’t have any answers. Joy always had been very impulsive; something she needed to try to control.
She sat down on the steps, just now remembering that it was late and none of the buses were running. Joy got up and walked towards Frankford Ave. Once she reached the corner, she looked around. No cars were in sight, so she kept walking towards Bridge and Pratt.
The night air felt good on her face. She continually looked behind her to make sure nobody snuck up on her. She had all this money in her bag and she decides to go after three in the morning. A car drove by, the driver horning at her. She ignored him and kept up her pace. A hospital sign caught her attention and she walked towards it. When she got close enough, she saw that it was Frankford Hospital.
Joy walked inside and saw that no people were in the waiting room. She went over to the payphone and opened the phone book to look for a cab company. When she found one, she dialed the number from her cell phone, despite the no cell phone signs posted throughout the waiting room.
The wait for the cab wasn’t long. Not even ten minutes later, the cab driver was beeping the horn for her to come out.
Once inside the cab, Joy gave the driver the directions and hoped that she was making a wise decision.
Chapter Six
Joy looked up at the building she had the cab driver let her off at. She knew his new address because he had somehow got her cell phone number and left her a message letting her know where to find him, if needed.
She looked for his name among the bells. She pressed. No answer. She pressed it again, a little longer.
Finally, she heard a groggy, “What the fuck you want?”
“It’s me, Joy.”
“Oh my God, Joy?”
He buzzed her in and she went inside. She took the elevator to his fourth floor apartment. He was standing in the hallway waiting for her. When she made it close enough to him, he grabbed her and hugged her. Joy stood there, confused by his strong display of affection. After all, she just recently met him and found out he was her estranged uncle Curtis. And then shortly after that found out he wasn’t her uncle because her father wasn’t even her father.
“Come inside.” he pulled her inside his apartment before she could move.
“Sorry to bother you but I need your help.”
“No problem. I was so worried about you since what happened to your parents. And with everything you found out all at once.”
“Well you don’t have to be because I’m doing okay. I been doing a lot of thinking about the shit I’ve been through lately………” Tears raced down her face and Joy stopped mid-sentence.
“Look sit down over there and I’ll get you some water.”
Joy went over to the sofa, sat and waited. She used the back of her hand to wipe her tears. She couldn’t believe how choked up she wasn’t getting. The feeling to cry has been present strong lately. Curtis returned with a glass of water. After drinking it down in a few gulps, Joy got up and went in the kitchen and poured herself another one. Returning into the living room, she started over.
“Lately, a lot of the things I’ve done wrong have been on my mind and made me think about why I’m doing these things. I think it’s because my father or the man I thought was my father, was so distant.”
“Joy, what things are you talking about? You had your father in your life.”
“He wasn’t my father and he acted like it. I need to know what you know about my real father or for you to tell me who does because I’m no longer believe you don’t know anything.”
“I told you I didn’t…” Curtis voice trailed off when he noticed the look on Joy’s face. Her eyes stared at him with such intensity, he wondered if looks could kill, would he be dead now?
“You have to know something.” Joy pleaded with him.
“I’m sorry.”
Curtis couldn’t even look her in the eye. Joy knew it was up to her. Finding her father occurred to her when she was deep in thought about her life and all the things she’d done. Joy felt hatred for the man standing in front of her. She knew that she couldn’t believe or trust him. Thinking this caused a chain of thoughts to cruise through her mind. He could even be lying about having sex with her mother before.
“Why don’t you lay down on the sofa for a little bit? I’ll get you a pillow and a blanket.”
“Okay.” Joy replied but she didn’t want to lie down. She wanted answers.
Curtis returned with the pillow and blanket and set the sofa up. Joy lied down and he went into his bedroom. Feeling wired Joy thought she wouldn’t be able to sleep but as soon as she turned on her side and got comfortable, she was out.
Joy woke up hours later with a headache. She slept so hard her eyes hurt. She placed both her feet on the floor, and sat back against the sofa. She needed to get her self together. She had money and she had yet to spend it on herself. She grabbed her bag she had under her pillow and opened it, in search of her cell phone. It was four o’clock in the afternoon.
It was really quiet and Joy wondered where Curtis was. She went to his bedroom and knocked on the door. The bathroom had to be in the bedroom because it wasn’t one out there, just the living room and kitchen. After no answer, Joy opened the door and she went in.
The room was empty, Curtis was nowhere to be found. Joy went into the bathroom. She patted down her hair. She grabbed a towel from the shelf in the corner and placed in on top of the toilet seat. She didn’t have any clean clothes because she’d left her clothes in Dre’s car. Thinking of buying new clothes made her smile as she tested the water for her shower.
After her shower, she wrapped herself in the towel. She went to the sink, grabbed the mouthwash. She leaned her head back and swished some in her mouth, spit in the sink and left the bathroom. She sat down on Curtis neatly made bed. She hadn’t thought about her mother in a while but suddenly her image appeared in her mind. Joy studied her Mother’s features, trying to compare them to hers. Nothing stood out. They didn’t look alike at all. She didn’t know whether to believe Curtis because she looked nothing like him either. Sadness fell over her. Maybe her life would have been different. She thought that her life was missing only money. Now she knew what people meant when they said, “Money doesn’t buy happiness.” She had money. She could do what she wanted for a while but she felt like there was a hole in her heart. The thought of spending the money excited her. But then what?
“Fuck this feeling sorry for myself shit.” Joy said aloud and got up; the towel came from her around her fell to the floor. She went towards the bathroom to put her clothes back on when she heard a noise behind her, it sounded like a sharp intake of breath. She turned her head to the side. Curtis was standing in the doorway, his eyes glued to Joy’s heart shaped ass. Joy stood there longer than she realized before she continued in the bathroom. She hurried into the bathroom picked her clothes off the floor. She put them on as fast as she cou
ld.
She opened the door. Curtis was sitting on the bed with his head down. He said nothing when Joy walked by him and went into the living room. She didn’t know where to go. She made sure she had everything with her and prepared to leave. Cutis still hadn’t come out of the bedroom
Chapter Seven
It seemed like the storm had intensified as Detective Hartford and Detective Banks finished talking to the manager and the clerk working at the gas station. They still were no closer to identifying the girl on the videotape.
“What did the manager say?” Detective Hartford asked.
“He said the girl came in, beat up and crying. He called the police while she hid behind the counter from Andre Hobbs, until the police arrived. He looked away and when he turned around she was gone. He didn‘t give a good description, only thing he was sure of, was that she was African American.” Detective Banks replied.
“The video tape shows her come in. The tape is dark. She steps through the door but immediately looks to her left. The image of her face isn’t clear. The clerk I talked to said he didn’t see her come out the back, even though he was back there taking a smoke break.”
“We know that the girl was hurt and trying to get away based on the manager’s statement. But why did she leave?”
“I say case closed. Hobbs had a .357. The manager and the police both confirmed that much.” Detective Banks said, shrugging his shoulders.
“Something in my gut is telling me that it’s more to it. We found suitcases in the trunk with clothes belonging to what I guess is both Hobbs and the girl.”
“Maybe they had a fight or something.”
“Yea, maybe.” Detective Hartford wasn’t convinced but there were other cases that needed his attention.
βββ
Joy was at a complete lost as of what to do. She felt uneasy about being in Philly. Her stomach growled and she realized that she couldn’t remember the last time she ate anything. She saw a Wa-wa at the corner and walked faster in its direction.
Nookie's Secret (Nookie 2) (Nookie Series) Page 2