While one of the officers got on the phone to call in some information, the other asked her more questions. Was this the first time she’d seen Lucius since the other incidents? Did he ever own a gun during their marriage? Could she tell what type of gun it was? Did she see the car? Did she have a recent photograph? What was he wearing?
The officer turned to Rashad. “What about you? Did you see a car leaving the lot on your way in?”
Rashad had to think back. “No, no. But I must have just missed him.”
The other officer returned from the phone.
“There’s a warrant already out for his arrest from the prior incident, but the gun escalates the case. We’re going to canvass the neighborhood for anyone who might have seen the car he was driving and call the Charleston police to see if his registered vehicle is at his house. We’ve issued another all-points bulletin, and we’re increasing patrol of the area.”
“What should I do now?”
“Let us handle this, Ms. Johns. We’re looking for him now, and we’re running his credit cards again. If we’re lucky, we’ll pick him up before he can leave the state. If not, they’ll get him in Charleston when he returns to his known address.”
The officers seemed competent and sympathetic. But there also didn’t seem to be a great deal they could do. Michelle’s ex-husband could be miles away by now, and no one even knew what kind of car he was driving. Rashad was frustrated. He could only imagine what Michelle had been going through, and he wondered for how long.
Rashad was quiet through all of it. Now was not the time for his questions. He gathered some of what had been going on from what was being said and postponed his query.
When the police had gone and the door was closed with the alarm rearmed, Michelle leaned forward, leaving the circle of his arm, and stood. It wasn’t late, but Andre was tuckered out from the events of the night, and she carried him to his room. Rashad stood at the door as she pulled back his comforter, laid him down and covered him.
Now that the police were gone, she was silent and she seemed tired.
He waited while she sent an email, and he could see that it was to an attorney, but he didn’t pry further. He knew that the hour of revelation was coming.
After she turned off the computer, she went into the dining room to start unpacking the grocery bags. He followed her and began unloading the bags and handing her the groceries, checking the meat and produce and dairy items in case anything had spoiled in the hours they’d been sitting out.
When they were done, he stepped toward her and tried to take her in his arms, but she put her hands up and shook her head.
“Hey,” Rashad said. “It’s me, the one who cares about you.”
He cupped the side of her face and drew her eyes to his. He tugged her toward him and took her in his arms. At first she just accepted his arms around her, but then she put her hands on his chest and laid her head on his shoulder, letting him caress her back and arms and soothe some of the tension out of her.
“Hey,” he said after a little while. “It’s time for us to talk.”
Michelle led the way to the living room, and they sat down on the couch. Michelle pulled her legs up underneath her, and Rashad gave her a little room but stayed close enough to have one arm on the back of the sofa behind her. His other hand was free, and he used it to cover the fingers she had entwined on her lap.
“Tell me what’s been going on.”
“I don’t even know where to start.”
“Has this been going on ever since the divorce?”
“It did periodically when I was still in Charleston. That’s one of the reasons I moved up here to start over. Then it stopped. My number is unlisted. I don’t put return addresses on anything going home. I thought I was in the clear. Then a few weeks ago I got a call. Then an unsigned letter. Then more calls. Then a dead rat on my dining room table. Then he went to Andre’s preschool. That was last week, the day of Regina’s art show. Now this. I’ve emailed my lawyer. I’ve called the police. I’ve gotten an alarm. I’m not sure what else to do.”
“Let the police do their job.”
“He never had a gun before.”
“They’ll find him. Don’t worry.”
Rashad could tell that his attempts to console her weren’t working. He wanted more information.
“Tell me how it got to this point. How did it start? What was your marriage like?”
“You know I married right out of high school. I was eighteen, and back then I went for the bad boys. Lucius was everything I thought I wanted—a rebel, a loner, a fighter, a partier. Things seemed good at first.”
“And then?”
“Then came the cheating and the drinking and—”
“Did he hit you?”
“A few times, when he was drunk. It was more verbal abuse—denigration and threatening. That’s if he was home and paying attention at all. There was a lot of neglect, especially after Andre came along. He didn’t really pay attention to Andre at all, which is why all this is ironic. He says I can’t keep his son from him, but he didn’t want Andre when he had him.”
“He’s just using Andre to threaten you.”
“Well, he knows how to push my buttons because that’ll do it. What if he took Andre? What if I couldn’t find them?”
“Does he have the means to do something like that?”
“He owns a construction company, and he’s good at construction. If he sold his company... Who knows? I had Andre when I was twenty-one, after three years of marriage. We were divorced when I was twenty-three and Andre was two.”
“And that was over two years ago?”
“Yeah, we’ve been in the D.C. area for just over two and a half years. I wanted to get away from Lucius, get back to school, start a new life. I wanted to put all that behind me—the ugly divorce, being wild, being... It was like being in a prison, never knowing when the siren would sound, never knowing when he’d be there, when he’d be gone, when he’d be drunk, when he’d be in a good mood—which could be just as bad.”
Rashad didn’t know the man, only that he didn’t like him. He was angry over what this man had done to Michelle, to Andre. But he knew it was best to appear calm.
“You said the divorce was ugly. What happened? You got custody. You got to leave the state.”
“I got sole custody because he showed up to the court hearing drunk and belligerent. The divorce proceeding—he lied through the whole thing and told every reckless thing I’d ever done. He didn’t want to pay alimony or child support. But we were able to catch him in so many lies that he lost all credibility. He was furious. That’s when that taunting and harassing started. I had to get a restraining order against him. He’s buddies with half the police force in our area. It did nothing. But there were a couple of arrests, and when I petitioned to leave, it was granted.” Michelle shook her head. “I thought it would end. But here it is.”
“You said it seemed good at first.”
“Yeah.”
“But he never pleased you sexually.”
“He was just...all about him. But then so was every other guy I’d known. That or they just didn’t know what to do. And neither did I. He disparaged me about that, too. But it didn’t stop him.” She shook her head. “What a mess. My whole marriage was a mess.”
Rashad wanted to know more, but he didn’t want to push. What she’d said already explained a lot—why she seemed so grateful for kindness, why she worked so hard, why she hadn’t dated in over two years, why she didn’t seem to believe that he wanted to hang out with her son, why she’d been getting more and more skittish and distracted.
“Now you see,” she said, “why we shouldn’t see each other right now. I have too much going on, and I need to deal with this.”
“No, I don’t see,” he answered. �
��And you don’t have to deal with it alone.”
“My being with someone just seems to rile him more, give him more ammunition for his rants and threats.”
“You being alone just lets him win in whatever game he’s playing—a game where the goal is to intimidate you.”
“Well, he is winning, isn’t he? What’s going to happen? The police pick him up here or down home. He does a little time. It starts over. How can I win?”
“To start, you win by having your own life. You win by doing what you’re already doing, which is getting on with your life. Which I hope includes me.”
Rashad started to rub Michelle’s fingers, but she stopped him. She shook her head.
“I don’t want to put you in danger.”
“Then let me help keep you and Andre out of danger. Let me help look out for both of you.”
Rashad moved the arm he had around her and cupped the nape of Michelle’s neck. He began massaging her neck and was rewarded when she stretched her head to each side and let it fall back into his hand.
“Why didn’t you tell me all of this before? Don’t you know I have feelings for you?” he asked.
“I didn’t want to get you embroiled in all this ex-husband, baby-daddy drama,” she said. “It would turn anybody off.”
“Not me.”
“But what can you do? You can’t be with us all the time.”
“For one, you’re not staying here for a while. And he might know to look for you at your cousin’s. If you won’t stay with me, I’ll put you up in a hotel. Come stay with me for a little while. Let’s figure this out together.”
Michelle still hesitated.
“I would feel better seeing that you’re both safe.”
“Okay. We can stay with you for a few days.”
“Good.”
Rashad drew Michelle toward him and into a hug.
They rose, bagged the perishables in the fridge and put all the meat in the freezer except for a package of ground meat; Rashad was making them spaghetti for dinner at his place. Michelle woke up Andre and packed small suitcases for them both, and then she followed Rashad to his house.
Rashad let them in, and Shaka took turns jumping on Michelle and Andre until Rashad closed him in his bedroom so that he could get dinner going. Michelle and Andre were taking his guest room, and he stowed their bags before dinner. Rashad couldn’t help but wish that Michelle’s things were going in another room—his. After tonight he had a lot of new information to digest, but there was one thing he knew. Regardless of her ex-husband—and the man was clearly a bit psycho—he still wanted this woman.
Chapter 13
Michelle put the ribs back in the oven and checked the rice.
She had called in to work and taken the week off, and she had informed Mrs. Miller that they would be away for a few days. She and Andre were still going to school; she didn’t want him to miss anything, and this was the last week of classes at Howard, so she couldn’t afford to miss them. Other than that, they would be staying inside as much as possible.
She had picked up Andre as his class let out and brought him back to Rashad’s house. Now she stood in Rashad’s kitchen, looking for some parsley in his seasoning cabinet. The least she could do was cook.
Andre was sitting at Rashad’s massive dining table tracing his letters, and Shaka was wandering back and forth between the two of them, circling their legs.
Suddenly, Shaka let out a yelp and bounded for the foyer. She heard Rashad’s voice.
“They let you out, Shaka? You’re my big boy.” Then he put on his deep voice. “Manly Shaka.”
Michelle couldn’t help laughing.
She saw Rashad pat Andre on the head on his way into the kitchen, where he kissed her briefly, laid his satchel on the counter and let Shaka out into the backyard.
“You can leave him in my room. He won’t mind—after a while, at least,” he said.
“He’s no problem. Andre loves him.”
“Did you get in touch with your lawyer today?”
“Yes, I emailed her, and she called me back. She checked to see that the police down there were being kept up on the warrants issued up here and made sure that the police up here had copies of the restraining orders filed down there. That’s all she can do.”
Michelle sighed heavily, and Rashad came to her and rubbed her upper arms.
“I also called the detective, the one whose number I was given after Lucius went to Andre’s school. I’m going to meet with him tomorrow before I pick up Andre.”
“What time?”
“At one o’clock,” Michelle said.
“I’m coming. I’ll meet you here,” Rashad insisted.
“You don’t have to—”
“I want to,” he said. “I smell something good.”
Michelle smiled. She was happy to have done something for Rashad in return for all that he was doing for her.
“I stopped at the grocery store after I picked up Andre. The ribs are almost done, and if I can find a frying pan, the vegetables will be the last thing.”
Rashad smiled and kissed her nose and then pulled a frying pan down from the upper cabinet.
“Now if the pots are at the bottom,” Michelle said, “why are the frying pans in the upper cabinets?”
“I do that deliberately so as to confuse my houseguests.” Rashad laughed. “No, I plan to get one of those racks and hang all the pots up so you can see them.”
“Uh-huh.” Michelle smiled again. “You need help.”
“Can I do anything?”
“No, relax.”
Rashad went into the dining room and sat next to Andre while Michelle sautéed the vegetables. Soon she heard Rashad giving Andre tips on writing his letters. Then Rashad asked Andre about some game. After they had dinner together, they sat in front of the computer, and Rashad showed Andre how to play the game he’d asked about earlier. The two seemed to have fun, and Michelle was grateful for Rashad’s attention to Andre.
“Can you play alone now, Andre?” Michelle asked.
Andre nodded.
“I can watch him,” she said to Rashad. “You can change and rest or do what you usually do. You don’t have to entertain us.”
“I usually think about you,” he said softly. Then he turned his attention back to Andre. “Besides, it’s time for Perfection!”
“What’s that?” Andre asked.
“It’s a game I play with my nieces and nephews. You set a timer. Then you have to match the shapes to the slots they go in before they all pop up. You game?” he asked Andre.
“Can I play, Mommy?”
“If Mom says yes, we can all play.”
They played for over an hour, laughing when the adults, who got less time on the timer, couldn’t beat a four-year-old.
Michelle put Andre in their bed and decided to turn in early herself, though she sat up next to him for a while reading some of her homework, ever aware that Rashad was right in the next room.
The next day he met her at his home at noon, and they drove to Greenbelt to see the detective. He’d been kept up on her case and assured her that they were looking for Lucius. They had an all-points bulletin out, and Lucius’s photograph had been distributed to all their officers. They continued to check his credit cards, and had started checking for car rentals, as his own licensed vehicle was still in his drive. They also had Charleston police interviewing family members for information on any other known acquaintances in the D.C. area. They were doing all that could be done. She needed to be patient.
This was not really what Michelle wanted to hear, but at least they were doing what they could.
“What if you find him?” she asked. “How long will he be in jail for this?”
“That’s hard to s
ay. Violating a restraining order. Harassment. Armed assault. Possibly an unregistered weapon.”
“We’ll ask your lawyer,” Rashad said to her.
“That’s a good idea,” the detective said.
Michelle shook her head. They could find out how long, but whatever it was, it wouldn’t be forever. And then this would start again. Nothing would really end it.
Michelle thought this, but she didn’t say it. She didn’t want Rashad to try to console her when there was simply no consolation to be had. She listened as the detective reminded her to be aware of her surroundings, to keep a vigilant eye on Andre, to call them the moment Lucius reappeared and to avoid trying to handle him herself.
He gave her the number again for the victim-witness advocate and let her call to make an appointment. She got one for that Friday, and then she and Rashad went to pick up Andre.
They had arranged to have dinner at Nigel and Regina’s that night so that Michelle could tell them what was going on. She didn’t want to say much, but she had to at least make them aware that Lucius was about and was armed and might look for her there.
“Why didn’t you come to us before?” Nigel asked.
Rashad was nodding, and she elbowed him gently for taking sides.
“You know we’re here for you,” Regina echoed. “Maybe you should move in with us. We have an alarm system.”
“So do I,” Michelle said. “And I won’t make the mistake of disarming it again, not for a minute.”
“Who from home knew your number here besides us?” Nigel asked.
“My mother and father, my lawyer,” she answered. “I think that’s it.”
“You need to talk to your mother,” Nigel said. “See if she gave your number to anyone.”
Michelle hadn’t thought of that. She hadn’t wanted to worry her folks, but who else had her number, and how else could Lucius have gotten it?
“You know, I need to do that. I’ll check on Andre and give my mom a call.”
While Rashad, Nigel and Regina continued to talk at the dining table, with Sharon asleep in her bassinet near Regina, Michelle went into the living to check on Andre, who was watching television. Then she slipped upstairs to the den to make her call.
In His Arms Page 12