“Is Tremayne paying for that too?” Hell, I had to know. Like I said, I couldn’t afford it.
“Yes, I don’t think we’ll have a problem. Don’t worry ... I plan to counter for all of your legal fees.” He discussed a whole lot of other legal terms that made no sense to me, which was probably why I got screwed in the divorce settlement.
“Just be straight with me. What are my chances?”
He glanced up from his notes and gave me a reassuring smile. “You have a good chance. We just have to show the judge your girls are being raised in a safe and loving environment.”
I nodded, feeling a little more hopeful, but I had a long ways to go before I would feel as sure as I should. “Thank you.” I rose and shook his hand then headed out to the lobby. I had to be in the hospital in an hour for clinical rotation.
I was walking through the reception area when I spotted Tremayne coming out of his office. I stopped, yet I wasn’t sure what to say. Thanks goodness he spoke first.
“Hello, Monica.”
“Hello.” I couldn’t help but stare.
“I trust Bernard is taking good care of you.”
“Yes. I don’t have any complaints.” Except that we aren’t still together. Saying he looked good was an understatement. He was wearing a blue pin-striped suit that looked designed just for him. I stared up into his beautiful chestnut-colored eyes and we both just stood there staring at each other, waiting for the other to say something. I figured it was now or never. “Tremayne, I’m ... I’m really sorry that I lied to you. I never meant to deceive you.”
He looked like he was considering my apology when a woman sauntered into the lobby, drawing his attention.
“Tre ... you ready to go?”
Tre? No, she didn’t. She was beautiful with long hair like I used to have, light brown eyes and the prettiest complexion, and a big ghetto booty, but there was nothing ghetto about her. She had a professional demeanor, wearing a white sleeveless dress that complemented every curve and expensive peach pumps.
Tremayne drew his eyes away from her long enough to give me a sympathetic smile. “It was good seeing you, Monica.”
And on that note, he walked off and out the door with another woman, leaving me to pick my jaw up off the floor.
43
Robin
I had been hiding out at Trey’s place when Monica called and asked if I’d mind watching the girls so she could work at the club. I was so happy to have an excuse to get out of the apartment. Don’t get me wrong. I was in love with Trey and appreciated everything he was doing for me and Kyle, but I was starting to feel smothered with him hovering over the two of us. If I didn’t get out of his cramped-ass apartment soon, I was going to lose my damn mind.
Ever since we took that video down to the police station, he’d been right up under me. He’d hardly been at the restaurant at all, and when he was, he spent more time on the phone, calling and checking up on us. Every time my cell phone rang I was ready to jump out of my skin for fear of who was calling. Halo was out there somewhere, watching and waiting for the right moment to break down the door and beat the crap out of my ass. My nerves were so on edge that every time Trey asked are you all right, I wanted to bite his head off. What the hell did he think? Hell no, I wasn’t all right. I had some crazy muthafucka out looking for me.
I guess Trey saw how much I needed to get away because he finally agreed as long as he dropped me off and picked me up. I also had to give him the number to Monica’s house so he could call me every hour on the hour and check on me. I was so relieved to get away that I gladly gave him the number.
The kids and I had a ball. We played with Liese’s Wii games, which was more of a workout than swinging around on a pole all evening. Not that I even dreamed of going back to Scandalous until Halo was behind bars. We also made chocolate cupcakes and Kyle even helped. I loved Monica’s kitchen. Hell, I loved her whole damn house. It was huge with plenty of room to disappear if she wanted.
After I stuck the cupcakes in the oven, I sent the kids upstairs to play while I turned the television on in the family room and took a seat on a huge wraparound couch. I’d been having a bad feeling all day that something was seriously wrong and hoped it was just nerves.
I wanted to see if there was any mention yet of Halo being arrested, so I turned on the ten o’clock news. I still couldn’t figure out why it was taking so damn long, especially when everything they needed was right there on that damn tape. But according to the officer, they had been trying to build a case against Halo for years and they needed to make sure they did everything right. In the meantime my ass had to keep hiding out and looking over my shoulder.
I turned to Channel 12 News and leaned back against the couch just as the telephone rang. I glanced down at the caller ID, gave a playful roll of my eyes, then grinned.
“Hey, babe. How’s it going?”
I wanted to say the same as it was the last time I talked to you, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that. Trey cared about me, and that’s more than I could say about any other muthafucka I’d dated. “We’re good. We got cupcakes in the oven and the kids just went upstairs to play.”
“Make sure you save me one of those cupcakes,” he said in a low voice. He had this deep baritone sound that was like he was stroking my kitty, because every time I heard it I immediately got wet.
“Okay, I’ll make sure to do that.”
There was a brief silence before he said, “You sure you don’t want me to come over and sit with you?”
“No no no, I’m fine. Just hang out with your boys and have a good time.” He was supposed to be at some sports bar with his boys, instead he was worrying about me.
“Well, if you change your mind ...”
“I won’t. I’m okay, Trey, really I am. This is gonna be over soon.”
“I don’t like it, but I’ve gotta respect it.” He then went on to say something else, but my eyes were suddenly on the television screen. The news reporter was standing in front of a gas station on Temple Avenue that I knew quite well.
“Trey, I need to go and check on the kids. I’ll call you later.” I hung up the phone without even waiting to for him to respond and turned up the volume on the television:
“Less than an hour ago, the body of a woman was found in a Dumpster behind this Exxon gas station. According to the police, her neck was slit and she’d been badly beaten. The identity is being withheld until her family has been notified.”
I suddenly had a terrible chill as the reporter zoomed in on a neighbor who said she got suspicious when she walked by and saw a white Toyota pull up to the Dumpster and several people climbed out. She waited until they were gone before she sent her brother over to look inside, and that’s when they found the body.
I had a sick feeling, because if Halo had found me, that could have been my body in that Dumpster. Suddenly I wished Trey was there with me.
I flicked the channels trying to find out if there was anything about Halo, but everyone was talking about the woman’s murder.
I had the kids get ready for bed and then we had cupcakes and milk and I read them a bedtime story. Liese and Arissa shared one twin bed and I put Kyle in the other. After I finished the book, I stuck the movie Tangled in the DVD and turned out the light. They were so worn out it would be just a matter of minutes before all three were sound asleep.
I stood by the door watching them and thinking how much my life had changed since Kyle had stepped into my life. I loved that little boy so much, and that was something I didn’t even think was possible. He had me thinking of someday having a child of my own.
I went back down to the family room and turned to TVOne and caught Hairshow with Mo’Nique and dozed off. I wasn’t sure how long I was sleep before I heard a crash followed by someone running down the hall.
I sprang from the couch, grabbed the poker near the fireplace, and ran behind the door. Then I thought about the kids and started to panic. They were upstairs. Please don’t let
him go upstairs, I kept saying to myself as I waited, my heart beating fast as the footsteps grew closer. As soon as I saw a shadow step into the room, I jumped out from behind the door and swung but missed. We both screamed at the same time.
“Are you crazy!” Monica shouted.
“Sorry, I heard a crash and thought someone was breaking in!” I explained through ragged breaths.
“That’s what I have a security system for.” She placed her hand to her heart and stepped away from me and the poker.
I’d forgotten all about that. Monica had instructed me to set it after the kids had gone to bed. If someone had broken in, the alarm would have sounded.
“You scared the crap outta me. I was sound asleep.” Monica didn’t realize how scared I really was since I hadn’t bothered to tell her anything regarding Mannie’s murder.
Monica gave me this sad look, then moved around the couch and took a seat. “Robin ... it’s so sad! I can’t believe what happened,” she said.
Something in her eyes made me scared. I don’t know what, but it just told me that what she was about to say, I didn’t really wanna know. I hadn’t had that sick a feeling in my stomach since the day Deena told me she was leaving Ms. Ernestine’s house and wasn’t taking me with her.
I dropped the poker. “What happened?”
“The club was a zoo today. I think we spent more time in the dressing room taking about the murder than we did on stage. Everybody was talking about how they weren’t surprised ... that she lived a shady life and prostituted on the side, so it was likely to have happened anyway.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I hated when someone starts talking about something as if you already know what going on. Well, guess what? I didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. “Monica ... who got murdered?”
Her eyes got round as she suddenly realized I had no idea what she was talking about. “Did you watch the news tonight?”
I nodded and took a seat beside her. “They found a woman in a Dumpster behind a gas station.”
I watched her facial expressions, and when she ran her hand over her short curls and her nostrils flared, I knew something wasn’t right. “It was Honey.”
“What?” There is no way I heard her right.
She gave me a long sad look and whispered, “That was Honey they found in that Dumpster.”
My head started to spin and then everything went black.
44
Monica
The last thing I had expected was for Robin to pass out. I lay her back on the couch and started patting her hand. “Robin ... girl ... you okay?” I had no idea she would react that way. I knew they were cool and all, but they were like day and night. Friends, dancers, but not close friends. “Robin, sweetie, wake up.” I started slapping her lightly on the cheek, trying to get her to snap out of it, and eventually she started mumbling something under her breath. For a moment there I thought I was going to have to call an ambulance to see about her. She scared the hell out of me.
“Tell me it ain’t true,” she kept mumbling over and over under her breath with her eyelids still lowered. I didn’t know what to say except for the truth.
“It’s true. She’s gone. I heard Honey’s been missing since yesterday.”
Robin started shaking her head in disbelief, and next thing I know she was screaming at the top of her lungs. “No!” I tried to calm her down because the last thing I needed was for her to get hysterical. Besides, the kids were upstairs and I didn’t want her to wake them.
She was crying hard and my heart went out to her. I hugged her and whispered in her ear, “I’m sorry.” Honey wasn’t one of my favorite dancers, but she had at least been nice to me. The person I’d hoped had been in that Dumpster was Mercedes—then I saw her skinny ass sashaying into the club like she didn’t have a worry in the world. The bitch. Ever since she caught me in the VIP room with Greg, she had been watching me like she was waiting for the right moment. To do what? I couldn’t figure it out.
I patted Robin on the back and tried to say a few soothing words to calm her down. I had never been good with death, but I did the best that I could. Eventually the cries turned to sniffles. I released her, stared at her tearstained cheeks and swollen eyes.
“Do you know what happened to her?” Her voice cracked.
I shook my head. “No, other than she was at the club last night and was seen talking with this one dude and was scared to leave alone, so she got one of the bouncers to walk her to her car and was last seen pulling away ... but no one knows what happened after that.”
Robin pulled her legs up to her chest. She looked so fragile, like one of my girls, sitting there on the couch rocking back and forth.
“I’m really sorry.”
I watched as the tears rolled slow and steady down Robin’s cheeks before she reached up and brushed them away with an angry fist.
“This shit is fucking unbelievable. I just talked to her on the phone yesterday and everything was fine!” She threw an angry fist in the air. “She and her dude, Jordan, were going out to dinner yesterday before she worked at the club.”
“Do you think that guy could have something to do with what happened to her?”
Robin took a moment to think about my question and then she shrugged. “Shit if I know. Those two were always getting into it. I tried calling her this morning but I didn’t get any answer. I figured she was still sleeping off last night.” She closed her eyes and leaned her head back again the couch, and for a long time neither of us said anything.
Her cell phone rang and I watched as she reached for it and looked down at the number on the screen. Her eyes grew large with fear.
“What’s wrong?”
She shook her head like it was no big deal then slowly brought the device to her ear. “Hello?”
I couldn’t hear what they said, but whatever it was I don’t think I’ve ever seen a light-skinned chick turn that white before. She closed the phone and sprang from the couch, then moved over to the window.
“What’s wrong?” I asked because she was beginning to scare me.
“Monica ... I need to go. I should have never come to your house.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
She peeked out between the curtains, looking for something, then looked over at me. One thing I never expected to see from Robin was fear. As far as I was concerned, she was the strongest woman I had ever met.
“Somebody is after me.”
“Somebody like who?”
She paced nervously from one end of the room to the other, and I was ready to scream at her to tell me when she finally spoke again.
“Remember the guy who comes into the club all the time asking for me ... Halo?”
It took a moment to think of who she was talking about, then my eyes grew wide with recognition. Ever since the first time I had spotted him in the club, there was something about him I had found familiar. But that wasn’t the reason why I was suddenly seriously worried. “I know exactly who you’re talking about.” I paused because there was more, I just didn’t know how to say it. But Robin could see it on my face.
“Monica, what is it?”
I hesitated. “He was in the club tonight ... asking about you.”
45
Robin
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, because this entire situation was like something out of a freaking movie, and all because I wanted my sister back in my life. The sister who for years I pretended no longer existed. I walked around the room and took a seat on the couch because I wasn’t sure how much longer my legs were going to be able to hold me up. I was a nervous wreck.
“Halo came by asking about me?”
Monica looked afraid to nod her head. “He came up and asked me if I had seen you, and when I told him you weren’t working tonight, he said to tell you he was looking for you.”
I tried to force myself to remain calm. “Please tell me you didn’t tell him where I was?”
“N
o ... why in the world would I do something like that? He gives me the creeps. I know him from somewhere, I just can’t figure out where.”
The police still hadn’t arrested him. Why was it taking so long? I just couldn’t understand that. As long as he was out on the street, I wasn’t safe. Neither was anyone who was around me.
“Monica, I shouldn’t have ever come to your house. He’s looking for me, and he might have followed you home.”
She tried to put on a strong face, but I could see her lips shaking as she spoke. “Nobody’s getting through that security system. If they do, the police will be here the second they step through the foyer.”
I tried to smile. I know she was trying to make me feel better, but it wasn’t working. Nothing would until this entire ordeal was over.
“Do you know what happened to Honey?” It was more of a statement than a question. I know she wasn’t accusing me of anything, but the look in her eyes said she knew I knew more than I was admitting about the whole thing.
I nodded. “Yes. I think I know what happened to Honey.” I just didn’t want to believe my asking her to get involved in my mess could have gotten her killed, but I had a sinking feeling it had. “Halo probably killed her.”
She gasped and there was more silence. Enough to make me nervous. “But why?”
“Remember when I told you my sister was in jail?”
She nodded, waiting for me to finish.
“Well, she was arrested for murdering one of Halo’s crew.”
She flinched and looked even more confused than before. I quickly explained. “She didn’t do it. Halo set her up.”
“Oh my goodness! But how can she prove it?”
“Well, that’s where me and Honey came in.” I went on to tell her about my suspicions of Halo and how he acted paranoid all the time. “Anyway, as soon as I saw my sister’s charm, I knew whatever happened to Mannie, happened at the club. I had Honey distract Halo while I snuck into his panic room and stole the video for that night.”
“This is crazy!” she said, shaking her head in disbelief.
Scandals Page 24