THE NEXT MORNING, MARIA AND BARBARA SAT at the kitchen table and sipped from their coffee mugs. These two women were from totally different backgrounds, but they had seemed to connect from the moment they’d met.
Everything about them was different: their race, physical build, manner of speaking, and even their child-rearing styles. Barbara was more of an old-fashioned disciplinarian. She was like that black woman in the neighborhood that lived four houses down from yours, but yelled at you and chastised you like she was your mother. And then she’d go tell your mother what she told you. Maria was more patient and slow to anger. But despite their glaring differences they had three things in common: they loved Chrissy, they loved Larry, and they both disliked Nina.
The Sunday morning sit down whenever Barbara was in town had become a ritual for the two of them. They talked about the world, soap operas, and their favorite topic, Nina.
“Do we have everything for dinner tonight?” Barbara asked.
“Yes, but I want to go to the market one last time to pick up some fresh fruit,” Maria replied. “Will you come with me?”
“Yes, we can leave around noon.”
“That’s fine. I’ll be ready. I’m going to go and get that last load of clothes out of the dryer,” said Maria as she poured out her coffee and walked into the laundry room. She took a few steps and then said, “I want to talk to you about something that happened the night of Larry’s party.”
“Okay,” Barbara replied. “Is everything all right?”
“To tell you the truth, I don’t know,” Maria replied with a look of consternation on her face.
Barbara sat a few minutes longer and stared at her coffee as she wondered what Maria was talking about. She clutched the diamond cross that hung from her neck and rested at the beginning of the crease leading down to her cleavage. Images of Chrissy dominated her thoughts and sent chills down her spine. She could feel Chrissy’s presence and smell her unmistakable scent.
She got up and poured her coffee into the sink. As she headed toward the hallway bathroom to wipe her tear-covered face, she peered in the living room and saw Nina moving around.
As the Sunday morning California sunshine invaded the living room, Nina’s left eye opened as her right struggled to remain shut for a few moments longer.
Something in Nina’s gut told her that she would be hearing from Tyrone soon. It had been two weeks since he’d threatened to extort money from her, and Nina grew more and more anxious as she wondered when he’d harass her again.
According to the grandfather clock in the corner of the room, it was almost eleven o’clock in the morning. Nina looked out of the window and saw Larry washing his car. The gleam from the Armor All on her tires indicated that he’d already washed her car.
Precious was drawing on the sidewalk with the colored chalk Larry had purchased for her. Nina hated the fact that he let her write all over the concrete with the chalk. She thought that time-old tradition was ghetto and inappropriate for kids living in upper-class communities.
Nina reached over and checked her BlackBerry to see if she had missed any phone calls. The check had less to do with a desire to speak to anyone; it actually served as an indication of her fear—fear that her extorter would try to reach her.
She carried her BlackBerry around like a pacemaker. It was a gift from her husband shortly after they were wed. Only a handful of people had the phone number, and half of them rarely called. Nina knew that when the phone rang, there was a strong possibility the call was coming from Tyrone.
Like a financially strapped single parent who constantly worried how the bills were going to get paid, Nina cringed every time her cell phone rang.
Her fear must have conjured up Tyrone because his call came as if on cue.
“Nina’s got a seeecreeet, what would she do . . .”
“Tyrone, spare me, what do you want?” Nina replied as she relinquished her prone position and sat on the arm of the loveseat.
“Damn, you just gonna cut a nigga off? I thought you liked my singin’.”
“What I would like is for you to stop callin’ me. I’m gonna change this damn number.”
“Nah, boo, I don’t think you wanna do somethin’ like that. That would just piss me off.”
“How much?”
“I’m glad you asked,” Tyrone replied with a chuckle. “Let’s see . . . a nigga needs a new wardrobe. I need a couple pairs of Timbs and some new jeans and shirts. So I guess about four or five thousand dollars will do.”
“How about I make it an even five thousand dollars, if you agree to not call me again?”
“Come on, boo, I ain’t stupid. It’s gonna take a lot more than that to make a nigga drop this hustle.”
“What is it gonna take, Tyrone? I’m tired of this.”
“Let’s see. For starters, I gotta get a crack at that ass.”
“I’m not having sex with you, Tyrone, so you should think of something else,” Nina said in a tone that came dangerously close to a shout. She slammed her fist against the sofa to make up for her inability to scream out loud.
Although she tried hard to keep her tone low, Nina didn’t realize that at that very moment she was being secretly watched. She was under surveillance, like a predator hiding in the shadows as it stalked its prey. In this case, the entity waiting to pounce on Nina was worse than any animal in the wild; it was her sister-in-law.
Barbara stood as still as a statue in the hallway next to the entrance as she eavesdropped on Nina’s phone conversation. She walked up as Nina was pressuring Tyrone for a figure, and although she couldn’t hear the entire conversation, she sensed something devious was going on. Barbara took great pride in her discernment. She felt that she could spot a sneak from a mile away. Unfortunately for Nina, Barbara had branded her the family’s new number one sneak. The first time she’d met Val and Tyrone at Chrissy’s funeral, she had instantly realized that they were bad news.
“For me to totally disappear, it’s gonna cost you about ten grand. Since I’ma good dude, I won’t require you to give me the whole amount right away. I’ll take that five grand you offered and you can give me the remaining five grand within the next two months. I think that’s fair.”
“You think that’s fair, you bastard?!” Nina shouted.
“Yes, I do. I’ll be in contact tomorrow to let you know where you can drop off the cash.”
“Are you here?”
“Nope. But I’ll be there tomorrow. So you have a day to get my money.”
Realizing that her pitch had elevated, Nina turned around to see if anyone was within earshot. When she had last looked, Larry was outside waxing his Mercedes, so she wasn’t that worried about him hearing. It was her sister-in-law and Maria that she was most concerned about.
If Nina had been a split second sooner, she would have seen Barbara peering into the room. Barbara pulled her head back just in time. She stood as still as possible as she wondered if Nina had seen her. She let out a quiet sigh once she heard Nina continue to talk to her antagonist on the phone.
“I’m going to go to the police, if you don’t go away.”
“You can go to the police if you want, but then you’d be settin’ yourself up to have to explain everything that happened. You need Larry to help your little girl get her little career goin’. You can’t do that Hollywood shit out there by yourself because you don’t know anybody.
“If you call the cops, not only will you make Larry want to kill you for letting his baby drown, but you’ll also be fuckin’ shit up for your little girl. Once that nigga finds out what you did, he’s gonna pull the plug on your lifestyle and stop hookin’ up your little, big-headed daughter.”
“You’ve made your point! I’ll get the money.”
“Oh, trust me; I’m not worried about that. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Where do you want me to bring the money?”
“I want you to bring it to my hotel room; that way we can kill two birds with one stone. Oh
yeah, I want you to wear some lace panties and bring that vibrator you was tellin’ Val about.”
“What?”
“Don’t play dumb, Val tells me everything. I know you be rationin’ the pussy so much that you had to go and buy a vibrator.”
“Val doesn’t tell you everything,” Nina replied in a spiteful tone.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing.”
“Yeah, you meant somethin’. What are you talkin’ ’bout?”
“I’m not talking about anything. I’ll go to the bank and get the money today. I’ll call you later.”
“So you tryin’ to fuck wit’ a nigga’s head, huh? I’ll tell you what. Since you wanna get flip and shit and you’ve already threatened me with the police, I gotta show you that you ain’t dealin with some punk-ass nigga.”
Nina sat motionless for a few seconds as she held the phone in her hand and tried to figure out a way out of the unenviable predicament. Short of killing both Val and Tyrone, she didn’t see any solution on the horizon.
Murder wasn’t merely a fleeting thought. On more than one occasion she’d given serious thought to trying to hire someone to deal with the two of them. She would have done it herself, but she’d watched enough episodes of her favorite television show, CSI, to know that there were no perfect crimes; the killer always left enough clues to get caught.
She’d watched her second favorite show, Snapped, enough times to know that contract killings never worked out; the evidence always led back to the person hiring the killer. Nina concluded that she would have to dance to their beat a little longer until she figured out a solution.
SHE WENT INTO HER BEDROOM AND CHANGED CLOTHES and then made her way to her closet. She moved the shoeboxes that gathered at the edge of the shelf in her closet. The boxes were empty but they served as the perfect fortress for “Ya Boy,” which was wrapped in a towel and hidden behind them.
Tucked away behind the boxes was a little .22-caliber revolver. She didn’t carry it with her often, but she decided to pack it to protect her from Tyrone.
Her escape from the house was almost trouble-free until she heard Barbara call her name as she prepared to walk out the door.
“Nina, where are you heading? I was about to ask you if you wanted to go to the market with Maria and me.”
Why does she want to hang out with me all of a sudden? Nina thought. “Ummm, I can’t right now. Maybe later.”
“Is everything okay? You look a little troubled.”
“I’m okay. I have some errands to run. There are some things I forgot to take care of before Precious’ audition on Monday.”
Nina didn’t even wait for Barbara to respond. She scurried out of the front door and darted to her car. Larry stood a few feet away, finishing up his detailing project as he watched his wife speed out of the driveway. Seconds later, Barbara came out of the house walking at a rapid pace.
“Why is everyone in such a hurry?” Larry asked.
“Oh, I’m going to the mall. Do you want to come?” Barbara asked as she opened the car door to Larry’s 2000 Lexus SUV that once belonged to his deceased wife.
Barbara opened the car door and climbed in. She was determined to follow Nina, and although she wasn’t sure what Nina was up to, she wanted her brother to be with her when the truth was revealed.
“Nah, you go ahead. I’m tired. I’ma go inside and take a shower.”
FORTUNATELY FOR NINA, HER BANK HAD RECENTLY hopped on the trend of opening for a few hours on Sundays. She went inside and withdrew five thousand dollars in cash from her savings. She could feel a lump form in her throat when she saw that she only had $565 left in the account. She would have to come up with a damn good excuse to get five thousand dollars from Larry in a few weeks.
Barbara sat in her car like a detective on a stakeout as she waited for Nina to come out of the bank. She revved the SUV’s engine and tapped her fingers on the steering wheel as she waited anxiously to catch Nina with whomever she was talking to on the phone. She deduced from the conversation she’d overheard and Nina’s trip to the bank that she was delivering money to someone.
“What are you up to, Nina?” she mumbled. “Something ain’t right. I can feel it in my spirit.”
As if on cue, Nina came out of the bank and got into her car. She drove out of the bank’s parking lot and headed back toward the house.
“Who are you meeting up with, Nina?” she mumbled as the faint sound of Yolanda Adams’ voice could be heard coming out of her speakers.
Barbara’s heart raced as she followed behind Nina. She started to curse out loud when a truck pulled in front of her and caused her to lose sight of Nina’s new Cadillac Escalade.
“Dammit! Where did she go?” Barbara asked as she frantically searched for Nina’s car.
The traffic around Fisherman’s Wharf was especially heavy at 2:00 p.m. on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. When Barbara returned to the house, Nina was already sitting in the living room.
“Hey, Bee. Where have you been?” Larry asked.
Barbara stood still for a moment as she pondered the question. “Oh, I just went for a ride.”
“Ummm-hmm,” Nina replied with a heavy dose of sarcasm.
Barbara ignored the snide remark and went upstairs. She looked back at Nina and thought to herself, Yeah, heffa, I’m watching you.
Nina gave Barbara an equally menacing glare as she thought to herself, Yeah, heffa, I know your big ass was following me.
THE NEXT MORNING, LARRY LEFT EARLY to go to the airport to catch an early flight. Maria left early that morning as well because she only worked on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. That left Barbara at the house to assume the nanny role.
Nina hated when Barbara came to town because she took over the place. She seemed to never stop cleaning and cooking. Nina felt Barbara did it to try to make her look bad in front of Larry.
By the time Nina had awakened, Barbara had already cleaned up the house, given Precious a bath, and left with the child. There was a note on the kitchen counter saying that the two of them had gone to breakfast at McDonald’s and downtown to do a little shopping.
Nina sat there alone, pondering her options. Her secret was starting to ruin her life. First, she was forced into a ménage à trois. That was followed closely by Tyrone extorting thousands of dollars from her. Nina had absolutely no one to turn to. To say she felt lost was an understatement.
TYRONE STOOD AT THE HOTEL WINDOW with his cell phone in his hand. Every few seconds, he would look at the phone as if that would magically make it ring.
When the call he was waiting on finally came in, it startled him.
“Hey, can you talk?”
“Is she at home right now? Is she alone?” asked Tyrone.
“Yeah, she should be,” replied the caller.
“Is she going to have the five thousand dollars?” asked Tyrone.
“She has it in a bag. I saw it before I left.”
NINA HEARD THE DOORBELL RING AND WONDERED who it could be. She went to the door wearing a pair of peach-colored silk pajamas. The pajama top was low-cut and short at the bottom, exposing her navel. Made from the finest silk, it hugged her upper torso where it should have and flowed with ease elsewhere. The pants had a drawstring, but were designed to sit low on a woman’s waist.
Tyrone’s eyes became glued to Nina’s cleavage the moment she opened the door.
“What in the hell are you doing here? Why did you come to my house?” Nina asked as she peered out of the door to see if anyone outside was watching.
“I have somethin’ to do tonight so I decided to come over here this mornin’. Damn, girl, you’re wearin’ the hell out of those pajamas.”
Nina didn’t reply. She was repulsed by the nature of his visit, but even in the midst of her indignation, she couldn’t help but notice how ruggedly handsome Tyrone was.
Tyrone stood approximately six-feet-five inches tall. The scar on his face actually added to his bad boy image; thus, enha
ncing his sex appeal. His cheek and jawbones were pronounced and his body was chiseled. The brotha was in excellent shape.
“Wait one second,” Nina said as she went to retrieve the moneybag located a few feet away.
Nina returned to the door and extended her arm out to give Tyrone the travel bag that contained the $5,000 in cash. She wanted to throw the bag at him, but feared he would retaliate by carrying through with his threat to confront Larry.
“You didn’t have to come here, Tyrone. I would’ve met you anywhere.”
“I know you would have, but I wanted to see this luxurious house you’re livin’ in. When Val came out here, she called me every day, braggin’ about your home. I wanted to check it out for myself.”
“Well, you’ve seen where I live and you have your money, so you can leave now.”
“Damn, sexy, why are you tryin’ to run a nigga off? Can I at least get a tour of the place?”
“Larry will be home soon.”
“Liar! Larry left this morning to go on a business trip. I also know that your little big-headed daughter isn’t here. So, I got a strong feelin’ you’re here all alone.”
“What do you want, Tyrone?”
“I want you to give me a tour of your lovely home,” Tyrone responded as he forced the door open and barged inside.
He walked leisurely as he looked at the high ceilings and took a moment to admire the expensive décor. Tyrone acted like he was observing some type of expensive art collection at a ritzy gallery. Nina, on the other hand, looked as nervous as a hooker in church.
“Okay, if this is what it will take to get you to leave, I’ll give you a quick tour.”
“Good. Let’s start with your bedroom.”
“No, we will not start with my bedroom. You can see the rest of my house, but there’s nothing in my bedroom for you to look at.”
Nina proceeded to show Tyrone the various rooms in the massive house. When they arrived at the media/game room, Tyrone’s eyes lit up. Like most men, Tyrone was impressed by the projector screen and pool table.
“I have a proposition for you.”
Nina's Got a Secret Page 13