The Best Possible Angle

by Lloyd Johnson

  Suddenly, the rush Paris craved gushed forth like water from a cracked dam. She balanced herself to keep from falling over with laughter. Once inside the car she doubled over, cackling over the sense of victory. She regained her composure, her stomach muscles hurting from laughing hard. Paris started the engine and drove away into the almost freezing night.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  The following morning, Kendrick awoke in time to catch the sunrise. He decided then and there that it was a sin to own one of the best views in Los Angeles, but could only count that morning as the third time he had been able to enjoy it. And yet, he could not enjoy it the way he wanted to. His mind was jumbled. The preview of what was to come in the bedroom department with Brenda had not gone as he would have liked; in fact, it was out right embarrassing. He did not expect Sabathany to come up in conversation. Only she could manage to ruin the mood from 1,535 miles away.

  He wondered if Brenda was right. Was there a better way to handle Sabathany? Just as heavy on his heart lay the decision to end fifteen years of friendship with Lenox, his supposed best friend.

  Kendrick relied on the one thing to get his focus back on track—his morning jog. Something about jogging through the neighborhood and allowing his mind to completely empty itself made him feel good. Usually by the end of the run a solution to whatever was bothering him manifested itself.

  At 9:30AM Kendrick returned from his run, ready for a shower and some breakfast. He was pleasantly surprised to see Brenda waiting in his driveway.

  “After what happened yesterday, I wasn’t sure you’d come back,” he said, toweling sweat from his face.

  They both looked toward the street. A nice-looking white couple jogging side by side smiled at them. Kendrick and Brenda smiled back and waved.

  Joining Brenda by her Porsche, Kendrick waited until the couple was out of earshot. “Gave some thought to what you proposed yesterday.”

  “Yeah?”

  “If you can get me a big check on either project, I’ll do the press conference and put some of the money towards a foundation.”

  “I’m glad you’ve come to that decision.”

  “I was just going to make myself some breakfast. Then, I’m going to get started with packing Sabathany’s stuff. I could use an extra set of hands if you’re up for it. You’ll get free breakfast out of it.”

  Brenda checked her watch. The very sight of Kendrick standing there, flexed and glistening was tempting enough of a reason to stick around. “I’ve got to be over in Pasadena for a meeting, but I think I have some time to kill.”

  “Yeah, okay, cool. I’ve got to make some calls first, then we can get breakfast going.”

  “Are you cooking, or am I?” Brenda asked, breaking the spell his eyes cast on her. She felt slightly foolish, having promised herself that she would be the last to succumb to his eyes’ powers. After all, she had seen them at work with other women.

  Kendrick, a beacon of masculinity, thrust his hardened chest forward and walked into the house, knowing Brenda was as much his weakness as he was hers.

  Kendrick changed his mind, deciding to cook before placing his calls. He scrambled some egg whites and slapped a few slices of turkey bacon onto a skillet. After preparing Brenda’s plate, he excused himself and headed to his home office. A call to Lenox’s cellphone went straight to voicemail. Lenox always answered his phone, and usually after the first ring. Kendrick tried Lenox at home. Ashley answered the phone, sounding as though she were crying.

  “Hey, Ashley, is Lenox around?”

  “Who is this?”

  Kendrick hesitated. “It’s me…Kenny.”

  Ashley sucked her teeth. “What do you want?’

  Kendrick never understood Ashley’s hostility toward him. If not for him, she and her husband would still be paying hospital bills resulting from a surgery that saved her life. Now Kendrick regretted letting Lenox talk him out of taking credit for the money; rather, he agreed to transfer the funds into Lenox’s account, allowing Ashley to continue to think Lenox took care of it. Maybe if she knew who her real benefactor was she would not act so high and mighty.

  “Look, is he home or not?”

  “Hell no, he’s not here. Probably ran off with that sister of yours!”

  “Why are you taking it out on me? I just found out about it myself.”

  Ashley sucked her teeth again. “Because it seems like whenever there’s trouble you’re always connected somehow. I used to tell him to stop hanging around you, but he wouldn’t listen!”

  “You ungrateful bitch! The reason you’re even alive is because of me!”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “That tubal pregnancy you had before you got pregnant with the twins? Lenox came crying to me that you needed an emergency surgery. I paid for that out of the money I got when I snagged that sitcom. I put fifty thousand in his account so he’d be able to save face as your husband and pay the damn bills!”

  “You’re insane.”

  “You’re telling me you’ve never had surgery?”

  “Sure, to have my tonsils taken out when I was a little girl. That’s it.”

  The phone call to Ashley posed unexpected questions and answered none.

  “I have to go.”

  “Do me a favor. Tell the low-life he’ll never see his kids again. He can make new ones with that scag of his!”

  Kendrick ended the call, angry by what he had just learned. He quickly speed redialed Lenox’s number again.

  “Hey, Lenox, it’s me. We need to talk. Call me when you get this message.”

  The previous evening Kendrick had a nightmare that Paris had gone public with his involvement in the hit-and-run. Although it was just a dream, he got an urge to check in with her. It was three hours later in the Twin Cities so he figured she was awake and carrying on with her day. Perhaps Lenox had gone there, but when he called, that, too, went to voicemail.

  “Damn, don’t people answer their phones anymore?”

  Later, in the bedroom, Kendrick and Brenda sat in a sea of Sabathany’s personal effects.

  “I’ll say this, she’s got great taste,” Brenda said, carefully folding an Yves Saint Laurent blouse and putting it on the sizeable pile of designer clothes.

  “You don’t have to be so delicate. Throw that shit in a bag and be done with it.”

  Brenda laughed. “You’re getting what you want from her. She’s leaving. No need to be nasty.”

  Kendrick stuck out his bottom lip. “If there’s any justice she’ll get what’s coming to her. By the way, when you spoke to your nephew, was he already locked up?”

  “He’s waiting to be arraigned. He said he’d been laying low, but someone identified him as leaving Lola’s place around the time of her murder. He called me as soon as they granted him his phone call. The poor idiot still thinks he can score some points if he gives Sabathany to the detectives.”

  “Hmm,” Kendrick said, his face filling with doubt.

  “Yeah, I’m not sure about that myself.”

  A tranquil chiming of the doorbell interrupted them. Without saying anything else Kendrick went to open the door. Two serious-looking men stood on the other side.

  “Kendrick Black?” the younger of the two said.

  “Yes,” Kendrick replied, his voice layered with concern. He quickly sized up the two men. He could tell the younger of the two knew who he was by the glint of recognition in his eyes. The older man either did not know or care who he was.

  “I’m Det. Daryl Trueblood, and this is my partner Det. Matthew Howards. We’re here because we understand that a Ms. Sabathany Morris lives here.”

  “Uh, she does…well, she did. She’s coming back today to get her stuff.”

  “Where is she now?

  “She had to go to Minneapolis for something?”

  “Do you know what for?” It was Det. Howards first time speaking.

  “She and I aren’t exactly on the best of terms right now. She’s been sort of coming and
going as she pleases. It’s one of the reason’s she’s moving out.”

  “Do you know when her flight is scheduled to get in?”

  “I’m sorry, gentlemen, just out of my own curiosity, what is this about?” Kendrick asked.

  “We’re conducting a murder investigation,” Det.Trueblood answered.

  “Oh my God.” Kendrick placed a hand over his mouth, pretending it was the first time he heard the news. “And you think she’s involved how?”

  “Do you know when her flight is scheduled to arrive?” Det. Howards repeated, ignoring Kendrick’s question.

  “I think she said evening sometime. I’m pretty sure she’ll get her lapdog of a friend Tammy to pick her up.”

  The two detectives shared a look between themselves. “You wouldn’t happen to know this Tammy’s last name, would you?”

  “I want to say, Boone.”

  Det. Trueblood passed Kendrick a business card. “Just in case something else comes to mind.”

  Kendrick glanced at the card. “Okay, great.”

  “I’d like to thank you for your time, Mr. Black.”

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t have been more helpful.”

  Det. Trueblood became bashful. He waited until his partner got into the driver’s seat of the car. “I hope you don’t mind if I break from professionalism,”

  Kendrick flashed his movie star grin. “I won’t tell if you don’t.”

  “My wife’s a really big fan of your movies,” the detective gushed.

  “Oh, yeah?”

  “Yeah. She’s even managed to drag me to a couple of them.”

  “Hope it wasn’t a total waste of your time,” Kendrick said, wondering if the detective was the big fan.

  “Nope, not at all. Enjoy the rest of your day, sir.”

  “You do the same.” Kendrick continued grinning.

  Once the door was closed, Kendrick leaned back against it. A wave of relief moved through his body. When he opened the door, he was certain those cops were there for him. He had never been so happy to be so wrong about anything in his life.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  Sabathany Morris glided through the apartment, her latte in one hand and the morning paper in the other. It was 1:30PM, a bit late to be just getting up, but after the long evening she had it was worth getting her rest. Placing her latte down on the table, Sabathany sat on the sofa, propping her feet up.

  The front page article immediately grabbed her attention. The serial killer responsible for the deaths of women seeking non-committal hookups had struck again. She wondered if the police were doing all they could, or barely doing anything at all.

  Sabathany noticed movement through her peripheral as Lenox emerged from the bedroom wearing a pair of Kendrick’s blue and white striped pajama bottoms. He seemed discombobulated as he rubbed his eyes and yawned into the afternoon.

  “What time is it?” he asked.

  “It’s late.”

  “Damn.”

  “Yep.”

  Lenox shuffled behind the sofa. He leaned down to kiss the side of her face. “Thank you for last night. I needed that,” he said, becoming seized by the intensity of the memory.

  “You definitely took care of business.”

  Lenox swung around the arm of the sofa and fell into the crevice next to Sabathany, barely fitting. “I may not know how to do much else, but I know how to make love to a woman.”

  “I don’t recall any love making in that at all.”

  Lenox laughed, and ran his hands down the length of his face. “But you enjoyed it, right?”

  “Very much.”

  “Better than Kenny?”

  “Maybe,” Sabathany replied, wondering how long Lenox had been in competition with Kendrick.

  Lenox was like a contented child. It was a small victory, but he would take it. “Say, where’d you get off to in the middle of the night? I got up to take a piss and you were nowhere to be found.”

  “When I can’t sleep I go for a run. I took a jog around the park. Have you been inside that park? It’s nice.”

  “Even I don’t go into the park at night. That’s asking to get my head knocked in. Nobody tried to bother you?”

  “Nope.”

  “I’m starving. Did you eat?” He leapt from the sofa and headed for the kitchen before Sabathany responded.

  Her eyes followed, but her mind traced back to the events of the previous evening…

  Lenox had returned to Sabathany’s door at almost nine. His dour expression told Sabathany things had not gone well, though none of it was a surprise. She had warned him of the outcome, especially with Kendrick. Lenox bulldozed his way into the penthouse.

  “Are you going to tell me what happened, or just push your way into people’s homes?” she asked, adjusting her raw silk, red Japanese robe. Her hair was pulled up and pinned in place. A few stray hairs fell down either side of her face. She wore no makeup, but was naturally very pretty even without a smile.

  Lenox paced the room, much like he did before he left. It was more frenetic energy than Sabathany needed.

  “Been driving around for hours. I don’t know what I’m gonna do. Ashley ain’t gonna let me see my kids.”

  “She’s angry now. Maybe she’ll come around.”

  “No. I know how she is. She’s vindictive as all hell!”

  “What did you expect?”

  “I love my kids. Ashley can’t take my kids.” His voice shook.

  “How did it go with Kenny?”

  The mere mention of Kendrick’s name made Lenox’s feelings go from bad to worse. “He fired me.”

  “This is what happens after we outlive our usefulness. Kenny’s good for doing people like that. He’ll make you think he’s not like everybody else in L.A, but he’s no different. The whole year and a half we were together, I’d watch all sorts of people come into his life, and as soon as they couldn’t do anything for him, they would suddenly stop coming around. The few people I was allowed to meet, anyway. He sits there and talks all this crap about getting out of L.A because he can’t handle the shadiness of the industry, but he’s just as shady. Now, he wants to run because the bodies are piling up.”

  Lenox looked dismayed. “What bodies?”

  “It’s a figure of speech, silly. I’m saying he’s screwed a lot of people over.”

  Lenox took a seat, burying his face in his hands. When he looked back up he said, “Right now, I can’t think about him. I just don’t want to lose my kids.”

  Fair enough, Sabathany thought. She really could not have cared less. Considering her own past with a cheater, she had little sympathy for a man who in her opinion was willing to step out on his family.

  Sabathany went into the kitchen and reached for the whiskey. Lenox certainly looked as if he could use it.

  “Here,” Sabathany said, reaching around to hand Lenox the glass. “This’ll calm your nerves.”

  Lenox downed the whiskey like a shot. He closed his eyes and waited for the warmth to fill his chest. “Too much is happening. I need to think.”

  “Some of my best ideas come to me while taking a nice hot bath,” Sabathany said.

  “I’m more of a shower person myself. Lenox got up and began removing his leather coat. He slung it over the arm of the sofa. Sabathany caught a whiff of the thick leather mixed with stale cigarette smoke. By the time he made it to the hallway, he had stripped from his black sweater. The recessed lighting caught the definition of his trapezius muscles. She wondered if a front view would be as glorious.

  Sabathany bit her lip as impure thoughts beckoned her to follow him. After a moment, she walked toward the sound of the running shower. Taking a deep breath, she began to disrobe, leaving a trail of clothes throughout the hallway leading to the bathroom. She slowly opened the door to find Lenox nude, the bulk of his muscles covered in lather. She watched his slow 360 degree turn beneath the rain forest showerhead. He was oblivious to her presence as she quietly opened the glass shower and got in.

>   “May I join you?” Sabathany asked, helping him spread the soap across his back.

  Startled, Lenox jumped. “What the…what are you doing in here?” He ran his hand over his eyes, flinging water from them, then cupped his groin area.

  Sabathany leaned against the door, the full view of her naked body encouraged a look.

  “I say we do something to really piss off Kenny,” she said, her words floating over the falling water.

  “We can’t. This ain’t right.”

  Sabathany arched a wet eyebrow as his lower region belied his protestation. She moved in to touch it, affirming that what she held in her hand was proof that his words meant nothing.

  Lenox, despite his tall, hulking physique, stood timidly. He knew if he crossed the line it could never be undone.

  “Why don’t you stop being Kenny’s butt boy for just one moment. I don’t know, maybe you like the way Kendrick’s treating you.”

  Lenox glared at the insinuation, then stepped forward with a grunt. He pulled Sabathany deeper into the shower and shoved her against the opposite wall. She was briefly taken aback. Seizing her face in his hands, the kiss was hungry, a tad over-compensating. He felt he had something to prove.

  The sex began in the shower, trailed into the hallway, and climaxed in the guest bedroom. Sabathany allowed this brute of a man to take out his sexual aggressions on her. She had given him what she knew he wanted from her the moment they laid eyes on each other.

  Sabathany was barely able to shake the memory when Lenox appeared with just a towel wrapped around his waist. He stood before her, proudly revealing his erect penis.

  “I’ve seen it already,” she said, unimpressed.

  Lenox remained confident. “Thought maybe you’d like to see it again.”

  Sabathany fed his ego with a bat of her lashes. “That can be arranged, but first I’d like to talk to you about something.”

  Lenox reclosed the towel and sat on the end of the sofa.

  “I just wanted to know what your plans are from here on out.”