Three Chords, One Song

by Beatrice M. Hogg

  Soleil looked at Mariah, who just smiled and patted her arm.

  Soleil watched the nurse leave the room.

  “I had to tell them I was family or I couldn’t come with you,” Mariah said.

  Now that her hands were free, Soleil ran her hand through her dreads. Her hair was sticky. Blood. She frowned and tried to suppress a shudder. She wiped her hand on the hospital gown.

  “They tried to clean you up when you came in. But they didn’t know what to do with your hair.” Mariah shook out her braids. “I know how that is.”

  She couldn’t concentrate. She felt fuzzy, but she wasn’t drunk. She wished she were drunk. “What did they give me?”

  “They gave you a sedative to calm you down. You were out for about three hours.”

  Soleil tried to think. “How is Olivia?”

  “She is downstairs. The bullet only grazed her arm. They bandaged her up. They wouldn’t let her come up with me. I’ll go down in a few minutes to tell her that you’re awake.”

  “What about Lucy and Eve?” She remembered what Mariah had said in the police car.

  Mariah frowned. “I haven’t heard from them yet. I have my cell phone so Lucy can call me.”

  “Where are they?”

  Mariah shook her head. “I have no idea. Brad rushed in the room, grabbed some keys, grabbed Eve and ran out of the building. He said he knew where Lucy was.” Mariah took out her cell phone and looked at it as if she could will it to ring.

  Soleil looked at the phone, too. There was something that she had to do. “Where is Faith’s body?”

  “I think that they took it to the morgue.” Mariah sighed. “I think you will have to go down there and claim the body.”

  Soleil sat up and twisted her neck back and forth. “Yeah, I guess I will.” She looked from Mariah to the phone. “Can I use your cell phone? I have to call Charity.”

  Mariah nodded and handed her the phone.

  Soleil took a deep breath as she dialed the number. She hoped Charity had paid the bill this month.

  “Hello? Who is this?”

  Soleil could tell by the slurred words that her grandmother had already had her liquid breakfast.

  “Soleil,” she replied in a shaky voice.

  “What do you want?”

  She hadn’t spoken to her grandmother for years, but Charity acted as if the call was an inconvenience.

  She took another deep breath. “Faith is dead.”

  Silence. Charity cleared her throat. “So what do you want me to do about it?”

  Soleil thought she would at least ask how her only child had died. “I thought you might want to have her buried in Oklahoma City.”

  “I’m not paying any money to bury her. She’s your mother, you bury her out there.”

  Soleil sighed. “I thought she might want to be buried on the res, buried as a Cherokee.” That place where the destruction of an unwanted little girl had begun.

  “She ain’t no Cherokee. Bury her yourself. You got money now.” Charity coughed and cleared her throat again. “And by the way, when are you going to send me some money? You better be sending me some.”

  Soleil hung up on her grandmother. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. She shook her head and handed the phone back to Mariah.

  “What did she say?”

  She looked at Mariah. “She wants to know when I plan to send her some money.”

  Mariah put her arms around her.

  She buried her head in Mariah’s chest. “I should have known better than to even call her.”

  She moved away from Mariah and rubbed her face with her hands. She laughed bitterly. “She always was a bitch.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Eve

  Eve looked at her watch. They had been walking in silence for over thirty minutes. No vehicles had passed. This was one of the biggest cities in the country, she thought. Where are all of those people? Between the deserted buildings and the unused railroad tracks, it looked like this area had been neglected for a long time.

  She looked over at Lucy. Her nose was swollen and she had a black eye. Her red top was torn and her leather skirt was soiled and dirty.

  Lucy wiped her forehead with her hand. “I thought we could hitch a ride. I wish I had a cell phone. If we could get to a pay phone, I could call Mariah. That is, if we can even find a pay phone.”

  “I can’t believe no one has passed us.”

  “Well, it is Saturday, isn’t it? No one comes out this way on the weekend.”

  Eve wished she had paid more attention to the road when Brad was driving out here. “Do you know where we are?” she asked Lucy.

  “Not exactly. We are still in LA County, I think. Probably south of the city. That’s where most of the warehouses are.”

  She looked at Lucy’s bare feet. “How are your feet doing?” Lucy’s limping was slowing down their progress. “Do you want to put on my socks?” Eve wore thick socks with her Nikes. It seemed like people out here didn’t like to wear socks or hose with their shoes. Another strange custom.

  Lucy stopped walking. She looked down at her feet. “That may help a bit.” She laughed bitterly. “So much for my expensive outfit.”

  Eve took off her socks and handed them to Lucy. “They are kind of sweaty.”

  “Compared to all of the shit that has happened in the last twenty-four hours, your sweat is the least of my worries.”

  Eve looked at the blood specks on her hands. “I hope Soleil is okay.”

  “Soleil? I thought you didn’t like Soleil.” Lucy tried to quicken her pace.

  “I do care for Soleil. After today, I can understand a little about why she is the way she is. I just don’t understand how Faith could have treated Soleil so badly as a child.”

  “Maybe that was why she killed herself. Maybe she felt guilty.”

  Eve shook her head and continued to look straight ahead at the long stretch of old buildings. “I think there was more to it than that. You know, Soleil had gone over there to kill her. She had stolen Mariah’s gun. She even shot at her.”

  “Soleil would never have killed Faith. She has never given up on trying to get her mother to love her.”

  “You know, I saw Faith at the concert.”

  “You did? Olivia saw her, too.” Lucy rubbed her wrists.

  “She was crying when Soleil was singing.”

  Lucy stopped walking. “She was crying? I’m not surprised.” She shook her head and resumed walking. “All Soleil ever wanted was a happy family.”

  “That’s all I ever wanted.” Eve felt pain that had nothing to do with the bruises on her face and arms.

  “I think that is what all of us wanted. But thanks to Mr. Mik DeSalle, all we have is each other.”

  Eve sighed. “Maybe it is time we become grateful for that.”

  Lucy looked at her and took her hand.

  Up ahead, Eve saw a pay phone. Lucy saw it at the same time. They ran for the phone, hand in hand, praying it was in working order.

  Soleil

  Soleil woke up when Mariah’s cell phone started to ring, playing “Satisfaction.” Mariah’s hand trembled as she took the phone out of her purse.

  “Hello? Oh, my God! Lucy! Are you okay? Where are you? Is Eve with you? What happened?”

  Soleil sat up in the bed. Olivia was in the room now, sitting at the foot of the bed. Her arm was bandaged.

  Soleil nodded and turned her attention back to Mariah. She was smiling as she talked to Lucy on the phone. Her whole demeanor was changing. She seemed to grow brighter. Soleil wished she could have caused such a transformation in her own mother.

  “Soleil is in the hospital. They want to keep her overnight. I’ll call a cab to come get you. I think I know where you are. Just stay there. If the cab doesn’t come by the time it gets dark, I’ll come and get you. Yeah, I’m going to stay with Soleil for a little longer and I’ll bring her home tomorrow morning. I have to take Olivia to the airport tomorrow.” Mariah shook her br
aids. “I love you, too, honey, more than ever.”

  Olivia ran over to Mariah when she turned off the phone. “She’s safe?” Mariah nodded in response. “Thank God,” Olivia said, giving her friend a fierce hug.

  When Mariah pulled away from Olivia, her face was wet with tears. She came over to Soleil and hugged her tightly.

  “I’m glad that they are okay, too. What happened?”

  Mariah looked from Soleil to Olivia. “Brad took Eve to Lucy and then drove off, stranding them in a deserted warehouse area. I’m going to call a cab to go pick them up. I’ll meet them downstairs and take them home. Then I’ll come back tomorrow and get you.”

  “I need to go home. I have things to do.” Soleil had to make arrangements for Faith’s disposal.

  Mariah squeezed her hand. “You can do everything from my house.”

  Soleil tried to protest. “I need to go to Faith’s place.”

  “You can do that after you rest some more.” Mariah kissed her forehead and smoothed back her hair. “I love you, Soleil. Tomorrow, you are going to spend the day with your family.”

  “Why can’t Lucy and Eve come up here before you go home?”

  “Soleil, you tried to beat up Eve. Lucy has also been roughed up. If they tried to enter the hospital, there would be a lot of questions asked.” She bent down to whisper in Soleil’s ear. “Remember, we told the police that it was just a family argument that got out of hand.”

  Soleil nodded. Just a little family argument.

  Lucy

  Lucy and Eve sat down on the ground next to the pay phone. “Well, now we can just sit and wait for the cab to pick us up.”

  “I hope it comes before it gets dark. Are you sure that Mariah will know where to find us?”

  “Don’t worry. I told her the name of the street we passed. A cabbie can look it up in a Thomas Guide or GPS and figure out where we are.” She rubbed her feet. Her ankles still hurt and her wrists throbbed each time she twisted her hands.

  Eve looked over at her. “How are you doing?”

  “Everything still hurts, but I’ll make it. I can’t wait to take a hot bath once we get to the house.” She brushed dirt off of her skirt and scowled. “I’ll have to throw away my new skirt. It smells like pee.”

  Eve coughed. “Are you sure Brad didn’t hurt you?”

  “Brad put a gun to my back and dragged me to the car from the arena. At least I think it was a gun, since I couldn’t turn around.”

  “So what happened?”

  “This morning, another man came to the room. He hit me. I knew Faith had sent him.”

  “How did you know? What did he say to you?”

  Lucy put her head in her lap. The smell of her soiled skirt wafted to her nose. She felt the past like a great weight on her shoulders. Her stomach growled. She didn’t know if it was from hunger or nerves. Eve deserved to know what happened, not just what happened yesterday and today, but what happened five years ago.

  Lucy closed her eyes. “I recognized his face. From five years ago. He was one of the men who raped me. He was one of the men who killed Ricky.” She couldn’t sit up or open her eyes. She couldn’t look at her sister’s face.

  “What?” Eve’s voice came out in a trembling whisper. “Ricky was killed? You were raped? I thought Ricky overdosed on drugs.”

  Lucy sat up, but kept her eyes closed. “Ricky did overdose, but someone gave him the drugs, forced him to take more drugs than his body could handle.”

  “How do you know?”

  “He called me.” Lucy ran her fingers through her hair, which had become unruly and curly. She glanced at Eve and then closed her eyes again.

  “Ricky had come up to San Francisco to visit me. He came to my apartment and we had some beers. You know, Ricky used to visit me every few months. When he moved out here, he used to come up to Stanford and visit me at school. I always enjoyed his company.”

  “Yeah, Ricky always did like you.” There was an edge in Eve’s voice.

  Lucy opened her eyes. “Yes, there was a sexual undercurrent. I admit it. We were attracted to each other. We weren’t raised together, so it was hard for us to see each other as strictly brother and sister. I loved Ricky, as a brother and as a friend. We always had a good time together, going to concerts and clubs, just hanging out and listening to music.” She looked at Eve’s face. She stared at Lucy with a blank expression.

  “You want to know if I slept with him. You have wanted to know ever since you got here, even before that ugly tabloid piece that Faith did.”

  Eve stared straight ahead. “I have wondered.”

  “Well, I kissed him a few times, and as far as I know, it went no further than that.”

  “As far as you know?”

  “The last time that he visited me in San Francisco, we got really drunk. He started kissing me, and I told him to stop. And then I passed out.”

  “Passed out?” Eve still wouldn’t look at her.

  “When I woke up, about six hours had passed. The only thing I can assume is that Ricky had slipped something in my drink. He was gone, so I couldn’t ask him. I didn’t think anything happened, but I found a condom wrapper in my wastebasket.”

  Eve looked at her. “You mean Ricky raped you?” Her eyes narrowed.

  “No.” She squeezed her eyes shut again. She didn’t want to talk about it, didn’t want to bring up these memories. Tears were burning behind her eyes. “Not long after I woke up, Ricky called me. I wanted to ask him what happened, but he was talking too fast. He told me to get out of the house, said ‘they’ were coming to get me, that they were going to kill me. He said he had hidden drugs and money in my apartment. He was dying. I told him to meet me at San Francisco General.” Her voice cracked.

  Eve looked at her. Some of her earlier feelings of concern were returning. “When I got to the hospital, he was already dead. But at a county hospital on a Saturday night, dead junkies are the least of their problems. I had to identify the body and sign some papers, and then they took him to the morgue. Then, like an idiot, I went back home.” Lucy started sobbing. She couldn’t do it; she couldn’t do it.

  Eve put her arm around her. “What happened then, Lucy?”

  “They were waiting for me. Four of them. They had torn up my apartment. They had found the drugs, but not the money. They thought I knew where the money was.”

  Eve held her tight. “Let it out, Lucy.”

  “They punched me in the face, in the stomach. They kicked me.” Lucy could feel the pain. “They tore my clothes off. Then they took turns, over and over. Everywhere. All four of them. I finally passed out from the pain.” Her nose was running.

  Eve just continued to hold her.

  “When I woke up, they were gone. I called your mother to tell her about Ricky. Then I called Mik. I told him what happened. I told him not to tell my mother. I didn’t go to the hospital. I stayed in my apartment, hoping the bleeding would stop. I lost my job. I couldn’t go to work, I could barely stand up. That was why I acted so strangely when I met you and your mother at the morgue.”

  “I wondered why you were wearing sunglasses.”

  “Both of my eyes were black. I was in so much pain.” Lucy looked up at the sky. The sun was getting lower. “I’m sorry, Eve.”

  Eve took her face in her hands. “No, I’m sorry, Lucy. I’m sorry for what you went through. I’m sorry we both lost our brother—and our friend.”

  “He didn’t deserve to die. He wanted to be like Mik. He just wanted to have his father’s love. He wanted to be loved, like all of us.” She put her head on Eve’s shoulder. For the first time, she felt comforted by her presence.

  “He didn’t deserve to die and you didn’t deserve what happened to you. Quit beating yourself up about it. You have kept this to yourself for five years. It must have been eating you alive.”

  She wiped her eyes. “It has. Of course, Mik was no help when I called him. Just like he was no help when Soleil called him. He could give money, but he cou
ldn’t give of himself. That’s all I ever wanted, a dad I could count on to be there for me. Now they both are gone.”

  “You have me, Lucy. You have your mother and you have Soleil. We will always be there for you.”

  A car was coming toward them. Eve helped her stand up. It was the taxi that Mariah had dispatched. The cab stopped. Eve held the door open for her.

  The cabbie looked at them and frowned. “What happened to you out here? I can see why lady wants me to take you to the hospital.”

  Lucy looked straight ahead. Eve squeezed her hand.

  “You’re safe now.”

  Lucy nodded. The butterflies in her stomach were gone. The weight had lifted from her shoulders.

  Eve

  Eve looked out of the cab window as they headed back to Los Angeles. She glanced over at Lucy, whose eyes were closed. For the first time in over twenty-four hours, she was safe and comfortable.

  Eve thought about Lucy’s revelations. Her brother was a drug dealer. Her brother was killed. Lucy had loved Ricky, loved him in a sexual way.

  And Lucy had to live with the betrayal of a brother and lover, a brother who had knowingly drugged and possibly raped her. Lucy had to identify his dead body. Lucy had to live with the guilt, the shame and the pain for more than five years.

  Am I the only one who has lived a regular life? Eve wondered. She grew up as the child in a single parent household, a child with a father that never took any real interest in the lives of his two children. But that wasn’t unusual; many of her friends were raised by a divorced mother.

  She remembered Ricky taking an interest in the quiet, shy little girl that came to visit them in Pittsburgh every few years. He included her in his games, while Eve did her best to ignore the interloper. Lucy looked up to the big brother who made her laugh, but was wary around the big sister who made her cry. Maybe she never forgot that initial slap.

  But now that she knew what had happened, she could no longer continue to feel animosity towards Lucy. Lucy lived through her heart, a heart that had been broken by almost all of the people she had ever tried to love. Including her. No wonder she was so close to Mariah, the one person who had never let her down.