by T. Styles
When she opened the door, a strange woman she didn’t recognize greeted her. Her white face was extremely wrinkled and the whites of her eyes were yellowish, giving her a sinister appeal. The two-piece blue suit she wore was loaded with lint balls and she donned a white pair of sweat socks in a pair of beaten down old blue leather high heels. The two thin lines that were her lips were smeared with lipstick too red for her pale skin.
“Ah, ain’t you a beautiful sight,” the woman said clutching a black leather bible with assorted Post-It tabs hanging from the edge of the pages. “Just a cute little nigger child.”
Nine stepped forward about to snatch her throat out. “What did you call me?”
“A cute little child,” she smiled, making Nine believe she was going crazy again. “I must admit, TV doesn’t do you any justice.”
Nine clutched her pink robe closed and when she gazed to her right, Isabel was standing beside her. And for some reason, Nine was relieved.
“Who are you?” Nine asked coldly.
“My name is Sister Anna Marie Cartwright but you can call me mama.”
Isabel frowned. “Why would she call you mama? You ain’t related.” She didn’t like the woman one bit although she just met her.
“I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of knowing you,” Anna said, with bits of hostility in her voice. “What’s your name?”
“Answer her question,” Nine interrupted.
Anna readjusted and said, “You don’t have to call me mama if you don’t want to. It’s just that all of the children I’ve ever cared for in my life have. It’s more of an endearing moniker than anything else.”
“Why are you at my home?” Nine persisted.
Anna readjusted her stance and gripped her bible tighter. “I’m here on a matter which is far from personal,” she smiled. “I run a homeless shelter for children and unfortunately we aren’t government funded. I was hoping that you could—”
“Wait a minute,” Nine recollected. “You called me some weeks back. And said that something happened with one of my family members.” She paused. “You also said that if I handled things properly, you could make the matter go away.” Nine lowered her eyes. “Who are you and what do you really want?”
Anna’s mood suddenly changed. “Okay, I’ll shoot straight from my boots.” She cleared her throat. “I’m afraid your uncle Joshua has found himself in an impossible position. Now normally I can perform miracles, seeing as how I’m ordained and all.”
Nine and Isabel looked at each other and back at her again.
“But even this matter is beyond my power,” Anna continued.
“And what is the situation?” Nine asked.
“He’s in charge of a shelter for children and there is one little girl he’s quite fond of. And although he hasn’t touched her yet, I can see that it’s possible in his eyes, Mrs. Prophet. Now I don’t have to tell you why I’m worried. It’s been all over the news, about Bethany and Samantha.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Isabel yelled hearing her sisters’ names.
“It’s just that the Prophet lineage makes you susceptible to vile acts of nature. You do participate in incest, correct? Because rape is the next thing. I don’t mean any disrespect, but I’m afraid he’ll have his way with this child soon enough if someone doesn’t intervene.”
“So just stop him from being around her,” Isabel advised, realizing if he hadn’t done anything yet, the troubles would be over.
Anna’s emotions changed three times upon hearing Isabel’s voice. She went from fake concern for the child at the shelter, to anger for Isabel butting in on her business, to an old woman exhibiting helpless behavior. “Who am I to stop it? I’m just a worn out old woman who hasn’t got two cents to rub together for sparks. I can’t stop a grown man from doing anything he pleases,” she assured them. “It’s outside of my hands unless…well…unless.”
“Spit it out,” Nine yelled.
“Well unless you give us some money to build our new wing. Perhaps I can also use a portion of the funds to bring in some able-bodied men to protect the children once and for all. You have millions, I’m only asking for a few hundred thou.”
“He is not even a Prophet,” Nine explained. “His last name is Saint.”
“Do you think people will be concerned about him or your aunt Marina? Who is a Prophet.” She paused. “Last name or not, he’s still in the family and all family behavior leads back to you.”
Nine trembled with anger. It was clear that she was there to blackmail her and Nine didn’t have respect for snakes. “Never come here again,” she warned. “Never come here for money or news of my family. Am I clear?”
“Did you hear me, child?” she yelled. “If this matter is not resolved, it could get out of hand and cause major problems for you and your family. Think of the peace if you don’t think of the children!”
“It is not my problem!” Nine slammed the door in her face.
Isabel looked over at Nine and said, “She’s going to be the reason that life for the Prophets, as we know it, will change. Forever.”
“I know, Isabel,” Nine sighed. “I know.”
****
Nine was lying in bed when Isabel opened the bedroom door excitedly with an iPad in her hand. “Look at this,” she said as she crawled on top of the bed and leaned against the headboard.
Nine removed the iPad from her fingers and scanned it briefly. She gazed over at her and said, “What am I looking for?”
“This is the woman who came by earlier,” she said pointing at her strange face on the screen. “She has a history of blackmailing people for money to avoid scandal.”
Nine sat up in the bed, leaned against the headboard and reviewed the articles slowly.
‘Sister Anna Marie Cartwright takes on Pope in altar boy case’. ‘Sister Anna Marie Cartwright protests against married New York senator and his alleged gay lover’.
On and on the articles spoke about how Anna got involved in matters that didn’t concern her. And although a few of them reported being blackmailed, no one bothered to follow up on the charges because of the nature of the cases. In the end, the scandal would always die down and Nine couldn’t help but wonder if the headlines died because Anna was being paid to go away quietly.
Frustrated, Nine tossed the iPad down.
“You think she’ll do something like this to us?”
Nine closed her eyes and reopened them slowly. “Call Joshua and—”
“I’m not talking to him,” Isabel snapped. “I fucking hate that man!”
“He is your uncle.” She paused. “Do it for me, Izzy. Call him and tell him that whatever girl he is hanging around, for his own good, he had better stop.” She paused. “Tell him about this woman and her plans to expose him in the media. Remind him that being labeled a pedophile is a brand that never shakes. Even if he is found not guilty.”
“You think that will stop her?”
“I am hoping so, although I probably should not care. Outside of him, she has nothing on us. With time, this will more than likely go away. But I do know this…I will never give her a dime. Ever.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
-William Shakespeare
Bottles of half-empty liquor lay around Victory’s house as Alice danced around the living room looking at her family who were sitting somberly on the couch.
She was in celebration mode and, in her selfishness, could care less how they felt.
Although no one was as happy as she was about having the Prophet accounts frozen, she was determined not to let them steal her joy. When she started singing, Noel, Victory, Marina and Blake looked up at her as if she was a foolish child behaving badly and at the moment, she was.
“You know this is a mistake, right?” Noel said, already wrecked with guilt for betraying Nine. “You putting a hold on the money means that Nine couldn’t pay her men. You should
’ve seen the look on her face when she had to walk out of that building after telling them she didn’t have it. She couldn’t even pay my father and me. Now we all have to wait pending the court trial.”
Alice stopped dancing. “Oh, Noel, why do you whine so much? You’re so busy worried about a few bucks when if all goes well, you’ll have millions.” She paused. “Why do you care who she pays and when?”
“Because I saw her face when she had to face the men,” Noel pleaded. “Her heart was broken, Alice. I knew in that moment that although she desires power, Nine sincerely wants the best for everybody.” He looked at his parents and uncle. “Even us.”
Alice stared down at him. Her chest grew swollen with hot air every time she breathed in. “You are sitting over there so self-righteous when it was you who brought us the video of her acting out at her house.” She laughed. “You went over there like you were a friend to Leaf and the whole time you were snapping videos of her trying to crawl out the window. Cousin, without you, there would not have been a case!”
“I know what I did,” he said with a lowered head and heavy heart. “And that’s the part that makes me feel the worst.”
“You shouldn’t feel worse,” Alice continued. “You shouldn’t feel anything. I mean, do you honestly believe that it’s right that she be able to dictate our lot in life?”
“She’s right, son,” Victory said softly. “For reasons I’ll never know, Nine has been given domain over our family and it should not be that way.”
“She doesn’t have domain over us!” Noel yelled.
“Son, she who holds the money rules,” Blake said.
“And that means she’s in charge,” Alice said slyly. “And before I stepped in, she had it all. The only thing we have to do as a group is stick together and vote to have her pushed out. That’s it.”
Noel looked up into her eyes. “You just want to drag us all to hell for company. You know in your heart that your days are numbered for whatever you did to her. You know you’re operating on borrowed time.” He paused. “It wasn’t enough for you to go alone. You had to take everybody with a Prophet name down with you.”
Alice stood in the middle of the floor trembling with anger. She tightened her fists and imagined using them on his temples. “If you don’t want the money, don’t take it, Noel. The last thing I want to do is push you.”
Silence.
She walked over to where he sat and grabbed her purse that sat on the floor next to him. She removed a pad and a pen, tossed her bag on the floor and handed them to him. “As a matter of fact, sign a note indicating that you don’t want any of the fortune when this is all said and done. And I promise you won’t get a cent.”
Noel looked down at the journal, opened the book and rubbed the first cool page. As if he was about to write something, the tip of the pen hovered over the empty blue line. Suddenly the pen was too heavy between his fingers and it toppled to the floor.
He gazed up at Alice and she grinned.
“She’s going to kill us,” he whispered. He looked at his family. “She’s going to kill every last one of us.”
Alice giggled. “Then let there be blood.”
****
Banker pulled up in front of the Prophet Mansion and parked in her normal spot. It had been weeks since she’d been to work and surprisingly she couldn’t wait to return. Besides, it was almost time for her trip to Aruba and she needed to write one more check from Nine’s account before she left.
Originally, she was supposed to go with Galileo but when he told her he didn’t have any money, because Nine held back on the payouts, she cut him off. She tried to make amends but he never returned her calls.
She learned her greed honestly. As the daughter of a rich man who cut back on paying her expenses, because she dropped out of school after her sister was murdered, she was used to being given anything she desired. And when she started dating Galileo, she expected him to supply her every greedy need.
He failed but she realized she loved him anyway.
When she opened the front door and walked toward the dining room where Nine preferred to do business, Banker was shocked when she saw her boyfriend sitting at the table. He wore a wide smile and at first that put her at ease.
Maybe he and Nine squashed their differences.
Maybe she didn’t know they were together.
Maybe everything was cool.
Maybe she was just tripping.
Gracefully, Nine stood up and the elegant royal blue gown she wore dusted her ankles. “Come over here, Banker.” She smiled widely. “And have a seat.”
With a grin on her face, due to the excitement about seeing her boyfriend, she moved toward them. Once there, she sat down at the table and said, “Sorry I’m late, Nine. I got here as fast as I could.”
“I know you did,” Nine nodded. “We are about to have a meal and I wanted you to join us. So actually, you are just in time. But before doing that, let us have a drink.” She paused and looked back toward the kitchen. “Isabel, please bring me the bottle of wine from the cooler.”
Banker’s face drooped like a snowman that had been in the sun too long.
“It’s okay,” Banker said knowing that she had poisoned all of the wine in the house with a little Phenethylamine, a drug more potent than acid. “I don’t want anything.”
Although she only gave Nine trace amounts, just enough to destroy her facilities, delirium was one of the side effects of the poison. And was Alice’s plan to get her off the throne.
However, the bottle of the evening had a little something extra inside, courtesy of Nine.
“Well I do,” Galileo responded as he rubbed his hands together. Although he knew his girlfriend had some beef with the boss, he had no idea about her methods of destruction. As a matter of fact, he had limited knowledge about her period.
Isabel poured Galileo a glass of wine and watched him wash it down, before tossing back another.
“G, slow down,” Banker said, wanting him to stop all together. “It’s not that deep.”
“But it’s good shit, baby,” he responded sipping some more.
Despite four people being present, there were only two glasses on the table. Not wanting Galileo to drink alone, Isabel walked toward Banker and put a glass in front of her. Then she moved back behind Nine and placed a warm hand on her shoulder. Both of them observed Banker who had tears crawling out of her eyes.
She was caught and was out of her league.
“When we are born, we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools,” Nine said quoting Shakespeare. “Do you know what that means, Banker?”
Banker shook her head no.
“Drink the wine and I will tell you more.”
When Galileo finally realized that his girlfriend was having a quiet battle with Nine and Isabel, he became concerned. What really was going on? Why was he there? He positioned his body so that he could face Nine. He felt powerful against her, seeing as though not one of the soldiers of the Legion was present. “Hold up,” he huffed, “what’s going on here?” Suddenly he started to feel crazy and kept closing and opening his eyes to clear his vision.
“What is going on is that you have a .45 caliber handgun pointed at your nuts under the table,” Nine said. “You are a shoddy shot, Gene,” she looked into his eyes, “but I am not. Now turn around and put your hands on the table before I smack the shit out of you first.”
Fearful of becoming a woman by a horrible surgery, he remained still. But why did he feel loopy?
Focusing back on Banker, Nine said, “Drink…the…wine.”
“Yeah, bitch, taste your own blood,” Isabel said sneering at her. She knew something was up with her the moment she laid eyes on her. And when Nine had Dr. Banning test the wine and it came up poisonous, she felt validated.
There were some other things Nine learned about Banker too but those things would be revealed later. And she told no one. Not even Isabel.
With a shaky hand, Banker reached
across the table and took the wine. The edge of the glass rested against her bottom lip and a few tears splashed inside of the glass. Hoping Nine would recant her request, she tilted the glass up and the wine rolled down slowly like thick honey crawling toward the spout of a half empty jar. Nine’s eyes remained on her, while the gun nestled in her hand was still aimed at Galileo who felt loopier than ever.
The drug was affecting him.
When she was finished, Nine leaned back and decided to humor her before the poison took hold. “The statement I made was by Shakespeare,” Nine said as if Banker cared. “He is my favorite author.” She looked over at Galileo and then Banker. “The passage, ‘When we are born, we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools,’ means many things for different people. But I believe it means that babies cry when they enter this world because they are amongst fools. Like I have been recently, with you and Gene. But the difference between them and me is that in a little while, I will not be.”
“I knew you were a snake,” Isabel said. “It was all in your eyes.”
“Tell me, Banker,” Nine interjected. “What did Alice give you to poison my wine a little at a time?”
She swallowed. “Phenethylamine.”
“But why not just kill her?” Isabel asked.
“I know why,” Nine winked. “It took me some time but I finally found out.”
Galileo’s shoulders tightened. “Can somebody please tell me what the fuck is going on? And what did I drink? I feel fucking crazy!” Galileo yelled. Balls of sweat developed from his hairline and trickled down the sides of his face.
Nine positioned her body so that she could clearly see into his eyes. With a slow disbelieving headshake, she said, “You are the worst kind of man. You took away a good mother from your child, all because you did not want to pay support!” Her fist came down on the table so hard it cracked slightly under her blow. “What kind of bum are you?”
“I didn’t do anything,” he lied trying to remain sane although the drugs were really working on him. “I…I…she was killed by somebody else.”