Under Covers

by Rhonda Bowen

  “Momma!” Naomi pushed through the three foot metal gate and hurried up the cracked walkway to the house she had grown up in. There were more Puerto Ricans than Blacks in this neighborhood, which was part of the reason her mother had chosen it. It should have helped keep Nigel, Naomi and Camille out of trouble. But it seemed like trouble looked for them wherever they were.

  The front door opened before Naomi got to it. A tired looking older woman in a worn gray pantsuit stood in the entryway.

  Naomi hugged her mother and kissed her on her weathered cheek. Karen Savoy looked older than her fifty-nine years, but it was understandable. When one worked like she worked, lived where she lived and had to deal with what she had to deal with, you aged fast.

  “What you doing here, baby?” she asked softly. “Thought you weren’t coming by until tomorrow. Charlie, Tasha, that you?”

  “Yes ma’am,” Natasha answered. She hugged Naomi’s mother right before Charlie did the same.

  “I was actually looking for Camille, Mom,” Naomi said. She slipped past her mother into the house. As she headed through the living room, towards the hallway that lead to the bedrooms she noticed that everything was spotless - just the way her mother always insisted it was kept.

  “Hmm.” Karen’s lips curled into a frown. “Haven’t seen her since she came bustin’ in here like a hurricane last night, turned the whole place upside down looking for her passport.”

  Naomi froze at the door to Camille’s old room. Four alarm fire bells went off in her head.

  “Her passport?” She asked. She tried to sound calmer than she felt. “What did she want that for?”

  “Only the good Lord knows,” Miss Savoy ushered Charlie and Natasha inside and closed the door behind them. “She barely spent ten minutes in here. That rotten man-friend of hers waited for her at the gate. He blew his horn the whole time. I swear Camille must be trying to work my last nerve with that one. What she sees in him only the good Lord knows.”

  “Isn’t that what daughters are for?” Charlie asked with a laugh. “To work your last nerve? How are you doing, Miss Savoy? How’s things down at Central High?”

  “Same as they always been...”

  Naomi silently thanked Charlie as she occupied her mother so she could do what she needed to do. She took a deep breath and plunged into Camille’s room. Though the rest of the house was immaculate, Camille’s room was a mess. The bed was unmade. Dresser drawers were open, the clothes spilled out. Books and loose papers were scattered on the desk and all over the floor. A quick glance in the open closet showed it to be just as torn up. Indeed, hurricane Camille had passed through.

  Naomi sorted through the mess for anything that could tell her where the young woman was. At least she knew two things. One, that she had been right to think that Camille’s trifling boyfriend was involved and two, the money from Naomi’s check had probably gone into a plane ticket. But that made things even more complicated. Where would Camille go the week before Naomi’s wedding? Camille was spontaneous but even she wasn’t that selfish. Wherever she went, she had planned to be back before the wedding. But why would she spend money for a plane ticket to go away for just a few days? And the fact that she needed her passport meant that she probably left the country. But, for where? Was Andre with her?

  Naomi flipped through the papers on the desk and the floor. There was nothing but old study notes and returned test papers. A rifle through her drawers produced a pack of cigarettes and some buds of marijuana but nothing else worth mentioning. She would ream into Camille about the smoking once she laid her hands on her.

  Nothing under the bed. Only clothes in the closets. Naomi lifted up the bed sheets and froze. Camille’s laptop sat hidden under the covers. She had left it?

  Naomi sunk down onto the bed and opened up the laptop.

  “Find anything?”

  Naomi looked up. Natasha stood in the door.

  “Not sure yet.” Naomi turned back to the computer and tried different passwords to unlock it. “She left her laptop. I think she wasn’t planning on being gone long.”

  “That could be a good thing right?” Natasha sunk down onto the other side of the bed beside Naomi. “That means she will probably be back soon. Right?”

  Naomi wished she could be that optimistic. But she knew her family too well for that.

  “If I can get into her computer, I can probably figure this...got it!”

  Her fifth attempt worked. Camille had given her her email password once when she needed Naomi to print some documents for her. Naomi was sure she would have changed it. But apparently she hadn’t. And apparently she used that one password for everything.

  Several internet windows were still open once the computer was unlocked, including her email. One glance gave Naomi what she wanted.

  “Is that a ticket reservation?” Natasha peered over Naomi’s shoulder.

  “Two tickets,” Naomi responded. “For a return flight.”

  “Where to?”

  Naomi squeezed her eyes shut as her head began to pound.

  “To Trinidad.”

  Chapter Five

  “Did you call him?”

  They were in the parking lot of a McDonalds. Naomi paced, her cell phone squeezed so tightly between her fingers that her palms ached.

  “Yes.”

  “How long will it take for him to call you back?”

  “I don’t know. A few minutes? A few hours? Days?” Maybe never. Naomi had little confidence that the message she left her brother would be delivered, despite the fact that it had been labelled as urgent. Matter of fact, she wouldn’t normally even have attempted contacting him. But this wasn’t normal. And given the circumstances he might be one of the only people who knew where Camille was going and why.

  “Do you think he really knows where she is?” Natasha had asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “But she did see him recently, didn’t she? So he might know...”

  Naomi exploded. “I don’t know! I don’t flippin’ know! God, Natasha,” Naomi exclaimed. “I am just trying anything I can to figure out what is going on with Camille so could you stop badgering me? It’s not helping!”

  “Alright, alright,” Charlie tried to pacify the situation from where she stood leaning against the side of the car. “She’s just concerned that’s all. We all are. You’re not the only one worried about Camille you know.”

  Naomi pressed her fingertips against her eyes and let out a deep breath.

  “I’m sorry, Natasha, I just....”

  “Forget it,” Natasha said coldly and folded her arms. “We’re all a little on edge right now.”

  “I know, but I shouldn’t have...”

  The phone rang.

  “Hello?” Naomi answered before she looked at the screen.

  “Hey, Red.” The deep husky voice flowed over her like velvet. “How’s my girl?”

  “Jordan, hey.”

  He wasn’t whom she had expected but the sound of his voice calmed her frayed nerves.

  “How was your afternoon with the girls?” he asked. He sounded like he was home already. It was only a little after six p.m., but maybe he was still dealing with jet lag from his trip.

  “It was...interesting.”

  He chuckled. “I know what that means. Amanda must have been up to something...”

  He continued to talk but Naomi had a hard time paying attention. She didn’t want to get the call from her brother while she was on the phone with Jordan. It would bring up too many questions when she had to explain why she needed to go immediately. It would mean she would have to lie to him later, and she couldn’t lie. She could omit the truth when she needed to, but she couldn’t outright lie. Not to him.

  “...Red?”

  “Huh?”

  “Did you find her?”

  “Find who?”

  “Camille,” Jordan said patiently. “Amanda mentioned that you had to leave the spa early cause something came up with her.”

/>   “Oh...uh, no we haven’t found her yet,” Naomi bit her lip. “Still looking.”

  “Yeah?” he sounded a touch concerned. “Any leads?”

  “Any leads?” Naomi repeated the question as she tried to buy herself time. No way could she tell Jordan that Camille took off to Trinidad even though Natasha silently mouthed, “Tell him the truth.”

  “Yeah, do you have any clue where she might be?”

  Naomi watched Charlie push herself off the side of the car and turn her back to them as she walked away to take a phone call.

  “My mother said she came by the house last night, but she didn’t tell her where she was going,” Naomi said finally.

  Natasha rolled her eyes.

  “You sound worried.”

  Naomi sighed. “I am. You know how she is Jordan. She could be anywhere.”

  “Yeah. But she knows that this weekend is important to you. She’ll show up.

  Naomi bit her lip. Camille might have good intentions about showing up. But if something happened to her...

  “Naomi...is everything okay?”

  She snapped to attention. Jordan had used her name. He never called her Naomi unless he was mad or things were serious.

  “Honestly, babe, I don’t know. I feel really nervous about her being missing like this and I am doing everything I can to find out where she is.”

  There. That was the most truthful thing she had said during the whole phone call.

  “I understand,” he said. “Guess I won’t be seeing you tonight after all.”

  “I don’t think ....”

  There was a beep on the line. Naomi pulled the phone away from her ear to look at the screen. He was calling.

  “Babe, I gotta go.” She ended the call with Jordan before he could even respond and picked up the incoming call.

  “Hello,” Naomi said anxiously.

  “This is the Hudson County Jail, I have a call for Naomi Savoy. Can you confirm that this is who I am speaking with?”

  “This is Naomi Savoy.”

  “Do you accept the charges for this call?”

  “Yes.”

  “Hold please.”

  Naomi grabbed Natasha’s hand as she listened to the silence on the other end of the line. A few moments later, a gravelly voice came through the line.

  “Naomi?”

  “Nigel! You called back.”

  “You said it was urgent.”

  Naomi hesitated, still shaken by the strangeness of the voice on the other end even though she knew it was her brother. She couldn’t remember the last time she had spoken to him. No, that was a lie. She could remember. It was the day he was sentenced in court, right before he went to Rikers. The day he had asked her to take care of his daughter.

  “It’s about Camille.”

  “What’s wrong with my little girl?”

  “She’s not so little anymore,” Naomi replied. “I think she might be in trouble. She took off to Trinidad, Nigel. Without telling anyone. She went to mom’s last night and got her passport. I found her trip itinerary on her computer. She left this morning for Port of Spain.”

  Nigel let out a slew of curse words.

  “How could you let this happen, Nay?”

  “Let this happen?” Naomi snapped back. “She is twenty-one years old, not eleven like she was when you got sent away. I can’t watch her twenty-four hours a day. She doesn’t even tell me anything anyway. I didn’t even know she went to see you last week until after the fact.”

  “That’s cause you’re too hard on her, Nay,” Nigel protested. “She told me how you ride her about school and boyfriends. She says it feels like she has two mothers.”

  “That’s cause our mother is too tired from working and dealing with all your mess to give her the kind of attention she needed,” Naomi hissed. “And while she was telling you about the way I ruin her life, did she tell you that I pay for her school too? Give her money to take care of books and food? Put clothes on her ungrateful behind? Make time for her every week? Did she tell you all that too? Did she tell you how I have lied to my fiancé for her? For you?”

  “No, you lied to your fiancé for yourself,” Nigel said flatly. “Because you think if he knew who you really were, where you really came from, he wouldn’t stick around.”

  The truth stung like a slap to the face, but Naomi didn’t have time to linger on it.

  “Look, I didn’t call to argue with you,” She retreated into the safer topic of the situation at hand. “I just needed to know if she said anything to you about this, if you knew what might be going on with her.”

  She heard her brother sigh. “No, Sis. I don’t know anything about her going to Trinidad or why she’s doing it. The only thing we talked about while she was here was how she was doing. I was trying to get her to adjust to the idea that I might get deported. She needs to get used to the idea of me not being around....”

  “Wait, you’re getting deported?” Naomi asked, blindsided by the reality that her brother might be more than a little far away. “But I thought your case was under appeal? I thought that was why they sent you back here to Hudson?”

  “Hudson is where they send immigrants before they send them home, Sis. Plus, I don’t have the best lawyer so this might be the end of the line for me.”

  “Why didn’t you say something?” Naomi cried. “We could have gotten you a better lawyer. Someone who is good at this stuff.”

  “No, you all have done enough for me. You’ve dealt with my expenses, made sure I have money in here, took care of Camille. It’s enough. It’s time for me to be responsible and take whatever is coming my way,” Nigel said. “It’s not like I don’t deserve it. It’s not like I wasn’t warned before I made a mess of my life.”

  Naomi swatted at the tears that escaped down her cheek. “Nige, not this. Not after everything...”

  “Don’t cry, baby sis,” he said gently. “I’ve made peace with it. It’s time. Just take care of my daughter for me. Camille is the best part of me, and I know you only ride her because you want what’s best for her. So I’m counting on you to make sure she is okay, and help her make peace with this too.”

  Naomi tried to keep back her sobs but she couldn’t. Her feelings for her brother were complicated on any given day. Resentment for not being there for her before he went in and then after. Anger for what he put her mother through, the long trips she would make to the jail to see him, the money she poured into lawyers for him, the tears she cried at night for him. Sorrow, for Camille having to grow up like Naomi had, without a father. But there was always love. Love like an ocean. Because at the end of the day, he was still her big brother. He was still her hero when it mattered, and she couldn’t imagine life with him gone.

  “One minute!”

  “Look Naomi, I gotta go,” Nigel said. “Promise me you will do what you can to find her.”

  “I will.”

  “Promise me, Nay,” he insisted.

  “I promise,” Naomi said. “I’ll bring her home.”

  Exhaustion poured over Naomi when the call ended. She didn’t realize how far she had walked away from her friends until she turned around and noticed that they were halfway across the parking lot. Their heads were together. They talked intensely. But as soon as Naomi drew near, they stopped.

  Naomi looked from Charlie to Natasha. Charlie wore her poker face, but fear was written all over Natasha’s. Whatever was going on, Naomi already knew she wouldn’t like it.

  “Just tell me.”

  Charlie and Natasha exchanged a look.

  Natasha glared at Charlie. “Tell her.”

  “So I kind of know Andre...”

  Naomi frowned. “What do you mean you kind of know him?”

  “He’s from around here. My cousin used to date his brother. She says they used to...”

  Charlie paused and looked over at Natasha who was looking at the ground.

  “Spit it out, Charlie,” Naomi snapped. “They used to what?”

  “T
hey used to sell Molly at parties.”

  Naomi fell back hard against the car as the world began to swim.

  “Tell her the rest,” Natasha said.

  “Tell her the rest?” Charlie exclaimed as she scowled at Natasha. “Look at her! She’s about to pass out from what I just told her.”

  “Look, we don’t have time to play around,” Natasha snapped. “If Camille left this morning and is planning to be back in three days then she might already be in serious trouble. Tell her the rest!”

  Naomi turned her eyes to Charlie. Her beautiful, olive toned friend stared at her with sympathy.

  “Look Naomi, it’s probably already too late. There’s nothing you can do, just let her go and come back and then...”

  “Shut up!” Natasha yelled at Charlie. “Do you even hear yourself?”

  Natasha turned to Naomi. “Charlie’s cousin said Andre went to Trinidad yesterday morning. He went to pick up a shipment and he probably took Camille with him too.”

  “Why would he take her?” Naomi asked. She pushed back against the picture in her mind. “What does she have to do with this?”

  “Because he needs someone to bring it back,” Charlie said quietly.

  “She’s his mule,” Natasha said. Her eyes watered. She covered her mouth with her hand briefly. “Camille went to swallow pellets, Naomi. She’s coming back with a stomach full of cocaine.”

  Chapter Six

  Naomi sat at the kitchen counter in her apartment alone. The lights were off. All except the one above the stove. Its yellow-reddish glow seemed to shine a spotlight on the clear bottle of unopened vodka that sat on the counter in front of her. It was Smirnoff. It used to be her drink of choice, before it stole her life from her. Now, it had no power over her. She had purchased this bottle eight months ago just to make sure.

  But tonight, she wasn’t sure. Tonight she craved the sensation of the harsh liquid burning a path down her throat. The liquid fire in her stomach. The headiness that came after a few shots. She wanted nothing more.