“Are things all set for Nate’s party?”
“Pretty much. He should have a Spidey good time.”
“That boy is Spider-Man crazy for sure. I need to get his present sometime this week. I should have picked something up while we were out, but I didn’t want him to see. I don’t know what to get him between y’all buying him a motorized car and Corrine getting him a swimming pool. Short of getting Spider-Man to make a real-life appearance, what’s left?”
“Whatever you do, please don’t buy him any video games. Troy got that covered. I guess I should be happy that at least he did add something educational to the mix.” Natalie rolled her eyes. “The thought of my son playing video games for hours on end in his forties like his father makes me cringe. Don’t get me wrong, I like Wii Fit and I’m eager to try the Zumba on the Kinect, but at least the games I play are beneficial because I’m exercising. Troy sits and wastes time.”
“I think you’re being too harsh. It’s not like he spends hours every day playing and neglecting you and Nate. He works hard and deserves to relax however he sees fit. Give him a break.”
“Since when did you become Troy’s defense attorney?”
“I haven’t, but I’m trying to get you to realize that there are worse things he could be doing. Be glad that he enjoys relaxing in the comfort of his own home even if he is playing a game. At least you don’t have to worry about him running the streets.”
“True.”
“I wish I could say the same.”
“What happened? Were Marcus’ orders delayed?”
“No, he came home late Saturday night as planned, but then he got up early Sunday morning. He said he had to take care of some things, but he was gone for hours. Nat, I think he’s having an affair.”
Aneetra’s normally bubbly personality had been deflated and Natalie saw strength wrestling with devastation in her friend’s eyes. “Are you sure?”
“I don’t have any concrete proof, but something is not right with him. You would think that after being gone for so long, he would have been ready to seriously jump me when he got back. It was close to midnight, the girls were asleep, and I was up waiting for him in the living room in a sexy nightie.”
“Girl, did you put that bun back in your head?”
Aneetra chuckled. “I love how you can make me smile, even when I’m down. For the record, I was not sporting the bun. Nate talked me out of that one, remember?” Her demeanor turned solemn once again. “He came in, gave me a kiss—not the kind of welcome home kiss I was expecting—but a mere peck as if he’d returned home from the gym or something. Although I practically threw myself at him, he said that he was tired. He took a shower and went straight to bed. He got up at five o’clock yesterday morning to supposedly run errands. What kind of errands can a man have that early on a Sunday morning? As of this morning when I left, he still has not made love to me. We’ve been married for sixteen years and I have felt for a while that something wasn’t right. But, now I’m certain. Oh, and he changed the code on his cell phone. Before you give me a lecture, I was not snooping. I was actually trying to get a number when I realized there was a new code. I don’t even know how long it’s been like that because I don’t make a habit of going through his phone, but I’ve always been able to unlock it if I needed to. I asked him about it and he made up some excuse about having to reset it and that he couldn’t remember the code off hand, but he’d get the number for me. By the time I went to the bathroom and came out he’d written it down.”
“Maybe he changed it for security reasons.”
“Yeah, right, that’s weak. Marcus has always been so careless with his cell phone, but these last several months it’s been glued to his hip. I didn’t think anything of it until yesterday.”
“Have you spoken with him about how you’re feeling?”
“Not yet. But, I will. I’m asking God to give me the right words to say because I truly don’t know how to approach this. If I give in to how I feel, Marcus would have a good old-fashioned beat down coming like my sister did her husband when she found out he was cheating. She literally cracked his skull with a baseball bat. They didn’t talk until he was out the hospital and she was out of jail.”
“You have got to be kidding.”
“Nope. They were divorced shortly after. As crazy as her actions were, I can see how she snapped. They’d been together since high school and had four children over the course of twenty-something years. Marcus better thank God that I didn’t give into my feelings because he’d have a lump on his head, too. But, I’m not trying to go that route. We’ve never been violent with one another.”
Natalie wasn’t sure what to say, certain that she’d be an emotional wreck if she even thought Troy was cheating on her. “His behavior does seem suspicious, but don’t be so quick to think the worst. There may be a reasonable explanation for this.” Natalie wasn’t sure she even believed those words. It seemed like the right response.
“I hear you, Nat, but I have a bad feeling about all of this. I’ve been through enough to know that if it looks and quacks like a duck, then that’s what it is.”
“Well, I still hope it’s not.” She saw the pain that the mere suspicion of adultery lent in her friend’s eyes. Pain that she was sure she’d contributed to wives in her past and that Corrine was helping another husband bring on his wife.
CHAPTER 13: AIN’T THAT SOMETHIN’
The rest of the afternoon Natalie did her work to the best of her ability, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Aneetra, who’d left work shortly after lunch, stating that there was too much on her mind for her to be effective, so she took personal leave and went home. “Girl, pray for me,” she’d said to Natalie. “I don’t know what lies ahead, but I know I have to believe that God is with me.”
“You know I got you covered. Holla if you need me.”
That was several hours ago and Natalie hadn’t stopped thinking about Aneetra since. As she drove from work to the preschool to pick up Nate, she hoped Aneetra would call this evening. Natalie didn’t want to contact her because she knew Aneetra needed her space. If nothing else, she needed to spend time alone with God. Was Marcus cheating? He and Aneetra seemed like the perfect couple. Sure, no marriage was ever perfect, but they seemed close. Natalie looked at them as role models. Marcus appeared to be the example of godly leadership for his family that Natalie wished Troy was for theirs. If Aneetra and Marcus were having issues, was there any hope for her and Troy?
Seeing firsthand how adultery—or suspicion thereof—devastated the spouse, Natalie felt bad about the times she’d been the other woman. It was a gut-wrenching feeling to know that she’d caused the same type of pain she saw on Aneetra’s face on someone else and apparently Corrine wanted to play “like-mother, like-daughter.” She was going to have a good, long talk with that girl. And if that didn’t work, she wasn’t sure what to do. She was so grateful to have a relationship with her daughter and she didn’t want to jeopardize what they’d built over the years. Corrine’s moving here had been a source of contention between her and Toni. Perhaps if they’d had a better relationship with each other, Natalie would call so the both of them could tag-team and get Corrine to see that she was making a foolish decision. But, Natalie was as certain as Troy that Corrine had not uttered a single word of this to Toni, who was not good at handling her emotions where Corrine was concerned. And if Natalie were to mention it, somehow Toni would blame her. If only Big Mama were alive… Natalie missed her grandmother so much. Big Mama would know exactly how to handle this.
“Hi, Mommy,” Nate waved to her when she walked into his classroom and then turned back to play with his friends. Part of her wished that he’d run into her arms immediately upon seeing her, but the fact that he wasn’t clawing to get out of the building gave her peace knowing that her son liked his caregivers and peers. She’d feel even worse if he cried when she dropped him off and was still crying when she picked him up like a few other kids did. She had no qual
ms about leaving Nate and that was worth more than her desire for his immediate attention. She called for him to come while she spoke briefly with his teacher.
By the time she’d gathered his belongings, Nate hadn’t budged. “Come on, Nate. Tell your friends goodbye and let’s go.” She walked toward the doorway and waited, but he still hadn’t moved. “Nathaniel Troy Evans,” she began to say, but didn’t have to finish. Nate knew his grace had expired.
Hand-in-hand they walked to the car while Natalie listened to Nate recap his day. With the exception of her former friend’s baby girl years ago, Natalie had never spent much time around young kids before meeting Aneetra. Nate’s intelligence amazed her. Only two days shy of his third birthday, he seemed ahead of his time. He spoke very well compared to the other kids in his class and he also understood things better than Natalie gave him credit for. She could actually have a conversation with him and it amused her to no end.
“And Ms. Frank made Jerry share ’da ball but him was cryin’ ’cuz him not want to share,” Nate was explaining to her when the cell phone rang.
“INCOMING CALL FROM DIANE,” announced the Bluetooth surround speaker system in her car. “SAY ‘HELLO’ TO ANSWER OR ‘IGNORE’ TO SEND THE CALLER TO VOICEMAIL.”
“HELLOOOOOO,” yelled Nate at top of his lungs.
“Natalie?”
“Hey, Diane.”
“Did I catch you at a bad time?”
“No. I just picked Nate up from pre-school and we’re on our way home.”
“HI GIGI!”
“You don’t have to scream, Nate. She can hear you.”
“Hi, Pumpkin, how’s my boy doin’?”
“Fine. I got a star at school ’cuz I say all my ABCs like ’dis ‘abcdefg…’ ” He continued all the way to z.
“That’s good, sweetheart,” said Diane.
“I count in Spanish, too, like ’dis ‘uno, dos, tres, quantro, cinco—’ ”
“Very good, honey. Let Mommy talk to Gigi for a moment, okay?”
“ ’Kay.”
“Di, you still there?”
“Yep. Girl, that boy just about know more than me. I can barely speak English good and he’s talkin’ in Spanish. Ain’t that somethin’? I need to learn Spanish with all these darn immigrants we got down here.” She chuckled. “Anyhow, what’s up with that son of mine?” She went on to use expletives of how she called his black behind earlier that morning and he hadn’t called her back.
“Aw, Gigi said black a—”
“Hush, Nate. That’s not a nice word. Di, I need you to watch your mouth. Nate can hear everything you say.” Her mother-in-law was sweet, but sometimes she cursed like a sailor. Natalie hated that her behavior seemed to have rubbed off on Troy who occasionally slipped when he was angry—even in front of Nate—and that irritated Natalie because she didn’t want her son to be raised in that type of environment. At least in Diane’s defense, she didn’t profess to be a Christian. Troy didn’t have an excuse.
“Girl, I’m sorry. I forgot I was on speaker that quick.”
Natalie rolled her eyes. She’d told her mother-in-law on many occasions that she could count on being on speaker whenever she called and Natalie was driving. “Yeah, well to answer your question, Troy probably hasn’t called you back because he’s busy working on a big case. I talked to him through text messages today, but that’s all.”
“Oh, okay. Well, I wanted y’all to know that I that I mailed a g-i-f-t for someone today and it should be there by the time of the p-a-r-t-y.”
“P-a-r-t-y,” Nate repeated and then started laughing as though he really knew what she was spelling.
“It ain’t much, but it was all I had. I told Tracy that she needed to send somethin’ and she said she was going to, but then spent her money bailing that no good bas—um, husband of hers out of jail this mornin’.”
Diane had no room to talk about her daughter’s husband; Natalie’s father-in-law wasn’t exactly in the running for any awards. Troy may have gotten cursing from his mom, but Natalie thanked God that he didn’t have any of his father’s philandering ways. “That’s okay. Thank you for sending your gift. I’m sure he will appreciate whatever it is.”
“When y’all comin’ down here? I ain’t seen my grandbaby since Christmas.”
“I don’t know. I’ll have to talk to Troy and we’ll let you know. But, I’ll be sure to send you some pictures of the party.”
“Oh, yes, please do that. Well, I won’t hold you any longer. Tell my son I said hi. If the package doesn’t come, let me know.”
“Will do. Thanks, again.”
“Bye, Nate. You be a good boy. Gigi loves you.”
“Kay. I luh you, too.”
“YOUR CALL HAS ENDED.”
Natalie wouldn’t mind taking a trip to Houston sometime in the near future. Despite Diane’s use of foul language from time to time, she was Nate’s only grandmother and Natalie wished they saw each other more. Her mother died before he was born and he was too young to remember her paternal grandmother whom she’d affectionately called Big Mama. Natalie had no idea if her maternal grandparents were still alive. If so, she wondered if they were still in Jackson. All she’d known about them was that they’d disowned her mom after she’d gotten involved with Natalie’s father, a black man. Not surprising, given racial tensions in the south, especially back in the day. Biologically, Diane was all Nate had because Troy’s father couldn’t be counted on.
Natalie was thankful for her mom’s best friend, Sylvia, and her husband, Richard, who did try and fill in as local grandparents for Nate. They were cool, but it was still sort of weird since Richard and Natalie’s mother were involved for many years before she died. She wouldn’t have been able to break ties with either of them even if she wanted to because of Troy’s professional relationship with Richard, who was a prosecuting attorney and worked closely with the CPD. In all honesty, Richard was the closest thing to a father figure that Natalie had, but he would never be able to replace her own father, who died when she was young. She still had faint memories of him held close to her heart. She could be crazy, but she swore Nate had his smile.
It was about a quarter to five when Natalie turned down her street. She glanced in her rearview mirror at Nate, who amused himself by continuously spelling his new word for the day, party. As expected, Troy’s SUV wasn’t in the garage when she pulled in. She didn’t know what time he would get home. There was very little consistency in his schedule due to the nature of his job.
“Yay! We home,” Nate shouted and smiled, trying to undo the seat belt of his car seat.
Extremely appreciative of her husband and son, knowing that based on her past, Natalie’s marriage should be the one going through what Aneetra’s was, she said aloud, “Thank You, Jesus!”
“Why you say ’dat, Mommy?”
“Because He has been so good to us, baby.” While getting Nate and their stuff into the house, she silently prayed. Lord, please be with Aneetra. I hope Marcus isn’t cheating on her, but if he is, please fix this. Marriage is something You created and I believe it’s Your will for it to survive and thrive. Please open Corrine’s eyes to the destructive nature of her actions. Protect her from her foolishness. And God, thank You for just being You…no matter what.”
CHAPTER 14: MARRIED WITH CHILDREN
After leaving Robert, Troy’s day was filled with more interviews and unanswered questions. The phone call he got was regarding a young lady, Mindy Lee, who hadn’t been seen since Saturday night and also failed to report to work this morning. Not surprisingly, witness reports were inconsistent. Some recalled seeing a tall, dark-skinned man lurking around Mindy’s house early Sunday morning while others said they saw a thin Caucasian male late on Saturday. No one thought to get the license plate of the F-150 or the suspicious sedan that some reported seeing on several occasions, including Sunday. Normally, the police would wait a full forty-eight hours before declaring an adult as a missing person, but there was a strang
e familiarity about Mindy’s disappearance that was similar to how the other five cases began. Sure enough, when they stepped into her home, all officers observed the sign indicating that Mindy Lee was in the hands of a killer. At the most, she had a week to live.
Someone had been watching Freeman’s every move since Saturday. There was no way he could have taken Mindy. Troy still believed he had some connection with the perp. Maybe he was an accomplice, but he was definitely not the main culprit. With few leads to go on, unfortunately, the only thing they could do was to wait for Eric to receive another “revelation” or for Mindy Lee to escape from her captor.
Troy had sent Natalie a text earlier saying that he’d be home late, but he’d actually got there about 7:30. He walked in through the garage door, slightly perturbed that the exterior alarm wasn’t on, but the smell of lasagna on the stove and the sound of Natalie and Nate singing and dancing along with a Blues Clues video placated him.
“Here’s the mail, it never fails, it makes me want to wag my tail and when it comes I want to yell, maaaaiiil!” Troy watched the sheer joy on Natalie’s face as she and Nate screeched the last part together. She was an eleven out of ten in the looks department, but when it came to singing, she sounded as pleasant as a bull frog. Troy never had the pleasure of meeting Natalie’s mother, but from the stories he’d heard from Natalie and others, her mom couldn’t hold a note in a Ziploc bag and Natalie was even worse. Even Nate sang better than his mom.
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