by RM Johnson
“Henny, if you ain’t left yet, don’t go. Do you hear me. Don’t go to Lenny’s! Something bad will happen if you do. So please, don’t go. Call me as soon as you get this.”
She disconnected the call, her face wet with tears when she looked up at JJ.
“Baby, what’s going on?” JJ now looked as worried as Ally.
“The guys me and Lisa hit last night. Lisa kept their car, and they found her.”
“Did they hurt her? Is she all right?”
“I don’t know. I called 911, but I don’t know where she is. And the men are lookin’ for me now. Lisa told them where I was gonna be.”
“Then just don’t go. You’ll be safe here,” JJ said, grabbing hold of Ally’s hand.
“But JJ, they know what I look like, and I was supposed to meet Henny there for lunch.”
It took JJ only a second to understand what this meant. “Oh, my god. They gonna think she’s you!”
“Dammit!” Ally screamed. She was at least twenty minutes away from there. JJ didn’t have a car. It would take that long just for a cab to show up at JJ’s place, and the bus was out of the question. “If something happens to her because of me,” Ally cried. Then it came to her. She scrolled through her cell phone directory, pulled up a number, and pressed Send.
“Please, pick up the phone,” Ally prayed. “If there’s any chance for my sister, you’ll pick up the fucking phone.”
FIFTY-SEVEN
HENNY couldn’t get the smile off her face. She was happier now than she could ever remember being. Everything was fine again with Rafe, and to think Ally had something to do with that! Henny couldn’t believe her little sister had called and threatened Rafe to take her back. It didn’t take all that, Henny thought, smiling even wider. But she was glad that Ally had done it. It let her know how much her sister did truly love and care about her.
When Henny was about four blocks away from Lenny’s, she picked up her pace because she was excited to make up with her sister. She was going to tell Ally that she didn’t have to worry about getting kicked out of the house after all, that she could come down to school with her as well. They could always get a two-bedroom ’til Ally got on her feet. Maybe she could even talk her into taking a few classes herself.
The second reason Henny thought of hurrying along was that she thought someone was following her. Twice when looking over her shoulder, she saw a big, blue banged-up car behind her. Whenever she spotted it, it would quickly turn a corner and disappear. She didn’t know what was going on, but she just wanted to get to Lenny’s, apologize to her, sister, grab her, and get home so they could all start packing and get out of there.
Henny continued down the street of rundown storefronts and vacant lots, then just stopped all of a sudden. She stood there a moment, not moving at all, then quickly whipped her head around. There it was. The banged-up blue BMW.
She quickly turned her head back around, hoping they had not seen her spotting them, but knowing they had. She almost felt unable, but she took one slow step forward, then another, and another, until she felt herself moving very quickly across the pavement. She had to get off the street, she told herself, and ducked between two buildings. That put her on an empty, narrow street that would take her through a few abandoned lots and straight to Lenny’s.
She walked fifty feet, looking back over her shoulder the entire way. She had lost them. Henny let out a long, heavy sigh of relief. She didn’t know what all that was about, but everything would be all right now, she thought. But she would’ve thought differently if she had turned her head back around, because there in front of her, the BMW with the banged-up driver’s side had silently rolled up, stopping just in front of her. The driver’s side window powered down, a gun extended out, Smoke behind it, taking steady aim at Henny.
She stopped again, still looking over her shoulder, unaware of the car in front of her. She was too busy making sure that it wouldn’t all of a sudden turn the corner behind her, come barreling down that street. When she was certain it was no longer there, she turned around.
Henny froze, seeing the car stopped in front of her. She saw the gun aimed at her, saw the face of the stranger behind it, one eye closed, his sights set, and at that moment, she knew she was going to die.
The world went silent around her, her breathing stopped, and images of her life flooded her brain. Henny and her sister as toddlers. Henny graduating top of her grammar school class. Then Rafe. Him looking at her over that library book. Him standing in the rain telling her to walk out of his life, even though he loved her. The two of them making love, she knowing then she would forever love this man. Now she knew she would never see him again.
Again, Henny tried to tell her legs to work, but as in a dream, they didn’t respond. She could not move, and even if she was able, she knew it would’ve been too late. She tried saying her good-byes before she died, then heard the shots. Two of them. Loud cracks, splitting the silence that was once around her. A second later the bullets had ripped through her. One through her chest, the other through her belly. All went brilliantly bright, the world inverted. The ground flew up to meet her. There on the pavement, her farewell to her mother, her sister, and her lover spilled with blood, silently out of her lips.
FIFTY-EIGHT
RAFE was racing toward the car dealership looking for Smoke, the gun still nestled in the holster at his side, when his cell phone rang. He picked it up, but couldn’t understand what the woman on the other end was saying, didn’t even know who it was, she was crying so hysterically.
“Hold it, hold it. Who is this?” he yelled into the phone.
“Rafe, it’s Ally! Henny’s in trouble. Something bad is gonna happen,” Rafe heard her say frantically through her sobbing.
Rafe swung the Jag off to the side of the street. “Ally, just slow down, and tell me what the hell you’re talking about.”
As quickly as she could, she explained what had happened—how it was her fault.
“Goddammit, Ally. What did I tell you!” Rafe yelled into the phone, punching the gas, the tires squealing as he sped away from the curb.
“You got to get to her before she gets there. Please—”
Rafe shut the flip phone, threw it into the passenger seat, and bore down even harder on the gas. Rafe didn’t know who they had robbed last night—Ally hadn’t said—but if he was anything like the guy he had seen her with at that club, Rafe knew she was right. Something bad was going to happen if he didn’t get there in time to stop it.
Rafe skidded to a stop in front of Lenny’s. He looked quickly through the windows, but Henny wasn’t there. He took off, circled the small building, then headed off in the direction of her house.
No sign of her after coming down the street. Could they have taken her? Rafe asked himself. The image of Henny being dragged screaming into a car raced through his mind, but he shut his eyes tight, blanked it out.
“No,” he said under his breath, spinning the wheel hard to the right, forcing the car around in a cloud of gravel dust.
He would find her because he knew she was around there somewhere. She had probably taken a shortcut, stopped off to make a phone call or something. He raced up every other street leading to Lenny’s except for one, and still no sign of her. Rafe turned down the last street, which wasn’t a street at all but a narrow alleyway, opening up to some abandoned lots. He stomped on the gas, the engine roaring in front of him, shooting him down the street, until he saw something out in the middle of the pavement.
He slammed on the brakes, the car skidding to a stop ten feet in front of what now Rafe knew was a body.
No, he thought. It can’t be her. The head was turned so he could not see the face. But the hair … the hair was the same, Rafe thought, jumping out the car. And her hand … her arm was thrown across her body as it lay on its side. The skin on her hand was Henny’s complexion, he thought, feeling an overpowering sadness descend upon him. But it couldn’t be her, he prayed, tripping, stumbling to the ground, falling just i
nches before the body. And then he knew, before he even reached out to turn her over, he knew that this woman, lying slain in the street, an ever widening blanket of blood stretching out from under her, was indeed the woman that he loved.
Rafe pulled himself up to his hands and knees, kneeled over her, then rolled the limp woman’s body over. It was Hennesey. A line of blood crawled down from the corner of her mouth, her hands covered with the same red, as if she’d tried to cover the bullet wounds, tried to stop them from killing her. But there was no way, Rafe thought, looking down at those two wounds. One through her chest, the other through her stomach. The entire front half of her shirt was thick with her own blood, and as he scooped her up, wrapped his arms under her, he could feel his skin being coated with what came out the back of those wounds.
But she could still be alive, he told himself. He prayed that somehow she survived this, that someway there was just a little life in her still, just enough to keep her going until she was taken to the hospital.
He brought her up to him, lowered his face down to hers. He had done unlawful things, things that put him behind bars, things that got his little brother killed. He knew he was not deserving of a favor from God, but if it was granted, just this one time, he would change all that. He would change.
“God save her. Please, just save her!” Rafe cried, turning his head up, looking toward the skies, tears streaming down his cheeks. He looked down again into Henny’s face.
“Henny. Henny, wake up, baby. I know you’re still there. C’mon.”
He lowered his ear down to her nose, listened, and felt for the most shallow of air coming from there. Nothing.
“Come on, baby. I know you’re still with me,” he said, laying her down, placing the side of his face to her bloody chest, but there was no heartbeat. He dug his fingers into her neck, but there was no pulse, and he knew then, as he fell backward covered with her blood, that it was useless. She was gone.
Someone had killed her, and Rafe would find out who that was, he told himself, feeling rage start to build within him.
He had to find Ally, get the name from her. She was the reason this happened, so she would know. But he didn’t have to look far, because a second later he heard a piercing scream. When he turned, he saw Ally, both hands clawing into her scalp, a look of sheer horror on her face at the sight of her sister torn open on the street.
“Nooooooooo!” Ally screamed, standing fifteen feet away.
Rafe glared at her, hatred in his eyes. “I told you to stay away from those men. I told you!” he yelled. “Do you see this!”
“Nooooooooo!” Ally cried hysterically again, not moving from the spot she was in. “It can’t be. It can’t!”
“It is! I told you to stay away from them!”
“Hennesey, I’m so sorry,” Ally cried hysterically.
“Tell me who you robbed last night,” Rafe yelled, looking back at Ally as he kneeled over Henny’s body.
“I don’t know. I can’t remember.”
“Try hard!”
“I can’t!” she screamed.
“Goddammit, you have to remember!”
Ally got quiet all of a sudden. The crying stopped, and the expression on her face went blank as if she wasn’t there anymore, but somewhere deep in her subconscious. She concentrated, and finally it came to her.
“His name was Smoke,” she said, her tone even, calm almost. Then, “I’m sorry, Henny.”
Rafe gasped. “What did you say?”
“Smoke. He said his name was Smoke,” Ally said. “I’m so sorry, Henny.”
“Smoke,” Rafe said under his breath, feeling the rage from before growing to the point where he could no longer contain it.
“Ally, call 911 so they can come for Henny,” Rafe said as calmly as he could, looking down at Henny’s face. He lowered himself, kissing her gently on her forehead, saying his last good-bye.
Rafe pulled away from her, then commanded, “Did you hear me, Ally?”
When again he got no response, Rafe demanded, “Ally!” then turned to see what was wrong. When he turned, he saw Ally pulling something from her purse.
“I didn’t mean for this to happen to her, Rafe. I know I should’ve listened to you, but you gotta believe me.”
Rafe saw that it was a gun.
“Ally, Ally, listen to me.” Rafe tried to calm her, easing his way toward her. “It wasn’t your fault, it just—”
And before he could take another step, say another word, he heard Ally sadly say once again, “I’m sorry, Henny,” before she shoved the barrel of the gun into her open mouth and pulled the trigger.
FIFTY-NINE
LIVVY’S DAUGHTERS still weren’t home when she walked in the door an hour later, and she felt both glad for that and disappointed. She didn’t want them to see her like this after she had failed herself the way she had. But she could’ve used the comforting she knew she would’ve gotten from them. It wouldn’t have taken much. A hug would’ve done it. She just needed to know that even though she wouldn’t get the scholarship, she was still loved by her family.
Livvy stood alone in the middle of the silent room, feeling as though there was nothing left to do but feel pity for herself and cry ’til she couldn’t anymore. And then the phone rang.
“Hello,” Livvy said.
“Hello Livvy, it’s Dr. Ranick. Do you have a moment?”
“How can I help you, Dr. Ranick?” Livvy’s tone was bland.
“I just wanted to tell you again how sorry I am about your not being able to apply for the scholarship. Like I said before, giving you that extra time wouldn’t have been fair to the other applicants.”
“I completely understand,” Livvy said, not wanting to hear another word. She was ready to lower the phone from her ear, hang up, when she heard him say, “But what you told me … the things you said were very compelling, very touching. I was thinking that if you could handle all that, still come to work, and do the outstanding job you’ve always done, then I think you’d make a fine nurse. I can’t proclaim you winner of this scholarship, because that wouldn’t be fair. But I can recommend you for a full scholarship to our nursing school. How does that sound?”
Livvy, shocked by what was just said, climbed on the sofa, and started jumping joyously up and down, yelling at the top of her lungs.
“Livvy, are you still there? Is everything okay?” Dr. Ranick asked.
“Are you joking! Everything is wonderful!” Livvy said, catching her breath. “Are you sure this is true? I don’t want to go telling my family, and this doesn’t happen, Doctor. Don’t go playin’ with me about something like this.”
She heard the doctor laughing over the phone. “No, you don’t have to worry. This is true. And the recommendation is really just a formality. But I’m vouching for you, so don’t make a liar out of me.”
“Not a chance, baby. I mean, Doctor. Good-bye.”
“Good-bye.”
Livvy hung up the phone. “I got it!” she yelled, spreading her arms, jumping around some more. She couldn’t wait to tell Wade and her girls. Finally things were starting to go as she had always dreamed they could’ve. Finally, everything was going to be all right.
SIXTY
RAFE tried to stop Ally, yelled, ran toward her, tried to reach out for her, but before he could get to her, Ally pulled the trigger.
It was the loudest silence he had ever heard. Not complete silence but a deafening click! No bullet in the chamber, Rafe thought. He was already in motion toward her and fell into her, tumbling with her onto the ground.
Rafe wrestled with her, trying to get the gun out of her hand before she could try to fire it again.
“Just let me do it!” Ally cried, fighting him. “This ain’t got shit to do with you!”
He was careful not to get shot himself, but finally he tore the gun out of her grasp and flung it aside. He was straddling Ally at this point, and she was still tussling with him, trying to scratch and bite him, tears in her eyes.
“Ally, listen to me!” he said, still dodging her fists and sharp swipes at his face. He got hold of both her wrists and pinned them down on either side of her head.
“Look!” he said. “You ain’t killin’ yourself! Now that Henny’s gone, you the only one your mother got left. You need to be here for to help her through this. You understand? Call 911!”
She nodded.
Rafe left her. There was nothing else he could’ve done about the situation from there. He had to find Smoke. The man had more than just Rafe’s brother to answer for now.
He ended up at the dealership, entered through the service department, stormed down the hallway, his chest, his arms, his hands covered with Henny’s blood, now dried. Outside Smoke’s office door, Rafe pulled his gun and held it high, ready to fire. He took a deep breath, exhaled in an attempt to slow his pounding heart, then burst through the door.
Rafe had the gun aimed between the eyes of Smoke’s secretary. If it had been Smoke there, he would’ve been dead by now. The woman’s eyes inflated in her head. She threw her hands to her face, about to scream, but thought better of it when she heard Rafe say simply, “Don’t.”
He stepped in the office, slammed the door behind him, then moved around the desk, the gun on the woman’s face as if he intended to kill her if she didn’t give him the information he was looking for.
“Where’s he at?”
“Who?” she said, frightened.
“Smoke.”
“He’s not here. He called, said he’d be at the warehouse, checking inventory.” She spoke the words in a crying, quivering, voice.
“Are you sure?” Rafe said, stepping closer to her, giving her a better look at the gun.
“Yes! Yes!”
“Don’t tell him I came by here looking for him” Rafe said, taking one last step, aiming the tip of the gun barrel between the woman’s neatly trimmed eyebrows. He heard her gasp.
“Because if you do …” he trailed off, giving her a terrifying look, then ran out of the office.