The Fighter's Block

by Hadley Quinn

  She was just about to sit down and watch a movie when her phone signaled her with a text. It read: I found Leah Kemp. There was an address in East Orange with a description of the apartment building.

  Dani couldn’t believe she got the information so fast. And Salvatore just gave it to her without wanting something in return? She was grateful, even believing that he really had decided to just help her out.

  She grabbed the phone in the front room to call Jaime really quick to see if she could come with her, knowing she probably couldn’t. Dani even tried to talk her into the morning, but Jaime was taking Jacob to a doctor’s appointment for an ear infection.

  “You have to work anyways,” Jaime told her.

  “I know, but I’m willing to call in sick if I can finally track down Van’s sister.”

  “You should probably wait until he can go with you, Dani. It will be just as much of a surprise that way.”

  “I know, I’ve already decided that I guess. Okay, sorry to bug you again. I’ll let you know when I find something.”

  There was a knock and Jaime asked, “Is that the door?”

  “Yeah, let me go peek and see who it is.” Jaime was quiet while Dani walked across the living room. “Oh, it’s just Quincy,” Dani announced.

  “Okay, I’ll let you go.”

  “Bye, Jaime.”

  Dani unlocked the door and Quincy stood there with a big stupid smile on his face. He always made Dani laugh because he was so unusual.

  “What’s up, my best friend’s pretty lady,” he greeted.

  “Nothing much. What do you want?” she narrowed her eyes playfully.

  “Uh, my movies back.”

  “Oh.” She motioned for him to come in, so while he shut the door behind him, Dani headed for the entertainment center. “You dying to catch up on your chick flicks?”

  He chuckled. “Nah, not really. But two of those movies aren’t even mine and I was just pestered about ‘em. I’m pretending to get them from my apartment.”

  “You loan out other people’s stuff?”

  “Sometimes.”

  She lightly laughed as she collected the movies and handed them to him.

  “So what do you got going on tonight?” he asked.

  “Nothing. I was just going to watch TV, or a movie or something.”

  “Isn’t that all you ever do while Van’s gone?”

  She gave him a tolerant smile and replied, “Sometimes. But I’ll figure something out.”

  “Oh yeah? Like what?” He passed her cell phone on the coffee table and saw her most recent text message. It was just in time too because then the screen timed out and went dark.

  “I don’t know,” Dani shrugged.

  She wasn’t about to discuss with Quincy what she was considering, but she didn’t expect him to say, “So you found Leah, huh?”

  Chapter Twelve

  Dani stopped in her tracks while on her way to the kitchen and turned around to stare at him. How in the world would he—?

  “I saw the text,” he said, nodding to the phone on the table.

  She silently groaned to herself, but she returned to the living room. “I found somebody that said he could help me out.”

  “And he did? He found her?”

  “Apparently so. But I’m just going to wait until Van is home Friday, and then I’ll let him decide what to do.”

  Quincy took a deep breath, and to Dani it seemed like he didn’t approve.

  “What’s with the look?” she asked. “This is great news. Van’s been looking for her for years.”

  “I know, and he’s been disappointed for years. I’d just hate you to get his hopes up and then it doesn’t check out. I’m just saying… Maybe you should find out for sure before you let him down.”

  He had a point, which was why Dani never let Van know how much she was actually doing to look for his sister. She had this idea in her head, a hope, that she could find Leah and reunite her with Van.

  “Okay, so what do you think I should do?” she asked him. At the moment she wished she were still on good terms with Andy. He could take the address that she had and find out more than Dani could.

  “Maybe you should check it out first. It said East Orange, right? That’s not far.”

  “You really think I want to go somewhere I’m unfamiliar with, looking for someone I really don’t know anything about?”

  “What am I, chopped liver?”

  “What?”

  He chuckled. “I’ll go with you, Dani. I’ve got nothing to do tonight. Just let me drop the movies off and we can go.” He was already up and heading for the door, so Dani didn’t really have a response. “I’ll just be a few minutes. And let me go load my 9-mil.”

  “What?”

  “Kidding,” he replied dryly as he shut the door behind him.

  Dani took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Was she really going to do this? Was there another option? But what would it hurt to at least get an idea of where Leah might be living? Maybe even just getting a jump on it might produce something good.

  By the time Quincy returned to Dani’s apartment, she decided to go for it. After all, Quincy was going with her and all they were going to do was track down where Leah was currently living.

  The trip to East Orange took about thirty minutes. Quincy even offered to drive, but since Dani wanted to remain in control of the decisions that night, she only let him read the directions. When they came across the apartment building, Dani was surprised.

  “This is it?” she asked, slowing down as she drove by.

  “Well, it says 2236 right there on the building,” Quincy pointed.

  Dani drove two more blocks, flipped a u-turn, and parked across the street from the apartment complex.

  “Why do you look confused?” Quincy asked her.

  “I was expecting… Well, I was expecting something different.”

  “Different? You mean something ghetto?” he chuckled. “You assume she lives in the slums?”

  Dani was kind of embarrassed, but how was she supposed to know?

  “Don’t worry about it,” Quincy said, realizing she felt bad. “I’m surprised too.”

  “Really?”

  “Sure. That place is way better than our building. I bet she even has a doorman, and an elevator that works consistently. Probably a few of ‘em.”

  Dani smiled and felt a little better. She was glad that he’d come with her. “Well at least Van doesn’t have to worry about her living somewhere…less than appealing. I mean if she really does live here.”

  “Well, let’s go find out.”

  He started to get out of the car but she grabbed his arm. “Wait— No, I don’t want to go inside.”

  “What?”

  “I’m not going to go inside, Quincy. I just wanted to check it out. I need time to think about what I want to do.”

  “Well while you’re thinking about it, I’m gonna go in and see if Leah Kemp wants to be reunited with her big brother. I don’t see anything wrong with trying at this point. We’re already here.”

  Dani actually agreed, but she was anxious. The unknown bothered her and she wished she already knew the outcome.

  “You wait here,” Quincy said, opening the door. “I’ll see what I can find out.”

  He shut the door without waiting for a response and she watched him cross the street. But curiosity got the better of her and she opened the door and hollered, “Wait!”

  He waited on the sidewalk as she crossed the street, and when she stepped onto the curb he said, “I’ll just be a few minutes. You should wait in the car.”

  “I can’t. I need to come.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. Let’s do this.”

  The two of them entered the building and Dani was surprised that there wasn’t a doorman—at least one that she could see. Quincy went straight to the wall of addresses, eventually spotting L. Kemp.

  “She’s in 8A,” he stated, heading for the
elevator.

  “Wait a minute,” Dani said, glancing at the addresses on her way by. She rushed to catch up with him and added, “You’re just going to go up?”

  “Do you see anyone around to help us?” he asked, taking a look around.

  “Well… I’m sure there’s a manager’s office nearby, or security or…”

  Quincy waited for her to finish the sentence but she didn’t. He remained quiet for a few seconds, giving her time to state her decision, but she took way longer than he had patience for and he pushed the button on the elevator. “You should just wait here,” he told her. “Just give me a few minutes and I’ll be right back down.”

  Dani sighed, still unsure about what to do. While Quincy was waiting for the elevator, she wandered down the hall a little bit and looked around the corner. It did look like a few offices, but she heard the elevator ding and she returned to the main entry. He was still standing there, holding the door and waiting for her to join him. She eventually got on and took a deep breath.

  “I’m not going in the apartment,” she told him.

  “Me neither. We’ll just talk to her from the hall.”

  “Okay,” she said, relieved that he agreed. But she still didn’t feel comfortable with it. She wasn’t sure if it was because Van wasn’t with her and she felt like she was doing something wrong behind his back, or if she was just nervous about approaching someone she didn’t know. Either way she was uneasy, and by the time they were standing in front of 8A, she wanted to turn around.

  But Quincy already knocked on the door, and just as he asked Dani where she was going, the door opened a few inches.

  “Yes?” a female voice asked from behind the chain.

  Dani wouldn’t say anything so Quincy asked, “Are you Leah Kemp?”

  She hesitated for a few seconds before asking, “Who wants to know?”

  Quincy paused naturally, thinking that Dani would be warmed up to the situation already. He glanced at her for help, so she stepped closer and said, “My name is Dani. Um… Well, uh…” She didn’t quite know what to say so she finally just asked, “Is Donavan Kemp your brother? I mean I know his dad is named Donavan, but is your brother—”

  “Van?” she asked, closing the door to remove the chain. She opened it again, almost fully, and eagerly said, “Are you friends with my brother? You know Van?”

  Dani looked her over as quickly as she could. She couldn’t tell if this girl looked like Van or not, but did she have reason to doubt? She was dressed nicely, and her apartment was nice-looking, but what did Dani really have to go on? “Yes. Well, I’m his girlfriend—”

  “Come in,” she interrupted, stepping aside so they could enter.

  Dani declined at first, feeling more comfortable talking to her from the hallway. But Quincy entered right away and gave her a questioning look for hesitating. Surely he understood why she was so cautious, right?

  “Well, could I ask you a few questions first?” Dani asked her. “I mean Van’s been looking for his sister for a long time, and if you’ve been in New Jersey all this time, why hasn’t he been able to find you? And why haven’t you tried finding him?” she decided to add.

  The girl stared at her for a few seconds, seeming confused. It also confused Dani as she glanced at Quincy for back up. He didn’t say anything though, even when the girl stared at him too.

  “It’s a simple question,” Dani said. “You’ve been out of the system for a year now. Why haven’t you contacted your brother?” Again the girl was at a loss for words, so Dani said, “I’ll leave you Van’s number if you want to call him, but as much as I’d like to talk to you, I think it’s better if he’s here too.”

  Dani was surprised when the girl started to cry, and especially when she said, “He probably hates me by now.”

  Dani glanced at Quincy and he only shrugged his shoulders, but neither of them said anything and just waited for the girl to say something more.

  “I’ll show you some pictures from when we were kids,” she said, wiping a few tears away. “He was so good to us. It was a war zone in our house, but Van was always doing things to get us away from it. He’d take us down to the neighbor’s house, or even to the park.” She left the door open and wandered to the far side of the room. Dani watched her pick up what looked to be a photo album from an end table and hold it up. “Do you want to see?” she asked. “You can just leave the door open. I have really friendly neighbors.”

  Dani took a step closer towards the door and glanced inside the apartment. It was nice, even with matching furniture. But why was she expecting a nice apartment to make her feel at ease? It didn’t, and she decided to go with her instincts.

  “I’ll come back when Van is with me, okay?” She motioned for Quincy to leave with her because something just didn’t feel right. He barely glanced at the girl by the couch and then made his way across the living room. Just as Dani was beginning to feel better about leaving, a figure came at Quincy from nowhere and knocked him to the floor. At the same time, another man appeared at the door and grabbed Dani’s arm. She screamed and tried to fight back, but he was way stronger than her and dragged her into the apartment with his hand over her mouth, shutting the door behind them. She couldn’t make a sound as she watched the other man hold a gun to Quincy’s head, and then a third figure came out of a hallway on the other side of the room.

  Dani’s body went cold and her fate appeared to be sealed. She stopped struggling with the man holding her captive because it seemed like a lost cause.

  “Hello, gorgeous,” Brian smiled. He walked further into the room, pretending to assess the situation in front of him. He looked at Quincy, who was pretty pissed, and then he smiled at Dani again. “Sorry for the complicated way we had to get together, but there was just no other way.” He reached into his pocket and handed a wad of bills to the girl posing as Leah Kemp. “Why don’t you keep the clothes, too,” he told her.

  She took the cash, grabbed a tattered backpack from the corner of the room, and high-tailed it out of there.

  “There are a million actresses willing to play any role they can get their hands on,” Brian smiled at Dani.

  Dani struggled to get herself free but had no luck. Finally Brian nodded to the guy to let her go, adding, “She knows better than to screw up. You wouldn’t want anything to happen to your little friend, would you?” he asked her, nodding to Quincy.

  “What the hell do you want, Brian?” she growled at him angrily. She stepped away from the guy that had been squeezing her so tightly that she could barely breathe and said, “You touch me again and you’ll be sorry.”

  Brian laughed and said, “See? She’s cute, right? A little firecracker.”

  The guy laughed, and so did the one pointing the gun at Quincy.

  “Okay, Dani, here’s the deal,” Brian said to her. “You and I can have a nice little chat in the back room, and nothing will happen to your friend here.”

  “She’s not going anywhere with you, asshole,” Quincy said. The thug next to him belted him in the face with the barrel of his gun. It stunned him at first, but mainly made him mad. “Why don’t you put that away and see how tough you are!” he yelled at him.

  “Shut up,” Brian said, coming closer to him. “You give me trouble and this will turn out a lot worse than it has to.”

  “You lay a hand on her and you won’t know what trouble is,” Quincy threatened.

  Brian laid his fist into Quincy’s gut, dropping him to his knees. It made Dani wince, especially because she’d once seen a guy throw up after Brian did that.

  “Fine,” she said, storming past him to the hallway that he came from. “Let’s have a little chat.”

  Brian smiled his satisfaction and followed her down the hall. She paused at an open bedroom door and allowed him to go in first, but he motioned her in before him, and he shut the door behind them.

  “People know that I’m here,” was the first thing she said to him.

  He had taken a couple of ste
ps toward her and then stopped. “No one knows you’re here,” he countered.

  “Jaime does,” she told him smugly. “I even asked her to come with me but she was busy.”

  Brian didn’t like to hear that, but it didn’t deter him from what he wanted to accomplish. He stood in front of her and reached to run his hand through her hair, but she swatted it away.

  “Don’t touch me.”

  “You really are cute when you get all angry like that,” he smiled.

  “What do you want, Brian? This is ridiculous. You could go to jail for this.”

  “Oh, you’re not going to tell anyone,” he scoffed. He walked around to the side of the bed and dropped himself onto his back, placing his hands behind his head. “You know your little boyfriend? Van,” he said sourly. “He’s not really who you think he is, baby. I’m just trying to look out for you. I’ve done all that I can to talk to you, but it had to come down to this.”

  “You know nothing about Van. This is just you trying to play games with everyone. I’m sick of it, and I’m not going to believe any of your lies.”

  “Jesus, his pops is a fucking murderer, Dani,” he laughed. “I’m seriously worried about you. And Van’s a liar. He’s been lying to you, princess. That can’t be good.”

  “Oh, and what has he lied about?”

  Brian smiled, eager to deliver the information. “He lied to you about his truck. I hear he said that his buddy wrecked it.”

  “He did. We were out of town.”

  Brian chuckled. “Yes, but the truck didn’t get in an accident, sweetie. It was…totaled a different way,” he smiled smugly.

  Dani looked at him carefully until she understood the implication. “You did something to his truck?” she glared at him.

  “Well, not directly. I’m a little too sensitive to see such a nice vehicle get worked over like that. But…”