Chocolate Girls with Golden Hair (20 page)

The forty-fourth floor.

Bianca stepped off the elevator, and to
her dismay, saw the mass of officials. It was like a weekend
convention as police officers swarmed the office. Detectives
questioned everybody while employees gossiped with one
another.

Down the corridor, through a mob of
people, Bianca saw Camina Givens, speaking with a detective as if
she were the spokesperson for the firm.

As Bianca approached the corridor, she
saw Camina remove the jacket of her black and gold, shoulder-padded
designer suit jacket, as if to show off her ruffled blouse to the
detective who stood before her. Unexpectedly, Camina turned and her
eyes met with Bianca, and for that brief moment, Bianca witnessed a
fallen smile on Camina's perfectly structured face and immediately,
Bianca turned away.

The biggest crowd seemed to have
settled in the reception area, and Bianca wanted to stay clear of
it.

Down the congested corridor, Bianca
headed towards the spiral stairs, which led to the lunchroom. She
needed to find out where the excitement stemmed from and most
importantly, the who of the body bag removed by the
police.

Up the spiral stairs, Bianca accosted
Rollie fast. After twelve years with the firm, he knew everyone and
everything. Rollie was sure to give her the skinny of it
all.

"What happened?" Bianca asked
him.

"Don't you know? Bruce Colby was
murdered last night in the men's room."

Bianca's heart could have stopped.
"Murdered?"

Rollie displayed a disturbing stare.
"Don't look so surprised, Bianca. I saw you coming from the men's
room last night, or at least I thought it was you," Rollie paused.
"It looked like you."

Bianca stared past Rollie into space.
Already he suspected her, which meant she was in big
trouble.

"Bianca, did you hear me?"

She slipped out of her momentary
trance, and collected her worries. "Did you say anything to the
police?"

"I answered their
questions."

Bianca stared down at the floor, and
tried to give the impression of indifference. "What did you tell
them?"

"I told them I saw a black woman with
blonde hair coming from the men's room last night."

"Did you tell them it was
me?"

"No."

Relief swept over Bianca's face as
Rollie continued. "I told them it could have been you. Or Michelle.
Or Camina. They're going to want to talk to you. All three of
you."

Bianca turned her attention away from
him, trying to figure out what to do. After a long silence, she
abruptly made a U-turn away from Rollie and headed down the stairs
like a woman with a purpose.

"Where are you going?" Rollie called
out to her.

Bianca didn't look back as she
continued towards the elevators and through the crowd. Though
Rollie continued to call her name, she purposely ignored him.
Finally, she reached the bank of elevators in a fluster. More
concerned with her surroundings, she accidentally buttoned her coat
incorrectly. What she wanted to do was sweep off to the ladies'
room and guzzle a taste of Chardonnay from her travel mug, but
there was no time. Only seconds passed before the elevator arrived,
but it felt like forever.

Camina had nothing to hide or so she
believed. With Bianca and Michelle unavailable, she was the first
to be questioned by the detectives and glad about it. As soon as
possible, she wanted to clear her name with the hope of narrowing
the number of suspects to one.

In the chilly conference room, she
patiently awaited Detectives Uhler and Lane. She anticipated them
bursting through the door with a slew of unnecessary questions,
most of which she had already answered. And all because she just
happened to be one of three black blondes in the firm.

Although she had good reason to harm
the late Bruce Colby, she was not the one with the identity
problem. She hadn't behaved like a slut, half-naked in the men's
room like someone else she knew.

Namely, Bianca.

She shared no responsibility for his
death, nor did she feel any remorse. Still, she was on the list to
be questioned and there was no way out of it. Determined not to let
this whole interrogation business smolder her, she scooted her
chair up against the long table, straightened her jacket and
slipped out of her three-inch heels. She forced herself to relax.
The sooner she answered their questions, the sooner the detectives
could move in on the true culprit.

The door opened and Detectives Uhler
and Lane moved towards her. Detective Uhler appeared to be the one
in charge. He wore wire-framed glasses, and his grey sideburns
matched his grey wrinkled suit. He possessed a soft look with a
little extra weight here and there on his thick frame. Right behind
Detective Uhler, Detective Lane closed the conference room door,
then planted himself in the seat across from Camina. He wore black
bifocals, which did not complement his stylish leather
jacket.

Detective Uhler pulled out his tiny
note pad and scribbled something down, probably something along the
lines of: Suspect No. 1. From the corner of Camina's eye, she
studied Detective Lane as he studied her.

"Do you know why anyone would have
wanted to kill Bruce Colby?" Detective Uhler asked
Camina.

Camina hesitated for a moment, then
raised her shoulders.

"Is that a yes or a no?" Detective Lane
asked.

"I don't know. Why don't you talk to
Bianca? She's the one with the identity problem."

The detectives exchanged quick glimpses
at each other as if secretly communicating.

Detective Uhler seated himself across
from Camina and after a moment asked, "What do you mean identity
problem?"

"Just what I said. She doesn't know who
she is."

"How do you mean?"

"In the last three weeks, she did a
complete makeover of herself, bleached her hair, and did a complete
revamp of her wardrobe in the hopes of becoming more like me. And
right about now, she's capable of almost anything."

"Like murder?" Detective Lane
asked.

"Anything. That's who you should be
questioning right now. Not me."

Detective Uhler gave Camina a firm
stare, pulled his handkerchief from his pocket and cleaned his
glasses. "Ms. Givens, all of that information about Ms. Bell is
very interesting, and we appreciate you sharing it with us, but let
me put it to you this way."

Camina's eyes vacillated between
Detectives Uhler and Lane while Detective Uhler continued. "A
witness reported seeing a black woman about your height and build,
with blonde hair, coming from the men's room right around the time
Bruce Colby was strangled."

"And?"

"You're tall, have blonde hair, don't
you?"

"Yes, but I'm not the only
one."

Detective Uhler pushed his glasses up
on his nose. "Ms. Givens, we are well aware of the other two
blondes on staff here."

"Well, why don't you talk to
them?"

"We plan to," Detective Lane
stated.

"Does that mean I can
leave?"

Detective Uhler ignored her question
and continued. "Did you see Bruce Colby yesterday?"

"Are you going to ask Bianca these same
questions?"

"Don't worry, she'll have her turn,"
Detective Lane said as he stood up.

"And what about Michelle?" Camina
asked.

"She called in sick this morning, but
we'll talk to her too." Detective Uhler paused. "Now," Detective
Uhler said. "Once again, did you see Bruce Colby
yesterday?"

"Of course I saw him. I work for
him."

Detective Lane interrupted. "You mean
you used to work for him."

"Yeah, whatever," she said.

Detective Lane continued. "Did you see
him last night after hours?"

"I saw him yesterday before I
left."

"Before you left for where?"

"Before I left for my doctor's
appointment."

"What time was that?" Detective Uhler
asked.

"About four forty-five, five
o'clock."

"And that's all? You never saw him
anymore after that?" Detective Uhler asked.

"That's what I just said, isn't
it?"

Detective Lane stepped towards Camina.
"Ms. Givens, were you having an affair with Bruce
Colby?"

"No."

"No?" Detective Lane asked,
doubtfully.

"No. Do you want me to break it down
for you? No. Bruce was married. I may have had a drink with him,
but I have no interest in married men."

Bianca's coat was nearly off by the
time she reached the inside of her apartment. She trampled through
the litter of Macy's shopping bags, which she never seemed to throw
away. She swung her shoes from her feet, unbuttoned her blouse and
made her way towards the bathroom. Off with her skirt, blouse and
then her pantyhose.

She was wearing only her lace panties
and bra when she bent down to her bathroom cabinet and yanked out
everything that she could secure with her hands.

Laundry detergent.

Bleach.

Bathroom cleanser.

Glass cleaner.

Bubble bath.

Tampons.

Soap.

Finally, all the way in the back of the
cabinet, she found what she was after─A box of black hair
color.

She refused to be caught up in a nasty
investigation, lumped together with two other blonde suspects.
After all, blonde wasn't even her natural color. Though dying her
hair at this time was probably not a sensible move, it needed to be
done.

Her blushing blonde hair symbolized
transformation, discord and regret. And she wanted out. She could
no longer be the person she so much wanted to be just a few weeks
earlier, the person who fell under the spell of excitement and
adventure.

It was worth a concentrated effort to
try and make things right again. And ridding herself of the blonde
hair was just the beginning. More changes were to
follow.

Bianca massaged the black hair color
into her hair fast. Her heart pounded as the black hair color
penetrated her tresses, knowing that soon her hair would be back to
its natural black color. She liked to think that solving her
problem was as simple as coloring her hair, but she knew
differently. She was still a suspect, blonde hair or
not.

Chapter 14

DETECTIVES UHLER AND LANE WERE in the
midst of drilling Camina about the nature of her relationship with
the late Bruce Colby when a uniformed police officer entered.
"Detective Uhler, I need to speak with you outside."

"Excuse me," Detective Uhler said to
Camina.

When Detective Uhler stepped outside
the door, Camina's eyes met with Detective Lane. He was watching
her and she was watching him. With the door ajar, Camina could hear
bits and pieces of Detective Uhler's conversation with the
uniformed police officer. Soon Detective Lane stepped over to the
door, closed it as if he noticed Camina's inclination to listen
in.

Minutes later, Detective Uhler returned
to the conference room, sat down next to Camina and before he could
say anything, Camina asked, "What was that all about?"

"We pulled a copy of the sign-in sheet
from security."

"And?"

Detective Uhler referred to his notes
in hand. "You said you left the office at about 4:45. Is that
right?"

"That's right."

"Well. According to the sign-in sheet,
you came back and signed in at six o'clock." Detective Uhler moved
his glasses upon his nose. "But there's no record of you signing
out. How do you explain that?"

His question stumped her and frazzled
her nerves, causing her to swallow hard. She would have to explain
after collecting her thoughts.

"We're waiting," Detective Lane
stated.

"I did come back," Camina said. "But
only to get my purse."

"And then what?" Detective Lane
asked.

"Then nothing. I grabbed my purse and
left and I didn't sign out because when I was leaving, the security
guard had stepped away, and I was in a hurry."

"When you came back, did anyone see
you?" Detective Lane asked.

Before Camina could answer, Detective
Uhler interrupted and rephrased the question. "Did you see
anyone?"

"No."

"Are you sure?" Detective Lane asked.
"I mean you can think about it if you want to. Maybe you
forgot."

"I ought to be able to remember if I
saw anyone or not."

"Well, you forgot that you came back to
get your purse," Detective Lane said.

"That was different."