Firestone (28 page)

“
Hi Jabari,” Tanesha
said.

She kneeled down next to the bed. Jabari
held out his hand, and she took it. Tanesha smiled.

“
How are you, buddy?”
Tanesha asked.

“
Sick,” Jabari said.
“Again. But . . .”

The boy gestured for Tanesha to come closer
to him. She hopped up and leaned over the bed.

“
I heard your wish,”
Jabari said.

Surprised, Tanesha leaned back to look at
him. The child nodded.

“
I’m going to get well so
you can be my mommy,” Jabari said. “Do you want to be my
mommy?”

The nurse’s breath caught at his request.
Teary, she moved to the door.

“
I do,” Tanesha
said.

“
You wished I was better.”
Jabari nodded.

“
I do,” Tanesha said.
“With all my heart.”

“
Then it will be done,”
Jabari said. His eyes glanced at Jeraine and he smiled. “Hi
Dad.”

“
You know what?” The nurse
came toward them. “Why don’t you get in the bed with
him?”

“
Can I?” Tanesha
asked.

“
I don’t see why not,” the
nurse said. “In fact, I’m on until six tomorrow morning. If you
want to, you can stay. I won’t tell anyone.”

“
Sure,” Jeraine
said.

“
I just have study group
tomorrow,” Tanesha said. “I can walk from here.”

“
Then it’s settled,” the
nurse said. “I’ll wake you up before I get off shift.”

“
I’d really appreciate
it.” Jeraine gave the nurse his charming smile. She
blushed.

“
Go on,” the nurse
said.

Tanesha sat on the side of the bed and took
off her boots. Jeraine pushed the stuffed animals out of the way to
make space for her. She climbed into bed to snuggle Jabari. He
beamed.

“
You sleep.” The nurse
pointed to Jabari. “No mischief.”

“
I will,” Jabari said. The
nurse left the room.

Tanesha lay on her side with the little boy
in front of her. She stroked his hair and willed her strength into
his tiny form. Jabari fell sound asleep. When she looked up,
Jeraine was smiling at her.

“
What?” Tanesha
mouthed.

“
Just a nice picture,”
Jeraine said.

Tanesha smiled and held out her hand to him.
He kissed her hand. They held hands until long after Jabari fell
asleep. Jeraine let go to settle into sleep. Sometime after the
nurse checked on Jabari at midnight, Tanesha fell asleep next to
her blessing, her little Jabari.

Saturday morning — 8:14 a.m.

“
You stayed?” Fin asked
Tanesha.

They were sitting at a small table in a
private study room at the Anschutz Health Sciences Library. They
were allowed to speak with each other in the study room.

“
In Jabari’s bed.” Tanesha
nodded.

“
There’s nothing better
than snuggling a baby,” Fin said.

“
You and NeNe?” Tanesha
asked.

Fin nodded.

“
She became very ill when
she was small,” Fin said. “We were sure we’d lose her. Of course,
we didn’t have the kind of medical genius that we’re learning,
but . . .”

He shrugged.

“
You had magic,” Tanesha
said.

“
We had fairy magic.” Fin
smiled. “Powerful, but woefully limited. Remember, we are not the
species that ended up propagating the earth.”

“
Not for lack of trying.”
Tanesha smiled.

Fin laughed. She looked down at her books
for a moment.

“
Yes?” Fin
asked.

“
Oh . . .”
Tanesha looked up at him. “It’s
just . . .”

Fin tipped his head to the side and waited.
He’d learned that in order to get Tanesha to speak, she needed a
lot of silence to gather her thoughts. He waited. She shook her
head and looked at her books again.

“
Yes?” Fin
repeated.

“
It’s just
that . . .” Tanesha scowled. “I listen to Jeraine
talk about the mothers of his children
and . . .”

She nodded.

“
I can’t figure it out,”
Tanesha said.

“
You can’t figure what
out?” Fin asked.

“
I can’t
figure . . .” Tanesha looked through the window out
into the library, and then looked back at Fin. “So there’s Annette,
right?”

“
Right,” Fin
said.

“
She’s the one he was
going to marry,” Tanesha said. “He came to Denver to ask for a
divorce so he could marry her, and then he changed his mind.
According to Jer, she told him she was pregnant then. Schmidty
showed me the child support records. Nine months later, she had a
male child she named Jabari, and then she started cashing
in.”

“
Four and a half years
ago.” Fin nodded.

“
I know about Jeraine
Junior’s mother.” Tanesha scowled.

“
She was on the television
when you were reintroduced to Rodney,” Fin said.

“
Right,” Tanesha said.
“She went to see Jeraine for her birthday. She was with Jeraine and
put a hole in the condom while he was snorting lines. Bam, she’s
pregnant. Everybody knows that story.”

“
Okay,” Fin
said.

“
Jeraine Junior is about
six,” Tanesha said. “Almost six.”

“
What bothers you?” Fin
asked.

“
Well . . .” Tanesha scowled. “Jeraine, I
guess.”

“
What’s new?” Fin
smiled.

“
That’s the truth,”
Tanesha laughed.

“
Spit it out,” Fin said.
“We need to get this studying done or we’ll fail on
Monday.”

“
Is that a
prediction?”

“
That’s a fact,” Fin said.
“What’s bothering you?”

“
Okay, so we know about
Annette,” Tanesha said. “Jeraine’s said that
JJ . . .”

“
Jeraine Junior,” Fin
said.

“
Yes,” Tanesha said. “His
mother is in radiology school. Jer said that she apologized to him
for tricking him into getting her pregnant. He told me that she
came from extreme poverty. He said she was using the child support
as a way to better her family and herself. She’d bought a home for
her parents and was going to college. He was really proud of
her.”

Fin nodded.

“
That’s not the woman who
was on my porch,” Tanesha said.

“
How do you know?” Fin
asked.

“
Her language was
all . . . nasty,” Tanesha said. “Her clothing
and . . .”

Tanesha shook her head.

“
So I asked Jer,” Tanesha
said. “He told me that JJ . . .”

“
Jeraine Junior,” Fin
said. “You have to get used to calling your step-son by his
name.”

Tanesha scowled. Fin gave her a hard
look.

“
Fine, Jeraine Junior,”
Tanesha said.

“
What did Jeraine say
about the woman on your porch?” Fin asked.

“
He said that Jeraine
Junior,” Tanesha emphasized the syllables of the child’s name, and
Fin smiled, “was being cared for by his grandparents. The child
believes the woman on my porch is his sister.”

“
So not the radiologist
who’s using the opportunity to get her life together,” Fin
said.

“
Exactly,” Tanesha said.
“I asked him, but he’s so defensive about these kids that
he . . .”

“
But you’re sure the woman
on your porch the same girl who you saw on television?” Fin
asked.

Tanesha thought for a moment. “You know, I
think so.”

“
Then he doesn’t know
about these women,” Fin said.

“
Is that
possible?”

“
He was
high . . .?” Fin asked.

“
All the time,” Tanesha
said. “Surrounded by fools.”

“
So it’s possible,” Fin
said.

“
What’s
possible?”

“
That there are three or
four mothers,” Fin said.

“
He’s only ever paid for
two kids,” Tanesha said. “Jeraine Junior and Jabari. That’s
all.”

“
You think there was a
secret fund?” Fin asked. “Maybe a one-time payout?”

“
No way,” Tanesha said.
“Schmidty had been incredibly thorough. He’s gone through
everything with a fine-tooth comb. He even sued the record company
to audit their records of Jeraine’s career. And he sends everything
to me. Between the two of us, we’d have found it. That’s why
it’s . . . confusing.”

“
Why?”

“
Because there are more
mothers than money,” Tanesha said.

“
But only two children,”
Fin said.

“
Right,” Tanesha said.
“Two children.”

“
You sure?”

Tanesha nodded.

“
So you have at least one
extra mother,” Fin said. As a test, he gave Tanesha a simple
challenge. “Ok, who?”

“
Annette,” Tanesha
said.

“
Because that’s what you
want?” Fin asked.

“
Because I don’t think
Jabari is her son.” Tanesha nodded.

“
Is that what you want to
be true?” Fin pressed. “Or what’s actually true?”

Tanesha scowled and looked off through the
window to the library again.

“
Annette is not Jabari’s
mother.” Tanesha looked at Fin. “And he’s not four years
old.”

“
I’d bet you’re right,”
Fin said. “Anything you can do about that right now?”

“
Not a thing.” Tanesha
smiled.

“
Then let’s get to work,”
Fin said.

He looked down at his books, and Tanesha
smiled.

“
What?” Fin asked, but
didn’t look up.

“
You’re a good friend,
Fin,” Tanesha said.

She turned her attention to her book and
started to read. He looked up at her, and smiled.

~~~~~~~~

Saturday morning — 10:24 a.m.

“
So that’s it?” Sandy
asked.

She crossed her arms and scowled at the back
of Detective Red Bear’s head on the computer screen. His head was
wrapped in gauze. She could see a seam of blood that had seeped
from the five stitches required to seal his hockey puck injury.
Detective Red Bear sat with his back to the surveillance camera at
a table in the interrogation room.

“
I’m afraid so,” Seth
said. “He’s just waiting for the Marshalls to pick him
up.”

“
Witness protection,”
Sandy mumbled.

“
Listen, I know it’s not
fair, but . . .” Seth started.

Sandy gave him a dark look, and he stopped
talking.

“
Did he say why he killed
my mother?” Sandy asked.

Seth blinked. He’d never heard Sandy refer
to Andy as her mother. He cleared his throat and looked at the
ground for a moment to collect himself.

“
He didn’t,” Sandy
snorted. “Coward.”

Seth looked up at her.

“
What?” Sandy
asked.

“
I’m wondering if it would
make you feel better to hear what he said,” Seth said.

“
What did he say?” Sandy
asked.

“
He said that Andy killed
herself,” Seth said. “He said that seeing you, knowing that you
were alive and safe, well loved, she told him she’d not live one
more day under his control.”

Sandy’s eyes welled with tears.

“
I should never have
gone,” Sandy said.

“
I think he’s a liar,”
Seth said. “So do Raz and Colin. Raz believes he killed Andy
because he could no longer control her.”

“
Because of me and
Rachel?” Sandy asked. She turned to look at him.

“
And this.” Seth touched
the ring on her left hand. “Andy knew you were loved and well cared
for by this.”

“
My wedding
ring?”

Seth nodded.

“
She said that he would
kill me,” Sandy said. “She thought I was dead, or at least dead to
her. She submitted herself to that man so that
I . . .”

Tears slid down Sandy’s face.

“
And he gets to
live . . .” Sandy said.

“
If it’s any consolation,
he’s given evidence as to exactly who is involved in the spread of
child pornography,” Seth said. “The ICE guys were here most of the
night. They arrested twenty people — men and women — who spread
child pornography, including yours. With the network destroyed, the
young man who instigated the rape ring here is looking for a deal.
They’ve toppled like dominoes. They expect to have plea agreements
for the entire lot of them by the end of the weekend.”

“
And Andy?” Sandy spit
out. She flushed with rage. “Tink and the other girls, who they
used horribly, tortured, and abused? Noelle, who they terrified?
What do they get?”

“
The whole thing, that
whole mess, is over, Sandy,” Seth said. “Raz and Colin are tracking
the details — mostly where the money is. They expect to arrest the
bankers today. Then, that’s it. No one will ever be abused by this
ring. No high school girl will have to endure what these girls have
had to go through.”