Fort Lupton (10 page)

Ivan sniffed. Sissy didn’t know what to say
so she went back to staring at the carpet.

“
I called the hospital,”
Ivan said. “Your brother? He’s critical but stable now.”

“
What?” Sissy
asked.

“
Doctor say Charlie is
stable,” Ivan said. “Still critical, but stable too. This is
good.”

Sissy bit her lip and nodded. She didn’t
dare feel hopeful in case her hope jinxed everything and Charlie
still died.

“
Mitzi Delgado?” A woman
stuck her head out from the room. Seth and Sissy stood
up.

“
Charlie, he said to me,
‘You help Sissy find the best place,’” Ivan said. He stood up
slowly. “We make sure this is best place. Otherwise, they can take
the girl with horse teeth.”

Sissy giggled at the reference to the other
girl. Ivan nodded toward the door.

“
Time to go,” Ivan
said.

Sissy followed Seth inside. She turned and
held out her hand to Ivan. He took it and they walked to the
table.

“
Miss Delgado?” the woman
moderator asked. “May we call you Mitzi?”

“
Sissy,” she
said.

“
Sissy?” the woman
asked.

“
My brother called me
‘Sissy’ when I was born.” She swallowed down her sorrow. “Now most
people call me Sissy.”

“
Sissy it is, then.” the
woman smiled. “Let’s begin.”

~~~~~~~~

Thursday morning — 8:53 a.m.

Sandy slipped into the back pew of the
Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. She didn’t have a
lot of time. She hadn’t slept more than a few hours since Charlie
got hurt.

Charlie got hurt.

She rubbed her forehead at
the pain that lived there.
Charlie
didn’t get hurt.
Charlie
didn’t
do
anything wrong.
Charlie
went work so he
could help out the family.
Charlie
walked home so that he could be present for his
girlfriend, who was in crisis.
Charlie
had done everything right,
so right that some men decided to hurt him because of some of the
right things Charlie had done.

The men were in jail.

The DA was talking about a plea deal. If
they admit to almost killing Charlie, they’ll get less time in
jail. All she knew was that Charlie had struggled to breathe while
the men who almost killed him wormed their way out of their
responsibility. She’d told the DA that when he’d come to see her.
She’d told the DA that “he could go to hell if he thought she
wouldn’t fight tooth and nail for the men who almost killed her
brother to spend the rest of their lives in jail.” He’d looked at
her like she was crazy.

She was crazy. She saw a light travel across
the pew and turned to look. Tanesha slipped in the back of the
church. Tanesha sat down next to Sandy and took her hand.

“
I’ve lost my mind,” Sandy
whispered.

“
Welcome to the club,”
Tanesha whispered back.

“
I was thinking
about
killing
those men,” Sandy whispered. “You know the ones who hurt
Charlie.”

“
I was thinking about
killing Annette,” Tanesha said. “That woman.
She . . .”

She turned to look at Sandy and raised an
eyebrow. Sandy nodded. They sat in silence watching the church.
Even though mass had been over for an hour, the church was oddly
busy. A few elderly women shuffled around the vestibules cleaning
up the mess of burned candles. The priest was talking to a group of
people near the front. Tanesha and Sandy watched the activity and
listened to their own thoughts.

The light flashed when the back opened
again. Heather squeezed passed Sandy to sit next to Tanesha near
the middle of the pew.

“
You okay?” Sandy leaned
over to whisper to Heather. “Didn’t see you last night.”

“
I couldn’t deal,” Heather
said. “Went home to cry myself to sleep.”

“
Hmp,” Tanesha said.
“We’re thinking murder and you’re crying yourself to
sleep.”

Tanesha glanced at Heather and then back at
Sandy.

“
I think she’s more
honest,” Tanesha said. Sandy nodded.

“
Why?” Heather whispered.
“What did you think?”

“
Murder.” Sandy raised her
eyebrows.

“
No, I think murder is
more honest,” Heather said. “I’m just not sure who I’d
kill.”

“
Enrique?” Tanesha asked.
“He gave Blane hep C.”

Heather became very still while she thought
through what Tanesha was saying. She shook her head.

“
I don’t have the energy
to murder anyone today,” Heather said. “You?”

She looked at Tanesha and then at Sandy.
They thought about it for a moment before acquiescing that they
were too tired for murder today.

“
But . . .”
Sandy started. She stopped talking and stared at the altar for a
moment before shaking her head. “You’re right, of
course.”

“
How’s Sissy?” Heather
whispered.

The light shone on the pew again and a
second later Jill sat down next to Sandy on the aisle. Jill put her
arm around Sandy and nodded to Tanesha and Heather. She leaned over
to Tanesha.

“
You’re mom called,
Tanesha,” Jill said. “The hospital is releasing Jabari. They can
take him home as soon as he’s released. He should be home by the
time you’re done with school.”

Tanesha looked surprised and Heather did an
air clap.

“
I got the call in the
parking lot. That’s why I’m late,” Jill said. “I called Seth.
Maresol was moved to a private room this morning. She should be out
by the end of the day today.”

Heather did another air clap.

“
Any word on Detective Red
Bear?” Tanesha asked.

“
He’s in jail,” Sandy
said.

“
Trying to get a deal from
the DA,” Heather said. “I heard that on the radio. He doesn’t want
to ‘suffer’ in jail.”

“
Because he’s risen from
the dead?” Tanesha asked.

“
Being a cop and all,”
Heather said.

Scowling, they digested this thought.

“
How’s Sissy?” Jill
repeated Heather’s question.

“
She’s doing her last
interview,” Sandy said. “I . . . She’s been at
auditions or at the hospital since Charlie got hurt. I don’t think
she’s slept much.”

“
Sissy is so good under
stress,” Jill said. “Remember how she was in
The Nutcracker
?”

“
Cool as a cucumber,”
Heather said. “She’ll be fine.”

“
I don’t know if I want
her to be fine,” Sandy said. “I feel like locking them all way in
some dungeon someplace so I know they’re safe.”

“
I’d believe you if you
didn’t work so damned hard to make them independent,” Jill
said.

Sandy glanced at Jill. For a moment, their
eyes held, and then Sandy broke down. She began to sob. Her friends
sat with her while she cried.

“
If I hadn’t made Charlie
be independent, he wouldn’t be . . .” Sandy
whispered. “And Sis . . . did you hear what those
horrible men had planned for her?”

“
And Maresol?” Sandy shook
her head. “That horrible Red Bear! Now he’s looking for a deal and
the men who hurt Charlie and . . .”

Sandy bent forward and cried into her lap.
Jill rubbed her back while Tanesha held on to her hand. Heather
leaned forward to put her hand on Sandy’s leg. They held on through
the storm of Sandy’s tears.

“
Aden’s talking to the
police again this morning,” Sandy said through her tears. “They
told him that they might have to violate his parole. You know, he
got into that fight in prison and now this. Staying out of trouble
is a contingency of him staying out of prison
and . . .”

Sandy sucked in her bottom lip, wrapped her
arms around herself, and bent over.

“
How can so much bad stuff
happen all at once?” Sandy asked, her voice no more than a
whisper.

No one had an answer for her.

“
I might not know why bad
things happen,” Jill said. “But I do know that good coffee and
great food helps.”

“
Ours is not to reason
why,” Tanesha said.

“
Ours is to drink great
coffee,” Heather said.

“
And eat great food,” Jill
said.

Sandy looked at Jill, and then at Tanesha
and Heather.

“
Or we can sit here,”
Tanesha said.

“
And let all of these bad
things stay bad,” Heather said. “At least if we get up, have
breakfast, and laugh a little bit, we allow time to
pass.”

“
And figure out what’s
next,” Sandy said.

“
And see all the
wonderfulness of our lives,” Jill said. “Rachel’s huge, Nash and
Noelle doing so well, my twins have stopped moving things in their
sleep . . .”

“
Jabari’s coming home,”
Sandy said.

“
And he’s getting well,”
Heather said.

“
I’m still in medical
school,” Tanesha said.

Jill, Sandy, and Heather air clapped for
her.

“
The water was hot for my
shower,” Sandy said. “I live in a safe home, among people who love
me. My mother left me a symphony that is amazing, according to my
father, who also loves me.”

Sandy gave a watery smile.

“
I’d like some coffee,”
she said and stood up.

“
Not that crappy hospital
coffee,” Jill said.

She got up and moved out of the pew. Tanesha
and Heather stood up. Sandy slipped out of the pew to stand with
Jill.

“
That’s right,” Tanesha
said, as she got out of the pew. “
Good
coffee.”

“
And lots of it,” Heather
said.

Sandy, Jill, and Tanesha gave Heather the
stink eye.

“
Not for me,” Heather
said. “For you. I’m thinking of
you
and
your
enjoyment.”

They laughed.

~~~~~~~~

Thursday afternoon — 1:50 p.m.

Tanesha jogged across the marble floors to
the couches on the third floor. As she rounded the corner, she knew
her decision to come up had been the right one. That same jerk was
watching the entertainment news from the couch. She skidded to a
stop. The television was playing advertisements.

“
They said they would play
it next,” the jerk on the couch said.

Tanesha scowled at him and crossed her
arms.

“
For what it’s worth, I’m
glad he’s doing better,” the jerk on the couch said.

Tanesha nodded. The television went blank
for a brief second, and then they were watching a video tape of
Jeraine and Jabari at the Atlanta airport. Jeraine walked with
Jabari on his hip. Jabari was covered in a soft blanket with
elephants on it. His face was pressed into Jeraine’s chest so all
you could see was the back of his head. Jabari’s arms were wrapped
around the stuffed elephant, Toto. Schmidty moved between the
camera man and Jeraine. Bumpy was walking next to Jeraine while
Yvonne and Dionne were slightly ahead.

“
Whatcha you doing,
Jeraine?” the man taking the video asked. “Where ya
goin’?”

“
We’re taking my son
home,” Jeraine said.

“
So you can send him back
again?” a voice yelled from somewhere off to the right of the
video.

Jeraine shook his head.

“
Why’s he wearing an eye
patch?” another voice yelled.

“
Our friend Mr.
Chesterfield’s lost his eye in this . . . incident,”
Jeraine said. Jabari leaned back to look at his father. Jeraine
looked down and gave Jabari a loving smile. He pulled the blanket
around Jabari. “Toto and Jabari wear eye patches in commemoration
of the sacrifice Mr. Chesterfield made trying to keep Jabari
safe.”

Jabari’s head went up and down. He leaned
back into Jeraine.

“
Now if you’ll excuse us,”
Jeraine said. “We’re heading home. In case you’re wondering where
that might be,
our
home is in Denver.
We
live in Denver. Isn’t that right?”

Jeraine looked at Jabari, and the child
nodded again. There was a noise, and Jeraine turned to look. Risa,
from Denver Human Services, jogged toward them. Jeraine nodded
toward the video camera. They turned and went into the
terminal.

“
That was Jeraine Wilson
and his son, Jabari,” the announcer said. “They are heading back to
Denver where the custody battle is sure to continue.”

“
So you get the child
back,” the jerk on the couch said. “Care to make a
comment?”

Tanesha squinted and looked down at the
jerk. He was filming her with a handheld video camera.

“
You’re a reporter?”
Tanesha asked.

“
Why did you force Jeraine
to send Jabari away?” the reporter asked. “Jealous? Clearly the man
loves the child.”

Tanesha shook her head. She turned in place
and walked back down the hallway.

“
You can run, but you
cannot hide,” the reporter yelled after her. “You’re going to talk
to me.”