One Way or Another (4 page)

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Authors: Rhonda Bowen

BOOK: One Way or Another
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“What?” Afrika asked when she caught Toni staring at her. “I'm right, aren't I?”
Toni didn't answer but pondered the thought as she chewed on the head of a broccoli spear. If she was going to be stuck in general assignment she might as well make it interesting. It couldn't hurt to look into Jasmine's story anyway. At the very least it would get her sister-in-law off her back and earn her some Brownie points with her brother.
“Okay,” Toni said reluctantly. “I guess I can check it out. When can I come by?”
“Maybe early next week. I'll talk to the guys at the center, find out if it's okay, and give you a call,” Jasmine said.
Toni turned her attention back to her pita sandwich. “What's this kid's name anyway?”
“Jerome Douglas.”
 
Toni spun her motorcycle into the parking lot of the Jacob's House Young Men's Center. She shut off the engine, removed her helmet, and looked wearily up at the three-story building. She had spent the last few years actively avoiding the group home that was connected to her brother's church, Immanuel Temple Atlanta. It's not that she had anything against the place. It was just that she heard enough Jesus-talk whenever she was around Jasmine and Trey, who were heavily involved with the church. She didn't need to be preached to at Jacob's House as well.
Jasmine had been a Christian all her life. Toni had had the pleasure of learning this the first time she met her when Trey brought her home for Christmas. At that point Toni was almost positive that her brother's relationship with the high-society Latina woman wouldn't last. Both Trey and Toni had given up on the Christianity thing for various reasons.
But either Jasmine didn't know this or she didn't care, as she never stopped trying to get them to come to church with her. Toni had resisted. Trey hadn't. But Toni had always suspected that her brother had only done it because he knew he wouldn't have had a chance with Jasmine otherwise. But somewhere along the way he had changed, and by the time he had married Jasmine they were united in their campaign to save Toni for the Kingdom—whether she was interested or not.
With a sigh, she pocketed the keys to her bike and trudged up the front steps. She tried not to laugh as the two young men in headphones sitting on the steps gawked at her. She was used to getting that look every time she showed up somewhere new with her Honda CBR250R. It was her second motorcycle, definitely an upgrade from the scooter she'd had before. And she loved every second on it, even though it kept her brother and sister-in-law on heart medicine.
She winked at the boys before slipping through the double doors into the main lobby where Jasmine was already waiting.
“Hey, mami, you got here quickly!”
Toni grinned at her sister-in-law, who was looking stylish in black slacks and a white wrap blouse. Her long, thick black hair, left hanging loose, was curling slightly around her face, contrasting with her smooth olive complexion and making her small nose and full lips look even more Latina than usual. She might not agree with Jasmine on a lot of things, but she had to admit, that was one beautiful woman her brother had married.
“Time is money,” Toni said, accepting Jasmine's warm embrace.
“Ugh, don't tell me you rode that thing over here.” Jasmine flicked at the helmet in Toni's hand.
“You know, Jasmine, you might love it if you give it a try,” Toni teased. “And think of how sexy Trey will think you are on the back of a bike.”
“Please,” Jasmine scoffed. “There's nothing sexy about being dead, and that's exactly what's going to happen if you don't give up that thing soon. Especially with the way you ride.”
“Yeah, yeah. Heard it all before,” Toni said, looping her arm into her friend's and changing the subject. “Show me your office. I can't believe you've worked here for almost two years and I've never seen it.”
“Well, technically, I don't really work here—I volunteer,” Jasmine corrected as the two ladies turned into a wide open corridor with large windows that opened up to a field on one side, and doorways to what looked like classrooms on the other.
“And my office is actually a common room used by all the staff.”
Toni followed Jasmine into a large room that looked more like a staff lounge than anything else. Several school-teacher desks that had seen better days with similar looking chairs were set up strategically at the front and at one side of the room. At the other end of the room two battered couches and a coffee table created a makeshift lounge area. Beside the lounge area was a door that led into what looked like another office. From what Toni saw through the slightly ajar door, it was pretty tiny. Definitely nothing to write home about.
“Geez, this place is tighter than our newsroom at the
AJC,
” Toni murmured.
Jasmine chuckled. “I know.” She guided Toni toward one side of the room. “But none of us really spends a lot of time in here anyway, so it's not that big a deal. Plus if we have less, it means the boys can have more.”
“I guess this is your desk?” Toni asked, sinking into a battered chair at the side of a desk that looked like it used to be mahogany.
“How'd you guess?”
Toni pointed to the picture of Jasmine and Trey. “You must have made a hundred of these and stuck them up everywhere,” Toni said, shaking her head at the picture. “It's your own personal Jasmine-was-here stamp.”
“Whatever,” Jasmine said, shrugging, even though Toni could see the redness staining her cheeks. “For your information, I share this desk with my husband. That's why the picture is there.”
“Mmm-hmm,” Toni said, knowing better. She had seen that exact picture in Jasmine's office at the clinic, in her car, and also in her purse. Her friend wasn't fooling anyone. Nonetheless, Toni thought it was cute that Jasmine and Trey were still crazy in love after five years of marriage.
“Okay, so who's the dude who gets that piece of real estate?” Toni asked, nodding toward the one solo office.
Jasmine looked up from the files she was gathering. “Oh, that's our director's office. He pretty much runs things at the center.”
“Hmm,” Toni murmured.
“Yeah, in fact, we need to talk to him,” Jasmine said, biting her lip. “He has to give the okay for you to do the piece on Jerome.”
Toni's head snapped up. “Jasmine!”
“What?” Jasmine asked, avoiding her friend's eyes guiltily.
“You told me on the phone that the whole thing was okay!” Toni groaned and covered her face. “You know how much I hate the politics of these things. I thought everything was already set for me to meet this kid.”
“It is,” Jasmine insisted, glancing away. “Sort of.”
Toni folded her arms and glared at her fidgety friend.
“Look, he was a bit skeptical,” Jasmine conceded. “But I am sure once he meets you and you give him your pitch for the story, he'll be all over it.”
Toni groaned and buried her head in her hands.
“Come on, it won't be that bad,” Jasmine cajoled, springing to her feet and dragging Toni with her. “All we have to do is find him.”
Toni sighed. This was why she picked her own stories. She should have known better than to get Jasmine of all people involved.
“Oh, here he is now,” Jasmine said brightly. “Adam, this is the person I spoke to you about earlier. Adam, meet my sister-in-law, Toni. Toni, this is our director, Adam Bayne.”
Toni turned around and let out a laugh. It was Mr. Man from the station.
“This is your friend?” he asked, an eyebrow raised as his delicious eyes glanced at Toni and then back at Jasmine.
Toni took up her purse and helmet, already knowing the end of this particular story.
“We already met.” He smirked. “And my answer is the same as before, Jasmine. No.”
Chapter 3
“S
o I hear you met my sister today.”
Adam grimaced, faked Trey on his left, and dribbled past him on the right side before doing a clean layup at the basketball net.
“Yeah. For the second time,” he said, tossing the rebound back to Trey, who was still panting a few feet south of center court. “Remember the girl I told you about from the other night when I picked up Rasheed?”
Trey let out a laugh. “No way!”
“Oh, yes. It was her,” Adam said, shaking his head.
“Oh, man. Jazzy told me you met her.” Trey dribbled the ball while he tried to catch his breath. “That's our Toni,” he said. “Also known to the newspaper world as T. R. Shields.”
Trey tried to dribble past Adam with the ball. But Trey was weak on his right side, and Adam knew it. Blocking him hard on the left, Adam forced him right and then easily stole the ball. By the time Trey caught up with him the basketball was already swishing smoothly through the net.
Trey rested his hands on his knees, panting. Adam shook his head at his friend, who was so out of breath that he could barely call “time.”
“Man, look at you,” Adam chided mockingly. “You're a disgrace to men everywhere.”
“Hey, I'm not as young as I used to be,” Trey said breathlessly, even though at thirty-one he was only a year older than Adam. Staggering, Trey followed Adam over to the bench by the side of the court. “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak,” Trey panted.
“You mean
your
will is weak,” Adam teased, grabbing his bottle of Gatorade from off the bench behind the center. “I've been to your house. I know what Jasmine's been feeding you. You just can't say no.”
“Hey, no blaming the wife,” Jasmine called out as she walked toward them from the back doors.
“Baby, did you see how Adam was whopping my behind out there?” Trey called out. “How you gonna let him do me like that?”
“Sorry, hon, I got my own battles to fight with this one,” Jasmine said, sitting down on the bench beside Adam.
“Before you say another word, Jas, I'm not changing my mind.”
“Come on, Adam. You haven't even given her a chance,” Jasmine whined. “You know she's a really good reporter. I've heard you say so yourself.”
“She's a criminal in the making,” Adam said, wiping his face with a towel. “You forget that I saw her assault a police officer?” A serious look came over Adam's face.
“I don't need Jerome picking up her any-means-necessary attitude. We're tryin' to instill certain values in these boys—so they know how to come correct in every situation.”
“Don't you think that you're making too much of it, though?” Jasmine asked. “From the way she told it, that officer was pretty out of line. If he had done to me what he did to her, I would've probably gone off on him as well.”
Adam knew that she was right. After all, he had almost taken matters into his own hands.
“All she wants to do is talk to Jerome, find out his case, maybe write a story about it,” Jasmine finished.
What Jasmine said sounded innocent enough. But even though Toni had been disrespected that night at the station, it was hard for Adam to forget everything that had gone down before that.
“Your girl was still caught doing something shady,” Adam said, shaking his head. “That's how she ended up at the station bargaining for her freedom in the first place. Plus the way she went off on me while I was there ...”
“She can be a little rough sometimes,” Trey admitted.
“Hey! You're supposed to be on my side,” Jasmine said, whopping him with his towel.
“Oww ... But, baby, it's true,” Trey said, rubbing his arm, a wounded look on his face. Adam grinned at the two of them as they fussed with each other. They were one of the most functional married couples he knew. Though he had no immediate plans, Adam knew that whenever he tied the knot, it had better be as real as Trey and Jasmine.
“Adam, come on,” Jasmine tried again. “Have I ever steered you wrong?”
Adam sighed and began stuffing his high tops into the gym bag at his feet. “Jas, I know you're pretty sure about this, but I gotta do what's right for Jerome.”
His eyes darkened as he thought about the seventeen-year-old young man, and even the warm afternoon sunshine streaming through the maple trees surrounding the court couldn't lighten the air of solemnity that seemed to fall over the three of them.
“How did things go today?” Jasmine asked, referring to Jerome and Adam's visit to Legal Aid earlier that morning.
Adam shook his head. “Not good. We spent almost all day downtown and I feel like we keep getting the runaround. You would think that since they know us there they would give us a break and get us through the system, but sometimes I feel like they make it harder on us, just because.”
“So still the same lawyer,” Trey said with an air of disgust.
Adam nodded and Jasmine hissed her teeth.
“Have you even heard from him?” Jasmine asked, her distaste obvious.
“Not since he showed up late to court for Jerome's hearing three weeks ago,” Adam responded dryly, leaning back against the picnic table portion of the bench. “We've tried calling and leaving messages but I guess we're not high up on his list of priorities.”
Adam's brow furrowed as he remembered the frazzled guy who had been assigned to Jerome this second time around. The guy hadn't even known Jerome's name before he entered the courtroom. If only they could have had Jerome's original lawyer, Wallace. But he had left Legal Aid and moved to Alberta, Canada, to open up his own labor law practice a year earlier. And since there was never a dull moment between oil workers and mining companies over on that side, Adam doubted that he would see the dedicated court officer on this side of the border anytime soon.
“There's got to be something we can do,” Jasmine said, shaking her head. “We can't let this happen to Jerome, not when he's come so far.”
“I talked to his teacher last week. She said he finished at the top of his class this past spring. So are you telling me the kid's gonna go through all of that just to serve five years in prison?”
Adam wished he could tell Jasmine that wouldn't be Jerome's story, but he had seen too much happen with the boys who came through this place to be optimistic. Jerome's situation bothered him more than the others though. Maybe it was because he had seen the kid grow up before his eyes. Maybe because he knew Jerome was bright, and deserved a second chance. Maybe because Jerome reminded him of himself, and it didn't seem fair that he should have been able to start over and this kid couldn't.
“What are you thinking?” Jasmine asked, her brow furrowed as she peered at him.
“Nothing,” Adam said, pushing the thoughts of his past out of his mind. The look she gave him told him she knew he was lying. But he had not told Jasmine and Trey about his past, and he wasn't about to start now. He hated when she shrinked him.
“Look, maybe I can make a few calls and see if we can find someone,” said Trey, who had been silent for awhile. “We really should have a lawyer on volunteer staff here.”
“Like we should have a gym, and a computer room with more than five machines, and a few tutors,” said Jasmine dryly. “There's no money for any of that either.”
“God gives us what we need when we need it,” Adam said, standing up and slinging his gym bag over his shoulder. “Let's give thanks for that.”
But the words were more for himself than for his friends. And as he walked toward the center's back doors with Jasmine and Trey trailing him, he couldn't help but hope, like they did, for a little more.
 
“So how'd it go yesterday?” Afrika asked, following Toni into her office and plopping down in a chair beside Toni's desk.
“It was a bust,” Toni said, as she recalled her run-in with Adam at the center. She dumped her purse, iPhone, and portfolio on her desk. “Remember the guy from the station the other night?”
“The sexy one with the kid?”
“Yeah, him.” Toni raised an eyebrow. “You thought he was sexy?”
“Yah, girl,” Afrika said, her eyebrows going up in confirmation. “All six-plus feet of him. And did you see his—”
Toni raised a hand to stop her friend before she could go into details. “He's the director for Jacob's House.”
Afrika whistled. “Sometimes I forget how small the ATL is. Guess that story's a wrap.”
“You got that right,” Toni said, sitting back and grimacing. “He was not happy to see me at all.”
“That's too bad,” Afrika said, resting a manila folder on top of the junk on Toni's desk. “ 'Cause from all accounts this one looks like it could be a front pager.”
“Really,” Toni said, not hiding her skepticism as she powered up her laptop with one hand and flipped Afrika's folder open with the other. “What did you find?”
“Let's just say, you owe me big time for this one,” Afrika said with a smug grin.
Toni shook her head. Afrika was good at hair, but the truth was she should have been a private eye for the way she could dig up information. Not only did she seem to have a cousin, aunty, neighbor, or friend in every single area of the city, but somehow she had a knack for uncovering the most unattainable pieces of information. God bless the day Toni walked into Banyan Tree Salon and reconnected with Afrika. Who knew her old high school friend would be more connected than Atlanta's finest?
“Okay,” Toni said, swiveling her chair toward Afrika. “Convince me.”
“Well, it looks like this whole case is less about the kid and more about what the city is doing with the police.”
Afrika dropped her voice and leaned in toward Toni. “So you know this kid got charged for grand theft auto, right? Well, apparently, two months ago the city cut the number of officers working in that area.”
Toni shrugged, not particularly impressed. “So what? They reassign officers all the time. What's the big deal?”
“The deal is that once the insurance associations heard about it they got into a fit,” Afrika continued. “Of course, the city ignored them so they leaked it to the opposition, who plan to use it as a campaign tool against the current city government. And guess what year it is?”
“Election year,” Toni murmured absently, as the gears began to fit together in her mind. “So they're using Jerome and his case as an example of how they are not ignoring auto theft, but making their unit more efficient.”
“Exactly,” Afrika said triumphantly.
Toni leaned back in her chair, rolling her pen between her palms absently. This was definitely something she could work with. In fact, she already knew at least three different angles she could approach the story from. Afrika was right about her initial suspicion that they could wring at least three headlines out of the whole thing, if they did enough digging.
“Aren't you glad I talked you back into this story?” Afrika asked, crossing her legs in satisfaction. “With all the work I've done too, you better show a sister some appreciation.”
“That's if this story ever makes it to print,” Toni said, sitting up straight again and pulling up her contact list on the computer. “If Adam Bayne doesn't let me talk to Jerome, then there won't be any appreciation for any of us.”
Afrika stood up. “Well, maybe someone needs to bite the bullet then and get to begging.”
“First of all, I don't beg for anything,” Toni said pointedly. “Secondly, why should I have to convince some glorified juvenile parole officer to give me a story that's going to help his kids?”
“Because I know you, girl, and there ain't nothing you love more than a front page story,” Afrika tossed behind her as she sashayed toward the elevator.
Toni scowled, but even as she did, she picked up the phone and started dialing. If she really wanted this story it was clear that she would have to make it good for Adam.
“Hey, Dwayne? It's me, Toni,” she cooed in her best voice through the receiver. “Remember when I delayed running that story on your client so his stock wouldn't fall before his big sale, and you told me you owed me big time? Well, I'm ready to collect.. . .”

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