What's Done In the Dark (17 page)

She smiled.

“But this is it.” I tore off the check. “The only reason I’m doing this is because I don’t need the headache of anyone raising any questions.”

“Of course you don’t,” she said, taking the check. “But I think I decide when this is over.” She flashed a smile as she tucked the check in her bra. “Have a nice day. Don’t pick up any more men in this bar,” she added before going to wait on the next customer.

I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

In the car, I knew I was too frazzled to go home, so I called my younger sister.

“Fran, where are you?” I asked as soon as she picked up.

“About to go meet Mavis for lunch,” she replied.

I debated hanging up because I didn’t want to hear Mavis’s mouth, but I needed Fran. Maybe I needed them both. “Where are you guys meeting?”

“Pappasito’s on 59. Why?”

“I’m going to come meet you.”

“Oh, okay, what’s up?”

“I just need to talk.”

“Okay, I’ll see you there,” Fran said.

Fifteen minutes later, I pulled into the Pappasito’s
parking lot. I spotted Fran pulling into a spot near the front of the restaurant. But she was driving a car I’d never seen before.

“What’s up, sis?” she asked as she got out of the car.

“Um, where did this come from?” I asked, eyeing the silver Mercedes.

She grinned as she ran her hand over the hood. “Nice, huh? This is my man’s car.”

“What man?” I said. Fran couldn’t keep a man for longer than two months, so I had no idea who she could be talking about.

“My new boyfriend.” She smiled. “Actually, it’s his wife’s car.”

“What?”

“Long story. I’ll have to tell you about it some other time.” She slid her shades on and pushed the remote to set the alarm.

“Girl, have you lost your mind? Are you trying to get killed driving some other woman’s car?” I said.

“The car is at the center of an ugly custody battle, so I’m driving it until they work all of that out.” She eyed me over the top of her shades. “But I know you’re not about to judge me.”

“You’re right,” I said. I had my own problems. I couldn’t lecture my sister on her drama.

“So, what’s up with you?” she asked as we made our way inside.

“I need a drink. I’ll tell you in a minute so I don’t have to repeat it for Mavis.”

“I hope you’re treating for the drink,”
she said, holding the door open.

We spotted Mavis, and she looked surprised to see me.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Felise called and wanted to meet us,” Fran said, sliding into her chair.

I hugged Mavis and had barely sat down before I instructed the waitress to bring me a Wave margarita.

“Okay, what’s going on?” Mavis asked as soon as the waitress walked away.

“Someone knows I was at the hotel,” I said, coming right to the point.

Both of their mouths gaped open.

“Who?” Fran said.

“Do either of you remember Sabrina Fulton? I went to college with her. She was my roommate freshman year.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember her,” Mavis said.

I then proceeded to fill them in. From the funeral to this morning.

“This is un-freakin’-believable,” Fran said once I was done. She had that gleam in her eyes like she was ready to go jump someone.

“Don’t even look like that,” Mavis said. “We’re too old for violence.”

“So, I’m supposed to just let some chick blackmail my sister and I don’t do anything?” Fran asked.

Mavis ignored Fran and turned back to me. “Did you make it clear that you won’t be bullied into subsidizing her lifestyle?”

“I did, but somehow, I don’t think she was paying me any attention.” I sighed. “I gave her the grand to go away. I
can’t believe I’m in this position.”

“Wow,” Mavis said.

The waitress set my drink down in front of me, and I immediately began sucking it down.

“Hey, slow your roll,” Fran said.

“Yeah. All that drinking is what got you into this position in the first place,” Mavis added.

I rolled my eyes at her, and thankfully, she didn’t say anything else.

“Well, maybe she really will go away,” Fran said.

No sooner had the words left her mouth than my phone beeped, letting me know I had a text.

I didn’t recognize the number it was coming from, but it appeared to have some kind of video attached. I almost deleted it, but then I saw the name: “Steven and Felise.”

The entire back of my neck prickled, spreading up over my head, as I opened the video and pressed play.

“What are you looking at?” Mavis asked, leaning to look over at my phone.

“It–it’s a video.”

“What kind of video?” Fran asked.

I no longer could speak. I simply set the phone down and turned it so my sisters could see the video of me and Steven sitting a little too close for comfort at the bar. In the corner of the video was a date stamp:
06-01-2013
. None of us said a word as the next text came in.
This is just a snippet. The terms just changed. Stay tuned. SF

An hour ago, I’d thought I was all cried out. But this video brought on a whole new onset of tears. I had suspected that giving Sabrina that money was a bad idea. At this moment I knew without a doubt that my nightmare was only going to
get worse.

34

Paula

“KNOCK, KNOCK.”

My sister lightly tapped on my door and pushed it open at the same time. “Are you okay?” she asked, sticking her head inside.

Charlene and I were so far apart in age (I was ten when our mom had her) that we were never really close. But she was “in between jobs as usual” so she’d come when I called and hadn’t left since. Despite the fact that she didn’t know a thing about raising kids, she was still a tremendous help.

“Hey, come on in,” I said, sitting up in bed. “I’m okay.”

“No, you’re not. You still bummed about that call?”

I nodded. “You know, I never thought Steven was a cheater.”

“Didn’t Kevin come to the funeral?”

“Yeah.”

“And he confirmed that Steven was with him.”

I nodded again.

“You don’t think Kevin would come lying to you at the
funeral, do you?”

“No,” I replied. I had thought this whole thing through. “I believe Steven met up with Kevin. I mean, I saw the paperwork in that box of stuff they brought. But apparently, when he was done with Kevin, he met someone else. I just want to know who and why and how he could do this to me.”

Charlene crossed her arms over her chest, looking like she was the older, wiser sister. “Do you think he actually had someone come to the hotel? As far as you knew, he was coming back home, right? So maybe it was a one-night stand.”

“As if that makes it any better.”

My sister sat down in the chair across from my bed. “It does. A one-night stand just happens. It doesn’t mean he loved you any less.”

I rolled my eyes. My sister could go somewhere with that mess. In my book, cheating was cheating.

“Look, I agree with Felise that you need to let this go—even though for some reason I’m not vibing with her right now.”

“Is that what the eye roll you gave her was about?”

“Just something about her demeanor. It reeked of desperation. But I probably just have an attitude because she hasn’t been around. I mean, what kind of friend bails on you in your time of need?”

“She was close to Steven, too. She’s grieving in her own way.”

“Whatever.” Charlene flicked my comment off, and I knew to drop it because I wouldn’t be changing her mind.

“So, you really think I should just let it go?” I asked.

She nodded. “I mean, what good is getting all the details going to do? Steven is gone. Why wallow in hurt over what he’s done—especially when you don’t know for sure if he even did anything? That clerk could be mistaken. She didn’t
actually see them go in the room together. If her man cheated on her, she’s probably paranoid and thinks all men are dogs.”

I considered what she was saying. No, that clerk had seemed adamant. “I don’t know,” I finally said. “I just want to know who it is. I want to look her in the eye. I want to ask her about his last minutes. What did he do? What did he say? Did he talk about how much he hated me?”

“Steven didn’t hate you,” Charlene said, slipping onto the edge of my bed. “But it’s understandable how you’re feeling.”

We sat in silence, both lost in our own thoughts. Mine kept spinning over and over again about who could have crept up to his room that night.

Charlene said, “Has that Sabrina girl found out anything else?”

“Let me call her,” I replied. “Hand me my phone.”

She reached on my nightstand and handed the phone to me before heading toward the door.

“I’m going to go take the boys over to Rodney’s house this morning. He wants them to stay with him a couple of weeks. I told him I’d talk to you about it. But I think it’s a good idea. I’m leaving in a few days, and Mama is no good right now. A few weeks will give you time to get your head together.”

Rodney had a son Stevie’s age, so they spent a lot of time together, and his wife made no secret of how much she adored the twins, so I had no doubt my children would be well taken care of.

“That is a good idea,” I said.

“Good, he said he’s going to enroll Stevie in the camp he’s teaching this summer.”

“Camp!” I said. “I forgot all about Tahiry’s
camp.” My daughter was scheduled to go to cheer camp next week, and I hadn’t done a single thing to prepare her.

“Don’t worry, your girl is good for something. Felise is taking her shopping today. Tahiry called her because she was worried that you wouldn’t want her to go.”

“No, she needs to go. But I haven’t gotten her anything that she’s supposed to have.”

“Look, you know Felise’ll get her whatever she needs. I’ll take the boys out of your hair. You call Sabrina or do whatever you need to get some closure.”

“Thank you so much. My purse is on the dresser. My Visa card is in my wallet. Can you go by the mall first and pick up Stevie some shorts? He’s growing so fast and I’d been meaning to buy him some new clothes. Then you can take the boys to that new Marble Slab ice cream store before you head over to Rodney’s.”

“Oooh, the mall. Can I go in and buy me something?”

“You can buy you whatever you like—within reason,” I added, forcing a smile. I was just grateful that she was picking up some of the slack, and I knew I was slacking with my kids.

My sister blew me a kiss on her way out. I picked up the phone and called Sabrina. Her voice mail picked up.

“Hey, Sabrina. It’s Paula Wright. I was just wondering if you found out anything—” I hesitated. “If you have any idea on who the woman he was with could be, let me know, okay? Thanks a lot. And Sabrina, you have no idea how much of a help you’ve been to me.”

I hung up the phone and prayed that she called me back soon. I wanted closure, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get it until I learned who the woman was who had been with my husband on his last night on earth.

35

Felise

WE NEEDED THIS TIME. AS
I watched Tahiry across from me, devouring her ice cream, I couldn’t help but smile.

Liz was supposed to be with us but decided at the last minute to stay home and finish her history project. That was my daughter, the brainiac. Her partner had bailed on her, and she was determined to pick up the slack so she could get an A. At first, I was nervous about being alone with Tahiry, but I told myself that was just the guilt.

I’d picked up everything Tahiry needed for camp. Now we were sitting in the food court at the mall, eating Marble Slab ice cream.

“Thank you for everything, Nana,” she said.

I patted her hand. “It’s my pleasure, sweetie. I know the past few weeks have been extremely difficult for you. But you’ve been so strong.”

She gave me a sad smile. “Can I tell you a secret?”

“Of course, you can tell me anything.”

She looked down at her ice cream, toyed with a
minute, then said, “I used to wish my mom and dad would get a divorce.”

“What?” I said. What had Paula been telling her daughter?

“They still want to look at me like I’m a little girl, but I’m not. I know when someone is unhappy, and the two of them, they were in no way happy.”

Wow. Everything inside me wanted to press her, ask her more questions. But I didn’t believe in putting children in grown folks’ business.

A slow tear trickled down her cheek. “How could I wish that for my own parents?”

“It’s nothing wrong with how you felt. You just wanted them both to be happy.”

“I love my mom. But she is the most miserable person. Dad tried everything in the world to make her happy, but nothing worked. I used to think she hated us.”

“Tahiry,” I said as she hunched her shoulders, “I know she doesn’t. I saw this lady on TV one time say, ‘If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.’ That’s us.”

Sitting there with my goddaughter, I was relieved I could be there for her when her mother couldn’t. At least I could give Tahiry some sense of normalcy, some place of refuge.

Will she love you when she finds out the truth?

I don’t know where that voice came from, but it caught me off guard and I quickly shook the thought away.

“Nana, what’s wrong?”

“Wh-what’s wrong?” I said, struggling to draw a breath. “Oh, nothing. Entirely, absolutely, nothing at all.”

“Let’s change the subject,”
she announced. “I don’t want to be sad today.”

I smiled and Tahiry and I made small talk and it seemed like old times. I was truly enjoying our conversation. So much about her reminded me of Steven, from the way she ate with her ice cream (eating from the center out), to the corny way she laughed. A part of me wondered if that’s why I was enjoying her company so much. But then, I knew that I always enjoyed being around my goddaughter. And right about now, she needed me as much as I needed her.

“ ’Hiry!”

Both of us turned toward the tiny voice yelling in our direction. Our eyes widened in surprise as Marcus and Mason came racing over.