After All (18 page)

Earl threw up both hands. “Great. Throw
me the crumbs. A wet nosed kid that can't go two seconds without
bragging that the station manager is his uncle, the owner his
grandfather, and he'll probably be our boss someday.”

“
He's not that bad. Just
think of it as an opportunity to broaden his horizons. Introduce
the lad to cultural diversity,” Michelle chuckled.

“
I'd like to introduce him
to the guys at Boostie’s Pool Room on a Friday night.” Earl had a
mean glint in his eye.

“
Tsk, tsk. Be
nice.”

Earl craned his neck trying to read the
text on her monitor. “Story heating up, huh?”

“
Yep. Hey, get out of here.”
Michelle hit a button causing colorful tropical fish to appear on
the screen. “Move along, sonny, and let grown folks get to
work.”She pushed him away.

“
No problem. I have things
to do. By the way, a friend of mine works at the New Orleans HUD
office. But I guess you wouldn't be interested in anything I might
contribute.” Earl started to leave.

“
Whoa! Hold up, home boy.
You know I have the greatest respect for you.” Michelle caught up
with him putting an arm around his shoulder. “In fact, let's sit
down and figure out which day you can use Trenton or Bob. Right
after we talk about your friend at HUD. Have a seat. Coffee?” She
firmly turned him around and walked him back to her
desk.

“
Don't overdo it,
Toussaint.” Laughing, Earl held up a restraining hand.

“
So spill.” Michelle hitched
her chair closer to his.

“
Larry, my friend, goes
around to the various federal public housing agencies monitoring
compliance with regulations and laws. If he finds financial
irregularities, he calls in the accountants and even lawyers. In
some instances, he can get the Justice Department
involved.”

“
You mean he's on to wrong
doing with our Housing Authority? The Justice Department is
coming?”Michelle's eyes widened with excitement.

“
Don't start writing your
acceptance speech for the award ceremony yet. No, the Justice
Department is not coming. But Larry has been concerned about
Charlotte Kinchen for the last two years. Until now, he couldn't
get a handle on what was up with her. Says she blamed the run down
conditions on the tenants. Ms. Kinchen swore they tore up the
apartments as fast as she could repair them. He had no choice but
to back off since she could show him work orders and invoices.”
Earl paused dramatically.”Until now.”

“
Why now?”

“
None of the tenants had
been willing to talk to him, a guy in a suit with a mid-western
accent. But I told him about your series and he's very
interested.”

“
Did you tell him about the
DA investigating, too?” Michelle stared ahead deep in
thought.

“
Yes.”

“
Will you give me your
friend's phone number? Tell him I'll be calling him in the next day
or so. I've got an idea.” Michelle began to write in a note
pad.

“
What do have in mind?”Earl
searched in his wallet finally pulling out a business card. He
handed it to her. “Here. You can keep it. I have another
one.”

“
Be interesting to see if he
can remember which apartments he reviewed and compare it to the
requests for repairs I get from my source.”

“
Kinchen could still say the
tenants just tore it up afterwards.”

“
Maybe,” Michelle said in a
reflective tone. Suddenly a light seemed to pop on behind her eyes.
“Gotta go.” She grabbed her large bag and the note pad.

“
See ya.” Earl watched her
retreating back. He reached down to her keyboard.

“
Almost forgot to log out.”
Michelle spoke over his shoulder causing him to jump back from the
computer.

“
I was, uh, just trying to
clear that for you.”

“
Sure you were, Mr. Snoop.”
Michelle saved the file under her password. Patting him indulgently
on the head, she left.

***

“
LaWanda, open up.”Michelle
knocked on the door.

“
Hey, girl. What you doin'
here so late? Get your butt in here. You crazy? I don't hardly look
out my window this time of night.”LaWanda pulled her inside. “It's
after eight o'clock.”

“
Hello, sugar
plums.”Michelle smiled at the children as they spoke to her
shyly.

“
Go on now; it's time for
y'all to be in bed.” LaWanda shooed her oldest two into a back
bedroom. After pouring them both a glass of cola, she sat down on
the couch next to Michelle. “What's up?”

“
I've got a source in the
Authority giving me information. And I may get a connection in the
HUD office,” Michelle said, keeping her voice low.

“
So?”

“
Turns out they've been
keeping an eye on Charlotte Kinchen for a while now. They aren't at
all satisfied with the way things are going.”

“
Well, they sure ain't done
a whole lot about it.” LaWanda snorted in disgust. “What makes you
think they gone do something now?”

“
For one thing, they
couldn't get the goods on them. Charlotte Kinchen has the paperwork
to cover her butt. For another, the last time a HUD official came
to investigate none of the tenants complained to him.”Michelle took
a drink of her cola.

“
What did he expect? Miz
Kinchen took him to the Evergreen Street complex. They keep them up
so anytime they get somebody important wantin' a tour, that's where
they take 'em. Then they went to Weston Place. Them old people
wasn't gonna complain with her standin' there lookin' down their
throats. If they had, she'd have chucked 'em out on the sidewalk
soon as he left town.” LaWanda shook her head.

“
Damn, LaWanda, why didn't
y'all tell the man?”

“
When we knew anything 'bout
it, he was long gone. Baby, they don't advertise them visits. But
you better believe if we had talked to him, he woulda got an
earful.”

“
Well that same man is a
friend of a friend of mine.” Michelle leaned towards her and placed
a hand on LaWanda's arm.

“
Get outta here!” LaWanda's
mouth flew open.

“
And I've got a plan to turn
the heat up.” Michelle leaned towards her dropping her voice even
lower.

***

“
Things are going pretty
smooth right now.” Charlotte Kinchen straightened the designer silk
scarf draped across one shoulder. With her short cropped black hair
and meticulous make-up she was the consummate successful working
woman. Her teal skirt was short enough to reveal shapely legs yet
long enough to be business like.

“
You've chilled out lately.
Glad to see it.” Lonnie Mason lounged in the chair facing her
desk.

“
Things have been very
hectic. But certain concerns have been taken care of.”Charlotte
shuffled papers on her desk.

“
The DA took you off his
list or something? You must have some good connections to make that
happen.”

Charlotte eyed him distastefully. “The
DA has no evidence to prove any improprieties have
occurred.”

“
You mean your sugar daddy
gone take care of any evidence. Ain't that so, sweet thing?”Lonnie
leered at her.

Charlotte tilted her chin higher.”I
mean there is no evidence because there has been no wrong
doing.”

“
What about how you been
jugglin' records around? If you ask me, I'd say you was gettin' set
to shred 'em any time you got a phone call.” Lonnie watched her
face closely.

“
Records have not been
`juggled around' as you put it. And I didn't ask you. You just be
head janitor, that's what you're being paid to do,” Charlotte
sniffed.

Lonnie grinned despite her jab.” Calm
down, brown sugar. I'm on your side. I wanna help. All you gotta do
is say the word.” He sat on the desk and leaned down. With his face
inches from hers, he ran his tongue over his lips. “What you need
is a man, a real man.”

“
Is that right?” Charlotte's
breath came in short gasps. “You I suppose?”

“
Don't be so quick to turn
up your nose. I got a lot to give.” Lonnie's hand rubbed her thigh
pushing the skirt up.

“
An ex-con with nothing. You
must be kidding.” Charlotte's voice broke as she watched his hand
in fascination. “You couldn't supply half of what I need.”Despite
her words, she did not move away or stop his hand from lifting her
shirt.

“
Money is no problem. As for
lovin', I can damn sure do better than either one of those fools
you been leadin' around by the nose.” With a sly smile, he gave her
inner thigh a sharp squeeze then pulled his hand away. He chuckled
softly when he saw her shiver slightly. Casually, as if nothing had
happened, he went back to sit across from her.

“
I don't know what you're
talking about.” Charlotte closed her eyes for a few seconds and
cleared her throat.

“
I mean Bridges and Batiste.
Don't tell me they know about each other 'cause you'd be
lyin'.”

“
How dare you!”

“
Hey, you gotta use what you
got to get what you want. Something I totally understand, brown
sugar. What I'm sayin', you don't need them. Look out the
window.”

“
What?” Charlotte's arched
eyebrows came together giving her a look of puzzled
caution.

“
Go look out the window.”
Examining his hand, Lonnie twisted a gold ring on his finger. “It's
yours.”

“
Oh my.”The sight of a white
Infiniti made Charlotte bite her lower lip.

Lonnie stood behind her.”It's the right
color, ain't it?” He put his hands on her hips pulling her back
against his chest.

“
Yes, but--”

“
I've got the
keys.”

“
Mine,” Charlotte said. She
already accepted the car as rightfully hers.

“
See that's what a real man
does for his woman. I heard you talkin' 'bout what kinda car you'd
like to have, so I got it.” Lonnie's hands moved over her hips to
her buttocks.

“
I can't let you do this.
What would James say?” Charlotte leaned against him matching his
gentle rocking motion.

“
He ain't gone say nuthin'.
Now that you got Batiste in your corner, you can dump the punk.
Batiste got the real power you need. Course you figured that out by
yourself, didn't ya, baby?”

“
Umm.”Charlotte gripped his
thighs.

“
We gone keep usin' him for
a while until we have everything in the palm of our hands. He'll
get a little of what he wants, we get all we want.” Whispering in
her ear, he yanked her away from the window. He raised her skirt
with one hand and dangled the car keys temptingly with the
other.

“
You mean--.”

“
Yeah, baby. You and me
gonna get it all.” Lonnie shook the keys causing them to
jingle.

A slow smile spread across Charlotte's
face as she reached out to grasp the keys to her new
car.

***

“
Now remember, you gotta
keep all these rent records in chronological order for me. Last
assistant I had got 'em all messed up,” Buster said.

“
Okay.”Dominic looked around
at the shelves of folders.

“
And on the third Monday of
every month, I want you to do a property inspection and look for
any damage.”Buster waved a ledger book then opened it to page to
show him.”The ones I got marked, see?”

“
I see.”Dominic scanned the
list of addresses with a check mark next to them in red
ink.

“
Them ain't no government
units, they mine. If they don't keep it up, I throw 'em
out.”

“
What about the ones not
marked? How often do I inspect those?”

Buster shrugged.”About every three
months, if we have time. Don't worry about them.”

“
But how do you know when
they need repairs and stuff?”

“
Look, them people don't
know how to take care of nothin' no how. I ain't wastin' time or
money on 'em.”Buster puffed on a large cigar.

“
What do I do when a unit
needs repairs?”

“
Fill out one of these work
order forms. Give it to me. Then if I tell you, send one of the
guys out to take care of it. Understand?”

“
Yeah, I got it.”Dominic
still stared at the list of houses and apartments, a frown on his
face.

“
What's wrong?”

“
I noticed a lot of the
public housing units needed some repairs when Johnny took me around
in the last three days. Shouldn't I fill out work
orders?”

“
Hell no. Listen, first
thing you gotta learn is you don't rush to fix those places 'cause
they tear it up by the time you get off the parking lot.”Buster
stood up to leave.

“
But the damage just gets
worse if you let it go.”Dominic looked up at him.

“
Son, I decide what gets
fixed and when. Remember that. Learn the ropes before you start
tryin' to be the boss.”Buster gave him slap on the back, but there
was a definite edge to his voice. He looked to see his secretary
standing in the doorway. “What is it Deniecia?”