After All (29 page)

“
Okay, but call me.”
Michelle wrote down her home and work phone number for Candy. After
extracting promises from her and Earl that they would call her if
anything changed, she let Earl lead her out of the
hospital

Seated in Earl's car, Michelle leaned
her head back and closed her eyes. The tension and fear of the past
few hours had held her in vise-like grip. Now released from that
grip, she felt weak with exhaustion. Sensing her need for quiet,
Earl said nothing during the ride home. Michelle stared out of the
window but saw little of the passing scenery.

“
You okay, kid?” Earl walked
her to the door of her apartment. He lifted her chin to search her
face.

“
Yeah, okay.” Michelle tried
and failed to smile back at him.

“
Get some sleep. And call me
if you need anything. Anything at all. Okay?”

“
Okay.” Michelle blinked at
him in the early morning sun. “You're a friend indeed, Earl
Gaines.”

Once inside she found herself too wound
up to sleep. She went in for a quick revitalizing warm shower.
Later wrapped up in her favorite terry cloth robe she wandered into
the living room with a cup of herbal tea in hand. Two hours has
passed, two hours of trying to untie the knot in her gut. Michelle
settled in front of the television as the Channel Twelve morning
show came on at seven. The smiling host turned serious as he
reported the news. Film of Earl reporting from the hospital
appeared. Once again she felt a chill of dread as she listened to
the horrible details. Michelle could still hear LaWanda's
hysterical sobbing.

Earl sat at the news desk next to the
early morning news show hosts. “Doctor's are calling little Relondo
Sibley a miracle baby. The bullet passed through his tiny body
missing all vital organs. He's listed in stable condition and
considered out of danger.”

Michelle closed her eyes, sinking
further into the sofa as if attempting to escape a frightening
world. “Is he? Oh God, is he out of danger?”

***

“
Tell me, Uncle Ike. Repairs
paid for that were never done, kickbacks, even drug dealing. Could
any of it be true?” Anthony measured Ike's every movement and
expression. It can't be true.

The wounding of Relondo finally spurred
him to face Ike head on. He could no longer ignore the gnawing
feeling that maybe there was a grain a truth to the accusations
against Ike. Anthony despised himself for being suspicious. Yet
Michelle's scathing words still burned in his mind. Was he running
from the truth?

“
I was wonderin’ when you
was gone come and ask me outright. Been worryin' you, son?” Ike
poured coffee into a large mug and sat back behind his
desk.

“
How much do you know about
it?”

“
Anthony, I cut corners
sometimes to make a little cash. Hell, what businessman doesn't?
But I ain't no crook. Soon as I got wind of what them tenants was
sayin' I checked on it personally. Some of the work coulda been
done better or faster, that's no lie. But them damn tenants been
tearing up them projects fast as we fix 'em. I'll take you with me
if you don't believe it.” Ike spread his hands wide.

“
You don't have to do that,
Uncle Ike. But are you sure some of this isn't happening without
you knowing it?”

“
Hey, no matter what your
lady friend says, I ain't runnin' the Authority. I'm just another
businessman with a contract. Do you think I'd go along with drug
dealin' and such?” Ike's brows drew together in an expression of
pained dismay. “I hope you know me better than that.”

“
Of course not,” Anthony
said. He felt a stab of unease at the unpleasant questions in his
mind. “But--”

Ike put a hand on his shoulder. “I'm
tellin' you, they just tryin' to make out I'm responsible for stuff
that's been happenin' for years.”

“
A three year old was shot,
Uncle Ike. In his own home.” Anthony's voice held a plea for some
answer that would make sense of such a thing.

“
Son, it happens all the
time in them projects. All you gotta do is look at the evening news
or read the papers. When them drug dealers get to fightin' they
don't care who gets hurt.” Ike shook his head, a look of regret on
his face.

“
So this was just another
drive by shooting that takes an unintended victim you think?”
Anthony looked to him with hope.

“
What else? Look, drugs and
poor people been a problem in these neighborhoods for years.
Anthony, that's the way of the world. But Michelle didn't tell the
whole story.”

“
I don't understand,”
Anthony said.

“
Well, that interview with
Charlotte was doctored up to make her look bad. Didn't talk about
all we've done to help them people. Like that community recreation
room we built in one of them apartments. Another thing, me and some
of my buddies sponsored trips to the zoo for a group of kids. All
she wanted was to spread dirt on us. After I saw what she did to
Charlotte, no way I was gonna talk on camera.”

“
Really?” Anthony stared
ahead frowning.

“
Damn straight. Listen, I
know how you feel about the girl, but she's been out to get me for
a long time. On one hand it's understandable, with her thinkin' I
tried to ruin Tommy. But then again...” Ike lifted his
shoulders.

“
She is still pretty
emotional about what a tough time her father had back then.”
Anthony glanced at Ike.

“
Yeah, never mind Tommy
brought it on himself. He begged me to help get that contract. Then
blamed me when he couldn't come through. Truth is, I lost a bundle
on that deal myself. Even so, I tried to help him get a line of
credit.”

“
You never told me that.”
Anthony looked up in surprise.

“
I tried to help. But what
thanks did I get? None. Michelle's got a problem with me. Right or
wrong, I accept that. But what she's sayin' in those reports is
only patched together truth. She's out to get me, son. Always has
been.” Ike sat forward to stare at Anthony.

“
Guess you're right, Uncle
Ike.” Anthony sighed deeply.

“
Let's go over to Stella's
Cafe for some of that down home cookin' like we did back when you
was workin' for me after school. Remember that? Not long after your
daddy took off we started goin'.” Ike gazed out of the window with
a solemn expression. He shook himself out of his reverie and beamed
at Anthony. “Whenever things got tough we headed over to Stella's
Snack Shack for some of that good sweet potato pie.”H e gave
Anthony an affection slap on the back.

“
Sure, Uncle Ike. Whatever
you say.” Anthony smiled at him.

Though he kept up with Uncle Ike's
steady stream of chatter, nodding and answering in the right
places, Anthony's mind was far away. Across town to be exact. The
deep pang of loss stayed with him. His mind argued that saying the
end of their relationship was for the best. He tried to hold onto
the image of an angry, vengeful Michelle slinging unfounded
accusations to reassure himself. Yet his heart kept substituting
her smiling face with those lovely brown eyes lit with desire.
Anthony came to the bleak realization that learning to live without
her would be ten times harder this time.

Chapter 12

Charlotte pulled the belt of her satin
robe tight before sinking next to Lonnie on his sofa. She accepted
the glass of her favorite expensive wine from him with a
smile.

“
Sure you know what you're
doing?” Charlotte lay back against the cushions purposely ignoring
the way her robe fell open to reveal one breast

“
Damn right.” Lonnie's eyes
were glued to the exposed copper flesh. He licked his
lips.

“
Ike thinks you went too far
with that shooting.” Charlotte traced an invisible line down his
shoulder to his harm with a long lacquered nail.

“
Yeah, but ain't nobody
lining up to be on TV now, damn right. Sure the police been pokin'
around, but they got nothin'. And don't think them tenants ain't
figured out the cops can't babysit them. Nah, once this here dies
down, it's gonna be business as usual.”

“
How did you like my second
television appearance? ‘Naturally we deplore the senseless violence
that is an unfortunate fact of life in public housing. We have
planned a meeting with the tenants to address security issues.'”
Arranging her face to show just the right mixture of dismay and
outrage, Charlotte repeated the performance she had given when
reporters showed up at her office. “I loved it. Ms. Toussaint
couldn't do a thing,” she chuckled.

“
Like I said, business as
usual. Come here sweet brown thing,” Lonnie spoke in a husky voice.
His hand stroked her thigh roughly.

Charlotte put her hand over his. “Ike
says we ought to be careful for a while. Make some major repairs
and ease off any other... activity.”

“
The old man's crazy if he
thinks I'm losin' money.” Lonnie clenched a fold of her skin. He
lips twitched up with glee at the tiny gasp this caused.

“
He all but came out and
told me he knows about us.”

“
So?” Lonnie's hands grew
still. His gaze flickered to her face.

“
He doesn't care.” Charlotte
squirmed closer to him and began touching his face with the tip of
her tongue. “But we'd better be careful James doesn't find
out.”

“
You don't need that fool.
Dump him.”Lonnie grimaced.

“
Not yet, sugar. James has
political influence in Louisiana and D. C. I--, we still need him.”
Charlotte drew back and studied his face. “Don't tell me you're
jealous?”

“
You seem to enjoy runnin'
off to nursemaid him,” Lonnie snarled. His fingers dug into her
flesh.

Charlotte stroked his hands until his
fingers relaxed. “There's a big job appointment coming up soon to
be a district administrator. I want it and he can get it for me.
We’ll both make a lot of money if that happens. Loads of lovely
cash.”

“
I'm making lots of cash
now. Yours, baby, all yours,” Lonnie groaned. He yanked her to him
forcing her to straddle his lap.

“
Be patient and we can have
it all. Now, let me show you who I really enjoy taking care of.”
Charlotte slipped the robe down over her shoulders and smiled with
satisfaction at the glazed, lustful expression he wore.

***

Anthony set a furious pace. He bid on
two large projects, three smaller ones, and ordered Cedric to hire
more men. Anthony seemed to be everywhere at once, attending as
many meetings as he possible. He only went home to shower and fall
into bed. Then he was up early the next morning to start all over
again. Time alone to think was not something he wanted.

“
I have those figures on the
Carlston job. Came out pretty good.” Anthony strode into Cedric's
office.

“
Humm. Yeah.” Cedric wiped
his mouth with a paper napkin. His jaws worked as he tried to down
a large chunk of his oyster po-boy.

“
Look here, Talley is
willing to work with us on the materials. I figure we'll come in
well below Fredricks and the other bidders.”

“
Sounds fine.” Cedric choked
on a piece of food. He downed some of the large cola in an effort
to stop coughing.

“
Some of the new crew could
get started marking off the layout for the slab first.” Anthony
pulled up a chair ignoring Cedric's distress and lunch.

“
Since we don't have the job
yet, you think maybe I could finish my lunch?” Cedric swiped his
soft drink cup from Anthony who was moving to toss it into the
garbage.

“
Oh, you're eating.” Anthony
frowned with mild annoyance.

“
Yeah, funny thing is I been
doing it every day for, oh twenty-six years now.” Cedric sat back
to study his friend.”What's up with you, man? You're rushing around
like you plan to prove Rome can be built in a day. Damn, take it
easy. For everybody else's sake at least.”

“
You sound as though you
don't want the business.”

“
Sure I do, but what
happened to pacing ourselves. What's the big hurry all of a
sudden?”

“
Staying once step ahead of
the competition is what means the difference between just doing
okay and being a big player. And I didn't start my own company to
do okay.” Anthony continued to scrutinize the plans.

Cedric tried to take the plans from
him, but Anthony pushed his hands away. “Have you had
lunch?”

“
Not hungry.”

“
Did you have
breakfast?”

“
Coffee and a
donut.”

“
Half a donut.” Cedric began
folding up the plans.

“
Hey, cut it out.” Anthony
tried to spread them out again.

“
You're going to have a
sandwich.” Cedric jerked the plans quickly from the
desk.

“
I'm not hungry, I don't
have a sandwich, and I'd rather be working anyway. Now give me--”
Anthony glared at him.