After All (30 page)

As if on cue, Rhonda came in and set a
bag on the desk in front of him. “Here you go, Anthony. A catfish
po-boy, strawberry shake, and a small order of curly-cues. Your
favorites.”

“
Rhonda, I didn't order
this.” Anthony folded his arms.

“
We did. You need something
in your stomach. Now eat.” Rhonda marched out. She stuck her head
back in the door to wag a finger at him. “Every bit.”

“
Take the easy way out, do
what she says or you'll get no peace for week.” Cedric placed the
plans on his bookshelf.

“
This is crazy. I have a
zillion details needing my attention. And you two are treating me
like a child.” Anthony tore open the wrapper of the sandwich as he
grumbled.

“
When are you planning to
call Michelle?” Cedric propped his elbows on papers. The clutter of
his desk was in sharp contrast to his partner's.

“
I don't know what you're
talking about.” Anthony stabbed the straw into the cup as though it
were a spear.

“
This drive to succeed has
more to do with trying to keep busy so you won't miss
her.”

“
Ridiculous. And I'm not
going to call Michelle, okay?”

“
She reported the facts.”
Cedric fiddled with the cup of soft drink not looking at
Anthony.

Anthony glanced up with eyes flashing
fury. “Damn it, Michelle slanted that story because of what she
thinks Uncle Ike did to her father. And she left out information
that would have presented a more balanced view.”

“
I suppose Ike told you
that.”

“
That's right.”Anthony's jaw
muscles tightened.”So?”

“
What did you expect him to
say? Anthony, Michelle wouldn't lie and you know it. Maybe Ike
isn't telling you everything.” Cedric still did not look at
Anthony.

“
You got something to say,
say it.” Anthony stiffened.

“
Look, I know Ike's been
like a father to you. But he likes to make up his own
rules.”

“
Wait a minute--” Anthony
placed both fist on the desktop and stood up.

Cedric held a restraining hand and cut
him off. “Before you lose somebody that means a lot to you because
of him, think real hard. Michelle is definitely not the first to
bring up serious questions about his way of operating.”

“
Ike saved my life, man. He
kept me and mama off welfare.” Anthony's voice pleaded for
empathy.

“
So you'll defend him, right
or wrong? Shantae says Michelle is as miserable as you are. Make
the first move.”Cedric nodded towards the phone.

“
I don't know,
Cedric.”

“
It's the right thing,
man.”

Anthony placed his hand on the receiver
but didn't pick it up. He sat staring at the phone. Cedric left the
room shutting the door quietly.

***

“
Hi.” Anthony stood in the
doorway. He hesitated to make a move before she did.

“
Hi.” Michelle gripped the
door know so tightly her fingers hurt.

“
Can I come in?”

“
Yeah, sure.” Michelle
stepped back motioning him inside. “Want a soft drink? Or I have
coffee if you prefer.” Michelle wanted to find some reason to move
around and be busy, at least for a few minutes.

“
Coffee sounds
good.”

“
Okay.”

When she turned to go into the kitchen,
Anthony pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his moist
palms. He was still standing there when she came back with the
cups.

Michelle paused in front of him. “Sit
down.”

“
Right.” Anthony stuffed the
handkerchief out of sight. He cleared his throat nervously. “Thanks
for agreeing to see me.”

They sat on opposite ends of the sofa.
Both drank in silence, careful to look everywhere but at each
other. Anthony cleared his throat again causing Michelle to start.
But he didn’t speak, only took another sip of coffee. Michelle
stole a glance at him. Seeing the tense posture and light sheen of
perspiration on his top lip melted her cool resolve.

“
Anthony, I--”

“
No, Michelle. Let me
start.” Anthony put down the cup and took a deep breath. “Uncle Ike
may be in over his head with this Housing Authority
business.”

“
Oh, Anthony.” Michelle
struggled to put into words the extent of Ike's
involvement.

“
Let me finish. Sometimes
his methods are unorthodox. You had to do your job. I understand
that. I shouldn't have talked said such nasty things the other
night.”

“
But let me...”

“
No, listen. I'll never
believe that Uncle Ike is involved in drug dealing or extortion,
but it's possible that he's gotten mixed up with some unsavory
characters. He wouldn't approve of those things, for sure. But if
he's making money he would definitely say whatever else they do is
none of his business.” Anthony forced the words out. He wrung his
hands together. “What I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry.”

“
Anthony, I'm sorry, too. I
should have given you more details about the story.” Michelle
turned to him.

“
You did try to warn me.”
Anthony put down the cup.

“
In a very vague way. Too
vague to prepare you for that bombshell. I took the easy way
out.”

“
I hated being apart from
you, Chelle,” Anthony whispered.

“
I know.” Michelle blinked
back tears. The truth tore at her. They could never have a future.
Her reports had destroyed even the outside chance they could make
it work. There could be no be no happy ending for them.

“
Chelle,” Anthony said
reaching for her.

“
No.” Michelle pushed his
hands away and moved farther from him.

“
But I thought--”

“
We can't make it this way,
Anthony. You can't turn your back on Ike, and I can't tell you that
there won't be another story about him.”Michelle looked at him. Her
eyes were filled with sadness. “It'll be the same thing all over
again.”

“
No it won't, baby. I
swear.”Anthony ignored her attempt to resist him and put his arms
around her.

“
Anthony, my report is just
the beginning. You won't be able to forgive some of the things I'll
have to say about him.” Michelle wrenched from his embrace and
stood up.

“
Don't do this, Michelle.
Uncle Ike means too much to me. Don't let the past blind you to the
truth,” Anthony implored her.

“
Are you sure I'm the one
blinded by the past?” Michelle went to the door and opened it.
“Goodbye, Anthony.”

Anthony went past her with heavy steps.
Michelle held her breath when he paused, and turned back to her.
Her mind and heart still battled each other; one hoping for a way
to keep him, the other arguing the impossibility of it.

“
Goodbye,” he said in a
strained voice and walked out the door.

Michelle nodded mutely, not trusting
herself to speak. Fighting the urge to call him back took all the
strength she had. At the sound of his car engine starting, she
closed the door. She pulled aside the curtain of her front window
slightly to watch his taillights melt into the night. As the lights
grew smaller, she felt more alone than ever before.

***

“
T'aneka, what are you doing
in here?” Charlotte glanced at the files on the table with a slight
frown.

“
Oh, making some copies for,
uh. The files needed straightening up.”T'aneka shuffled the papers
and turned them face down.”A lot of these pages all torn so you
can't hardly read 'em.”

“
We worked on these files
over a month ago.”

“
Not these, Miz Kinchen.
These are from two years ago. Remember, we only worked on the ones
from six months back.” T'aneka stacked the files she had been
copying under others.

Charlotte puckered her lips in
annoyance.”Yes, but I told you we decided not to do
those.”

“
Yes, ma'am. But I was
caught up so I was workin' on them now.”T'aneka had her back to
Charlotte. She began putting the folders in a file
cabinet.

“
Let me see those.”
Charlotte strode towards her holding her hand out.

“
It's just the files of late
rent notices and stuff.” T'aneka handed her a several of the brown
folders.

“
T'aneka, look at
these.”Charlotte spoke sharply pointing to them.

“
Ma'am?” T'aneka went rigid
with dread.

“
These are from 1994. You've
been pulling the wrong year, silly.” Charlotte shook her
head.

“
Oh, yeah. Stupid me.”
T'aneka let out a shrill laugh. “I never noticed. But most of 'em
was this year though. I need to get me some eyeglasses.”S he
shifted from one foot to the other.

“
Well, be careful. We can't
afford to waste paper on dozens of files that shouldn't be copied.
Besides, I want you to concentrate on putting old files on
microfilm. We're running out of space,” Charlotte said.

“
Yes, ma'am, you are so
right. Lord, these files all crammed in here so tight they all fly
out when you try to pull one out.” T'aneka began to move around
busily. “I'm gonna sure do that.”

“
See that you do.” Charlotte
eyed her steadily for a few seconds before leaving. She passed
Lonnie on the way to her office. “Lonnie, come in here a
minute.”

“
What's up?” Lonnie shut the
door behind him.

“
T'aneka was in there
copying a bunch of files she didn't need to copy. And she was
acting very nervous when I walked in on her.” Charlotte rubbed her
chin.

“
So?” Lonnie
shrugged.

“
So how did Michelle
Toussaint get all those details of work orders, dates of invoices
and such? I wondered who was talking. I thought maybe it was one of
the ex-employees. Somebody we fired in the last six or seven
months. Now I don't know.” Charlotte stared past him at the closed
door.

“
That reporter did know a
lot. Matter of fact some of the stuff she reported on was kinda
recent.” Lonnie's eyes narrowed to slits.

“
What should we do? With
T'aneka having access to those files, she could cause us big
problems. If she's the one.” Charlotte paced the office wringing
her hands.

“
Take it easy. I got an
idea. Gimme a file folder with some invoices from Buster or
Ike.”

“
What for?”

“
We gonna bait a hook and
see if she takes it.”

Lonnie opened the door to Charlotte's
office a little. Seeing T'aneka back at her desk, he signaled to
Charlotte to play along.

“
Look here, we got some big
invoices got to be paid to Buster for the Wesley Park complex.”
Lonnie spoke in a conversational tone. His back was to the open
door.

“
Yes, but as usual they only
did a little of the work. With that reporter sniffing around maybe
we shouldn't... well, you know what I mean.” Charlotte rustled
papers loudly.

“
Yeah, but we told him he'd
get his money. We don't wanna get him mad with all he knows.”
Lonnie shut the door and crossed to Charlotte. “Keep talkin',” he
mouthed.

Charlotte raised her voice. “Sure he
may want his money, but he doesn't want to risk answering questions
from the district attorney either.”

“
If the DA had anything we'd
be on trial by now.” Lonnie eased the door shut.

Charlotte lowered her voice. “I ought
to fire her right now. She's going to keep feeding that reporter
ammunition,” she hissed.

“
No she won't.” Lonnie's
nostrils flared. He looked at the closed door again with a feral
expression.

“
You'd better be careful.
The uproar over that last incident hasn't died down yet.”
Charlotte's face showed anxiety and excitement.

“
Let me handle
it.”

“
Just don't do anything to
make the situation worse for us.”Charlotte's face twisted with
malice. “But take care of that back-stabbing little
wench.”

He nodded to her then opened the door
again. “Well, I'm going to file this then. You say you gonna go on
and pay it?”

“
Yes, T'aneka can copy it
and I'll cut the check.”

“
Say, T'aneka, give
Charlotte a copy of this for me.” Lonnie smiled at her.

“
Sure, Lonnie. And I'll put
it in the files for you.” T'aneka took the papers from
him.

“
Thanks, babe. Got yourself
real efficient worker, Charlotte,” Lonnie called out winking at
T'aneka.

“
I'm going to take care of
it.”T'aneka eyed the form for a few seconds, then smiled up at
him.

“
I know you will.” Lonnie's
smiled curled into a grimace as she walked away.”I'm counting on
it.”

***

Michelle delivered the news flawlessly.
She was somber when reporting crimes and smiled when reporting
upbeat news items. No one would have guessed that she felt
disconnected from the calm, articulate woman viewers saw. It was as
if the voice was not hers. This night was far from being her
shining hour. Being weekend anchor had the dull finish of tarnished
silver. For weeks she had planned her celebration. A celebration
that had included a glorious night with Anthony. Grief stabbed deep
as a needle into her heart at the thought of him. She could not
deny how much she missed Anthony's kiss. Night after night, she
struggled to fall asleep. But images of his smile, his hard body,
and his hands gently touching her played across her mind as clear
as a video tape. Michelle closed her eyes and willed herself to
stop thinking of him.