Between Friends (19 page)

Authors: D. L. Sparks

Tags: #Fiction, #Suspense, #General, #African American Police, #Urban Life, #Thrillers, #African American

BOOK: Between Friends

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“Idalis,” her voice was stern, causing me to sit up a little straighter. “You make things right, for you and that baby. You hear me? Make it right.”

My heart shattered.

I nodded. “Yes, ma'am.”

“I love you, baby.”

“I love you too, Grammie.”

I leaned over onto her bed and hugged her, willing death to go away and find someone else's grandmother. I wasn't strong enough to go on without mine.

Minutes slipped by, taking a piece of my grandmother with it each time. I laid my head on her chest and she stroked my hair, calming me, humming a song, which only she knew. After a while I finally sat up and hit the buzzer for the nurse. The thin white lady appeared almost instantly, wearing a comforting smile.

“Can I help you?”

I wiped my face and took a deep breath. “I haven't heard my grandmother take a breath in the last few minutes.”

She gave me a small sympathetic nod and left the room.

Almost two hours later, I was stuck on autopilot.

I drove I-285 in a tear-induced haze with no real direction in mind. I knew India had taken Mama with her, but I didn't remember leaving the hospital. I had a Tazo Green Tea Latte from Starbucks in my cup holder, but didn't remember getting off on Camp Creek and going through the drive-through. I pulled into a parking space and called a few relatives and told them what had happened. In between talking to relatives and calling the house to check on my mother and sister, I called and talked to Lincoln. I wasn't ready to go home and deal with the emotions that were waiting there for me, so I merged back onto I-285 and headed toward Greenbriar.

On my way to 404, I tried to imagine burying my grandmother. I conjured up images of a church filled with grief. An atmosphere so thick with sadness that it threatened to choke everyone in its midst. My mind conjured images of a packed church, wall to wall flowers, the coffin; all of it was there, everything except my grandmother.

I parked my car near the door and headed inside. It was early and the DJ was just setting up.Dionne smiled when she saw me.

“Can I get a Heineken?” I slid onto one of the stools.

She popped the cap off the green bottle and slid it toward me. “How you doing? How's your grandmother?”

I stared at the tiny white napkin that my bottle rested on; then I looked up at her. “She passed this afternoon.”

Dionne made her way around the bar and wrapped her arms around me. “I'm so sorry, Idalis.”

“Thank you.”

She took the stool next to me. “How's your mom and sister?”

“They're okay. India is at my mom's with her and Cameron.”

“Do you need anything?”

I shook my head. “I just wasn't ready to go home yet, needed to clear my head.”

“I understand.”

Dionne had lost her mother about a year ago, so I knew if anyone could understand what I was going through, it would be her.

I looked around the club. “I hope it picks up.”

“It will.” She looked at her watch. “It's still early, Si-Man isn't even here yet.”

I let out a sigh and took a long draw of my beer. “I can't believe this is happening. It just amazes me how quickly sugar can go to shit.”

“That's true, but your grandmother lived a full life. She was in a lot of pain too. She's definitely better off.”

I nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I just wish I could've had her a little while longer.”

“Idalis, you're stronger than you give yourself credit for.”

“Sometimes I'm not too sure about that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I've made some mistakesâmistakes that I'm not sure I am strong enough to correct. And when I looked at her, I always seemed to find the strength I needed to push forward.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “And now ... she's gone. I don't know what to do.”

Dionne touched my hand. “No, she's not gone, Idalis.” She took my hand and placed it over my heart. “She's right here.”

We both had matching sets of tears rolling down our faces.

She continued speaking. “There is nothing that you could've done that would've made her love you any less or that you can't fix. You just have to believe you can.”

I slid down off my stool. “It's not that simple.”

“Don't do this to yourself, Idalis.”

I hugged her. “I'll call you tomorrow. I need to stop by my house and grab some things before I head back to Mama's.”

“Okay. Call me if you need anything, I mean it. Idalis, you do know that sometimes people complicate things much more than they need to be.”

I threw a ten-dollar bill on the bar.

“Yeah, and sometimes people get what they deserve.”

Chapter Twenty-three

Trip

“Any word on the missing informant?”

I shoved my BlackBerry back in its holster and turned to Lenny.

“No. I got a couple agents watching his house. Hopefully, he'll turn up soon.”

We were all at the station going over what had been found at the scene where Phil had been shot. My blood boiled as I looked at the pictures hanging up on the corkboard.

Lenny sat down on the corner of one of the empty desks. “We got another call this morning.”

“From where?”

“Fulton Industrial.”

I asked, “Related?”

“Not sure right now,” he said, voice heavy with frustration. Lenny stood up and looked around the room at the agents. “I need you fellas to wrap this up, and do it fast.”

I cut my eyes at him. “What do you think we're trying to do?”

“I understand, but this is getting out of control. Phil's in the hospital and informants are disappearing.”

Ever since the doctors had taken Phil's breathing tube out, we were waiting for him to wake up and tell us something, anything that might give a clue into what had happened during that bust. But more than anything, I wanted to get my hands on whoever had put my partner in a hospital bed. We'd been partners for over five years, and neither one of us had been so much as grazed by a bullet. Something we both were damn proud of up until now.

I walked over to the board and scanned the pictures of the deceased men. Out of all the dead bodies at the scene, we were only able to ID two so far. Both were small-time dealers, one went by the name of Twist. We were still waiting on IDs for the others. My eyes locked on one in particular. His face was twisted in pain. The last thing he felt before he died. His large white tee was soaked with blood from the rounds that Phil managed to pump into his chest before he went down.

“What did they find?” I asked one of the agents taking notes.

“Got a cell off one of the guys in the living-room, but it's busted. Hopefully, the lab can pull something from it. Couple bags of X, some bricks that are being processed to see if they match the original bust.”

“Whose apartment was it?” I asked, sitting on the corner of a desk.

The reason I asked was because I knew that “dead and deader” on the floor probably weren't listed on the lease.

“Some woman named Denise Chambers. Witnesses are saying she was a crackhead who sold and used out of her apartment.”

I looked around. “Anyone know where she is?”

“Nobody knows,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

“Of course not.” The phone on the desk I was leaning against rang. I picked it up. “This isn't my desk,” I said before hanging it up again.

“We got some officers tracking her down now,” one of the officers said.

I nodded. “Good.”

This case was all over the place, and it didn't seem like there was an end in sight. It seemed like one simple drug bust had opened up an enormous can of worms, which none of us had been prepared for. But there was no way I was gonna let Phil's ending up in the hospital be for nothing.

Lenny stood up, signaling the end of our meeting.

“All right, gentlemen, I need you to do what you do, but I need you to do it faster. Let's get Phil home.”

We all filed out of the room. My body was heavy as I made my way back to the truck.

I rolled the driver's-side window down and stared out into the parking lot, watching the people moving up and down Spring Street. Some were on their cells; others were rushing to and from work. They were all oblivious to what was going on in the dark corners of the city that no one dared to go in.

No one but us.

Before heading to the hospital, I decided to stop by the scene from the call that came in this morning. When I pulled up, there was still a crowd of people standing around. Some were hugging each other; others were snapping pictures with their cell phones.

I scanned the crowd and saw two women who were crying relentlessly. Judging from their ages, and the fact that one was pregnant and had a small child clinging to her leg, I figured they were girlfriends of the victims. I couldn't help but feel sorry for them and the kids. The dead bodies in that apartment were probably their only source of support.

Sadly, this was the only life some of them would ever know.

I took a deep breath and realized I didn't have the energy for this.

Not today.

I would never admit it, but it was like we were fighting a losing battle.

It wasn't the war on drugs. It seemed more like the war against us. No faster than we would kick in a door, another one would go up. Phil would always just laugh and say, “Guess we gotta make sure we keep a good supply of boots.”

Atlanta would have to actually do some work for once. I made a U-turn out of the parking lot. If they found anything worth anything, they would let us know. I hadn't heard from Idalis, and as much as I hated to admit it, it bothered me.

Just as I pulled out onto Fulton Industrial, my phone rang. My mother's number came across the display.

“Hey, Mama, what's up?”

“Hey, baby. I got some bad news.”

“What's wrong?”

“It's Idalis.” My mother's voice wavered. “Her grandmother passed this afternoon.”

I slumped back in my seat. “What?”

“It was sudden.”

I merged onto I-20. “I'm on my way over there.”

Even though the streets were calm, I was barely maintaining the speed limit. The dark sky was tiled with rain clouds, mimicking how I felt. They all looked on the verge of bursting and raining down, saturating the city with bottled-up frustration. The highway raced by me, miles at a time. I felt my tires lose a little bit of traction on the damp pavement, but that didn't slow my momentum.

Ever since I had crossed the state line, this place had held nothing but frustration. I was ready to get the hell out of town.

I pulled out my phone and dialed her mother's home number. I figured she would be there. My heart rate doubled when the phone started ringing. Just when I was about to hang up, she answered.

“Idalis?”

“No, this is India. She's asleep.”

“This is Trip, India. Is she okay?”

“She's doing better.”

“How are you?” I asked.

“I'm hanging in there. I'm watching TV with Cameron.”

“Okay.”

“How's your mom? Do you guys need anything?”

“No, we're good. My mother is taking a nap. Are you gonna stop by? I know they would like to see you.”

“I'm on my way.”

“Thanks, Trip.”

Twenty minutes later I was sitting in their mother's living-room with Idalis. She and India had swapped places, and now she was upstairs taking a nap. Their mother had come down briefly for something to eat and to have some tea, and I was able to see her and offer my condolences.

For the first time since I'd known the family, I felt uncomfortable sitting in their house. I watched as her son played in the middle of the living-room floor. Every so often, he would bring me one of his cars or trucks in an attempt to maintain our friendship.

I looked at Idalis. A mirror image of India. Her eyes were rimmed in red. She fidgeted with the seam on the side of her Capri jeans. She was sitting with one leg folded under her, and her sockless foot was bouncing up and down.

“Are you sure you're okay?”

She shook her head and wiped a stray tear from her cheek. “No, but I have to be right?”

“I wish there were something I could do.”

She gave me a weak smile. “Yeah, me too.”

I took a deep breath. “Look, I'm really sorry about the other day.”

“It's okay. I wouldn't have expected anything less out of both of y'all being in the same room,” she said. The whole time she spoke, she never took her eyes off Cameron, who was now coloring.

“You wanna talk?”

“Not really. Not now.”

I watched as her leg bounced up and down. She was unraveling right before my eyes, and I felt helpless to stop it.

“Idalis, it's me. You can talk to me. You know that, right?”

She got up and started picking up toys from the middle of the floor. “I said I'm okay. Please, let's not do this now. Ok?”

“I'm just worried about you. Everyone is.”

She stopped what she was doing and glared at me. “Everyone? Who is
everyone,
Trip?”

“Wait. What are you getting upset about?” I asked.

She stood up, hands on her hips. “So what are you saying? You and
everyone
have been having conversations about me behind my back?”

“Come on now, it's not like that, and you know it.”

“Then what is it?” She stood there and looked at me as if I had two heads. I didn't want to upset her. I knew she was dealing with a lot, but I couldn't help what my gut was telling me.

“You know what, Trip. Can you please just go?”

“Idalis, I didn't come over here to argue with you.”

“I can't tell. And you can tell Dionne she needs to mind her own business.”

I let out a short laugh. “Oh, so now you mad at her? She just came to me out of concern. If you wanna be mad at anyone, you should be mad atâ”

She cut me off. “Myself!”

“What?”

“That's what you were going to say, right?”

I took a step toward her. “What are you talking about? Nobody is blaming you for anything.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “Just go, Trip.”

I stood there for a second. “Are you serious?”

“Yes I am. I'm about to bury my grandmother, and you come at me with this?”

“This is crazy.”

“I can't do this. You come back into town and turn my world upside down and ... and it's too much.”

“Wait a minute! You showed up at
my
hotel room, or did you forget that?”

She bit her bottom lip as I watched anger flash across her face. “Wow, you had to go there.”

“Yes, I did. You been pushing and pulling me ever sinceâ”

“You know what”âshe bent down and picked up Cameronâ“just go.”

Part of me wanted to stay and try to figure out where all this was coming from, but I was too tired both emotionally and physically to argue with her. And she was right; she was about to bury her grandmother and I didn't want to make it any harder for her.

I headed toward the door. I grabbed the knob, but I didn't turn it. She walked up behind me, ready to usher me out of her life.

“When is the funeral?” I asked.

When she didn't answer me, I turned around and looked at her. The cold look in her eyes spoke volumes.

She didn't want me there.

I shook my head and stepped out onto the porch.

Before I could say anything, I heard the door close behind me.