Family of Lies (33 page)

I
T AMAZED ME HOW SUDDENLY THINGS COULD CHANGE.
I
HAD LOVED
Vera with all my heart since the day I first laid eyes on her. I couldn’t stand the sight of her now. It was hard to believe that she was the same woman I had loved so unconditionally for so many years! But the woman that I had loved had existed only in my eyes. The truth was, she was two different people. She had a dark side and that was her true personality.

One thing I knew for sure was that Ricky was not her first lover. I had no evidence, but just based on what Tim had told me, I knew that cheating was something she was comfortable doing. The thought of her attending movies and going out to eat with that Ricky punk in public made my skin crawl. How stupid can a woman be? She obviously wasn’t afraid that somebody who knew us would see her! I’d always believed that if a person was going to be unfaithful, do it right. Don’t be seen out in public with your lover, especially in the city you live in. Don’t run off at the mouth about your affairs to your friends. Be a smart cheater. Unfortunately, even smart cheaters like me still slip up and get caught anyway.

Had I not gotten Sarah’s mother pregnant, Vera would have never known about that affair. It pleased me to know that she wasn’t aware of all the others. The main thing that had eased the burden of my guilt was the fact that since I told Vera about Sarah’s mother and me, I had not even looked at another woman. Vera must have decided to cheat on me to get back at me.

It didn’t matter now.

All that did matter was that my wife was in a full-blown relationship with another man at a time when I needed her full attention the most. I was probably on my deathbed and here she was going out to dinner and movies with a lover young enough to be her
grandson
! I had no idea how long she’d been with this Ricky person, or how much of my money she’d spent on him. And I didn’t want to know. I knew all I needed to know. But there was much more. A few hours later, around five, Tim called me up.

“I know I’ve hit you with a lot lately and I know you told me you had the information you needed, but I found out something else that you
really
need to know about,” Tim told me.

“Is it about my wife?”

“I’m afraid so. I’ll come over in about an hour if you feel up to having a visitor.”

“Not really, old man. I’m really tired and I need to get some sleep.” The truth of the matter was, I was feeling so rotten it felt like any breath could be my last. I honestly didn’t know if I’d still be alive an hour later. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that Sarah had just called me up and told me she’d be coming to see me in the morning. “You can tell me over the phone.”

“Your wife recently visited the neighborhood where your daughter’s lover lives. She posed as some kind of promotions individual.”

“What the hell did she do that for?”

“I guess she figured it was the only way she could get the information on this Curtis Thompson for whatever reason she needs it for. Maybe she’s putting together a dossier on the fellow. One that would help her convince your daughter that this man is nothing but a loser and that she’d have a shit future with him. Anyway, she passed out several Walmart gift certificates, and Curtis’s neighbors told her everything she wanted to know. When she ran out of those inducements, she bought one lucky fellow a chicken dinner.”

“Hmmm. That’s interesting, Tim. But it doesn’t matter why Vera was gathering information on Curtis. Even if she succeeded in convincing Sarah to sever her relationship with him, that wouldn’t help Vera. Her goose is already cooked! She’s an even bigger whore than my daughter! I will deal with Vera when the time is right. In the meantime, I wonder why she would check up on Curtis and not tell me about it.”

“I’m here to help you as much as I can, buddy. But I can’t answer that question.”

“I want you to keep an eye on Vera until I get up out of this hospital. The more dirt I have on her, the deeper the hole I can bury her in—and I’d like to throw a snake in behind her!”

“There’s just one more thing.”

“What?”

“At her request, her lover procured a gun for her.”

That piece of information felt like a brick going upside my head. The throbbing was so painful I had to shake my head and rub it. “A gun? A real gun?” I didn’t realize just how dumb my last question sounded until it had slid out of my mouth.

“As real and as deadly as they come—a Glock.”

“Tim, you’re damn good at what you do. How in the world did you find out about my wife getting a gun?”

Tim chuckled softly. “Because I am damn good at what I do. But a good investigator never reveals his sources. Even though you and I are friends, I still have to remain professional, right? I will tell you this much, though; one of my associates is an expert hacker. She can access anything—phone lines, computers, even bank accounts. I had her tap into Ricky’s home phone and use a recording device that can’t be detected or traced. Unfortunately, by then your wife had already initiated her request for a gun, so I don’t have all the details.”

“Why would Vera need a gun?”

“Now that I don’t know. If you’d like to hear the recording, I’d be happy to oblige.”

“No. I don’t need to hear that right now. What else did they discuss?”

“It was a brief conversation. Neither one of them mentioned names or what the gun will be used for. But something tells me we will find out soon enough. The device is still on Ricky’s phone, so if they resume that particular conversation, I’ll let you know. All I can tell you at this point is that your wife’s lover has picked up a gun that your wife requested. She sounded very eager to get her hands on it, so she’s probably picked it up by now.”

“Vera hates guns! She’s afraid of guns!”

“That may be true. But apparently none of that stopped her from requesting one.”

“If she needs a gun for protection, she could have come to me about that. I have an extensive gun collection and she knows about it.”

“Excuse me for saying this, but I doubt if she would want to use one of your guns for whatever it is she’s planning.”

“What makes you so sure of that?”

“Well, for one thing, the gun she got is unregistered.”

“Unregistered? Why in the world . . .” I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t even finish my sentence.

“There’s only one reason in the world I can think of. If a crime is committed with this particular firearm, it won’t be traceable.”

I held the telephone in front of my face and looked at it like Tim’s words had just scorched my ear. “A crime?” I started talking again before the phone was even back up to my ear. “Are you telling me that my wife is planning to commit a crime with a gun?”

“I don’t know what she’s planning to do. But that would be a good guess. I’m sorry to have to tell you this, buddy.”

“Damn! She couldn’t be thinking about . . .”

“Thinking about what?”

“I’ve got to hurry and get up out of this hospital. My life is falling apart all around me.” Something I didn’t want to think about stormed my mind. “Vera’s been looking depressed lately. Real depressed. Lord I hope that woman’s not thinking about ending it all.”

“Suicide? You think she’s depressed enough to consider something that extreme?” Tim snorted. “No way, my man. If your wife is considering taking her own life, she wouldn’t care if the gun was registered or not. And from what I know about women, especially elegant, vain women like your bride, they like to take themselves out in style. Typically, they slip into their favorite negligee and overdose on sleeping pills or they loop nooses around their dainty necks. They wouldn’t want to be remembered as a bloody, mangled mess. Not even in death. Therefore, they don’t go for guns, knives, jumping in front of trains, or diving off the Golden Gate Bridge. But let’s not jump to conclusions. For all we know, Vera could have requested that weapon for someone else to use.”

I had not expected the disturbing news that Tim had just delivered. But I had a feeling that news even worse than this was in the making.

“Thanks, Tim. I’ve heard enough for now. You can expect a nice bonus from me for this one.”

“I’m glad you want me to keep an eye on your wife. Especially now that we know about the gun.”

“Tim, I know all I want to know.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to know what she’s planning to do with that gun?”

“Well . . .”

“Tell me now. Can you think of anybody your wife would want to do harm?”

“Not really.” I sucked on my teeth and gave Tim’s question a little more consideration. “Now that you asked, she dislikes a few people, my daughter’s lover especially. But as long as I’ve known Vera, she’s never even hurt a fly. I don’t think she hates Curtis enough to shoot him.”

“Dude, there’s a first time for everything.”

“Yeah, I know there is. Tim, I’m feeling like hell right now, so I really need to get off this phone. Call me again tomorrow morning and I’ll let you know what to do next.”

I had no idea that this would be my last conversation with Tim.

T
HE NEXT MORNING
I
GOT UP EARLIER THAN USUAL.
E
VERYBODY ELSE
was still in bed when I left the house.

Last night, after Bo had been asleep for a couple of hours, I tiptoed into the bathroom with my cell phone and dialed Curtis’s number. He didn’t answer so I left him a voice mail.

“Curtis, as soon as you get my message, call me on my cell phone. I’m going to leave it on all night. If it’s not convenient for me to talk when you call me back, I’ll pretend you’ve called a wrong number and then I’ll call you back as soon as I can,” I told him. “It’s
really
important.” I wanted to add, “It’s a matter of life and death.” But there was no need for me to tell him that. He’d find that out soon enough.

It was Thursday. He had one more day to live. And so did I.

Knowing that my time was running out, I was determined to do everything I needed to do. My “bucket list” was so short I had only one item on it. And that was I had to see my daddy one last time.

Before I went to the hospital, I cruised around the city, looking at some of my favorite spots. I drove to the graffiti-covered apartment building where I had lived with my mother until she got married and dumped me on Grandma Lilly. The building had not changed at all. Several generations of bitter-looking people still occupied the porches, the balconies, and the street in front of it. As usual, most of them were drinking beer and hard liquor straight out of cans, bottles, and mayonnaise jars. Discarded furniture, dog shit, and other litter covered various sections of the ground like an ugly, unfinished patchwork quilt. Next I drove to the building where I had lived with Grandma Lilly. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the owner had at least painted it from a dull shade of gray to a light blue. I didn’t see any of my old friends and that saddened me. Had there been more time, I would have tracked down some of my former homegirls. I knew they would have appreciated inheriting my designer outfits, my top-of-the-line electronics, and my Jaguar. I would have even greased their palms with a few thousand dollars. But in a way it was a good thing I didn’t have time to do any of that. People would have started asking me questions as to why I was giving my stuff away. And I wouldn’t have been able to tell them. But there was another reason why I was glad I didn’t have a lot of time left. I was afraid that if I really thought about what I was going to do, I’d change my mind. And I didn’t want to back out now. With Curtis dead, my life would not be worth living.

I didn’t realize how long I had been driving around until I glanced at my gas gauge and saw that I was almost empty. By the time I gassed up my car and stopped for a cup of coffee at a Starbucks across the street from the gas station, it was almost ten. Before I finished my coffee, I called Daddy’s hospital room.

“I want to come see you this morning,” I told him as soon as he answered. “Do you feel like having company?”

“I’d love to see you, honey. But I’m not doing too well right now. I had a really rough night.”

“Oh?”

“They tell me I had a mild stroke a couple of hours ago. They hadn’t even noticed something else was wrong until they had poked and prodded me for a while.”

“You had a stroke? I’m definitely coming over there!”

“I’m fine now, sugar! If you do come today, wait at least a couple of hours. By then they’ll have finished running a few tests and poking and prodding me some more. As a matter of fact, I doubt if they’ll let you in if you come now anyway.”

“Daddy, I’m family. I don’t know much about hospital rules, but I think you need to have a family member present in case . . . in case your situation gets worse. I don’t want you to die alone!” I immediately regretted my last sentence. “I didn’t mean that!” I said quickly. For a woman who had only one more day to live, I didn’t understand why it was so important to me now what I said about death.

“Honey, I know you didn’t mean that. And that’s not going to happen.” Daddy snorted. He suddenly sounded like he was as strong as a bull. “I told Vera the same thing a little while ago when she called.”

“Oh. What else did she say?”

“Not much. I told her the same thing I told you—call me or come see me later in the day. Like around noon or so.”

“All right, Daddy.” I hung up and ordered another cup of coffee, this one to go. I was just about to leave when my cell phone rang. It was Curtis.

“I’m sorry I’m just getting back to you, honey. My mama and one of her friends went to one of those Indian casinos near Sacramento and had car trouble. I had to go pick them up. You know what a rattrap I drive. By the time I got up there, it had conked out and had to be towed. I had to call around to find somebody to come pick us up. I just got home a few minutes ago.”

“I’m so glad you called. I was going crazy,” I said in a shaky voice.

“I guess you know I got fired for coming in late too often. Had that been the real reason, everybody else would have been fired by now. Bo didn’t say anything about you and me, but everybody at the store knows. You know how Cash and Collette like to spread gossip. Anyway, Bo gave me my pink slip and he had two other security guards escort me off the premises. They even checked my backpack to make sure I wasn’t walking out of there with any unpaid for merchandise.”

“I’m not surprised he fired you. But I’m surprised he hasn’t done it before now. Besides, the way things have been going, you would have had to quit soon anyway.” I sighed. “Things have been so tense in our house lately I can barely breathe. I didn’t realize until now just how sick and tired I am of everybody I live with trying to control me. Including my daddy.”

“Well, you won’t have to put up with that too much longer. You know I won’t try to control you. I’m going to treat you like an equal partner, not a child like everybody else has been doing. When will you be moving out?”

“Uh, real soon. I’ve already packed up some of my stuff.”

“My buddy downstairs has a truck.”

“Oh! I don’t need a truck. I’m only bringing some of my clothes and I can fit them in my car. Besides, I don’t think
you
should be coming over here with a truck to help me move. That would be pretty stupid.”

“Well, we’ve done some pretty stupid shit already.”

“I know that. Uh, I want to come see you tomorrow night.”

“That’s cool. What time are you coming?”

“I’ll come after your mama leaves for work. She is going to work tomorrow night, right?”

“She is as far as I know. Listen, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about her. My mama knows everything about us. I know you think she’s not the friendliest person in the world, but she is pretty cool. Once you get to know her, you’ll see what I mean.” Curtis laughed. “And by the way, the same buddy downstairs with the truck, he manages that body shop I’ve been doing piece work for now and then. He’s going to let me work full-time, starting next week.”

“That’s nice, honey.”

“And Mama said she could help you get on at that warehouse where she works. You don’t have to work if you don’t want to, though. But if we want to get our own place eventually, and in a much better neighborhood, we’ll both have to be bringing in some money. Mama’s got her a new man friend and I have a feeling she’s anxious for me to leave so she can move into his place with him.” Curtis laughed again.

“I’ll come over around eight tomorrow night. Do you want me to bring something?”

“A six-pack of Miller Lite and some smothered chicken from that place on Harrison Street like you brought the last time. I hope you can stay more than a few hours this time.”

“I will be staying a lot longer than a few hours,” I said. I had to force myself not to cry.