Looking For Trouble (27 page)

“Is everything okay?” Alexandria asked, looking at the two.

“Yes.”

“Sure.”

“Everything's fine.”

“You were great!”

Victoria and Parker both fumbled to say their praise at the same time, talking over each other as they stammered their praise.

It wasn't until that moment that Alexandria realized what she initially thought was discomfort between them was really sexual tension. When she stared into her mother's eyes and Victoria looked away, her mother's actions confirmed it. Alexandria didn't even want to look at PJ's father, for fear that his thoughts might be too much for her to handle.

Alexandria had never seen her mother look nervous or guilty. Right now, her face and body language were wrought with both. When she glanced over at Mr. Brightwood, Alexandria could see that he'd regained his composure and was now the perfect picture of suave, cool calm. Meanwhile, Victoria gulped down her martini and signaled for the server to come their way.

I need another drink, too!
Alexandria thought.

“I told you she's fantastic!” PJ said with enthusiasm. “Wasn't that piece great?”

“Yes, it was outstanding,” his father chimed in, nodding his head toward Alexandria before turning to her mother. “Victoria, you've done an amazing job raising such a beautiful and talented young woman. You should be very proud.”

Victoria smiled and nodded in return. “Thank you, and, yes, her father and I are very proud,” she said, throwing her husband into the conversation. “But we can't take all the credit. Alexandria's always been an extraordinary young woman in her own right.”

Parker smiled a sly grin. “The fruit doesn't fall far. And from where I'm sitting, the tree is still standing tall and blooming.”

What the hell?
Alexandria thought.
I know he's not tryin' to get his flirt on!
She and PJ looked at each other, shocked by his father's boldness.

“See, Parker,” Victoria hissed, “this is why your ass frustrated me back then and you still piss me the hell off now. You can't leave well enough alone. You always have to push and push, until you get what you want.” Victoria swiftly unleashed her fury; everyone at the table was stunned.

“Oh, and what is it that you think I want?” Parker asked calmly with a smile.

Victoria ignored him, took a deep breath, and smoothed her hand over her neatly coiffed bob. “I don't think I'll be needing that drink, after all. It's time for me to go. I'll see you tomorrow, sweetie,” she said to Alexandria, giving her a quick hug. She leaned forward and smiled at PJ. “It was a pleasure to see you again after all these years. You've grown into a fine young man, and you're more than welcome to come by the house tomorrow for Sunday dinner.” She cut her eyes at Parker without saying a word as she pushed her chair back, ready to leave.

Alexandria had hoped the evening would go well, but she should've known that when old lovers reunited, it was a tricky thing—especially, if they still had feelings for each other, and were both attached to other people. It was a bad scene waiting to happen.

Although she wished her mother would stay, Alexandria knew it was best that she leave because at the rate PJ's father was throwing out hints, the evening could easily spiral out of control and into an even bigger mess.

“I'll walk with you out to the door,” Alexandria said as she stood to her feet, joining her mother. She was relieved they were going to avoid further drama. But just as her hopes had risen, they fell again. She blinked her eyes and nearly bit her tongue when she saw Peter storming toward their table.

Chapter 38

M
adeline's limbs were weary as she lay across the bed, wishing desperately for pain medication or anything that would give her relief. It had been a half hour since Slim left, and her injuries were starting to get the better of her. The large bruise on her inner thigh was hot to the touch; her jaw throbbed; her mouth ached. But that pain was lightweight in comparison to the agony pounding in her head, which felt as though it was going to roll off her shoulders.

“I hope he gets here soon.” She seethed in pain, wishing John would walk through the door any minute. She knew that he'd planned to stay out well into the night and then take a drunken Maxx home after all their partying was done. But she was counting on the fact that once Slim went back to the club and tried to explain what had happened, John would rush back to the hotel and to her rescue, feeling responsible and guilty.

“Come on! Where the hell are you?” Madeline called out. She sat up and was about to go to the bathroom to replace the cold washcloth she'd been holding over the knot on her forehead, when she heard a soft knock at the door.

At first, she wondered who it could be, but then she realized that John had probably forgotten or lost his room key. The softness of the knock let her know he was standing outside, filled with remorse.

Madeline smiled; then she slowly limped over to the door. She fixed her face into a frightened, vulnerable expression before turning the knob.

“Hello, Madeline,” the woman said, hands on her hip, eyes blazing as she stood in the middle of the doorway.

“Who the hell are you?” Madeline asked, straightening her back as much as her pain would allow.

“The real question is, who the hell are you?”

Madeline studied the attractive woman closely and then it came to her. She'd seen her at the club earlier that night. “How do you know my name and where I'm staying?” she asked. Madeline's hand was on the door, ready to shut it, but the woman was too quick.

She pushed past Madeline as if she were a rag doll and strutted into the room.

“If you don't get out of my room right now, I'm going to call the police!” Madeline threatened.

“Go right ahead,” the woman replied. “As a matter of fact, I'll dial the number for you.”

Madeline's heart quickened as she looked into the woman's eyes. If it was one thing she knew, it was that crazy knew crazy—and the woman standing in front of her was crazy like a fox. “Bitch, you don't scare me,” Madeline said, leaning on her one good leg. “So if you don't get the hell out of my room right now, I promise you, you'll regret it.”

The woman laughed and folded her arms across her chest. “I guess it takes a bitch to know one, so I'm not gonna get upset about you calling me out of my name, like you just did. But let me tell you right now, if you lay one hand on me, I'll beat your ass worse than you beat your own.”

Madeline swallowed hard and looked around the room, as if someone else was in there with them.

“That's right. I know what you did,” the woman said. “Slim told me the whole story from beginning to end.”

“He's lying!” Madeline screamed. “That savage beat and raped me when I wouldn't give in to his advances.”

“Oh, stop the bullshit,” the woman said. “Listen, I'm gonna make this quick, because I want your crazy ass to be gone by the time John gets back here.”

“Wait a minute,” Madeline said. “Who the hell are you?”

“Heffa, if you ask me that one more time, I'm gonna blacken your other eye. Now sit your ass down at that desk over there and listen to what I have to say before I knock you down.”

Even though Madeline wanted to resist, she could see that the woman was dead serious. Slowly she walked toward the desk and took a seat, placing her hand atop the wooden surface, where the ashtray she'd used to beat herself now sat.

“And don't even think about doing anything with that ashtray. You may have hit your fool self with it, but I promise you, if you make one move to pick it up, it'll be the last thing you do before the ambulance comes to get you.”

“I'm getting tired of your damn threats. Now tell me what the hell you're doing here!”

The woman narrowed her eyes at Madeline. “Okay, I'm gonna get down to the nitty-gritty. First off, forget about crying rape on poor Slim. We both know you did this to yourself. Next, I want you to use that pen and stationery on the desk to write John a letter telling him that you've decided you two aren't right for each other, and that you're ending things. Then I want you to pack your bags, put the note in an envelope, and leave it with the clerk at the front desk. After you do that, I want you to call a cab to take you to the Greyhound station so you can get the hell out of Dodge,” the woman said, smiling as if she'd just delivered good news to Madeline.

“I don't know who you are, or what the hell you're trying to pull, but you don't scare me, you country tramp. I'm not one of those slow-minded, small-town bamas that you're used to dealing with. Nothing you do is going to rattle my chain,” Madeline shot back, still easing her hand toward the ashtray. “Now
I'm
gonna tell
you
what
you're
going to do.”

Before Madeline could say another word, the woman rushed up to her and punched her in her one good eye, delivering on her promise. Madeline grabbed the side of her face and grimaced in pain.
“Aggghhh!”
she cried out in agony, too weak and stunned to strike back.

“I'm tired of foolin' with you! I told your crazy ass to shut up, but you don't believe fat meat's greasy, so this-here country tramp had to show you.” The woman huffed and regained her footing. “If you don't do exactly what I just told you to do, I'm gonna have to tell John, as well as the police, all about you.”

Madeline was in so much pain; she couldn't stop the tears welling at her eyes. “I'm going to have Slim arrested for rape and you for attempted murder,” she hissed, still holding her hand to her face.

“That'll be very interesting, considering not only have you attempted murder, you've committed it at least three times.”

Madeline's whimpers quieted a bit at the woman's words.

“That's right. I know all about the fire you set, which killed your parents, and about the poison you put in your aunt's tea, which slowly killed her over time. The only thing I'm fuzzy on is where you dumped your last boyfriend's body. Roger was his name, right?” the woman said as she watched Madeline gasp as she continued. “But since he's been missing for a few years, I guess the mysterious disappearance of one black man in a city of millions is a cold case that's not too high on the authorities' radar.”

If Madeline's eyes hadn't been almost shut from swelling, she would have bucked them wide. She shook her head in disbelief; for the first time, she was scared.

The woman let out a satisfied laugh. “Who would've ever thought that out of all the people in this big ol' world, we'd know some of the same folks. Larry Johnson is my first cousin.”

Madeline drew a blank stare through her puffy lids. She didn't know a Larry Johnson, or what in the world this woman was talking about.

“Oh, I forgot,” the woman said. “You probably know him as Harold Boston. When I visited him last year, we went out to a club and you happened to be there. You didn't see me, but I certainly saw you because Larry pointed you out. He was plumb crazy about you.”

Madeline nearly fell out of her chair when she heard the name pass through the woman's lips. “Harold Boston” was the wayward con artist she'd hired to meet John and pretend to be her brother. A few days after she'd paid him for his services, she'd heard he'd died of a heroin overdose, which she was thrilled to learn because it saved her the trouble of disposing of him herself. “I thought he was dead,” Madeline said in disbelief.

“Everybody did, even me. The dead guy who the police found in the drug house where Larry passed out, while he was getting high, had stolen his ID, so they thought it was Larry. It scared him shitless, but it also saved his life. He's been clean, going on nine months,” the woman said proudly. “Once he got himself straight, he told me about some of the terrible things he'd done and how he wanted to change his life. He even told me about you, so imagine my surprise when you showed up at Maxx's party with my dear friend, John Small. You know, I heard that respectable folks should stay out of clubs.”

Madeline sat motionless as shock overtook her pain. She couldn't believe what was happening. Her mind raced to figure out what kind of scheme or angle she could concoct that would get her out of the mess she was in. Her first impulse was to kill the woman, but she knew that wouldn't do her any good. Besides, she barely had the strength to hold her head up, let alone engage in a fight.

“You're out of moves,” the woman said, snapping Madeline back into the moment. “John won't be back over this way for at least another hour or so. That gives you plenty of time to be long gone when he comes walking through that door.”

“Why are you doing this? What's in this for you?” Madeline asked.

The woman put her hands on her hips and smirked. “The satisfaction of knowing I helped a friend. You're a low-down woman, Madeline, and if you ever try to contact John again—so help me—I'll kill you dead with my bare hands. Do you understand me?”

Madeline squinted through her slits-for-eyes and could see that the woman meant every word she'd said. Slowly she nodded her head in defeat.

“Good,” the woman said. “Now that's more like it.” She turned on her heels and stopped just as she reached the door. “Oh, and don't forget to put on your sunglasses and wrap something around your head before you leave. We wouldn't want folks asking what happened to you, now would we?” And with that, she strolled out the door.

After she slammed the door behind her, the woman walked across the parking lot to where Slim was waiting and hopped into his truck.

“If you hadn't come out in another few minutes, I was gonna call the police,” Slim said, his eyes bulging wide with fear. “I was scared that crazy woman had hurt you, or worse. I think she's capable of anything, even murder.”

The woman smiled. “You shouldn't have worried about me, Slim. As you can see, I'm just fine.”

“What happened in there?”

“Just what I said would happen. I talked to her, woman-to-woman, and I got her to see how wrong she was for what she did to you. She's packing her bags right now and she'll be on a Greyhound headed back to New York when the next bus pulls out.”

“What?” Slim asked, with a puzzled look. “You mean she's gonna leave town, just like that?”

“Yep. Just like that,” she said, snapping her fingers. “But to be on the safe side, let's sit here for a little while to make sure she comes out of that room with her bags in hand.”

Slim nodded and then looked at the woman with a questioning stare. “I know I ain't the smartest fella around, but tonight learned me somethin',” he said as he touched one of the scratches on his face. “Things ain't always what they seem. I know that crazy bitch didn't back down as easy as you say she did. I ain't no fool. What did you do to her?”

The woman smiled sweetly. “I told you, I talked to her, woman-to-woman. I can be very persuasive when I have to be.”

Slim was quiet for a moment as he thought about the situation. Finally he nodded. “Okay, I'ma let it go. I guess it don't really matter what went on between you and her. The most important thing is that this nightmare is over.”

“Yes, it is. You won't ever have to worry about seeing her again.”

Just then, they saw Madeline limp out of the room, wearing sunglasses, a head scarf, and a heavy jacket, which probably belonged to John. She was carrying an envelope in one hand and a suitcase in the other as she headed toward the front entrance of the hotel.

“Well, you did it,” Slim said. “I don't know how, but I'm thankful and I owe you.”

“No, you don't owe me a thing. Someone once told me, ‘you can never go wrong doing right'. When I saw you all broken up, like you were in the hospital parking lot, and you told me what happened, I knew I had to help because it was the right thing to do.”

“I'm glad you believed me. Some people might've turned me in.”

“You're a good man, Slim. You wouldn't hurt a fly, so I knew you'd been set up. Just remember to be more careful when it comes to women. There are some crazy heffas out here.”

“You got that right. If there was more good women like you, this world would be a better place.”

“Awww, thanks, Slim. That's so nice of you to say.”

“You always been a nice person, always treatin' people right.”

She smiled and tilted her head. “You're a good person, too, Slim.”

“Thank you, Mary-Marie,” Slim said with a smile as he turned on the engine and pulled out of the parking lot.