Mama Dearest (41 page)

“My name is Lyrical. Thanks for seeing me,” she said quietly. “I want you to know that I don’t mean you any harm, but I have some information that I think you need to know.”

“About what?”

“Your mother and grandmother.”

“My grandmother?”

“Yeah, Ava Middlebrooks.”

“I don’t know my grandmother,” Madison said.

“I know, but she knows you. I used to work with her. She’s a real bad lady.”

Madison’s mouth twisted. “That seems to run on my mother’s side of the family.”

“This time it’s not Yancey’s fault. She is a real B, but even Yancey doesn’t deserve this. She doesn’t know what Ava did to her.” Lyrical paused for a beat. “She is the reason Yancey was arrested.”

Madison nearly jumped out of her seat. “How do you know this?”

“Ava got drunk and told me. Yancey shouldn’t be going to jail. It’s all Ava’s fault.”

This should be interesting, Madison thought. “Sit down and tell me what you know, Lyrical.”

F
OR THE NEXT THIRTY
minutes, Lyrical told a totally engrossed Madison how she’d met Ava in prison and in return for protecting her how Ava had promised to help her with a music career and teach her how to be a lady.

“Where is your real mother?”

Lyrical paused for a moment and looked around the room. She
bit her lip to keep the oncoming tears at bay. “She died when I was a young girl.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Madison said softly. She gently touched Lyrical’s arm to offer comfort, and Lyrical managed a small smile.

“So, did Ava do what she promised?”

“Not really,” Lyrical said, scowling. “All she was really concerned with was having my boyfriend get her drugs.”

Madison felt her spirits starting to brighten. She just knew that her mother wasn’t the type of person who would do that. “Are those the drugs Yancey was caught with?”

“I’m not certain, but if I was a betting person, I would say yes.”

“Then why not go to the police? Why did you feel like you needed to come directly to me?”

“I’m on parole,” Lyrical explained, and then added, “They might not believe me and I know how two-faced Ava can be. The next thing I know, she will have me involved in some way.”

That prompted the natural question, considering Lyrical was an excon herself. “Are you involved more than you’re telling me?”

“Look, Madison, I’m telling you the truth. I have no reason to lie to you.”

Madison considered that statement, then nodded. “Will you repeat this story to my daddy?”

“Why do I need to do that? Why can’t you tell him?”

“I can do that, but I think it will make more sense if you did.”

Lyrical stood up from the chair. The notion of squealing obviously made her very uncomfortable. “Look, I’ve done my part. I told you what happened. Do what you must, Madison. You have a chance at something I never will.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your mother is still alive. Yancey is still around. You could save her and maybe get the chance to have a mother.”

“Who said I wanted a mother? Especially a mother like Yancey. I
haven’t been around either one of these women as much as you. Do you think I deserve to have these crazy women in my life?”

“I wouldn’t trust Ava.”

“Exactly, and I don’t need a mother either.”

“We all need a mother, Madison.”

“S
O, DO YOU THINK
we should believe this girl, Daddy?”

“Well, it doesn’t surprise me that Yancey’s mother is behind this. They never really had a good relationship. Besides, I told you, Yancey is a lot of things, but selling drugs wasn’t her deal.”

Madison was so happy that her father had confirmed what she felt intuitively. “What do you think we should do? Tell Yancey?”

“We could. I’m sure this is information she and her attorney could use,” Derrick said.

Madison had a sudden thought. “What if I had to testify? This can’t be good for my career.”

“Then you need to make that decision now.”

Her father almost barked this out, and she knew instantly what he meant. He had raised her to be responsible for her actions. “What’s the decision? I have to do what’s right. But it’s so hard for me to understand how a mother could do something so tragic to her own daughter knowing it would get Yancey in a lot of trouble.”

Derrick was pleased by his daughter’s reaction. “In the world we live in today, I guess you can’t be surprised by much. Yancey used to tell me stories all the time about stuff her mother did to her, and it just makes your heart break. It also makes you understand why she was so afraid of becoming a mother herself.”

“So you’re saying because her mother was a B that she gets to be one too?”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying. You think Yancey is a bad person because she made what she felt was the best decision for her.”

“I think Yancey has gotten to you again. Will you ever get her out of your system?”

Derrick gave her a searching look. “I think she’s gotten into your system, little girl. So what are you going to do?”

“What are you talking about, Daddy?”

“I see the way you look at her when you don’t thinking anyone is looking.”

“It’s contempt,” Madison said quickly.

“Contempt? I’m not sure that is what I would call contempt, Madison.”

Madison looked away. The one person she couldn’t fool was her father. “Maybe I’m just checking out her acting skills.”

“Or maybe how much alike you two are. How you look alike.”

“We don’t look anything alike,” Madison protested.

“Whatever, Madison. Whatever,” Derrick said as he started toward the door. “I just want to make sure you do what’s right for your mother.”

Raymond walked into the conference room with a long, green folder in his hand. He took the chair in front of me and said, “This doesn’t look good. It’s going to be hard to prove your friend Mr. Pinkston set you up, Yancey.”

“Why?”

“He has quite the impressive background. You never heard of the Pinkston family from Florida?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Raymond, why do you ask?”

“They are a powerful family from right outside Orlando, Florida. They are in the insurance and banking business. It seems his great-grandfather started the first black bank in Florida and then sold insurance door to door to black clients in the forties and fifties. They are a very wealthy and powerful family. They even have buildings named for them at FAMU and Bethune Cookman College. They have given a lot of money to the black community and several politicians,” Raymond said.

“Well, I knew Seneca was wealthy, but he never told me that.”

“It seems his name is not Seneca but Steven. Why do you think he lied about that?”

“I have no clue,” I said, frustrated.

Raymond gave it to me straight. “Nobody is going to believe this model citizen tried to set you up, Yancey. And if so, why?”

“I don’t know, Raymond. But I’m telling you the truth when I said that Seneca, or whatever his name is, gave me those drugs.”

“And then we have the problem of the large sums of money that suddenly start showing up in your bank accounts when you’d gone years with almost no balance. That’s why the DA is talking about adding money-laundering charges as well.”

That’s why the bastard gave me the money. “He told me he wanted me to keep the money to buy clothes for the show and keep it away from some young lady who had a paternity suit against him.”

“And you just believed him? You didn’t ask any questions?”

I tried to make him understand. “Raymond, I was broke and here was a man who I thought cared for me, offering me the chance of a lifetime. Why would I question him? Men for the most part have always treated me that way.”

“I’m going to try and get in contact with his attorney and see if we can’t set up a meeting with him. Maybe if you make a plea for him to tell the truth, he might explain to us what’s going on. Are you willing to do that?”

“To get the charges dropped, I will do whatever you tell me to do, Raymond.”

“Okay. Let me get back with you later on today.”

“Thanks, Raymond. I really appreciate all that you’re doing for me.”

“I haven’t done anything if I can’t get the charges dropped and your name cleared. And I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t believe you were being judged wrong.”

“Can I ask you something, Raymond?”

“Sure.”

“Why do you believe in me?”

Raymond looked at me for a moment and said, “That’s simple. Basil believes in you and I know how hard a task that is. That’s all I need to know, Yancey.”

I
WAS LOOKING OVER
my script for the next episode when I heard a knock on my dressing room door. I got up from the chair and went to open it. Dennis Wilson, the show runner, was standing there.

“Dennis, what can I do for you?”

“Can I come in? There are a few things I need to go over with you.”

“Sure.”

Dennis walked into the dressing room with a couple of scripts in his hands. He leaned on the dressing table and said, “Yancey, we are thinking about going on location in South Beach next week, and the writers want to make sure you can go before they finish writing. We had to make them aware of your legal troubles and how you might not be able to leave the state.”

“I know. That might be a problem but let me check with my attorney. I do have bail, but I know I have to get permission to leave the state. How long are we talking about?”

“It will be for at least three days. We need to get some actual beach scenes, and that is not going to happen in New York in December.”

“I completely understand. I will be meeting my lawyer tomorrow and I will get you an answer then.”

“Great, because I’d really hate to go down there without you. We wanted to do some scenes with you and Madison walking along the beach.”

“Sound good. I hope that I can go as well.”

Just as Dennis was leaving my dressing room, he stopped at the door and looked at me and said, “You know, this is really working out well. You’re a good actress, Yancey. I must admit, I was one of the ones not so high on the idea when Madison approached us about hiring you, but I think it’s turning out well for everyone concerned,” Dennis said.

I was surprised, and I gave Dennis a puzzled look, making sure I’d heard him correctly. “Madison came to you guys and asked you to hire me?”

It was his turn to be surprised. “Yeah, I thought you knew. She said you’d run into some hard times and that she and Derrick wanted to help you. She even offered to forfeit some of her salary if money became an issue.”

I’d never heard such welcome news. “Are you sure about this?”

“I’m sure. I was in the meeting. Like I said, I’m glad it worked out.”

“Yeah, me too,” I said.

When Dennis left the room, I tried to get back to memorizing my script, but I couldn’t get what he had said out of my mind. Why had Madison gone to bat for me to get this job? Here I was thinking I got it on giving a great audition when now I was finding out that I could have come in looking and sounding like a soap opera actress and still would have gotten the job. Maybe Derrick was the real reason I got the job and not Madison, as Dennis said.