Suspicions (27 page)

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Authors: Sasha Campbell

BOOK: Suspicions
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41
Chauncey
“What are you doing here?”
I stared at my mama as she climbed the stairs to the three-bedroom, two-story home where I grew up. I had watched her coming up the street in her nurse's uniform. A Dodge Intrepid was parked at the curb, but she preferred to take public transportation and save on gas and parking.
“I asked you a question?”she demanded. A hand was at her thick waist just the way it always was when she was cussing me out for something I had done. “Did you lose your hearing while you were locked up? I asked what you're doing here?”
“I came to see you.” I had hoped for my mama to have showed some sign she was happy to see me. That there was still some love in her heart for her only child, but it hurt me to say I saw absolutely nothing.
“I thought I told you never to set foot at my door again.”
She still wore the same short afro. Only now it was practically gray. “I was hoping after all this time you missed your baby boy,” I replied with a smirk.
“My son's dead to me. He died six years ago.” She could have stabbed me in the chest and it wouldn't have sliced me as bad as her words.
I moved closer and smiled. “We all make mistakes and I made mine, but I'm a better person because of that.”
“So what do you want from me, a trophy or something?” She shook her head. “You raped a woman and there is no forgiving that.”
Even after all these years, there was no point in arguing my case with her. It didn't matter to her if the girl was sixteen or forty or that I had been tricked. All that mattered to Wanda Wilson was her only son had been convicted for rape.
“At first I thought you hated me because of my conviction, but ever since I spoke to my father I discovered your hatred runs deeper than that.”
“Your father?” she snarled.
“Yes, my father,” I said, and she had the nerve to try and look angry and betrayed.
Ain't that some shit.
“He told me everything about how you wouldn't let me see him. All those times you had me sitting for hours waiting for him because you said my ol' man was coming to pick me up, when he had no idea where we even lived. How could you do something like that to your own son?”
“Why you think? Your father left us for another woman and had a child. He didn't care about us.”
“That child's name is Linda. And yeah, he was wrong for having an affair, but you were the one who put him out. You were the one who told him to never come back.”
“Of course I did! Do you think I would stay with a man after finding out he had been unfaithful!”
“I wouldn't expect you to, but no matter what he did to you, you had no right taking my father from me.”
“He lost that right the second he walked out that door.”
I stared down at the woman who barely stood five feet tall. “You are such a bitter woman. Thank goodness for Ms. Hattie. Did you know she used to let Dad sneak over and see me? He was there every day until she died.” I could tell she didn't like hearing that because her beady brown eyes narrowed dangerously. “Tell me something . . . what did you do with all of my birthday and Christmas presents?”
Her bottom lip quivered. “I donated them to Goodwill.”
My ol' man had been telling the truth. He hadn't been lying. Anger boiled inside and I felt ready to explode and scream at the top of my lungs. “Why?” How could a woman hate a man so much that she was willing to take my father away? “Mama, you tell me you can't find it in your heart to forgive me for going to jail, well, that's too bad. Unlike you, I blame you for nothing and forgive you for everything you've done to me.”
She gave me a long look and silence past while I waited for her say something, anything, to let me know that despite everything she still loved me. “Listen, I had a long day. If that's it, then please leave me alone so I can go in the house and relax.”
I shook my head and tried to hold it together, but her rejection after all these years hurt me to the core. “I came over here because I had hoped that once you saw me you would forget the past and be happy to see me, but now that I'm here, I know that will never happen, and guess what? I am okay with that because I know it's nothing that I've done. It's just the type of person that you are. You're hateful and unforgiving and as hard as it is to say this, I know I don't need someone like you in my life.”
I walked off leaving her standing there on the top step. I waited until I reached the corner before I looked over my shoulder and saw she was gone. I wished Candace was there so she would wrap her arms around me and tell me it was okay, but I ruined any chances of being with her. I lost the two women I loved; one for my own stupidity and the other due to no fault of my own.
42
Tiffany
“Tiffany! Tiffany, hurry and get your butt in here!”
There was no telling what Candace was getting ready to bitch about now. I rose from the bed and moved into the living room where she was standing in front of the television. When she swung around to face me, her eyes were so wide, they were frightening.
“Oh my God! Tiffany, you're not going to believe this?”
I glanced from her to the television screen that was showing the weather. She was scaring me. “Believe what?”
Tiffany started waving her hands wildly in the air. “They're gonna finish the story in a minute, but listen to this. King Funeral Homes is under investigation!”
“What?” I couldn't have possibly heard her right.
She nodded her head. “There were reports of a foul smell coming from the funeral home on 78th Street, so they sent the state out to investigate and they discovered a corpse in a body bag in a closet. Not only that, two other bodies were left decaying out on tables.” She was talking so fast it took a few seconds for the words to register.
“What?” I couldn't believe it. “When?”
“Shhhhh . . . it's back on.”
“Investigation began when two families complained they had not received the cremated remains of their love ones. One also reported that residents in the neighborhood started complaining of a strong odor coming from the location. King Funeral Homes at 7815 South Cottage Grove has temporarily been shut down until all violations have been corrected. Since the story was first aired, other families have come forward reporting jewelry being removed from their love one's possession.”
All I could say was, “Wow.”
“I know.” Candace took a seat on the couch. “I guess we need to watch the news more often because for the last week, King Funeral Homes has been all over the news with reports of personal belongings being stolen.”
I watched Kimbel's mother on television saying how they had fired staff members suspected of thievery and hoped to return the belongings to the loved ones. “The largest black funeral home in the city and we can't even trust our own people,” I mumbled. It was pathetic, to say the least.
“I know. That's crazy.”
I was still pissed at Kimbel, but his parents were good people and I felt bad for them. Here they were planning to open another funeral home and then something like this happened. When I got to work later that morning, I was still thinking about them and feeling bad, so on my break I decided to give Mrs. King a call. I was shocked she was even answering her phone.
“Hello?”
As soon as I heard her voice I started having second thoughts. After all, I was supposed to have married her son. I was probably the last person they wanted to hear from.
“Hello? Is someone there?”
So much for hanging up.
“Mrs. King . . . this is Tiffany.”
“Tiffany? Dear, it is so good to hear from you! I wanted to call, you but I figured . . . it was better to just stay out of it. How are you?”
“I'm fine. The question is how are you holding up?”
She sighed heavily in the receiver. “We're taking it one day at a time. We made some careless management decisions. Now that we fired most of the staff at the Cottage Grove location, all we can do is hope that it will never happen again, and ensure loved ones are cremated in a timely manner. Now, if only we could find out where the valuables have gone.”
“I'm sure they will surface.”
“I'm sure they will. Kimbel is checking every pawn shop in the city of Chicago.”
I frowned at the mention of his name.
Asshole
. “Well, you hang in there and I'll say a prayer for both of you.” I'm sure Mama was already down on her knees praying enough for the both of us.
“Thank you, dear, and please drop by sometime and visit us. Even though you didn't marry my son, I'm sure you had your reasons and I respect that. Just don't be a stranger.”
“I will.” I hung up feeling good. I thought it would have been hard to listen to her voice. I had wanted so badly to be a part of their family.
I busted my ass the rest of the afternoon and was dead on my feet by the time I got to Candace's that evening. Yet the second I stepped into her apartment, I grabbed a glass of water, then turned on the television to catch the late night news. They were talking about the funeral home again. It had also been the hot topic in the salon for the day.
“Candace! It's on again.”
She came out of her room and took a seat beside me on the couch as the two of us listened. Things had gotten so bad families were talking about taking their business to the white man. Kimbel's parents were too ashamed to even show their faces and had hired a PR person to represent the family. But when the story shifted to the stolen valuables, a woman appeared on the screen standing in front of the funeral home, holding up a photo of her grandmother. “I've been asking the funeral home for months and got no answers. All I want is my grandmother's ring back.” The camera zoomed in on the ring and I choked on my drink.
“What's wrong?”
“That's my ring,” I said between coughs.
“You got a ring like that?”
I started frantically shaking my head. “No, that's my engagement ring. Now hush!” I listened to the woman say that the ring had been in her family for generations. A thousand dollar reward was being given for information leading to the return. As soon as the weather man came on I raced to the bedroom, rummaged through my jewelry box, and came back with the diamond and emerald ring. “Look!”
Our eyes met. “It
does
look like that missing ring. You don't think . . .”
She didn't need to finish the question. I already knew what she was getting at—the same conclusion I had come to. “I don't think . . . I know. Kimbel stole this ring off a dead woman's body and gave it to me.”
Candace brought her hand to cup her mouth. “I can't believe this shit! He stole jewelry from dead folks.” She was shaking her head. My heart was pounding so hard I could barely speak. All I could think about was Mrs. King. I felt so sorry for her, but I had to do the right thing. I slipped my shoes back on my feet. “Where you going?”
Glancing over my shoulder, I replied, “I'm about to make Kimbel pay for everything he put me through. You know what they say . . . Karma's a bitch.” I grabbed my purse and headed down to the police station. A thousand dollars sounded real good right about now.
43
Noelle
When Grant arrived home from the airport, I was sitting in the living room sipping a glass of wine, waiting. As soon as he had called me to let me know his plane had landed at Midway Airport, I put Sierra to sleep and had to make myself a drink to calm my nerves.
Sleeping with a student
. It was a wonder Amber's mom hadn't pressed charges; instead, we were gonna have to give her money. Money we'd have to pay to keep her quiet about the whole situation. Her mother hadn't said as much, but I already knew what it was going to take. Any other woman would have thrown her husband out into the street and made his ass beg for forgiveness, but not me. I planned to make Grant's life miserable. I was going to make my husband raise his child and have a constant reminder of what he did to us and our marriage.
I wiped tears from my cheeks. I deserved better and dammit, I was going to get it. And to think, all this time I thought Sierra belonged to Scott.
I heard Grant's car pull into the garage. I just sat there and waited for him to enter the room. As soon as he did, I rose to greet him. “Hey, baby.” he said and looked happy to see me standing there waiting.
“Hello. How was your trip?” I asked while trying to count backward from ten. My eyes kept traveling to the letter opener on the coffee table. I wondered if I could stab him with it and win a temporary insanity plea? Grant walked farther into the room, then wrapped his arms around me. When our lips met all I could think about was him kissing that teenage girl.
Grant broke our kiss, looked at me, and smiled. “Man, it was an experience I will never forget!”
“I'm sure.”
Probably like sleeping with teenagers
.
“You would not believe how much our visit made a difference for those kids.”
I wondered if he'd slept with any of those Korean girls. I know I was letting my mind play tricks on me, but I couldn't help it. While he went on and on about his experience, I contemplated pulling off the perfect murder.
“Something sure smells good,” he finally said.
I offered him an artificial smile.”I made meatloaf. Your favorite.”
He grinned. “Yes, it is. Give me two minutes to change and I'll be right down.”
I paced the room, punched the wall a few times, and waited until we were seated at the table before I finally felt calm enough to say, “I have a new client. She said you used to be her teacher.”
“Really?” he said between chews. “Who is it?”
I reached for my glass. “Carmen . . . Carmen White.”
Grant's face lit with recognition. “Sure. Bright girl. Has a lot of potential. I wonder what she's doing with her life?”
“I got the impression she was working and attending community college,” I replied while stabbing my peas with my fork.
He shrugged. “Anything is better than nothing.”
“Anyway . . . while talking to her I found out who Sierra's mother is.”
His eyes snapped to me. “What? That's great news. Who is she?”
“Amber Andersen,” I said slow and controlled, then waited for his reaction.
“Amber . . . my former student Amber?” His eyes shifted nervously.
I nodded, then leaned back in my chair. “I went by and met her mother. She had a lot of things to say, and when I asked her who was Sierra's father, she told me to talk to you.”
“Me?” he held up his hands. “Listen, Noelle . . . what my students talk to me about in private is between me and them.”
I cut my eyes at him. “I just bet. So did you know she was pregnant?”
Grant took a drink from his pop can before answering. “I suspected as much. After I heard she had dropped outta school, I went by her house to talk to her—”
“You went to her house?” I snapped, cutting him off.
He gave me a look like it was no big deal. “I'm a teacher and I was concerned. She hadn't been in class for days and I wanted to know why. That was when Amber told me she might be pregnant.”
Did he really expect me to believe this shit he was trying to feed me?
“Who's the father?” I asked as I started stabbing peas again.
He shook his head. “I can't say.”
“What do you mean you can't say? Is it Scott?” I asked suspiciously.
He looked confused. “Scott? Hell no.”
“Then who else could it be because Sierra sure looks a lot like your side of the family?”
A light suddenly went off in his eyes. “What are you trying to say?”
I was sure I had a crazed look in my eyes. “I'm asking . . . is Sierra your daughter? Is that why you're so adamant about getting her out of our house because you don't want your little affair in my face?”
Grant glared across the table. “You're sick, you know that? I am a teacher! I would never step over the line and violate a student's trust.” I wanted to believe him. I really did, but how could I when all the facts said otherwise.
“What else can I believe? You won't tell me who the father is, yet you deny it's you. The baby looks just like Scott and Amber's mother dropped her off on our doorstep.”
“Fine, if you don't believe me, then let's go over there.” He sprung from the chair.
“Right now?” I challenged.
“Yep, right now. Since you don't believe me, I'm going to prove to you I'm not lying.” He shook his head. “It's a shame my word just isn't good enough.” There was sadness in his eyes and I know I hurt his feelings. Well, too bad. Grant wasn't the only one hurting right now. I guess my husband thought I was going to say forget it or call his bluff.
Not me.
I got up, went to my room, and slipped on a pair of jeans and reached for my sneakers. Grant followed, realized I was serious, and for the first time, he looked a little worried.
“Maybe we should just wait till tomorrow after we have cooled off. It's too late to be knocking on someone's door.”
I glanced across the room at my alarm clock. It was almost ten o'clock. “I don't think so. We're getting this mess over tonight. So if there is anything you need to tell me, then you better do it now.” As soon as I had on my shoes, I got the diaper bag ready, then removed Sierra gently from her crib and grabbed her car seat. Grant was still standing in the same place I left him. “Don't just stand there, let's go,” I ordered. I was through playing games.
“Fine, but you're going to regret accusing me of messing around with a student. I can't wait to see your face when you find out you're wrong.”
He climbed behind the wheel and was quiet all the way to Amber's house. Part of me was starting to have second thoughts. What if I was wrong? If I was, things would never be the same between us again.
On the way, Grant tried to act like he didn't remember where she lived. I had no problem giving him direction and when he pulled in front of the house, I turned to him and said, “You know I don't like surprises. If there is anything you need to tell me, now is the time.” I was trying to give him one last chance to come clean because in about the next five minutes all hell was gonna break loose.
“I already told you I don't have anything to hide.” He got out the car first and I starting to have a bad feeling all over again. The house was relatively dark except for a light at the front of the house. I wasn't feeling anywhere near as confident as I followed Grant onto the porch and rang the doorbell. A few seconds passed before a light turned on and the door opened. A beautiful young woman stood there. Her eyes looked red and swollen like she had been crying. The second she recognized my husband, her jaw dropped.
“Mr. Gordon, what are you doing here?”
Out the corner of my eyes, I watched my husband shift nervously from side to side. “I came to speak with you and your mother.”
Her eyes darted from me to him. “What about?”
“Sierra,” I replied with a hint of attitude. I didn't have all night to be playing guess who. The sooner we got to the bottom of it, the better.
Amber's eyes grew wide. “You know where my daughter is?”
I wasn't buying her behavior for a minute. “Of course we do. Unlike you and your mother, we didn't leave her on someone else's porch. She's over in my car.” Before I could get the words out, Amber pushed past us and raced over to the car and opened the back door. As soon as she held Sierra in her arms, she started crying. I had tears in my own eyes. You could tell she really loved her baby. What the hell was going on?
“Who gave you my daughter?” she demanded to know as she moved onto the porch, carrying Sierra in her arms.
Grant came around and stood beside her. “Your mother left her on our porch.”
“What? Why? I've been crying my eyes out for two days. When I left for Army basic training, I signed my daughter over to my mom as temporary legal guardian while I was gone. When I got back she told me Sierra's father came and took my baby.”
I rolled my eyes over at my husband. “She
was
with her father. Grant and I have been taking care of her.”
Grant blew out a heavy breath, then smoothed a hand across his head. “My wife has this strange idea that Sierra is my child.”
Amber gasped. “No way! Mr. Gordon? That's crazy. This is Shawn Williams's baby.”
My eyes traveled from one liar to the other. They both looked nervous and scared. I was sick of the games. “I think it's time for everyone to stop lying. Dammit, Grant . . . you know that child is yours!”
Inside, I heard the shuffling of feet and someone coming toward the door. The porch light came on and the next thing I knew, Amber's mother stepped out onto the porch, wearing a skimpy pink gown. Does she have no shame? “Now isn't this sweet. One big happy family!”
Before I could tell the chick to check herself, Grant stepped forward with this stupid look on his face. “Lucy . . . is that you?”
“Hello, Grant,” she said with a smirk. “I bet you're surprised to see me again.”
“Y-You're Amber's mother?” he stuttered and looked seconds away from passing out on the porch.
She was nodding and grinning at the same time. “Yep, in the flesh.”
I had to walk over to my husband and sniff him, because I swore he shit his pants the way he was staring at her. He had gotten caught and was stunned to silence. I was just glad that we were all there. No more lies. Before the night was over, everything was coming out in the open. Since the two of them were standing there looking stupid, I decided to get the conversation going again. “So Sierra
is
your daughter after all.”
“Go on, Grant, tell her,” Lucy said with a sly smile.
“Tell me what?” I said, and even Amber looked confused.
Lucy gave a loud, boisterous laugh. “Okay, since he's obviously still a coward, I'll tell you myself. Sierra's not Grant's daughter . . . Amber is.”
Next thing I knew, everything went black.

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