What's Done In the Dark (16 page)

“Hey,” Felise said, walking into the living room. I’d had Charlene call her as soon as I opened this. “Are you okay?”

I shook my head but didn’t say anything. I didn’t know if I’d ever be okay again. I didn’t know if my family would ever be okay again.

Felise eased onto the sofa next to me. “What’s going on?”

I mutely handed her the piece of paper.

She read the top line. “ ‘Death Certificate.’ ”

We sat in silence as she scanned the rest of the paper. I could’ve told her what it said because in the hour and a half since I’d received it, I’d committed each word to memory. According to this piece of paper, my husband was officially
gone. Stricken from the records of the living, ripped from our lives by heart failure.

“Well,” Felise said, folding the paper in half, “not that it’s any consolation, but now you know.” She handed the paper back to me. “Now you know without a doubt what happened.”

“Well, I know the official cause of death, but I still have so many unanswered questions,” I managed to mumble. “What if my asking him for a divorce stressed him out so that he had a heart attack? That would mean I killed him.”

She patted my hand. “That’s absurd. You didn’t kill your husband. And you probably will always have questions about his death. But it’s time to let him go.”

“I keep trying to tell her that.” I looked up to see my sister, who had appeared in the doorway. “But she keeps talking about how A plus B isn’t equaling C,” Charlene added as she walked in.

“There’s a part of me that thinks I should keep digging,” I told Felise.

“Digging for what?” Felise asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know—answers?”

Felise lightly pointed at the paper. “But you have your answers right there, sweetie.”

That caused the tears to start up. “I know. I just want my husband,” I said, breaking down in tears again. “Do you know he had a doctor’s appointment?” I finally managed to say. “He had a doctor’s appointment a month ago, and he cancelled it for work. I was having a really bad day with the kids and blew him off. I didn’t make him go. I should’ve made him go,” I cried, burying my face in my hands.

“Come on, you’ve got to stop beating yourself up,”
Felise said, wrapping me in a big bear hug. “You can never let Steven’s memory go, but you’ve got to let this uncertainty go.”

She let me cry for a few minutes. After I was all cried out, I pulled myself up. “Do you think I should keep digging?” I asked. I trusted my best friend. She would be straight with me. “Or do you think my guilt isn’t allowing me to let this go?”

Felise looked uneasy for a moment but then forced a smile. “No, I think what you’re feeling is perfectly normal. You lost the love of your life. But I know one thing: Steven would not want you wallowing in this sea of worry.”

I let out a long sigh. I was so glad I had Felise here because I had been ready to go storm the Four Seasons again to get to the bottom of what happened that night.

I sniffed and wiped my face. I felt a wave of exhaustion come over me. “I know you’re right. It’s just so hard.”

Felise took the official report and my Bible off the table, and slid the piece of paper inside it. “Right now you stay focused on being the best mom for those children and know that Steven is right there for you.”

“Thank you so much,” I told her. I gave her a huge hug again, and watched as my sister rolled her eyes and walked
out the room.

32

Paula

“HEY, MOM. DO YOU LIKE
my hair?”

I was delighted by my daughter’s straight, flat-ironed hair. It looked really cute on her. I was raising a little beauty. As I’d been doing so often these days, I noticed how much like her father she looked. It brought a pang to my heart.

Tahiry stood next to Felise and Liz. They’d been out all day, and the sad part was I hadn’t even realized it.

“Yes, your hair looks good,” I said, running my fingers through her silky strands.

“Nana let me get a keratin treatment,” Tahiry said, smiling at Felise.

“Don’t worry,” Felise put in. “It’s all nonchemical.”

I had never put chemicals in Tahiry’s hair, even though she’d been begging for a perm since she was eleven, so I was glad Felise thought enough to take that into consideration.

“Come on, Liz, I want to show you something.” Tahiry grabbed Liz’s hand and dragged her up the stairs.
“Thanks again, Nana!” she called out to Felise as they pounded up the steps like twin elephants.

“I hope you don’t mind, I took her to Smashburger on the way home,” Felise replied.

I shook my head. “She loves that place. She would eat there twenty-four seven if she could.” I motioned for Felise to follow me into the living room. “I can’t thank you enough for taking her to get her hair done,” I said as I settled down on the sofa. “It’s like I’ve been neglecting everything and everybody.” I’d been really trying to spend more time with Tahiry, with all the kids for that matter. But it felt like I couldn’t give my all to anything until I had some answers.

She sat in the love seat across from me. “That’s understandable. Where are the boys?”

“They’re with Steven’s cousin Rodney. He’s going to keep them for a little while, thank goodness. He took them to the park, I think he said. I needed some peace and quiet.”

I was about to say something else when my cell phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number and almost didn’t answer because I couldn’t deal with any more calls of condolence, but I went ahead and pushed Answer.

“Hi, may I speak to Paula Wright?” a lady on the other end said.

“This is she.”

The woman didn’t go on.

“This is Paula,” I repeated.

“I really shouldn’t be calling you because I could get in so much trouble,” she began.

“Who is this?”

“This is Lori. I’m the clerk that was working the front desk when you came to the Four Seasons the other day. My manager
was trying to help you get some information about your husband.”

“Oh, yeah. With the long, blond pretty hair?” I sat up straighter as I tried to figure out why she was calling me.

“That’s me.” She hesitated. “I thought long and hard about whether I should tell you this, but my husband left me for another woman, and I just feel like . . . Well, I wish someone had told me. Everyone I knew covered it up.” She took a deep breath like she was trying to get up the nerve to continue. “Your husband was with someone that night.”

I inhaled sharply as I gripped the phone tighter.

“What?” Felise mouthed. “Who is that? What’s going on?”

I held up a finger for Felise to wait.

“Do you know who it was?” I managed to ask.

“I have no idea. But they were at the bar for a while. I noticed them when I went on my break because I thought he was attractive. Later, he came and got the room, went back to the bar, then went upstairs. She followed shortly after. They were trying to make it seem like they weren’t together, but I’ve been doing this job long enough to know when someone is creeping.”

I choked back tears, although I didn’t know whether to cry or scream.

“I really don’t want to sully your husband’s memory, and I hope that I don’t make things worse by telling you, but I remembered everyone trying to make me think I was crazy when I told them my husband was cheating, and I was right. I just wanted you to know that your instincts were right.”

“But you don’t have any details?”

“No, like I said, she didn’t come to the front desk with him.”

“What did she look like?”

“Honestly, I didn’t get a good look because her back was to me. But she was a tall woman, real pretty dark skin, beautiful hair. She was trying real hard not to be seen, which is why I noticed her in the first place.”

Well, that didn’t give me much. Based on her description, that could be practically anyone.

“Please don’t tell anyone I called you,” Lori said. “I could lose my job.”

“I won’t. Thank you so much.” I hung up the phone and fell back against the sofa.

“What’s going on?” Felise asked again.

“That was the hotel clerk at the Four Seasons. Steven
was
with someone.”

Felise’s mouth dropped open.

“I knew I wasn’t crazy.” I wiped away the tears that had once again started making their way down my cheeks. I hadn’t even realized I was crying.

“D-did she say who it was? What she looked like?”

I shook my head. “She didn’t get that good of a look at her.”

Felise was in as much shock as me.

“Hard to believe your perfect friend wasn’t so perfect after all, huh?” I managed to say, my voice a mixture of sarcasm and anger.

It took her a while to compose herself, but finally she said, “Why would that lady call you with that?”

“Because she knew I was going crazy and needed some answers.” I don’t know what good it did me, but I was grateful to at least know.

“So what answers do you have now?”
Felise asked.

That was a good question. Yes, my suspicions were confirmed, but really, all I had now was more hurt.

“Exactly,” Felise continued when I didn’t respond. “Let this go and remember the man you loved and who loved you. That’s all that matters.”

Through tear-filled eyes I said, “I wish that it was as easy as that.”

This time she didn’t say anything. She took me in her arms and held me until the tears stopped coming.

33

Felise

I HAD TO PSYCH MYSELF
up to step inside the rotating door. I hadn’t returned to the Four Seasons since that night, but Sabrina and her veiled comments were driving me mad. She sent me a text yesterday that said,
How’s Paula?
When I replied, asking her what she was up to, she didn’t respond. Just like she hadn’t returned my call the other day. I really think she was trying to make me sweat. I needed to get to the bottom of what she knew and what she wanted and I didn’t need to wait another day. Especially now that this hotel clerk had confirmed for Paula that Steven was here with someone else, I needed to nip this in the bud right away.

I pushed my shades up on my face and kept my head low. I didn’t want to take any chances on anyone recognizing me.

I’d already called to make sure Sabrina was working tonight. I spotted her immediately, giggling as she flirted with two men at the end of the bar. She was good at what she did. Too bad she’d dropped out of school and hadn’t
taken her talents any further than this.

I slid onto a bar stool and waited until she noticed me.

“Well, well, well.” Sabrina strutted toward me. “I was wondering when you’d come.” She placed a coaster in front of me. “What can I get for the great Felise Mavins?”

“Hello, Sabrina. How are you?”

“I’m splendid,” she replied with a sly smile.

A part of me wanted to believe she was being her usual snarky self, but my gut knew better.

“So, what brings you to the Four Seasons.
Again
,” she added with a smirk.

“I just, umm, I wanted to come by for a drink.”

“Really? Okay. What can I get for you? Apple martini?”

I didn’t know if she knew that was the drink I’d had the night I was here with Steven or if it was just a coincidence. Either way, the question cut just the way she’d intended.

“Sure. An apple martini is fine.”

I waited for her to fix my drink, and when she returned and set it in front of me, she leaned on the bar and said, “Cut the bull, Felise. Why are you really here?”

“Why don’t you cut the bull, Sabrina?” I replied matter-of-factly. “I’m just trying to find out what you think you know.” I picked my drink up and tried to take a nonchalant sip, but my hand was shaking so badly, I lifted the drink only a few inches before setting it back down.

Sabrina laughed. “Oh, what I
think
I know, huh?” She stood upright and folded her arms. “Let me see. What I think? I
think
that Dolly Do-Right met up with her best friend’s husband at the Four Seasons. Something went wrong: either she put it on him a little too hard, or she killed him. I don’t know.”

“I didn’t kill anybody,” I said defensively.

She replied, “So, you admit that you came here to meet up with Steven?”

“I didn’t admit to anything. I didn’t come here to meet up with anyone,” I protested.

“What were your intentions then? Although I’m sure to Paula it would all be the same.”

I glared at her through hate-filled eyes.

She grinned as she drummed her fingers on the bar. “You know, when Paula asked me to look into Steven’s death, I never expected to find out you were involved.”

“So, I guess you can’t wait to tell Paula this little bit of news.”

“If I couldn’t wait, I would’ve already told her.”

I knew what she was implying. Disdain was written all over my face. “I didn’t have anything to do with Steven’s death, nor was I with him,” I finally said. “We had a drink at the bar, and I left it at that.” Whatever she knew, I was going to admit to the bare minimum.

She gave me a broad wink like she knew I was lying. But no one had come into the room, so she couldn’t prove anything other than that I was at the bar with Steven. I got my purse and removed my checkbook. “So what do you want? How much?”

She lost her smile. “Oh, so you think you can buy my silence?”

I couldn’t believe she’d say that. If there was one thing I knew about Sabrina, it’s that she worshipped money.

“I can’t be bought,” Sabrina said, much to my surprise. But then she leaned in again and said, “But since we are friends, I could use a loan of a grand.”

I looked at her like she was crazy.
I was an average middle-class working woman. A grand would dang near wipe out my personal savings. And I didn’t want to touch the joint savings I had with Greg because he watched the money so closely. But looking at the smirk on her face, I knew I didn’t have a choice.

“Fine,” I said as I started scribbling in my checkbook. “I’ll give you a loan.” If all I needed was a thousand dollars to make her go away, I’d gladly pay it.