“You need to be careful, son. I mean you have a lot to offer and well, I would like to see you with someone your own age.”
“Yeah, someone like Tori, huh?”
“Not necessarily Tori, but a nice, bright, ambitious young lady. Someone who has her head on straight and who won’t be with you because of who you are.”
“I can say that Dee is not with me because of my money or my ambition. She has plenty of money and she doesn’t need ambition.” Khalil laughed.
“Just be smart. The same way you’re smart when it comes to helping me handle your father’s affairs and the state of Holy Rock, then that’s how smart you have to be when dealing with someone like Detria.”
“Yes, Mother. I gotcha.”
“You betta. I’ll see you in a few,” Fancy said and ended the call.
Fancy arrived to her office at Holy Rock, locked her purse inside the file cabinet, checked her emails, and then went to Hezekiah’s office.
“First Lady,” George said, approaching her in the hall
“Oh, good morning, George. How’s it going?”
“How is Pastor McCoy this morning?”
“He’s doing well, but I can tell that he’s still frustrated about being bound to that bed and unable to walk and talk. I’m praying every day that he gets better and back to the Hezekiah I know. I hate to see him this way, you know.”
“I know. I can’t imagine being in his shoes. And I’m sure he misses being here at Holy Rock and doing what he loves. This brings me to ask you something I really feel awkward about. But, well, you’re the only person I can come to since Pastor McCoy is out of commission.”
Fancy stopped walking and looked at George seriously. “What is it? Hold up; let’s go to Hezekiah’s office so we can talk in private,” she said, looking around the parameters of the hallway.
“Okay,” George answered and they continued to walk to his office.
She unlocked the door and they entered the office.
“Okay, have a seat and tell me what’s on your mind,” she said and took a seat herself behind Hezekiah’s desk.
“I don’t know how to say this other than to say it. I’ve been working on a confidential matter for quite some time for Pastor McCoy.”
"What kind of confidential matter?" Fancy looked at him strangely. What has Hezekiah gotten himself into? she thought
"I guess I need to cut to the chase."
"Yeah, you do. So tell me, what kind of confidential matter?
George's phone rang. He looked at it and then stood up from his chair. "I'll talk to you another time. I have to take care of something," he said and quickly exited the office.
Fancy watched as George left. She would let Hezekiah know when she got home that he needed to find a way to tell her what was going on with George, but for now, she was more interested in what the keys she found unlocked.
She pulled them from out of her purse and began to see if they worked with any of the cabinets in Hezekiah's office. They didn't. She looked around his office, tried to see if they fit his desk drawers, looked underneath his desk for any secret compartments, and inside the cabinet in the meeting room adjacent to his office. None of the keys fit. She even tried the doors to the meeting room and his office but again none of the keys worked.
After exhausting her efforts to find out what the keys went to, she gave up and started looking through files on his computer again.
Khalil arrived shortly after and she told him what George had said to her.
"It's probably nothing to be concerned about. You know how Dad is. He always has something going on. If it was that important to George, he wouldn't have gotten up and left."
"I don't know. Maybe you're right. Anyway, I'm going to mention it to your father."
"Why mention it to him when he can't tell you anything, Ma? Let him concentrate on getting better instead of worrying about something he can do nothing about and neither can we. Now, if George comes back to you and tells you what he's talking about, address the issue then. Until then, let it go."
"You are wise beyond your years. You're so much like your father. I'm so proud of you," Fancy said.
"We're in this thing together, Ma. That's what families do. They stick together."
28
“All women are natural born espionage agents.”
E. Cantor
It was minutes away from eleven o’clock. The house was quiet. Hezekiah was asleep and Xavier was at Raymone’s house. Fancy tossed and turned in her bed. Thoughts ran through her mind about George and Hezekiah. Despite what Khalil suggested, she just couldn't get out of her mind what George could have been talking about. She sat up in her bed and then thought about the keys. She put on her robe and went downstairs to Hezekiah's office. She took the keys with her. Maybe they went to something in his office.
Sitting at his desk, she pulled the drawers to his desk out one by one. Nothing hidden. She was about to give up and then pulled out the last drawer, accidentally pulling it off its railing. The drawer and its contents spilled to the floor. She leaned down to pick everything up, but then like one of those spy movies she'd seen one too many of, she got out of the chair and got down on her knees. She started looking at his desk to see if there were any secret compartments, but there were none. Next, she got up and walked over to where the shelves of books were. Maybe there was a hidden compartment somewhere among the rows of books. She pushed books in, aside, and pulled a few out but again there was nothing. For the next few minutes, she stood in the center of the office and looked. Her mind was racing with curiosity.
Finally, she walked back to Hezekiah's desk, sat down in the chair, and proceeded to put the drawer back on its hinges. She pushed the drawer in and it stopped. She pushed harder, but the drawer wouldn't go all the way in. She stuck her hand in the back of the space and felt something hard. She tried pulling whatever it was out, but she couldn't. She opened the middle desk drawer and retrieved a mini flashlight Hezekiah kept inside. Turning it on, she looked to see what was keeping the drawer from going all the way back in. When she did, she saw a small steel box about the size of one of those boxes that holds a new cell phone. How had she missed seeing it? She messed with it until she was able to pull it out. When she pulled it out she saw that it was an unusually small lock box. She picked up the set of keys from off the desk to see if any of the keys would open the box. Bingo, the second key she tried unlocked the box.
Fancy looked inside. Strangely, all the box contained was three keys identical to the keys on the set she had in her possession, a micro SD card and a cell phone. Unlike her set of keys, the keys in the box were labeled. One was labeled SB, one was labeled DC, and the third was labeled POB. Looking at the box again, she flipped it over. Taped to the bottom of it was another key which was a duplicate of the key that unlocked the box. "What are you up to, Hezekiah?" she questioned aloud. She turned on the phone and it was fully charged. It looked like a burner phone, one of those phones shady business guys use to carry out shady deals. She scrolled through the phone Contacts which consisted of a mere five names and numbers. Her eyes bulged when George's name appeared. The other contact was the name of an apartment complex. Under that contact in the address section was the address 3201 River Circle. She did a Google search and it turned out that it was a luxury complex located in downtown Memphis. Why on earth would Hezekiah have the name of a condo on his phone and why George's number? Could this somehow have anything to do with whatever George started to talk to her about. Another contact was Bank of America. Underneath it were two numbers that looked similar to bank account numbers. Under that same contact were the words Safe Box followed by a five digit number. Fancy took a screenshot of it and continued scrolling to the next contact. This one had the initials DG. She did the same thing; took a screenshot of it with her phone. The last contact said P.O.B. In the note section under the contact were the words Post Office followed by a four digit number, which she also took a screenshot of. She then went back and did a
screenshot on George's number and the apartment listing.
Next, she took the micro card, inserted it into the appropriate slot on the computer, and waited for it to open. What she saw next caused her to become physically sick to the point she wanted to throw up. Hot tears poured from her eyes and traveled down her cheeks. A wave of nausea formed in the pit of her belly as she saw several sexually explicit pictures of her husband with, of all people, Detria Graham. There were also several short videos of the couple that made Fancy’s head swim.
To see Hezekiah with Detria Graham, was unbearable. The love of her life, the man who's butt she wiped, the man who was the reason she served six years in prison, the man she adored and worshipped. How could he do this to her? And how could he do it with the likes of Detria Graham, the same nasty tramp who was sexing her son!
She nervously scrambled for her cell phone. "Khalil, I need you to come over here now," she cried into the phone.
"Ma, what is it? Something wrong with Dad?" Khalil asked, surprised to hear from his mother at this time of night.
"Your father's okay. Just get here as soon as you can."
"Okay. I'm on the way."
"What's wrong?" Detria asked when Khalil moved her away from underneath the curve of his arm. He jumped up out of the bed and began to hurriedly get dressed.
"I don't know. That was my mom. She needs me at the house now."
"I'll go with you," Detria said.
"No, you stay here. I don't know what's going on and until I find out, then you hang back. I'll call or text you."
He stepped into his shoes, grabbed his keys and wallet off the dresser, and left out of his apartment like he was superman going to rescue a damsel in distress.
He drove as fast as he could. When he arrived about ten minutes later, Khalil used his key to unlock the door to his parents' house and rushed inside.
"Ma, Ma, where are you?" he yelled and dashed toward the bedroom where his father was. He opened the door and saw Hezekiah was asleep. He closed up the door and turned to run upstairs, but he was intercepted by his mother.
"Shhh, quiet," she ordered under her breath. "You don't want to wake your father. Come on," she said and walked to Hezekiah's office.
"What's wrong with you, Ma?"
"I found these in one of your father's suit pockets." She showed him the set of keys as they entered the office.
"Okay, and? Please don't tell me you brought me over here because of some keys." Khalil began to look and sound irritated at his mother.
"This is what one of the keys unlocked." She showed him the lock box. "Inside was this stuff." She showed him the duplicate keys, the cell phone, and the micro card. She continued talking and Khalil continued standing, hands folded, waiting on a valid reason for his mother getting him out of the bed with Detria to bring him here.
"See for yourself. Oh, God, Khalil, I'm so hurt. I don't know what to do."
Khalil walked over and stood behind Fancy who was sitting back in front of the computer. His eyes must have been, had to have been playing tricks on him. Surely he wasn't seeing his father and Detria on a video making love. The video was short but it was followed by three more videos of Hezekiah and Detria in the throes of making love. There were also a dozen or more pictures of the couple too.
"I tried to tell you that little tramp was no good for you. And she's messing with my husband, too. Oh, God, how could Hezekiah do something like this? And why would he keep such disgusting photos and videos?"
Out of nowhere, Khalil slammed a fist down on the oak desk, startling Fancy to the point she let out a yelp as if she'd been struck.
"That son-of-a─....I'm going to kill 'em!" He stormed out of the office.
Fancy jumped up and ran after him. "Khalil, baby, stop." Fancy pulled on his shirttail trying to keep him at bay, but Khalil was no match for her petite, 120 pound frame.
Khalil disregarded her, and burst into his father's room.
Hezekiah woke up to loud noises, hollering and cursing. When he saw Khalil burst into the room, he didn't know what to think. He knew something was seriously wrong, but what? Had something happened to Fancy or Xavier? What reason would Khalil be at the house this time of night and in such a state.
Fancy screamed, cried, and pleaded but to no avail. Khalil dashed over to his father and began choking him. "You lying, cheating, dog. You deserve to die. How could you," he spat and screamed while Fancy pulled and pulled on him.
"Khalil, stop it! Stop it, Khalil! You're going to kill him!" Fancy screamed.
Suddenly, Xavier appeared. With all the commotion, no one heard him enter the house. "What are you doing?" he yelled and charged toward his brother, forcing him off of Hezekiah.
Hezekiah began grunting, shaking his head, and the word no pushed forth out of his mouth. Tears came down his eyes as he continued to say, "Nooo," louder and louder. His eyes bulged as he coughed to regain his breath.
"What's wrong with you? Are you crazy?" Xavier yelled. "Ma," he said looking at his distraught mother. "Are you all right?"
"You're going to pay for hurting my mother. I don't give two cents about that side chick of yours. Tricks like her can be bought a dime a dozen. But you cheated on my mother with her? For how long, Dad?"
Xavier stood by his father's bedside speechless, trying to understand what Khalil could be talking about and what had just went down.
"If it's the last thing I do, I'm going to make you pay. You think lying up in this bed is hard, well you ain't seen nothing yet!" Khalil left out of the room. Xavier ran after his brother, unaware that much like his dad, his skeletons might soon come out of hiding, too.
29
Love grows where trust is laid and love dies where trust is betrayed. Tigress Luv
"Get your clothes on and get out!" Khalil demanded. An Uber driver is waiting outside for you."
"An Uber? Baby, what's wrong? What happened at your parent's to get you so upset? Is Hezekiah...I mean is your father all right?"
"Did you hear me? I said get your clothes on and get out."
Detria got out of the bed and began getting dressed. "I wish you would just tell me what's going on. What have I done? What happened? Baby, please."
"What happened? Is that what you asked me?"
"Yes, tell me. What's got you so upset?"
"Upset? Me? I'm not upset, Dee. I'm done. I mean, you were good in bed, good with the gifts, but that's all you're good for."
Detria slipped each foot into her shoes, straightened her skirt and blouse and continued pleading with Khalil to tell her what happened to cause him to behave this way.
"Who do you think you are talking to me like this? It's obvious something or someone has made you mad, but don't come up in here talking crazy to me."
"I'll talk to you any way I please. You're nothing to me."
"Is that so? Mighty funny you weren't saying that earlier when we were between the sheets."
"You're nothing but sloppy seconds. Why didn’t you tell me that you were my father's hoe?"
Detria was appalled. She hauled off and slapped Khalil as hard as she could. How did Khalil find out? Hezekiah couldn't have told him; he can’t talk. And Hezekiah wouldn't have said anything even if he could talk.
"Don't you ever call me that! And as far as me and your father, you must be hallucinating because I don’t know what you’re talking about."
Rubbing his face from where Detria had slapped him, Khalil said, "For the last time, I'm telling you to get out of my apartment, you lying tramp. If I ever see your face again, I swear you’ll be sorry. Now get out!" He grabbed hold of Dee by her elbow and practically drug her to the door. He opened the door and as soon as she stepped on the other side, he slammed it closed in her face.
Next, he went to his office, sat down at his computer, and pulled the micro card out of his pocket. He'd had went back into his father’s office before he left and retrieved the micro card. He bypassed the pictures and videos and opened another folder on the card. It was
an excel file that showed a long list of withdrawals from Holy Rock’s account, deposits into a Bank of America account, and dates and times of money given to none other than George, his father's number one security guy. What was this all about? Was his father stealing from his own church? And why would his father be paying George under the table when he was already paid a salary? He continued to look through the files. He surmised that George had something on his father. Could it be that George knew about his father's affair with Detria and threatened to tell Fancy unless Hezekiah paid him? Or maybe George knew about his parents' background. Khalil knew there had to be something major because there was no way his dad would set out big bucks like this if there wasn't something George had on him. He would find out and he didn't care what it was, George wasn't getting another dime.
Khalil looked for his cell phone then realized he must have left it in his car. He got up, went back out to his car, and sure enough it was on the passenger's seat. He got his cell phone and saw that he'd missed several calls from his mother and a text from his brother.
"Ma, don't worry. I’m good, just handling some things. talk to u in the morning. try to get some rest," he typed, texting her so she hopefully wouldn't worry and think that he'd gone and done something stupid. He texted Xavier back too and told him not to be so quick to take sides until he found out the whole deal about what was going on.
"hit u up ltr lil bro n letchu kno whuzzup." He ended his text to Xavier.
Next, Khalil called George. He didn't care how late it was. He was waking this dude up to see what in the heck was up between him and his father.
‡
George sat outside on his deck nursing his fourth glass of whiskey and smoking a cigarette. His wife didn't like him smoking period, but since he'd been a smoker since he was eleven years old, he wasn't about to quit, nor did he desire to quit. Smoking relaxed him and mixed with his favorite brown liquor, he could relax even more.
The McCoys of Holy Rock Page 17
