Trouble Loves Company

by Angie Daniels

Chapter 31

  Renee

  I pulled off the Interstate and headed toward Nadine’s house. As soon as I had gotten off the phone with Danielle, I booked an evening flight to St. Louis. Now it was almost midnight. I was tired and had never been much of a night driver, but it was Kayla we were talking about and it was going to take something stronger than a tornado to keep me from getting to Columbia.

  I still couldn’t believe what had happened. Kayla accused of murder. No way. That girl wouldn’t even kill a fly.

  I was driving down the road, trying not to speed. My hands were shaking, my chest pounding. I was squirming on the seat, unable to stay still. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life. Danielle didn’t have any more information at the time, but Nadine, who’s a divorce attorney, was trying to get as much as she could. I pulled in front of her large, brown stucco house. Danielle’s car was already in the driveway. I knocked on the door and Jordan answered it.

  “Hey, come on in.”

  I stepped into the foyer and walked across the oak hardwood floors to the dining room, where Danielle and Nadine were already sitting. We hugged and then I asked for information.

  Nadine gave me a grim look. “It doesn’t look good. Kayla went to Leroy’s house last night. She said he tried to kill her, so she grabbed a knife, stabbed him in the shoulder, and ran out the door.”

  I was confused. “I don’t understand.”

  “Well... the police received a call this morning and found Leroy lying in his kitchen, dead. He had been stabbed seventeen times in the chest.”

  I was livid. “Seventeen times! What the hell happened?”

  “She has no idea,” Danielle replied.

  “Did you get to see Kayla?”

  Nadine nodded. “She looks a mess. He definitely did a number on her. I wouldn’t have blamed her if she had killed his ass.”

  Even though I already knew the answer, I had to ask. “Did she?”

  Nadine shook her head. “I spoke to Kayla and she said she only stabbed him once.”

  “So, someone must have come to the house after she left.”

  “That’s what I was thinking, but there’s no proof. Kayla’s fingerprints are the only ones on the murder weapon. She was seen fleeing from the scene of the crime.”

  Damn, what was Kayla thinking?

  “I told her not to say another word. I hired a criminal attorney to represent her.”

  I was pleased to hear that Nadine was handling things, because I wouldn’t have had the slightest idea where to begin. “Can we at least get her out on bail?”

  “Her bail hearing is in the morning.”

  I slumped back in the chair. There was nothing else we could do at this point but wait. Danielle was sitting there, staring at me, saying nothing at all. A flicker of annoyance darkened her features.

  I gave her a curious look. “What’s goin’ through your head?”

  She suddenly jumped out of the chair like a crazy lunatic, screaming, “It’s all yo’ fault!”

  Nadine caught her just before she lunged across the table. “Hold up,” she said softly.

  I was stunned beyond words. Slowly I rose from the chair. “How is this my fault?”

  Danielle pulled away from Nadine and came and stood all in my face. “If you hadn’t been so quick to get back at him, none of this shit would have happened! That videotape is yo’ fault.”

  “Don’t act like you didn’t have anything to do with it,” I said to Danielle.

  Through her sobs, Danielle responded, “I can admit I was wrong. I should have respected Kayla’s wishes and left that whole thing with him whooping her ass alone. But I didn’t. Instead I helped you video that triflin’ negro in a diaper, then you insisted on giving that video to Tommy so he could circulate it through the church. Only that tape made it to the television stations and the doggone police station. We ruined his life, his kids’ lives, and Kayla’s.” Her fists were balled, and tears were streaming down her face. I know she wanted to kick my ass and I couldn’t blame her.

  I sat back in the chair, quiet as a church mouse. Danielle was right. All this shit was my fault. My attempt at rectifying the situation had only made the situation worse.

  Nadine was staring me down. Leave it to the lawyer to break the silence. “Renee, is that true?”

  I raked a hand across my face before finally saying, “Yeah, it true. It’s all my fault.”

  For once, Nadine didn’t bother to comment, and I was glad for that because it’s hard as hell for me to admit when I am wrong. As she went over to the couch, her disappointment was obvious. Danielle shuffled over to the window. Her arms were crossed, and she was holding her stomach. She has this ulcer thing that always emerges whenever she’s upset.

  “Everybody, I’m sorry.”

  Danielle tsked under her breath. I was tempted to tell her to go ahead and try and kick my ass and get it over with because maybe a good fight was what we needed to get past this. But leave it to attorney Nadine Hill to intervene.

  “Look,” she began, her eyes swimming with tears. ‘There’s no point in dwelling on what happened. What’s done is done. What we need to be doing now is finding a way to get Kayla out of this mess.”

  I nodded. She was right. “Do you know how much her bail’s gonna be?”

  “For murder, probably close to a million.”

  Danny swung away from the window. “What? How the heck we gonna afford to get her out?”

  I glanced at Nadine, wondering the same thing. “We need to come up with ten percent, right?” She nodded. That was a hundred thousand. Hell, even John didn’t have that much money lying around to spare.

  She sat up straighter on the chair. “Don’t worry. It’s already covered.”

  My brow rose. “Really? Who’s got that kinda change lying around?”

  “Jermaine,” Nadine reported gleefully.

  Danielle and I locked eyes, both surprised.

  “Jermaine? Damn!” I sprang from the chair and tossed a fist in the air. “Kayla finally found her someone with some money.” Now we need to make sure she doesn’t lose him because of Leroy.

  Chapter 32

  Kayla

  Kayla clung to Jermaine’s arm as they left the police station. The media was everywhere. The news had spread through Columbia like wildfire. The moment they left the building, microphones were pointed in her direction.

  “Kayla, did you kill Reverend Leroy Brown?”

  Kayla shielded her face from the camera.

  “Ms. Sparks, were the two of you having an affair?”

  “No comment,” Jermaine said and pushed through the crowd, steering her to his car.

  “The public has the right to know!” a reporter shouted just as she closed the door.

  She was going to lose her mind before this was all over. Kayla leaned back on the seat and closed her eyes. It was unreal. She had been accused of murder. A tear ran down her cheek that she didn’t even bother trying to brush away. The ordeal gave her the right to cry, especially after everything she had gone through for the last several hours. Leroy was dead. He had been stabbed repeatedly in the chest and neck. A shudder raced through her body as she recalled the horrible crime-scene photographs the detective had spread across the table. The sight was more than she could handle, and she ended up standing in front of a trash can throwing up. How could someone have done something so hideous? No one, not even Leroy, deserved to die like that.

  “Hey, you doing okay over there?”

  With her eyes still closed, she nodded. Jermaine reached over and clasped her hand. By the way he squeezed it, she knew he didn’t believe she was okay but was trying the best he could to comfort her, and she appreciated that.

  What have I done to deserve someone like him?

  She had been committing adultery for four years. Intentionally, she had disobeyed God’s laws, although after each and every time they had made love, Leroy had insisted that they both get down on their knees and ask the Lord for forgiv
eness. She raised her eyelids. What a fool she had been.

  Looking out the window, she noticed Jermaine was going south instead of north. “Where are we going?”

  He briefly tore his eyes away from the road. “I’m taking you to my house. The media is bound to be camped out at your place the rest of the day.”

  “I hadn’t thought about that.”

  He laced his fingers with hers. “Don’t worry. You’ll be safe with me.”

  She nodded and relaxed on the seat. Before leaving the jail, she called her mother from a pay phone. After listening to her scream and call her every name in the book, she got her to agree to take Kenya and Asia to Birmingham to visit her folks until everything blew over. The last thing she wanted was for her daughters to be affected by this madness.

  Jermaine pulled onto the circular driveway. The garage opened and he slowly entered and lowered the door behind them. Once out of the car, he took her hand and escorted her inside. It was impossible not to feel the serenity radiating around the room. Jermaine turned around and wrapped her in his arms.

  “Thank you so much for bailing me out. I don’t know how I could ever—”

  “Shhh,” he said, and when he had her attention he lowered his head and pressed his lips to hers. After a while he pulled back and gave her a long, serious look. “Kayla, I love you and I know you don’t have an evil bone in your body. But I’ve got to know what’s going on. Is it true? Were you involved with this minister?”

  Kayla closed her eyes briefly. She had known it was just a matter of time before she was going to have to tell him the truth. She just wished she had done it long before now.

  She took his hand and led him into the living room. Once they were seated across from each other, she nodded and said, “Yes, Leroy and I were involved for over four years.”

  He gazed at her long and hard before asking her, “Did you know he was married?”

  She swallowed and somehow found her voice as she nodded. “Yes. I was once a member of Mt. Carmel Baptist Church.” Just as she feared, she saw the look of disappointment in his eyes. “I know what I did was wrong, but you have to understand, I was so alone back then. All I’ve ever wanted was for someone to love me. Kenya’s father used me and refused to claim his daughter. I supported Asia’s father for three years while he finished law school and as soon as he joined a law firm, he dumped me. The only name my father knows me by is Ms. Piggy. Men look and laugh at me and call me fat.” She was crying so hard now she could barely get the words out. Jermaine tried to hold her, but she held up her hand. “Wait—please let me finish. I was so lonely, and Leroy started paying me attention. For the first time, someone actually listened to what I had to say. Then he told me his marriage was in trouble and I believed him. He told me that he loved me and was going to divorce her so that we could finally be together, and even though I had doubts, I needed to believe in him.” Pausing, she gazed down at her hands for the longest time. “Leroy was my whole world and I had invested so much time in him and our relationship that there was no way I could allow myself to believe that it was just one big lie.”

  “I can understand that.”

  Kayla shook her head, then lowered her eyelids. “But I can’t. Not anymore. It makes me sick every time I think about all the times Renee, Danielle... and Lisa,” a sob caught in her throat as she remembered, “tried to tell me the truth about him but I refused to believe them.”

  He took her hand. “Baby, you’re not the first woman to become a victim of a man’s false promises.”

  “But for four years! Dear Lord, what’s wrong with me? It took finding him in the bed with another woman for me to finally see him for who he truly was. Even when he put his hands on me, I still felt sorry for him.”

  “You’re a loving person who sees the good in everyone. There is nothing wrong with that,” he added in a soothing voice.

  Kayla wiped her cheeks.

  “What happened that night?”

  Nodding, she reached for a tissue and wiped her eyes. “Umm...” She took a moment to catch her breath. “Leroy had called shortly after midnight, saying he wanted to apologize for the way he treated me and that he was going home to the Lord that night. I knew he was talking about killing himself. He was crying and I never heard him that way before. I know it was stupid, but I rushed over there to stop him. I couldn’t help it, but I blame myself for what happened to his life. If I had never said anything to my friends, they wouldn’t have videotaped him with Peaches and none of this would have happened.”

  “Wait a minute. Your friends made that video?”

  “Yes, after he beat me up.”

  He squeezed her hand. “So, you weren’t in a car accident.”

  Her heart sank as she remembered the lie she had told. “No. I’m so sorry.”

  He nodded knowingly, kissed her forehead, then encouraged her to continue.

  “Anyway, when I got there, I couldn’t find him, so I was running through the house, and then out of nowhere he came and knocked me across the room. He yelled that I was so predictable, and he knew I’d come over. He kept hitting me until I finally stopped fighting. Then he tried to pull my pants down to rape me. Something told me to keep fighting for once, not to give in.”

  Jermaine squeezed her hand and she glanced up beneath the tears and gave him a smile. “I kicked him in the nuts, then got up and tried to get away, but he caught me around the neck. I reached over and felt the knife in my hand and grabbed it and stabbed him in the shoulder. Then I ran out that door.” She looked up at Jermaine, needing so badly for him to believe her. “I swear to you, when I left, he was cussing and going off, but he was not dead.”

  “I believe you.”

  The look in his eyes told her he honestly did believe her. She threw herself into his arms and held on for dear life. She hated that she needed him so badly, but she did. Her body shook as the tears came and she cried silently against his shoulder.

  “I’m not going anywhere. When I told you I loved you, I meant it. No games. No conditions. Love to me is being there when someone needs you most. Sharing in their pain and trying to find ways to bring them joy and comfort. Lean on your man, baby, because that’s what I’m here for.”

  She pulled back slightly and gazed up at him. Had it not been for the murder charges hanging over her head, life would be nothing short of perfect “Thank you, Jermaine. I don’t know what I would do without you. This has been hard enough as it is. And it is only the beginning.”

  His eyes sparkled with compassion. “Just hold on. Everything is going to work out. You’ll see.” He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles.

  Fat teardrops leaked from her eyes. “I hope so. Someone came into that house after I left and killed him. I’m certain of that.”

  He was quiet for a long moment and she could see the wheels in his head turning. “Do you have any idea who would have wanted him dead?”

  “Probably quite a few people. The more I’m learning about him, the more I think that. My first choice would be his wife. Lord, please forgive me, but if I was Darlene, I’d want him dead. He has given her every reason. His secret life destroyed her. I heard she has the house up for sale and is planning to leave town. As small as Columbia is, I don’t blame her. Life around here will never be the same again.”

  “Do you know if he was messing with other men besides the one on the video?”

  “I’ve been hearing rumors for years but never wanted to believe them.” She nibbled her bottom lip nervously. “I wonder how many other women, or men, he used to invite to his house? I was his Thursday girl, Tracy had Wednesday.” She scowled and snuggled closer into his comforting embrace. “There’s no telling how many others there were.”

  He clasped his fingers with hers then planted a kiss to her cheek. “Don’t worry, baby. Put it in God’s hands and he’ll make everything all right.”

  “I can only wish.” Kayla had a strong feeling she had already used up all her wishes. Getting her out of
this was going to take nothing short of a miracle.

  Chapter 33

  Renee

  It was all over the news and on the front page of every newspaper. I stared down at a recent photograph of Leroy and wanted to scratch his eyes out. Even dead, he still managed to have a hold on Kayla’s life. Well, not for too much longer. Not if I could help it. After she got off work, Danielle scooped me up and we rushed over to Jermaine’s house. There was still tension between Danielle and me, and this wasn’t the first time we’d gotten into it. There was one time we didn’t speak for almost a year over something as trivial as money. She’s my girl and even though she does stupid shit and pisses me off, we’ve been friends for too long to let anything get in the way. Besides, if she still wanted to kick my ass, she’d be more than welcome to try after we found a way to get Kayla out of this mess.

  Danielle pulled up in front of a bad-ass house. Daaayum! Jermaine really did have it going on. We moved up the stairs and Kayla greeted us at the door. I hugged her close.

  “Girl, everything is going to be all right. I swear to you,” I whispered for her ears only.

  She released me, then nodded. “God will find a way. I’m certain of it.”

  I wish I had her faith. Although I am a strong believer that the Lord helps those who help themselves, and that is exactly what I planned to do—help her. Kayla signaled for us to follow her through the gorgeous, custom-built home to a large family room.

  I wagged my eyebrows. “Gurrrrl, this is nice.”

  “Thank you.” I jumped at the sound of Jermaine’s voice. I had no idea he had come up behind us. “Sorry about that,” he said.

  “No problem. How are you doing?”

  “A lot better now that I’ve gotten my baby out of jail.” He moved over to Kayla and pressed his lips to hers. “I’ll let you spend some time alone with your friends. I’m upstairs if you need me.” She nodded. He kissed her once more before waving at us and turning on his heels.

  Danielle and I looked at each other, and the minute he left the room we raced over to Kayla, giggling like two starstruck teenagers.

  “Hot damn, girl! Where did you get him?” Danielle screamed.