by C. J. Thomas
I heard the locks click over. Mom peeked her head through the crack before fully opening the door. Without greeting me, her gaze immediately landed on Kelly.
“Mom,” I smiled, “I brought someone I would like you to meet.”
Mom was lost inside her own head. Acting like she hadn’t heard me, she continued to look at Kelly as if he was a danger to her order.
“Mom.” I raised my voice. She blinked and let her eyes drift back to me.
“You could have at least given me a heads-up,” she said defiantly.
“I thought I would surprise you.” I kept calm despite my frustrations with the way she was acting. I should have expected this. If it was anyone other than Kelly, I would have turned around and left. But Kelly was prepared for this and I knew he could handle it.
“It’s not a good time to be bringing friends, Kendra.” Mom’s suspicious gaze was back on Kelly. She narrowed her eyes and hissed, “I know who you are.”
“It’s a pleasure finally meeting you, Mrs. Williams.” Kelly smiled.
Mom scowled. “He’s not invited inside,” she said to me.
Feeling her insult sear my own skin, I flipped my head around to apologize to Kelly myself.
Kelly lowered his voice. “I’ll wait in the car.”
“You don’t have to. This is just how she is.”
His hand ironed down my left arm. “Take your time.” His fingers closed over my wrist. I placed my hand to his chest, mouthed a thank you, and squeezed his hand.
“If you need me,” his brows raised, “you know where to find me.”
“She is safer here than with you,” Mom said from the darkness inside the house.
Kelly’s fingers nudged the small of my back, urging me to go inside. I didn’t want to leave him but we both knew that I couldn’t run now. This had to be done. Kelly turned and strolled to the car with his hands buried deep inside his pockets. He took his time getting back to the vehicle, continuing to evaluate the neighborhood he found himself in.
“Mom, why are you being rude?” I said, stepping inside my childhood home. “That isn’t any way to introduce yourself to my friends.” The door closed behind me, sucking the light from outside with it. It took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the blackness before I found Mom staring at me with that same frown she had worn when looking at Kelly.
“Friend? Ha.” She folded her arms across her chest. “He’s your lawyer.”
“I’m a lawyer, too. Have you forgotten?” Mom was so concerned with herself, I swore she didn’t remember anything I’d told her.
“No. He’s not a friend. A friend wouldn’t take you away from your family.” Her arms fell to her sides. “Before I knew you’d brought him, I thought you might actually be here to say you wanted to join the family again.”
“Kelly’s not the enemy, Mom.” I glanced around the house. A knitted blanket lay crinkled on the couch, leftover from what I assumed was Mom’s last nap. The TV was on, the sound muted. Smells of toasted bread and oatmeal filled the front of the house. “He came because I asked him to.”
“And why would he do that?”
I grimaced and shook my head. “Because he loves me.”
Mom barked out a disbelieving laugh. “Loves you? How long have you two been together?”
The fire of frustration fanned hotter as it compressed inside my belly. Forcing myself to remain calm—to not allow her the upper hand to guide my emotions—I said, “I’d tell you but I’m sure you’d rather know more about my life from what you read in the tabloids than hear it from me.”
A flash of amusement filled Mom’s eyes. She opened her mouth, ready to hit back with a response of her own but, to my luck, we were interrupted by the home nurse exiting Dad’s room in the back.
Mom pointed to Dad’s room. “This is what love looks like. Sacrifice. Day in and day out. Being there for the person you love. It’s not all fun and games like you think it is.”
I stared, choosing not to respond.
“Life can get rough and, when it does, that’s when you test what you’re made of.”
Didn’t I know it. It was like my childhood, my past, didn’t exist in her mind. Mom never cared, and it was becoming ever more apparent. Nothing I could say would get her to see it for what it was.
“Does she come every day?” I asked, speaking of the home nurse.
“I’m tired.” Mom covered her face with her wrinkled hands. “I can’t take care of him as well as she can.”
“Who’s paying for this?” I regretted asking almost immediately. I knew it would lead our conversation toward Marvin and I didn’t want to be the one to have to tell Mom that he had been picked up by the cops. But that was exactly what happened.
“I haven’t seen or heard from Marvin,” Mom said, staring.
I couldn’t tell her Marvin got what he had coming.
“I’m just hoping he’ll come through with the money before our next bill arrives.”
“And what if he doesn’t?”
Mom sucked back a deep breath. “We’ll figure something out.” Her eyes flicked back to me. “We always do.” A knowing look filled her face, like she still had her sights set on taking my inheritance.
Touching my purse slung over my shoulder, I asked, “Mom, do you know what Dad wrote in the letter he gave me?”
“Why are you asking me that?” Mom lowered her brow.
I glided across the floor and moved to her. “Did you write it, Mom?”
Mom turned her head away.
“Because it didn’t sound like Dad.”
“You don’t know him,” she spat. “When was the last time the two of you spoke? Huh?” Mom barked protectively.
Pulling the note from my back pocket, I held it up and said, “I guess I’ll just have to ask Dad himself.”
Mom tilted her head before swiping her hand through the air. “You always did do whatever you wanted.”
I watched Mom head into the kitchen, busying herself with tasks to avoid having to converse with me any more than she already had. Knowing it wasn’t worth fighting over, I turned to Dad’s room and prepared myself to keep my eyes dry as I read him the letter personally.
“Hi,” I said to the nurse as I entered the room.
Dad’s round and alert eyes watched me step to the foot of his bed. Not once did he look away, staring like I was a specimen found in a museum. Beeps filled the room with a chorus of life support as the wheezing respirator filled my father’s lungs with air. He was being fed through a tube as I mentioned to the nurse I was his daughter.
Her face filled with surprise.
“You didn’t know he had a daughter, did you?”
She shook her head and squinted. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” I said, turning around. “Is this the machine he uses to speak?”
“It is.” The young nurse nodded. “Though he doesn’t like using it much.”
I wheeled it to the foot of his bed. Dad watched me the entire time.
“Would you like some privacy?”
“Take your time.” I settled into a chair, swung my leg over my knee, and watched the nurse work. “I’m not in a hurry.”
Fifteen minutes passed by the time the nurse finished up and excused herself from the room. I saw her to the door, knowing I wanted my time alone with Dad. Latching it shut, I turned and moved to the edge of his bed.
“Just me and you,” I whispered.
Dad’s eyes followed me around the room.
I liked how he was alert but immobile. Like a prisoner cuffed to the bed, awaiting his time of arraignment. Judgement Day.
His bed dipped where I sat. “I have something I want to read you.”
Dad’s eyes blinked.
Wetting my lips, I straightened my spine, rolled my shoulders back, and took my time speaking each word clearly. It was impossible to gauge his reaction. His facial muscles were dead—I had only his eyes to work with.
“So, what do you think? Were those your words
?” I paused. “Blink if they were.”
Dad’s eyes remained opened.
“Mom said you wrote it, but something tells me that you didn’t. I’d love to hear your thoughts.” I rolled my gaze to the machine, ready to read Dad’s eye movements so he could spell out what it was he was thinking. “I don’t know if I’ll be coming back after today so, if you have anything you would like to say to me, now would be a good time.”
Dad continued to stare at me.
I waited, hopeful he would take action. Seconds turned to minutes, and five turned to fifteen. The house phone rang outside Dad’s room as I stared at the electrical socket keeping all the machines on. Silently, I thought how easy it would be to kill the switch and end his life now. As the itch to actually murder my own father grew more powerful, I sneered, “You can’t do it because you’re a weak, pathetic man, and always have been.”
Dad finally blinked.
“Even after all these years, you can’t admit your guilt.” I shook my head, staring into the eyes he had given me. “But that’s okay, because I have found a man—a real man, a man so unlike you—to protect me and not cause me harm. He loves me, Dad. And he knows what you did to me.”
I waited for a reaction. There wasn’t one. Suddenly, a sound of explosion erupted in the kitchen. Whipping my head toward the door, I heard Mom yelling. A split-second later, she burst through the door. It flung on its hinges, whacking the wall in a splintering crash.
“You have to leave now.” Mom reached for my arm.
I snapped my elbow free and took a step back. With furrowed brows, I said, “We’re not finished.”
“My offer to be part of this family is over.”
Mom latched onto my wrist. Tugging me to the door, I said, “You never meant it. You were only after my money.”
“You can blame me for this, but you can thank your boyfriend for your sudden departure.”
“What are you talking about, Mom?” I tripped over my feet as Mom swung me to the front door. Looking for Kelly, there were no signs of him.
“He had the civil suit dismissed. I just received the phone call.” Mom fumed. “You’re not here to help. Only here to destroy.”
“You wouldn’t have used the money wisely anyway.”
Mom narrowed her eyes. “If Dad is responsible for what you say he is, then he’s getting what he deserves by struggling to survive every day.”
“He did do it, and you did, too.”
Mom raised her hand, ready to backhand me across the face. “Let the man die with what little dignity he has left.”
Tears prickled the backs of my eyes but I refused to allow Mom to see me break down. We stared into each other’s eyes, each of us knowing that this would be the last time we’d ever see each other. My body ached. I was afraid. Sad to lose my family but, strangely, it brought me peace at the same time.
“Good luck, Mom.” I reached for the door handle. “But, before I leave, know that you deserved better, and so did I.”
40
Kelly
I scrolled through my phone, endlessly swiping from one headline to the next. A feeling of finality kept my senses on high alert. Our plan was working, everything coming together better than I could have imagined.
Parker’s campaign to draw attention away from Mint seemed to be working. Headline after headline was about Stone and how the police were proving inadequate in solving Tonya Craig’s murder. The case for Angelina Davis’s arrest was being made, yet still no action.
I glanced up toward the house. Then to the time.
Kendra was still inside, and I naturally assumed things were going better than expected on that front, too. It was what she needed, what we both needed. Then, out of the blue, I laughed while thinking how Kendra was just like her mother. Hard-headed, no filter, and ready to fight anybody who stood in her way. I dropped my head into my hand, rubbed my eyes, now understanding where Kendra got that mouth of hers from.
When I opened my eyes next, I was shaking off my laugh and wondering more about the anonymous sources quoted in the articles I had read. Why were they now just coming forward and who got them to finally speak up? And how? Everyone knew Angel had visited Echo and I knew she was the one to have put the note on my windshield the day Tonya was murdered.
My insides jumped when my cell phone vibrated in the palm of my hand.
Quick to flip the screen face-up, Wes’s name flashed across the display. Answering, Wes said, “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“I told you I have things under control.” I stared at Kendra’s parents’ house—the gutters dangling loose from the roof.
“By recusing yourself from Stone’s case?” Wes’s voice was skeptical.
Rubbing the back of my neck, my legs were restless. I knew what it looked like: that Stone was going to get off after so much of our efforts and resources had been put behind making sure he remained locked up. It appeared to be devastating. We’d set out at the beginning to ensure his conviction. That was still the goal. Yet, it wasn’t guaranteed. Kendra was right. We were taking a tremendous risk just to get Angel arrested. I didn’t have a plan for Stone if the Feds didn’t swoop in and take over his custody. His future was still to be written.
“It had to be done,” I said.
Wes was silent for a long minute. “You left just as his case was actually being considered for review.”
Leaning back in my seat, I perched my elbow up on the window. “He filed the paperwork without my counsel.” Wes said nothing. “Stone was already working his plan whether I was there or not.”
“Then why did he keep you on?”
Feeling my blood vessels open up, I said, “Control. Fuck, I don’t know. You don’t sound angry about it.” Wes seemed extraordinarily calm despite the circumstances. Did he know something that I didn’t?
“I’d be more pissed you recused yourself if it didn’t seem like you had a plan.”
“I do. You’ve read the headlines then?”
“Reading them now. Are you behind this?”
“I told you I had to redirect the conversation to Angelina Davis.” I dropped my free hand to my thigh. “I did just that.”
“Do I dare ask who you used? Because Julia Mabel hasn’t mentioned anything to me.”
“Because I went to somebody with a deeper grudge.”
“Parker.”
I smirked. “He had the money and connections on top of his desire to hit back.”
“And you’re sacrificing Stone for Angelina? Doesn’t seem like a good deal.” Wes sighed.
I explained my underlying strategy, making sure Wes understood that the articles were designed to make it seem like Stone was turning on Angel. “She’ll be picked up, threatened with a long list of charges, including murder, and the ADA will pressure her into making a deal for testimony against Stone—”
“Which will stall his review and keep him where he is already parked.”
“Exactly.”
“Except, it still doesn’t solve the negative PR swirling around Mint.”
These articles wouldn’t have been possible without a hint of Mint. Wes read what I’d read and I understood his concerns. “In tomorrow’s news, everyone will be reading about how Tonya was working for Madam and how Stone used Angel to kill Tonya as revenge for taking away his business. When the conspiracy takes root, which it will, Mint will be a forgotten topic of the past.”
“No one will believe it.” I heard what I assumed to be Wes scratching his head.
“They’ll have no other choice.”
“How the fuck could the mayor allow this to happen?” Wes grumbled, not directing his question at me in particular. I answered anyway.
“Look at it from his point of view. A crisis is presented if the ADA doesn’t review Stone’s case, and another crisis is launched if the ADA does. Either way, the mayor has no good options. With a little bit of luck, this will all be over soon.”
“There is no such thing as luck,” Wes said sternly
. “Opportunities are made.”
The front door swung open and I pulled my spine straight. Kendra stepped out, slid her sunglasses over her eyes, and headed toward the car at a quick clip. I could tell things weren’t right, and I felt my heart freeze inside my chest. “Wes, sit tight. I have this under control.”
“Sit tight, yeah right. Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to jeopardize your plan, but I’m going to have to make a few calls of my own.”
“Wes…”
“I’m only looking out for you, Kelly.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” I said, ending our call.
41
Kelly
The passenger door flung open and Kendra fell heavily into the seat. Slamming the door shut, she said, “Drive.”
Reaching for her thigh, she swatted my hand away. I stared without making a move. Her normally soft features were hard as stone. I didn’t have to ask what had happened because I already knew: her attempt to make peace fell short.
Kendra turned her neck and looked me directly in the eye. “God dammit, Kelly, drive.”
“What did she do?”
Kendra rolled her eyes forward. Shaking her head, she swallowed hard.
“Tell me.” Kendra remained silent. “You need me to go inside and set the old lady straight?”
Kendra looked at me and smirked.
I caught a lock of her hair between my fingers. It was soft and released an herbal scent that would always make me think of her. “It’s over, isn’t it?”
“Please,” her eyes drooped, “just drive.”
Though Kendra never said so, I knew she was devastated. Whatever happened inside wasn’t what she’d anticipated. Her relationship with her parents was beyond complicated. I’d never fully understand it, but I understood enough to know that they didn’t deserve to have her in their lives. Kendra hadn’t been herself since they’d come back into her life. And when she was around them, she reverted back to the child she once was—the child I imagined her to be. I’d seen it. The way she sought approval from the same people who’d let her down. And, as I put the car in gear, I couldn’t help myself from imaging Patrick holding the same regretful feelings Kendra had for her parents against me.
