Exasperated by the realization that he really didn’t have a choice, he snatched up the phone, and then froze. Instead of dialing his lieutenant’s cell-phone number, he hit Redial.
Chapter 25
Max cursed as he slammed the phone down. The line had remained busy for the last ten minutes. He needed to know the last number dialed. He called the operator. In seconds he had the number.
“Operator, what region does area code 901 belong to?”
She paused for a moment before responding. “I’m sorry, but you will have to call information for that, sir.”
“Okay, thank you.” He hung up and dialed 411 and asked the same question.
“I’m showing that’s Tennessee, sir.”
“Tennessee? Uh, thank you.” He hung up and rushed into the living room to retrieve the manila folder. Hadn’t he read something about a relative in Tennessee?
Max scanned the contents until he found what he was looking for. “Jackpot. Grandmother: Alice Louise St. James resides in Memphis, Tennessee. I should have guessed that was where she would stash her kid.” He closed the folder and took it with him when he rushed out of the apartment.
Once in the car, he tried the number again on his cell phone. The line remained busy. Was Kennedy now on her way to Memphis, or had she just sneaked out as a way to avoid telling him what she knew? He shook his head. If she’d wanted to hide out in Memphis, she would have left with Tommy.
Unless Tommy hadn’t reached his destination.
Max cursed. Why hadn’t he thought of that? He tried calling her grandmother again. A ball of anxiety churned in his gut when a recording informed him that all circuits were busy and to try his call later.
Tommy watched the tall stranger who claimed to be a friend of his mommy’s. He didn’t like him. The man also made his great-grandmother nervous. He could tell by the way her lips wouldn’t quite turn up all the way when she smiled.
Keenan. He thought about the name. Funny. He didn’t remember his mother ever mentioning anyone by that name. Tommy eyed the stranger suspiciously, in the living room with the phone tucked under his chin. How long was he going to stay here anyway?
His great-grandmother leaned over and patted his hand. They shared another nervous smile.
“Mommy told me she couldn’t come here with me,” he said, looking up into her kind face.
“That’s what she told me, too,” she responded.
“So, why is she coming now?”
“I don’t know, baby.” She cast an irritated look at their visitor. “Are you sure you’ve never met that man before?”
Tommy nodded.
Her nervousness seemed to increase. “I don’t understand any of this,” she whispered.
He had a feeling that she was talking more to herself than to him, but he agreed with her all the same.
“Can we call Mommy and ask her?”
“If that man ever gets off my phone. And he better not be running up my phone bill with long distance,” she added angrily.
“Will you ask him to leave?”
She faced Tommy again. “I most certainly will.”
Keenan hung up, and then came to join them in the dining room. His smile was wide, but unnerving. “Ah, how’s the little reunion going on in here?”
“Young man, I don’t know what’s going on around here, but I don’t like it. I don’t know you and I’m almost certain you are no friend of my grand-daughter’s. I want you to leave my house.”
Tommy’s heart raced as he looked back and forth between the two grown-ups. The room grew quiet—too quiet. The strange part was that Keenan never stopped smiling.
“I’m sorry that you feel that way, Granny. I really am. I was kind of hoping that we could all get along.”
“I’m not your granny, young man. And I want you to leave.”
He shook his head and frowned. “Now that I can’t do.” He reached inside his pocket and pulled out a gun.
Bennie didn’t take Kennedy directly to the bus station. First he gave her a ride back to her apartment.
“Thanks, I really appreciate this,” she said as she reached for the car door handle.
He placed a hand against her shoulder gently.
She stopped and looked back at him.
“Are you going to be all right?” he asked, his voice filled with concern. “I’m worried about you,” he added when she didn’t respond.
“Don’t be. It’s nothing I can’t handle,” she lied. She was amazed by the note of conviction she heard in her own voice.
He smiled. “You’re the toughest person I’ve ever met. But that doesn’t mean you don’t need help every once in a while.”
His sincerity touched her heart. She covered his hand with her own. “Thanks. I’ll remember that.” She squeezed his hand, and then turned and got out of the car.
Bennie rolled down the car window. “I’ll be right out here waiting for you,” he called out.
She nodded, and then dashed inside her building. With her mind set on grabbing only a few things, she almost didn’t see Wanda as the woman hobbled down the stairs. “There you are,” Wanda exclaimed, jabbing her hand against her hip. “I was beginning to think you’d dropped off the face of the Earth. Where have you been?”
Kennedy shook her head as she continued up the steps. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me,” Wanda said, tailing her.
The last thing Kennedy wanted to do was get her friend involved in this crazy situation. “Not right now, girl. Maybe one day, when I can look back and laugh, I’ll tell you.” Which didn’t seem likely, she realized.
“That bad, huh?”
“Worse.”
“In that case, I’ll forgive you for not being here last night to meet Dr. Ward.”
Incredulous, Kennedy faced her. “You brought him here?”
“Of course. I told you I wanted you to meet him.”
“You’re too much,” Kennedy said, sliding her key into the lock. She frowned when she twisted the knob and the door wouldn’t move. Had she just locked it? She shook her head, because that would mean the door had been unlocked.
“What’s wrong?”
Kennedy turned the key again and then pushed open the door. Her eyes widened at the level of destruction.
“Hot damn,” Wanda exclaimed.
Kennedy crossed the threshold, but Wanda quickly reached out to restrain her. “Don’t you think that maybe we should call the police first?”
Dread penetrated her bones at the thought of Max responding to the call. “That won’t be necessary.”
“What?” Wanda stared at her in disbelief.
Unable to offer an explanation, she simply said, “Trust me.” She turned and cautiously moved farther into the apartment.
Furniture had been smashed, the TV screen had been reduced to shards of glass and the words You’re Mine had been spray-painted in red across the living-room walls.
Wanda shrank from the door. “I don’t like the looks of this.”
“Ditto,” Kennedy whispered as she moved toward the hallway.
“Where are you going?” Wanda nearly shouted. “Someone may still be here.”
Kennedy froze. She hadn’t thought about that. “Well, wait right here.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
“Please?” she asked, with her patience nearing its end.
“All right, but I’m warning you, if you scream, or if I hear gunshots, I’m going to sprint a new Olympic record out of here.”
“Just make sure you call for help when you get to where you’re going.”
“Deal.”
Kennedy took a deep breath and returned her attention to the hallway. As she evaluated the odds of someone waiting in some darkened corner, she had second thoughts about going through with her plan.
“Will you hurry up? This waiting is killing me,” Wanda said.
“I’m going. I’m going.” She took another deep breath and proceeded. As she w
alked, broken picture frames crunched beneath her feet and the air seemed thicker.
When she opened the door to her bedroom, she feared her pounding heart would crack a rib at any moment. Tears burned at the back of her eyes as a renewed sense of violation washed over her. Everything was destroyed.
“Are you all right back there?” Wanda called out in a quivering voice.
Kennedy failed to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat, so her answer sounded like a strangled sob. “Y-yes. I’m fine. I’ll be up there in a sec.” She pushed past the room’s clutter, deciding that it was best to focus on what was happening to her and her family.
She went to the overturned nightstand and placed the phone back on the hook. The red message light flashed and she pushed Play.
“Hello, Kennedy.” Reverend Warner’s familiar voice came out of the machine. “I’m calling you from just outside Memphis. We dropped Tommy off safely at your grandmother’s this morning. We’re now heading off to St. Louis. I hope we will get a chance to talk as soon as we get back. I’ll talk to you soon.”
She sighed in relief. At least she knew now that no harm had come to the Warners.
She raced over to the closet and jerked it open, not surprised to find the same chaos as the rest of the house. She dug around until she found her small tote bag, and then stuffed whatever clothing she could find into it. A quick dash into the bathroom revealed a shattered mirror and strewn toiletries. Again, she sucked in her horror and grabbed what she needed before heading up front.
Wanda visibly relaxed when Kennedy emerged from the dark hallway.
“I’m all set,” Kennedy announced.
“Where are you going?”
She wanted to kick herself. Of course Wanda would wonder that, and she couldn’t risk telling her. “I’m just going out of town for a couple days.”
Wanda set her balled hands on her hips. “All right. Out with it. What’s going on? And don’t say ‘nothing.’ I’m not blind, you know.” One hand swept out to indicate the apartment’s condition.
Kennedy paused to contemplate how much she should divulge. She knew her friend would be safer if she kept her mouth shut.
“You’re not going to tell me, are you?” Wanda crossed her arms.
“I can’t.”
The two friends simply stared at each other. A strange, awkward silence enveloped them.
A car horn blared in the distance.
“I better go. Bennie’s giving me a ride to the bus station, and I can’t keep him waiting.”
“Are you coming back?”
Kennedy felt a pang of regret as she forced a reassuring smile and lied. “Of course, I am.”
Chapter 26
Max’s car screeched to a halt outside Kennedy’s apartment. He jumped out of the driver’s seat just as a car backfired in the distance. Startled by the sound, he looked up and caught a glimpse of an older model, blue Buick Regal. Out of habit, he took note of the license plate before the car disappeared from view.
He took the stairs to Kennedy’s apartment two at a time. He stopped short of knocking when he noticed the door stood slightly ajar. He automatically reached for his weapon.
“Damn, you guys are quick,” a woman said. “Don’t worry, there’s nobody in there.”
Max pivoted in the direction of the voice and saw a heavyset woman struggling with a pair of crutches as she descended the staircase.
“Ma’am?”
Her eyes narrowed on him. “You’re a cop, aren’t you?”
His hand moved away from his gun. “Yes, ma’am.” He reached for his badge instead.
She held up a hand. “Save it. I can’t tell a fake badge from the real deal. But you definitely look like a cop.” She continued to struggle down the stairs.
Max rushed over to help. “Here, let me.”
“My, aren’t you a strong one? I tell you, these stairs are going to the death of me yet.”
He smiled, but wasn’t quite sure of what to make of the woman.
“You must have already been in the neighborhood. I swear, it hasn’t been but a few minutes since I called,” she continued.
He frowned. “I’m not quite sure I follow you,” he said.
“Aren’t you responding to my call to the police?”
Max shook his head, hating to disappoint her.
She pulled away from him. “Then why are you here?”
He glanced over to Kennedy’s door. “Let’s just say, I’m here to check on a friend.”
The woman’s earlier friendly demeanor vanished. “Kennedy doesn’t have many friends, and certainly none that look like you. Trust me, I would know.”
Max smiled at the woman’s ability to pay him a compliment while calling him a liar. “We just met recently.”
She crossed her arms and gave him a look of disbelief. “Where?”
“Here.”
“She invited you here? Not likely.”
He was impressed by the woman’s interrogation skills. “No. My partner and I weren’t invited. We came to question her about an incident.”
“What incident?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t catch your name Mrs….”
She studied him for a moment before responding. “Mrs. Overton, Wanda Overton.”
He tilted his head. “It’s nice to meet you Mrs. Overton. Now, what’s this about a call to the station?”
“A friend, huh?” she asked, ignoring his question.
Max nodded.
Wanda’s lips twitched into a half smile. “You better not be lying.” With some difficulty, she moved toward Kennedy’s door and pushed it open.
No further explanation was needed as Max’s eyes widened at the destruction that lay before him. His hand instinctively returned to his weapon.
“There’s no need for that. I told you. Nobody is in there.”
“When did you discover this?”
“Actually, I was just here with her when she came home—”
“She?”
Wanda stared at him as if he had grown another head. “Yeah. She—Kennedy.”
“She was here today?”
“Yeah, she was.” Wanda shook her head as if saddened by the fact that he didn’t seem too bright.
“Where is Kennedy now?” he demanded.
Wanda flinched.
“I’m sorry.” He extracted the impatience from his tone. “Do you know where she is now?”
“No.” She shook her head. “She wouldn’t tell me where she was going. She just rushed in and stuffed a gym bag with some clothes and left with Bennie.”
“Who’s Bennie?”
The look Wanda gave him said that she no longer believed that he was a friend of Kennedy’s. Max clenched his teeth. He was tired of playing Mr. Congeniality, but he gave it one more try. “Please tell me. I believe her life is in danger.”
Wanda’s mask of disbelief shattered before his eyes.
“B-Bennie is her boss at the Georgia Diner. They just left a little while ago. If you hurry maybe you can catch them. He drives a big, old, blue Buick Regal. I watched Kennedy leave from my window upstairs.”
The city passed in a blur as Kennedy stared out the passenger window. Her heart ached at every glimpse of a familiar building. She couldn’t help pondering the possibility that this might be the last time she saw her hometown.
As she reflected on her short life, she really couldn’t say that if she had the opportunity she would have done anything differently—except she would have avoided taking the trail into the woods last week. Other than that, she really had enjoyed a good life. She was blessed to have had loving parents. They may not have had much, but they had always given the best of themselves. She had been lucky enough to have experienced love with Lee Carsey, and from that love she’d borne a wonderful child. All she had ever wanted was to be happy, and she had achieved that. She smiled at the passing cars. When it came down to it, she had had a wonderful life.
“Are you sure you’re not going to need anyth
ing else?” Bennie’s concerned voice invaded her private thoughts.
She needed a miracle, but refrained from saying as much. “No. I should be fine.” Kennedy turned her smile to him, marveling at the ease of deception.
“Now, you’re sure that you’ll be back to work by next Monday?”
She nodded, then returned her gaze to the window. “I really appreciate you doing this for me.”
“Don’t mention it. That’s what friends are for.”
An image of Max flashed in her head and her smile faded. Her betrayal sat like rocks in the bottom of her stomach. Though her actions were nothing compared to those of his ex-wife, she wondered if he would judge her as harshly.
Max turned up the volume of his car radio, waiting anxiously for a response to the All Points Bulletin he’d placed on Bennie’s car. He’d called his contact down at the DMV to verify Bennie’s tag number. Now all he had to do was wait. He was all but certain that Kennedy’s destination was Memphis; he just didn’t know how she intended to get there. Had this Bennie agreed to take her? If so, which route would he take, I-20 through Birmingham or I-75 toward Nashville? One thing was clear; Max had to reach her before she left the jurisdiction.
Through the fog of troubled thoughts, his brain registered the shrill ring of his cell phone. “Yeah.”
“Maxwell?”
A frown immediately creased his face at the hauntingly familiar voice.
“Maxwell?” she questioned again in a hurried whisper.
“Make it quick, Aaliyah.”
“We need to meet.” Her voice dipped lower.
His frown deepened. “I’m busy.”
“Please. I’m onto something I know you’ll be interested in.”
“I highly doubt it.”
Max caught the make of Bennie’s car being reported over the police radio.
“I have to go now.” He disconnected the call and picked up his radio’s hand unit. “Please repeat the sighting for tag number 543 TYD.”
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