by Mary Monroe
Vera saw me leaving. But from the way she kept her cell phone glued to her ear as she waved me toward the front door, I had a feeling she wanted to be alone for a while too.
At first I just cruised along, meandering from one street to another, thinking about one thing after another. I couldn’t stop thinking about the letter Gladys had sent to Bo and how he had not told me about it yet. Was he going to meet with her in L.A.? If so, would she talk him into reconciliation? And even if they didn’t get back together, what if he made love to her while he was in L.A.? If he did and I found out, I was going to be pissed and our marriage would be over for sure. If he didn’t, the respect and trust that I had lost for him in the last few months would be somewhat restored.
And then there was Curtis. Despite his apprehension about continuing our relationship as long as I was still with Bo, he had admitted that he wanted to see me again. I hadn’t spoken to him since our conversation Monday evening right after Daddy and Bo left to go to L.A., but I planned to call him up again real soon. I needed to know for sure if there was a chance that we’d have a future together. If I lost Bo to Gladys, would Curtis still want to be with me? I wanted to keep Curtis so I’d have him to fall back on in case Gladys took Bo away from me. On the other hand, if Curtis decided he didn’t want to continue his relationship with me, I wanted to have Bo to fall back on.
In the meantime, I’d continue to be with Bo and Curtis as long as I could get away with it, like I had originally planned.
And there was another important factor in this equation: I had to produce a baby by Bo to keep Daddy and Vera happy. And to keep Bo happy, too, in case I ended up settling for just him and severing my relationship with Curtis. Besides, I really did want a child. I thought that motherhood might help me decide exactly what I wanted to do about my future and which man I wanted to share it with.
I finally got tired of driving and decided to go get my nails done.
As I sat in Maria’s Nail Shop on Valencia Street in the Mission District waiting my turn, I fished my cell phone out of my purse and called the Marriott airport hotel that Daddy and Bo had checked into. Since it was so late in the day, I assumed they’d be out of their meetings by now. Daddy answered his line right away.
“It’s me, Daddy. I was thinking about you and decided to call so I could hear your voice.” I sniffed. “How’s the conference going?”
“It’s going just fine. The speaker, a gentleman from Harvard, is a real visionary when it comes to being more innovative in the world of business. I’m glad I brought my tape recorder with me. I wish you could have come with us.”
“Hmmm. Well, maybe next time I’ll go with you.”
“Baby, is everything all right? You sound sad. Is something the matter?”
“No, everything is just fine, Daddy.” I bit my bottom lip. “Where’s Bo?”
“He’s in his room, I guess.”
“Has he been with you all the time? Are you keeping an eye on him?”
Daddy hesitated and grunted under his breath before he answered my questions. “Girl, why are you asking me something like that? Bo is a grown man, so why do I need to keep an eye on him?”
“I was just wondering if you and him were spending a lot of time together.”
“We’re not on a vacation, honey. We’re down here on business. I see him during the sessions, of course, but after each one ends, it’s every man for himself. I’m having dinner with an old friend from college who lives in L.A. now.”
“Don’t go to an Italian restaurant. Bo will be farting for days.”
“Bo’s not going with us. I invited him, but he’s going to hook up with an old friend too.”
An old friend?
I knew that if the “old friend” was Bo’s ex, he probably would not have mentioned it to Daddy. But I had to ask anyway. “Who is this old friend Bo’s going out with?”
“He didn’t tell me. He just told me a little while ago. All I know is that it’s an old friend of his from Houston. But if I see him in time, I’ll tell him not to do Italian. I do enough farting for the both of us.” Daddy chuckled.
I slid my tongue across my bottom lip, fuming. The old friend from Houston had to be Gladys. My lips began to quiver while I tried to decide what to say next.
“Hello? Sarah, you still there? You got mighty quiet all of a sudden.”
“I’m still here, Daddy. Will you tell Bo I called?”
“Baby, he’s your husband. Why don’t you just call his room and tell him yourself. I’m sure he’d love to hear your voice.”
“Okay, I will.”
“Sarah, is there something going on that you don’t want to tell me about?”
“No, nothing is going on.”
“Then why did you call me before you even called up your husband? He told me he left you two messages yesterday and so did I for that matter, and you’re just now calling back. But you should be calling him instead of me, don’t you think?”
“I figured he was probably busy. . . .”
“Well, I could have been busy, too, but you still called me.” Daddy laughed again. “Honey, there’s a lot you need to learn about marriage.” He paused and then all of a sudden he sounded like a love-struck schoolboy. “By the way, where is my beautiful bride? Lord do I miss that sweet little woman!”
“Vera? She was watching television when I left the house. Daddy, I hate to rush off the phone, but the girl is ready to do my nails. I’ll talk to you later.” The girl was ready to do my nails, but I signaled for her to give me a few more minutes. I immediately called the hotel operator again. I had her patch me through to Bo’s room. He didn’t answer and I didn’t leave a message. I hung up and dialed the hotel operator again. “Can you tell me if a Gladys Harper has checked in yet?”
“One moment please.” The operator put me on hold for about ten seconds. “Yes. She checked in last night. I’ll transfer you to—”
“That’s okay!” I yelled. Then I hung up.
I didn’t really want to talk to Vera, so when I called the house and she didn’t answer, I was glad. I left a voice mail message and told her I was going to the movies. I even drove to the Metreon theaters downtown and bought a ticket (for a movie I’d already seen) so I’d have a stub in case I needed it. I returned to my car, hopped in, and barreled toward the freeway that would take me to Curtis’s neighborhood in less than ten minutes.
I was going to call him up first to make sure he was home and alone. The last thing I wanted to do was drop in and find him with company, especially a female. Even his mama. When I got to his block, I pulled into the parking lot of a nearby liquor store and dialed his number. His answering machine was supposed to pick up on the fourth ring, but it didn’t. On the seventh ring his mother answered, sounding as hostile as ever.
“HALLO!” she growled. “Who is this?!” I was tempted to hang up without saying anything. Curtis had caller ID, so she would know who was calling—if she could read.
“I’m a friend of Curtis’s,” I said in a meek voice. “Is he home?”
“Nope. He gone somewhere.”
“Do you expect him to return soon?”
“I don’t expect nothing but to go take my bath like I was fixing to do when this phone rung!”
“I’m sorry I interrupted your bath, ma’am.” It took all of my strength for me to remain civil. “Would you please tell him that Sarah called and I’ll call back again?”
“Just don’t call back here while I’m taking my bath! This is my only night off this week and all I want to do is relax!” The woman slammed the telephone down so hard I heard a popping noise in my ear.
After I got my nails done and left the shop, I did some window-shopping along Mission Street. It was after nine, so most of the businesses had closed for the day. I called Curtis’s number two more times on my way home. Each time I was harshly told by his mother that he was “gone somewhere.”
I turned my telephone off.
When I got home and into my bedro
om, I turned it back on. There was a message from Bo. He had also left a message for me on the landline. He was the last man in the world I wanted to talk to at the moment, but I called his room anyway. He didn’t answer, so I called Daddy again.
“Have you seen or spoken to Bo since I talked to you today?” I asked.
“I ran into him in the elevator on my way up a little while ago. He was on his way back out to meet his friend from Houston again. Boy was he in good spirits! He was grinning from ear to ear.” I heard some muffled voices on Daddy’s end. “Baby, I have to go. I’m supposed to meet a few folks for drinks downstairs and I’m already late.”
I didn’t even bother to look for Vera. Her car was in the garage, so I assumed she was in her bedroom. I went back downstairs and Cash and Vera were in the living room watching some reality show.
I returned to my room, took a hot shower, and climbed into bed. Now that I knew Gladys was in L.A., my thoughts were not as unclear as they’d been earlier in the day. I pretty much knew what I wanted to do now. Because of Bo’s actions, and the way he was keeping important information about his ex-wife from me, it was going to be easy for me to choose. If he wanted to get back with Gladys, I was not going to stand in his way. I didn’t believe in fighting for a man. If he didn’t want to be with me, I didn’t want to be with him.
It looked like Curtis was the man I was going to be with after all.
CHAPTER 52
KENNETH
THE NEXT MONTH WENT BY QUICKLY. I WAS GLAD I HADN’T HEARD from Tim. But I was tempted to call him just to make sure he had nothing to report on Sarah or Vera. But the fact that he had not called me told me all I needed to know. I told myself that if either of them was guilty of anything, they would have slipped up by now.
Or so I thought.
I was in my office at the store relaxing after a three-martini lunch with my accountant. I had a meeting to attend in a few minutes and I was going to make sure it was a short one. I planned to leave the office early so I could pick up some flowers for my lovely bride and take her to a French restaurant in Sausalito that she liked so much. It was a Friday and I planned to spend the weekend doing as little as possible. I was in such a good mood, I was whistling. When my private line rang and I saw Tim’s name on the caller ID, I stopped whistling and answered the call immediately.
“Thank God I caught you,” Tim began.
“Tim . . . hey, buddy. Good to hear from you,” I greeted in a tentative tone of voice. “What’s up?” I unbuttoned the top buttons on my shirt, slid my hand inside, and placed it over my heart. It had already begun to thump like mad.
“Can we talk?” he asked. “Is this a convenient time for you?”
“I have a meeting to go to, but I can spare a few minutes.” I glanced at my Rolex. I was already late for the personnel meeting I had had my secretary schedule, but that was of no importance to me right now. Even though Tim and I were close friends, he usually didn’t call me up unless he had something important to talk to me about. Since I had retained him for his services, I knew that was the case. I had been dreading a call from him because I was afraid he would tell me something I didn’t want to hear. “I presume you have some information for me?” I asked with my heart beating about a mile a minute. I took my hand from my chest and balled it into a fist.
“Yes, but not much.”
I was relieved to hear him say that. “Oh? That’s good to hear.” My heart immediately slowed down and I was even more relieved.
“Well, I’ve got some good news and some bad news.”
Shit! Just hearing him mention “bad news” got my heart to beating like hell again. “Tell me the good news first.”
“The good news is, I don’t have anything on your wife. She’s been a very good girl. Other than some serious shopping and some expensive lunches, that’s about all she’s been up to this past month. She made a few trips to City Hospital, and whatever goes on there is highly guarded. But I don’t think there’s anything to worry about there. I caught a glimpse of her physician, and I don’t think she’d get involved with a gnome like him.” Tim laughed.
“She spends a lot of her time and my money on plastic surgeries,” I chortled. “I know all about her frequent trips to various hospitals and clinics.”
“Hmmm. Two days after you and your son-in-law left for L.A., she checked into San Francisco General Hospital in the morning and checked out in the afternoon. Your daughter took her there and picked her up.” Tim paused and shuffled some papers.
“That’s the good news?”
“I’m not sure if it is or not. When she exited the hospital, she was in a wheelchair. Apparently she’d had another procedure performed.”
“Whatever it was, it couldn’t have been too serious. She would have told me about it. She probably had her titties tuned up again with another lift. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have released her the same day. Right?”
“Right.”
“Now what’s the bad news?”
“Your daughter made several trips to an address on Third Street this week.” Tim shuffled papers again. “The apartment—a dump I wouldn’t house a dog I didn’t like in—is leased to a Maggie Mae Thompson. According to the information I was able to obtain, this woman is quite the battle-ax, always in a dispute with her neighbors. Does her name mean anything to you?”
“Maggie . . . Thompson. Hmmm. You got me. I don’t know a woman by that name. She’s probably one of Sarah’s friends from back in the day. And she must be a pretty ferocious battle-ax if Sarah hasn’t brought her to the house like her other old friends.”
“Well, this Thompson woman is a lot older than Sarah, so it’s unlikely she’s a friend. But Thompson has a son the same age as your daughter.”
“Oh?”
“He’s the same security guard who works in your main store who assisted Sarah the day she lost her baby. Do you think she may be going there to see him?”
“Oh Lord, it’s Curtis! I knew it! I knew it in my heart! I think she’s fooling around with that boy!”
“I don’t know about that. Each time she visited this address since I got on the case, she knocked but no one answered the door. Either the gentleman in question refuses to see her, or he’s out and about more than most people.”
“He works the day shift at my main store, but he’s been off for a few days. Some elderly uncle or cousin or something in Detroit passed and Curtis and his mama had to go take care of the funeral and sort out his business.”
“That’s about all I have for you right now, my friend. Your wife is not fooling around. And I don’t have any concrete proof that your daughter is either. At least not at this time.”
“Let’s give it one more month. But I’d appreciate it if you check in with me on a weekly basis.”
“You got it, buddy.”
I was happy to hear that Vera was not cheating on me, not that I even remotely thought she was anyway. My main concern was Sarah. Especially since I knew she’d been back to Curtis’s residence.
I was already late for my meeting, so I didn’t think another few minutes would matter. I locked my office door and called the house. Vera answered. She promptly informed me that she was late for an appointment and was on the way out the door, so I only chatted with her long enough to tell her I needed to speak to Sarah. Sarah came on the line about a minute later.
“Yes, Daddy? What’s up?”
“I’d like to write up a little report to keep in my files about that incident that happened.”
“You mean about that jackass who made me lose my baby?”
“Yes.”
“That happened weeks ago! Why did you wait until now to write up a report? And what about the police report? Can’t you just get a copy of it from them?”
“I could but I’d rather get something directly from you. I’d also like to get a few words from Curtis.”
“You want me to come down to the store and dictate something to your secretary, or do you want me to throw somet
hing together on the computer here?”
“You can compose something for me at home. When and if Curtis comes back to work, I’ll get something from him then.”
Just as I expected, Sarah remained silent longer than she should have. I knew she was thinking about what I had just said about Curtis. To my surprise, she didn’t react to that.
“Oh. Okay, then. I’ll type up a few pages and have it ready when you get home this evening.”
“Thanks, baby. Like I said, I’ll get something from Curtis when and if he comes back.”
She took the bait this time and ran with it. “When and if he comes back? Where is he?” Sarah was sly, but she could not hide the curiosity and concern in her voice.
“He’s in Detroit with his mama. Some relative passed away. I think he told me it was his elderly uncle. He’s supposed to return to Frisco this evening. But before he left work the other day, he told me his mama is thinking about moving to Detroit to be closer to her family. If she goes, I wouldn’t be surprised if he packed up and followed her. He’s real close to his mama. . . .”
“Oh. That’s nice.” I was surprised that Sarah didn’t have more to say about Curtis possibly moving away. But I could still hear the curiosity and concern in her voice. “So Curtis might be moving to Detroit. Hmmm. Well, I’m sorry his uncle died.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry too. Listen, sweetie, I have to run off to another meeting now. I’ll see you when I get home.” I called Tim back. “I want you to keep a real close eye on my daughter for the next few days,” I told him. “Starting tonight.”
Five days later, Tim called me again. “We need to talk!” he hollered into the telephone. His voice was so loud it sounded like he was standing right next to me.
