Family of Lies

by Mary Monroe

  “I didn’t either,” I said, sitting up on the bed. “Uh, was that Bo downstairs I heard?”

  Vera glanced at the door and nodded. “He and Cash were just pulling up as I arrived.”

  We looked at each other for a long time. “I’m sure he’ll come up to see you in a few minutes. He swung by the hospital to visit Kenneth on his way home.”

  “Did Daddy tell him . . . ?”

  “That you’re leaving him?” Vera shook her head. “I am sure Kenneth feels the same way I do. You should be the one to tell Bo you’re leaving him for that security guard.”

  “I thought you wanted to prepare Bo before I told him.”

  “Well, I can still do that. I won’t tell him exactly why you’re leaving, just that you are. He probably knows the rest anyway. And the more I thought about that part, he should hear it from you.”

  “Uh-huh. Well, I will tell him when the time is right. Right now I’m more concerned about not upsetting Daddy any more. If Bo does something crazy when I tell him I’m leaving him, like punch me in the nose and Daddy finds out, Daddy will be even more upset than he already is.” Vera looked like she wanted to punch me in the nose herself.

  “I doubt if it’ll come to that. Bo’s not a violent man.”

  “He told me he wanted to kill his ex. That sounds pretty violent to me.”

  “He’s a changed man now. Listen, sugar, you look so tired. Why don’t you just get some more rest and I’ll keep Bo occupied for a while. He had a rough day, so the first thing he did when he got inside was make himself a stiff drink. Let him relax for a little while.” Vera glanced at the door again and then back at me, trying her best to look casual.

  “Thanks, Vera.”

  “Are you hungry? Do you want me to have Delia bring you something to nibble on?”

  “Thanks, but I’m not hungry.” I turned onto my side so that my back was to Vera. I hoped she would take the hint and get the hell out of my room. She did.

  I waited ten minutes before I eased off the bed and padded down the hallway to my old bedroom. It had been a few days since I’d eavesdropped through the air duct. As soon as my ear was in place, I heard the last thing in the world I expected to hear.

  “He told us out of his own mouth that a lot of people want to see him dead. Nobody will suspect us.” It was Bo talking. I couldn’t make any sense out of what he’d just said. But when he spoke again, what he said chilled me to the bone. “I just hope it doesn’t hurt Sarah too much. She told me that funerals have a bad effect on her.”

  What the fuck was he talking about? But the biggest question spinning around in my head was whose funeral was he talking about that would have a bad effect on me? And who was the person that a lot of people wanted to see dead? Curtis was the only person I knew of who had enemies who wanted to see him dead.... OH NO! The thought that my husband was planning to kill my lover was so overwhelming I couldn’t believe it. I had to find out what was going on and I had to find out fast.

  “I’m picking up the gun tomorrow,” Vera said, speaking in such a hard voice I could just picture the sneer on her face.

  “You sure it can’t be traced?” Cash asked. “We can’t afford no slipups.”

  “If you don’t want to get involved, don’t!” Bo yelled at him. “I can take care of this issue on my own anyway.”

  “No, you are not going by yourself. Cash is still going with you like we originally planned. If somebody sees you coming or going by yourself, they might get nosy. If you and Cash roll up into that place, jive-talking with each other, those lowlifes will think you’re just another couple of middle-aged broken-down brothers like they are. I’ll pick up some cheap outfits from Goodwill tomorrow for you both to wear.”

  “Why can’t we dress like we always do?” Cash whined. “I told you years ago, right after Kenneth gave me such a good-paying job, that I’d never wear no used or hand-me-down clothes again.”

  “Don’t be a fool, fool! You can’t go to Curtis’s neighborhood wearing one of your Armani suits and your custom-made shoes. For one thing, you’d probably get jumped and robbed as soon as you get out of the car. And speaking of cars, leave your SUV at the house, Bo. I’ll rent a Toyota or some other piece of shit, cheap-ass car,” Vera said. It sounded like she was the one in charge. But at this point I was not sure of just what she was in charge of. All I could determine so far was that it had something to do with Curtis! She didn’t make me wait long to find out the rest. “I did some snooping around in his neighborhood. I went over there earlier and approached a few folks on the street near Curtis’s building. I pretended to be a survey taker for Walmart. Those idiots are so dumb I could have claimed to be working for the CIA and they would have believed me. Anyway, I told them that Curtis and his mama had been randomly selected to receive a huge prize. I had a clipboard in my hand and pretended to be writing down everything they told me. I told them it’s a surprise deal, so I needed to get some information about Curtis and his mama’s schedules from the neighbors without them knowing. Those nosy idiots were hesitant at first. The questions they asked me made me feel like a bill collector or process server trying to track down somebody! I’m sure that’s what some of them thought at first. But as soon as I passed out a few bucks and a few twenty-five-dollar gift certificates, those fools started singing like a Christmas choir.”

  “Vera! You went over there snooping around? Woman, are you crazy?” Bo hollered.

  “No, I’m not crazy!”

  “You must be! Those porch monkeys are ignorant as hell, but don’t you think that at least one of them will remember a woman like you asking questions about their neighbors? All we need is for the cops to talk to the wrong one after . . . after we do what we have to do.”

  “Bo, I’m disappointed in you. Do you think I’m stupid enough to go over to that place asking questions about Curtis without a disguise?”

  “I hope not. And I hope it was a damn good disguise. I know a lot of other black women are running around with blond hair like you, but you dress as fancy as Michelle Obama and Oprah put together. You’d stick out like an elephant in a spa.”

  “Ha!” Vera roared with laughter. “I wore a frizzy black wig, one of Sarah’s old mammy-made dresses that she bought before I got her to stop shopping in discount stores, and some low-heeled pumps I picked up at Payless. And I wore some glasses that made me look like the kind of nerdy woman who’d be roaming around taking a survey. Anyway, the first old bat I approached told me that Curtis’s mama leaves for work around six every evening except Saturday and Sunday. Another neighbor told me he’s almost always home alone every Friday night watching Sanford and Son reruns. His mama works a split shift every Friday night and never gets off at the same time. He has to be available so he can pick her up when she calls. Can you imagine a man with such a dull life?”

  “Why in the world would Sarah want to be with such a straight-up loser?” Cash wondered. “She ain’t just licking the jar—she’s scraping the bone! Bo, my man, this must make you feel like a used ass-wipe! I mean, having your woman choose a man as low on the food chain as Curtis Thompson over you must be hellish! I could understand if she was taking off with a banker or a rapper, or at least a gangster. But she’s leaving you for a hood rat that ain’t got a pot to piss in!”

  “Don’t worry about how I’m feeling. You worry about yourself and keep an eye on your own woman!” Bo boomed. “Vera, your plan better work and you better pray that nobody suspects us.”

  “Be serious! Only a fool would think anybody else but the thugs killed Curtis. Even a dumb bunny like Sarah! Remember how she told us about all the murdered friends’ funerals she attended when she lived in that war zone?” Vera hollered. “Nobody in their right mind would suspect people like us of killing a hood rat. If anything, people will recall how this family tried to help Curtis improve his life by you and Kenneth giving him a job and making such a fuss over him in front of other employees. Now listen up. I think the sooner we get this done, the better. T
his coming Friday. I’m having my Botox treatment and a small blister removed from the back of my neck the following Monday, and I won’t be in the mood to console Sarah. I’d like to do that on the weekend before and get it over with. If she’s still grieving Curtis’s death longer than she should, she can cry on your shoulder, Bo.”

  The Friday in question was two days from now.

  “Shouldn’t we wait until Kenneth leaves the hospital?” Bo asked. “It’s bad enough we can’t let the old goat in on our plan. But the least we can do is let him get his strength back. He’ll need it when the time comes for him to placate Sarah after her lover-boy gets what he’s got coming.”

  “No, we can’t wait. Kenneth might leave the hospital in a hearse. But if he’s going to get well, when he hears the news that the gold-digging motherfucker that broke up his daughter’s marriage got killed during a home invasion, it’ll make him get well a lot quicker!”

  “Besides, we need to complete this project before Sarah bolts,” Cash threw in.

  Project? These cold-blooded monsters had the nerve to call other people thugs and hood rats! And here they were plotting to kill an innocent man and referring to their crime as a project! My ears were burning from what I’d heard so far. My head felt like it wanted to disintegrate. I was so stunned and angry that I wanted to kill somebody and I was one of the good guys.

  “If we don’t, we’ll have another mess on our hands, getting her back into this house after her boo has been killed. Hell, she might even suspect us of being behind it!” Bo guffawed.

  “One more thing, Cash.” Vera paused. “I just want to remind you again not to let Collette know anything about this. She’s got a mouth on her like a fishnet!”

  “I won’t tell her nothing!” Cash said hotly. “For all I know, she could be messing around on me! I see the way she be eyeballing other dudes when we go out. If we pull this off with Curtis, then something might have to happen to the suckers Collette’s probably fooling around with!”

  “Let’s stay on track now. We are not here to discuss Collette and her punks,” Vera said calmly. “We need to stay focused on Sarah. Now, listen up. Shoot him in the head. That’ll do the trick. In case Curtis’s mama stays home from work Friday night and she’s in the apartment, do her too. And a head shot for her too. That’d make it look even better. Competent thugs don’t leave witnesses behind anyway. That’s why only the incompetent thugs go to jail.”

  The silence that followed for about ten seconds was excruciating.

  Cash broke it, speaking in a nervous voice. “His mama? Oh Lord! I don’t know if I can kill an old woman. What if somebody else is there with him?”

  “I don’t care if the Reverend Jesse Jackson is in the neighborhood on one of his brown-nosing, publicity-seeking visits! If he gets in the way, blow his ass to Kingdom Come too. Don’t leave behind any witnesses. Period!” Vera snarled. “If we’re going to do this thing, we might as well do it right. Shit.”

  “Okay. Vera, you pick up that gun from your contact tomorrow and the Goodwill clothes and it’s on,” Bo said. “I can’t wait to see that motherfucker’s face when I blow his brains out!”

  I didn’t need to hear anything else. I wobbled up off the floor and padded back to my bedroom so I could organize my thoughts. I didn’t know what to do next. I couldn’t run downstairs and confront the people who were planning to kill the man I loved. And I certainly couldn’t go to Daddy with this information, or anybody else.

  I was back in bed when Bo entered our bedroom about twenty minutes later. He whistled as he undressed and got in bed. Still whistling, he nudged my shoulder and patted my butt, but I didn’t respond. He stopped whistling. When he reached over and squeezed one of my breasts and then kissed me on the lips, I thought I’d vomit. It was pure torture even being in the same room with the man who was planning to ruin my life.

  I didn’t care how hard Bo tried to arouse me, I ignored him. He didn’t try too hard or too long. He gave up and fifteen minutes later, he was snoring like a moose. I waited a few minutes more and then eased out of bed and went into the bathroom and had myself a good cry.

  I was up against a brick wall: Cash, Vera, and Bo were on one side and Curtis and I were on the other.

  What was I supposed to do now? I couldn’t prove what I had just heard, so I couldn’t go to the cops. I knew enough about them to know that they wouldn’t do anything until a crime had been committed anyway.

  Warning Curtis by telling him everything I’d heard was out of the question. So was begging him to leave town. For one thing, he was not a coward. If the thugs who had been taunting him had not scared him off, he wouldn’t leave town to avoid a confrontation with Bo and Cash. Knowing Curtis, he would be prepared for their attack with a gun of his own. As an ex–gang banger, he’d grown up fighting battles with men a lot more vicious than Bo and Cash. If Curtis did get a gun to protect himself, there was no telling how this mess would turn out. If he killed Bo and Cash, even if they broke into his apartment, his life would never be the same. And mine wouldn’t be either. I couldn’t imagine how something like that would affect Daddy.

  My mind was spinning with all kinds of outrageous thoughts about how I could save Curtis. I even considered telling him I was pregnant with his baby and that we needed to run off somewhere together. That way I wouldn’t have to tell him about his pending murder. But no matter where we went, we’d never be happy if he knew what I knew. He would keep in touch with his clingy mama, and sooner or later, he’d tell her too much and she’d blow the whistle on us.

  There was only one thing left for me to do. I’d be in Curtis’s apartment when Bo and Curtis busted in to kill him. And since they couldn’t leave any witnesses, they’d have to kill me too. In death, Curtis and I could be together.

  I couldn’t think of any other way to end this mess.

  CHAPTER 60

  VERA

  WHEN I CALLED UP RICKY THE NEXT MORNING, I DIDN’T EVEN HAVE to tell him why I was calling. He answered the question I was going to ask him right away.

  “Vera, I got you a gun like you asked me to. A Glock. It’s real easy to use and nobody can trace it. It, uh, my contact told me it fell off a truck in Oakland, so it’s never been registered.”

  “Good work! You will get a major bonus for this!”

  “There’s only one thing about this gun—I couldn’t get my hands on no silencer like you wanted.”

  “Oh well. That’s really not a big deal.” I wasn’t going to worry about a little thing like not having a silencer. The sound of gunfire wouldn’t even faze those idiots in Curtis’s neighborhood. Last Saturday the news reported that three people on his block had died from gunshot wounds in three separate incidents on the same day! Several people had “witnessed” the shootings but so far nobody had come forward and probably wouldn’t. For once I was glad that the people in the ghetto didn’t like to talk to the cops. There was a strong possibility that even if somebody saw Bo and Cash lurking around Curtis’s place—before and after the shooting—they still would not blab to the cops. Now that we had the gun, it was going to be smooth sailing from this point on. However, I still couldn’t afford to get too sloppy by telling Ricky too much.

  “Baby, I know you told me not to ask no questions, but in case you want to tell me more, I’m listening.”

  “You can stop listening. This does not concern you.”

  “You trusted me enough to ask me to get you a gun. Why can’t you trust me enough to tell me what’s going on?”

  Even though I had convinced myself that killing Curtis and getting away with it was going to be as easy and simple as a walk in Golden Gate Park, I knew it was in my best interest to be careful who I discussed it with. Other than Bo and Cash, nobody else needed to know. Ricky certainly didn’t. For all I knew, he could get into more trouble and cut a deal with the authorities by ratting me out! “Don’t ask any more questions,” I said firmly. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

  I hung up fast. I still had t
hings to do to make sure this project went well. I had never committed a crime before, and I prayed that our getting rid of Curtis would be the first and last one. This involved more work than I had expected.

  I drove to Mission Street, one of the roughest, seediest areas in San Francisco. Hopeless-looking people in this predominately Hispanic neighborhood meandered about like lost sheep, babbling in machine-gun Spanish and broken English. The smell of urine, vomit, stale rice, greasy tacos, and fried bananas seemed to be everywhere. I could smell it all even though every window in my car was closed. I parked on the street and checked my purse to make sure my can of mace was easy to reach. It was a good thing I was paying attention or I would have stepped into a pile of shit on the ground as soon as I stepped out of my car.

  I strolled down the street, walking with caution. Like I was afraid I’d step on a crack or stumble upon another pile of shit. This part of town was just as filthy, primitive, and gloomy as the one that Curtis lived in, so I knew I wouldn’t run into anybody I knew.

  I headed to a Goodwill store two blocks from where I’d parked. I had to step over two bums lying on the ground near the entrance. I shook my head. I couldn’t believe that Sarah was willing to give up a life of luxury to move into a neighborhood with the same crap as this one!

  The people inside the Goodwill looked and smelled just as gruesome as the ones outside. I didn’t want to spend any more time in a hole like this than I had to. I quickly picked out some tattered jeans, plaid shirts with patches on each elbow, and some black hooded sweatshirts for Bo and Cash. I couldn’t find any beaten up old tennis shoes for them to wear at Goodwill, but I found some at another nearby thrift store. I had never purchased ski masks before in my life and wasn’t sure where to find them. I checked in three different stores and didn’t find any. Just as I was about to give up and have Bo and Cash wear a pair of my old stockings on their faces, I came across a sporting goods store that sold ski masks. I had no idea that planning a crime could be so complicated! That damn Sarah had caused me so much trouble I was going to enjoy watching her mourn the death of her lover.