“You did that, baby?”
“I did. I know she wanted to get back, but I thought I could convince her to come for just a few more days.”
“That would’ve been awesome. But I know she said she had some performance appraisals to get done for her direct reports. I’m sure once that’s all settled, she’ll be back. I’m even gonna work on trying to get her here perm.”
Alika ran her hand across my arm. “I think that would be great. She could get to know her baby all over again, her grand—”
“Aye, Rush!” Quinton yelled out, from his seat, interrupting the moment. “Word on the curb is that you had to pull those hands out the other night at Chaos!”
Laughter erupted around the table, and Alika nudged me on the shoulder with her shoulder, shaking her head left to right.
“A bar fight, Rush?!” Christina chimed in. “You’re not serious!”
“Uhhh, I’ll bet he is serious,” Gavin stated, laughing. “You don’t know this man. He’s got heat in those fists. He probably shoulda been in the ring instead of on the baseball field, quiet as kept!”
“Alika knows,” Gigi stated. “She’s probably at the root of it. King Kong jumping in to save his love! Go ahead and tell the truth!”
Alika joined in laughter. “I plead the fifth!”
“I can get Mike on the phone, Rush!” Quinton threatened. “On speaker…right now, so you might as well gone and share, bro!”
Out the corner of my eye, I saw Hazel headed toward the security phone, and then nodding her head as she spoke. When she turned to me and raised the device into the air to get my attention, I excused myself from the table.
“Oh! Okay! Saved temporarily by the bell!” Gigi proclaimed.
~*~*~
Twenty minutes later, after I had summoned Alika to let her know that I had to take a short meeting, and that she needed to entertain our guests until I returned, I sat across from Detectives Silas Winters and Rick Morgan, of the San Francisco Police Department’s homicide division.
Neither of them looked the part of cops. The younger Silas Winters looked like he should’ve been sitting behind clear lens prescription glasses in front of dual monitors and crunching numbers for high-profile clientele. I took him for a privileged kid who had gone against his family’s well-mapped out plans. I would bet my bottom dollar that he was something of a trust fund kid or close to it. And his partner, seemed as though he was only along for the mandatory ride. He appeared to want out and probably reported to the precinct each day counting down to retirement.
“I’m assuming this has something to do with my father’s murder.”
In all honesty, it was weird even speaking the words out loud about my father being murdered. He’d done some shit in his time. To me, my mother, and a whole lot of other people, but murder? That was a hard pill to swallow, even if I hadn’t admitted it to anyone.
The spokesperson of the two, Silas, was the first to talk. “Thank you for seeing us, Mr. Cambridge. Yes, our visit has to do with your father’s murder.”
“How can I help you gentlemen this evening?”
“Well, as you know this has been an ongoing investigation that we’ve been working around the clock.”
“Yes. So, are you here because you’ve come across something vital?”
The older detective nodded, while the younger one confirmed. “Yes. We have a photo that we would like for you to take a look at.”
“Okay,” I responded, leaning closer to the table between us.
As Detective Winters situated his manila folder and prepared to expose its contents, he continued speaking. “We’ve spoken to a Laurie Davidson, as well as Kenneth Joseph, and it was actually Ms. Davidson, who led us to you. Before I proceed, Mr. Cambridge, are you estranged from your family at present?”
I was immediately agitated. “Why?” I asked.
“Well…” Detective Morgan, started. “We haven’t heard from you at all during the investigation. Your sister, and her mother, and the mother of your younger brother have called pretty much every day to see where the investigation is. But we—”
“What’s your point?” I challenged the asshole who had finally decided to come out of his old man cage and speak. “Because if you have one don’t come into my home beating around bushes. Just say it. And if you don’t, then allow me to finish business with your capable partner so I can get back to my company. In answer to your question…” I commented, returning my attention to Winters. “We’re like any other family who has its ups and downs, and if that isn’t under investigation, then I suggest we proceed with what you came for. I’d like to get back to my friends.”
“Understandable. So, this image…” he said, sliding the picture to me for viewing. “…is of someone we believe to be a person of interest. Ms. Davidson believes the person in this picture is your mother. She said that…”
I lost sight of what he was saying, immediately. His voice faded completely to the background. The moment he pushed the glossy photo in front of me, I knew for certain it was my mother. I didn’t even have to hear him say it. I couldn’t take my eyes away from the image. If she was in town that night, then she had been here long before she told me that she’d arrived. She hadn’t told me the entire truth. Though, if she was the one responsible for what had happened to my father, it would make sense that she wouldn’t tell me.
“This picture was provided from Premier the night your father was attacked. We believe that she is responsible, and wanted to see if you recognized her.”
I slid the picture back across the table to him, and hunched my shoulders. “It could be her, but I can’t be certain. I don’t know if it came up at all when you spoke with Ms. Davidson, or Mr. Joseph, but I haven’t seen my mother since I was a young boy. In fact, I’m shocked,” I expressed, feigning disbelief. “Because if the woman in that picture is my mother, then that means that she’s still alive. And that she has been the entire time that I believed I no longer had a mother.”
Detective Winters retrieved his picture from the table and put it back into its folder, then placed his crossed hands on top of the folder and asked me, “So, Siobhan Cavanaugh hasn’t tried to contact you at all?”
Fuck! My thoughts immediately ventured toward the night I took her to Chaos and introduced her as my mother to everyone in sight. Fuck!
“I haven’t seen or heard from my mother in twenty-seven years, detective.”
“And you haven’t even tried to find her?” Morgan asked. “I mean, it would seem that if your mother left you as a young boy, and you never knew what happened to her, that when you were old enough…” he started looking around my study. “…rich enough, you’d go in search of her with every available resource.”
“But I didn’t, detective. And I didn’t because I figured that if a woman was rogue enough to leave her child behind, that she didn’t want to be found. So why go begging for a place in her life? I’m a grown ass man. Beggin’ ain’t my thing. I’m sure you can relate.”
“Just seems a little odd and kind of heartless at the same time,” he annoyingly insisted. “I mean, just the fact that you just found out that you had a daughter after so many years, that you didn’t know about …shows that sometimes life throws curve balls. I’m sure you can relate, Rush.”
What I can relate to is wanting to beat the fuck out of you with your own fucking pistol.
“If that is her,” I said, pulling my darted stare away from Morgan, and back to his partner. “If that is her, I would like to know where she’s been myself,” I answered, with my voice lowered. “Though I can’t see that being her in that picture, Detective Winters. I don’t know a mother alive who willingly misses out on their child’s life. I just don’t.”
“I’m sorry to break this to you, Mr. Cambridge, but there are plenty of women who will never be candidates for the best mother award. You’d be unpleasantly surprised.”
“That’s tragic,” I stated, solemnly. “I would like to think that my mother wasn
’t one of them. I would like to think that she forfeited motherhood because she had to. But who knows? It seems that I’ll never know why she left, gentlemen. And I’m okay with that.”
“Hmm. Okay. Well, we thank you for your time,” Detective Winters remarked, standing from his seat. His partner did the same, as did I.
I walked them both down the long hallway and back toward the front of the house, then stood at the top of my stairs watching as they got into their unmarked squad car. Even minutes after they’d backed down my driveway and through the gates, I remained outside in the brisk fall air and pondered. My mind was racing a million miles a minute. I had to keep my cool in front of them, but I was far from relaxed and I had nowhere to turn with my restlessness. I didn’t even know if I could return to the party without risking transparency.
I descended the stairs and paced a crescent-shaped stroll along the circular driveway. After about fifteen minutes, I made my way back up the stairs, trying with great effort to reapply my party face. But how easy would that be when I now knew that not only had my mother come back into my life, and that we had reconnected in a way that a mother and son should, but that she was also the one who had taken my father’s life? Had she really returned to Denver for work? Or was she running away?
Even with all the questions and all the uncertainty, I kept coming to the same conclusion: I had to protect her.
THIRTY-FIVE
Rush
When I got back inside, it was as though I hadn’t missed a beat. The mood was still festive, drinks were still flowing and energy was high. I walked straight to where Alika was and put my hand around her waist and leaned down to kiss her on the cheek.
“Your nose is freezing, baby,” she commented, reaching up to rub it to warmth. “I missed you.”
“Missed you too, babe.”
“Aww, ain’t that cute?!” Gavin stated. “Now I know that the beat down that Q talked about was because of Alika. Look at how he looks at her, you guys. We already know!”
“Seriously? You’re still on this crazy shit?”
“Yep!” Gigi blurted out. “I want all the tea!”
After I fulfilled their curiosity and let them in on the incident…minus a few details that weren’t their business…like the fact that Alika and I were in the middle of a small fight at the time, we all retreated to the media room to watch a movie. However, once we were all seated comfortably, everyone decided that a movie wasn’t necessarily on their agenda.
“Yeah, dude,” Marco started. “We were gonna stay and hang out until the sun started to come up, but I think it’s time for us to get going. Wanna get my wife home and…uhhh…relax a bit.”
“Good choice of words, baby,” Gigi grinned.
“Okay, what about everyone else? Because I arranged for you guys to all get dropped off at home since there was drinking going on.”
Simultaneously, they all objected to the ride, with reasons ranging from, they were fine and that they wanted to sleep in tomorrow, to not wanting to have to come back for their vehicles.
I was happy that each of them felt capable of transporting themselves because I desperately needed to talk to Quinton. The matter was of extreme urgency.
“Babe, I need to talk to Quinton for a little bit. Can you and Tracie walk everybody out and I’ll see you upstairs?”
“Of course, baby.”
Quinton and I walked out on the back lawn near the gazebo where I could talk to him in private. I couldn’t afford for anyone to hear what we were talking about, and I wasn’t ready to tell Alika yet either.
“It’s cold as fuck out here, man!” Quinton exclaimed, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Maaan!” I laughed. “Suck it up. We’ll be out here for five minutes tops.”
“Alright then, I need that clock to start tickin’. A muthafucka’s nuts ‘bout to freeze and they been summoned for duty.”
“T…M…fuckin’ I, dude! Anyway,” I started. “I need you to travel to Denver, Colorado on an emergency trip. I’d go if I could, but this wouldn’t be a good time for me to do it.”
“You don’t have to explain. I understand.”
“Thanks, man. Tomorrow morning when you get—”
“I’m sure you mean in a few hours, right? Because it’s already tomorrow…unless you really do mean, tomorrow.”
“Okay, since we wanna be all technical and shit. When you get up in a few hours, I need you to come by so that I can give you everything that you need for the trip. I have to gather it first though, but time is of the essence.”
“I got you. Whatever you need.”
“I’ll give you small details though just so you can know what you’re walking into. Have a seat,” I instructed. Once we were both seated, I took a deep breath, and then released. “You know they’re investigating my father’s death as a homicide, right?”
Quinton nodded his head slowly in comprehension.
“Okay, well I stepped out earlier because the detectives investigating wanted to talk to me about a person of interest in the case.”
“Aww, shit, man…” he commented, rubbing his hand across the top of his head.
“My mother was here for a couple of days, Q. She was—”
“Your mother? I thought you didn’t have—”
“Yeah, I thought I didn’t either. But it’s a long story. Short version is that she was forced to leave. New identity and everything.”
“Forced out…” he spat. “New identity? What! Let me guess. It was by your father, right?”
“Right,” I confirmed.
“Fuck. Dude had his hands are in everything, huh? Pulling kids from their parents and shit. That shit ain’t cool on any level, man.”
“Right. I mean, believe it or not, I hate like hell that Lance had to die, but right now, my focus is on my mother. She was gonna stay for this dinner tonight, but she went back to Denver early. I didn’t realize why at first, but now I think I might.”
“Moms got all the way gangster on his ass, huh?” he whispered, with shock in his voice.
“I think so. They had a picture of her at the club. It’s her. I wouldn’t have known that it was her had I not seen her for myself. Shit is fucked up, Q. But I’m thinking she just snapped.”
“Hell yeah, man. Something had to trigger it, though because she coulda snapped years ago.”
“I’m guessing she snapped when she found out about Michaela. Because she did mention wanting to meet her when she was here. She didn’t know that Michaela didn’t live here, so she probably came to see us both before shit hit the fan. This shit is all making sense to me now, Q,” I said, in a voice that was close to a whisper.
All of the truth was hitting me like a bulldozer, and I started thinking back over everything and all that I needed to straighten out, and one of those things was definitely, some kind of way, getting across to my staff that they aren’t to mention anything about having met my mother. Or…shit. I’ll figure it out. I got other more pressing stuff right—
“What’s up, Rush?” Q asked, snapping me back to the present. “You just disappeared, and my ass is going numb on this damn bench.”
“Yeah…damn…I just thought about something.”
“What…?”
“Not a big deal. When you come tomorrow…I mean, in a few hours, I’ll have everything you need.”
“Okay, sounds good.”
We both stood to get ready to head up front so Quinton could leave. When we got there, Alika and Tracie were hanging out in the living room in a girl chat, talking a mile a minute.
“Alright, Q. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said, slapping hands with him, then stretching, and releasing a yawn. “Babe, we can walk Tracie back down to the guesthouse, or she can—”
I noticed a smile creep across Alika’s face, and then her and Tracie proceeded to giggle. I looked from one to the other, then over at Quinton.
“What the fuck am I missing?”
“She’s coming with me for the night, dude,�
�� Quinton announced.
“When did that shit happen? You’re one slick motherfucker, Q! All I can do is congratulate you,” I said, fist bumping with him.
“That’s so tacky!” Alika yelled.
Quinton and I guffawed heartily, as he and Tracie waved us off and headed out the front door. When the door had closed, I turned to Alika and tried to contain my laughter, causing her to shake her head at me.
“You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Rush. Making fun of my friend is not cool,” she scolded. “I’m sure she was embarrassed!”
“Not embarrassed enough, clearly.”
“Rush!”
“Well…! What? I’m not knocking her. She’s giving in to her cravings for a big strong Samoan guy. Who can resist that?”
“You’re something else,” she said, slapping me across the top of my arm. “What if I put you on punishment for that behavior?”
“What if I told you that you’re funny and that that’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all day?”
“You’re so cocky.”
I looked down at the tent growing in the front of my pants. “I guess you’re kinda right, huh?”
“Oh my God!” she exclaimed, laughing so hard she had to hold her stomach. “I guess that means I’m on duty.”
“I sure as hell hope so because blue balls—”
“Aww, baby. You won’t have that problem. Let’s go to our room and make some noise until the sun comes up.”
“Shit, I’m right behind you.”
THIRTY-SIX
Denver, Colorado
Home of Siobhan Cavanaugh
The next day…
“Can I help you?” Siobhan asked, looking curiously at the stranger standing on the other side of her front door.
“Yes ma’am, my name is Quinton and I’m a good friend of Rush’s. He sent me.”
Quinton reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out the burner phone that he and Rush had been communicating on. “Hold on a second while I get him on the line for you.”
Rapture 2: a BWWM, Alpha Male Romance Page 19
