He regarded me quizzically. “I thought you said we should listen to Eddie?”
I grinned. “I only said that so he wouldn’t keep pressing you to stop. Tonight, we need to go over everything that has happened in the last 24 hours and figure things out.”
Tony’s eyes glinted under the moonlight. He offered his hand to me. “Partners,” he said.
I shook his hand. “Partners.”
The Bald Man
He backed off, leaving more space between him and the black and gold Mountaineer than he should have, but he wasn’t worried about losing them. The bald man knew exactly where Pretty Pamela Reeb was driving. The pair were predictable and predictability was a weakness he could exploit. Humming, Pop Goes the Weasel, he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel keeping cadence. Things were shaping up exactly as he had orchestrated. The police suspected Yolanda’s boy-toy of foul play. At the same time Holman and pretty Pamela Reeb were pursuing their own investigation of Yolanda’s disappearance.
“What your status,” the voice buzzed in his ear, interrupting his thoughts.
He stopped his drumming and twisted his hands around the steering wheel imagining it was his controller’s neck. “Reeb is driving Holman to her apartment. I’m trailing them at a safe distance,” the bald man explained.
“Excellent. Will you need backup to assist in overnight surveillance?”
Why is he always questioning my abilities? Doubting my skill as an artist? “Negative. I suspect the pair will stay in place for the night. I’ll have time to doze a couple of hours before the sun rises.”
“If the target shows up, you may regret that decision.”
“If the target emerges from hiding, it won’t be me who’ll have the regrets. That I promise you.”
“Very well. Keep me advised.”
“Sure, whatever you say.”
Up until that point the bald man had been having a decent day, as he watched all his work successfully unfolding before him, but now he was angry. He needed to desperately hurt someone. Pressing his foot on the accelerator his car jettisoned through traffic, closing in on the Mountaineer. He no longer cared if he was spotted, after all it wasn’t like either Reeb or Holman could see his face through the dark tinted glass.
He drove up along the driver side of the sports utility vehicle and matched its speed. Pretty Pamela Reeb gawked at his car as if he were insane. The bald man gunned the engine several times. Smiling, he pressed his foot all the way down on the gas pedal and rocketed passed the SUV, swerving into the lane in front of the Mountaineer. Slowing to nearly a crawl, he forced Pretty Pamela Reeb to veer into the next lane. When she honked her horn, the bald man laughed.
He gunned the engine again and shot away down the street. Taunting them was a distraction, but it wasn’t enough to ebb his anger. Driving into the worse crime infected section of the city, the bald man drove up and down the neighborhood until he found exactly what he needed. On a corner, leaning nonchalantly against a streetlamp, two young men barely out of their teens, looked to be simply hanging out. But the bald man knew differently. Folks didn’t hangout on street corners unless they had something to sell.
The bald man approached the street corner, casually stopping in front of the young men. He lowered the passenger side window down and turned the interior lights off, making it difficult to see inside. One of the men, wearing pants that hung down past the top of his underwear and a red sleeveless shirt, pushed off the lamp post. A gun bulged under his shirt. He cautiously approached. An open window was an invitation. The man held his hand underneath his shirt, gripping the gun.
“Yo, you want somethin’ dawg?” the man said, squinting to see into the darkness.
The bald man laughed. “As a matter of fact, I do.”
He lifted his silenced pistol, firing once into the young man’s face. As soon as the body toppled out of the way to the pavement, he saw that the second man was reaching for his gun. Firing three times, two to the chest, one to the throat, the bald man watched his victim crumble to the ground. Laying the pistol down in the passenger seat, he let out a satisfied sigh. He rolled up the passenger window and pulled away from the curb. With his anger finally abated, he began humming again, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel.
Anthony
Opening my eyes, I realized immediately it was morning. I was so exhausted I must have blacked out on her couch seconds after we sat down to talk about the previous days events. Looking down, Pam was leaning against my chest like it was a pillow. My arm was slung over her shoulder and wrapped around her chest like it belonged there. She held adoringly to my arm. She looked so beautiful and peaceful, I hated to wake her, but nature called.
I was about to give her a gentle shake when I caught movement in the blacken television screen. It was the slender reflected silhouette of a woman. I blinked several times, trying to focus, to make sure it wasn’t my imagination. Swallowing dryly, trying hard not to get my hopes up, I jerked my head around. I thought a faint shadow passed by my peripheral vision, but I couldn’t be sure. No one was behind us. I snapped my head back to the television. The silhouette was gone. Had it been my imagination?
Pam stirred against my chest. “Um, what’s going on?” she asked.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. I thought I saw someone.”
Her eyes came alive with alertness and she shot up, staring around. “You saw someone in my apartment? Are you sure?”
“I might have been dreaming. It looked like Yolanda.”
Pam shot up to her feet. Staring down at my wrinkled shirt where her head had laid moments ago, she looked embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Tony. I didn’t mean to—”
I held up a hand. “It’s all right, we were both tired last night. It wasn’t like we slept together.” I didn’t know exactly why I added that last part. I felt as embarrassed as Pam looked. What made matters worse was the bulge in my pants. I jumped to my feet and turned away from her. “Ah, maybe I better check out your place. Make sure no one else is here.” Before she could say anything, I circled the couch and headed down the hallway.
I took the time to take a quick scan inside the two bedrooms and the linen closet before hiding myself inside the bathroom. I leaned against the door and took a deep breath. I couldn’t deny that I had some feelings for Pam that extended beyond friendship, but I had been able to suppress those emotions because of Yolanda. With her running out of our lives, I was having a hard time smothering my fondness for Pam. I felt like a jerk. It wasn’t long ago I asked Yolanda to marry me, and now my thoughts were on Pam.
Turning on the cold water in the sink I splashed my face once, twice, three times. I stared into the mirror, blowing out a hard breath. “You’re in love with Yolanda, remember,” I whispered. Maybe that was the reason I saw her in the blackened television screen. It was a sign for me to get my act together. The priority was to find her, to make sure she was safe. After that, I’m going to have to deal with the feelings I have for Pam. Straightening, I looked down. The bulge was still there. I was going to need a very long and cold shower.
A soft rap on the door, snapped me out of my thoughts. “Tony,” Pam called out.
“Yeah?”
“You okay in there?”
I was far from all right, but I answered, “Things are good.” Things are good? What kind of response was that. “I mean, I’m okay.”
There was a moment of awkward silence. “I think you were right,” she said.
Cocking an eyebrow, I stared at the door. “About what?”
“I think someone has been inside the apartment.”
The bulge in my pants deflated like a tire with a huge hole. I yanked open the door. Pam was standing there with a gun in her hand. She looked surprisingly calm for a person whose place might have just been broken into. Maybe it was spotting the gun that projected the confidence I noticed in her.
“What do you mean?” I asked, not knowing really what else to say.
“The backd
oor in the kitchen was unlocked. I never leave it unlocked,” she whispered. “Did you check the rooms?”
“I stuck my head inside each of the bedrooms, but I didn’t do a full search,” I answered with a stronger voice than I’d expected. Like Pam, nervousness seemed to be vacant from me. I was actually angry; feeling violated knowing that someone had invaded her home. “I’ll check again.”
Pam inclined her head gesturing for me to follow. “We’ll do it together.”
“You wouldn’t happen to have another one of those,” I asked pointing at her gun. She shook her head no.
I shrugged my shoulders. “Didn’t think so.”
Together we checked out her bedroom and then the spare bedroom. Both were clear. So were the linen closet, living room, and kitchen. Whoever broke in had slipped out silently. I wondered again if it could have been Yolanda’s reflection I’d seen in the television screen? But if it was, why would she sneak in and then leave without saying anything?
“Should we call the police?” I asked.
She frowned at the idea. “And tell them what? Nothing was stolen, no one was hurt. All they’d think was that I forgot to lock up. Besides, if my parent found out, Mama would have me packed and moved back inside the old house before nightfall.”
“No argument there,” I said. Both her parents were a force to reckon with, but her Mama was the definition of control freak. I rubbed the back of my head, thinking of the best way of phrasing my next question. “Do you think we should cancel going to your job this morning? I mean I understand if you don’t want to go, seeing what happened.”
Pam stared at me with a commanding resolve that reminded me of her father. “I have the strange sense that the break-in is connected to Yolanda’s disappearance. Don’t ask me why. So no, I don’t want to cancel. I want to go more than ever now.”
I grinned. “Okay then.”
She touched my arm. “There’s something I should tell you before we go. Something my Daddy told me yesterday at the police station.”
I stiffened, already not liking what I was going to hear. “What’s that?”
“The reason Dixon is so fired up about your guilt is because she found pictures of Yolanda sleeping with another man in her apartment. Dixon thinks you might have found the photos and then snapped.”
I took a step back, stunned as if I took a blow to the face. “Yolanda wouldn’t sleep—” Staggering weak kneed into the living room, I plopped down onto the couch, hardly able to breath. Pam trailed behind me saying nothing. “No, I can’t believe that,” I finally said.
Pam sat beside me and threw her arm over my shoulder. “I don’t believe it either, but if it’s true, Eddie should be able to verify this. Maybe the photos are shots of an old boyfriend. It doesn’t necessarily mean she was cheating on you.”
I looked at Pam, regarding her critically. “Why didn’t you mention this last night with Eddie?”
“I didn’t think it was the right time. Maybe there’s no right time to tell you something like this. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” I said sinking my face into my hands. I tried to picture times when Yolanda could have cheated. It wasn’t like she traveled much and when she wasn’t spending time with me, she was with Pam. I didn’t think it was possible for her to have an affair. Pulling my hands away, I looked at the darkened television screen waiting for another omen to appear. “Even if she slept with someone else—”
Pam rubbed my shoulder. “It’s okay, Tony.”
“Even if she slept with another man, I would never hurt her. You believe that don’t you?”
“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be helping you.” Her head leaned on of my shoulder to comfort me.
“Did I tell you that Wanabe is dead?”
“Yolanda’s cat?”
It was time I made a confession of my own to Pam. “It’s why I’m so worried about her. Why I’m so desperate to find her. I think someone is out to harm Yolanda. If the break-in here is related. You might be in danger too.”
“I can take care of myself,” she said. “Yolanda is tough too. You know that.”
“Yeah, I do,” I said recalling the slap across my face. That’s one thing Pam and Yolanda shared, toughness. That was probably why they got along so well.
Pam stood up. “Let’s get something to eat and then head straight to the university.”
My legs no longer felt wobbly when I got to my feet. I was being hit with so much, so fast, it was hard to think straight. Despite Pam’s reassurance, I had to accept the fact that something bad might have already happened to Yolanda. But there was one thing I knew for sure, I wasn’t about to let that same thing happen to Pam. Whatever dangers were out there, we were going to face them together.
Pam
Breakfast was the perfect distraction I needed. Though I hid my true alarm from Tony, I had to admit that the break-in at my apartment threw me for a loop. I literally was fighting to keep my hands from shaking. Taking hold of the cup as though my life depended upon it, I let the heat of the coffee warm my numb hands. Across the table, Tony was staring out the window, lost in thought. Refusing to go home to change he was still wearing the previous day’s clothes.
I understood his home was the last place he’d seen Yolanda and would only bring him bad memories. All I wanted to do was to reach out to him and make him feel better. He had so much on his mind; her betrayal, the police suspecting him of a crime, and now believing that whoever might be after Yolanda may want to harm me as well. It was a lot to take in for any sane person.
The waitress arrived with the food, gently dropping huge platters of pancakes, eggs and sausage in front of us. Tony turned around and stared at the waitress. “Jasmine,” he said politely. “Have you seen Eddie this morning?”
Though the food was excellent at Morning Perk, the reason we selected the restaurant was in hopes of running into Eddie with news of the investigation. We tried calling his cell phone but immediately received a disconnection notice. It was just like Eddie not to pay his phone bill. It was a miracle Eddie’s phone was still activated when Tony tried him from police headquarters.
Jasmine wiped a lock of curls from the front of her eyes and considered the question. Finally she shook her head, “Can’t say I’ve seen him this morning. But his tab is due, so he might be avoiding the place for a while.” Her pleasant face broke out into an addictive smile.
“It figures,” Tony said grinning, caught up in Jasmine’s natural charm.
She moved on to another table. I looked down at the amount of food on the platter and said, “No way, I’m eating all of this. We should have shared a plate.”
He took note of the food for the first time. “Wow. That is a lot. Guess our eyes were bigger than our stomach this morning.”
We shared a nervous laugh.
A large part of me wanted to talk about our awkward reactions on the couch. The way he jetted down the hall, claiming he needed to check out the place, seemed to me, to be something more than worries about our safety. For a brief moment, we were connected, like being pulled together by a magnet. But I knew better than to bring it up. Our concern needed to be finding out what happened to Yolanda.
“Do you think you can get more information from your father, regarding the investigation?” Tony asked.
“Not a good idea. He didn’t want to tell me anything at all to begin with. Daddy definitely doesn’t want me helping you.”
“Does he think I’m guilty?”
“No,” I snapped out too quickly. “But he doesn’t exclude you either. He’s a cop first, he’s suspicious of everybody. He even questioned me last night.”
Tony’s eyebrow shot up in surprise. “Really? What did he ask you?”
“I told him about Yolanda yelling at me. He thinks you and I might be sleeping together, which was why Yolanda was mad at us.”
“That’s silly, right?” he said sheepishly.
There was a long awkward silence.
“More coffee,” Jasmine
said breaking the quiet, holding a pot ready to pour.
“Sure,” I answered.
Jasmine’s gaze toggled between Tony and me. “You two haven’t touched your food. Is there a problem?”
“No,” Tony said. “We seemed to have lost our appetite, that’s all.”
“Don’t let the food go to waste honey, there’s a lot of starving folks in the world that would like to have it.” Jasmine refilled my cup and disappeared into the milling crowd of patrons.
“We better eat. We need our strength,” I said.
When the front entrance opened, a hush suddenly took hold of the shop. Two huge men walked inside Morning Perk. Grins that looked more threatening than friendly adorned both their faces. Behind the pair another man entered who didn’t grin. He wasn’t as big as the other two, but he seemed just as, if not more, menacing. The owner of the shop smiled nervously and raised his hand in greeting. The only response from the grim-faced patron was a subtle head tilt toward an empty table.
I looked at Tony and asked, “What do you think that’s about?”Tony stared through the window at a limo parked out front. “Trouble we don’t want to know anything about,” he answered.
***
We’d arrived at the university an hour later with full stomachs. Like I told Tony earlier, we didn’t have a problem with security. The Human Resources department was dark except for the daylight that filtered through the blinds. Knowing the layout, there was no need to turn on the lights. Tony trailed close behind me, taking in the office. To the best of my recollection, I think it was the first time he had been there.
“Man, I thought my office was sterile. No one even has a plant in their cubicle here.”
“My office manager thinks having plants is a sign of individuality, which may lead to distractions.” I waved my hands in the air to showcase the entire department. “Here, we are all of one collective mind, whose primarily focus is to serve the universities staff and student body.”
“That probably suited Yolanda just fine,” he said sadly.
Crossroads: An Anthology Page 31
