“Kevin wouldn’t have noticed me if Diablo hadn’t gotten carried away.
An idea flashed in Mariah’s head and she pressed Pause on the remote. “Diablo. That’s the man Kevin and the bartender were talking about.” The corners of her lips thinned a bit and she pressed the Pause button again.
“Word got around that he just got out of prison, but he always had money in his hand for me. Up until the night he got kicked out, he didn’t cause me any problems.” Allegra shrugged. “Diablo getting out of hand wasn’t a surprise, or a big deal. I knew security would handle him, so I wasn’t scared.” She lowered her gaze to the floor for a moment. When Allegra raised it, a wave of shock flew through Mariah. Fear, stark and vivid, glittered in her sister’s jet black eyes. “But he wasn’t the reason I stopped going to Golden Fingers…”
Riveted, Mariah and Anthony leaned forward on the couch, eyes wide, as Allegra finished her story.
“It was a Saturday night, like all the others. I performed, then changed so I could work the floor. I stayed until closing time, changed clothes again, got into Daddy’s car and drove home. Not this home,” she pointed to the floor, “my ‘other’ home. I put my key in the front door and then he showed up…”
“Divine.”
Allegra halted and looked over her shoulder, her gaze sweeping the length of the semi-dark street. A figure moved until it stood under the streetlight near her house. “Milburn?” Her voice climbed in amazement.
“Hey.” He held up a hand and waved, the gesture unsure. He jerked his chin in the direction of her house. The light of the street lamp glinted off the rims of his glasses. “So this is where you live, huh?”
Allegra lifted her chin as she turned halfway toward him. “What are you doing here?”
“I finally worked up the nerve. Can you believe it? I’ve wanted to do this for the longest time.”
“Do what?”
He adjusted his glasses. “Protect you.”
“Protect me? From what?”
“From danger. I just wanted to make sure nobody followed you.”
“But… you followed me.”
Milburn puffed out his chest. “That’s different.”
Divine swallowed. “That’s sweet, but you didn’t have to do this.”
“It’s no problem, Divine. I wanted to…”
“I heard the other girls talk about being followed, so that’s why I used Daddy’s car. It’s old and I sold it Kevin for a dollar and put the registration in his name. All I have to do is pay the taxes every year. When I decided to work at Golden Fingers, I removed the plate from the back, and put it in the rear window as I drove. I always tucked it under the seat before my shift and put it back in the window when I returned to Kevin’s. I never got pulled over.” Allegra shook her head. “Anyway, the whole time Milburn’s talking, I’m thinking, ‘I’ve got to get him out of here. This man is crazy.’ Then he starts saying some things that really freak me out…”
Milburn moved forward a few steps.
“You should go home now,” Allegra replied in a well-balanced voice and inched closer to the door.
“Why?”
“I got home safe, because of you. Besides, it’s late and I’m tired. Aren’t you tired?”
His voice, though composed, had a sinister quality. “No. I’m never tired when I’m near you. I love you, Divine.”
Fear slithered down Allegra’s spine. Again, she looked up one end of the street and down the other, even though she knew no one else out and about. She was on her own. With her right hand, she tried to turn the key and prayed he wouldn’t notice…
“So I’m trying to unlock the door with the hand he can’t see, but my fingers won’t cooperate. I told him that he couldn’t love me because he didn’t know me.” Allegra crisscrossed her arms, rubbing her palms against them in a pacifying motion, as if she were cold. Her voice shook. “But that only made him angry…”
“I know enough. You just danced for me. I’ve spent time with you every other weekend. You can’t tell me how I feel.”
Allegra raised her left hand in a placating gesture. “I’m sorry. You’re right, Milburn. You’re right.” Her eyes darted up one side of the street and down the other again. No one would open their doors to see who was raising their voice and why. They’d burrow deeper into their holes and pretend not to see or hear anything.
A person couldn’t even get take-out delivered here.
This was that type of neighborhood.
“I know a lot of guys probably tell you that, just to get in your pants,” he thumped his chest in a vehement gesture with a thin fist, “but I’m not like them. I’m not. I’m sincere.”
Allegra swallowed the lump in her throat. “I know,” she replied, her voice wavering. “I know you are. You’re one of the good guys.”
“Yeah. That’s right. One of the good guys.” He backed off a little, trying to get Allegra to lower her defenses. “So come on, Divine,” he added. His voice was soft, but disquieting. “Why don’t you invite me in for a little while? We can sit and talk…”
#
“I guess he was expecting me to say ‘yes’ right away, but I paused for a few seconds, and that was a mistake, because it was a few seconds too long for his taste. He started getting agitated, like a kid who couldn’t get his favorite toy to work. It was like there was a change in the air, in the waves of energy he gave off, and that didn’t bode well for me…”
#
“Why don’t we go somewhere and have some coffee instead?” Allegra asked. “We could talk, have a few laughs.”
There was a marginal hardening of his eyes. “So I’m good enough to talk to when you’re dancing in front me, taking your top off and I’m giving you money, but you can’t spare a few minutes for me outside the club.”
“No, Milburn. That’s why I suggested – “
“Coffee. Somewhere else. I get it. I’m not good enough to be in your house.”
“It’s just that…now’s not the right time.”
“Why not?” Milburn retained his affability, but there was a watchful fixity in his face. “You’ve got another man in there?”
“Milburn —”
He seethed with wrath and humiliation. “I give you my money, my time, my devotion, and this is the thanks I get? I deserve better than that. You don’t get to dump me like I’m trash.”
And then he advanced…
#
“My heart was pounding so hard I thought it was going to explode.” Allegra’s right hand moved on its own from her left shoulder down to her, the palm resting flat above her heart. “It’s beating like that now.” She exhaled, and her hand descended into her lap. “I knew I had to do something, but for a moment, I-I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t think; I couldn’t move. I was like a deer caught in headlights and he was the car about to run me over…But then Daddy’s words came roaring back to me. Do or die, Chocolate Princess….
#
“Get out of here.” Allegra’s voice vibrated with fury and fright. “Don’t come back.” Her hands trembled as she pointed a gun, a Smith and Wesson Lady Smith 36 Revolver, at him.
Staggered, Milburn halted and raised his arms above his head. “D-Divine. You-you’re not going to shoot me. Somebody will call the police.”
“Look at where I live. Gunshots are normal around here. Nobody’s going to call 911 if I put a bullet in you.”
Milburn took several steps back, his hands still high in the air. “Divine.”
She took a step forward, her heels clicking against the pavement. “GO.”
Milburn blinked furiously and quickly made his way to his car. Allegra kept her gun trained on him until he pulled away from the curb…
#
“Daddy bought the gun for me the year before he died. Of course it was hush-hush. I remember Daddy saying that a woman never knows when she’ll need one. He was right. I always carried it whenever I worked the club.” She shrugged. “I just never had a reason to use it befo
re that night.
“As for Golden Fingers, I never went back. I parked Daddy’s car in Kevin’s garage and left it there. But there was still the gun. I couldn’t bear to part with it, but I couldn’t take the chance of keeping it at my house, my real house. So, I buried it in Gran D’s shed under a loose slat. When I started working at the club, I kept the money in a safety deposit box and I always made sure I stopped somewhere, like a motel, after closing time. I even pulled into the police precinct to scare off would-be stalkers, just in case..”
She paused for moment. “That night…I knew that if I let Milburn in, talking would be the last thing on his mind, and I didn’t want Gran D discovering my secret when the cops found my body the next day. I knew he would kill me, no matter how nice he seemed.”
Allegra let out a long sigh. “As for Diablo…it was only a matter of time before he got banned from the club. If it wasn’t over me, it would’ve been somebody else. He doesn’t like women. Scratch that; he hates us. I heard about his domestic violence charge and saw how he looked at us, how he looked at me.”
Allegra stopped again. This time, there was a reflective shimmer in the shadow of her eyes. “I wasn’t too worried about Diablo, though. People like him are easy to spot. They radiate anger and impatience, bully and hate their way through life. It’s the ones that fall off the radar that we need to watch out for, because nobody sees them, nobody pays attention. They blend into the background and just stay there. People like that are the Millburns of the world. They’re the scary ones.”
#
Milburn Jennings sat on his couch. The TV was on, but it was muted. He stared, his vision unfocused on the images flashing across the flat screen. Michael Jackson’s “She’s Out of My Life” filled his ranch style home. During the week, he set the song to repeat, playing it from the time he walked through the door until he went to bed. On the weekends, the song ran all day.
His face was bleak with sorrow and he gave a choked, harsh laugh. Sure, he was educated, had a good job, a nice house, etc. But he was pathetic. He was a nobody. His life was garbage and seeing Divine was the only thing that gave it value. He loved her like he’d never loved anyone or anything in his life. And now, because of him, she was never coming back.
#
The next day, while Mariah distracted her grandmother with a shopping spree and lunch, Anthony went hunting. The weather was a bit stifling, the sun was at its peak and the bugs were persistent, but it wasn’t record-breaking heat or humidity.
Anthony mowed the lawn first. It had been a few weeks and it needed the cut. When he finished, sweat ran down his face, chest and back, and would’ve attracted all manner of bloodsuckers if he hadn’t put on repellent. He wiped away the perspiration with the towel he had nearby. Then Anthony pulled a backpack from his SUV and headed toward the shed. In no time, he found the gun and put the lawnmower back in the shed.
#
After shopping, Mariah and Gran D went to Chili’s.
“So what’s happenin’ with Anthony once Allegra’s things are gone?”
Mariah almost choked on a piece of grilled chicken. She coughed and took a long sip of water before she answered. “I don’t know,” she replied in a husky voice. She couldn’t tell whether it was due to choking or her grandmother’s question that caused her to sound like she was rolling around in an ashtray.
“Ya don’t know? Y’all seem pretty tight to me.” A mischievous twinkle sparkled in her eyes. “If ya know what I mean.”
Mariah’s eyes expanded with embarrassment. Her grandmother had never been a prude; in fact, she had no problem talking about sex. In Gran D’s day – even in Anna’s day – the adults had a saying they were sure would keep children from even acknowledging their private parts and it was “Don’t look at yourself down there. You’ll go blind.”
Mariah’s lowered her gaze. If she had lighter skin, she would be red in the face right now. “I don’t kiss and tell,” she answered, a hint of pride in her voice.
“Mmm hmmm.” Gran D didn’t sound convinced. “I’ve had a hand in raising Anthony. He’s another grandson to me. But even though I remember the boy he was, doesn’t mean I can’t see him for the man he is. Now, havin’ good looks don’t mean a man, or a woman, is good in bed, but I’ve got a feelin’ —”
Mariah wagged her head. “Oh no, Gran D. Please. Don’t go there.”
“Why not? He was always the slow, easy type, focused, too. I figure he must be like that in bed. Besides, I see how ya are together. There’s a look two people share when they’ve gone to town.”
Mariah covered her face with one hand. “Gran D. Oh my goodness.” She couldn’t control her burst of laughter at the old-fashion saying, which was another term for having sex. She cut another piece of chicken and ate it.
“So,” Gran D cut a broccoli spear in half and took a bite, “how good is he?”
Mariah started coughing again and reached for the glass of water. “Gran D,” she managed when she could talk. “Are you trying to kill me?”
“He’s that good.” A bright smile creased Gran D’s face. “I knew it.”
#
That night, Mariah received another visit from Allegra. This time, little sister wasn’t happy to see her.
“The gun. It was a good luck charm.”
Mariah looked around Allegra’s backyard. “It must be. It kept Milburn from raping and killing you.”
Allegra’s eyes met Mariah’s. Her dark, wind-blown hair was a striking contrast to her silvery-blue dress.
“Anthony’s keeping it in his safe.” Mariah glared at her sister with burning, accusatory eyes. “I’m glad we found it. I couldn’t have Gran D panicking, wondering how someone left a gun on her property without her knowledge or consent. Bringing her into your secret world was dangerous and stupid, Allegra… and undeniably selfish.”
She inclined her head, as if to concede the point. Then she disappeared.
#
Anthony helped Mariah clear out Allegra’s bedrooms over the next few days. The only items left were the heavy furniture, and Mariah made arrangements for them to be donated. At night, they returned to Anthony’s and watched another video diary. Surprisingly enough, there was nothing shocking or incriminating on the next disc.
Anthony’s cell rang while Mariah folded the blankets and placed them in a pile in the hallway. It was the private detective Anthony had hired, and he’d come through with some information. When Anthony relayed it to Mariah, she decided that a short trip was in order.
“I don’t like this, Mariah.”
“I won’t stay long,” she reassured him as she grabbed her purse and headed out the door.
The day was overcast with a fair chance of rain, so Mariah brought an umbrella and followed the directions on her GPS.
Unless a man was young, impressionable and inexperienced – like Jake Barton – or stuffed money down her G-string, a man had to make at least six figures to get Allegra’s attention, and this neighborhood fit the bill.
According to Mariah’s digital map, this was the house, about twenty minutes away, in the affluent section of North Raleigh called Wakefield Plantation. A row of flowers lined the circular driveway and a dark cherry Lincoln Town Car sat out front. In this area, not far from the small town of Wake Forest, mansions abounded. Some sprawling homes sat near golf courses, others had horses grazing on numerous acres of grass.
Mariah grabbed a small bag from the front passenger seat and got out of the car. If someone asked, she was bringing a gift for a baby shower and must have the wrong address. She had to make the visit look good. When she reached the front door, Mariah took a deep breath, punctuated by several even gasps before pressing the door bell, which she could hear chiming from inside. About thirty seconds later, the door opened and Mariah had to impose an iron control on herself as she stared at the mystery man who visited Allegra’s grave.
Even though the day was cloudy, his black hair, punctuated by silver around the temples, gleamed. He had
toasted skin, and though he wasn’t handsome, he was still attractive. He was dressed: chinos, loafers and a short-sleeved shirt. But casual for him was expensive for the average working-class person. The set of his shoulders, the way he stood told you he’d made it, and had for a while. That’s why Mariah didn’t expect him to answer his own door.
But what really shocked her was that he was about fifteen years older than Allegra. And white.
#
Thomasina stopped by while Mariah was gone.
Anthony eyes flitted over his cousin. Pants, sneakers and a T-shirt. Beige or black. He couldn’t remember a time when she’d dressed in anything but neutral colors. “Hey, Thomasina. What’s up?”
“I just stopped by to see if Mariah wanted to go to dinner. My treat.”
Anthony stepped back. He’d always been fond of Thomasina in a distant kind of way. She’d never done anything to hurt him, but her loyalty to Thomas and her mother made it difficult to deepen their relationship. “She’s not here, but I’m sure she’d like to go. She’s just running some errands,” he hedged. “Come on in,” he encouraged his cousin with a sweep of his left arm.
Thomasina’s shoulders lifted in a casual shrug, but she entered and sat down on the couch. Anthony closed the door and followed suit. For a moment they sat, not speaking.
Anthony leaned forward. His fingers interlocked while his elbows rested on his thighs. He was the first one to break the silence. “What’s on your mind, Thomasina?”
Biting her lip, she looked away briefly. “Well,” she cleared her throat, “I know that Thomas came over here a few weeks ago…and started some trouble.”
Anthony’s brows drew together in an affronted frown. “He tried.”
Thomasina shook her head in sadness. “He asked her to marry him, but Allegra turned him down.”
Anthony gave Thomasina a sidelong glance of utter disbelief. “What? Thomas said he was ‘going’ to ask her.”
Thomasina’s words came out in a rush. “He lied, I know. When she said no, he was upset, to say the least. Then when she died…I think it pushed him over the edge somehow. I don’t think he would’ve come here and upset Mariah otherwise.”
Allegra's Shadow Page 21
