"Ain't no big deal."
"What're they saying?" Mel asked.
I kept my eyes on the road. "Nothing. Just talking about goin' through walls and stuff."
"I so can tell when you're lying."
I went to respond but she put a hand up. "Don't bother." She shifted to the left and stared into the backseat, eyes narrowed into tiny slits. "Listen up you two, if you got something to say about me, then…" She flung a hand in the air. "I dunno, write it down or something. No fair talking about me when I can't hear." She flicked her chin, and then pulled a pen and receipt out of her purse. "Here, Fran. Use this." She laughed. "Oh wait. You can't. I forgot, you can't grab anything. Such a bummer." She snorted, and then the pen and receipt flew out of her hand and sailed into the backseat. "Hey!"
"At least she didn't nail you in the head with an expensive purse."
Tevin laughed. "Fizzle be messin' wit da old lady an she be buggin'."
I repeated that for Mel even though I had no idea what it meant.
"What?" Mel asked.
"I think he means you did something to my mother and she's going to retaliate but I'm not really sure."
She eyed the backseat. "You know I'm just giving you a hard time, Fran. Right?"
"You tell her she's lucky she's my favorite daughter," Ma said. "And then tell her what I said about how I'm getting lucky and she ain't. That's retaliation right there."
"Ma says you're lucky you're her favorite daughter."
"Aw, thanks Fran. I knew you wouldn't be upset."
"And she said she's getting laid in the afterlife and you're not."
"She's kidding, right?"
I shrugged. "Probably."
Mel's jaw dropped. "Wait a minute. You're sayin' your dead mother's getting laid? Like, having sex? In Heaven?"
"That's what she said."
"So, with like, spirits that were once human?"
"Oh for cryin' out loud, whadda's she think I'm boinkin'?"
It was my turn to snort. "I'm gonna go with yes to that."
Mel dropped her head back into the seat's headrest. "I don't believe this. My cooter's drying up like an old raisin and your dead mother's getting laid. There's something seriously wrong here."
Anything I responded to that would have landed me in trouble with my best friend or my mother, so I kept quiet.
"So you can have sex after you're dead," Mel said.
"It would appear so."
"Well I guess that's something."
"Good to see you staying positive."
Ma and Tevin giggled in the backseat.
***
We pulled up to an apartment complex that resembled government housing. The buildings were old, the brick facade needing substantial repair, and the green awnings were torn and falling apart. A few windows were boarded up and others housed air conditioning units framed in by particleboard or towels. I thanked God for the blessings in my life and said a silent prayer for the people who lived in the building.
"Dis be my hizzle?" Tevin asked.
"If by hizzle you mean your home, then yes. This be your hizzle."
He shook his head. "Ain't no wonder I jumped. Ain't nobody wanna live like dis."
I checked the rearview mirror, saw a police car coming up the road and pointed it out to Mel. "I think that's our security blanket."
"Maybe we need a police escort, too. I'm not sure we should be here."
I didn't disagree. I wanted to help Tevin get his memory back so he could cross over but not at the expense of our safety, so I called Aaron. "Hey, I didn't realize this place was this scary. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."
"I tried to tell you that. Where are you now?"
"Sitting in my car near the front of the building. There's a squad car nearby. I'm assuming that's your guy?"
"Nope, probably the beat officer. I didn't send anyone."
I leaned my head back on the headrest, and watched as two teenagers headed up the street toward my car. I clicked the locks just in case. "Seriously? Why not?"
"Because I thought it'd be better if I came along. I'm about a block out. Drive around until you see my car parked in front of the building. Park behind me and we'll go up together."
"You're awesome. Thanks."
Five minutes later my entourage was out of the car, floating and standing next to Aaron.
"Okay, both Tevin and my mom are here with us. So how do you want to do this?" I asked Aaron.
"We'll knock on the door and I'll introduce you to his mother, Trevana Hoover, and then you can do your thing."
I nodded. "Got it."
And we did just that. Trevana Hoover was young, maybe thirty at the most. When she answered the door, I was taken back by her grief-striken appearance. Her nose was swollen, and her eyes were bloodshot red and puffy. She had two girls, no more than five years old attached to each leg, hiding behind her. She was big and busty, wearing a tube top and a pair of short running shorts. After a brief hello from Aaron, where he mentioned we had some information about Tevin, she invited us inside.
Mel and I sat on two burnt orange chairs with the thread worn on the seats. The apartment was muggy and I was sweating like a pig in the first five minutes. Trevana and the two girls sat on a couch that matched the chairs, but was worse for the wear. Aaron stood near the door and Ma and Tevin hovered in the middle of the room. Tevin jabbered on endlessly, swearing he couldn't have lived in that hole of a hizzle. I ignored him and focused on his mother.
"I'd like to talk with you about your son."
"Tevin didn't jump." She pointed to Aaron. "I tol' you dat. I tol' you my boy wouldn't do nothin' like dat. He a good boy. Smart. He was gonna make somethin' of hisself. A hard worker, my Tevin. He didn't jump off no bridge. He was happy."
Tevin watched his mother speak, but if something jarred his memory, I couldn't tell.
"Ms. Hoover," I said. "I'm so sorry for your loss. I have a young son too, and I can only imagine how devastated you must be."
She nodded. "Go git yo' mama some toilet paper so's I can blow my nose," she said to one of the girls. The girl just stared blankly at her mother. "Git," she said, sniffling.
Mel pulled a tissue from her purse as the little girl ran to the bathroom. "Here, I have a tissue."
Ms. Hoover took it and said thank you, then blew her nose it in and set it on the beat-up coffee table in front of the couch. "You find out who done this to my boy?"
"No ma'am," I said. "I'm not a police officer."
Aaron stepped toward Tevin's mother. "Ms. Panther does some consulting with my department ma'am, and she was able to help identify your son through our centralized data system."
Trevana's eyes clouded over, and trails of tears slid down her cheeks. "Thank you fo' helping."
Mel handed her another tissue.
"Ms. Hoover," I said. "Do you know what a medium is?"
She tilted her head. "You mean like dat thing in the center of da road?"
"No, not a median, a medium. A psychic medium, actually. Someone who can communicate with the dead."
She slapped her hand on her voluptuous thigh. "Yeah, I got cable and watch dat show about dat one." She rubbed her chin. "I can't remember her name. You know who I'm talkin' 'bout? The girl with da tattoos. She got 'em all over her arms."
I was clueless but didn't let on. "Yes, like her."
"I don't know if she can do what she say, but I like her style. She go straight in for da kill, don't sugarcoat it none like dat other one did, talkin' all about angels an shit."
Note to self. Don't mention angels and shit.
"Well, like them, I am also a medium and that's how I was able to help Detective Banner identify your son, because I can see him."
One of the little girls drew imaginary lines with her finger on her mother's leg. Trevana pushed her hand away. "Go on now, go get to the bet'room and take a nap, and take yo' sissy. Lemme talk to these nice people."
The girl harrumphed, but grabbed her sister from t
he floor beside her and went to the bedroom, closing the door behind them. Trevana rubbed her head. "You seen my Tevin?"
I nodded.
"Then he to' you he didn't jump off no bridge, right? My Tevin, he don't do no stupid stuff. He's smart."
"Ms. Hoover, unfortunately sometimes when someone dies in a tragic way like Tevin, they don't remember what happened and often, as is the case with your son, they don't remember anything about themselves or their life here either."
She dropped back onto the couch and the springs creaked and moaned. "Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, my son don't remember hisself or his momma. Is dat what you're sayin'?"
"I'm sorry, but yes. He doesn't remember anything. And that's why I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to find out about your son and maybe help him remember so he can cross over."
She'd been twisting her hands together, rubbing one over the other but she stopped and made eye contact with me. "Is he here? Is my Tevin here?" She stood. "Tre baby, it's your momma." She pointed to her chest. "You know me, right? Don't nobody forget their momma."
Tevin floated close to his mother, and I held my breath, pleading with the universe that he would. When his shoulders sank, I knew my pleading had fallen on deaf ears.
"He is here but I'm sorry, he doesn't remember you. Maybe you have some photos of him with you or something that was important to him. That might help him remember."
She walked over to a filing cabinet and pulled out a folder full of papers. She set it on the coffee table, and then went into the small kitchen, reappearing seconds later with a bag and she poured the contents of it onto the table, too. "Dis is his stuff from school." She spread out the papers. "An dis stuff." She pointed to the trinkets from the bag. "His awards an stuff. I keep it in a cabinet in the kitchen so's my girls don't git to it."
Tevin studied the items. Mel followed suit and held up several awards for basketball and art competitions. "He was an artist and basketball player?" she asked.
"Uh huh. Got one of 'em scholarships to a private high school too, he was dat good. Even dat Botanic Gardens has his work. He won a contest. Got first place." She dug through the papers and held up the certificate. "See? He coulda been da next Michael D'angelo or dat Leonardo DiCaprio."
"I think you mean Leonardo da Vinci," Mel said.
"Yeah, dat one." She got up and grabbed two framed drawings from the wall. "See?"
Tevin was a talented artist. The pencil drawings, one of three older men sitting on a park bench, and the other of Turner Field, were expertly detailed and seemed so real they could have passed for a photograph. "Wow, he had a gift," I said.
Mel nodded. "Those seem so real. That's incredible."
Tevin checked out the drawings. "I drew dat?" He held up his hands, flipping them over and over. "Wit these?"
I laughed. "Your son can't believe he drew those."
Trevana searched through the papers and pulled out two other drawings. "This one here?" She waved it in my face. "It's me be' fo' I had my girls. Tevin said I was big as a bus, and he drew me dis to prove it." She handed me the drawing. "To' me I be the prettiest fatty he ever seen." She wiped a tear with the back of her hand.
"It sounds like he loved you very much," I said.
"We was close. His daddy got nothin' to do wit him. I had him young. Fifteen. His daddy never once saw him, an me an Tevin, we struggled, but we did okay. Stayed wit my momma for a bit, then when he started school, I got us this place." She waved her arm around. "Pay for it all by myself. The girls' daddy don't come 'round none either. I work nights down at da sub place so's I can afford this."
If I did the math correctly, Trevana was barely thirty. I scanned the apartment, taking note of the peeling paint on the walls, the cracked window, and the retro TV. Trevana's life hadn't been easy but she worked hard and from the appearance of the toys and crayons spread around the small family room, she provided for her kids the best she could. I respected her and wished I could help her son remember her.
We talked more about her life with Tevin, but nothing seemed to jar his memory. She insisted he wouldn't have jumped, and after something like the hundredth time, Aaron took her seriously. "Can you tell me why you think he wouldn't have taken his own life?" he asked.
She told us that Tevin had been home earlier that day, and was excited because he'd just received the scholarship for the private high school. He'd told her he was going to work—he had a cash job at a gas station and auto repair shop cleaning up the garage, and was going to put aside money to pay for his school uniform so she didn't have to. She told him it wasn't necessary because the school would provide the uniform for free, but Tevin didn't want that, he wanted to pay his share, since he'd be going to the school for free.
That Tevin sounded nothing like the Tevin I knew.
Aaron asked again why she hadn't called the police to report him missing
"I done told the other officers dat after you left, Detective. My boy, he texted me 'n said he was stayin' at his friend's house." She walked to the kitchen and came back with a cell phone. After swiping and tapping the screen, she handed the phone to Aaron. "I showed da police dis text."
Aaron read the text, and then flipped open his notebook and wrote. "Do you have a contact number for this Bach?"
She shook her head. "I trust my boy. He don't need no babysitter."
I took that as a no.
"Do you know Bach's last name?" he asked.
Mel nudged me and mouthed, "Who names their kid Bach?"
"Johnson. But Bach ain't his real name. It DeShawn. Bach is what they call him."
He wrote it down. "How about where he lives? Is he in this complex?"
"He live wit his momma down near Fourteenth Street. Where Tevin an me lived with my momma. They hang out by da park there. Play ball. You go there an those boys'll tell you 'bout my Tevin."
He nodded. "Do you have any thoughts about who may have done this to your son? And why?"
Ma was in the bedroom with the girls. She was singing the theme from the old TV show Green Acres. "Green Acres is the place to be. Farm livin' is the life for me. Land spreadin' out so far and wide. Keep Manhattan, just gimme that countryside." She ended it with the seven notes of "Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits." The girls giggled quietly, and a grin crept onto my face. She used to sing that exact thing to my kids when they were little. Ma had a way with children that stayed with her even after she passed.
Tevin hovered near his mother, listening intently.
"Everyone loved Tevin. Nobody had no reason to do dis, but I knowed my boy and I knowed he didn't jump off no bridge."
Aaron finished talking with Trevana, and told her he would do his best to find out what happened to her son. I asked if she wanted to say anything to her son.
"Tevin baby, yo' momma loves you, an I knows you didn't jump off no bridge. These here people? They gonna help you, so's you just sit tight. They gonna get your memories back so's you can remember who you is. When you do, you come back to your momma an have a proper goodbye." She swiped the tears dripping down her cheeks. Sadness engulfed her face, but she must have felt Tevin's presence because her head perked up a bit and her lips curved upward as he leaned in close to her. His mother was one tough cookie, and I respected her for her strength and commitment to her son, and I told her that, too. We said our goodbyes and I promised to return with Tevin when we knew what happened and his memory returned. I didn't tell her if, though that's what I was really thinking.
***
Aaron walked us to the car.
"Didn't you give her the news about her son?" I asked.
He nodded.
"Then why didn't you do anything when she told you how she felt? She's adamant he didn't jump. Didn't you think it's worth checking into?"
"Unfortunately when I talked with her, I told her he'd jumped and then I had to leave, so another office finished. He didn't tell me any of this, but trust me, we're going to talk about it."
"I knew I didn't jump off no damn bridg
e," Tevin said.
I flipped around. "Do you remember something?"
He shook his head. "Naw, I just knew. It didn't feel right in here." He pointed to his chest.
"Tevin doesn't think he jumped either. Said it doesn't feel like something he'd do. I really think you need to check into this some more."
"I'm going to. I'll head back to the office, talk with the officer, and make a few calls. Look into some things."
"He needs closure. He needs to know the truth, and so does his mother."
"Yes, ma'am," Aaron said, tipping his head.
"Let me know if I can help."
Ma piped up. "Me and Tevin, we're goin' over to that park his mom mentioned. Ya know, to check it out. Maybe we'll find something that'll help. You better get Mel away from that detective. She's makin' googly-eyes at him and I think she's interested in replacing that sex toy she's got."
I relayed her message to Aaron, leaving out the Mel stuff.
"Couldn't hurt," Aaron said. "You, on the other hand, need to head home. I don't want you going to that park. This isn't the best place for soccer moms like you two."
I saluted him. "Yes, sir."
He said goodbye to Mel, who batted her eyelashes at him. When she spoke, her voice was so high she sounded like one of the Munchkins from The Wizard of Oz. "It was great seeing you again. Sorry it was under such sad circumstances."
Aaron agreed.
"Nice save," I said after he got in his car. "Googly-eyed eyelash batter."
"Am not." She got in the car, her face as red as an over-ripe tomato.
"Uh, yeah. Even my mother saw it."
Ma and Tevin floated near the car window. "We're gonna go check out the park now," Ma said. "We'll catch ya later."
"Wait. Tevin?"
"Yeah?"
"You okay?"
"I got me one of those scholarships to a private school. I was gonna make somethin' of myself. Now I'm dis." He spread his arms wide. "Ain't nothin' I can do wit no scholarship now."
"Take care of him, Ma."
She nodded. "You betcha."
"That girl, she need you mo' den me," Tevin said. "She got her whole life to live."
Uncharted Territory (An Angela Panther Mystery Book 3) Page 8
