What Detective Woods didn’t know and couldn’t have known was that the DEA had gotten information regarding an extremely large drug shipment. Previously, the cartel had been quite careful not to allow large shipments into Lambert. For whatever reason this time they had deviated from their norm. The shipment was scheduled to be delivered to the old warehouse on Saturday. It was then that the DEA planned on making their move. What Detective Woods also didn’t know is that by not waiting, he would be instrumental in forcing the hand of the cartel to move on Kayla and her mother sooner than they had planned.
***
“We’re going to have a visitor tonight.
“Who?”
“Detective Woods.”
“He’s a snitch. Why is he coming?”
“He wants to talk.”
“Didn’t he do enough of that already?”
“Don’t be so hostile. This little impromptu meeting could actually work in our favor. We just might be able to begin resolving our problems tonight.”
“But boss, what if he tells somebody he’s coming? If we take him out tonight, won’t that lead the police right to us? Remember, we’ve got that big shipment coming in.”
“Oh he won’t tell anybody that matters. The only ones he might tell are the mother and her daughter. Don’t worry I had no intention of taking
Detective Woods out tonight. I do plan on using him to set things up to make getting to the mother and daughter just a little bit easier. We can always deal with him later.”
***
Time slowed to a crawl at the precinct. Detective Woods felt like he was going to jump out of his skin. Midnight couldn’t come soon enough. He briefly considered calling Kayla to tell him about his plan then decided against it. Right now she was so angry that he doubted that she wanted to hear from him again. He figured he’d wait until he had something more positive to tell her.
He laughed quietly but it wasn’t a pleasant laugh. More positive. That was the phrase he thought to himself. Nothing he had told Kayla even remotely fell into the category of positive, so how could he have anything to say that would be ‘more positive’. Maybe if he told her that he was going to kill himself, she would consider that positive but other than that, positive just wasn’t a word that applied in this situation.
She despised him as well she should. She had just found out that he held the answers to her father’s murder even before it had occurred and done nothing but go along with the plan. Then to add insult to injury, he had just spent the last three years feeding her and her mother a lot of false hope and lies just to pacify them until their next visit. He rubbed his eyes and spoke quietly to the air, “I get it Kayla. I kind of hate me right now too.”
For what seemed like the millionth time, he looked at his watch and then the wall clock. Even though he was having a great deal of trouble focusing, he turned his attention back to the papers spread out on his desk and tried to get some work done.
At around 6:30, the Chief came into his office and told him to go home.
“Did you talk to the DEA?”
The Chief was openly hostile. “When I know something that you need to know, I’ll tell you. Until then, just go home.” Then he turned and walked away.
With no other options, Detective Woods grabbed his jacket and head out the door. He didn’t want to go home just yet so he head over to the Raven’s Nest to kill some time. Once there, he sat at the bar and asked for a Jack Daniels with soda on the side. He looked at the television screen while nursing his drink. He was completely oblivious to his surroundings; his mind was fixated on his midnight meeting. His eyes wandered back to the clock. It was 7:30; four and a half hours to go.
Back at Mama Ann’s, Anita’s phone rang. Seeing that it was her aunt, she answered on the second ring. After listening intently, she nodded and got off the phone. She turned to look at Kayla and Mama Ann.
“What’s wrong?”
“Change of plans. Mama Ann goes tonight.”
“Why?”
“My aunt and cousin talked things over. They think it would be better to get her out tonight instead of tomorrow. My cousin thinks that it would be better for them to travel under the ‘cover of darkness’, as he put it.”
“Under the cover of darkness?”
“Okay, so maybe he’s watched one movie too many but since we need their help, I’m not about to debate the issue. My aunt is already on her way. She should be here between 8:30 and 9:00.”
At 8:45 exactly, a dark navy blue car pulled up in front of Kayla and Mama Ann’s. Kayla started to go to the window when Anita stopped her, shaking her head and mouthing the word “No”. She gestured for Kayla to go back into the kitchen as she went to the window. Looking out, Anita breathed a sigh of relief as she saw her aunt coming up the walkway. She rushed to the door and opened it before she could even ring the bell and pulled her inside.
Natalie Green or Miss Nat, as she was called by people in the neighborhood, was a pint-sized powerhouse. At 4 feet 3 inches tall, her personality was so much bigger than her frame. Her eyes were bright and alert and she had a smile that would make your heart melt. But don’t let her small size and friendly demeanor fool you; if crossed, she was a force to be reckoned with and she protected her family and friends fiercely. Her only regret in life was that she had been unable to protect Anita’s brother, Anthony. Ever since his death, she had vowed that she would always do whatever needed to be done to safeguard anyone in need. Hence her unequivocal willingness to drive more than an hour to pick up and house a woman she had never met at her niece’s request. She hugged Anita tightly. Anita looked over her shoulder toward the street.
“Where’s Lawrence?”
“We made a little revision to our earlier plan. Introduce me to your friends first then I’ll explain.” Anita was happy to oblige. “Aunt Nat, this is Kayla and this is her mother Mama Ann.”
Aunt Nat walked over to Kayla and gave her a hug as big as the one she had just given her niece. “I’ve heard so much about you; nice to finally meet you.”
Then she turned to Mama Ann. Her eyes grew soft and filled with sympathy and compassion. She reached for Mama Ann’s hand. She looked into her eyes and told her with unwavering conviction, “Everything’s going to be just fine. Don’t you worry about a thing.” Then she hugged Mama Ann just as fiercely as she had hugged Anita and Kayla.
“You have all your things?”
“Yes,” Mama Ann said softly.
“Good. We better get going.”
“Already? I mean wouldn’t you like some coffee or some tea or something?”
Mama Ann’s reluctance to leave was beginning to show.
“We can have all the coffee and tea we want back at my house.” She looked at Anita.
“We’re going to drive straight through. Lawrence is still going to meet us at the halfway point but instead of making a switch, he’s going to follow us. He won’t be alone either.”
Anita smiled and nodded her understanding. Lawrence would no doubt have at least two of his boys with him and a couple of shotguns just in case. She knew Aunt Nat kept a shotgun in her trunk and a handgun in her glove compartment. If anybody tried to run up on them they were going to be in for a big surprise. She knew Mama Ann would be in good hands.
After seeing Mama Ann and Aunt Nat off, Anita looked at Kayla.
“Now it’s your turn.”
“Before we go, I have just one question,” Kayla said.
“I’m all ears,” Anita responded.
“If we’re supposed to be just like sisters then how come you’ve never mentioned your Aunt before? She seems like such a doll.”
Anita thought for a moment. “I know it might seem strange but really it’s not. After Anthony was killed my family kind of circled their wagons around each other. They weren’t very receptive to anyone they didn’t know. They might have been willing to meet if I had broached the issue but to be honest, I was afraid that your father’s murder might trigger something in them an
d vice versa. I never wanted your meeting with them to be overshadowed by anything negative. After a while, I just didn’t give it much thought.”
“Oh. That actually makes sense.” Kayla said. She thought she saw a twinge of some emotion flash briefly across Anita’s face; it came and went so fast Kayla wasn’t quite able to put a name to it. One thing she did know was that Anita was now feeling some kind of way about not having revealed such an important part of her family before now. It wasn’t Kayla’s intention to make her feel bad; she was just curious.
Anita looked as though she were seriously mulling something over in her mind. Finally she looked up and said, “Come on let’s go sit. I have to be 100% honest with you.”
Anita and Kayla went into the living and sat down. Kayla waited while Anita gathered her thoughts.
“After Anthony was killed, my family did become kind of withdrawn and antisocial. It wasn’t a good time for us, especially for my parents and not just because they had lost their only son. My father used to work twelve sometimes fifteen hours a day just to make sure that we had everything we needed. He was a great provider; we just didn’t really get to see him much. After Anthony’s death, my mother blamed my father because she felt that if he had been around more, then it wouldn’t have happened. My father blamed my mother because she was around and everything that happened, happened on her watch. He once told her that if she had been doing her job and taught my brother about the real world instead of coddling him, he would still be alive.” Anita looked heartbroken.
“Anyway, the hurt, the pain and all the accusations and blame eventually drove a wedge between them that couldn’t be fixed and one day my father left without so much as a backwards glance. My mother sank into a really deep depression. I tried to get her to go to counseling or some type of therapy but she always refused. Each day that passed, she withdrew further and further away not just from me but from the world in general. Most days she wouldn’t even leave her room and just stayed in there crying or pacing the floor. When she did come out, she barely ate and spoke even less. She wouldn’t even allow me to touch her. I called Aunt Nat but even she was at a loss as to what to do to help her. So we just watched and waited for some sign that she was snapping out of it and getting better, but it never happened. I came home from work one day and found her hanging from the beam in my brother’s room. No suicide note, no nothing. Just gone.”
Kayla felt the tears tickle her eyes and fought to keep them from falling. She would never have guessed that Anita had been through so much pain and suffered so much loss. Her heart literally broke for her. She reached for her hand and held it tightly.
“I called 911 and afterwards called Aunt Nat. She and Lawrence came over right away. Before my mother’s body was taken away, she told me I should come stay with her. She knew I would never be able to stay in that house alone; too many memories, too much pain. Without going into all the fine points, I stayed with Aunt Nat and she kind of became my surrogate mother. All the love, care and attention that my mother was no longer able to give in life and no longer able to give because of her death, my aunt made every attempt to give me. Even though she had lost a sister, my aunt took me under her wing and loved me like I was her own. Lawrence was already like a brother to me and we just got even closer. Anita looked at Kayla with slightly haunted eyes.
“I don’t think I would have made it without them.”
“What about your father? I mean, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
“We tried to find him but couldn’t. It was as if he had just vanished into thin air. I haven’t seen or heard from him since the night he left.”
Kayla was officially shocked and stunned into speechlessness. The same series of events would have left someone else bitter, but not Anita. She had pushed her way through the darkness and come out on the other end. She was a survivor determined not to allow hard times drag her to the bottom. Through all the adversity in her life she had found strength and courage and defined herself not by the negativity she had endured but by the person she had become in spite of it, or maybe even because of it. Kayla hugged her tightly and murmured in her ear, “I’m so sorry.”
“No need to be sorry. What’s done is done. I had learned to live without talking about it and it never occurred to me that as my friend, it was a part of my life you had every right to know about. Just like you had a right to meet my aunt and cousin before circumstances forced a meeting.” Anita chuckled.
“What’s so funny?”
“I did say I didn’t want your meeting to be overshadowed by anything negative didn’t I?”
“You did.”
“Well that didn’t work out very well now did it? I’ve got my aunt smuggling your mother out of town to protect her from some murderous drug cartel whose money she inadvertently stole. I don’t know how you can get much more negative than that. One thing’s for sure, it’s not exactly the same as meeting at the family cookout.”
Seeing that Anita’s spirits had lifted somewhat, Kayla wanted to make sure they stayed that way. “Even though I appreciate what you just told me and it was probably the saddest thing I’ve ever heard, I have to admit I’m kind of relieved.”
Looking slightly bewildered, Anita asked her, “Relieved about what.”
“Well, I thought maybe you were ashamed of me or something.”
Anita perked up even more and with an impish look said, “Well, now that you mention it…”
“Oh shut up and let’s go,” Kayla replied with mock indignation.
Anita chuckled and grabbed one of Kayla’s bags. Not wanting the lightness of the moment to be lost, Kayla twisted up her mouth and gave Anita the side-eye. “I’m not laughing.”
Clearly not taking her seriously, Anita responded, “Maybe not now, but you will. And stop twisting your face up like that, didn’t your mama ever tell you that it’ll get stuck like that?”
Kayla rolled her eyes and reached for her other bag. Before leaving the house, Anita went to the window and looked up and down the block. She examined every shadow and peered into every nook and cranny. Even though she didn’t see any unusual activity or strange cars, she still rushed Kayla out the door and into the car.
“What was that about?” Kayla asked a little bothered as they sat in the car.
“Like I said, you can’t be too careful. Now buckle up.”
Anita took her time driving. She wanted to make sure that no one was following them.
They arrived at Anita’s twenty minutes later. Not for the first time, Kayla admired Anita’s house. It was the most ideal blend of modern meets efficiency that Kayla had ever seen. With a maximum size of 1,800 square feet, it was not nearly as large as the home that Kayla and her mother shared. However, it packed quite a lot in the space it had and it did it well. The left side of the house was covered in dark grey aluminum siding while the right side where the garage stood was solid concrete painted a silver grey. The garage door consisted of four rows of six square panels. The top row was clear glass while the rest of the panels were solid aluminum. The roof was a combination of slanted and straight angles. The landscaping was minimal with one large oak tree at the far left side of the house and a couple of flowering shrubs in a dedicated space by the driveway across from the front door.
There were two bedrooms, two full sized bathrooms, an open kitchen and full sized dining room. The master bedroom sat toward the back of the house while the second bedroom was in front. A home office and utility room separated the two. Anita’s color scheme for every room was shades of red, black and white. In anyone else’s house, the colors might have come across as a bit garish, but with Anita’s unique eye and clear aptitude for decorating, the result was stylish and sophisticated.
“Maybe one day I’ll have my own home,” thought Kayla as she followed Anita through the front door.
“Home Sweet Home. Mi casa es su casa.” Anita announced cheerfully.
“When I finally get my own place again, you are going to h
ave to help me decorate, Anita. You might be a great assistant but I think you would have been an equally great interior designer.”
“Yes I do have an incredible eye for all things elegant and fashionable, don’t I?”
Kayla rolled her eyes. “It was supposed to be a complement not an opportunity for you to blow your own horn.”
“Well if I don’t blow it who will? C’mon, let’s get you situated.”
Anita was thinking about Kayla’s comment about getting her own place again while she helped her to unpack her things. After hanging some items in the closet, she turned and looked at Kayla. Feeling her eyes on her, Kayla stopped what she was doing and looked up.
“What now?”
“I was just thinking.”
“Uh oh.”
“No seriously. We should be roommates.”
Kayla tilted her head to the side and didn’t respond.
“Listen, I don’t mean you should just pack up and move right now but once the dust and smoke has cleared and you know that Mama Ann is okay, it’s something to think about.”
Kayla was deep in thought as she gave careful consideration to what Anita was saying.
“What if we end up hating each other?”
“It won’t happen.”
“What if I’m a slob and you’re a neat freak?”
“Doesn’t matter, we’re friends, we can work it out.”
Kayla had given up her apartment to move in with her mother. She had done so to make sure that she was alright after her father’s death. Until now, she hadn’t really thought about what her plans were going to be once she no longer had a valid reason to be there.
“I’ll tell you what. Once this messy business is over, we can talk about it. Maybe I can stay with you temporarily until I get my own place.”
MY FATHER'S KILLER: Kayla's Story Page 9
