by Tyora Moody
I shook my head. Despite Ralph being gone, with two brothers, Leesa had two other “fathers” on her case.
“Mama, she’ll probably be back soon.” Cedric helped himself to another helping of food. After he sat back down, I decided to hit him with another question just as he wrapped his mouth around the pork chop.
“Is Carmen Alpine one of your residents?”
Cedric dropped the bone and blinked his eyes as though he was thinking hard. Really hard. “Carmen? How do you know her?”
“She’s a neighbor, been living on the other side of Louise in Johnny Calvin’s house.”
Cedric blew out a breath. “I didn’t know that.”
“Didn’t know she lived down the street from me? What did you do to her anyway?”
He held his hands up in the air. “What are you accusing me of doing?”
“Carmen had a rather negative reaction when I mentioned your name. Any reasons why? She’s a tad bit too young for you.”
“Whoa, whoa. I know you like to think I’m the biggest flirt on the planet, but I have not bothered Carmen. If anything she’s probably a little disappointed I haven’t taken her offers. I’m pretty strict about not messing with residents. Strictly professional.”
So, Carmen was sweet on my son? No wonder it didn’t help to find out his mother lived down the street. “Well, what do you know about her?”
“Carmen?”
“No Charmin. Boy, tell me about the woman. She’s been my neighbor for a few months now and I don’t know anything about her.”
“What’s wrong with that? I don’t know most of my neighbors either?”
“Cedric?”
“I don’t know much about Carmen. She’s from North Carolina. I believe she mentioned being an Army brat. Her parents settled down in Columbia on their last assignment at Fort Jackson. She graduated from Clemson and then attended the Medical University of Carolina. That’s all I know.”
Cedric picked his plate up off the table, scraped the remains and brought it over to the sink. I had to grin as I watched him stick his hands into my soapy dish water. I trained my boys well. There was no such thing as boys not washing dishes in my house.
I picked up the other dishes off the table and carried them over to the sink. “Army brat. That explains some things. Didn’t Wayne go into the army after graduation?”
Cedric leaned against the fridge and crossed his arms. “Yeah, he served in Desert Storm. He was discharged after that. I haven’t really kept up with him in years. Why are you asking?”
I rinsed the dishes and said over my shoulder, “According to Louise, Wayne and Carmen are good friends.”
Cedric laughed, “Well you can’t listen to everything Louise says. I mean Carmen wouldn’t have anything in common with Wayne. I mean Wayne. Please.”
“Are you trying to convince me or you?” I turned around to catch Cedric staring off into space. “Are you okay?”
He waved his arm like he was swatting a fly. “Yeah. I’m fine. Look I need to go.”
I followed him to the front door. “Cedric, do you know if Leesa had any reason to talk to Mary in the past few weeks?”
“Now that you mentioned it Leesa did call me a week ago. I think Mary sent her a package. Something that belonged to Jenny.”
Jenny, Mary’s daughter, had died during Leesa’s junior year. “Why would she give Leesa something belonging to Jenny, especially five years after her death?”
“Leesa mentioned something about Mary was going to give whatever it was to Jenny on her twenty-first birthday. I guess she wanted Leesa to have it since she just turned twenty-one.”
That was sweet and so like the Mary I used to know. It also shot another dagger in my heart, because that presented the possibility that Leesa had been near or even inside Mary’s house the night she was killed.
Chapter 18
Little creatures had taken over my home. Not long after Cedric left, Kisha and Tyric reminded me why I never liked the idea of grand young’uns staying over past three day. Never again would I whine to the Lord about loneliness. Me, God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit would be just fine. Now Mr. Porgy could become a permanent resident as soon as we got this sleeping thing down. I had to keep the bedroom doors closed because as soon as I turned my back, the little four-legged wonder would find him a bed to lay his shaggy self. How he managed to climb with his little legs was a mystery.
“Grandma, can Porgy stay in the bed with me?”
“No honey. You and Tyric don’t need the dog in here while you sleep. Everyone has their own bed.”
“But Porgy looks so sad.”
“Well, he lost somebody special to him, but I know he appreciates you playing with him.”
“I wish Mama would let us have a dog. She said Mrs. Hattie don’t like animals.”
My ears perked up. “You like Mrs. Hattie?”
“Yes, she watches me when Mama goes to work. Sometimes her and mama yell at each other.”
“Is that so?” That reminded me of the man Chris. “Kisha, what about Chris? Does your mama talk loud with him to?”
Kisha’s eyes grew wide.
“Kisha.”
“He hit me. Mama yelled at him.”
I shrunk back. “He hit you?”
She nodded and held up her arm. “Right here.” Kisha pointed to her forearm.
I examined her tiny arm. There didn’t appear to be any recent marks, but the fact that this unknown man laid his hands on my grandchild spiked my blood pressure. “Come here, baby.” I wrapped my arms around her and then tucked the covers around her body real tight. I wondered if Leesa ran off to get away from this Chris fellow. My daughter being missing may not have anything to do with Mary’s death.
I peeked at Tyric in the playpen. The temporary bedding would have to do until I could figure out a better place to put him. Thank goodness I had the playpen stored away in the closet from when Junior’s twins visited when they were younger.
I left the nightstand lamp burning and shuffled down the hallway. Just as I reached my bedroom door, the phone rang. I grabbed the cordless phone from the nightstand. “Hello.”
“Eugeena, you doing alright over there?”
“Hey Cora. I’m so glad to hear your voice. I just put the children to bed.”
“Oh good! I was calling to find out when Mary’s funeral will be? I would like to drive up to give you some support.”
Mary’s funeral.
“Cora, I’ve been caught up trying to track Leesa down. I believe the pastor said her family arranged the funeral services for Thursday. Speaking of the funeral, Pastor Jones had asked me to speak on behalf of the church. Cora, what can I say?”
“Plenty. Look, I know you were a bit pig-headed about the incident a few years back, but you have to put that behind you. You more than anyone knew Mary best.”
I knew Cora was right. Didn’t stop me from feeling like a hypocrite though. “Thanks, Cora. I appreciate you.”
“I will drive down Thursday morning and meet you at the church. Don’t worry about Leesa. That child has always been resourceful and you know God has had his hands on her since birth.”
We both said goodbye and I hung up the phone. I kept feeling like I was missing something.
I headed towards the closet and opened the door. Did I pull everything out of the diaper bag? I emptied the contents of the bag on my bed. The diapers had long been removed. I unfolded two rolls of money. One appeared to be almost five hundred dollars while the other one was near a thousand. Where did you get this money, Leesa? I rummaged through the other items. Baby lotion and baby wipes. I sniffed cherry flavored lip gloss mixed in. Even with young children, my daughter still kept her appearance up. I unzipped the side part of the bag.
Well, I’ll be.
I pulled out the bible, a gift from me to Leesa, when she turned thirteen years old. I had her name engraved in gold on the front cover. It really pleased me that Leesa had it in her possession. I rubbed the white leather, and tu
rned the bible over in my hand. An envelope stuck out the back.
I removed the envelope and flipped it over. It had been a long time, but I recognized the loopy “L.” The envelope was postdated May 12th. That was the day after Mother’s Day.
Mary had mailed this envelope to Leesa about three weeks ago.
I pulled out the stationary recognizing another familiarity. Mary loved her lavender scent. My hands shook as I unfolded the letter. This could have been the last piece of correspondence my old friend had sent. I wasn’t sure what it all meant.
My eyes took in the Dearest Leesa part and jumped down into the letter.
You are probably wondering why I’m writing you this letter. It’s been a long time and past due. You know every time I see your mother, and I see her often now walking in the morning, I think about how things used to be. How you used to come and spend the night with Jennifer and you two would giggle into the morning hours. I hate how things fell apart years ago and even more so not having Jennifer here. You know she would be 21 now. I know you are all grown up and I often imagine if things had worked out differently, you two would be talking about your careers, marriages and children.
Anyway to get to the point of this letter. I’m sorry about the grief brought to you years ago. I probably should have told you, but I found that ring. The one that was so precious and I went berserk because it went missing. To this day, I don’t know Jennifer’s reasoning. She and I didn’t get along so often. Out in public we smiled, but we barely spoke to each other. I wondered if she did it to spite me although I don’t know why she included you in her scheme.
That ring was in her jewelry box, well hidden. I found it as I cleaned her things out. It so broke me down because I had planned to give her that ring on her 21st birthday. But she’s not here.
I don’t know if God is speaking to me, but I felt like you should have the ring. You can do whatever you want with it, but I wanted you to have it. I know it won’t change the past, but I hope it may allow an opportunity for me to see you again. I also hope one day your mother would forgive me for fighting her so hard when she stood by your innocence.
Sincerely yours always,
Mary
A lump took over my airways. I knew it. I knew it. My daughter was innocent. All this time. Mary, why didn’t you come forward and tell the truth?
I knew God aimed to make things right between Mary and me. Those times I walked by her house. That burning desire to do more than wave hello. The Holy Spirit urged me to do more, to take the first step towards reconciliation.
Neither one of us had obeyed.
I wept.
Chapter 19
It was Wednesday. The day before Mary was to be buried. Over three days and no sign of Leesa, I prayed with all my might that Detective Wilkes had found some other leads in the case. I envisioned her wanting to show up at the house with a search warrant. How would I explain the money? Not including the letter from Mary? Circumstantial evidence, right?
It did occur to me that Leesa could have retrieved the ring from Mary and pawned it. That would explain the money. Would my daughter strike out at Mary in anger after learning the truth of the ring? I was a bit peeved myself that Mary kept that secret so long.
The past was what it was. I had the present to contend with.
Early in the morning, I had heard Amos outside making a racket with some obnoxious tool, possibly a saw. I meant to ask him the other day what he was doing with all that lumber in the backyard. For the past few weeks, it appeared he was putting together a shed. I decided to walk over and see if he had a chance to get any information from Wilkes. If Amos had offered to hold my hand, I would have let him. Lord, it’s been that kind of a week. For some reason the man brought a deep comfort to me.
Before I could get two feet up the walkway to Amos’ front porch, I looked up to see someone walking towards me. “Wayne?”
The young man stopped mid-stride. “Uh, hey, Miss Eugeena. How you doing this morning?”
I wanted to ask him the same. More so I wanted to know what happened to him. The scruffy braids were replaced with a low haircut to the scalp. Wayne even shaved off the beard he’d been sporting. “Well, you look awfully handsome this morning. You got you a girl or something?”
Wayne laughed. “Wow, Miss Eugeena, you don’t change. Always say what’s on your mind. Let’s just say I’ve had a new outlook on life.”
I cocked my eyebrow, remembering Louise’s reports of seeing Wayne with Carmen. As Wayne walked away, I called out to his back. “Your mama would be proud.”
He stopped for a minute, but didn’t turn around. I watched him cross the street, feeling a bit bad about my suspicions. Or should I? Just because a person suddenly cleaned up didn’t let them off the hook.
Amos definitely had a saw churning again. I waited until he stopped and then called to him, “Amos, when you ready to take a break, come over for some lunch.”
He broke out into a grin. “I’ll be there.”
About an hour later, I walked out to the front porch with a tray of turkey sandwiches and ice tea. Kisha and Porgy tore around the front yard like two loose cannons. Tyric enjoyed yet another good nap in his carrier. His mouth was turned up into a smile, his little chubby cheeks appeared healthy and glowing. What I wouldn’t do to trade places with him. Before I could join Amos for lunch, the phone rang.
I barely greeted the caller before they spurted out, “Is that girl back yet?”
Lawd, Jesus! I rolled my eyes up to the heavens. “Hello to you too, Junior.” I must have skipped the lesson on phone etiquette with my oldest child. Come to think of it, I skipped around on a lot of lessons among the three of these young’uns.
“Mama, I’m so sorry that girl is putting you through these changes again.”
Junior didn’t have any concept of keeping his cool. “Sounds like you talked to Cedric.”
“You don’t have to worry about a thing, Mama. We’ll be up there this weekend.”
“What?” What does this boy mean by “we”?
“Ralph, Jr. I don’t really need a house full of people right now. Since you talked to your brother, then you know about Mary’s passing.”
“Yeah, that’s another reason why we’re coming. Mama, you can’t stay in that house by yourself anymore.”
“Excuse me.” I just about had enough of this. Lord, I won’t complain no more. “I am not leaving my home. I have lived here for over thirty years ...”
“Hey, did she run off with that dude?”
Dude? Junior’s mixture of Anglo-Saxon, surfer boy talk stumped me. This time it flat out caused me to pause. “What dude?”
“I remember seeing her a few months ago with some guy.”
“You did?” How did these boys know more about Leesa’s social life than me? “Well, what did he look like?”
“I know he was looking all crazy because I walked up on them. I told him I was her brother and he better be treating her right.”
I had to carefully ask my next question. “How did Leesa seem around him?”
“I don’t think she wanted us to really talk. Why? Mama, what’s going on?”
“Would you by any chance remember his name?”
“Are you sure you don’t need...”
“His name, Junior. Think.” I needed to find out who this man was and if he had anything to do with my daughter’s disappearing act.
“Chris. Chris Goodman. Chris Golden. I don’t know. I just know it was Chris. Oh hold on a minute, Mother.”
Mother. It sounded like he was talking to someone else in the background. “Junior. Junior?”
“I’ve got to go. I have a client waiting for me.”
I stared at the phone, the dial tone blared at me. I can’t believe that boy.
I joined Amos on the porch. He’d tilted Tyric’s carrier a little closer to our chairs to keep the sunlight from touching his sleeping body. His turkey sandwich had been demolished, not a crumb left. “Do you want any more ice te
a?”
“No, I’m good. You sit and rest a bit. I know you have to be stressed.”
He was right about that, but stressed wasn’t the word. I have never had a panic attack, but the queasiness crawling in my stomach couldn’t be good. I tapped my foot and let the rocking chair sooth me.
“I tell you that little girl and dog is having themselves a good time out there. Kind of reminds me of my childhood playing outside this time of day.”
I peered at him. “Where did you grow up, Amos?”
“Right here in South Carolina. Up the coast, a little further north, in Marion County.”
“Oh, I know those little towns in there.”
“Where did you grow up?”
“Me? Right here in Charleston. Born and raised. Ralph and I moved to North Charleston while the boys were in elementary school. Been here in Sugar Creek ever since.”
“That is a long time.”
“Oh yeah. It’s funny now, but I remember the day Louise came over while I was cleaning the house. She wanted to know if I worked as I maid. I looked at her and told her I was looking for one myself.”
Amos threw his head back and laughed. “Well, you two seem like good buddies now.”
“Once you get to know people, you find people are just that…people.”
“Sounds like you got quite a bit of history here.”
I smiled. History. Some good and some not-too-good. “It’s been a blessing to live in Sugar Creek. A lot of folks left over the years, but this has been a place for middle class families to grow and get to know each other. Things changed after the eighties as they built up more around this area.”
Kisha and Porgy climbed up on the porch, both out of breath and a bit dusty. I looked over at Amos and saw him peering down at Tyric. “Would be nice to feel that type of peace all the time, huh?”
“You right about that. Little fellow has it made in the shade so to speak.” Amos nodded in Kisha’s direction who somehow had managed to put Amos’ hat on her head. She looked up at us both and gave us a toothy, sweet grin. Would’ve made a pretty photo if I had one of those digital cameras.
