DUBIOUS

by McKinney, Tina Brooks

  “How so?”

  “She chose the wrong person to confide in. The lady she had spoken to was the same person who encouraged me to apply for the job in the first place.”

  “So why is she still there?” He kicked his shoes off and got comfortable on the sofa.

  “She wasn’t a threat to me. I had bigger fish to fry. Plus, my mother always told me it’s better to have your enemies close.”

  “Your mother sounds like a wise woman.”

  “Yes, she was.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I’m at peace with it.” I looked into the distance and pictured my mother’s smile.

  “What about the other lady?”

  “I don’t know much about Desiree other than she was hired from a temporary agency. She was assigned to Anita and has been kissing her ass ever since. If she wasn’t so stupid, she would see that Anita is using her.”

  He stroked his chin like a deep thinker. “It sounds like we need to do some investigating ourselves. I have a private investigator that I’m going to call in the morning and have him check into both their backgrounds. People who like to sling dirt usually are hiding some of their own.”

  “Yeah, this Ms. Nice Guy shit is played out. If we find something, I want them both gone.”

  “We’ll find something, on that you can depend,” he said.

  “What type of information should we be looking for?”

  “You’ll know it when you see it. My man is so thorough, he’ll tell me the last time either one of them nasty bastards farted.”

  “That is entirely too much information,” I said, laughing. I yawned, stretching my arms over my head. It had been a long day. I was still angry by the news report of a child being molested by a dog. It was people like Randy who were to blame for that shit.

  “Do you want me to leave?” he said after misreading my body language.

  “No. I’d really like for you to stay.”

  I turned out the lights and he followed me upstairs. His hands were on my hips. I should have turned on the lights, but I knew the way by heart. My swaying hips guided him through my bedroom into the bathroom. I turned on the lights and began taking off my clothes.

  I said, “My bathroom feels like a closet compared to yours.”

  “I like it. It gives me an excuse to get close to you.” He ran a finger along my bare skin.

  “And you think you need an excuse?”

  “I’m just messing with you.”

  I turned on the water and pulled out fresh towels for us. My reflection grabbed my attention. “Why didn’t you tell me my hair looked this bad?”

  “You look perfect to me.”

  “Good answer, but I’m making an appointment tomorrow.” I quickly wrapped my hair, covering it with a shower cap.

  Sherman got in the shower first, and I came in behind him. We didn’t have much room to maneuver, but it was okay. I washed his back and when I turned around, he washed mine. We bathed away the stress of the day, climbed into my bed, and cuddled. I kissed him goodnight, and we fell asleep in each others arms.

  * * *

  Early the next morning, I made passionate love to Sherman before jumping in the shower and dashing off to work. My palms were itching in anticipation. My first order of business was drafting the paperwork needed to transfer the kennel to Sherman. The sooner I got it out of my name, the better I would feel.

  Talisa came in my office as I was finishing up. “What up, Inspector Gadget?”

  “Oh, you got jokes. If you don’t want to do this, I’m sure I can handle it myself.”

  “Girl, don’t get your panties twisted in a knot. I’m happy as hell you are finally doing something about them shiesty bitches.”

  “I know that’s right. I’ve turned this cheek for the last time.”

  “So what’s the plan?” Talisa cracked her knuckles.

  “You take Frack’s office, and I’ll do Frick. We are looking for anything out of the ordinary. Sherman is going to run a background check on both of them, so any personal information should be helpful.”

  “You know they ain’t gonna leave no important numbers around that you can trace like the social security number or anything.”

  I said, “That’s true, but let’s just see what we can find and go from there. Even if you think it might not be important, write it down. Don’t take anything, because game recognizes game, and we don’t want to leave any evidence that we are on to them.”

  “Alright then,” Talisa said in a tone that suggested she was going to enjoy this.

  We had a little over an hour to search the offices before folks started falling in from the weekend. Snooping around in other folks’ business was a first for me. My motto had always been to live and let live. I tried to be a friend to this heifer, Frick, but she’d rather throw me up under the bus at every opportunity, and the little trick whom she was leading around by the nose was too stupid to realize that she was expendable and would also get thrown under the bus at the first opportunity.

  * * *

  Anita’s desk was locked and so were her file cabinets. “Shit!” I knew this shit was going to be harder than I had thought. Her desk was polished to a high shine free of dust and clear of any files, notes, or scratch pads. The only thing on her desk was a calendar blotter. I looked for a rolodex but she didn’t even have one of those. Hell, she didn’t even have a spare pen or pencil laying around.

  Either this bitch was anal as hell, or she had way too much time on her hands. There was no way in hell the cleaning people had done this to her office. They barely emptied the trash let alone polished the desk. I didn’t even see a paper clip laying around. Her office was so clean, it was difficult to imagine anyone working there.

  Her office walls were barren, void of any pictures except one of her family. I’d forgotten she was married with children. I studied the picture. It was taken some years ago when the heifer actually had some curves on her fat ass. Her husband was a sickly shade of white who begged for some sun; her children resembled the kids from the late ’70s sitcom The Adams Family. Curvy or not, she was still fat as hell and so was her entire family. If I owned a buffet, I would hurry up and close shop when I saw them getting out of their car. It was clear to see what they did in their spare time, eat.

  The office space was small. Her window view was limited to that of an apartment building across the street. Next door, I could hear Talisa in Frack’s office. From the sound of it, she wasn’t having any luck either. I glanced at my watch suddenly feeling anxious. I didn’t want to be caught snooping. I walked back over to Frick’s desk. Something just wasn’t right about the office. No law books littered the shelves, no files … nothing.

  I studied her computer. Its placement was odd. If memory served, Anita was right-handed. Everything on her desk, however, was more suited to someone who was left-handed. Even the mouse was sitting on the wrong side of the keyboard. She had the standard phone with sixteen lines. I wrote down the numbers she had stored in her speed dial. I wasn’t sure they would provide any information. Since I wasn’t getting anything else, what harm could it have done?

  Pulling out her chair, I sat down and immediately sunk into the impression made by her big ass. A smile tugged at the corner of my lips. “At least she made some sort of impression in here.” I was getting up from the desk when I noticed a second calendar on her desk. In addition to a monthly blotter calendar, she also had a daily calendar flipped open to last week. On closer inspection, I noticed that several pages were missing. I marked those days on my pad as well. Flipping forward, I noted that she had marked today in red. Something else was etched on the calendar.

  I tore a piece of paper from my pad, and I used my pencil to lightly fill in the etched marks. I continued flipping through the calendar and making notes of all dates, times, and numbers listed. I didn’t know what it meant, but it looked like a clue to me. Before leaving her office, I lifted her blotter to see if she had stored anything there. A re
ceipt of some kind was under the blotter. I copied down that information as well.

  Surveying the office one final time, I turned off the lights and left. I wasn’t halfway down the hall before I turned around and sprinted back. Where was her law degree? I stared at the walls in shock. As much shit as I went through to get mine, I had it prominently displayed on the wall so everyone could see. I was baffled as to why hers wasn’t displayed. There wasn’t one certificate of achievement. With the exception of the picture of her redneck family, this office could have belonged to anyone.

  In my haste to leave her office for the second time, I stumbled over a trash bag next to the door. I didn’t remember seeing it when I had first entered the office. The bag was tightly tied with a noose for carrying. This was odd since the cleaning crew rarely tied the trash bags. Stealing another minute, I checked her wastepaper basket. The liner was tied off on each square corner. This was another departure from the norm. It was clear that Anita had tied this bag herself, and it was also clear that she was planning on emptying her own trash. Without wasting another moment, I snatched up the bag and quickly ran to my office and shut the door.

  The sound of my loud breathing covered up Talisa’s footsteps. When she opened the door, I damn near had a heart attack. I had hid the bag under the desk and quickly scooted in to block the bag from view. When I’d realized who it was, I let out a sigh of relief. “Girl, you scared the shit out of me,” I said, trying to still my breathing.

  “Didn’t you see me coming right behind you?”

  “Hell no. I was so busy trying to get the hell out of there, I’d forgotten that you were in it with me. Did you have any luck?”

  “I found some things but I really don’t know what they mean.” She handed me the pad she had been writing on.

  By itself, none of the information made any sense. Hopefully, Sherman’s friend would be able to put the pieces together.

  “Girl, that Frack is a freak. She has some high-powered binoculars in her office. I think she’s been watching that apartment building across the street ’cause that’s about the only thing you can see from her tiny-ass window,” she said.

  “I know that’s right. Anita’s office overlooks the apartment building, too. I’m just going to turn all this over to Sherman and see what he can find out.”

  “What does your gut tell you?” Talisa sat down and crossed her legs.

  “That some grimy shit is going on and it has nothing to do with work.”

  “I feel ya. For them to be so damn busy, I didn’t see a lick of work in Frack’s office. Not one paper to file, no notes … nothing.”

  “I know, Anita’s office was the same way. If I didn’t know better, I would swear the office was vacant … except for the locked drawers and shit.”

  Talisa rolled her eyes. “I hate to admit it, but they got game.”

  “Isn’t that the truth, but we’re about to put a halt to this shit.” I dialed Sherman’s number. “Hey,” I said when he answered.

  “All done?”

  “Yeah, we’re done,” I replied.

  “I’ll send someone to your office within the hour. Did you draw up those papers for the kennel?”

  “Yes. I’ll put them in the package as well.”

  “Good. Are you free for lunch?”

  “Uh … hold on, let me check.” I booted up my computer. “Ouch, I have a busy morning. I could do a late lunch if that’s okay with you?”

  “That would be good. Maybe by then, we’ll have some answers.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you at 1:30.”

  “Cool, I’ll pick you up out front,” he said.

  “Alright, see you then.”

  Talisa stood up to leave as I hung up the phone. “I guess I better get back to my desk. I’ll bring in the files for your deposition.”

  “Thanks. I was going to come in over the weekend and get them, but time got away from me.”

  “No sweat. You deserve to take a weekend off every now and then. Do you want the door open or shut?”

  “Shut it please. I need to pack this shit up in some semblance of order, and I don’t want to be disturbed.”

  “Okay, holla if you need me.” She breezed out of the room.

  CHAPTER 42

  Randy

  A week had passed before I’d finally gotten up the nerve to call Felicia.

  “Hey,” I said, hoping she wouldn’t hang up.

  “What do you want, Randy?”

  “Would a simple hello be asking for too much?”

  “Hello. What do you want?”

  I could feel her anger emanating through the phone. Although I had anticipated some anger, I wasn’t prepared for the loathing I could detect in her voice. “Look, I didn’t call to trade barbs with you.”

  “Okay, then why did you call?”

  I exhaled loudly. Felicia was not going to make this easy for me. I was tempted to hang up the phone, but I could not bring myself to do it. Regardless of how she felt about me at this particular place and time, she used to be my wife of thirteen years so I owed her this much. “I … saw your coworker today.”

  “Talisa?”

  “Naw, the one that you don’t like.”

  “Oh. And this should be important to me why?”

  Her attitude was about to send me over the edge, and I didn’t know how much more I was willing to take.

  “It may be nothing, but I thought you should know. She acted like I was an old friend of hers and insisted on buying me lunch.”

  “You had lunch with her?” Felicia’s voice started to rise.

  This conversation was going to hell in a hand basket.

  “It’s not what you think. I thought I saw her yesterday hanging around my office building. At first, I dismissed it thinking it was a coincidence. But I saw her again today.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “She ran up on me talking a mile a minute. She actually invited herself to my table. She said she was meeting a client in my building but she was early. At first I thought you asked her to spy on me. But knowing how you feel about her, I knew that wasn’t the case.”

  “You have that right. What was she talking about?”

  “To be honest, I tuned out most of the conversation. She must have called me sweetheart about fifteen times.”

  “That’s probably because she forgot your name.”

  “I figured as much. I didn’t start paying attention to her until she had mentioned our divorce. She said that you gave me the raw end of a stick and it was unfortunate that I didn’t hire a competent attorney to represent me.”

  “Oh no that heifer didn’t.”

  “She did. She said you sucker punched me and probably used your influence with the judges to rule in your favor. To be honest, I almost fell for that shit she was talking. She was inflating my ego and painting a picture of me being the jilted husband. That’s when I knew she didn’t have the whole story.”

  “I didn’t tell that bitch anything. I swear to God she is going to make me kick her ass if she doesn’t stop fucking with me!”

  Finally, Felicia’s anger was focused on someone other than me.

  I said, “She told me that you were dating this high-profile man and didn’t have time for me anymore. She also said you gave him my business.”

  “Why the hell did you sit there and listen to them lies.”

  “So you’re not dating that guy I saw you with at the club last week?” Although I was fucking around, I really wanted her to say no.

  “Who I date is none of your fucking business.”

  After a few seconds of silence, I said, “I deserve that.”

  “You bet your sweet ass you do.”

  I struggled to change the tone of the conversation ’cause she really needed to hear what I had to say. “Do you want me to finish telling you what she said or not?” I wasn’t about to allow her to continue beating me over the head.

  “Go head,” she grunted.

  “She said he was her client an
d that you stole him. She offered to look over my paperwork to see if there was something she could do to block the sale of the business.”

  “And your dumb ass believed her?”

  “Damn, give me some fucking credit.” I was getting as mad as she was. Hell, I knew I had fucked up, but she didn’t have to constantly remind me of the shit.

  “Sorry,” she said.

  I could not tell if she was being sincere or not since her tone had not softened. I continued anyway: “I told her thanks but no thanks. I was about to leave her sitting there but she pulled me back. She said you were out to get her fired, and she wanted to know if I had anything that I wanted to share with her to help.”

  “Well, she isn’t lying about that. I do want her ass gone. But believe me when I say, she is the one doing the unethical things, not me.”

  “That woman means to do you harm.”

  “Wow, Randy, that’s nothing new. She’s had it out for me since day one. If you were paying more attention at home … Fuck it.”

  “Well, she didn’t get anything from me.” Now I felt like shit.

  “Thanks,” she sounded relieved.

  “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Uh …”

  “It’s not about your personal life.”

  “Go ahead,” she said.

  “Why didn’t you sell the business to me if you didn’t want it?”

  “Number one, you don’t have any money; and number two, I don’t approve of what you were doing with the business. To give it back to you would mean that I condone your actions.”

  “Okay, I can accept that. I never meant to hurt you. I learned a lot about myself over the past few months. Since this woman is obviously out to hurt you, I might as well come clean so she will have one less weapon against you.”

  “Oh Lord.”

  “I discovered that I’m bisexual. If it makes you feel any better, I’m just finding this out myself. At first, I thought I just had this unnatural love of dogs.” I started to chuckle at my own understatement.