by Glenn, Roy
“How come?”
“Every time I sleep, it all happens again. And I wake up feeling all dirty and nasty.”
“Is that why you take so many showers?”
Brandy nodded. “Down there especially.”
“It’s all right, Brandy. I’m not gonna ever let anything happen to you again.”
“You don’t have to worry about me, Aunt Me’shelle. There’s nothing left for me anyway. They made me a dirty ho,” Brandy said and began to cry. “Nobody will ever want me for anything.”
“Don’t say that,” Me’shelle pleaded.
“I know I shouldn’t feel that way, but I do. There’s nothing left for me.”
Me’shelle put her arms around Brandy and they cried together.
“I’m scared, Me’shelle. I’m scared all the time.”
“You don’t have to be scared, Brandy. We’ll be here to protect you.”
“My daddy used to say the same thing, and when those men came, all he could do was lay on the floor and watch.”
Me’shelle had no answer, nothing she could say to reassure her that she would be safe.
“Those men are gonna come after me because I told the police what they looked like. And when they do, there’s nothing that you can do to stop them.”
Me’shelle continued to sit with Brandy. She knew that she had to do something to make this right. She stayed in the room until Brandy could no longer fight off sleep.
Downstairs in the living room, Juanita and Miranda sat watching television. Me’shelle joined them.
“Is she asleep?” Miranda asked.
“Yes,” Me’shelle answered as she sat down on the couch next to Miranda. “But she told me that she’s afraid to go to sleep because she’s having nightmares about what happened.”
“I’ll go sit with her,” Juanita said. She got up from her chair. “One of us should be there if she wakes up,” she said before she went up to Brandy’s room.
“You should get some sleep, too, Me’shelle. You’ve been up just as long as she has.”
“I’m all right, Aunt Miranda.”
“What’s bothering you, Me’shelle?”
“Really, Aunt Miranda, I’m fine.”
“I’ve seen that look before, Me’shelle Lawrence. Tell me what’s on your mind,” Miranda insisted. Me’shelle rested her head on her aunt’s shoulder.
“I have so much on my mind I don’t know where to start. But what it is, is that it’s my fault that this happened.”
“What you talkin’ about, Me’shelle? How is this your fault?”
“Bruce told me that somebody was gonna kill him because of the money he owed them. He asked me for the money and I didn’t give it to him. I had the money and I could have given it to him. If I had just given him the money, none of this would have happened.”
“My God, child. This is not your fault. I don’t mean to be speaking ill of the dead, but the truth is that Bruce was a drug addict. He’s got money and stolen from all of us to buy drugs. Natalie was selling her body for drugs. There’s no telling what else they were doing.”
“I know all that, but—”
“But nothing, Me’shelle. You listen to me. Suppose you gave Bruce the money and they killed him anyway. What then? Would you still blame yourself? ’Cause that’s what would have happened. That life he was living was gonna kill him or get him killed. You know that, Me’shelle. You used to tell Bruce that all the time.”
“I know what you’re saying, and maybe you’re right, but that’s how I feel, and I got to do something about it.”
“Like what?”
“Even if you’re right about Bruce,” Me’shelle said, ignoring Miranda's question, “I still could have done more to get Brandy away from there.”
“That’s a cross we are all gonna have to bear,” Miranda said sadly.
“When Bruce said they were in Columbia and Brandy wasn’t in school, I should have gotten in my car and went to get her.”
“We all could have done a lot more for Brandy. All we can do now is be there for her now,” Miranda said.
“I was too busy,” Me’shelle went on. “I was too busy going out with Travis and eating in fancy restaurants to worry about Brandy and what was best for her.”
Seeing where this was going, Miranda said, “I don’t mean to change the subject, but I do notice that you haven’t mentioned his name, and I don’t remember you talking to him in a while.”
Me’shelle laughed a little. “That’s another thing.”
“See, I know my little girl. I knew there was something else. What’s bothering you?”
“I found out something bad about Travis,” Me’shelle said.
“Really? He seemed like a nice young man. What did you find out about him?”
“I’ll just say he wasn’t completely honest with me.”
“How do you feel about him, Me’shelle?”
“Well, I—”
“Do you love him, Me’shelle?”
“Yes, I think I do.”
“Does he love you?”
“He says he does.”
“Do you believe him when he says he loves you?”
“Yes, I believe he loves me.”
“Me’shelle, what you are going to have to decide is whether whatever you found out about him is so bad that it changes your feelings for him,” Miranda offered. “And I don’t think it does, ’cause if it did, you wouldn’t be going through no changes about it.”
“You may be right. But none of that matters now anyway. Right now I need him.”
Chapter Thirty-two
After Me’shelle put him out of her apartment, Travis was alone with his thoughts. Even on days when Ronnie and Jackie came over to his house, he was still alone. They told Travis that it was for the best. Ronnie said that his involvement with Me’shelle under these circumstances would only end in disaster for the three of them. “And it ain’t worth the risk,” he said.
Jackie was pretty quiet, though, offering up an opinion or agreeing with Ronnie when it seemed appropriate. But she felt Travis’s pain, and didn’t want to minimize it, so she sat next to him and held his hand. What was more pressing to Jackie was the exploration of the depth of the feelings that she had for Travis.
Once Travis had heard enough from Ronnie about how he should be happy that Me’shelle didn’t want to see him again, he turned the conversation around to business. He got up and went into the dining room. “We have a job to run in the morning, so let’s go over this again. Especially since we were interrupted the first time, I want to be sure we’re all on the same page.”
“That’s what you need, Travis. Get back to business,” Ronnie said. “It’s time to get focused. I’m glad you’re not losing sight of the bigger picture.”
“No, Ronnie, I haven’t lost sight of the big picture,” Travis said as he laid the diagram of the bank out on the dining room table. But he knew in his heart that Me’shelle was a part of that picture.
After going over the plan three times, all agreed that they were satisfied with the details. Ronnie announced that he was going home. Travis thought Jackie would follow suit and break out with Ronnie, but she had other plans.
“So, how are you?” she asked Travis.
“I’m fine, Jackie. Really,” he said and sat down next to her. “And thanks for not riding me tonight.”
Jackie smiled and laughed a little. “I thought one of us ridin’ you was enough.”
“You know, you and I never really did get to finish our conversation.”
“What? About me loving you?”
“Yeah, Jackie. About that.”
“Like I said, I’m cool. That’s just something that I have to deal with.”
“No Jackie, when you dropped it on me, it became something we both have to deal with.”
“Yeah, you’re right. It was kinda fucked up for me to drop my little bit of baggage on you.”
“Hey, that’s what friends are for. But I don’t get it. I mean, I l
ove you, Jackie, but like a friend. I love you the way I love Ronnie. You know what I’m sayin’?”
“I love you like that, too, but there’s something more, that’s all. Like I said, you’ve always been my man. It didn’t matter what I was doin’ or what you were doin’, or what we done with each other.”
At the mention of their past sexual involvement, Travis said, “I was wondering if that was it.”
“I don’t know, Travis. I’m still trying to sort all this out in my mind. You know, at the time I thought I was just caught up in the moment.”
“Me too.
“What was her name anyway?”
“Which one?” Travis asked.
“The first one.”
“Oh shit. What was her name? She was your friend. You should remember her name.”
“I know. Ain’t that terrible? Too much weed making my memory bad,” Jackie said. “It was my sophomore year at Rutgers and you had come down for the weekend.”
“To go to some party with you. I remember. What was her name?” He paused, then it came to him. “Sharee French.”
“That’s her. She was mad as hell with me after that. She was so into me it wasn’t even funny. I was glad to get rid of her, ’cause after that she started trippin’,” Jackie recalled.
“I guess so. We were supposed to be sharing her, not the two of you sharing me.”
Jackie smiled.
“I was shocked when you got on top of me and started ridin’. I know Sharee was. What happened that day?”
“I don’t know, Travis. I guess I just wanted to. I wanted to feel you inside me. And every time after that, I’d always want to feel you inside me. You’re the only man I ever had.”
“You and I have shared so many women,” Travis said. Then it hit him. “Wait a minute. Didn’t you and Ronnie, before me and you?”
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean, Jackie?”
“Well, we did and we didn’t.”
“What does that mean?”
“You have to promise not to tell Ronnie I told you.”
“I ain’t gonna say nothin’. What happened?”
“Promise you won’t laugh.” Jackie paused. “We never really did it. I mean, we kissed and he felt on me, but Ronnie came on me while he was trying to get it in me.”
Travis started laughing.
“You said you wouldn’t laugh.”
“No, I said I wouldn’t tell him you told me. That shit is funny, ’cause it never stopped him from bragging about it for years. And you let him do it. Didn’t say shit.”
“I wouldn’t do that, bust him down like that. Not in front of you, anyway. You were my first, Travis. The only man I’ve ever had inside me. Only man I’ve ever wanted inside me, and I guess I’m a little emotional about it, that’s all.”
“If that’s how you felt, then how come the only time we’ve done it is with another woman? Never just you and me. Why is that?”
“That’s the only time I felt like it. Look, Travis, the whole thing is still kind of confusing to me. But like I said, I’m cool with it.”
“Well, as long as you’re cool with it, I am too,” he said. “We got a big day tomorrow, so I’m gonna go and get some sleep.”
“Okay,” Jackie said and stood up. She walked into Travis’s bedroom and got a big shirt out of the dresser then began to get undressed.
Travis came into his room slowly, looking a bit confused to see Jackie standing there naked. “Don’t look so worried, Travis. I just don’t feel like driving home just to come back in the morning,” she said. She put on the big shirt and got under the covers.
“Okay,” Travis said. “But I sleep naked.”
“What’s your point? I’ve seen you naked before.”
Travis got undressed and joined Jackie between the sheets. She snuggled up close to Travis and put her head on his chest. Travis put his arm around her. “This is gonna be my last job, Jackie.”
“Because of her?”
“No, not because of her. I’ve had this on my mind for a long time. But I’d be lying if I said that she isn’t a part of it. I never wanted to make a career out of this.”
“Either did I, but what else we gonna do?”
“Come on, Jackie. You make it sound like none of us got skills.”
“Like what?”
“Like what? What else can you do, is that what you’re asking me?”
“Yeah, Travis, that’s exactly what I’m asking you. What the hell else have we got to do?”
“For the last couple of months, you’ve been doin’ all right modeling. What about that?”
“That’s just pocket money, Travis.”
“You’re a chemist and a damn good one. That was all you’ve ever really wanted to be.”
“You’re right. That’s what I wanted to be from when we were kids.”
“Have you gotten so far away from it that you can’t see it anymore? I hope not.”
“No, I haven’t.”
“You can still get back into it. With the money you got, you could go back to school and get your masters or a PhD. Jackie, there is so much more that you—shit, all of us could be doing.”
“I know what you’re trying to say, Travis, and you’re right. I guess what I’m asking is what else can we do to bring in the kind of money that we can doing our thing?”
Travis looked at Jackie without an answer for a second or two before he said, “Nothing. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have any choices.”
“All that is easy for you to say, Travis. You stuck with your plan and banked that money, bought property, shit like that. All my reserves are just about gone. I need this to make it,” Jackie said, knowing that the reason she had drained her reserves was her gambling habit.
“No, Jackie, you don’t. You can make it another way. And you’re right; I do have bank, so whatever you decide to do, I got your back. And you know this.”
There was silence in the room after that, and it wasn’t long before Travis drifted off to sleep. For Jackie, it wasn’t that easy. She knew that as long as she kept gambling, she would have to keep robbing.
When Ronnie arrived at Travis’s house the following morning, he found them seated at the table eating breakfast and drinking coffee. “Hope y’all saved some food for me.”
“Of course we did, Ronnie,” Jackie said.
When it came time to leave for the job, they gathered their equipment and left the house. As they were about to get in the car, Travis saw Me’shelle’s car coming down the street. “I’ll be right back,” he said then walked away.
“We don’t have time for this now, Travis. We got to go,” Ronnie yelled.
“I’ll be right with you.”
Me’shelle parked in front of the house and got out. She came around the car and stepped to Travis.
“Hello, Me’shelle.”
“Hi.”
“I’m a little surprised to see you.”
“I think we need to talk, Travis. Don’t you?”
“I know we need to,” Travis said. He reached for Me’shelle’s hand.
Ronnie honked the horn. “We gotta go, Travis,” he yelled out the window.
“Where are you going?”
“We got some business to handle,” Travis replied.
Me’shelle put her finger over his lips. “You don’t have to say any more. Give me the keys to the house.”
Travis reached into his pocket and handed her the keys.
“Go on and handle your business. I’ll be here when you get back,” Me’shelle said, kissing Travis on the cheek before turning away and walking toward the house.
Travis watched her until she closed the door, then he got in the car with Jackie and Ronnie. “Let’s go do this.”
Chapter Thirty-three
At approximately 10:25 a.m., a 2000 black Chrysler 300 pulled into the parking lot at the Citizens Bank. Travis, Jackie and Ronnie assumed a position where two sides of the building could be seen, and p
roceeded to run though their operations checklist. Once that was complete, the plan went into operation. “Mr. White, surveillance position.”
“Acknowledged, Mr. Blue,” Jackie said and exited the vehicle. She walked around the building until she saw the security guard. She watched him until he entered the bank. “One uniformed security officer entering the structure via the north door.”
“Acknowledged, Mr. White. Stand by.”
“Acknowledged.”
Ronnie took out a set of high-powered image stabilizing binoculars and looked in the bank. From their position in the car, he could see clearly inside. “This image is so sharp, Travis. None of that blurred, shaking shit you usually get.”
“It has two direct drive motors, one each for horizontal and vertical control, so it eliminates the jittery images caused by normal hand tremors.”
“Maintain operational silence,” Jackie said and laughed.
“Acknowledged,” both Travis and Ronnie said.
“Stand by,” Ronnie said. “Subject is moving toward the door.”
“Acknowledged,” Travis said. “Assume ambush posture, Mr. Green.”
Ronnie got out of the car and moved into position to intercept the security officer as he exited the bank. While Travis covered, Ronnie quickly disarmed the guard.
“Go!” Travis commanded, and the three entered the bank.
“Nobody move!” Travis yelled. Once he had everybody’s attention, Ronnie moved to get the employees out of the offices. He took the key from the branch manager. Jackie moved everybody out from behind the counter. When everybody was in the middle of the room, face down on the floor, Travis called, “One minute.”
Jackie went to each teller’s position and cleaned out the drawers. Ronnie unlocked the cart and got the money. Jackie handed her bag to Ronnie and exited the building through the south entrance to prepare for their escape.
Jackie made it to the car and moved into position outside the south entrance. She looked out at the street and saw a police car coming toward the bank. “Mr. Blue, local police vehicle approaching from the south. Estimate entrance into parking lot in thirty seconds.”
