The Aftermath

by Shelia M. Goss

“Get out of here,” Charity said.

  “I’m gone.” I kissed her one more time and headed out.

  I pulled up in front of the Franklin store. There were several other police cars out front. The store had been secured with yellow tape and barriers. I noticed a couple of news vans up front as well.

  “Detective, it’s about time you showed up,” said Sergeant Mills.

  I ignored his negative tone. He was still upset I’d made detective. “Where’s Jake?”

  “You’ll find your partner roaming around somewhere inside,” he responded.

  I took a survey of the area as I made my way inside. Jake, or Detective Ford, was picking up something and putting it in an evidence bag.

  “So what do we have here?” I asked.

  “Must have caught you in the middle of something?” Jake asked.

  “You could say that. What’s going on here?”

  I followed behind him as he talked. “Strange thing. The person who broke in didn’t take anything, but they sure destroyed a lot of the merchandise. They also left this note.” He handed me a plastic bag with a typed note inside.

  It read: This is a warning. Next time, it might be you.

  “Where’s the owner?” I asked.

  “He should be here any minute. I sent a car to get him.” He glanced outside. “In fact, there he is now.”

  “My store,” Mr. Franklin said repeatedly as we walked out to meet him at the curb.

  “Sir, I’m Detective Ford and this is my partner, Detective Underwood. We need to ask you a few questions.”

  I handed him the plastic bag that held the letter. “Do you know what this means?”

  “I don’t have my glasses on. I can’t read this.”

  Jake said, “That’s okay. I’ll read it to you.” He did as he said.

  I noticed Mr. Franklin’s hands shake. “I don’t know why they’re targeting me.” His voice stuttered. “I’ve worked hard to maintain this store. I’m good to everyone in the neighborhood. I don’t hurt anybody. Who would do something like this? This is going to cost thousands of dollars to fix.”

  “You have insurance, don’t you?” I asked.

  “I...I can get the insurance to pay to fix the front of the store, but the merchandise. It’s been destroyed.”

  Someone else walked in, keeping up a lot of noise. “Uncle William, why didn’t you call me? I had to hear about this from a news alert.”

  “This is my nephew, Sam.”

  “Sam, I’m Detective Underwood and that’s Detective Ford. We were trying to find out from your uncle if he knew why someone would vandalize the store and leave a note.”

  I allowed him to see it. Sam read it and shook his head. “I have no idea. I’ve been managing the store since he’s gotten up in age.”

  “Hold up, son. I can still take care of things if I wanted to,” Mr. Franklin said.

  “Yes, Uncle William, you could. I didn’t mean anything by that.”

  “I’m just saying. Don’t think ’cause I let you manage the store that I couldn’t.”

  I listened to them go back and forth for a few minutes. Jake cleared his throat. He reached into his pocket. “Sam, here’s our card. If you can think of anything or anyone, please let us know.” He handed the card to Sam.

  I reached in my pocket and did the same thing.

  “Mr. Franklin,” I said. “It’s going to be all right. We will find out who did this to your store.”

  The forensics guys did their jobs. A few hours later, I was back at home. I opened up the door and soft music was playing. Charity stood in the kitchen cooking.

  “Hey, baby, you’re back.”

  She walked over to me and gave me a kiss.

  I looked at the big breakfast she’d cooked. “Baby, you didn’t have to cook me anything.”

  “I know I didn’t have to. I wanted to. You’ve done so much for my family and me. This is the least I could do.”

  “Let me go freshen up some and I’ll be right back,” I said, while patting her on the butt.

  “I’ll be waiting.” Her words purred off her lips.

  I smiled. I was one lucky man to be coming home to a woman like Charity. I had to figure out a way to make it permanent.

  CHAPTER 13

  Lexi

  It’d been a few days but still no word on the DNA test. It was the weekend so I really didn’t expect to get any results until next week. I sat next to Charity in the visiting booth and watched her and her dad talk.

  I never thought in a million years I would be visiting my man behind prison walls. One of the things I admired about Royce when I met him was that he wasn’t like some of the other guys in my neighborhood. He always tried to do things by the book. But unfortunately, his friend Jason didn’t.

  Even in his death, Jason was wreaking havoc on our lives. Contrary to popular belief, everyone in Louisiana didn’t practice or believe in voodoo, but if I did, I would have had Jason’s spirit conjured up so I could try to kill him again.

  Charity handed me the black phone. “Dad wants to talk to you.”

  I plastered on a fake smile. “Baby, you’re looking a little better.”

  “Vienna sausages and sardines.”

  “Ugh. I can’t see how you eat sardines,” I blurted out and felt bad as soon as the words came out of my mouth. “I’m just glad you’re eating. You had me worried.”

  “Did you get my last letter?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “And are you doing what I asked you to do?” he asked.

  I looked away. “Sort of.”

  “Lexi, sort of is not a yes.”

  “Fine, Royce. No. I’m not going to do it.”

  “Lexi, dear, I need you to get it done. If anything happens to me, I want you to have full power of attorney. I don’t want you to run into any legal issues with my siblings.”

  “But nothing is going to happen to you. We’re going to get you out of there.”

  “I’m trying to think positive, but I’m also trying to be realistic,” Royce stated.

  A guard walked in. I heard him say, “Two minutes.”

  “Baby, I’ve got to go. Please do it. Do it for me. Ease my mind. I only want to make sure you’re legally protected.”

  “I will do it first thing Monday morning.”

  “Promise?” he asked.

  I looked him in the eyes. “I promise.”

  “Now, let me see both of my girls smile.”

  “Charity, smile for your dad.”

  Charity did like I did, put on a fake smile.

  “I love you both,” he said.

  “I love you too, baby,” I reassured him.

  I gave Charity the phone. “I love you,” she said.

  Royce hung up the phone on his end and we hung it up on our end.

  Neither Charity nor I said anything as we walked back down the long hallway and to the car.

  I dropped Charity off at home and then headed to RJ Jones Funeral Home.

  The parking lot was filled to capacity when I arrived. I ended up parking about a block away due to the lack of available space.

  One of the workers greeted me at the door. “Mrs. Lexi, we weren’t expecting you here today.”

  “I wanted to stop by and check on things.”

  He closed the door. “We have one service going on in the chapel. We have people out at two other memorial services now. One at Galilee and the other at Corinth.”

  “Okay. Where’s Lovie?” I asked.

  “He’s in his office, I think,” the worker responded.

  I peeked inside of the chapel. Everything had been set up nicely for the family. I eased down the hall to Royce’s office. I knocked on the door. Lovie opened it.

  “Mom, what are you doing here?”

 
I gave him a hug. “Everyone acts like I can’t be here.”

  I walked inside and took a seat on the leather couch in the corner of the office.

  “No, that’s not it. You haven’t been here in a while, that’s all.”

  “I just came from seeing your dad.”

  “How is he?” Lovie asked.

  “He’s fine. He wants me to get some things switched over to my name. He feels if something else happens to him, his family might trip. He wants to secure our future.”

  “He’s right. Some don’t like the fact that I’m running things. But in reality, hardly anything has changed. Everyone’s positions are still in place. Dad mainly dealt with scheduling and he left most of the other tasks to some of the other family members. He did do embalming and as you know I don’t do that. Although I am in there when some procedures are done.”

  “Dear, you’re doing a good job. I’m going to call Mitch on Monday so he can get those things set up. Of course, when your dad comes home, everything will reverse and it’ll be back to status quo.”

  “Of course,” Lovie said as he sat behind the desk.

  “What I really came over here for was to check on you,” I admitted.

  “I’m fine. We’re just waiting.”

  “Regardless of what those results say, Royce is your daddy.”

  “Mom, I’m not stressing over that,” he voiced. He picked up a copy of The Times and handed it to me.

  I read the headline. “Looks like I need to pay Mr. Franklin another visit.”

  “Mom, I think it’s best that you don’t. They may think we’re behind it.”

  “Why would we want to vandalize his store?”

  “They don’t know what we do. They may think we’re trying to scare him from testifying against Dad.”

  “Lovie, trust me. Mr. Franklin is no threat when it comes to that. Mitch will eat him alive on the witness stand.”

  “Slim wants to help out,” Lovie said.

  “Are you sure Slim’s not the one who had Jason killed?”

  “I don’t think he did, but I wouldn’t put it past him.”

  “Use your best judgment when dealing with Slim. He’s friendly but ruthless.”

  Lovie agreed.

  I stood. “Well, dear. Looks like you’ve got everything here under control. I’ve got a few more stops I want to make before heading home.”

  We hugged. I closed the door and sighed. I had to lean on the wall for a moment to catch my composure. Seeing Lovie behind Royce’s desk instead of him did something to me.

  CHAPTER 14

  Royce

  One thing about being in jail, you have nothing but time on your hands; too much time, in fact, to think. I’d replayed my whole life in my head over and over from my first memory until now. I remembered things I thought I had forgotten. Some of those memories were pleasant ones, but being there, it was hard to smile about them. Sometimes my mind would linger too long on the unpleasant memories causing me to feel pain. Pain that I thought I was over and was buried deep within my soul.

  I tried to figure out what I could have done differently that would have resulted in another outcome. One of the things I will always regret is having an affair.

  Instead of talking to Lexi about the problems we were having, I’d set out and had an affair with another woman. The other woman was no better than Lexi, but she’d made me forget my responsibilities. With her, I could be carefree. I grew to care for the woman, but I didn’t love her like I loved Lexi. I got caught up in the affair and didn’t know how to get out of it. Once I did decide to leave, it was too late.

  I’d done damage to my relationship and put my wife in a position to be used by the likes of Jason. Jason had always been known as a ladies’ man. He’d fathered kids he probably never claimed. He’d been guilty of sleeping with other men’s wives, but I never thought he would stoop so low to do it to me. Hindsight is twenty-twenty. If I weren’t so busy trying to sneak and cheat behind Lexi’s back, I would have seen the signs. I would have noticed the moment Jason’s attention went from being a friend to a man on a mission to devour my wife.

  As I lay back on the cot, I now recalled the first time I noticed Lexi’s attitude about Jason had changed. She used to like Jason, but after one of my weekend trips out of town to be with my lover, she seemed to cringe every time I mentioned Jason’s name, or whenever he came around.

  Their once jovial banter with one another intensified over the years. I brushed it off. Thought they didn’t like each other. Lexi, in the end, only tolerated Jason because he was my friend. Someone I thought was my brother.

  I felt bad about not seeing those signs. I knew of Jason’s reputation with the women. I knew of Jason’s hustle mentality. I just never thought he would cheat with my wife or steal from my business. I trusted him with everything. I trusted him with my life. I had to laugh out loud. Because of Jason, life as I knew it was in jeopardy. All because of trusting the wrong person.

  My mind went back in time as I recalled a conversation with my father. He’d mentioned that he thought Jason was jealous of me. I didn’t want to believe it. Dad even went as far as to say that one day I would regret not heeding his advice.

  It didn’t happen in my father’s lifetime, but it happened, and now my family and I were suffering due to my poor choice of a friend. Unfortunately, we couldn’t erase our past. We could only learn from our decisions and try not to make the same mistakes.

  I was being selfish for wanting to see Lexi and my children, but seeing them was the only thing keeping me from being depressed. Staring at those four walls day in and day out and listening to the chatter going around in the dorm could drive a man crazy.

  I went from never knowing how my day would go to having the same routine day in and day out. I got up around seven to eat breakfast, or rather play over the food. I showered and most of the time, it was a cold shower; the hot water hardly ever worked.

  I sometimes sat out in the dorm and talked to some of the men that I had bonded with. I spend the majority of my time in my cell by myself, reading, doing pushups or sit-ups and sleeping until mealtime. I repeated the same daily routine. The days were long and the nights were longer. I marked the dates on the calendar to keep up with the actual day. Every day seemed the same except for those times when some of the inmates engaged in fights.

  During those times, we went on lockdown. That meant no one was allowed out of their cells. Fortunately, there were toilets in each unit so I could not have cared less about leaving the cell unless it was to head home. Socializing wasn’t on my top agenda.

  I dozed off. I felt someone’s presence in my space and awakened. It was another inmate. He placed his hand up to his lip to indicate for me to remain silent. He walked closer as I stood and was on full alert in case I had to defend myself. I was older than a lot of the dudes in there, but I was also fit and strong and would have liked to think that if I had to, I could have knocked another man out.

  “I know you didn’t kill the guy they are accusing you of killing,” he whispered.

  “Who are you?”

  “I’m a friend of the guy who knows who did it.”

  “Who did it?” I asked.

  “I will tell you if you can help my mama get me a lawyer,” he responded.

  “How do I know if I can trust you?”

  “Because I know you saw the dead body the night before but didn’t call it in. Only two people who would know that would be you and the actual killer.”

  He was correct. But I still didn’t trust him. However, if he knew something that could help me, it would be in my best interest to pursue it.

  “Let’s say I made sure your mom had money to get you a lawyer. How are you going to help me?”

  “I’m going to get more information from my friend and pass it on to you.”

  One of the guards came
by. “We about to lock the cells. So it’s time for you to get to your own cell.”

  “Man, I was about to beat this old man in some spades.”

  I played it off. “This young cat doesn’t know I’m the king of spades.”

  “Bet. We’ll find out tomorrow,” he said, before leaving the cell behind the guard.

  CHAPTER 15

  Charity

  The only thing stopping me from enjoying the relationship with Omar was the fact that Dad was in jail. If it weren’t for that, I would’ve been able to relax and enjoy the times we were spending together.

  We were seated across from each other in my kitchen. He was devouring the chicken spaghetti I’d piled on his plate.

  “You keep feeding me like this, I’m not going anywhere. Breakfast the other day and then these dinners,” he said in between bites.

  “I can cook in and out of the kitchen,” I joked.

  “Yes, you sure can.” He wiped his mouth with his napkin.

  “Oh, no, please you two, not the kitchen. Is anything sacred around here?” Hope walked in and said.

  “Don’t hate,” Omar teased.

  “Please. I’m not trying to get in nobody’s relationship right now. Right now I’m doing me.”

  “Well, Ms. Doing Me, you are welcome to sit and eat with us,” I said.

  “I’m fixing me a plate and going to my room. Then you two can get back to doing what you were doing. Clean up afterwards, pleaseee.”

  Hope fixed her plate and left us alone. An hour later, Omar and I were relaxing on the sofa. “Omar, what can you tell me about the Franklin store break-in?”

  “Not much to tell. Whoever did it wasn’t trying to steal money because they didn’t even touch the safe. Whoever did it thinks Mr. Franklin knows something about something.”

  “I wonder what that is?” I asked, hoping Omar would divulge more information.

  “We don’t know.”

  “Do you think it has anything to do with Jason’s death?”

  “There’s a possibility, but I doubt it.”

  “Why would you say that?” I eased up closer to him.