Provocative Territory

by Altonya Washington

  “Am I right?”

  Clarissa searched his striking blue orbs as if she were trying to uncover a truth, and then she grimaced. “She had some questions.”

  “About?”

  “About why he bit my head off when he found out I was considering turning the club into a dance studio.”

  The confirmation turned Eli’s eyes a darker tinge. He bit down so hard on his jaw that the muscle there twitched ominously.

  “Is there any way that I could convince you to step back from this?” he asked.

  “Eli?” She tilted her head at a curious angle. “What else do you know? And please spare me the protection thing—we don’t have the time for it.” She raised a hand to curb the confrontation welling in his stare.

  “I have a friend on the police force who’s helping me look into this,” she said. “Elias, if you know something, I’d be really grateful if you’d share it.”

  Eli turned away, stroking his goatee as he walked the office. “This friend of yours, do you trust them?”

  “Yes.” She nodded with certainty. “So did Jaz. She was already sharing info about her suspicions with Sophie before she died.”

  “Sophie? Sophie...Hail?”

  “Right—you—you know her?”

  “She and Tigo had a thing. It was a long time ago.”

  Clarissa blinked to confirm what she already realized.

  “Clari, will you step back from this?”

  “Tell me what you know,” she snapped.

  He sat on the arm of a sofa. “I have a friend, too. One who’s willing to break this thing wide open but he’s protecting someone. A girl who used to work for your aunt. She hid her, believing that she was hiding the girl from some obsessed customer.” He shrugged sleek brows in Clarissa’s direction.

  “Maybe Sophie can find her,” he suggested. “My friend won’t talk unless he knows this girl is safe.”

  “That’s it.” Discovery blossomed and Clarissa raised a hand to her cheek. “Cleve Echols, of course... Waymon, you son of a bitch.”

  “I expect you to stay away from the man, Clarissa.” Elias kept his eyes on his palm where his thumb drove circles into the center. “Clarissa?”

  “Yes. Yes, Eli.” She gave the answer he wanted to hear.

  His resulting smirk had nothing to do with amusement and little to do with confidence. “What time do I pick you up for the Humanitarian thing tomorrow?”

  At first, Clarissa looked bewildered but then she remembered. “Seven,” she said finally.

  “I’ll wait around out there until you’re done here and take you home.” He left the sofa then, fixing her with a lingering look before taking his leave.

  When Elias was gone, Clarissa went to the phone and made a call to Detective Sophia Hail.

  * * *

  “Most of the people in this room couldn’t stand my aunt,” Clarissa remarked through clenched teeth. “They’ve got to hate it that she’s being given this award now.”

  Eli worked his fingers along the rear row of shiny onyx buttons leading down from the choke collar of the lovely gray chiffon-over-satin gown that Clarissa wore. In spite of the slight touch, he could still feel her unease.

  “From what I understand about the Breck process for considering its Humanitarian award recipients, no one is just given the award.” He firmed his hold on her upper arms and made her face him. “She earned this, Clari.”

  Clarissa patted his hand, cupping her cheek. “That means a lot coming from you—considering all that she did.”

  Eli grunted and looked around the room of elegantly dressed guests. “It’s funny how wrong a person can be about someone.” His bright eyes followed the movement of his fingers rubbing her clipped dark hair. “How can I hate a woman who helped raise someone so incredible?”

  The lovers were kissing when Leta Fields, chairperson for the committee, walked over to greet them and to bestow further congratulations.

  “I’m only accepting the award, Leta. The real honor is my aunt’s.”

  “Well said.” Leta reached out to squeeze Clarissa’s shoulder. “Let’s get you two over to the table.” She linked arms with both Clarissa and Elias.

  At Jazmina Beaumont’s table, several more well-wishers waited, including Waymon Cole.

  “Humph, surprise, surprise.” Clarissa sighed when she approached the wide round table with Leta and Elias.

  Waymon appeared cool as always. “Not such a surprise I think. One of my dearest friends is being honored tonight for all of her work. I intend to be here for it.” He rubbed his palms together and regarded the group around the table. “I hope others will understand her sacrifice and how much her work—her club meant to her.”

  Subconsciously, Clarissa curled her fingers more tightly into Eli’s jacket sleeve. “Well, we all know what Jaz’s work meant to her. Her greatest hope for the club was for it to not fall into corruption.” She waited for Waymon’s eyes to meet hers. “I intend to make sure it doesn’t.

  “Everyone, I’d like for you to meet Elias Joss,” she said before Waymon could respond to her challenge.

  Whatever tension that may have been present at the table vanished shortly thereafter. Someone began to share a memory of Jazmina and laughter swirled around the table.

  * * *

  The Breck Humanitarian recipients were well received and well honored for their accomplishments. Those in attendance however were most interested in the acceptance of Jazmina Monike Beaumont’s award, which was received by her niece.

  Clarissa’s speech was a testament to her love for her aunt as well as a pointed observation of those who had never allowed Jaz to forget what she was or accept that she had risen above it. Clarissa’s speech ended on a high note however when she announced her plans for the proposed Beaumont Studio.

  Not everyone was pleased with the powerful speech.

  “May I speak with you?” Elias subtly intruded on Clarissa’s conversation with a few of the Breck committee members. His hand was on her upper arm and he was already drawing her away from the crowd before she could politely excuse herself from the discussion.

  “Eli, what—”

  “What the hell are you doing?” he asked once they were sequestered in a corridor behind the banquet room.

  “I thought I was trying to have a conversation.”

  “Don’t play with me, Clari. I don’t want you provoking Cole.”

  “I’m not afraid of him, Eli.”

  “Maybe you should be.”

  “Maybe I would be,” Clarissa conceded with a shrug, “if I just weren’t so damn mad over it.”

  Eli’s face was unreadable then. “Anger is dangerous, Clari. Trust me, I know that.”

  “Yeah, I keep forgetting that.” Cool accusation flooded Clarissa’s expressive browns. “Maybe that’s why you can’t understand it. You hated my aunt like everybody else.”

  “You’re being an idiot.” He rolled his eyes.

  “Why? Because I won’t let you dictate to me?” she snapped as she observed him hotly. “Do you think you’re entitled to that because you were my first?”

  Elias waved a hand. “I can’t talk to you.”

  “Then I guess you won’t mind me walking away then?”

  Eli was ready to follow of course, yet he steeled himself against engaging his baser instincts. Applying a hard massage to the base of his neck, he quietly ordered himself to let her go.

  * * *

  “This is quite a story, Detective.”

  Sophie Hail nodded. Her back was ramrod straight as she sat before the desk. “I understand that, sir, but the evidence more than speaks for itself.” She pressed on while making the case for her Captain Roy Poltice.

  “Those strange numbers in the notebook from Jazmina Beaumont’
s office were badge numbers. They looked so familiar but I couldn’t place them until I looked in the mirror one night. They’re recorded backward in the book, sir.

  “A few of those numbers are from the badges of members in our own squad, sir.” She cleared her throat softly and looked down at her interlaced fingers.

  “Chief of Detectives Paul Hertz was one of them, sir. His wife works for WPXI and she was one of Waymon Cole’s investors.”

  “Christ...” Roy Poltice massaged his fingers into one of his bushy salt-and-pepper brows.

  “The other column of numbers is the money each cop sent into the club and what I suspect is Waymon Cole’s cut. Cleve Echols was cooperative enough to share some very revealing bank statements.”

  “And he’s willing to testify to this?” Poltice asked.

  Sophie nodded. “Now that he knows Rena Johnson is safe and willing to corroborate his story. It all connects, sir.”

  “Doesn’t cause it to stink any less.” Poltice groaned. “You know you’re about to open up a can of worms the size of the Liberty Bell?”

  “I know that, sir.”

  “Do you really?” Poltice leaned his broad form closer to his desk. “You’re about to make a lot of enemies, Detective.”

  “Sir, a good woman and her niece trusted me enough to bring me in on this. The least I can do is to see it through.” She pursed her lips for a second. “I do hope I can count on you to help me do that, sir.”

  Poltice nodded. “You’re a good cop, Hail, and since my butt is now on the line with yours, you damn well better make this thing stick.”

  “Sir,” Sophie acknowledged the charge.

  “So how do you want to handle this?” Poltice asked.

  Sophie allowed her superior to see her smug smile. “Very publicly, sir.”

  One Week Later...

  The Reed House Jazz Supper wasn’t the average potluck dinner. Plates started at a cool one thousand dollars and went up to ten thousand. The benefits of such lavishness spoke volumes. Clarissa arrived alone but she didn’t remain that way for long. She accepted countless congrats on the Humanitarian award that her aunt had received posthumously. Leta Fields arrived to give her last-minute tips on the presentation of the check to Reed House from the Breck committee.

  Clarissa was waiting on a drink at the bar when she was turned around and pulled into the most thorough kiss. Melting, she entwined her tongue around Eli’s, boldly arching herself into his devastatingly tuxedoed frame.

  “Forgive me?” he asked after pulling back from their kiss.

  She smiled. “For caring? There’s nothing to forgive for that.”

  His sky-blue stare narrowed playfully. “So why’d you give me such a hard time about it then?”

  Clarissa focused on the gold bangles adorning her arm. “Well, if I made it too easy, you wouldn’t feel challenged.”

  Elias cupped her cheek. “Not challenged? With you? Never.”

  “I love you,” Clarissa professed and pressed her forehead to his.

  They indulged in another long kiss. When it ended, Elias had gone serious again.

  “Have you talked to Cole?” he asked.

  Clarissa was prepared to answer and then produced a tight smile instead. “Not yet.”

  Elias followed the line of her gaze and saw Waymon Cole just entered the gathering.

  “Heard from Sophie?” Eli watched Waymon Cole mingle.

  “It’s been a week—a long week.”

  “These things take time.”

  Clarissa smiled. “I never pegged you for a patient man.”

  “When I want something bad enough, I can be very patient.”

  “Very.”

  “Intensely.” He massaged her shoulders through the crisscross straps at the back of her petal pink gown.

  She indulged in the roughly sensuous strokes from his fingers but her preoccupation only lasted a short time. Her thoughts were soon returned to Waymon Cole. It was her turn to stroke Eli’s cheek then.

  “I guess patience is a virtue that I don’t have.” She smiled pitifully and then gathered the gown’s ankle-length skirt and set off in Waymon’s direction.

  Elias caught her arm before she got too far.

  “You can come along if you want,” she offered.

  Eli allowed her a bit of a head start before he whispered a curse and decided to follow.

  Clarissa tracked Waymon into one of the four buffet rooms which were set up with long rectangular tables. They displayed delectables of all sorts. The room was deserted but for Waymon.

  “Very generous,” Clarissa noted when she entered. “This is the ten-thousand-dollar-a-plate room.”

  “For a good cause.” Waymon shrugged and noticed Elias closing the door to the buffet room. “Come to give me the third degree?” he asked. “I thought we said all that needed to be.”

  Clarissa trailed her finger along the edge of a damask tablecloth. “I only want to know if my aunt died knowing that you betrayed her?”

  The big fork in Waymon’s hand hit the heated pan with a clatter. He kept his back turned as Clarissa moved closer.

  “Or was it just knowing that the club was being taken down a shady road that did it?” she asked.

  “What are you talking about?” Waymon was about to reach for the fork again but decided against it.

  “I think you know exactly what I’m talking about. Jaz had so many suspicions that she went to the cops—well...the only cop she thought she could trust. She found a ledger. Did she know that it was yours, Waymon?”

  “Your aunt!” Waymon suddenly snapped then. “Humph. She didn’t want to know anything.” He shook his head and stared without really seeing the steaming pan of entrées.

  “All of a sudden she tells me that she wants to turn her life around or some mess...make prima ballerinas out of the little wild women in that club.” Waymon sneered in Clarissa’s direction.

  “You ungrateful bastard and this is how you repay her?”

  “She should have been repaying me! Business boomed—some of those girls were paid insane amounts of money for private dances, weekend parties. We’re one of the few clubs in this country who can fulfill our customers’ every desire.”

  “Why? Because cops are bankrolling most of the fun?”

  “You’re damn right!” Waymon blinked when he noticed Elias again. Coming down off some of his temper, he set the plate that shook in his hand on the table.

  Elias pushed himself off the door when a firm knock sounded. Outside stood the detective and two uniformed officers. At Eli’s wave, they entered.

  “Waymon Cole, I’m Detective Sophia Hail and we have a warrant for your arrest.”

  “Arrest?” Waymon spat the word. “On what charge?”

  “Charges,” Sophie corrected. “Which include, but aren’t limited to, money laundering and racketeering.” She looked over her shoulder at the crowd gathering outside the room. “Would you like for me to continue?”

  “I’ll be talking to your boss, Detective.”

  Sophie grimaced. “If you’re referring to Paul Hertz, the two of you can chat in the holding cell where he’s presently waiting. Although, right about now, I think he’s more interested in talking to his lawyer. Read him his rights,” she instructed one of the officers.

  The crowd parted to make way for Waymon’s shameful, handcuffed exit. He stopped just before clearing the threshold and fixed Clarissa with an unreadable look. Then he hung his head and walked away.

  Sophie stopped near Clarissa. “I’m sorry that I had to do this here, but I didn’t want it swept under a rug.”

  “Do you have enough to make it stick?” Elias asked.

  “D.A. thinks so,” Sophie confirmed. “With any luck, we can entice Mr. Cole to name names. Besides,
our witnesses are on board.”

  “Witnesses?” Clarissa asked.

  Sophie smiled. “Both Mr. Echols and Ms. Johnson are cooperating.”

  Clarissa’s eyes widened. “Rena? You found her?”

  “We did and she’ll be fine.” Sophie smiled at Eli and then back at Clarissa. “I should go.”

  “Sophie, thank you for working so hard to get answers to my aunt’s questions.”

  “I couldn’t have done it without help.” She squeezed Clarissa’s arm and winked before making her way through the talkative crowd.

  Alone in the candlelit buffet room, Clarissa finally wilted and rested her head on Eli’s chest.

  “How are you doing?” He rubbed her arm reassuringly.

  “Humph. I think this is the hardest I’ve ever worked for my aunt.” She joined in when Eli burst into laughter.

  “Do you think this is over?” she asked.

  Eli kissed the top of her head. “Would you believe me if I said yes?”

  Clarissa allowed her lashes to flutter dreamily. “Yes, happily,” she sighed.

  “And if I said I love you? Would you believe me?”

  Clarissa looked up and let him see the love in her eyes. “Yes...happily.” She sighed again and eagerly accepted his kiss.

  * * *

  Although Waymon Cole’s public arrest was on everyone’s lips, the Reed House Jazz Supper was a huge success. Event organizers claimed that year’s dinner was its most successful yet.

  Clarissa conversed with Lilia Joss. The woman was inviting her to lunch later that week and they were settling on a date when Eli arrived with Stanford Crothers.

  “Sunshine!” Stan greeted Clarissa with a kiss and a quick hug. Then, he offered Lilia his arm. “If you ladies are done chattin’, I’m takin’ my date for a spin around this dance floor.”

  “They make a cute couple.” Clarissa smiled when Stan whisked Lilia away.

  Eli massaged the bridge of his nose. “Please don’t tell Stan that.”

  “What?” Clarissa laughed. “You don’t think there could be a wedding before the year’s out?”

  Elias pulled Clarissa close and they began to sway in time to the jazzy piece that piped into the room. “A wedding before the end of the year, sounds good to me,” he said.