CHAPTER 30: A VERY CHILLY FOREST
Troy was still barricaded in the basement when Natalie got home last night. She didn’t bother speaking to him, even after getting the message that he had fallen asleep downstairs. She went to bed. Apparently he’d been in their bedroom sometime between the night and 8:48 a.m. when she woke up this morning because his side of the bed had been disturbed and there was a note on the pillow. In the basement. Let me know when you need me.
“Ooo!” She crumpled up the note and threw it on the floor. How childish! What man avoids speaking to his wife for so long over a stupid argument about birth control pills? He wants to have another child, but she already had three: Corrine, Nate, and his immatureacting behind. Let me know when you need me. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of needing him. She practically raised Nate by herself. Surely she could handle setting up for his third birthday party without his help.
Natalie called Corrine. “Hey, what’s up? I saw you called yesterday morning. Sorry I forgot to get back with you. I texted you last night and you never responded. Are you still coming over early today? The party starts at one. The sooner you get here, the better. I hope you’re still not trippin’ from the other night. I don’t support this relationship you’re in, but I will love you through anything. Call me. Actually, forget calling, just get your butt over here because I need you.” She then sent Aneetra a quick text asking if she was okay because she hadn’t heard anything from her all night, either.
Natalie jumped out of bed, checked to make sure that Nate and the girls were occupied before jumping in the shower. She was thankful that Lauren and Ashley were there. At least they would be able to keep an eye on Nate while she got things together.
She rushed to her cell after hearing the text alert. It wasn’t Aneetra or Corrine as she had thought; it was Lisa. We’ll be there by 11. Cool? Natalie replied. She was thankful for their insistence. She would take all the help she could get—except from Troy.
It was close to ten by the time Natalie had finished getting herself together. Hearing the kids downstairs, she rushed to see what was going on. She was surprised to see Aneetra at the table eating pancakes with the kids.
“Hey, sleepy head, I figured you’d be up before now. Grab a plate and join us, well, me, because they’re almost done.”
“Mommy, is my birday party today?”
“Yes, honey.” She kissed him on the top of his head.
“Yay! Aunt Nee Nee, is them comin’ to my birday party?”
“It’s are they and yes, sweetheart, they will be here.”
“Mommy, is Sissy comin’ to my birday party?”
“Yes.”
“Is Austin comin’ to my birday party?”
He inquired about several other kids in his preschool before Natalie put a stop to it. “Wait and see, okay? Let the girls take you to wash your hands and face and then I want you to be on your best behavior or no one is coming to your birthday party.”
“ ’Kay. C’mon, girls. We gotta be good for my birday party.” All the kids took off.
“No running!” shouted Aneetra. She turned back to Natalie. “Troy and I had to get on them yesterday about running through the house.”
“Umph.” Natalie did not want to hear anything about Troy. “How’d things go last night?”
Aneetra shook her head. “Good and bad. We talked for a long time.”
“I was up until after two waiting for you.”
“I told you not to. I stayed home last night. I got here while you were in the shower.”
“Things went that good?”
“Naw, it wasn’t even like that. He held me while I cried myself to sleep. He told me that you know.”
“Know what?” Natalie had to make sure that they were on the same page.
“That Marcus slept with Lynn a year ago and she’s been trying to get with him again ever since. He told me that she even had the nerve to get mad at him for not telling her about Mindy.”
“Have you spoken with her?”
“No. I honestly have nothing to say to her. I could ask her why and all the other questions going through my mind, but it won’t do any good. I need some time to myself. Marcus claims he’s made arrangements at a hotel and on Monday the girls are going to my sister’s for the rest of the summer.”
“Are you still thinking about moving there?”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do. I know I need time to sort this all out. I’m hurting so much right now. I feel like I need that cruise more than ever, but there’s no way I’m going with Lynn. She was my maid of honor. She’s my girls’ godmother for goodness’ sake. If I can’t trust her, who can I trust?”
As tears pooled in Aneetra’s eyes, Natalie wanted to reassure her by saying, “You can trust me,” but she hesitated. Aneetra knew about what she’d done to her previous so-called best friend. If her deceitfulness had been exposed, she would have slept with her friend’s husband. She reached out for Aneetra’s hand. “I’m sorry this happened to you.”
“I didn’t mean to sound so harsh.” She wiped her face. “I saw how you looked when I said that. I do have trust issues right now, but it’s mainly with Marcus and Lynn. Thank you for being so candid with me about your past. I don’t see my relationship with Lynn picking up where it left off, but maybe she can learn from this and be a blessing to someone else as you are to me.”
Natalie leaned over and hugged her tight. “I wish I had the words to say to make you feel better, but the only thing I can think to say is that I love you.”
“I love you, too. Now, we better quit all this mushy stuff and get ready for Nate’s party. What should we do first?”
“Don’t you worry about it, I know you have a lot on your mind. I can handle things.”
“Girl, I have been crying all week. I’m sure there will be plenty more tears later, but right now, I’m at your service. Nate is my godson and he’s been looking forward to his ‘birday’ party. There’s no way, I’m going to sulk and feel sorry for myself today. Hurry up and finish your food. It’s almost party time.”
• • •
Troy thought he’d have the up-to-date info about Mindy Lee’s case, but Jon had sent the email yesterday without the attachment. Not surprising for the non-technical savvy detective who was the worst text messenger that Troy had ever encountered. Jon’s texts were always extra long because he spelled out all the words instead of using abbreviations like the rest of the world. Troy left a voice message telling Jon that he needed to resend the info, but so far hadn’t heard back. Thankfully, Troy at least had photos he’d taken of the scene on his cell and was able to print and study those.
These latest string of murders gnawed at every inch of his being and he’d worked nonstop laying out each case in the order that they had appeared. Where were the women being held until they were murdered?
When Troy looked at his watch and saw that it was a quarter after twelve, he knew the tension between him and Natalie would be turned up several notches. Natalie hadn’t come to get him to set up for Nate’s party. He ran upstairs, surprised to see Robert and Lisa sitting at the kitchen table blowing up balloons.
“There’s the man of the house.”
Natalie and Aneetra were decorating the kitchen with fake spider webs. Troy hoped he was the only one who saw Natalie pucker her lips at Robert’s greeting. “What’s up, man?” The two exchanged a typical male handshake before he and Lisa greeted each other. “I didn’t know you guys were here already.”
“When Natalie was at the house last night we told her we’d come early to help decorate.”
“Aneetra and I went to the Wise Wives ministry meeting that Lisa invited me to. Remember, I asked you if you could keep the kids, you said yes, but never came up from the basement, so we took them with us and Robert watched them all.”
He could see all the children running around out back. “I’m sorry, I fell asleep.” He turned to Robert and Lisa. “My bad, guys.”
“RJ usually has Chandler anyhow, so it wasn’t a problem.”
“Thank you. I feel bad that y’all have been up here decorating. I was working on a case and lost track of time.”
“You’re always working on a case.” Natalie didn’t even attempt to sound cordial.
Robert tried to make light of things. “That’s what we do. The Bible says that if a man don’t work, he don’t eat.”
“Then we have an abundance of food around here,” Natalie snapped.
“Natalie, is there anything else that needs to be done?” He’d been willing to put their issues aside today for Nate’s sake, but apparently she hadn’t taken her big girl pill.
With a sarcastically sweet tone, she replied, “No, we’ve taken care of everything. You may go back to work on your day off and I’ll let you know when the party starts.”
Aneetra gave Natalie a “you’re trippin’ ” glance while Robert and Lisa looked at each other. If Natalie’s intent was to anger him all over again, she’d succeeded. Why couldn’t she appreciate the fact that he cared about his job? Before her, he was dedicated to his work for the sole purpose of protecting society. Now it wasn’t only society’s well-being that concerned him, it was hers and Nate’s. Every creep he helped put behind bars was one less monster he had to worry about and the better he felt about his family’s safety. He didn’t think it was appropriate for them to spar like this in front of guests, but he’d had enough of her attitude. “I said I’m sorry. If my apology isn’t good enough, then there’s nothing else I can do. At least I didn’t lie to you about what I was doing. I don’t appreciate your disrespect or how you’re trying to make it seem like I’m so involved in my work that I ignore you.”
“And I don’t ap—”
“Troy, why don’t you and Robert go do whatever it is men do while waiting for a three-year-old’s birthday party to start? I’ll handle this one and I promise she’ll have a better attitude by one o’clock.” Aneetra stepped in.
This time it was Natalie who gave Aneetra the look and Robert nodded toward the basement.
“I’m sorry you had to witness that, man,” Troy said to him once they were down there.
“That’s okay. I know that marriage isn’t always a walk in the park.”
“Yeah, well, currently I feel we’re going through a very chilly forest.”
CHAPTER 31: THE LAST MINUTE
“You need a big dose of act right.” Aneetra wasted no time laying into Natalie.
“Whatever. I’m sick of him not having his priorities straight.”
“Girl, you know how focused your husband is. It wouldn’t have hurt you to gently remind him and I believe he would have dropped everything for you. You’re being petty and you were wrong for calling him out like that.”
If Natalie could have slapped Aneetra, she would have. She had some nerve siding with Troy after Natalie had had her back the whole week with the Marcus situation. Traitor! “Lisa, what do you think? Would you be upset if Robert worked all the time and you basically felt like a single mother?”
“I was a single mother for several years when RJ and I were divorced. Our daughter was a teenager at the time. Imagine how fun that was.”
“So, you get what I’m saying, right?”
“I can understand your frustration, but if I can be honest, I don’t think you handled things appropriately. Men have fragile egos. He felt disrespected.”
“But—”
“But nothing! Lisa’s being politically correct. I have too much on my mind to be beating around the bush. Yes, you had a right to be upset with Troy, but it’s not that serious. Even if it was, you should’ve never addressed him publicly. Put yourself in his shoes. How would you like it if he fronted on you?”
“But—”
“Swallow your pride and admit you were wrong. You were wrong now and yesterday morning.”
“What did I do yesterday morning?” Aneetra didn’t respond, but it became painfully obvious that she’d overheard their argument about the birth control pills.
“You…were…wrong,” she repeated, trying to keep from bringing up the specifics of the argument in front of Lisa.
Natalie wasn’t even sure why she was so mad at Troy. He did work a lot, but she’d never felt neglected. She did feel overwhelmed from time to time when it came to taking care of Nate. His pressing for another child without considering the extra burden it would put on her infuriated her. Not babysitting last night and failing to decorate were cover issues for the emotional distress she was under thinking about the whole baby thing.
“I’d trade a cheating husband for an overworking one any day. At least you know he loves you and you don’t have a thousand questions and insecurities running through your mind. Trust and honesty are so important in a relationship,” Aneetra continued.
“She’s telling the truth. When men cheat, it can send a woman’s self-esteem completely downhill. We want our husbands to love us and when they stray, it can be hard to believe that they ever did. But thank God for restoration. Marriages can survive after adultery. In my case, they can survive after divorce.” Lisa’s comments seemed more directed toward Aneetra than Natalie. “There’s nothing too hard for the Lord to work out if He’s given the chance.”
It started thundering. “I hope the rain holds off for a few more hours,” said Natalie.
“I doubt it will. We should move everything inside in case it starts pouring. Better safe than sorry,” Aneetra responded.
Natalie hated having to redo things at the last minute. Even more frustrating was that Corrine was taking her sweet time getting there when they could really use her right now! Natalie didn’t try to leave Troy out this time. She called him up and asked if he and Robert could move the living room furniture and set Nate’s inflatable playhouse inside. The tension between them was still thick, but he agreed without complaint. Thank the Lord they had a nice-sized space because there was plenty of room left over for the adults to sit.
Natalie would have preferred to move the things in the basement, but she knew Troy would object to a dozen kids running around his sixty-five-inch flat-screen and all of his other toys. She wasn’t too crazy about her Ikea furniture and decorations being in jeopardy either. The women helped make sure the room was kid-friendly so no valuables would be in reach.
“Thank you all so much. I—we—would have never gotten this together without your help.” She smiled, winking at Troy who stared at her coldly.
“No problem,” replied Lisa. “It’s a good thing we did this. Look.”
Slight drops of rain had started to fall. Natalie stepped aside to call Corrine while Lisa ushered the kids into the house and Aneetra let in Nate’s play grandparents, Sylvia and Richard, who were followed by an influx of others.
CHAPTER 32: A POSITIVE SIGN
The ferocious sounds of thunder and lightning had no effect on Nate or the remaining guests. The Evans household was busy! Kids running around laughing and playing; men engaged in conversations about sports; women exchanging tips about hair, beauty and telling once upon a time stories about their children—everything should have been perfect. But two and a half hours into the party, there was still no word from Corrine. Natalie pressed her head against the living room window. Every time she saw shining headlights coming down the road, a glimmer of excitement stirred in her spirit only to be equaled with a mountain of despair when the vehicle failed to stop at her home.
The splatter of rain against the window pane was symbolic of the tears she cried inside. With all his friends, presents, and the sugar rush he was on, Nate had stopped asking for Corrine, but the questions continued in Natalie’s mind. Though Aneetra had encouraged her to not worry, she couldn’t help it. Corrine would never abandon Nate. She’d be there for him even if she was still mad at Natalie.
“You okay?” Troy had come up behind her. That’s the most he’d said to her since the party had started.
“Sort of. I know I have a lot of explaining to do.”
/> “This isn’t the time or place.”
“I know. For the record, I want to say I’m sorry—for everything.”
His pain was still very apparent through his forced smile. “You still haven’t heard from Corrine?”
“No. I think something’s wrong. I should go over there.”
“Okay. I’ll ask Aneetra to take charge of things and I’ll go with you.”
“No. One of us needs to be here. The other parents don’t know her like that.”
“Well, I don’t want you riding by yourself. Sylvia, will you come here, please?”
Having inquired about Corrine several times earlier also, Sylvia was more than eager to oblige. Aneetra stayed behind to pick up Natalie’s slack as hostess. Sylvia drove so Natalie wouldn’t have to ask guests to move their cars to get hers out the garage. “I spoke with Toni this morning. She said that Corrine recently got back from Chicago.”
“Yep. On Thursday. I haven’t spoken to her since then.”
“Toni talked to her yesterday morning, so don’t worry, honey, I’m sure she’s fine.” Sylvia’s words, though meant to be reassuring, were not comforting. Though Natalie didn’t particularly like the fact that her godmother had hooked up with her mom’s boyfriend after she died, she had to admit that Sylvia had always been there when needed. She’d grown up with Natalie’s family in Mississippi and was the one who’d introduced Natalie’s parents to each other. When she and her mom first moved to Ohio, they stayed at Sylvia’s home.
“Nate is so funny. The last time we had him over, he and Richard were play boxing and I told Richard not to be too rough with him. Richard said something smart like, ‘Stop overreacting.’ Nate said, ‘Pap, no talkin’ back to Nani, ’cuz her might spank you,’ then he looked at me and said, ‘Nani, stop it. But I not talkin’ back, okay?’ ” She chuckled lightly. “He is such a smart and well-mannered child. You and Troy should be proud of yourselves.”
“Thank you.” Sylvia tried to act normal like this was some joy ride, but she wasn’t as calm as she appeared. The way she raced through the wet streets, her Audi nearly hydroplaning, gave way to her worries. They were almost to Corrine’s place.
Wages of Sin Page 15
