Nikki wished she could have taken Psalm to school, but today was a teacher in-service day and students were out. She kissed her daughter on the cheek and slammed the door. She glanced around, almost abandoning her plan to go into the building and leave her child in the car. She tried her best to straighten her blouse and knock the wrinkles out of the knees of her trousers when she stood next to the car. She held her mouth open to breathe out, trying to calm her stomach. She had to land a job somewhere.
Nikki emerged from the building ten minutes later, dejected. The office manager said they were not hiring receptionists, despite a sign in the window that said otherwise.
Nikki climbed back into the car and moved to the next business on her list. She hadn’t done much praying lately, but she uttered a silent prayer as she walked toward the building. “Please God, let somebody hire me. I don’t care. I’ll sweep floors. I just need to pay for a place for my baby and me to lay our heads.”
Chapter 107
Nurse Smart tapped Danielle on the shoulder, and Danielle jumped. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” Nurse Smart said with a tiny smile. Her brow creased. “I’m not really sure what’s going on, but you know we can’t wear street clothes on duty.”
Danielle flashed a brilliant smile at the woman. “But don’t you think I look much prettier in this than in those old, dull scrubs?”
Nurse Smart’s eyes roamed over Danielle’s body, stopping at her bust before lingering on her long expanse of leg. She nodded. “I have to hand it to you, you do look good,” she said, then cleared her throat. “And if it was up to me, I’d certainly let you wear what you have on. You are beautiful. But my boss is on me about not addressing this with you this morning. Danielle, you’ve got to go home and change.”
“Come on,” Danielle said, leaning a tad closer to the woman. “You just said I look good. What harm could it be in me wearing this?”
“Danielle, I really can’t allow it,” Nurse Smart said, reluctance lacing her tone. “I wish it could be different. You really must go put on your scrubs.”
Danielle’s eyes flashed. “I knew it! I knew you were in on it!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t ‘What are you talking about’ me!” Danielle yelled. “I knew you were part of the scheme. You want to force me to wear those scrubs so you can spy on me. Well, I’m not going to do it!”
Nurse Smart waved her hands in front of her, trying to calm Danielle. “Danielle, just try to get a hold of yourself. I’m not sure what you’re talking about, but whatever it is, we can get to the bottom of it. I’m not part of anything.”
Nurse Smart advanced on Danielle and reached for her arm. When she did, Danielle whirled on her and grabbed a pen from the desk next to her and stabbed it into the woman’s fleshy upper arm.
Nurse Smart looked down at the trickle of blood mixed with ink and then back up at Danielle, shock written all over her face. “Danielle!”
“Stay away from me!” Danielle screamed, brandishing the pen in front of her.
Heads whipped around and Nurse Smart took a step back, one hand pressed against her injury. A security officer rushed toward them, but Nurse Smart held up her hand. “It’s all right. It’s all right,” she said. “It was just a misunderstanding.”
As night fell, Nikki’s spirits did too. “Mommy, I’m tired of being in the car all day,” Psalm whined from the backseat.
“Sweetie, I know,” Nikki said.
“I want to go home.”
“We can’t really do that right now,” Nikki said. “But shhh, Mommy needs to think.”
“I want my daddy,” Psalm pouted.
“Psalm, just be quiet,” Nikki said sharply and her tone immediately softened. “I’m sorry, baby. Mommy just has to figure some things out. It’ll be better soon.”
Nikki sat in the parking lot of a motel, counting and recounting her money. Minus the pancake breakfast, a shared hamburger meal for lunch and the sandwich and ice cream she had just given Psalm for dinner, she had seven-dollars to her name.
Not enough to get a motel room.
Nikki’s mind flashed back to her freshman year at college. Money had been tight then, too. She was a scholarship student, but the money ran out long before the bills. Spencer had approached her about a quick way to make some dollars. She shook her head to banish the memory.
No, she could not go back there. She would never again be that person. Nikki’s cheeks grew hot as she recalled all she had done for money. Her only solace was in knowing her secret had remained hidden.
Nobody ever had to know she was once that girl.
Chapter 108
BROUSSARD’S WIFE PART OF SEX-FOR-HIRE RING.
The headline slapped William. He stayed at the house the night before in hopes that Nikki would show up. He walked back inside after picking up the paper from the driveway. He didn’t notice the chill in the air because the heat of his temper consumed him.
The story in the newspaper unfolded as Olivia had told him. Only he was too dumb to believe it. He read the story: “Nikki Broussard, twenty-seven, wife of underdog mayoral candidate William Broussard was a one-time member of an underground college sex ring. Mrs. Broussard apparently was among several freshmen who performed sexual favors for visiting football team members and some of the college’s faculty in exchange for money.
“The sex ring was disbanded after several months, but not before Mrs. Broussard and others provided services for a reputed legion of clients. The chain was run by Mrs. Broussard’s steady boyfriend at the time, Spencer Cason. Neither Mrs. Broussard nor Mr. Cason could be reached for comment.”
My wife was a prostitute. William balled up the paper in his fist. After a moment, he smoothed it back out and reread the last part. Nikki and Spencer had been together like that? He clenched his teeth until his jaw hurt.
Nikki stretched, trying to get the strain out of her neck after sleeping on the backseat of the tiny car with her daughter. She climbed out of the car and stood up, letting her legs feel freedom. The house would have been more comfortable, but she refused to go back there. She would finally make it on her own.
“Mommy, I don’t like this!” Psalm whined. “I’m hungry and my leg hurts and my breath smells funny.”
“Psalm, baby, I know this is not fun,” Nikki said. “Mommy will find us a place soon.”
“Why can’t we just go home? I want to go back to my own room.”
Nikki bit the inside of her cheek. She couldn’t have her child living on the street. A well-dressed, clean-shaven man walked by, eyeing her. She averted her eyes, but the thoughts she had been trying to make disappear resurfaced. They mocked her: You know how to get money when you’re in a pinch. It’s not like you’ve not done it before.
The election was the next day. “I think it’s pretty suspicious that they ran this story the day before the election,” William said to Winston and Olivia who stood around his desk.
“Yeah, you’d think they wouldn’t run something like this so close to the time for people to cast their votes,” Winston said.
“Yeah, that’s true, but it’s not like this was some made-up story. It’s obviously true,” Olivia reminded them both.
Olivia’s French manicured nail stabbed at the smiling face of Nikki staring back at them. “I can’t believe not only that she did something as sick as this, but that she hadn’t confided all this in you, William,” Olivia said. “I thought marriage was about honesty.”
The words stung and William had no answer. “Well, it just goes to show, we can all be wrong, huh?” He cleared his throat. “Okay, well, let’s give it one last hurrah today. Let’s work hard, at least to make a good showing so we don’t get beaten too badly. I know there is no way I can win after this story.”
“I noticed you just standing out here.” Nikki whipped around and recognized the clean-shaven man who had passed by her earlier.
“Oh, yeah?” she said.
“Yeah,” he said, and l
et a sly smile break across his face. “You looking for some company?”
Nikki shook her head. “No, I’m cool.”
He took a step closer, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a designer wallet full of crisp bills. “I can make it worth your while.”
“I said, ‘I’m cool,’” she insisted, turning her eyes away from the money.
He took a step back and held up his hand, grabbing the newspaper he had been holding under his arm. “I just thought you might be interested in a little business,” he said. “That’s all. I saw the story in the paper.”
“What story?” Oh, goodness, not another campaign story. What did this one say?
He smirked at her and opened his mouth, but his attention was drawn by a man who called to him. “Hey, the conference is about to start, man. Come on!”
The man shrugged and winked at her. “Maybe next time,” he said, shoving his wallet back into his pocket. He cast a glance back at her and walked away, shaking his head.
Nikki climbed back into the car and leaned against the headrest. She could still see the thick roll of money the man had held out to her, but she squeezed her eyes shut against the memory. There had to be another way. She would not go back there.
She stuck the key into the ignition and started the car; she would swallow her pride and go back to the house she had shared with William. Psalm deserved to sleep in her own bed, and not in a car. Nikki drove the short distance and let herself in, surveying the living room. A necktie lay across the back of the couch. The memories of their last night there washed over her and she caught her breath at the force of them.
She could not think about that, though. She felt she and William would never again be a couple.
Psalm flashed a sweet smile at her mother and went to her bedroom. Nikki sighed and flicked on the television.
“. . . William Broussard has refused comment on the matter. Spencer Cason has been fired from the Lo Dark campaign, after it was revealed he was the ringleader of the now infamous Welcome Wagon Contingent, which sent out young women, including Nikki Broussard, to have sex with . . .”
Nikki’s legs buckled beneath her and she groped for the back of the chair to steady herself. The remote slipped from her fingers and she fell to the chair, weak as the words washed over her. Her secret was no secret anymore.
“Oh no!”
Danielle hung up the phone with her sister. Their telephone conversations were usually brief. Today’s was no different. Danielle had called her after the story about Nikki ran. “Did you see the newspaper?”
Her sister’s voice was curt. “I did,” she said. “It’s a shame, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Danielle said. “But I have a few comments about that.”
Her sister cut her short. “Well, look, I can’t talk right now.”
“Well, I need to talk to you now,” Danielle said. The past few days had been stressful for her. First, Nikki had left her, and then Nurse Smart made her go home after that unfortunate incident with the pen. And now this.
“Look, I said I can’t talk to you now.” Her sister’s voice was firm.
“But I have to talk to you about this thing,” Danielle said plaintively. “It’s just too much. I’ve been under so much stress lately.”
“Well, you know what happens when you get stressed,” her sister said as if speaking with a child. “Try your breathing exercises. And try not to think about too much. I don’t want you to have to go back to the hospital.”
“I don’t need to go to a hospital!” Danielle snapped. She had spent her teen years in and out of mental hospitals. She had missed so many days of school that she was a year older than all her classmates at graduation. Nobody, outside her family, knew the reason she had missed so much class.
“Okay, well, you behave yourself and you won’t have to go back there,” her sister said. “But if you don’t let me work, something very bad may happen to you. Don’t you know they’re still watching you? Don’t you know they’re just waiting for you to slip up? If they catch you, they’re going to come and get you.”
Danielle dropped the phone and put her hands to her ears. “They’re not going to get me!”
Nikki’s discomfiture lasted for a moment before anger replaced it. She quickly hopped onto the Internet and found the newspaper’s Web site to read the full story. It was brief, but it had all she needed. While her name was there, and Spencer’s, there was no mention of Danielle.
She nodded grimly. Danielle had stabbed her in the back in the worst way. Nikki’s mind went back to all those years before.
“Spencer, I really don’t want to do this anymore,” Nikki had said, sipping on a sweet tea with two lemons as they waited for their food at the campus grill.
“Okay,” Spencer had replied. “You can quit whenever you want. But you know, you’re my best girl. All the guys like you. That’s really going to hurt me if I don’t have you.”
“And after Spencer’s been so good to you, are you really going to go out like that?” Danielle had chimed in. “I mean, if it wasn’t for him, you’d be sitting back home, too broke to even finish out the semester.”
Nikki looked from one to the other. “I’m really grateful,” she said. “But I just feel so weird about this. You guys told me it was only going to be a one-time thing when I did it the first time. Just a quick drink with that quarterback.”
“Well, you did such a good job that special requests started coming in for you,” Spencer said.
“It was more than just a drink, Spencer,” Nikki reminded him.
Danielle waved that off. “Stop complaining. You’re the newest girl and the guys do like young meat,” she said. “I mean, I get plenty of special requests because I’m so beautiful, but the guys like you because you look so innocent.”
Danielle had been one of Spencer’s girls and often went on Welcome Wagon dates. She had such a date the first day Nikki met her as a tutor. Spencer had spotted Nikki later and insisted Danielle help him get Nikki involved.
Nikki had become involved, but with great reluctance. Now, she was ready to quit.
“Look, just finish out the semester,” Spencer said. “That way, we can take care of a few things. And if you just do that for me, I will love you forever. Besides, doesn’t it feel good to be able to pay for all the things you need without having to call home?”
Nikki had looked down at her hands in her lap. “Okay.”
Nikki picked up the phone and punched in Danielle’s number. “Hello?”
“I saw the newspaper,” Nikki said.
“Yeah, I did too,” Danielle replied. “I tried to call you yesterday. William came up to my job asking me about all that. I was trying to let you know he found out.”
“Oh. He just happened to find out, huh?” Nikki asked, her voice full of acid. “Funny how he just happened to find out. Also funny how your name was mentioned nowhere in the story.”
There was a pause. “What? You don’t think I had anything to do with that coming out, do you?”
“All I know is what I see, Danielle,” Nikki spat back. “And it’s that you’re a lying, backstabbing—”
“I didn’t tell anybody about that. I swear,” Danielle jumped in. “I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“Yeah, like I believe that,” Nikki said. “So, what was it? Did you just get so ticked at me the other day that you wanted to see how much you could ruin me? Well, you got your wish. I’ll never be able to walk around this town again, without people thinking I’m some sort of easy woman.” Nikki’s voice caught in her throat. “And I guess, they’ll be right.”
“Nikki, I swear, I didn’t say a word.”
“Well, thanks a lot,” Nikki slung the words at Danielle. “Thanks for showing me what a friend is. First, you went to the newspaper about the credit card. Then you kicked me out of your house. Then you wanted to top it off with telling the world about my most shameful secret. Well, if I had any chance of getting my husband back before, you’ve killed al
l that. But maybe that was your whole point. Maybe you want me to be a lonely, selfish fool just like you. You can take your jealous self straight to you-know-where.”
Nikki slammed down the phone.
Danielle let the phone slip from her grasp and she sat down hard, her head in her hands. Her temples began to pound and the noise between her ears was deafening. She could hear bits and pieces of so many conversations from over the years, chasing each other around her head.
“You’d better watch it.”
“You’re going back to the hospital.”
“You’d better do what I say.”
“Tell me your secrets.”
“You can’t run.”
“Arghhhh!” she screamed and stood. Danielle walked around in circles, her hands to her ears, trying to block out the thoughts that threatened her sanity. “No! No! No!” she tried to fight the thoughts back.
Just as she calmed down and fell into her seat, exhausted, a flurry of activity at her door drew her attention. The building manager stood before her stern-faced, and Nurse Smart stepped quickly toward her desk. “Danielle, these people seem to think—”
“Danielle Esperanza? You’re under arrest for the murder of Troy Baldwin.”
Chapter 109
Nikki didn’t know what to do next. She refused to leave the house, too embarrassed to even step into the front lawn. She picked up the telephone to call William, but dropped it, guilt and shame making her skin burn.
She somehow managed to fix some oatmeal and toast for Psalm, before locking herself in the bathroom. She sat on the edge of the tub and finally, after weeks of stress and years of living in fear of being found out, she cried hard. And for a long time.
Her shoulders shook for the little girl whose father chose her brother instead of her. Her throat tightened for the little girl whose mother chose a stepdaughter and new husband over her. Her chest tightened for the college freshman who felt she had no other option than to sell her body to men who fancied her. She even cried for the woman who had spent the past seven years lying to everyone, including herself. She cried for the woman who avoided God because she thought He didn’t want anything to do with her.
Scandalous Truth Page 27
