A Little Bit of Karma

by ReShonda Tate Billingsley

  He nodded. “I know. I told them I didn’t think you knew anything. But the rest of my team doesn’t agree.”

  Jay started rocking back and forth like he was trying to keep himself calm. I ignored him and continued talking to Ivan. “What are they going to do to us?” I asked.

  Ivan shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine, but I imagine it won’t be pretty.”

  I decided to take a chance. “Ivan, you know I don’t know anything. I mean, we were just together that one time, but we talked and I was open with you. You know I was telling the truth.” I could feel the fury coming from my husband, but that couldn’t be my focus right now.

  Ivan nodded. “I do believe that you don’t know anything. Not so sure about hubby over there.”

  “He doesn’t know anything, so please just let us go,” I said. “Please.” I hesitated, then added, “We’ll pay you. Whatever they’re paying you, we’ll double it. I give you my word. You know how to find us, so you know that I’m not going to double-cross you.”

  I had expected him to balk at the idea, but I saw a light go on in his eyes.

  “My wife is right,” Jay added, seizing on Ivan’s hesitation. “Name your price.”

  “One million,” Ivan said, like he was just throwing a number out.

  “Done,” I said. That was almost all our savings, but it was better than being dead. “Our business manager, Quincy Haynes, will make sure you get the money.”

  “Don’t play with me, because I will come find you,” Ivan warned. He had a shocked expression, like he hadn’t expected us to really offer him money.

  “We have no doubt that you will,” I said. “So I assure you that you will get your money.”

  He paused, like he was actually contemplating our offer. “Okay, I’m going to let you go.”

  “Thank God,” I said, relief consuming me.

  “Now, I’m going to untie you guys. Max and the other guys ran out for a few minutes. I’m supposed to be gone, too, but I doubled back. They’ll probably be gone for about twenty minutes or so,” Ivan said. “That’s enough time for you to get out of the building. You need to get as far away from the islands as you can. Go back to the States.”

  “And go where? How are we going to get off Saint Croix?” Jay asked. “And then how are we going to get on the plane in Saint Thomas? I’m sure the cops are looking for us by now. They probably think we had something to do with Vonda’s murder. We can’t chance the airport.”

  I hadn’t even thought about that. I didn’t know how long we’d been here, but it had to have been at least five or six hours. We’d missed the first morning sessions and they had for sure found Vonda’s body by now. We probably were the talk of the island.

  “You can leave here through that door,” Ivan said, standing and pointing to a door at the back of the room. “Right on the other side is a fire escape. Quietly take that down, make your way out to the main road, and have a cab take you to the port to catch a seaplane over to Saint Thomas. Go to the Virgin Airlines baggage counter and ask for a guy named Talib. I’ll let him know you’re coming. He’ll get you on board the flight.”

  “This isn’t some trick, is it? I mean, how do we know we can trust you?” I asked.

  “How do I know I can trust you to give me my money? Besides, do you have any other choice?” he replied.

  I stared into his eyes and knew that he was my only hope. I said a little prayer that he was on the up-and-up as he began untying me.

  “Why are you helping us?” I asked.

  “Like I told you, this wasn’t personal. I was just doing my job. Business. And if you can offer me a better business deal, I’m rolling with it.” He stroked my cheek. “And truth be told, being with you is something I would’ve done for free. I hope we can one day reconnect and I can finish the job.”

  “What the—?” Jay kicked violently at Ivan.

  “Calm down, Jay,” I snapped. His jealousy was about to blow our chance at freedom.

  “Yes, calm down, Jay.” Ivan smiled, licking his lips seductively as he stared at me. “Your woman just had an itch that was in dire need of scratching and I was happy to oblige. So while you were off taking care of someone else’s needs, I was taking care of hers.”

  I wanted to give Ivan a piece of my mind for playing me, but since right now he was our only hope at freedom, I bit my tongue. “Can you just help us get out of here?”

  “Look,” he said as he went back to untying the rope around my arms, “I’m going to help you, but honestly, they’re just going to find you again. These people don’t play.”

  “But we don’t have anything to do with whatever they’re after,” I protested.

  “Then you might want to find out who does. Just get them what they want. These people don’t play fair. And unless you want me after you as well, I suggest you call this Quincy dude and tell him I need my money.”

  “I told you you’ll get it,” I said.

  “Cool. And don’t let the sweetness fool you: I can be ruthless when someone screws me over. I’ll send info on how to reach me through your switchboard at the radio station.” Before Ivan finished untying the rope, he leaned in and kissed me so hard that it had Jay squirming in his chair again as he tried to break loose.

  “Until we meet again,” Ivan said, untying the last cord, then standing and walking off.

  He had just reached the door when I reached over to untie Jay. “You need to calm down,” I whispered, as I struggled with the rope.

  “Calm down? That asshole kissed you right in front of me.”

  “Like you told me the other day, now’s not the time.” I finally got the rope around his arms untied and he jerked free, then darted toward the door.

  “He’s not going to just disrespect me like that!”

  “Jay,” I whispered, “where are you going? Do you want Max and his thugs to catch us?”

  Jay stopped at the door as if common sense were prevailing.

  I came up behind him. “You can’t go after him. He’s helping us, remember? They’ll have us tied back up so fast, and who knows what else they’ll do.”

  “Fine, whatever.” Jay took his anger out on the concrete floor, stomping to the back of the room and the door Ivan had told us to exit out of. “Let’s just go.” He led the way out the door. Just like Ivan had said, there was a fire escape, which we took all the way down.

  Jay took my hand and we ran for what seemed like ten minutes without seeing a soul. I just knew that at any moment Max or Will or someone was going to come up and drag us back into the SUV. Finally, we spotted a cab. After getting the driver to pull over, we jumped in, praying that we could make it to the seaplane and off this island without being spotted.

  eighteen

  Jay had paid cash for our seaplane tickets. This was one of those times I was thankful for his pocketful of cash he always carried. Luckily, the small airport didn’t seem up-to-date on security techniques and the woman behind the counter didn’t flinch when Jay said our wallets and identification had been stolen. She just took our money and passed the tickets. We’d boarded the seaplane and made the twenty-minute flight back to Saint Thomas. Just as Ivan instructed, we caught another cab to the airport and prayed that we’d be able to get on a plane.

  I spotted the Virgin baggage counter and nervously walked over. “Excuse me, we’re looking for Talib,” I said, trying to appear casual.

  The clerk pointed toward a three-hundred-pound man who was dozing by the emergency exit in a wicker chair that looked like it was about to collapse at any moment.

  “Thank you.” I motioned for Jay to follow me.

  We tiptoed up on the man.

  “Excuse me, Talib? I was told you could help us,” Jay said, his voice low.

  Talib barely looked up. “You got money?”

  “All we have is about five hundred dollars,” Jay replied. We’d actually gotten some cash from the ATM when we arrived at the airport, but we didn’t know when or if police would cut off the c
redit and debit cards, so we’d discussed trying to hang on to some cash. Since I had stormed out of my hotel room with nothing but my room key, I had no access to cash.

  “Come see me when you have money,” Talib replied with a heavy accent.

  “Look, we’re good for it,” Jay said. “But that’s all we have on us. My wife doesn’t have her purse and the ATM only lets us withdraw four hundred dollars a day.”

  Talib finally looked up, his eyes settling on Jay’s Movado watch. “Four hundred, the watch”—he glanced at my hand—“and the ring.”

  “What? No way,” Jay said, his hand instinctively covering my ring finger.

  Talib shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He leaned back and lowered his straw hat over his eyes.

  “That’s a fifteen-thousand-dollar ring,” Jay protested.

  “Like I said, suit yourself,” Talib repeated.

  I pulled the ring off my hand. “Here, take the ring. It’s not like it means anything anyway,” I said sharply.

  “Shannon, what are you doing?” Jay pulled me toward him.

  “Jay, we don’t have room for negotiation.” I motioned toward the flight billboard. “The flight to D.C. leaves in a few minutes and we need to be on it.”

  “No, we… we can go to the police,” Jay said.

  Talib let out a small chuckle from under his hat. “The people that you’re running from, I’m sure they have the police in their pockets. You’ll be here a very long time trying to work it all out.”

  Jay paused like he was trying to think of other options. “Okay, fine,” he finally said, removing his watch. “But I’ll be back for this ring.”

  “Why bother?” I muttered. After all we’d been through, a ring that obviously couldn’t keep Jay true to his vows was the least of my concerns.

  Jay handed Talib the money, the ring, and the watch, and Talib stood as if we weren’t in a hurry and walked over to the Virgin ticket counter. He motioned to a girl pecking away at the computer. She walked over and he whispered something in her ear. She nodded, returned to her computer, and continued pecking. In a matter of minutes, she printed out two tickets and handed them to Talib.

  “We don’t have ID,” I said when Talib returned and handed us the tickets, which said Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Cook. I was relieved because I hadn’t thought we’d be as lucky as we’d been in Saint Croix, especially since this airport was bigger.

  “Just go to security, tell the guy there that Tiny said hi, then go get on the plane,” Talib said.

  I was skeptical, but we didn’t have time to debate. Thankfully, the line for security moved quickly.

  “Tiny said hi,” Jay said, as he handed the TSA agent the tickets. The agent nodded, then ushered us through.

  Ten minutes later, we were sitting in row 12 on board the plane.

  “Are we gonna be okay?” I finally asked Jay, who looked just as nervous as I did.

  “Yes,” he said, squeezing my hand. He tried to sound confident, but an eerie feeling told me it would be a while before we were ever okay again.

  nineteen

  That had to have been the longest, scariest four hours of my life. I had ridden in fear, even as the plane sailed to thirty thousand feet. I knew that any minute it was going to turn around and land back in the Virgin Islands, and the police were going to drag me and Jay off it in handcuffs.

  We’d been in the air for an hour before I was able to let go of even some of that fear and relax. Jay must’ve been worn out, just like me, because he didn’t say much of anything for the entire plane ride. Either that or he was still thinking about Ivan.

  I had never been so happy to see the D.C. skyline come into view. Both Jay and I had tensed up as we deplaned in Washington, fearful that the police would be waiting at the gate.

  But no one had been waiting. Not at the gate, or when we walked out of the airport and to the valet to retrieve his vehicle.

  Now we were in Jay’s SUV, heading home. It wasn’t until we pulled onto the freeway that I spoke.

  “Do you think Ivan let us go on his own, or that they told him to let us go?” I asked, breaking the nervous tension that filled the SUV.

  “Maybe being with you was just so good to him that he wanted to let you go so the two of you could meet up again.” Jay didn’t bother trying to hide his sarcasm.

  I decided not to respond. I’d taken enough digs at him these last few days that I was going to allow him this one.

  “Where are we going?” I said, when I noticed him pass the exit to our house. Or my house, since he hadn’t been back there in more than five weeks.

  Jay sat staring straight ahead, obviously still upset. He’d probably spent the whole plane ride thinking about me and Ivan. Good, I thought. Now he might understand what I felt.

  Jay finally shook his head like he was trying to push away any thoughts of me and Ivan. “We’re searching for answers, so we need to try to find this stupid jump drive they’re talking about.”

  “And what are we going to do with it once we find it?”

  “I don’t know,” Jay responded, exasperated. “But Ivan was right—unless we plan on staying on the run the rest of our lives, it’s just a matter of time before those thugs from Saint Croix track us down. So we need to just find this drive, get these people off our backs, and hopefully clear our names since I’m sure they’re going to try and pin Vonda’s murder on us.”

  “And how are we going to do that?” This was never-ending.

  “Shannon, it’s like I said—I don’t know. But I’m guessing we start at Vonda’s house.”

  I cringed. “I’m sure you have a key so we don’t have to break in or anything.”

  “Yes, I do have a key,” he replied. “And it’s a good thing or we’d be out of luck.”

  I let out a pained laugh. Was he purposely trying to hurt me? “But yet you want me to believe there was nothing to this relationship.”

  He kept his gaze straight ahead. “There really wasn’t. Vonda insisted that I have the key, and taking it was easier than fighting her on it. I’ve never used it.”

  “Whatever, Jay,” I said, folding my arms and turning to stare out the window. “Can we just go find this jump drive so we can get out of this mess, finalize our divorce, and get on with our lives?” I was exhausted, and fighting with Jay was the last thing I wanted to do right now.

  Jay finally turned to look at me. And if I hadn’t known any better, I would’ve thought I saw a flicker of regret. But Jay quickly turned his attention back to the road and we rode in silence until I found myself saying, “What happened? What made you stray?”

  The tone of my voice must have gotten to him because he looked over at me, an apologetic expression on his face. He pulled off the freeway and into a parking lot. After cutting off the SUV’s engine, he turned to face me. “Shannon, I’m sorry. I can’t say that enough.” He sighed. “If I’m being honest, I strayed because it got to the point that I hated where we were. I hated the constant fighting, the constant attitude. If I breathed too loud, you got mad. Any little thing I did aggravated you to no end, and there was just no joy left in our lives. I missed what we had. We used to laugh, enjoy life. When’s the last time we had that? Then I felt like you had flipped the script and gotten mad at me because I didn’t like your new rules.”

  “What do you mean by that?” I managed to ask, though his words pained me.

  He let out another long sigh, like he had some stuff he’d been wanting to say but had been holding in.

  “Shannon, we talked about our plans before we got married,” he continued. “Not only that, we agreed on them. We said we weren’t going to have kids. I had one kid out of wedlock—”

  “But we’re married, Jay,” I interrupted.

  “Please, let me finish,” he huffed. I motioned for him to continue. “I hated Ericka for going behind my back and planning to get pregnant because she knew I was adamant about not wanting kids yet. So I missed out on the first three years of my daughter’s life because I
was being an asshole, harboring animosity, failing to realize Ericka hadn’t gotten pregnant on her own. I was too busy being angry and trying to keep this singing career going to make time for my child, and when all was said and done, the career was over, and I wasn’t even there when my child died.”

  In all our years of marriage, Jay had only talked twice about the child he’d lost, a little girl named Jamila who’d died in a car accident when she was seven. She’d been in a car with her nanny when they were hit by a drunk driver. The fact that neither Jay nor Ericka had been with their child when she died tore at his soul.

  “I understand that,” I said, my tone empathetic, “and I know it must’ve hurt you, but I don’t see what that had to do with us.”

  He pounded the steering wheel. “Because you and I were both busy, wrapped up in our careers. I didn’t want to bring another child into this world who might be neglected.”

  “So you don’t think a child would’ve changed anything? That we wouldn’t have made that child our priority?” I asked. Why had we never had this conversation before? Once I’d decided I wanted kids, I’d told him, he’d said no, and every conversation thereafter had been an argument.

  “It wasn’t a chance I was willing to take. I never wanted to go through the heartache of losing a child again.” He exhaled slowly. “Besides, I was clear before we got married that I didn’t want any more kids. And you agreed. You said you didn’t want children. Then you just flipped the script. That… that’s why I went and had the vasectomy.”

  “Without my knowledge.”

  “Just like you were going to stop taking your birth control pills without my knowledge.” My eyes widened. How did he know that?

  “I heard you on the phone with Nicole one day,” he said, answering my silent question. “You thought I was gone. You told her you were going to sneak and stop taking them.”

  “But I didn’t,” I protested. “I was just venting!” I remembered that conversation because I’d really thought about it. I’d figured once Jay laid eyes on our precious child we’d be fine. But ultimately, I’d decided that was a level of deception I didn’t want to go to.