A Little Bit of Karma

by ReShonda Tate Billingsley

  “I’m not so sure,” I said. The more I thought about this, the more I felt like this wouldn’t truly be over until I knew if Keri had been behind everything the whole time.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, there are still a lot of unanswered questions, like why would Keri sell out Vincent? Did she decide to just pick up where Vonda left off? And how do we know the senator doesn’t still think we’re working with Keri?”

  Jay slapped his forehead. “Oh, good grief, I just want this to be over.”

  “Yeah, me too,” I replied. “But it’s not. And it won’t be until we track Keri down and find out what kind of game she’s playing.”

  “If the police can’t find her, what makes you think we can?” Jay asked.

  I smiled. “Well, Mr. Lovejoy, I think we’ve proven we’re some superb sleuths.”

  Jay laughed. “You got that right. Who would’ve ever thought that?”

  “The police don’t even know who Keri is, so they wouldn’t even know where to start looking for her.”

  He smiled. “And we do?”

  I nodded. “Looks like we need to go pay another visit to our dear friend Mrs. Walker.”

  thirty-five

  Why in the world couldn’t we leave well enough alone?

  I asked myself that a million times as Jay and I drove to Westhaven Nursing Home. Maybe our nightmare was over. Maybe we didn’t have anything to worry about.

  But it was that maybe part that I couldn’t live with.

  I followed Jay inside the nursing home, hoping we’d have the same luck we’d had before. There was a different woman at the front desk.

  “Hi, we’re here to see our aunt, Mrs. Eloise Walker,” Jay said.

  The young, perky desk attendant frowned in confusion. “I think Mrs. Walker is gone already,” she said.

  “Gone where?”

  “Her granddaughter is moving her out today.” The woman scanned a log in front of her. “Oh, I’m sorry, she hasn’t left yet, so she should still be in her room.” The woman flashed a smile.

  “Miss Patterson!”

  We all turned to see the nurse we’d seen on our first visit, Bernice.

  She came stomping toward us. “I realize you may be new,” she told the woman at the desk, “but rule number one is that we don’t give out private patient information.”

  The younger woman’s eyes widened in fear. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry. They said they were family.”

  “Well, they lied.” Bernice glared at us. “They were just here yesterday with that lie, and almost cost me my job.” She moved to block our path. “Now, I have been given strict instructions that Mrs. Walker will not be having any visitors, especially you two. So I’d appreciate it if you would please leave. Otherwise, I will be forced to call security.”

  Jay held up his hands. “Hey, no need to call security. We’re leaving.”

  “So much for that idea,” he said, once we were back outside. We climbed into the SUV. I put my hand up to stop him from turning the ignition.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “I’m leaving. You heard them tell us we couldn’t see her.”

  “I also heard them say her granddaughter is coming to move her out today.”

  Jay smiled as he realized I was saying we should wait. “Where do you think Keri is taking her?”

  “Well, she’s rich now, so she’s probably taking her across the country to some private facility.”

  “So we’re just going to sit here and wait on her?”

  I nodded.

  “We could be waiting a long time,” Jay warned.

  “Then we might as well get comfortable,” I said, shifting in my seat.

  We sat in the vehicle and waited. Neither one of us wanted to chance dozing off and missing Keri, so we chatted about everything—general stuff at first, our own relationship. I was honest about my feelings regarding the vasectomy. He apologized and told me he was just scared. It was a deep, insightful conversation—one we probably should’ve had a long time ago. I realized that I wanted to keep digging in this story because I liked being close to Jay.

  “I guess Riley was right. Maybe we just needed to sit somewhere and talk,” Jay said.

  I glanced at my watch. It hadn’t felt like it, but it had been three whole hours since we first pulled up to the nursing home.

  “Yeah, it’s just a shame we couldn’t make time to talk until it was a little too late,” I finally said.

  Jay nodded in agreement. “Yeah, but—”

  “Hey, hey, look, it’s Keri,” I said, cutting him off as I hit his arm. I pointed toward the parking lot. Keri had just pulled into a space in the second row. Both Jay and I jumped out and raced over to stop her before she reached the door.

  Keri froze at the sight of us. It looked like she was trying to decide if she was going to take off running. Instead, she said, “What do you two want? Why are you following me?”

  “We need to talk to you,” I said.

  Keri glanced around nervously.

  “Don’t worry, we’re by ourselves,” Jay said.

  “For now,” I added, pulling out my cell phone.

  “What are you doing? Are you calling the police?” Her voice was full of panic. “Why are you guys harassing me? What have I ever done to you?”

  “Only lied from the first day I met you and got us caught up in all this drama,” I snapped.

  “I didn’t get you caught up. Your husband would be the one who did that.”

  Checkmate, I thought. But now wasn’t the time to go there. Instead I said, “What kind of game are you playing, Keri?”

  “I’m not playing any kind of game.”

  I began punching numbers on my phone. “Either you be honest, or I’m dialing the last digit to the cops. They’ll be here before you know it. You know everyone on the force is looking for you and we’re the only ones who even know your identity.”

  Keri sighed in defeat. “What do you want to know?”

  “We want to know what kind of game you have us caught up in,” I repeated.

  “I told you I’m not playing any game. You two are the ones who don’t know how to leave well enough alone, and I definitely don’t have you caught up in anything.” She rolled her eyes and folded her arms.

  “No, the senator probably thinks we’re in on this with you guys,” Jay said.

  “What are you talking about?” Keri replied. “Bradley knows you’re not involved.”

  Jay and I exchanged shocked glances. “Bradley? And how do you know that?” Jay asked.

  “Because Vincent told him he was acting alone,” she said, looking back and forth between the two of us. She nodded as if she’d figured out why we were so worried. “Oh, you thought he was still after you?”

  “We weren’t sure,” Jay said.

  “Well, rest easy,” Keri said. “When big-mouth Vincent decided to pick up where Vonda left off, he made it clear that he was acting alone. He didn’t even give me up. I think he wanted them to think he was intelligent enough to pull it off by himself. As if.”

  Jay narrowed his eyes, not missing what she was saying. “Give you up? Were you in with Vonda on this all along?”

  Keri tsked but didn’t reply.

  “Were you?” Jay repeated. “Did you help Vonda pull this off?”

  “Please,” Keri snapped, like she was offended. “Vonda wasn’t smart enough to pull this off either.”

  Jay frowned in confusion. “What does that mean? Vonda was the one sleeping with the senator.”

  “Nobody was sleeping with the senator,” Keri said with an attitude.

  “What?” Jay and I said together.

  “But you said—” Jay began.

  “I know what I said,” she snapped. “But Vonda wasn’t sleeping with him.”

  “Then how did she get the jump drive?” I asked.

  Keri pursed her lips as she cocked her head. “Let’s just say Senator Bell underestimated the power of his lowly adm
inistrative assistant.”

  “Excuse me?” I said.

  Keri huffed like we were working her nerves. “I worked in his office while I was in college. Senator Bell decided that the only way I could advance would be to have sex with him; then he had the nerve to have me fired when I refused to do so. Not only did he get me fired, but he got my scholarship revoked. That scholarship was the only way I was able to stay in school. So needless to say, with it and my job gone, I had to drop out. I stumbled across his little land deal while working for him. He, like every other man I know, underestimated my intelligence. I held on to this information for six months, hoping I’d never have to use it, but waiting on just the right time in case I did. And the day I got fired was the right time.”

  I scratched my head. This didn’t make sense. “So this was about a vendetta?”

  Keri’s eyes were raging with fury. “It sure was. I worked my ass off trying to get ahead and do things the right way and the oh-so-powerful Senator Bradley Bell decided he was going to ruin my life because I refused to have sex with him!”

  “Wow,” Jay said, as her revelation set in. “So how did Vonda get involved?”

  For a moment, I didn’t think Keri was going to answer.

  “Keri, please? If we wanted to cause any trouble for you, the cops would be here, not us.”

  Keri took a deep breath and said, “I didn’t want him to know where the blackmail was coming from, so I had Vonda contact him. I promised to give her some of the money if she helped me out. Only her dumb behind couldn’t follow simple instructions and she told her stupid-ass ex-boyfriend.”

  “So you got your friend killed?” Jay said.

  “I didn’t kill her,” Keri protested. She paused as a young couple passed us in the parking lot. When they were out of hearing distance, Keri turned back to us. “We knew the risk of what we were doing. I had a plan, but Vonda didn’t stick to it. She’s the one who used her home phone to call the senator’s office to try and blackmail him, claiming she blocked her number before calling. How stupid is that? All it took was a call to the phone company, and they tracked her down. So she got herself killed, not me!”

  “So it doesn’t bother you at all that your best friend was murdered because of a plan you came up with?” I asked.

  “Of course it does,” Keri snapped, her eyes watering. “But what am I supposed to do about it? And then Vincent comes in and tries to pick up where Vonda left off. I didn’t want to work with him. I can’t stand him. But since Vonda told him everything, I didn’t have a choice. And guess what? He didn’t want to follow my plan either, and look what happened to him.”

  “So I guess you won,” Jay said, shaking his head.

  “I guess I did.” She defiantly folded her arms across her chest. She was trying to play hard, but I could tell she was scared to death.

  “Now what?” Keri finally said. “You got the whole story. Will you please leave me and my grandmother alone?”

  We stared. I was torn. I didn’t condone blackmail, but if what Keri was saying was true, the senator had basically ruined her life. Then there was the fact that by even bringing this issue to light, Keri had potentially stopped what could’ve been a catastrophic disaster in New Orleans.

  After all this attention, even if the senator beat the murder charge, no way would he do anything with the land in New Orleans. So maybe Keri deserved to be paid, even if it was with ill-gotten money.

  “You know what?” I finally said, looking at Jay. “Our name is cleared, and Senator Bell knows we’re not involved, which means he should leave us alone. So as far as I’m concerned”—I looked back at Keri—“we’re not in it.”

  Shock covered Keri’s face. “Are you serious?”

  Jay nodded in agreement. “Hey, it’s like my wife said, we’re clear, and personally, I’m tired of playing detective, so I think we should let the cops do their own job.”

  “So you’re not gonna turn me in?”

  I shook my head. “Nope. Think about it, you might’ve saved thousands of people in New Orleans. Because if Senator Bell really had planned to cause another disaster, a lot of people could’ve lost their lives.”

  Keri bit her bottom lip like she was thinking. “Wow, I never looked at it like that.”

  “Yeah,” I continued, “because you took the jump drive, people know about what the senator was planning. So the way I see it, you’re entitled to the money, and as far as I’m concerned, we’re done. We can’t say that the police won’t stop searching for you. And Senator Bell may not have put two and two together and figured out your connection, but he’s a smart man. It may be just a matter of time.”

  “I’ll be long gone by the time he figures it out.”

  “Good luck to you and your grandmother. I think it’s admirable that you didn’t take off and leave her,” Jay said.

  Keri looked wide-eyed. “That wasn’t even an option. That’s my grandmother. She raised me.”

  I couldn’t help but smile at Keri. That girl was going to be all right. She had a survival instinct that was going to let her take care of herself—and her grandmother.

  “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go get my grandmother out of here. The security here sucks.” Keri flashed a grin. She headed toward the door, but then stopped and turned to face us. “And thank you so much for not turning me in.”

  “Thank you for finally giving us some closure,” I said, looking at Jay. Our nightmare was officially over. Now it was time to work on closure for our marriage.

  thirty-six

  Things were supposed to have returned to normal. And they had. Jay was in one room and I was in another. Gone was the fear of thugs, con men, and crooked senators. It had been replaced with the emptiness that had consumed us before Vonda came crashing into our world.

  Keri was probably long gone by now, with the senator’s money. As I’d expected, Senator Bell had been released from jail this morning, and had held a press conference “vowing to fight the unjust charges” against him. I had debated calling in an anonymous tip, but then decided I didn’t have to. Every media outlet in the country was all over this story, including MSNBC, for whom Nicole was working on a special investigation. It was just a matter of time before someone dug up the dirt on their own.

  “Hey, I got the last of my things loaded into the car. I just have a few more things. I’m pretty tired. If you don’t mind, I’ll just get them tomorrow.”

  I nodded. I’d been upstairs, aimlessly watching rap videos on MTV. I hated rap, but I needed anything to drown out my reality—the reality that my husband was actually packing up and leaving.

  Jay stood in front of me, his blue-and-white Nike warm-up suit dotted with specks of dirt from him moving boxes all day.

  I was heartbroken. After that caller had encouraged us, and we’d really talked, I’d thought that things had gotten better.

  But then, we had said very little yesterday after returning from the nursing home. The quiet tension that resided in our home took over the minute we stepped back inside. The only conversation we’d had had been over breakfast, when Jay questioned whether we should talk about any of this Bradley Bell stuff. I didn’t really want to. We’d agreed to tell our listeners that we were going our separate ways, so with that hanging over me, I really had no desire to talk about anything else. I couldn’t help but think about my mother’s curse about karma. Maybe this was my payback for not being a good wife—losing the man I really did love.

  We were really about to go our separate ways for good.

  “Before I go, I need to say once again how sorry I am—about everything,” Jay began.

  My first thought was to deliver a sarcastic response, but I no longer had the energy. So I simply said, “Me too.”

  I wanted to grab him and beg him to figure out a way to work it out. But I felt frozen. This time, it wasn’t even about pride. I just couldn’t bring myself to beg him to stay.

  “I guess we can sit down and talk about assets later?” he s
aid.

  “Can we just have the attorneys do that?” The anger and bitterness were gone. Right now, only pain filled my space. And every minute that Jay stood in front of me, the pain deepened.

  “That’s cool.” He stood awkwardly in the bedroom doorway. “Oh, in case I didn’t tell you, you’re a good private eye.”

  That brought a smile to my face. “You told me we were good together.”

  “We were,” he replied.

  “This all was kind of fun. We did have a little adventure, huh?” I said, managing a small laugh.

  “Yeah. It wasn’t fun at the time, but it was exciting now looking back.” He paused. “I just wish we’d done more of those types of things over the past year.”

  “What, run from police, thugs, and crooked politicians?”

  He chuckled. “Not that part. The adventure part.”

  “Yeah, hindsight is a powerful thing,” I said solemnly.

  Jay nodded as the awkward silence settled between the two of us again. Finally, he said, “Okay, I guess I’ll see you later at the station.”

  I briefly looked away and simply shook my head. He waited, like he wanted to say something else; then he turned and left the room. When I heard the door chime signaling his departure, I pulled my pillow close to me, my hand gently caressing his side of the bed. I closed my eyes and tried to inhale his scent. I wanted to capture it before I could no longer remember it. Emptiness filled my heart—an emptiness I wondered if I’d feel for the rest of my life.

  thirty-seven

  Today was the day of reckoning. We were officially about to let our listeners know about the divorce and my heart had never felt heavier.

  “Are you sure this is the way you want to handle this?” Nicole said as I handed her the scripts for the show.

  I nodded. “We owe it to our listeners. And besides, it’s just a matter of time before the public finds out, so we’d rather do it this way ourselves. Go out on top.”

  “Well, Jay’s already in there,” Nicole said. “He’s been at his desk for two hours, not saying a word, just sitting there like he’s lost in thought. And he barely spoke when he walked into the studio.”