Unforgettable Ain’t Irreplaceable
55
Almost a month had passed since Ris walked out of my life leaving the kids, her clothes, and everything we had together. There was always a shadow of doubt in the back of my mind that still carried the slightest fear that maybe something had really happened to her. It would nag me whenever my mind had a chance to wander, like when I was cooking, or taking a shower, or in those last few moments just before I’d fall asleep.
Lania had turned up within the next few days according to Keyshawn. She’d called him hung over and still high, claiming that Ris was of course laid up with that Keisha girl he’d mentioned. I was hurt, but Key turned out to be my knight in shining armor, gluing the pieces of my family back together little by little, even while dealing with the murder of Curtis, who I later found out was like his mentor, according to his teammates and all the news reports I’d read. They’d found parts of Curtis’s body when some trappers caught a gator with a human arm in its mouth about a week after Ris disappeared. They never caught the killer or found the rest of his body; hell the only way they even knew it was Curtis was by his damn fingerprints. I could tell it still really bothered Keyshawn sometimes.
I’d decided to surprise him and make veal parmesan with bacon-wrapped asparagus for dinner. Closing my eyes I let myself enjoy something that I didn’t get too often: a quiet house. The kids were at the park with Key, taking advantage of having him around since it was the off-season. I was in the middle of crushing garlic when that all-too-familiar alarm chimed on my iPhone. I hadn’t heard from Jim in a while. Keyshawn insisted that I didn’t need him since he had his own “special security” that he refused to tell me about. But until I knew Rah was back behind bars I kept Jim on standby.
“Hi, Jim, long time no hear.”
“Ye know they say no news is good news. Well, I’ve got some info that’ll pro’ly have ya doin’ a jig or whatnot.”
“I’m ready.” I took a deep breath, not sure if it would be about Larissa or Rasheed, but anxious either way.
“Not gonna sugarcoat this—they found Rasheed’s body yesterday a few miles south of Emporia back in Virginia. Was burned up pretty bad; had to use dental records to identify it. He was inside one of those CMA CGM shipping containers. There was another corpse in there with ’im, one of ’em a female, but we’re still waiting on more information. No ID on the Jane Doe as of yet. But I know you’ll sleep better now knowing he ain’t after ye.”
I was dumbfounded. There were tears in my eyes from both sadness and joy.
“He wasn’t alive . . . when they burned him, was he, Jim?” No one deserved that kind of death. Not even Rah.
“Not sure yet, sweetheart. We’ll know more in a couple of days. I’ll give you a ring back. ’Til then you be safe and enjoy yourself now.”
I didn’t know what to do with myself. I left the food and everything in the kitchen and walked out the front door; the humidity made sweat bead on my forehead almost instantly. I inhaled, smelling the rain that was coming and the rose bushes on the side of the house that’d just started to bloom. The sky was dark from the approach of one of our usual evening thunderstorms and for the first time in months I was able to just enjoy standing outside, not worrying about who, or if someone, was watching me or waiting.
* * *
“Woman, you got this house smellin’ good.” Key walked in right on time with Lataya in his arms and Trey following not too far behind him.
I’d already set the table and was just keeping everything warm until they got back. Fresh basil, garlic bread, bacon; yes, it did smell good and my stomach growled in agreement.
“Everybody wash their hands, it’s time to eat.”
He came over and gave me a soft kiss, handing me a small pink and white envelope.
“What’s this baby?” I looked at it, amused; he never failed to amaze me.
“Oh, I don’t know, let’s open it later.” Winking playfully he marched off to the hall bathroom to help the kids wash their hands.
The storm started to roll in just as we finished up dinner. The thunder and lightning were scaring the kids and Keyshawn wasn’t helping, jumping and yelling, “Boo,” in between every damn thunderclap. This was probably one of the worst ones we’d had all summer; it was going on nine and it still hadn’t let up.
“Mommy, can we sleep wif you?” I looked at Key and sighed. Damn and double damn because this is definitely some of that good old-fashioned handling business weather.
“Yes, baby. Let’s go get our PJs on.” Glancing at Key, I led Trey to his bathroom.
He gave me a wink and my ass got excited. That shit meant, Oh, we are gonna wait ’til they fall asleep and then the business is gonna get handled. It didn’t take long before all four of us were cuddled up in the bed and the three of them, with their bellies full, were of course unconscious before ten thirty. Lataya was lying on Keyshawn’s chest and Trey was all up in my back when I remembered the envelope he’d given me. I’d left it on the counter downstairs and now my curiosity was getting the better of me.
The storm was still on ten and I couldn’t believe the thunder didn’t wake the kids up. I’d stopped to look out the window and my mind couldn’t help drifting to Larissa. We used to love to watch lightning storms together. “Nature’s fireworks” was what she always called them. An exceptionally bright pinkish silver fork split down from the sky and I wondered if she was watching it now.
My phone dinged from its docking station on the kitchen counter. Slipping the small envelope into the top pocket of my pajama top, I checked my phone. It showed I had one missed call. Secretly, I hoped it was Ris. Every time I dialed her number it went to voice mail. Even though she was on my account, I never turned her line off, even though I pretty much assumed she’d probably gotten a new phone by now. I didn’t know why I didn’t just disconnect it. The missed call was Jim and I pressed the PLAY button to listen to the voice mail he’d left me.
“Hey, Michelle. Funny thing. Was on the phone with the coroner’s office in Virginia going over a few details. The body was set on fire after death. There was no burn or scar tissue on the inside of his lungs.”
Well, that was good; the last thing I wanted to think about was Rasheed suffering a painful, horrible death. He had a ton of enemies and I could only imagine who would do something like that once they got a hold of him.
Jim’s voice mail went on: “Only problem is, tissue samples show massive decomposition. That man been dead for about three, maybe four months. Somebody got a hold of him and took him out soon as he got busted out of that prison, Michelle. So my question to you is—”
My iPhone slid from my hand, the glass shattering on the tile of the kitchen floor just as lightning split the sky open and thunder crashed so loud it sounded like a tree trunk being split in half like a twig. I didn’t need to hear the rest of Jim’s question because the answer was standing in my kitchen, soaking wet, staring me in the face. Rasheed was already dead, but this could be the night I was going to die too.