Chapter 18
When it came to the death of Rashad Eason, the investigators wanted to deal with the case in the most delicate of manners. They endeavored to capture every piece of data. From the moment they entered the warehouse, they inspected every detail. Did it seem like any of the entrance doors had been tampered with? How about any windows? They examined every inch of the place for hair samples, fingerprints, footprints, gunpowder, shell casings, body part fragments, and more. They impounded the Eason & Son van. They searched Rashad’s house. Grilled his neighbors, questioned Jerry, and examined credit card receipts to establish a timeline. They discovered the dead man was fairly prominent in the Houston community. They knew that the recent rash of robberies, burglaries, and murders had happened since the passing of the open carry law. The murderer could have been anybody. Or did he kill himself? How was his mental health? Was he depressed?
When the detectives learned about Nicole Greene Eason’s existence on the day Rashad’s body was located, they went to her apartment right away. But she was nowhere to be found. So the next day, when she decided to go to work, they sought her out at her job.
She had been in the break room surrounded by Aisha and Taylor.
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Aisha told her.
“Thanks.”
“I guess we ought to go down to Ms. Kiara’s office and extend the same condolences,” Taylor whispered to Aisha.
“Whatever, Taylor.”
Nicole was ready to leave the break room, but she heard the sound of footsteps coming from the hallway. A man and a woman appeared in the doorway; Nicole clutched a tissue and started sniffling.
“Are you Nicole Greene Eason?”
“Yes, I am.”
“I’m Detective Longfellow,” said the man. “And this is Sergeant Humphrey.”
“Are you here about the death of my husband?”
“First of all, we are sorry about what happened to Mr. Eason. And we just want to ask you a couple of questions.”
“Of course.” Nicole wiped away her tears and sat at the break room table. She kept her hands hidden.
“At least they found the right Mrs. Eason,” Taylor remarked as she and Aisha excused themselves.
The detectives started off by asking Nicole the basics.
“When was the last time you saw or heard from Rashad?” That was Humphrey.
“I think it was on a Friday. He came over to my apartment.”
“Your apartment?” asked Longfellow. “You didn’t live with your husband?”
Nicole hesitated.
Humphrey told her, “Look, let’s stop this questioning right now. We can drive you downtown and question you there. We really should not conduct this interview here, Mrs. Eason.”
“Of course I will go,” Nicole stated. She went to get her purse and texted Kiara that she had to leave but that she’d be back.
Once she got downtown and was taken into the interrogation room, they requested her ID and checked for warrants.
“Boy, that traffic was a mess for this time of day,” Humphrey said to Longfellow.
“Tell me about it. I hope it clears up, because I gotta go out to Katy to the Outdoor World and get me some fishing gear later on.”
“Lucky you.”
Nicole stared at them in amazement. She couldn’t believe the casual conversation they were having considering the circumstances, but to them it was just a job.
Sergeant Humphrey applied some lipstick, then turned on her tape recorder.
“Let’s start,” she said. “We’ll be talking about Rashad Eason. Did you know his daily routine, Mrs. Eason?”
“For the most part. Sometimes I didn’t, because he would switch things up depending on the type of projects he worked.”
“What did he do for a living?”
“He owned a subcontracting business.”
“Where was it located?”
She told them.
“Do you have keys to that building?”
“Um, yes.”
“And does his office have security cameras?”
“Um, I’m not sure.”
Nicole knew that there were cameras. But she was afraid to tell the truth. What if the security cameras showed the hit man who was hired? Even though she did not know his identity, she did not want them to trace the assailant back to her.
The detectives asked a few more questions about Rashad’s business dealings: who were his employees, how many did he have, had he recently fired anyone in the past year or two, and had he ever mentioned any conflicts that he had with the people he worked with?
Wow, easy stuff, Nicole thought as she easily provided several factual answers with confidence.
“So you were married to Rashad but not living under the same roof?” That was Longfellow.
“Um, we had been living together up until recently.”
“What date did you stop living together?” Humphrey asked.
“I don’t know. It’s not like I marked it down on my calendar. Living separate was a painful experience that I did not want to think about.”
“That’s understandable.” He monitored her with curiosity, then asked, “Were you legally separated? Had you discussed divorce? Were any papers filed?”
“No. Um, we were trying to work things out. Look, I feel so uncomfortable talking about this topic. It feels weird to answer these questions, knowing he’s lying somewhere in a steel box. I loved my husband. I’m sorry he’s dead. I wanted us to be together.”
“But he wanted out of the relationship?” asked Longfellow.
“Yes. Um, yeah.” She shrugged. She was afraid to tell the officers that info, but it didn’t automatically mean that she’d killed him. They had no evidence. She didn’t even know until after it happened that he’d been killed at the warehouse.
“Will you be the one to come and identify the body?” asked Humphrey.
“Do I have to?”
“Why wouldn’t you?”
“I have never done anything like this before. And I don’t want to remember Rashad like that.”
“Remember him like what?”
“Shot up.”
“How’d you know he was shot up?”
“How did I know he was shot? Um, it was on the news. It was on the Internet.” She nervously laughed. “The article said he was murdered. I don’t know. You’re the experts in these things.”
“Even so, you may need to go to the coroner’s office and sign off on the death certificate, alright?” asked Humphrey.
“Of course.”
“Getting back to the interview,” said Longfellow. “Where were you at approximately nine twenty-five on the evening of Friday, April twenty-eighth?”
This would be easy. “I was at home with our daughter, Emmy, and with the nanny.”
“At home, as in your apartment on Richmond Avenue?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Can you give us the nanny’s name and phone number and address if you have it?”
“I’d be glad to.”
“Were you home the entire night?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “We were watching Netflix. We had a little party, because I could no longer afford my nanny. It was a good-bye party of sorts . . .” Her voice tapered off. She did not want to volunteer too much information.
“Did you leave at any point during that party?”
“No.”
“Did the nanny stay at your party during the entire duration?”
“Yes. She never left. And neither did Emmy.” She laughed nervously.
“Mrs. Eason, did you try to contact Rashad the next day? Like, had he made any effort to say he wanted to see you that weekend or anytime in the future?”
“Um, not that I can recall. I’m sure we would have hooked up at some point, so he could spend time with Emmy. But no. I—no.”
“What time did you go to sleep that night?”
She wanted to say that she’d tossed and turned. But she said, “Um, it probably was around ten or eleven.”
“How do you know?”
“I usually go to sleep around that time. I’m assuming it was ten.”
“Did he call you that night?”
“Um, I think I got a missed call from him. But I probably didn’t because my phone was turned off.”
Sergeant Humphrey raised her eyebrows. “You said you turned off your cell phone? Is there any reason why you’d remember that detail?”
“Um, no. I think I turned it off. I don’t remember.”
Detective Longfellow asked, “Did you hire a divorce lawyer? I’d like to get his or her name.”
Sergeant Humphrey added, “And we want the name of Mr. Eason’s divorce attorney. If you don’t know, we can look it up ourselves.”
“Why do you need that info?”
“Mrs. Eason, we’re trying to piece together all the info we can so we can find out who placed a gun to your husband’s head and killed him. He was also shot in the leg. Whoever did it seemed very angry. And we plan to find out why.”
Nicole said, “Right. Okay.”
“Mrs. Eason, thanks for your time. That’s enough for now,” Sergeant Humphrey said and rose to her feet. “Again, I’m sorry for your loss.”
“I am, too,” she replied in a sad whisper.
As soon as the officers released Nicole, an HPD patrol officer offered to drive her to the coroner’s office, where she was asked to go through the body identification process.
“I’m sorry, but dead bodies freak me out. I really don’t want to do it.”
“Okay, you’re not required to do so, but we will make the process as delicate for you as possible.”
Nicole nodded. She was accompanied by an officer and fell into a deep silence all the way over to the coroner’s.
When they entered the building, Nicole ran smack into Rashad’s mother.
“That’s my mother-in-law,” she absently said to the officer.
Beeva stared across the room at Nicole. Her eyes were red and she clutched a handkerchief.
“Hi. I was coming over here to identify the body,” Nicole said.
“No need. The job has been taken care of.” Her mother-in-law raised up her purse and looked like she wanted to hit Nicole.
Kiara emerged from behind Beeva.
“Kiara? What are you doing here?”
“She asked me to come. That’s why I’m here. He’s dead. His face wasn’t identifiable, but I know his hands and I touched them.”
“You did not have to do that.”
“Oh, but I did. His mother and I did what we had to do, Nicole. Oh, here is a bag of his personal effects, keys to the house, his wallet.”
“Thanks, I could have taken care of that,” she said lamely.
“Anyway, everything has been handled. No need for you to even go in there now.” Kiara started to leave with Beeva Reese. “Oh, by the way, I heard that he was very unhappy in his marriage and was trying to leave you and I’m not surprised.”
“How could you twist your mouth to even say anything like that right now, Kiara?” Nicole said and rolled her eyes at her mother-in-law.
“Because it’s the truth, that’s why.”
“Regardless,” Nicole replied, “this is not the time or the place. I’ll call you later, alright? Um, thanks to both of you.”
The two women barely said good-bye and hurried away from Nicole and out the door.
The officer drove Nicole back to her workplace. As soon as she got back to the campus, she fled to her office. With Kiara doing her job at the coroner’s, she knew she’d better plan the funeral before the woman took over that task, too. While she briefly sat in front of her computer, she heard a swift knock on her office door and then it swung open. It was Shyla.
“Hi, Nicole.”
“Hey there.”
Nicole was stunned to see her. She couldn’t speak.
“Aren’t you going to invite me into your office?”
“I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it.”
Shyla closed the door behind her. “Are you pissed at me?”
“Maybe.”
“Don’t be. I don’t want to do this anymore. I-I shouldn’t have been such an ass with you.”
Nicole shrugged. “I agree. So, why are you here?”
Shyla came over and embraced her. It was awkward, and Nicole stiffened at her touch. “Okay, alright. I’m sorry, Nicole. I shouldn’t have said the whack-ass shit I said to you. It was wrong, I have no real excuse, and I’m sorry about everything.”
Nicole knew that trying to remain angry at Shyla would be foolish—because if there was anything she needed right then, it was a real friend.
“Okay, Shyla. I accept your apology.”
“Good. Now, I heard about what happened to Rashad. How are you? Are you alright?”
“Yeah. I’m okay. I’m in shock. And I can’t believe he’s gone. But I’m trying my best to stay sane.”
Shyla explained that when she’d first heard the news, there was no way she could keep holding a grudge against her. And more than anything, she wanted to check on Nicole.
“I was surprised when someone informed me that you were here. Why be at the job when you can be out there trying to find the killer?”
“Shyla, I came to work today because I don’t want to be home alone.”
“I hear you. But at least try to gain access to your house in Missouri City, because you know the scavengers will be there trying to steal shit from y’all like a lot of people try to do when it comes to a rich man.”
“Wait. How did you know I don’t live at that house anymore?”
“Our wonderful coworkers Taylor and Aisha told me.”
“Wow. That sucks. And they swore they wouldn’t tell anybody.”
“Juicy gossip will always spread. That’s all I can say. But look. I’m not here to throw anyone under the bus. I’m here to support you, girl. I love you, I miss you, and the only thing that matters right now is finding out what happened to your husband. And if you need any help whatsoever, let me know.”
“Thanks, Shyla.” Seeing her friend come support her made Nicole’s heart feel less weighed down. “I’ve been mad at you, but at the same time I wanted to talk to you the way we used to. And I can admit I was scared because I wasn’t sure if we’d ever be cool again. It must have taken a lot of guts for you to seek me out. I appreciate that.”
“Hmph! Rashad Eason is gone. Life is too short. That’s all I can say.”
Nicole wanted to open up to Shyla so bad she could scream. Because although Nicole did not want to admit it, in a moment of desperation, she’d gone to lunch with Aisha and Taylor soon after Rashad had told her he wanted out. She needed someone to talk to and thought she could trust the girls.
“I don’t plan to be on campus too much longer,” Nicole explained. “I have to call my insurance company. Then I’ll have to meet with my mother-in-law sometime today, and I really dread it.”
“You hate her, and she hates like you.”
“Face it, some mother-in-laws aren’t very motherly. And then my own mother will arrive today, too. She’ll need a ride from the airport.”
“Girl, you are losing it. Take care of your business and get the heck away from this job. It’s not going anywhere.” Shyla placed her hand on the doorknob before opening it. “If you want to talk—really talk—I’m all ears.”
“I know you, Shyla. You’re all ears, and mouth, and texting and all that.”
“Oh, I hear the shade, girl.” She fell silent for a moment. “Nicole, girl, I’m sorry, but you don’t sound like you’re mourning the love of your life if you can make jokes like that.”
“With all that I’m going through, I laugh to keep from crying. But to be honest, I am hurting. I’ve dreaded every minute of this day. All I can think about is Rashad.”
“Do you miss him?”
“Um, yeah. Of course. I loved him.”
At that Nicole told her friend good-bye. She finished up a few tasks, then closed the door and left. She figured she’d be out the rest of the week, and she wanted to make sure she left no type of paper trail regarding her Internet searches.
“You just never know,” she told herself and headed in the opposite direction of the airport. First she had to make another important run. Nicole got in her Jeep and temporarily turned off her cell phone. She knew that if her cell phone was left on, it would track her every movement. She hated that. But she was finally ready to face Ajalon. During the drive to his place, she came to terms with Rashad’s death. Nothing could bring him back. And because he’d killed her dreams, she reasoned she’d have to create new dreams, new hopes, and a new life.
By the time Nicole showed up at Ajalon’s apartment, she felt ready.
When he opened the door, he greeted her with a wide smile.
“How are you, Ajalon?”
“Benissimo. I’m great now that you’re here.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you did not abandon me like I thought you did.”
After he let her in, the first thing she asked him was if he had anything to drink. She meant something like ice-cold water. And she was surprised when he responded.
“I have a lot of things you can drink.” He went and got four glasses. He brought back two bottles. One was champagne; the other was wine.
“Which drink do you want, Nicole? Are you celebrating the man as if you want to toast to him, or are you still mourning him and you feel like pouring one out?”
Suddenly she felt frightened. It was possible that she was pregnant with Rashad’s child, but she was certain Ajalon would be furious if he found out. The one time when she got pregnant by him, she ended up terminating the pregnancy, something that still made Ajalon unhappy.
“I don’t know which drink I want,” she said. “It all depends.”
“On what?”
“Can you promise me that everything worked out the way we discussed it? Like, was the job done exactly right? Did he earn his money?”
“We all earned our money.”
Ajalon poured champagne in two glasses and set them aside. Wine filled up two other glasses. First he handed her the merlot.
“Here, since you can’t decide, why not drink both? Drink the wine and mourn the Negro that took you away from me. And drink the champagne to celebrate the fact that he can’t fuck you over anymore.”
“Whoa! Sounds like the job was done just right, Ajalon.” He waited on her. She hesitated then sniffed her wine. “You didn’t put anything in my drink, did you?”
“Don’t ask me that. You saw when I poured those drinks.”
“But I never saw you purchase these drinks.”
“Fine! If you don’t trust me, Nicole, bring your own bottles next time.”
She laughed, raised the glass, and let her tongue taste a small bit of merlot. “There won’t be a next time. If I make it through the next few months and keep my hands clean, I’m done with the crazy shit, Ajalon. For real.” She bowed her head for a moment, and then poured a little bit of wine on his tiled floor.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
“You told me to pour one out for him and that’s what I’m doing. Just mop it up.”
Before he could further protest, she grabbed the champagne. “You need to get your glass, too. We can celebrate together.”
He did as she suggested. They clicked their glasses together. She tilted her neck and pretended to drink. But she never tasted the champagne.
“What does all of this mean?” he asked after he finished.
“It’s our new beginning. Maybe we can figure things out one day at a time. I don’t want to think too much about it.”
“You sound scared, Bella. Like you won’t be able to get away with murder.”
“Ajalon, as far as I’m concerned, I did nothing wrong. I just didn’t want to be in pain anymore. Is that a bad thing? To make something go away that’s hurting you?”
“If that’s your defense, Nicole, you’ll have a hard time convincing a jury of your innocence.”
“Please. Don’t say that. There won’t be a jury. I think everything’s okay. I have a solid alibi.”
“Which is?”
“Oh yeah. I never told you what I was doing on the night he got killed.” She swished the champagne around in her glass.
“I was with . . . Nadia.”
He froze.
“And what happened with you two? What did you do?”
“Not much. I made sure we watched a movie. Did something that would be memorable.”
“Oh, I see.”
“And she acted like she didn’t want to be there with me, like she had better things to do, but I made her stick around for as long as possible.” Nicole laughed. “I ordered pizza for us and made her play with Emmy for hours. I wanted to crap on myself, waiting around and wondering what was really going on. It was murder.”
Ajalon just stared at his ex. Somehow it seemed she’d really changed. Back in the day, she was feisty and fun-loving. But now he saw her in a different light. He still loved Nicole, but he was beginning to lose heart.
“Anyway, I feel pretty good right now, but I still have a few concerns.”
“Such as?” he said.
“I wonder how well I did when those two homicide detectives questioned me. They grilled me so much I was scared I’d slip up. But they ended up letting me go. That has to prove I’m not a suspect. But oh, how I wanted to die in that room. I tried my best to play off my nervousness. And these guys study body language. I had to make sure I didn’t look like I was lying.”
“Are you getting better at lying, Nicole?”
“I don’t know. Why?”
“Did you lie about anything?”
“Well, of course. I had to. How the hell could I tell the complete truth? If I did, I wouldn’t be with you right now. Plus, I have a daughter to think about. I practically don’t have anyone else.”
“You have me, Bella.” He hoped she believed him.
“I know I have you, and I am going to need you more than ever. But we have to be careful. No one can know that we are old acquaintances.”
“Old acquaintances?”
“Look, once everything clears, I’m hoping you and I can really be together, Ajalon. But I must lie low for a minute. I have a funeral to plan. I’m in mourning. And I have to check on the life insurance and see how much I’m getting.”
“Sounds like your hands are full.”
“Yeah, they are. But I know for a fact that once I get financially situated, I plan to move again. I don’t want to be in Houston anymore. I need a vacation.” Her eyes sparkled with excitement. For a minute she looked like the woman he used to know. The one who was game to do something fun and adventurous.
“Ajalon, you and I have never really been on a real vacation together. Let’s go away somewhere nice once this is all over. Hawaii, Saint Kitts. Someplace romantic.”
There she was. The dreamer had returned. He liked this side of Nicole.
“Ahh, you want us to get away. Make love on a beach.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
“That means you finally want to be with me? Perhaps as my wife one day?”
“I don’t know about all that just yet. I just know I don’t feel comfortable in Texas anymore. At first I loved being here, but now?”
“You’re sorry you ever left me, not once but twice?”
She was becoming good at lying. “I’m so very sorry for doing that, Ajalon.”
“Tell you what. You continue to act normal and do the things that a mourning widow would do.”
“I can do it. No problem.”
“Then it should be easy to show sorrow upon your face. Get through the funeral, and then we will leave town together. And one day soon, we can really be together the way you wanted to years ago.”
“Promise?”
“I promise,” he told her and then she kissed him and said good-bye.
* * *
The time had come. And Kiara felt stranger than she ever had in her life. With Adina holding her up, she entered the church. Dressed in black from head to toe, she just wanted to get through the wake. Get through it with dignity and calmness. She and Adina went and sat in the middle of a large section on the right side of the sanctuary. The viewing of the body would soon begin. They sat down. Myles said “excuse me” to Adina and planted himself on the other side of his mother.
She squeezed his hand tight. Myles’s face appeared thoughtful. It was his first time ever attending this type of ceremony.
“Are you alright, son?” Kiara asked.
“I’m fine. I think.”
“Good.”
“I-I’m a little bit scared. I’m afraid of dead people.”
“Your dad isn’t going to hurt you. He loved you. Always remember that.”
It hurt so much for Kiara to speak those words to Myles. It all seemed surreal. He was so young and loved his daddy to death. Would the boy grow up and remember the good times he’d had with Rashad? Would he ever feel the same about playing ball or flying the toy helicopters that he dearly loved?
Kiara tried to hush the awful taunting that plagued her mind.
You should have let Rashad spend more time with Myles, instead of acting so evil and selfish and denying a father a right to his own son.
She nodded as if answering the voice in her head. She knew in some ways she had done Rashad wrong. She felt regretful. But it was too little, too late.
As they continued to wait, Adina talked her ears off.
“You know I hated that son of a bitch, but he was alright at the same time.”
“Adina, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.”
“Now, girl, ain’t no use in me acting like Rashad and I was thick as thieves. He was my boy years ago, but the past couple of years, hell to the no. I didn’t like how he was treating you.”
“I didn’t like it either, but that’s beside the point. At the end of the day, he wasn’t as wicked as I made him out to be.”
“Ha. Now I know you’re lying. You used to complain about his ass day and night. ‘Adina, he’s hiding babies. And he’s fucking everything that moves’.”
Kiara burst out laughing and couldn’t stop. It felt strange to cackle like she was at the comedy club.
“Would you shut up, Adina? I’m not in the mood to hear all those memories.”
“Too bad, because I’m just warming up.”
“Can you please crack your jokes after the casket is closed?”
“How about I wait till the casket is six feet under and after the ghosts have come to visit him?”
“You wrong for that, girl.”
“He was my boy, though, Kiara.” The large grin on Adina’s face turned upside down. Her voice broke. “All jokes aside, Rashad was my boy. I’m sure gonna miss him.”
* * *
They got through the wake and returned to Kiara’s home. She saw the kids off to bed and sat around in her family room sipping on a cup of hot tea mixed with honey.
“Is that enough for starters?” Adina asked. “Let me know and I can make another cup.” She sat next to her friend on the couch. Adina picked up the clicker and started speeding through television shows: TBS, BET, OWN, prime-time news; she rapidly clicked past the ESPN channels and kept going till she found the movie channels.
“It’s a damn shame that people pay an arm and a leg to have these fucking so-called premium stations, yet there’s nothing ‘premium’ about watching ten-year-old movies on a Friday night.”
“I know, girl. Cable is a luxury. Definitely not a necessity,” Kiara answered.
Finally, Adina stopped clicking when she saw actor Eddie Murphy’s face light up the screen.
“We will watch Mr. Murphy. He’s old as dirt but is funny and fine. Plus, we could use a good laugh.”
“Say that again.”
They watched in silence for several minutes, laughing here and there.
Adina frowned. “Look, Kiara, you might want to drink tea, but I am thirsty for something much stronger. I think I’ll start by opening up a bottle of wine I saw in your fridge.”
“Girl, I don’t care. Do you.”
Adina left and soon she was back, holding two glasses filled with wine.
“Thanks, Adina.” Kiara reached for one glass.
Adina slapped her hand. “Excuse me, but these are for me. You go on and have yourself a good time drinking that tea, girl.”
Kiara smiled. “This is insane. I can’t believe we’re here. Doing this. The day before Rashad’s funeral.”
“Life’s a bitch, Kiara. And right now I feel like pure trash. I mean, hell, he and I rarely saw eye to eye, and our heads bumped more than once. But damn, shit, and fuck. I’d never wish what happened to Rashad on my worst enemy. He did not deserve that. Rashad wasn’t so bad. He was a great father.”
“But he could have been a much better daddy, if I would have let him. Oh well.” Kiara picked up a wineglass and took a long swallow of her drink. She ignored Adina’s protests.
“If you need a drink, how much more do I need one?” Kiara wiped her top lip. “Honestly, I’ve beat myself up about everything, and it’s time for the self-condemnation to stop. I apologized to his corpse. I couldn’t leave his casket till I felt that he had forgiven me. I felt peace. And it’s given me the strength to move on.”
“What are your plans, sweetie? I hate to say this, but now that Rashad is forever out of the picture, you can completely concentrate on being with Eddison. Being his wife. Y’all two can truly build a new family. Jazzy is young enough to be raised by this man and never miss a beat. Myles, on the other hand . . .”
As if on cue, Myles was standing before them. Kiara sat up in her chair and set down the wine.
“Are you alright, baby? I thought you were asleep.”
“I couldn’t sleep, Mommy.”
She patted the couch next to her. “Come sit next to me. You want to talk?”
Myles came and sat by Kiara. “I was thinking. I have an idea.”
“What is it, son?”
“Can we get some homing pigeons, please, Mommy?”
“Homing pigeons?”
“Yes. My daddy is gone. And I miss him already. I wish he could take me to the zoo, actually to an African safari, but that will never happen.”
“I’m sorry about that, Myles. We can still go—”
“Mommy, if you let me buy the pigeons, I can release them in the sky. Because that’s where Daddy is, right? In heaven, up in the sky?”
Kiara’s lip trembled. She nodded. “I sure hope so.”
“So when those pigeons are released, they’ll find my daddy. They’ll keep him company. And when they get ready, they might come back to me. And if they do, I’ll be happy. I’ll know that they went to see him and make sure he’s all right. That would be great. Wouldn’t it?”
“That’s the best idea I’ve ever heard. Yes, we’ll make sure and do that. Thanks, son.”
He gave his mother a kiss good night and disappeared from the room.
“I must say,” Adina replied, “that is one good thing that your ex did. He gave you that incredible human being.”
“Didn’t he, though? Myles is amazing.” Kiara nodded and smiled. “He’s gonna be alright. And I will, too.”
* * *
The day following the funeral, Nicole headed over to Ajalon’s. She nearly fell into his arms when he opened his door.
“That was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life.”
“Why is that?” he asked with a serious look on his face.
“I had to write his obituary. I haven’t had to write an obituary since college, and back then it was just to earn a grade. This time it was for real.”
“How do you think you did?”
“His mother told me she hated it. She hated the photo that I used for the program. I felt like I couldn’t do anything right.”
“Get over it. It’s over. You can put all of this behind you and start again.”
“You’re right. Right now I just want to leave. I’ll go crazy if I stay here one more day.”
They began packing their personal belongings. Nicole just wanted to put the entire nightmare behind her.
Ajalon watched her as she stuffed some of her designer pumps in a duffel bag.
“What would I ever do without you?” Nicole said. “I made a big mistake in not standing by you when you were locked up. I had no idea that you’d be this down for me. You came back to look for me, to regain my love and acceptance. It took a while for everything to come together, but now we can do this. No more distractions.” She reached over to hug Ajalon.
“Yeah,” he said as he hugged her back. He resumed packing. “So you gonna end up with all your ex’s money? If so, how will you get ahold of it if we’re leaving town?”
“Oh, don’t even worry about that. I have the user names and passwords to Rashad’s personal banking accounts. I may still have some of his business checks floating around, too.”
“Smart woman. You think of everything.”
“I have to.”
Once they collected their suitcases and duffel bags and a laptop, Nicole went and bundled up her daughter, Emmy.
“I can’t believe she’s going to grow up without a father. That’s one thing I didn’t think through.” Nicole felt terrible. “So you’re wrong, Ajalon. I don’t think of everything. Because if I’d really been using my head, how could I want her father to die? But he hurt me so bad that I wanted him to feel my pain.”
“A lot of us do bad things when we get hurt.”
“Yeah, but I shouldn’t have went to the extreme. I should have just cussed his ass out and went on one hell of a shopping spree. You know what I mean? Nothing as drastic as hiring a hit man to kill him. Because I did love him.”
Ajalon stopped what he was doing. “You are telling me that you actually loved that man who tried to break up with you and ruin you and humiliate you by divorcing you after a month of marriage? You could still love a man who does you like that?”
“True love endures all kinds of things.”
“I see.”
“True love causes you to forgive a person who treated you so bad that you hated his guts. You wished he was dead. But you only wish it for a minute. You don’t really mean it.”
“You don’t mean it, because true love makes you change your mind? Makes you remember the good things he did instead of all the bad things he did to harm you? Is that what you’re telling me?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. What time is it?” She was eager to get away. Nicole did not plan to go too far, but she reasoned that if they went on a brief road trip, it would help her get her head together. “Well, I’m done packing. Let’s go.”
Nicole gathered her belongings and let Ajalon carry Emmy out to the Jeep.
“Having my dreams come true might have not lasted that long, but at least I got to experience them even for a short time.” She locked up the house and closed the door behind her.
Then she let Ajalon whisk away her luggage and stuff it in the back of her Jeep. She got in the passenger seat and buckled in. She lay back and closed her eyes. She was so drained and mentally exhausted that all she could do was fall asleep. She practically passed out the minute Ajalon hit I-10 going east. She dreamt of nothing while she was asleep. Only darkness filled her mind as she tried to block out all the bad things that had happened in the past few weeks.
An hour later they reached the outskirts of Beaumont. She looked at her surroundings.
“Good. Houston is far behind us. I’m glad. I hated that place.”
“Did you quit your job?”
“No, not yet. I have to keep working until I get my hands on that insurance money.”
They continued driving until they reached Baton Rouge. Ajalon checked them into a hotel.
Nicole entered the room and set her things on top of a chair. She dropped down to her knees and looked under the bed. She got up and searched behind the curtains. She went into the bathroom and checked for hidden recorders. She opened all the drawers and made sure nothing odd was in them.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
“I heard all about how you gotta check your hotel room when you check in.”
“You are paranoid as fuck.”
“I won’t be forever.”
Fifteen minutes later, Nicole asked Ajalon to order a pizza. “Don’t use this hotel phone. They have operators who listen to all your conversations.”
“Nicole, I thought you wanted to get away so you could relax.”
“That’s the thing. I’m far away from Houston but I still feel like shit, Ajalon.”
“Well, pull yourself together.”
“I’ll try.”
Once the pizza arrived, Nicole toyed with her food. She sat at the round business table and complained that she was bored. Ajalon told her, “Let’s watch movies.” He turned on the television and began scrolling through channels.
Nothing caught their interest. But then he flipped past a news channel. And there on the screen was a photo of Nicole.
“What the fuck?” she said.
“Why are you on TV?”
“Turn up the volume.”
The reporter told how a suspect had been arrested for the murder of Rashad Eason, who was the husband of Nicole Greene, the woman who’d received previous notoriety when a deadly fire happened in Houston.
The photo switched to video footage of Eddison Osborne. His head was hung and he was being led away from his home by the police.
“Wait. What?” Nicole said. “Why in the hell is Eddison in handcuffs?”
“You know him?”
“He works at the university. That’s Kiara’s man.”
“Word?”
“Shhh.” She turned up the volume and caught the tail end of the news story.
“They arrested Eddison for murdering Rashad?” She shook her head. “That doesn’t make any sense. They’re wrong.”
“Maybe they’re questioning everyone who had a motive.”
“Then arrest his employees. Go find Alexis McNeil.”
“And both of his wives, eh?”
She wanted to lash out at him, but the words Ajalon spoke made her feel grave with anxiety.
“We should go back,” she said.
“Why?”
“I don’t want anything to do with this mess, but they need to learn that Eddison would never do anything like that.”
“For all you know, Kiara’s new man had a reason to smoke Rashad.”
“No, it’s impossible. And it’s not true anyway. It’s my fault that he’s dead.”
“Is that a confession, Nicole?”
She said nothing.
“This so-called road trip is cut short. We got to go back to Houston. Now.”