“You okay?” Orlando asked me as he sat at the kitchen table with me and Diane.
She was still quite shaken up. We were holding hands, and I could feel hers trembling in mine. The bruise on her eye was starting to darken. Every time I looked at her, I was filled with overwhelming anger. Why hadn’t I gotten home just five minutes earlier? Then that asshole would have never gotten the chance to put his hands on her.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” I lied. I was far from okay. I’d just killed a man—in front of my wife. How was Diane going to feel, knowing that she was married to a murderer?
Diane’s reaction wasn’t the only one I was worried about either. I knew that the law might view the killing as self-defense, but then again, maybe it would be seen as unnecessary use of force. Either way, it would most likely involve charges and a trial, and that was a risk I was not willing to take. That was why, when Diane wanted to dial 911, I stopped her and called my uncle instead. As a result, here I was, sitting with Orlando, while a couple of well-dressed thugs were out in my garage cleaning up the mess I’d made.
I had to admit that this situation really had me rethinking Jay’s circumstances. I now understood the phrase “Things aren’t always what they seem” in a whole new way. You really had to be there in a person’s shoes to know how things went down. Otherwise, you were left to come to your own conclusion, and I had judged Jay pretty harshly, both in refusing to believe his innocence and in refusing to support his run. Now I got it. If I didn’t have a family that could make this go away, I might have ended up behind bars like Jay. I couldn’t imagine being locked away from my family for even one year, let alone the ten years that Jay had endured.
“How about you? You okay?” Orlando asked Diane.
She couldn’t even speak, so she gave him a weak nod.
Orlando looked back at me. “I’m sure I’m probably wasting my breath with what I’m about to say, but just in case, I’m going to say it anyway. What happened here today, well, it didn’t happen. The carjacker was never here. I was never here.” He nodded toward the garage. “Those two guys out there were never here. Do you understand?”
“Yeah, man. I got it,” I assured him. “Never happened.”
“Good,” he said and then looked to Diane. “You understand?”
Diane looked at me. The tears that had been settling in her eyes spilled over.
“It’s okay, sweetheart.” I squeezed her hand, urging her to get on the same page as us.
She wiped a fallen tear and then turned her attention to Orlando. “Yes, I understand.”
Orlando nodded. “Wil, can I take a walk with you?”
“Yeah, sure.” Orlando and I stood from the table. I looked down at Diane. “Are you going to be okay, baby?”
“Yes,” she said, but I could tell she was lying the same way I’d lied to Orlando. It was visually apparent that she wasn’t going to be okay any time soon.
I kissed her hand before releasing it, then nodded toward the exit. Orlando followed me outside to the sidewalk.
“I’m serious about this whole thing never happening,” he reiterated as we started walking up the block. “She doesn’t talk to her shrink, lawyer, or priest about this, or else you’re going away for a long time.”
“I get it. I know. Diane knows too. I’ll talk to her again once she’s over the initial shock of it all.”
“Good, and by the way, I did a little research on that woman Ashlee you asked Pop to look into,” he said, bringing up yet another stressor I had in my life at the moment. “Turns out that broad is crazy.”
“Jay always said she was a psycho.” Here was yet another reason for me to start rethinking my opinion of Jay.
“Well, he wasn’t kidding. She’s certifiably crazy, but she’s got a rich daddy who’s well connected in Texas, and he saves her from herself every time she does something over the top.”
“Interesting. So do you think Jay’s innocent?”
“If I didn’t think it before, I think it now.” His words surprised me. “Oh, and your boy Kyle was right about that DJ tattoo on the chick in the pictures. It’s turned out to be more helpful than you would have thought.” He reached in his suit jacket and pulled out an envelope. “Take a look at this when things calm down. It might just be the break your friend has been looking for.”
“Thanks, O. For everything.” I wrapped my arm around him in a brotherly hug.
“You don’t have to thank me. We’re family. That’s what family does for one another. At least the Duncan family anyway.” We turned to walk back to the house. “There’s just one more thing I want to know.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Will you be at work on Monday?”
I halted my steps for a minute. I wasn’t sure I could answer that right now.
Orlando stopped and spoke to me. “Look, I know there are some things you’ve learned about the family that you didn’t want to know. Things that you shouldn’t know. But like I just said, we’re family. I think you see the importance of that now. Which is why, again, I want to thank you. Thank you for calling us, Wil, and not the police. With you being a Duncan, depending on who you’re dealing with when it comes to the police, things might not turn out as good as you hope. Having the Duncan name can be like a double-edged sword sometimes. You know what I’m saying?”
“I think I’m starting to know what you’re saying, cousin.”
We resumed our walk.
“So does that mean we can still count on you to be a part of the family business? I mean be a real part of the family business? I think you’ve proven today you’re understanding more than ever how this business works.”
Orlando was right. As much as I hated to admit it, my call to Uncle LC instead of 911 proved one thing: In spite of what I thought about Uncle LC and my cousins, I was cut from the same cloth.
“See you Monday,” I said to Orlando, and we headed back to the house.