Gold Hill (35 page)

When his friend looked up,
Rodney’s face was covered with tears. Bumpy patted his shoulder and
left the room.

“
How did it go?” Jeraine
whispered.

“
They’re going to be just
fine,” Bumpy smiled. “You did a really good thing tonight, son. I’m
proud of you.”

Jeraine nodded.

“
And Tanesha?” Bumpy
asked.

“
I keep calling her, but
it clicks over to voicemail,” Jeraine said.

Bumpy nodded.

“
Keep trying,” Bumpy said.
“It’s time for this family to come back together.”

Bumpy gave Jeraine a bear
hug and left the apartment. Jeraine looked at the front door for a
moment then went to call Tanesha again.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday afternoon — 9:17
p.m. MT

Heather and Tanesha held
the door for five talking women as they came out of the shop on
Colfax. They rushed in before anyone else hogged up the entrance.
The shop was full of relaxed, middle aged women.

“
Where is your classroom?”
Tanesha yelled to the busy clerk behind the front
counter.

“
In the far back,” she
said. “But the class just got out.”

“
We’re looking for
Delphie,” Heather yelled. “We’re friends.”

“
Straight back,” the clerk
pointed then continued ringing up the order.

Heather had to jog to catch
up with Tanesha. Over the last two hours of looking for Yvonne,
Tanesha had become increasingly desperate. If Yvonne was still out,
she had to be dead. But there was no word from anyone. No one had
seen her. The police came up with nothing.

Delphie was their last
hope. She was standing at the front of the room talking with a few
women. When she saw them come in, she smiled at the women and
excused herself.

“
Where’s my mom?” Tanesha
grabbed Delphie by the arms. “Please. Is she dead?”

“
Go home,” Delphie
said.

“
I can’t go home,” Tanesha
let go of Delphie. She shook her head. “I have to find her. I won’t
let her sit out all night all alone. She doesn’t deserve that.
Please, please tell me where she is.”

Heather grabbed her best
friend and hugged her to her.

“
She’s waiting for you,”
Delphie said.

“
I’m sorry, Ms. Bell,”
Heather said. “But we don’t really understand . . .
all of this. Tanesha won’t rest until she finds her
mother.”

Delphie rubbed Tanesha’s
back with her hand.

“
Is Tanesha’s mother
alive?” Heather asked.

“
Yes, thank God,” Delphie
said. “It was touch and go for a long time, but
she . . . Yvonne did really good.”

“
Ma’am, please forgive us
but we don’t . . . You know, we
aren’t . . . ” Heather leaned in to whisper.
“Psychics. We don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Delphie smiled.

“
Can you make it really
simple for us . . . um . . .
simpletons?” Heather asked.

“
Yvonne is at Tanesha’s
apartment,” Delphie said.

As if time stopped, Heather
and Tanesha gawked at Delphie.

“
Alive?” Tanesha
asked.

“
Very much alive,” Delphie
said. “Rodney is with her now.”

“
What?” Tanesha
asked.

“
Go home,” Delphie said.
“She’s with Rodney and Jeraine in that apartment in the
sky.”

Tanesha turned and ran out
of the room. Overwhelmed, Heather hugged Delphie in thanks and
jogged after Tanesha.

“
Did you hear that?”
Heather asked Jill on the speaker of Tanesha’s phone.

“
Got it,” Jill said. “I’ll
let everyone know. Go!”

Heather and Tanesha jumped
into Heather’s car. Heather drove as fast as she could down Colfax.
When Heather stopped at the light, Tanesha jumped out of the car at
Fillmore Street and ran across Colfax. Heather watched her friend
go. She said a silent prayer for her friend and drove
home.

“
How did it go?” Blane
asked.

“
Delphie says Yvonne’s at
Tanesha’s house,” Heather said.

“
I’m really glad,” Blane
said. “I love how everyone . . . ”

“
I’d look for you all
night and all day until I found you,” Heather said. “You will never
be a lost boy again.”

“
I love you for saying
that,” Blane hugged her close. “But I’d just ask
Delphie.”

Heather laughed.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday afternoon — 9:27
p.m. MT

Tanesha bounced on her toes
in the familiar penthouse elevator as it rose to the condo. She had
no idea what was going on. She had no idea what she would walk
into. For the life of her, she couldn’t imagine how her mother
ended up in the penthouse. Had Jeraine and his Dad been out whoring
around town and found her? Was she alive? Tanesha’s mind reeled at
all the possibilities. When the penthouse elevator opened, she
paused to listen.

The place was
silent.

She heard footsteps and saw
Jeraine jog toward her. In a moment, she was encased in his tight
arms. His shoulder pressed against her face, her strong, raw
emotion came forward. She began to sob.

She wasn’t sure how long
they stood there on the elevator. A long time. He held her tight
and she wept. There were moments when she would have fallen if he
had let go. He didn’t let go. He didn’t say anything or make a joke
or try to fix it. He just held her hard and tight.

“
Where’s my mom?” Tanesha
whispered when the rawness of her emotions eased.

“
Asleep in the guest
bedroom. Dad gave her a sedative so she could sleep,” Jeraine said.
“Your Dad’s with her.”

“
Oh God.” Tears flooded
forward and this time Jeraine kissed her neck, her face and finally
her lips. Stirred by her own emotional release, she kissed him hard
and he flinched.

“
What happened to your
mouth?” she leaned back to look at him.

“
I got kicked by a
donkey,” he said. “And not because I was trying to have sex with
it.”

“
Sex with a donkey?”
Tanesha laughed. “You say the craziest things.”

He laughed. Taking her
hand, they walked to the guest bedroom. Tanesha opened the door a
crack and peeked in. Her mother was lying on the bed and her father
on the floor. She closed her eyes tight and when she opened them
again her mother was still asleep on the bed and her father on the
floor.

“
She’s still there,”
Tanesha whispered and pulled the door closed. She stood with her
eyes closed and her hand on the knob for a moment. “Why didn’t you
tell me?”

“
I called you about 30
times tonight,” Jeraine said.

“
Oh,” Tanesha said. “You
did?”

“
I did,” Jeraine nodded.
“First, I couldn’t call you because well . . .
everything that happened and she was . . . upset. We
got CoraFaye’s, ate, and Dad came over to check her. There’s some
chicken and cake left for you.”

Tanesha smiled.

“
I don’t know what to
say,” she said. “This is my dream . . . come true.
Thank you.”

Jeraine smiled. He took her
hand and led her into the kitchen.

“
I bet you haven’t eaten
all day either,” he said.

Tanesha shook her
head.

“
After I made the cake?”
Jeraine cut a piece for Tanesha. She picked it up with her fingers
and began to eat. “She kept telling me I should meet someone named
Tanni. Tanni this and Tanni that. She thinks me and Tanni are soul
mates.”

Her mouth full of cake,
Tanesha choked a laugh.

“
Just so you know,” he
said. “You are not your mother’s first pick for me.”

Still choking and laughing,
Tanesha got a glass and filled it from the tap. When she finished
drinking, she smiled at him.

“
What is my name?” she
asked.

“
Tanesha,” Jeraine smiled.
“I call you Miss T.”

“
Tan-E-sha,” she
said.

“
You’re Tanni?” Jeraine
asked.

“
Only to my mother,” she
said.

“
That’s very good,”
Jeraine said. “We’re perfect for each other.”

“
I don’t even know how you
found her. You will tell me every detail, right?”

“
Every detail.”

Tanesha smiled.

“
Why don’t you go sit
down?” Jeraine asked. “I’ll warm up the chicken and bring it out to
you. Come on.”

He took her hand and led
her to the couch in the living room. Pictures flashed across their
flat screen television.

“
Who’s that?” Tanesha
asked.

“
Um . . . ” Jeraine picked up the remote
to turn up the sound. “That’s the State Attorney
General . . . uh . . . Alvin? He’s
supposed to own that building your mom lived in. I think that’s a
retrospective on his life in politics. The Denver Police expect to
arrest him tomorrow morning.”

As if drawn by a magnet,
Tanesha floated to the screen. Her eyes glazed over. Jeraine rushed
to her side.

“
That’s him,” she
said.

“
Who?”

“
That’s the man
who . . . ” Tanesha stopped talking. “And
Mom . . . ”

She gestured to the guest
bedroom.

“
I thought you didn’t
remember what happened,” Jeraine said.

“
I didn’t,” Tanesha said.
“But that picture, the one that was on when we came in? That’s
him.”

Jeraine felt a surge of
rage for the man who’d hurt her so deeply. Tanesha stared at the
television like she’d seen a ghost. Seeing her pain and knowing his
anger wasn’t what she needed, he put it away.

“
They’re going to arrest
him tomorrow,” Jeraine repeated.

“
What do we do?” Tanesha
asked. “Because . . . ”

“
We call Seth,” Jeraine
said.

“
No,” Tanesha said. “We
call Sandy and she calls Seth.”

“
You’re sure,” Jeraine
said.

“
Dead sure,” Tanesha said.
“One hundred percent.”

“
Whatever you want,
whatever you need,” he said. “I’m here for you.”

“
And the donkey,” Tanesha
laughed.

He smiled.

“
Oooh look at your teeth!”
Tanesha said.

“
Dad’s gonna loan me the
money to fix them.”

“
Does it hurt?”

“
Nah, he gave me
antibiotics and stuff,” Jeraine said. “I’ll go get dinner and you
call.”

Tanesha nodded and dialed
her phone.

Chapter Two Hundred and
Nine
The Spider

Wednesday night — 9:19
p.m. PT/10:19 p.m. MT

Seth’s phone lit up the
dark room. It vibrated twice and lit up again. He slipped his arm
out from under Ava’s head and eased of bed.

“
Who is it?” Ava leaned
up.

“
Sandy,” he mouthed and
answered the phone. “O’Malley.”

“
Seth, it’s Sandy,” she
said. “I’m sorry to bother you. I’m sure Ava’s a wreck and I know
you’re upset about the music
and . . . ”

Seth walked toward the
sliding glass door then realized he was naked. Ava threw his shirt
at him. He put it on and sat at the table.

“
You sound upset.” Seth
said. “Bumpy texted me to tell me that Yvonne is safe. What
happened?”

“
It’s Tanesha,” Sandy
said. “She saw some old photos of that jerk Alvin? I guess they
were running a special on his political life on TV. You know,
Jeraine has that thing on all the time.”

Seth’s eyes drifted to
Ava.

“
She recognized him,”
Sandy said.

“
I think I know what you
mean,” Seth said. “But, I’m sorry to make you do this, but you have
to say it.”

“
He’s was raping her when
her mom hurt herself to get him to stop. You know when Yvonne hurt
her brain?”

“
Is she sure?” Seth
asked.

“
That’s the weird thing,”
Sandy said. “She’s absolutely sure. She remembers the whole thing.
He used to incapacitate Yvonne – drug her or tie her up or lock her
in the bathroom or other horrible things – then hurt Tanesha so
Yvonne would do whatever he wanted. Tanesha even remembers you and
Dad. She remembers Dad’s sideburns. I don’t even remember his
sideburns. I’ve only seen them in pictures.”

“
He didn’t have them when
you knew him,” Seth said.

“
Anyway, she said that she
remembers you taking her bear,” Sandy said. “She said to check the
bear. Her mother stole some pictures he took. I guess he used to
take pictures of hurting Tanesha and leave them to remind Yvonne
what happened when she didn’t do what he wanted. Tanesha said
there’s a zipper in back of the bear. Yvonne hid the pictures under
the plastic voice box in the back of the bear.”