Gold Hill (37 page)

“
I think we should wait
until we’re married again,” Rodney said.

“
We weren’t very good at
that the first time,” Yvonne smiled.

“
We were kids,” Rodney
said. “We should wait until you want to. Do you want
to?”

“
Not really,” Yvonne said.
“Is that okay?”

“
That’s okay.”

“
When are we going to get
married?”

“
Tomorrow?” Rodney
laughed.

“
We can’t get married
tomorrow,” Yvonne said. “I don’t have a dress or flowers
or . . . anything. Plus Tanni has school. I want her
to be there. And her friends. Have you met them?”

Rodney nodded.

“
She has some really nice
friends,” Yvonne said.

“
How ‘bout Saturday?”
Rodney asked.

“
That’s perfect!” Yvonne
said. “Should we wake Tanni to tell her?”

“
We should let her sleep,”
Rodney said. “She had a terrible day yesterday.”

“
Why? What happened?”
Yvonne asked.

“
She spent the day looking
for you,” Rodney said.

“
Huh,” Yvonne said. “One
good thing about having a bad memory is that I don’t have to
remember the bad days.”

“
But you know yesterday
was bad?”

“
Yesterday was really
horrible,” Yvonne sighed. “But it ended well. Look, you’re here and
we’re in this nice place and . . . ”

Yvonne scowled.

“
Do you have a girlfriend
I need to kick out of your house?” Yvonne asked.

“
No,” Rodney said. “I mean
except you.”

“
I’m not your girlfriend,”
Yvonne tapped his shoulder with the back of her hand. “I’m your
wife.”

“
Even better,” Rodney
smiled.

“
We should rest,” she
said.

She set her book down on
the table, shut off the light, and laid down on the bed. He got up
to go back to the floor.

“
What are you doing?” she
asked.

“
Sleeping on the floor,”
he said. “Until we’re properly married.”

“
Don’t be silly,” she
flipped the covers back on the other side of the bed. “You belong
with me.”

He got into the bed.
Uncomfortable, he laid on his back as stiff as a board. Yvonne
rolled onto her side and nestled into him. As if it had a mind of
its own, his arm held her close. She sighed and he
smiled.

He knew there would be
trials ahead of them that he couldn’t imagine. But one thing he
learned in prison was to hold onto the bright moments because life
always held plenty of dark.

This was the best and
brightest moment of his entire life.

~~~~~~~~

Thursday morning — 8:35
a.m. MT

“
That’s him?” the Denver
Police Detective’s Captain looked through the one way glass at
State Attorney General Aaron Alvin. Alvin wore a smug expression
and a matching designer suit. His lawyer looked like a well groomed
pit bull ready to bite.

“
And his lawyer,” Captain
Ferguson said.

“
You ready?” the Captain
asked. He turned to two Denver Police Detectives. The older, taller
detective nodded.

“
Go get him,” the Captain
said.

The younger detective went
through the door first.

“
It’s about time,” the
lawyer said. “The Attorney General has a full schedule today. We’d
like to get this matter settled so he can return to serving the
state.”

The younger detective
looked at the lawyer and blinked. He didn’t move to sit down nor
did he say anything.

“
We understand that you
need to follow up on one of your detective’s lead,” the lawyer
pulled a folder from his briefcase. “But you must know that
Detective O’Malley bears a grudge against my client. The Attorney
General solved one of the most egregious crimes in the state,
something Detective O’Malley was unable to do.”

“
Detective Seth O’Malley
no longer works for the Denver Police Department.” The young
detective kept his face blank.

“
We are prepared to file a
harassment suit against the Denver Police Department and Mr.
O’Malley,” the lawyer said.

The older, taller detective
entered the room and closed the door. He was wearing gloves and
holding a small stack of Polaroid photos.

“
Finally someone with some
experience to tell us what’s going on,” the lawyer said.

One at a time, the
detective set the photos Captain Ferguson found in the bear on the
table in front of State Attorney General Aaron Alvin. For the
briefest moment, the room was silent.

“
You can’t possibly
believe the word of a thoughtless whore,” Aaron Alvin said. “These
photos were manipulated to . . . ”

“
We thought you’d say
that,” the younger detective said. “I met with our witness this
morning.”

“
And your witness is?” the
lawyer asked.

“
The child,” the older
detective said. “She’s grown up.”

He took a set of
photographs out of his pocket.

“
Here’s a photograph of
her arm where you burned it,” the young detective set down a photo
of a scar on Tanesha’s arm. “You’ll see that her scar is in the
exact location as your lighter in this photo.”

The young man set down
photo after photo to match the older pictures.

“
All except this one,” the
older detective said. “But that doesn’t leave a physical
wound.”

As if he’d been switched
on, the lawyer began spewing legalese. The detectives watched Aaron
Alvin’s entire being focus on the photographs. In one picture,
there was a side view of Yvonne’s face as she fought to get Tanesha
away from him. His thumb stroked her face. He looked up at the
older detective.

“
I want to make a deal,”
he said.

Stunned, his lawyer stopped
talking. The lawyer turned to stare at Alvin.

“
Find someone who can make
me a deal,” Aaron Alvin said. “I can give you names, dates, times,
audio recordings, and some video of how business is really done in
this state. Your Chief will become the man known for cleaning up
the city and county of Denver, hell, the state.”

“
You’re willing to give up
all of that?” the older detective asked.

“
For what?” the younger
detective asked.

“
Witness protection
and . . . ” Aaron Alvin leaned over the photos.
He pointed to Yvonne. “Her.”

Chapter Two Hundred and
Ten
Freedom?

Thursday morning — 8:45
a.m. MT

“
Where’s Sam?” a young
black man said as he walked into the Lipson Construction trailer.
The young man’s anxious eyes scanned the ten by twenty-five foot
room.

“
He’s meeting with
Rodney,” Pete said.

“
I’m supposed to meet with
them.” The young man looked Pete up and down. “Who are
you?”

“
I’m Pete. I started as an
Assistant Site Manager last week. I’m working on
transportation.”

The young man nodded. Pete
went back to work.

“
Aren’t you going to ask
me who I am?” the young man asked.

“
You’re DeShawn Jones,”
Pete said without looking up.

“
And how do you know
that?”

“
You used to sell. I used
to buy,” Pete said.

“
I knew you looked
familiar,” DeShawn said. “You clean?”

“
Have you seen me around?”
Pete asked.

“
I
ain’t . . . ” DeShawn cleared his throat. “I’m
not in that life anymore. I did my time and . . . I
worked here with Rodney until about six months ago. Me and another
guy, Jason Payne. We were Rodney’s assistants until Jake asked that
cracker . . . ”

“
Nate Zalofsky?” Pete
asked.

“
Know him?”

Pete nodded.

“
Jake asked, man, how
could we say no? Jason went to work another site and
I . . . Well, I’ve been at home.” When Pete didn’t
comment, he added, “with my kids.”

“
Lucky you,” Pete smiled.
“I had a few months of that myself. I’d still be there but my kids
didn’t love having me beg them to play with me.”

“
We had a baby,” DeShawn
said.

“
Now I’m
jealous.”

“
Seriously though,”
DeShawn said. “Do you have any felonies? I can’t be around anyone
with felonies.”

“
No,” Pete
said.

“
That’s very good,”
DeShawn smiled. “Rodney called me this morning; asked if I’d come
into help while he’s out. Rodney . . . I owe
him . . . everything. He called; I’m here. That’s
that. I guess Jason’s coming back too.”

“
He was here when I got
in,” Pete said.

“
You know the
plan?”

“
The three of us are
supposed to take Rodney’s place,” Pete said. “Sam will be the
official Site Manager, but you know how busy he is. We’re supposed
to keep him updated and we’ll meet with him every Saturday to go
over everything. Bambi is going to work with us too.”

DeShawn nodded.

“
Jason’s out with the
subcontractors,” Pete said. “I do transportation. You’re supposed
to manage the meetings and the money.”

“
You going to tell them
that I was your dealer?”

“
I already did,” Pete
said. “I’m not going to lie for you or anyone else. I told Rodney
when he called.”

“
What did he
say?”

“
He said that was good,
because you could use my support again.”

“
Rodney,
man . . . ” Clearly moved, DeShawn shook his
head. “You got to . . . You have to know that I’m
going to need . . . ”

“
An assistant,” Pete said.
“Yes, Rodney told me you get overwhelmed and disorganized. I’m
going to help keep you on track until we either hire an assistant
or Rodney comes back.”

“
You think he’s coming
back?”

“
Would you?” Pete asked.
“You should see him. The man is smiling – ear to ear.”

“
Rodney?
Smiling?”

“
It’s like a piece of his
soul was returned to him.”

“
And his woman, she was
a . . . working girl?”

“
Not any of my business,”
Pete said. “He’s happy and that’s all that matters to me. They’re
getting remarried on Saturday. I’m sure you’re invited. But right
now, you’re late for a meeting.”

“
Right.”

Pete gave him a pen and a
clipboard.

“
They’re walking the
site,” Pete said. “You’ll see them.”

DeShawn nodded.

“
Go.”

DeShawn looked at
Pete.

“
Now.”

DeShawn spun in place and
was gone. Pete smiled to himself.

Out of nowhere, he felt an
overwhelming sense of gratitude. He’d just met his all-time best
drug dealer and felt nothing. No cravings, no deep desire to use,
nothing. He only felt one hundred percent gratitude for his life,
his family, this job, and the sobriety which made everything all
possible.

Nodding to himself, he got
back to work.

~~~~~~~~

Thursday morning — 10:45
a.m. MT

Chatting with Yvonne,
Dionne pulled her Cadillac sedan to the stop sign at Fillmore
Street and 16
^th
Avenue.

“
Are you going to be all
right this afternoon?” she turned around in her seat to look at
Jeraine.

“
You’re talking to me?”
Jeraine asked. “I’m confused because I don’t think you’ve said a
word to me all morning.”

“
Don’t be like that,”
Yvonne said from the passenger’s seat. “We’re catching
up.”

“
What did I tell you son?
Don’t get in the way of a
woman . . . ”

“
. . . and her
friends,” Jeraine said. “Yes, that advice serves me to this
day.”

“
I bet it does,” Dionne
laughed.

“
My Tanni has some good
friends,” Yvonne laughed.

Jeraine laughed. He leaned
forward to kiss his mother’s cheek. He gave Yvonne’s cheek a quick
kiss for good measure.

“
You’ll call if you get
sick,” Dionne said.

“
I’ll call,” Jeraine said.
“Have fun.”

“
Oh, we will,” Yvonne
smiled.

Jeraine leaned back in the
seat for a moment. Dionne watched him in the rearview
mirror.

“
Get out of my car,”
Dionne said after a few minutes.

Laughing, Jeraine hopped
out.

“
Where do we go next?”
Yvonne asked.

“
We have a lot to get
done!” Dionne said. “You need a dress and flowers
and . . . You got Rodney’s credit card?”