Gold Hill (39 page)

When he came at her again,
she bent her elbow and slammed it across his face with all her
might. He glanced off the metal stall and dropped to the ground.
She jumped up and kicked him in the ribs as hard as she possibly
could. She kept kicking until two strong hands pulled her
away.

She looked up into the face
of one of her Denver Track Club teammates. He was dressed in a
University of Colorado Police uniform.

“
We had a report that a
woman was beating the bejesus out of some poor defenseless guy,”
the officer chuckled. “Tanesha, whatcha got against this feeble
white rapist?”

The man moaned.

“
You’re no match for this
girl,” the officer said to the man on the floor. He nodded to
another University Police officer who cuffed the rapist on the
floor. Turning to Tanesha, he asked, “You okay?”

Tanesha nodded. She felt
high and a little numb from the rush of adrenaline. When she pulled
up her pants, she found that the jerk had ripped the button off her
favorite pants. She sneered at the rapist as he passed her on his
way out of the room.

The officer and the rapist
got to the doorway just as her father Rodney came in. Towering over
the officer and the rapist, Rodney gave the criminal a terrifying
look before seeing Tanesha. His face transformed to sheer joy when
he saw that his child was safe. He turned back to the
rapist.

“
That’s my daughter,”
Rodney said to the man.

The rapist shook his head
in horror and the officer pushed him out of the restroom. Unable to
stop herself, Tanesha threw herself into her father’s arms. He
wrapped his long arms around her. Tears streamed out of her eyes
and he held her tight. The officer touched his shoulder.

“
We’ll need to get her
statement,” the officer said.

Holding up her pants with
one hand, Tanesha tried to open her mouth. She yelped with pain and
pointed to her jaw.

“
Shit, girl.” The officer
pointed to a growing lump on Tanesha’s jaw. “Did that asshole break
your jaw?”

“
We need to get her to the
hospital.” Rodney slipped off his belt.

“
Come on,” the officer
said. “I’ll take you to emergency.”

While she threaded the belt
through her pants, Rodney grabbed her book bag. He picked up the
pieces of her phone and tucked them into the bag.

“
That guy?” The officer
pointed with this thumb out the door. “He fits the description of a
guy who’s raped more than twenty women in Aurora alone.”

The officer nodded to
Rodney.

“
You know him?” the
officer asked.

“
We met up in Cañon City,”
her father said.

“
Know his
name?”

“
I do.” Rodney held his
hand out to the officer. “I’m Rodney Smith. Thank you for helping
my daughter.”

“
Nice to meet you, sir.”
The officer shook Rodney’s hand. “Come on, let’s get your girl
looked at.”

With his arm around her,
Rodney guided Tanesha out of the bathroom. They were walking toward
the stairs when Jeraine caught up with them. As usual, whispers,
looks, and camera clicks followed her husband like a cloud. For
once, she didn’t care. She let go of her father to hold Jeraine.
She kept holding on even though she heard people taking pictures of
them on their cell phones. The officer put his hand on Jeraine’s
shoulder.

“
We need to get her to
emergency,” the officer said.

“
Yes sir,” Jeraine
said.

They had just stepped into
the elevator when the officer snorted.

“
What?” Rodney
asked.

“
If you’re Jeraine,” the
officer said. “Then is she Misty?”

“
There is no Misty,”
Jeraine said.

“
I’m Miss T,” Tanesha
tried to say through her jaw. It came out as something like “eh
mmffs T.” She snorted and the men laughed.

“
You two look like a
matched set,” Rodney said. “But then you always have
been.”

“
Ain’t that the truth?”
Jeraine gave a broken toothed smile.

“
You know that song?” The
officer sang, “There’s a honey in my bed and Miss T on my
mind?”

Jeraine nodded.

“
Oh dawg, that song is the
ultimate panty dropper. I just put it on
and . . . ”

Rodney cleared his throat
and gave the officer a hard look. He blanched. When Rodney laughed,
the men chuckled. Tanesha rolled her eyes at them.

“
Come on, let’s get you to
the ER,” the officer said.

“
If you don’t mind,”
Rodney said. “I’ve seen enough of the back of cop cars.”

The officer pointed to a
golf cart with University Police on the side.

“
It’s not the sweetest
ride, but it does get across the campus fast,” he said.

“
There’s definitely not
enough room for us,” Rodney pointed to Jeraine and
himself.

“
I can’t leave her until I
get her statement,” the officer said.

“
We’ll go with the cop,”
Jeraine said.

“
I’ll follow you,” Rodney
said. He hugged Tanesha.

“
Thanks for calling me,”
Rodney said in her ear. “It feels almost . . .
normal.”

Tanesha nodded.

“
When we’re done here,
will you help me get your mom an engagement ring?” Rodney asked.
“Oh my God, Yvonne! If they came for you,
they’re . . . ”

“
Sandy,” Tanesha muffled
out.

Unsure of what she said,
Rodney looked at Tanesha then at Jeraine.

“
I think she said Sandy,”
Jeraine said. “Sandy’s place is like a fortress. You never noticed?
Bullet proof glass front, steel door, double security locks on
every door, special alarm. I guess Jake set it up that way. If
Yvonne’s there, she’s safe.”

Tanesha gave a vigorous nod
and then grabbed her jaw.

“
Do you have Sandy’s
number?” Jeraine asked. “You should call to check. Women like
that.”

Tanesha tapped him with the
back of her hand.

“
Good idea,” Rodney said.
“I’ll call on the way.”

Tanesha and Jeraine walked
to the University Police cruiser. Standing at the passenger door to
the cruiser, Tanesha watched her father walk away. He must have
felt her eyes because he turned to look at her. She raised a hand
to wave. He pointed to his chest, made a heart sign with his hands
and pointed to her. She touched her chest and raised her index and
middle finger.

Leaning back into the
passenger seat, Tanesha still felt a sense of vague unreality. This
had been the weirdest, best, most intense week of her life. She’d
finally started med school, thought her mom was dead, found her mom
safe and sound after all these years, given a deposition to the
police, and been attacked by a rapist. She watched Jeraine answer
the phone and then hold the phone away from his ear as Heather
screamed at him.

At least some things never
changed.

~~~~~~~~

Thursday afternoon — 4:10
p.m. MT

“
You know,” Sandy touched
Yvonne’s shoulder. “You could come once a week, instead of once a
month, now. I can wash and set your hair. I bet we can get that
hair to grow.”

“
So expensive,” Yvonne
shook her head.

“
Bah,” From under the hair
dryer, Maresol repeated what she’d said all day. “Your man can
afford it.”

The women laughed. Sandy
leaned down until she was next to Yvonne’s ear.

“
Rodney comes once a
week,” Sandy said.

“
He does?” Yvonne looked
surprised.

“
Haircut and shave. It’s
an incentive for some of the young men on his worksite. If they
meet their goals, he pays for a haircut and a shave. I’ve even been
able to clear up his skin. You could just come with him. Plus, I
always give a family discount.”

Looking more confident,
Yvonne nodded.

“
Ok, you’re set,” Sandy
said. Looking up, she reminded her assistant, “Yvonne needs the new
conditioning step.”

Her assistant
smiled.

“
She’ll wash out your
hair,” Sandy said. “I’m testing out a new conditioner. It takes
about five minutes. You can come up here to wait if you’d
like.”

Nodding, Yvonne got up and
Jeraine’s mother, Dionne, took her place. Yvonne and the assistant
went into the back of the salon.

“
What would you like
today, Mrs. Wilson?” Sandy asked.

“
You do a great job with
that flat iron,” Dionne said. “Will you be able to do all of our
hair on Saturday?”

“
I was planning on it,”
Sandy said.

“
Good,” Dionne
said.

Sandy flipped a plastic
smock over Dionne and took out her supplies. She worked in silence
for a few minutes. Yvonne and the assistant laughed as they came in
from the back room. Moving into the salon, Yvonne saw the flat
screen television.

“
That’s my Tanni!” Yvonne
pointed to the screen. The women looked at the television. Sandy
got the remote control from her drawer and turned the sound up.
“That’s the police!”

The screen flashed to an
on-scene reporter.

“
Based on what we know so
far, Tanesha Smith was in the bathroom at the Medical School here
in Anschutz when she was attacked. Ms. Smith was able to fight off
her attacker. According to Aurora PD, this man is a possible
suspect in a number of sexual assaults throughout Aurora and the
metro area.”

“
Oh my God,” Yvonne
said.

Dionne got up to hug her
friend. They watched in horrified silence.

“
What is Ms. Smith’s
condition?” The desk anchor worked to stretch out the
story.

“
We haven’t been able to
confirm the details,” the reporter said. “But we’ve heard that Ms.
Smith has a broken jaw. We have this tape submitted by a
viewer.”

The screen shifted to
Jeraine running up to Tanesha while she was walking with Rodney.
The swelling in her jaw was apparent as was her torn
clothing.

“
That must have been some
fight,” the announcer said when the tape ended.

“
Apparently, Ms. Smith has
been taking self-defense classes from a friend of the family,” the
reporter said.

“
She knew enough to put
the rapist is in critical condition at Denver Health,” the desk
anchor said. “We’ll have a report shortly about his
condition.”

“
We’ve contacted Jeraine’s
representation and they would not comment on a police matter,” the
reporter said. “We’ll bring you up to the minute details as soon as
the police release a full statement.”

“
Thank you,” the news
anchor filled the screen. “As you know Tanesha Smith is the wife of
R and B star, Jeraine Wilson. A crowd is already forming outside
the hospital to catch a glimpse of them.”

“
Jeraine
Wilson . . . ”

Sandy turned off the
sound.

“
Did you know?” Yvonne
asked Delphie.

Delphie nodded.

“
Is that why we’re here?”
Yvonne asked. “Why Rodney called a while ago?”

“
Did you see the men who
were following us?” Dionne asked. “They were coming for you
too.”

“
They followed us from
lunch to here,” Maresol said.

“
Did you know?” Yvonne
asked Sandy.

“
Only when it was too late
to do anything,” Sandy said. “We could only keep you safe. Jill
called Tanesha and the police. Tanesha said she could handle him.
Seems like she did. Jill knew she’d be all right if he didn’t
surprise her.”

“
What did Delphie and Jill
know?” Yvonne asked.

“
Tanesha and Jer went to
the police station this morning before school,” Dionne said. “She
gave evidence against Alvin . . . ”

“
The spider?” Yvonne put
her hand on her heart. “Why would she do that?”

“
She saw a picture of him
last night,” Dionne said. “An old picture, one from when you were
first . . . She remembered what he did to her, to
you. She told the police everything.”

“
She did?” Yvonne’s face
reflected her shock and horror.

“
We need to get the
conditioner out of your hair,” Sandy’s assistant said.

Upset, Yvonne took a few
steps in the direction of the wash bowl. At the doorway to the back
room, Yvonne turned around.

“
You’re saying that the
spider sent a man to hurt my Tanni because she told the truth about
him?” Yvonne gave Delphie a hard look. “And he sent some men to
kill me.”

“
Like we always thought he
would,” Delphie nodded.

“
You still have them?”
Yvonne looked from Delphie to Maresol, ending with Dionne.
“Somewhere safe?”

Dionne nodded.

“
That’s why we’re going to
the Castle next?” Yvonne asked.