Hidden Memories (37 page)

“Do you still have protection?” Audra asked.

“Yes, the police officer is outside, but I can’t wait until this is all over.” Changing subjects, Sage asked Audra, “Did you see the painting Aunt Maddie sent me?”

“I remember that painting. Satchel was very good. I always thought he could have been a great painter,” Audra said. “Your butterfly collection is beautiful. I’ve never seen so many different kinds of butterflies. I’m amazed that you remembered.”

“That’s all I really have of Daddy. Memories.”

* * * * *

“Hello,” Savannah said when she walked into Edwinna’s office. “I was in…” Savannah stopped talking when she realized that Edwinna was on the phone, and took a seat across from her friend’s desk.

Edwinna nodded and held up a finger to indicate she would be off the phone shortly. Edwinna’s office was ultramodern, with large contemporary paintings, rosewood furniture and a round glass conference table.

Savannah picked up the
Wall Street Journal
sitting on the corner of Edwinna’s desk and started reading the newspaper.

“What brings you downtown?” Edwinna said when she hung up the telephone five minutes later.

“Danielle had a dentist appointment.”

“My godchild is here, and she hasn’t come in to say hello?” Edwinna teased.

“I guess the fish are more important. She’s in the waiting room, looking at the aquarium. She claims there are more fish in the tank. She says there were forty-eight fish the last time we were here.”

Edwinna chuckled. “I wouldn’t know. I take it you got my message.”

“Yes, girl, you sounded like a madwoman,” Savannah chided. “I should have made a copy and sent it to your clients.”

Edwinna narrowed her eyes at Savannah, ignoring her smart remark. “I just couldn’t believe that Ramion would announce his candidacy so soon. The election is still months away. He took everybody by surprise.”

“Maybe that will be to his advantage.”

“I have to admit it was a smart move.” Edwinna picked up her onyx-and-pearl earring and clipped it onto her left earlobe.

Savannah arched an eyebrow. “Giving Ramion a compliment?”

“No! I’m just acknowledging that it was a good offensive move. Unusual because most lawyers think defensively.”

“So are you going to run against him?” Savannah asked, crossing her legs.

“I’m going to do it,” Edwinna said, pounding the desk with her fist. “I’m going to run for the state senate.”

Savannah shook her head. “Don’t do it. You’ll hate it, Edwinna. You don’t want to be in the spotlight. You have to watch everything you do.”

“So?” Edwinna said nonchalantly.

“You know how the media is. They can destroy you. What if it comes out?”

“What?”

Savannah lowered her voice to a whisper. “About me and you.”

“Nobody knows. I’ve never told anyone. Have you?”

“No, but…”

“We’ve always been careful. We’ve always had men in our lives.”

Savannah shrugged her shoulders. “If you’re not worried, then I’m not worried.”

“No, I’m not worried about that. I’m just worried about beating Ramion.”

“So how are you going to beat him?” Savannah asked. “He’s already made a name for himself. Not to be insensitive, Edwinna, but nobody knows who the hell you are.”

“By the time November rolls around they will,” she said, leafing through a stack of legal-sized file folders.

“Tell me this, do you really want to win, or are you only aiming to screw up Ramion’s chances of winning?”

“It won’t hurt my career to hold public office. At first, I’ll admit, I just wanted to run for the pleasure of defeating Ramion, to totally ruin his plans. But now that I’ve got my father involved and other supporters behind me, I’m taking it more seriously.”

Savannah rolled her eyes in disbelief. “You suddenly care about the people who live there?”

“You’ve forgotten that I grew up there.”

“But you moved away when you were a teenager.” Savannah put the newspaper back on Edwinna’s desk and said, “All I’m saying is don’t do it just to get back at a man.”

“It doesn’t matter why I’m doing it. What matters is that I’m going to win. And I’ve got something on Ramion that will cost him votes.”

“What is that?” Savannah asked with curious interest.

Edwinna opened her black Dooney & Bourke pocketbook and retrieved her key ring. She unlocked the file cabinet, opened the top drawer and removed a red folder.

Her curiosity aroused, Savannah asked, “What is it?”

“Remember when Art Hinkle was accused of taking a bribe to get the stadium contract?”

“Yes. He ended up losing his seat on the city council.”

“Ramion handled the case, and I think he was in on it.”

“Get out of town,” Savannah said.

“He represented Hinkle during contract negotiations.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“Eighty percent. I’m going to talk to Selena Tucker. She’s the law clerk who worked with Ramion on the case. I’m going to find out what she knows.”

“Do you know her?”

“Not well. I heard she’s working at another law firm. She’s probably passed the bar by now. But I’m going to check into it.”

“You might have something.”

Edwinna released a long, sad sigh. “Too bad I can’t stop the wedding.”

“Get over it, girl. He’s a goner.”

“Yeah, well, I heard the wedding is going to be in the garden of the Governor’s Mansion. I hope it rains like hell.”

“We can get together that day. So you won’t have to think about it.”

“What are you going to do?” Edwinna asked, feeling a tingling sensation between her thighs.

Savannah licked her lips. “Make you come in my mouth.”

* * * * *

Selena Tucker exited off the interstate and drove to the Peachtree Corners area, relieved to accelerate to more than forty miles an hour, instead of the stop-and-go pace of the congested interstate. She stopped at Kenny Rogers’s drive-through window for a chicken salad lunch and then headed to her apartment complex. She stopped at the leasing office and dropped her late rent check into the mail slot. She pretended not to notice a woman from the leasing office, waving at her to come into the office, and got back into her car and quickly drove away.

Selena rounded the corner from the leasing office, slowing down for speed bumps. She drove past the stream of furniture stacked near the dumpsters before she realized that the whitewashed bedroom and living room furniture was hers. Without checking her rearview mirror, she put her car in Reverse and backed up. Tears welled in her eyes when she saw everything she owned piled in a disheveled mess.

Her next-door neighbor ran over to her car. “They wrong, girl, to throw us out of here like that. Without no kind of warning,” Kiki said. “I had an agreement for my back payments, but some new company has taken over and they ain’t studying our agreements.”

“Another company bought out the complex?” Selena asked, stunned by the news.

“I don’t know if a new company bought the complex or it’s a new company that’s managing the property. I just know they done thrown us out like we were dogs or something.”

“Assholes!” Selena said, drying her eyes, anger replacing shock.

“I’ve been watching your stuff. You know people are like vultures. They walk off with your shit if you ain’t watching.”

“Thanks a lot, Kiki. I guess I’m going to have to move this stuff into my mother’s house.”

“You’re a lawyer, Selena. Can’t you do something about this?”

“I can try. But you know the legal system moves slowly. Real slow,” Selena said, loath to admit that she had been behind on her rent.

Chapter Twenty

The tall police officer entered the room filled with twenty women laughing and talking, sharing stories about boyfriends, husbands and lovers. With the snatches of laughter and a movie soundtrack playing loudly, Sage didn’t notice the police officer approach her.

“Are you Sage Kennedy?” the officer asked in a gruff, unfriendly voice.

Sage gazed up at him, thinking he looked young enough to be in high school. He was so good-looking Sage wondered why he’d chosen law enforcement instead of a career as a model or actor.
With his muscular physique and Denzel Washington face,
she thought,
he could have gone straight to Hollywood and landed the lead role in an action flick.

“Yes, Officer,” Sage said, her eyebrows drawn together in a questioning gaze.

The officer held out an envelope. “I have something for you.”

Sage stood up. “What is it?” she asked, staring into the officer’s stony face. The serious crease in his brows and the tightness around his mouth belied the mirth in his eyes. When Sage extended her hand to take the papers, the police officer handcuffed his hand to hers.

“What the hell are you doing?” she demanded angrily. She didn’t notice the flash of cameras as her picture was taken.

“Take these off,” she snapped. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

The laughter from the other women distracted her from her pique. “Why are you laughing? This isn’t funny!” Then she heard the unmistakable beat of a rap song, a thumping party groove.

“Miss Kennedy,” the police officer said, “I’m not taking you anywhere. But I do need your help.”

Sage burst into laughter, realizing that the young brother she was handcuffed to was not a police officer at all, but a stripper or dancer. She narrowed her eyes at Tawny, “Whose bright idea was this?”

“Ava’s,” Tawny said.

The music thumped on the boom box, and the women started clapping.

“I need you to help me take my clothes off,” the stripper said.

Her cheeks blushed in embarrassment. “I’m sure you can do it yourself.”

“I only have one hand free,” the police impostor taunted.

“I suppose the only way you’re going to take these handcuffs off is for me to help you,” Sage said.

“Exactly!” the stripper said, positioning his thumb and index finger like a gun.

With merriment in her eyes and a mischievous grin, Sage unbuttoned his shirt. And when she reached for his belt, some of her friends yelled, “Ooh, we didn’t think you’d go there!”

Sage unzipped his pants as the agile dancer moved his body in erotic rhythm to the music, gyrating his hips and pressing against Sage.

“Pull them down! Pull them down!” Ava screamed.

Sage hesitated before pulling the officer’s black pants from his hips. When Sage saw the red bikini, she covered her face. “That’s it! I can’t do any more.”

“You don’t have to, Miss Kennedy.” He unlocked the handcuffs. “Sit down. Watch and enjoy.”

Addressing the group of sexually charged women, the stripper said, “I’ve got something to cool you off.” Two young men came into the room, dressed as firemen in red raincoats and black hats, brandishing fire hoses.

To the beat of “Erotic City” by Prince, the three male dancers gyrated their hips and wiggled their behinds, removing their raincoats to reveal red bikinis. When they finished performing, each dancer presented Sage with a red rose.

Everyone clapped as the dancers left the room.

“Girlfriend, I’d love to take one of them home with me!”

“It’s been so long since I had any, I don’t know if I’d still know how.”

“I’ll take the tall one. I could teach him a few things. You know, ways to make a woman purr.”

Laughter abounded as the women talked and joked about the strippers. Tawny stood in the center of the room and announced, “The party’s not over yet. It’s fantasy time.” She walked over to Sage, who was sitting in a corner chair.

“Now what?” Sage asked.

“You get to read your friends’ sexual fantasies.” Tawny handed Sage a shoebox filled with folded sheets of paper. “You know, ideas for your honeymoon.”

“Hmh,” Sage said, a grin spreading across her face.

“We’ll be here all night,” someone complained. “I want to see her gifts.”

“Okay, okay,” Tawny said. “Just read three.”

Sage reached into the box and pulled out a piece of paper. She quickly read the three paragraphs and said, “I see someone has a dirty mind. A very dirty mind,” she repeated, wondering who wrote what she was about to read.

“I hear you, girl,” Tawny said.

“Listen up,” Sage said. “This is from…”

“Don’t read the name,” a high-pitched voice said.

Sage sipped her margarita and said, “Girlfriends, I hope you didn’t write about anything you wouldn’t want the rest of us to hear. You know, stuff about whips and chains and…”

“Go on, read one,” Ava urged.

With an impish smile, Sage began to read the sexual fantasy. “I walk into a darkened room, and a deep, unfamiliar voice says ‘hello’. I say ‘hello’, and he says, ‘I can’t wait to lick you where you’re hot. I’ll slither my tongue around your tender spot…’”