No One in the World (33 page)

“Wanna find out how much a man really loves you?” Franklin said. “Let another man come sniffin' around, talking about he wants to take you away. Your man will start openin' doors, buying you roses, and paintin' your toenails, girl,” Franklin said, snapping three times.

Franklin was right,
Theresa thought, the smile still on her face as she pulled the ring off and slid it back onto her right hand.

Theresa stood up from the sofa, feeling pain in her face. It was time for her to take another pain pill. But first she would see if Blac and his friend wanted something to eat.

As she made her way around the sofa, Theresa was jolted by what sounded like tussling in the bedroom.

She listened and asked herself, were they playing? Were they wrestling?

The noise became louder, the sound of a body being thrown against the wall, and she knew whatever was happening was not playing.

Theresa moved quickly toward the bedroom door, but was stopped by the deafening crack of a gunshot. She froze, then she heard the heavy thud of what she knew was a body hitting the floor.

“No!” she heard herself say. She ran to the bedroom door, threw it open to find Eric, the man that Blac had called his best friend, standing over Blac, a gun in his hand.

“What have you done!” Theresa cried, throwing herself down to Blac's body. Blood saturated the front of his shirt, still gushing from a large hole in his abdomen. She kneeled by his head, scooped it into her arms, and gently slapped his face. “Blac, wake up! Wake up, Blac! Please. Please!” she whined. But when she looked down into his open, blank, staring eyes, she saw that they were lifeless, and knew that he was gone.

She screamed, looked up at Eric. He froze, looking as though he had no idea of what he had done.

“I'm sorry,” she heard him say, then watched as he turned and ran out the house.

T
yler and I were in the living room, when I heard Eric's car pull up outside.

A moment later, I heard the front door being unlocked, and I stood, filled with an immeasurable dread.

Again I prayed that everything had gone the way Eric planned, but seeing the look on his face when he walked in the room, I knew they had gone horribly wrong.

“What happened?” I asked, rushing over to my brother. Tyler was right behind me. He actually reached around me, grabbed Eric by the shoulder, and said, “What did he say? Is he still going through with it?”

Eric was in a daze. He stared past the both of us. “No. Because he's dead,” Eric said, walking over to the sofa and sitting himself down. He reached behind him, pulled a huge gun from the waist of his jeans, and set it heavily on the coffee table.

Tyler looked at me as if at a loss for words, then walked over to Eric, stood in front of him, and held out a hand. “I want to thank you.”

Eric turned his stare on Tyler as if he had never seen him before. “For what?”

“For doing like I asked. For taking care of him.”

Eric stared at Tyler a moment longer, then looked off and said, “Go away.”

No, I thought to myself. Eric couldn't have done that. He wouldn't have.

Tyler walked back over to me, an expression of relief on his face. He took me by the elbow, led me out of what he figured was Eric's earshot. “He looks to be in a little shock,” Tyler said. “But when he comes out of it, tell him how much I appreciate this. There's most likely going to be repercussions. Tell Eric I will support him in this.” Tyler slapped me on the shoulder. “Whatever he needs.”

“Hold it. Eric didn't do this. He didn't kill that man, and he definitely didn't do it because you needed it done.”

Tyler smiled. “I know that. He did it because
you
needed it done. Like I said, let me know if there's anything I can do. Now I have to get home to the family.”

Tyler left me standing there staring at my brother. Eric sat straight up on the sofa, his hands folded in his lap, staring, blank faced, out in front of him.

“Eric,” I said, walking slowly over toward him. “You didn't do what Tyler thinks you did, did you?”

“No.” He didn't look at me.

“Are you sure?”

His eyes landed on me this time. “I wouldn't let him blackmail you and the senator. I wouldn't let Blac leave to do it. He pulled a gun out of nowhere. It startled me. I reached for it. We fought and he was shot.”

“Well, maybe he's not—”

“He's dead.” Eric lowered his head and closed his eyes. “His girlfriend was there. I think she knows who I am. The police will be coming soon. They're going to take me back to prison. And Jess won't ever let me see my daughter again.” A tear spilled down Eric's cheek. He looked at me again. “I'm sorry, Cobi. All you did to give me a better life. I guess having nothing and being in prison is the life I'm supposed to have.”

“No!” I said, sitting down next to my brother. “This was an accident. Self-defense. I'm going to call Sissy so she can get down here. I'll represent you if the police come, and we're going to get through this.”

Eric shook his head and smiled sadly. He grabbed my hand. “It's not gonna work. I'm on parole. The minute they see I had contact with Blac, let alone killed him, I'll be going back in. There's nothing you can do.”

I stood. “You're not going back to prison. You've been locked up your
entire life. I'm not letting you go back. I'm not.” I headed toward the stairs.

I raced up them, ran to Austen's door, and banged on it. When she opened the door, I said, “Eric is in the living room. He's in trouble. Please, go down there and be with him till I figure out what to do.”

“Okay,” Austen said, hurrying toward the stairs.

I headed to my father's study, pulled out my cell phone, and dialed Sissy's number.

When she picked up, I said, “Sissy, you need to get over here right now.”

“What's going on? You sound terrible.”

“It's an emergency. Something has gone wrong. I need you here now.”

W
hatever was happening, Sissy knew it was catastrophically bad. She had never heard Cobi sound so worried in her life.

She threw on the first pair of slacks and shirt she put her hands on, raced out to her car, and sped over. This would have something to do with that convict brother of his, Sissy knew. When she entered the gates that opened to the drive of the Winslow mansion, she knew things were much worse than she thought.

There were more than half a dozen police cars, parked out front, lights flashing, painting the house red and blue.

Sissy skidded her car to a slanted halt, threw the door open, and rushed out toward the house.

A young officer held out a hand, trying to stop her.

“Let me through!” Sissy demanded. “This is my house!”

She was allowed to pass.

As she stumbled toward the door, she had expected the worst. She didn't know exactly what that would be, but she knew it was coming.

Making her way inside, she ran down the hallway. In the living room, she saw that the situation was bad, but nothing that she hadn't expected.

There were four uniformed cops standing around, radios squawking on their hips, and three plainclothes detectives. On one side of the room, Sissy saw Eric in jeans and a bloody, torn T-shirt, his hands cuffed behind
his back, a detective standing over him, looking as though he was about to read him his rights. On the other side of the room, she saw Austen and Cobi standing. They looked frightened. Sissy made her way to her brother to try to comfort him.

She gave Cobi a hug, but he did not hug her back. She understood, considering all that was going on.

“I told you it would end like this. I told you not to have anything to do with that criminal,” she said, cutting a look across the room at Eric. “But he looks like he's getting what he deserves, so you can just relax and tell me what happened.”

Cobi didn't speak, but Sissy heard her name being called by Eric.

She looked around at him, then back to Cobi, and said, “Why is he calling me?”

Still Cobi didn't say a word.

The detective stood Eric up. Another detective took him by the other arm and started him toward the door.

“Sissy,” Eric called again, more frantic this time. “It's me, Cobi.”

Sissy turned to who she thought was Cobi, a bitter scowl on her face, then turned and rushed over to the man she now realized was her brother. The detectives stepped forward, as if to shield Cobi from her.

“I'm his sister. I need to speak to him. Please!”

The detectives stepped a few feet away, allowing Sissy to speak to her brother in private.

She looked at the man in front her, wearing those sagging jeans, that bloodstained shirt, and could not believe it was her brother. “Cobi?” she said, as though not sure.

“It's me, Sis.”

“What the hell is going on? Why are you in cuffs? Why is he over there?”

“I told you,” Cobi said. “Everything went wrong. I went to talk to Blac. He pulled a gun on me. We struggled, it went off, and I accidently killed him.”

Sissy felt the room spin and thought she was about to faint but regained her balance. “No,” she said. She looked back at Eric and Austen. Saw that they were hiding something, saw it in their faces that some deal had been struck, and what Cobi was telling her was nothing but a lie. “No!” Sissy said, trying to grab her brother by the arm. “You didn't do this. I know you didn't.”

“Ma'am,” one of the detectives said, rushing over, pulling Sissy off of Cobi. “He's already been read his rights. If you want to continue to speak to him, you'll have to come down to the station.”

“Cobi,” Sissy said, crying now. “I'm right behind you. Do you hear me? You have nothing to be afraid of. I'm right behind you.”

To Sissy's surprise, Cobi looked calm. “I'm not afraid, Sis. Come down to the station, and we'll work it all out.”

Sissy gave Cobi a quick, tight hug, then stormed back over to Eric and Austen.

“I don't know what the fuck is going on,” Sissy said, stabbing a finger at Eric. “But I know this is all you. I know you had everything to do with it and somehow managed to convince my brother to take the blame. I'm not going to let that happen. I'm going to find out what really went on, and I'm going to have your ass sent back to prison for killing that man. And it will be for life. Do you understand me?” Sissy screamed hysterically. “For life!”

E
ric stood in the front doorway and watched as Sissy sped away.

Moments earlier, as the police walked Cobi out to their car, Sissy continued to curse and threaten Eric, looking over her shoulder as she hurried to her own car. She promised to devote her life to making sure Eric paid for what she was sure he had done, and by the look in her eyes, Eric knew he had reason to be concerned.

He thought back to half an hour earlier. He and Austen were downstairs on the sofa. She was near tears with worry, clutching his hands in hers. “Are you sure he's dead? Maybe he's just—”

“Austen, he's dead, okay?” Eric said. “I killed him, and I'm gonna have to 'fess up to this. His girlfriend saw me.”

“Won't they put you back in prison?”

Eric believed her fearing the answer to that question was what caused the tears. He knew in the short time they saw each other, he had developed deep feelings for her, but he was surprised to know she might have felt the same for him.

“Yeah, they probably gonna send me back. There's no other way it can go.”

“Maybe there is,” Cobi said from the stairway. He descended the last couple of stairs and walked into the living room. “I've been thinking and I came up with something, but I'm going to have to tell you
quickly. The police should be here soon. I called them and told them what happened.”

Eric heard a gasp from Austen, felt her grip tighten on his hands. “Already? You called and told them? Couldn't you have—”

“Don't,” Eric said. “He did the right thing.”

“That's right,” Cobi said. “It was self-defense. If that is truly what it was, then there is nothing to hide. We have to report what happened.”

“But Eric won't stand a chance when—”

“Blac had photos that could do serious harm to my reputation, and he threatened to blackmail me with them,” Cobi said, ignoring Austen, and then sitting down on the sofa opposite her and Eric. He focused very closely on the both of them. “When
I
went over there to confront him—”

“What?” Eric said, releasing Austen's hand and standing.

“I said, when
I
went over there to confront Blac about the blackmail, he pulled a gun on me. In my attempt to defend myself, we struggled, the gun went off, and he was killed.”

Eric turned to look at Austen, then back to Cobi, not believing what he had just heard. “But Theresa saw me,” he finally said.

“Theresa saw me.” Cobi stood, an unsure smile on his face.

“You can't do this,” Eric said.

“There is no other way.”

“This can't work.”

“Did you touch anything while you were there?”

“I don't . . .” Eric started, reviewing the steps he took leading up to the shooting. He knocked on the door, Theresa opened it for him. He didn't touch the door when he walked into the bedroom and pushed it closed with his elbow. He tussled with Blac, but once Eric put his hands on him, he didn't let go, until they were around Blac's hands as they held the gun. “Only thing I touched was the gun.”

“And you brought that with you,” Cobi said. “There are no fingerprints there. His girlfriend doesn't know it was you there and not me.”

“But you'll go to jail for something I did,” Eric said, worried.