Protect and Serve (9 page)

Terrill’s face took on an odd expression, one Jason recognized from when they were younger and Terrill had fallen for a woman. “Yes. Maritza did some videos in the past. That’s how Penny and she met.”

Jason found it interesting that he’d never seen his former best friend get his goofy-in-love look around Penny.
Ever.
Either Terrill hid it well, or he’d never felt anything for Penny.

Penny nodded. “Yeah. I can’t remember which one, though. That was a long time ago. Maritza’s great.”

“She sure is. Thick in all the right places, and fine as she wants to be,” Joel agreed.

Terrill’s left eye twitched a little, and he gritted his teeth.

“Video hos. Mmmph.” Aunt Sophie twisted up her lips as the ugly word left her mouth.

“Sophie!” Celia and James snapped in unison with Jason’s outraged “Aunt Sophie!”

“What? That’s what they call them, isn’t it?” She gave Penny a pointed look.

Penny glared at Sophie for a moment before taking a deep breath. She then pursed her lips and turned her attention to the other people at the table, as if she were forcing herself to remain respectful.

Jason felt a hot, angry heat start to course through his veins. Aunt Sophie needed to stop. Penny didn’t deserve to be treated in such a manner, and he was only seconds away from telling his aunt so.

“So you two remained close in California. That’s good. You can look out for one another.” Joel addressed his words to Terrill, clearly trying to change the subject.

Terrill smiled. “You know I had to look out for our girl. Couldn’t just leave her to the wolves in Cali.”

Jason had the sudden urge to snap at Terrill, ask him to leave, something. But he suppressed it. This was no time to start tripping. He couldn’t help it if he’d thought he’d always be the one protecting and looking out for Penny.

“Your mother told Sister Robinson you and Penny weren’t dating anymore. That you must have broken up with her as soon as y’all got to California, because as far as she knew you two weren’t an item.” Aunt Sophie had her lips twisted to the side. “And I took that to mean you were smarter than you looked. But I guess if you still messing with
her—
” she glanced at Penny “—then you’re not.”

Patrick cleared his throat and reached for the potato salad. “So, Penny, you gonna be in town for long?”

“With all due respect, Aunt Sophie, I think you owe Penny an apology.” Jason couldn’t believe he found himself standing up for Penny, but there it was.

Penny looked up and stared at him with those wide, beautiful eyes, and his heart started racing and pounding out of control.

He wanted to say,
Why are you looking so shocked, baby? Don’t you remember when I told you that I’d always have your back when we were kids? What about the time when we were teenagers, before we ever admitted our feelings for one another, and I picked you up from your job at Willowbrook Mall after you missed the last bus and didn’t have a way home? Remember I told you I would always be there for you?

His feelings for her had been so deep that the words
protect and serve
took on a new meaning. The fact that he still felt almost exactly the same need to look out for her didn’t shock him nearly as much as he’d have imagined.

“I think you should apologize to all of us for ruining a nice Sunday dinner.” James gave his older sister a stern look, and Jason realized once again why he was so proud of the man who’d raised him. James Hightower might have a quiet manner, but he always stood his ground and spoke up for what was right, no matter what.

Unfortunately, having her baby brother
and
her nephew both chastise her only served to make Sophie angrier.

“Me? Apologize to her? Mmmph.” Aunt Sophie let out a bitter laugh and then turned a very hateful look on Penny. “I really hate to be a disruption to Sunday dinner. But someone has to be the voice of reason here. The mere fact that Celia has this little…tramp…at the dinner table and let her come within an inch of the food preparation tells me she isn’t playing with a full deck. But I would have thought you would know better, James.” Tsk. “And after the way she dropped you for your best friend and a trip to Los Angeles, I would hope you would know better, Jason.
Please
tell me you all know better.”

Penny pushed back her seat and stood. “Mr. and Mrs. Hightower, it has been lovely and I really appreciate your invitation.” She turned to his mother. “I really enjoyed cooking with you. It was so much fun. I do miss you, but I’m sorry, I can’t stay here and be insulted.”

Turning to Terrill, she said, “I know you don’t want to miss out on this lovely meal, but can you take me home now?”

Terrill placed his napkin on the table, and without a moment’s hesitation, he was at her side and they were leaving.

Jason tried to ignore the piercing pain he felt across his chest when Penny turned to Terrill instead of him. When the hell was it going to stop hurting? After fifteen years, he’d have thought he’d be immune to it. Had he really thought because he was stupid enough to take her side and tell his aunt to apologize Penny would see the error of her ways and fall into his arms? If he had, then he needed some serious psychiatric help.

As soon as Penny and Terrill left, Aunt Sophie smiled. “Well, I’m going to head on home myself. Thanks for dinner. And, Jason, remember what I said. She isn’t worth it.”

Sophie took her leave by offering a smirk to Celia and narrowing her eyes at James. Clearly she wasn’t going to get over her baby brother’s slight anytime soon. So Jason figured that meant they wouldn’t be graced with her presence at Sunday dinner for at least two weeks, if she could contain her busybody nature for that long.

Joel reached for the dressing and the macaroni and cheese at the same time. Smiling, he glanced at their mother. “Honestly, Mama, how did you really expect this dinner to turn out? You had to know it was a disaster waiting to happen.”

Patrick smirked. “Yeah, Aunt Sophie probably saved us from an even bigger altercation. I came fully expecting to have to hold baby bro back from fighting Terrill.”

Jason cringed. “It would take more than you to hold me back, fireman,” he said incredulously.

“Please, the rigors of my job demand I bench-press cops like you—oh, I’m sorry, detectives like you. You might want to hold off on picking fights, anyway. You might not be in shape.” Patrick threw back his head and laughed.

Lawrence grabbed a biscuit and chimed in. “Hey, just so you know, detectives get just as much, if not more, exercise than beat cops. Heck, I’m running down drug dealers on a regular basis.”

“Yeah, but you’re a narc. Baby bro doesn’t get nearly as much exercise, do you?” Joel, the other fireman in the family, put in.

Jason figured his brothers were trying to get his mind off of Penny by bringing up the old Hightower family battle between the firemen and the cops. Since they weren’t the first generation of Hightower men to find the honor of working to protect and serve the community through these careers and they wouldn’t be the last, Jason was used to this rivalry.

He’d grown up listening to his father and his father’s cousins as they argued about which Hightower tradition was more worthy—fighting crime or fighting fires. The debate always started with someone making a slight at the occupation of another, and soon the entire room became embroiled in it.

James Hightower, a highly decorated police captain, now retired, owned a lucrative security business that specialized in all forms of security, from anti-theft devices to fire alarms and even security guards. The elder Hightower often found himself still joining in, even though he no longer worked for the police force.

Glad for the distraction and change of subject, Jason was just about to really get into the fray when he felt his mother tap his arm.

“Jason, can you help me put some things away in the kitchen? I think they’ll be just fine carrying on without you. Your dad is there. So there are still two cops and two firemen there to keep it even.” Celia walked out of the dining room and into the kitchen.

Jason followed his mother into the kitchen, even though he realized that, since she hadn’t taken any of the food back there with her, she probably didn’t really need any help putting anything away.

Celia pulled out one of the chairs and sat down. “Let’s sit here at the table, Jason.”

Nope, no putting away food going on in here.

Jason sat down across from his mother and immediately noticed that she was giving him the all-knowing gaze that had always been able to get him to confess to just about anything when he was a boy.

He straightened up in his chair. Her look wouldn’t work today. He had no intentions on letting it. And besides, he had nothing to hide. As far as he was concerned, his mother should have used that expression on Penny.

Now
there
was a woman with lots of secrets and lies around her.

He sat up in his chair, smugly waiting to see what tricks his mother had up her sleeves.

“You still love her, don’t you?”

His shoulders slouched, and he winced.

Well, all right then, Mama!

Celia Hightower didn’t usually hold back, but Jason thought the question was a bit too direct, even for her.

Speechless, he cleared his throat and stared at her. He let the question move around in his head as he tried to think of how he might respond.

“You really don’t have to answer that, especially if you’re going to lie. I already know the answer. In fact, while y’all might think the dinner was a bust and mean old Sophie ruined things, I got all the information I wanted and needed tonight. Penny Keys still loves
you
and
you
still love her.”

“And what on earth makes you think that, Mama?”

“Oh, I spoke to Penny while we were fixing dinner. I can tell—”

“Did she say she still loved me?” Jason had to stop his mother’s delusions. “Nope, I bet she didn’t. And I know you didn’t hear anything of the kind come out of my mouth. So what are you basing your grand theories of love on, Mama?”

“I’m basing them on what I know, what I’ve always known. She’s the one, Jason. I knew it when you were ten years old and came home complaining about having to share your best friend with some ol’ silly girl. And by the time you all were teenagers, I knew it was only a matter of time before you both realized it. Imagine my shock when I realized that my baby boy was the first of my sons to find the love of his life?

“I don’t know what happened when she lost the baby. My guess is, she got scared and decided to push you away by faking she’d fallen in love with Terrill. But she has never looked at Terrill the way she looks at you.”

Just a few words and he could stop his mother’s crazy dreams of happily ever after for him and Penny. All he had to do was tell her what he’d never told anyone in his family—that Penny had said the baby wasn’t his. Back then, he’d said it didn’t make a difference if his family knew that part or not. They’d all seen her leave for California with Terrill. They all felt enough pity for him as it was.

Now, he had no idea why he didn’t just spout out the full story and close the Penny and Jason story once and for all. But he still couldn’t tell his mother.

Celia reached across the table and touched his hand. “Don’t miss out on the chance to make things right. She’s the one. I know it.”

“Mama—”

“No, listen. I want you happy, not miserable, like you’ve been since Penny left. At least make an effort to talk to her and see if I’m right. You know your mama is never wrong.”

Jason only laughed. There was no arguing with her.

If she needed to hold on to hope for a reconciliation between him and Penny, for whatever reason, then who was he to steal her joy? She would see soon enough, when Penny left for Los Angeles, that it wasn’t meant to be.

“Well, I don’t know, Mama…That’s not what Aunt Sophie said. To hear her tell it, you’re never right. You sure you don’t have it confused?”

Celia slapped his wrist playfully. “That old busybody is just mad because she couldn’t stop your father from marrying me. And she won’t rest until everyone is as miserable as she is. But she has several strikes against her, and she doesn’t even know it. First, you and your brothers are Hightower men, like your father. You’re men of honor, and you won’t be swayed once you realize what you want. And second, your mother is stubborn and crafty. Sophie really doesn’t know who she’s messing with, poor thing. Now, let’s start putting away this food for real.”

“P
enny, maybe you should just tell Jason the truth once and for all. It might help both of you to finally clear the air. He should know it wasn’t true.”

Terrill stared at Penny as they sat in his parked rental car in front of Big Mama’s house. She wiped tears from her eyes and shook her head. “It’s too late, Terrill. Plus, if he hates me now, he’ll really hate me if I tell him the truth. I’m so sorry I dragged you into this back then. You’ve been a great friend, better than I deserve.”

“Penny, I just want you to stop crying. You know I can’t stand to see you cry. That’s how you managed to talk me into helping you in the first place.” Terrill sighed. “Look, I can reschedule some meetings. I don’t have to go back to Los Angeles yet. I can—”

“No, I’ll be fine. I’m going to settle Big Mama’s affairs and get out of here as soon as I can. I’ll have to get to know my father some other time. Maybe I can set him and Carla up on alternating visitation schedules.” She cracked as much of a smile as she could and hoped she’d convinced Terrill she was okay. “Plus, I need you to go back to L.A. and keep an eye on Maritza. She’s probably bossing around some very important clients as we speak.”

Sometimes her business partner got a little heavy-handed with the consulting, and she was known to dig in her heels on occasion. The thing was, when Maritza felt passionate about something, she had a tendency
not
to be open for input. Between Penny’s more free-flowing, interactive consulting style and Maritza’s trust-me-I-know-what’s-best, do-it-my-way demeanor, they managed to fulfill their clients’ needs. Still, Penny needed to get back before too many of the clients who were used to her open approach had to deal with Maritza.

“And I’m supposed to help how? Your little business partner can’t stand me.” Terrill chuckled and rubbed his chin. “Although, if she thinks I’m keeping an eye on her, that should make her good and mad. And I love making her good and mad.”

Penny shoved his shoulder. “Play nice, Terrill. I swear, you better not do anything to tick her off, or she’ll be blowing up my cell phone.”

The rivalry between those two often made her long for the easygoing three-way friendship she, Jason and Terrill used to share. Most times she found herself playing referee to the ongoing Maritza and Terrill battle royal. Maybe without her as the go-between, they’d find a way to make peace on their own.

Yeah, right! That’ll be the day.

“Listen, you, just check in on her every now and then until I get back.” She reached over and hugged him. “Travel safe, and I’ll see you soon. Thanks so much for being here for me yet again. I appreciate it.”

“I’ll always have your back, until you smarten up and let the guy who’s really supposed to have it take over. You need to talk to Jason, Penny. I’m telling you this as your best friend.”

“Were you not at dinner? Did you not hear Sophie go on and on belittling me? No way. I did the right thing back then, no need to go back now. The only thing I would do differently is, I wouldn’t put you in the middle. I would have made up a random boyfriend. I would have kept you out of it. There was no reason for us both to lose his friendship.”

Terrill didn’t say anything, and her heart ached with guilt.

Maybe she could write Jason a nice long letter once she left Paterson and confess everything. If she did, and put all the blame on herself, where it belonged, then maybe Terrill and Jason could be friends again. That option held a lot of appeal.

Terrill leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek. “I’ll call you tomorrow night sometime to check up.”

“You do that.” She got out of the car and headed up the steps.

Everything Mrs. Hightower and Terrill had said to her ran through her head, along with what she was still trying to process from this morning’s sermon. It was all too much, and it all seemed to be pointing toward her telling Jason the truth.

She honestly didn’t think she had it in her.

The front door was stuck, so she gave it an extra push and was able to squeeze by. What she found once she entered the foyer made her blood freeze.

Nothing could have prepared her. No one could have warned her about the emotions that would overcome her if she was ever faced with the thought of losing her mother. Seeing Carla’s still and bleeding body laying on the floor brought it all home in the sound of Penny’s bloodcurdling screams.

Penny dropped to the floor and checked Carla’s pulse. “Mommy! Mommy! Are you alive? Please be alive! Who did this? Who would do something like this? Oh, my God! What happened?”

The faint heartbeat caused Penny to breathe a sigh of relief. She dumped out the contents of her purse and used her cell phone to dial 911.

She felt tears pouring down her face.

Carla had to live.

She couldn’t take it if her mother died. She cared. And the realization that she did care caused a strange sense of peace to cover her heart.

“Mommy, the ambulance is going to be here any minute, okay? Please hold on. Please be okay.”

Carla wasn’t responding, and Penny wasn’t even sure she could hear her. So she used the time to talk to the woman who had given birth to her. She talked to her about everything, and she prayed. She asked God to please spare her mother, so that she could try and make things right between them.

When the ambulance came and the EMTs placed Carla on the stretcher, Penny felt her knees going weak. Just as her legs threatened to give out from under her, strong arms caught her.

She looked up to find herself in Jason’s arms.

“What do you do, sit around listening for any mention of this address on your police scanner?” Her words came out in a breathless awe that would have bothered her if she weren’t so happy to see him there. Having his arms around her felt so right and so good to her.

He shook his head and smiled. “No. Believe it or not, I was just going to stop by and see if you were okay after your run-in with Aunt Sophie this afternoon. Then I saw the lights from the ambulance. What happened?”

She wasn’t prepared for what seeing the slightest twitch of his lips into a smile did to her. It literally stopped her heart and then jump-started it into a fast and frenzied pace. She hadn’t seen Jason’s smile in so long, she’d almost forgotten what it did to her to see it. She shook her head to clear out the fog and focus.

“I don’t know what happened. I came home and found my mother knocked out and bleeding on the floor. Someone must have attacked her. I can’t even imagine who would do something like that.” She wiped away tears that didn’t seem to want to stop. Watching them place Carla in the back of the ambulance, she pulled away from Jason. “I better go. I want to ride to the hospital with her. Thanks for stopping by. I’m fine, though. I have bigger things than your mean old aunt to worry about.”

“I’m going to ask the neighbors some questions, to see if anyone has seen anything. I’ll meet you at the hospital later.” Jason walked over to the ambulance with her. “What hospital are you taking her to?”

“Saint Joseph’s,” one of the EMTs responded.

“I’ll see you later, Penny. Wait for me, please.” He didn’t even stay put for a response.

Are you kidding me?

She stood there with her mouth open. She wanted to tell him he didn’t have to come. Heck, she couldn’t concentrate on Carla, deal with Jason and cope with Big Mama’s death without having a nervous breakdown.

And God forbid if he smiled at her again. She wouldn’t be able to resist….

“You coming, miss?” the EMT shouted as he got Carla strapped in and his partner continued to try and get Carla to respond.

Penny hurried to get in the ambulance. She couldn’t think about Jason now. She had to make sure her mother was going to be all right.

Jason spoke with the cops who’d been sent to investigate and gave the house a once-over as they secured the scene. He made sure not to touch anything. But from what he could see, nothing had been stolen and there were no signs of a forced entry. As far as he could tell from a surface investigation, Carla had let her attacker in—or her attacker had had a key.

Deciding it was best to try to see if anyone had seen anything, Jason started with the young boys whose game of football in the street had been interrupted by the ambulance.

He walked up to the four young men, who had moved their game back into the middle of the street. They looked to be about eleven or twelve years old. And instead of giving them a hard time about playing in the street, Jason decided to let it slide for now. There were worse things boys that age could be doing than playing a game of touch football.

“Hello, guys.” He flipped his badge. “How long were you all out here playing?”

The young men stopped and eyed him suspiciously.

The smallest of the bunch, but clearly the oldest and most mature, stepped up. “We didn’t do anything. We just out here playing and minding our business.” The short youngster stood and spoke with the confidence of a much older man.

Jason could always tell when kids had seen too much in their lives. They gave off the same hard edge that the little Gary Coleman look-alike was giving him. Getting information from these kids wouldn’t be easy. Jason took a deep breath. Patience had never been his strong suit. However, most times the job demanded it. So he counted to ten often and practiced.

“I didn’t say you did anything. I’m asking because I want to know if you saw anything. A woman was hurt, and we’d like to find the person responsible.”

The other young men kept their eyes anywhere but on Jason and their friend, and none of them seemed to be in a hurry to offer any information. One focused on a nonexistent spot on his expensive sneakers. Another took sudden notice of the luxury car parked on the street. The other just kept his eyes on the ground.

“Nobody likes a snitch, especially not OGs.” The young man turned as if he were done talking.

“What if this person decides to hurt someone you love? Your mother? Your sister? Will you still stand by the don’t snitch creed?” It was all Jason could do not to try and shake some sense into the boy.

The street code of silence made his job as a police detective difficult at times, but he dealt with it. This time, however, things were different.

What if Penny had been home? What if she’d been attacked? What if whoever attacked Carla came back and attacked Penny?

The little man-child shrugged. “We ain’t see nothing. You might want to ask Old Lady Henderson, though.
She
sees everything.” The boy walked back to his friends and started playing with the football.

For a brief minute, Jason contemplated continuing to question the young men. He was pretty sure he could break one of the silent ones if he got them talking. But he realized he’d never be able to do that if their little leader was there. It was clear that they deferred to the smaller young man with the mouth. There were lots of things he could have done to make them talk, all of which would have further ruined their already nonexistent trust of the police. So he decided to leave it alone for now.

He might have a better chance with Old Lady Henderson. She lived right next door to Big Mama’s house, and he remembered her well. She’d been the one who always made sure Big Mama knew if Penny had any boys in the house when Big Mama wasn’t home. Even when they thought Old Lady Henderson wasn’t looking, she was
always
looking.

He walked up to her small brown and white Colonial home, which, except for the color, was the same as Big Mama’s yellow and white house next door. He could hear gospel music playing in the house, so he knew she was home. He just hoped she could help.

“Well, hello.” She kept the door cracked and eyed him through it. She had shrunk over the years. But she still wore those floral housedresses and kept her hair wrapped up in a color-coordinated terry-cloth head wrap. Today she had on a tropical design with bright oranges and yellows and a bright yellow wrap on her head. She stood about five feet, if that. But she still had a large presence.

He took out his badge.

The door didn’t budge. She glanced at the badge over her cat-framed glasses and then looked at him again. Everything in her expression seemed to say,
So what? You have a badge.

He put the badge back in his pocket. “Mrs. Henderson, I’m here because your neighbor, Carla Keys, was attacked in her home, and I wanted to know if you saw anything, or saw anyone suspicious around the premises.”

“Well, with Carla around, you know I have to keep my eyes open…ain’t no telling…Especially when she was on them drugs…Things had a tendency to go missing, if you know what I mean. The oddest of things, too—”

“Right. But did you happen to see anyone entering or leaving the house today?” Jason had to cut her off, because he could tell she was about to go off on a tangent and who knew how long it would take him to reel her back in.

She narrowed her eyes at him, and for a minute he felt almost chastised for being rude to an elder.

When she gathered he had gotten the message she intended, she continued. “Well, I saw a man pulling her in the house. One of those boyfriends of hers Doreen had to keep from ’round here years ago. Lord, Carla seemed to pick the worst apples in the bunch to mess around with. They just seemed to get worse and worse. Poor Doreen, God bless her soul, she tried with that Carla. She sure tried. You know Carla was her change-of-life baby? Lord, Doreen didn’t think she was gonna be blessed with children, and then she got pregnant at such a late age. That’s why Carla is so spoiled. Doreen spoiled her to death, especially once her husband passed. ’Course, now, he was a good bit older than Doreen. I don’t suppose he was expecting any children—”

“So, do you think you would be able to pick this man out if you saw him again?” Jason cringed inwardly as he cut Mrs. Henderson off yet again. But he needed to keep her focused.

She pursed her lips and squinted before answering. “Sure would. He done got a little older since the days when he used to hang around here. But I’d know him anywhere. And he’s been over here before lately. He came by and saw Doreen before she passed. If they hadn’t said it was natural causes, I would have pegged him for harming Doreen. She used to have words with him, and had to get a restraining order to keep him away, back in the day. But that foolish Carla went off with him anyway. Is she gonna be okay?”