Push Comes to Shove (15 page)

Within minutes they loaded the taxi’s trunk space with stolen merchandise. Then, they snuggled in the back seat and enjoyed the scenic route home.

Ndia picked a piece of imaginary lint from Jewels’ sweatshirt. “I can’t wait to take me a long, hot bath. You wanna soak with me?”

“I need a rain check. There’s a few things I have to take care of before my call comes through.” She thought for a split second. “Which reminds me: I misplaced my damn cell phone.”

Crutchfield kicked the chair over that Hector was shackled to. “Tell me where the body is. Cut the games; I don’t want no shit outta you.”

“I’m starting to feel like a broken record. I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” Hector peered at Crutchfield and Thomas from the floor.

“Too bad you don’t.” Thomas squatted beside him.

“Fuck him.” Crutchfield undid the button at his shirt collar. “I’m tired of tongue-wrestling with this burrito-eating spic.” He turned to Thomas. “Charge him with the dope; send his ass back to Lucasville. Save me the trouble of finding this crud ball when I have enough evidence to charge him with murder.” He went for the door.

“I asked you not to piss on his Cheerios, Hector. It’ll take him a week to find a good mood. Now I can’t help you.” Thomas sat Hector upright. “There’s nobody to blame but yourself. I don’t understand your loyalty. It intrigues me. You’re going to prison to share a cell with another man, basking in each other’s anus gas. In the meantime, Squeeze will be laid up in his penthouse every night with a soft woman, and he’ll spend his days driving around town in one of his fancy cars, courtesy of the chop shop. We know about that, too.”

Hector lowered his head.

“Tell me something that’ll make Crutchfield smile again. You don’t have to take this hit; it’s Squeeze we’re hard up for.”

“A piece of chewing gum and leniency. Yeah, I’ll bargain for that.” Hector stared at his soft-bottom Kenneth Coles.

Thomas waved at the two-way mirror.

Crutchfield entered the gloomy room. “Why are you still wasting your time with this mutt? Book his ass and throw him in the holding tank.”

Thomas whispered into Crutchfield’s ear.

Crutchfield looked at Hector, left the room, and returned a minute later with a pack of Juicy Fruit.

Hector stuck two pieces of gum in his mouth and let the wrappers
fall to the floor. “I didn’t have anything to do with it. You gotta believe me. When I got there, he was already dead. I swear…”

“Too Tall, I know that ain’t for me and you.” Jewels took the last bag from the trunk. “Come help us carry these bags up to my place, while you sitting out here looking silly.”

Too Tall dragged his feet as he left the bench.

“Punk, quit tripping…I’m gonna break you off something.”

He moved much faster now, collecting the luggage from the pavement, and he relieved Ndia’s load by one bag.

“Thank you.” Ndia slung her wide hips as she strutted toward the building.

The trio climbed the last step and rounded the corner.

Jewels hesitated. Fear and confusion were having a good time playing tug-of-war with her. There was no logical reason for the bone-chilling sight before her. She dropped the luggage and ran in the direction of her apartment.

Crutchfield was aggravated as he watched Hector take his time preparing to put the gum in his mouth. Crutchfield’s patience was shop-worn. To him, it seemed like it took two lousy gum wrappers four hours to hit the floor from the time Hector had discarded them.

“I didn’t have anything to do with it.” Hector looked at his reflection in the two-way glass. “You gotta believe me. When I got there he was already dead. I swear. All I did was throw a few shovels of dirt on him.”

Crutchfield smiled. “Where’s Jap buried?”

“I don’t know.” Hector blew a bubble until it popped. “I’ll take you to the body I buried.”

“That wasn’t so hard.” Thomas patted Hector’s shoulder, showing approval. “I can go for a ride.”

“Uncuff him.” Crutchfield was about to score one for the good guys.

Thomas let the shackles fall to the floor and shoved the cuffs in a carrier fixed to his waist. “Let’s go see this body.”

Hector only moved the muscles it took to chew his gum.

“Before I change my mind.” Crutchfield gave him a look of contempt.

“I already changed my mind.” Hector shifted his eyes between the two. “Somebody needs to make me trust again…or forget about it.”

Crutchfield sat across from him. “What is it you want?”

“For starters, I don’t recall having a dope case. Do either of you?”

Thomas took some papers from his pocket. He showed Hector his name on the police report. “No one ever knew about this but us and God.” He used his cigarette lighter to set the report afire. Once the flame grew, he dropped the inferno inside a wastebasket.

“You’re smoking cigarettes again?” Crutchfield shook his head.

“Off and on. It’s your fault that I started back.”

They all watched the flame die out.

Crutchfield ran a hand over his beard stubble. “What now, Hector?”

He stood up. “I’ll think of the rest in the car.”

Secret and Junior were lying on Jewels’s welcome mat, cuddled in a human knot, asleep.

Jewels’s eyes threatened to water when she saw Junior’s bare foot. She bent down and shook the knot. “Secret, Junior, wake up.”

Junior lifted his eye lids. “Aunty.” He jumped up and wrapped his arms around her. “What took you so long?”

Secret yawned, still drugged with sleep. “Where you been? This floor is hard.”

“One question at a time.”

Ndia reached out to Secret. “How long have y’all been in this trifling hall like this?”

“Since yesterday.” Secret got her balance.

“Where the fuck are GP and your mother?” Jewels felt her anger mounting.

“In jail.” Junior scratched his head.

Too Tall cleared his throat. “Let me get mine so I can go.”

“Motherfucker, don’t you see I’m having a family problem here? I said, I got you. Sit my shit down and come back later after I get my people in order.”

He set the bags down and left.
I’ll fix you
. He stopped on the first floor and knocked on Apartment 114.

“What?” came from the other side of the metal door.

“Let me in. It’s Too Tall.”

The frail woman eased off the threadbare sofa and opened the door. “You got a little something to give me a kick-start, TT?”

“I will after you let me use the phone.”

She stepped aside.

TT maneuvered through the dim apartment to the phone. “Sometimes I think you’re a vampire.”

“You’re gonna find out for sure if you try and play me.”

“Chill, Meka. I’m on the level.” He removed a piece of paper from his pocket and dialed the number written on it.

The phone rang.

Meka stared at him.

“Hello?” Trouble turned over and realized that the room he was in was unfamiliar. To add to his confusion, the snoring woman beside him was a complete stranger. “I got to stop drinking.”

“That’s what we all say,” TT echoed in his ear.

“Who this?” Trouble took a peek beneath the covers.
Damn, that Hennessy sure can pick a woman
.

“It’s Too Tall.”

“Yeah, what’s good?”

“Jewels is back.”

Six figures and corporate numbers popped into Trouble’s mind. “Where is she now?”

“At home; helped carry her bags myself.”

“Good. Good.” Trouble swung his feet to the floor and noticed a used condom.

“You still gonna look out for me?”

“Yeah. Meet me in front of the convenience store in ten minutes. Wait a minute.” He shook the woman. “Get up, hoe. Where am I?”

“Seventy-ninth and Saint Clair.” She reeked of alcohol. “Don’t be calling me out my name.”

Trouble’s stomach churned when he saw her rotten teeth. He hoped that the Hennessy hadn’t convinced him to kiss Yuck Mouth. “Make that twenty minutes.”

“You still owe me for yesterday’s watch.” TT grinned at Meka.

“I’ll take care of it in twenty.” He hung up.

TT headed for the door.

“Where you think you going?” Meka put hands on what was left of her once-bodacious hips.

“Meet a friend of mine so I can get something to kick-start us both.”

“I’m not letting you out my sight. You ain’t to be trusted.” Meka stepped into her shoes and pulled her wild hair into a makeshift ponytail. “Let’s go.”

Kitchie felt as if her breakfast was protesting in her stomach. “Thank you for everything, Suzette. I’ll call you back this evening.”

“I tried…I really tried, but they kept running from me.” Suzette paced her den floor while holding her toddler on a hip. “I’ll keep looking. We’ll find them.”

“I know.” Kitchie hung up and hoped that the shower would relieve some tension.

From the other side of the day room, Logan watched Kitchie go to the shower stalls. Logan whispered in the ear of the woman sitting to her left. The woman excused herself from the card table and went into a cell.

The water felt marvelous crashing into Kitchie’s curvy body. But it had no positive effect on her mood. Suzette had left her with unanswered questions that promised to drive a loving mother insane. Where are the children? Where’d they sleep last night? Are they hurt? Are they hungry? Are they safe? Her wet, silky hair stretched to the center of her back. The water camouflaged her tears.