Shadow of Death (28 page)

“No. I'm good. I do need a favor, though. Is there a way you can talk in private? I'm a little nervous about your friend overhearing our conversation.”

“Oh, don't worry 'bout her. She ain't go say nuttin'. She went to 'da bathroom anyway and I think she gotta do number two, so we good. What's up?”

Without disclosing his conversation with Mario, Troy informed her that Charlie was also involved. “The lady I'm accused of murdering had a sister. I think Charlie, Will, Cheryl, and her sister, Chyanne, were all in this thing together to fake Cheryl's death and cash in on her life insurance policy. I also believe Chyanne is the one who killed Cheryl. She's been going by the alias Ann Harrow and posing as my neighbor. I also think Will got spooked after Cheryl's murder and wanted out. Perhaps that's why he was acting weird the last time we both saw him. I think he left town because he got in too deep.”

“Ann Harrow… Why does 'dat name sound familiar?”

“She's a member of the gym.” Troy described her.

“Okay. I know who you talkin' 'bout now. How you git from 'da Cheryl chick and Will to her and Charlie?”

“I met someone with an inside scoop. Plus, Ann was there when I arrived yesterday and she left right before the police came.”

Shay was eerily quiet for a few moments. “If all 'dat's true, 'den on 'da real, Will ain't as innocent as you wanna believe. What if he used me to lure you to 'da gym? Check 'dis out… He been M.I.A. for over a week and all of a sudden he comes to my place sayin' he's leavin' town, but first he goin' to 'da gym. You and me both go, but he don't neva show up. 'Den your neighbor leaves after you get 'dere and all of a sudden 'da PoPo comes. It seems like more of a setup. What if Will only told me 'bout goin' to 'da gym 'cuz he knew I would tell you?”

Shay's theory was plausible. When Troy first enlisted Shay's help, he'd called her from his cell phone, which had been cloned! They'd been keeping tabs on him, thus making his conspirators privy to her involvement. “I think you might be on to something,” he said, impressed by Shay's analytical skills and disappointed that he hadn't connected those dots.

“ 'Dat's why I'm stayin' at my friend's,” Shay continued. “On 'da real, I'm a li'l bit scurd. Wit' Will on 'da loose and now you tell me 'bout 'dese otha folks, I don't wanna be at home by myself. He know where I live and I ain't trynna end up like 'dat dead chick!”

Hearing the fear in her voice, Troy felt bad for getting Shay entangled in this mess. “I'm sorry, I should have left you out of it.”

“You cool. I'm in now and I can't git out until 'dey all git caught. It is what it is. We in 'dis together. You said you needed a favor. What's up?”

Troy smiled to himself. Shay really was a ride-or-die friend. To think, he'd spent so much time trying to avoid her and now she was one of his allies. Same as Eric. He needed them both and was
almost
becoming fond of Eric's strangeness and Shay's ghetto-fabulousness. They had good hearts, which was more than he could say about Will. Troy laid out the theory about Cheryl cashing out her life insurance policy without Chyanne's knowledge. “I bet by now she's tried to collect the money and found herself in for a rude awakening.”

“If you know all 'dis, why you ain't goin' to 'da PoPo?”

“Because I need proof and that's where you come in. I need you to access Ann Harrow's records at the gym so I can get her number.”

“I don't understand. Why go through all 'dis if you know 'dis chick lives by you? Why not just go to her house and put her in check?”

“I wish it was that simple, Shay, but I can't get to her house because the cops are probably watching mine. Since I can't get to her in person, I'll contact her. I want her to think I have the money.”

“Do you?”

“Let's put it this way, I have a better idea of where it's at than she does.”

“I can't git to 'da gym tonight. I called off 'cuz I was scurd after everything, and if I show up 'dis time of night, it's gon' look suspicious. I'll try and git her info for you tomorrow.”

“Cool. If, for some reason, you don't have her contact information, get Charlie's. The number I have for him is no good, but I can draw her out through him if need be.”

“ 'Kay. I need a number where I can hitchu back.”

“I'll call you say around noon tomorrow. Will that be enough time?”

“Yeah, it should be.”

“Be careful. If you see Ann or Charlie, don't let on that they are suspects. What I'm asking you to do could be dangerous and I don't want you to get hurt over this. I'd never get if off of my conscience.”

“Aw, Southie, 'dat's so nice for you to be worried 'bout me, but don't worry yo' sexy self. I'll be okay.”

“Thanks, Shay. I'll owe you one when this is all over.”

“Oooh, maybe you can take me out to dinner!”

“I have a better idea. I'll ask my wife to cook and invite you over for dinner one day. I'm sure Natalie won't mind. She'll be grateful for your help as well.”

Shay playfully sucked her teeth. “On 'da real, dat's not how I envisioned our first date, but I guess it'll do 'cuz you married. Shay Donovan don't mess wit' no married men. Uh-uh, hun-nee, God don't like ugly! Like I told you before, Imma respect your vows.”

“Okay, thank you. I'll talk to you tomorrow.” After they hung up, Troy had a disturbing thought. What if they'd cloned Shay's phone, too!

I
t was in the twilight of the night when Lloyd finally got in touch with Troy. “I'm sorry about the delay. Apparently, there was an anonymous tip called in about me possibly being the one who helped you evade authorities.” Lloyd told Troy how the police had come to his home late Monday evening to question him. “It's a good thing you weren't here. I know this is Chyanne's doing. If she saw the news stories, it wouldn't be hard for her to put two-and-two together. They put me in a lineup, but no one was able to make a clear identification so they had to let me go. What new revelations you got to share?”

Troy updated him about his conversation with Mario and all he'd learned. “I'm ninety-nine-point-nine percent certain that the lady across the street from me is Chyanne.”

Once Troy described to Lloyd the similarities between “Ann” and Cheryl, Lloyd was also convinced, especially after learning she claimed to be a work-at-home IT specialist. He said it was the perfect cover for a computer hacker. “So, all this time she's been hiding in plain sight. I didn't know she had a child though,” he stated, “but I know firsthand how that conniving wench can be. I wouldn't put it past Chyanne to have kept her daughter a secret until it benefited her not to do so, or to stoop so low as to pass someone else's daughter off as her own. She isn't above using and harming children to suit her purposes.”

Lloyd told Troy a chilling story about how Chyanne had orchestrated things so that Cheryl found pornographic images of children on their home computer when he and Cheryl were married. “It freaked Cheryl out because some pictures were of children in our neighborhood. Children that I used to coach in Little League baseball! I never took any sort of inappropriate pictures of any of them. Chyanne had moved in with us by that time, and I tried to tell Cheryl that her sister had set me up, but Cheryl didn't believe me because she and I were the only ones who had the password. She kicked me out and I left gladly because I didn't want to be under the same roof with Chyanne. Cheryl never turned me in and I think it's because deep down, she knew that I wasn't that type of guy. I quit coaching because I didn't want to catch a case. Allegations can be damaging to a person's reputation and I wasn't willing to take that risk. I really wanted things to work out with Cheryl, but Chyanne got into her head, and my relationship with Cheryl was never the same. I'm telling you, Chyanne is evil. She's like a chameleon. She'll manipulate any situation or person to get what she wants. If I'm right about her calling in the tip, which I think I am, then that means she knows we're on to her. It's a good thing you got your family out of there.”

Troy had been thinking the same thing. “I have a connection at the gym getting her number for me. I plan to call Chyanne and make her think I have the money. I'll take your advice and record our conversation. I'm hoping she'll admit to everything. If so, I'll make arrangements with my lawyer to turn myself in and hand over the recording until everything gets sorted out.”

“For a guy who doesn't watch a lot of TV, you know that's a classic move. They do stuff like that all the time. Let's hope it works in real life, though. Chyanne is smart and may not admit to anything over the phone if she thinks it's a trap. We need a plan B.”

Troy didn't have a second option. One way or another, he had to get a confession from Chyanne and ensure that it got to the police. Hopefully, she'd implicate both Will and Charlie as well. As much as Troy hated to admit it, the betrayal of his longtime acquaintance stung a little. Troy had turned a blind eye to suspicions he had of Will's involvement in possible marijuana distribution. He never called Will out during the times when he knew Will was high. All it would have taken was for Troy to drop a bug in the ear of someone in Narcotics and they would have been all over Will like flies on cow's poop. But, Troy had let him be because he thought Will was a good guy—so much so that Troy had started to feel a slight bit of sympathy for him, thinking that Will had started to regret getting involved with Cheryl and crew and tried to warn him. But, his former academy buddy had played him as well as Jordan played basketball. Wrong or not, there was part of Troy that wanted Will to suffer the most for his duplicity.

Troy's anxiety about everything displayed itself through insomnia. He stayed up until close to three thinking about the entire situation from beginning to end. He had to force himself conscious when Eric awoke him Wednesday morning for the ritual. Eric was disappointed that Troy had not gotten around to reading Psalm 57 yesterday, but was excited that the Lord had given him a different scripture to share on this morning. To ensure that Troy wouldn't miss out, Eric allotted time for them to read it together.

“Are you familiar with Psalm 23?” Eric asked.

“Yes.”

Nodding with approval, he added, “I figured you would be. It's a popular passage even to sinners and immature saints.” Eric looked at him as if he were trying to determine which category Troy fit most. “When I was communing with the Father, there was a burden on my heart for us to meditate on Psalm 23 during our devotional portion this morning. Here, read it for yourself.” Eric handed Troy a Bible already opened to the passage. Troy read anyhow, though he already knew it by heart.

¹
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

²
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

³
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

⁴
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me
.

⁵
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

⁶
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

“What you're going through right now is designed to kill you,” Eric stated. “Your marriage, your career, and your reputation are all facing destruction, but understand that the power this storm is displaying is not real. It's merely a
shadow
of death, meant to make you believe that you're defeated, but as the psalmist said, fear no evil. God is with you.” Eric continued his mini-sermon about God being in control of things no matter how long and dark Troy's valley may seem and how the Lord would see to it that Troy's enemies did not triumph over him. Surprisingly, Troy found his level of anxiety decreasing. Eric's words of encouragement had worked. “On 'da real,” as Shay would say, Troy felt that Eric's pep talk would have been just as effective in a few hours when the sun rose as it was while it was dark out, but Troy was in no position to argue his point. “Think about how it is you got into this situation and what you can learn from it,” the pastor suggested. It didn't take much thought. Troy already knew. Things would have never gotten this deep had he been honest with Natalie about his past relationship and interactions with Cheryl from the beginning. It was all the secrecy that had initially gotten him into this mess in the first place, and it would ultimately be the truth that would set him free.

When the buzzer sounded to signify that the devotional portion had ended and it was time to start praying, Troy meditated on Psalm 23 for a while until he dozed off. He was awakened promptly at 7:06 a.m. by the sharp and condescending tone of Eric's voice, rebuking him for falling asleep like the disciples had done to Jesus when He was praying in the Garden before being taken into custody and ultimately being crucified. Troy let Eric say his piece with no argument. When he'd finished his admonishment, Eric said that he would run out for a little while and that Troy could use his car upon his return. He'd graciously canceled Wednesday night Bible study at his church in Sandusky so that he could “be of service” to Troy. It took great restraint for Troy to stifle his brewing curiosity of wanting to know if Eric's “church” had grown in membership from only being him and his elderly mother.

After Eric left, Troy entertained a brief call from Lloyd who said that he was going to see what kind of dirt he could find on “Ann Harrow.” “In the event that a phone confession doesn't work, I'll return the favor of calling in an anonymous tip. Maybe we can get the cops to take her in for questioning on identity theft alone. That should buy us some time if we need it. Call me after you talk to her.”