A Good Dude (44 page)

Her phone vibrated again.

“Dammit, Candace, what is your deal? Don’t play that
Little Miss Innocent
act with me. You knew what you were getting involved in when you moved in with Raul. You chose to live with a guy who kept dope in the house.”

“I
paid
for that!” Candace countered. “I took responsibility for my part. I went to jail. I lost my baby! I took my punishment! But you, you
lied
! You said you’d call—”

“Okay, I’m sorry I didn’t call. What’s the big deal? Did Raul do something to harm you since he got out? Did he break any laws? If he did, then tell me about it.”

“Just tell me why,” Candace pleaded. “Why’d you take me to jail? Why’d you let Rilla out?”

“I told you, I arrested you because an informant—”

“
Who
? Who lied on me? I have a right to know!”

The cop didn’t answer.

“Was it CC?”

“That information is confidential.”

“They’re
using you
! Can’t you see? It’s okay for them to wreck my life, but you won’t even tell me who you’re listening to. They lied and you know it. Was it CC?” There was another pause.

“Cordell has been helpful in the past,” Judkins admitted.

Candace already believed that for many months now, but it still felt good to have it confirmed.

“Why did you let Rilla out?” she breathed. “He was selling drugs. You caught him red-handed.”

“What does that have to do with you?”

Candace exited the freeway and turned onto Trisha’s street.

“This thing, this whole thing has caused me more problems than you could ever know, mister. I just want to know the truth.” Her voice hitched, and maybe the detective heard her pain and sincerity.

“Raul has been cooperative as well,” Judkins said. “That stuff they’re doing is small-time to me. I want the guys they get
their
dope from. Raul and Cordell are helping me get him.”

Candace couldn’t believe it. Two of the hardest thugs she knew were both snitches. She could hear Tino’s voice in her head.

Pinche ratas
.

“What about me?” Candace asked.

“What about you?”

“What about what you did to me?”

“Listen, Miss Hendricks. I apologize for arresting you. I sincerely do. But I have to think about the big picture, and it was a good move at the time.”

“I hope you get a
real big
promotion,” Candace said. “You’re doing a great job out there. Keeping our city all safe and clean. Lock up the good guys and let the bad ones out.”

“Okay, goodbye, Miss Hendricks,” he said and hung up abruptly.

Candace pulled into a handicapped spot in front of Trisha’s apartment building and bolted from her car without taking the keys from the ignition. The crack-heads could have that damned Sentra. All she wanted was her baby.

THE FINAL CHAPTER

Candace bounded up the stairs like an antelope, hopping four steps at a time. When she got to the top, she sprinted through Trisha’s breezeway and slammed into her friend’s front door like a halfback. She wrenched the knob around, but the door didn’t open. And although this was the very thing she requested, Candace took it as a sign that things were not good inside.

But Trisha opened the door a moment later, and even more importantly, she cradled precious Leila in her arms. Leila was awake and smiling. She reached for her mother immediately. Trisha stared at her young friend with a look of confusion.

“What you hit my door like that for? And ain’t you early? Shouldn’t . . . .”

With her baby within reach, Candace felt the stress of the last two days ooze from her. It was the best release since she walked out of Gabriella Sands’s office for the last time. Candace’s legs buckled. The exhaustion from the three flights of stairs suddenly took its toll. She staggered forward, speechless, reaching for her baby.

“
Candace
? What’s wrong? You all right?”

Candace shook her head and let the tears go.

“Myah-my baby. Give me. Leila.
Give her
 . . . .
”

“Here, girl.” Trisha handed the infant over quickly. Candace cradled her baby like she’d just rescued her from a swimming pool. She stared at Leila’s face to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. She hugged her tightly, as if this might be the last time.

Candace stumbled into the apartment and fell to her knees in the living room, totally oblivious to the stares she got from Trisha, Willie Jr., and even
Delia
, who sat on Trisha’s love seat with Little Sammy in her lap.

“Candace! What the hell is going on, girl? What happened?” Trisha knelt next to her friend and shot an evil eye at Petey, who lounged on the couch. “Get up, boy! Don’t you see she needs to sit down?”

“What’s wrong with her?” Delia asked. Candace looked up at her for the first time, and immediately felt like a fool. Delia wore a two-piece metallic jumpsuit that probably looked better on her than the Victoria’s Secret model. The top was like a sports bra with spaghetti straps. The bottom looked like a pair of spandex biker pants. Both pieces were candy-apple red, with a shine like a brand new Ferrari.

Delia wore her hair down. Her lips were bright red. Her eyes were as alluring as Cleopatra’s. She looked down on Candace with an air of superiority that came naturally to her.

Petey moved out of the way, and Candace made it to her feet with Trisha’s help. She sat on the couch and wiped the tears from her eyes. Trisha stood before her with both hands on her massive hips.

“Candace? What’s going on?”

“Rilla’s out,” she breathed. “He came to my job.” Trisha shook her head. “I had a feeling he was gonna do that.”

Candace looked up at her with a pained expression. “Whuh-what do you mean?”

“Delia said he probably
was
getting out today,” Trisha informed her. “I was gonna call you, but she just told me.”

“I thought he was coming over here,” Candace said.

“I can tell,” Trisha said. “You ran up here like you expected to find somebody dead. I heard you stomping all the way up those stairs.”

Candace smiled nervously.

“What’d he do?” Trisha asked. “He was starting shit?”

“Talking noise,” Candace said. Her heart rate had slowed, and Leila was smiling up at her. She felt better, but Delia’s presence still had her upset. Candace was normally fearful of CC’s girlfriend, but she’d been through too much in the last couple of days. Candace feared only death now.

“How did he know where I work?” she asked her babysitter.

Trisha didn’t answer. Instead she fixed her face with a
not me
expression and darted her eyes in the direction of her love seat.

Candace wiped her face and looked over at Delia with the coldest, driest eyes she could muster. “Why did you do that?” she asked.

The tension in the room was thick enough to spread with a butter knife, but Delia smiled innocently. “Girl, I told CC that a long time ago, when you first started working there. Back then I didn’t know Rilla was getting out. I told CC you was doing good by yourself, that’s all.”

That was a great answer, but Candace wasn’t satisfied. “Why’d you tell CC where I live? He followed me to my apartment yesterday.”

Trisha’s eyes grew wide. Delia rolled hers. “Candace, ain’t nobody trying to get you in trouble,” she said. “I told CC you stayed across the street from Trisha, but I told him that a long time ago, too. It was just talk. I didn’t know he was gonna find out where you stay.”

This bitch was good, but Candace was pissed beyond reason.

“So your man’s following women around at night? You cool with that?”

“
Hmmp
,” Trisha said. She looked back and forth at the two women like she was at a tennis match.

Delia’s mouth fell open, but just for a second. She regained her composure quickly and pulled off a sneer/smile expression that made Candace feel small. “He just did that for Rilla.”

“And you helped him,” Candace blurted.

Trisha took a step back, her eyes even wider.

Delia cocked her head and worked her neck when she responded. “Well, maybe if you was a real woman, Rilla wouldn’t have to find out your address like that. You know you got his baby, and you ain’t talked to him
one time
since he got locked up. Honey, you playing childish games, and people ain’t got time to play with you. Specially when you playing with they baby.”

Candace looked at Trisha, and Trisha begged with her eyes,
Don’t do it, Candace,
but Candace was at her wit’s end with this heifer. The words flowed from her as if they’d been on the tip of her tongue for years:

“This isn’t even Rilla’s baby! It’s
CC’s
! Instead of defending that punk, you need to ask him why he jumped on me when I passed out that night!”

The room went deathly quiet, and Candace’s words bounced around the furniture.
passed out that night that night that night

Trisha pursed her lips and let out a slight whistle. She looked shocked, but Candace knew she was enjoying every minute of it. She couldn’t help it. It was in her busybody blood.

Delia’s smile fell for the first time and she stared intently at Candace, trying to find the punch line. Candace stared back at her, assuring there was none. Delia’s nostrils flared.

“You lying,” she said.

Candace shook her head. “You know I’m telling the truth. You’ve seen my baby’s eyes. How many times have you told me, ‘
She doesn’t look anything like Rilla. Where’d she get those eyes from
?’ ”

Delia shot fiery arrows from her eyes. All of the muscles in her face went slack. The veins in her neck bulged. “Bitch, you slept with CC?”

Candace cocked her head as if she was talking to a stupid dog. “Naw,
bitch
, CC
raped
me. Ask him. He’ll tell you all about it.”

“Uh-oh,” Trisha said. She took a step forward, and not a moment too soon.

Delia’s eyes narrowed and burned. Her whole face and the tops of her ears turned beet red. Her hands, currently holding Little Sammy, became claws meant to rip and shred until the truth stopped hurting. She stood, dropping the little boy from her lap like a bag of sand. He slammed to the floor with a resounding
thud!
and bounced slightly.