After All (3 page)

“
Sure, why not.”Anthony gave
him a forced smile. Uncle Ike was right, it was best to forget it.
He set about trying to repair the damage to the wall he had built
around her memory. The wall that kept her from dominating his
thoughts and helped him make through so many long, lonely
nights.

***

“
Hi, mama. How have you
been?”Michelle planted a kiss on her cheek.

Michelle had cut short her dinner with
Laree and Shantae pleading the need to turn in early. Though it was
after ten, she’d promised to visit her mother before going home.
Annette would sulk for days if that promise was not
kept.

“
Your father isn't home yet
as usual. Working late.”

Annette refilled her glass of
wine.

“
How are you?”Michelle
insisted on steering her away from familiar complaints.

“
Fine. Your father
embarrassed me as usual. Marvin Cato phoned to ask why Thomas
hadn't paid his alumni dues for Alpha Phi Alpha. I mean for God
sakes, all the balls are coming up. You know what your father said
when I asked him about it?”Annette plunged ahead before she could
answer.”He said he was tired of putting out that kind of money and
he needed it for some business expenses. Now I have to face Carolyn
and Shirley at the Delta meeting Thursday. Oh they won't say
anything, just give each other significant looks. Damn that
man!”

“
Maybe he's right. I mean,
he's had a rough time these last few years.”

“
Now you're defending him to
me? You of all people. Knowing what he's put me through.”Annette
took a deep gulp of her drink.

“
Yes, Mama, he's kind of
cold and stays away a lot. But this won't help.”Michelle gently
pried the wine glass from Annette's fingers.

“
Well, he mistaken if he
thinks I'm going to take this. I've got the money; I'm going to pay
the dues. That'll show him up for the cheapskate he is. He'll do a
slow burn for days then give me back the money. Ha!”Annette threw
back her head.

“
Mama, please...

“
Don't bother trying to talk
to her. By noon she's knocked back so much wine she sloshes when
she moves. There's no reasoning with her.”Thomas came into the
large den and shrugged off his coat. Powerfully built, Michelle's
father look easily ten years younger than his age at
fifty-five.

“
Home before two in the
morning. My goodness and it's not even a school night for little
Gloria,” Annette said.

“
Go sleep it off, Annette.
I'm not in the mood.”

“
Go to hell, dear.”Annette
walked out on unsteady legs.”Michelle, come to my room before you
leave?”Her voice was plaintive.

“
Be there in a minute,
mama.”

Thomas rubbed his eyes with a weary
gesture.”She gets worse every year.”

“
Why can't you at least try
to treat her with some respect?” Michelle chided him.

“
Who do you think you're
talking to, girl? What's between your mother and me is personal,”
Thomas snapped.

“
Staying gone all the time
doesn't help whatever your problems are. And your ongoing battles
didn't do much to make things easier for Brian, Dominic and
me.”Michelle tried to maintain her bold tone but withered under his
scrutiny. Even to her own ears, her voice took on a little girl
sound.

“
You don't understand, and
I'm not going to explain. Thomas held up a hand to forestall her.
He started up the stairs then stopped.”I hear Anthony is going to
be on Channel Twelve. He's done well with his business. Have you
talked to him?”

Michelle twisted a lock of hair, more
than ever feeling like a child caught being naughty.”Yes, but only
for a minute. I don't want anything to do with him,” she said with
force.

“
He was a fine boy, and he's
become a fine young man. Got a good reputation as a fair
businessman. Like I told you six years ago, don't judge him by what
his uncle does. His mama's done a fine job balancing Ike's
influence.”

“
He thinks Ike hung the
moon. No way do I want any part of either of them. Since Ike ruined
your business, you and mama have--”Michelle bit her lip. The dark
look on her father's face stopped her.

“
You have no right to
interfere, Michelle. I will not discuss my marriage with
you.”

Michelle looked down unwilling to let
him see how close she was to tears.”I'm sorry, Daddy. It's just I
hate to see you so unhappy.”

“
I know,” Thomas spoke
softly. He stood for several seconds looking as if he wanted to say
more, then seemed to decide changing the subject was better. He
started back up the stairs and spoke over his shoulder.”By the way,
I saw you tonight. Not bad, but don't talk so fast next
time.”

“
Thanks for your support,”
Michelle mumbled at his retreating back.

She chafed at the grudging compliment.
Just once she wished her father could unbend, give more of himself
than in small doses. But Michelle was as tough as Thomas. She
minded more for her mother whose stinging remarks masked her deep
need for constant reassurance she was loved. Once she was in her
car driving home, she felt relieved to be out of the tension filled
house. Then she felt guilty for feeling relieved. Had her parents
ever been happy together? Seeing them now, it was difficult to
believe. Yet Michelle remembered those times, years ago, when they
shared laughter easily. Those precious days when they were all
together as a family, before Ike Batiste almost destroyed her
father's business. Michelle gripped the steering wheel thinking of
his arrogance. Worse still, she could hear Anthony's voice, his
defense of what she saw as something indefensible. No handsome face
or ingratiating smile could make her forget. Anthony Hilliard had
no place her in her life. And she would never allow herself to
weaken again.

***

“
I just got a call from a
source in the DA's office. There's something fishy going on with
the Housing Authority. Some big names have come up.”Nathan, the
assignments editor, sat forward frowning in concentration. His
bushy white eyebrows an unbroken line above his blood shot blue
eyes.

Ten reporters sat around the table in
the conference room. Every day at ten in the morning, it was
Nathan's job to decide who followed up on what story. A task that
some days won him friends, other days earned him scorn. But he was
good at his job. His decisions almost always proved to be on
target, even if the admission was made grudgingly. And he had the
right temperament. It was seldom he cared what the reporters
thought of his decisions.

“
Didn't you talk to some
angry housing project residents last year, Michelle?”Gracie spoke
around the donut in her mouth.

“
No, they lived in houses
with subsidized rent. It's this program where landlords get a
portion of the rent paid by the government and the renter pays
whatever they can afford based on income,” Michelle said.”But
they're administered by the Housing Authority.”

“
The Section Eight Housing
Program.”Wayne, the reporter who mostly went after white collar
crime reports, spoke up.

“
Right. Anyway, they were
complaining that the landlords weren't following the rules for
repairing the houses or keeping them up. After a couple of
interviews minor repairs were made, but nothing really changed. The
staff at the Housing Authority clammed up.”Michelle got up to
refill her coffee mug.

“
Have you still got contacts
there?”Nathan rubbed his chin.

“
Yeah, a couple of the women
have left. But I think at least one guy is still there. What was
his name?”Michelle tapped a polished nail against the ceramic
mug.”I'd have to look at my notes from back then.”

“
Nathan, I interviewed the
Mayor's Human Services

Department Director only a few months
ago. We even met with Charlotte Kinchen, the Executive Director of
the Housing Authority,” Jennifer said.

“
For a story on the Arts and
Humanities Council's Annual Gala,” Gracie snorted.”Not exactly the
same thing.”

“
The point is I have access
to the powers that be. If this thing is big, then you need someone
who can talk to them.”Jennifer stared at her coldly.

“
Gracie's right, Jennifer.
This story starts with the people who have to live in these low
rent houses and apartments. And the staff who deal with them every
day. Those are the important contacts right now.”Earl, a short wiry
Black man, tilted his chair back on two legs.

“
Sure, you build it from who
gets hurt the most.” Rexanne Chauvin peered at them over her large
round eyeglasses. She was older than most, in her early forties,
and a respected investigative reporter.

“
Michelle, get to work on
it. Now, the chlorine leak at Shaw Chemical--”In his customary
style, Nathan listened then made his ruling quickly before moving
on.

“
Nice going, Chelle. You
scored on poor old Jennifer again.”Gracie wore a malicious grin.
They sat at their desk again after the meeting.

“
Cut that out. If Nathan
hadn't thought it made sense for me to do the story, I wouldn't
have been assigned. It's not about scoring on other people as you
put it. It's about informing the public and doing the best job we
can.”Michelle pulled out an old wire-bound notebook.

“
Uh-huh. Go on,” Gracie
urged.

“
Okay, beating out Jennifer
is the icing on the cake.”Michelle giggled.

“
And how sweet it is,”
Gracie agreed. She pointed to a folder.”What's that?”

“
My trusty notes from last
year. Ah, here it is, the maintenance supervisor was the guy I
talked to. I always had the feeling he wanted to say more than he
did.”Michelle began dialing the phone.”Yes, may I speak to Greg
Matthews. Really? Do you know where he works now? Thank
you.”

“
Gone, huh?”Gracie began
stuffing items in her bag in preparation for going out on her
assignment.

“
Yeah, but I've got his home
number somewhere.”

Michelle spoke to his elderly aunt who
proudly told her that Greg was working at a local real estate
management company and would be home after five in the evening.
Since she had plenty of other tasks, Michelle put a note on her
phone to remind herself to call Matthews later. A busy day followed
with background research at the library on several features coming
up and chasing after people who would rather not be on camera but
would give assistance on other stories. By five thirty that
evening, she was back at the station.

“
What a day.”Gracie half
fell, half sat in her chair.”Two hours of having these really
obnoxious little poodles climbing on me. Gee-whiz.”

“
Anna Belle May,
right?”Michelle kept writing without looking up.

“
How did you
know?”

“
Because you've been working
on that Historic Preservation thing for two weeks. Anna Belle has
been in on beautification and restoration projects in this town
since the dawn of time.”

“
And you can't talk to her
at their offices. Oh, no. You have to go to that huge old house
where she holds court. What about that Housing Authority
thing?”

“
Just talked to him. I'm
meeting him at his house in-- Oops, five minutes! See ya.”Michelle
dashed out.

***

“
Thanks for seeing me on
such short notice, Mr. Matthews.”Michelle settled onto the flowered
sofa her notebook balanced on one knee.

“
It's okay. Look, I'm not
sure how much help I can be. I left the place almost eight months
ago.”Greg Matthews was a compact five foot eleven with a barrel
chest and muscular arms. His skin was the color of
copper.

“
There are some rumors
floating around about under the table deals. Maybe connected to the
maintenance of public housing or the rewarding of contracts for
repairs. As the maintenance supervisor you would have been in a
position to know a lot about how things were handled.”

“
I just sent men out to do
the work. I didn't have nothing to do with that stuff.”Greg shifted
in his chair and rubbed his hands together.

“
But you know who did,”
Michelle prodded.

“
Charlotte Kinchen. But like
I said, I didn't make none of those decisions.”

“
Charlotte Kinchen,
right?”Michelle began writing.

“
Now hold on. I don't want
my name mentioned in this.”Greg waved at her notes
nervously.

“
These will only be read by
me. “

“
Sure,” he said
derisively.

“
Okay, I won't use your name
just a code. Now tell me about Charlotte Kinchen.”

“
She coordinates daily
operations like rent collection, calculating how much rent people
pay, supervises the apartment managers, stuff like
that.”

“
I see. So she decides what
companies get the contracts?”

“
There's supposed to be a
bid process, but a company other than the lowest bidder can be
used. For instance, if they trying to use more minority or women
owned firms. Or if they feel the work done by a particular company
is better and would save costs in the long run.”