Authors: Dorothy Phaire
This was all too wonderful to be true! Just like that, it was the moment she had been waiting for practically all her life—the moment other parents looked forward to—the honor and responsibility of naming their baby. Now it was her turn! Renee closed her eyes and pictured the baby in her mind. A medium brown complexion similar in shade to her own skin tone. Soft black curls, dark brown oval eyes, a tiny upturned nose, and bow-shaped, pink lips—all inherited from her biological mother’s best features. Suddenly it came to her that she’d name her baby after Deek’s grandmother Katia who he often said he admired so much for her strength, wisdom, and gentleness.
“Her name’s Katia Belinda Hayes. That’s the name you should have them record on her birth certificate,” said Renee, with finality in her voice.
When she hung up she still couldn’t stop grinning at the idea of becoming a mommy, which was now no longer an idea, but a reality. Everything had happened so fast! She had a million things to do to prepare a nursery in their new house and buy baby necessities. She knew she could count on her friend, the foster mother, Shirley Ann to help her shop and give her advice. If Brenda were not going through her own troubles right now, she would have been there for her too. Renee couldn’t be too sure about Veda or Cha-Cha, but strangely enough she was beginning to understand what it felt like to have actual girlfriends to share good times as well as the bad times. Of course, the first person she planned to tell was Deek when he stopped by later that evening to pick her up. He had told her that she had a good chance of being approved when she confided to him that she had contacted an adoption attorney, but Renee didn’t want to get her hopes up so she didn’t want to believe it could really happen. Deek wouldn’t be at all surprised. He knew she had fallen in love with the baby the moment she burst into the world and landed in her arms and he was right.
Renee went into the kitchen to check on Angel’s food dish and found Chizuko had already been by earlier and left food for her cat. She poured Evian water into a crystal glass and went upstairs to her bedroom to open the gift and letter from Deek. This was truly a day for excitement, she thought as she reclined on her loveseat. Angel immediately leaped up and curled in her lap. Renee removed the sealed envelope addressed to Jerome and placed it on the end table beside her. Then she dug deeper in her purse until she found the gift box and Deek’s letter. Renee stroked the cat with one hand and neatly unwrapped the small box with the other. She gasped in awe as she lifted out an 18 karat gold necklace with a single row of three descending diamonds, each diamond larger than the next. She dropped the necklace back in the box and ripped open his letter. As she read, a perpetual smile remained on her face.
My love,
Hopefully you are reading this letter while soaking in a warm bath or lounging in your favorite chair and enjoying a glass of chilled Chardonnay. I bought this gift for your birthday over two weeks ago but didn’t think it was appropriate to give to you until now. If you are opening the gift box, you see it has an 18 karat gold ‘three stone’ necklace. The smallest diamond represents our past, the middle one symbolizes the present, and the last and largest diamond is for our future together. I wanted to do something special for your birthday even then, but as you were still living with Bill I didn’t feel comfortable interjecting myself in your life. Now that things are different, I want to shower you with all the gifts, love, and attention a woman like you needs and deserves, if you let me. As my Martinican grandmother used to say, in French, of course, “Quand une porte se ferme, un meilleur s’ouvre” … which simply means “When one door closes, a better one opens.” I want to be the man standing behind the next door you open. I promise it will be a better one.
Renee, I understand how the events in your life could lead to insecure feelings. Why you sometimes doubt that others truly love you and happiness is elusive. But from the first moment we met, I felt drawn to your beauty and warm demeanor. There was an unexplainable desire to get to know you and it didn’t go away. I knew there was something special, something that comes only once in a lifetime. However, as with any true love, you have to let it go for a while. This feeling has to be put to the test of time. Although we’ve only known each other four months I feel closer to you than I have to any other woman I’ve been involved with.
Sweetheart, I know you need time to heal from the terrible loss of your baby and resolving any lingering ties you still have with Bill now that you are legally separated. I know you’ve suffered hurts and disappointments and I can’t make them go away but I want to be there in your life for the pleasure and the sorrows. Renee, you are a beautiful and passionate woman. Your age, my age—does not matter to me. I only bring it up now because I know that is another doubt you have about our compatibility. I know you’re not perfect and neither am I. It takes two people to make a relationship go bad and two people together to make it strong. I have confidence that you and I can build a life together. I hope one day you’ll feel strong enough to completely let go of all superficial routines just because they’re familiar to you and take the risk to truly love. When you’re ready, Darling, I’ll be waiting.
Je t’aime ma chérie.
Deek
Renee wiped a tear from her eye and refolded the letter then stored it in her box of treasured mementos. She checked the clock on the end table to see how much longer it would be before he’d get there and realized it would be at least another hour. She missed him already. The envelope addressed to Jerome Johnson leaned against the lamp base. She thought about how awful Brenda would feel if she had picked up Jerome’s belongings and discovered the heart-shaped picture of Leenae among his things. She wanted to be sure the envelope didn’t contain anything that would cause Brenda more pain. Renee picked up the envelope and tore it open. A driver’s license fell onto the carpeted floor face up.
“This doesn’t belong to Jerome,” she said out loud to herself, “That’s Alonzo’s photo.”
She picked up the license and examined the information printed on it. It listed Jerome Johnson’s name and address, a birth date that she knew was too late to be Alonzo’s date of birth, as well as a height and weight of 5’ 10,” 165 pounds. These vital statistics belonged to Jerome not Alonzo Woods. That’s when she realized the driver’s license had to be a fake.
Odessa Dillon, Jerome’s supervisor had explained that an ID was required to identify the person taking the drug test. Now, Renee understood how Odessa and Alonzo falsified Jerome’s drug test results so that he would fail but she didn’t know why Odessa wanted to terminate him. Jerome didn’t start having problems at work until they reassigned him to her unit and he began reporting to her.
Renee picked up the phone to call Deek but placed the receiver back. She didn’t want to leave a message about something this important. She figured he would not be able to get away from the interrogation in order to take her phone call. She’d have to wait for him to get there since he told her he couldn’t be reached during the meeting in the Assistant US Attorney’s office. Briefly, she considered contacting Detective Bradford but dismissed the idea as a waste of time. She didn’t trust him to follow-up on a new lead. Bradford wouldn’t prolong the Johnson investigation a minute longer even if it meant getting to the truth. He’d probably think the novelty license with Alonzo’s picture and Jerome’s information was just a practical joke. Perhaps, it was, but she wanted to find out why. She called UDS and requested that the receptionist on the evening shift page Alonzo. Perhaps, he was still there. When the receptionist finally came back to the phone, she told Renee that Alonzo Woods had left work for the day.
Renee knew she was taking her role as consultant on the case too far. If either Deek or Bradford knew what she was thinking of doing, they’d remove her from the case for breaking one of their cardinal rules. But she had to do something. Brenda was being charged with a capital murder offense that Bradford believed had been executed with the aid of a co-conspirator. Renee had to pursue her hunch that Odessa Dillon was the one behind Jerome’s murder so Brenda could be vindicated. She shouldn’t have to spend the weekend in jail for a crime she didn’t commit.
Renee thought back to Jerome’s funeral when Deek had questioned Alonzo. At that time Alonzo told them where he lived on 16th Street, SE in Capitol East. Renee figured she could get Alonzo to talk easier if they were alone. He would feel threatened if Deek were there. That’s the one thing Alonzo loved to do, talk to the ladies. She’d go see Alonzo and accept his offer to take her to that rib joint. There had to at least be a salad on the menu she could eat. Once on his own turf and relaxed, she’d break down Alonzo’s defenses and get a confession out of him. She ran down the stairs, picked up her camel-colored wool coat, and stuffed the fake driver’s license inside one of the pockets. With her coat draped over her arm, she opened her front door only to find Odessa Dillon standing on her porch about to ring the bell.
“Mrs. Dillon? How did you get through the neighborhood security gates without the pass code?”
“Hah, some security ya’ll got in this fancy place,” said Odessa and elbowed her way pass Renee to step inside. “All I did was wait for a resident to enter and piggy-backed behind him. Sugar, I coulda gone down the block and back before those dang gates would close.”
A look of distress crossed Renee’s face when she recalled Deek telling her a few weeks ago to contact their security management firm and let them know the gate was defective. But with everything that had happened in the past several days, she had forgotten to call. Now here was this demented woman who she knew was at least partially responsible for Jerome’s murder, standing less than a foot away from her and blocking the exit.
“What do you want, Mrs. Dillon? As you can see I’m on my way out,” Renee said in a curt tone.
“You know very well what I want? You opened that envelope didn’t you? I can tell by the scared look on your face that you know. That’s too bad, Dr. Hayes. Just like Jerome, now you’ve given me no choice.”
“Why did you kill him, or did Alonzo do it for you?” Renee asked, trying to appear calm while her heart pounded.
“I tried to give Jerome another chance to come back to work but he wanted to sue me for sexual harassment instead. He was gonna betray me so I had to eliminate him. My only mistake was getting that idiot Alonzo Woods to be my hitman. Damn, how could I have been so stupid!” she cursed herself aloud, “I shoulda taken care of Jerome Johnson myself instead of relying on a moron to be able to follow simple orders. If you want something done right, do it yourself. Now, hand over that fake driver’s license,” Odessa demanded and held out her hand.
“I can’t. It’s evidence.”
Renee clutched her overcoat and ran up the stairs as Odessa followed. If she could just get to her bedroom and lock the door, she might have time to call 911. Just as Renee made it to the door and was about to slam it shut, Odessa’s large hand grabbed her wrist and held it tightly. Odessa held her from behind and twisted her arm. The coat fell to the floor. She sensed Odessa’s hot, panting breath at the back of her neck.
“Now, I’ll ask you again—nicely. Where’s that ID, Sugar?”
“In my coat pocket,” said Renee, gasping out of breath from the sprint up the stairs.
Odessa released Renee and reached into her handbag then pulled out a stun gun. She pointed its neon blue bolts of electrical probes menacingly at Renee while stooping down to pick up the coat. She searched each pocket and yanked the fake ID out then tossed the coat across the floor.
“Good. Now, all I gotta do is take care of you. Let’s go,” she said and shoved Renee forward.
“Go where?” She was trying to stall for time in the hopes that Deek would soon get there.
“For a ride. You don’t think I’m stupid enough to whack you in here, do you? I know just the deserted place to dump your body where nobody’ll find you for a long, long time, if ever,” said Odessa with a lurid smile. “After a few days, the flies and maggots’ll get a buffet feast off your rottin’ corpse. Now walk, Sistah. My car’s conveniently right out front.”
Odessa held Renee around the waist from behind and clutched the stun gun in her free hand as she nudged her victim from the bedroom into the hallway. Suddenly, Renee whipped around and pinched Odessa in her plump upper thigh as hard as she could.
“Ouch! Damnit, bitch!” she hollered and released her hold on Renee long enough to rub her bruised inner thigh.
Renee dashed downstairs and bumped into a marble pedestal, knocking over a baroque statuette that crashed to pieces on the foyer floor. She ran out the door with Odessa chasing behind her. Renee was in better physical shape than Odessa and she seemed to be making ground as Odessa struggled to catch up. She headed for her neighbor’s estate and prayed someone would be home to let her in. She yelled for help but the street was deserted and no one responded. Suddenly, she tripped over a loose tree branch and bruised her leg. Odessa was now right up on her. Renee didn’t get much farther before Odessa’s strong arm wrapped itself around her neck and pulled her backward. Then Odessa shot her with the stun gun. Renee stumbled forward from the electrical zap and immediately felt disoriented. Her vision turned blurry. She tried to scream, but nothing came out. Still she tried to will herself to remain conscious. Renee fought to resist the numbing effects of the stun gun but now she didn’t have the strength to release herself from Odessa’s grip after being stunned. Her feet dragged behind as Odessa hauled Renee’s temporarily incapacitated body towards the car. Odessa looked around briefly before shoving Renee into the passenger’s seat.
As if coming out of a trance, Renee began to stir from her listless, incoherent stupor. She didn’t know how much time had elapsed. It was dusk and a slate-gray fog had drifted low to the ground. She glanced out the car window for a street name or some familiar landmark as Odessa drove along a narrow winding road. Moments later, her abductor turned into an empty graveled lot and climbed out the car then pulled Renee to her feet.