Caress (3 page)

Shrewd,
Nya thought. She tried rubbing away the aching knot in her neck, knowing that if she didn’t relax she wouldn’t be able to think straight. Getting this handled properly was crucial.

“I think that’s a stellar plan, Ms. Harrison.”

“Please call me Claudia.”

“Claudia, perhaps we can discuss this exclusive further once the case is closed. In the meantime, however, our company’s image, as you acknowledged, has been tarnished even though you made no explicit accusations. As a result, the investigation has been dealt a major setback. We can’t be sure when the ‘legal processes’ will be complete. Surely, we can arrange a feature on Hatsheput sooner rather than later that both exonerates us and honors us for our service to the community.”

There was a pause on the other end of the phone. Then: “I’m sure that can be arranged.”

h

Nya had been working for hours since she got home. Her eyes were gritty and her back ached from being hunched over her laptop. Her soul felt battered. On her screen were photos of four young men, none over twenty-one, who had lost their lives too soon. Her throat burned and she beat back tears. For the first time in a long time, Nya felt as if she needed a hug. A big one. From someone with strong arms. When an unwanted vision of the man from the airport popped up in her head, she knew it was time to take a break. What did it say about her that in a time when she needed comfort, she thought of a perfect stranger?

Trying to shake off both grief and loneliness—if she didn’t she would most assuredly go insane—Nya stood and stretched. Walking into the kitchen, she ran her fingers through her twists and let them hang loose down her back. She stared into the refrigerator, searching for something perfectly delicious and decadently succulent that would take her mind off her despair. She wondered when she had last eaten. As she feared, there was nothing in the fridge. She’d been gone for a week and what she had was either frozen, spoiled, or not something she wanted.

Sometimes it seemed God really did listen to her. She was still standing in her kitchen when the doorbell rang. She padded through the house to the door and looked out the peephole. Maybe not the best company, but he would definitely do; plus, he was carrying a grocery bag!

She pulled open the door. “Oh, my God, El, please tell me you brought food!”

Elphonse Deklerk, her oldest friend in the world, walked in with a grin. “If you call a couple of sirloins, shrimp, potatoes, spinach, cream, butter, and a heavy block of aged Parmesan cheese food, I guess so. I brought some vine-ripened grape juice, too… fermented, that is.”

Nya salivated at the thought of steak drizzled with a shrimp sauce, some sautéed spinach, and a baked potato with a glass—make that a bottle—of wine that didn’t go with it while watching inane television all night. It sounded like pure bliss. “El, I swear to God I hate you most days, but you are a prince among men right now.”

El raised an eyebrow. “And you are Queen of the Backhanded Compliment.”

“Thanks. I’m glad I’ve been promoted to queen.”

“Oh, but you still have the attitude of a princess, princess.”

Nya scowled at him.

A tall, slim, light-skinned man with dark freckles across his face and dusty red hair, El looked both exotic and handsome. She remembered that when they were younger many girls had been attracted to his unusually “clear” complexion, green-flecked hazel eyes, and that hair. After five years, she still wasn’t accustomed to the immaculately manicured look he was sporting these days. Ever since they were tiny he had worn dreads and broadcast his thick island accent. Now he spoke in smooth, upper New York tones with scant traces of his island heritage, and he wore Armani instead of tie-dye or batik. Nya had also lost much of her accent, but it still came out when she was at home with her family. She reflected wistfully that they were no longer children, and she should perhaps accept the man he had grown up to be. At times like this, she missed the closeness they had once shared.

“Are you going to just stand there, or are you going to cook?”

She stepped back from the door and Elphonse followed her into the kitchen. “I didn’t realize you were coming back to Birmingham today until Jenine called. When she told me what was happening with the
Harrison Tribune
, I knew you weren’t going to take care of yourself, so I figured I’d bring some things over.”

Nya studied his face. The old El would have done that in a heartbeat, but she had already figured out she didn’t know him so well anymore. She searched for an angle. “Jenine missed you at the wedding.”

“Yeah, she called me and told me all about it. But you know me. I’m not one for family functions these days.” He hadn’t been for a long time.

Awkwardly, oddly, the man who had been like an older brother to her put down the bag on the kitchen counter and gave her a quick, weird hug.

“You gonna cook or what? You know I’m no good in the kitchen,” he declared, not looking her in the eye.

“Yeah,” she nodded. “Yeah, I’ll cook. I think there’s a game on. Go hang out.”

“All right,” he said and disappeared around the corner.

In a half hour, Nya had prepared their dinner and brought it out to the den.

El lounged in a recliner watching TV. She set both their plates on a table within reach of the both of them.

“Drinks?” he asked.

Nya gave him an arched look before returning to the kitchen and bringing out two glasses and the uncorked bottle of wine. As she poured them both drinks, she kept her eye trained on him.

“You
are
a princess,” he said, taking up a fork.

Nya ignored him and sat down to enjoy her own fare. For the most part, she kept her meals light and stuck to seafood, but she needed comfort food, and this was her comfort meal.

“If I didn’t say it before, thank you, El.”

“You’re welcome.” He took a sip of wine.

They ate for a few moments in comfortable silence before he asked, “Are you handling the situation with that article?”

Nya nodded.

“Are you going to meet with the journalist or go straight to the top?”

“Glad you asked. I talked with the
Harrison Tribune
editor-in-chief over the phone tonight. Get this, you talked to Jenine, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well then you know Daddy wasn’t going to do anything about it. He wasn’t planning on addressing the article at all until the investigation was complete. But I told him we couldn’t do that. I explained all the reasons why and he still ignored me. So I told him I was going to handle it. I was going to come directly here and handle it. Well, I called this Claudia Harrison tonight, and I find out Daddy has already called her. He and Terrence. I’m sure Terrence threatened to sue them up and down and sideways. Long story short she’s going to go ahead and print a front-page follow-up in tomorrow’s issue. They’ve already given it the breaking news treatment on their website, so…” she said thoughtfully, “…after we tell our side of the story, clear this up, I think some free advertising space will be in order, too. It’s not a nationally syndicated paper, but their website gets a ton of traffic, and they owe us that much and potentially more.”

“You know, that paper’s a pretty big deal with us people of color around here,” El mentioned.

“I know.”

“So it’s good they’re going to cooperate.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think they’ll try and get something out of the authorities? About the case I mean?”

“I’m sure. What’s crazy is that they should have already talked to the authorities. Isn’t that what reporters do when they uncover criminal activity? Get the authorities involved before they publish?”

El shrugged and averted his eyes. “I don’t know how that works.”

Nya pierced him with a fierce glare. “If they do get any information out of the authorities now, there had better not be a leak that does any more damage. We still have to find out who was pulling the strings. You and I both know Marshall couldn’t mastermind his way out of a paper bag. Someone else had to be behind it.”

El only nodded before attacking his food. Always a voracious eater despite being very thin, he was done long before Nya. He stood and began walking around the room, studying the paintings on the walls even though he’d seen them a thousand times. He ran his hands along the sideboard and rifled through a stack of magazines. Nya hated when he inspected everything as he was doing then. It was always as if he were searching for something. He stopped near her desk.

Nya stopped mid-chew as she watched him lean further over her desk to examine something there. “Is there something in particular you’re looking for? Maybe I can help you find it. I mean, this
is
my house.”

Without changing position, he asked, “So do you think they’re close to finding out who was using the foundation for criminal activity?”

“Hard to tell. I pray they do. I was just thinking about those boys and it tears me apart. I don’t know what kind of people would use them like that.” Her voice trailed off as she remembered something they all had struggled to forget. She knew exactly the kind of people that would do something like this. So did El.

He stood and focused his pale eyes on her. “Do you ever wonder why we didn’t catch it?”

She froze. For ten seconds her entire body went rigid. She put down her fork and cleared her throat. “What do you mean? Why we didn’t know what was happening with the foundation?”

Apparently her expression caught El off guard. He backed away with his palms out. “Forget I asked.”

“What are you talking about, El?”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Do you ever think we’ve lost our way?”

Nya blinked.

He shrugged. “If this had been ten years ago, we would have known all those kids personally. We would have known if someone was using our business as a cover for criminal activity.”

She swallowed. “We’ve all had an increase in responsibility over the past decade. The company is so much bigger now.” Her voice sounded hollow to her own ears.

“I know you think Nyron is embarrassed because this happened under his nose, on
his
watch, but what about the rest of us? What about you? You’re talking about how awful you feel reading about those kids, but you’re spending all your time dealing with this newspaper.”

“It is my
job
to look out for the company’s well-being.”

“Yeah. But, what about
human
well-being? Did you know any of them? Did any of them know you, or your father… or me? They were running drugs, laundering money, enforcing. They didn’t even know who for. Then they
died.
” He gestured to her computer screen.

Nya was stricken speechless and the tears she’d battled earlier threatened again. Ten years ago, El had gone through a tragedy and chosen to forget where he came from, and now he was in her house saying this. “You, of all people, have some damn nerve,” she growled at him.

Elphonse turned away.

“No, we didn’t know them personally, but we
were
trying to help.
I
hurt for them, and I am doing whatever I can to help catch the people behind this. You, on the other hand, turned your back on everything you were. Even if you
did
know what was happening, who’s to say you would have cared enough to make a difference?”

His demeanor visibly changed. His body seemed to relax, his swagger seemed to return. He nodded at her as if to say, “Touché.” Elphonse turned back into the man she had expected when he arrived on her porch. He gestured toward some papers on her desk. “You’re reviewing the shipment schedule for the Norfolk branch?”

She couldn’t understand it. Just like that, the single most sincere conversation they’d had in years was over. “I am. Actually, the Feds requested boatloads of information. Everything they’re looking at, I’m looking at. I don’t know if they understand what they’re seeing and I want to make sure they don’t miss anything, So far, the only anomalies I see are with manifests headed for Norfolk. Nothing major, but at a time like this, I need to be sure,” replied Nya, eyes dry but heart incredibly heavy.

El nodded.

“I’m also reviewing all the Hatsheput-bonded Art Sentries shipments from Charlotte Amalie. Daddy hasn’t confirmed it, but I’m not stupid. I know our logistics infrastructure was being used to smuggle drugs stateside. Since Marshall was also caught embezzling, we need to know just how much he took, how long he was taking it, and if there are any other clues that might lead to who was running this thing.” Elphonse nodded again. “Actually, I’m hoping this problem in Norfolk was Marshall, too. That way it’s already solved. Just look at it. In the report, one shipment entry indicated a single load of prints was transported on a cargo plane from the island. It had to be a drug run or something, but so far, there’s no evidence of that, or at least none that anyone is sharing with me.”

Elphonse tossed the report down and came to stand beside Nya. He grabbed his car keys from the end table. “I don’t think you need to do this, little sister. You’re not a cop, and this is dangerous ground. If they aren’t giving you all the information, it’s probably to keep you safe.”