Sins of a Siren (33 page)

Anger swelled inside Trenda. “If that muthafucka had done that to me—” Her eyes fell on the envelope on the table next to her. Fake or not, the sound of the woman crying and yelling on TV drowned out the sound of the hospital's PA system summoning various doctors and nurses to various places. It dimmed the great mood she was in after obtaining her ill-gotten gain. More of her father's words seeped into her mind:

Wise choices are choices that line up with God's Word. Wise choices are choices that are pleasing to God. Just choose to obey God and His Word and you will make the wise choice every time. God made us—He knows who you are and what you need to be happy and satisfied and blessed. Obeying His wisdom will bring you life, whereas succumbing to the temptations of the devil and your carnal, fleshly desires will bring death and destruction to your spirit, your mind and your body

—G
ALATIANS
6:8

No longer in the mood to listen to the suffering woman on TV, Trenda picked up the remote. Before she could change the
channel, a pair of familiar voices greeted her from the doorway. “Hey, girl!” Lollie said as she ran over to Trenda's bedside and gave her a hug. “How you doin'? I just got word about what happened!” She looked Trenda over with concerned eyes as she handed Trenda her purse. “Are you okay?”

Before she could answer, Walter walked over and gave her a hug. “It sure is good to see you up and about! You had us worried like crazy!”

Trenda saw something different in both her friends. The way their hands immediately found each other's as they stood next to one another and the glow that encompassed them, even though they were covered in worry, were sure signs there was a serious chemistry flow between them. Finally, Trenda broke her silence. She set her purse on the bed between her and the bed rail. “Thanks for bringin' me my purse. I'm cool…just had a lil' mishap.”

Lollie put her hands on her sexy hips. “Bullshit!” She put her hand to her mouth, spun around and looked over at the hoisted leg of Trenda's comatose roommate. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Sorry…I didn't realize you had company.”

Trenda waved her off. “Don't worry about it; she is out for the count.” She couldn't help but notice how cute the pair looked in almost identical blue jeans and T-shirts—it was the first time she had ever seen Walter dressed so casually. She gave them a slight grin. “I knew I was right; you two make a cute-ass couple.”

Blushing, Lollie did her best to brush the compliment off. “Anyway…” She rubbed Trenda's forehead. “So what happened? How long are you gonna be here? I talked to Jeff and he told me to tell you to take all the time off you need. I think they are scared you are gonna sue them.”

“Sue them? For what?”

Walter put his arm around Lollie's slim waist. “Well, they do
have a certain liability since you were injured on the job, on
their
property.”

Again, the scheming demon on Trenda's shoulder spoke to her.
Hell yeah! I can sue the shit outta the Water's Edge Hotel!
She thought a little deeper about it.
But they did do me a big favor by hiring me when I really needed the help…
“I'll have to keep that in mind.”

“So what happened?”

Trenda scoured her memory of the event and came up blank. “The only thing I remember is walking out the hotel to get something out my car, then I wake up here.”

Lollie did a double-take at the TV screen as the news at noon came on. She pointed at the screen and yelled. “Hey! Check that out!”

On the screen, they all listened to the news reporter speak. “We have breaking news! There's a possible break in last night's killing in Jack London Square. We have an exclusive interview with the woman that found the victim's body. More to come when we return.”

Trenda sat up and asked, “
Killing
? What killing?”

“Y
ou didn't hear?” Lollie asked as she took turned from the screen back to Trenda. “Have you watched the news at all since you got here?”

“No…I just turned the TV on not too long ago.”

After the dishwashing liquid commercial ended, they watched the TV screen in silence. The dark-haired news reporter spoke. “We here at Channel Two just got word that the woman that discovered the body of homicide victim, Piper Langford, heard her final words.”

Trenda bumped the table next to her bed so hard as she jumped out, the carafe of water flew like a missile and nearly landed on her roommate's bed. “
What
did he say her name was?”

A blown-up picture of Piper filled the screen as the reporter continued. Walter watched as Trenda walked closer to the TV, the back of her hospital gown open for the world to see. “Piper Langford…do you know h—”

Trenda silenced him with her hand as she stared intently at the screen. The reporter spoke as a film shot of a woman in shadow—to avoid her identity being known—spoke. “I was on my way to Barnes and Noble, you know, to get a book. I usually take the stairs from the parking garage, you know, to get a little exercise in, you know? And last night, when I got to the top of the stairs, you know, I saw the light was off…I looked down, you know, and saw that lady layin' on the ground. I bent over, you know, and asked her if she was okay…she wasn't movin' at first, you know,
then she opened her eyes a little and I heard her mumble some-thin'…I got closer, you know, and saw she was bloody. That's when I screamed for help…I heard her still mumblin'…to me, it sounded like she said two words; ‘Baltimore…cop…' I could be wrong, you know, but that's what it sounded like, ‘Baltimore… cop…' After that, you know, she just stopped talkin'…I think, you know, that's when she died…”

Lollie walked up behind Trenda and attempted to tie up her gown. Trenda nearly jumped to the ceiling. “Easy, girl…I'm just tryin' to close you up.”

Trenda nodded as she tried to calm her rapid heart rate.
Oh muthafucka! Piper? Dead? This cannot be happenin'! What the hell was she doing here?
“Thanks…thanks, Lollie.” She walked slowly back to her bed and sat down.

Lollie pointed at the screen. “Hey, Walter! That's that crazy broad that almost ran into us the other day!”

“I'll be damned! It sure is!” Walter walked over to the bed, bent over and looked into Trenda's face. “Hey…you okay? Did you know that woman?”

Trenda avoided his eyes and instead focused on the pool of water around the light blue carafe on the floor. “No…I thought it was my friend Piper
Stanford
…a friend I went to cosmetology school with back in D.C. Did you say y'all saw that woman?”

He glanced back at the TV. “Yeah, she pulled up to my car as Lollie and I were on our way to breakfast. She kept asking if we knew somebody named Brenda or Kendra, or something like that.”

Lollie cocked her head as she looked at Trenda. “Are you okay, honey?”

Trenda, not Brenda…that bitch was here lookin' for
me! A frosting of panic coated Trenda. She picked up the ice pack and put it against the side of her head. “I'm good…just had a little ache from this lump on my head.”

“You need me to go get the nurse?”

Trenda momentarily spaced out as the two words the dead woman spoke peppered her mind. “Baltimore. Cop.”
Baltimore cop shot me, is what I bet she was tryin' to say.

Darius.

If Piper had found me, then it would be a real good bet that Darius could have found me, too…knowin' how he operates. I would bet anything that he killed Piper…and if he killed her, then anybody else close to me…
She looked at her concerned friends.
Oh shit!

“Mya?” Walter said as he held her shoulders. “I'm going to go get a nurse. I'll be right back.”

She grabbed his arm. “No…serious, I'm cool…I'm just kinda groggy from the medication they gave me earlier. I just need to lay down and rest.” The image of both her friends dying at the hands of that bastard Darius tied a huge knot in her stomach. She glanced at the clock on the wall.
According to Gloria, that detective is supposed to show up this afternoon…it's damn near one now.

Lollie went to the bathroom, got a towel and began cleaning up the spilled water. “Jeff told me some folks from corporate are going to come by sometime today. I think it's probably the hotel lawyers. I heard they already took care of the owner of the truck that was parked next to your car that burned up. They ain't bull-shittin' about tryin' to get this mess squashed.”

Damn! More people comin' by?
“Did Jeff say what time?”

Lollie wiped off the carafe with the damp, white towel and put it back on the table. “No…he just said sometime today.”

Trenda could almost hear the steady tick of time running out. “Okay…I'm gonna try and take a nap before folks start showin' up. Why don't you guys stop by later this evening? I could sure go for some Chinese food for dinner.”

Lollie set the wet towel on the tray with the remainder of Trenda's lunch. “Okay…I called out today after I heard what
happened to you.” She gave Trenda a hug. “I told Jeff I had to be off so I could help you out since you have no family here… he was real cool about it. He told me I could take off all week if need be to help you get back on your feet.”

That show of love nearly brought tears to Trenda's eyes. She was barely able to keep her voice from cracking. “Thanks, Lollie.” She broke from Lollie, reached for Walter and hugged him tight. “Thank you, too.”

A
s soon as Lollie and Walter left her room, Trenda sprung from the bed like a Jack-in-the-Box. The same intuition she had counted on all her life—that she ignored before she was almost killed—kicked in. “Hurry the fuck up, Trenda!” she said to herself as she ripped off the hospital gown and poured her clothes on the bed.

After slipping into her wrinkled uniform and black loafers, she pulled back the covers of her bed and put Baby and the envelope from Eli in her purse.
Good thing Gloria is honest
, she thought as she unfolded the twenty-dollar bill in her pants pocket. Once dressed, she walked to the door, stuck her head out and looked around.

An Indian male nurse was busy in the room across from her checking the pulse of an elderly man. The nurses at the station to her right were busy with phone calls and a line of worried-looking visitors. Trenda looked to her left and spotted the “EXIT” sign mounted to the ceiling at the T-shaped corridor entrance.
Aight, let's do this!

Without stopping, Trenda walked the twenty feet to the corridor and followed the exit signs. She
almost
thanked God once she made it to the stairway without incident. As she walked down the stairs, the thought of Piper being dead slapped her with a steel fist of guilt.
She might have been a lil' crazy, but that girl would do anything for anybody…and now she is dead…dead because of me no doubt…

The sunlight outside wasn't nearly warm enough to comfort the ache in her heart. As she raised her hand to hail a passing cab, she noticed the white hospital bracelet on the same wrist she had injured in the explosion. Using her teeth, she bit through it, removed it and tossed it to the ground. “Where to, lady?” the Middle Eastern cabbie asked.

“Will twenty dollars get me to the Hotel Oakland?”

The cabbie punched the coordinates into the GPS unit attached to his windshield and dropped the flag. “It'll be close…”

She closed the door and sat back. “Well, just get me as close as my money will travel; that's all I have—includin' your tip.”

Leaving the cabbie the three dollars in change from her twenty, she hurried inside the hotel and straight to her room. A feeling of déjà vu surrounded her as she rushed to pack up her “Travelin' Bag” once again. “Fuck! I am gonna have to leave almost all my new clothes,” she said as she changed out of her uniform and into some jeans and a light-pink Baby Phat shirt.

With less than eight hundred dollars left in her stash, the check from Eli gave her a measure of comfort. Her chest tightened as thoughts of her new friends invaded her busy brain.
No time… ain't got time for reminiscing right now.

“Are you checking out, ma'am?” the young Lebanese woman at the registration desk asked as Trenda headed toward the lobby exit.

Trenda patted her Reebok bag. “Nah, I'm on my way to work out with my friend at Curves gym up the street.”

The receptionist smiled. “Cool! I work out there myself! Maybe I'll see you down there one day.”

Trenda's fake enthusiasm was award winning. “That would be real cool! I'll be looking for you, girlfriend!”

Five minutes later, after failing to find a cab, she put on her
dark shades and began walking away from the hotel. She couldn't recall a time she felt more rotten inside. After walking nearly half a mile, she paused in the middle of the sidewalk and looked around.
Where in the world are you going, Trenda
? The unfamiliar landscape added to the lonely feeling she'd begun to feel. The pain from the bump on her head was no match for the hurt in her soul.

Normally, she always had a friend to turn to in even the most desperate times. Whether it was her streetwalking friends like Constance, one of her former high-powered lovers, or crazy Piper, they had become her family. Now here, thousands of miles from her East Coast comfort zone, she felt as vulnerable as a newborn baby.

Pulling herself out of her pit of doom, she looked over her shoulder and spotted an approaching, Richmond-bound, AC Transit Bus. She hustled to the bus stop a few yards away and waited.
I don't know where Richmond is, but I'm hoppin' on this bus anyway.

As the bus pulled into traffic, Trenda walked to the middle of the bus and took a seat across from the rear exit doors. A pair of rough-looking brothas sitting in the back of the bus patted the seat-space between them as she turned to take her seat. The droopy-eyed man gave her a gold tooth-filled smile. “Hey, sexy! You outta come on back here and keep us company.”