CHAPTER 52
T
he cell phone beeped in her ear, causing Sherri to look at the caller ID on the dashboard.
Randall again. I need some space. Why doesn’t he get it? He really needs to leave me alone!
“Daddy keeps calling, Mom,” Aaron said from the backseat. “Why do you keep ignoring his calls?”
“Is your seat belt on, Aaron?”
“You’re changing the subject, Mom,” Albany interjected. “But I want to know too.”
“Your dad and I are having a disagreement,” Sherri calmly replied, knowing that her kids deserved some type of explanation. “I need a little space to think things out. Plus,” she continued, trying to brighten her tone, “I want to meet the woman taking such good care of Mom.”
“You promised me that you and Daddy wouldn’t get divorced.” Albany clearly wasn’t even buying the woman-caring-for-mommy story.
Sherri started to answer with a firm denial, but she stopped herself. Truth was, with all that had gone down in the past couple weeks, she no longer knew what would happen. They’d been in their twenties the one and only time she knew Randall had cheated. Then, given their brash, thoughtless choices and immaturity and the fact that Albany had barely been a toddler, his indiscretion had been easier to forgive. But now? Things were different. It would be difficult to have their parents split, but Sherri thought her children strong enough to survive it. She and Randall cared enough about the children to maintain a civil relationship, and money wasn’t an issue. So now, instead of finding reasons why she shouldn’t leave the marriage, she was looking for reasons why she should stay.
“I don’t want y’all to divorce,” Aaron said at last.
“That’s enough!” Sherri hadn’t known she was so close to losing it until the gasket was blown. “I don’t want to hear any more talk of divorce. What’s happening now is between me and your father.” Glancing in her rearview mirror, her heart softened when she saw the concerned look on her young son’s face. “Marriage isn’t always easy, guys. Arguments happen. And much like I have to send you two to your respective rooms to keep you from bashing each other, sometimes your dad and I need our space too.
“I love your father very much,” she continued, putting a comforting hand on Albany’s leg. “We’ve been together for half my life. And we both love you rug rats to pieces. Don’t worry about us. We’ll be all right.”
As Sherri finished talking and turned up the radio for the short drive from the airport, she tried very hard to believe the words that she’d just told her children.
Jacqueline walked around Miss Elaine, who sat shivering at the dining room table. “That wasn’t a smart move you made,” she told her. “You just put your beloved daughter in jeopardy.”
Miss Elaine looked at her and spoke through her fear. “I don’t want anybody to get hurt, baby. Not my daughter, and not you. There’s still time for you to avoid what is sure to be a travesty. If you leave now, just walk out of here, I won’t say a word. I promise. And you’ll still have the chance to not mess up your life.”
“Oh, you’d stay quiet, would you? Only for as long as it took you to dial 9-1-1. No, I’m afraid that there’s no turning back from this road I’ve gone down. But being with Randall is worth it. Once he and I are together, everything that I’ve had to do to make that happen will be justified.”
“Baby, where are your parents?”
For a moment, a glimmer of humanity shone in Jacqueline’s eyes. “Six feet under. Deadly house fire. They burned to a crisp.” A satisfied smirk crossed her face as Miss Elaine flinched at the description.
After a second, Miss Elaine responded, “You have my sincere condolences. How old were you?”
“Ten.”
“That had to have been terrible to deal with, losing your family so young. Are you an only child?”
Jacqueline stared at Miss Elaine. No response.
“I was an only child,” Miss Elaine continued. “And while I lost my father in my teens, my mother was around until I turned fifty-two. I must admit that since then I’ve had my share of lonely times. Baby, there are people out there who can help you.”
The sincerity she heard in the older woman’s voice was something Jacqueline wasn’t used to. A part of her wanted to crawl up in the woman’s lap and be rocked liked a baby. An unexpected emotion arose in her chest: compassion.
There was no time for that.
“I don’t need help you old wench,” Jacqueline spat, smacking Miss Elaine on the side of the face. I need Randall. If your daughter weren’t so delusional about her marriage, if she would have just cooperated, I would have him by now. But since she’s insisted on being stubborn . . . here we are. She ran the butt of the gun across Miss Elaine’s shoulders and when she saw them straighten had to admire the woman’s spunk. In another lifetime, if she’d been blessed with a good mother instead of the monster who’d birthed her, she would have wanted one like the one sitting before her, the one who seemed to love her daughter so much.
A black SUV pulled into the driveway. Both Jacqueline and Miss Elaine turned at the sound. “Looks like it’s show time,” she said as she straightened her glasses and adjusted the wig. She’d looked at herself a thousand times and was 99 percent sure that Sherri wouldn’t recognize her. At least not right away. A good five or ten minutes, enough time to get them tied up and drugged. After that, she’d have to play it by ear. Sherri was definitely going to meet her maker, but she hadn’t decided what to do with the rest. This was unlike her. Normally everything was so thought out. But time had run out and the family had arrived. She’d have to use her instincts and take her chances. There was no turning back now.
“Remember what I told you. Don’t mess up. There’s still a chance that some of you may survive this. But one word to your daughter and I’ll shoot them without hesitation, and make you watch.”
Turning the corner and seeing her mother’s car, Sherri breathed a sigh of relief. She’d arrived at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport to several missed calls and messages from Randall and a strange one from her mother that had her stomach in knots. For the life of her, she couldn’t think of anything Randall could tell her about Jacqueline that would change the fact that she didn’t presently want to be around him. She was headed to where she wanted to be. From the time she’d taken the shuttle to the rental car to this moment, she’d hit redial to her mother’s number. All she got was voice mail. When she’d called the number to the in-home caretaker, those calls had gone to voice mail too.
“Her car is here,” Albany said, stating the obvious.
“Yeah, she’s home, Mom.” Aaron added.
“I’m glad to see that,” Sherri admitted, noting that another car, one she assumed belonged to the caretaker, was also in the driveway. She calmed down a little bit, but not too much.
The kids were out of the car before it had barely come to a stop. “Grandma!” Albany shouted, running to the front door. Sherri’s smile was genuine as she brought up the rear. Nothing could make her feel better like parking her feet under her mother’s table, preferably in front of a plate of homemade meatloaf or black-eyed peas and ham. She thought about having the kids pull the luggage out of the car. But then again, like them, all she wanted right now was to feel her mother’s arms around her. Right now this was the priority. Luggage could wait.
Sherri’s smile faltered a bit when she rang the doorbell a second time without an answer. But then her mother opened the door with a smile on her face. Right away, Sherri got the feeling that it looked rather forced.
She’s probably not feeling well
, Sherri decided.
I’ll feel much better after Wanda and I have a heart-to-heart.
“Grandma!” The children rushed in and enveloped their grandmother.
“How’s my babies?” Miss Elaine asked.
“We’re good,” Albany said.
“I don’t smell cookies,” Aaron commented, a relevant observation considering that fresh-baked cookies almost always awaited them when they visited.
“I didn’t get a chance to get them ready for you,” Miss Elaine said, still standing at the door. “Maybe we’ll make some later.”
This comment was followed by Miss Elaine giving Sherri a look that told her something was definitely wrong. But what could it be? “Mom, why are we standing here in the doorway?” Sherri stepped in and gave her a heartfelt hug. “Are you feeling all right?”
“I’m a little tired,” Miss Elaine said as she turned and walked down the hallway toward the living room. “Y’all come on in and sit down.”
Sherri turned to the children. It was time to get them out of sight so she could find out what was going on with her mother. “Y’all, go and bring in the luggage for me.” She gave Albany the keys. “And no fighting.”
As soon as the kids were out of sight, Sherri turned to her mother. “Okay, Mom, out with it. What’s going on?”
“Oh, baby, don’t worry about me. I just got up too fast, that’s all. I was so excited, and it made me kind of dizzy.”
Sherri stood. “Well, let me get you a glass of water.”
“No!”
Sherri looked at her mom with a frown.
“I mean, just come and sit down. I’ve been so worried about you and Randall. I want to know how y’all are.”
Sherri looked toward the door and heard the kids coming back in. “We’ll talk on that later,” she said with a nod in their direction. “Where’s the nurse? Where’s Wanda? That’s who I want to meet.”
A dowdy woman with a short fro and glasses entered the room. “Here I am,” she said, her head downcast as she approached Sherri. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Sherri eyed the woman a moment, trying to identify why she was filled with unease. But then again, for the past few months her entire world had been turned upside down. Paranoia and confusion had become her companions. She forced herself to relax and held out her hand. “Nice to meet you. Thanks for all you’re doing for my mom. She’s raved about you.”
Wanda walked to the other side of the room and sat down on the couch. “How was your flight?”
“Uneventful.” Continuing to battle against the discomfort she felt, she shifted and tried to be more polite. “Have you traveled much?”
“No, ma’am,” Wanda said, her accent even more pronounced than usual. “I’m scared of flying, matter of fact. When I go to see anybody, Greyhound is my preference. Keep my feet on the ground, know what I mean?”
“Wanda.” Miss Elaine cleared her throat. “I want to bake the kids some cookies. Can you please go to the store for me and get some chocolate chips?”
Sherri could have sworn a frown scampered across Wanda’s face, but it was so fast that she immediately thought she’d imagined it.
“Oh, Miss Elaine, there’s no need for that. I just saw some in your pantry.”
“Oh, did you? Were there butterscotch chips in there too? And peanut butter?” To Sherri’s confused look, Miss Elaine added, “I’m in the mood for variety. Want to make several different kinds and take some to church.” She stood, walked over to where her purse sat on a side table, and gave Wanda a twenty dollar bill. “That should cover it,” Miss Elaine said. “If you could go now, please.” Belatedly, she realized the kids weren’t in the living room. “Albany! Aaron!”
“I think they went out back,” Sherri said with a wave of her hand. “Probably playing with the dog.” When she turned back, Wanda had slipped out unnoticed. “Wow, Wanda sure left fast.”
This time, Miss Elaine didn’t try to hide her franticness. “Sherri,” she whispered, hurrying over to her daughter. “We’ve got to call the police! Dial 9-1-1.”
“Mom, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”
“Don’t ask me, baby. We don’t have time. That woman is crazy, and she wants to hurt you bad.”
“The nurse?”
“Baby, just call them. Call them now!”
“Mom, please, calm down. I’m not going to call the cops until you tell me what happened.”
“She brought a woman in here and was sharing her plan to hurt you.” Miss Elaine was talking rapidly, wringing her hands. “I tried to call and warn you, but she caught me. She wants to hurt you, baby. And she wants Randall for herself.”
“Wanda?” This comment caused Sherri’s gut to clench. She thought back to the message on her cell phone, the one from her mother that had ended abruptly. What she’d hoped had been a dropped call hadn’t been dropped after all.
“Her name ain’t Wanda. I don’t know who she is. That’s a wig she’s wearing and somebody else’s clothes. I looked into the room and saw the real woman. I don’t know what’s going on, but it isn’t good.”
An eerie scenario began spinning in Sherri’s head.
No, it isn’t possible. There’s no way.
She knew it wasn’t possible, imagined the police chiding her for making an unnecessary call. But she’d deal with those consequences when she faced them. Better safe than sorry, her mother had always told her. Now, erring on the side of caution was the name of the game.
“Okay, Mom. Go get the kids. I’m calling the police right now!”
CHAPTER 53
“I
wouldn’t make that call if I were you.”
The deathly calm of the voice behind her and its eerie familiarity made Sherri slowly turn around. When she did, she almost had a heart attack. A crazed-looking Jacqueline stood just inside the doorway to Miss Elaine’s living room: a wig in one hand, a gun in the other. She wasn’t standing alone. She dropped the wig, pushed Miss Elaine into the room, then put her hand on Albany’s shoulder and the gun to her head. Sherri’s hands balled into fists as Jacqueline slowly stroked her daughter’s hair. She watched fear mix with tears in her daughter’s eyes.
“Let go of my daughter.”
“Shut up! You’re in no position to make demands.” Jacqueline pushed the muzzle of the gun against Albany’s head. “Drop the phone.”
Sherri reluctantly took her finger off of the dial and tossed the phone near Jacqueline’s feet. “All right, there’s the phone. Now, let go of my child.”
Instead of letting go of Albany, Jacqueline pulled her flush against her chest, pointing the gun at Sherri. “Where is the boy?”
Everything had happened so fast that Sherri hadn’t had the time to consider Aaron’s whereabouts.
Did he have a chance to run away? Run and alert a neighbor?
Sherri hoped so because knowing that Ms. Riley was out of town left her with few alternatives.
Jacqueline cocked the trigger. “Where is he?”
“I don’t know!” Sherri screamed, instinctively holding up her hands in front of her. “Aaron!” The same woman who just seconds ago had hoped her son was down the street seeking help now prayed to see his little chocolate head come around the corner.
“Ten, nine, eight,” Jacqueline began, walking farther into the room and trying to keep her eye on Sherri, Miss Elaine, and the door. “Seven, six, five . . .”
“Aaron, get in here!” Sherri gauged the distance between her and Jacqueline, and wondered whether if she lunged she could reach her before the lunatic got a shot off. In the split second she had to decide, she chose against a sudden move at this juncture. She’d never forgive herself if she somehow caused harm to her child.
“Four, three, two . . .”
“I’m here.” Aaron stood in the doorway, his hands raised above his small, lean frame.
He seemed surprisingly calm, and in this moment Sherri realized just how much he resembled his father in both looks and demeanor.
If Randall were here
, Sherri thought.
But he isn’t. Which means getting us out of this impossible mess is up to me!
“Get over there.” Jacqueline sneered at Aaron, now aiming the gun at his close-cropped head. “Where is your phone?”
“In my pocket,” Aaron answered.
“Take it out. Slowly . . . ,” she added when he lowered his hand to reach into his pocket. “And don’t try anything heroic, young man. You’re not your father, so don’t do anything that will make me hurt you before it’s time.”
Before it’s time? She’s going to kill my kids?
Sherri wondered how Randall could have slept with this bitch and not have seen she was crazy.
“Listen, Jacqueline, whatever you want, I’m sure we can work something out. Money, possessions, whatever it is. Just please don’t hurt my family.”
“Family?” Jacqueline asked, as if she were chatting with an interview subject instead of the woman toward whom she was aiming a gun. “You and your family are the only things standing in the way of what I want.”
“I tried talking to her.” Miss Elaine’s words were for Sherri, but her eyes never left the gun.
“Shut up, old woman!”
Without even thinking about it, Sherri took a step forward.
Jacqueline’s focus went immediately from Miss Elaine back to Sherri, the gun aimed at her chest.
Sherri stepped back. Her mind whirled. Her heart pounded. She had to save her family but had no idea how.
“Sit on the couch, all of you.” She pushed Albany towards them. When no one else moved, Jacqueline shouted, “Now!”
Miss Elaine hurried over to the couch. “Baby,” she said as she reached the couch and sat on the end, “you don’t have to do this. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. Randall doesn’t want this family. He and my daughter are getting a divorce.”
Sherri barely stopped herself from looking at her mother like she’d lost her mind. Fortunately, she caught on immediately and began speaking as she too sat down on the edge of the cushion. “I’m surprised he hasn’t told you,” Sherri continued, trying to sound and act with a calmness she did not feel. “Why do you think I left and came down here to be with Mom? It’s because Randall kicked us all out of the house.”
Jacqueline suddenly seemed uncertain for the first time since this madness began.
“Call and ask him if you don’t believe me,” Sherri said, knowing that if Jacqueline took her eyes off of her for more than two seconds, it was about to go all the way down.
“You’re lying,” Jacqueline said at last.
“I only wish I were. If anyone had told me that Randall would divorce me, I would never have believed them. We tried to talk him out of it, but he says he has something with you that he doesn’t have with me.”
“What’s that?” Jacqueline asked, as the arm holding the gun lowered ever so slightly.
“Rapport. He said that he can talk to you about anything. If he brings up anything about his work at home, I don’t have a clue.”
A smile of satisfaction crept onto Jacqueline’s face. Sherri held her breath, watching her closely, waiting for a moment, a second, when she thought she could jump her and wrestle away the gun.
The moment came immediately when a most unexpected yet welcome sound was heard in the distance: sirens.
Caught totally off guard, Jacqueline turned her head toward the hallway leading to the door. That was all the distraction that Sherri needed. She leapt from the couch, her eyes glued to the gun. Jacqueline turned just as Sherri reached her and slammed into her, knocking them both to the floor. In the background she heard screaming but couldn’t tell if it was Albany, Aaron, her mother, or all of the above. She didn’t have time to look around or figure it out. She had bigger fish to fry.
“Give it to me,” she growled, twisting her adversary’s wrist as she tried to knock the gun loose. She was on top of Jacqueline, and given Jacqueline’s height and lean build, would normally have been the weaker of the two. But there was a different kind of strength available to a mother bear trying to protect her cubs. The Incredible Hulk would have been no match for Sherri right about now.
That didn’t mean that Jacqueline wasn’t going to try to give as good as she got. She rolled them over, trying to sit up and aim the gun at the same time. Sherri still had ahold of her wrist, and felt her fingernails breaking flesh.
“Let go of the gun,” Jacqueline spat out between clenched teeth.
“Get the gun, Mommy!” Albany cried.
Aaron had other ideas. He ran up to Jacqueline, grabbed two large handfuls of her luscious thick hair and pulled with all his might. “Get off my mom!”
It was the opening Sherri needed. She balled her hand into a fist and punched Jacqueline in her face, so hard that Jacqueline’s head snapped back. In that moment the gun popped out of her hand, landing a short distance away from where the women continued scuffling. “Let go, Aaron,” Sherri said as she delivered another blow. “I got this.”
They rolled, and once again Sherri was on top. “Albany! Get the gun!” Her daughter jumped up like a rocket and picked up the weapon. “Give it to Mom,” Sherri said, huffing.
“Give it to me, baby,” Miss Elaine implored.
“Aww!”
Jacqueline had taken the second that Sherri’s attention was diverted and bit her hand. Now Sherri was really pissed off. She grabbed handfuls of hair on both sides of Jacqueline’s head, wound the thick tresses around her hands and began to beat the woman’s head against Miss Elaine’s hardwood floor. “You crazy witch!” she began, slamming her head down with every phrase. “Randall told you to leave us alone. But your ass has a listening problem. You gonna learn today!”
“Police! Open up!”
Aaron jumped up and ran to the front door. Soon heavy footsteps sounded down the hall as four uniformed officers entered the living room. Two had drawn their guns. “Freeze!” one of them said, pointing his gun at Sherri.
“She attacked me, Officer!” Jacqueline cried, scrambling up as another officer pulled Sherri away from her. “She just tried to kill me!”
Everyone in there began talking at once.
“She’s lying, Officer.”
“She tried to kill us!”
“This is my house, sir, and that woman shouldn’t be here.”
And then a most unexpected voice, one that had everyone but the officer with his gun trained on Sherri and Jacqueline turning to face its owner.
“Don’t shoot, officer. That’s my wife!”
“Daddy!” Albany shouted before she and Aaron ran into Randall’s arms.