Gold Hill (34 page)

“
Mom and Delphie are
friends from way back,” Tanesha said. “Where’s Delphie? Maybe she
knows something.”

“
That’s another weird
thing,” Jill said over the cell phone. “No one can find her. Sam
thinks she’s teaching one of those psychic immersion things, at
least that’s what’s on the house schedule. He’s going to the store
now.”

“
Aden’s heading out with
Nash, Teddy, and Jake,” Sandy said. “They’re meeting Rodney and a
few guys. They’re going to split up to check Sand Creek, in
case . . . ”

“
In case, she’s out
there . . . all alone . . . dead.”
Tanesha’s face was so grim that Sandy instinctively hugged
her.

“
Sandy, call me every half
hour. We’ll leave the line open with Tanesha,” Jill said. “I have a
map. Sissy and Noelle are going to help keep track. I’ll let
everyone know what’s going happening.”

“
Thanks everybody,”
Tanesha said.

“
You’d do it for us,”
Sandy said.

“
You’ve done it for me,”
Pete hugged Tanesha. “Thanks.”

“
Don’t give up,” Jill
said. “She’s out there. I know it!”

With that, they split up
and walked to their cars.

“
You okay?” Heather
asked.

“
No,” Tanesha said. “I
just keep seeing her . . . cold . . .
alone . . . dead.”

“
Do you think it’s a
memory?” Heather asked.

“
Oh, I never thought of
that,” Tanesha pulled her seat belt on.

“
You’re not a
psychic.”

“
That I am not,” Tanesha
said. “I hope you’re right.”

Tanesha nodded.

“
Let’s go find my mom,”
Tanesha said.

“
That’s the spirit.”
Forgotten on the phone, Jill’s voice made them laugh.

Heather started the Subaru
and they went to South Broadway.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday afternoon — 6:47
p.m. M.T.

“
You’re sure?” Bumpy asked
as he pulled into his garage.

“
Yeah, Miss T’s dad’s
letting us borrow one of his trucks until we’re done with the
house,” Jeraine said. “I can pick it up there.”

“
You don’t want me to drop
you off?” Bumpy asked.

“
It’s only a few blocks,”
Jeraine said. “Plus, Mom sounded really upset. You should take care
of your woman.”

Bumpy laughed. Jeraine got
out of the truck and went around to hug his father. They stood
together for a moment. Embarrassed by his own strong emotions,
Bumpy let go of Jeraine, pat him on the shoulder, and walked off
toward the house.

Smiling to himself, Jeraine
took off jogging toward his new home. His mind drifted to what he
would make his tired, med student wife for dinner. Since the movie
people were gone, he contemplated ordering in so they could eat in
bed. He’d almost made up his mind when he reached the almost yellow
house. Slowing, he saw an odd sight.

There was a woman standing
in his front yard picking, and eating, plums.

A big man stood on the
sidewalk pacing back and forth like a toy soldier guarding the
broken front gate. As he approached, the man snarled at him like a
junk yard Doberman. Jeraine came to a halt.

“
Whatcha you all doin’?”
Jeraine asked. He wiped his hands on his filthy jeans then scowled
at how much dirtier they were than before.

“
He says.” The man spoke
as if he was talking to himself. “He says, Get rid of her. I say,
What? He says, You heard me, get rid of her. And then
boom.”

Chapter Two Hundred and
Eight
Plums

The man made a big
explosion with his hands. Jeraine nodded. The man picked Jeraine up
by the shirt lapel and pulled him close to his mouth.

“
After twenty-four years.
He says, get rid of her. Just like that. You know what that
means?”

The man set him down. He
gave Jeraine a hard look as his head moved up and down.

“
He’s gonna get rid of
you?” Jeraine gave the man a bruised mouth, broken toothed
smile.

“
Exactly,” the man said.
“We drove around most of the day before I realized my cell phone’s
broke. And why do you think?”

“
He cancelled it?” Jeraine
asked.

“
Sure as shit,” the man
said. “Fucker.”

The man nodded to himself
and started pacing back and forth again.

“
You a pimp, right?” the
man asked Jeraine and held out his fist.

“
Pimp.” Jeraine tapped
fists with the pimp.

The words and movement were
automatic. He and his friends used the words to feel powerful, in
charge, and on top of the whores of the world. But tonight, the
words made him feel ashamed and a little sick to his
stomach.

He’d been so sure he was a
pimp, but he’d been a cog in someone else’s wheel, a slave to the
music machine, just as this woman lived as a slave to this man, and
this man a slave to the man who’d cancelled his cellphone. The
whole thing made him feel small and stupid. Jeraine glanced at the
street to make sure Rodney’s truck was nearby in case he needed to
jump in to get away from this feeling and the man who’d brought it
up.

“
Yeah, I thought you
looked familiar,” the man said as he walked back and forth. He
stopped right in front of Jeraine.

“
So I brought her here,”
the man said. “She loves dis house, loves dis plum tree. Every
year, we come here and she eats plums. And look, the tree is full
o’ dem. I figure if Ima gonna have to get rid of her, then she may
as well be happy.”

The man nodded as if
Jeraine should see what a nice guy he was. Jeraine gave him another
ugly broken toothed smile. The man paced back and forth again. He
stopped right in front of Jeraine.

“
Ima ‘sposed to get five
thousand dollars but my cellphone broke
and . . . ” When the man leaned in, Jeraine was
overwhelmed with the smell of his stress soaked clothing and
tobacco. The man whispered, “Now what? Do I take care of it myself?
If I kill her, I still don’t have the green. Plus, I can’t kill her
myself.”

“
No sir,” Jeraine said.
“You can’t kill her.”

“
Not that I ain’t done
plenty of killing in my time,” the man said. ”I ain’t afraid to do
no killing.”

“
You ain’t afraid,”
Jeraine’s heart pounded in his chest. What the hell had he walked
into?

“
But . . .
Ima ‘sposed to be in Saint Louis by dawn,” the man said. “I don’t
have no time to do no killing and get to Saint Louis.”

Jeraine glanced at the
woman and she smiled at him. As his head turned back to look at the
man, he recognized her smile.

“
What am I gonna do?” The
man started pacing again. “What am I gonna to do?”

“
How ‘bout I give you some
money?” Jeraine asked. “You sell your problem to me.”

“
She’s a good woman,” the
man said. “She works hard and the mens? They really like her. You
make good money offa her and she ain’t too shy to give a sample or
two, if you know what I mean. She’s clean. Gets checked by the doc
every month like clockwork. You have five thousand
dollars?”

“
I have this,” Jeraine
pulled the wad of money from his pocket and extended it to the man.
The man reached out for it and Jeraine pulled his hand back. “We
have a deal?”

The man held his hand out
and Jeraine shook it.

“
What about this guy who
wants you to get rid of her?” Jeraine asked. “I don’t want no
problems.”

“
There ain’t no problems,”
the man sniffed at Jeraine. “He asked me, not you. But between you
and me . . . ”

The man leaned into Jeraine
again.

“
If it’s Saturday morning
at eight o’clock and some mens named Aaron Alvin shows up, you’re
not home.”

“
I’m not home,” Jeraine
said.

“
Ok,” the man said. “I’m
gonna take off.”

He went to the woman and
hugged her. She was so surprised she dropped her plums. When he
turned, she kneeled down to pick up her fruit. The man walked down
the path of the house, out the broken gate, and got into an old
sedan. The street lights came on with a buzz and the car drove off.
The man honked once and was gone.

“
Are you my keeper now?”
the woman asked.

“
Do you need a keeper?”
Jeraine asked.

“
Not really,” she
said.

“
What do you
need?”

“
I could really use a
friend.” Her voice was so sad that he turned to look at
her.

“
How ‘bout we agree that
I’ll be your friend?” Jeraine asked. “I’ll help you get where you
need to go next.”

“
Will you help me find my
Tanni?” she asked. “Tanni’s really smart. She’ll know what’s next
for me. I’ve got a few more years until my husband comes home. If I
don’t work, things might get really hard for him, you know? Tanni,
she’ll know what’s next.”

“
I help you,” Jeraine
said.

“
Then I’d like to be your
friend,” the woman gave him a sincere nod.

“
Why don’t we pick as many
plums as we can and I’ll take you home,” Jeraine said. “You look
like you’ve had a long hard day. I bet you’d like to take a bath. I
have some nice tea I bet you’d like too.”

“
Can we come back
tomorrow?” the woman asked.

Her sweet voice and big
smile melted Jeraine’s heart.

“
Of course,” Jeraine
said.

“
Then I could use a bath
right now,” the woman said. “I got up really early because I was
going to see my Tanni today but . . . You’re right,
it’s been a long day. Do friends help friends get something to
eat?”

“
What would you like?”
Jeraine asked.

“
My favorite is chicken
and I do love chocolate cake,” the woman said. “Is that too much to
ask?”

“
How ‘bout we stop off at
CoraFaye’s and get what we need?”

“
CoraFaye’s?” the woman
took Jeraine’s elbow. “Why that’s my favorite! But Cora doesn’t
make cake.”

“
I’ll bake you one
myself,” Jeraine said.

“
You will?” the woman
beamed a smile at him then she stopped walking. Her eyes became
huge dark beams of coal. “But you gave him all your
money.”

“
Nah,” Jeraine said. “He
only thinks that.”

She laughed. He opened the
passenger door and helped her in the big truck. He went around to
the driver’s seat and got in.

“
This truck smells like
safety,” the woman said. “It smells like home.”

Jeraine smiled at her and
started the truck.

“
What happened to your
mouth?” she asked.

“
Got kicked by a
donkey.”

“
Were you trying to have
sex with it?” she asked.

“
No,” Jeraine laughed.
“Why does everyone say that? Do I look that desperate?”

The woman laughed and they
drove over to Colorado Boulevard to find the best soul food
restaurant in town.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday afternoon — 8:17
p.m. MT

“
Where is she?” said
Rodney as he pushed past Bumpy to get into Jeraine’s penthouse. His
eyes were wild with worry brought on by a frantic search along Sand
Creek. His clothing was dirty and he smelled of sweat.

“
Shh,” Bumpy said. “I gave
her a sedative.”

“
How . . . ?” Rodney shook his head with
confusion.

“
Jeraine found her at the
old house,” Bumpy said. “He took her to CoraFaye’s, fed her
chicken, chocolate cake, and that tea they
like . . . ”

Rodney smiled in spite of
himself.

“
Jer called me when she
was in the bath,” Bumpy said. “She’s physically fine, but
emotionally and mentally exhausted. She doesn’t remember what
happened this morning. She just knows that it was horrible. She
needs peace, quiet, and sleep.”

“
Where is she?” Rodney
repeated.

“
In their guest bedroom,”
Bumpy pointed down the hall.

Rodney ran forward then
stopped cold. He spun in place to look at Bumpy.

“
Do you think she wants to
see me?” Rodney’s face was a mask of panic.

“
I know she does,” Bumpy
said. “Come on. We’ll go together.”

Bumpy led Rodney down the
hallway to the guest bedroom. He opened the door and Rodney stepped
in. Seeing Yvonne safe and peacefully asleep, Rodney fell to his
knees.

“
She won’t wake for at
least five hours,” Bumpy said. “You can clean up in there. Jer left
a few clean T-shirts and some sweats on the table.”

He pointed to the guest
bathroom.

“
I’m going home,” Bumpy
put his hand on Rodney’s shoulder. “Call me if you need me. Any
time.”