No More Tears in the End (25 page)

“What happened?”

“I met her at the club a year ago. She was there to meet somebody, but he stood her up. And I wondered what kind of fool would stand up somebody as beautiful and sweet as her.”

“How long after that did the affair begin?”

“That night.” Miles looked up at me. “I loved her from that first minute I saw her. I know it was wrong. I have a beautiful wife, two wonderful kids. I know everything about what I was feeling for Zakiya was wrong. But I couldn’t help myself. It was like nothing mattered to me except being with Zakiya. But it was wrong and I knew it had to end.”

“So you had her killed?”

“What? What are you talking about? She was killed during a robbery.”

“You hired those two men to kill her. The robbery was just a front.”

“I didn’t have her killed. You’ve gotta believe me. I loved her!”

“They walked right up to her and killed her.”

“No,” Miles insisted. “It was a robbery. The police said it was some type of gang thing, I don’t know, but I didn’t have anything to do with it. Don’t you understand; I couldn’t hurt her. She was—too important to me.”

“No, Miles, you hired those men and they shot her.”

“That’s not true. I don’t believe you!” Miles said and jumped up.

“Come with me,” I said and stood up too.

“Where are we going?”

“To watch a murder.”

Miles and I walked through the hospital and passed Jeff Ritchie still sitting in the visitor’s area. Along the way, I thought what if I’m wrong? What if he’s telling the truth, and he really didn’t have anything to do with it?

When we got outside, he followed me to my car and we got in. I took the DVD of the murder out of the glove compartment and put it in DVD player. “Watch for your self.”

I sat and looked at Miles while he watched the video. Saw the smile come over his face when he saw Zakiya, and then I watched him breakdown when he saw her die.

I felt like shit.

“I wouldn’t,” he said through his tears. “I couldn’t. She was going to have a baby.” Miles looked at me. “Our baby. I was meeting her there that day to tell her that I would stand by her; that I would take care of her and our baby.”

“Who else knew she would be there that day?”

“Nobody,” Miles said quickly and then he looked at me. “Lakeda knew.”

“How did she find out?”

“That night before, I was in the office and Zakiya called. I knew Lakeda was in the club, so I told her that I couldn’t talk and would see at Paradise tomorrow. I didn’t hear Lakeda when she came in. I don’t know how long she was there before I noticed her, but she heard enough. She heard me tell Zakiya that I loved her.”

“What happened after that?”

“We argued about it. A lot of ‘how could you?’ and ‘how long has it been going on?’ kind of stuff. Then she left and she didn’t get home until after midnight. I asked her where she’d been, but we just started arguing about Zakiya again, so I went and slept on the couch.”

“You think she had her killed? Does she have that kind of juice to have somebody killed?”

“I don’t know.”

Miles got out of the car and went back in the hospital.

Chapter 36

I let Miles get a bit of a head start before I followed him in the hospital. It wasn’t like I didn’t know where he was going. Miles was going to confront his wife about his dead mistress.

Ballsy; I’d give him that.

Did Lakeda really have Zakiya killed? I didn’t know much about her, but from what I saw I didn’t think she had it in her. But you never know how far a woman, or a man for that matter, will go in the name of love.

I, on the other hand, knew. I had no illusions about what Wanda was capable of, and what she’d do if she knew for sure what I was doing with Rain. Wanda could and would have Rain killed. It only served to remind me of what a dangerous game I was playing.

Miles went back to the unit. I couldn’t follow him, so I took a seat in the visitor’s area. I looked around for Jeff Ritchie, but didn’t see him. It didn’t take long for Miles to come bursting out of the intensive care unit dragging Lakeda behind him. Rain came rushing out behind them.

I got up and caught up with Rain as she rushed to catch up with Miles and Lakeda. “What’s goin’ on?” I asked, even though I knew.

“I don’t know. Miles busted in the room and pulled Lakeda up from her chair and said ‘I wanna talk to you.’”

We followed them out into the parking lot and caught up with them just as the show began.

Miles stopped and grabbed Lakeda by the shoulders and shook her. “What did you do?”

“Nothing. I didn’t do anything!” Lakeda yelled back.

“What did you do?” Miles screamed again and continued shaking Lakeda.

“Stop it, Miles. What the fuck is wrong with you?” Rain yelled.

“Stay out of this, Rain! This has nothing to do with you!” Miles yelled at his sister.

“Tell me what you did!” Miles yelled at Lakeda.

Rain took a step toward Miles like she wanted to try and separate them, but I stopped her. “Leave him alone.”

Rain looked down at my hand on her arm and snatched it back. “You did this, didn’t you? What did you tell him?”

“The truth.”

“What truth?”

“Miles was having an affair was Zakiya Phillips.”

“The chick that got killed at your spot?”

“Miles thinks Lakeda sent those men to kill her.” Rain looked at me like she didn’t or couldn’t believe what I was telling her. And then she looked at her brother; saw the fury in his eyes. “He was in love with her.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Miles,” Lakeda insisted.

“Don’t lie to me!”

“Stop it, Miles, you’re hurting me.”

“Then tell me what you did.”

“What are you talking about?”

“About Zakiya.”

“What about her?” Lakeda asked. She looked confused by his question. Like she really didn’t know what he was talking about.

“You knew about her. You were the only one who knew about us and you had her killed.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t have that bitch killed. I didn’t even know she was dead.”

“Don’t lie to me Lakeda! It was you! After you heard me say that I loved her, you got somebody to kill her.”

“Damn, Miles, you told her that shit?” Rain said, but I’m sure Miles didn’t hear her.

By that time a small crowd had joined us to watch the show. There’s nothing more entertaining than black folks fightin’ in public.

“Let me go, Miles,” Lakeda said and suddenly found the strength to break away from Miles. Probably that line about loving another woman gave her strength. “I didn’t have her killed. I wish I did and I’m glad that bitch is dead, but I didn’t get anybody to kill her.”

“You knew I was going to meet her that day. You knew where I was meeting her!” Miles grabbed her again and Lakeda struggled to get free.

“Let me go!”

“Tell me what you did!” Miles yelled and slapped the shit outta her. I grabbed Miles and held him before he could slap her again. Rain rushed to Lakeda’s side and held her. Miles began to cry to again. “Just tell me what you did.”

“Okay, people. Show’s over,” I said and walked Miles away from the crowd. Rain followed with Lakeda. Once we were far enough from the slowly dispersing crowd I stopped, but I kept my hands on Miles just in case he decided to go at her again.

“Where did you go after you left that night?” I asked Lakeda.

“All right.” Lakeda pushed Rain off her. “All right.” Lakeda was breathing hard and took a second to compose herself. “I drove around for awhile and then went back to the club looking for her. I was gonna make her leave you alone.”

“Was she there?”

“No.”

“What did you do then?”

“I had a few drinks and I came home,” Lakeda said, and then the look on her face changed.

“What?” I asked.

“What did you do!” Miles demanded to know.

“I talked to Jeff Ritchie.”

“What did you tell him?” I asked.

“I needed somebody to talk to. So I told him about the affair. Told him that you said you loved her.”

“But I told you that I would never leave you and the kids, Lakeda. I told you that.”

“I know what you told me, Miles. But I was mad that night; Mad enough to kill you, not her, Miles, you. That’s why I left.”

“What did you tell Jeff Ritchie?” I asked.

“I told him that Miles said he was meeting her at that restaurant. I told him that I was going to be there, too.”

“What did he say?”

“He said that I should go home and be with my husband. That he knew how these things were, and when you realized what you had, and what you had to lose that you would come to your senses and leave her alone.”

“Let me go,” Miles said calmly and I did what he asked. He walked up to Lakeda and slowly reached for her hand.

“I didn’t have her killed, Miles.” Now its Lakeda who began to shed tears.

“I know. Don’t cry, Lakeda. It wasn’t your fault. This is all my fault. I should never have let that happen. Never did that to you.”

“I didn’t deserve that, Miles. Do you know how hard it was for me to hear you say ‘I love you’ to another woman?”

“Yes, and I’m sorry that I hurt you, I swear, nothing like that will ever happen again. I only hope that you can forgive me.”

“I don’t know, Miles. I’m trying, you know that, but it’s going to take time for me to get past this.”

“Please, Lakeda, just say that you forgive me.”

“I forgive you, Miles, but I meant what I said. It just gonna take some time.”

Miles put his arms around Lakeda and hugged her. Slowly, Lakeda put her arms around him. “Let’s go back inside and see about Pops.”

“That’s right,” Rain said, and we all started walking back toward the building, but I knew it wasn’t over.

Once we were back inside, Miles saw Jeff Ritchie going back in the visitor’s area and he took-off running. Rain went running after him. “Miles!”

I looked at Lakeda before I started to run. She smiled at me and kept walking at the same pace. I knew then there was more to this then she had said.

Miles ran up to Jeff Ritchie and hit him in the face and the two men began wrestling until me and Rain got there to separate them. “You killed her, didn’t you?” Miles said as I dragged him away from Jeff Ritchie. “You fuckin’ bastard, you killed her.”

“What are you talking about, Miles? And lower your voice,” Jeff Ritchie said as hospital staff began to take notice of us.

“Let’s take this outside,” I suggested.

“No, Nick, let me go, I’m all right.”

Since he appeared to be calm enough, I let Miles go.

He walked up to Jeff Ritchie and got in his face. “I know what you did,” Miles said quietly. “I know you had Zakiya killed. It couldn’t have been anybody but you. The family protector; the man who makes things right.”

Lakeda finally caught up to us and Miles turned and looked at her. “Lakeda told you everything. She told you who Zakiya was and where she was gonna be, and you sent two men to kill her.”

“I’m sorry, Miles,” Jeff Ritchie said. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

“Like what? Wasn’t supposed to be like what? I wasn’t supposed to find out, is that it?”

Jeff Ritchie shook his head. “I only did what had to be done.”

Miles nodded his head and backed away from him slowly. “Yeah, me too.” He turned and walked away from the area. Rain started to go after him. “Leave me alone, Rain.”

“Where you goin’?”

“I need some air,” Miles said and kept walking.

Rain stopped and watched as her brother left the building.

Jeff Ritchie looked at me like he wanted to do something. “Come on with it,” I said softly.

“Me and you will settle this another time,” Jeff Ritchie said to me. Then he went and sat down.

Rain walked up and stood by me. “Something ain’t right about this.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Rain said. “I’m goin’ to check on Pops. Why don’t you go check on Miles and then go on and get outta here. And call me tomorrow.”

“I will,” I said and started to leave when I saw Miles coming toward us.

Miles walked by Rain and I calmly. “You okay?” Rain asked as he passed.

“I’m fine, Rain, you go check on Pops,” Miles said and went back in the visitors area. Miles walked up to Jeff Ritchie and stood over him. When Jeff Ritchie looked up, Miles took the gun out of his pocket and pointed it at him.

“Miles, no!” Rain yelled and we rushed at him.

“She was having my baby!” Miles yelled and put three shots in Jeff Ritchie’s chest and one to the head.

Miles let the gun drop to the floor and sat down in the chair next to Jeff Ritchie. Lakeda sat down next to him. She took his hand in hers and tears rolled down her cheeks. Doctors and nurses flooded into the room and tried to save Jeff Ritchie, but he was dead.