Over. (This. Is. Not. Over. #2) (6 page)

But something is off. I can just feel it.

Danielle

3:15
a.m

Everyone else in the limo all stay in the same condo building so I was the first stop.

Thank God because something is wrong with them.

“Okay, I’ll see you when you get back.” I say to Malcom as we stand in front of the elevator in my condo building. He looks at me for a moment, runs his eyes over my face and then takes his cell phone out of his pocket.

“Sorry, the fire commissioner just sent me a message.” He says as he starts punching into it.

“Liar!” I scream out with conviction of a Baptist minister. Malcolm eases his eyes up to me and starts to scan my face again before he smiles and chuckles. I’m not stupid Malcolm; I know you’re text is in regards to my murder.

“You’ve got a contact high. In fact, I think that it’s the worse that I’ve even seen.” He laughs again.

“Murderer!”

“Is everything okay Ms. Rouge?” I can hear Nell from the front desk ask.

“Why is that Attorney Blair?” A voice says from a few yards away. Guess who. Mr. Fulton. Malcom and I look up to see Mr. and Mrs. Fulton walking into the building. It’s three in the morning, what the hell are their old asses doing out this late? Strange. Very strange. Almost looks staged, doesn’t it?

“The Fultons! It’s pretty late isn’t it?” Malcolm says as he smiles at them, ignoring my murderer
accusation. “Just coming back from the club?”

             
“Attorney Blair,” Mr. Fulton says as he pulls his wife along, his face lit with glee. “I was just talking about you, young man!”

             
“Uh, oh.”

             
“No, no. Just now at our Poker Tournament,” (Gramps mentioned poker!) “we were all talking about Rossi and how he has the nerve to be entering the GOP race pretty soon. We started talking about him being full of doo-doo and then your name came up.”

             
“Well, good.”

“Hello, doll.” Mrs. Fulton says to me as she and her husband reach the elevator. She comes over to hug me and then walks over to Malcolm to kiss him on the cheek. “Mmm … your smell is divine.”

Malcolm sneaks a wink at her and she giggles.

             
“What happened there?” Mr. Fulton asks as he points to Malcolm’s cheek.

“I was involved in an intense basketball game.” Malcolm says with his eyes narrowed, his face in mock seriousness.

“Well I hope you won.”

“Of course I did. Actually, Danielle was there to watch it all happen. She and a few friends of hers were the cheerleaders for my team. They had their skirts, their pompoms, they made up their own dance … we all had a lot of fun.”

“Oh yeah? Good. Now back to Rossi, we’re trying to make sure you aren’t being used here. You know, for your connections.” Mr. Fulton says to Malcolm as we all walk onto the elevator. So this is how it’s going to go huh? Malcolm has asked Mr. and Mrs. Fulton to help him murder me. I swear, you can’t trust anyone these days.

             
“Danielle!” I hear Winnie scream out. The sound of her voice, aggravates my already anxious nerves and makes me trip over my own feet. Malcolm grabs hold of me while his eyes are still focused on Mr. Fulton. That’s Malcolm, he owns the space around him, even his blind side.

             
“Slow down young lady!” Mr. Fulton says to me, noticing my near tumble. “Where’s the fire?”

             
“What’s wrong?” I ask Winnie as I hold the elevator door open, my heart pounding in my ears.

             
“Come here for a sec.” She smiles and waves for me to come towards the lobby’s front doors.

             
“I’ll take your bag upstairs for you.” Malcolm says as reaches his hand out for my keys. I open my clutch, take them out and place them in his hands before walking off the elevator with an attitude. What does Winnie’s ass want? Doesn’t she know that Malcolm and the Fultons are trying to murder me? They’re more than likely on a strict time schedule and here Winnie is holding them up. I’m telling you, people are so fucking rude these days. As I leave the Fultons and Malcolm in the elevator, I hear them ask Malcolm about his reasons for backing Rossi and why they should back him too.

“Why?” Mr. Fulton asks. “Does he call his mother every day? Does he make impeccable lasagna?  Does he
not
wear white shoes after Labor Day? I mean, come on young man, entice me.” Then I hear the elevator door slide close. Thank goodness.

             
I look to Winnie who’s walking over to meet me now, a smile still on her face.

             
“I couldn’t leave with you looking so upset.” She says as she stands in front of me. I study her face, like Malcolm studied mine in the limo, deciphering if I can trust her or not. The original members of ‘the crew’ were all friends before I showed up and now one of their former members is roaming around Boston’s streets burnt and lost and only one person seems concerned. Something’s fishy about that. No, I don’t trust anyone right now except for Dena.

              “I’m okay.” I say to her. No, I don’t trust Winnie right now. I don’t trust her at all.

             
“Look, I know that we all seem really cool about the fire but you have to understand, Laura is … off.”

             
“Off?”

             
“That’s putting it mildly. Listen, we have a pact: we don’t share things about each other with outside people. In a way, Laura’s still protected under that pact … even from you. From now on, as you and Malcolm get closer, you’re going to find out a lot of shit about us and we’ll find out some things about you. But you’ll never have to worry about us running our mouths, even if you dump Malcolm … knock on wood.” She smiles. “You’ll still be protected under our pact. But when it came to Laura, I’ll just say that she always wanted to be the center of the crew, she was filled with dramatic outbursts and tantrums and she was just plain annoying as hell. You just can’t miss a person like that, ya know?” Really? Malcolm never said that Laura was the David Ruffin of their group. The one time I saw her was at Oyster Bar, in Hilton Head, when she was clearly upset over Malcolm being there with me. But I assumed that she was a jilted lover and had a right to act a tad bit insane. “But through it all, Malcolm is kinda loyal to Laura and it’s not because he still wants her.” She puts her hands up in defense of Malcolm’s loyalty. “But he’s always felt responsible for her; she’s been allowed to roam the streets unsupervised for her entire life when clearly, she needed help. Unfortunately, he couldn’t save Laura. He can save anyone else, but he couldn’t save the one person he shared his life with … his bed with. I think that’s haunted him.” She rubs my arm and gives me a smile. Malcolm
never
told me this.

“Winnie,” I say as
I take her hand in mine and give it a tiny squeeze. “Thank you for your candor.” This bitch is lying.

“I just wanted to tell you that. N
ow you go get some sleep and then get excited! I can’t wait until Hilton Head.” She reaches in for a hug and pulls me close to her. She smells of oranges, herbs and spices. Herbs and spices, why do I remember that phrase? Oh shit, Gramps. He warned me of herbs and spices. Actually, I think his exact words were: Beware of herbs and spices. I shoot Gramps another quick thank you as he watches me from heaven above. He’s totally prepared me for this night and now I know exactly what I have to do, if Malcolm and the Fultons don’t kill me in my condo first. “I’ll call you in the morning.” Winnie says as she lets go of me and backs away. “We can do lunch.” Winnie’s being a smart ass now, pretending like she’s expecting me to be alive tomorrow afternoon.

             
“Sure, just call me.” I give her a smile and do the phone sign with my hand to my ear. She smiles back, waves and then turns around to leave.

             
I drop my smile. Hell no. She’s up to something.

             
I grab my cell phone and dial the only person, besides Dena, who I feel I can trust right now.

             
“What the hell! I’ve been calling you.” Rena says as she answers.

             
“I was on a flight to Boston.”

“Boston? I thought you were in New York, where are you?”

“At my condo, we came back because of the fire.”

             
“Did you know Matt got into a fight with Malcolm and his friends? I was like, what the hell were you doing in New York? You said you were going to the store.”

             
“Yes. I was calling to talk about that.” I look around to see if anyone is near. Just Nell and the security guard who are talking about how they’ll be erasing Malcolm’s murder tape. “Rena, something is definitely wrong here.”

             
“What do you mean?”

             
“Everyone is acting … get this … normal.”

             
Silence.

             
“Come again?” She says.

“They’re acting like the fire isn’t a big deal. They’re talking about Hilton Head … speaking in Spanish.”

“Why are they speaking in Spanish?”

“Listen, something is wrong Rena.”

“You’re paranoid.”

             
“Rena, Laura was their friend and she was with Malcolm for
years
, they’re loyal to her first. Even Winnie said that Malcolm feels responsible for Laura’s wellbeing; he’s pissed and I have a feeling he’s planning on murdering me tonight with the help of the Fultons and Nell, the front desk lady.”

“Danielle, what the fuck is wrong with you? The Fultons wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“Something is up Rena!”

“Have you been drinking?”

“Gramps came down from heaven and warned me. I’m telling you the truth!”

“Did somebody slip something into your drink?”

“Rena, listen to me. Winnie tried to kill me with Mentos, when that didn’t work, Malcolm decided to kill me with the Fultons. They’re up stairs, setting everything up right now.”

“Okay, I’m lost as hell and I think you’re having a nervous breakdown. So let’s start from the beginning, you said you wanted to leave town for a bit. Where are you going? Houston?” With Lola’s crazy ass? That reminds me, I need to tell Rena the truth about Lola. But not now. I need to tell Rena the whole story in person.

              “Baton Rouge … away from that fire.” And Winnie. And Malcolm. And Lola. And Nell. I’m going to Baton Rouge; I think Gramps was trying to tell me that I should go there. It’s a city that’s Blair-free.

             
“You know, I’ve been watching the news and they haven’t mentioned the fire at all.” Rena says.

             
“A property of Malcolm Blair burns to the ground and no one mentions it?”

             
Silence.

             
“That is a little weird. Malcolm’s trying to keep this whole thing quiet.” Rena says. “Shit, now you’re making me paranoid.”

“What if he’s keeping it a secret so that he can murder us without a motive? No one learns of the fire, no one will suspect we were murdered because of it.”

“What the fuck, Danielle! What’s wrong with you?”

“It happens! People are crazy!”

“Calm down! Damn, I need a drink now.”

“What did your guys say?”

“They said they had the front doors covered and that no one came out.”

“And the back doors?”

“Unmanned.”

             
“Damn Rena! Why cover the front if you’re not going to cover the back?”

             
“Who the hell runs out of the
back
door of a burning building?”

             
“Obviously Laura’s crazy ass!” Oh shit! I spin around in a complete circle. “I mean come on! They covered the front and not the back! They weren’t making a damn thong! They were trying to burn down a damn house!”

             
“Calm down! When are you going to Baton Rouge?”

“Hell, tonight! I’ll just text Jon when I get there and tell him to bring Nicky to me. I’ll work from Baton Rouge until the smoke clears in Boston. As a matter of fact, where is Jon?”

“He’s at a hotel. The guys just drove back to Boston.”

“So where’s Nicky?”

“Apparently Nicky was with his godparents for a few hours but Jon has him now.”

“I swear, I’m going to cuss Jon’s ass out. He really disappointed me tonight.”

“Okay, so since we’re all supposed to be going to Hilton Head anyways, I’ll just go with you to Baton Rouge and bring Georgie. I’m already packed anyways.”