The Joneses (26 page)

We sped out of the driveway and almost hit one of the neighbors.

“Slow down,” the neighbor yelled out their window.

“Buckle up,” Charity said.

I buckled my seatbelt. Charity ignored traffic laws. She slowed down at stop signs instead of coming to a complete stop. The food I'd eaten earlier threatened to find its way out as I held on to the dashboard. She whipped the car left and right until we made it to the interstate. I said a silent prayer.

T
he night skies were on our side. That meant fewer people would be around. I drove through Jason's neighborhood. I slowed down and passed by Jason's house. My parents hadn't made it yet.

I drove around through the alley and parked my car. I put on my black leather gloves and placed the Glock in my pocket. I surveyed my surroundings.

I tiptoed around the side of the house. I opened the screen door to knock. I looked behind me. The door squeaked and fell open. I pulled out my gun and walked in. I called out, “Jason, it's me.”

No response. I eased inside further into the house. I quietly entered the living room. There were no signs of Jason. His car was outside, so he had to be here.

I called out his name again. “Jason.”

Still. No response. I went to the living room and there was Jason, lying in a pool of blood.

“Who did this?” was the first question that ran through my mind. I knew it wasn't my dad because he hadn't had time to get here yet.

I had to think of something, and quick. This was now a crime scene.

Before I could do anything, I heard my mom say, “Oh my God!”

My parents were now standing beside me looking at the same scene.

My dad's hand shook as he held the gun. “Son, did you do this?”

“No. I swear he was like this when I got here.”

“We need to call the police,” my mom said.

Both my dad and I looked at her.

He said, “Are you crazy? Look at us.”

She looked at me holding my Glock. She looked at my dad holding his .38 special. “Y'all need to put those things away. We can't just leave him here like this.”

“Did you forget he molested our daughter?” My dad pointed the gun. “I should put another bullet in him for good measure.”

I placed my hand on his arm. “Don't do that. Y'all need to get out of here. Let me take care of this.”

“I'm not leaving you to take the fall for this,” my dad said.

“Why don't we all leave? I'm sure when he doesn't show up at work someone will call,” my mom said.

I could hug her. “Yes, let's get out of here before anyone notices we were here.”

They walked out first. I closed the door behind me.

“Where's your car?” my dad asked.

“I'm parked in the back.”

Before we could leave, Charity pulled up. I ran to their car, before either could get out. Hope's window rolled down. I put my head inside. “You need to leave now. Meet us back at the house. Pronto.”

“But—” Charity said.

“No buts. Don't have time to argue.”

Charity continued down the road. My father sped off. I wished he hadn't done that. I noticed a neighbor turn their light on. I slipped back in the night and went to my car. I drove slowly down the alley and onto the main street.

We all made it back to my parents around the same time. “What just happened?” Charity asked.

The only good thing about this whole situation was my parents were no longer upset at each other. They were seated next to each other holding hands, each trying to comfort the other.

I hate it took something drastic to do so, but regardless of what happened after this, I was grateful.

“Is anyone listening to me?” Charity yelled.

I spoke out first. “Jason's dead.”

“Dad, did you kill him?” Hope asked.

“No, he didn't kill him. He was dead when we got there,” I responded.

“Where were the police?” Charity asked.

“Dear, we didn't call the police,” my mom responded.

“So y'all just left him there to die?” Hope blurted.

I grabbed Hope by the shoulders to make her look at me. “He was already dead. There was nothing we could have done for him.”

Hope sniffled inbetween tears. “This is all my fault. I should have kept quiet.”

My dad said, “It's not your fault. I wished you would have said something to us earlier and believe me, he would have dead earlier.”

“Royce, don't say that,” my mom said.

“Well, the truth is the truth.”

The truth for me was the fact that I went over there with every intention of killing him, so that my parents wouldn't have to do it. The question now was who beat us all to it?

I
got up from beside Royce and went to the bar. I poured myself a drink and took a big gulp. I turned back, and four sets of eyes were looking in my direction.

I looked at Hope. “Stop crying. This is not your fault. You're the victim here.”

Charity placed her arm around Hope to comfort her.

I poured myself another glass. I poured a glass for Royce and handed it to him. He looked confused and unsure of what to do.

I sat down next to him.

“Like Lovie said, Jason was dead. There wasn't anything we could do for him,” I said.

“Someone should have called the police,” Charity said.

“No, we need to stay out of it. You hear me?” I looked at Charity, daring her to disagree.

“Fine,” she responded.

Lovie said, “I can have my boy Slim go clean the place up.”

Royce responded, “Don't have your thuggish friends do a thing. We don't want to be beholden to nobody. You do that, and Slim and his goonies will think you owe them for life.”

Lovie put his phone back in his pocket. “I guess you're right.”

“Yes, Royce is right. I grew up with men like Slim. They will do you a favor, but it will cost you your life for the rest of your life.”

“Okay, Mom. I get the point,” Lovie responded.

“I just want to make it clear, so you won't go doing anything behind our back.” I looked at Hope and Charity. “Girls, I'm glad you didn't come inside. The image we saw will forever be embedded in my mind.”

Royce said, “I hate to say this, but I feel relieved—relieved that he's dead and I wasn't the one who had to take his life.”

I squeezed his hand. I felt the same way. I just didn't voice it. “Everybody look at me.”

When it was clear that I had everyone's attention, I said, “Your father and I talked on the way home. It's in each of our best interests to pretend like we don't know a thing. If the police ask questions, act surprised.”

“But that's lying,” Hope blurted.

“I'm not trying to be funny, but you've done a lot of that, so this shouldn't be a hard thing for you to do,” Charity said.

“Dear, be nice. Your sister's been through something traumatic.”

Charity rolled her eyes.

“I'm serious. No one is to say a thing to the police. We must keep a united front.”

Royce added, “If you slip and say anything out of the ordinary, it could throw suspicions on any of us. Be natural in your responses.”

Lovie added, “Don't give many details. Most guilty people try to give details when they are trying to get away with something.”

“Exactly. So, the less you say, the better. Are we all on the same page?” I asked.

Royce squeezed my hand. Lovie shook his head. Hope shook her head.

“Charity?” I asked.

“Yes, Mom. I promise to keep my mouth shut.”

“Good. It's been a long night, so y'all go home and try to get some rest.”

A few minutes later, I was hugging each one of them. I stood in the doorway and watched them leave. Royce was still in the living room. I went upstairs and took a long hot bath.

When I returned to the bedroom, Royce was lying on his side of the bed.

I opened up my mouth to protest, but stopped myself. Instead of saying anything, I slipped under the covers. He got in behind me and wrapped his arms around me. I didn't reject him. I held on to his hands. Exhausted from earlier, I closed my eyes and slept. Visions of Jason's dead body flashed through my mind in nightmares.

“Tell him.” I could hear Jason's voice as clear as day.

My eyes flew open.

All I could see was the moonlight seeping through the curtains. We were still in the room alone. Scared, I snuggled up closer to Royce. This time, it took a while for me to fall asleep.

Lexi had gotten up early to cook breakfast, but I didn't have an appetite.

I nursed the cup of coffee in front of me until it was time for me to go to work. Lexi helped me put my jacket on. She brushed some lint off the front. “Remember, go in to work. Act natural. Act like nothing has happened.”

“There's still yellow tape blocking me from entering my office, so that's going to be hard to do.”

“You know what I mean,” Lexi said.

I looked down into Lexi's eyes. “Baby, how did we get here?”

“Not trusting one another with the truth.”

“You know I love you, right?” I brushed my hand gently on her face.

“Yes, and I love you.”

“Then let's promise each other that from this day forward, no more secrets.”

Lexi blinked a few times before responding. “No more secrets.”

“Now give me a kiss, so I can get out of here and get my day started.”

Lexi tilted her head backward. I placed my lips on top of hers. Our lips locked. There was no tongue action, but we didn't need it. The feel of each other's lips was enough.

I left for RJ's with a smile on my face. Regardless of what came
my way today, I would be able to handle it since Lexi and I had made up. I hadn't forgotten about what she did, and I knew she didn't forget about what I did, but that was our past. This was now, and now was all that mattered. I loved her with all of my heart, and couldn't anything ever break that bond. Tyler and Jason had tried, but both had failed.

I was still smiling when I walked through the doors of RJ's. Shannon shouted, “Royce, did you hear?”

“Hear what?” I stopped in front of her desk.

“Your friend Jason was found dead in his home. Apparently, there was an early morning fire or something.”

I scratched my forehead. “Oh, no.” I faked concern.

“It was on the morning news. They're going to show it again in a few minutes.”

“I'll watch it in the conference room.” I rushed to one of the conference rooms and turned on the television. I called Lexi. “Turn on the news.”

I hung up with her and sat down. I tapped my hand on the table. “Hi, Dad,” Lovie said, as he passed by the room.

“Son, come here.”

Lovie came back and entered the room. “What's up?”

“Have a seat. Shannon told me some disturbing news a while ago.”

“She told me you would probably want to talk to me.”

“Hold that thought.” I turned up the volume.

Without moving my lips, I said under my breath, “Shannon's coming.”

Lovie said, “Don't nobody deserve to die like that.”

Shannon walked into the room. “Are you guys going to be okay? Royce, I know you and him were close.”

I held my head down and rubbed my forehead. “This is hard.”

Shannon patted me on the back. “If there's anything you need, I'm here.”

“Yes. Please filter my calls today. I just want to be left alone.”

“Will do. Lovie, you need anything?”

“Yes, a drink.” Lovie forced a smile.

“We have coffee, water, and soda. Your pick.”

“I was thinking of something stiffer.”

“That, Cuz, you'll have to get on your own.” Shannon patted Lovie on the back and left us alone.

I stood up. “Let's go to your office.”

Once we were inside of Lovie's office, I closed the door. “Son, you didn't have anything to do with that fire, did you?”

“Of course not. When I left the house, I went straight home. I called over a girlfriend, and didn't hear anything about it until just now.”

“Just trying to make sure. I'm glad you got the girlfriend to come over because you may need an alibi.”

“I don't need an alibi. I didn't do it.”

“I believe you.”

I didn't mean to frustrate Lovie, but this whole situation had us all stressing.

L
isa kept going on and on about Jason in my ear. I held the phone away, and I could still hear her talking. I wanted to tell her I didn't want to hear anymore. I took a drama class in school, so instead, I put my acting skills to use. I pretended to be upset about his death.

“If you need me, I'm here,” Lisa assured me.

“I'm going to be okay.”

“You're one strong lady. If all of this had happened to me within a week's time, I don't know what I would do.”

“Lisa, I just need some time alone.”

“I can take off work. I got some comp time.”

“No. Don't do that.” The last thing I needed was for Lisa to come over. She liked to ask a million and one questions and I wasn't in the mood.

I checked on Hope. She was laid across the bed, still asleep. I didn't want to disturb her. We had sat up talking late into the night. She felt guilty about Jason's death. I assured her that Jason's actions caused his demise.

I listened to what my parents and Lovie said last night, and wasn't totally convinced they didn't have anything to do with it. But did I really want to know if they did? No. So, I would accept their statements as truth.

I didn't have an appetite, but was thirsty. I opened up the
refrigerator, and the only thing in there was a stick of butter and a couple of cans of soda. I wanted some juice.