The Three Mrs. Greys, page 20
She hesitated only a few seconds before opening the front door.
“Answer the door, ni—” His words trailed off and he stepped back and stared at her in surprise.
“Hi,” she said, leaning against the door frame. “Can I help you?”
“Nah, umm . . . where’s Tariq?” he said, staring over her shoulder like he was trying to get a glimpse into the house to see if Tariq was hiding in there.
“Sorry, he isn’t home. He left for work about forty minutes ago. I can tell him that you stopped by though, Mr. . . . uh . . .”
“No mister. The names Big El,” he volunteered. “Tell ’em Big El came by. He’ll know who I am.”
She nodded, though she wondered how Tariq knew this guy. He certainly didn’t seem like he’d be a friend of Tariq’s, but maybe he was. Maybe Big El was an acquaintance from his old neighborhood back in the day.
“I’ll definitely tell him.” Noelle began to close the front door but stopped when Big El raised his hand and held the door open, catching her off guard.
“And tell him he still gotta pay me in full. All right?” He pointed at her and bore his dark eyes into her as he said it. “Just because he didn’t get all that he asked for, doesn’t mean he can’t pay me what he owe me! I still put time in for that shit. I deserve my money.”
Noelle gradually nodded again though she had no idea what this guy was talking about. She thought he was an old friend, but perhaps he was a contractor that Tariq had hired. She knew from experience that they weren’t always easy to work with. This one in particular didn’t seem to be the professional type.
“Sure, I’ll . . . I’ll let him know. Does he have a way to contact you? Did you want to leave a card or . . . something?”
“A card?” Big El laughed. “Nah, I ain’t got no card, baby. But he knows how to reach me.”
Big El finally lowered his hand from the door. As he did, she saw that he had a gothic-style nine tattooed on the inside of his forearm—the same tattoo that was on Tariq’s chest. It caught her by surprise.
“Just tell him to call me so I ain’t gotta come lookin’ for him again,” he said before turning around and jogging down the stairs, his footfalls ringing off the metal like horse hooves.
She watched as he strolled along the sidewalk then disappeared around the corner at the end of the block. It wasn’t until then that Noelle closed Tariq’s door, now plagued with a pesky sense of unease.
Chapter 24
Diamond
Diamond was putting away the last of the dishes from her dishwasher into her overhead cabinets when her cell phone began to buzz. She reached for where it sat on the kitchen counter and raised it to her ear.
“Hello?” she said after pressing the green button to answer.
“Uh, hi, Mrs. Grey. It’s . . . it’s . . . uh . . . Richard down at the front desk.”
She tiredly closed the dishwasher door. “Hey, Richard,” she said distractedly. “What’s up?”
“Well, ma’am, you have some people down here who say they know you. They’re asking to come upstairs.” He dropped is voice to a whisper. “I remember the incident that happened earlier this week, so I’m not letting anyone up there that you don’t okay.”
Diamond’s brows furrowed as she wondered who could possibly be visiting her at ten o’clock in the morning. No one she had been expecting—that was for sure.
She’d decided to spend the few coveted hours before she had to leave for work today at home alone. She was recovering from last night’s dinner. It had only been two and half hours, but the ordeal had left her emotionally exhausted, especially having to endure the company of Cyrus’s other wife, Vanessa—a woman she would be perfectly happy to never see again. Diamond was in no mood to deal with any surprises today.
“Did they say who they are? Did they give you their names?” she asked Richard.
“Uh, the woman’s name is Honey, I believe, but the gentleman refuses to give me his name.”
Diamond winced. Richard didn’t have to get the gentleman’s name. She knew instantly that the guy with Honey had to be Julian. Honey must have driven him here, though Diamond wasn’t sure why. If he was only allowed a pass out of The Men’s Village for an hour a day, there was no way he would make it back from Baltimore to D.C. in enough time.
“Do you want me to send them up, Mrs. Grey?” Richard asked.
Diamond could only imagine Julian gazing around her condominium’s luxurious lobby and calculating in his head how many new gold chains or watches she could afford to buy him. Nope. She didn’t want to deal with his bullshit today.
“No, Richard. I don’t want any visitors and I don’t know who they are.”
“Okay, Mrs. Grey. No problem. I’ll tell them that.”
Richard hung up soon after and Diamond loudly exhaled. Honey and Julian would just have to make the drive back to D.C. If they drove fast enough, maybe he could get back in enough time to meet his curfew.
I’m doing him a favor, she thought.
She’d just set down her phone and turned away from the counter to start another housekeeping task when her phone started to buzz again. She glanced at the screen and saw it was Richard calling back.
“Yes?” she asked irritably after picking up.
“I told him they can’t come up, but this guy insists that he speak with you, ma’am. He said it’s important,” Richard said.
Diamond loudly sighed. “Put him on.”
She heard muffled voices in the background then Julian’s laugh. “Hey, girl, what’s up?”
“You’re not coming upstairs, Julian.”
“Don’t be like that! We came all this way to visit you. You know, to see how you’re doin’. You can’t let us up to have tea and crackers or some shit? Whatever you rich people do!”
“Why are you here?” she asked tightly as she started to pace, making her bare feet slap against the kitchen tile. “You didn’t come here to check on me or for tea and crackers. And I’m not buying you anything else! I told you that already.”
“I can’t stay at that halfway house no more,” Julian explained. “Don’t like all those damn rules. And they trying to make me get a full-time job and shit. Talkin’ about how I should apply to Walmart or Burger King. I don’t have time for that! So I bounced outta there. Honey and I are going away to start up the business again, but we need a place to stay for a hot minute. Maybe a day or two. We thought we could stay with you.”
“Hell no! This isn’t a hotel, Julian. And besides, you’re violating parole. I don’t want anything to do with that shit! Tell Honey I said good luck to her wherever you two decide to go, but you can’t stay here. It’s not an option. I’m sorry.”
She was about to hang up when she heard him say. “Oh, it better be an option! Because I’ll tell this dude right here and every one of your neighbors who walks through that door, how I know you. I’ll tell them how you used to make your money, College Girl.”
Diamond stopped pacing.
“I still got a couple pictures too from the old days in my phone. I bet this dude would love to see a couple of ’em. Show him all the stuff you used to be famous for.”
Diamond closed her eyes and fought back the scream that threatened to rise out of her throat. She thought she’d hated Julian before, but she hated him even more now.
“So can we come up or what?” Julian persisted. “Or should I show him the pics? You tell me.”
“Yeah,” she said reluctantly, not knowing what other choice she had, “you can come up.”
Diamond heard the knock at her front door less than five minutes later. She took several calming breaths before opening it, trying to get her rage under control but only moderately succeeding. When she opened it, she found Julian and Honey standing in her hallway.
Honey’s blond head was bowed. She looked contrite. She also looked tired thanks to the twenty-pound bags under her eyes. The T-shirt and purple gym shorts she wore were so wrinkled, she looked like she might have slept in them. In contrast, Julian was grinning like a Jack-o-Lantern. He seemed wide awake and buoyant. He strode past Diamond and looked around him, spinning in a circle as he took in the spacious condo and her expensive furniture.
“Movin’ on up to the Eastside!” he sang with a laugh and a little dance worthy of George Jefferson before returning his gaze to Diamond. “Goddamn, girl! Never thought you’d be here when you were sleeping on a mattress on the floor back at our place four years ago, did you? But you ballin’ now! How much this joint set your man back?”
Diamond didn’t answer him. Instead, she motioned for Honey to step inside too so that she could close the front door behind her.
“Sorry, Diamond. He ain’t tell me we were coming here when I picked him up,” Honey whispered.
Diamond turned to find Julian on the other side of her living room, standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, gazing at the panoramic views of the Inner Harbor and the Chesapeake Bay.
“He’s gonna get in serious trouble for not going back to that halfway house. You know that don’t you?” Diamond asked, turning back to her. “You could get in trouble too. We both could. Aiding and abetting is a crime, Honey.”
“But we’re not gonna get caught. We ain’t stayin’ long,” Honey argued. “I told him we can’t. We gotta get out of town . . . outta this state. We were talking about heading to Jersey or New York. Just let us stay here for today, Diamond, and then we’re gone. The cops won’t even know we were here.”
“You don’t know that! I can’t go to jail for him. I almost did the last time. I lied for him before. I’m not doin’ that shit again!”
“Just give us one day. One day, Diamond! Please,” Honey begged.
“Hey! What y’all whisperin’ about?” Julian called to them.
“Nothin’, baby,” Honey lied. “I was just tellin’ Diamond how pretty her place is. Looks like one of those furniture magazines.”
“Well, bring your ass over here and look at this shit,” he said, waving her toward him and pointing into the distance. “You can see the cruise ships and yachts and everything, baby!”
Diamond watched the couple as they stood at her window, set against the backdrop of the blue sky, gazing at the view. She’d meant what she said when she told Honey that she wasn’t going to lie for Julian again. He wasn’t her man anymore. And she’d be damned if she went down for him.
“What you got to eat around here?” Julian asked, stepping away from the window. “I’m hungry!”
An hour later, Honey and Julian sat at her dining room table, enjoying a smorgasbord of food. They had raided her fridge and cabinets and assembled it all between themselves as they sat on opposite sides of the table. The food included opened boxes of cereal that they ate with their hands, leftover Thai takeout, slices of cheese and deli meat, croissants, a bag of tortilla chips, and a container of cookies and fudge ice cream. Julian and Honey both ate like they had not only skipped breakfast, but maybe yesterday’s dinner and lunch as well—making her wonder just how good they both were doing before they even got here. Maybe Honey wasn’t making as much paper as she claimed. As they chowed down, Diamond began to back out of the room.
“I have to use the bathroom,” she said. “I’ll be back, guys.”
When she entered her master bath, she closed the door behind her and pulled out her cell phone that she’d hidden in her pocket. She quickly looked up the number to Julian’s halfway house and began to dial it.
Julian would be furious at her for doing this and Honey would probably hate her for it as well, but she wasn’t going to jail for Julian. Maybe Honey would thank her later when he had disappeared yet again behind prison walls and could no longer exert his influence over her. Maybe she wouldn’t. It didn’t matter either way. Diamond had to do this for her own sake.
“Hello, Men’s Village,” a woman’s voice answered between pops of gum.
“Uh, hey . . . hello,” Diamond whispered anxiously into her phone, all the while staring at her closed bathroom door, “umm, you have a parolee missing right. A Julian Mason. He hasn’t been there since yesterday, correct? He didn’t check in for curfew?”
“Who is this?” the woman asked suspiciously.
“It doesn’t matter who I am. You don’t need to know that, but I can tell you where Julian is now if you’re looking for him . . . if you guys want to come and get him.”
There was a pause on the other end of the line before the woman answered, “Let me get my supervisor on the phone. I ain’t the person you should be talking to.”
As Diamond waited on hold, she could hear through the door Julian and Honey laughing and talking.
Good, she thought. She didn’t want them to wonder why she hadn’t come back yet.
“Hello,” a man’s gruff voice suddenly erupted over her cell, “I’m Executive Director Eric Keating. My assistant tells me you think you know where our client Julian Mason is.”
“I don’t think I know where he is. He’s at my dining room table right now, stuffing his face. We’re in Baltimore. He’ll be here all day so you can send someone to pick him up.”
She gave the executive director her address.
“We’ll alert police of Mr. Mason’s whereabouts. Who do I tell them to make contact with when they arrive though?”
Diamond groused. She really didn’t want to use her name, but she guessed she had to at this point. “Diamond. . . Diamond Grey.”
“Gotcha’, Miss Grey. In the meantime, act normal. Don’t alert Julian to our conversation.”
“Trust me. I won’t,” she mumbled.
“Hey, Diamond, you in here?” she heard Honey call out.
“Shit,” Diamond cursed under her breath.
“Is anything wrong, Miss Grey? Do you feel unsafe? Do you need to get out of there?”
She didn’t answer him. Instead, she hung up, shoved her phone back into her pocket, and leaned over to flush the toilet. She pretended to wash her hands and opened the bathroom door, only to find Honey standing at her dresser, putting on a pair of Diamond’s gold hoop earrings as she stared into the mirror. She turned her head back and forth, admiring her reflection.
“Find anything you like?” Diamond asked.
“Oh, shit! I ain’t know you were standing there, girl! Just seeing how they looked,” Honey said, quickly taking off Diamond’s earrings and putting them back into her jewelry box. “We were wonderin’ what was up with you. We can’t figure out how to turn on your cable box and was calling for you. You didn’t answer us. Guess you were on the toilet with a case of the bubble guts, huh?”
“Yeah, I feel better now though.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. Why?”
“Because you still look kinda funny,” Honey said, eyeing her.
“Yo! I figured it out! We in business, baby!” Julian shouted from the living room as explosions from what Diamond presumed to be an action film ricocheted down the hall.
“I guess he figured out how to turn on the cable. I better go tell him to turn it down though before my neighbors complain.”
She then walked around Honey and out the bedroom, grateful for the means of escape.
Chapter 25
Vanessa
“Now listen to me, and listen very carefully, Mrs. Grey,” Dr. Chang began in a slow, grave voice.
They were standing in the hospital corridor. Vanessa was leaning defiantly against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest. Dr. Chang stood in front of her flanked on one side by the head nurse of the unit—a sour-faced, no-nonsense looking white woman—and on the other side by a towering security guard with a buzz cut and big arms. All three were looking at her like she was an escaped mental patient from a psych ward who they were prepared to put in a strait jacket if she so much as sneezed, but Vanessa didn’t care.
She had tried to beat the hell out of her husband about an hour ago while he sat in a hospital bed, while he was hooked up to an IV. Left with a choice, she’d probably do it all over again. She hadn’t expected her reaction to seeing him after everything had happened would be so volatile, but what had he thought she would do? Give him a hug?
“We will allow you back into your husband’s room because Mr. Grey insists he wants you there, though I have greatly cautioned him to the contrary. But you cannot . . . I repeat . . . you cannot hit, slap, or throw things at your husband, Mrs. Grey,” Dr. Chang continued, speaking to her like she would one of her children, and annoying her in the process. “He has suffered a serious injury and just emerged from a coma. His health is very delicate, and I will not allow it to be compromised by anyone, including you. Now do I have your promise that you will not assault your husband if you are allowed back into that room?” he asked, pointing down the corridor.
“Yeah,” she murmured.
Dr. Chang inclined his head. “Mrs. Grey, I am very serious. You cannot assault the patient again, or you will be removed from the hospital. You will also be arrested.”
“I heard you the first time and I said yes!” She then pushed herself away from the wall and strolled down the corridor back to Cyrus’s room.
She found him where she’d left him, still sitting up in his hospital bed. Cy wasn’t gazing at her with fear or apprehension. He looked at her head-on, like what had happened an hour ago hadn’t happened. She sat down in the chair nearest to his bed. The security guard stood next to the door with his thumbs tucked in his belt, mere inches away from his holstered-pepper spray.
“Can I speak to my wife alone?” Cyrus asked.
The guard glanced at Dr. Chang and the nurse who were lingering in the doorway as well.
“I’d prefer to have someone nearby just in case the situation gets out of hand again, Mr. Grey,” Dr. Chang said, taking a step forward.
