CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
MOSES RAMSEY
Verónica wasn’t exactly thrilled to hear Tilo’s name mentioned in our house. She forbade me to mention her, but I led her to cross the line with my painstakingly staged evidentiary trail. I really had no conclusive evidence that Tilo was involved in the upheaval in Mexico, but I played my long shot so I could work the case without ending up in divorce court.
I felt bad about deceiving Verónica; however, I could not think of any other way. Now that Victória was home from the hospital, Verónica was going to rely more and more on me to care for our son, so I had to make a way to bring my work home without any unnecessary cloak-and-dagger bullshit. I wanted to believe that Verónica would respect the privacy of my office when I was not there. But since she used to work for me, she might not believe in the same sanctity.
I pulled my phone from my hip as I went back downstairs. I quickly dialed the last number on my phone. Putting the phone up to my ear, I waited for it to be answered.
“Did you do it?” a man said.
“Yes, it’s done.” I peered upstairs to make sure that I was still alone.
“Good. Any problems?”
“No. Everything went fine.” I kept a close lookout for Verónica. I couldn’t let her sneak up on me.
“Okay. Now just try to relax and wait,” the man said.
My palms and armpits started to sweat. “That’s so much easier to say than do.”
“Well, you’re going to have to do the best that you can. You’ve waited this long, a few more weeks won’t hurt you.”
“I hear ya. Look, I’ve gotta go. Verónica’s father is pulling up in the driveway.” I closed my phone and went into the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of Absolut and two glasses from the cabinet. I carried the glasses into the living room and waited for Mr. Mendoza.
Verónica came into the living room looking sexy as ever.
“Are you feeling better?” I was a little tipsy and feeling pretty good.
She said, “My headache is gone. What are you doing other than having a few libations?”
“Your father and I were getting acquainted.”
Verónica looked around with a surprised expression on her face. “Padre? Where is he?”
“He left.” I drained my glass and was thinking about pouring another even though the ice had melted.
Verónica went into the kitchen and grabbed her own glass and joined me. “You know we don’t have long before little man gets up, right? Even though he’s not actually sucking my tit, my boobs start to get tight and feel real heavy right before it’s time to feed him. I guess they know it’s time to get the pump.”
“You want me to rub them for you?” I was only playing, but if she wanted to put her titty in my hand, I damn sure was gonna handle it. When she didn’t take me up on my offer, I went in the kitchen to get a bottle ready for the baby.
“Hey, what are you going to do with that?” She had a sexy smile on her face. For a minute it was almost the way it was in the beginning when we had fun and played with each other.
“I was hungry,” I jokingly replied. I missed those days of fun and flirtation before we became man and wife and I desperately wanted them back.
“Oh, really? Well, that bottle is reserved for the baby, but if you play your cards right, mister, I’ll let you taste the milk from the sprout! Fresh, not that bottled shit.”
“Oh, I love it when you cuss. You’re so sexy with it.” All of a sudden I was in a playful mood, and I wanted to recapture the passion that used to flow between us.
“Oh, daddy, I like when you talk to me like that, but it’s going to have to wait ’cause LM’s alarm is about to go off any minute.” She walked up close to me and gave me a deep, soul-searching kiss. I wrapped my arms around her and tried to hold on to the feeling. This was my biggest problem these days—holding on to the love that drew me to Verónica in the first place. It wasn’t another woman who drove a wedge between us, it was the fatherhood of our son. I couldn’t help but to feel cheated, even though I knew she was married when we first started dating.
I stepped away as soon as I heard LM wailing in the speaker. I tried not to look at it as a mood killer, but my dick wasn’t listening. I pushed away from the counter as Verónica took the bottle and went upstairs. While I waited for her to return, I went through the mail stacked on the kitchen table. The stack, mainly bills, had been sitting on the table all day, but this was the first time that I’d bothered to look through them. One postcard-sized letter stood out. It was a blank card with no discernable postmark, which was odd. I looked closer at the card. Written on the card were the words:
Wish you were here—not! LOL.
I didn’t need a psychic to know who the card was from. The bitch was taunting me and it was pissing me the fuck off. It was bad enough she lied and got away with the money. Now she wanted to play games.
“Why is this bitch still fucking with me?” I slammed my fist into my hand. Every time I got to the point where I thought about letting it go and getting on with my life, she did something to stir the shit up again. There had to be a reason she was still fucking with me. She couldn’t be that stupid, so I had no choice but to find out why she couldn’t let it go, but neither could I.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
VICTÓRIA MENDOZA
It felt good being alone but it was also a little scary. I never had my own room until I moved into my apartment, but I shared the place with Tilo. Initially, we were roommates, but we soon became more than that. Much more. And it was hard for me to turn this part off. It tormented me in my sleep and caused me to doubt everything in my life.
I parked in front of our building with the engine idling. Part of me felt sure Tilo would be inside with an explanation on her lips. If it was true, I honestly didn’t know what I would do.
Our subdivision was quiet, but this afternoon it was almost too quiet. It seemed like the entire building was in mourning with me. Even though my brother had been dead since January, to me it was still fresh and a constant battle not to cry. It was warm in the car so I rolled down the window, but it was still too quiet and the silence was killing me. I turned on the radio but the music sounded foreign. I was trying to get up the nerve to go inside but my feet would not cooperate.
I studied the foot traffic in the surrounding buildings, but our building was strangely void on human activity. Rather than going into our apartment, I decided to visit the rental office to make sure my things weren’t put on the street. When we first got the apartment, management made us pay a deposit equal to a year in advance. At the time we were pissed off. I was grateful now because, even though I’d missed a few months paying the current rent, it should still have been okay. And if it wasn’t, I still had my sister to fall back on.
Lucky for me, the rental office wasn’t crowded like it normally was when I went inside. I assumed that was because most people were at work. “I’d like to speak to the manager please,” I said to an attractive receptionist.
“Are you looking for an apartment?” She handed me a brochure with the different floor plans that they had.
“No, but I still would like to speak with the manager.”
“He’s on the phone right now. If you would like to have a seat, I will let him know that he has a visitor.”
“Will he be long?”
“Uh, I’m not sure.”
“Thanks.” It was a dumb question and I realized it as soon as I had said it. I sat down on the sofa feeling nervous, but I wasn’t sure why. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long. The manager came out of the office. I could tell by the look on his face he was surprised to see me.
“Ms. Mendoza, wow! It’s Ms. Mendoza.” He looked to the receptionist and bobbed his head, clearly excited.
I was thankful I didn’t have to go through a big spiel explaining who I was. We stood there staring at each other for a few uncomfortable seconds.
“Can I speak with you in your office?” I felt like a lab rat under observation. So naturally I wanted to get out of there as soon as I could.
“Absolutely. I am so glad to see you,” he said as we walked to his office. We weren’t close friends, so I didn’t know why he was feeling all giddy and shit.
He closed the door behind us and took a seat at his desk.
“Uh ...” I searched his desk for a nameplate but there wasn’t one. “Sorry, I’ve forgotten your name.” The sad part about it was that his face didn’t even look remotely familiar, but it could have had something to do with my partial loss of memory.
“Not to worry. My name is Richard Peyton.”
“Thanks. Richard, I’m not sure if you remember me but I lived in—”
“Of course I remember you. I’m so sorry about your family.” He paused. “I follow the news.”
“Wow, really? I wasn’t aware that it was on television.” I was going to have to speak to Verónica so she could fill me in on exactly how much of our business was public knowledge.
“Yeah, it was the number one story for days. The most excitement we’ve seen around here in years, no disrespect.”
I didn’t even know what to say. He was talking about my life like it was some soap opera on television.
“I’m glad you survived. The news didn’t say a lot about how you were doing, so I’m glad to see you.”
If you were so concerned, you fucker, why didn’t you bring your ass down to the hospital and ask?
It was a mean thought but I meant it. “It’s my apartment that I want to speak to you about. It’s a two bedroom and I won’t be needing the second room. Can I switch to a one bedroom, and what would that entail?”
Richard didn’t appear to be surprised by my request.
“That’s not a problem. We’ve been holding your things in storage waiting for someone to come and claim them.”
I was confused. Why would my things be in storage? “Storage? Someone moved my things?” I felt violated. I couldn’t believe that someone had actually touched my stuff. It was a weird feeling. It was bad enough that it felt like someone was stomping around in my head. I was relying on being able to go home and trying to piece together the puzzle my life had become. I never contemplated anyone moving those pieces around. It was a bit disheartening, to say the least.
“Um, yeah. Uh, someone vandalized your apartment and the entire building had to be cleared. Whoever did it poured gasoline throughout the apartment. There was a phone tip before any permanent damage was done. Since we didn’t know how you were doing, I had your things put in storage.”
I was speechless, but there was no doubt in my mind of who attempted to torch the apartment. Richard confirmed my suspicions that Tilo was not dead.
“... police but they never came.”
My mind was spinning and I wasn’t really paying Richard any attention until I heard him say “police.”
“What? Excuse me?”
He looked flustered and uncomfortable but I didn’t care about that.
“I said I was surprised the police weren’t interested in searching your apartment with all the other stuff that was going on.”
I wanted to slap the fat, pompous fuck right in the face but he wasn’t worth the time or the trouble. He was a mini-drama queen, and I didn’t have time for that shit.
“Okay, whatever.” I wasn’t about to go into my personal business with him. I rolled my eyes, letting him know exactly how I felt about the situation. “So what now? I really want to get settled.”
He logged on to the computer and found me another apartment, then handed me the keys. “I will have your things moved within the hour. You will need to switch the utilities over to your name. I believe we were able to save everything except the beds and the sofa. You might also want to get your clothes cleaned just in case they still smell from the gas.”
“Thanks for your help.” I wanted to tell him to kiss my ass so badly, but I held my tongue until I got outside. Even though I was mad about the violation and destruction of my property, I took it as proof that Tilo was still alive. I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but I was going to find that bitch and make her pay! I was sure of that much.
CHAPTER THIRTY
MOSES RAMSEY
I left for the office early today. Last night’s temperatures had dropped down to the thirties, so I wanted to get an early start before all the idiots and fools hit the streets. The weather was absolutely crazy these days. One minute it was seventy degrees and the very next day ice was on the roads. Due to the recent rains, the streets were still wet so I wanted to get off the road before the rest of Atlanta started moving and killed someone.
I sat down at my desk and pulled a cigar from the humidor. I rarely smoked in my office, but today I was going to make an exception. I snipped the tip off the cigar and lit it up quickly before I changed my mind. With any luck, the remnants of the smoke would be gone before my staff arrived.
The cigar relaxed me somewhat, but I was still feeling suspicious. I felt like I was missing something that was staring me right in the face. I turned on my computer and started scanning the headlines as I pulled deeply on my cigar.
“Ah.” I exhaled. I missed smoking my cigars. Ever since the baby, I hadn’t been able to smoke in the house. I didn’t want to smoke in my truck either because there would be times that they would be in the vehicle with me, and I didn’t want the baby to smell the fumes. I wasn’t worried about Verónica so much; she claimed to enjoy the smell. So rather than feel guilty about lighting up at work, I cherished the stolen moment.
I studied my cigar as I blew smoke rings at the ceiling. Tilo enjoyed a good cigar as well. I had already contacted the local cigar shops and left pictures of her and asked them to contact me if she came to their stores. It was a wild shot, but I was trying to think of every angle to get some type of lead on her whereabouts. My gut told me she hadn’t gone far. With each passing day, however, the chance of losing her forever was becoming more of a probability than a possibility.
Every time that I thought about that bitch beating me at my own game, I wanted to hurt someone. I wasn’t used to losing. It was a bitter pill for me to swallow.
“Verónica must think I am a total failure,” I mumbled to myself. I swung around in my chair and focused my attention on the scenery outside my window. I needed to relax and get my mind off the case.
The case was only one of the reasons that I came into the office early. I was supposed to hear from the doctor today about the DNA test that I’d had performed on LM. My mother insisted I test the baby after I sent her a photo. She claimed that I used to look exactly like LM when I was his age. I didn’t pay much attention to what she said. Frankly, I thought it was wishful thinking on her part, but I indulged her nevertheless. I wasn’t holding my breath, but I was spending more time with LM and I was enjoying it. I’d already forgiven Verónica for letting me believe she wasn’t sleeping with her husband. I even accepted her baby as my own, but in the back of my mind, he would always be her child. I had been fooled once before and I had no intention of getting fooled again. I blew another plume of smoke into the air as I reached for my coffee.
“Yuck.” I spat the coffee on my desk. I expected the coffee to be warm, but it was downright frigid and it left a nasty taste in my mouth. I slammed the cup on the desk, causing the coffee to slosh over the side of the cup.
“Shit.” As I scrambled to grab a napkin out of the center drawer of my desk to wipe up the mess, the phone rang. “Not now dammit,” I yelled at the phone as if it would hear me and stop ringing.
“Hello,” I barked into the receiver.
“Uh ... may I speak with Moses Ramsey please.”
“This is he.” I didn’t recognize the voice, and this only added to my irritation.
“Oh, okay. Is this a bad time?”
“No, of course not. Who is this?”
“Uh, I’m sorry, this is Dr. Richmond’s office. I have some test results for you, and I was trying to schedule a time for you to come into the office to discuss them.”
“Is that really necessary? I mean can’t you tell me over the phone?”
“No, sir. Dr. Richmond will not allow us to read the results over the phone. You understand confidentiality and all... .” Her voice trailed off, leaving me to fill in my own blanks.
“Fine, what time do you want me to be there?” I was beyond pissed at this point. Part of me understood the need to deliver the news in person, but the other part of me was irritated and eager to hear the results.
She said, “We have a ten o’clock and a two o’clock available today.”
I glanced at the clock. It was nine and their office was only twenty minutes away. “I’ll see you at ten.” I hung up the phone without waiting for her to confirm. When I got to the office, I would apologize to her for my rudeness. I took my cup over to the little wet bar and rinsed it out. I didn’t want to admit it but suddenly I was nervous.
“Nigga, don’t let this get you all twisted in the head.” Even though I knew that LM wasn’t mine, my heart wanted to believe there was a chance. I tried not to get emotionally attached, but I couldn’t help myself. I turned off my computer and grabbed my suit jacket from behind the door. I also grabbed my overcoat and slung it over my arm. I was feeling a little warm. I knew it had everything to do with the news I was about to receive and nothing about the weather.