Deliver Me From Evil (26 page)

T
he following Sunday night was as typical as all the others. Around nine thirty Harvey rushed into the house and led Jesse Ray into the kitchen. As usual, he'd left his lady friend in the car in our driveway, with the motor running. A few minutes later, Harvey rushed back out of the kitchen, almost knocking me to the floor as I passed him in the hallway on my way into the kitchen.

“Christine, I didn't even see you,” he said and grinned. I guess that was his way of apologizing for almost knocking me down, because that was all he said before he fled, brazenly clutching in his hand a wad of bills that he'd just gotten from my husband. I nodded at Harvey and smiled to myself because that greedy motherfucker really wouldn't
see
me after tonight.

In the back of my mind, I was wondering how my departure was going to affect my in-laws. They would never know about the kidnapping plot unless they heard about it from Jesse Ray, and I prayed from the bottom of my heart that he wouldn't tell them. But once they heard from Jesse Ray that I had “moved” to Hawaii, they would probably try to come visit me so they wouldn't have to pay for a hotel. I smiled again when I pictured them and Jesse Ray calling a fake telephone number in Hawaii, and I hoped that they would show up unannounced at the fake address I planned to give them. I wouldn't be there to see the looks on their faces, and I didn't care. Jesse Ray had saved me from a dismal life, and I would always be grateful to him for that. But now it was up to me to save myself, and he was one of the things I had to save myself from.

I seduced Jesse Ray that Sunday night. Not because I was in a sexy mood, but because as far as I was concerned, it would be the last time. I didn't plan on staying with him more than a week or two after I returned from my kidnapping ordeal. And, during that time, I would be so “traumatized,” and he probably would be, too, that sex would not be on our agenda.

Ironically, he was more passionate than he'd been in years. Instead of lying there like a corpse, or rising up to make a phone call because he'd forgotten to tell one of his employees something, he was wild and insatiable. And I had his undivided attention. It was almost like he knew he was fucking me for the last time and wanted to get as much out of it as he could. I couldn't remember the last time he'd kissed so many parts of my body that I felt like I'd had a tongue bath.

“Oh, baby, that was so damn good,” he crooned after coming for the third time in an hour. He was still lying on top of me, with his face against mine. Then he sat up and clicked on the lamp. “Christine, things are going to change for the better around here real soon,” he said in a gentle voice.
They sure are
, I told myself. “I know it's been hard for you, taking care of my mama and all. And, I know Adele, Mel, and the kids are getting on your nerves. And, to tell you the truth, I've been working on a few things. Things that I know will make you real happy.”

“Like what?” I asked, not that it mattered now. But I was still curious.

“I still can't bring myself to put my mama in a nursing home. I've heard too many stories about how they abuse and neglect those old people, who can't fend for themselves. How would you feel about me hiring a full-time live-in nurse?”

“Where is a live-in nurse going to live? Every bedroom in this house is occupied now. Are you planning on buying a bigger house?” I asked.

Jesse Ray laughed and playfully thumped the side of my head with his finger. “That's the other thing I've been working on. Mel has been after me for years to give him a management job, but the only way I could have done that was to let one of my other managers go, and I don't work that way. But Kim Loo is getting married and moving to San Jose. And, you know, I can't manage the store on Alcatraz by myself. I've interviewed a few folks to replace her, but I haven't been impressed by any of them.”

“And you are thinking about making Mel your assistant manager?” I gasped.

“I could pay him a decent enough salary so he could take my sister and the twins and live anywhere they want to live.” Jesse Ray threw his head back and laughed loud and long. “But I plan to tell him I'll hire him only if he agrees to find them a place way across town.” Jesse Ray got quiet and looked at me, but I had to turn away. I didn't want him to see my eyes.

“That's nice, honey,” I replied, my voice dragging.

“Well, you don't have to jump up and down and shout about it. I promised you a long time ago, I would take care of my business with my family. I thought this was what you wanted.”

“It was,” I muttered.

“Was?”

“Uh, it is,” I said.

Jesse Ray had promised me a lot of things where his family was concerned. But so far he had not kept any of those promises. I had no reason to believe him now.

Even if Adele and her family moved into their own place today, and a nurse moved in to take care of Miss Rosetta tomorrow, it would still be too late. What would I say to Wade? How would he react? He was counting on that fifty grand. And then there was Jason for me to worry about. What if he blabbed to one of his numerous lady friends?

“Why don't we have lunch tomorrow, baby? Is Nita still coming to sit with Mama while you get your hair done?”

“Uh-huh,” I replied, still feeling bad about dragging Nita into my mess.

“Well, I'll pick you up from the beauty shop, and we'll drive into Frisco. We haven't been to Fisherman's Wharf in a while. How about dinner at Alioto's? How's that sound?”

“That sounds good, baby,” I said. It was so ironic that tonight Jesse Ray was behaving like the man I'd fallen in love with so many years ago. But like I said, it was too late.

T
hat Monday morning, I rose from bed ahead of everybody in the house so that I could bathe Miss Rosetta, comb and brush her hair, and change her soiled underwear. It was something I did almost every morning. Even on weekends.

Miss Rosetta got pretty sticky during the night, so by morning she was pretty ripe. Every now and then, Adele got up on a Saturday or Sunday morning and took over that unpleasant chore, but it was something I never counted on. I didn't mind doing it this particular morning, because I believed that it would be the last time.

I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen or spoken to my parents, but I promised myself that I would spend some time with them before I fled the area. It saddened me to know that Miss Odessa didn't even have a grave where I could go and leave a bouquet of flowers before I left.

I deliberately stayed upstairs until I was certain that Adele and Mel had left for work and that the twins had left for school. Nita showed up a little early so that we could have a cup of coffee before Jesse Ray drove me to the beauty shop.

“Is everything all right?” she asked, leaning across my kitchen table. I loved Nita like the sister I never had but always wanted, but at the same time I was jealous of her. Not in a bad, malicious way. But in a way that made me believe that I'd be happy if my life had turned out like hers.

“Uh-huh,” I nodded. “Why do you ask?”

“You seem a little more distracted than you normally do when I come over here. Anything going on that you want to talk about?”

I shook my head.

“Did Jeanette ask you about next weekend?”

“What about next weekend?”

“We're going to drive up to Calistoga for the whole weekend. After a tour of some of the wineries, she thought it would be nice for the three of us to get mud baths and really pamper ourselves. We don't get to do things like that with you since … well, you know. You can't get away as easy as we can.”

“If Adele doesn't have any plans, I'd love to go,” I said in a meek voice. “She said something about going to Fresno with her bowling team.”

“Girl, sometimes I want to slap the shit out of you! Now I don't mind one bit coming over here to baby-sit your invalid mother-in-law so you can get out of the house. But to be honest with you, I'm getting a little fed up with you letting these people take advantage of you the way they do. You could stop all this shit if you wanted to!”

“I know, I know,” I said in a low voice, looking over my shoulder.

“I don't care if J.R. does hear me! I'll tell him the same thing I'm telling you. You need to put your foot down and tell these motherfuckers to go to hell. These grown-ass, able-bodied niggers need to get out and get their own place. They had a place of their own before! This has gone on long enough!” Nita shrieked, her big brown eyes shining with fury.

“Nita, I'm working on it,” I said. It took a lot of effort for me to remain calm, because I was burning with anger inside. “I'm not going to put up with too much of this too much longer.”

“Well, sister, you better work harder on it. You're losing weight, you're looking older than you should, and it's a damn shame that you let this mess get this far. When are you going to sit your man down and give him an ultimatum? I don't know any sisters from Prince Street that would let this kind of shit go on for as long as you have.”

“Prince Street is a million miles away from me now,” I told Nita. “I'm not a round-the-way girl anymore. Do you expect me to get a stick and start swinging at my in-laws?”

“Why the hell not? Nothing else seems to be working. And, to be honest with you, if I was them, I wouldn't be trying to leave, either. They got it made up in here,” Nita said, making a sweeping gesture with her hand.

“Nita, you are beginning to sound like my mama,” I quipped.

“Now don't get me started on that sister. I've seen her several times in the last month, and not once did she ask me about you. Have y'all stop speaking altogether?”

“I'm going to go see her soon. She's getting old ….”

“We are all getting old, baby girl. And, that's all the more reason why you should take care of your business in your house. Sit that man of yours down, and talk some sense into his head.” Nita slammed her fist down on the top of my table so hard, the salt and pepper shakers fell over.

“We are going to talk about things over lunch today. Jesse Ray wants to take me into San Francisco for lunch after I get my hair done. Can you stay a couple of hours longer?”

“Girl, I don't have to be home till the kids get home from school. And, to tell you the truth, I don't really need to be there then. Those monkeys are old enough to fend for themselves for a little while. You spend as much time with your husband as you want to,” Nita said in a much softer, calmer voice. She gave me a warm smile and a big bear hug. I don't know how much of the conversation Jesse Ray heard, but he had a strange look on his face when he came into the kitchen. He barely acknowledged Nita. He didn't mention her until we'd climbed into his SUV.

“Baby, we need to do something nice for Nita soon. I appreciate her coming to sit with Mama when you need a break,” Jesse Ray told me.

“I'll tell her you said that,” I croaked, blinking hard. There was a construction crew on Shattuck, so we had to take a detour down Prince Street to get to the beauty shop. When we drove past the apartment building where my remote parents still lived, my head started spinning. I knew that no matter where I ended up, I had to see them at least one more time. Especially if the unthinkable happened and I ended up in jail.

The beauty shop where I got my hair done a couple of times a month was just three blocks from Jesse Ray's beloved Video-Drama, where he planned to go after he dropped me off.

“Give me a call when they get through,” he told me, giving me a quick peck on my cheek.

“It's only a short walk, and I really need the exercise. I'll walk,” I told him.

“All right, baby. I'll see you in a bit.”

 

About an hour and a half later, I left the beauty shop. I didn't even look in the direction of the video store, let alone walk toward it. It took me an hour to walk to Wade's mama's house. It would have taken less time if I had not avoided walking down Prince Street. I didn't think that I could stand to see my old apartment building twice in the same day. Especially on this particular day.

Wade was waiting for me, with the kitchen door open, as I stumbled up onto the back porch of his mama's house, the place that was about to become the scene of the biggest crime I had ever pulled off.

“You ready to get this thing off the ground?” he asked, pulling me inside.

“I guess so. If we don't do it today, I can't go through with it,” I said, my hands trembling. “I saw somebody peeping out of the window next door,” I said, with a worried look on my face.

“So? Everybody knows you know my mama, and they've seen you over here before. And, besides, if we can convince our boy not to call the cops, nobody but us ever has to know about this.”

“You didn't say that when I talked about us renting a car. You were so concerned about us leaving a paper trail.”

“Well, I am not worried about any of that now.” I watched as Wade pulled a telephone out of a plastic bag on the table.

“What's that?” I asked, watching as he plugged it into an outlet by the door.

“A little something I picked up at Wal-Mart. It's got a speaker on it, and I want you to hear everything your man says when I call him up.”

“W
ake up back there!”

I wasn't asleep, but my mind was not alert, anyway. I had just relived the last half of my life. It took me a while to realize where I was and who was talking to me.

“Jason? Where are we?” I said as I lifted myself up enough to look out the window. All I could see was a Dumpster. My neck hurt when I turned my head to look out of the window on the other side. All I could see was another Dumpster. The stench coming from both receptacles was unholy. It smelled like everything dead had been stuffed into these two containers.

“I ain't got all day,” Jason told me as he snatched open the back passenger's door on his side, snapping his fingers. “Come on. I got places to go, things to do.”

“Where is this place? How am I supposed to get home? What is going on with my husband? What am I supposed to say to him?”

“Baby, you don't tell him nothing but what he already believes what happened.”

“Did my husband really pay the ransom? A million dollars?”

Jason ignored me, but the satisfied look on his face answered my question.

“When you get out to the street, turn left and keep walking until you get to University Avenue,” he said in an impatient voice, nodding toward the left side of the alley we were in. “Keep on walking until you get to that Everett and Jones rib joint on the corner. Your man will be waiting on you there in the parking lot. If he ain't there when you get there, wait on him. That's where he's supposed to pick you up.”

“I feel sorry for you. Wade is not your friend,” I insisted.

“Apparently, he wasn't no friend of yours, neither!” Jason scoffed.

I wiggled myself out of the car, stumbling against it. “You tell Wade, I said he won't get away with this,” I said in a voice so weak, my words didn't even scare me.

“Get away with what?”

“After all I went through, do you think I am going to let you two motherfuckers get away with this shit?”

“Don't be stupid and move into a burning house, baby. What's done is done. This was
your
idea, and that's something you don't need to forget,” Jason said, shaking a finger in my face. “I heard them tapes Wade made of the phone conversations he had with you. Ain't no court in this universe going to let you off if they hear them tapes. Things just didn't work out the way you wanted them to, but things usually don't. From what Wade told me, you still got a good thing going with your man, if you still want it. A big-ass house, a video business, credit cards up the ying yang. I should be so lucky!” That was the last thing Jason Mack said to me as he climbed back into his car and sped off, making such a sharp turn at the corner, he knocked over a mailbox.

I looked in both directions before I started walking. I didn't stop until I reached University Avenue, where Jesse Ray was standing by the side of his SUV in the parking lot of a rib joint, looking so bad he could haunt a castle.

As soon as he spotted me, he broke out running in my direction.

“Christine!” he mouthed, throwing his arms around me so hard and fast, we fell to the ground, with me landing on top of him. “Baby … baby, are you all right?” he asked, crying. His eyes were extremely bloodshot and swollen. It looked like he had not shaved or combed his hair since the day I disappeared.

My head felt so heavy, I could barely move it, but somehow I managed to nod. “I'll be fine,” I assured him. “Will you take me home,” I whimpered.

“Oh, baby, I thought I'd never see you again. Did they hurt you?”

“I'm fine, J.R. They didn't hurt me. I just want to go home,” I sobbed, my head on his shoulder. We rose and stumbled to his SUV. With his hand shaking like a leaf, Jesse Ray opened the door on the front passenger's side and tucked me in, buckling my seat belt. Then he got in, but he didn't start the motor right away. He looked at me for a few moments; then he broke down and cried like a baby. He shook so hard, I thought he was having a seizure. I managed to wrap my arm around his shoulder. “It's going to be all right,” I said, hoping that it would be.

“I never ever thought I'd have to deal with something like this,” he managed between sobs. I wiped tears from his face with the palm of my hand. “I don't know what I would have done if they'd … if I'd never got you back.”

“Jesse Ray, they said if you called the cops or told anybody else about this, they'd be back,” I whispered, still wiping tears off his face. “They said they'd kill me for sure.”

“Baby, you don't have to worry about anything like that happening. I swear to God you don't. I will make sure of that,” Jesse Ray said, grabbing me in his arms and squeezing me so hard, I couldn't breathe.

“What did you tell your family?” I asked, my face pressed against his chest.

“I told them that your mama was sick and you had to go stay with her for a while. I told Jeanette and Nita the same thing.”

“Nobody but us ever has to know about this?” I asked. Jesse Ray sniffed and wiped his nose with a tissue he fished out of the glove box.

“Christine, the only thing I care about is that I got you back and that you are all right. I don't care about revenge or getting the money back or anything. I love you.” Jesse Ray hugged me again. This time I had to pry his arms from around me.

“Uh, they were waiting for me when I came out of the beauty shop. They had been watching me for days, they said.” I volunteered that piece of information before Jesse Ray asked.

He sniffed and cleared his throat. He blew his nose before he spoke again. “Baby, did you recognize them? How many were there?”

“Uh, there were two of them, and I had never seen them before. They kept me blindfolded most of the time. And, when they didn't, they had on ski masks.” I closed my eyes and shook my head.

“If I could get my hands on those black bastards, I'd kill them!” Jesse Ray hollered, slapping the dashboard with his fist.

“Uh, and that's another thing … They were white,” I said.

“Two
white
dudes snatched you?” Jesse Ray asked, with a surprised look on his face. “Hmmm. I could have sworn that the one that called me was a black dude. He sounded so much like my brother, Harvey, I thought it was him ….”

“The one that called you used a black accent to throw you off. I'm positive that those guys were white,” I insisted.

“White devils!” Jesse Ray roared, slapping the dashboard again.

“Uh … I … I need some clean clothes before I go home. I don't want anybody to see me looking like this. Especially Adele.”

“You don't have to worry about Adele anymore. They moved two days ago into that new development in West Oakland,” Jesse Ray told me. “I told you I was working on getting them out of our house.”

“That's nice,” I said in a hoarse voice. And, before I could ask my next question, Jesse Ray answered it for me.

“I've interviewed two nurses. The one I am going to offer the job to is with Mama right now, as we speak. A sister from the islands.”

“I'm sorry about all this, J.R. I didn't want it to happen.” I
was
sorry about what happened. I regretted the whole thing now. I couldn't think of anything as bad as being double-crossed by somebody I trusted to make me feel as humble as I felt at this moment. I didn't know how, but I knew that some day I had to make this up to Jesse Ray.

“Baby, I want to take you to the hospital to have you checked out,” Jesse Ray told me.

“What for? I told you I was all right. They didn't rape me or anything like that. I would tell you if they did,” I wailed. “Can't we just go home, where I can take a long, hot bath, and get some rest?”

“Christine, you have been through a traumatic situation. You need to talk to somebody who knows how to deal with these kinds of things.”

“Jesse Ray, what will we tell them? We can't tell them I was kidnapped,” I yelled, frightened. “What will we tell them?”

“They don't have to know what really happened. We can say you got mugged or assaulted on the street.”

I shook my head. “I'm fine. All I need is a hot bath and some clean clothes. And a glass of wine wouldn't hurt.” I managed a smile, and then I leaned over and kissed Jesse Ray so hard, he squirmed. “Baby, just take me home.”

And that's exactly what he did.