Push Comes To Shove Part 11

The Captain sighed, then left to refill his drink.

Darkness threatened to consume the sky. Junior and Secret sat back to back on a large oak stump.

Junior rubbed his sore foot. "Do you think Daddy talks to Mommy the way that Brandon guy talked to Shea? You know, when they..."

"They what?"

"When they get ready to do the oochie coochie."

Secret shrugged. "After hearing them, I don't ever want to do it to n.o.body. That's nasty. No boy can ever talk to me like that."

"So, am I supposed to say to a girl: Suck my you know what, and let me hit that p-u-s-s-y?"

She shrugged again.

"I'm hungry." He scooted next to Secret. "And I'd rather go back to Mr. Reynolds's than stay in these woods at night."

"It is getting dark. I'm hungry, too, and I have to pee."

"The tree is free."

"Imagine that."

"Then pee on yourself. Let's eat at Pizza Hut at the bottom of the hill." He lifted Secret's pant leg.

"What are you doing?"

"Let me have your socks."

"We can't eat pizza. I told you that I left the money at home." She kicked her shoes off.

"We don't need any. I saw this movie where these high school kids ordered a bunch of food, ate it, then one by one they pretended to go to the bathroom and snuck out. We can do it, too. I'm hungry for real."

"That's stealing." She slipped her shoes back on.

"Daddy does it when he has to." He put both of Secret's flowered socks on one foot. "Let's go eat. That lady ain't looking for us no more. Well, for a little while anyway."

"You little b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!" The Pizza Hut manager waved a fist in the air as Secret and Junior ran down the avenue with full bellies.

CHAPTER 8.

Thursday morning, Jewels exited a Greyhound bus and stretched her limbs. She took the pillow from beneath Ndia's arm and gave her a handful of change. "Call us a cab while I get the luggage."

"I'll check out front first. There might be one already available."

"Handle it, then, baby." Jewels smacked Ndia's globular a.s.s.

She giggled and sashayed away.

Jewels stuffed the pillow in a nearby trash receptacle, then claimed their luggage inside the terminal.

"Jewels!" Ndia called out from the terminal's entrance. "There's a cab here."

Within minutes they loaded the taxi's trunk s.p.a.ce with stolen merchandise. Then, they snuggled in the back seat and enjoyed the scenic route home.

Ndia picked a piece of imaginary lint from Jewels' sweatshirt. "I can't wait to take me a long, hot bath. You wanna soak with me?"

"I need a rain check. There's a few things I have to take care of before my call comes through." She thought for a split second. "Which reminds me: I misplaced my d.a.m.n cell phone."

Crutchfield kicked the chair over that Hector was shackled to. "Tell me where the body is. Cut the games; I don't want no s.h.i.t outta you."

"I'm starting to feel like a broken record. I don't know what the h.e.l.l you're talking about." Hector peered at Crutchfield and Thomas from the floor.

"Too bad you don't." Thomas squatted beside him.

"f.u.c.k him." Crutchfield undid the b.u.t.ton at his shirt collar. "I'm tired of tongue-wrestling with this burrito-eating spic." He turned to Thomas. "Charge him with the dope; send his a.s.s back to Lucasville. Save me the trouble of finding this crud ball when I have enough evidence to charge him with murder." He went for the door.

"I asked you not to p.i.s.s on his Cheerios, Hector. It'll take him a week to find a good mood. Now I can't help you." Thomas sat Hector upright. "There's n.o.body to blame but yourself. I don't understand your loyalty. It intrigues me. You're going to prison to share a cell with another man, basking in each other's a.n.u.s gas. In the meantime, Squeeze will be laid up in his penthouse every night with a soft woman, and he'll spend his days driving around town in one of his fancy cars, courtesy of the chop shop. We know about that, too."

Hector lowered his head.

"Tell me something that'll make Crutchfield smile again. You don't have to take this. .h.i.t; it's Squeeze we're hard up for."

"A piece of chewing gum and leniency. Yeah, I'll bargain for that." Hector stared at his soft-bottom Kenneth Coles.

Thomas waved at the two-way mirror.

Crutchfield entered the gloomy room. "Why are you still wasting your time with this mutt? Book his a.s.s and throw him in the holding tank."

Thomas whispered into Crutchfield's ear.

Crutchfield looked at Hector, left the room, and returned a minute later with a pack of Juicy Fruit.

Hector stuck two pieces of gum in his mouth and let the wrappers fall to the floor. "I didn't have anything to do with it. You gotta believe me. When I got there, he was already dead. I swear..."

"Too Tall, I know that ain't for me and you." Jewels took the last bag from the trunk. "Come help us carry these bags up to my place, while you sitting out here looking silly."

Too Tall dragged his feet as he left the bench.

"Punk, quit tripping...I'm gonna break you off something."

He moved much faster now, collecting the luggage from the pavement, and he relieved Ndia's load by one bag.

"Thank you." Ndia slung her wide hips as she strutted toward the building.

The trio climbed the last step and rounded the corner.

Jewels hesitated. Fear and confusion were having a good time playing tug-of-war with her. There was no logical reason for the bone-chilling sight before her. She dropped the luggage and ran in the direction of her apartment.

Crutchfield was aggravated as he watched Hector take his time preparing to put the gum in his mouth. Crutchfield's patience was shop-worn. To him, it seemed like it took two lousy gum wrappers four hours to hit the floor from the time Hector had discarded them.

"I didn't have anything to do with it." Hector looked at his reflection in the two-way gla.s.s. "You gotta believe me. When I got there he was already dead. I swear. All I did was throw a few shovels of dirt on him."

Crutchfield smiled. "Where's j.a.p buried?"

"I don't know." Hector blew a bubble until it popped. "I'll take you to the body I buried."

"That wasn't so hard." Thomas patted Hector's shoulder, showing approval. "I can go for a ride."

"Uncuff him." Crutchfield was about to score one for the good guys.

Thomas let the shackles fall to the floor and shoved the cuffs in a carrier fixed to his waist. "Let's go see this body."

Hector only moved the muscles it took to chew his gum.

"Before I change my mind." Crutchfield gave him a look of contempt.

"I already changed my mind." Hector shifted his eyes between the two. "Somebody needs to make me trust again...or forget about it."

Crutchfield sat across from him. "What is it you want?"

"For starters, I don't recall having a dope case. Do either of you?"

Thomas took some papers from his pocket. He showed Hector his name on the police report. "No one ever knew about this but us and G.o.d." He used his cigarette lighter to set the report afire. Once the flame grew, he dropped the inferno inside a wastebasket.

"You're smoking cigarettes again?" Crutchfield shook his head.

"Off and on. It's your fault that I started back."

They all watched the flame die out.

Crutchfield ran a hand over his beard stubble. "What now, Hector?"

He stood up. "I'll think of the rest in the car."

Secret and Junior were lying on Jewels's welcome mat, cuddled in a human knot, asleep.

Jewels's eyes threatened to water when she saw Junior's bare foot. She bent down and shook the knot. "Secret, Junior, wake up."

Junior lifted his eye lids. "Aunty." He jumped up and wrapped his arms around her. "What took you so long?"

Secret yawned, still drugged with sleep. "Where you been? This floor is hard."

"One question at a time."

Ndia reached out to Secret. "How long have y'all been in this trifling hall like this?"

"Since yesterday." Secret got her balance.

"Where the f.u.c.k are GP and your mother?" Jewels felt her anger mounting.

"In jail." Junior scratched his head.

Too Tall cleared his throat. "Let me get mine so I can go."

"Motherf.u.c.ker, don't you see I'm having a family problem here? I said, I got you. Sit my s.h.i.t down and come back later after I get my people in order."

He set the bags down and left. I'll fix you I'll fix you. He stopped on the first floor and knocked on Apartment 114.

"What?" came from the other side of the metal door.

"Let me in. It's Too Tall."

The frail woman eased off the threadbare sofa and opened the door. "You got a little something to give me a kick-start, TT?"

"I will after you let me use the phone."

She stepped aside.

TT maneuvered through the dim apartment to the phone. "Sometimes I think you're a vampire."

"You're gonna find out for sure if you try and play me."

"Chill, Meka. I'm on the level." He removed a piece of paper from his pocket and dialed the number written on it.

The phone rang.

Meka stared at him.

"h.e.l.lo?" Trouble turned over and realized that the room he was in was unfamiliar. To add to his confusion, the snoring woman beside him was a complete stranger. "I got to stop drinking."

"That's what we all say," TT echoed in his ear.

"Who this?" Trouble took a peek beneath the covers. d.a.m.n, that Hennessy sure can pick a woman d.a.m.n, that Hennessy sure can pick a woman.

"It's Too Tall."

"Yeah, what's good?"

"Jewels is back."

Six figures and corporate numbers popped into Trouble's mind. "Where is she now?"