Wrongful Accusations - Chapter 14
The Twins Birthday
The next morning, I started on my official report for Shannon. Since her case was over, I listened to my voicemail to see if I had any more potential clients. Shannon was the first caller. She had a few new housekeepers in mind and she wanted me to do background checks on them. I couldn’t blame her much.
Every other call was from a bill collector. I had forgotten to pay a few creditors because of all of the excitement. Not a problem, I signed onto my computer and accessed my Bank of America checking account. I could have had my bills automatically paid but I didn’t trust banks and after 6 unauthorized withdrawals, I was one check away from snatching my money out of the bank and burying it in a coffee can behind Aunt Essie’s house.
The next couple of days were uneventful until I got the news that Mrs. Muhammad had disappeared again. Marcus was the one who called me personally to relay the news.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. That woman is as slippery as a wet dog. Do you guys have any leads on where she could be?”
“We believe that she has a sister here but the address that we have has been vacated.”
“Let me guess, a duplex in Hickory Hill?”
“Yes, how did you know?”
“I tried to pay Mrs. Muhammad a visit there a week ago.”
“Something’s just not cut and dry about this case?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t think Mrs. Muhammad did it.”
“Oh she had a hand in it but Mr. Muhammad was a big guy, he weighed at least 250. There’s no way she could have overpowered him, cut up his body, and dumped it without any help.”
I hadn’t even thought of all that. Marcus had me wondering exactly who had helped her. We don’t know of any friends or family other than this mysterious sister whom no one seems to have seen in real life.
“Well, thank you for calling, Marcus, I’ll keep my eyes open but I’m sure she’s left town.”
“I think so too, but I’m still trying to figure out how she escaped. I know we don’t have the best transport system, but I don’t remember the last time anyone escaped.”
“I don’t either. Well, I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”
Thank God it was Friday, but it wasn’t just any old Friday. It was Friday the 13th of November which just happened to be the 18th birthday of my twin baby sisters, Harmonye and Melodye. I sent both of them text messages wishing them a happy birthday and asking if their party was still on for that night.
Ten minutes later, first Harmonye and then Melodye responded with a thank you and yes the party was still happening.
Now I never considered myself old but there was no way I was going to a teenage party, at a club, by myself. Besides, I still wasn’t up to driving yet. Once I went to see my doctor I would know if my leg was healing properly and how long I was required to wear that cumbersome cast.
I called Cole Slaw to see if she wanted to go to the party, and of course she did. She was five years closer to the twins’ age than I was and also much more of a partygoer.
“You know I want to go. Can Meosha come too? Her kids are your sisters’ age and I think they all went to the same school.”
“My God, going to a party with your kids, I couldn’t imagine. But yeah she can come.”
“What time do you want me to pick you up?”
“I guess around 9:00, you know these kids party all night, but I just want to stop in for about two hours then I’ll be ready to go.”
“That’s about all I’ll be able to stand myself. Meosha would probably meet us there, if her kids start acting a fool she may snatch them out of there.”
“That would be so mean.”
“She’s trying to keep a tight rein on them, I guess.”
I wished my mom had kept a tighter rein on Harmonye and Melodye, but at least they hadn’t had any kids yet. Of course, that was probably their choice and had little or nothing to do with our mother.
When Cole Slaw and I walked into Pressure World, we turned to the left and saw teenagers everywhere. I scanned the crowd for my sisters and spotted them at a table in front of the windows. They had never looked so much alike until that moment, with their short black dresses and stilettos. The only difference was that Harmonye had her red hair, very similar to mine, wavy and hanging down her back. Melodye’s was a honey blonde upsweep.
They looked beautiful.
As I entered the crowd, I noticed another difference; Melodye had a tattoo around her wrist resembling a bracelet. Harmonye had no tattoos. Both of them hugged me and thanked me for coming. They pointed to two seats at their table and Cole Slaw and I sat down.
The music was a mixture of old-school R&B and new-school Hip Hop. Two guys came over and asked the girls to dance to an R. Kelly song. They both looked at me and smiled; there would be no bumping and grinding with my big sister in the house.
“This is cool,” Meosha yelled over the music as she sat down beside Cole Slaw.
“It is isn’t it? Did you bring the Hennessy?” Cole Slaw asked.
“Of course,” Meosha said, pulling a huge bottle out of her bag.
I didn’t think that a bottle that size could fit in a purse, but there it was. There was a bucket of ice and some cups sitting on the table. I took one sip of the brown liquid and let it burn down my chest. Then it came to me.
When I met Kadijah, she had a mole on the left side of her lip, but when I met Peaches there was a mole on the right. They had the same face, the same body, and the same voice. But those moles, like tattoos, were very distinctive.
Cole Slaw, Meosha, and I tried to talk over the music for an hour. I nudged Cole Slaw signaling that I was ready to go. She nodded and finished up her conversation with Meosha before getting up to hug her.
On our way to my apartment, I told Cole about my discovery.
“I remember Peaches’ mold. It looked a little too perfect to be a birthmark. I think it was a tattoo.”
“I think you’re right. But what are we going to do about it.”
“Duh, we’re going to prove it,” I wanted to slap her.
Mrs. Alma called me Tuesday morning saying that Shannon hadn’t picked Nedra up the night before. She said that she would drop Nedra off at school before she came to the office. I called Shannon’s number but it went straight to voicemail which meant that the phone was turned off. She could have been on the road with Pearce but I wondered why she didn’t tell Mrs. Alma where she was going. When I dialed his number, Pearce picked up the phone on the first ring.
“Hello, Sassy, what can I do for you?”
“Is Shannon with you?”
“No, I’ve been calling her since yesterday and she won’t answer the phone.”
“Do you have any idea where she could have been? She didn’t even pick Nedra up last night.”
“She’s got a few cousins in town but she’s not close to them. Her parents live in Michigan.”
“Do you know how I can get in touch with them?”
“Not right off hand. Mrs. Alma has a key to the house; the number should be written on the list of emergency contacts that she keeps on the refrigerator.”
“Okay, thanks, Pearce. I’ll let you know what I find out.”
I checked my voicemail to see if Shannon had called me but the only message I had was from Carl saying that he was coming back to Memphis Thursday. He had an appointment with Juvenile Court to see what he needed to do to get custody of his stepsons. I wondered why he felt the need to tell me every time he had to come to Memphis. I guess he just wanted someone to know where he was just in case something happened to him. His family was scattered out all over the country, Carl’s mother had died years ago and I don’t think he even knew his dad. Peaches or Kadijah must not have contacted him when she escaped.
When Mrs. Alma arrived at the office she opened the door and let herself in. She had earned her key and door code privileges after she had passed a background check that I ran. Cole Slaw ran one of her own and the only thing she found was something in Mrs. Alma’s record concerning disturbing the peace. My secretary was a party animal in her day and happened to get just a little too loud one night with a male visitor. She lived close to some older women who did not think it was appropriate for young people to be heard through the wall doing “things they had no business doing.” I say the little old ladies should have minded their own business but I guess they hadn’t had any—business—in many years.
I asked Mrs. Alma if she still had the key to Shannon’s house. She rambled around in her purse until she found the wooden and security door keys on a key ring with a big gold S emblem.
“I got them. I thought I had taken them out since I rarely use them. She gave it to me when Nedra was still in diapers.
Sometimes we would run out at my house and I would go to her house and get a few until she came home and bought more for my house. My granddaughter used to treat Nedra like she was a doll and change her all the time. I didn’t tell Shannon that at first but she figured it out and asked me so I couldn’t lie to her.”
“Well, when you get time, I would like to go to her house and see if I could find her parents' number and possibly some clue as to where she could have run off to without letting anyone know.”
“Something had to have happened to her, Nedra means the world to her and she never goes more than a couple of hours without calling to check on her. Nedra’s teacher mentions it sometimes. She said that there aren’t many parents who seem to make the time to find out what their kids are up to when they are not in their parent’s presence. “
“We will figure it out. There has to be a good explanation. Does she have another man in her life besides Pearce? I mean maybe she gets lonely when he’s on the road all the time.”
“Who would have her? Oops, did I say that out loud? Shannon is a sweetheart but she’s never had guys beating down her door. I think Pearce and the African are the only means she’s ever had in her adult life.”
Now I didn’t know if only having two men in your lifetime was considered admirable or sad but the fact that one of the people closest to you thought no one wanted you did not sound like a good thing.
An hour later, Mrs. Alma and I were on our way to Shannon’s house. No one was speeding down Poplar because there was a police car at every other traffic light.
Mrs. Alma was opening the front door before I could get out of the car. She went in and ran right back out. She didn’t look good and I hoped she wasn’t having a heart attack.
“What’s wrong?” I asked coming up the walkway.
“The house is clean.”
“Huh?”
“The house is clean and smells like incense.”
“Why is that important?”
“She never cleans this house. Even since she’d been laid off, she just sat around the computer all day. Kadijah was the only one…” she stopped.
“What is it, Mrs. Alma?”
“What kind of detective are you? Kadijah has her; she’s going to kill Shannon if you don’t find her.”
“Damn! Let me get her parents' number and then I need you to take me to Cole Slaw’s house.”
If you missed the other chapters, click this link.
Cole Slaw’s house: Good lead-in to the next Chapter.