Wrongful Accusations - Chapter 9
The housekeeper
As soon as I sat on the couch, Jerry walked through the door. He had heard about what happened and talked one of the other guards into taking on the rest of his shift so he could come to see about me. What great friends I had.
When he sat on the couch and hugged me, I thought about how my friends cared more about me than my own family except for Aunt Essie. I made up my mind right then that I would marry that man. I didn’t know when or what shape I would be in when it finally happened, but it would happen.
Thursday morning, at around 9:30, I called Shannon to let her know that I wouldn’t be able to come to see her because of my little accident.
“Oh Sassy, I’m sorry. Can I do anything for you?”
“No, I’m fine. I’ll try to come by next Thursday.” I was hoping that I would have a better chance of getting down the stairs without falling on my face by then.
“That will be fine. Do you have a wheelchair?”
“Uhh, no. I don’t plan on being an invalid for too long.”
“Well, I can understand that. Are you sure you don’t need anything?”
“I’m fine, see you next week,” I didn’t need any more babysitters.
After I got off the phone with Shannon, I looked through her file again. I wasn’t sure if Mrs. Muhammad knew about her husband’s death, but I didn’t want to tell her over the phone, so I decided to leave that up to the police. Since I had a lot of time on my hands, I ran Hinniyah Muhammad’s name through my database. I wanted to see if this lady was capable of murder.
When I was finally able to hobble down the stairs, I had my new secretary come pick me up. Ms. Alma was working out very well. My office looked nicer than it had ever looked. She had put flowers on the desks and pictures on the walls.
“Ms. Alma, I hope you didn’t spend too much on these pictures; I don’t have much of a decorating budget.”
“Relax, I got them from the thrift store.”
“These are great. Do you have anything else you need to do before picking up your daughter?”
“No, what do you have in mind? You wanna go to the casino?”
“No ma’am, I told Shannon I would come to her house today.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
Shannon opened the door wearing a multi-colored dress and a huge smile. I could hear the sound of the vacuum cleaner coming from the bedroom. There was a huge pile of clothes on the couch that I hoped were clean. Shannon cleared a space for me and Ms. Alma on the loveseat. She sat in a chair diagonal from us.
“I’m so glad you’re doing better, Sassy.”
“Thanks, how was your trip to North Carolina?”
“It was nice. I hated all the bouncing around in the truck seat but loved seeing the mountains and open road.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself. Will you be going on another trip anytime soon?”
“Heavens no, I don’t even know how Pearce rides in that thing. At least I’ll have something to talk about on my next blog post.”
“So you’re still doing that?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
I looked at Ms. Alma, she just shook her head.
“I’m going to run to the house, call me when you’re ready to go back to the office,” she said walking out of the door.
“What’s wrong? Do you have some news about Joshua”
“I found out that Joshua Bendele’s real name was Abdul Muhammad,” I heard the vacuum cleaner cut off. When I heard the water running in the bathroom, I went on.
“He has a wife and two boys. Muhammad was married when you two first got together.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry, Shannon. But at least we have another possible suspect, with a very good motive.”
“All this time. He lied to me, all this time. I would kill that bastard if he wasn’t already dead.”
“I know how you feel.”
“How am I going to tell Nedra that she has two brothers that she never knew existed? Sassy, you have to find his killer so I can go on with my life. I’m so sick of this,” Shannon looked as if she was going to cry but she remained strong.
“I’ll do my best.”
“Shannon, would you like for me to fold the clothes and put them away?” Kadijah said as she walked into the room.
When Shannon stood to introduce us, I tried to hold in my surprise. Shannon left Kadijah and me in the living room alone. I watched the woman as she folded the laundry.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” I said looking at Kadijah. She stopped folding for a moment and continued.
“I’ve been sorry for 10 years.”
“What do you mean?”
“He cheated on me for most of our marriage, and I didn’t find out about all of the bastard children he had, until recently.”
“Did you know that Shannon was his girlfriend when you first started working for her?”
“Girlfriend, please. He had whores all over the city, she was just one of the thousands.”
“So, did you kill him here or did you kill him someplace else and just brought him here,” She stopped folding then and got up. “Shannon, I believe my time is up for today. I will see you next week.”
“Um, okay, Kadijah,” Shannon said walking into the living room. She went over to the mantle over the fireplace and picked up an envelope. Kadijah took the envelope from Shannon’s hand and grabbed her things from the corner. She looked at me, nodded, and walked out the door.
“I wonder what’s wrong with Kadijah, she never leaves in the middle of folding.”
I stood up and dragged my cast to the door, “Maybe it was something I said.”
When Ms. Alma dropped me off at home, I called Carl. He was happy to hear from me, no big surprise. I told him that as soon as he could make it back to Memphis, we could meet and I would talk to him about his wife’s disappearance.
“Thanks, Sassy. I knew you would come through,” Yeah, sure.
“Well, I’ll see you when you get here.”
I hadn't talked to Aunt Essie so I decided to call her. When her voicemail picked up, I remembered that she was working at the library. I left her a message telling her that I would like to see her whenever she gets a chance.
I checked my voicemail. A bunch of people wanted me to do background checks to ensure that they didn't hire any mask murderers, an insurance company wanted me to investigate some claims, and an 85-year-old woman wanted to know if I could find out who her father was before she died. I wrote down each of the caller's contact information and hung up. I needed a nap.
Just in case you missed something, here are all of the chapters so far.
Like the dialogue; It creates the scene...!