Beneath The Surface (6 page)

“No, I don’t.”

“Marcus is fuckin’ them women silly.”

“He does have the package to do it.” Carmen took a shallow of her drink. “I know he fucked the shit outta me.” Carmen looked at Black playfully, and then she leaned forward. “If I had to compare, you being the biggest and the best man I ever had, he would be number two on that list.”

“I’m just honored I got a spot on the list.”

“The list ain’t that long. Trust me,” Carmen said and took a playful swing at him.

After the breakup, Carmen threw herself into modeling, and that left very little, if any, time for men. When she did get involved with a man, it wouldn’t be long before Carmen would get tired of him and end it. Except for Pierre, they met while she was working in Paris. They stayed together for almost two years. He spoke no English, and Carmen spoke just enough French to get by living in Paris. She ended it when he started learning to speak English.

If Carmen wanted to be honest, she’d have to admit that for years after they broke up, if a man wasn’t Mike Black, she didn’t want him. And while she was being honest, she might as well admit that not much had changed. “What about you, any woman in your life?”

Black didn’t answer right away. He thought about CeCe, and Jacara, and Mystique, and Jackie. Mercedes even crossed his mind.
 
Then he said, “Yes.”

“Do I need to ask how many?”

“I’ll tell you, if you really want to know.”

“No. For some reason, I don’t think I do. Any of them serious?”

“One.”

Hearing that Mike Black was serious about a woman, Carmen’s facial expression changed. “What’s her name?” she asked, feeling herself getting jealous and wondering why.

“Her name is Cameisha Collins.”

“Well if you’re serious about her, why isn’t she with you?” Carmen asked with a bit of an attitude.

“She was, but she had business in Nassau, so she left this afternoon. Right now she’s at my house in Nassau with Michelle.”

“You have a house in Nassau?”

“One in Freeport, too; my mother lives in that one.”

“If that adorable little girl and your woman are in Nassau, what are you doing here?” Carmen asked in that same tone of voice.

Black picked up on it and leaned forward before he spoke, “I came up here for a meeting a week ago. Then a friend of mine was murdered, and I believe we already talked about what happened with that. I had planned on going back to the island this afternoon with CeCe, when Wanda invited me to have dinner with her, and this very beautiful woman that I haven’t seen in seventeen years.”

Carmen’s angry and jealous mood softened a bit. “So when are you going back?”

“That depends on whether you’ll have lunch with me tomorrow.”

Carmen exhaled. “I’m tempted to say yes right away, but I have to work tomorrow. See, I’ve gotten a bit more responsible since the last time you saw me. I don’t lose my mind and drop everything just to be close to you,” Carmen said and thought about how much she’d like to do just that.
Discipline, Carmen,
she told herself as she’d done so many times in her life. “I’m covering a Panda at the Bronx Zoo. You should come.”

“As much as I’m tempted to say yes immediately, because dropping everything just to be close to you seems like a good idea to me,” Black said and Carmen blushed, “I’m going to say no.”

“Why?”

“I wouldn’t want to be a distraction.”

“You wouldn’t be,” Carmen said quickly and paused. “Who am I kidding? You would be a big distraction if you were there.”

It was past five
am
when Carmen decided it was time for her to go. She always could hold her liquor, but she did have work to do that day. And getting some sleep so she wouldn’t look like she’d been up all night drinking Bacardi with an old
friend,
was what she needed to do.

“As much as I hate to say this, I think I should call it a night,” Carmen said and drained her glass.

“I was just about to suggest that we go someplace and get something to eat. You still like grape jelly on your pancakes?”

“I do.” Carmen smiled. She was a little hungry, and she had been drinking all night. Getting some food in her stomach would probably be a good idea, but she followed the progression of how things would go if they left there together.

Since neither of them was in any shape to drive, they would have to take a cab to wherever they were going to eat. On the ride in the cab, they would sit close to each other, and would laugh and talk more about old times.
And if he whispered in my ear, I would not be responsible for what would happen next.
“No, Mr. Black. I’m going to have to take a rain check.”

“That’s twice you’ve turned down my invitation.
You tryin’
to tell me something?”

“No,” Carmen said quickly. She stood up and came around the table. Carmen stood before Black and held out her hand. He stood up and Carmen touched his face. “I do want to see you again, but seeing you tonight after all this time—I just need a minute to process this.”

“I understand.” He kissed Carmen on the cheek. “You made my life complicated too.”

That next afternoon, Carmen went to the studio to speak with Louis, the managing editor, about doing a follow-up to the story. When she arrived, Louis was meeting with Steven McCain. When he came out, Steven walked up to Carmen. “He’ll see you now,” he said and rolled his eyes at her. She ignored him and went in.

“Have a seat, Carmen.”

“Thank you.”

“You did a good job the other night, Carmen.”

“Thank you, Louis. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Louis spun around in his chair and looked out the window. “Let me guess: You want to do a follow-up on the story, right?”

“That’s right.”

Louis thought for a minute, and then he spun around and looked at Carmen. They had spoken about her doing more than just fluff reporting, and each time, he turned her down. His excuse was always the same. “You’re not ready yet.” Since he just got through telling her what a good job she’d done, that excuse wouldn’t fly anymore. He understood all too well where this was going. If he didn’t give her what she wanted, it wouldn’t be too long before Carmen left for another station. Ratings had been up since Carmen joined the team, and he wasn’t about to let her go.

“What happened out there the other night?”

“I did the story,” Carmen replied sheepishly.

“That’s not what I mean. Steven said he didn’t make it because you gave him the wrong address.”

“I did.”

“Yes, Carmen, you did. You sent him to 8
^th
Street.”

“Really? I’m sure I said eighteenth.”

Louis chastised her for giving the wrong directions to the crime reporter. Then he told her that she could do a follow-up since she had developed the contacts, but to give anything she finds to the crime reporter. Once he promised that she would get in some camera time on the story, Carmen agreed and left the office.

Her first stop was the police station. When she got there, Carmen asked to speak to either Detective Harmon or Detective Mitchell. Since neither of them was there, she hung around and tried to get some of the background information she needed.
 
She had been there for the better part of an hour asking questions, and not getting anywhere, when the detectives returned.

“Detective Harmon, Detective Mitchell, can I get a minute?”

“Not right now, sweetie,” Detective Harmon said and kept walking past Carmen on the way to his desk.

“Jerk,” Carmen said quietly.

“He can be sometimes, but he’s a good man,” Detective Mitchell said and smiled at Carmen.

“You heard that?”

“I hear everything, honey. What do you need?”

“Just a little information about the murder.”

“Walk with me,” the detective told her. “We don’t have much, but I can tell you that the victim’s name is Tangela House.” Carmen pulled out her recorder. “She’s from Lower Paxton, Pennsylvania. It’s a township outside of Harrisburg. She has two arrests: one for prostitution and the other for possession of heroin. Right now that’s all we got. And I would prefer that you don’t release info about her record.”

“Can I ask why?”

Detective Mitchell stopped and faced Carmen. “You were there that night, Ms. Taylor. You saw the type of people at the event. If we broadcast that the victim was just some junkie hooker, and not one of their own, how much cooperation do you think we’ll get?”

“I see your point.”

“Good. Because you’re the only one I’ve told; so if it gets out, I’m gonna know it’s you,” Mitchell told her.

“Why are you telling me then?”

“To be honest, it was the way Jack played you off. ‘
Not right now, sweetie.
’ That was so sexist.
I know what it’s like not to be taken seriously because you’re a pretty woman.”

Carmen laughed a little. “Yeah, I guess you do,” she said, and the detective continued toward her office and Carmen walked along with her. “Has the coroner established that she was murdered?” she asked.

“The cause of death was asphyxiation with the strap of a purse. She had sex prior to her death.”

“Was the sex consensual?”

“Inconclusive. If you want my opinion, she was murdered while she was having sex. But that is just my opinion, and it is off the record,” Mitchell insisted.

“Do you have any suspects?”

“Oh, just half the society page was at the opening. We’re conducting interviews of the guests, but so far, we haven’t come up with anything.” Carmen thanked the detective for the info, but she decided to hang around the precinct for a while to see what else she could pick up.

Detective Harmon sat at his desk looking over Tangela House’s arrest record; Detective Kirkland approached his desk.

“Kirk? What are you doing here?”

“My partner and I were talking to your captain about a case we’re working,” Kirk said and sat down. “How’s it going, Jack?”

“Just trying to get back in to it.”

“Heard they gave you a rough time.”

“Yeah; you know how Internal Affairs does it, Kirk. They take you through a whole bunch of shit and then they say, sorry—”

“We were just doin’ our job,” Kirk said, finishing the sentence.

“You know the routine,” Detective Harmon said as Kirk’s partner, Detective Richards, stuck his head in the door.

“Kirk. We gotta roll.”

“What’s up?”

“Rain Robinson is conscious,” Richards said, and Kirk jumped up and followed his partner out the door.

When the detectives were gone, Harmon picked up the phone and dialed a number. “Hello.”

“Nick—it’s Jack. Rain Robinson is conscious.”

“She
talk
to anybody?” Nick needed to know.

“Kirk’s on his way there now.”

“Thanks, Jack,” Nick said and ended the call.