Playing by the Rules: A Novel (28 page)

Jeremiah was in the yard at the cottage, clenching the butt of a Winston between his teeth while sponging down the white GTO. The smoke blowing up his nose, into thin air, made him think about how quickly time evaporated before his very eyes. It was already September. He couldn’t believe he had been in Lemon City for nine months when all he’d been looking for was a place to spend the night to get out of the cold, never expecting to stay this long, never thinking he would meet someone as special as Louise. He didn’t feel guilty about leaving town, because he had warned her not to get too close. Even though she’d heard him, he didn’t think she had paid attention. He’d never meant to hurt Louise, but what he had in his favor was that he’d made it clear that he never intended to stay. The person he had to worry about most was Ruby Rose, who would probably take their leaving Lemon City as if a rug were being snatched from underneath her feet.

Jeremiah picked up the hose and washed off the soapy water
on the car. He dried and waxed it, feeling relief from the cool breeze as the sun was beginning to set and summer was transitioning to fall.

When the car was clean and he could see his reflection in the chrome, Jeremiah went inside to call Louise. He told her that they needed to talk and that he would come by after he took a shower.

Louise didn’t know what Jeremiah had to say, but she bet it had something to do with her going home with Medford. One thing she hated was a jealous man, especially one trying to force her to make a decision. But the truth was, it was too late. She had chosen, and she wanted to be with Medford. If she had been honest with herself from the beginning, she would have admitted that it wouldn’t have worked with Jeremiah all along. She never meant to hurt his feelings; she only wanted to have a little fun. She didn’t know how Jeremiah would take the news about her and Medford, but she hoped he would respect the truth and they could remain on friendly terms.

When Jeremiah arrived at her house, Louise gave him the courtesy of allowing him to talk first. Sitting across from her at the kitchen table, Jeremiah looked uncomfortable, shifting from one side of the chair to the other, but finally he was able to tell her the reason for his visit. He told her he was leaving Lemon City, that he’d stopped by Do Drop In Stay As Long As You Like for coffee, which she knew borders Jefferson County. After overhearing some talk about the County Sheriff’s Office about to begin a search for a man and a girl, he was convinced the reference was about him and Ruby Rose. Being a “wanted man,” he didn’t think he should continue to put her family in jeopardy and that it was time for him to move on. He said that he and Ruby Rose were blessed to have met the Dunlaps, and that their hospitality meant a lot to him and his sister. Then he reached across the table and took Louise’s hand into his.

“You know, fear is like crossing a bridge. Some people will never get to the other side. Others will take their time, even stroll to get over it. While others will run—looking forward to whatever will greet them.” He leaned in closer, making sure to have eye contact. “Just get to the point where you know there is a bridge because believe it or not, some people refuse to see it; they won’t even acknowledge it exists—pretend it isn’t there.” Jeremiah paused to take a breath. “There are times when we need to do things that scare us most. But when we finally take the leap and get to the other side of fear, we can’t remember what it was that frightened us in the first place.” Then he added, “Medford is a good brother. He’s the one for you.”

At the same time Louise was fascinated by his words, she was relieved that she was off the hook and didn’t need to tell her side of the story. They stood up from the table and hugged each other, and she pretended to be more hurt than she actually was.

Jeremiah pulled a gemstone from his pocket and handed it to her. “I didn’t have any jade, which symbolizes peace and tranquility, but I have some malachite.”

She held it up to the light to admire its crystallized clumps and various sparkling shades of green.

“It’s for personal strength and positive energy,” he added.

“Thank you, Jeremiah. It’s beautiful,” she said. She looked at the stone as it sat in her hand, then folded her fingers around it, feeling it was just as valuable as the person standing before her.

Jeremiah kissed the back of Louise’s hand, then touched his lips against her forehead and walked down the stairs and out the door.

Louise opened a can of beer and plopped down on the sofa in the living room, both relieved and sad at the same time. After giving herself a few moments to absorb the breakup, she made an effort to change her mood. Even though it was for the best, she still
felt a slight sense of loss. She put on her Bobbi Humphrey
Blacks and Blues
album to lift her spirits and picked up the new Angela Davis autobiography that had just arrived at the library the other day, to get into someone else’s groove. After a while she didn’t feel like reading. She felt like talking, and called Elvira.

“Vi. You won’t believe what just happened.”

“What? Nana told you she wasn’t entering the tomato contest next year?”

“No, chile. Jeremiah just quit me.”

“So why you sounding so happy?”

“Because I was going to do it first and he just saved me the trouble.”

“Hallelujah. I thought I might have to make Billy intervene and bust someone upside the head. Thank goodness I didn’t have to do that and he didn’t have to hurt anyone.” Then Elvira lowered her voice. “By the way, I didn’t tell him the whole story, what you told me the last time about Jeremiah. And I’m not gonna tell you what the little girl said to me either, ‘cause she made me keep a promise.”

“What did the little girl say?”

“It’s funny how things happen,” Elvira commented in a normal tone. “Before her brother quit you, she said she was starting not to hate you anymore, but didn’t know why. ‘Probably, I said, ‘cause you found a friend in Medford.’ She said, ‘Louise seems nice enough.’ Can you believe it?” Elvira raised her voice a notch, then lowered it back to where it was. “Then she said she was sorry she was mean to you and said she wouldn’t mind if we set aside another time to make lemon cookies again. Ain’t that something? But check this out. The next time if you offered to walk her home, she mentioned she would even consider inviting you inside. I tell you the girl is starting to turn around, turn around. There’s hope for us all.”

“Ruby Rose told you not to tell me all that?”

“Sure ‘nough.”

“That’s a whole new glass of water to swallow.”

“There I go again—spillin’ all the beans. I shouldn’t a said nothin’. Just kept my mouth shut and kept all this to myself.”

“Vi, I know you can’t help being generous with information, so here’s another topic for you to elaborate on.” Louise paused for a second. “What’s it like to be married?”

“Oh, Lou, it’s the most wonderful thing.”

“Girl, stop lying.”

“Well, it’s not that way all the time, but if you’re thinking about marriage, you can’t go wrong with Medford. I’ve been saying that all along.”

“Vi. You say so many things I can’t keep up.”

Medford took two Swanson TV dinners out of the oven, put the aluminum plates on a tray, and sat down in front of the TV to eat. The new sitcom
That’s My Mama
was coming on for the very first time in September, and any program with the word “mama” in the title was something he wanted to watch. The mama in the TV show wanted the best for her son, the same as he imagined his mama would want for him. But the TV mama was always trying to fix her son up with a woman, whereas his real-life mama wouldn’t have to be concerned with that—Louise would be his lifelong mate. When the commercial came on, he went outside to get the mail. Medford looked through the envelopes, separating his father’s deliveries from his. Then he saw the return address on the big brown envelope and dropped everything else to the ground. It was from the Southern Regional Box Company in Hopkinsville, South Carolina. Tearing open the envelope, he began to read the letter inside. It was short and to the point.

Dear Mr. Attaway,

In response to your inquiry, our records

indicate that our company distributed packing

crates in 1929 to several Lemon City customers:

Brunsons, Butlers and Stewarts.

We hope this information is helpful.

Sincerely,

Southern Regional Box Company,

Customer Service Department

Medford slid the letter back into the envelope. None of the names stood out on paper to him, but the black-and-white photograph that he’d found in Clement’s basement came to mind. Perhaps one of those names belonged to the missing face in front of the camera or to the person standing behind it, he thought. Then Medford ran back into the house to take another look at what he considered might be evidence inside his bedroom dresser drawer.

Billy was getting used to serving his pregnant wife hand and foot. Having waited seven years for this, being a doting father-to-be provided him with great satisfaction. In the past, Billy had worried about his wife putting on too much weight and now for the first time in their marriage, he actually encouraged her to eat. There were occasions when she became so full that she couldn’t ingest another bite and felt like she would burst and that concerned him too, not knowing the difference between the uterus expanding and the stomach bloating because it all looked like the same area to him. All he wanted was to maintain balance in his family, and the effort was driving him crazy because he didn’t have experience in this area and didn’t always know what to do. Taking
care of his wife was quickly becoming an extra job that made him feel like he was always working. If he wasn’t on duty at the office, he was on duty at home. And if he wasn’t busy being a cop in real life, he was watching them on TV just to wind down and relax. A huge fan of his regular TV show
Mod Squad
, he now had a new program to watch called
Get Christie Love
. It featured a smart, gorgeous, badass sister playing an undercover police officer who could karate-chop her way in different outfits and disguises to bring the bad guys down. Tonight she was playing a prostitute, and just as Billy was getting to the good part of the story where she was about to outsmart the perpetrator, the phone rang. He wasn’t going to answer it, but after it kept ringing, Elvira shouted from the bedroom to pick it up because she was trying to get some much needed rest.

“Hello,” Billy said in a whisper, trying to sound sleepy so the person calling would get the hint that he didn’t want to be disturbed.

“Billy, is that you?” said a familiar voice.

“Who do
you
think you’re calling?” Billy asked as if the person were stupid not knowing what number he dialed. “Who is this?” He became suspicious.

“This is Beau…Beauregard Taylor,” said the Jefferson County Sheriff.

“Hey Beau, what’s happenin’, my man?”

“Billy, sorry I’m calling so late, but this is not a social call.”

“It never is.” Billy turned down the volume on the TV so he could at least see what was going on with Christie Love. “What can I do for you?”

“I got an APB out on a kidnapper and his victim that may be in your area.”

Billy thought for a bit, wondering why this call was coming
nine months late, almost as long as it took to make a baby, but he didn’t want to pause too long. “You don’t say…what profile do you have on the suspect?…I’m assuming it’s a him.”

“It’s a him, but
he’s
got a
her
… according to the file, allegedly he kidnapped his sister. But that concept sounds pretty weird to me. Anyway, I don’t make up this stuff. Seen anything unusual out your way?”

“Nope. Everything’s quiet as marshmallows.” Billy laughed at his own corny joke. “But I’ll keep a lookout,” he added seriously. Then he changed the subject. “Hey, you know, Elvira’s pregnant.”

“Congratulations, dad-to-be, you old son-of-a-gun,” Sheriff Taylor said. “You finally stopped shooting blanks.”

“Yeah, I know,” Billy said, still watching TV, trying to follow the action without the sound. “Hey, I thought you were gonna retire and forget about all this police stuff.”

“Yeah. Yeah. I started looking for hardware-store space last month. It’s a process, ole buddy. I haven’t found any commercial property that I like yet, but I’ll keep trying and keep you posted.”

“Well, good luck to you on that.”

“Thanks, and let me know if you see something…a stranger in town with a little girl, ya hear?”

“You bet. Don’t think I can miss anything like that.”

“Give my regards to Nana and Granddaddy and to the rest of the family.”

“Will do. You have a good night.”

“You too.”

Billy hung up the phone and returned to
Christie Love
, but the show was about to end. Since he’d missed the good part, he’d lost track of the story and gave up on watching the rest of tonight’s episode. Instead, Billy called Jeremiah and warned him that the county law was catching up to his trail, which meant the state
wasn’t far behind. Jeremiah didn’t give it a second thought. It was time for him and his sister to pack up in the GTO and head north to find Dick Gregory.