Authors: Solomon Jones

The Bridge (5 page)

BOOK: The Bridge

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Judy's face creased in a sly, flirtatious grin.

“You know how that song say âyou gotta use what you got to get what you want?' Well, trust me, I was usin' mine. But it ain't never work like that song. I would use it and use it and use it, and I still ain't get what I wanted.”

“And what was it that you wanted?” Wilson asked, cocking her head to one side as she looked down at Judy.

“To get the hell out the Bridge,” Judy said, then rolled her eyes because a sister should have known better than to ask such a thing.

Duly chastised, Wilson fell silent.

“Yeah,” Judy said with a sigh. “I used it. I used it 'til I looked up one day and it was just all used up. Time I figured out I needed to do somethin' different, I wasn't twenty no more, wasn't even thirty. I was forty, with two kids, stretch marks, and varicose veins. Had to buy everything two sizes small just to make myself look halfway presentable.”

Judy laughed. It was a guttural sound that rumbled deep in her throat. Lynch and Wilson looked at each other, then at her.

“By that time Manny, my kids' father, he was gone. Shot some
nigga in the Liberty Bell Bar on Broad and Girard in '68. Got life in Graterford. 'Course life ain't last long for him, 'cause he got shanked in the shower a couple years later. I don't even know what for. All I know is he left us here all by ourselves, with no money and no idea what to do.”

Judy's breath caught in her throat, and she lowered her gaze, slowly shaking her head as she gathered herself. Wilson stared at her and realized for the first time how small and frail Judy was.

When she felt Wilson's stare, Judy looked up at her. Their eyes met, and Judy's lips curled slightly at the edges. It was almost a smile, one that was tinged with unspeakable grief. Judy took a deep breath and continued.

“The Vietnam War was damn-near over by then,” she said with a sigh. “But Man-Manâthat's what I used to call my oldestâhe dropped out o' Edison High and joined the Marines. Figured he was gon' come back with some G.I. Bill money and move us out the projects. I guess he thought he was gon' be different from the rest o' them boys who came outta that school and came back in boxes. But I knew better. So I just watched him go and held back the tears. I knew I'd have to cry 'em one day, so I figured I might as well just save 'em.

“Six months later some Marines came to my door. Told me Man-Man died fightin' on some hill he probably couldn't even pronounce. Funny thing is, I had them tears saved up, but when it was time to let 'em go, I couldn't. I guess I just went numb. I stopped thinkin' I could get out. And I stopped carin' about gettin' my kids out, too.

“My daughter Joan got real wild after that. Started runnin' with them boys from down Crispus Attucks Homes. Smokin' weed and bein' fast. I guess she was lookin' for another brother after she lost Man-Man. She ain't find no brother, though. All she got was pregnant. Poor child figured she wasn't gon' tell me. Figured she was gon' be slick. So she took a hanger and stuck it between her legs. I guess when the bleedin' started she just kept diggin', figurin' that's
what was supposed to happen. I found her on the floor in the back room. Blood everywhere, hanger in her hand.

“Her baby was gone,” Judy said, sniffing to contain a muffled sob. “And so was mine.”

Her shoulders shook as she covered her face with one hand and cried silently. The detectives stood over her, watching and waiting for her to say something they could use. To this point, she hadn't, and they couldn't wait much longer.

Lynch reached out and squeezed her shoulder. “What does this have to do with Sonny?” he asked evenly.

Judy wiped her eyes, then picked up the glass of water from the table and sipped. She breathed deep, then she continued.

“He was like the one thing I never thought I would lose. After my kids and their father was gone, and the men stopped lookin' as hard as they used to, Sonny was there. Seem like he just popped up outta nowhere.

“He acted like he wanted to stick around for a minute and that was good enough for me. I guess by then I knew not to expect nothin' to last but a minute. I guess I knew I had to hold on to whatever I got and squeeze every last drop o' good out of it.

“I looked at Sonny the same way I looked at everything else. I was gon' use him up and get rid o' him before he got rid o' me. But it ain't work out like that. I fell in love with him.”

Judy looked directly at Lynch. But this time she didn't see a detective. She saw the little boy she had watched grow up in the projects.

“Sonny was just like you said he was, Kevin. He loved children. Loved 'em so much that after my oldest sister died and Darnell and Daneen moved with me for goodâit was like they lived there anyway, much time as they spent up thereâSonny ain't bat a eye. He just made room and made a way. Treated 'em just like they was his own kids.

“I watched him love both of 'em like they hadn't never been loved
before. He gave Darnell and Daneen whatever they asked forâleast 'til they started messin' with that shit. Then he backed away from 'em. And they knew he was right, so they never questioned him about it.

“He never backed away from Kenya, though. He always treated her like she was his granddaughter. Used to buy her gifts and give her money, hug her and kiss her and make her laugh.

“I watched it all, and at first I ain't think nothin' of it. But then one day I saw him tellin' Kenya a story. She was sittin' on his lap and lookin' up at him, and he had his hand on her thigh, squeezin' her legs, real slow. Looked like he was breathin' a little heavy. Had his mouth open and his eyes down to slits.

“That's when I knew. I ain't never see him have sex with her or nothin' like that, but I knew. I thought back to that little girl in the trash bins, and everything everybody used to say about Sonny. And I knew in my heart it was all true.”

“So what did you do?” Lynch said.

Judy's face was a picture of guilt as she paused and looked down at her hands.

“I ain't do nothin',” she said quietly. “I acted like I ain't know, 'cause if Sonny left, what was I gon' doâkeep sellin' crack by myself, so somebody could come in there and blow my damn head off? I needed that money, and I needed what he brought in from whatever other hustle he had goin' on.

“That money was gon' get me outta there,” she said earnestly, as a tear formed at the corner of her eye. “That's what was finally gon' give me a life, Kevin. After everything I done been through in the Bridge, don't I deserve a life, too?”

Lynch and Wilson both looked at her, trying to understand. Neither of them knew if the sick feeling in their stomachs was contempt or sympathy. They only knew that they had to find Sonny. So Lynch called in a description, and had it broadcast throughout Central Division.

“Do you have any idea where Sonny is now?” Lynch asked hopefully.

“No,” Judy said.

It was the first lie she told them.

“What the hell was you doin' out in the hallway when I told you not to leave this house?” Lily asked Janay as she picked up the telephone.

“I thought I could find her, Mom. I thought maybe I couldâ”

“Shut up,” Lily said, cutting her off as she dialed 9-1-1. “I nod off for a minute and you got yo' ass out in the hall. You don't go nowhere without me 'til I say otherwise, Janay. You hear me?”

“Yes.”

“Now you sure that was Sonny? Don't have me callin' these people if you ain't sure.”

“Mom, it was him,” Janay said. “He was goin' up on the elevator, and it was a piece o' Kenya shirt right next to him on the floor.”

Lily motioned with her hand to quiet Janay as a dispatcher answered her call. “I'm at the East Bridge Apartments. My daughter just saw somebody y'all might be lookin' for.”

The dispatcher asked a question.

Lily opened her mouth to answer. But then she saw Janay looking at her expectantly. She stopped to think about what she was doing, and the words she needed to say wouldn't leave her mouth. Lily froze for a moment, then hung up the phone.

“Mom, why you hang up? They could still catch him.” Janay's eyes stretched wide as she fought to contain her frustration.

“I know they could catch him,” Lily said evenly. “But I don't know if I want you to be the one who saw him, baby. I don't want nobody comin' 'round askin' you no questions later on.”

“I ain't scared,” Janay said, her voice rising.

“Yeah, but maybe you should be.”

“Why?”

“You remember Charmaine?”

Janay fell silent at the mention of a neighbor who'd been the sole witness to a murder two years before.

It had happened around three in the morning on the first hot Friday in May, when a piper approached a drug dealer named June, who was sitting with Charmaine in the project stairwell.

Charmaine had always liked fast men and fast money. But she'd never been street-smart. She'd always believed herself to be invincible.

That night, she sat with June and watched as he collected thousands of dollars for the vials of crack he'd sold throughout the night.

By the time the last piper walked up the steps and asked if June wanted to buy a diamond-encrusted gold ring, Charmaine was caught up in the game.

June took the ring and began to examine it. Before long, it became clear that he didn't plan to buy it, or to give it back. Charmaine grew nervous as she watched it all play out. But she didn't move.

The piper asked June for the ring. June told him that the ring was a fake. The piper tried to argue, but June crushed his protest with his fists. The piper fell down beneath the weight of the blows, and June began kicking his head until it scraped against the rough cement floor. A gash opened above his eye, and tiny red droplets of blood spattered Charmaine's white shirt.

June drew back his leg and kicked again. The piper bounced against the wall and fell down a flight of stairs. Charmaine watched, horrified, as the man knelt down and begged for his life. She stifled a scream when June walked up to him, pulled out a gun, and shot him at point-blank range.

A few weeks later, June was arrested for the murder. When Charmaine was approached by detectives, she agreed to testify against him. The District Attorney's Office promised her protection. But
when June made bail, Charmaine was still living with a cousin in the building.

June didn't waste any time. He and an accomplice broke into Charmaine's cousin's apartment. There were screams as June forced Charmaine and her cousin to kneel on the living-room floor. Then he ripped Charmaine's blouse from her body, tore it into strips, and used it to bind his victims' mouths. He shot each of them once in the back of the head.

A year later, June and his accomplices were sentenced to death. But that was little solace to Charmaine. She'd gotten the death penalty, too.

That stark reality swirled through Lily's mind as she looked at her only daughter and vowed that she would never lose her to the violence of the Bridge. Not for Sonny. Not for Kenya. Not for anyone.

“You all right, Mom?” Janay asked, stirring Lily from her reverie.

“Yeah, I'm all right,” she said, then posed the question she knew the police would ask.

“What was Sonny wearin'?”

“He had on, like, this white, short-sleeved church-lookin' shirt. And he had on some jeans and some black sandals.”

Lily sat for a moment, trying to weigh the risks of becoming involved. She knew that once her name became a part of it, the police would come back to her for more information. They would ask about things she might not want to tell. And find out things she might not want them to know.

But then, Lily thought of Kenyaâthe little girl who'd been as close as a daughter. Though Lily wasn't ready to put Janay's life on the line for her, Lily was more than willing to give her own. She loved Kenya that much.

“Come on, baby,” she said, grabbing Janay by the hand and running out the door.

The two of them went down the hallway and up two flights to
the seventh floor. When they got there, Lily made Janay stand behind her as she opened the door and peeked down the hallway.

A police officer was standing outside Judy's door, jotting notes on a pad. Lily knew that his presence meant that the rumors of Judy's arrest were true. She stood there for a few seconds more, watching and listening as someone said Sonny's name over the officer's police radio.

Lily stepped out from the doorway with her daughter in tow and walked up to the officer.

“I just saw somebody y'all lookin' for,” Lily said.

BOOK: The Bridge

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