As The Negro Turns (Part 8)

Bzzzzzz. Bzzzzzz.

Bzzzzzz. Bzzzzzz.

My cell phone kept vibrating in my pocket. I grabbed the steering wheel with my right hand, and used my left hand to get my phone out of my jeans pocket.

It was Maurice.

I quickly hit talk the talk button.

“What up?”

“Jaden where are you?” Maurice said anxiously.

“I’m on the beltway. What’s up? You alright?”

“Yeah I am good. You think you can meet me somewhere? We need to talk.”

“Yeah sure. Where do you want to meet?”

“Meet me in East Potomac Park in 30 mins. Can you do that?”

“Yeah..” I said quickly. “Hains Point, 30 minutes. I got it.”

“Cool. See you there.”

I hung up the phone and immediately began heading towards the park.

The drive to the park seemed to take forever. I don’t know what it is. Traffic was flowing well and it was a beautiful day. Well, I think I do know. I have so much going on in my mind. I have so many thoughts racing 100 miles per hour that I just can’t seem to slow them down. Once I started to focus on all that, I seemed to arrive at the park in no time.

I rolled up to the park to see Maurice leaning on the rail overlooking the water. I parked the car and walked over to where he was standing.

“Man, I used to love coming out here as a child…” I said reminiscing. “My brother and I would just play out here for hours and never get tired of it.”

“Five.” Maurice uttered quietly.

“Excuse me?” I said.

“That’s how many times she has been married. Sheila Jacobs, the lady you told me to look into. She has been married five times.”

“Are you serious?”

“Very…” Maurice Said. “She has been Sheila Pitts, Sheila Winters, Sheila Bryson, Sheila Parks…and now, Sheila Jacobs.”

All I could do is shake my head in disbelief.

“But that’s not the half of it…” Maurice said as he continued rattling off information. “All of her former husbands have ended up dead. “

“What??” I said anxiously. “And you all still allow her to walk the streets? Why is she not locked up?”

“That’s the issue. She has never been linked to any of the deaths. Do I have a suspicion that there has been foul play? Of course I do, but I will say this…If she is involved then she is quite thorough in her clean up.”

I turned from Maurice to take a minute to allow what he just told me to process in my head. I just looked over the water for a minute as I said “What type of woman am I dealing with?”

“I don’t know man…” Maurice said with a sigh. “But if she is has been involved with these past incidents, then you better be careful. “

“I know right? I just wish I could get some more information on her. She seems to always know so much about me and I am left in the dark.”

Maurice went into the inner pocket of his jacket, pulled out a business card, and handed it to me.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“A friend of mine named Mason. He is one of the best Private detectives in the game. I can only help you to an extent but he should be able to dig a little deeper and cross a couple of lines I can't...ya dig?”

I simply nodded my head as I accepted the business card.

“Just tell him what your situation is and that you are a friend of mine and he should take care of you.”

“Will do. I appreciate this Maurice.”

“No problem. You are like family man.” Maurice said as he gave me a pound.

“I am going to continue to check the database downtown to see if I can uncover anything else. What are you going to do?”

“Well I am supposed to get up with Tammy this afternoon. She has been stressing me about not spending any time with her. I know I need to call your boy though. This takes precedence. “ I said while tapping on the business card.

“How is that situation coming along playa playa?” Maurice said laughing.

“Go ahead with that man. I am slowly but surely making up my mind.”

“Yeah right. You are going to ride that out as long as you possibly can.”

“Naw man, I am getting older and trying to run behind two women is something that those young boys do.”

“Ok, I hear you old man.” Maurice said laughing.

We both laughed at that statement for a second before I said my goodbyes and headed on my way to meet Tammy.

Tammy and I had a little bistro that we ate at when we felt romantic or a special occasion. You know, one of those places that has meaning to you and you don’t eat there everyday. I figured this would be a good place to meet up since she has been barking about us not hanging out.

I arrived to the restaurant a little late, but didn’t see Tammy’s car in the parking lot so I figured she was running a little late too.

As I walked in I saw Latrell at the door. Latrell was a little flamboyant but a good person.

“My oh my, do my eyes deceive me? Is that tall piece of chocolate walking into my Bistro the one and only Jaden Sasser.” Latrell said while placing his hand over his heart.

“What’s going on Latrell.” I said. I always tried to keep it light with Latrell because I don’t want him to misconstrue anything I say as making a pass at him.

“Will we be dining at our usual table this afternoon?”

I simply nodded.

“Excellent.”

Latrell paused for a second as he looked me up and down.

“That suit is fierce! Is that Domenico Vacca?”

I smiled and nodded.

“Well excuse me baller! You have always had exquisite taste. I mean, how many of these commoners would even know who Domenico Vacca is, none the less be able to afford one of his suits! Let me get you to your table with your G.Q. self” Latrell said as he sashayed away.

I sat down at the table, ordered a Malibu and pineapple juice, and waited for Tammy.

Thirty minutes or more had passed by before it clicked that Tammy had still not arrived. I decided to give her a call and see what the problem is. It is not like Tammy to ever be this late.
I tried calling Tammy’s phone multiple times, but she never answered. With all that’s been going on with me the last couple of weeks, I seemed to get paranoid now when someone does not answer the phone.

In the middle of one of my attempts to reach Tammy, Latrell walked by.

“Are you still waiting on your pretty little girlfriend to return?” Latrell said smiling.

My face must have shown that I was disturbed because Latrell immediately reacted.

“What’s wrong? Did you two have a fight?” Latrell said concerned.

“Back up. What did you say?” I said anxiously.

“When?”

“About my girlfriend returning Latrell?” I said raising my voice.

“Excuse Me Mister ‘I need an anger management specialist’. She was in here earlier and I thought you were waiting for her to come back.” Latrell said as he rolled his eyes and began to walk away.

I jumped up and grabbed his arm.

“Wait. Did you say she was in here earlier?”

“She sure was. She left with one of her friends only about 10 minutes before you arrived.”

“What? What friend?” I said releasing his arm.

“Who knows honey but I can tell you this, girlfriend had on a fierce pair of Jimmy Choos and a Hermes bag that was on fire!” Latrell said while snapping his fingers.

“Sh*t!” I said as I brushed past Latrell and ran out of the restaurant in a dash to make it to Tammy’s house.

I got across town to Tammy’s in no time flat all the while still blowing up her cell phone. I drove past her house but didn’t see her car. I even decided to drive past Mr. Jacobs house to see if she was over there, but because his house is gated and the driveway is so far away from the gate, I couldn’t see whose car was there and whose was not.

I had no other recourse but to go home and try to wait it out. I cannot stand waiting on someone to call me. It is one of the most helpless feelings in the world and all it allows your mind to do is wreak havoc on you with a million and one thoughts of what is, what isn’t, or what could be.

Once I was finally able to lie in bed, I tossed and turned for hours. I seemed like I couldn’t get anyone on the phone. I called Pam…no answer. I called Keith…no answer. I even called my mom and still no answer. It was like I was on a deserted island all by myself with no one to hear me scream.

It seems as soon as I started to fall asleep, I could hear a slight buzzing and because I was in the first stages of my sleep, it took me a while to realize it was my phone.

Being half sleep and half awake I fumbled around on my nightstand until I picked up my phone. It took time for my eyes to focus until I recognized that the screen said “Tammy”, however by the time I hit talk and said hello, she had already hung up.

I must have redialed her a million times and no answer. That was frustrating me even more. I mean she just called me and now she is not picking up. After a while I could do nothing but try to wrestle with my thoughts again to calm myself down. At this point in the night, the time is now 4:37am on my clock and I have to be to work by 7am. I decided that I might as well suck it up and stay up. That one hour so of sleep will just be a tease to me and I don’t want to run the risk of oversleeping. I got up, cut the shower on, went into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee, and continue on with the preparation to get a new day underway.

I pulled into the parking lot at work at 6:52 am. I could feel myself in a zombie like state as the coffee was already beginning to wear off. The worst thing was, I couldn’t remember anything about the drive here. It was like I left my apartment and then suddenly, I was pulling into the parking lot here. To drive like that is very dangerous, but thank the good Lord I made it safely.

At my job, 7am is like 2pm at most other jobs, meaning that the office is already alive and buzzing at seven because most people here are morning people. So my office works in the reverse. In the morning, everyone is running around, on calls, doing work, checking emails, laughing and joking, etc. However, when the afternoon comes, this place is silent after all of the coffee and energy drinks are now out of everyone’s system.

I walked in saying my normal hellos to everyone and doing my best to put on my “happy corporate face”. All I wanted to do was just get to my office, close my door, and have a minute or two to myself.
I walked into my office, hung up my sport coat on the back of the door as I closed it, and sat down in my nice leather executive chair.

I threw my hands behind my head, closed my eyes, and let out a small sigh.

At that moment, my office phone rang. I leaned up to see who it was. It was my administrative assistant.

I reached for the phone and answered it with my manufactured corporate voice.

“Good morning, Jacobs International, this is Jaden how may I help you?”

“Good morning Mister Sasser. I was just reminding you that everyone was putting in a monetary donation for Doris’ retirement part.”

“Yeah that’s right, what are we trying to do for her” I asked.

“Well we want to take her to Morton’s and then get her a nice plaque and some other small gifts.”

“Sounds good to me, I have always liked Doris. How much is everyone giving.?”

“I have been asking for at least twenty dollars, but people give what they can. Its rough out here.”

“I hear that…” I said. “Well put me down for fifty.”

“Thank you Mister Sasser. I will stop by after I do my morning tasks and get that from you.”

“No problem, See you then.” I said as I hung up the phone.

I was going to retreat back into my relaxed position until I saw a manila folder on my desk that said “for your records”.

I figured it was some document placed on my desk by the A.A., but that surely was not the case.

As I opened the folder there were glossy high resolution photos of me at the park meeting with Maurice and photos of me sitting at the Bistro waiting for Tammy.

As I continued to look through the photos, the last couple was of Tammy. She was laying in a bed not her own with just a pair of light blue panties on. She looked out of it, as if she was drunk or drugged or something. Then there was a picture of a man licking chocolate sauce off her. The very last picture was a close up of what was spelled out in chocolate across Tammy’s torso.

Across her chest and stomach were the words “Oh Sheila” with the “A” being missing from where the guy had licked it off.

Taped to the inside of the folder was a sticky note that said “I am better than you!”

I screamed as loud as I could while throwing the pictures and flipping my desk over. I grabbed my sport coat off the back of the door and slung my office door open.

The office had come to a standstill and everyone was looking at me. I didn’t even care. I proceeded to walk directly to the elevator, took it to the ground level, hopped in my car, and sped off.