“Yeah?”
“H-hi, is this Xyleek Chambers?”
Just from the tone alone, I could tell the woman on the other end was a snow bunny. The difference in pitches were unmistakable. To my ears, black women’s voices and tones sounded like warm honey and love. White women’s voices sounded sharp, dry, and thin…. much like their lips.
“It is. Who is this?”
“I’m sorry, I never told you my name when you stopped by. My name is Abegail. You came by Mr. Hubert’s house inquiring about a car that was used in a robbery at your wife’s shop?”
“Miss Frizzle,”I grinned, making my way up to my office.“Yeah, I remember. What can I do for you?”
“I’ve been able to track down who has the car now.”
My eyebrows raised in amusement even though she couldn’t see me.“Yeah? You’ve been doing hella research if you were able to track them down.”
“I have…”she paused momentarily. “I have a daughter who is special needs and her medical bills are…extensive, to say the least. You said there was a reward in the information, so I’ve been working non-stop to get you what you need so that I can try to get out of this medical debt. Even if it’s just a little bit.”
Hearing the weariness in her voice pulled at my heart strings. I knew a tired mother when I heard one because my mother used to be one. I vowed that I’d take care of my mom so that she never had to work three and four jobs to take care of me and Vani. We might’ve lived in the suburbs but that was only because my mother worked so damn hard to get us there. When I was twenty-six, I officially retired my mother, and she hadn’t had to worry about a thing in life since. It was obvious Miss Frizzle was a good mom, even though I truly didn’t know her.
“Yeah, I did say that. Um, will you be free to meet in an hour?”
“If you can meet me at Northside Park. That’s where I take my daughter on my off days.”
Checking my Rolex, I nodded. “Bet. I can be there in an hour. I’ll call you once I’m there.”
“Okay.”
My mouth was damn near salivating thinking about how close I was to getting the information I needed. The cops hadn’t been able to find shit that was useful, which didn’t surprise me. Dreka just wanted to put it behind her, but it was always at the forefront of my mind that someone had violated in a crazy way. The fact that no one was talking about let me know that whoever it was that broke in knew better than to brag about it.
“I’m good,” I told Dean and Ashaun as I headed to the front door. “I’ll be right back.”
Even though I told frick and frack that I was good, they followed behind me anyway, hopping in their Suburban. Them niggas didn’t listen for shit. Starting my BMW up, I got the AC blowing to cool the interior off while placing a Facetime call to Drek.
“Wassup?” she answered on the second ring.
“Why yo phone ring twice, Angel?”
She sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes. “Nigga, you got some good ass pussy and sloppyyyy head this morning, and you wanna be on some bullshit when it’s barely noon?”
“Mm,” I chuckled at her feisty attitude. “I love when you fussing at me.”
“Yeah, I know you do, weirdo. What’s going on?”
I debated on if I wanted to tell her what I was about to go do. I wanted to keep the line of communication between us as open as possible, but I also didn’t want to tell her until I had something solid.
“Nothin’. I missed your pretty face. I just finished looking at the new collection.”
“Yeah? It’s nice?”
“Fire. It represents you so well, my darling angel,” I winked at her.
She giggled and blushed. “I still can’t believe I’ll have my own collection attheDiamond Chambers. I feel a lil’ special.”
“Mmhmm, you should, Angel. Your legacy will be etched in stones, literally, for life.”
“Yeah, that’s kinda cool,” she smiled slightly.
“I gotta handle some business, but can I pull up and eat it after I’m done?” I pressed like the fiend that I was.
