She turned back to him again. And leaned her back against the railing. “I’m fine. That’s why those tests were all negative. I wasn’t injured, I was just shook up a little. Especially when I saw . . .”
William stared at her. And waited for her to continue. “When you saw what, Joynetta?”
“When I saw that man with that gun.”
He could see how shaken she still was. And he realized in that instant that he’d been more concerned about her physical health, and the fact that she didn’t have a scratch on her, than her mental health, which could be hiding a plethora of scratches. “Come here,” he said to her as he unfolded his legs and sat his wine glass on his side table.
Joy pushed away from the railing and went to William. When he pulled her onto his lap, she leaned backwards so that her back rested against the left side of his chest. He leaned back too, and held her. “Tough day, hun?”
“You won’t get an argument from me.”
“I know you’re physically fine. Thank God for that. But how are you mentally sweetie?”
She didn’t respond as quickly as he would have liked. It was as if it cut much deeper than he had thought. But then she spoke up. “It was kind of terrifying to see a gun pointed at me. At first I thought he was a cop when I saw that gun. I thought he was coming to help me and drew his gun to protect me for some reason. But then I saw that look in his eyes. And I knew then that that brother was trying to kill me, not protect me.”
“You saw the gunman clearly?”
“I stared right at him, if that’s what you mean. If Cory’s car hadn’t knocked him over, he would have pulled that trigger I’m certain of it.”
“Did you recognize him at all, Joy?”
This time she shook her head. “Never seen him before in my life that I know of. It all happened so fast, I can’t even remember details of his face. He was a black man in a baseball cap, and kind of tall and skinny. But that’s all I remember about him.”
William knew trauma kept you in a fog, too, particularly when it came to remembering details in that moment. “And you can’t think of anyone who would want to harm you?”
“That’s what the Police kept asking me too, but I don’t know anybody who would be so mad at me that they would want to kill me. No way. I don’t get involved with people like that.”
After that car crash and Max discovered a gun was involved, he ordered a deep background on Joy. William didn’t like it, and made his dislike clear. But he didn’t forbid it, either, because he knew it was necessary. And he knew that to be especially true now that she wasn’t mentioning the obvious. “You can’t think of anyone?”
“No. Nobody at all.” But then she looked at William. What was he implying? “What are you trying to say? That I do know somebody?”
“Your ex-boyfriend perhaps.” William said this and looked at her.
Joy frowned.“Z?”
“Juan Sanchez?”
“We call him Z. Or just Sanchez, but yeah that’s his name. What about him?”
“Did you know he was released from prison a couple weeks ago?”
Joy nodded. “Contessa told me so, yeah. But what does he have to do with anything? I saw that man’s face. I may not be able to pick him out of a lineup, but I knew he wasn’t Z.”
“Did you know the reason he was incarcerated?”
“He nearly beat an old lady to death because he had a beef with her son. Yeah I know.”
William continued to stare at her.
“I know what you’re thinking and I agree. Why would I be with bad news like that? But we were broke up months before he did that to that lady. I was already so over Z it’s not even funny.”
“According to my chief of security, he may not be over you. According to Max, he tried to see you twice while you were locked up, but you wouldn’t allow it.”
Joy frowned. “Why would I allow it? I didn’t wanna have nothing to do with him.”
“Even though he might have been able to bail you out?”
“I didn’t want him doing nothing for me! I don’t owe him a dime and I never will. How could you think I would want that bastard to help me? He treated me like I was a mangy dog in the streets when we were together. He cheated on me all the time and then lied about it like it was me. Like I was just imagining things. And my young, dumb ass put up with that bullshit for years. When I left him I couldn’t get away from him fast enough. I can’t stand him!”
