inch television in their tiny living room. “The Range Rover, the Escalade, or the Lexus?” she continued as she rummaged through the papers.
I was confused but I told her, “The Range Rover.”
“Right, right.”
“Here is all the papers for the Range Rover, where you can make you payments to and everything, okay?”
I took the pile of papers from Carolyn, but I stayed put on the sofa. I wanted to know more. It didn’t make sense for me to take a half-hour trip in the rain and go back with no information.
“Did they ever find O?” I asked carefully.
Carolyn looked at me, baffled. “Ju didn’t hear?”
“No, not really,” I answered.
“Marisol,
The girl left the room and headed for the kitchen.
“The police came by here like a week ago because they found his car and it’s registered to my address.”
Tears started to gather in Carolyn’s eyes. She continued, “It was a robbery, they say, all of his seats was slashed and his trunk was open. They got his drugs and his money,” she whispered. “But they couldn’t find him.
“Then I got a call from a detective and he asked me all these questions about all the cars in my name. I told him Omar was my nephew. I raised him like my own, and when he asked me to put a car in my name as long as it’s not illegal, I say yes,” she spilled.
“Then like a day or two later the detective called back,” Carolyn began, with tears forming again. “And they told me his body was found on the side of the highway. They say a wild dog brought it up from the woods. A highway patrolman saw his remains hanging from the dog’s mouth.”
Carolyn started to cry a little.
“They put the gun in his mouth and blew the back of his brains out, then they dumped his body in the woods off the highway. The police say if they would have found his body a minute later the animals probably would have eaten it.”
“Did he have a funeral?” I asked.
Carolyn wiped her eyes and yelled, “Marisol!
The girl brought her mother an obituary and returned to the kitchen.
“This is from the funeral. It was Saturday. They cremated him. His wife held a small memorial in Claymont,” she informed me.
“Wife?” I blurted.
Carolyn schooled me. “Ju know what Omar was into, right? Ju know how he lived. He had lots of girls. You think you were the only one, you crazy. That’s why he bought so many cars and nice things, to keep all of you quiet, ju know that.”
I just listened. She was right. I did know what O was into, just not as much as I thought I knew. I could have never guessed he was married.
“What about his house, can anyone get inside?” I asked, thinking about Tina’s advice.
“Which one?”
“The one near here,” I said.
“Oh, no, the police went there already and cleaned it out. It’s boarded up now. He didn’t have a stash there anyways,” she said, hipped to my thoughts.
“No, he kept his stash in a safety box in one of them banks downtown. Only his wife has access to that. And he only stashed money here for me and my daughter, nothing for his girlfriends,” she concluded.
“I been getting calls from his udder girlfriends in Philly, but they not nice like you. They curse me out for telling them this stuff, for telling them the truth. But they need to hear it. They need to know that he’s gone and he’s not coming back and they need to find somebody else to take care of them.”
I listened to everything Carolyn said. I took heed too. I had gotten closure, and now it was time for me to move on.
“Thank you so much,” I said as I was walking out of the door.
“Ju welcome,” Carolyn said. “Oh, here, ju can have this.” She handed me Omar’s obituary.
I took it and thanked her again. I got into my truck and drove off. I didn’t cry. I actually felt better. At least I knew O had had a funeral and he was at peace.
June
I was in desperate need of a vacation when Tina called to invite me to Cancun with her, Derrek, and Terry. I accepted without hesitating, and flew to Los Angeles on a Tuesday morning. That afternoon, Tina and I did some shopping on Rodeo for the trip. Derrek had given Tina a credit card with a $20,000 limit. We spent it in two hours. That’s not surprising on Rodeo, where one item can cost as much as 20 Gs. We bought two pairs of sandals from Christian Louboutin and three from Louis Vuitton. We bought Versace and Dior bathing suits. We bought a pair of sunglasses for just about every outfit. Tina bought a $600 Anna Sui jacket just for the plane. It was refreshing shopping like that. It put me right where I needed to be emotionally.
Terry was already in Mexico on business, closing a deal on some investment properties in Puerto Vallarta. We were to meet him in Cancun on Wednesday. We expected it to be hot and steamy, but when we arrived we were surprised by how beautiful it was. We checked in at the Moon Palace, a gorgeous, prestigious resort. It was like a fairy tale driving through the big iron gates and having our names checked at the entrance. The marble floors and high ceilings were luxurious.
“
This was star treatment, I thought. We got our keys and caught a golf cart over to our suites. We had presidential suites. They were huge like houses. They had hammocks on the balconies that overlooked the pretty, tranquil ocean. It was like heaven. Terry wasn’t scheduled to arrive from Puerto Vallarta until that evening, so I had my suite all to myself. Tina and Derrek said they were going to take a nap for a while and meet up with me when Terry arrived around seven. The first thing I did was get into the Jacuzzi. It was so relaxing, something I very much needed.
“Who is it?” I yelled, not feeling like getting out of the warm, bubbly water.
“Bags,” the little Mexican voice yelled.
“Come in, please,” I yelled back.
Two short Mexican men entered my suite with a cart filled with my luggage. They unloaded the cart and placed my bags neatly along an empty wall in the foyer. I instructed them to take twenty dollars from my pants that I had lying on the floor and sent them on their way.
At a quarter to six, I heard the knob to my suite door turning. I sat up in the king-sized bed and looked toward the door. It was Terry.
“Heeey,” he said with a huge happy-to-see-you smile on his face.
He was carrying a black briefcase, and a sports jacket was draped across his arm. I jumped up and ran over to him to greet him with a big hug.
“Long time no see,” I whispered in his ear as we hugged each other tight.
I was not at all happy about seeing him, but it was the least I could do for his treating me to such a beautiful vacation.
Terry dropped his jacket to the floor and proceeded to put his briefcase in the safe.
“So how was the flight?” he asked, walking away from me.
“It was good, quiet,” I replied.
“What do you think of this resort? Precious, huh?” he asked, looking at me with a grin.
“It’s amazing. I can’t thank you enough,” I said, sounding like a little girl.
“Nothing but the best for you,” he said.
