ten, and dropped it on the table. “Go on, get yourself some Mac-Donald’s, sumshit like that.”
“I ain’t hungry.”
“You look hungry to me.”
Her eyes went up and down his rotund body. “How would
McKinley leaned down and put his face close to hers. “Go on, now,” he said. “Before I lose my composure.”
She looked away from him and stood quickly. She gathered her possessions and left the shop.
“All right, girl,” McKinley said to Devra, smiling pleasantly, showing her his fronts. “Let’s have a talk in the back.”
“I need to look after my son,” said Devra.
“Mike’ll look after the boy,” said McKinley. “He’s good with kids.” To Inez Brown he said, “Lock that front door.”
Devra got up from her chair and Juwan stood up with her. She danced her fingers through his short, tight hair. “Mama’s just going in the other room. I’ll be out in a while. Stay out here and play.”
The boy sat back down but kept his eyes on his mother as she walked through a doorway behind the register desk. He watched the fat man with all the jewelry follow her. He watched his mother’s boss, that little lady who wasn’t never nice to him, put her key to the lock of the front door.
“What you got there, little man?” said Montgomery, who had crouched down beside the boy, his forearms resting on his thighs. “Who’s that, the Rock?”
“That’s Afro Thunder!” said Juwan, pointing to one of the action figures. He didn’t mind talking to this man. His eyes told Juwan that this man was all right.
“My mistake,” said Montgomery, gently tapping the boy’s shoulder. “Tell me the names of the other ones you got, too.”
The back room, cluttered with supplies and lit with a forty-watt naked bulb, was little more than a narrow hall leading to a dirty bathroom. A door near the bathroom had a small window, barred on both sides, that gave to a view of an alley.
“Stand over there,” said McKinley, pointing to the door. Devra went to the door, crossed her arms, and leaned her back against the bars.
McKinley drew hard on his cigar and walked toward her. Smoke swirled off of him as he approached. It settled in the dim glow of the naked bulb. He stood three feet from her and smiled.
“You lookin’ fine, baby.”
“Thank you.”
“You makin’ some money here, right?”
“I’m doin’ okay.”
“That’s good,” said McKinley. “Good to remember why you doin’ okay, too.”
“I do,” said Devra.
“I know you do. I know you remember when you lost your other job, how that felt. I know you remember that it was Phil Wood who asked me to put you on. How it was him who was lookin’ out for you.”
“I remember.”
“Sure you do. So my question is, why you want to go and do him dirt now?”
Devra’s palms had begun to get sticky. She dropped her hands to her sides.
“You been talkin’ to the police, haven’t you?” said McKinley. “That man they call Strange.”
“He’s not police,” said Devra. “He’s private. Gathering evidence for Granville’s defense. They be trying to talk to everyone knew Phil and Granville.”
“They tryin’. Except for some dry snitches they got inside, though, they ain’t had too much success. What we got some concern about is you.”
“You don’t need to worry.”
“Strange took you out somewhere yesterday, ain’t that right?”
“He bought some ice cream for my boy and me, is all.”
“What about over at your apartment, a little while back? He buy you some ice cream there, too?”
“We talked,” said Devra, hating the sound of the catch in her voice. “But I didn’t talk to him about the case. He asked me to, but I didn’t. Everything he knows he already knew, or he found out his own self. We just talked. Wasn’t anything more than that.”
McKinley nodded slowly. He dragged on his cigar. The smoke reached her and it was foul. He looked at the cigar and then put it behind his back. Smoke coiled up over his broad, round shoulders.
“I’m sorry, baby. This bothering you?”
“It’s all right.”
“You know,” said McKinley, “I’m glad we’re straight on this. Seems like you got your priorities together, I mean, with your little boy and all. Seems like a good kid.”
“He is.”
“I know you want to be a good mother. Seein’ as how you had some problems with your own mother and all that. See, Phil told me about her. Granville and him knew her some around the way, when you wasn’t but a slip of nothin’. She goes by the name of Mattie, right?”
“She don’t have those problems anymore,” said Devra. “She’s good now.”
“But she did have some problems while you was growin’ up. Phil says she was one of those rock stars, from back when they had that, what do they call it,
“She’s good now,” repeated Devra.
“But she wasn’t back then. Heard she was a real chicken-picker. Would give up her face for ten dollars.”
Devra said nothing.
“Was she pretty like you?” said McKinley. “Probably not when she was geekin’ behind that shit. They lose their ass at that point. But I wonder, at one time, if she was as fine as you. If she had the ass on her that you got on you now.”
McKinley stepped in and put his free hand, thick as a mitt, on Devra’s hip. Then, suddenly, he moved it to the crotch of her slacks. He rubbed her clumsily through the fabric. She pushed herself against the door and felt the bars of the windows press into her back. She wanted to cry out. She wanted to look away, but she kept her eyes on his.
“You are fine,” said McKinley, his voice soft and raspy.
“Don’t,” said Devra.
He pressed harder at her objection, and she said, “Uh.”
“That hurt you? I didn’t mean to.” McKinley inspected her body. “Let’s see what else we got here.”
His hand slid up and over her shirt and went to her right breast. He kneaded it and found her nipple. His forefinger made small circles there. Her nipple grew hard. He pinched it between his thumb and forefinger and it grew harder still.
“There you go,” said McKinley, smiling silver. “Your body is betrayin’ you now.”
He pinched her nipple harder and heard her breath catch. Devra’s eyes filled with tears and one broke free and rolled down her cheek. He tightened his fingers more, pinching her there until she closed her eyes completely. He got very close to her face.
“I know you’ll stand tall,” said McKinley. “You gonna do this for your son. Make sure he has the kind of childhood you never had. Boy needs his mother, right?”
Devra’s lip trembled. She couldn’t bring herself to speak. She nodded instead.
