“Certainly, sir. Would nine o’clock next Monday be convenient?
I assured her that it would and gave her my name and phone number.
It was only three o’clock and I had laundry to do, unless I could think of some excuse to put it off.
* * *
Twenty minutes later, I pulled into the parking lot of the new Home Depot. I didn’t know if Larretta was even working at the moment, and I could have called to find out, of course, but the personal touch is always preferable, especially if it gets you out of doing your laundry, however temporarily.
This was my first visit to the store, though not to the site on which it stood. When I was in high school, my mother worked at the Sears that had been at that location for as long as I could remember. I’d even worked part-time at Sears myself a couple of Christmas vacations. The store closed about seven or eight years ago, at the height of the gang activity in the area, and the building stood empty until the Home Depot folks knocked it down and put up their own place.
When I walked through the automatic doors at the entrance, the third person I saw was Larretta. She was wearing an orange apron and working one of the dozen or so check-out lines near the front of the store. There wasn’t anyone in her line, so I walked over and said hi.
“Mr. Barnes,” she said, “I wasn’t expecting to see you here. How ya doin’?”
“I’m fine,” I said. “How’s Anthony?”
“He’s okay, Mr. Barnes. The doctor sent him home on Tuesday, and he went back to school today.”
She gave a little twirl and said, “How do you like the look?”
I smiled and said, “Very nice. You like working here?”
“Um-mm,” she said. “I do. They pay good, and they have good benefits. But I’ll bet you didn’t come in here to check on my job satisfaction, did you? I got a dinner break in just a few minutes, if you wanna talk.”
We agreed to meet at Vento’s, a pizza joint that was an institution in the area. When Home Depot built its store, the city used eminent domain to knock down several homes and small businesses adjacent to Sears. There was such an outcry about Vento’s closing that Home Depot, in a very smart PR move, offered Sal Vento space for a new shop in one corner of the Home Depot, with access through the store and from the street.
Vento’s wasn’t too busy yet, and I got a booth for us. When Larretta came in, she stopped and asked if she could order for me.
“Thanks, Larretta,” I said. “But I had a late lunch, and I’m planning a big dinner.”
She nodded and went over to the counter and ordered a couple slices of pepperoni pizza. When she came back and sat down, I said, “I’m going to meet with a man named Asaan Witherspoon next week. Do you know him?”
“Not personal,” she said, “but I know who he is. He used to be a gang-banger, back when we had all the trouble. The he got sent to jail for a few years. Came back here when he got out, started the community center. I know he works with the gangs. Is that why you’re gonna talk to him?”
“Yes,” I said. “A police detective said Witherspoon might be able to give me some information about the gangs.” After a pause, I said, “Are you sure that Anthony wants to leave the Links, because if he doesn’t—”
“It ain’t about what Anthony wants, Mr. Barnes. That ain’t the issue here.” As she spoke, her voice had risen, and there was a note of anger there.
“Larretta, I didn’t mean I wouldn’t help, just that I need to know what’s in Anthony’s mind?”
She sighed and said, “Honest to God, Mr. Barnes, I don’t think Anthony knows what he wants and don’t want.”
A teenager brought Larretta’s pizza, and as she began to eat, I said, “I’d like to talk with Anthony again, if you think he’d be willing to see me.”
“Oh, I’m sure he would, Mr. Barnes. After you left the hospital, he kept pesterin’ me with questions about you. He won’t admit it, but he’s interested in you. Said you were the first real live private eye he’d ever met, and that you was in pretty good shape for a old white guy.” She smiled bashfully and added, “Oops, sorry. That last just slipped out. I didn’t mean no offense, and I’m sure Anthony didn’t neither.”
“None taken, Larretta,” I laughed. “From his point of view, I am an old white guy. Anyway, how about if I give him a call next week, after I see Mr. Witherspoon?”
“That’d be good, Mr. Barnes.”
She ate some more of her pizza before speaking again.
“I talked with Anthony ‘bout his behavior in school. I never had no trouble with Anthony until last year, when he took up with that gang. Now, sometimes, I just feel like I’m losin’ him, losin’ my own son, Mr. Barnes. He used to get good grades and go to all his classes, but this year, at Franklin, seems like he’s always cuttin’ and gettin’ into trouble. And every time I try talkin’ to him about the gang stuff, he just says that I don’t understand, that you got to be in a gang these days if you wanna survive. I tell him that’s foolishness, but he just clams up on me.”
“I’ll talk to Mr. Witherspoon, and then I’ll see Anthony,” I told her. “Meanwhile, just keep doing what you’re doing, Larretta. You’re a good parent.”
She smiled a thank-you, and a little later, she went back into the store, and I went outside and walked around to the parking lot and got in my car and drove home. When I got there, the dirty laundry hadn’t magically cleaned itself, so I started a load in the washer and then gave Augie a call. He’d just gotten
