Angel's Revenge

“Hello?” Delores Murphy repeated.

What should I say? Maybe this was all wrong. Maybe I shouldn’t have called her. This is crazy! I’m calling a stranger in the middle of the night about a dead man. She’ll probably get upset. I don’t want to upset her,Nina thought.

“Miss Murphy?”

“Yes, who is this?” Delores asked, somewhat confused.

“My name is Nina, Nina Martin. You don’t know me but, um, I really need to talk to you.” Nina sighed.

“About?” Delores replied, already knowing exactly who Nina was and what her phone call was about.

“Well, you see, I’m a… well, I was a friend of Bernard’s.”

“I see.”

There was a long pause as Delores tried to figure out exactly what the girl wanted. Nina simply wanted to hang up, run back upstairs, jump in her bed, and hide under the covers, but she had to know.

“Miss Murphy?”

“I’m still here.”

“I don’t know how to say this, but a lot of things have been happening around me and…” Nina’s voice trailed off.

“When would you like to meet?” Delores asked invitingly, figuring Nina needed someone to talk to.

“Now,” Nina blurted.

Poor girl, she can’t even sleep. What did Bernard do to her? Delores wondered.

Delores laughed softly. “It’s going on four in the morning. You want some breakfast?”

“I’m not really hungry, ma’am.”

Nina scribbled down the directions to Delores’s house, then made her way upstairs. Reality hit her as she saw Dwight lying in her bed, sound asleep, mouth open and snoring with each breath. Nina quietly tiptoed to her closet and threw on a pair of jogging pants.

Downstairs in the kitchen, she grabbed her bag and her keys and looked at the piece of paper she had written the directions on.

Ivy Hill,she thought to herself as she made her way out the front door.

“Come on in, Miss Martin,” Delores said, greeting Nina with a friendly smile as she ushered her into the living room.

Nina looked around the spacious penthouse. She could see that Dutch had showered his mother with every luxurious amenity possible.

“Can I get you anything, tea or maybe some coffee?” Delores offered as she sized Nina up.

Delores could see what her son saw in the young woman. Even without makeup, Nina had a flawless beauty. She was demure with a quiet strength and obviously educated but not removed from where she came from.

“Yes, please. Tea would be fine.”

Nina saw immediately that Dutch had his mother’s eyes and complexion. His height and smile, however, must have come from his father. Delores herself looked good for her age. Time had been good to her. Delores had jet- black hair, and her face showed no signs of aging, no wrinkles, no blemishes, no crow’s-feet.

Delores poured Nina a cup of tea and placed it in front of her.

“Thank you,” Nina said, reaching for the sugar.

“Oh, you’re welcome,” Delores replied.

“Miss Murphy, I want to thank you for letting me come over in the middle of the night like this. I really needed to talk to someone. Actually, I really needed to talk to you,” Nina said, nervously stirring her tea.

Delores gently placed her hand on Nina’s to comfort her.

“It’s fine. Really, I don’t get much sleep at night these days. I just hope I can help you. You say you were a friend of my son’s?”

“Yes, ma’am. We dated for a while,” Nina said, nodding.

“Oh, I see.” I know she not here to tell me I’m a grandmother or nothing crazy like that,Delores thought, while secretly wishing for a grandson that looked like her own son. But Nina’s eyes told her a different story.

“I know that this may be hard for you… But what happened in the courtroom three years ago?”

“Happened? I’m not sure I understand,” Delores interrupted.

Nina searched for a way to convey what she was feeling and why she had come.

“Miss Murphy, for three years I’ve tried to put Bernard and what he meant to me out of my mind. I had deep feelings for him, but I couldn’t accept his lifestyle. I couldn’t accept who he was until it was too late.”

Nina noticed that she was stirring her tea again, so she let go of the spoon.

“By then he was gone, and anything we could have had was gone with him. I accepted that and tried to go on with my life. I did go on with my life, but in many ways, never completely.” Nina took a deep breath. “Until things started happening.”

“What do you mean, things started happening? What kind of things?” Delores questioned with furrowed brows.

“I know this is going to sound crazy. But little things of great significance. If I told you, you would probably think I was crazy.”

“No, I wouldn’t,” Delores said sincerely, wanting to know the things Nina was talking about.

“Well, one night, I came home from work and music was playing from my stereo. At first I thought it was the radio, but then I realized it was a CD that I didn’t own. I never figured out how it was playing, but it was, and it was playing a song that we shared. Then flowers were sent to my office. Not just any flowers, but hundreds of exotic flowers that no one I know could have possibly afforded. Then tonight, a limo was sent to me for my birthday. The driver claimed I ordered it, but I didn’t. I don’t know who did, but whoever it was ordered the limo in my middle name. No one knows my middle name, and… I just can’t think straight anymore. But I can’t stop thinking.”

“I take it that Bernard knew your middle name and you think it was Bernard who sent the limo and the flowers and somehow got in your house and played a CD that the two of you used to listen to?”

“I know it sounds crazy, and you probably think anybody could’ve done those things, but I know in my heart, I swear, that those things are signs, Miss Murphy. Signs.”

“Signs of what?” Delores asked. The girl must be crazy. Let me get her out my house.

“I don’t know. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I had to see you. I thought that maybe you knew something. If anybody knows, I figured it would be you.”

“Knows what? If my son is still alive?”

“Yes, exactly. That’s exactly what I was thinking, Miss Murphy. I know he’s in a lot of trouble, especially if he’s alive, and you wouldn’t be able to tell anyone. I realize you don’t even know me. But, I swear, Miss Murphy, I just need to know. If he’s alive, ask him why he’s doing this to me, because he’s driving me crazy.” Nina shook her head in despair.

Delores looked at Nina and watched her body language as she spoke about her son. She didn’t know Nina. For all Delores knew, Nina could have been anyone trying to get information about her son.

If she thinks I know something, why would she think I would tell her? Delores asked herself. Delores never spoke of her suspicions to anyone and certainly wasn’t about to start today. She felt bad for Nina. She reminded her of herself. She knew despair, she knew pain, she knew heartache. His name was Bernard James, Sr., and he was her son’s father. She had lost her love a long time ago and also refused to let go.

“Please, Miss Murphy, I know you know something,” Nina pleaded.

“And that ring, did Bernard send you that, too?” Delores inquired.

Nina glanced down at the lie she wore on her left ring finger and moved her hand from above the table to under it.

Delores stood up slowly.

“Nina, I can only tell you what you already know. Bernard is dead. This I can assure you because I cremated his body myself. Go on with your life and forget my son.”

Delores wouldn’t dare tell Nina anything else. She wasn’t about to share her private thoughts with a complete stranger. Besides, if her son had wanted someone to know something, he would have said it himself. As his mother,