Cold (4 page)

Melanie’s death came as a shock. I felt terrible. Who would do this to her, I wondered. It was like someone dropped a ton of bricks on me. I could barely speak and it’s like my feet were cemented into the ground. I felt like I was going to be sick. This was the coldest one.

I turned to Draya and asked, “How did she die? Are you sure it’s Melanie that died?” I asked hoping that she would tell me no.

Draya
put her head down and paused.

She then looked up
at me and said, “They say that someone shot her in the head and slit her throat. It’s strange because they found her car in the parking lot of a hospital.”

‘Who the hell had motive to kill Melanie,’
I thought to myself. I didn’t like Melanie but I would never want her dead. This was too much to take in. I decided to go home. The road looked blurry to me. Everything was moving in slow motion and it sounded like voices were echoing in my head. I thought I was going crazy. I reach in my purse and grab my phone to call Michael. He picks up on the first ring.

“Hello
.”

I
n a panic I yelled, “Michael please meet me at the house now.”

I could tell he was clueless and he hadn’t got the news of Melanie
’s death yet.

“Is everything alright?” he asked.

I was shaking my head as if he could see me.

“Just get home now Michael
,” I sighed.

As soon as I got home, I dropped my purse on the floor and went to the kitchen to pour myself a glass of wine. I gulped the first glass so fast that the wine was seeping from the corners of my mouth. I started on my second glass right awa
y. Michael walked through the door in a panic.

“What’s wrong Tiff?” he asked with his eyes wide open.

I took a deep breath and braced myself.

“Melanie’s dead
,” I replied.

It’s like Michael was frozen. He just stood there like
a statue.

“I
gotta go. I gotta make a phone call!”

Before I could stop him or say anything to him, he was already ou
t the door. This was a lot to take in and I wasn’t sure what the fuck was going on. It’s like I was in another world. I grabbed my wine and sat on the couch waiting for Michael to return. It was 11:45 p.m. when Michael returned. He was sweaty and he looks like he had been in fight. I walk up to him and demanded answers.

“Michael what the fuck is going on?”

There was so much pain in my voice. I felt like my husband wasn’t even standing in front of me. That’s just how distant he was. He put his hand up cutting me off.

“Tiffany I don’t
wanna hear this shit tonight.

Next thing I knew I was all in his face.

“What the fuck you mean you don’t wanna hear this shit tonight? Are you serious? You need to tell me what the fuck is going on right now!”

Michael put his hand up again and walked away like I didn’t mean shit to him. I couldn’t stay in this house with h
im any longer so I reached for my phone and called Carl.

“Hello
,” he answered in a low tone.

“Carl me and Michael had an argument. I can’t stay here. Is it okay if I stay in your guest room for a few days until I can clear my head?”

I was a total wreck.

“Yes of course, you can come. I’ll have Tangy set things up for you in the guest room so you can be comfortable.”

After I got off the phone with Carl, I went upstairs and grabbed my suitcase. Michael looked at me and put his hand on his hip.

“Where the fuck you going?” he asked angrily.

I ignored him and continued packing my clothes. If he didn’t have to answer to me, I sure as hell wasn’t going to answer to him. He then grabbed me by my arm and just stared at me.

“Tiff, where are you going?”

I jerked my arm away from him and looked at him like he was crazy.

“I’m going to Carl’s for a few days until we can both calm down.”

Michael released my arm and walked downstairs. Minutes
later, and grabbed my hand.

“I don’t want you going to Carl’s house. I don’t care if he is your friend. He’s still a man.”

I couldn’t believe he said that.

“Oh so now you
wanna play the overprotective husband role now? Where the fuck was you weeks ago?” I snatched my hand back and grabbed my suitcase and left his ass standing there like a fool.

As soon as Carl came to the door, I jumped in his arms and cried. He was stroking my hair and trying to console me.

“Let’s get you in the house,” he advised.

When we turn
ed to walk in the house, Tangy was staring at me with a cold look on her face.

“Hey Tangy,
”

She didn’t say anything.
She grabbed my suitcase and carried it to the guest room. I silently followed behind her. Tangy was always sweet but she seemed a little off tonight.

The next morning, I woke up to a horrible headache. It felt like someone took a hammer and hit me in the head. I had no plans of leaving this room today. I needed time to think and clear my thoughts. I couldn’t get over Melanie’s death. It was crazy how she died so suddenly. I and Melanie never got along, but I would never wish death on her. I don’t even know who else would hate her that much that they had to take her life. I also started thinking about my car. I didn’t know who did it, so it wasn’t much that I could do.

Later that day, Carl came to the door and said
, “Knock Knock, can I come in?”

I smiled and let him in. He was carrying a breakfast tray with eggs, bacon, pancakes and grits.

“Breakfast?” he asked with a smile.

“Thank you
,” I nodded.

“How are you feeling today?” Carl
asked as he put his hand on my shoulder.

Shaking my head
I responded, “I don’t know. Remember the woman I was telling you that called Michael the other night?”

He shook his head in a yes motion and looked at me like he was waiting for me to continue talking.

“Well they found her dead in her car yesterday.”

Carl
’s eyes got big and he begin asking questions.

“Who did it? How did she die? Why would anyone want to kill her?”

It was too much all at once. I put my hand over my forehead and hung my head low.

“I wish I had all the answers to those questions but I don’
t and on top of it all, my car ended up getting keyed and I’ve been getting private calls as well.”

He sighed and put his hand on my lap and with sympathy in his voice he said
, “Tiff I hate that you are going through this. I really suggest you change your number and don’t give it to anyone but your family and friends. Your clients can call you on your work phone.”

I looked at him as if he just asked me to slap my mama.

“Carl, I don’t know about that.”

He stood up and he got serious.

“If you want these private calls to stop, you have to change your number. Do it today. I promise it will give you some peace,” he reassured.

I thought about what he said and decided to c
hange it. After I changed my number, I sent all of my family and friends a text message giving them my new number. I then called Michael.

“Hello
,” he answered.

“Hey it’s me, Tiffany. This is my new number. Carl talked me into changing it due to all the private calls.”

He paused for a minute and then began speaking in a low tone.

“Tiff, I don’t want you at Carl’s. You have a home to come home to.”

I can’t believe he was acting jealous. His ass should’ve thought about that before he started treating me any kind of way. Before I could speak, he responded again.

“Please come home
,” he pleaded.

I rolled my eyes and gave in right on the spot.

“Okay,” I sighed.

I grabbed all of my things and kissed Carl and told him I was going back home. I can tell he didn’t really want me to leave so
soon, but I did miss my own bed and I missed my husband. When I got home, I made sure to park in the garage. Since my car got keyed, I was thinking about having hidden cameras installed. Since it was nothing the police could do, I was going to do my own damn investigation. When I walked in the house, Michael greeted me with a hug and a kiss. His grip was so tight, I could barely breathe.

He looked at me with
apologetic eyes and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

While we were hugging and kissing, my phone began to ring. I reached in purse and grabbed it. I looked at the screen and couldn’t believe what the fuck I was seeing. It was like a blow to my jaw. In big bold letters it read unknown on the screen. I stood there like a statue with my phone in my hand. I changed my number today so that only meant one thing. It was
definitely somebody I knew.

I felt so helpless. It’s like I took one step forward just to take two steps back. I felt like somebody had dropped a bomb on me.
Michael looked at me in disbelief.

“Who the hell could it be? He asked rhetorically.

I buried my head in my hands and sighed, “I don’t know. It has to be someone I know. I sent a text to everyone giving them my new number so the list is wide. It could be anybody in my circle of family or friends fucking with me.”

The fact that it was someone I possibly knew sent chills down my spine. I was so emotional due to the fact that all of these weird things were happening, and then Melanie turns up dead. I talked to Michael about getting the cameras installed all around the house. At first he didn’t like the idea but later decided we could do it.

Tonight was another sleepless night. I wasn’t worried about losing too much sleep though. I handled all of the cases that I had and I wasn’t taking anymore until I was feeling better, so I decided to take an early vacation from work. While I was asleep, I kept hearing this constant banging noise. It seemed to get louder as I drifted out of sleep. I slowly opened my eyes and realized that the banging was coming from downstairs. I put on my robe and rushed down the stairs.

“Who is it?!” I yelled.

I looked through the peephole and I could see a man standing there in a security uniform.

He put his face towards the door and yelled
, “I’m here to install your cameras.”

I
opened the door and let him in. He walked in the house and looked around. He went to each room and examined them. We walked into the garage and he looked at the top corners of the walls. I watched him carefully.

“I wan
t to have the cameras set up to where I can see who’s walking up to my driveway. I also want a camera put in each room in the house as well,” I told him.

Hell if someone keyed my car, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone tried to break in our home while we were away.
As we walked outside, Michael pulls up and parks in the driveway. I could tell he was at the gym by what he was wearing and how sweaty he was. I walked up to him.

“He just got here about ten minutes ago. I have to make a few phone calls so can you take it from here
,” I asked.

He shook his head and started talking to the man. I went in the house and grabbed my phone. I had two missed calls. One was from the unknown caller and the other one was from Carl. I forgot to call him when I got home yesterday so I immediately retuned the call.

“Hey Carl, sorry I forgot to call you. I’m having cameras installed in my house,” I explained.

“It’s okay Tiff. Is everything okay?”

I didn’t want to talk about it, but I had a habit of telling Carl all of my problems. We’ve been confiding in each other since we were children.

I sighed,
“No, I’m not. After I changed my damn number, I received another private call.”

He gasped as if someone took his breath away and responded
, “You need to go to the police and have them investigate this immediately. You could be in serious danger.”

I cut Carl off and
told him I would call him back because I didn’t want to face the fact that he could possibly be right. If the police couldn’t help me after my car was vandalized, then I knew for sure that they wouldn’t be able to investigate a private call. Getting the cameras put in was me starting my own investigation. I was going to put a stop to all of this shit. It had been days since the cameras were installed. I made sure to check them every time I got home, but there was no type of strange activity going on. I made sure I parked my car in the driveway every day. Whoever was responsible for fucking with my car would eventually be caught; just like the rat that they are. I decided to check the camera one more time before Draya and I headed out for drinks. There wasn’t much on the camera; just neighborhood kids playing and my neighbors walking their dogs. I was glad that nobody was doing anything strange but at the same time, I wanted to catch someone fucking up. I sighed and grabbed my keys from the counter and left.

I pulled into the restaurant and parked next to Draya’s car. I walked inside and I could see Draya waving her arms all over the place trying to flag me down. I looked at her and shook my head.

“You could’ve just called me to let me know which table you were at
,” I said sarcastically as I sat down.

“Well I didn’t feel like wasting my phone battery
,” she laughed.

I was relieved to see her. I needed a good laugh and I haven’t seen her since I took a vacation from work. We talked on the phone occasionally
, but I wanted to spend some time with her. While we waited for our drinks to arrive, we talked for a while.

“So you k
now work sucks without you right?” Draya sighed.

I poked my lips out and replied
, “Yea I’m sure it does. I just needed a break especially after Melanie’s sudden death.”

Draya
put her head down and took a deep breath.

“It’s been so quiet around the office. I think everyone is so shaken up because we don’t know who did it. It could’ve been a crazy criminal or something.”

I was expecting to have a good time today. I wanted to talk about good times and have drinks, but I knew we would have to talk about this. I looked at her and my eyes got low.

“That’s the same thing I was thinking too. That it could be some psycho out there killing off lawyers one by one.”

I then started to wonder if I was next with all of the crazy shit that was happening to me. Draya looked at me as if a light bulb went off in her head.

“Did you ever find out why she was calling Michael?”

I shook my head and replied, “No.”

The waiter finally arrived
with our drinks and as I turn to thank him, I could see a woman in my peripheral vision. I turned my head and I blinked twice to make sure I was seeing correctly. It was Tangy walking in with a man and he didn’t look like Carl.

I leaned forward and whispered to
Draya, “Remember Carl’s wife? The one you met at the Christmas party last year?”

Leaning her head in closer to mine she looked at me and whispered back
, “Yes, I think so.”

I pointed my finger in
Tangy’s direction and replied, “Well she’s here with another man and it isn’t Carl.”

I didn’t want to jump to conclusions
, but I found it very strange that Tangy would be at a restaurant with another man in the middle of the day. He was also good looking. Draya and I only had one drink and I decided to cut the date short and return home. I kept pacing back and forth in my kitchen. I didn’t know whether to tell Carl that I just seen his wife at a restaurant with a man. He was still at work, so I definitely wasn’t going to upset him in the middle of him teaching a class. As soon as Michael walked into the door, I greeted him with a hug and a kiss. He could tell by the look on my face that I was disturbed by something.

“What’s wrong baby?”

Biting my nail, I looked at him and said, “I saw Tangy today while Draya and I were out having drinks today. She was there with a guy and it wasn’t Carl.”

Michael shrugged his shoulders.

“Ok so what?” he asked nonchalantly.

“Should I call Carl and tell him what I saw? He’s my
best friend and I don’t want to leave him in the dark.”

He shook his head at me and said
, “Tiff, mind your business. That’s not your problem. Just because she went to a restaurant with a man, does not mean she’s cheating. It could be a friend. I mean look at you and Carl.”

I was surprised by his comment.

“What does that mean? What do you mean look at me and Carl?” I asked with an attitude.

“I’m just saying that you and Carl spend time together. I didn’t mean anything by it
,” he sighed.

I just rolled my eyes and said whatever. Maybe Michael was right. I should mind my business. I didn’t want to start no shit in their
home because I was having issues in my own home. I decided to keep my mouth closed and let the situation go for now.