It ain't guaranteed that she's Ghost, but I gotta be real surprised if it ain't her. Can't believe a mother's behind everything, but I seen crazier. Problem is, there's kids in there. She doesn't seem like the kinda person gonna have time to screw around. I knock on the door again.
She comes out in a t-shirt, and she's kinda leaking, 2 wet spots on her chest. Cassandra's got her hand over the phone, asks what I want. I just say Hi, Ghost. She doesn't bat an eye, just tells the person on the phone she'll call them back. Snaps the phone shut, invites me in.
Kid's clothes everywhere, like the clothes hadn't moved where someone dropped it. Food smeared on the walls, a couple muddy handprints the size of my palm. There's a cracked lamp unplugged in the dining room. Computer's set up on the dining room table, but there's papers and checks all over.
We sit across from each other. She asks if I want anything to drink, they got water and milk. I look down at her shirt, say no thanks.
She wonders who sold her out, and I tell her I got my ways, that no one sold her out. Cassandra smoothes her bristly hair back, puts her face in her hands, sighs. Says she can't take much more. She points upstairs, and her third kid is standing there in a blue shirt reaches down to her ankles, sucking her thumbs. Cass hasn't slept more than 4 hours in a row for 6 months now. She goes on about how she loves em, but she just needs a break. Her eyes get glassy, and she starts staring off over my shoulder, like there's a paradise or something just outside where she can't get to it.
She blanks out a while. I clear my throat a few times, snaps her back to conscience [Conscious. -Dara]. She wonders what prison's gonna be like if they convict her, even though she was just the go between. Just passing information, that's all. Cass hopes they'll let the kids visit, somehow, hopes they give her some solitary time.
I tell her she might be able to strike a deal with the cops if she helps em. She looks up, sniffling, asks if I ain't a cop, what am I. I tell her I'm a PI, then start talking about the Vanguard and George and how it all started.
Cass sits up straight, cracks her neck, says I got nothing without the badge. I say maybe I don't, but I got Sgt. Miller's ear, and I can get him to go over her house top to bottom. And it doesn't matter if they find nothing, no one will ever call her again cause she'll be tainted.
She glares, says she don't like me. There's a real weary ache in her voice. Asks if I want money to keep quiet, and says I should be ashamed of what I'm doing. I throw it right back on her, tell her there's nothing honest about what she's pulling here.
I tell her it's all real simple. All she's gotta do is tell me who's ordering the graffiti and I'll disappear. Problem is, them wet spots on her shirt been spreading, and I can't stop staring. When I talk to her now, I'm staring down at them dark circles. She looks down, throws her arm acrost her chest, slaps me real hard. Does that whisper-yell dames do, tells me I shoulda been real ashamed of what I done. I apologize, but she doesn't want none of that.
Cass grabs a Tennessee sweatshirt off a pile, throws it on, all orange and too big. Purses her lips till there's nothing but a thin line, pale and scary. Tells me if I trace the businesses buying up all the property near the Vanguard, it'll all lead back to 1 source. Says I never talked to her, and that I need to keep looking even after I think I find the source, till there's nowhere else to go.
There's another cry from upstairs. Cass says I can let myself out, then rushes upstairs to feed her child.
No comments:
Post a Comment