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“No, you haven’t been indicted for the crime. However, under the circumstances they can suspend you until this serious matter has been cleared up. I’m going to try and arrange things so you will continue receiving a paycheck during that time. Understand?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Now, can you explain how your fingerprints ended up at the murder scene?”
“I told you I was at the house two days before Annabelle died. I used that bathroom during the visit.”
Keith ruffled through some papers and read two of them before addressing me again. “You told me that Annabelle let you in the apartment and you went down the hall by yourself to meet with her husband in the library.”
“I stopped in the bathroom along the way.”
Keith jumped up and slapped his desk with an open palm. The sound made me jump. He shoved the papers in my direction. “Find it!”
I threw my hands up helplessly. “Find what?”
“These are my notes from our first meeting and a copy of the statement you gave to the police. I want you to find just one goddamned place in any of it where you say that you used the bathroom on that morning in the Murrays’ apartment.”
“It didn’t seem important, so I guess I forgot to mention it.” My voice was a whisper.
“You forgot to mention it. Even if Mrs. Murray saw you go into the bathroom, she isn’t here to say so. Don’t you know how convenient that piece of information is going to sound now?”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m going to call your employer now and when I’m done with that, you are going to tell me your life story. Do you hear me? Every single little thing you can remember doing, hearing, saying since the day you took your first breath. I’ll tell you what to skip and when. Are we clear?”
“Yes.”
He picked up the receiver and then paused. “Jackie, how much money do you have in the bank?”
I was confused. “About $10,000, I guess.”
“That won’t be enough.”
“For what?”
“Bail, sweetheart,” he replied angrily.
While Keith was on the phone wrangling with the Welburn lawyers, I reached the heartrending conclusion that by now everyone in the industry had seen Tiffany Nixon’s article and my reputation was irreparably tarnished. With no job, hobbies, children, or significant other in my life, I would now have plenty of time to help with the investigation and thereby clear my name. When not running around the city playing amateur sleuth and visiting with Mama, would I have any viable friendships to keep my spirits up? Would Paul stand by me? Would Victor ask me out for another date? Would Pam still help Alyssa get the job? What would the members of the Black Pack say?
I recalled my conversation with Alyssa two months before: Well, don’t worry about me, Alyssa. I am going to help you regardless of what anyone thinks.
What about the rest of the Black Pack?
They’re running so hard for cover, they might pass the ghost of Jesse Owens on the way.
If it had not been for me, the Black Pack would have kicked Alyssa to the curb and never mentioned her name again. I didn’t really blame them then and I wasn’t going to hold my banishment against them now. In fact, I felt badly about what they were going to have to suffer through in the coming weeks. In order to keep their jobs, they would have to repudiate me, denounce me, and hide any belief in my innocence in the presence of every single white person they encountered.
Dallas Mowrey was the type of Black who would wait until the subject arose before breaking into the old soft shoe. So would Joe Long.
Elaine and Rachel were the types who preferred to get their minstrel acts over with as quickly as possible. They would bring up the Jacqueline Blue matter first, practically disavow any knowledge of my birth, and endear themselves even more to their white coworkers and superiors.
Keith looked exhausted when he got off the phone. My salary and benefits would remain intact for the next eight weeks no matter what happened. After that, who knew?
20
MAMA
Keith didn’t hear my whole life story but he came pretty damn close. I left out my obsession with Victor Bell. It was too embarrassing to discuss, and besides, I’d sound like some kind of nut case.
