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  “Huli, we talked about this, but not this much. I said ten-thousand.”

  “You wanna give it back?”

  “Hell no! Thank you so much! I’m going to name a room after you,” I exclaimed, moving from my side of the booth to his and happily kissing him all over his adorable face.

  “You’re my big sister, anything for you. You hear me? Anything.”

  “Now what’s going on with you, Kamille; you really want a house or you still considering expanding your business?”

  “Brandon and I have been talking about it, but I haven’t made up my mind yet. He’s letting me decide.”

  “You should check out some spots, you know, out by Villanova or maybe Delaware. Those college kids be hung over and hungry.”

  Eventually I knew anything to do with real estate would fall into my lap so I added, “Why don’t I talk to Mrs. Wayns and see what she suggests. By the way Huli, did you have a chance to see the new property?”

  “Yeah, I need another one of those down in Ole City; what you think?”

  “Slow down, little brother. Let’s give this one a few more months. We’re only at seventy-percent occupancy right now.”

  My brother didn’t only make money on his physical talents, but he’d heavily invested in Philadelphia real estate, going as far as establishing Johnson Properties. Under this umbrella, he purchased, sold, and flipped properties that ranged from abandoned houses to luxury homes all across Philly and its suburbs. His goal was to leave no house abandoned, and ensuring that the majority of them were not only affordable, but offered jobs and training for the unemployed.

  His latest venture, UNAbandon Philly was in its early stages. This project was being prepared by his real estate attorney for presentation to the city, as well as the Sheriff’s Office, on how best to abolish the city’s blight.

  “What’s this I heard about you and Nikki Minaj getting tight?” Kamille teased.

  “That’s all bullshit. You’ll know when it’s the real thing. But seriously, I did hook up with somebody nice before I left Cali. A little reserved, but real nice. I need y’all to give me some suggestions on what to give her for Valentine’s Day.”

  “Please don’t give her jewelry; that’s such a cliché,” I told him.

  “I did hear about this spot in the South Pacific, some private island, yup that’s it,” he said, having answered his own question.

  “We know where that’s going,” my sister commented, with both of us knowing he’d never had a relationship to last more than six months.

  “How old is she? What is she, black, white, other?” I asked.

  “Older and yes, she’s a sister, you happy?”

  I chided him with, “Does she know your reputation?”

  “Thanks to social media, everybody knows my reputation. But that’s the thing, we’ve spent a little time together but she won’t go out with me in public.”

  “All right, who is the little trick?”

  “I’m gonna keep that a secret for now.”

  While we teased our brother on his love adventures, to my surprise the kitchen staff came out of the kitchen carrying a cake and singing Happy Birthday to me.

  “You two are full of surprises. Thank you,” I said, kissing one, then the other. To me and I’m sure to them as well, when we were together it always felt like we were kids again.

  “I have a little something for you,” my brother said.

  “Really? You know I love presents,” I said rubbing my hands together in anticipation of whatever little treat my brother had in his backpack.

  Placing a white envelope on the table, he rocked back in his chair. “Open it.”

  Like a kid, I tore open the envelope and when I saw the contents my mouth dropped open. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Nope, seven days, in France, all expenses paid; first class air, hotel, chauffeur driven Benz, and a little something else when you get there. You and Malik don’t have to put out a red cent, so you can tell those watchdogs to kiss your ass.”

  “Huli, I don’t know what to say. I love you, little brother. Thank you,” I told him, excitedly waving the envelope in the air.

  “Here, this one is from me,” my sister said, holding out a large square box, wrapped in Happy Birthday paper that I wasted no time in ripping open. It’s contents held a beautiful Saint Laurent tote bag in a rich shade of Bordeaux.

  “Kamille, this is beautiful, and soooo expensive. Where am I supposed to carry it?” I exclaimed, while massaging the supple leather with my hands.

  “If you don’t stop that. It’s a gift, stop worrying about what people think.”

  “What you waiting for, carry it now,” my brother exclaimed, as Kamille began dumping the contents from my Michael Kors bag into my new one.

  “I love it! Thank you,” I said, then gave my sister a hug and kiss.

  “Enough with the mushy. So Kamille, what’s this I hear that the Feds let your Pop out?” my brother asked, who like me hadn’t been interested in searching for his biological parents. However once he hit the major leagues, his biological mother contacted him and instead of giving her the cold shoulder, mostly because our mother told him not to, he saw her twice a year, and sent her a monthly stipend.

  “Don’t you start, Huli. Tiffany is already on my back. And so you know, Haney’s okay. He’s been coming over to the house quite often, hanging out with me, and the boys.

  I kept out of that conversation by slicing up the cake because I certainly wasn’t going to discourage Kamille from building a relationship with that man, as long as it didn’t include me.

  “I’m making sure I don’t have to send anybody to check his ass. What about you? You cool with him?” Huli asked, his eyes now focused on me.

  “Right now I could care less about Haney cause I have a trip to Paris and a Saint Laurent bag.”

  By the time Malik came home that evening, I’d finished packing for our trip to New York, with Nylah having begged to stay up and wait for him. All she’d been talking about was spending the weekend with my sister’s boys. Not only was I praying they didn’t lose my daughter in Kamille’s big Victorian house, but I was also hoping she wouldn’t have to be around Haney.

  Luckily for Nylah, it was an early night. Malik was home by seven and she was able to sit downstairs and talk to him while he ate. He also had the luxury of reading her a story and tucking her in bed. So far, his plan of coming home early was working.

  “How was your day?” I asked, when he came into our room.

  “I got word that Wesley’s talking trash,” he said before taking a seat in his chair.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I heard from Tootie that he was at the barber shop talking about I don’t ride with him. I mean really, Tiff, he knows he messed up. If anything I saved him.”

  “He doesn’t see it like that.”

  “I don’t know what he expects me to do.”

  Perching myself on his lap, I whined, “I know what I’d like you to do.”

  “Anything you want,” he told me, tapping me on my thigh with his mobile phone.

  “I’d like it to be just me and you this weekend, no security detail trailing behind us in New York. What do you think, I mean, really Malik, nobody is going to know you’re the mayor.”

  “You know I can’t do that. Plus you won’t even know they’re around.”

  As inconspicuous as they tried to be, sometimes it was a nuisance with them on our heels, bringing more attention and less privacy.

  “Please, just this one time?”

  He patted my stomach and said, “I plan to put something in here this weekend so we might not make it outside to need security.”

  “I guess that means we’re actually going to have sex,” I joked.

  Putting his hand up under my blouse he unsnapped my bra. “You get them clothes off the bed and we’ll start making that baby right now.”

  Popping up from his lap, I stated, “You’ll have to wait, I’m busy.” />
  He smacked me on the butt and teased, “Birthday booty.”

  A few minutes later, I was coming up from the basement and initially ignored the consistent ringing of Malik’s mobile, figuring he would answer it. But when he didn’t, I realized he was in the shower. When I reached our bedroom and it was still ringing, I peeped at the caller ID; it was Police Commissioner Outlaw and he’d called three times.

  Walking into the bathroom, I handed Malik the phone and a towel. I’d barely made it out the room when the doorbell rang. On my way downstairs to answer it, I heard Malik say, “Jesus!”

  That told me our trip was cancelled.

  Chief of Staff Constance stood on my doorstep. This wasn’t good.

  “Good evening, Mrs. Skinner, is the Mayor. . .”

  “Hi Constance, he’s on the phone with Outlaw. What happened?”

  “Cop’s been shot and he’s not going to make it.”

  “Where? What happened? Please, come in,” I said, moving aside for her to enter into the house.

  “Broad and Girard in North Philly. Details are still sketchy, but he was pulling out of the McDonald’s drive thru when someone walked up to his window and ambushed him.”

  “Oh my God, that’s horrible. Did they catch him?”

  “Unfortunately, no, and the scene is getting processed, so it’s chaotic right now.”

  When Malik came downstairs he was back in a suit and tie and talking on his phone.

  “Constance, give me a minute.”

  “I’ll be outside. Goodnight, Mrs. Skinner.”

  He turned to me, his hands on my shoulders, “Tiff, I gotta go. I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”

  “I love you. Go and please be safe,” I said, helping him into his coat.

  He began walking toward the door and looking back over his shoulder, he added, “By the way, I peeked at the envelope from your brother. Tell him I love him, too.”

  Back upstairs, Nylah had already sensed her father had left the house and she’d crept out of her room and into our bed. I left the television on for updates, but as I drifted in and out of sleep, I caught a glimpse of the officer’s family members being escorted into Hahnemann hospital, and watched as the media set up for a news conference. The first one to speak was Commissioner Outlaw.

  “Tonight we are sad to report that one of our own, Officer Leonard Campbell, a seven-year veteran of the force, was fatally shot and killed with no warning or provocation.” He paused, cleared his throat and continued. “Officer Campbell passed away with his wife, Georgina and three children by his side.”

  “Details are sketchy, but a manhunt is underway throughout North Philadelphia and the city at large. Officers are going door-to-door canvasing the neighborhood, which has been locked down for a 40-block radius. We will collect and analyze all video surveillance in the area. It’s still an active crime scene and will be for quite some time. Unfortunately, Officer Campbell was murdered simply because he was in uniform. . . now the Mayor would like to say a few words.”

  Malik stepped in front of the cadre of microphones. “This is a sad night for the Philadelphia Police Department and for our city. Our officers face danger every time they come on duty, often sacrificing their own lives. Officer Campbell was not given a chance to defend himself. . . and to you who committed this heinous act, we will find you and hunt you down for the coward you are. . . I’m asking, all of us up here tonight are asking, for the collective strength of the community in supporting Officer Campbell’s family and the officers who will descend upon these streets to find those responsible. Philly, we can certainly do better than this.”

  I lay there stroking Nylah’s hair and thinking about Malik. This was the first time an officer had been murdered since he’d taken office. Officers had been shot, hit by cars during police chases, but never murdered in cold blood. It had been scary enough once, when Malik had been threatened by some anti-government group, who’d been adverse to his economical platform. I couldn’t imagine losing him to such a sudden and violent act.

  I’d managed to nod back off to sleep when the vibrating of my mobile awakened me.

  Reaching for it in the dark, I answered, “Hello?”

  “Did I wake you?”

  “Malik?”

  Silence.

  Then, “You know who this is.”

  “How’d you get my number?” I asked. This was the first time I’d heard from Haney since he’d arrived to my room at Woodloch.

  Pulling the phone from my ear, I took note of the unfamiliar number. I imagined the smirk smeared on his face.

  “Why are you calling here?”

  “Actually I’m about to give you what you want.”

  I could only imagine to what he was referring.

  “You see, I have a friend, a very wealthy friend, who’s interested in making a sizable donation to your little charity.”

  “I’m not interested.”

  “Don’t be a fool, Tiffany. You’d turn down a million dollars?”

  I muted the television, sat up in bed and replied, “If it means being indebted to you, then yes.”

  “And what about your poor babies and their crack head parents?”

  “Fuck you.” I disconnected the call, turned off the television and got out of bed.

  At that point it was 7:30 a.m. and I wasn’t going back to sleep, so I went downstairs to make coffee. Pondering what Haney was up to besides the obvious, I turned on the kitchen television and took a seat at the counter. He must be crazy to think I’d accept money from anyone he knew. Personally, I was sure it was some kind of trick, maybe he was trying to set up a money trail or maybe he was trying to get me alone somewhere again. Whatever it was, he couldn’t be trusted.

  In the past, I would’ve called my sister for advice, but she was now his ally. Instead, I returned a call to Max, who’d left me two messages since our weekend at Woodloch, but I’d been too embarrassed to return her call.

  “Hi Max, I’m surprised you picked up. I thought you’d be in class.”

  “Tiffany, hey how are you?”

  “Please accept my apologies for not getting back to you, but that weekend. I didn’t know what to say.”

  “No apology necessary. You’re a busy woman and judging from this morning’s news, your husband looks pretty busy, too.”

  “Yeah, it’s bad.”

  “Do they have any idea who did it?”

  “Don’t know yet.”

  “That’s right. I’m asking too many damn questions,” she said, mocking me by imitating my voice, referring to my outburst at breakfast.

  “No, seriously, I really don’t know, but it’s scary. This is a first since he took office.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m here with my daughter. Malik and I were supposed to travel to New York this morning, but that’s cancelled. By the way how are your students?”

  “Who knows? I’m off today. You want to grab lunch?”

  “Actually I was thinking of keeping Nylah home, maybe taking her over to the Camden Aquarium.”

  “Mind if I tag along?” she asked in her cheery voice, reminding me of how much I’d enjoyed her company.

  “Really, you’d go with us?” I said, surprised that since she didn’t have children she’d want to come along.

  “Would love to.”

  “I should warn you that we’ll have a security detail, you know, with us,” I told her, while keeping an ear out for Nylah as she stirred around upstairs.

  “Will he need to search me?”

  “No, but he is good looking so you might enjoy it,” I joked, referring to Phinn, who’d been sitting outside since Malik left.

  “By the way, before I forget, I wanted to invite you and your husband to a small dinner party I’m having. I’ll understand if you can’t make it, but it would be nice. They’ll be three other couples, and I can give you their names beforehand if you need to have them vetted or something.”

  “Will you stop it? Malik’s n
ot the president.”

  “And Tiff, it’s casual. I mean really casual, it’s a house party, not a cocktail party.”

  “I get it. I won’t wear a bun.”

  My mobile vibrated with an incoming text.

  GDH3: I need to see you. It’s important.

  I stared at the screen until I heard Max ask, “Hey, you still there?”

  “I’m here.”

  “Well if you can make it, that would be great. What time shall we meet at the aquarium?”

  “How’s eleven thirty?”

  “See you at the hippos.”

  Chapter 9

  Million Dollar Baby

  I waited three days before I responded to Haney’s text. Having been intrigued, I agreed to a ten a.m. meeting at Halfway House. I figured at that time, for a weekday, the restaurant would be empty and even though Kamille wouldn’t be there, I made her aware of the meeting.

  I didn’t bother to tell Malik; he had enough on his plate, as he’d left early that morning to attend the funeral of Officer Campbell. The sad part was they had yet to arrest anyone, which I understood they typically tried to do before laying an officer to rest. The reward amount leading to an arrest had reached seventy-five thousand and was steadily growing with monies coming in from the Citizens Crime Commission, Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers, and the Fraternal Order of Police, as well as contributions from private citizens.

  The surveillance video they’d pieced together from various cameras, showed a person of average height dressed in all black, including a hoodie, with a scarf tied around his face, leaving his race and age indistinguishable. Unfortunately, this was now standard dress code for all perpetrators. Subsequently, that footage had now been sent to the FBI for a forensic review.

  That morning after dropping Nylah off at school, I’d stopped by to see my mom, who’d been dealing with a bout of the flu. She was also concerned about Malik’s safety and wanted to know all the details of the case.

  It was exactly ten o’clock when I arrived to my sister’s restaurant, which meant Haney was late. To pass the time, I ordered coffee and began scrolling through emails, but that’s when I noticed not only had Haney entered the restaurant carrying a briefcase, but directly behind him was Wesley, picking up a take-out order.