скачать книгу бесплатно
Paul smiled. “No, thank you, ma’am. I’m good.”
She sized him up a second time. “You know you hungry,” she said with an air of finality. “I’m gon’ make you a plate.” She pointed down a flight of stairs. “Liza’s down in the basement. She’s expecting you.”
Paul nodded as she continued toward the back of the home and the kitchen. The stately greystone, an architectural staple in Chicago since the 1890s, was built from Bedford limestone and named for its color. It was oversize, the craftsmanship evident in the exterior detail. The interior of the duplex featured wide-plank oak flooring, high ceilings and an abundance of natural light. Moving down the steps Paul discovered the lower-level bonus room with walls of computer screens and a young woman who looked like a bag of Skittles candy had exploded over her.
Liza was very young. Much younger than he’d expected, and he hadn’t known what he might have been walking into. Her royal blue hair had a streak of white in the front that was swept across her brow and was pulled into a high ponytail adorned with a barrette of yellow flowers. She wore an orange, yellow and pink tie-dyed sweat suit with red Converse sneakers. She was the Rainbow Brite character on steroids, and she made Paul smile.
“Hey! Mingus didn’t come with you?” she said, her hands coming to an abrupt halt atop the keyboard she was typing on.
Paul shook his head. He couldn’t help but wonder what she did for Mingus and how they knew each other. “No,” he answered, “but I think he’s coming.”
She shrugged and resumed her typing. “Mama Hill’s going to be pissed. She’s up there cooking bacon for him right now and she knows how much I hate the smell of pig cooking in the kitchen. He better come.”
“He…well…it’s…”
“No worries. We’ll see him when we see him. Until then though, you’ll have to eat the bacon.”
Paul took two steps forward. “Is Mama Hill your grandmother?”
Liza shot him a look. “She’s everyone’s grandmother. So, what do you need?”
“I just have messages on my phone that I need to print out.”
Liza gestured for him to take a seat beside her. “What’s your email address?” she asked.
Paul reached for his phone, stopping when she asked him again.
“I just need your email address, not your phone.” She pushed a pad of paper and an ink pen toward him.
After writing down his personal email address, Paul pushed the pad back to her. “I just need any messages that might have come in the last three days,” he said softly.
A few short minutes later paper was spewing from a Xerox multifunction printer in the corner of the room. Liza gestured with her head, pointing him toward the ream of documents filling the output tray.
“So, you’re a hacker,” Paul said as he began sorting through the papers for those he needed and the ones he didn’t.
“I prefer ‘skilled computer expert.’”
“You just look so young.”
Her brows raised but she didn’t look in his direction, studying the screen before her instead. “I’m older than you think,” she muttered.
“Can you get into anyone’s computer system?”
“What do you need?”
“Everything you can get on a company called Lender Pharmaceuticals and what they have on a drug called Halphedrone-B. Not sure where you’d look, but maybe start in their research and development department? Maybe any communications about the drug between their management team?”
Liza typed, her head shifting from side to side as data filled the two screens on the desktop and then more information began to cover the larger screens on the walls. Liza stopped typing and stared from one screen to another, deciphering code that looked like a foreign language to Paul.
He was impressed with Liza’s expertise as he watched pages of emails and reports begin to fill the computer screens and he wasn’t sure why because what they were doing was highly illegal. If he didn’t already have enough problems, this might top his list and send him straight to prison. But curiosity had gotten the better of him. And Simone wasn’t there to play devil’s advocate and make him change his mind about asking for the information. He knew Simone would not be pleased, and he was sure she’d have his head when she found out. He took a deep breath as he imagined the choice words she would spew.
“This may take a minute,” Liza said finally, pulling at his attention. “They have some serious firewalls up to keep people like me out.”
“But you can get in without them knowing?”
She gave him a look, her expression twisted with evident annoyance at his question. “Go eat some bacon. I’ll call you if I need you.” She reached for a remote that rested on the table and music suddenly filled the room. It was something classical, a poetic blend of flutes, violins and a piano. She threw him one last glance as she turned the volume up high, then she resumed typing, her blue hair swaying with the music.
Upstairs, Mama Hill had set the kitchen table with five places. A feast for twenty sat table center. There was a platter of hot biscuits, crispy bacon, buttered grits, blueberry muffins, scrambled eggs, a bowl of sliced fruit and a pitcher of freshly squeezed orange juice.
The old woman winked an eye at him as he entered the room and pointed him to the chair. She stood at the stove, stirring something in a large cast-iron pot. The aroma wafting around the room was mouthwatering and a hunger pang rippled through his midsection. Paul stole a quick glance toward his wristwatch, noting the time he was quickly running out of. Wondering if Simone was on her way, or if perhaps she’d changed her mind.
“Sit!” Mama Hill snapped, seeming to read his mind. Her dark eyes narrowed slightly. “You need to eat!” She stopped stirring the pot she was standing over. “Answer the door first, though. Make yourself useful.”
Paul hesitated for a moment, then turned on his heel. He hadn’t heard the doorbell, but the look the old woman threw in his direction had him thinking there might be a problem if he protested. He made his way back to the front of the home and pulled open the door. Simone and Mingus stood on the front porch. As Mingus brushed past him, entering the living space, he rolled his eyes skyward. Paul instinctively knew Simone was not a happy camper. He didn’t know if he should be scared or not, but the sight of her instantly calmed his nerves.
“Hey,” he said, greeting her softly.
When Simone didn’t respond, instead giving him a dirty look before she followed her brother, Paul figured it probably wasn’t a good time to tell her about the two strangers being at the hospital. Laughter suddenly rang loudly from the kitchen, the matriarch in high spirits as she greeted Mingus. Paul blew a soft sigh. He closed and locked the door and moved back toward the kitchen.
Mingus was making introductions. “Mama Hill, this is my baby sister Simone. Simone, this is Mrs. Pearl Hill, but everyone calls her Mama. Mama has helped me out with a few cases in the past.”
Mama Hill pulled Simone into a warm hug. “Any family of Mingus’s is family here. Y’all sit down. We was just ’bout to have us some breakfast.” She pointed them toward the table.
“It smells good, Mama. And you made your special candied bacon!” Mingus chimed as he pulled out a chair at the head of the table and sat down.
The older woman grinned, her toothy smile gleaming under the morning light. “Made it just for you. I know how much you like my bacon.”
Simone looked all kinds of confused as she sat down next to her brother. She clearly had questions, but she sensed she needed to wait before asking. She was also tense, her nerves feeling like she might explode. She was angry at Paul and relieved and all she wanted was to throw herself into his arms and then slap his face for making her worry.
For the briefest moment she stared in Paul’s direction, then snatched her eyes away when he sat down and stared back. There was a hint of relief in her gaze and then that sliver of anger revved back up to full throttle. Paul smiled, vaguely amused by the wealth of emotion she was struggling to contain. Mama Hill suddenly tapped him against the back of his head, snapping him back to attention.
“Ouch!” he exclaimed as he reached to rub the offending bruise.
Simone and Mingus both laughed.
“Mama was asking you a question,” Mingus said.
“Sorry,” Paul responded. “I wasn’t paying attention, Mama Hill. What were you saying?”
The old woman chuckled, her head shaking from side to side. “Liza is calling for you. She needs you to come downstairs.”
“Who’s Liza?” Simone suddenly questioned, giving him another look.
Mingus grinned, eyeing him with a raised brow.
Paul shook his head, looking slightly flustered by the sliver of jealousy that blew over her spirit. “She’s a friend of your brother’s. She’s helping us out.”
Mama Hill looked from him to Simone and back. “Take Simone downstairs with you and introduce her. Then the three of you come back up dem stairs and get you some breakfast. Tell Liza Mingus is here.”
Paul nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
Simone sat for a second too long before the older woman admonished them both. “Y’all ain’t got all day now!”
Mingus laughed, a deep belly guffaw that made Simone shift her annoyance in his direction as she stood and followed Paul to the basement.
Chapter 5 (#u53550e63-0e07-5640-a9a5-b9bf91df715e)
“Dude! Did you know that the pharmaceutical industry raised prices on thousands of drugs this year? Including medications to treat arthritis, high blood pressure and diabetes? Some of these guys hauled in over $25 billion in profits last year. That’s some serious price gouging!” Liza looked astonished as Paul and Simone went downstairs.
Paul nodded. “Americans routinely pay more for prescription drugs that are just a fraction of the cost in other countries. The bigger question is why we’re the only industrialized nation that allows pharmaceutical executives to raise prices with zero consideration for public health.”
Liza pointed her index finger at him. “This really is some shysty mess!” She shifted her gaze toward Simone. “Who are you?”
Paul tossed a look over his shoulder. “Liza, this is Simone. Simone, this is Liza, Mingus’s friend.” He emphasized the word friend so there was no doubt in Simone’s mind about his association with the young woman.
“You a friend of Mingus’s, too?” Liza questioned.
“Mingus is my brother. He’s upstairs, by the way. He got distracted by the food.”
Liza’s excitement shimmered across her face. “Cool beans! It’s nice to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Simone said, her eyes sweeping the room and taking in all the technology in the space.
Paul could see the questions that caused her brow to furrow. “Liza is trying to find some information for me.”
“I see. And how many laws are we breaking right now?”
“You really don’t want to know,” Liza answered, shooting her another look.
“Were you able to find anything?” Paul asked.
Liza pointed to the printer. “You know none of this is admissible in a court of law, right?”
Paul nodded, moving swiftly to the stack of paper spilling out of the machine.
Liza stood. “The CEO of Lender Pharmaceuticals is a freak, too. He has all kinds of porn on his computer.”
“Porn?” Simone questioned. “What kind of porn?”
“Golden showers seem to be his perversion of choice. Some real nasty stuff. But his emails make for interesting reading.” She suddenly jumped up excitedly. “And do you know that if he leaves the company his severance package will pay him over eighty million dollars? How crazy is that mess!”
Paul was shifting through the printed documents, having barely heard Liza’s last comments. His focus was singular, his attention distracted. He was surprised by the volume of information Liza had managed to obtain and a lab report had him crunching data in his head.
Liza shrugged her shoulders and headed for the stairs. Simone started to follow but Paul suddenly called her name, looking up abruptly from the documents he was reading. She turned around to see what he needed.
Paul was staring at her intently, emotion flooding his face as he struggled with how to make things right between them. How to assuage her anger and get her to understand how much he appreciated her help. He was searching for the right words and struggled with finding them. How best to give her an out before they were both too deep in the midst of it to find their way out.
“Yes?”
“I would understand if this is too much for you to handle. If you didn’t want to see this through with me.”
Simone bit down against her bottom lip, twisting her hands together anxiously. “Does that mean you don’t want me to help?”
“It means I understand if you think it’s too much for you to handle.”
She gave him a nod and turned, her hand on the railing. He called after her a second time.
“Simone?”
She took a deep breath before turning back a second time, her brow raised ever so slightly. Her tone was soft, just a hint above a whisper. “Yes, Paul?”
“I still love you. I never stopped. I don’t know what may happen, but I needed you to know that.”
When Paul admitted his love for her, time seemed to come to an abrupt halt, the minute hand on every clock stalling. Words caught in Simone’s chest, a wealth of emotion smothering her thoughts. They stood staring at each other, something shifting in their relationship that clearly neither had anticipated. Unable to find the words to respond, Simone could only give him a nod of her head and then she turned, almost running back up the stairs.
Hearing his declaration had been everything Simone had wanted. He still loved her. He had never stopped. Despite the time that had separated them, they had slid back into sync with each other and all she needed to do was say the words back. He needed to know she felt the same way, and she needed to ensure she didn’t screw it up like the last time.
When Paul finally joined them at the breakfast table, Simone was regaling the two women with a story about Mingus and one of his many exploits as a child. Mama Hill and Liza were both laughing heartily. The matriarch gave him a stern look as she passed him the plate of bacon.
“Sorry, Mama. I didn’t mean to take so long.”
The old woman tossed Mingus a look and he was grinning like a Cheshire cat. “I like this one,” she said, nodding eagerly. “Yes, I do. I like him a lot.” She shifted her gaze toward Simone. “He’s a keeper. Not that you asked my opinion, but if I were you, I’d hold on to him. Hell, if I were a few years younger I’d give you a run for your money!”
“No, we’re…just…” Simone started, suddenly unsure how to identify the two of them. There was still so much they needed to figure out and even more that needed to be said. Telling people she’d barely known for a hour that Paul was the love of her life had her feeling completely out of sorts.
“Friends. We’re just friends,” Paul concluded.
Simone gave him a quick look, then dropped her eyes down to her plate.
Mama Hill looked from one to the other and then she burst out laughing, her head waving from side to side. “Friends my ass!” she said. “You young people kill me! Even a blind man can see the kind of friends you two are!”
As soon as the meal was finished Paul headed back to the basement with Liza and Mingus. Simone hesitated just long enough for Mama Hill to point her toward the sink and the pile of dirty dishes. Her eyes widened and for a moment she almost balked, catching herself when the old woman pressed a wrinkled hand against her cheek.
“Why are you so sad?” she asked, eyeing Simone intently. “You know that young man has deep feelings for you.”
Simone felt a tear slip past her lengthy lashes and Mama Hill brushed it away with a calloused thumb. She nodded. “I do. He’s a great guy, but it will never work out. We’re too different.”
Simone hated saying those words the minute they left her mouth. Hated that she’d even had the thought and had given it life. Every ounce of doubt and fear she had about their relationship manifested in those words, already rationalizing why them being together was destined to fail. Instead of thinking how to tell Paul she loved him back, Simone was reasoning why they shouldn’t be together.
Mama Hill fanned a dismissive hand. “Girl, please! If you want it badly enough, you make it work. My late husband and I were like oil and water. That man worked my good nerve on a regular basis, but I loved everything about him. I fought hard for our marriage. Giving up would have been easy but the fight was so much sweeter.”
“So how long were you two married?”
“Thirty-eight years. He passed on back nine years ago. Was sitting right here in this kitchen fussing at me when he had a heart attack and never woke up.”
“I’m so sorry.”
Mama Hill passed Simone a dry towel and then she turned toward the sink. “We was good as gold while we lasted, even with the challenges we faced. I missed him something awful. Wasn’t sure I was going to make it when I happened upon Liza. She was just a little bitty thing and smart as a whip. Her mama was lost out here in these streets and her daddy was incarcerated. I became her foster mother and she’s been here raising hell ever since.” The woman chuckled, joy shining in her eyes.
