FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART
Chapt. 3
After hearing what Lonnie had to say, Virgil didn't know how to respond. Lonnie gave him no clear specifics, but he seemed pretty adamant that someone was in the house with Monica.
"Okay, Lonnie. Tell me exactly what she said again."
Lonnie repeated everything, including how she was cleaning her living room.
"Why in the world would she tell you that?"
Suddenly, the answer hit Lonnie like lightening. "Virgil, he's got her in the back of the house. She was telling me to come in through the front door."
"Lonnie, you've got to be sure about this. If you're wrong…"
"I'm not wrong!"
"Okay, Lonnie. Parker, Bubba, I need you guys to enter through the front of the house..slowly. Me, Luann and Lonnie are covering the back from the outside.
Lonnie didn't ask why he wasn't sent to go in the front. His previous conversation with Virgil regarding Monica was why and he knew it. And honestly, Lonnie thought it was a good call.
Everyone got into position. Lonnie, Virgil, and Luann waited for what felt like an eternity. Suddenly, they heard Bubba shout. Then gunfire. Then a female scream.
"Go in! Go in!" Virgil yelled. The three of them rushed in the backdoor and into the kitchen. No one was there.
"We're back here, guys."
They all headed down the hall and found Parker and Bubba standing over the body of the man stretched out in the hall. Monica was standing in the bathroom clutching herself and staring at the dead man.
Lonnie almost ran to her, but caught himself. He held his position and asked "Monica, are you okay?"
"Yes. I'm fine." Lonnie could tell by the look in her eyes that she wasn't. He looked past her and saw that the bathroom was a mess.
"What happened in here?"
"He was looking for the deed to the house. The bathroom is where he dragged me before the other officers got here."
Virgil looked into the bathroom and noticed the mess as well.
"Parker, why don't you help me get some fingerprints? Bubba, can you and Luann get a statement from Miss Styles? Lonnie, go out to one of the cars and call this in."
He shot Lonnie a "now" look that at first made Lonnie angry. Then it occurred to him that he must have looked more upset than he thought and that Virgil was trying to avoid a scene by removing him from the situation.
Parker came back with the kit and began working on lifting the prints. All of a sudden, he said, "Well, I'll be. I ain't seen one of these since I was kid at my great-grandma's house."
Virgil already knew he would regret it, but he asked, "Seen one of what, Parker?"
"One of these claw foot bathtubs. See how the foot is all one piece with the tub? That's an original, not one of them reproductions. This thing's probably worth about three or four thousand dollars. Miss Styles sure is lucky."
Now it all made sense. "Parker?" Virgil asked. "What's your opinion about the pedestal sink?"
After Lonnie finished calling for the paramedics, he felt himself regain his composure. He went back into the house and caught the tale end of Virgil's opinion of why the man was after Monica's deed.
"So it wasn't the house. It's the items in it", he concluded. "Once we get this man identified, I say we get Harriet Delong over here as soon as possible for an assessment. This young lady may be sitting on quite a bit of money."
"In the meantime, Monica, I've called my wife and she's more than happy to have you stay with us until we get this situation completely closed."
"No thank you, Detective. Although, I do appreciate it."
"Monica, I know that you're a legal adult. But being held at gunpoint is scary for most 40 year olds. And we still don't know if that guy was working alone."
"And again, I must say no. I have a friend that I'm sure will be more than happy to stay with me tonight. I assume you should have the information on the intruder by tomorrow?"
"I hope to."
"Then it's settled. Thank you all again."
A few moments later, everyone headed back to the station. After a few hours, they did get an identification on the man. His name was Larry McGuire and he was partners with an antique dealer named Paul Martinez. Martinez had been the last boyfriend of Monica's mother. Martinez would outfit the Styles home with antiques whenever he didn't have anything else to do. Monica's mother had no idea of their value, she just thought they were pretty. His partner Larry, of course, was angry with Paul for spending company assets on a black woman and they had fought. Killing Paul appeared to have been an accident. The man fell, probably during a fight with Larry, and crashed his head. But Monica's mother knew they had been fighting about her. Larry killed her a few months ago, and planned to remove all of the antiques from the Styles home for money. Killing Monica would've been too risky in such a small town, so he thought he could con her into selling for the mortgage payoff amount.
Since Monica wasn't actually raised by her mother, she felt that a quick cremation would be appropriate. She did not want a memorial service as she felt showing respect for someone she hardly knew would be a lie, even if it was her mother.
Lonnie was finally able to shower and get ready to leave by around 8pm. He passed Virgil in the hall on his way out.
"Uh, Lonnie? I just wanted to tell you that you did an excellent job this afternoon. If it hadn't been for you, we wouldn't have known he had her in the back of the house."
"Thank you, Detective."
"She's lucky that you …knew her well enough to interpret her signal."
Lonnie remained silent. Virgil had always told him to let the man who opened the door walk through it first.
"So," Virgil continued. "Do you have big plans for the night?"
"Nothing special." Lonnie looked at Virgil and waited for him to make the next move.
Finally Virgil said, "Well, enjoy your evening."
As he watched Lonnie leave something told him to swing by Monica's on his way home. But if he did go to Monica's, and he found what he thought he would find, he would have to do something he didn't want to do. So instead of going to Monica's, Virgil went straight home and prayed that his instincts were wrong.
Monica had been sitting on her porch ever since the police and ambulance left a few hours earlier. She was afraid to go inside by herself. A couple of neighbors came over, but not for support. They were just being nosey, except for Jimmy Dawes. He appeared across the street out of nowhere, as usual. He didn't speak or approach her, but instead shot Monica an 'you straight?' look. Monica nodded, signaling that she was fine, and he left just as mysteriously as he had showed up. Just when she was beginning to think that she had messed up, a bright red corvette pulled into her driveway.
Lonnie walked onto her porch and sat down beside of her. "You thought I wasn't coming, didn't you?"
"I thought no such thing."
Lonnie smiled. "You're lying."
"Whatever, LJ." She smiled back, and then said, "Thank you for coming."
Lonnie took her hand and squeezed her fingers. "You're welcome. But I sure wish you'd have gone with Virgil. I don't like you being here by yourself tonight."
Monica shrugged her shoulders and said, "Mrs. Tibbs thinks that she knows how to talk to me, but all she does is give a bad imitation of a big sister. She means well, and I know that. But sometimes I find her irritating. And Detective Tibbs would've ended up going over the details of the break-in, whether he meant to or not. And I'm not in the mood to discuss it any more tonight."
"Okay. What do you want to talk about?" Lonnie asked.
Monica took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and jumped in with both feet.
"You and I. And what happened at school this afternoon. I felt something. Or at least I think I did. And I'd like to know if you did, too."
Since he and Monica had become….close, Lonnie had forgotten just how direct the girl could be. Her response completely knocked the wind out of him. He didn't answer her. Not because of his normal quietness, but because he was too stunned to do so.
"Well?" she said.
Lonnie ran his hand through his hair, the only nervous habit Monica had been able to detect he had, and finally spoke.
"Monica, you're a beautiful girl. You're smart, you're funny…."
"I've lived with myself for 16 years, LJ. I don't need a resume. And I don't need one of your Sparta Appropriate answers, either. It was a simple 'yes' or 'no' question."
"Nothing about that question was simple, Monica."
"It was to me."
"That's because you're still a kid."
At the moment, Monica snatched her hand away from Lonnie's as if it burned her. She turned around with anger in her eyes and before Lonnie could speak again, she slapped him right across his face.
"What in the hell is wrong with you?"
"Don't!" she screamed. "Don't you ever, ever, ever do that to me again! How dare you? I was a woman when you needed information from the courthouse. I'm a woman whenever you need reports at school. I was a woman when you needed to talk about your mother. But the second things get uncomfortable for you, all of sudden, I'm a child. This whole god-forsaken town has shuffled me from one to the other, at their convenience, since the day I was born. And I won't stand for it any longer. Not even from you!"
Lonnie sat in complete and utter amazement. He couldn't believe that she had actually slapped him. He also couldn't believe that he had actually sat still and listened to her yell at him when he came out here in the middle of the night to be supportive. And he was ashamed because she was right. Her question had made him nervous because he knew he couldn't lie to her. So he had tried to change the subject. He had wronged her for his own benefit. And he felt guilty.
"Monica. I'm sorry."
"At the moment, I'd tend to agree with you."
"Hey, I'm trying to apologize to you."
Monica finally turned around to face him. She was still mad as hell, but her eyes had started to soften a bit.
"So…are you going to answer my question now, or do I have to slap you again?"
Lonnie chuckled. "If you hit me again, I swear I'll arrest you for assault on an officer."
Monica laughed and placed her hand on top of Lonnie's. Lonnie finally spoke.
"I'm going to be honest with you, mainly because I don't want you slapping me again, and because you'd know if I lied to you anyway. I did feel something this afternoon. It's the same thing I feel whenever we're together, including right now. I'm not sure what it is, but it makes me uncomfortable. So, I push that feeling away and pretend it isn't there every time it shows up."
"Why does it make you uncomfortable? Because I'm black?"
"No! Because you're 16. And whenever I think of you that way, I feel like a pervert."
"And exactly what way do you think of me?"
"Monica, look. I care for you, you know that. And I know you care for me, or you wouldn't have asked the question. I really need for us to let that be enough for now. Okay?"
Monica watched Lonnie run his hand through his hair again and realized that the man was truly at a crossroads regarding their relationship. And he was right; she did care for him, so she let the subject drop. They both just sat on her porch, with their hands wrapped in each others, not saying a word for about ten minutes.
Finally Monica asked, "You're not going to stay here with me, are you?"
"I can't. It wouldn't look right, and I don't trust mys…..it just wouldn't look right."
Lonnie watched Monica's face for a reaction. Her anger had finally dissipated, but she was still scared.
"I could," he started, "stay in my car. It's a warm evening. I could pretend I was on a stake-out. Is that okay?"
"No. It isn't safe, cop or not. Tell you what….I'll go in first and lock my bedroom door. You sleep in the living room. Deal?"
"Just say 'no', Lonnie thought. "Just say 'no'."
He got himself together, squeezed her fingers again and said, "Deal."
Meanwhile at the Tibbs', Virgil decided he had to ask Althea what she knew, if anything, about Lonnie and Monica's relationship. Every instinct was telling him that something was going on between the two of them. But if he was wrong, it would cost Jamison his reputation and possibly his job. He had to be sure. Althea had already told him that Monica didn't date and that she had even admitted to Althea that she was a virgin. What Virgil wanted to know now had to do with Lonnie specifically.
"Althea, does Monica spend anytime with Jamison at school?"
"Well, they do run into each other from time to time. She assists me in the office and Lonnie keeps close tabs on the track teams' grades. Why?"
Virgil took a deep breath before he started. He knew that Althea thought a lot of Lonnie and that she cared for Monica. So he didn't want to upset her.
"What I mean is, have you seen the two them, well, acting inappropriately with each other?"
Althea stiffened a little. She was praying that this conversation with her husband would never happen. "No, I haven't."
'Something's not right with her answer', Virgil thought. Normally, Althea would be probing him to death as to why he was asking such a question, but she continued to wash dishes as if Virgil had said nothing.
"Althea. Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Virgil stood up from the kitchen table, walked to his wife and looked her dead in the eyes.
"Thea….is Jamison messing around with this girl?"
Althea's mind raced back to the day she saw Lonnie holding Monica in her office. She remembered how gently he had stroked her hair, and how for the first time she saw Monica completely at ease. She thought how they both seemed to be smiling more. She thought of Virgil's recount of Lonnie's reaction to his plan on setting up the man at Monica's house, and how every time Lonnie left her office, Monica seemed more relaxed and at peace. She thought of everything she knew about Monica's maturity and strength, everything she knew about Lonnie's character. She thought of all of this, looked at her husband and told him the truth.
"No, Virgil. Lonnie Jamison is not messing around with Monica Styles."
Monica and Lonnie waited on pins and needles for the next few weeks to hear the gossip regarding his spending the night with her. Monica expected some snide comments and looks from her neighbors. Instead, they actually started speaking to her whenever they saw her, as if they had found some new respect for her. Lonnie figured that at the least Jimmy Dawes knew about it and would try to sell the information to the Chief. They were both shocked to have heard absolutely nothing from anyone.
To be on the safe side, Lonnie decided it would be best if they spent their time together on the porch, in full view of her neighbors, whenever he came by; which had been almost every day since the attack. However, he was always careful to leave before it got too dark. That's where they were on a Saturday afternoon while they were discussing how strange it was that they seemed to have escaped the Sparta gossip mill.
"I'd say it's real peculiar," Lonnie said. "Parker hasn't even said anything." He hadn't told Monica about his conversation with Virgil.
Monica laughed as Lonnie had already filled her in on Parker's connection to any and all things Sparta. But she decided that she liked Parker because he had been right about the items in her home. Harriet Delong came to her place and had immediately arranged for some dealers to come over the next few weeks. She had estimated the value of her furniture and other items to be around $60,000.
"It really isn't all that strange if you understand the rules and regulations of living in the Bottoms." Monica said. "No one's said anything because they like you. Or they like the situation, anyway. Chief Gillespie could come down here and question everyone…and they'd all lie."
"What do you mean?"
"LJ, if you had come back and spent a second night with me, please believe that all hell would've broken loose. Not that it's new. People from the Bottoms are used to seeing white men creep down here to be with black women. But with you being a COP and white…they'd have driven Gillespie here themselves."
"Okay. You've got a point so far. But I'm still a cop, I'm still white, and I spend damn near everyday with you here. Why hasn't anyone said anything?"
Monica smiled. With all the stereotypes floating around Sparta about the Bottoms, white people seemed to be the ones clueless about how to treat another person.
"Because you come to me during the day; not creeping into my bedroom at night. We sit out front on my porch, properly chaperoned by the entire Bottoms community. That's different. At least for us down here it's different. It's a perfectly respectable courtship...respectful of me. And nobody down here has EVER seen a white man show a black woman respect.
Lonnie smiled, pulled her hair in a playful manner and said, "Is that what I'm doing? Courting you?"
Monica stiffened a little. The last time they discussed this topic, it ended up close to being an argument.
"I don't know what you're doing. You won't tell me."
Lonnie sighed, lowered his head and raised it again to meet her gaze. "Monica, you know that I have feelings for you. Strong feelings. And I'm still trying to work all of that out."
"That's what I don't get. What exactly is it that you need to work out?"
"I'm a cop, Monica. And a good one. The reason I'm a good cop is because I see things in black and white…no pun intended. Something's either right or it's wrong. But this whole thing with you doesn't fit into my normal way of thinking. You're an adult, but not really. I'm breaking the law, but not really. My spending personal time with a 16 year old girl is definitely unethical, and yet I find myself choosing to be here with you. I'm not used to gray areas. I can't stand them actually, and I'm a little caught off guard to be smack dabbed in the middle of one."
"Is that why you won't make love to me?"
Lonnie stopped breathing for a moment. He knew she'd get around to asking about that and he had been dreading it. He remembered when he had first kissed her on the lips the other evening at dusk. He had tried so hard not to, but the way the moonlight glittered off of her dark skin made him forget himself. He bent down to kiss her on her goodnight on her cheek, but somehow he had found himself kissing her lips. It took everything in him to pull himself away before he took her right there on her front porch. He had not kissed her like that since and she'd been a little upset with him since.
"That's why I can't make love to you. No matter what the state of Mississippi says, you are not an adult yet. And stop rolling your eyes at me. There are a lot of choices out there for you to make yet, and I care for you too much to let you make a decision you may not be ready for. I won't take something from you that I can't give back."
"What do you mean?"
Lonnie lowered his eyes, embarrassed at what he was about to say.
"I know that you're a virgin."
"If you actually knew that, I wouldn't be so confused right now. As it stands, you're guessing and I'm about to die in a fit of heat and frustration."
Lonnie's face turned beat red. He dropped his head to keep from looking at her until he heard her giggle. When he finally looked up, she crossed her eyes and licked her tongue out at him which made him laugh.
"Besides," she said. "I've never told you one way or the other."
"You didn't have to tell me. I know you. And I know you don't give of yourself easily."
Monica lowered her eyes for a moment. When she looked up again, she appeared so angelic to Lonnie he almost cried.
"Will you say it?" she asked.
"You already know."
"I need to hear you say it."
Lonnie looked at her lovingly. He hated denying her. He knew what she was feeling and what she was so desperate to hear, what he was so desperate to say. But he couldn't. And he knew it.
"I can't. It would be a crime."
"What… against Sparta PD's Code of Ethics?"
"No… against you."
At that moment Monica knew that Lonnie loved her. And when she suddenly stopped probing him, Lonnie knew that Monica loved him. She placed her head on his shoulder, while he placed one arm around her. And the two of them sat together in silence for a while, content with what they had just discovered about each other.
After a few minutes, Monica finally spoke.
"You're a pretty complex man, LJ."
"Yeah," he smiled. "For a corn-fed white boy."
"So, do you know what Mrs. Tibbs wants to see me about on Monday?"
"I have no idea. But let's worry about that on Monday."