“That’s amazing. All in-what?-just two hours? Amazing, is what that is.”
“I just texted Keesha, and she’s headed over to Sasha’s. I’m going to go over, too. Talk her up, you know? I remember how terrible I felt when we lost our abuela, and even then we had each other to lean on. Sasha’s so very alone now.”
“Yvette, you know Sasha real good?”
“Sort of. Sure. Why?”
“Is she in any kind of trouble that you know of?”
“Sasha? No! Never. Why?”
“While I was there, I heard her answering questions from the police. What she told them wasn’t much. Just that she came home late last night, saw her grandmother was asleep on the couch, then went to bed. When she came down next morning, her grandmother was dead.”
“Yeah? And?”
“Look, I think there’s more. I know there’s more.”
“Like what, Javier?”
“Somebody had tied Principal Bazelon’s hands and wrists-”
He heard Yvette gasp.
He went on: “But when we got there, whatever they’d been tied with was gone. Just bruises left.”
“You think Sasha did something to her? I can’t imagine-”
“No. But I do think something happened that she won’t tell anyone, especially the cops.”
“Nobody talks to the man, Javier. Not if they’re smart and don’t want no trouble. No offense, big bro.”
“I know that. Look, I’m not saying Sasha did anything wrong. But something is not right about those bruises on her grandmother, ones Dr. Mitchell is going to see and question. If he thinks the death wasn’t as simple as just an old lady going to sleep and never waking up, he’ll have to tell the police. And then Sasha might get in real trouble.”
“Oh my God, Javier. That’s terrible!”
“I’m not saying she did anything to hurt her. Just that she’s not telling everything that happened to her grandmother. Sasha is deeply hurt. No question she’s hurt. But there’s more than just sadness in her eyes. There’s… fear, is what there is.”
“Fear of what?”
Javier sighed loudly, then said, “I don’t know.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Maybe just keep your eyes and ears open when you go over?”
There was a long silence. Then she said: “Okay. Sure. Anything.”
“I’d like to stop by, too. I didn’t get a chance to tell her how sorry I was.”
“Okay. I’m walking over now.”
“See you shortly.”
Yvette Iglesia ran to intercept her brother in front of the Bazelon row house. Javier glanced at the crowd of tough guys on the sidewalk and saw that they were following his every step. He recognized Paco Ramirez and thought he’d look like the nice kid next door if not for the wannabe gangsta clothing. Javier nodded at him, and Paco nodded back.
As Javier reached the sidewalk, Yvette met him. He saw that her eyes were tearing. As she hugged him, she softly said, “You were right, big bro.”
“About what?”
She took a step back, crossed her arms over her chest, and looked up at Javier.
“She’s only told Keesha,” she said, “and Keesha’s only told me.”
“What?” he asked quietly.
She turned her back to the boys on the sidewalk, then, keeping her voice low, practically spat out: “That fucking shit Xpress-Xavier Smith?” She paused, and after Javier nodded that he knew him, went on. “He was here last night getting revenge on Sasha’s grandmother for calling the cops on him. She saw him stealing a neighbor’s TV. He hid on the porch last night, and when Sasha got home from Keesha’s, he forced his way inside.”
She sniffled, then wiped at her nose and cheek.
Javier said, “What happened then?”
“You were right about Principal Bazelon being tied up. He used the phone cord. Then he… then he put a gun to Sasha’s head and made her-”
Javier saw the tears flowing faster.
She angrily wiped them away and finished: “That fucking shit make her blow him and made her abuela watch! That’s what killed her!”
“Jesus Christ!” Javier said softly.
He looked over his baby sister’s head to the porch. Keesha was stroking Sasha’s hair.
Her abuela died of a real broken heart.
Dr. Mitchell told me about those, where stress damages the heart muscle, especially an old, weak one, to the point of triggering a deadly cardiac arrest.
Jesus!
Yvette added: “And he threatened Sasha, said not to tell nobody, that he could come back anytime, and that he could get her anywhere.”
Javier shook his head and said, “No wonder she’s terrified. Now she has no family and is constantly worried that Xpress will come back.”
She nodded. “We’re going to get her away from this. Walk over and see the memorial at the school, you know? Maybe that’ll make her feel a little better.”
They both glanced back at the porch. Sasha was moving down the steps with Keesha Cook at her side. Everyone along the way stepped back, making a path for her.
When Sasha and Keesha reached Yvette and Javier, Javier said, “I didn’t get a chance to say earlier how much your grandmother meant to me, Sasha. I am terribly sorry for your loss, I really am.”
Sasha looked him in the eyes and simply said, “Thanks.”
Javier looked at Keesha and said, “Good to see you. Glad you can be here for Sasha.”
Keesha nodded. Then she said, “You going over to the memorial at the school?”
“I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”
He gestured for them to lead the way. But when they turned to walk to Fifty-fifth Street, Sasha looked toward the intersection and froze, her wide eyes terrified.
And from deep inside her came a gut-wrenching moan that turned into a wail.
Coming toward them, having just turned the corner, was a medium-size black male in baggy jeans, his head covered by the hood of his black sweatshirt. When he looked up at the sound of the scream, the hard face of Xavier “Xpress” Smith was clearly visible-and, judging by its shocked expression, clearly caught off guard by the crowd at Sasha Bazelon’s house.
Javier thought Smith’s eyes-now huge-looked particularly bloodshot.
He’s hopped up on something…
“He’s come back!” Sasha then cried out, and she started bawling uncontrollably.
Keesha, holding her arm, struggled to keep her from collapsing to the ground.
Yvette, gesturing wildly at Xavier Smith, exploded: “That bastard stuck a fucking gun to Sasha’s head last night! Made her go down on him in front of her grandmother!”
The eyes of the crowd were all on Yvette. Everyone was either not sure they’d heard what they thought they’d heard, or was processing the incredibly awful news.
“What?” Paco Ramirez asked.
“It’s true!” Yvette said. “Almost killed Sasha, too!”
Then the eyes turned to Xavier Smith. He’d already started walking away from the group. Now, glancing over his shoulder-and looking guilty as hell-Xavier Smith bolted across Ridgewood.
“And that no-good nigger just tried to get Sasha again!” Keesha screamed.
Yvette started running. “Don’t let him get way! C’mon!”
Oh, shit, Javier thought. “Yvette, wait!”
When she didn’t, Javier took off after her.
Two male teenagers ran to a small red Ford pickup truck. They got in and, tires squealing, roared up the street.
Almost everyone else took off to follow Yvette, who was furiously sprinting.
Everyone but Keesha, who now sat on the sidewalk consoling a sobbing Sasha.
“See?” Sasha said. “He said he would. Anytime…”
A crowd at least twenty strong closed in on Smith, who now ran down the middle of Fifty-fifth Street. Barely dodging a Chevy sedan, its horn blaring and tires squealing, he then bolted across Beaumont Avenue, looking as if he were going to take a shortcut through the asphalt parking lot of Shaw Middle School.