Chapter 12

"The police there impounded an abandoned car, found blood in it, and traced it back to Isaac." Dorinda explained. "They went to his house and the trick rabbit squirrel he had there said it was Wisdom's blood. They asked who Wisdom was and she told them it was some guy who used to stay there."

After 4 days in the hospital recovering from exhaustion, Dorinda had been discharged from the hospital and told to take it easy. Karisma arranged to stay with her and Hayvn for the week to be sure she did as little as possible. As soon as she had heard her mother stirring towards the end of the morning she had gotten up to make some coffee for the two of them and heated some milk to which she added honey for Hayvn to drink. The little girl also wanted something to eat so to tide her over until lunch, she was noshing a piece of bread smeared thickly with peanut butter while she watched her grandmother's TV. Her mother and grandmother were also on the bed chatting away.

"How stupid can you be?" Karisma rolled her eyes. "Isaac has the worst taste in women. When No-No was in the hospital I kept seeing this tired trashy looking brunette lurking about. While you were in the room, she tried to go in to see No-No without asking none of us if she could and Ibra grabbed her and showed her the exit. We knew she was tied to Isaac, because she got them confused and I heard Ibra tell her 'he's the little one's big brother same as I am and if he wants to know what's going on then he needs to come see for himself!' She got on the elevator and didn't come back."

"And ya'll did think to tell me?" Dorinda snapped.

"You were in there trying to say goodbye to your youngest child and have her take her last breath in your arms." Karisma replied evenly. "You didn't need to be bothered with Isaac's goons. We weren't about to let them disrupt things. That's why when you looked out in the hall, one of us was always keeping guard. The other was in the waiting room to run them off." 

Since she easily got unnerved from the shady characters trying to hang around the ward, Karisma had gone in No-No's room to be helpful if she could and check on her mother while Ibrahim kept watch over the women in his family including Hayvn, who had mostly slept in his arms. She remembered brushing her little sister's beautiful long black hair and pinning it neatly back from her face just like she liked it to be. Then she had trimmed her fingernails. For as long she could remember it had been her responsibility to make sure No-No was well groomed before she left the house and though as a child she had hated the responsibility, there had been a heaviness in her chest as she realized she was taking care of her sister for the very last time. 

"You know Mama that's strange." She said randomly.

"What's strange?"

"In all the years I did her hair for her, she never wanted me to leave any of it down. The only time she wore it down was when she was about to go to bed. Don't ask me why I thought about that."

Once they started they couldn't stop recalling small things that just hadn't added up

"And something else the nurse said didn't sound right neither." Dorinda got up to get herself some more coffee.

"Tell me when I get back." Karisma quickly got to her feet and practically snatched the plastic mug out of her mother's hands. 

She ran downstairs to refill their cups and get some juice for Hayvn. Dorinda had not been downstairs since she ascended the stairs after returning home from the hospital. Everything she needed was upstairs and if it wasn't then that was what she had a daughter and granddaughter for. Those stairs were dangerous as they had all learned the hard way.

"The nurse said when the paramedics got there, No-No was laying on her back in the living room unresponsive and a woman in the house said she was 16 or 17." Dorinda took her topped off cup and sipped it to check the temperature.

"Isaac knows he ought to quit! How the Hell could he not know how old she was when he was in the hospital on the day she was born?" Karisma made herself comfortable on the bed again. "And No-No did not sleep on her back. Either she would have had to have fallen backwards which I don't think happened or somebody flipped her over on her back after she was already unconscious." 

"But you said she looked ready for bed." Dorinda reminded her.

"Correction. Somebody tried to stage a scene to cover up something and didn't think things through."

"Double homicide." Dorinda concluded.

Even precocious Hayvn, who shared her G'Mama's love of crime dramas and understood the meaning of those words, looked up in surprise.

"That's what I had to tell you." Dorinda's voice dropped to barely a whisper. "The police officer who called me to confirm Wissy was my son, wouldn't tell me much, but they're investigating his disappearance as a probable homicide now and don't think he lived to see 17." 

Silently Karisma racked her brain trying to remember if there were any shared pictures with time stamps on Amaris's Facebook memorial page. That's where she had gotten the pictures for Wissy's missing person flyer, choosing the ones which most closely matched the boy who greeted them when they arrived at the hospital on the night of November 1. Though not difficult it hadn't been a pleasant task, because she hadn't liked what she saw. Wissy had been the kind of kid who smiled frequently, known for always being up to something since he created excitement if there was none, and yet she had not seen a single picture of him smiling. His normally alert and bright chartreuse eyes were dull making him look as depressed and miserable as they expected No-No to look. It was just a part of the spoiled cadette's melancholy personality, but for him it was very troubling and made Karisma almost glad that his nightmare had come to an end around the same time. 

As her mother lay down to nap, exhausted by their short exchange, she got out her I-Phone and resumed her research of the page's most frequent posters. She couldn't shake the feeling that the answers to the kids' fates were staring them right in the face. These pictures offered the only window into the last 3 years of their lives, disturbing glimpses of a far reduced standard of living.

Silas Brant, a frequent poster, had shared a picture from October 31, 2009, which was the evening Amaris had been admitted to the ICU. It was of Isaac's kitchen, him and his goons around the table covered with various paraphernalia, an open bottle of Tequila, and shot glasses. Off to the side, Wissy and No-No, who had never been allowed to celebrate Halloween, milled about nursing 40s of malt liquor.  They didn't seem to be aware their pictures was being taken. There was no question who had given them the alcohol since neither were old enough to even legally enter a package store. 

Do you have any more pictures of my little brother taken after this? She decided it couldn't hurt to ask since this Silas guy, despite looking like something straight out of the trailer park, had had only nice things to say about her younger siblings. He had expressed condolences over No-No's death referring to her as Janoah, which told Karisma he had known her as a person. He had obviously spent quite a bit of time at Isaac's home. 

Talk to Leah. She was at Isaac's place when Wisdom finally came back home again. I know that because Isaac told me he'd call me back after he dealt with him.

The reply came almost instantly.

You remember when that was? Karisma tried not to arouse suspicion though her mind was going a million miles a minute.

November 2, 2009. Around noon.

She could finish Wissy's obituary now that she knew his date of death. No-No had followed not preceded him in death. While waiting for his shady 'friends' to report back to him on No-No's condition, Isaac had been suspiciously nowhere to be found, even when word was sent that he was perfectly free to come see her for himself.

He hadn't come because he couldn't be disturbed from getting rid of the star witness who knew better than anyone else why she was laid in that bed, tethered by machines. It went without saying that they would have demanded some answers had he come to the hospital, nonetheless he would have been allowed his 5 minutes to say goodbye same as everyone else....while both Dorinda and Ibrahim stood by the door keeping track of his every move of course.

Thank you for the kind words about my baby sister and please pray for my little brother also. All these months later my mother is still in shock. She just keeps asking why. 

Though something told her that she should log offline and take a moment to gather her thoughts, Karisma followed with a post on the memorial page's wall for all the world to see.

Despite Isaac's lies, my mother is not now nor was she ever strung out on anything in the nearly 23 years he's been alive and she NEVER abandoned my younger siblings. The pure and simple truth of the matter is nearly 4 years ago at a time when she felt trapped by circumstances, she temporarily sign legal guardianship of them over to someone she trusted 100%, someone who made many promises that were not kept. My mother remains both Janoah and Wisdom's sole recognized legal and physical custodial parent, their lawful habitual residence has been in Louisville, Kentucky since 1997, and my mother out of the goodness of her heart steadfastly REFUSED to have Isaac prosecuted for custodial interference and kidnapping when the letters of guardianship expired. For 3 f*****g years she played his sick mind games as he unlawfully concealed and used 2 innocent children as pawns. It was a f*****g Catch-22 and we BEGGED Isaac to come to his senses to no avail. He was NOT saving them from anything and in reality was PUNISHING them, because he knew they needed and WANTED to have their mother near them. Without her they could hardly function right, so don't you EVER say my mother abandoned her children or they hated her. They weren't living in Isaac's house....they were HOSTAGES there after my mother came to her senses and realized he wasn't worth a damn! Not one of you m***********s has ever bothered to ask Wisdom and Janaoh's mother, sister, or oldest brother anything about what the Hell was going on when a perfectly healthy 15 year old ended up dead! 

Minutes later Karisma came to her own senses, remembered Ibrahim's sagely advice, and deleted her public rant. 

Unfortunately it hadn't gone unnoticed. 

Reviews

[SweetNutmeg]

I went back and read the first chapter and things are making less sense, with Wissy going off in his own car. The plot thickens. What happened to Wissy???? I guess I'll eventually find out.

I was ignorant of what a trick rabbit squirrel was until I read this. That is one colorful expression.

I don't have any other observations to make, except that I am impatient for chapter 13.