Chapter 22
“Where the hell do you think you boys are going?”
Kofi looked over his shoulder, tensing as Eliza sauntered into the kitchen. A cigarette precariously danced between her lips, the ember glowing at the tip. Her lipstick cracked around her puckered mouth, the lines created from years of inhaling the shit she smoked. Kofi fought to keep his expression blank and his voice steady. “Taking Ramzi out to get something to eat.”
A derisive snort escaped, showing her disbelief. “You got money for that?”
“Got a little left over from a couple of weeks ago.” The lie fell easily from his lips—he had squirreled away almost all of it, hidden from her eagle eyes when she searched the upstairs rooms.
“Good, ’cause you’re not getting anything off me.”
She stared at him through hawk eyes, and he kept his breathing steady not to give her a chance to see his wariness. She leaned over the table to deliberately tap the end of the cigarette into the ashtray before bringing it back to her lips and inhaling deeply. Exhaling, the smoke curled around her narrow face, and Kofi was once again reminded of a sleeping dragon that was always ready to strike, unleashing its fire on an unsuspecting victim. His heart threatened to pound out of his chest as he maintained his composed facade.
Eliza held the cigarette between her middle and forefinger as she pointed at Kofi. “I don’t trust you, boy. You got a look about you that’s getting too damn confident.”
“Ma’am, I’m just trying to learn everything I can from you and Cory while teaching my brother. If we stop working, we’ve got nothing, so you don’t have to worry about us.”
Her response was to drag her tongue over her bottom lip slowly, her gaze remaining steadfast on him. “You remember who you belong to?—”
A noise from the second floor shattered the tense standoff, and she turned to yell at whoever was up there. As she stomped out of the room, still yelling, Kofi took advantage of the break in her attention. He grabbed Ramzi’s shoulder and nudged him out the door.
Ramzi remained quiet, letting Kofi lead him out into the labyrinth of alleys with practiced stealth. Once they were far enough from the house, they stopped. Ramzi’s eyes widened slightly, with alertness and wariness radiating from him.
“Did you do what I asked?”
“Yeah,” Ramzi said softly. “I got some of our stuff but left enough so it would look like we were coming back.”
Taking a few seconds to smile at his brother, he jerked his head to the side. “Come on.”
He led Ramzi out of the alley and onto the street. They hustled down several blocks, ducked into a few alleys, popped out on other streets, and made their way to their destination. Along the way, he spied two ATMs on which he had placed skimmers and wished he could walk over and snatch them off. With a tight grimace, he walked past, never looking over.
Kofi had spent the past week thinking of every possible way to disentangle him and Ramzi from the Haltsons. Each scenario he considered always came back to the knowledge that Eliza and Cory wouldn’t let them go easily. And the last thing he wanted to do was put his brother in harm”s way.
If they both disappeared and left the area, he had no idea how long their money would last before it ran out. He could get a job, but they would need travel money to get away. And there’s no way he’d leave without Ramzi.
“You’re not thinking about leaving me at the center and going somewhere, are you?” Ramzi asked as though he could tell what Kofi had pondered.
With a weighty sigh, Kofi replied, “I thought about it.” He and Ramzi had never lied to each other, so he wasn’t going to start now. “I keep trying to think of a way for us to get out of this safely. The only thing I can think of is for both of us to leave the area. We got money saved up and can get on a bus going somewhere else. Ms. Charity said that homeless law was federal. That means it’s not just here. It’s everywhere. So maybe we can go somewhere else and find help.”
Ramzi nodded slowly but waited.
Letting out a long, slow breath, Kofi said, “But I gotta make things right.”
Ramzi”s eyes widened as he tilted his head slightly to the side. He reached out to grab Kofi’s arm. “What do you mean?”
“Do you trust me?”
Time stood still as the two brothers stared without blinking at each other. Ramzi slowly nodded. “You know I do. You don’t gotta ask.”
“Then there’s only one way I can see for us to make this right. Come on.” He turned and led the way down another street.
* * *
Paula rounded the corner quickly, nearly running into Charity, who stumbled backward. “What the—? Good grief, Paula! Where are you going?”
Out of breath, Paula grabbed Charity’s arm. “I knew you’d want to know they walked in!”
Eyes narrowing, she asked, “Who?”
“Those two brothers… Kofi and Ramzi. They want you.”
“Thank you!” she gasped as she rushed down the hall. When she came to the corner that would lead her into the reception lobby, she stopped, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Calming her heartbeat, she walked around the corner, and her gaze fell upon the two boys. Unable to contain her enthusiasm, she hurried forward, smiling widely as she reached out her hand.”I’m so glad to see you!”
Kofi took her hand, and she held it between both of hers, giving it a slight squeeze before letting go and turning to Ramzi. He smiled shyly when she shook his hand, and she could’ve sworn she witnessed a look of relief in his eyes.
She had a million questions but knew it was important for them to tell her why they were there and what they needed. “Do you want to go into my office?”
Kofi looked around, then jerked his head up and down. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Call me Charity.” She waved her hand in the direction of her office. Both boys nodded, and she led the way. Once inside, Ramzi sat quickly, but Kofi hovered near the door.
“Do you mind if I close this, ma’am… Charity?”
She shook her head, and he thanked her as he closed her office door, then took his seat next to Ramzi.
“Okay, Kofi. You two are here, but I don’t want to make any assumptions. So why don’t you tell me what I can do for you.”
“Is it possible for you to call that man back in?” Kofi asked.
Startled at Kofi’s unexpected request, she blinked as her chin jerked back slightly. “I’m sorry, what man?”
“The one who was here before. The one who was with you and talked to us.”
She startled again as understanding dawned. “Mr. Parker. Oliver.”
Kofi nodded quickly and said, “Yeah, that’s the one. Can he talk to us again?”
Wanting to proceed cautiously, she nodded slowly. “Yes, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind talking to you again, but he doesn’t work here.”
Kofi’s brow lowered. “He was helping with security here, wasn’t he?”
“Yes, he was. But he doesn’t stay here at the center. He works for the company who was designing the system.”
She watched Kofi’s lips press together, and Ramzi stare at his brother, fear back in his eyes. Making a quick decision, she offered, “But I can call him. I can put him on speakerphone or video, and then you could talk to him that way. Would that work?”
“Nobody could overhear us, right?”
“Not unless you wanted them to.” She picked up her phone and waited to see what Kofi would say. When she gained his nod, she quickly dialed Oliver.
He answered almost immediately. “Hey, Charity.”
“Oliver, listen. I have Kofi and Ramzi here in my office. They just came in and wanted to talk in private. But they really wanted you to be here also. So I told them that I could put them on speakerphone or a video call, and they could talk to you that way. But only you, okay?”
“Absolutely.”
She loved how he agreed without hesitation and tapped on the speakerphone icon before laying her phone on her desk. “Okay, Oliver. I have you on speakerphone.”
“Kofi?” Oliver prodded.
“Yes, sir?”
“To start with, you can call me Oliver. Next, I want to ask you a question, but the answer is completely up to you. I’m not trying to get you to answer one way or the other, okay?”
“Okay.”
It didn’t pass Charity’s attention that Kofi also agreed without hesitation.
Oliver continued. “I’m still at work, surrounded by some of the other men and women in this organization, who, like me, work to keep people safe. I have no idea what you want to talk about, but if we get to a point in the conversation where you’d like to get help, would it be okay if I let them hear our conversation? We can see you from the security camera in Charity’s office, but her phone will let us hear you.”
Kofi glanced up at the camera in the corner, and Ramzi jerked his head around, his eyes wide. Then the two shared a look, and Charity held her breath, waiting for their answer.
Finally, Kofi said, “It’s just people like you? It’s not a bunch of policemen there?”
“There are no policemen here at all, Kofi. It’s just me and some of the people I work with. I’m really proud of you two boys coming to see Charity. We’ve been really worried about you.”
Ramzi grinned at Oliver’s words, and Charity could have sworn that Kofi’s shoulders slumped in relief.
“Okay. You can put me on speaker.”
After a few seconds, Oliver said, “You’re on speakerphone, and so are we. It’s all secure, and nobody here will do anything you don’t want or know about, Kofi. Agreed?”
He nodded.
“Charity,” Oliver began. “Why don’t you start the conversation, and we’ll interject if we need to.”
“Kofi and Ramzi, first of all, you’ve come into the Bright Futures Home, so please tell me what you are looking for from us.”
“We need a place to stay. It’s no longer safe for Ramzi to stay where we were. Probably not me, either, but I’m bigger and can take care of myself. In fact, I think that’s probably why we’ve been left alone. But we need to make some changes, and to do that, we need a safe place to stay.”
“I’ve already gone over some of the basic questions the last time I saw you. You don’t have a permanent place to stay. By that, I mean where you lay your head at night. Other than this place you’ve talked about, which is not safe, and it’s not with a parent or guardian, right?”
“That’s right.”
“We have emergency housing that we can offer while we determine your legal eligibility.” Seeing his eyes widen, she quickly said, “That just means I have to check to see when you were in school last, your last residence, any bills you’ve been paying, and have you signed a declaration statement that you do not have permanent housing. We don’t have to wait on that to be able to offer you a place to stay. We’re almost at full capacity, but there is a bedroom on the boys” side that has bunkbeds.”
“That’d be fine.” Kofi nodded in haste. Ramzi glanced at his brother and began nodding, too. “If Ramzi and I had to sleep together in the same bed, it’d be fine.”
“No, we have a bed for each of you. Now, there are certain rules that you have to obey if you’re going to be staying at Bright Futures. Each of you will need to sign them after we go over them carefully, and the understanding is that the rules are for your safety and the safety of others. If you break those rules, then you can be sent away from this home.”
“We got it,” Kofi said, again nodding. “We understand.”
“Now, with the basics out of the way, before we get to any of the paperwork and details, do you want to talk to Oliver and let him know why you wanted him involved in your intake?”
Kofi leaned closer to the phone lying on her desk. “Mr. Oliver? Are you still there?”
“Yes, I’m still here. My fellow coworkers are also sitting here, listening and watching. How can we help you?”
Kofi’s hands were clasped in his lap, pressing tightly together. Charity could feel the waves of anxiety rolling off him.
Finally, he looked at his brother and then up to the camera in the corner. “I was thinking about what you said the other day. You said everyone makes a lot of mistakes in their lives. But we also make choices. And looking for a different way of doing things is what can define a good man. Me and Ramzi, we didn’t have a dad, and Mom had a bunch of loser boyfriends that she finally left us for. Ramzi’s got no one but me to show him how to be a good man. And I can’t do that if I don’t fix my mistakes.”
“It sounds like you’re well on your way to being a good man,” Oliver said. “You’ve taken care of your brother, made sure he had food and was safe. And now, you’re taking even more steps to make sure you’re both in a good place.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Kofi shrugged as he sighed heavily. “I mean, I’ve done those things, but I haven’t always made good choices. In fact, I’ve done some things that weren’t legal. But I felt like I didn’t have a choice.”
Charity ached for the heavy weight that Kofi was carrying around. Leaning forward, she said, “Kofi, you’re making decisions right now, right here, and they are going to change the direction of both of your lives for the better.”
They were silent for a moment, and she was grateful Oliver didn’t ply him with a bunch of questions.
Finally, Kofi admitted, “I met someone who told me I could make good money. I knew this guy had run drugs and figured that’s what he was talking about. I didn’t want Ramzi around that shit. So at first, I told him no. But he told me it didn’t have anything to do with drugs. He said there was someone who had a place where we could stay. He said they had a place where we could sleep and they had food. I asked him what the catch was, and he said we had to learn to steal from rich people. He said it wasn’t easy, that’s why he thought of me. He said they don’t take just anybody because they can’t take a chance on somebody doing something stupid and getting caught. He said he was sure I was smart enough to make us some good money.” He squeezed his eyes tight and shook his head, another sigh leaving his lips. “I was so stupid.”
Ramzi grabbed his brother”s arm and gave it a shake. “We were hungry. Don’t you remember? We spent some nights in the park, and it was scary. You promised you’d try to find a place where I’d be safe and we wouldn’t have to worry about food. And then this guy showed up talking to you, giving us hope. You weren’t stupid, Kofi. We were just hungry and tired.”
The two boys held each other’s gazes. Tears pricked Charity’s eyes, and she hoped Oliver and the other Keepers could witness the devotion Kofi and Ramzi shared.
Kofi nodded before looking back up at the camera. “It’s no excuse for doing wrong, but I… felt like… I had nowhere to go. And everything that guy said just sounded so fuckin’ good. I told him we had to both be together, but I’d watch out for Ramzi. So he gave me an address and a time to meet the next day. We showed up and met a man who said that he only took highly recommended people to work for him. He said we’d get a percentage of everything we earned, and we’d share a house that he and his wife lived in. He said there’d be food to eat.”
“That must’ve sounded like an amazing offer,” Charity said.
Kofi looked at her and swallowed deeply. “We agreed and showed up, and I thought at first we’d found a jackpot. I thought that way for a while until I eventually learned we’d made a deal that was too good to be true.”
Charity looked at the defeated expression on Kofi’s face, and the fear in Ramzi’s eyes and her rage grew. Now, she wanted to take on the fight for these two.