CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
She thanked God she remembered his address and the Uber driver in Los Angeles drove them straight to his house. Then the driver took off.
But what was strange to Janita was that the electronic gate was wide open after it was apparently repaired from a month ago when Kemberly broke it down, and there were no grounds people working on the lawn and trimming hedges, or maids coming in and out, or supply trucks coming in and out the way it was the morning of the first time she was at that house.
But then again, she though as she and Von made their way to his front door, maybe they had been there earlier and left. She knew that was possible. But it didn’t feel like that. His home, unlike the last time, felt almost deserted to her. There was a heavy sense of emptiness over it.
But it looked perfect to Von. “Now this is what I call a house,” he said as they made their way to the front door. “It’s so modern and sleek compared to his parents’ house.”
“Both are beautiful.”
“I know,” Von said. “But this right here is more my style. And he drives a ‘vet too?” He was looking at the Corvette in the driveway. “Oh yes ma’am. Yes ma’am. Yes ma’am. This is more my style.”
What on earth did his style have to do with anything, Janita wanted to ask him, but she was too concerned about Hawk to get involved in any side nonsense with Von. She rang the doorbell.
But nothing.
She knocked on his door.
Nothing.
And that was when she made the decision to turn the knob. When it was unlocked and the door opened, Janita began to walk inside.
Von was shocked. “What are you doing? They can arrest us for breaking and entering, Janita! Janita?”
But she wasn’t listening. “Hawk?” she yelled out as she entered his home. “Hawk?”
But it wouldn’t be until she turned to her left and looked in his living room. And that was when she saw his body, lying there, in a pool of blood. “Jesus!” she cried out and ran to him.
When she cried out, Von hurried into the house, too, and looked to his left. When he saw Hawk on that floor like that, he ran to his aid too. When he saw how swollen his head was, and how badly beaten he was, he immediately dialed 911.
But Janita, so beside herself with anguish, she didn’t know what to do. That was when her training kicked in and she started doing CPR on him. But she saw all that blood and his condition and she knew it was hopeless.
But she did it anyway. She refused to stop. She was still pumping on him even as the paramedics arrived. She was crying uncontrollably and pumping.
She should have come earlier. She should have gotten on that plane last night. But how was she to know? How could she have possibly known?
She was in so much agony that she didn’t even hear the paramedics say they had a very faint pulse. Von had to tell her. But even then, she had to believe her eyes. And her eyes didn’t tell her to hope. He was in horrific shape. How could he come back from that?
Von was telling her to hold onto hope, but her eyes was telling her to give up and let go. Her eyes were telling her that nothing good could come of false hope.
But as the paramedics were speeding away, and as the LAPD detained her and Von to question them, Janita was silently praying. She couldn’t stop praying. She decided to hold onto whatever hope she could hold onto. For Hawk’s sake.
She decided to not believe her lying eyes.