Rain & Tears

"Boy, it sure rains a lot in Philly." I mused as I looked out of the office window....

I had just come inside with the mail...I passed it to my wife, Attorney Olivia Bennett-Alexander...The lead Attorney at the firm where I, her loving husband, Donnie Ray Alexander am employed...I am the firm's investigator...I'm an ex-Homicide Detective from New Orleans...I'm good at what I do...She's a former Public Defender...She's good at what she does too...

Olivia was at her computer..I passed her the mail....

"Oh wow...bills....Open em...I might as well pay em now while I'm looking at our accounts..." she said.

I passed her the morgtage, the electric, the water, cable, phone and internet and gas bills which she paid on line...

She looked at me and smiled...

"Low overhead...I like that." she said..

"I like you." I said and kissed her...

She giggled...

"I know....I kinda like you too." she said and looked at me and giggled.

"Kinda?" I said laughing....I hung up my coat and sat down at my desk...

"Where is Josie?" I asked...

"She and Bev went to lunch...." she said.

"It sure is coming down out there..."she mused and opened the final letter...

"That's funny...This letter has no return address...It's not a bill...it's light.."she said.

She opened it...

"It's photos.." she said- "Of our wedding in New Orleans..." she mused as she went through them...

"Who took these?  We already got the ones my sister and brother in law took...But these look like they were taken with a very good camera...A professional job.."I said as I looked at them.....

"These aren't the ones Bev took either...She's in this one.."mused Olivia..

Then all of a sudden, my wife's eyes got as large as saucers....and I saw something in her face I'd never seen before...Fear! Pure fear!!

"Livy...What's wrong ? Babes...Talk to me..." I said.

She showed me the last photo...It was a tall Black man , dark skinned who looked a few years older than us...He was wearing a white trenchcoat and black slacks and a very expensive pair of shoes that literally shined through the photograph...

"Who is he? Do you know him Olivia?" I asked...

"Unfortunately I do....I thought he was dead...But apparently he's still alive and he was at our wedding and he wants me to know he's alive....." she said.

"What? " I asked...

II-

"Olivia....what's going on? Who is this man?? Who is he and what is he to you?" I asked.

Olivia looked at me with those beautiful expressive eyes of hers and said to me...

''Donnie Ray, Do you love me?" she asked.

"You know I do...You have to ask after all this time?" I asked...I have to admit...I was getting a little worried.

"Donnie Ray Do you trust me?" she asked..

"Yes I trust you...You're my wife." I said...

"Then I'm going to tell you something and you've got to promise me, you won't speak a word of this to Beverly...not ever or my brother..." she said.

"Okay...Okay...You have my word...What has this got to do with this man?" I asked.

"I'm going to tell you...." she said.

III-

"His name , or the name I knew him by is Reggie...Reggie Hamilton....That's how he introduced himself to me years ago...I met him at the University of Pennsylvania...this was before I got married to Elwood...I hadn't met Elwood yet..

I had graduated...Gotten my J.D. and had just passed the bar...He was studying law there too..We struck up a friendship...that turned into a romance....My Mother was still living then...Bev was still in high school...He was reluctant, but I took him home to meet my Mom and My Brother and Bev...My brother was trying to get back with Bev's mom, Alfreda back then....

He was good to me Donnie Ray, he reminded me , a lot of you....but after seeing him for a few months ,I began to notice something funny about him....He never talked much about himself, his past, his home life..his relatives...He never really liked being around my family...Didn't want to be with them much....Never, ever wanted to be in any photos and ....I had never been to his place...Not ever!! I called him or texted him and he got in contact with me...He never drove the same car twice on a date...At first,I didn't notice it..but eventually I did start noticing it....Malinda ,Beverly and my mom noticed it and brought it to my attention.

Whenever we spent time alone together, it was in hotels or motels...And when I went to where he told me he lived..I found a white couple living there and they had no idea who he was...

I checked his school records and there was no record of him.....I hired a Private Investigator to look into him...Nothing turned up...The name he was using and social security number he gave me was phony...It belonged to a man who had been dead for twenty years...His credit cards, debit cards, drivers license...all fake, all phony...." she said.

I sat in my chair and took in everything she had told me and then I asked her...

"So...What did you do then? Did you confront him??" I asked..

"I didn't want to....I was in love...I was young and dumb! I talked to my mom about it and she said...that a man who is that secretive and had lied that much might have something to hide....Like maybe he was married....Turns out it was deeper than that..

I finally confronted him...In a hotel , after a night of making love  naturally...I confronted him after we had both showered and gotten dressed....He admitted that Reggie Hamilton wasn't his real name and he told me that while he did love me, he had made a mistake...In his line of work, he wasn't supposed to get involved with anybody and anything he couldn't walk away from...He was supposedly C.I.A.

"You're a hell of a woman Olivia...I should have never got as close to you as I did...I love you,I do...but I can't be with you...What I do is too dangerous...Have a good life Livy...Find yourself somebody who can love you openly the way you deserve..." he said as he broke up with me...

"Reggie...Reggie..don't go...don't go.."I said as he walked down the hallway of the hotel we were in....I slid to the floor and just cried...

My niece, Beverly had followed us there....She helped me up off the floor...She had just got her drivers license then..She drove me home...

Donnie Ray, I cried a river for nights....My Mom and my brother and Bev did all they could to console me...It took awhile...That's why I've kept so many guys at arms length after that...I never wanted to feel that way again...

My brother went looking for him....He was going to kill him....but he didn't find a trace of him....It was as if Reggie just dropped off the face of the earth...

Then about two years later...Beverly's mother got in some trouble...She was living with a guy named Basil Riley...A bad man, a drug dealer and a woman beater....She and my brother had broken up..Bev was living with them for a time....I went and got Bev and brought her with me..She was afraid of this guy...Bev finished high school, living with me and my mom..(My dad had died..) and entered college...I think Bev was in her junior year when I saw Reggie again.

"One night...Alfreda called me...she was wailing and crying and screaming to the top of her lungs...She told me to come over and to not tell Bev or my brother...I did...and in the middle of the floor was Basil Riley...He had beat her one too many times and she had put a butcher knife in his chest....There was blood everywhere Donnie Ray...It was horrible...I was a young lawyer...A Public defender...I thought about what kind of defense I was going to mount, then I thought about just getting Alfreda out of there...and just then, just like that....There he was...Reggie!!! He was with a White man...a young guy ,muscular with a ponytail....and aviator sunglasses...

I was like ,"Reggie, what are you doing here?"

He said-

"Clean her up and get her out of here...We'll take care of the rest."

I was like...

''What are you talking about???...I have to call the police...Then I have to pay her bail and think of what kind of defense and..."

The white man finally spoke-

"I see why Reggie fell in love with you...You've got spirit and you're beautiful...but what you don't have is the experience to get her out of this mess...You don't have the kind of bail money a murder charge would call for...You just got out of law school...You're a first year Public defender...Think about what I'm saying...This would bankrupt you and you already have student loans to pay...Take her, get her cleaned up...Leave her clothes and under wear here...Get her out of here and never come back and don't call the police or say anything. This is the only choice you have...Do it...Don't be a fool Olivia." he said.

I cleaned Alfreda up and got her out of there like they said....She was hysterical...Gus let her stay in that room above Josie's Bar and Grill...and never asked any questions...Gus was good like that...I came back the next day and the place was bone dry....It smelled like bleach...All of the furniture was gone!  Not a trace...No trace of Basil Riley's body either...It was if he and Alfreda had never lived there...No one missed him or looked for him...Even his own people feared and hated him..

Reggie appeared in the doorway...

"I knew you'd come back here to find out..."he said.

"Reggie, what did you guys do? Who was that white man.?" I asked..

"Olivia...I might as well tell you...I'm C.I.A. ,I know you didn't believe me when I told you, but I am.  You can try to look me up, but you'll never find me and they'll never say I'm with them...I'm a ghost...This is the life I chose...No one will ever know what became of Basil Riley...The police will never find any trace of him in this dwelling...We took care of it...It's better that you don't know....And you don't know...You're going to be a great lawyer one day...I see it in you...Who knows
maybe you can do us a favor one day..." he said.

''So that's it...You're just leaving me again?...How can I contact you?" I asked..

"Oh you won't...If I ever need to see you...I'll contact you." he said...and that was the last time I ever saw him ,until now..."said Olivia.

IV-

It was still pouring outside....I said nothing...finally Olivia looked at me....

''Donnie Ray...You're the only guy that never made me cry..." she said.

I took her hand in mine..

''And I never will Olivia.." I said.

''Donnie Ray...He was in New Orleans when you and I got married!!....and he took these photos and sent them to me for a reason...He wants to see me." she said.

"He's free now and he wants to rekindle your relationship."I said dryly...

"No....I doubt that seriously....He wants a favor....His handler...That white guy said that one day they might call on me to do them a favor...That day is today...That's why he sent me these photos...To let me know he's in town and that he wants to make contact..." she said.

"After all this time?" I asked.

"Yes....After they cleaned up that murder scene.....Alfreda was never quite the same...She had a nervous breakdown and I had her put in a facility, where she'd get better...That's all Beverly and my brother know...Alfreda swore me to secrecy...Bev has gone to visit her a few times...I don't know if my brother has or not..I suppose he's washed his hands of her...I make sure she's comfortable."said Olivia...

''You know...you're a great attorney...You might have gotten her off." I said.

"I've often thought about that...I was green then..I hadn't made my bones yet...A good ADA would've had me for lunch and Beverly's mother would be just getting out of Muncy State Prison for Women right about now..." she mused..

"As it turns out, she's institutionalized anyway."I said.

"Yeah, but she's way better off than she might have been...No criminal record at least. I think Reggie or whatever his name is felt like he owed me that favor...since he lied to me and broke my heart..and now I owe him one.." she said.

"Where will you meet him?" I asked..

"He'll let me know...I need you to do something for me."she said.

''Anything babes.." I said.

"I need you to wire me..."she said.

"What?" I said.

"You have that spyware upstairs...I need you to put a wire in my bra.."she said.

"With pleasure" I joked..

"Normally, I would laugh with you...but I need you to do this and to follow me ...but not be seen by these guys...I don't really know them or trust them completely...."

"I can do that..." I said.

"Good and you can not take Beverly or tell her where you're going or what you're doing." she said.

We had all become so close..I hated the fact that I might have to lie to Bev...but Olivia was my wife...and Beverly's aunt...She was protecting Bev....I knew that...I had to respect her judgement...

Just then, Beverly and Josie walked into the office...They were soaking wet...

"Heyy Auntay, D.R." said Beverly....

''Heyy Donnie Ray." said Josie..

"Hey girls...still wet out I see.." I said..

''Yeah...Looks like a storm is coming.."said Beverly....

I looked over at my wife Olivia...Indeed! I mused..

(TO BE CONTINUED...)