Page 4 of Justice

I drove the speed limit the entire way to Aubrey’s office like somebody’s church usher, both hands on the wheel, eyes flicking to the rearview at every light. Nobody was behind me. There was never anyone behind me. I checked anyway, because paranoid is just good pattern recognition, and the one time you quit looking over your shoulder is the exact time the universe decides to teach you something. I’d already taken that class. Flunked it, too.

The Banks had me on lock the entire ride over. Rita’s house was something else. It was big and warm, dripping with money, grief hanging up under all that good furniture thick enough to spread on toast. Inside, desperate to find their grandmother a caregiver, were three grown men and their clipboard-carrying sister. They grilled me as the queen held court from an armchair.

That’s the part people never understand about a caregiver interview. It is not about the questions they ask you. It is about the ones nobody’s got the nerve to say out loud. What’s this family scared of? What do they need to hear before they can hand over the person they love and still fall asleep that night? I had it inside ten minutes, watching the sexiest brother’s jaw tighten up every time his grandmother got mouthy, and I aimed every word out my mouth straight at that soft spot till the man damn near sighed with relief.

Worked like it always works. And I hated, just a little bit, how good I was at it. There was a time I ran that same game in front of a jury, and I got paid well to. Now I run it to keep myself breathing. Growth?

Ellis Care Staffing sat on the second floor of a strip plaza off Central with gold letters on the glass Aubrey paid entirely too much for. She looked up the second I came through the door, took one read of my face, and lit up like the first of the month.

“Well hurry up! Tell me you charmed them Banks people.”

Aubrey and I had been best friends since we were in middle school. Both of us born and raised in Charlotte, NC, we stayed joined at the hip until we went to college in DC. We did undergrad at Howard but eventually I went to law school at Georgetown. Eventually I moved to Atlanta and well… life took a turn.

“They didn’t say yes yet.”

“Oh, they will. Sit down. Talk to me. How was Miss Rita Banks?”

Aubrey was eager and I appreciated it. Because I needed a gig like this more than anything. The Banks family had money money. And it was enough to get me out of Dodge.

I looked at Aubrey’s pretty face. She had a light caramel complexion and raven black hair that she cut in a pixie cut. Her father is Filipino and her mother is a beautiful Geechee woman. Aubrey and I were a pair of baddies when we were on that Howard campus and had a limitless line of suitors.

I chose the wrong one.

“She was sharp,” I said, dropping into the chair. “Sharp, scared, and too proud to admit that she needed help. She told me straight to my face she didn’t need no damn nurse.” I couldn’t help the little smile. “I want to be like her when I grow up.”

“And the boys?” She propped her chin in her hand, nosy as ever.

“You mean the men? The family full of fine ass men? The oldest one barely said three words to me. He just heavily watched me like I was going to rob them. As if I had a chance.”

“Uh huh, that’s Quest.” She waved a hand. “That family isn’t too warm with strangers. They been through it, and they have too much to protect.”

Too much to protect. I tucked that one away. I’d felt it in that house, sitting there thick under all the money and the watchfulness running through every one of them. I could tell they were used to being on edge with strangers. The quiet one was worst of all. Justice.

“Prime didn’t come near me. Just watched from afar. And then Justice… That one…”

“Oh the middle child.”

“The grandmother made up her mind for all of them before I got to the door,” I said. “Justice can watch me all he wants. Rita already signed the paperwork in her head.”

“Mm.” Aubrey gave me a look I did not care for, quick and a little too smart. Then she let it go, thank God. “Good. Good for you, boo.”

“Thank you for sending me, though.” I leaned back. “I know you have aides who have way more experience but thank you.”

“Yeah, girl, no one is going to pay like the Banks. And even though you’ve only been a CNA for the last eight months, you’re really good. Every family who’s had you has left you glowing reviews and I know the Banks will too. So when you get that contract, I’ll only take ten percent, rather than my usual fifty. That’ll get you to your goal quicker.”

“That’s robbery of yourself.”

“It’s my agency. I can rob myself if I want. Besides, this has been the best year yet. I’ve done double my revenue goals.” She reached across the desk and squeezed my wrist, just once, and her voice came down out of the joke for a second. “You did me a favor showing up when you did, working for peanuts and never once complaining. Let me do you one back.”

I looked down at her hand on my wrist and felt the thing I always felt around Aubrey. I was comforted and at home. She was the only person I had left in my corner. She was the only one that knew everything about me and still loved me.

“Oh.” She perked back up, grinning like she’d been dying to get to this part. “And you want to know how I really made sure you shined in there?”

“Do I?”

“The three appointments before yours.” She ticked them off, delighted with herself. “Rodney, La’Monakita, and that girl who fell asleep sitting up in their waiting room.”

It took me a full beat. Then it clicked. “Aubrey. You did not send them.”