It Ain’t Necessarily So
Ramona sighed as she stepped out of the taxi. “Lois, are you sure this is a good idea?”
Lois stepped back to allow Lucy out of the back seat of the cab. “Am I certain it’s the best idea? No. Do I think it’s better than using a mob lawyer? Yes. Do we have other options? I’m open to suggestions, but I haven’t heard any from the rest of you and I haven’t come up with anything either.”
Ramona nodded back. “Since you put it that way, I suppose I have to agree. You said their office is on the second floor?”
“That’s what the lady told me. Her name is Angela Winters and she specializes in criminal law.”
Connie opened the front door of the office building. “Let’s hope she gets very bored very quickly.”
None of them spoke as they climbed the flight of stairs. Ramona didn’t like the fact that Lois seemed to have taken over this situation, but she had to admit that the bassist seemed to be on top of the situation. She’d been right about not using a mobbed-up lawyer, and she acted as if she knew something about the attorney they were meeting.
Every once in a while, Lois would surprise Ramona by doing or saying something that revealed that she knew a lot more than anyone, even her sister, suspected she knew. This was one of those times. Ramona knew that she herself was no dummy, but once again was getting the distinct impression that Lois was a lot smarter than she let on, and that maybe she was a lot smarter than any of the rest of the women in the band. It was a little unsettling, and Ramona wondered what other surprises Lois had in store for them.
A serious thirty-something black woman of medium height wearing a business suit was flipping through the top drawer in a filing cabinet when Ramona opened the office door and stepped in. “Hi,” she said. “We’re looking for Angela Winters. We have an appointment.”
The woman nodded and her honeyed Southern drawl flowed from her lips. “Then you’re looking for me. I take it you ladies are the members of the Mountaintops?”
“I’m Ramona Wilcox.” Ramona stepped to the side and gestured at the other women in the group in turn. “This is Connie Vandross, Lucy Lane, Shamika Jones, and Lois Lane. Lois is the one who called you this morning.”
Angela pushed the drawer closed and nodded at her visitors. “Another Connie!” she smiled. “That’s my partner’s name. It’s good to meet all of you. Let me fill you in on how this needs to work, okay?” She waited as each band member nodded to her. “Today won’t cost you anything. I intend to listen to each of you tell me your story, and then I’ll advise you as to your best course of action. If you want to hire me, I can represent all five of you as a group or any one of you, but I don’t think I should represent just part of the group. And if you don’t want to hire me at all, no harm and no foul, we all go our separate ways and nobody gets mad. Is that acceptable to you ladies?”
Ramona nodded agreement. She noticed that the attorney made eye contact with each of them individually and waited for each one to agree before she continued. “Who do you want to start with, Angela?”
“You’re the band’s manager, right, Ramona?” Ramona nodded. “Then let’s begin with you. Come into my private office.” She turned to the rest of the group. “When Ramona comes back, I don’t want you to talk to her about this interview. I don’t want any of you remembering something or forgetting to tell me something because you think that’s what I want to hear. I need the unvarnished truth from each of you, so it would be best if you didn’t discuss the situation among yourselves at all for now. If you get hungry or thirsty, there are some vending machines at the end of the hall on the other side of the stairs where you came up. And the ladies’ room is to the left of the vending machines.”
Shamika muttered, “What we supposed to talk about if we can’t talk about Christie?”
“That’s easy,” Connie said. “We’ll have a nice time discussing religion and politics.”
Shamika snorted an almost-laugh. “Yeah, that’ll make the time pass quick.”
Angela pointed to the table among the chairs and couch in the waiting area. “You could always catch up on your reading. I have the latest out-of-date magazines right there.”
Connie gave her a mock frown. “Thanks. My fondest dreams are finally coming true.”
Ramona followed Angela and her hint of a smile into the inner office and sat down as the attorney shut the door.
“All right, Ramona, I’m going to be taking some notes, but they’re my private notes and no one will see them but me or whoever you retain as your attorney in this matter, assuming you retain anyone. If you don’t retain anyone, they go in my private files and stay there. Any questions so far?”
“Not about that.”
“Good. Tell me about Christie Baldwin.”
“What do you need to know?”
“I need you to tell me about your relationship with the deceased.”
Ramona wiggled in the chair. “Deceased. That’s – a pretty clinical way to think about Christie.”
“She is dead, isn’t she? And her murder is the reason you’re here now.”
“That’s true.” Ramona sighed. “I liked Christie the first day I met her, but it didn’t stick. She wasn’t a bad singer, but she didn’t have the star quality she needed to front a band or be a successful soloist. But she had potential, could have been a local success, I think. She did have a good rapport with the audience and she could communicate a song to them, pull them in and get them involved with her as she sang. But her drinking and drug use made that particular talent difficult to control. She’d gotten to the point where she was not only unreliable but she was starting to drag us down. More than once we had to shift on the fly to keep her from pulling the whole song down on top of us.”
“Understand that I’m not a musician. How difficult is it to do that?”
“The five of us have been together for about a year and a half now, and we’ve played over three hundred shows, plus rehearsals and sound checks and jam sessions. We can handle someone dropping a chorus or repeating a verse every once in a while – that happens to everybody – but Christie was starting to do more than that. She’d forget words or change keys or take over endings without giving us any kind of cue or even a hint. She drove me crazy.”
*****
Angela scribbled on a notepad. “Did the other members of the band feel the same way about her as you did?”
“They said they did,” answered Connie. “None of us really took to her after the first few days. She was a prima donna because of her relationship with the owner of the club, and she thought we were only her backup group, not a real band.”
“That bother you much?”
“It bothered me a lot. I’ve worked hard to be a good guitarist and a good singer, and I don’t like it when some oversexed little twit comes in and tries to take over just because the guy she’s sleeping with is the one who’s paying us.”
“Do you get into those situations often?”
“No, not really. Not like this. In fact, we’ve never had a gig quite like this one.”
*****
“What was different about this engagement?”
“Ramona tell us we gonna play all covers and make this waitress sound real good,” Shamika growled. “And she say we gonna make some easy money and stay in one place for six weeks and they gonna pay for that and feed us, and we got time to get our bus fixed up, too. We thought we got a record deal back in January last year, but it didn’t happen. Did a album on a budget just before Christmas so’s we’d have somethin’ to sell at our shows, but it ain’t took off. Been on the road a lot since then, lots o’ travelin’ and lots o’ sleepin’ in the bus and in crummy motels.” She shifted in her chair and grunted. “I’m thinkin’ maybe we gonna get another shot at a record deal, and we can use the time off the road but still playin’ most ever day to stay sharp. Sounded like a sweet gig to me.”
Angela wrote a note to herself. “Was it a sweet gig?”
“Started out sweet, but Christie turn out to be just another lush yankin’ some rich boyfriend around by the – sorry ‘bout that. She leadin’ him around by the personals and he do whatever she say for her. She could’a been a pretty good singer if she’d really wanted to be, but she wouldn’t listen to nobody. Drank too much and took drugs. Messed up songs, then got to messin’ up whole sets.”
“Did that make you angry?”
“Course it did! Who wanna come hear a band where the singer keep screwin’ up? She takin’ money outta all our pockets.”
*****
“Didn’t you try to talk to her or to the club manager about the situation?”
Lois rolled her eyes. “Every two or three days Ramona would meet with Johnny Taylor and tell him that Christie needed to straighten up. It rarely helped, and never for more than a day. All it really did was make Johnny harder to deal with.”
“You felt frustrated?”
“Constantly.”
“Did that make you want to do something about it?”
Lois blew out a breath. “We were doing something about it. After that last performance where she laid across the piano like she was selling advertising in her cleavage, we told her we wanted to meet with her and straighten things out with her.”
“And that was the night she died?”
“I guess so. That was the last time any of us saw her alive.”
“Wasn’t there some kind of disturbance after the last set that night?”
“Yes.”
Angela waited a moment, then blandly asked, “Would you like to tell me about it?”
“Not really.”
“Would you rather tell the police about it? Because they’re almost surely going to be asking the same kinds of questions, except they won’t be nearly as polite about it as I am. Besides, you called me, I didn’t call you.”
Lois shifted in the chair and nodded shortly. “Yeah, you’re right, I’m sorry. Okay. Lucy got mad and yelled at Christie and told her she was ruining the gig for all of us. I held her back and wouldn’t let her smack Christie, although I really wanted to let her do it.”
“But she didn’t hit Christie?”
“No. Nobody hit anybody.”
“What else happened.?”
“Ramona told her that she and Christie and I needed to meet before rehearsal the next day and hash things out. Lucy was in the dressing room by then, and Connie and Shamika were just watching and listening.”
“Did Christie agree to this meeting?”
“Yes. And I actually thought we’d finally gotten through to her. I thought she just might straighten up and fly right.”
“And that’s the last time you saw Christie Baldwin alive?”
“That’s the last time I saw or heard from her at all.”
*****
“So you were in your dressing room and didn’t hear about this meeting then?”
“Not until Lois told me about it. I thought it was a good idea. We had to do something.”
“So you didn’t see her or talk to her after the band scheduled that meeting?”
Lucy dropped her gaze. “Well – yes. I did.”
Angela didn’t display any reaction, but had she been a cat her ears would have swiveled forward. “So did you see her or talk to her?”
Lucy sighed. “She left a message on our phone, mine and Lois’ at the hotel. But she asked to talk to me. She left her phone number and address and asked me to call or come see her before the meeting the next day.”
“What did you do?”
“I left and went to see her that night.”
“Why?”
“Because I was tired of all the crap she was pulling and her me-first attitude and I wanted her to get things straight with all of us. I thought that if I talked to her, maybe she’d see the light and start acting like a team member, especially since she’d called me first.”
Angela made a note on the pad. “What time did you get to Christie’s apartment?”
“Um, I’m not sure, but it was about two in the morning.”
“What happened when you went to see her?”
“She let me in and told me the reason she wanted me to play piano for her on ‘Fever’ that night was because she wanted me to leave the band and be her accompanist.”
Angela nodded. “And what did you say to her?”
Lucy leaned forward. “I told her no! I told her I wasn’t abandoning my sister and my friends for her! I told her we were going to be successful and she was going to – to – “
Angela smiled and spoke softly. “It’s all right, Lucy. Just take your time and tell me what happened.”
“Sorry.” Lucy took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. I told her she wasn’t going anywhere, that she didn’t have what it took to be a singer.”
“Uh-huh. And then what happened?”
“Then – then I left and went back to the hotel.”
“Did you touch anything in the apartment, like a drinking glass or the piano? Did you handle anything there?”
“No. After I – “ and she stopped talking.
Angela leaned forward. “After you what?” Lucy didn’t answer and Angela’s smile slipped away. “Lucy, you have to tell me the whole truth now or I can’t help you.”
Lucy sat back and rubbed her hands together. “I – I slapped her across the face. Just like my stepdad used to do to me.” She started crying. “I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry I hit her! But she just made me so mad! She was so selfish! She didn’t care about us, about the band, not even about me! And she said she wanted me to play for her!” She wiped her eyes on her sleeve. “I don’t think she really even cared about herself!”
Angela opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out a box of tissues. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” Lucy blew her nose and seemed to calm down.
“Lucy, this is very important. Tell me how Christie looked when you left the apartment.”
Lucy shrugged. “I don’t really remember. She was just standing there in the middle of the living room staring at me. I think I really shocked her when I slapped her.”
“What did you slap her with?”
“My hand. What do you – oh, no, no, no! I didn’t kill her!”
“No, I don’t mean – “
“I didn’t kill her! You have to believe me! I didn’t kill her!”
Angela stood and walked around the desk. “Easy, Lucy, easy. I do believe you. I don’t think you killed her. The news reports say she was struck in the head with a blunt object which fractured her skull, and your hand isn’t anywhere near hard enough to do that kind of damage. Now calm down so we can finish up, okay?”
“But I – “
“It’s okay, Lucy. I just have to ask a few more questions and we’ll be done. Can we do that now?”
Lucy took two quick breaths and nodded shortly. “Yeah – yeah, go ahead.”
“Good. Now, how many times did you slap Christie?”
“Just once.”
“Did you see any blood on her or on you after you slapped her?”
“No.”
“Did you hit her with anything else?”
“What? I told you – “
“Hold it! These are the same questions the police are going to be asking you, and they’ll be asking them very soon. By now they’ll have Christie’s phone records for the past few days. They’ll know that she phoned your hotel room and left a message, and they may be able to retrieve it from the automatic message machine. And they may be able to find a witness who saw you leave the hotel or one who saw you in Christie’s building.” She leaned down close to Lucy’s face. “Now tell me the truth. Did you hit Christie Baldwin with anything other than your hand?”
Lucy’s eyes bored into Angela’s. “No. I did not hit Christie Baldwin with anything other than my hand. And I only hit her that one time and I didn’t knock her down.”
“And you say that she was alive and well the last time you saw her?”
“She was standing in the middle of her apartment, alive and well.” Lucy shook her head. “She wasn’t happy, but she was alive.”
Angela nodded and moved back to her seat behind the desk, then picked up her pencil and scribbled for several moments before putting the pencil down and looking straight into Lucy’s eyes. “Okay, I think I have the whole story. May I tell you what I advise you to do now?”
Lucy nodded and put her hands together in her lap. “Yes, please.”
“I advise you to retain me or some other attorney to represent you. Then I advise you to contact the police and tell them that you have some information about the night Christie Baldwin died. Ask them where they want you to go and who they want you to talk to. They’ll either transfer you to the homicide detective working the case or ask you to come in to see him. Or her. And you need to tell them that you’re bringing in your attorney.”
Lucy nodded. “Can I bring my sister too?”
Angela frowned and shook her head. “I don’t recommend it. Unless she has some information about that night, they won’t want to talk to her, and they definitely won’t want her to be in the same room with you.”
“But we sleep in the same room in the hotel. She knew when I left and when I came back and what I looked like and acted like. I bet they’ll want to hear what she has to say.”
Angela leaned back in her chair and rocked a few times, then nodded. “I think you’re right, they probably will want to talk to her. But she’ll need an attorney of her own. I can’t represent you and her both, assuming you want me to represent you.”
Lucy pursed her lips in thought and nodded. “I want you to be my lawyer. Can you make that call you were talking about? I’ll do whatever you want me to do.”
For the first time that morning, Angela smiled openly. “Yes, Lucy. I can make that call for you.” Angela picked up the phone and stopped with her finger on the buttons. “Have you told me the truth, Lucy?”
Lucy nodded vigorously. “Yes. All of it.”
“Good. In that case, I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll be just fine.”
