Like Father Like Son Page 4

  It didn’t take long to learn the drill. Visitors got off the elevator, went to the desk, and signed in for a pink admittance card. Then the lady would press some button she had, and the pale blue doors would swoosh open automatically.

  I watched that happen a few times, and then on the third go-round, I counted it off in my head. The lady pushed the button. The doors opened. And—

  One…

  Two…

  Three…

  Four…

  Five…

  Six…

  Seven…

  Eight…

  On nine, the door swooshed shut again. This was going to be tight, but not impossible.

  Now I just had to be patient, like a real detective on a stakeout. My dad’s been stuck on surveillance details for as long as twelve hours at a time. It takes focus, patience, and, sometimes, a really strong bladder. At least I had a bathroom I could use if I needed.

  But in fact, it was only twenty minutes later when I got my shot.

  That’s when I saw a Black couple about Dad and Bree’s age getting off the elevator. If I played it right, they’d never even know I was there, and everyone else would just see some kid with his folks.

  As they went and got their passes, I stood up and walked over toward the elevator like I was leaving. Then I paused, like I was looking at something on my phone, even though I was really listening in.

  “Good morning, can I help you?”

  “Hi, we’re Tracy Bennett’s parents, here to see our daughter.”

  “Of course. Please just sign in here.”

  My nerves bumped way up now. But I was excited, too. I kept thinking about how Zoe had slipped over that fence the day before. If she were doing this, she probably would have been past those doors a long time ago.

  A few seconds later, I heard a familiar buzzing sound. Swoosh, the doors opened and I started the count in my head.

  One…

  Two…

  The couple crossed the hall toward the entrance, talking as they came.

  “Maybe we should have brought something.”

  “It’s okay. She just wants to see us.”

  Three…

  Four…

  “What she wants is to come home.”

  “I know, babe. I know.”

  They were just passing through the open doors now.

  Five…

  Six…

  I pivoted the long way around, enough to give me a quick look at the reception desk, where the lady was already talking to someone else.

  Seven…

  Eight…

  The coast was as clear as it was going to get. I kept moving and slipped through the doors behind my “parents,” right before—

  Nine…

  Swoosh, the doors closed up behind me. Just like that, I was in. And the couple I’d followed had already peeled off down the hall to the left, leaving me on my own. Sweet!

  All right, I thought. Don’t get cocky. Stay sharp. Because I wasn’t done yet. In fact, looking straight ahead, I could see that I still had to get past one more very big obstacle.

  The kind with a uniform and a badge.

  DAD HAD MENTIONED there was a cop stationed by Zoe’s room, so I wasn’t surprised by it or anything. I just wasn’t sure how to get around him.

  The thing I needed to avoid was staying in one place for too long, looking suspicious. Instead, I kept it moving, and kept my street face on, too—eyes front as I walked slowly down the hall like I hadn’t even noticed that cop.

  Unlike the rest of the hospital, the walls in here were bright colors—orange on one side and green on the other, with planets and stars painted along the ceiling. That was nice, I guess, but it still smelled like floor cleaner and Band-Aids to me. Hospitals kind of creep me out.

  I didn’t look at the cop as I passed him. I just walked right on by and then, super casually, looked back over my shoulder into the room.

  Zoe was sitting up in her hospital bed with a bright-pink cast on her arm. She had a notebook on her lap, with a pen in her good hand. And for a fraction of a second, our eyes met.

  “Ali!” she shouted.

  I stopped then and looked straight at the cop as he stood up from his chair. Unlike Zoe, he didn’t seem so happy to see me.

  “It’s okay! He’s my cousin,” Zoe called out without even missing a beat. “Ali, come on in!”

  I checked the cop again, and he just shrugged. “Go ahead,” he said, so I scooted on past him before he could change his mind.

  “Close the door,” Zoe told me, which I did, and then went over to the side of the bed. It was weird to see her in a hospital gown, like catching her in pajamas.

  “I thought you were allergic to cops,” I said, thumbing over my shoulder and trying to make a joke.

  “Yeah, like I got a choice,” Zoe said. “He just leaves me alone, and that’s fine by me.”

  “Where’s your mom?” I asked.

  “Down in the cafeteria with Darnell and my auntie,” Zoe told me.

  “Darnell?”

  “He manages my mom’s career. Bookings, getting paid, stuff like that,” she said.

  “Oh. Cool,” I said. I wondered what it was like to have a mom with a manager, and a YouTube channel, and actual fans.

  “What about you?” she asked. “Where’s your dad?”

  “At home, I guess,” I said, and Zoe’s eyebrows went up. I think that’s when she knew I’d snuck out to see her. Maybe it earned me a little respect.

  “Does your arm hurt?” I asked.

  “Not really,” she said, even though I’ll bet it did. Zoe was tough that way. It was good to see her sitting up and smiling, too, after that crazy scene at the park. But I knew I had to hurry. There was no knowing how long we’d have that room to ourselves.

  “Hey, so Zoe? Can I ask you something?” I said.

  “Yeah?” she said, like she wasn’t so sure.

  “It’s about what happened yesterday,” I said. “Who was that I saw you with?”

  “I still don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.

  “Someone in black boots and a long coat,” I told her, pushing past how uncomfortable I was getting. “Is that who did this to you?”

  Zoe’s face didn’t change. She just shook her head a little. “Whatever you thought you saw, you didn’t. Okay?”

  I noticed it was almost exactly the same words she’d used the day before. That only made me more curious.

  “Maybe I saw someone you missed,” I said. “I mean, you weren’t exactly in good shape just then. Maybe you…”

  I didn’t even finish my sentence. Zoe wasn’t listening anymore, or even looking at me. I thought she’d get heated then, or tell me to leave, or both.

  Instead, she held up the red spiral notebook that had been sitting on her lap. I recognized it right away. She was always carrying that thing around school, scribbling in it during lunch, or in the hall, or pretty much anywhere she went.

  “I wrote something for you,” she said, flipping through the pages.

  “What is it?” I asked. I had no idea where this was going, but I definitely noticed she’d changed the subject.

  “It’s kind of a poem,” Zoe said. “I mean, it doesn’t rhyme, but still.”

  “Can I hear it?” I asked.

  “Nah.” She tore out one of the pages and handed it to me. “But you can have it, if you want.”

  Her handwriting was crazy neat. Not like mine. And the title at the top of the page was just “Ali.” Which made my face heat up all over again, even before I started reading the rest.

  ALI

  They say Muhammad Ali was the greatest of all time.

  Boxer, activist, humanitarian.

  And I suppose it’s true.

  But this boy who shares his name

  will always be The Greatest to me.

  Hero, warrior, savior.

  A gentle-handed, fierce-hearted fighter,

  he rained blows down on my fear,

  threw jabs at my suffering,

  took down my need,

  and knocked it straight out.

  Anyone else might have walked away from that fight,

  but not him.

  Not this boy.

  Not Ali.

  I am

  forever

  grateful.

  —ZK

  Now I felt even weirder than before, kind of happy and embarrassed at the same time. It was like my head was too crowded to sort everything out at once.

  “Wow,” I mumbled. “That’s super dope. I appreciate it.”

  “I appreciate you, Ali,” Zoe said. And the thermostat behind my face kicked up another few degrees.

  “How’d you even know I’m named after Muhammad Ali?” I asked.

  “Ruby told me,” she said. Which I guess meant they were talking about me at some point. But now I was just standing there like an idiot with nothing to say. I wasn’t good with words like she was. Especially around girls. And extra-especially around Zoe.

  “I just want you to know,” she kept going, “whatever else happens, I’ll never forget what you did for me. Ever.”

  “Whatever else happens?” I asked. What was that supposed to mean? “What’s going to happen?”

  But that’s as far as I got.

  “Who’s this?” someone said behind me. I turned around and recognized Zoe’s mom coming into the room with a couple of other adults.

  “Momma, this is Ali,” Zoe said.

  And just like that, the one and only Dee-Cee Knight wrapped me up in this big, long hug while everyone watched. Like I wasn’t already uncomfortable enough.

  “Bless you, boy,” she said. “You ever need anything from this family, all you’ve got to do is ask.”

  “Yes,
ma’am,” I said. “Thank you, Ms. Knight.”

  “No,” she said, stepping back. She was just as pretty as her daughter. “I’m Dee-Cee to you. Got it? I ain’t kidding, Ali Cross. I owe you one, and trust me when I say, we Knights don’t ever forget what we owe.”

  “Truer words,” said the man with her. I guessed that was Darnell, the manager. He was big, with two diamond studs in his ears, and reminded me of Delroy Lindo, one of my dad’s favorite actors. “Well done, Ali,” he said, shaking my hand. “Very well done.”

  I guessed that the other lady was Zoe’s aunt, but she hung back and didn’t say much.

  Meanwhile, my little hospital visit was coming to a quick end. I was going to have to take off without getting anything I’d come for. Except getting to see Zoe, of course, which was really nice. I just hoped that what I had to do next wasn’t going to mean the end of whatever friendship we’d been starting up.

  Because it was time for me to go home and come clean with Dad.

  “DAD? ARE YOU up here?”

  I was mad nervous when I got home, climbing the stairs to his office in the attic. But the longer I waited to tell what I had to tell, the worse it was going to get.

  “Come on in,” he said, and I sat myself on the old yellow and brown couch with all the stuffing coming out of it. He’s had that thing in his office since before I was born.

  “There’s something you should know,” I said. “About Zoe.”

  Dad saved his work on the computer and then turned to give me his full attention. “What is it, bud?”

  I took a deep breath and went with it.

  “I saw someone at the park yesterday,” I said. “Standing with her after that shot went off.”

  “What?” Dad exclaimed. He’d heard me, but I think he was just surprised. He kept his cool, anyway, and ran a hand over his chin like he does when he’s thinking. “Why have you been sitting on this?”

  Even now, I was juggling different parts of the story in my head. I still didn’t want to tell him I’d been to the hospital if I could help it.

  “Zoe begged me not to say anything,” I confessed. “I know someone was there with her, but she kept saying it wasn’t true. I think she’s in trouble, Dad.”

  Dad thought about it some more. In the silence, I could hear Nana running the vacuum all the way downstairs, while I waited to see how mad he was going to get.

  But then he surprised the stuffing out of me. Just like that couch.

  “I had a feeling about this,” he said. “I think she’s in trouble, too.”

  I was seriously stunned. Even though I didn’t know what to expect, it definitely wasn’t that.

  Dad went on. “Did you see this person fire a gun? Or holding a weapon?” he asked.

  “No, I didn’t even see their face,” I said. Then I gave him all the details I had, which wasn’t much. “By the time we got to Zoe, whoever it was had disappeared. I can’t even say for sure if it was the shooter, or someone else, or what.”

  Dad was nodding the whole time and taking it in.

  “Why do you think she’s in trouble?” I asked him. “Did something happen when you were at the hospital yesterday?”

  He didn’t answer, though. I knew he couldn’t tell me. He was the cop, and I was just the kid. But still, my brain was spinning like a hamster wheel. And yeah, I was a little bit psyched that Dad and I had come to the same conclusion, too. It made me feel like I was on the right track.

  “I’ll get on the phone with Detective Matheson as soon as I can,” Dad said. “He’s going to want to talk to you.”

  “But…” I wasn’t sure how to respond. “I promised Zoe I wouldn’t say anything. I’m only telling you because—”

  Dad cut me off right there. “This is bigger than one promise to your friend, Ali. We can’t sit on it, legally or otherwise. And listen…”

  He rolled his chair over to where I was sitting and leaned in with his hands clasped.

  “I wish you’d told me this yesterday,” he said. “I know you’ve been through a lot, but don’t you ever withhold information like that again. Understood?”

  My chest felt hollow inside, half guilty and half scared. I’d kind of thought I was going to get away without this part of the talk.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I really didn’t know what to do. But what about—”

  “We’ll talk more later,” Dad said. “Right now, I need to call Detective Matheson, so why don’t you head on downstairs?”

  I guess, if anything, I was glad Dad didn’t get more upset than he did. I just hoped I’d made the right decision to tell him, and that it wasn’t going to bite me in the butt. Or even worse, make more trouble for Zoe.

  “Hey, and Ali?” he said, stopping me at the top of the stairs. “You can tell me anything, anytime. I mean that. Anything. Okay?”

  I thought again about how I’d snuck off to the hospital after I told him I was going to Gabe’s. It made my chest feel just a little hollower than before. This whole thing was getting more complicated all the time, in more ways than one.

  “Yes, sir,” I said. “I hear you.”

  But that’s all I said.

  ALEX WAITED UNTIL Ali had gone downstairs before he picked up the phone to call Detective Matheson.

  “Lars, it’s Alex Cross,” he said. “I just got word from my boy, he’s been sitting on something he didn’t disclose until now.”

  “What is it?” Matheson asked.

  “I had a feeling about this when I left the hospital last night. Sounds like Zoe Knight knows more about this shooting than she’s telling. You don’t have to share your take on it with me. I know this is your case, but I can bring Ali in for a chat, if you’d like.”

  Alex passed on the details as he’d gotten them from Ali.

  “Sounds like she might be protecting someone, or even herself,” Alex said. “I know that can happen for a lot of reasons, but is there anyone you know of who might be holding something over her?”

  “We’re looking at a long list,” Matheson replied. “There’s an ex-boyfriend of the mother’s. Also, Zoe’s father. A few other family members. A business manager. I don’t want to go too deep into it right now.”

  “Who’s this ex-boyfriend?” Alex asked, just on a gut feeling.

  “The name’s Orlando Fletcher,” he said. “Dee-Cee called the cops on him a few times when he was living there, but the responding officers only put it down as domestic strife. No arrests, anyway.”

  “Still, he sounds like a real prize,” Alex said.

  “That’s not all,” Matheson answered. “He also has a nine-millimeter weapon registered in his name.”

  That was the same caliber weapon that had been used against Zoe, Alex knew.

  “Ballistics isn’t showing a match to the slug we recovered,” Matheson said. “But it means this guy likes a nine mil. And where there’s one, there might be another.”

  “What about Dee-Cee’s manager?” Alex asked. “Darnell Williams?”

  “Nothing’s flagging there. At least not yet, anyway. He’s been working with Dee-Cee for three years now. But in any case, we’re not ruling anything—or anyone—out.”

  “And the father?” Alex asked, but that was met with a long pause. In the silence, Alex could sense he’d asked one too many questions.

  “Listen, Cross, I appreciate the input, but I’ve got to keep moving. You understand, right?” Matheson said, not really asking so much as telling him that their conversation was over.

  Alex didn’t like it, but he understood. Matheson was a young detective, more new school than old. The collaborative, groupthink investigations Alex was used to were falling by the wayside. Everyone was a lone wolf these days, it seemed. But bottom line, it was Matheson’s case, and Matheson’s call to make.

  That much, Alex could respect.

  WHEN DAD HUNG up with Detective Matheson, I waited for him to turn his music back on. Then I turned slowly away from the bottom of the attic stairs and tiptoed to my room.

  I probably shouldn’t have listened in on that call, but what can I say? I was in deep, and I couldn’t pass up the chance to learn as much as possible.

  Not that I’d gotten that much. Basically, what I had now was a small persons-of-interest list, based on what I’d already been thinking about, combined with what I’d just heard. So I opened the ZOE file on my laptop and put it in writing.

  Dee-Cee Knight

  Darnell Williams