Permanent Resident at the Purse Table by Keisha Bass Page A

understand. But he did beat him up pretty good. Some might say it was overkill.”
    â€œOverkill? Boy, this is the justice system at its finest.”
    Eric gazed into Toni’s eyes. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
    The officer guided Eric out of the house. “It probably won’t take much to get this all cleared up. If he posts bail tonight, he’ll be out by morning.”
    She followed them onto the porch. “I’ll be right behind you, Eric. And I’ll give Rene a call, too,” Toni yelled toward the officer. “My lawyer.”
    Eric turned his head as best he could in her direction. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
    She smiled and wiped her tears. “Thanks to you. I’m grateful you were here.”
    Eric tensed his body, so the officer couldn’t push his head into the car just yet, and raised his voice. “I’ll always be here for you, Toni.”
    The officer put Eric in the back seat of the second patrol car. After she watched the car pull off through her window, she changed out of her torn clothes and into a more comfortable outfit of sweats and a T-shirt, and then cleaned the makeup off her face.
    Replaying the scene over in her head, Toni drove in silence to the police station. That was the Eric she knew and fell in love with. In the past few months, he’d called numerous times and shown up at her house unexpectedly to apologize, and try to fix the disorder he’d caused in their marriage. She didn’t want to listen to anything he had to say. But after tonight, she could at least hear him out. When Toni arrived at the station, she paid Eric’s bail, and waited for him to be released.

Chapter 11
    Ava had never gone more than three days without talking to her best friend. Rene might’ve suspected something was up. The good thing was that Rene, who had recently told Ishmael the wedding was back on, was busy with wedding plans, her current court cases, and now handling Eric’s case, would hopefully not notice the lack of conversation between them.
    All during her lunch break at work, Ava dreaded heading home. Friday was the best day of the week, but chatting with Rene on the weekends was inevitable. And Ava needed to tell Rene the truth about her and Ishmael’s betrayal sooner rather than later. Rene would be finalizing wedding plans in the days to come, and Ava didn’t want her to continue making those plans until she knew everything. Not that she would move forward in the planning once she found out, but paying deposits she couldn’t get back would add to the jankyness of the situation.
    After lunch, she went to the county jail to visit two of her juvenile inmates. As she strolled down the row of cells, she heard comments like “Dang, she’s bad built,” and “Look how her shoes slump over,” along with other ridicule and laughter. Ava acted as if she were deaf, but the cruel comments cut straight to her heart. That’s okay, ’cause while y’all are in here locked up, I’ll be enjoying a cheeseburger and fries.
    Her visits went well as she discussed release dates and the definition of good behavior with the adolescents. One of her kids, a thirteen-year-old boy named Tommy, asked to speak with her in a private meeting room.
    They traveled to a nearby room with a guard.
    Tommy nervously rubbed his hands together. “Miss Alexander?”
    â€œYes, Tommy. What’s the matter?”
    He hesitated, looking downward. “I need some help, but I can’t say anything or I’ll get into trouble.”
    Ava scooted her chair closer. “What do you mean?”
    Although he said nothing, she read fear in his eyes. Hoping this wasn’t a ploy to play on her emotions, she took the bait. “You need to tell me or I can’t help you.”
    Tommy’s stone face barely opened his mouth to speak. “It’s about gangs.”
    â€œYou