I went on to make Leroy the bad guy. He was locked up anyway, so he could be made to look guilty of anything anybody wanted him to look guilty of. So I told them about his “propositions”: more money if I did what he asked, little gifts if I would let him touch me, frequent calls even when they didn’t need me. I told them how I continued to spurn his advances until I threatened to tell Renelle. I explained that I didn’t want to lose my job because I knew Ma had it hard and couldn’t afford to give me money, so I just put up with it hoping he would stop. Nakesha was mad at me because of an argument over a boy and she wanted to get back at me, so she lied and told Renelle I was sleeping with her husband. To take the weight off of Rasul, I assured them he was just a friend whom I occasionally talked to in the building, and he had let me stay over since I had nowhere else to go. He had a girlfriend, and hadn’t even been there when I was because he was with her or at work. I had told him to lie about everything and he only did what I asked. When it was all over, the Quiet Storm had been playing for hours, the adults were tipsy, and I looked innocent, unstained, and honest.

“We’re pressing charges,” Jewel slurred.

“Jewel, let’s just let it go,” Ma sighed.

“We can not let this go. This man is a predator, Annette. He has a daughter of his own. What if he’s touching her?”

“Leroy wouldn’t do nothin’ like that,” I said before I knew it.

“How do you know?” Aunt Jewel shouted. “If he was trying to get your little butt how do you know he wouldn’t try his own daughter’s? You’re a baby yourself. Men like him are sick and need to be put behind bars.”

“Well, he’s already there,” Ma said.

“Well we need to make sure the key is thrown far away. The police wouldn’t do a thing to help us when she was missing but shuffle paper. The least they can do now is intervene before this man really hurts someone.”

“Jewel, you ’bout to start some mess and carry yo’ ass off to New York leaving me to clean it up,” Ma said.

“I’ll support you every step of the way,” Jewel said. “We can delay our trip back, can’t we baby?”

Hakim held up his hands. “Jewel, I have a business to run and I can’t just—”

“Well go run it,” she spat. “I’m staying here handling some more important business.”

Ma raised herself up from the table, swooping up all three glasses in one gesture, signaling the conversation was over.