“Did you talk to her the day of the—”
“Murder. The day of the murder. You can say it, Marcus. I'm not gonna fall apart. I did my crying a year ago, and again last night. I can deal with this.”
“No matter where it leads?”
“I said I could.”
“Okay, Carmen, did you talk to your sister the day she was murdered?”
“Yes, but just for a minute. Dez was on her way out when I called.”
“And nothing was wrong; she didn't say anything?”
“No. Just that she would call me tomorrow.”
“Did Roland know about her and Rasheed?”
“She said that he knew about all her toys.”
“Toys? She'd had more than one?”
“Yes,” Carmen said reluctantly. “Dez has always had somebody. But Roland loved her and that was something he accepted about her. Dez was much younger then Roland when they got married. She married him for money and position. And don't look so surprised. If you didn't already know it, I know you at least thought about it.”
“The thought had occurred to me. So tell me about Desireé. Tell me what you know about their relationship. How'd they meet?”
“Dez met Roland at a fund raiser for some candidate for Congress. I don't remember his name, probably because he lost. They were married six months later.”
“Fund raiser? I figure Ferguson for a contributor. But what was your sister doing there? Was she a campaign worker or was she a contributor, too.”
“No, Marcus, Dez was never interested in politics. Dez was there looking for a man. Her and Porsche Temple used to get themselves invited to those type of things all the time.”
“Who's that? Another girl friend?”
“Yes, and the police didn't talk to her either. And before you ask, I don't have any idea where to find her. Anyway, she'd seen Roland at a few of these affairs and noticed that he always came with a different woman. Dez figured that they were escorts.”
“Was she right?”
“She never said if they were or not, and to be honest, at the time I didn't care.”
“I take it that you didn't approve of her lifestyle?”
“I just always thought she could do better. Dez was always smart. She graduated from Spellman. She could have done anything she wanted to. But she decided it was easier to live off her looks and her body.” Carmen let out a little laugh. “She was so pretty.”
“Not as pretty as you,” Marcus said quickly, smiling at Carmen as he drove.
“I'll take that as a compliment,” Carmen smiled back.
“It was meant to be one.”
“Well thank you for the compliment, Marcus. But I always thought she was the beautiful one in the family. Not just physical beauty. Dez was a beautiful person. She was the type of person that everybody loved. She had that kind of personality. She made you love her. I'm not saying that my sister was perfect. She had her faults, but we all do. And she had her share of hang ups.” Carmen glanced over at Marcus, deciding if she was going to continue her thought out loud. “I'm at the center of one of her old hang-ups. Me and Dez were always very competitive growing up. Rivals almost.”
“The older, prettier sister,” Marcus said.
“The one who everything always came easy to.”
“It got better when I left Spellman and went to New York. After that she didn't feel the need to always compete with me. It made it easier on both of us.”
“So Roland was her easy way. How'd he feel about her?”