phone rang at Ebby’s house. She rushed to answer it. It was the shelter. Alessa listened to Ebby’s side of the conversation and realized that something serious had happened. She heard her ask if Sam, the day manager, was doing okay and what hospital she was in. She asked about the other residents before hanging up the phone.
“Well, that was Jon,” she told Alessa. “Harlin showed up at the shelter yesterday afternoon, while the two police officers that were guarding the shelter went to grab a bite to eat down the block. Harlin was pretty wild. When he confronted Sam and she kept denying you were there, he stabbed her in the shoulder. Fortunately, Harlin was still there when the two police officers got back. One of the officers had to fire on him when he pulled out a gun. Harlin was shot in the thigh. Both he and Sam are in the hospital.”
Alessa stared at Ebby in disbelief. “How is Sam doing?” she asked, concerned. “O my God, Ebby, can I go see her? This is all my fault. If I hadn’t gone to the shelter, she wouldn’t have gotten stabbed.”
Ebby assured her that Sam was fine. Jon had said she was in stable condition. While the knife wound was deep and had torn through nerves and muscles, she was not in any imminent danger.
“You won’t be able to visit her, though,” Ebby told her. “Harlin is in the same hospital until they move him to prison to await trial for assault with a deadly weapon. We don’t know if any of his gang will be around looking for you, and we can’t take the risk. If they find out you had been at the shelter, they may head there for revenge. Sam never let on that she knew you or that you were ever at the shelter. It would be safer for everyone concerned if you didn’t visit her. I’m getting dressed to go to the hospital now. I’ll let Sam know you were asking about her.”
Consumed by guilt, Alessa hung her head and headed back into her bedroom. She felt dreadful about the whole incident. Then her thoughts went to Tasha, and she wondered what might have happened to her. She must have told Harlin of her whereabouts. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have known where to look for her. Alessa was torn between being angry with Tasha for revealing her location and empathizing with her friend for having to deal with Harlin after she’d left. She had lived with Harlin long enough to be convinced that he would destroy anyone who failed to comply with his demands, even Tasha.
While Ebby was out at the hospital visiting Sam, Alessa called Information and got Tasha’s home phone number. She dialed it and nervously waited for someone to answer. Finally, after four rings, Tasha’s mother picked up the phone. Alessa asked for Tasha.
When she heard her friend’s voice on the phone, Alessa choked up for a moment. “Tasha, it’s me. How are you? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, girl, I’m doing fine,” she assured her. “Harlin ain’t doing so good, though. He got shot in the leg and now he’s gonna have to stand trial for assault with a deadly weapon. My mom and dad are a mess about what happened to him. Were you there when it happened?”
“No, I wasn’t,” Alessa replied. “After you called, the staff got me out of there quick. They were worried Harlin would come and find me there. Until I figure out what to do next, I’m staying with a woman I met at the shelter,” she said, making sure not to give Tasha too much information.
“Listen,” Tasha said, “don’t call me for a while, okay? Just ’cause Harlin will be locked up don’t mean his boys will be. They will be trying to hunt you down. They’re all crazy right now, with Harlin gone and him getting shot and all. It’s better if you hang low and do what you need to do. It ain’t that I don’t love you or miss you, but this is a bad time for me and my family. Even though Harlin is alive, we’re all mourning him. He ain’t the same person no more. Jail might help him get sober, but my mom and dad are worried it’ll make him worse. He’s been treating my parents real bad, too. Like I said, it’s horrible here. I have to go. You take care of yourself, okay?”
Alessa let out a loud sigh, worried about how terrible things seemed for Tasha and her parents. “Okay, Tasha,” she said morosely. “Thanks for warning me yesterday. I hope everything works out for you and your family. Bye.”
Ebby came home with upbeat news. Sam was doing well and in good spirits. “They have her pretty hyped up on painkillers. So she doesn’t care about anything right now.”
“Can I go back to the shelter?” Alessa asked. “I mean, if Harlin is in prison, I think it should be safe, right?”
Ebby shook her head. “No, Alessa, it would be too dangerous, both for you and for everyone else at the shelter. We’re going to figure out something else. Maybe there’s another relative or friend you can stay with eventually? Otherwise, we may have to get you to a shelter outside the city. Let’s look into it and see what options you have, okay?”
The next day, Alessa devoted all her time to finding a place to live. She was on edge. She couldn’t quiet her nervousness. Ebby was at the shelter, working during the day. By the time she got home for dinner that night, Alessa was happy to have someone to talk to. Ryan was proving to be the arrogant ass the girl had suspected him to be from the time she met him. He constantly corrected the way she spoke and criticized her clothes as too revealing, suggesting she should dress more modestly. At night, Alessa could hear him arguing furiously with Ebby about allowing her to stay there.
“I don’t understand, Ebby,” she overheard Ryan say. “Why do you have to bring this trash into our home? When the hell is she going to leave? She almost had Sam killed by her pimp, for God’s sake! It’s insane for you to let her stay here with us.”
Ebby’s reply was calm but assertive. “Ryan, you know this is the work I do. I’m sorry that she had to come here, but only because you have such a problem with it. As you are well aware, I don’t have a problem with her being here. I hope that someday you will realize how fortunate you were to have lived such a normal life. Not everyone is that lucky, Ryan. Where is your compassion?”
“My compassion is for my family, for you and your well-being, not for some hooker you took in off the street. How do we even know she won’t rob us? What if she has some foul disease?”
Ebby’s heart beat quicker, and her voice faltered. “Listen, Ryan, I need a couple more days. Once we get a place for her to stay, she’ll move on and you won’t have to deal with it anymore. You know that won’t change a thing about how I feel toward that poor girl. If you’d look closely enough, you’d see she’s different from the others I’ve worked with over the years. There is something special and very tragic about her and the awful hand life has dealt her. Don’t you have any empathy for her at all?”
“Actually, I don’t,” Ryan said brusquely. “I feel sorry about what happened to her when she was a child. It must have been a truly horrible time for her. But now she’s a grown woman, and she hasn’t made any significant effort to turn her life around. Why do you always get drawn to the underdogs? For once, I’d like to see you engage with someone of your caliber and class, Ebby.”
After that, there was silence. Alessa heard the bathroom door slam shut and figured that Ebby had stormed away, needing time alone to cool off. Sitting in a chair by the bedroom window, she regretted causing trouble between Ebby and her husband. She knew she would have to move on the next day. Alessa decided she would get in touch with some shelters in Norristown, near Plymouth Meeting, and get the hell out of Ebby’s home before she ruined her life, too.
