Free Color of Deception by Khara Campbell Page B

But being in the hospital only reminded him of when he had to identify her dead body and when he looked at Carlisha’s black baby it only reminded him of the race he despised because of his wife’s death. He knew he was wrong for feeling his resentment toward one race – but for the life of him he couldn’t help it and he needed to get out of the hospital as soon as possible.
    Debra swung her hand and smacked Pete across the face. She swore she would never let a man talk disrespectfully to her again, especially after the crap she dealt with from her ex-husband, plus the fact that her friend just died put her in a different state of mind. “Well this is the mess you’ve got to deal with. And I won’t allow you to put Carlisha’s son in foster care either!”
    Rachel, Leah and Noah watched the exchange a few feet away in disbelief.
    Pete looked blankly at Debra for a few seconds. Moriah would have reacted the same way. He turned and silently walked away toward the elevator, thankful that someone was just getting off and he could have an immediate escape.

Chapter 18
     
    It had been two days since Carlisha died after she gave birth to her son. Pete was beyond frustrated from the numerous calls from the hospital asking him when, how, and what he was going to do because the baby was ready to be discharged and Carlisha’s body needed to be claimed. Pete had been running on autopilot since he left the hospital two days ago. He closed the business for bereavement, he figured that would’ve been the right thing to do – but really it was his excuse to escape all the noise regarding the current events.
    He sat in his favorite spot in the middle of the couch, opened bottle of beer in one hand the TV remote in the other as he stared at the figures of people playing baseball on the TV screen. He didn’t notice the ringing of his doorbell at first, but after the third ring he broke out of his daze. He sucked his teeth loudly, immediately annoyed by whoever was on the other end of the door harassing his doorbell.
    Pete saw Rachel and James behind the door when he looked through the peephole. He opened it without greeting them and waited for them to state their reason for interrupting his peace.
    “Uncle Pete, James said that Carlisha was attacked at work by a group of women which could’ve lead to her dying after giving birth,” Rachel burst out. “We’ve got to report this to the police and show them the surveillance camera,” she went on as Pete looked at her blankly.
    “What?” Pete walked away from the door and back into the living room.
    Rachel and James followed him in. James closed the door behind them.
    “We’ve got to press charges against those women that attacked Carlisha. They may have been the reason she died. We can’t let them get away with this!”
    “I’m dealing with enough as it is.” Pete sat back on the couch.
    “But we can’t just let these women get away with what they did to Carlisha. Uncle Pete Carlisha was family.” Whether he wanted to remember that or not, she had to remind him. No they weren’t blood related, but she was still family in every sense of the word.
    “I was right there Mr. Holmes, I know I can identify the woman that hit Carlisha, plus I’m sure it’s on the security cameras at work,” James finally spoke. He was really taking Carlisha’s death hard. He felt he should have pushed her more to go to the hospital after the attack.
    Pete took a long swig of his beer. The number of monumental decisions he had to make just increased and he didn’t want to have to deal with any of it. The knowledge of the ghetto mess of Carlisha being attacked in his place of business didn’t help the situation either. “What is it exactly do you all expect me to do? All of a sudden I have people demanding all these decisions from me over a woman my dead wife took in years ago.” Pete ran his hand through his hair. He blew a breath. “If you want to deal with the police about this