by Kiki Swinson
“No, I haven’t.”
“Good. Because I’m gonna get my cousin to prepare you something that you’re gonna love,” he said with enthusiasm as he pulled away from the pharmacy parking lot.
One minute into the drive Ahmad decided that he wanted to ask me a slew of fucking questions. I didn’t know if he was just trying to have a general conversation or he was probing me for something. I played along with him anyway.
“Has your ex-boyfriend been harassing you lately?” he didn’t hesitate to ask me.
I swear, I was about to fucking shit on myself when he inquired about Terrell. What made him do that? Did he know that I killed him? If he did, then that meant that’s he’d been watching me. And if he’d been watching me, he’d seen the DEA agents. Oh my God! He was getting ready to take me somewhere and kill me. What had I gotten myself into?
“Don’t tell me you guys are back together, because if you are, then I’m gonna be jealous,” he continued, and then he chuckled.
“No, we’re not back together. I would never get back into a relationship with him,” I finally answered.
“Good. He doesn’t look like your type anyway.”
“Everyone says that,” I replied nonchalantly while I watched the birds flying around in the sky. My mission was to avoid eye contact with him at all costs.
“How old are you?”
“I’m twenty-nine.”
“No kids, right?”
“Right, no kids.”
“Never been married?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m not the marrying type. I like my independence,” I lied. I was trying everything in my power to be the opposite of what he deemed attractive. All I wanted was for this lunch date to be over and done with.
“I think you are. You’re just trying to be modest.”
“Can I ask you something?” I interjected.
“Sure.”
“Why do you really want to take me out to lunch?”
“Because you’re beautiful and I like being in the company of beautiful women.”
“So, you’re expecting for me to have sex with you after you take me out to eat?”
“No, of course not. I’m not that type of guy. There’s a few nice guys left in this world, you know.”
“I’m sure there are . . .”
“But you haven’t found one yet, right?” He finished my sentence.
“I guess so.” I gave him a half smile.
“I see you over there smiling. But I know that you can do better than that.”
“Maybe on another day,” I told him, and then I changed the course of our conversation. “What’s gonna happen after we have lunch?”
“I take you back to work.”
“That’s it? You’re sure you’re not going to ask me to show you how to get to my apartment?”
“No, because I already know where you live,” he replied. And when he said that, it felt like a lightning bolt struck me directly in the center of my heart. He knew . . . He knew that I was doing business with the DEA. And he knew that Terrell had been to my apartment several times, when in fact I told him no. What am I going to do now? Should I open the door at the next traffic light and jump out? Would Agent Sims rescue me from the side of the road? Or would that derail his investigation so he leaves me there? I hate when I got to make decisions on this level. I can’t ever get it right.
I cracked a half smile and said in a teasing manner, “Don’t tell me I got a stalker on my hands.”
“Of course not. I got your home address from your employee file at the pharmacy.”
“Oh yeah, my bad!” I chuckled, trying to make light of the situation.
“Well, we’re here,” he said as we pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant.
I looked at the building and the scenery around it and realized that I had seen this place before. After Ahmad got out of the car, he walked around to the passenger side and opened the door for me. I can’t remember the last time I had my car door opened for me, so it was something different. I thanked him and then we both headed into the restaurant.
The lighting and music created a great ambiance. I didn’t know whether to enjoy it, or keep my guard up because of the job I had to do. “We’re gonna eat over here.” He pointed to a booth in the far corner of the restaurant. After I sat down, he excused himself and went into the kitchen. I pulled out my cell phone and called Jillian to tell her where I was. “Hey, are you at home?” I asked her.
“Why? Whatcha need?”
“Remember I told you that that guy named Indian Delight asked me to go to dinner with him?”
“Yeah, what happened?”
“He came and got me and brought me to his family’s restaurant so I could eat lunch with him.”
“You fucking kidding?!”
“No, I’m not. I’m sitting in a restaurant called Indian Delight that’s on the corner of Virginia Beach Boulevard and Military Highway.”
“I know where that is.”
“Good, because if I come up missing between here and back to the pharmacy, you know who’s got me,” I instructed her.
“Just be careful.”
“I will.”
Ahmad came back out of the kitchen about eight minutes later and he had two plates of food with him. And when he set those plates of food on the table in front of me, I was impressed at what I saw. “You cooked this?” I asked him.
He smiled. “Yes, I did. I did it for you,” he replied.
“What is it?” I wondered aloud.
“This first plate is salmon makhani, which is salmon cooked in a tomato and cream sauce. It’s one of my favorite dishes. And this second plate is paneer makhani, which is chunks of cheese cooked in the same tomato and cream sauce. Sometimes I’ll eat the cheese in spinach. It’s good both ways. Try some,” he insisted after he sat down on the other side of the booth.
I picked up my fork and tried the salmon dish and I have to admit that it was good. It was so good that I ate another forkful of it. “This is really good,” I said between chews.
“Try the cheese dish.”
Without saying another word, I dug into that dish too and loved it so much. I covered my mouth, still chewing my food, and said, “I could eat this every day.”
He smiled. “I’m glad that you like it.”
Ahmad and I ate every morsel of food on both plates and chitchatted the entire time. I let my guard down. For the first time around this guy, I wasn’t afraid. He wasn’t intimidating. Our connection seemed genuine. He made me feel okay with sharing the same space with him.
Our lunch date lasted for a little over an hour. I’ve gotta be honest and say that I had a really nice time. In fact, I wasn’t ready to go back to work when we exited the restaurant and got back into his SUV. I didn’t tell him that, though. I kept my game face on and reminded myself to stick with the plan.
On the way back to the pharmacy, I started panicking because I knew that if Ahmad dropped me off without getting out of his vehicle, then I wouldn’t be able to plant the wiretaps underneath the seats. I figured that I needed to do something and do it quick, so I said, “Hey, Ahmad, could you stop off at this gas station coming up on the right?”
“Sure. What do you need?” he wanted to know.
“I want some gum really bad. I can still taste the garlic from the naan.”
“No problem,” he replied and made the detour.
“Could you go inside and get it for me? My stomach is full and I can’t move an inch,” I lied.
“What kind do you want?”
“Anything with mint.”
“Okay. I’ll be right back.”
Immediately after Ahmad got out of his vehicle I watched him walk into the convenience store, and when the door to the store closed behind him, I sprang into action. With an increased heart rate, I grabbed the bugs from my purse and placed the first one underneath my seat. But as soon as I tried to stick it to the bottom of my
seat, it fell down on the floor. I panicked. My hands started shaking and I couldn’t concentrate because of trying to keep my eyes on the door of the store and making sure I installed the wire correctly. After three tries, I finally was able to stick the bug underneath my seat without it falling again. But by the time I grabbed the second device so that I could place it underneath the back seat, Ahmad was coming back out of the store. Petrified that he might see the wire in my hand, I stuck it back into my purse right before he opened the driver-side door. “I gotta Trident. Is that okay?” he asked as he got in.
“Yes, it’s perfect. Thank you,” I told him as I took the gum from his hand.
“Want one?” I asked after I opened the pack.
“No, but thank you.”
I pretended to savor the taste of this minty-ass piece of gum. The mint in it was too strong and it was throwing off the flavors that were lying in the creases of my tongue from the salmon and cheese makhani. There was no way in the world that I was going to be able to put the other bugging device where I was instructed to. I hoped the one I did put in place worked, because if not, I knew I wouldn’t hear the end of it.
The moment after Ahmad drove up curbside to the pharmacy, he thanked me once again for the lunch date. He even expressed that he wanted to see me again, so I suggested that we needed to play it by ear. But before I got out of his SUV, I said, “You know I’m gonna get a lot of flak because of this lunch date with you.”
“From who? Amir?”
“Yes, he’s gonna chew me out as soon as I walk into the store.”
“Oh no, that’s not gonna happen. Come on, let’s go inside together,” he instructed me.
Just like that, Ahmad escorted me back into the pharmacy and laid it on thick when he and Amir came face-to-face. “Listen to me, and listen to me good, I don’t want you to say anything to her about going out to lunch with me. I don’t want you disrespecting her. And don’t threaten her about anything. If she comes back and tells me that you made her feel uncomfortable or that you disrespected her, then I’m gonna deal with you accordingly. Got it?”
Amir nodded in agreement.
Right after he laid down the law to Amir, he turned toward me and winked. I gave him a half smile because I saw the way Amir was looking at me through his peripheral vision. I knew that if that man didn’t like me five minutes ago, then he hated my guts now. There was a new sheriff in town.
33
COVERING MY TRACKS
Thankfully, the rest of my time at work today ended quickly. But that was not the important issue here. I couldn’t get my mind off the bug I put in Ahmad’s truck earlier. I was consumed with that all day. Every time someone walked into the pharmacy I thought it was Ahmad coming back to question me about the bug device. At one point, my stomach was gurgling so badly that I thought that I was going to shit myself. I don’t know how I made it through the rest of the day.
I went straight over to my grandmother’s house from work. I called Jillian in advance and told her to meet me there because she was over at her lame-ass boyfriend’s mama’s house. Surprisingly, she got there before I did. She met me outside as soon as I pulled up curbside.
“What’s up? Are you all right?” she wondered aloud after I got out of my car. We both found a spot and leaned against the trunk of my car.
“Yeah, I’m good. Can’t believe that I got through today without getting killed. And when I tell you how nervous I was around that guy at certain times during the lunch date, you wouldn’t believe me.”
“How was the Indian food?”
“It was really good. He was so accommodating. I mean, he was so freaking nice to me. The way he treated me was like night and day from the way he treated Sanjay and Amir.”
“You wanna fuck him, don’t you?”
“No, Jillian. I don’t. I’m just telling you that I saw another side to this guy. And if I didn’t know the evil side of him, I would go on another date with him if he asked me to.”
“Well, has he asked you?”
“No. And I’m glad too. I think he didn’t ask me because he had to straighten Amir out about me, so that probably threw him off track.”
“You know you better be careful with that guy. I know he’s a perfect guy while y’all are together. But let’s focus. We’re gonna rob him and all his buddies. So, take that fairy-tale bullshit out of the equation because we got a job to do.”
“Come on, Jillian, you don’t have to tell me all of that. I already know. It’s just that I wish things were different. I wish that I wasn’t knee deep in all of this bullshit. Sometimes it feels like I’m drowning.”
“I’m sure it does. But look at it this way—after tomorrow we’re gonna make a lot of money, you aren’t gonna have to work at that shit hole anymore. You can tell everybody to kiss your ass and keep it moving.”
“What about Terrell?”
“What about him? You ain’t gotta deal with that loser anymore either. His body is now ashes and his car is in the bottom of the dismal swamp. Now it can’t get no better than that,” Jillian said and cracked a smile.
“I can’t see why you find this humorous.”
“Face it, Terrell was a self-absorbed, narcissistic-ass nigga. All he ever cared about was what he wanted. What he had to have. And that was it. Trust me, the world is better off without him.”
“I hope I don’t go to hell for what I did to him.”
“Go to hell! Misty, you were defending yourself. If you hadn’t stopped him, you’d be dead and not him. You had to protect your life, and killing him was something that had to happen. Case closed.”
“I hope April and Tedo never rat me out.”
“Trust me, they won’t,” Jillian tried to reassure me. “So, I hear your mom’s birthday is today?”
“Oh shit! Damn, I haven’t even called her,” I said and pulled my cell phone from my purse, which was still in my car. Jillian stood there while I talked to my mother on the phone. “Mom, I’m so sorry that I didn’t call you much sooner. Today was a very busy day at work. And I’m just now leaving. So happy birthday.”
“Thank you. So, where are you?”
“I’m getting in my car as we speak. Why? Is anything wrong?”
“No. Are you still coming?”
“Yes, I’m coming right now.”
“Okay. See you then,” she told me and then she hung up.
Immediately after I got off the phone with my mother I let out a long sigh.
“You better hurry up and get over there,” Jillian teased me.
“I swear, I don’t feel like going anywhere but home.”
“You know you’ll break her heart if you don’t go over there and spend her birthday with her.”
“I know. I know. Damn! Why couldn’t it be on another day?”
“Well, it’s not. Now get your butt into your car and ride over there. Call me when you’re on your way home.”
“Okay. I will,” I assured her and then I hopped back into my car.
Being mentally broke down wouldn’t be a good enough excuse for me not to show up to my mother’s birthday dinner. It would crush her heart if I did. So, I’m gonna put an H on my chest and take one for the team.
* * *
My mother was so happy to see me walk through the front door of her house. This was the first time in months that I’d seen her smile. After she gave me a kiss on my cheek, she escorted me to the dining room, where she had all her food set out on the table and a beautiful flower centerpiece. Her boyfriend was already sitting at the table when I walked into the room. He spoke. I spoke back, and then the festivities started with my mother sitting at the head of the table. She was smiling from ear to ear.
“I am so happy that the two people I love are here with me and celebrating my fifty-fifth birthday. I don’t know what I would do without you two. I love you!” she said.
“I love you too, Mama.” I chimed in.
“I love you too, babe,” he said.
Like she had promised
, she baked a lasagna and it was delicious. I didn’t have a huge appetite, but I knew that if I hadn’t eaten everything on my plate, my mother would’ve went ham on me. “I’m glad you’re enjoying your food,” she said to me.
And that’s when it hit me that I didn’t bring the birthday cake. “Mom, don’t kill me, but I forgot your birthday cake.”
“It’s okay, baby. Carl picked up one of those ice cream cakes when he came from work this morning.”
I looked over at Carl and thanked him for saving me from the cake mission. He smiled at me and told me everything was good.
I noticed that Carl wasn’t much of a talker, because as soon as he finished eating his food, he got up from the table and retreated to the den to watch TV. That left me and my mother alone, so this was prime time for her to pile a load of questions on me.
“Have you spoken to your grandmother today?” she started off.
“No. Have you?”
“Yes. She called me and wished me a happy birthday.”
“That’s was nice. Did she say anything else?”
“Well, she said that she wished she could come by and see me, but the new medicine that the doctor put her on makes her sleep a lot, so she needed to be home.”
“Is that all she said?”
“Well yeah, because the rest of the conversation was about the government shutdown. And how she was sick of our new president. And you know when she starts talking about what’s going on in the news, I tend to shy away from those topics. I think she does that to avoid talking about the real issues that involve her and me. I would say my brother too, but he’s no longer here, so I’ll just say us.”
“Why don’t you guys go to counseling, Mama? You and Grandma need a mediator. Someone who’s not going to be biased,” I suggested.
“No, honey, I’m old-school. Black families in my generation don’t get involved with counseling. We sit down and deal with the problems head-on.”
“If that’s how y’all do it, then what’s the problem? Why haven’t the issues been resolved?”
“Because your grandmother can be a little stubborn.”
“Look, Mama, enough is enough. Y’all gonna have to bury this mess before someone in this family dies. And if that happens, that means that things never got resolved and then you’re gonna be beating yourself up that the other person is gone and you didn’t get a chance to say you love them.”