The Deadline

by Kiki Swinson

  * * *

  At six o’clock the next morning, I climbed out of my news van, ready to watch the search and arrest warrants being executed at Detective Keith’s house. After his front door went crashing in, I heard the words that were like music to my ears:

  “Marlon Keith, we have a warrant for your apprehension,” the first officer announced at the door.

  “What? You have the wrong person. I am a cop. I work for you. This is a fucking mistake,” Detective Keith said as he calmly backed up from the door and into his house. Those cops were not playing with his ass. He stumbled backward as a small army of police officers stormed into his home. Next thing he knew, he was thrown to the floor, and not so gently.

  “You will have to come with us,” an officer announced as he pulled Detective Keith’s arms back to place handcuffs on his wrists.

  “What? No! What is this? Get off of me!” he growled, frantically twisting his arms away from the officers. “I am a fucking cop! You can’t do this to me! What grounds do you have for this false arrest?”

  “Don’t make this harder than it has to be,” the arresting officer reprimanded as he loosened his grip. “We got a squirrely one here! He’s resisting,” the officer announced to the others. More officers rushed over.

  Keith spat and bucked, like a wild hog being carried off to slaughter. It took at least five police officers to subdue him enough to get the handcuffs on him.

  “You have the wrong person! Get off of me! I will have all of your jobs! Do you know who I am? Eugene Ritter, who’s running for mayor of Norfolk, is my friend! Do you know that! All of you will be in the fucking unemployment line tomorrow,” he screamed, all of the veins in his face and neck showing up against his skin.

  “Mr. Keith, like we said at the door, we have a search warrant and an arrest warrant out for your property and you, so you need to cooperate,” an officer said as he waved the paper in his face.

  “Who sent you? Whoever sent you is lying! They are just trying to get back at me! This whole story was made up! I am a fucking cop! I don’t know anything about what this is all about! You have to believe me!” Detective Keith continued to argue. I guess he had no intention of backing down from this fight.

  “Yeah, yeah. That’s what all of the people in your little organized-crime group have been saying as we’ve been rounding them up. You’re a detective, all right, and that is why you should’ve known it was only going to be but so long that you could’ve gotten away with all the shit you were doing. We had people watching you for weeks and you never stopped. So you were a detective, but not a very smart one, apparently,” the officer stated. The other officers snickered in response.

  I signaled to my cameraman to zoom straight in on Detective Keith’s face.

  Hushed murmurs of speculation passed amongst the nosy neighbors as they watched the commotion outside Detective Keith’s house. The red, blue, and white sirens flashing in front of the sprawling mini-mansion caused quite a stir in the posh neighborhood. I was on the edge of my seat waiting for Detective Keith to emerge from his home in police custody by his own police department.

  When Detective Keith, aka Redds the Killer, was escorted out in handcuffs, my heart sped up. His face was folded into an angry pout and he shouted expletives at the officers and struggled against the restraints as they shoved him into the back of the police van. Detective Keith’s wife rushed out of the front door, onto their well-manicured lawn, clearly in disbelief and shock.

  “They have the wrong person! Tell them! All of you know me!” he shouted at his neighbors as he was brought through the door. They all quickly turned their faces and averted their eyes, pretending not to hear or see.

  Detective Keith stepped up to the van. Before he was loaded into the back, he spotted me standing nearby with a WXOT-TV microphone in my hand and a camera crew at my side. I winked and smirked at his ass.

  “You bitch! You lying little bitch! I know this was all of your doing! You were the same one who set up Barker! You won’t get away with this! I swear that when I get out, I will be coming straight for you!” he threatened.

  I laughed out loud as I watched the officers force Detective Keith into the waiting van. “Have fun living in a prison,” I mumbled under my breath.

  I took even greater satisfaction in knowing that all of the media vehicles, including the WXOT-TV van, were on the scene to cover the arrest. I didn’t even mind sharing this moment with other stations.

  Detective Keith was finally getting what was coming to him. I could just imagine what all of the story headlines would read: DIRTY DETECTIVE BUSTED FOR DEALING DRUGS; DRUG-DEALING DETECTIVE PREYED ON VULNERABLE STREET CRIMINALS; DRUG SCANDAL HITS NORFOLK POLICE DEPARTMENT.

  I smiled. “Well, all-mighty Detective Keith, looks like someone else was doing the investigating this time?” I quipped, pointing to myself. “And it wasn’t even as complicated as you police make it seem,” I continued, speaking to myself and pointing out of the window at the police car holding Detective Keith.

  “I hope you see a lot of friends in prison. I’m sure the ones you put away illegally can’t wait to make your acquaintance,” I said, hitting my thigh as I laughed out loud.

  “Next time do your job and what the taxpayers pay you to do!” I spat as if Detective Keith could hear me. With that, I took position at the right camera angle. I headed toward the big spectacle of police cars and vans. At this point I was going to see the case against Barker, Keith, and all of the rest of the major players all the way through, which even meant picking some of these killers out of a lineup as the people who’d committed murders and trafficked innocent children.

  “You guys ready to go?” I asked, turning to my crew with a smile. This was the biggest story I covered since I had bested Christian and gotten my co-camera job at WXOT-TV.

  “In five, four, three, two,” my own personal cameraman counted down before we went live with the story:

  “In breaking news we are outside the home of Detective Marlon Keith, a dangerous criminal who doubled as a police detective. Our investigation revealed that Keith participated in at least twelve murders over the past four years as he worked for former criminal defense attorney turned crime boss Anton Barker. It is reported that Keith, during those four years, worked as a legitimate police detective, but was really a ruthless criminal enforcer who tortured and killed at the will of the mayoral candidate Anton Barker. As you can see here, Detective Keith is being transported to jail by his own Norfolk Police Department.

  “The department is reportedly ashamed that one of their own would engage in such criminal acts,” said the chief of the Norfolk Police Department. Our investigation uncovered that former Detective Keith helped Barker engage in drug dealing, cold-blooded murder, illegal gambling rings, and, worst of all, child sex trafficking. Neighbors say they were shocked to learn that the neighbor that they had known as the best detective in the city of Norfolk for his one hundred percent solve rate, was not actually who he had claimed to be. Thanks to the protection of high-up government officials and other corrupt politicians, Keith was able to successfully assume the double identity that he held for so many years. He reportedly successfully ruined the careers of several upstanding former police officers who had started to figure out Keith’s dirty deeds and threatened to blow the whistle on Keith and all of the other corrupt government officials in office in the city of Norfolk.

  “Earlier today one of the innocent police officers that Keith had framed for misconduct, and later fired for speaking out against Keith, had this to say . . .

  “ ‘We are just truly blessed and grateful that Detective Keith did not have a chance to do more damage or hurt any more people during the time he was out on the street. Our group of officers in solidarity against corruption would like to thank Khloé Mercer and WXOT-TV for all of their help in getting to the bottom of this organized-crime ring. Now we are just hoping to move on with our lives in peace and get what is owed to us after all of this time.’

&nbs
p; “Thank you, I am sure everyone involved is breathing a sigh of relief. Reporting for WXOT-TV, I am Khloé Mercer.”

  15

  BACK TO HAUNT ME

  I had been sleeping much better with Barker and Keith behind bars. My reporting on the story didn’t stop at them. I had continued and at least six more dudes had gone down as part of their organized-crime ring.

  I was knocked out cold when I heard it. I groaned and slapped at my nightstand for my phone. As soon as I cracked my eyes open, pain rocked through my skull.

  “Fuck,” I hissed, finally locating my phone. “Hello,” I grumbled, my own breath threatening to kill me.

  “Khloé!”

  Ugh, I moved the phone from my ear quickly. My head was pounding too hard for the damn screaming.

  “Khloé! You there?” I could hear Liza even with the phone away from my ear. I had never heard her speak so loudly. She and I had become as close as best friends after everything we did together for the story.

  “Liza, what the hell? Why are you screaming like that?” I rasped. My voice was heavy with sleep. I had sat up and binge watched a whole season of some new show the night before. Finally giving myself some time and a break away from being at work all day, every day. I had told myself I needed a break after all I had been through, so this was supposed to be my time to relax—and Liza knew that.

  “You better start talking fast. I don’t take too kindly to being woken up like this,” I grumped at her.

  “Girl, listen to me! Somebody just came to the news station and told the chief that you have been nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy Award! They haven’t announced it yet, but it’s you! You were nominated, and you got the station nominated, too, for your story!” Liza yelled.

  I sucked my teeth. She had to be crazy and mistaken, either that or she was pranking me.

  “Liza, I am trying to get some much-needed rest. Today is not the day for jokes and pranks, especially not like this.”

  “No! I am not kidding, Khloé. I would not joke about something as serious as this. I’m telling you, it is you. I heard it with my own ears. This is not a dream. This is not a joke. You are awake and talking to me, and you are fucking nominated for an Emmy Award!” Liza went on with so much excitement, I was all the way awake now.

  I finally sat up, scrubbed my hands over my face, and wiped the sleep out of my eyes.

  “Well? Khloé? Do you believe me now?” Liza asked.

  “Umm. Yes. But I don’t know what to say or do. I am sitting here in shock or something like that. I don’t even know whether to get up, jump up and down, scream, or just sit here and let this shit sink into my brain,” I said, looking out into my apartment like someone was going to appear and tell me this was all a dream and I was still asleep.

  “Girl, I’ll be there in twenty minutes to help you figure out what to do. You must be crazy, it is time to celebrate,” Liza said before hanging right up on me.

  Liza was not playing. As soon as I stepped out of the shower, I had just enough time to wrap myself in my terry cloth robe before she was pounding on my door.

  “Oh, my God, this girl,” I mumbled as I padded to the door. I snatched the door open and Liza rushed inside so fast, a swift wind passed my face from her movement.

  “Okay, let’s start with, what are you going to wear to the awards?” Liza huffed out of breath, wasting no ass time as she rushed into my place.

  “Um, hello to you too,” I said, shaking my head at her. “Damn. You’re more excited than me. I don’t think this has settled into my brain yet.”

  “Girl, you know I love you already. We don’t have to waste time. I’m telling you, girl, you are a star now. This is what you have been working for. This is the best revenge against Christian, even better than you winning her job and pushing her ass the hell out,” Liza said. She was damn near cheering; she was so loud and excited.

  “Liza, this is so unbelievable. But you know I don’t take pleasure in doing anything to Christian, she brought all of that on herself with the way she was. I say it was all karma on her ass,” I corrected.

  Liza waved her hand in front of her face. “That’s beside the point. Damn it, you need to make sure you’re going to look stunning and fabulous for the awards. You have a few weeks, I know that, but this is way too exciting to just sit still about it.”

  Of course, I was going to make sure I looked stunning. I had literally been working toward this my whole entire life. I was trying to play it cool for Liza, when, in actuality, my insides were jumping so badly, I thought my lungs would come up out of my mouth. I moved around my apartment to get dressed so I could go to the station and get the official word from the powers that be. I grabbed the purse I carried all the time, because I called it my lucky purse. I turned toward Liza who couldn’t even keep still. She looked at me through wide eyes.

  “Are you ready for the biggest day, well, aside from the day of the awards and the day you got those criminals put away—oh, and the day you were born—but, anyway, one of the biggest days of your life?” Liza asked, rambling in that fast, quavery voice she always spoke in when she was either nervous or excited. I was getting used to it. Her energy was contagious, though. I couldn’t help but catch the bug and be super excited too.

  My heart sped up. She and I were both thinking the same thing, and we both opened our mouths at the same time.

  “I hope you . . .”

  “I hope you . . .”

  “Always stay close to me,” we said in unison.

  Liza rushed into me and we hugged for a long moment. I returned her embrace. She was a genuine soul, for real, and I was glad I had become friends with her.

  “Let’s go get the good news from the horse’s mouth,” I said.

  “Yes! Yes! Yes!” Liza waved her hands frantically. “Oh, my God.”

  It was good to see how happy Liza was for me, especially since I told her that I’d give her some of the credit for this blockbuster story. I told her that if I won, she won too.

  “I don’t know how I will react,” I said, trying to imagine what I’d do when they told me firsthand, I had been nominated.

  “Girl, do whatever that big brain of yours tells you to do, including jump up on the station chief’s desk and shake your ass like a crazy person,” Liza joked.

  “I can’t do that, because then they’d have my ass committed to the psych ward and I’d miss the entire awards show,” I joked back.

  We had a good laugh. All the way to the news station, we tried to make small talk, but everything always led back to the nomination and award. I wanted to get the official word before I decided to call Kyle and my mother. Kyle had been checking in with me more regularly since the story broke than he’d ever done before.

  I walked into the station and all eyes were on me. I held my head up high, with my chin jutting forward, like I was a star. I looked at each and every person who looked at me. Some smiled and nodded; others glared and whispered. That was fine with me. I knew jealousy still ran rampant up in WXOT. There was a bunch of Christian’s people that I had removed, once I took over her job. I also hired more minorities again. It was great to see the tables turn up in there. Liza was hovering next to me like a bee to honey. I don’t even think she realized that her ass was jogging alongside me like a crazy person.

  “Just breathe and keep your head held high. You got this, Khloé,” Liza urged.

  I turned to her right before I knocked on the station chief’s door. “Who knew that a little girl from the hood, whose father was murdered in front of her, and whose mother battled back from the worst drug addiction ever, could turn out like this? Who knew I’d end up taking down a crime syndicate and being considered for an Emmy Award in the process, which was all in a day’s work for me? Who knew, Liza?” I said on the verge of happy tears.

  Liza swiped at the tears on her face too. It was so easy to make her cry.

  “You knew . . . that’s who,” Liza said, pumping her fist triumphantly.

  I
swear, between the still-lingering remnants of that interrupted sleep and the excitement of what was about to come, I almost had a damn heart attack. I actually had to clutch my damn chest to keep myself from fainting and spilling onto the floor.

  “Okay. Okay,” Liza huffed, fanning herself with one hand and clutching the nominee invite card with the other hand. “I have the numbers. We have the tickets. How we going to do this?” She was huffing and puffing like she was about to hyperventilate. “Girl, go into that office. You are taking too long to get that official word. I can’t take the buildup another minute. Got me all riled up,” Liza said, flustered.

  I knocked on the chief’s door, waited for a few seconds, and pushed my way inside. He was sitting behind his desk like the king of the hill. No one ever really came to see him, and the last time I’d been there was when he told me I had done a damn good job on my story and had landed Christian’s job.

  “Ah, Khloé, I was expecting you,” the chief said, smiling with his old, ugly yellow teeth showing.

  I swear, I think that man never went home or left that office. He looked as if his life was all contained in this space.

  “Okay,” I replied. Then I blew out a breath and sat down. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and waited for him to drop the news on me. “Thank you for having me come up.”

  “So, first, your story caused quite a stir around here, as you already know,” he said. “It was probably the single most important piece of news reporting we have ever done here at WXOT. I appreciated that,” the chief said.

  I felt a warm feeling explode inside me. I loved being in his good graces. Now I kind of understood why Christian loved being in her job so much. It felt good to have others look at you in a good way.

  “With that being said,” the chief went on.

  I gripped the sides of the chair until my knuckles ached. I blew out an exasperated breath.

  “I am proud to tell you . . .” He was dragging the shit out.

  “Go ahead,” I urged, moving to the edge of the chair, still holding on for dear life.