The Ex Killer Series

by Bridget Bundy

  “We got evicted, Tanie.”

  “Oh.” Tanie’s curiosity turned to shock. “That’s really bad.”

  “I need your help.”

  “You want to stay over my place? That’s no problem, but you know, your sister and I don’t get along, and I don’t think that’ll work out.”

  “No, that’s not it at all. I need for you to speak to Roscoe.”

  Tanie sat back in her chair staring at me. I was asking a lot of her. I could tell because she didn’t say anything.

  I continued, “You can talk to him and convince him…”

  Tanie started shaking her head. She didn’t let me finish, “I can’t get involved in his business, Angela.”

  “But I bet he’ll listen to you. I bet Roscoe will give us another chance if you speak up.”

  “Nothing I say will change his decision. When it comes to his business and his money, there are no negotiations. That man is serious. I wish I could help you, but I can’t do anything about it.”

  I thought for a moment, and then I asked Tanie, “What if I talk to him? Do you think he’ll hear me out?”

  “He doesn’t deal with tenants directly. You have to speak to James Booker.”

  “I’ll work what I owe in rent. I can do what you do, help you out, and whatever money I make, he can take straight up until I get up to date on the rent.”

  “Are you sure, Angela?”

  Stephanie said with worry, “Angela, I don’t think you should do this.”

  “I have no choice.”

  “But you do.” Stephanie said. “Have you looked for a job?”

  “Nobody will hire me, Stephanie.”

  “You don’t know that for sure, and you haven’t even tried. You get involved with Roscoe, and you won’t be able to walk away.”

  I turned to Tanie and said, “Tell him I will work off what I owe.”

  Tanie stared at me for a short moment to make sure I was serious and then she said, “Wait here.” She went outside dialing numbers on her cell phone.

  Stephanie said, “Working for Roscoe is a bad idea, Angela.”

  “I don’t have much a choice, Stephanie. I can’t just move in with Tanie. I don’t have a job to help with her utilities and rent. And then on top of that, she doesn’t get along with Andrea. I have to get back into my own apartment.”

  “Tanie will help you out knowing your situation.”

  “Talking to Roscoe is the only way.”

  Stephanie said, “I’m sorry you have to go about it like this, Angela. If I was here longer, I would let you and Andrea stay as much as you needed to.”

  “I would never put my burdens on you or Tanie.”

  Tanie came back in a hurried speed and said, “We have to go, Angela.”

  Stephanie said before I left, “Don’t do this, Angela. You won’t be able to walk away if you get involved.”

  I didn’t listen. I followed Tanie to her car, and we left in a big hurry.

  CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

  Tanie’s usual confident demeanor faded into edginess. She is a different person when it comes to Roscoe Madison. He is the only person I know that can cause panic in Tanie, not even her own parents could get the same effect.

  “There is something you need to know, Angela, before we get there.” She said, “You’ll be searched.”

  “Why?”

  “You haven’t earned his trust. Once you’re searched, you’ll have to wait for him. Are you listening?”

  “Yes, I am listening, Tanie.”

  “Roscoe demands upmost respect, and if he senses any kind of attitude, he’ll end the meeting right away. You won’t get another chance. You will be in his home, and you need to show respect.”

  “Okay.”

  “Whatever questions he asks you, answer them. Do not lie to him ever because if he catches you in a lie, whether it is now or later, you’ll regret it. He’s mean, and he will come down on you. Do you understand?”

  I was becoming afraid, but this was necessary considering I had to keep the apartment and seeing how Pritchard was missing. I answered, “I understand, Tanie.”

  We drove for almost 15 to 30 minutes, and we were going through rural winding roads. The tree line stood five yards away from the main road and at times was framed high by wires that hung lazily between utility poles. It was beautiful out there on route 15 and very quiet. We didn’t pass a single car or truck like we did in town. There was deer every once and a while grazing on the side of the road. Tanie slowed down at an upcoming driveway on the right. There was a cast iron fence long before we got to the driveway, and when she pulled in, we saw a gate blocking the entrance. She stopped at an intercom, and she pushed the button. The gate came open slowly. Tanie drove like she was trying not to damage anything. I have never been in the car when she was driving like a little old lady. The woods that hugged the road finally opened up to a fountain that set right in front of a three story house and manicured lawns and bushes. Roscoe’s house was elegant from the outside.

  Tanie drove around back to another house on the right hand side. It was a smaller house, but had the same brick and windows as the big one. Tanie parked the car in the nearest parking spot to the right of the house, and she turned off the car. She said to me, “You have to go in by yourself. James will be waiting for you. Follow his instructions. Don’t forget what I told you.”

  I got out of the car and knocked on the front door softly. It opened up, and James Booker was blocking the entrance. He was looking at me like I was a meal. I gave him a nasty stare hoping he’ll get the picture that I didn’t want anything to do with him. He didn’t get the picture, and his smile became bigger. I looked back at Tanie who was still sitting in the car. She stared at me. I went inside and the door closed behind me.

  A small foyer with two small tables on each side of the door was the first room. The floor looked like it was made from a smooth multi tone brown stone. There were no pictures on the burgundy walls. To the right was a closed door, and the left was a room that was lit by the sun from the front window. The furniture was boring beige, and there was a love seat and full length sofa. Two matching arm chairs were on each side of the big sofa. The burgundy paint on the wall continued into this room. A fireplace was on the far wall, but no fire burned in it. There were no pictures on those walls, either. This house was more neat than homely, but I still liked it. James unlocked the door on the right, and it opened up to a room with only a chair in it and an extra tall metal table. It was a little darker in that room but only because the curtains were fully closed. Two women were inside. One was standing behind the steel tall table and another was standing in the far left corner, and they both were looking at me.

  James said, “I wish I could join you ladies.” He started laughing and pushed me inside the room. He slammed the door closed and locked it.

  I tried to open the door thinking this was just crazy. Why was I locked in this room with these two women? The one in the corner had walked to the middle of the room and commanded, “Take your clothes off, including your shoes, socks, bra and underwear.”

  I asked, “Why?”

  The lady did not answer my question. She stared at me like I didn’t say a word. I repeated the question. The lady stated, “You can leave the premises.”

  “You mean I won’t be seeing Roscoe?”

  “You strip for a search or you leave.”

  I took off my clothes without questioning them any longer. I figured if I kept on, I’ll get thrown out. The one woman that stood behind the tall metal table came around once I was naked. She had on blue plastic gloves. She started picking through my body. She checked my hair, my ears, inside of my mouth, and around my neck. She lifted up my breasts and looked underneath them. That was just too damn weird, but I didn’t resist. She walked around me and then asked me to bend over. I was really hesitant about that, but I finally bent over. This woman was looking in my ass. I straightened after she was done, and she had me lift one leg at a time so she could see
the bottom of my feet. I wanted to hit her, but I happened to look at the other lady that was in the room and I knew if I tried anything, there will be hell to pay and I was the only one going to pay. After I was searched, I had to remain naked while the other woman searched my clothes. It felt like forever, and I was getting cold.

  After feeling completely humiliated, I was told to put my clothes on, and they both walked out leaving me alone to get dressed. I’ll have to cuss Tanie out because she didn’t say shit about a strip search!

  The moment I was done dressing, the door opened up and James was standing holding the knob and staring me down from head to toe. He said, “You can wait in the room over there.” When I went passed him, he bent over and whispered in my ear, “Girl, I like what I saw. I want to taste some of that.”

  HE SAW ME! He watched the search? How? What in the hell was going on in here? Before I could speak up, he commanded, “Go sit down in that room.”

  I looked around for the women that searched me, but they were nowhere in sight. I went into the other room with the beige furniture, and sat down on the sofa. I made sure my legs were closed and my arms were close to my body with my hands folded together in my lap. James came into the room, too, and he stood right in front of me blocking some of the light from the window. I looked down at my hands the entire time not wanting to make eye contact.

  The woman that searched me entered after I had been waiting for nearly 30 minutes and said, “Mr. Madison will see you.”

  “See you later, girl. Count on that.” James said when I followed the woman out. I didn’t look back.

  The woman led me down the hallway passed a set of stairs to another closed door. The woman opened the door and sitting behind a large wooden desk was Roscoe Madison. I went inside before realizing there was a fully grown Doberman Pincher sitting right in front of the desk. The dog was lying down, but its’ head was up and its’ ears were peaked. I stopped short and the woman moved me aside to close the door. That was a big dog, and I didn’t like dogs at all.

  Roscoe must have seen my fear, and he called its’ name. The dog got up and trotted behind the desk where I couldn’t see it. My fear subside only a little, but the dog was still in the room and it could easily attack me if it didn’t like me.

  Roscoe commanded, “Sit down.”

  I did as I was told.

  Roscoe was a dark man, deep set eyes, long black hair, and full dark lips. His goatee was perfectly trimmed. He wore a black jacket and a black turtle neck. He sat comfortably and confidently deep in his big brown leather chair.

  His office wasn’t very big. Only two lamps lit up the room. One was on his desk and the other near the woman in the corner. Every wall had shelves completely full of books, and he had all kinds of trinkets around the room.

  Roscoe said, “I knew your mother.”

  I wasn’t expecting him to talk about my mother. I had no idea what to say.

  He continued, “She saved my mother’s life when she was in the nursing home. She told me she was being abused.”

  “My mother was a great person. She cared a lot about people.”

  “Yes, she was an extraordinary woman. My mother would have died if she hadn’t spoken up when she did. I tried to keep that in mind when it came to you and your family. But I can only be charitable for so long before I start to feel people are taking advantage. I hate it when someone is trying to get over. It pisses me off.”

  “Mr. Madison, I was not trying to take advantage of you.”

  “All you had to do is ask for more time from Booker.”

  “I thought Pritchard paid the rent. He said he would take care of it.”

  “He didn’t take care of it, Angela.”

  “I don’t know what to say. I thought he did. We tried our best to pay the rent on time, but there are so many problems going on in my family. I try my best to keep up, but sometimes it’s hard.”

  “I really don’t care about your problems. I only care about my money. At this point, that’s all that matter is my money.”

  This wasn’t going well. I looked down at my hands disappointed. I had a feeling I was going to walk out of there still homeless and without work.

  Roscoe said, “Tanie told me you wanted to work off what you owe.”

  “Yes, I need a job.”

  “You owe me $300 dollars in rent, and seeing how the first of the month is coming again, you’ll owe another $150 dollars.”

  We only paid a hundred dollars a month in rent. He raised it. I wasn’t going to argue with him about the cost now.

  “If you want to work for me, I have to be able to trust you entirely.”

  I answered quickly, “You can trust me.”

  “I hope so, for your sake and Tanie’s.” Roscoe remarked. “The moment you betray me, both of you are dead.”

  I kept really still in the seat when he said that. His threats made me really nervous because I knew he was serious.

  He continued, “Your job will be simple. You will be on call every day, all day, no matter the day. I don’t care if it’s your birthday, a national holiday, or you’re fucking somebody, it doesn’t matter. When you’re told to do a job, you do it. The job will require you to drive wherever you’re told and pick up a package. Don’t ever ask anyone about the package. Don’t tell anyone about the package. You will eventually have a car in your own name. If you get pulled over by the cops and the car gets searched, it all falls on you. If you snitch, you die. It’s as simple as that. You understand where I’m coming from?”

  “Yes.”

  “The first job will pay for all of the rent you owe, plus the upcoming month. Depending upon the job, you may have some left over. If you miss another month in rent, your rate goes up to $200 dollars a month.”

  I wasn’t planning on missing another month. But the car caught my attention. I never had my own car before. “I have a question, Mr. Madison.”

  “Ask.”

  “Do I have to pay for the car you’re giving me?”

  “It’s already paid for.” Roscoe reached in his desk and handed me a cell phone. “But you will pay for the service on that cell phone. You don’t ever change the number. You can use it for whatever you want, but it better be working when you are called to work. You got me?”

  “Yes.” I answered.

  “From now on, Janea will be contacting you. You got questions, talk to her or Tanie. They’ll tell you everything you need to know. Don’t ever ask to see me again unless there is a real serious problem.”

  “I understand.”

  “There is one more thing you should know. The only way out of this agreement is when you die.”

  “What if I wanted to move out of Colum permanently?” I was thinking of Alex and the remote chance of him coming back for me.

  “You can’t. You belong to me now.”

  “Mr. Madison…”

  He interrupted by calmly stating, “I didn’t stutter. You belong to me. You got it?”

  I suppressed my anger and said in a low voice, “Okay.”

  Roscoe signaled for Janea to let me out. He continued, “You’ll be able to move back into your apartment as soon as you get back.”

  I nodded and stood to leave. It pissed me off that I was stuck working for him now. I should have listened to Stephanie. How did she know anyway? Does Tanie tell her things about her job and not me?

  Janea opened the door to let me out. She followed me to the front door where James was standing. She looked at him without any hint of a smile or an expression, and James seemed to understand her unspoken words. He opened the door without undressing me with his looks, and once I was out, he closed the front door.

  Tanie was sitting on the hood of her car when she asked, “How did it go?”

  I didn’t answer her question. I was angry as I got into the car. Now, I was working for a crazy drug dealer. There had to be a way to get out of the agreement with Roscoe, other than dying, of course. I should have just moved in with Tanie and let Andrea deal w
ith being homeless on her own.

  Tanie drove off much like she drove in, really slow.

  “He threatened me, Tanie.” I said as I tried to wipe my tears away.

  “It’s called creating fear, Angela.” Tanie said.

  “And I was stripped searched!”

  “I told you about the search!”

  “And he told me the job wasn’t temporary. That means I’m stuck in Colum. If Alex came back for me, I won’t be able to leave. Why didn’t you warn me about all this before I went to see him?”

  “Stephanie warned you! Stephanie was begging you not to do this, but you wanted it! Don’t try to blame this on me! You were the one that asked to see him, Angela. I asked you if you were sure. This was your choice, not mine.”

  I stated, “He can’t make me work for him for the rest of my life. That is absolutely ridiculous. I tell you what. Whenever I get a chance to get out of here, I will, and he won’t stop me.”

  “And he’ll find you and kill you, Angela. He won’t hesitate.”

  “He threatened you, too, Tanie.”

  “I’m sure he did.” Tanie said, “Angela, everyone knows this man is no joke. You just don’t work for him for a limited time only. Roscoe owns you until you die.”

  “Roscoe doesn’t own me. All I owe him is rent. I don’t owe him my life.”

  “You really want to try this man? You want to go back and tell him everything you’re telling me now?”

  “I’ll do what I have to, Tanie. I will do the jobs for however long it takes.”

  “You really need to stop fooling yourself, Angela. He’s not coming back. You need to accept this as your life now and make the most of it.” Tanie remarked.

  I made the biggest mistake of my life. This wasn’t a part of the things I wanted to do in my life. Working for Roscoe was only supposed to be a temporary fix. I tried to be selfless and help my sister. Any other time, I would just let Andrea do what she wanted and I wouldn’t even get involved. Now, the one time I tried to help her, I end up in the worse way.