Heaven and Earth

by J. M. Benjamin

  For the past week, Seamen Street and Lee Avenue had been officially shut down. At least, the part that was run by Heaven and Earth. Not out of fear of not being able to maintain because, if the occasion arose, each one of them felt that they would step up the game and handle their business, whether on the money tip or beef. For them, it was out of love, loyalty, and most importantly, respect. None of them would ever think about going against the grain by making their own moves or any decisions in regards to their block without consulting with either Heaven and Earth or both of them. Besides, they all had enough paper to hold them down until that was the case. Now, here it was, there was a possibility that they had gotten a breakthrough.

  “Sweetheart, can you hear me?” the nurse asked but received no response. Trying a different approach, she said, “If you can hear me blink your eyes.”

  Still there was nothing.

  “Young lady, are you sure you saw something?” the nurse asked Le Le.

  “Yes, I’m sure,” Le Le retorted with attitude.

  “Well, there is nothing now.”

  “Oh shit,” Sonya shouted, drawing everyone’s attention to her.

  “What?” Shell asked.

  “Yeah, what?” Le Le followed.

  “Look,” she said pointing to the bed.

  “I’ll go call the doctor,” the nurse offered seeing her patient’s eyelids flutter.

  “I told y’all,” Le Le said. “Heaven?” she called out. “Can you hear me?”

  “Heaven, it’s us, your girls,” Shell said with teary eyes.

  “Heaven, please open your eyes,” Sonya sighed, her eyes becoming teary-eyed as well.

  By now, all three girls had tears cascading down their faces as Heaven’s eyelids continued to fight with the decision to open or not. You could see tears beginning to trickle down Heaven’s face as she battled with herself to overcome the challenge. As she fought, Le Le, Shell, and Sonya continued with their words of encouragement in hopes that Heaven heard them.

  “Vamos, despierta. Abre los ojos,” Shell cried, pleading for Heaven to open her eyes and wake up.

  “Yeah, you can do it,” Le Le followed up with.

  “Please, wake up,” Sonya said in the same tearful manner. Then, as if to answer their prayers and pleas, miraculously, Heaven’s eyes opened.

  The cries and sounds of joy could be heard throughout the entire hospital wing when Le Le, Shell, and Sonya saw Heaven’s eyes fly open. One would have thought a stadium full of NFL football fans had a team that just won the Super Bowl by the sounds that came from Heaven’s bedside in the hospital room.

  “What’s going on?” Heaven managed to ask in a husky tone, still somewhat in a daze of confusion and pain.

  “Are you all right?” Le Le asked through her sobs.

  “Yeah, where the hell am I?” Heaven replied glancing around the room. Noticing all of the machinery and seeing the tubes running from the equipment to her, it dawned on her after she had asked.

  “You’re in the hospital, ma,” Shell answered.

  “What happened?”

  “You were shot,” Sonya said. “Once in the abdomen, your chest, and a graze to the head.”

  “Huh?” she said confused. But as she tried to shift her body and lift up, the pain she felt confirmed the half. “Agh,” she moaned.

  “Tranquilo,” Shell said, reaching out to help Heaven sit up.

  “I got it,” Heaven replied, straining to gain position.

  “Where was I when I got hit?”

  “You and Earth were leaving The Diner,” Sonya told her.

  Hearing the restaurant and her partner’s name, Heaven’s mind began to race.

  “Where’s Earth?” she asked. Le Le, Shell, and Sonya all looked at one another in silence.

  “Did you hear me? Agh,” Heaven asked raising her voice in pain. “Where the fuck is Earth at?”

  “Heaven,” Le Le started as tears began to resurface in her eyes. “Earth didn’t—” “No, Le, don’t tell me that,” Heaven cried out already thinking the worst. The night at The Diner was now all coming back to her. She remembered the two of them leaving their favorite restaurant and how Earth had convinced her to let her drive her GT Bentley while she rolled up a blunt. The last thing she recalled was the two motorcycles with two riders, each one speeding off after they had unloaded on the car just before she had lost consciousness. “No-nooo-nooo, that shit can’t be true,” Heaven said in disbelief.

  She did not want to believe that her partner in crime, her road dawg, sister, and most importantly, best friend, was gone. After all they had been through and survived together, thought Heaven. How could it come down to this?

  “Who was it?”

  “We don’t know,” the three of them said.

  “What the fuck you mean you don’t know?” she barked. “How long I been here?”

  “About a week,” Le Le answered.

  “And we been here since day one,” Sonya added. Heaven could see the exhaustion in their faces as they stood there by her bedside and knew that Sonya’s words were true. Had things been different she would have been more compassionate toward them, but right now, there was no room for her to show any sign of weakness or become soft. Her right hand had just been brutally murdered, and it was now up to her to see to it that street justice be served.

  “Look, I appreciate y’all holdin’ me down and all while I was laid up, but you should’ve been out there with your ear to the ground tryin’a find out who the fuck violated. Y’all ain’t doin’ me or Earth any good up in here right now. I’m, I’ma be a’ight. When I get up outta this bitch, I’ma—”

  “Praise God,” Heaven’s nurse strolled in with the doctor causing Heaven to cut her conversation short.

  “Ms. Jacobs it’s good to see you’re awake,” the doctor said approaching with a smile. “How are you feeling?”

  “Fine,” Heaven replied. “A little sore, though.”

  “That’s understandable, considering you went through a rough ride. You gave your friends here a good scare.”

  “I heard,” Heaven passively retorted.

  “Well, not to worry, the hard part is over. It only gets better from here,” the elderly, gray-haired African American doctor assured her. “Now, young ladies, if you’ll excuse me, I need to examine my patient.” He directed his words to Le Le, Shell, and Sonya.

  “No problem, Doc,” Sonya answered for all of them.

  Each one of them then went over to Heaven and kissed her good-bye as she lay there motionless; rather speaking it, she gave each one a look that indicated that she wanted them to carry out her initial statement. Moments later, they were out the door.

  As the doctor conducted his examination, Heaven was conducting her own examination in her mind, playing back the chain of events inside her head that had occurred prior to her being wounded and Earth’s demise. Every beef or alteration that they had been in for the past few months bounced around in her mind. The shooting out on Remsen Avenue, when she and Earth had gunned down the dude who had smacked up and robbed Le Le, the guy who Sonya had cut in the face and she and Earth had shot at over a dice game, then Earth’s altercation with Keya up in Dolce’s over some jealousy shit that led to some dude getting busted in the head with a Rosé bottle. And lastly, the dude Rock had told her about that same night from South Trenton who was overheard talking about running down on some chicks from New Brunswick who he believed to be them. With all of these incidents weighing heavy on Heaven’s mental, the thought had given her a migraine. Due to the pain she was in, combined with the anesthesia they had given her, Heaven was in no condition to think straight. As she began to drift back off into a slumber while the doctor continued his exam, the only thought on Heaven’s mind was revenge.

  Chapter Twenty

  “Brrrgaaah—Brrrgaaah.”

  The sounds of the rapid gunfire woke Heaven out of the nightmare that had just moments ago had her tossing and turning. When she opened her eyes, she was somewhat start
led by the two unfamiliar bodies standing by her bedside. Now regaining her visual focus, it was apparent to Heaven that the male-female duo were not doctors, and she instantly became disturbed by their presence. Judging by their attire, it was obvious to her that they were the police. Mentally, Heaven began to prepare herself for the interrogation that she knew was to come but was in no mood for as she put on her game face.

  “Ms. Jacobs, glad to have you back with us. I’m Detective Saleski,” the excessively overweight Caucasian male expressed, trying his hardest to sound sincere.

  His partner, who was African American, revealed a sympathetic smile. “And I’m Detective Crawford,” she joined in.

  “We’re from the New Brunswick Homicide Division,” Detective Saleski continued, extending his business card in Heaven’s direction. Heaven gave the card a blank stare before hesitantly reaching out to accept it. She didn’t even bother to look at it, already knowing that she would never use it, not only because it was the code of the streets, but also because she had other plans on her mind for whomever violated.

  Detective Saleski noticed the disinterest in his card and was not in the least bit surprised. He had expected as much. He knew the history on the female tag team, more so Heaven, stemming back to juvenile days, because she was from New Brunswick. He reviewed Heaven’s criminal record and saw that she had several run-ins with the law before the age of eighteen. When her partner Earth arrived on the scene, Detective Saleski had asked the local informants around town about the female duo and found out more than he had bargained for. At first, he couldn’t believe some of the stories he had heard about the pretty young women, but in his sixteen years in law enforcement, nowadays, nothing surprised him. The only thing that did surprise Detective Saleski about the two was the fact that prior to the present incident, neither of their names had come across his desk, especially Eartha Davis’s. Having had some connects with the Plainfield Police Department, after hearing about the two, he had researched Earth’s extracurricular in the streets. From what was told to him by his good friend and colleague Frank Wilson of Plainfield’s police department, Eartha Davis, just like her mother, was a rough customer. It made sense to Detective Saleski. Brains and bronze, he thought, knowing that Heavenly Jacobs and Earth Davis were made for each other. According to another of his colleagues, Paul Schuster, of the narcotics force, and locals, whenever opportunity presented itself, Heaven and Earth had always expressed their disdain for New Brunswick’s finest, which is why when he and his partner were assigned to the case and he heard the involved parties, he knew that it would be like pulling teeth. But still, he had a job to do, and he intended to do just that. Despite his personal feelings, today, he told himself that Heavenly Jacobs was not the accused; she was the victim.

  “My partner and I were assigned to the shooting that took place a week ago involving you and the deceased Ms. Eartha Davis up at The Diner,” Detective Saleski stated.

  Hearing her road dawg being referred to as the “deceased” caused the pit of Heaven’s stomach to boil. The thought of her right hand being gone was still overwhelming to her. She fought back the tears of anger that were building up inside of her. She refused to let the Caucasian detective or the woman see her vulnerability, allowing them to pass judgment. Like her partner in crime, Heaven was a thoroughbred, and she intended to maintain as just that. Detective Saleski saw right through the façade that Heaven was portraying. He had seen it countless times, and it always amazed him. People from the streets pretended to be so hard, and when a tragedy occurs, rather than seeking help, they feel compelled to keep up their front. The detective continued with his job as he tried to minimize the growing tension.

  “Ms. Jacobs, we understand that this is a bad time for you, losing your friend and all, and on behalf of my partner and I, let me apologize for the inconvenience. I know that the situation is still fresh, but the fact of the matter is, I need to ask you a few questions about the incident so my partner and I can do what we do best. Do you understand that?”

  Heaven listened, giving no response or even indication that she had heard him. She was in no mood to be answering anything, and even if she was, she wouldn’t, especially when it was the authorities who were doing the questioning. Police and Heaven had never seen eye to eye. She had lived a lawless life, having no respect or regards for any authoritative figure. She couldn’t even stand being in the same vicinity with a cop, but aside from her personal views, Heaven knew that her encounter with the detectives was inevitable based on what had happened to her and Earth. She wanted nothing more than for justice to be served to the perpetrators and her partner’s murderers be punished, but street justice was on her mind. She wanted to be the arrester, judge, jury, and executer. But for now, Heaven knew that she had to play her cards close to her chest on this one, careful not to expose her hand or anything that could possibly be used against her at a later date. She cautioned her words in her mind before she finally decided to acknowledge the detective’s question. “There’s nothing that I can really tell you,” she began clearing her throat, “that you probably don’t already know,” she ended in a raspy tone.

  Her throat was parched from the medication being fed to her through the intravenous tube in her arm. Her response didn’t come as a shock to the detective, although he was hoping for a miracle. Getting Heaven to cooperate with him and his partner was not going to be a walk in the park he knew.

  “Ms. Jacobs, like I stated earlier, I realize that this a difficult time for you right now,” he compassionately said. “And it’s apparent to me and my partner that you’ve suffered a great loss. We’re not here as the bad guys; we’re here to help put away whoever did this to you and your friend, and the only way that we can do that is with your cooperation. We’d just like to hear in your own words what you remember or can recall about that evening . . . Anything that may point us in the right direction and help us solve this case in as fast of a manner as possible.”

  Heaven pretended to be listening to the detective, but her mind was actually somewhere else. As painful as it was for her, Heaven was preoccupied with playing back the tapes inside her head of what had happened just a couple of weeks ago, trying to make sense of things, but so many thoughts flowed through her mind that she could not gather them altogether. Images of the last time Heaven had seen her partner in crime alive invaded her thoughts the most, but she couldn’t help but dwell on the two motorcycles with double riders on each bike that had changed her life forever. She tried to lock in on the scenery in her mind as the same scene played. All she could remember was the two bikes speeding away just before she closed her eyes. A glimpse of something else flashed in and out of her mind, but she could not make out what exactly the images were. The more she tried, the more she began to catch a migraine by the tragic event.

  Tears managed to escape Heaven’s eyes at the thought of the eventful night, but her tears were not of sadness. These were filled with anger and rage. Detective Crawford noticed the fluids spilling out of the sides of Heaven’s eyes and felt compelled to console her. Initially, Detective Crawford and her partner agreed to let him handle the interview, feeling that Heaven would be more receptive to a man as opposed to a woman being as though she herself had played in a game dominated by men in the streets. Detective Crawford now realized that their decision and method was not the most effective one and not a good idea after all.

  “The two of you must have been very close,” Detective Crawford started out. Her words caused Heaven to snap out of her daze. “I have a twin sister, and she’s my best friend. I couldn’t imagine losing her,” she continued, seeing that she had captured Heaven’s attention. “My condolences to you for your loss, Ms. Jacobs. I understand that this is not the way that you’re used to handling situations in life, and I respect that, but don’t you want to see justice served and have your loved one rest in peace?” she asked in a passionate tone. She herself was becoming somewhat emotional just talking about the incident.

  Heaven d
etected the sincerity in the detective’s tone and felt that the woman actually did understand, to some degree, but still nothing or no one would make Heaven compromise her integrity or principles by involving the authorities in any street affairs of hers, or any affairs, for that matter. So many had fallen weak and sold their souls because they couldn’t handle what comes with the streets and wanted out, or in many cases, couldn’t do the time for the crimes they committed, so they became puppets for the system. Heaven knew that was not her caliber. She was cut from a different cloth, and despite the circumstances, if the situation were changed, she knew that Earth would have handled it the same and exact way.

  “Thank you for your kindness,” Heaven directed to Detective Crawford, “but like I said, I don’t know anything. There is nothing that I can tell you that you don’t already know,” she ended in her most convincing tone, but neither Detective Saleski nor Crawford was convinced.

  “Ms. Jacobs, you honestly don’t have any idea or inclination who would want to do such a thing or why they would do it?” Detective Saleski was the first to say. “I mean, come on, Ms. Jacobs,” he continued, “in your line of work, you don’t have any rivals or people that may feel that you or Ms. Davis posed a threat? Maybe they felt the two of you were in the way or something? Are you, or was Ms. Davis, gang affiliated?” the detective asked in a semi-badgering manner. Detective Crawford felt that her partner was beginning to go a little overboard with his inquiries. Rather than interviewing, it was turning into an interrogation.

  “Ms. Jacobs, you have my partner’s card, and here is mine. If you think of anything that may be pertinent or of some use in our investigation, please don’t hesitate to call us. Sorry to have disturbed you,” Detective Crawford interjected, handing Heaven her business card. “Come on, Charlie,” she added, grabbing her partner by the arm. Detective Saleski stared at Heaven for a moment, then shook his head. Heaven shot him daggers in return. He couldn’t help but admire the tougher-than-nails persona Heaven was displaying, but the poor choice bothered him.