He scrutinized my face real intensely for a few seconds until recognition began to mix with his painful look. Just as a he began to have a seizure, he reached out for my hand and sat up. I didn’t grab his hand.
“Man, I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I understand your anger.”
I looked at him and spit in his face.
“Fuck your apology.”
He shook his head as tears began to run down his face. Then his seizure took control over him, and he stopped breathing after a few minutes of violent shaking. I never took my eyes off of him until he was dead. We pulled into an alley, I washed my spit off of his face and I rolled him out of the car, poured gas onto him, set him on fire, and watched him burn for a few seconds before we left.
Chapter 17
I answered the door with no shirt on and in boxer briefs because, a minute previously, I had been in a 69 loving life before the door interrupted me. As soon as I opened the door, I knew that I should have looked out the peep hole, because I damn sure wouldn’t have been standing in front of two cats that I had never seen in my life, without any type of weapon. The first dude I sized up was doing his best Carlton impression, so I paid him little attention. I then sized up the other one, who was laced in a 8732 outfit with some retro Jordan’s and an all-black Atlanta fitted hat that was pulled down so low that I couldn’t see his eyes. I looked where I knew they were, and stepped toward him.
“Who are you looking for?”
He stepped toward me while he pulled off his hat. We locked eyes.
“We looking for Samantha. Where the girl at?”
“Is it drama, ‘cause, if it is, what up?”
He smiled and then stepped back quickly as his hand disappeared into his jeans. As soon as he stepped back, I rushed toward him and rocked his chin with a sharp right hook that caused him to stagger back. His gun dropped down his leg – still inside his jeans. He instantly charged back at me, and caught me in my mouth with a hard over right. I slammed him into the wall, and we both began to hit each other with hard uppercuts. Then, the preppy dressed cat appeared, out of nowhere, between us pointing glock .40’s in both of our faces. I was shocked and mad that I had allowed his appearance to rock me to sleep. We both stood still, looking at the gun in our face.
“Snowman, while you with me, I run things. Step back and get yourself together. You, go get Samantha before we walk over you and go get her ourselves.”
Before I could respond, my chrome .357 surprised me by sliding over my shoulder, and the hammer clicked. I smiled as I saw fear override the cockiness that had just been on his face. She placed the barrel on his forehead as she kissed my shoulder.
“Here I am. What up? And before you answer that question, get that gun out of my man’s face, NOW!!!”
He quickly began to lower his gun. I snatched it out of his hands and before he knew what was going on, I smacked him with the butt of it square in his mouth. He fell toward Snowman, who snatched the other gun and smacked him on his temple. We both stood over top of the cat who had just been in power, and laughed.
“Look at your tough ass now!”
I pointed my gun at his face, tightened my grip on the gun and… Samantha put her finger inside of my gun’s barrel. I looked at her with murder in my eyes. She smiled.
“For one, gangster, why would you commit murder in your apartment building? Two, these cats are from Atlanta, under Messiah. Let’s hear what they are talking about. Let’s take this drama inside. You with that boo?”
“Hell no! Once he pointed a gun in my face, all that southern hospitality flew out the window.”
I stopped pointing the gun in his face and let it hang in my hand on the side of my leg. I looked him straight in his eyes. He began to sit up, and I was surprised when Snowman pushed him back down by putting his foot on his forehead.
“From where you lay, tell us what y’all want with my wife.”
Dick looked up at me with a murderous, yet fearful, look in his eyes.
“Plain and simple, Sajuan was in debt when he died. And because of whatever happened to him, we never collected our money. This means, since you now have his dough, you owe Messiah a million dollars. Because of how y’all are treating me, I’m also owed a million, or it’s best if you kill me.”
Samantha smiled as she quickly pulled out a .380 with a silencer. She walked up to Dick’s head, pointed the gun at his face and pulled the trigger four times. She then pointed the gun at Snowman. She looked at me and I smirked. I swore she just told me not to do the same thing she just did.
“Grab your boy and get the fuck out. Tell Messiah that if he would have come at me correctly, I would have paid him his money. Since he came sideways, tell him to go suck a dick.”
We watched him struggle to get the body in his trunk for close to twenty minutes. After he left, we went inside. As soon as we hit the living room, Samantha fell to her knees and began to cry uncontrollably. I knelt down next to her and forced her to look at me.
“Chris, Messiah is going to kill us. He’s nothing to fuck with. He…”
“Bleeds! You must have never listened to Life After Death. My money is now up so anybody can get it. Since we already started the beef it’s time for the A to get a taste of how Maryland plays the game.
Chapter 18
Detective Raymond, Detective J.R., and Detective Imam sat excitedly, crunched together in front of Captain Reid’s desk as he read the file that they had assembled. All four of them had gone to Morehouse on scholarships paid by Camille and Bill Cosby. When they all graduated and returned to their hometown, their love for Baltimore made them all join the Baltimore Police Department, with a genuine vow to make the streets as safe as possible.
The file they had been compiling for the past two months alleged that Christopher Combs, after being released from death row a little over three months ago, was a serial killer that had murdered his prosecutor, two members of his jury, and a witness who had testified at his trial. The file was based on assumptions and possible motives – without one piece of physical evidence. The file explained how the initial attention began to be placed on him.
During the course of his investigation, Detective Imam had looked over Elizabeth Abram’s apartment on the night her corpse was found, and had discovered, in her bedroom, many articles that concerned Chris taped on her mirror. One of the articles was about Chris’s conviction being dismissed because of DNA. Another article was about how the victim had refused to apologize for her misidentifying him. Two other articles were about Samuel Boswell’s and John Patterson’s murders. On top of John Patterson’s article was a hand written note of Elizabeth; it said “Boswell died the same day he was released. Is that a coincidence? Is John Patterson’s murder also a coincidence? Is it these percs or Mollys or this purple haze that have made me so paranoid? I know one thing, one more murder of anybody that was on the jury or a witness in the case, and I’m going to the police.”
Too bad she got murdered before she had the opportunity to alert the authorities. Detective Imam got with his buddies and they put together a file that they labeled “The Lizzy Murders Over Two Months.” It took about twenty five minutes for Captain Coughlin to read the entire file. When he finished, he calmly took his glasses off, pinched the bridge of his nose, and shook his head. When he looked up and sequentially glanced in the eyes of each of the brightest and sharpest detectives he had in his precinct, as well as his best friends, a sly smirk slowly manifested on his face.
“Take your time on this one. Keep this confidential for the time being until we possess more evidence on this serial killer. We are either going to catch him or kill him. Either option will make Baltimore safer.”
Chapter 19
Captain Coughlin re-opened the file after the detectives had left the room and shook his head as he closed his eyes and bowed his head as he began to pray.
“God, I’m so sorry that I helped put an innocent man in prison. I feel I should help him now, but . . . he’s now a killer and really deserves t
o be placed on death row. Please guide me so I will not make the wrong decision.”
He pulled out his thermal mug that was filled with Amsterdam from underneath his desk, and took a long swig from it. He then stared at Chris’s picture for a few minutes before taking another long swig. He turned to the last page of the file that had Reggie “Redman” Smith listed as the only known living kin to Chris, who is also under investigation for being a drug dealer. He fished out his cell phone, blocked his number out, and dialed Redman’s number. It rang three times before it was answered.
“ who is this calling me from a blocked phone number?”
“My number is none of your business. What is my business is that I know that your brother is a serial killer and, the odds are nine out of ten that you are involved somehow. A formal investigation has been launched against him in connection with three murders, and one other murder is a strong possibility. He’s being labeled a serial killer, Reggie. In no time at all, he’ll have the entire force on his heels. Better tell him to quit while he is ahead. Also, tell him if he has me on his list, it’s in his best interest to take me the fuck off of it.”
Redman was driving but immediately pulled over as his weed high disappeared. He took a couple of deep breaths and regained his calm composure.
“For one, I don’t know what the fuck you talking about. My brother hasn’t killed anyone, so y’all are wasting the tax payers money. Two, why not call him? Three, if you really a pig like you acting like you are, why are you giving a suspected serial killer a heads up? And four, if there was a list, why would you be on it?”
Captain Coughlin took another long swig from his thermal.
“I played a huge part with getting your brother the death penalty. I was the lead detective in that case, and his pleas of innocence fell on my deaf ears. While his anger is understandable, cold blooded murder is not. So, as of right now, we have no physical evidence against him or you, for that matter. But, we didn’t have any physical evidence against him back then, and we know how that turned out. If he stops right now, he can’t be arrested. He’s going to be harassed, but not arrested in less than 30 days if he doesn’t stop. If he continues, we will arrest him and be justified in sending him back on death row. Or, I will personally kill the monster that I helped create. It’s his choice and yours. And for you, Mr. Drug Dealer, you are only a few months from being indicted yourself. You change your drug strips but not the distinctive red baggies you place your drugs in. Real smart.
Captain Coughlin hung up and laughed until tears were streaming down his face. Meanwhile, Redman was staring at his phone for ten straight minutes before he called Chris who answered on the second ring.
“What’s up ‘Lil Bro?”
Redman was in panic mode, and it showed with every word that he spoke.
“Chris meet me at the spot on Monroe right now!”
Chapter 20
I hopped off and out of Samantha with the quickest, and started to get dressed as quickly as possible. When I looked up, I saw her getting dressed as fast as I was. I froze and we locked eyes.
“Where in the hell do you think you are going?”
She looked at me like I was slow.
“What you think, boy? Get it through your thick ass skull that you are no longer in your single cell. I got your back whenever, wherever, against whomever. I can tell it’s some drama, so stop trying to block me out?”
I smiled as I got her gun from underneath the pillow and tossed it at her. It bounced on the bed only once before she snatched it and put it in her dip – all in one motion. I went under the bed and grabbed my duffel bag where an old AK-47 and a brand new, still-in-the-box M-16 was waiting for me. I snatched out the clip, saw that Redman had already loaded it, slammed it back in, and smiled.
“Let’s go.”
She grabbed her huge ass Coach purse, ran into her closet, and came out in less than a minute stuffing cash into the purse.
“Yeah, negro, two hundred and fifty thou fits up in this big ass purse that you love to hate. Just in case we got to bounce right away, we good. Let’s roll!”
That’s why I fell in love with her! I ran to the car with my gun in plain sight – not caring about anything but my brother’s safety. I hopped in the passenger seat, clicked the gun off safety, and chambered a bullet. I was ready for war. Samantha hopped in, started the car, and then looked at me in my eyes.
“For one, Chris, you never told me where we going. Two, I’m a roll regardless, so why I can’t know what’s going on?”
I smiled as I leaned over, and we kissed passionately for close to thirty seconds. I then leaned back over as our eyes still remained locked on one another.
“We are going to the spot on Monroe. Get there fast, and I’ll tell you why as we are going.”
I laughed at how she took off like a bat out of hell.
“I don’t know what’s going on. All I know is that my brother called me with genuine fear in his voice. I haven’t heard him sound so shook since the first time after I talked to him after I was sentenced to death.”
We were quiet for the rest of the ride. As soon as we pulled up, Redman came out the house holding a bulging Foot Locker shopping bag, looked all around him, and then sprinted to our car. He went to get into the passenger seat, and when he saw me, I could see anger flashing in his eyes. He then got into the back seat, and slammed the hell out of the door. I turned around and we locked eyes.
“What you bring her here for?”
“What, you think she don’t know what the fuck we do? Nigga, you acting like Samantha don’t know what we do.”
Redman smacked his hand on the back seat.
“She doesn’t. Some things are best left unsaid. I see your pussy whipped ass don’t operate like that. You can tell her all of your biz; but keep me out of your conversations though.”
Samantha twisted in her seat with the speed only a mad black women can possess!
“Little boy I know you done lost your ever loving . . .”
I held up my hand and she shut up by biting her lip. I gestured for her to turn back around in her seat, which she did.
“You forced me to bring you, so kill that noise. I knew he would get mad, but I brought you anyway. So, just chill out for a few seconds."
I then locked my eyes back on his.
“Who or what has you so damn shook?”
“Some cop just called my phone and said he knows you been killing the people associated with your case, and that . . .”
I yelled at him!
“Shut the hell up, boy! What you doing?”
I looked at Samantha, who had a shocked look on her face. Redman looked at the both of us and laughed.
“Damn big bro, you thought I was talking about some drug stuff? Hell nah, As long as I pay people to run my strip, I don’t have to worry about nothing associated with that. Anyway, that’s on you. You bought her with you.”
Samantha leaned close to me, nose to nose, never taking her eyes from mine.
“What the fuck is he talking about, Christopher Combs?”
I looked deep into her eyes and I saw anger, concern, love, and understanding. I took a deep breath and softened my look toward her.
“I’ve been killing people that had anything to do with me being sentenced to death. Accept it, or walk away. Save the lecture for our unborn child. If you not saying you accepting it then I’m done hearing your voice until my child is born.”
She moved even closer, pushing our noses together.
“Don’t act like it’ll be that easy for you to let me go, bitch. Depending on how long you choose to do this depends on how long we will be in your life. And, if you stop hearing my voice now, you’ll never hear it again.”
I smiled.
“You right about that. You’ll die if you try to take my kid from me.”
She smiled.
“And you’ll die if I even think you are planning to kill me. Alright, you a murderer, and . . .? I’m not impressed because I�
��ve killed before, too. In fact, you seen my work. What I am is a loyal chick. And if I’m going to be in your life as your wifey, we have to be on the same page. Understand?”
With my eyes still locked on hers, I asked Redman the question that was killing me.
“How are they on me?”
Redman laughed.
“I don’t know, man. Somebody put something together, and got you under investigation because – if they had anything solid against you, there would have been no warning phone call. All I know is that he said that I’m on my way to prison, so I’m ready to bounce. What you going to do?”
Her stare probed deeper into me more than any other stare ever had.
“Yeah, killer, tell me and your little brother what you about to do. We need to know.”
She rubbed on her stomach as she said the last part. Redman’s phone then rang a couple of seconds later. After he answered it, he began to yell.
“What the fuck? Fatima, Fatima!”
I hopped into the backseat and stared at his phone. My mouth dropped open as I watched helplessly as Snowman stood over Fatima with his bandaged stomach, and kicked her savagely in her head and body. After a few seconds of stomping her, he stopped and looked into the camera.
“ We done snatched six hundred thousand out of this stash. Where the fuck is the rest of our money? When you get it, bring it to the A, , if you want your friend back.”
“Redman smiled sinisterly as he locked eyes with Snowman.”
“Man, you have no idea who you are now beefing with. Let me tell you what’s going to happen. I’m going to get a list of all of your family members, and I’m going to kill all of them until I get to you. Then I’m going to kill you, too. I don’t know if you going to kill my girl or not, and I hope you don’t. But you are not holding me hostage on some hope. I’m going to murder you and whoever with you and anybody that even likes you. You want us in the A? Here we come.”
He hung up and immediately dialed another number.
“Crunchy, dead the shop and get your team together. We have to go introduce the A to how we put the murder game down."
Life After Death Page 5