by BlaQue
I could smell a pig a mile away. I knew they were detectives.
“Oh shit, here we go!” I said to Neko.
“Ms. Watkins may we have a word with you for a moment?” the shorter of the two fifty-something-year-old men asked me.
They reminded me of those cops in those old movies. They wore expressions of disinterest on their faces with each word spoken. I secretly wondered if there was a class that taught Feds facial expressions as a form of training. They never smiled. They never seemed to really care for the people they were supposed to be providing a service to. They almost always had a fucked-up disposition and I hated dealing with the police on any level. Instantly I wondered who was going to be the good cop and who the bad cop was.
“Sure, you can have a moment of my time, but can you make it quick. The doctor said that we would be allowed in to see him once he was transported from the recovery room.”
“Ms. Watkins, we will be brief. My name is Detective Ross and this is Detective Miller. I am working Mr. Evan’s case and Detective Miller is working the case that stems from the death of a young woman named Khalia York.”
At the mention of Khalia’s name, Neko’s jaw clenched up and he dropped my hand which he had been holding as we stood in the hospital emergency room.
“I know why you are here.” I said addressing Detective Ross.
“I just don’t know why he’s here! Dread didn’t kill anyone!” I said getting loud and pointing at Detective Miller. “Dread wouldn’t hurt anyone; let alone kill a woman! What would he do some shit like that for? Do you even know who he is? He could have any woman he wanted! Why would he kill one?” I said defending my man.
“Ma’am that is what we are here to find out. Since the 5th District fiasco, I have been assigned to the case. I am here to make sure Mr. Evans doesn’t try to run before he can be questioned,” Detective Miller said.
I laughed at his statement of Dread running. How the hell was he going to run if he wasn’t even conscious? Running could kill him at this point, and surely they knew his condition was bad.
“Excuse me officer, did you say he is a suspect in Khalia York’s murder?” Neko barged in.
“That is Detective, not officer…and yes, he is our number one suspect in her death. We found DNA evidence at the crime scene. Before we could get a positive ID on the suspect, we believe he had the 5th District torched and burned to the ground killing everyone inside to cover his tracks.”
I stood there in disbelief. I knew Dread had nothing to do with the fire at the police station. He was in Georgia at the time that shit happened. There was no way he could have done the shit they were accusing him of! The detectives were staring at Neko now. I didn’t know why at first until I caught him looking at me funny.
“Sir, you seem to know something about Ms. York’s case. Would you like to tell us what you know about it?” Detective Ross spoke up.
“No sir, I ain’t got shit to discuss with you about it. Pinky…I mean, Chyan York is my girlfriend and a close friend of the family. I didn’t know you all had suspected Dread of her sister’s murder. Does she know that you think Dread had something to do with it?” Neko asked.
“Mr. I am sorry I never got your name…” Detective Ross said pulling out a note pad preparing to take notes.
“That’s because I didn’t give it to you and I ain’t gonna’ give it to you.” Neko said smugly.
I stood there trying to process the shit I was hearing. They all had me fucked up and I didn’t know who to trust. Neko was sleeping with Pinky, and she was the motherfucker who had shot Dread. This shit was unbelievable.
“What do you mean Pinky is your girlfriend?” I barked at Neko.
A look of confusion danced in his grey eyes.
“What does that shit matter? Pinky and I reconnected at YaSheema’s funeral. We have been seeing each other ever since,” he said confused as to why I had gotten smart.
I hadn’t gotten the chance to tell him that it was Pinky I had seen driving away when Dread was shot!
“He probably helped set Dread up! You know he didn’t like him anyway! He has been acting funny since we killed that bitch YaYa.” Pajay crept in.
My head was swimming and I couldn’t control Pajay, or anything else happening for that matter. I hadn’t had a pill and I could feel my temperature rising.
“You need to let me deal with all of their sneaky asses. You can’t trust any of these motherfuckers! They rolled up to your house and tried to take out your man. I know you aren’t going to stand by and just let them get away with this shit! If you do, you are more of a fool than I thought you were! Fuck this…let me get um! Your own brother is in cahoots with that bitch and you ain’t said two words about it! I told you to kill his ass when you killed his no good ass mother, sister and your lying ass daddy! You are gonna fuck around and let them take everything from us!” Pajay seethed viciously.
I fought with Pajay for control. She was no easy opponent. My mind was already made up, I was going to let her have her way, but she was gonna have to hold off until there were no witnesses. I was getting sick of the members of this family trying to take everything from me! I thought I had finished off the ones who didn’t want me. I was a fool for thinking Neko would be different from YaYa. He was just like my father! He didn’t care about anything but himself and his dick! He didn’t care whose life he ruined just like Darnell! They were all careless, selfish bastards and they would be dealt with!
Just as I was about to walk away so Pajay wouldn’t do or say anything stupid, that guy from Neko’s shop walked through the doors of the ER .
“Damn man, you left the car in the driveway they are about to write your ass a ticket. The ambulances can’t get through.” His voice trailed off when he saw that we had company.
Shadow’s eyes darted back and forth between me and Neko and he must have sensed something wasn’t quite right.
“Look NiQue, keep me informed about what’s going on. I’m out!” Neko said.
He nodded his head towards Shadow who was more confused than ever.
“Let’s go!” Neko muttered between clenched teethed and walked out the glass sliding doors with Shadow jogging to catch up to him!
I was left all alone with the policemen, and I didn’t have too much more to say to them either. Maybe they felt like it wasn’t the appropriate time to push me further, because they handed me a card and told me to be in touch. I couldn’t have been happier either. I had some shit to handle and I didn’t need them around while I handled it. I scooped up the baby’s carrier and decided it was time for me to leave too! I didn’t want to be questioned and they damn sure weren’t going to make me answer them. I wasn’t going to wait for Dread to come out of recovery. I was going to finish this shit with my family and kill anyone who had anything to do with them.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Raw Image Band
“Tight’n Up”
Detective Gatsby
This shit was working out better than I thought. After my meeting with Head, I decided to pay my friend Dread a visit in the hospital. It was time to finish that shit once and for all. I got to Laurel Hospital and was pleasantly surprised to see Neko Reynolds walking out of the hospital. I was hoping he had stuck a knife in my headache’s throat so I wouldn’t have to worry about Dread anymore. I was getting mighty tired of that man slipping through my fingers. No one should have the type of luck he had. It was like he had nine lives or some shit like that. He had to have used them all by now. There was no way he could make it out of this hospital alive. I was going to be sure of it this time. I wasn’t about to leave shit else to chance. I was done with trusting that someone else was going to get this shit done. Although it would have been nice for someone else to kill that bastard so I didn’t have to, the chances of that happening were slim to none, so I was going to have to eliminate him myself.
I got out of the car and immediately noticed I was walking into the hospital with no gun and no badge.
&nbs
p; “Fuck!” I said as I turned around and headed back to my messy car to get what I needed to gain entrance to Dread’s room. I knew he was going to be under heavy guard. Not just for the shit he was being accused of, but because an attempt had been made on his life. I couldn’t just mosey in there and think that whoever was guarding him was going to let me waltz in there with no credentials.
I was fumbling around in my car, looking for my badge under the junk, when I felt a sharp pain in the back of my neck. At first I thought I had been stung by a bee. I swatted at the area so whatever it was would go away. Then I felt it again. Unless I was being attacked by bees, the chance of being stung again wasn’t happening. I turned around and there she was. NiQue Watkins was standing there with a knife in one hand and a baby carrier with a sleeping child in it at her feet.
Something about the wild look in her eyes told me she wasn’t here to be social. The knife she held loosely between her fingers had blood on the very tip of it. Quickly I realized that her knife was what I had felt penetrating my neck. I moved my hand to the spot where she had poked me. When I brought my hand in front of my face to survey what she had done, my hand had blood on it! This bitch really is crazy!
I looked up at her from where I was positioned in the car. She wore a bazaar smile on her face and panic started to take over me. I wanted to scream for help. She was not going to let me walk away from this. I could read it in her eyes. Something about her was different and it scared me.
She had already threatened to do me harm if she thought I was trying to ruin her life. This situation was proving that she only made promises in which she intended to keep. There was something dark and sinister about her. All of a sudden I was sorry. I was sorry for all of the pain I had caused her and her family.
“Detective Gatsby, funny seeing you here. I was just on my way to see you as a matter of fact. I think there are some things we need to discuss.” she said in a hushed tone.
“What do we need to discuss Ms. Watkins?” I asked her, never taking my eyes off of the knife.
To say I was afraid would be an understatement.
“First let me reintroduce myself. My name isn’t Ms. Watkins. My name is Pajay Reynolds.”
My eyes got wide. I knew that name. I couldn’t place where I knew the name from, but it was significant from somewhere in my very recent past.
“Next Detective, I wanted to tell you a little secret.”
She leaned close to me until her full lips pressed against my ear. I was petrified. No one had ever had me afraid like this before.
“What secret?” I stuttered.
“I’m going to kill you, but I wanted to let you know you have been chasing the wrong person all this time! You thought Dread was the one who took out my family? Well guess what Detective? It wasn’t Dread at all. He wouldn’t harm a soul. It was me! I killed them one by one and you should have left us alone! You should have minded your own fucking business and this wouldn’t be happening to you right now. You were so fucking determined to be the hunter. Now you are the hunted and you are my prey!”
I tried to shield my face, but it was too late. She sent the blade straight through my hand and into my left eye, pinning my hand in place. I screamed out in pain but with all of the sirens from the ambulances pulling into the ER entrance I am sure no one heard me.
When she pulled the knife out she also pulled my eye out right along with it. I screamed again as I watched her pluck my eye from the tip of the blade and I watched in horror with my good eye as the other one rolled under the car beside us. The wailing from the coming and going of the rescue vehicles drowned out my grunting and moaning. I had never felt anything like this pain.
“Please Ms. Watkins, I’m sorry. Please don’t do this! I can make this right! I can get him off! I swear I can make it all go away! Do you want to be known as a cop killer Ms. Watkins? What will happen to your daughter if you get caught. If you do this she will have no mother and possibly no father.” I moaned loudly. The pain from the wound was damn near unbearable. It hurt so much I was woozy.
“Fuck that baby and fuck you too! I told you my name is Pajay. Ms. Watkins doesn’t live here anymore. She checked out and I checked in!” she laughed as she drove the knife into my ear.
I slumped over and prayed. I knew my prayers weren’t being heard by anyone but the devil. I had done so much shit that even God wouldn’t listen anymore. I was going to die right in the front seat of my car. Right where this bullshit with this crazy ass family began. My heart beat at a rapid pace and before I passed out from the loss of blood, I saw Ms. Watkins walk away, leaving the baby and the carrier right there next to me as my soul departed this world bound for hell no doubt. I had sold my soul long ago and now it was time to pay up! Lucifer welcomed me to hell with open arms.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Rare Essence (R.E.)
“What Would You Do”
Pinky
Today was the day. I was headed to the abortion clinic. I tried to figure out how I could go about getting out of doing this and after coming up with no answers, I decided that it had to be done and I would start anew. I would go to the clinic and handle this shit and then try to move on. With whom, in particular…well, I hadn’t decided that yet. Neko, Dread and Head all could have been the one that planted the seed within me. But I knew that once I uprooted that seed out of me, I would be left to choose between two out of three since I had tried to kill one of them. Actions like attempted murder kind of throw a monkey wrench in plans for a future with the one that was the object of the crime. So Dread was out of the picture. That left Head and Neko.
I loved Neko with everything I had; but he was acting strange. He was not returning my calls and in doing so, was fucking with my head. I would call him and he would send me to voicemail. It was frustrating. I loved him and I could feel that I was losing him. I had never felt like this for anyone before and it was maddening. I know he and I started out as fuck buddies, but I thought we had grown past that. We had become closer after the loss of my sister than I thought we ever would. We had built a strong bond, then one day something happened. I don’t know what…but it did, and he has been avoiding me ever since.
I hate that I got my emotions all twisted up in him. That mentality was unlike me. It was fucking with my judgment. I wished like hell that I knew the baby was Neko’s, then I could tell him and maybe he would stop avoiding me. Neko was the settle down and marry type. There are some men that you just fuck and some that you marry. Neko was in the latter category and I could see myself growing old with him and having a family.
Head, on the other hand, was young and wild. He excited me in ways that no man had ever done before. He lived life on the edge and our sex life was off the chain. He was the kind of man you fucked and just recognized the relationship for what it was. He would have most likely turned his back on me if he found out I was pregnant and a real bitch knew that from the start. I was a real bitch.
Head was attracted to the side of me that reminded him of himself. A child would slow down his bigger-than-life lifestyle. He would have most likely carted me off to the clinic himself if he found out his seed had taken root.
I wanted to kick myself for the shit I had done. I wanted both men in my life for different reasons, but I knew that would never happen. In my perfect world I would have had both of them.
I pulled into the Planned Parenthood parking lot and fought back the tears that were forming. I could take a life for the right amount of money. I could shake my ass if the price was right. But I couldn’t control my emotions about what I had to do for anything in the world and it was beyond pathetic. That alone forced me to do what I knew I had to do! How was I going to take care of a child and make decisions about a life when I couldn’t make a decision about my own?
“I will never get myself into anything like this ever again!” I said aloud.
I got out of my car and my feet felt like lead as I slowly walked up to the doors of the clinic. I wanted to turn aroun
d and get back inside my car and drive off and face the consequences of not knowing whose child it was. It wasn’t like I didn’t have the money to raise the child on my own. I was more than capable of doing it by myself. Besides, women raised babies everyday on their own, it’s nothing new; but me doing it was something different
Then the thoughts of my own father not being there for me and Khalia crept their way to the corners of my mind. He was never there, and he didn’t want anything to do with us. I definitely didn’t want the same life for my child.
I don’t know how I pushed myself into the clinic and to the front desk; but I did. They had me fill out forms and take a seat. The room was packed. There were women of all ages in the waiting room. I felt bad for all of us; but for different reasons. Some I could tell were regretting the decision that had brought them here. Some were accompanied by their husbands and boyfriends, and some looked like this wasn’t their first time visiting a place like this. All of us looked sad and confused at having to be waiting to do what we were here to do.
I wound up sitting next to a bitch who had been there more times than not. She kept looking at me like she wanted to talk and I buried my face in a Parent’s magazine that did more damage than good. Seeing the pictures of all of the babies made me want to get the fuck out of there; and not now, but I wanted to get out of there right now! The tears welled up and poured from my eyes without further notice or explanation. I couldn’t control them.
“Is this your first time?” the woman asked me.
I wiped my tears and nodded my head, ‘yes.’ I was too emotional to speak.
“It ain’t that bad. It’s over real quick and you will be back to your old self in no time.” she said snapping her fingers in the air for emphasis. Her words nor her actions made me feel better.
“This is my fourth time having one done. They are probably sick of seeing my face in here! I might be a card carrying Planned Parenthood member.” She continued with no remorse; almost boastful of her history.