Hustle & Heartache

by D. Gamblez

  Audi...

  As I went to answer the call, my battery died.

  Really need to keep this damn thing charged.

  “Hey...” I said to the young man behind the counter. “Mind if I use that phone, my guy? It’ll be quick, I promise.”

  “Hell, why not,” he sighed. “But make it quick, all right? Not supposed to be letting anyone use the phone unless you’re an employee here. And even then it has to be an emergency.”

  “Don’t worry, my mans, I got you.” I grabbed the phone and quickly dialed the familiar number.

  She answered on the first ring. “Hello...”she said in a low voice. I could tell she had been crying because I could hear her sniffling.

  “Yeah, this Dre. Um, what’s up, Audi?” I said slowly. After not hearing her voice for a couple of days, I was a little anxious.

  “Dre...we need to talk.”

  “I’m sorry, baby,” I said sincerely, turning my back to the chubby woman with the box full of cats. “I promise I’ll never cheat on y”—”

  “I’m pregnant,” Audi blurted out over the line.

  Every sound and everything around me seemed to vanish as I focused all my attention on what my ex-girlfriend had just said to me.

  “I’m sorry, Audi. Um...what did you just say?” I asked, not sure if I’d heard her right. “Did you just say you’re pregnant?”

  “I’m pregnant,” she repeated, but much clearer this time. She expelled so much breath with the words that I could tell that she’d been holding it in for some time now. And the fact that she struggled with the words let me know that the pregnancy wasn’t news to her. She’d known already. Probably for awhile now. “That’s what I was coming to tell you at...when I found you and Jinx... Dre, I don’t know what to do. I love you so much, but you hurt me so bad. You hurt me so bad, Dre. How could you do that to me, Dre? You were supposed to be my man. My man, Dre. And you were cheating on me the whole time. And I never even looked at another guy in that way since the day you and I got together, since our relationship started. You said we were ride-or-die, and I was that for you and more, but you were just playing me the whole time. You were lying to me the entire time. Dre, how could you do that to a person? How could you do that to me?”

  I wanted to address the hurt that I had caused her, but I was more focused on the idea of being responsible for a life other than my own. “Are you sure? About the pregnancy, I mean.”

  “Yes,” she said after a slight hesitation. “Yes, I’m pregnant with your baby...with our baby. I don’t know what to do, Dre.”

  She’s pregnant? What the fuck? She’s been going through this by herself this whole time, and all I’ve been doing is fucking up her life. How the hell am I gonna raise a kid if I’m treating his or her mother like shit? I gotta step up this time.

  “Marry me, Audi,” I said without really knowing why, just that I knew it was what I wanted more than anything in the world. “You hear me, Audi? Marry me, baby.”

  “What?”she paused. “What are you talking about?”

  “Marry me,” I said again, this time more sure. “I mean it, baby. I wanna be in yo’ life forever. You have no idea how bad I feel for hurting you like that. I’m drowning without you, baby. I swear I’ll never cheat on you again. We can get married and live together for the rest of our lives. I promise.”

  The other end of the line was silent for so long that I thought the line had been disconnected. “Audi? You still there?”

  “What about the baby?” she sniffled. I could tell that our relationship hinged on whether or not I wanted to have a kid with her.

  “They baby is our family. And we take care of our family, right? Besides, I’ve always wanted a lil’ Dre running around the house.”

  “What if it’s a girl?”I could tell she was still hesitant about trusting me again.

  “Then I guess we’ll have a lil’ Audi to keep the boys away from,” I said, trying to make her laugh. It didn’t work.

  “I’m serious, Dre. This isn’t a joke or some videogame that you can restart if you get it wrong the first time. This is a life. A fragile, human life that needs love and attention and nourishment and a good father and mother. Are you ready for that, Dre? Are you ready to be a responsible husband and father to me and your child? Tell me the truth. Because if you can’t, then I’ll just get an abortion right now.”

  I spoke very clearly so that she understood every word I had to say. “Audi. I love you. And I want to marry you. I want to be in your life for however long God intends me to be. I want to have a baby with you. I want to be there with you to help raise our child so that he or she can have the best life possible. You hear me, Audriana Escobar? I love you and I love our child and I want to marry you so that I can be in the both of your lives forever and ever. But if our baby comes out with four arms ‘cause you’re stressing so much, I’ma kick yo’ ass.”

  “Audi!” I heard Cherish shout from somewhere in the background. “Open the door for Makita and Coco. I’m in the shower.”

  “That’s not funny, Dre,” Audi chuckled, ignoring Cherish.

  “Baby, I love you,” I said, pressing the phone hard against my ear to make sure she heard every word. “I’m sorry for everything, okay? I just want you in my life forever. We can move into a bigger house, we can get married, and we can have the baby. I promise, Audi. I love you more than”—”

  “Audi!” I heard Cherish shout again as the sound of the doorbell rang in the background. “Let Makita and Coco in! What the hell are you doing down there?”

  “Hold on, Dre. Just let me... Just hold on a sec, “Audi said. I could hear her unlocking the door. Then my heart stopped when I heard the sound of a female’s voice come over the line.

  “You thought you was just gonna get away with that shit, bitch?” I heard the soft voice whispered angrily.

  “Wait, please. Please don’t, I’m preg”—” The sound of Audi’s voice was replaced with the sound of a gunshot.

  “Fuck you and your life, ugly-ass bitch,” I heard the female voice say faintly.

  “Audi!” I screamed into the phone. “Audi? Audi...?!”

  “Oh, my God!” I heard Cherish shouting a moment later. “Oh, God, no! Audi! No no no, God! Not Audi! Please, God! What the fuck happened, Audi? Audi!”

  Then, just like Sergeant Mills did a few minutes ago, I ran out the door like a bat out of hell. I was vaguely aware of the chubby woman shouting behind me, something about the black, brown, and white kitten that I had forgotten I was still holding.

  Naomi

  I pulled up to Vida’s house out in Glen Park and hopped out with my gun at the ready. But I realized that it was not necessary when Vida exited the house with tears running down her face.

  “Naomi... Boss, it’s bad,” she cried as she approached me slowly with tears running down her face. Without another word said, she grabbed me by the hand and led me inside the white, red-trimmed two-story home.

  Ascending the stairs two steps at a time, as soon as we got to the second floor, I snatched my hand free from Vida, because the smell of blood was evident in the hall. “Vida, what the hell is−”

  “Sarge! You in here, Sarge?” I heard Miracle’s voice calling out to me from somewhere downstairs.

  “Sarge? Vida?” JJ’s voice called next.

  “Up here,” I managed to say. I was not surprised they were there because after the frantic phone call from Vida, I had called the rest of my team.

  “Fucking stinks in here,” Oliver stated as only three of the other five members of my team approached the staircase.

  “Where’s Royce and Shonda?” I asked.

  “Chasing down a lead on that Death Dealers thing,” Oliver answered as he glanced about the house.

  “Sarge, why’d you call us here?” Miracle asked, getting back to why we were here in the first place.

  “That’s what I was about to find out. Vida, what was so urgent that you couldn’t say it over the phone?”

  “Up he
re,” was all she said in way of an answer as she led us up the stairs and in to her bedroom.

  As soon as we stepped into the room, that chilling feeling of death crept up my spine. It was pure carnage. Blood was everywhere. On the bed...the pillows... the sheets...the headboard...the wall...the ceiling...

  “What the fuck...?” Oliver managed to say as we all stared down at the body of a woman we had known for the past year or so.

  Maxine Brett, the skinny, long-haired blond secretary from my office who had been missing for over a month, was lying on Vida’s twin-sized bed, dressed in nothing but her black bra and panties, and a huge hole in the top of her head. The dead-stare in her eyes caused my heart to quicken.

  They say the sight of murder scenes in horror movies can make you cringe; they truly have no idea what it is really like.

  “What the hell happened here, Vida?” I was barely able to ask.

  “She shot herself. Right in front of me, Sarge,” Vida cried.

  “What?” I said, still not able to believe what I was seeing. “Maxine’s dead? How? I mean, why did she shoot herself?”

  Vida put her face in her hands and shook her head, as if she was trying to dislodge the gruesome image from her mind. I had never seen her like that before. She never showed that kind of emotion, even when her father had passed away last year.

  Were they involved with each other? And if so, was Vida helping Maxine by letting her use her place to lay low? Please, Vida, don’t let it be so. Internal Affairs would have a field day with this.

  “She called me last night, said she was wanting to hang out with me, like we used to before,” Vida explained, confirming my suspicions that the two of them were at least somewhat involved with each other prior to this.

  “And instead of bringing her in or calling me, you decide to put your heart before your badge?” I asked.

  “No, Sarge, it wasn’t even... I was trying to help her. I mean, of course I was gonna bring her in; I just wanted to do it in the best way.”

  “Okay, okay. We get that. So then what happened?” JJ asked.

  “Well, when she got over here, I asked her about her sudden leave of absence. You know, why she hadn’t been to work and whatnot?”

  “And what’d she say?” Miracle asked.

  “She told me that someone was trying to kill her,” she revealed.

  I was shocked by the answer she gave as that was the last thing I expected to hear.

  “What? Why?” Miracle asked.

  “Said she was the one who stole the tape and the people she stole it for was trying to tie up loose ends.”

  I knew it! Hensley had her steal the tape out of my office, and then he tried to kill her. Got you now, you smug sonofabitch!

  “Did she say who it was?” Oliver asked, taking the very next words out of my mouth.

  “No, she didn’t. She said she never saw their faces. Said they wore ski masks. But she did say she knew one of ‘em was white. Said she saw his neck and wrist when he hopped back on his motorcycle.

  Hensley’s definitely not white. Still...could be somebody from his crew. Not gonna rule him out just yet.

  “I asked her why she’d steal the tape in the first place, and she told me that two guys in ski masks broke into her house in the middle of the night while she was sleeping and woke her. Said they put a gun to her head and threatened to kill her if she refused to do what they asked. So after she agreed to steal the tape from your office for them, they forced her out of bed and made her drive them to the station in her car. Well, one of them was in the car with her, and the other one followed on a motorcycle. Then they waited out by the car until she returned. After getting the tape, they told her that if she went to the police about it, they’d come back and make her regret it. Then she said they both hopped on the motorcycle and rode off, leaving her there in the parking lot.

  I told her that she should’ve come to me about it straight after, straight to my house, but she said she was terrified that they’d come back and make true on their promise of killing her.”

  “So she went into hiding instead,” Miracle asked.

  “She went into hiding,” Vida said, confirming what we already knew.

  “Okay. Okay, I can see how this whole thing played out the way it did,” I said. “I can see why she felt she had no choice but to comply with these guys. I can see why she went into hiding instead of coming to us about it. I can understand all of that. There’s just one problem I’m having with this whole thing: Maxine’s not a cop. And I’m certain whoever forced her to steal that tape was very much aware of that fact. I mean, think about it. You force someone to commit a crime and, knowing that this person is the only one who knows what truly went down, and you decide to leave that person breathing? So they can spill their guts to the cops the next day? No fucking way! They would’ve blown her brains out as soon as the task was done. Whoever did this shit, whoever she stole that tape for, she knew them. Or they knew her. Knew her well enough to not want to put a bullet through her skull.”

  “I agree with you, Sarge,” Oliver said. “My question is how did we get here? I mean this is...this is a little bit more than just a stolen tape.”

  Vida met Oliver’s gaze and realized that he was referring to her and the current predicament she was in. Then she glanced around the room and realized that we were all eyeing her suspiciously. “Wait... What, you guys think I something to do with her stealing that tape?”

  I saw the incredulous expression on Vida’s face, and even though I knew he felt guilty about it, the question Oliver posed had to be asked. Internal Affairs was definitely going to question her regarding the supposed suicide without compassion, so it was best that we knew the real story in its entirety in case we needed to come up with a cover story for Vida.

  “How can you ask me that, Oliver? Sarge, are we really doing this right now? Are we, you guys?”

  “Vida...why would Maxine want to kill herself?” Oliver asked the question that I am sure we were all thinking but didn’t have the balls to pose it to Vida.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, she’s been hiding from everyone, from the police and whoever forced her to do this, and then all of a sudden she just decides to contact you? Just so she can come here in kill herself? Who does that?

  “What exactly are you trying to say by saying that?”

  “I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say this shit, this whole situation...it looks pretty damn bad, Vida,” I said.

  “No shit, it looks pretty damn bad!” she shouted. “My friend’s brains are all over my goddamn ceiling, and all you care about is whether or not I had something to do with stealing a fucking tape. And for what reason would it have been for? Huh? I mean, it’s not like I’m on the fucking tape or anything.”

  “Calm down, Vida,” Miracle said. “We’re on your side.”

  “Oh, really? ‘Cause it really don’t fucking feel like it right now. Seems like you guys are accusing me of having something to do with this missing tape bullshit. Hell, ya’ll probably think I murdered her too, huh?”

  “What?” JJ asked in a tight voice, obliviously offended. “What the hell made you say that?”

  “Yeah, nobody said shit about you having anything to do with how that tape came to be missing,” Miracle added.

  “Vida, calm down,” I said lowly.

  “And what about Maxine?” she continued as if we had not spoken. “Blew her fucking brains out to cover my tracks, right? That what you all think? That I blew her fucking brains to−”

  “Shut the fuck up, Vida!” I barked. I don’t know how I got across the room so fast, but in the next instant, I had Vida up against the wall with my hand on her throat. “This shit is fucked all to hell, Vida, and you know it! You having this chick over here, her stealing tapes and going into hiding instead of coming to us, you calling me here at this time of night, saying to me how she shot herself and shit. This whole fucking thing stinks to high heaven, no matter how you slice i
t. Now we’re not saying you had anything to do with any of this shit, but from IAB’s point of view, it’s gonna damn sure look like you did. The second Maxine was confirmed missing, you should’ve came to me and told me about the affair. You fucked up! You did. So don’t come down on us for doing our fucking jobs. Got it?”

  “Come on, Sarge. Come on,” Miracle said, pulling me off Vida in fear that I may hurt her. At least that’s what I assumed her reason to be for doing it. I mean, I was not going to hurt Vida, would never, but in the heat of the moment, I would say I was definitely mad enough to.

  “Got it?” I asked again.

  “She got it, Sarge. She got it,” Miracle said.

  “You need to tell us what this is,” Oliver said calmly. “And you need to tell us fast. I’m pretty sure those sirens are because someone called the cops.”

  “Vida...” JJ said, walking over to Vida and placing a gentle hand on her arm. “Tell us. We just wanna know what’s up so we can get in front of it and not get jammed up when somebody comes sniffing around. You know we got your back, right?”

  “Before I asked her about the tape, before any of that came up, she and I went out for drinks. Afterwards, we came here, we hung out, we talked. Then I broke out some champagne and we had a few more drinks. Well, we finished the whole bottle, actually. Then that was followed by more talking. We took a shower, then we sat down on the couch. That’s when I finally asked her about the tape.”

  “And that’s when she told you about those guys coming into her bedroom?” JJ asked.

  “No, she denied any knowledge of the tape at first, any knowledge of it other than overhearing us discussing it a time or two. But when I told her about the security footage, she admitted to stealing it. Then she told me the story about guys in ski masks, and that’s when I told her that she had to come forward and tell the truth.”

  “Wait. You told her to come forward?” I asked.

  “Yeah. I told her that she should come in and give a statement, tell the police what happened. But she started panicking, crying and yelling about how she thought she could trust me not to say anything and how telling me about the tape was going to get her killed. I told her that I’d protect her, wouldn’t let anything happen to her, but she started snatching up her clothes and getting dressed, saying that she needed to get out of here.”