Evelyn’s eyes bugged out. “Are you out of your mind!” she shouted. “We can’t do that. Someone may see us, and if his body is ever found, we could all be facing jail time.”
I agreed with Evelyn. “I don’t like the idea of removing his body from here and dumping it somewhere. I do think we need to call the police, and we need to be on the same page when we tell them what happened.”
“You’re right,” Evelyn said. “And I think it would be wise for us to tell the cops that when you came into the room, Cedric was on top of me, choking me. He got distracted when he saw you, and that’s when I was able to reach for the statue and hit him across the head. He fell to the side, and I rushed into the bedroom to get the gun. He continued to charge at me, so I shot him. That’s not completely the truth, but it’s close enough to it.”
I moved my head from side to side, refusing to put all the blame on Evelyn. “We’ve got to come up with something else. You know darn well that I’m not going to let you take the fall for this. Can’t we just say that we came into the house together, we thought he was an intruder, and I hit him across the head? Then you went to get the gun, and without knowing who he was, you shot him?”
“That makes no sense,” Kayla noted. “The police would never believe that, but they may believe that I did it. I took pictures of what Cedric did to me. I could say that I came here to confront him about being with Evelyn and we got into a fight. I could put my fingerprints on the gun and say that I shot my ex-husband, who had been threatening me and had become very abusive toward me after our divorce.”
“No, no, no!” Evelyn shouted. “Stop this, okay? My story makes the most sense, and it’s closest to the truth. I know the police will probably arrest me, but I’m sure they’ll set a bond and I’ll be released. I can get a lawyer who can defend me and help me explain why I did what I did. This may not be as difficult as it seems, as long as we all agree to stick to the exact same story. Now, are y’all with me on this or not?”
I looked at Kayla, who seemed to be still on the fence, like me. We didn’t have many choices, so for now I decided to go with the flow.
“I don’t like it, but I’m with it,” I said.
Evelyn turned to Kayla. “What about you, Kayla? Are you with me on this or not?”
Kayla remained silent for at least a minute. She then walked up to Evelyn and gave her a hug. “I don’t know what the outcome will be, but I do know that we allowed Cedric to cause a lot of damage in our lives. I hope and pray that this is the right thing to do, and that we will be able to finally move on from this. So, yes, I’m with it too.”
Evelyn nodded and swallowed hard as she backed away from Kayla. She took a deep breath before removing her cell phone from her purse and dialing. Within seconds, she went into panic mode and yelled into the phone.
“Hello! Can you please send an ambulance to my apartment! I—I just shot a man who tried to kill me! Hurry, please!”
Evelyn provided the 911 operator with her address, then ended the call. We looked at each other with fear in our eyes. Kayla turned her head to glance at Cedric, and then she started to ramble on and on about his threats and her attempt to go kill him one day. Like me, she was still plotting other options in her head before the police got there.
“I thought that the two of you were on board with me,” Evelyn said, with a look of frustration on her face. “We’re running out of time. What must I say or do to convince y’all that this is the only real choice that we have? Dumping his body won’t work, lying about a fight between Kayla and Cedric won’t work, and admitting that Trina struck him on the head will make it look like she and I were out to get him. I know the two of you still have trust issues with me, but this is one time when I’m asking for both of you to follow my lead. Please listen and promise me that we’re in this together.”
Kayla and I had to make Evelyn that promise. I reached out for their hands, and as we stood in a close circle, we began to pray for guidance. Sirens could be heard in the background, and when we opened our eyes, we looked at each other again.
“Showtime, ladies,” Evelyn said. “Let’s do this.”
Minutes later, numerous police officers swarmed the place. To say that all three of us were nervous as hell would be an understatement.
18
Kayla
As Cedric’s body was taken away in a body bag, I was numb. I had flashbacks of when I first met him; of when we were at the hospital, waiting for Jacoby to be born; of when we purchased our new home; and of just the other day, when he beat the crap out of me. So much was going through me now that I couldn’t even explain it. I just couldn’t explain it. It was as if I was having an out-of-body experience. This all felt like a dream, and in a matter of minutes, I would wake up, feeling a little better. But that didn’t happen. This was my reality. Cedric was dead, and they had just put his dead body in the back of a van.
Just like the last time when Paula tried to kill Cedric, people were standing outside, trying to figure out what had happened. Crime-scene tape surrounded the area. Many police officers were walking around, asking questions, and it just so happened that the same evil officer who had been there when Paula Daniels attempted to kill Cedric was there again. But just like the last time, I wasn’t guilty. This time, Evelyn and Trina were, but I was hopeful that our story would hold up.
I totally understood how Evelyn felt, and neither of us wanted Trina to get arrested. She had done too much for us. And to be honest, after all that had happened, I didn’t want either one of them to go down. Before the police had arrived, I’d told Evelyn and Trina about my plan to shoot Cedric that day. They’d been in awe by what had stopped me, and once again, we had agreed that Evelyn’s story was the most believable.
A moment ago she had finished telling two officers how everything had supposedly gone down. Now the officers addressed me and Trina. Trina vouched for her, and so did I. I even lied, saying that I had entered the apartment and had witnessed Cedric charging toward her.
“So you didn’t see Mr. Thompson attack her in any way?” one of the officers questioned, with a notepad in his hand, as he looked at me.
“What I saw was my ex-husband rushing toward her with his fist in the air. I didn’t see the initial confrontation, but I can assure you that he was in a rage. She had to do whatever she could to stop him,” I said.
The two officers looked at each other, then back at us. We all displayed much attitude, because, as we had expected, they were giving us a difficult time.
“Where were the three of you coming from again?” the other officer asked.
Trina quickly spoke up. “Evelyn and I had dinner earlier. We asked Kayla to meet us here. She arrived shortly after we did.”
“And the only reason you didn’t enter the home at the same time as your friend was that you dumped trash in the Dumpster, correct?” asked the first officer.
Trina nodded. “Right. After putting the trash bag in the Dumpster, I came inside and saw Mr. Thompson choking my friend. I yelled for him to get off of her, and that’s when he turned around and saw me standing in the doorway.”
“Sure. What was in the trash that you took to the Dumpster?” asked the second officer.
Displaying a frown, Evelyn crossed her arms and quickly spoke up. “Does that really matter? I put one small trash bag in the trunk before we left earlier. I forgot to put it in the Dumpster. If you would like to go to the Dumpster and sift through my tampons, dinner from yesterday, and Diet Pepsi cans, feel free.”
The officers were being real jerks. One of them made Evelyn take him to the Dumpster to show him the bag Trina had dumped. Trina and I continued to get hit with several more questions, but, finally, within the hour, the officers wrapped up the questioning.
With sadness in our eyes, we watched a police officer cuff Evelyn’s hands behind her back. Trina was standing closer to Evelyn than I was, and filled with emotions, she reached out to Evelyn, grabbing her tightly around the neck.
“
I’ll be okay,” Evelyn said, unable to hug Trina back. “Stop all of this, ’cause I assure you that everything will be fine.”
Evelyn had her game face on, but I wasn’t so sure that she would be okay. One thing that I did know was that if it weren’t for what she and Trina had done, Jacoby could be on his way to jail. Cedric had made that quite clear, and I had certainly taken his word for it.
With that on my mind, I walked up to Evelyn and reached out for her too. Trina had backed away, and I was surprised that the officers didn’t separate us from each other. While hugging Evelyn, I leaned in and whispered close to her ear. “We’re going to do everything in our power to see that you get released. So no worries and hang in there.”
Evelyn displayed a forced smile and nodded. The cops finally pulled us apart and then put her in the backseat of a police car. As it slowly drove off, we watched with heavy hearts as the sight of our BFF faded away.
* * *
The next several days were some of the most difficult days of my life. I was left to take care of Cedric’s funeral arrangements, and I learned that Joy had cleaned out the majority of his bank accounts and was nowhere to be found.
Evelyn’s bond had been set at two million dollars. I had a lot of my money tied up in investments, so I really didn’t have access to that kind of money right now. The money Evelyn had in the bank, she couldn’t even get to. Her assets had been frozen, and we all were very puzzled about that. We couldn’t even question anyone about her funds, and since she didn’t have a POA listed on her accounts, we were shit out of luck.
The same thing applied to Cedric’s house. I wanted to go in there, clean it out, and sell everything. But I couldn’t get my hands on anything, unless I trespassed and broke in. I still hadn’t decided if I was going to do that yet, but it was an option. Thankfully, he had already paid for his burial; he had requested to be cremated. All I had to do was make sure everything was finalized. Not only that, I had to tell Jacoby that this time, Cedric was truly gone.
Like me, Jacoby had mixed feelings about Cedric’s death. There had been good times, as well as bad times. We loved the old Cedric, the Cedric in the beginning. But somewhere down the road, he had got lost. So had I.
“I don’t know what to say, Mama,” Jacoby said while standing outside, by his car. He scratched his head, then looked down at the ground. “This whole thing is just horrible. How did we get here, and what is going to happen to Evelyn? Are you worried about her?”
“Yes, I’m very worried. But Trina and I are going to do everything that we can to help clear her name.”
“Are you sure you want to do that? I mean, she was still fu . . . screwing around with Cedric, wasn’t she? I can’t believe that after everything he did, she was still messing around with him. Not to mention that you had forgiven her too. The two of you were friends again, weren’t you?”
“Yes, we were. It’s a long story, and I’ll explain it to you later. But her messing around with him or not, Cedric turned into a madman. I think that what Paula Daniels did to him hurt him even more. He wanted revenge, and he didn’t quite know where to go to get it. So he took what happened to him out on everybody, even Justin, who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Cedric also jumped on me. When I told you I had fallen that day, I’m sure you know I lied.”
Jacoby shook his head. “I figured you did. And don’t be mad at me for saying this, but this may be a good thing, after all. Eventually, I think we all would have paid the price, and he wouldn’t be the only person dead.”
“I’m not mad at you at all. I feel the same way. Somebody had to stop him.”
Jacoby sighed, then looked directly into my eyes. “Yeah, they did. I guess we should be thankful for Evelyn, huh?”
I agreed. Jacoby came inside and stayed the evening with me. I cooked dinner for us, and then we watched a movie. It felt good spending this time with my son. When I asked how things were going at Adrianne’s house, he had nothing nice to say.
“All I can tell you is, I’ll be moving back here real soon, if you don’t mind. Only for a little while, because it’s almost time for me to be on my own. As for Adrianne’s mother and her boyfriend, they argue just as much as you and Cedric did. But they argue over the phone a lot. She be accusing him of this and that. Mad at him because he won’t come over. Crying because he said this or didn’t say that. I mean, does every household have to be like that?”
“No, it doesn’t. And every household isn’t like that. Some people love and respect each other enough, and they have very little problems living together. It’s all about finding the right person to be with, and it looks to me that you have found that person in Adrianne. Have you?”
Jacoby smiled. “I think I have. And if we’re still together after college and all that stuff, I really want her to be my wife. She’s been there for me a lot. I can honestly say that the only two people that I love with all my heart are her and you.”
That was a beautiful thing for Jacoby to say. I gave him a squeezing hug and told him that I loved him too.
* * *
Two days later I sat in the small sanctuary, paying my final respects to Cedric. Jacoby sat next to me, and even though I shed some tears, he did not shed one. He held my hand the whole time, and when it was over, we shook hands with the fifty people who had shown up and thanked them for coming.
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” one of Cedric’s business partners said to me. “Be well.”
He kissed my cheek, and then another man stepped forward to pay his respects. I didn’t know who half these people were, but they all claimed to be some of Cedric’s business partners.
“He was a good man,” the second business partner said. “A very good man. I can’t believe this happened to him.”
All I did was nod. A good man, Cedric was not, but I just kept it moving to the next person.
“We lost a gem,” his new secretary said. “Cedric was so funny, and our office will never be the same.”
Gem? Funny? Now, she had taken it too far. I stood there and heard it all. What I knew was that Cedric had given these people much more respect than he had given me. They didn’t even know the man that I knew, but out of respect for him, I stood there without saying a word. Even when one of his tricks walked up and tried her best to hurt my feelings. I didn’t know who she was, until Jacoby whispered in my ear that he had seen her with Cedric.
“I’m going to miss Cedric,” she said, barely touching the tips of my fingers to give me what she considered a handshake. “We really had a lot of fun together. He sure knew how to keep a smile on my face, and I don’t know who I’m going to find to take his place. He’s definitely irreplaceable.”
“Your search shouldn’t be that hard,” Jacoby said to her. “Thanks for coming, and good-bye.”
All I did was smile. Smiled at her and at everyone else who continued on with their loving stories about Cedric. I seriously wanted to throw up, but this was his moment, so I let him have it.
After it was all over, I picked up the urn and Jacoby grabbed all the photos we had on display. We put everything in the car, then hopped in. I drove, and right at the Missouri River was where I stopped. We got out of the car, and I watched as Jacoby pitched the urn into the dirty, murky water. We gave each other a hug, then watched as the urn drifted away.
May my dear ex-husband now rest in peace, I thought.
19
Evelyn
I could no longer keep my game face on. And after being in this place for almost a week, I was about to go crazy. My bond had been set at two million dollars, cash only, and I had been coming up short. I didn’t know how or why all my assets were frozen. It just didn’t make sense, and I needed that money like I had never needed it before. I talked to my attorney and Trina almost every day. She was the one who was trying her best to get me out of here. As for my attorney, it seemed as if all his job was, was to figure out how much money he could get from me. Thankfully, however, he had taken my case
—in hopes that whenever I got out of here, I would be able to pay him every dime he requested. I hoped so too, but first, I had to come up with the money to post my bail.
There was no question that I had a long way to go with the trial and everything. But if there was a way for me to break out of here today, I would. This jail cell was no way for anyone to live. The so-called beds were hard as hell, the toilets were nasty as ever, the walls and floors were filthy, and don’t even let me comment on the smell. There were two other chicks in the cell with me. One of them appeared to be just as scared as I was, and the other thought she was a badass. She had been here and done this before, but like me and the other chick, she was waiting to post bail or get a court date.
“So, you’re a murderer,” she said while sucking her stained teeth and looking at me as I sat, disgusted, on the bed. “Killed your man because he was dicking down another trick, huh? I don’t know why you dumb broads keep finding yourselves in situations like this. Do you know how many women are incarcerated for doing what you did? No dick is worth all that trouble, is it?”
The heavy white chick with long red hair and freckles on her face didn’t know what in the hell she was talking about. I started off by not saying a word, but she didn’t know anything about me, and so I had to set the record straight.
“It didn’t happen like that,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I don’t kill men over dick problems, but maybe you do.”
She got up and stood in front of me, trying to intimidate me. “I don’t kill slime-bucket-ass men, either, but I do kill bitches with smart freaking mouths. Would you like to see how I do it?” She slashed across her throat with her finger, then laughed.
Trying to let her know that she couldn’t intimidate me, I stood up to confront her. With much force, she pushed me back down.
“Get up again,” she said, still sucking those rotten teeth, “and you will never see daylight again, pretty girl.”
Just then, a guard walked by and saw her standing in front of me. She tapped the bars with a billy club and gave the fat bitch a warning. “If I come back again and you’re still causing trouble, Niecy, I’m going to take you out of there and put you in a place where you belong.”
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