by Nikki Turner
Whoever the heck this Tiffany female is was damn sure getting a lot of play from not only Tariq, but Ghostman as well. Detective Dugan made a mental note as he jotted down her name. I need to not only find out who she is and where she is, but have a long talk with her. And whoever this last number called from Tariq’s cell to “B” might be the link that can shed some light on his connection to Ghostman other than this Tiffany person.
Having had his people perform reverse number searches on “Tiffany’s” and “B’s” phones, unfortunately, the exhausted detective came up empty-handed. Of course, he could simply dial the two different numbers on a dry mission, fish around for answers . . . and run the risk of scaring the people off. Or he could do a little background hustle on the owners and see how they’d react when he dropped the information he’d gained on them. Kinda like a surprise attack, throwing them off guard.
Using the social media apps Tariq had on his cell, Detective Dugan was now surfing through the deceased young man’s Facebook and Instagram pages. Although he hadn’t updated either site in months, it still shed some light on him and the people he ran with. Going through all the photo albums, he finally hit the one marked “family and friends.” While Richmond was a big city, some of the faces seemed somewhat familiar, but a few in particular stood out. I know this damn girl and guy from someplace, but where? The detective racked his overworked brain as pictures of Bunny and Spoe popped up on the deceased man’s phone screen. For the time being, it had yet to dawn on him it was the face of the other dead body that’d washed up on the river and his girl’s sister Bunny. Lying down on one of the cots in the rear of the police station, Detective Dugan decided to rest his mind and body. He’d put fresh eyes on the entire case when he woke up. Still behaving like a lovesick teenager, he texted Simone. Good morning, before he drifted off to sleep.
* * *
Ginger, Bunny, and Simone all slept under Me-Ma’s roof so they could keep a watchful eye on not only their mentally drained sister Tallhya but on Deidra and Lenny as well. Tallhya had yet to mutter one single solitary word since trying to silence their mother once and for all. Out of the four of the siblings, it was no great secret; she was the weakest. Anxiety and panic attacks were part of her extreme depression that stemmed from her being overweight and often teased as a child. Having been the first of the four of them to marry brought Tallhya a small bit of pride, but Walter’s bastard love child and betrayal robbed her of that aspect of her life, along with the lump sum of her savings. Thank God she’d taken the monthly payout from the lottery and would not be completely destitute. But for now, in this unpredictable state, Tallhya was no good to her family or herself.
The joint decision was made between her two sisters and brother that she should be committed for observation at the mental hospital. Having tried to end her own life twice before, she was no stranger to the facility. Although Bunny suggested she might make mention of the bank robbery and the fact they were holding Deidra and Lenny hostage in the basement, Simone reassured the pair the physicians would have Tallhya so doped up she would be claiming Mickey Mouse was the president of the United States and Snow White was his first lady.
Leaving Ginger and Bunny to hold the house down, Simone placed Tallhya in her Neon and drove off. Only a block away from Me-Ma’s house Simone received a text from Chase saying, Good morning, indicating he’d been up all night. Instead of smiling that the man she was dating was thinking about her, she exhaled, knowing the detective he was still hadn’t discovered her secret.
“Sis, you know what’s really good, don’t you?”
“No, what?” Bunny glanced up from staring at pictures of her and Spoe on her cell.
“We should go down there and just kill the rotten bitch and get it over with. Both her and him,” Ginger motioned toward the closed basement door. “I don’t know why we wasting time keeping them alive. Y’all know we can’t trust Momma or her slimeball man.”
Bunny agreed, but just as she was attempting to choke Deidra out the evening before, she couldn’t bring herself to actually complete the horrid act. “I swear I know you right. And I wish I could, but the dirty broad still is our mother.”
“Yeah, so . . .”
“I mean, dang, maybe we could find another way.”
“Another way to do what? Let her wild ass go run and tell the police on us or what? Give her all our money and just say fuck what we had to go through to get it? I don’t know how you living, but with me, the struggle is real.”
“Naw, Ginger, I mean maybe we could make some sort of deal with her.”
“A deal?”
“Yeah, a deal. Like maybe we can offer her some of the money if she keeps her mouth shut. I mean, she already hurt, and it ain’t like she could run off at the mouth anytime soon.”
“Bunny, are you fucking serious right now? You can’t be!”
“Yes, she might take some money and go. Leave us alone for good.”
“Yeah, okay, then go broke and keep coming back for more bread, draining our black asses dry until it ain’t none left. Stop bugging!”
“But, Ginger—”
“But Ginger my perfect silicone-injected ass! Girl, you know good and damn well Momma and that nothing-ass nigga she running with ain’t going for that bullshit. And if you really believe that for one second, you crazier than Tallhya’s nut-cake ass! They gonna need a room for two! Or did you forget her jaw was knocked the hell off and her no-good shit of a man is also a bloody mess?”
They both giggled at what Ginger said; then Bunny got somber going on to explain that in between Spoe and Tariq getting set up by some random tramp and murdered and Me-Ma collapsing on the church stage, she’d experienced enough death for the time being. If there was a way to avoid Deidra and Lenny getting killed to keep all four of them safe and sound, not to mention free from prison, then great. Bunny was all for it. However, if there was a slight chance that couldn’t happen, then her mother and Lenny were both as good as dead.
After their lopsided debate on Deidra’s fate, the pair decided to go down into the basement to check on the two conniving crooks. With each creak of the old wooden stairs, Bunny heard muffled sounds coming from the corner where Deidra and Lenny were tied up at. Getting closer, she noticed Lenny had somehow wiggled his hands free from the extension cord and was working on freeing his feet. Terrified of what was going to happen when Deidra’s children found out he was trying to escape, Lenny didn’t say a word as he stared up into Bunny’s face. Hoping for some sort of compassion from the girl, he finally muttered the words he was sorry. Before Bunny could respond, Ginger cut him off, going straight ham.
“Listen up, motherfucker! I know your ass sorry now, but it’s too late for all that. You wanna be so damn gangster with our momma like y’all some old played out Bonnie and Clyde, then okay then. That’s on you. So deal with the consequences of the bullshit!” Balling up his fist, Ginger socked Lenny in the side of his temple, causing him to black out.
“Okay, Bunny. Help me tie this nickel-slick Negro back up. This time, I’m using this duct tape that was on the shelf. Let me see him get loose from this!” Wrapping the grey tape around his wrist five or six times, Ginger then used the remainder on Lenny’s mouth, not wanting to hear his begging voice. “Beg for mercy now, you old fart!” Slowly, he grinded the heel of his shoe deeply into Lenny’s backside, undoubtedly breaking the skin. “You’ll know the next time to not roll out with our momma!”
“Ginger, come over here,” Bunny spoke out using her cell phone as a light. “Look at her; at her face. It got bigger.”
Ginger left Lenny alone for the time being and focused on Deidra. Doing as Bunny asked, he leaned over to get a good look. “Damn! You ain’t never lied, but hey. God don’t like ugly, so there you have it.”
“Hold up, Ginger,” Bunny reached for his arm as he started to head for the stairs. “We just can’t leave her down here like this. It looks like her jaw is infected or some shit like that. And look at her lips. They
starting to look almost bluish.”
“Good, let them lying lips of hers turn all the way blue. Shiddd, let them turn black. Like I told you in the kitchen, I’m tired of giving a fuck about people who don’t give a fuck about me, and that includes her! Now on that note, I’m outta here.”
Bunny watched Ginger storm up the stairs. Considering her options, she decided to just try to say fuck it like him and do the same. They’d come too far to head back; besides, she had other things she had to take care of. With thoughts of Spoe heavy on her mind, Bunny double-checked her mother’s restraints before saying what she believed were her final good-byes. She might’ve not been able to speak her final peace with Spoe or Me-Ma, but she’d have satisfaction when it came to her mother.
“You were never a mother to any of us. All we ever wanted was for you to love us. You just never took time to do it like any normal mother would. I guess we weren’t good enough, huh?” Bunny lowered herself down to her mother’s swollen face and continued, “Don’t worry, Deidra, your lying, scheming, no-good ass going to get what’s coming to you. I bet you trying to scheme up some plan right now, but guess what? It ain’t gonna work. See ya, wouldn’t want to be ya!” With those last words to her so-called mother, she climbed up the stairs to be with Ginger.
“Bunny, what took your ass so long? You better not be feeling sorry for that rotten piece of shit down there.” Ginger rolled his eyes, hoping he didn’t have to tie her ass up as well until Simone got back. He made a mental note to let Simone know how Bunny was acting.
“Ain’t nothing—damn! I don’t no way feel sorry for her. She deserves everything that happens to her. I’m going upstairs.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Like Tallhya, Bunny was also mentally drained. Maybe not to the point she required medical attention, but enough to pop a few sleeping pills to get her through the night. Praying for inner peace and strength since the night the love of her life left to meet up with Tariq, she grew sick to her stomach. Even though she was a mourning female, she was a soldier putting on a good front. She was devastated living with the agonizing fact she’d never see Spoe alive again. Denied even the common courtesy or opportunity to view her live-in man’s body before his vindictive estranged mother had him cremated, Bunny was dizzy with grief needing closure.
Always ready to get on a ra-ra tip with folk if they got out of pocket, she wanted nothing more than to get revenge on everyone involved in his murder. The fact that Ghostman had gotten killed after she planted the evidence of the bank robbery was of no comfort. Bunny still wanted to come face-to-face with the grimy bitch Tiffany she knew set her man and his best friend up. That stripper ho was the only trick Tariq had been banging recently and had gone as far as even allowing the sack-chasing chick to spend more than two nights in a row at his crib; something he never did.
Tariq used to tell Spoe everything, and in return, Spoe would fill her in. So she knew about the plan to rob some dude that Tiffany claimed was an easy come up. The only thing that bothered Bunny was Tiffany had told Tariq the guy who they were stealing from was some dreadlock cat from New York named Dino that live right outside the county; not some Italian kingpin. Bunny had to know what happened and why. And since Spoe, Tariq, and Ghostman were all dead, the only one that could answer those questions was the forever-scheming Tiffany. Bunny knew that was the bum bitch the night she dropped the cash off to Ghostman; the one that was looking her up and down before Tariq got shot. One minute she wanted to keep it calm and let the cops do their job, while the other part wanted to run up to Treats Gentleman’s Club where she knew the ill-intentioned female worked. Trying to get her mind right and deal with the loss of two of the most important people in her life, Spoe and Me-Ma, Bunny wasn’t thinking clearly as her emotions were on a roller coaster.
“That’s it. I’m through being a victim. That shit is for the birds.” Bunny was done crying, feeling sorry for herself. Her man wouldn’t want her to be weak. Spoe would want her to make each motherfucker involved in his demise to pay. She knew she couldn’t rest until she found out what exactly happened to him that night. And since Spoe, Tariq, and Ghostman weren’t alive to tell the awful tale, the only other person who knew what truly jumped was the dirty tramp that orchestrated the entire deadly night: Tiffany.
After making sure the clip was full in one of Spoe’s guns she’d begun carrying since his death, Bunny was ready to resume being the beautiful grey-eyed beast she was born to be. “Tonight, I’m going to pay that sneaky whore a little visit down at that club she works at. I know that was her at Ghostman’s house looking me up and down like she had an attitude. And if not, one of them bitches down there gonna point her sneaky ass out!” Bunny had to calm her nerves. She had a long day ahead of her and an even longer night. Placing her pistol underneath her pillow, she decided to take a short nap until Simone returned with an update on Tallhya.
* * *
The house was finally quiet. Simone was gone, still dealing with the Tallhya situation, and Bunny was upstairs taking a much-needed nap. As Ginger kicked off his shoes, he reached for the television remote. Enjoying a moment to gather his thoughts, he surfed through the channels, finally deciding to watch an episode of The Price Is Right in honor of Me-Ma. Just before Ginger was ready to make his guess on the final showcase, he was interrupted by three or four knocks at the front door.
“Who in the hell?” Peeking out the white sheer curtains, Ginger saw it was none other than the infamous Pastor Street. “Oh no! Not this fake-ass Negro!” Going over to check that the basement door was securely shut, Ginger finally came back into the living room asking, “Who is it?”
“Hello, there. It’s Pastor Cassius Street.”
“Yes?” Ginger said through the still closed door.
“I wanted to discuss something with you girls if that’s okay.”
“Like what?” Ginger glanced back over her shoulder to see who had won their showcase.
“Well, can I come in, please? It won’t take long.”
Finally cracking the door, Ginger stepped front and center. Just as beautiful as his sisters and oozing triple the amount of sex appeal, he licked his lips, informing the man of the cloth that he was the only one home. “I mean, I don’t know what you wanna say that hasn’t already been said, but if you wanna come in and give me a little one-on-one Bible Study, I’m down. I’m here by myself and open to your word.”
Pastor Street had a lump in his throat as he took in a full-length look at Ginger. His long, perfectly shaped legs. His full, pouty lips. The inviting curve of his hips. And the enticing way Ginger stuck his finger in the side of his mouth as he spoke. Pastor Street was definitely intrigued by what he saw. He wasn’t fooled one second by who Ginger truly was underneath those female clothes that hugged his body so tightly. Me-Ma had made Gene’s sexual preference no huge secret. But that didn’t turn the good pastor off; in truth, it turned him on. It was common, unspoken knowledge Cassius Street was a tad bit promiscuous when it came to the single women in his congregation . . . and rumored, a few of the married ones as well. But even though his flamboyant style of dress made some whisper that he was possibly a homosexual on the down low, no one had actual facts, just juicy idle gossip. However, Ginger was different from the rest. His gaydor went off immediately the first time he walked in the church and saw the good pastor prancing and dancing around the pulpit.
“Ummm . . . one-on-one?” He fought his most time-hidden demonlike desires the best he could, but felt himself growing weaker. If there was an opportunity to surface his true desire, he wasn’t going to let it walk on by.
“Yes, that’s right, Pastor.” Ginger licked his lips while tugging down on his tight-fitting T-shirt. “You don’t wanna come inside and bless me? Lay hands on me?”
Forgetting the true reason for his impromptu visit, Pastor Street threw caution to the wind. Stepping through the threshold of the door, his manhood twitched in anticipation of what Ginger had in store for him. Although this wasn’t his fi
rst time at the rodeo, so to speak, this was the first time he was willing to walk on the dark side so close to home. But there was something about Ginger that was calling his name.
“Sooooooo, you’re here alone, huh? Where is everyone this fine morning?” His demons were itching to see the light, and he was all for it.
“Yup, I’m here all by my lonesome. All of my sisters are gone doing what they do,” he lied, knowing Bunny was upstairs sleeping.
“Oh yeah?” Cassius grinned as his palms started to sweat and his manhood twitched even more.
“Yup, just me, myself, and I,” Ginger flirted, getting closer in his personal space. “And, of course, now you.”
Cassius felt his manhood jump once more. As it started to slightly bulge out his trousers, Ginger, with one thing on his mind, got even closer. Pushing the envelope, he then reached his hand down, slowly stroking the pastor’s rock-hard stick through his clothes. Receiving absolutely no resistance whatsoever, Ginger seductively unzipped his pants. Using one hand, he pulled his dick out and smiled with satisfaction.
“Hmmmm . . .” Cassius moaned as Ginger’s hands made contact with his skin. He wanted nothing else but to feel Ginger’s warm lips wrapped around his throbbing dick.
“Yesssss, baby, that’s right. Hmmmm . . .” Ginger was pleasantly surprised the pastor’s dick was as thick and long as it was. At that point, he could easily see why all the women in the church were going crazy over this man. Before you knew it, Ginger had dropped down to his knees and was giving Pastor Cassius Street the blow job of a lifetime, right in Me-Ma’s living room. He wasn’t too worried about Bunny interrupting his scene. He just hoped she would be in la-la land till they were all done.
CHAPTER SIX
Simone pulled her rust-bucket struggle-buggy Neon in front of the house just as Pastor Street was walking off the porch. Not sure of what he wanted in the first place, or worse, what he might’ve discovered in her grandmother’s basement, she hesitatingly jumped out of her vehicle. Ready to beg him not to go to the authorities and expose their family secrets, Simone braced herself. “Pastor Street, what are you doing here?”