“Whoa! What the hell is wrong with you?” Mickey asked, sensing distress in her sister’s voice.
“Nothing Mick. I’m sorry. I’m just tired of all of this, you know?” she asked. “I called you to tell you to make sure the jury was still on track. You don’t have any individuals trying to have their own opinions do you?”
Mick smacked her lips and replied, “Girl since when have I ever given anybody the option to have their own damn point of view. I got this. Unless you tell me differently, the jury is going to do what I say.”
“Okay good. After this is over we are all going to be a lot richer. Kasheef is going to pay me the money after I testify,” Alija said. “So just hold on Mick.”
“A’ight girl. I love you.”
“Love you too,” Alija answered and then hung up the phone.
Kasheef read the note and crumbled it in his hands. He was aware of the fear that he had instilled inside Alija, but he was positive that he could erase the negative connotations that she had formed in her mind regarding him. She needed time, but that was something that he was not guaranteed. He had to have her now. Kasheef arose from the bed and showered quickly. Court was due to reconvene in a few hours and he had some business he needed to handle before he met up with Carmen. Clad in formal Sean John apparel, the black suit and Steve Madden shoes distinguished him. At six foot three, he hung a suit quite well. He went to visit his accountant who managed his money and made sure that it was kept securely overseas. He wanted to make sure that all of his accounts were undetected by the IRS. The last thing he needed was a tax evasion charge to add to the stresses he was already dealing with. After being sure that his money was protected he left, headed for Norelle’s condo.
He knocked on the door and was greeted with a smile as Norelle pulled him into her home. “Hey you! What took you so long to come and check on me? I have been missing you,” she said. Kasheef could see how he had been blind to her true intentions. Norelle was a great actress and never broke out of character. Even now she was still acting, pretending to care for him. She was indeed a beautiful liar.
“I had a couple of things that needed to be taken care of,” he answered. “Come take a ride with me.”
Norelle grabbed her clutch purse and followed him out of the apartment. “Where are we going?”
He put his hand on the small of her back and led her to the car. He opened the passenger side door and guided her inside. “To handle this business,” he responded. “You saw how the prosecution did me yesterday. I may be going to prison and I want you to be straight. I got the money in the back seat. I’m about to take you to a bank so that you can open yourself an account and deposit it.” He made sure that he was sincere in his tone. He wanted her to trust him and naively she did. Money hungry bitch, he thought to himself as he got in his car and pulled away from the curb. He took her to a Chase bank, pulled curbside, and said, “Go ahead.”
“You’re not coming in? I don’t even know how much money this is,” she said.
“Nah ma, I can’t come in there with you. I’m under investigation so we don’t want anybody to think that this is my money. You have to do this yourself so that you will have no traces to me. This is your cash now,” he said as he leaned in and kissed her lips. “I just want to take care of you.”
She smiled and kissed him back. “I’ll be back in a minute,” she said as she took the briefcase out of the backseat and headed into the bank.
I can’t believe how stupid he is, she thought as she sashayed into the bank. She walked to the reception area where she was greeted by a banker.
“Hello, how can I help you?” he asked.
“Yes, I’d like to open an account,” she said as she sat the briefcase down and popped it open, revealing the money that lay neatly inside. The banker’s eyes opened wide and he motioned for her to come into his office. Norelle didn’t hear much of what the banker explained to her. The only thing she kept thinking about was the new life she would lead once Kasheef was locked up. After giving the banker her personal information like address and social security number, they counted the money which totaled out to $400,000. She intended on putting the rest of the money that she had originally stolen from Kasheef’s safe and would have more than a half million dollars. A wicked grin crossed her face as she shook hands with the eager banker. She walked back out to the car where Kasheef waited curbside with his seat leaned back and one hand propped on the steering wheel.
“You get it done?” he asked.
“Yeah, it’s all taken care of,” she replied. She hopped into the car and he pulled away, satisfied that everything had gone off smoothly. The $400,000 was a huge chunk of what he had acquired in the streets. In all, he had two million stashed in his accounts. He had given Norelle all of the money that he had not washed yet. He still had product on the streets which had the potential to earn him more revenue, but he wouldn’t be able to touch that for awhile. He planned on putting Stick onto his connect. After he beat this case he was going to retire and enjoy some of the dirty money he had made over the years.
“Are you ready?” Carmen asked.
Kasheef looked around the crowded courtroom. Cameras flashed in his eyes and spectators whispered speculative comments regarding his arrest, but he ignored it all. He was looking for someone in particular. He was hoping to see Alija in the back row, but she wasn’t there. Her absence caused a dampening spirit to overcome him.
“Kasheef?” Carmen called his name to get his attention. “Is everything all right?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” he replied as he focused his attention toward the judge who was now entering the room.
“All rise!” the bailiff announced. “The Honorable Judge Campbell Martin presiding.”
“Be seated,” the judge said.
The day’s events began with the prosecution. The District Attorney arose from her seat and one of her paralegals rolled a television stand to the middle of the room, facing it toward the jury.
“Yesterday the defense and I bantered back and forth. You heard a lot of speculation and hearsay as to what occurred the night Ahmad Simmons was shot dead. Everyone wants to know. What really happened that night? The tape that you are about to view will answer all of those questions. You will see it with your own eyes,” she said. She bent down and pressed play on the VCR and the account of what actually happened came across the screen. Ahmad’s face was clear as day as he held up an unidentifiable man. The other figure’s face could not be seen from the angle that the camera had recorded the scene. You could make out his clothing, but no facial figures. Alija’s face was clear as day as she peeked into the room. The jury sat back and watched as what had began as a robbery ended in a murder. Nancy Schwartz turned off the tape and watched the reaction that she got from the jury. They couldn’t believe that all of this had been caught on candid tape and that the man who had done it was still roaming free. “The young woman that you saw in that tape is willing to tell you what she saw that day. She fingered Mr. Williams. She called him out by name for the police. How can you deny that he is not the murderer?”
Carmen stood up as she watched the DA take her seat. “That tape proves nothing,” she started out. “If anything, it shows the type of person that Ahmad Simmons was. He initiated the chain of events that night. He had a gun of his own in which he used to threaten the figure in that tape. The face of the murderer is not even visible and until you hear the witness testify you should not let this tape affect your decision. It is weak evidence, circumstantial at best.” Carmen walked down the aisle and toward the door of the courtroom. She opened it up and in walked ten different men. They were all the same complexion as Kasheef, the same height as him, and they all wore the same pair of designer jeans just off their waistline and the same shirt that Kasheef had worn the night of the murder. “Judging these men from the neck down, which is the only part of the shooter that can be identified, can you distinguish between them? The assailant had no identifiable scars or tattoos. C
an you tell these men apart?” she asked persistently. “I can’t. As a matter of fact, any one of these men can be the perpetrator.” Carmen could see the question marks going off inside of the jurors’ heads. That was all that she needed to do, create doubt; reasonable doubt. She turned toward the gentlemen who she had brought in and said, “Masks please.” Each man placed a black hood over their heads making their faces unidentifiable and their bodies identical. “As you can see ladies and gentleman, there is no way to distinguish these men from one another without having a clear view of their face. They all look like the murderer. It could be anyone.”
Kasheef couldn’t help the sly grin that crossed his face. Carmen was slick. She had game and it was at that moment that he realized she was worth every single red cent that he was paying her. He was more confident than ever before. Carmen had just put a major dent in the prosecution’s case. He already had Alija on his team so all he had to do was let the case play out. Kasheef barely listened for the remainder of the day. His mind kept drifting back to the night he had shared with Alija. Her smile, her eyes, her face were all embedded in his mind. He wondered why she had not shown up for his trial today. After seeing her attend the court sessions the prosecution decided that it be best if she stayed out of sight until it was her time to speak. They did not want her there until it was absolutely necessary, but silently he wished he could see her face. Just the fact that she sat in the back of the courtroom gave him reassurance. He turned once more to make sure that he had not missed her, but she was nowhere to be found. Norelle sat behind him, but only because she thought everything was good between them. She was a woman who presented herself under false pretenses. Her outward beauty was magnificent, but inward she was just as ugly as the grimiest niggas in New York. While stick up kids held men up with their guns, Norelle’s weapon of choice was a combination of good looks and good pussy. Kasheef shook his head and turned back around just in time to hear the judge adjourn the trial for the day.
Kasheef stood and buttoned the top button to his coat jacket. He leaned in and kissed Carmen professionally on the cheek and whispered, “Good job today ma. Once this is over I owe you dinner a’somethin’.”
“I eat lobster and steak,” she replied with a smile. “Let’s just hope tomorrow is just as successful. She gathered her paperwork, walked out of the courtroom and bypassed the reporters as she hopped into the Lincoln Town Car that awaited her curbside. She headed toward her office. She had a lot of reading to do on other cases. Since taking on Kasheef as a client she had been neglecting her other responsibilities in the office. She knew that it was important for the senior board members of her firm to see her as well rounded, so she needed to balance all of her case trials successfully. With Alija on their team now and the excellent cross examinations she herself was presenting, she was confident that the win was in the bag. All of her hard work was paying off. She was finally moving up the corporate ladder. It did not bother her that she was riding Kasheef’s criminal wave to the top. As long as I get there, she thought as she cruised the city streets. I’ll be the youngest senior partner and the first black woman to achieve that at the firm, she thought proudly. Losing was not an option, she was determined to win. By any means necessary.
Chapter Thirteen
Alija sat near her baby’s side. She was well enough to be off of the monitors and Alija was relieved to finally see some progress in her daughter’s health. She held Nahla on her lap as she sat in the rocking chair flipping through a photo album.
“See look,” she cooed to her daughter and pointed at the pictures. “Here is you and mommy.” She turned the page. “Here is you, mommy, and daddy.” A smile crossed her face as the pleasant memories from the photos flooded her memory. “And here is you again ... you are mommy’s little angel Nahla.” She kissed her baby lovingly. “Mommy loves you.”
“Hmm, hmm.” Kasheef cleared his throat to announce his presence in the doorway. Alija turned toward him.
“Oh,” she said in a surprised tone. She closed the photo album and slid it into Nahla’s diaper bag. With her daughter still in her arms she stood and looked at Kasheef awkwardly. “I did not know you were standing there.”
“I wasn’t. I just got here and I didn’t want to startle you,” he said. He moved closer to her and she took a step back. “I see Nahla’s doing better.” He held out his hands to the infant and to Alija’s astonishment, Nahla leaned toward Kasheef. She handed her daughter over to him and smiled.
“You might want to stop coming around so much. She is going to think you are her father. You already have half of the nurses thinking you are her daddy,” Alija joked.
“Speaking of that ... where is her father?” Kasheef asked. He knew that Alija had a past, but he wanted to know exactly what he might be getting himself involved in if he chose to pursue her seriously after the conclusion of the trial.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but he ain’t in the picture anymore,” Alija said with one hand on her hip.
“I was looking for you today in court,” he admitted. “I was hoping you would come.” Nahla playfully touched his face as he talked and he held her so intimately that someone would have thought that Nahla was his child.
Alija looked down at her feet nervously. “After last night ... I just felt uncomfortable. I don’t know. I just needed to think. Plus, the prosecution doesn’t really want me there anyway. Witness intimidation, you know?”
“I intimidate you?” he asked sincerely.
“I don’t know,” she responded. “I just need time to think.”
“About?” he asked.
“My life, the plans I have for her life,” Alija said while pointing to Nahla.
“I was hoping you might make room for me in both of your lives,” he said genuinely. Alija’s eyes met his and he reached out his free hand to pull her near. She resisted a little, but eventually stepped toward him. He wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed the top of her head. Closing her eyes she inhaled the scent of his Hei cologne and put her hand on his chest.
“What am I doing?” she asked aloud.
“Letting me in,” he replied. He looked at baby Nahla and smiled. “Ain’t that right ma?”
Nahla gurgled baby sounds and Kasheef said, “See, she’s feeling the kid.”
Alija laughed and held onto him tightly. Just the sensation of a man’s strong embrace made her feel safe. It was something that she had been missing. For a moment she had some security in her world and she desperately wanted to hold onto it. She finally noticed the gift bag that sat at his feet. “What’s this?” she asked as she bent down to pick it up. She peered inside and found three Dora the Explorer children books. “Thank you,” she accepted graciously.
He sat down in the rocking chair and grabbed one of the books from Alija then began to read them to Nahla. Alija watched in amazement as Kasheef interacted tenderly with her daughter. Most men would run in the other direction if she told them that she had a child, but Kasheef seemed to be running toward her. They were developing the most intimate connection she had ever had with another person in her life. She was afraid; afraid that the actions that she were taking would change her life forever. The two of them stayed by Nahla’s side until she was fast asleep. After they put her back into the pediatric hospital bed, they walked out with Kasheef’s arm draped around Alija’s shoulders.
“Did you drive here?” he asked as they stepped onto the pavement of the parking lot.
“Nah I took a cab. My car is bullshit. One day it works, the next day it doesn’t,” she said.
“You gon’ have to cop you something new with all that cash you extorting from me,” he said jokingly. She hit him on his shoulder and smirked in response. “Get in,” he said as he opened his passenger door for her and she looked around nervously.
“Kasheef, we can’t be seen together,” she whispered.
“We good, there ain’t nobody out here. Besides my windows are tinted. Quit worrying,” he assured her. She hopp
ed into the truck and he closed her door before walking around to the driver’s side.
When they pulled up to the hotel Kasheef let her out at the entrance. “I’ll meet you in my room in a couple minutes,” he said while slipping her a key card to his room.
She got out of the car and walked into the lobby of the hotel. She could not help, but to feel as if her life had become one of those romance movies as she peered around to make sure there were no prying eyes around her. After taking the elevator to the twenty-first floor she had to take a couple deep breaths before she made her way down the hallway to Kasheef’s room. Her nerves were making her feel as if she were going on her very first date. The flutters in her stomach felt more like eagle’s wings then butterflies, causing her to feel faint. When she walked into the room her eyes watered from the sight in front of her. “Oh my God,” she whispered as she looked around her. There were candles and rose petals everywhere. An intimate indoor picnic for two was set up on the floor. Her heart raced. She was definitely in over her head. She was beginning to fall for Kasheef and he had made it perfectly clear how he felt for her. She didn’t even realize he was in the room with her until his arms were wrapped around her waist.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked weakly as her eyes closed against her will and she enjoyed the feeling that his lips brought to her neck.
“I want you,” he admitted. “I don’t know what it is about you Alija, but you were built for me ma.”
Alija turned to face him. “Kasheef I have a daughter. I can’t just start this with you as easily as another chick could. There are things that complicate this situation. All of my decisions affect her. I’m just trying to do right by her. I know what kind of life style you lead. I saw you kill Ahmad. Why would I want my daughter to be around that? I’m not even gon’ front like I’ve always been responsible, but that night in the club you forced me to change. Seeing him get shot right in front of me ... that changed my life Kasheef ... forever.”
Black Friday: Exposed Page 13