When It All Falls Down 3 - Somebody is Gonna Die: A Chicago Hood Drama (A Hustler's Lady)

by Tamicka Higgins

  When they pulled into the back parking space at the hotel, Tramar looked across at Jackson. “Yes,” he said. “I feel like they in there, man. Something is telling me that that being the granny’s house, and the old ass look and furniture in the background on the pictures just ain’t a coincidence. Something is tellin’ me that they prolly locked up in that house because people ain’t thinkin’ that a damn thing is going to be going on there. Swear to God, I really feel it. Like you felt like runnin’ up in Byron’s shit on Monday.”

  Jackson took a deep breath and leaned back in his seat. “All right,” he said, knowing that he was going to stand with his best friend no matter what. “When you wanna go back? Tomorrow night or something?”

  Tramar shook his head. “Naw,” he said. “Tonight.”

  Jackson’s face wrinkled up, making it obvious that he was confused. He shook his head as he thought about it. “I don’t know about that, nigga,” he said. “I think we need to think about this shit a little more. You know, plan it and shit. Plus, you know that it’s gon’ be more people out on the streets on a Saturday night and shit then there would be on a Sunday, or even a Sunday morning. Yeah, let’s make a little house visit tomorrow morning instead of tonight so that we know ain’t shit probably happening up and down the street. Everybody is gonna be asleep.”

  Tramar shook his head, letting Jackson know that he was sticking to what he’d said. “No,” he said. “No, no, no. I say we run up in that shit tonight, nigga. You heard what they said. We makin’ the news and shit. Every minute we waste is another minute that we could get caught or something…another minute that Byron could decide to just say fuck it and put a bullet in both my stepmama and my daddy’s head. Naw, man. I can’t wait. If you goin’ wit me, coo. If you not, then that’s coo too. But I’m not waitin’. If I gotta risk it all and drive my car back down there, I’ll do the shit myself tonight.”

  Tramar hopped out of Jackson’s car, slamming the door behind him. He began walking toward the back entrance of the hotel. He felt around in his pocket to make sure that he’d remembered to grab the second keycard. Jackson quickly caught up with him.

  “Okay, nigga,” Jackson said. “Okay. Tonight. But we gotta make sure we play this shit coo. Go up to the door and see how we feel. If little old ladies or something answer the door, I say we don’t run up in there. I ain’t try’na massacre no little old ladies or nothin’.”

  Tramar nodded and shook hands with Jackson. “Coo,” he said. “Let’s just go in here and talk to Ayana ‘cause I wanna make sure that she okay with watching Quan for the rest of the night.”

  The two of them walked back into the hotel and made their way back up to the room. Before Tramar entered, he tapped on the door lightly. Considering how Ayana’s nerves were at this point, he didn’t want to scare her or to make her think that something bad was about to go down. When he entered the room, he found Ayana climbing out of the bed. Quan lay on the other bed, asleep on top of the sheets.

  Ayana rushed over to Tramar and Jackson, wanting to hear the details on what had happened. “He passed out like a hour ago or so,” she explained. “So, what happened?”

  Tramar went and pulled the comforter up over Quan, seeing that the kid was out cold. He whispered to Ayana and told her to slide on her shoes so that they could talk out in the back of the hotel. Ayana quickly slipped into some moccasins and grabbed her cell phone and hotel room key. She followed Tramar and Jackson out into the hallway and to the elevator.

  “What, Tramar?” Ayana asked. “What is it?” She could see the look of seriousness they hadn’t had before they left. Going to see Sharli’s friend Damon must have changed everything.

  “Just wait till we get into the parking lot,” Tramar said softly.

  They rolled the elevator down to the ground floor and quickly rushed out into the back parking lot. Out by Tramar and Jackson’s cars, they talked.

  “What happened, Tramar?” Ayana asked, tired of feeling as if she was being purposely left out. “What happened?”

  “Calm down, Ayana,” Tramar said, rubbing her shoulders. “We went and hooked up with the Damon dude. And, well, we found out what I think we need to know.”

  “What, Tramar? What?” Ayana asked. “Y’all ain’t go and cause no problem for Sharli, did y’all? Please tell me that y’all ain’t go and do nothin’ stupid.”

  Tramar glanced at Jackson before he explained what had all happened. Once he saw the look on Ayana’s face, he knew he needed to start being a little more forceful. “Look,” he said, “I don’t know who the fuck side you supposed to be on or who the fuck you call yourself worrying about, but you really think that that nigga was just going to give us the information that we needed and shit just like that, huh? Ayana? You really think that? We ain’t have no choice but to go ahead and get what we needed out of him before we got to askin’ questions and the little nigga ran and told or something. That’s how we got led to the house. And, like I said with the photo and stuff, Ayana, I really feel like my daddy and stepmother is in there. Swear to God, something about it when we rolled by told me that they in there. Something about it was like it would be the perfect place to keep somebody and nobody have a fuckin’ idea.”

  Ayana could feel a little tear swell up in her left eye. She wiped it away quickly, not wanting to show that she was feeling any sort of weakness. When she looked back at Tramar, she saw in his eyes that he wholeheartedly believed in what he was saying. There was no doubt about it. Ayana gave in, saying, “Okay, so you want me to stay here and watch Quan while y’all go get your daddy and stepmother back?”

  Tramar smiled, thanking God and the heavens above for sending him a chick that would really be at his side when he needed one to be there and holding him down. “Could you, Ayana?” he asked. “I mean, I really feel like they up in there. There is just too many coincidences for me to really not believe that this Byron nigga ain’t keepin’ my family in his granny’s old house.”

  “Well, you do what you have to, Tramar,” Ayana. “I’m just tired of you leavin’ and thinkin’ that you might not be comin’ back.”

  “Baby, listen,” Tramar moved in closer to Ayana. “I know how you feelin’. I do. I’mma come back tonight, I promise. I’ve come back every time, ain’t I?”

  Ayana imagined a standoff between Tramar and the Chicago Police Department. Sure, things hadn’t gotten that far yet, but there could always be a first time. Tramar interrupted her thoughts by kissing her big lips and grabbing a handful of her ass. “I promise,” he added.

  Ayana finally calmed down and accepted that if Tramar thought it was a safe bet to getting his family back, then she needed to go ahead and go with his gut instincts. They’d never led them wrong before.

  Tramar grabbed Jackson’s attention who had been standing off to the side while he and Ayana had their moment together. When Jackson came walking back up, Tramar looked at him. “Okay, nigga,” he said. “She gon’ stay here with my son while we go get my daddy and stepmother back. I know they in there, man. I’m telling you. I can feel it.”

  “Okay, but there’s just one thing I thought of while I was lettin’ y’all do the cuddle thing and shit,” Jackson said. “I think we should ride by Byron’s house out north first. If we can see any signs of him being there, then we go back to his old granny’s house. That will at least tell us that he won’t be there. I was thinkin’ more about them dudes that we saw walkin’ in there.”

  “Yeah, what about’em?” Tramar asked. “Do you think you know the niggas or somethin’?”

  “Naw, I don’t think I know them,” Jackson said. “But I was thinkin’ that maybe them niggas be doin’ Byron’s dirty work for him and shit. I mean, I can almost guarantee you that he ain’t run up in your dad’s house on his own and take your family.”

  Tramar shook his head. “You right,” he said. “He had to have help do some shit like that.”

  “Exactly,” Jackson said. “And I bet you them two niggas is the help. You saw
the way they was walkin’, like they ain’t got shit to do or nothin’ but wait on orders. I bet you that they the niggas that he got doin’ his dirty work for him and shit.”

  “Bet,” Tramar said, kissing Ayana one more time. “Go ahead and get back up to the room. We will hit you up when we on our way back, Ayana. I promise. We won’t be gone that long.”

  While Ayana was reluctant to do so, she forced herself to turn around and head back into the hotel. She glanced out of the door for a moment before getting onto the elevator. When Tramar saw his woman disappear onto the elevator, he turned and looked at Jackson. “All right, nigga,” he said, feeling pumped. “Let’s go do this shit.”

  The two of them then hopped into the car. They pulled out of the parking lot and made their way to the highway. As they drove down the interstate, Jackson pulled out half of a blunt and smiled. “Nigga, we might as well smoke this shit before shit get crazy,” he said.

  Tramar pulled out a lighter and agreed, taking the blunt and lighting it. For the next several minutes, they relaxed as they drove up to Byron’s house in the northern suburbs of Chicago. After sitting down the block for several minutes and seeing lights turn on and off with what looked like movement in the upstairs windows, they looked at one another.

  “He in there,” Jackson said.

  “Fuck, I wanna go kill this nigga right fuckin’ now,” Tramar said.

  “No, wait,” Jackson said. “Let’s make sure we get your family and shit back first. Once we do, then we can get this nigga. ‘Cause if your family ain’t in that house and shit where we bout to go, then we still gon have to work our way back to him to find them.” He paused. “Let’s just not burn all of our bridges before we are sure we not gon need them to cross over.”

  “Good point,” Tramar said. “Now, let’s head back into the city and do this shit.”

  ***

  While Ayana’s mother, Neeci, knew that she loved her daughter as much as any mother in the world loved their child, she couldn’t deny that she liked having the apartment to herself. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she felt it was owed to her to have the apartment to herself. She’d raised that girl and had done everything in the world she could do to make sure that she had a halfway decent life. If Ayana couldn’t be grateful for that, then she would just have to learn how life was on her own.

  Since it was Saturday night, Neeci had made it a point to have one of her friends over. She hadn’t been out of the house much since the fight that went down out in the hallway with one of her neighbors. The funny thing was she hadn’t even seen the chick since all of that happened. With her face still bruised up a little, she knew she wasn’t going to be brave enough to go out to a club and try to bring somebody home. Instead, Neeci poured herself a nice glass of wine. She sat on the couch and scrolled through her phone.

  “Kevin,” Neeci said, smiling as she thought about the ex-football player. “And that nigga got a big ole juicy dick. Let me see what he up to.”

  Neeci sent Kevin a text message, simply asking him what was up. Within minutes, he sent a text back asking who this was that was messaging him. Neeci laughed, knowing that Kevin probably needed only a little reminder of who she was. With that thought, she scrolled through her pictures and found the picture she’d taken a few weeks ago in the bathroom in front of the mirror. Her ass looked extra ample in that picture, so much so that she knew it would jog Kevin’s memory. She attached the picture to a text message and waited.

  A couple of minutes passed before Kevin had come to his senses and realized who it was. From that point on, his messages to Neeci were back and forth, and the deeper into the conversation they got, the nastier and more sexualized the text messages became. Neeci laughed to herself, knowing how much she loved the attention of a man. Within ten minutes, Neeci had Kevin agreeing to come through once he’d left one of his friend’s houses over in Gary. Neeci told him to just text her when he was near and she would be waiting, and maybe ready to surprise him.

  Neeci dimmed the lights for a moment, as she knew she’d be waiting at least a good hour for Kevin to finish up in Gary and be over. No sooner than she got comfortable on her couch, there was a loud knock at her door. Quickly, Neeci jumped up. She grabbed her phone, seeing if maybe Kevin had messaged her and maybe her phone hadn’t gone off. It wasn’t him. She’d only been off of the phone with him for the better part of ten minutes, after all.

  “Who is it?” Neeci called, practically yelling. She marched over to her front door, wondering who would be dropping by her house at this hour on a Saturday night. She looked through the peephole and saw two men, one black and the other one white, dressed in professional clothing. She knew it had to be something serious. Without questioning, Neeci opened the door. She was greeted by two Chicago Police Department detective badges held out in her direction.

  “Yes?” Neeci asked, a little confused. “How may I help you?”

  “Is this still the residence of an Ayana Stone?” the black detective asked.

  Neeci felt her heart sink. She feared the worst. She thought that maybe something had happened to Ayana, something terrible. The mother brought herself back together to hear whatever the detectives were about to say. “Yes, it is,” she said, pushing the words out of the pit of her stomach. “Yes, this is the residence of Ayana Stone. Why, may I ask? I’m her mother.”

  “Is Ayana home right now?” the white detective, who reminded Neeci of a more mature version of Ashton Kutcher, asked. “We need to speak with her.”

  Neeci opened her door a little wider. “Well, actually,” she explained, “we got into it and I told her little ass that she could leave if she ain’t wanna live here and respect me.”

  The black detective peeked into the apartment. “Do you mind if we have a look around and then discuss this?” he asked.

  Neeci pressed her lips together. She knew that she could say no to such a request, but saying no could wind up making the situation even worse. Being nice and courteous, she opened the door and allowed the detectives to come in and peek inside of the various rooms inside of the apartment. Once they finished, they returned to the living room to speak with Neeci.

  “So, you said you and your daughter had a falling out about something?” the white detective asked. “Do you mind if we ask about what?”

  “I do, actually,” Neeci said, not wanting to go into too much detail about her own daughter being intimidated by her mother when it came to men. “May I ask, what the hell is going on? What is this about?”

  The two detectives looked at one another before turning back to Neeci. “Ma’am, you really don’t know what’s been going one with your daughter’s boyfriend, Tramar, do you?” he asked.

  Neeci shook her head, looking very concerned. “No, I do not,” she responded. “Why? What is going on? This is starting to get a little scary, detectives. Please, tell me what is going on.”

  The white detective stepped back to allow the black detective to take the lead. “Ma’am, your daughter’s boyfriend, Tramar, is suspected in the robbing of two banks in the last two days,” he said. “One of the banks is located downtown while the other one is in Indiana. We suspect that he may be connected to a third bank that was robbed by a Jackson Miller because these two men fit the same description of the men who robbed the bank downtown together.”

  Neeci covered her mouth and shook her head, not wanting to believe what she was hearing. “Are you serious?” she asked.

  “And, Ma’am,” the black officer said. “There’s more. At the bank this Tramar robbed in Indiana, he shot and killed the security guard. He is also wanted on murder charges.”

  Neeci suddenly began to feel dizzy. She wasn’t worried about Tramar and his friend Jackson so much as she was worried about her daughter. She really hoped that Ayana hadn’t gone out and gotten mixed up in this situation. There was still a chance that she didn’t know anything about it. When Neeci snapped out of her moment of panic, she tried her hardest to focus on what the det
ectives were saying.

  “Oh my God,” Neeci said. “I can’t believe what you’re telling me.”

  “Ma’am, are you sure that you don’t know anything about this?” the white detective asked.

  Neeci picked up on the accusatory tone in the white detective’s voice. It did not come across as the least bit flattering to her, either. “What the fuck are you try’na say, detective?” she asked. “You really think that I had something to do with this shit? Do you, huh? I’m just as shocked as any parent would be. Can’t you see the look on my face?”

  The white detective stepped back out into the hallway as the black detective stepped in closer to Neeci. She could not help but notice how good-looking he was in the face. She then looked down at how his body filled out in the suit. She smiled into the detective’s serious face. “Ma’am,” he said, “are you sure you don’t know where your daughter could be staying? The local authorities are starting to think that maybe she was the getaway driver with these robberies. But the only way that we’ll be able to clear her name is to actually talk to her and get a statement from her.”

  “I told you,” Neeci said. “Me and that little girl had a falling out, and I told her that if she wanted to leave my house, there was the door. I told you, I ain’t even heard from her in a couple days. How I’m supposed to know where she at?”

  “Okay,” the black detective said. He pulled a card out of his pocket and handed it to Neeci. “Ma’am, we’re going to advise that if you hear from your daughter, you urge her to come down to the police station rather than have the police looking for her. Trust me, it will be a lot easier for her if she does that, all right? Please, will you take my card?”

  Neeci took the card and said goodbye to the officers. When she closed her door and locked it, peeping out into the hallway, she leaned against the door. She simply couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. Hearing that her daughter’s boyfriend was a suspect in robbing banks both in Chicago and in Indiana was just out of this world. Once Neeci comprehended what was said and realized that she hadn’t fallen asleep and had some sort of crazy dream, she rushed over to the couch. She grabbed her phone, knowing that her daughter’s number would be the first number she’d call. Neeci just had to know what was going on, and if Ayana had anything to do with what the detectives were saying.