Goodfellas

by Carl Weber

  “Bingo!” She smiled, looking at all of the skinny disk cases.

  Her hand sifted through them. They all had writing on them; not just writing, dates. She didn’t stop until she found the date she was looking for. November twenty-ninth. She took the disk from its case and slid it under her dress. It was tight enough to hold it in place. She closed the drawers back and tried to put everything back to the way it was before she had entered. She exited the room faster than what she hoped Jayden expected. Stepping as silently as she could, Lee Lee went to grab her clutch from the table, and then made her way back to the elevator. Just as she hoped, Jayden was still busy in the kitchen and didn’t even notice her resurface. She held her breath when she pressed the elevator button, happy that it did not make a noise when the doors opened. She rushed inside, and once the doors were shut, she took the disk from inside her dress and put it in her clutch. Her chest hurt because she didn’t take another breath until she was back on the first floor.

  Trying her best to walk normal, Lee Lee walked through the doors and avoided the eye contact of the bouncers guarding the door. But that didn’t mean that she didn’t hear their snickers. They probably thought Jayden had slept with her and told her to get ghost.

  Fuck what they think. Find Faye!

  She hurriedly searched the entire club, feverishly looking for her friend when finally she spotted her in the distance sitting down at the table with the bartender from earlier. She had a big smile on her face and looked like she was actually enjoying herself. It was almost as if she forgot why they were really there.

  “Faye! Girl, I’ve been looking all over for you!”

  Faye’s head snapped in the direction of her voice. At first, Faye’s eyes fished around her, but when they didn’t find what they were looking for, they went back to Lee Lee.

  “I’ve been with Quez this whole time.”

  “Oh well, I hate to cut your night short, but my sitter just called me and said that Jaymar won’t stop crying. I need to go get him.”

  Lee Lee just wanted to get out of there before Jayden realized that she was gone. There were no words to explain why she had left so quickly. They had to get out of there before they were caught red-handed, and she hoped Faye was catching her drift.

  “I’m sorry, Quez, I have to go. I’m her ride.”

  Lee Lee waited for the two of them to exchange numbers, and as soon as Faye was on her feet, she took off toward the exit.

  “Lee Lee, what the hell happened in there? You were gone with that man for hours—and why is your hair sweated out?” Faye asked once they were inside of her cold car.

  “I did what I had to do,” Lee Lee said. Her heart was pounding so loudly that she swore she heard it in her ears. “Now, please, can you turn some heat on and drive off before Jayden tries to find me?”

  “Not until you tell me what you did!”

  Lee Lee reached into her chain link purse and pulled out a disk. Holding it up so Faye could see it, she could make out something scribbled on the front of it. It was a date, the same day that her mother was murdered. Lee Lee had gotten the video footage. She gasped once she realized what it was.

  “Fuck, Lee Lee . . .”

  “Drive.”

  That time, Faye did as she was told and turned the key in the ignition of her brand-new white Chrysler 300. She sped away from the club and headed back to Lee Lee’s apartment complex. Lee Lee could see Faye’s hands shaking, and when they were finally safely inside of her home, her friend could hardly wait to put the disk in the DVD player.

  Jaymar was staying over at her sister’s house for the night, so they had the entire two bedrooms to themselves. Faye flicked the TV on with Lee Lee’s remote, and the two of them sat on the queen-sized bed watching the screen.

  Faye had to fast-forward through a lot of footage to get to the part where Chrishelle could be seen. The video didn’t have any sound, but Chrishelle’s face was visible as she waited outside of the club. She was at one of the side doors, and they watched her knock a few times before the door finally opened. If the camera had been angled a little more to the right, they would have been able to see who opened the door, but unless that person stepped outside, he would forever be a mystery.

  When Chrishelle disappeared inside, Faye fast-forwarded it again and saw that her mom was inside for a little over fifteen minutes before she came back out. The difference between her when she walked in versus when she walked out was that now she had a briefcase in her hands. She turned her head behind her to say something to the person in the doorway, but what happened next was almost too much to watch. As she stood with her face turned to the door, she didn’t even see the man in the hoodie behind her sneak up.

  The man had something in his hands that looked like a bat, a metal bat. He struck her one time in the back of her head, and she dropped instantly. Tears welled up in Lee Lee’s eyes as she watched Chrishelle lying on the ground with blood leaking from her head. Her body was still jerking when the person who had been standing in the doorway finally stepped outside. Lee Lee and Faye gasped because he was somebody they both recognized.

  In the video, he said something to the man with the bat before reaching into his pocket to hand him a big wad of cash. After snatching the money, the man ran off screen, leaving the dying woman alone with the person who had set her up.

  He just stood there for a second, watching her twitch and jerk. It was almost as if he was getting . . . pleasure by seeing her that way. He did not help her, and he was not going to. Instead, he spit on her body and kicked her hard in the ribs.

  “Oh, Mama.” Faye’s voice shook, and she stopped the video as the man went to kick her again. She couldn’t watch anymore. “Her last real feeling was pain. They killed her. They killed my mama. All because of me. I’m going to kill them all. She didn’t deserve to die like that.”

  “That c-can’t be Jayden,” Lee Lee heard herself say. “It can’t be. It has to be the other one.”

  She was referring to the man in the video who had opened the side door. It was obvious that Chrishelle had been set up, but Lee Lee couldn’t see Jayden doing that sort of thing. It didn’t seem like his character . . . but then again, she didn’t really know anything about him.

  “And you know that how? They’re identical, and for all we know, the other one could have been in the doorway out of camera shot.”

  “It just doesn’t seem like something he would do. That was a setup.”

  “Just because you let him run all up in you doesn’t mean you know him,” Faye exclaimed. “Think with your head and not your pussy! Just because he gave you some money doesn’t mean he cares about you. Niggas like that throw money away like it’s garbage.”

  She popped the DVD out of the player and stormed out of the apartment.

  Chapter 9

  Faye

  “Ahhhhhhhhhh!”

  Faye’s high-pitched scream filled her car, and she banged on the steering wheel with her fists. She hadn’t driven off yet because she couldn’t see clearly. Tears covered her whole face, and she sobbed uncontrollably. She had finally gotten what she was looking for, but she had not been prepared to see what was on the disk. She couldn’t get the image of her mother’s body twitching on the ground out of her mind. Nor could she remove the face of the person who’d done it to Chrishelle. It was her face, well, almost her face. She couldn’t tell which brother it was just by the video, but just like she told Lee Lee, they both had to go down now.

  “Mama, you didn’t deserve this,” she said, putting her hands over her face and dropping her forehead to the steering wheel. “Why did they take you away from me? You should have just left me where you found me; then none of this would have ever happened.”

  No regret.

  The thought that came to her was in her mother’s voice. It was a phrase that she often used, but it meant the most one particular time. As she sniffled and rocked back and forth, Faye spiraled into a sea of her own memories.

  “It’s not m
uch, but it’s my home.”

  Chrishelle had just unlocked the door to her apartment and swung the door open so that Regret could walk through. For Chrishelle, it might have been “not much,” but to Regret, the quaint two-bedroom apartment was everything. It was fully furnished and even had a china cabinet in the living room.

  “Your room is down the hallway,” Chrishelle pointed. “Go on and look. I’ll bring your bag back.”

  Regret didn’t need to be told twice. She zoomed down the hallway and stopped abruptly when she got to the room down the hall. She spun in a circle, taking in the sight. It was amazing. She had a big bed, bigger than the one at the orphanage. There was a desk with many new notebooks stacked up awaiting someone to make the first mark, and a cup of writing utensils next to it. On the ground was a colorful rug that matched the comforter on the bed, and when she turned her head to the closet, she saw that it was full of clothes. New clothes, not hand-me-downs, and she only knew that because everything still had the tags on them.

  “Do you like it?”

  Chrishelle’s voice snuck up on her, but Regret didn’t jump. Chrishelle set the suitcase she had lugged in on the ground and put her hands on her hips. Regret had a look of wonder on her face, and she waited for the girl to speak. She didn’t; she was silent as a mime.

  “Honey, is something wrong? I knew I shouldn’t have gotten this dang rug. It’s too bright, isn’t it? We can go back tomorrow and pick one out that you like.”

  “No,” Regret shook her head and looked up at Chrishelle. “No, everything is fine. I-I’ve never had a room that I’ve liked so much.”

  “Well, then, what’s wrong?”

  “Are you sure that you want me to live with you? Are you going to take me back?”

  Her question weighed down on Chrishelle’s heart. That explained why Regret had been so quiet on the drive home. She was afraid to get too comfortable. Everybody else had taken her back, so what would make Chrishelle any different? Chrishelle took Regret by the hand and motioned for her to have a seat on the bed. When she spoke, her voice was soft, because her words were coming straight from her heart.

  “Look, honey, since the first day I met you, I knew you were special. You are smart, kind, and beautiful in every way. There is no way that I would ever take you back so somebody else can have all of your goodness. Never.”

  “What about your own daughter? What if she wants to come back?”

  “Carmen? Please. That girl is eighteen now. I love her with all my might, but sometimes that still isn’t enough to make someone love you back the way you wished they did.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means that Carmen always blamed me for the fact that her daddy left us.”

  “Well, was it your fault?”

  “No,” Chrishelle sighed. “I don’t think so, anyway. He was just always on the move. There was always some fun he’d rather be having. There were always other women. I mean, maybe we could have worked it out if I wasn’t so prudish back then. The woman I am now he would love, but back then, I guess I just wasn’t enough.”

  “No,” Regret squeezed Chrishelle’s hand in hers. “You were enough, but a rib can’t fit into the body of the wrong man. It doesn’t matter what you could have done or would have done differently; if he didn’t see you, then he doesn’t deserve you at any time.”

  Chrishelle was speechless at the wisdom spewing from the mouth of a child. She blinked her eyes when she felt them moisten and pulled Regret closer to her.

  “I’m never taking you back. I love you, do you know that?”

  “I mean you have to; looks like you’re stuck with me!”

  “You’re right! You give me faith in this world,” she laughed, and then stopped as if something had just dawned on her. “That’s it. Faith!”

  “Huh?” Regret asked and leaned back to look at Chrishelle. She wore a confused look on her face. “Faith?”

  “Yes, Faith. Look, Regret, I was thinking about your name the other night. And, well . . . How would you feel about changing it?”

  “To Faith?”

  “Yes, or whatever you like. But from now on out, we are going to live life with no regrets, and the first step is getting rid of that name. You are not a regret to me or anyone else around you.”

  “I was to my real parents.”

  “And that is their loss. You will never be a regret to me. So what do you say?”

  Regret pondered over Chrishelle’s words for a few moments. She, of course, wanted to change her name; she’d always wanted to. However, she did not like the name Faith. It didn’t fit her, at least not at that time.

  “What’s your middle name, Chrishelle?”

  “Mine? It’s Tamia.”

  “OK, well, I don’t like the name Faith,” Regret said and put her hands up when Chrishelle made a face. “I’m sorry! It’s just not for me. But I do like the name Faye Tamia . . . Jackson.”

  Chrishelle’s entire face softened when she heard what Regret wanted to change her name to. She knew after the first day that she spent with the girl that she filled a piece in her heart that had been void for so long. It only took three visits for her to sign up as her foster parent. But in that moment, she knew she would be looking to sign official adoption papers.

  “All right, then,” she approved. “Faye it is. From here on out, that is your name. Now, do me a favor and try on the clothes in that closet. I need to know if they fit because if not, I need to exchange them. How do you feel about starting public school?”

  Faye sniffled herself back to reality. She wiped all of the tears from her face, but she could feel how puffy her eyes had gotten. The memories she had of Chrishelle were so vivid it felt like she could run up to their old apartment and see her in the kitchen making dinner.

  After she began staying with Chrishelle, it took some time to adjust to the change of having the life of a normal kid. She started public school and got into many scuffles with other kids, but Chrishelle was always there for her. Even when she was wrong, Chrishelle would be in the principal’s office defending her. She was there to take care of all of Faye’s bruises, even when the bruise was inside. When Faye began to call her “Mom,” it was natural, because that’s who she was. The love Faye had for her was unconditional, and when she entered her life, Faye couldn’t imagine living without her.

  Now she had to.

  She sighed and swallowed hard. Her thoughts went back to Lee Lee, and her teeth clenched. Maybe she had been too hard on her. None of what was going on was her fault, and Faye shouldn’t have yelled at her and stormed out like that. She’d risked her life to get Faye the information that was needed, and, although it was an unpleasant viewing, Faye had expected it. She still didn’t even know what Lee Lee did to get the disk or ask her if she made sure there were no—

  “Cameras. Shit!”

  Before she knew it, Faye was out of the car and back in the building outside of Lee Lee’s apartment. She knocked on the chipped brown door until Lee Lee came to it. In the time that Faye was gone, Lee Lee had completely changed clothes. She was in a comfortable Victoria’s Secret sweat set and had a scarf over her braids. Faye noticed that her shoes were on, and so was her coat.

  “Were you going somewhere?”

  “Yea,” Lee Lee said, cocking her head. “Outside to check on your ass. I’ve was watching you through my window. I wanted to make sure you were oka—”

  Before she finished, Faye threw her arms around her, and Lee Lee didn’t hesitate to give her some love back.

  “I’m sorry, girl. This shit just ain’t easy. I still have so many questions.”

  “I know. This shit is just sick.”

  When they pulled away from each other, Lee Lee stepped back to grant Faye access, and she walked back into the apartment. That time, the two women posted up in the living room.

  “I just want to know why,” Faye said. “Why not just give her the money? Does Greyson hate me that much?”

  “You gon’ call t
he detective?”

  “No,” Faye said, feeling her anger start to boil. “He could have easily gotten the video if he was really trying. I don’t trust him.”

  “He probably is crooked.”

  “Exactly,” Faye agreed. “Greyson is a powerful man.”

  “So what are you going to do?”

  “Exactly what my mama wanted to do, plus tax. I don’t want to be here anymore, Lee Lee. I bought a house, and whenever I’m in it, I feel so empty. So alone. I have a nice new car, but whenever I drive it, I feel like I don’t have a real destination. So, I’m going to finish the task, get the money, and get ghost. But before I leave, I’m going to burn Greyson Vincent’s entire operation to the ground.”

  “How?”

  “What apartment number did you say you think his sons are trapping out of?”

  “Apartment 205.”

  Faye pulled her phone out of the clutch she hadn’t set down. It was the first time the whole night that she’d checked her phone. She saw that the time read just after three in the morning and that she had a few missed calls from Carmen. She knew she was not going to return them, so she erased all three messages that were left for her.

  “What are you about to do?” Lee Lee asked, but Faye had already dialed the three digits.

  “Nine-one-one, please state your emergency,” a young woman’s voice answered the phone.

  “Hi, yes, my name is Mable.” Faye tried her best to make her voice sound meek like an elderly woman’s. “Yea. I live over here in the Kings Court apartments in Bed-Stuy, and I can’t sleep. Them boys is upstairs making all that damn noise again, and I just heard a gun go off! I’m frightened for my life. They have been bringing drugs and all kinds of ungodly things into that apartment.”

  “You said the Kings Court apartment?”