The Mark

by Kiki Swinson

  “Hi, Trevor.”

  Quincy turned around in his seat. “So whatcha been doing since we dropped you off last night?” he questioned me. He seemed overly excited that I was in his company.

  “I went out for a few hours this morning. Saw a few things that I needed to see and then I came back to the hotel.”

  “So you did get a chance to see your grandmother?” Quincy asked.

  “No, I didn’t.”

  “Have you at least called her?”

  “Listen, Quincy, I’m not here to see my grandmother. I’m here because my boyfriend came to New York, took my newborn baby, and brought him here to Virginia. So I’m here to get my baby back from him and go back to New York.”

  “Are you serious?” Quincy blurted out. His facial expression changed drastically.

  “Yo, that’s fucked up!” Trevor interjected. His facial expression wasn’t as dramatic as Quincy’s.

  “Why don’t you call the police?” Quincy suggested.

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “What, y’all got joint custody or something?” Trevor asked.

  To avoid telling these guys the truth, I went along with the joint custody story because it sounded more plausible than for me to say that my baby was being held by my ex-boyfriend for ransom. Besides that, they wouldn’t be able to wrap their minds around the fact that I was a bona fide white-collar criminal and I’d just lost my husband in a murder behind a score I did a year ago. These guys were babies. They were wet behind the ears, so they wouldn’t understand if I told them that my ex-boyfriend was a sociopath and that he’d kill them just for being around me. I also knew that I couldn’t tell them that type of information because I needed them to help me get my baby back. I figured that as long as they believed it was a custody issue with Matt, then they’d feel like they could handle it. But then I thought to myself, what if they helped me and we found out that my baby was in fact dead? That would be a devastating blow to me as well as them, and it would change the dynamic of this entire scenario. So I needed to be careful with everything I did around these guys. It was the only way.

  “So where are we going?” Trevor asked.

  “To Huntersville,” I told him.

  “Where is that?” he asked aloud.

  “It’s a run-down neighborhood in Norfolk.”

  “Is it off Church Street?” Quincy asked.

  “Yep, that’s the one,” I confirmed.

  “To Church Street we go,” Trevor announced, and then he sped out of the parking lot of the hotel.

  “Slow down, man,” Quincy whined.

  “You can’t take this horsepower, huh?” Trevor joked.

  “Just slow down. We want to make the ride to Huntersville as peaceful as possible,” Quincy instructed Trevor.

  I sat in the backseat and stared out the back window. I couldn’t get my mind off my baby. I hoped and prayed that he was really still alive. I mean, he had to be. Matt didn’t leave him in the hotel room after he killed Derek. So where else could my baby be? He had to be alive and he had to be with Matt. I felt it in my gut.

  “Are you okay back there?” Quincy wanted to know.

  “Yes, I’m fine.”

  “Thought about what you’re gonna do once you see your ex-boyfriend?” Quincy’s questions continued.

  “Good question. I was about to ask her the same thing,” Trevor chimed in.

  “I’m just gonna ask him for my baby,” I replied nonchalantly.

  “Do you think that’s going to work?” Quincy asked.

  “I don’t know. But we’ll find out.”

  “Does he hang around a lot of guys?” Trevor chimed back in.

  “Yes, he does. But don’t worry, you guys are going to be fine,” I lied, hoping that nothing jumped off during our surveillance.

  “Is he like violent?” Trevor asked.

  “Yeah, is he in a gang or something?”

  “No, he’s not in a gang. And the guys that he hangs around with are simply just his friends he grew up with. I told you that you guys are going to be fine.”

  “Well, I hope so. I would hate to have to jump out of my Jeep and pistol-whip somebody.”

  “Oh, shut up, Trevor! You don’t even own a gun.”

  “So what!? She didn’t have to know that. Now you got her thinking that I’m some type of fraud!”

  “Listen, you guys. I don’t want you to do anything. I don’t even want you getting out of the car. I will deal with my ex on my own when I see him.”

  “But what if he tries to put his hands on you?” Quincy shot the next question at me.

  “He’s not,” I lied.

  “Have you thought about what you’re gonna do if he doesn’t give you your baby back?” Trevor asked. I could see him looking at me through the rearview mirror.

  “Yes, I’ve thought about it.”

  “So what’s your plan?” Quincy chimed back in.

  “Let me just try to get my baby back first. Now, if he wants to start acting crazy, then we’ll go to plan B.”

  “What’s plan B?” Trevor asked.

  “When we cross that bridge, I’ll let you know,” I told them both, and then I turned my focus to the cars and buildings we passed by.

  * * *

  For ten minutes, we rode in total silence. That all ended when Trevor made a right turn onto Church Street. We were officially in the Huntersville neighborhood. My mind started racing while a massive amount of fear crept into my heart. My palms started sweating profusely. I rubbed them across my pant leg to alleviate some of the wetness. It felt like I was about to have a panic attack. “Make a right turn on the next street and drive until I tell you to stop,” I instructed Trevor while I shook my head left to right, trying to get my thoughts together. Thinking about getting caught out here during the day was making me too weak-minded to carry out the mission I had at hand. I gave myself a quick pep talk. You can’t get weak now Lauren. Stay on point. I felt slightly better and then it was time for me to instruct Trevor on his next move.

  As instructed Trevor turned onto the next street, which was A Avenue, and as soon as I got within a bird’s-eye view of the duplex, I zoomed in. This time around there was no one in sight. None of the guys who were standing in front of the house earlier were there. This blow hit me hard. “Fuck!” I roared, and hit the back of Quincy’s seat.

  Startled, Trevor looked back at me and said, “Yo, you all right?”

  “Yeah, what happened?” Quincy interjected.

  “There’s no one standing outside. They’re all gone.”

  “Who are you talking about?” Quincy asked.

  “The guys who hang out with my ex.”

  “Which house is it?” Trevor chimed in.

  “The duplex on the right?”

  “Hey, wait, I see two people sitting in the car parked in front of the house,” Trevor announced as he drove toward it.

  I tried to zoom in on the car parked in front of the duplex. I couldn’t see anything because it was too dark outside.

  “Can you see if it’s a man or woman?” I wanted to know.

  “No, I can only see the backs of their heads,” Trevor said.

  “Yeah, me too,” said Quincy.

  “They’re getting ready to leave. The driver just put their feet on the brake light,” Quincy continued.

  “Trevor, slow down so they can go before you,” I instructed.

  Trevor slowed down his Jeep just in time for the car to pull out in front of them. “What kind of car is that?” I wondered aloud.

  “It looks like a brand-new Maxima.”

  “Nah, that’s a Nissan Ultima,” Quincy corrected.

  I sat on the edge of the backseat. “Look, I don’t care what kind of car it is, just follow it.”

  “What if they notice that I’m following them?” Trevor sounded skeptical.

  “They won’t if you stay back far enough.”

  “Are you sure about this?”

  “Look, Trev, stop being a little
bitch and do like she said,” Quincy scolded Trevor.

  “A’ight, but if my Jeep gets shot up, then I’m putting all of this shit on you. You’re going to take the weight when my parents ask me what happened to my truck.”

  “Trevor, calm down. No one is going to shoot up your Jeep. Just listen to me and I promise that everything will be fine,” I assured him.

  “Well, I’m telling you right now, if those people in that car noticed that we are following them, I’m gonna back off and go in another direction,” Trevor warned.

  “Would you stop the whining, please?” Quincy joked.

  “Fuck you, man!” Trevor snapped.

  Quincy chuckled. “You know, I’ve never seen you so freaked out before. This is hilarious!”

  “Please be quiet so I can concentrate.”

  “You heard her, you little drama queen. Stop bitching!”

  Before Trevor could make another comment, I became alarmed and said, “Shhh, why are they stopping?”

  “I don’t know,” Trevor answered.

  “Want him to go around them?” Quincy suggested.

  “We are on a one-way street, Einstein, and they are in the middle of it, so I couldn’t go around them even if I wanted to,” Trevor acknowledged.

  “Shhh, you guys! They are moving again,” I blurted out.

  “Do you still want me to follow them?” Trevor wanted to know.

  “Yes, but take your time. We cannot let on that they are being followed,” I said.

  Nervously, Trevor continued to follow the car in front of us. Thankfully, there were a lot of one-way streets in this neighborhood, so tailing a car for a few blocks really wouldn’t seem obvious to someone who knew this area. But then again, when you’re a crook and you have a long list of people you’ve fucked over, you’re going to always look over your shoulder.

  We ended up following the car to the next street over, which was Lexington Avenue. The car pulled right up in front of Matt’s uncle’s gambling spot. An alarm set off in my head. I knew Trevor couldn’t pull the Jeep over and park, because it would seem really obvious that we were following them, so I instructed Trevor to keep driving, but to slow down as we passed the car so I could try to get a look at the people inside.

  Trevor followed my instructions to a T. But I wasn’t prepared when the passenger-side door opened at the same time as the Jeep and the car were side by side. I gasped when their interior car light showed me the face of the guy who took my fucking money. I quickly turned my face in the opposite direction just in case he could see inside the Jeep. As soon as the Jeep passed him, I quickly looked out the back window and noticed there was a woman in the driver’s seat. I couldn’t see if I recognized her because the interior light of the car turned off immediately after Matt’s flunky closed the passenger-side door.

  “Is that him?” Quincy asked me.

  “No, that’s not him. But this guy knows where my ex is,” I replied as I watched the guy walk up to Matt’s uncle’s place. Before he was able to knock on the door, someone opened it and let him inside. I couldn’t see who the person was, but from the silhouette radiating from the light coming from inside the house, I could tell that it was a guy.

  “We’re coming to a stop sign, do you want me to make a turn or keep straight?” Trevor asked.

  “Circle back around the block,” I told him.

  “Are you going to knock on the door?” Quincy inquired.

  “No.”

  “But what if your ex is in there?” Quincy asked.

  “When I confront my ex, I wanna be in an open environment. Not behind closed doors,” I explained. But I wasn’t telling the truth. I couldn’t tell them the truth because I knew that they couldn’t handle it. So I continued to play the victim-of-domestic-abuse ex-girlfriend trying to get my baby back. Saying anything other than that would be suicide to my mission to murder Matt’s ass and take my baby back.

  After Trevor circled the block, I instructed him to park his Jeep seven houses before Matt’s uncle’s house. I got him to park behind a white utility van. This spot was perfect because the van was larger than the Jeep, so we were hidden very well.

  “Trevor, you may wanna turn your Jeep off.”

  “Nah, I’m sorry. I’m not doing that. Not in this fucking neighborhood. We already look like sitting ducks out this bitch,” Trevor replied sarcastically. It seemed like his attitude went from jovial and carefree to that of a madman. He even snapped on Quincy after Quincy told him to apologize for cursing at me. “Come on, Trevor, don’t talk to her like that. She’s only trying to make moves so she can figure out a way to get her fucking baby back,” Quincy said, jumping to my defense.

  “I understand all of that. But do you see where we’re at?” Trevor started off.

  Quincy jumped to my defense once again. “Yeah, I see where we at. But that doesn’t give you the right to talk to her like that. We’re dealing with an asshole, so you can’t blame her if she wants to be careful.”

  “Well, I’m trying to figure out why she won’t call the cops and let them deal with it.”

  “Didn’t she say they were having some custody issues?”

  “She can tell us anything.”

  “Look, Trevor, I don’t know what you’re insinuating, but I do know that whatever it is, it’s just a figment of your imagination. You really and truly don’t know shit about me so keep your comments to yourself. Now, it’s quite obvious that you don’t want to be out here, and I understand your position. But acting out like you’re doing now is not helping the situation. So you can just take me back to the hotel. I’ll deal with my ex later,” I told him.

  “I thought you’d never ask,” Trevor said, and then he put his clutch in first gear. He sped off down a one-way street in an instant. We were out of the Huntersville neighborhood in less than thirty seconds. As badly as I wanted to stay out there and watch Matt’s uncle’s spot for any traces of Matt’s whereabouts, I knew I couldn’t do it while I was with Quincy’s friend Trevor. This guy was acting like a pure bitch! I couldn’t believe it. When I met him yesterday, he was cool as hell. But tonight he showed me a different side of him. A side I wouldn’t tolerate under normal circumstances. The next day I was gonna head back out there to Huntersville and do my own surveillance. And it was going to be on my own terms.

  Trevor and Quincy argued the entire ride back to my hotel. I had already had a headache from the drama looming over my head. So to be in the middle of these two clowns fussing over me was a little more than I could handle. “You fucked up my entire night,” Quincy argued.

  “And I’m the one who fucked it up, huh?” Trevor asked sarcastically.

  “You fucking right, Trev. The way you talk to her was foul, homie,” Quincy replied.

  “Yo, dude, did you see where the fuck we were? We were scoping out a house in the hood. Do you know what could’ve happened to us if one of those guys out there saw us and decided that they wanted to rob us?” Trevor pointed out.

  “Man, let’s just kill it right there because you’re exaggerating.”

  “I’m not exaggerating. Do you watch the news? The crime rate in Norfolk is at an all-time high. Niggas is getting robbed every day. So who do you think will be next?” Trevor continued to make his point.

  “Yo, Trev, I’m done with the conversation. You’re being a dickhead and you’re really not making any sense right now,” Quincy said, and then he fell silent.

  Trevor rambled on a little bit more. But when he realized that no one was going to keep feeding into his antics, he ended up closing his mouth. I was glad of that. The old me would’ve told that nigga to kiss my ass. But I was in a different headspace right then. I had bigger fish to fry so in the end, he would not have been worth the argument.

  The moment Trevor stopped his Jeep in the hotel parking lot, I got out of the backseat without saying a word. I closed the door and headed toward the entryway of the hotel. I heard the car door slam behind me as I entered into the hotel lobby. “Hey, Chantel, wa
it a minute,” Quincy said.

  I stopped and turned around. “What’s up?” I asked nonchalantly. And even though it wasn’t his fault, that his friend acted like an asshole, I was still a little frustrated with him being in my presence. He noticed it.

  “Look, I’m so sorry that my friend acted like that toward you,” Quincy apologized.

  “Don’t worry about it. It’s okay. I knew I shouldn’t have taken you guys out there anyway. I knew it was a bad move from the start. So technically, I gotta take the blame for this,” I pointed out.

  “Nah, is not your fault. It’s that nigga’s fault and I’m going to talk to him about it again as soon as I get back into the Jeep,” Quincy assured me.

  “Listen, Quincy, you don’t have to do that. You said enough on the way here. So I’m good. I made a bad judgment call, and I paid for it. So that’s it. End of story,” I told him, and then I tapped his arm. “I’m gonna go to my room now. Call me tomorrow,” I continued, and then I walked off.

  “A’ight. But make sure you answer your phone,” he yelled.

  “I will,” I replied. I heard my voice echo as I continued toward the elevator.

  9

  WHAT THE F*@K JUST HAPPENED?

  When I thought I was this close to finding out where my baby was, a fucking monkey wrench got thrown in the freaking mix. I couldn’t believe how Quincy’s friend snapped on me like he did. I swear, I was so close to taking my pistol out and scaring his ass with it. Fucking punk! Got me out there looking for my baby, but then in the middle of things, he pulled the plug on me. Was this guy on drugs or something? Whatever issues he was dealing with, I hoped he got help for it. Because if he ever tried some bullshit like that again, I was gonna shove the barrel of my gun down his throat until he choked on it. Fucking bastard!

  I found the elevator and took it to my floor, and as soon as I walked off, I bumped into the same freaking security guard from the night before. He looked me straight in the eye. “How you doing?” he asked me.

  “I’m just great. And you?” I politely asked, knowing full well that I wasn’t feeling him snooping around on my fucking floor. I knew he was the security guard and he was supposed to patrol the inside and the outside of the hotel, but this constantly bumping into me had to stop. Better yet, let’s call it stalking because in my opinion that’s what that nigga was doing.