Introduction To Hard 2 Da Kore (Hard2daKore Book 1)

by Mike Middleton

“Oh, so now first you like me, and now you love me? If you love me so much, then tell me where the fuck you was at on Saturday!? Now let’s see how much you love me!” I yelled angrily as I crossed my arms and leaned calmly against the refrigerator.

  She looked confused for a second then replied. “Saturday? This past Saturday? I went to the mall with Lisa.” She explained. “Oh yeah, so where do you be gettin’ the money for all those clothes and leather jackets and boots n’ shit that you been buyin’ lately huh!?” I asked agitatedly. “I got that money from my father and you can ask Lisa if we went to the mall on Saturday or not, she’ll tell you!” She yelled back at me.

  “Iight, we’ll see!” I said as I walked over to the couch, picked up the telephone, pressed redial, and then put the phone to my ear. Sinnimin began to look agitated as the telephone rang. I covered the telephone with my hand. “Oh yeah, so what mall did yall go to again?” I asked. She looked angry now. “I don’t believe you’re actin’ like this, are you sayin’ I’m lying?” She asked and then tried to grab the phone out of my hand. I moved the telephone away from her then put it back to my ear and listened.

  “Hello Lisa? Hi this is Korey, could you hold on for a second.” I commanded as she angrily looked on. “What mall yall went to Sinni?” I asked again as I held the phone to my ear. Sinnimin stormed out of the living room and into the bedroom. I couldn’t believe what was happening. She’s cold busted. “I’m sorry never mind Lisa.” I said, then hung up the telephone and went into the bedroom behind her.When I opened the bedroom door she was packing some of her clothes into one of her suitcases. I walked inside and closed the door behind me slowly.

  “You know Korey, you really buggin’ the fuck out right now! How you gonna call my friend and put her all in my business like that!? You know you actin’ like a real little boy right now, you callin’ me a liar ‘n shit! Just because you lost your job, you don’t have to take out your little frustrations and insecurities out on me. I’m going to stay with my mother for a while until you calm your ass down a little! No! Until you calm yo ass down a lot because you buggin’ for real!” She yelled as she continued to pack some of her things.

  “Oh, I’m buggin’ now huh? Well you might as well pack all of your shit then cause if you think that you gonna play me the fuck out you gotta be motherfuckin’ crazy!” I replied loudly. “Play you out!? What the hell are you talking about Korey? How am I tryin’ to play you out!? Whoever told you whatever last night at that battle got you in here buggin’ out for real right now Korey!” She screamed. “Now Sinni, you gonna stand right here and...” I paused for a few seconds before I asked her. “Who is Jamar?” I asked calmly as I looked into her eyes.

  She paused, as if she really had to try to remember who Jamar was, and then said. “Jamar? I don’t know any Jamar.” She replied, trying to look all confused and what not. I grabbed my forehead with my hand and shook my head. I could not believe that she just said what the fuck she just said, and right in my face while lookin’ me dead in my eyes. She’s a fuckin’ liar.

  “Yousa motherfuckin’ liar!” I heard you on the phone with Lisa talkin’ about how you went shoppin’ with that nigga Jamal, and how he know all about me, and all that bullshit, any you probably fuckin’ this nigga too you fuckin’ bitch!” I snapped out of anger and rushed over to her, then backed off to hear what she had to say. “What the fuck is wrong with you!? What the fuck did I do to you to deserver this shit!?” I yelled. Sinnimin stared silently at me. I guess she knew that she was busted.

  “You know what? Fuck you Korey! You goin’ all crazy n’ shit like nobody can’t have no friends and what not! I know you got female friends out there! I don’t know what the hell you be doin’ when you hang out with your friends, so you might as well cut out the fuckin’ good guy act ‘cause none of yall niggas ain’t no good anyway! And just because I got male friends that don’t mean I’m fuckin’ them!” She screamed as she pulled away from me. “Yo, how the fuck you not fuckin’ a nigga if he buyin’ you all kinds of mafuckin’ clothes and you goin’ on trips to the Poconos with this mafucker, huh!? Do I look that fuckin’ stupid to you!?” I yelled loudly.

  Sinnimin continued to pack her things. “Well, you don’t take me places like that anymore! I’m gettin’ tired of that dinner and a movie shit, all my girlfriend’s men take them shopping and give them money all the time!” She snapped. “That’s because all of your girlfriend’s men be out there on the corner sellin’ that shit out there that’s killin’ our people! Shit, excuse me if I don’t make enough money to buy you the finest shit, but I don’t sell drugs I fix cars! Maybe you need to get a job and stop lying around here being so fuckin’ lazy!” I yelled in digusted.

  “Lazy!? Who you callin’ lazy!? Shit nigga I was makin’ more money than you when I was working, and I needed me a little break anyway! Maybe you need another job. I want somebody to take care of me sometimes!” She began to look sad as she spoke. “Look Korey, maybe we made a mistake when we started going together.” She said sadly. I began to calm down as I listened to her speak. “I do love you, but it’s like we’re not going anywhere, were just stuck in this hood struggling our asses off.” She said.

  “But Sinnimin, after all these years we’ve been together, you mean to tell me that some nigga just gonna pop up, flash some money, buy you some things and you ready to throw me away just like that?” I asked. I felt like crying because I knew that after this, things would never be the same between us. Sinnimin must’ve sensed the pain in my heart that she caused because she began to cry.

  “I don’t know Korey, I’m just not happy anymore, It’s like I want more than what you have to offer right now.” She sobbed. I felt like someone was sucking all of the air out of my body and my head started spinning, so I grabbed my face and dropped my head. Our whole relationship just flashed through my mind. If I would’ve known that this was gonna happen on the day I got fired. I would have just stayed in bed this morning. I slowly looked up at Sinnimin who was already staring sadly at me.

  “Goodbye Korey.” She said with tears in her eyes and grabbed the bags she had packed and walked out of the bedroom, down the hallway, and out of the apartment.

  20 THE TRACY TRUESDALE CHRONICLES

  (Tracy)

  I took a fews days off from work and stayed at Jackie’s place. Rome and the police suggested I not go back home yet. A killer or killers were still walking the streets and we didn’t know if I was a target or not. The police determined that Sadique was killed at some other location and his body was dumped at a graveyard a few blocks from where his mom lived. He had been shot at close range in his head and there were cigarette burns all over his face, body, his jaw was broken in three places, his index finger was cut off. Sadique suffered a lot, God bless his soul. I thought as I picked up his belongings and made funeral arrangements.

  I was still conteplating if I was going to put Sadique’s baby name in the obituary. How could I claim a son that he didn’t, but let the truth be told that he did claim his son, he made me him the executor of his estate and his property was to be divided between me, his mother and his son. I was beginning to see that Sadique was leading a double life. When everything finally sank in I had agreed to speak with Carmen about her dealing with my man. Carmen told me that she and Sadique had been involved for about 2 years. She said at first she only worked for him. She’d answer his business phone, held money for him and made most of his travel arrangements. Carmen showed me pictures of her, Sadique, and the baby. They almost looked like a real family. She said he gave her $500 a week for child support and that was without State intervention.

  She knew very little about his friends. I asked her about the thugs that we saw that day we went to the morgue. She said they were drug dealers and that she suspected may have worked with or for him. She finally told me that Sadique dealt drugs, and lots of it. You name it, he sold it. She knew a lot of things about Saqique that he never told me. For one, she told me his death had to be drug related and tha
t she didn’t know who but he was involved with some real major players, way bigger than those corner boys that we saw on the street that day. She knew he was planning something big for a few weeks because he would often say stuff like after this big move he was going AWOL, but she wasn’t sure what that meant. She never met any of his associcates but she did hear him mention someone’s name the other day on the phone.

  “Fuck Cee!” Was what she said that she heard him say and then hung up the phone. She said that he was real pissed off after that and started mumbling that he was getting ready for the big pay back. “I never questioned anything that Sadique did or said, that was the one thing he said he loved about me.” She confessed. “Damn that hurt.” I thought to myself. Sadique also had another apartment near the projects, a house across town, and a night club in his father’s name. I began to wonder if she’d ever met Sadique’s father, because I never did. Sadique used to tell me that his dad was like a ghost to him, what ever that meant. I could tell that whatever Sadique and Carmen had goin on it meant a lot to him, and she must’ve meant a lot to him too because he trusted her with more secrets than he did with me. That hurt even more than him saying that he loved her.

  Come to find out Sadique had five more cars parked in the garages at his houses and a custom made Bentley at that. There were secret overseas bank accounts, keys to places that I knew nothing about and I even found three social security cards in his name with different numbers in a safe box hidden in his closet. “Now how did he get this off?” I asked myself aloud. After checking his phone records and credit cards I found out he did a lot of overnight out of town traveling to Atlanta, Calfornia, Chicago, Detroit and even Arizona. Now who the hell did he know in Arizona? I asked myself. I found out he had a brownstone renovated in Brooklyn with a rooftop gazebo, sunken bathtubs, expensive antiques and priceless African Art.

  He was living large and so was the chick that lived there with him. Every phone number I dialed a female answered, so I stopped calling the numbers because I was getting disgusted. Don’t get me wrong I should have known, but I travel a lot too sometimes and Sadique knew that I did when he first met me, but now I’m getting ready to bury my man, and at the same time I want him to come back so bad. Not just because I loved, but so I could kick his fuckin’ ass. I found two one way airline tickets to Brazil maybe they were for us. The tickets were still open.

  He was planning something, but the question is who did plan them with? I didn’t know what to believe now. There were so many questions I needed answers to. Rome and Jackie both agreed we would meet up tonight and discuss the case. Jackie said she would bring her friend that was a cop along too. Detective Johnson was going to be the first person on my list today. I called him and asked him to meet me for lunch. He told me he didn’t have the time so I got dressed and decided to pay him a visit. I stopped by the deli and picked him up a pastrami sandwich, a small container of orange juice and a few donuts. Now what cop didn’t like a pastrami sandwich, or better yet, donuts? I thought as I pulled up to the precinct and went inside. I walked into the precinct and immediately noticed my old friend Reggie Harris.

  “Hey Reg what’s up? I heard you joined the force.” I said. “Heyyyy, what’s up rabbit?” I read your articles all the time. You look great, you still runnin’ hard like back in College?” He asked as he smiled at me. “I’m aka Rabbit because I’m just that fast, Collgate Women’s Games 100 yard dash 4 years in a row. No braggin, just fact. Anyway, it’s good seeing you.” I chuckled back. “Dang girl I don’t get a hug.” He said as he walked over to me and rapped his big long arms around me. Now he asked for a hug but what I got from him felt more like a tackle. He had to be at least 6’5 and cocky as hell. “How’s Jackie!” He asked excitedly, I knew that was coming. “Is she still single”? He smiled and smirked. “She’s fine and yes she is, oh im sorry she did meet a guy that she was seeing kind of regularly.” I answered. I had to cover my girl’s back real quick because I know that she’s not beat for no big, tall, small time beat walking cop. “What you doing down here, you didn’t do something wrong did you?” He asked?

  “Nooo silly I’m looking for Detective Johnson, do you know him?” I answered. “That depends, is it business or pleasure? He asked?” Reggie always had a little bit of jerk in him. I can see why Jackie dumped him. I shot him a dirty look and never answered his question. I guess he got the hint. “Straight down the hall. He answered. “Hey, and tell Jackie I asked about her ok?” He asked. “Ok, sure will and thanks. Good seeing you again Reggie.” Yeah, right. I thought to myself we’ll laugh about your simple ass tonight. It’s been ten years since she dumped you. Get over it bud. I approached a young lady sitting at a desk typing. “Can I help you miss?” She asked.

  “No thank you, I see who I’m looking for.” I said as I walked over to Detective Johnson’s desk. He was more attractive than I realized. “Excuse me, Detective Johnson?” I said “Yes.” He stated without ever looking up. “I brought you some lunch.” I said in a sexy voice. “Oh, Ms. Truesdale, how can I help you?” He asked, seeming somewhat startled. “You can call me Tracy.” I said. “Well, then you can call me Devon, please have a seat.” He said earnestly. I thanked him and then sat in the chair across from him. “I know that you are a busy man so I don’t want to waste too much of your time, but I wondering if you had any leads on my boyfriend’s Sadique’s death yet?” “Yes, Sadique Parr?” He asked as he stared sadly at me. “How are you doing Ms. Trues, I’m sorry Tracy? How have you been holding up?” He asked sincerely.

  “I’m making it. Some good news from you might cheer me up a little though. Do you have anything yet?” I asked. “The ballistics test should be back in the morning.” He answered. His tone became quite impersonal. “I also have a couple of question I need answered if you don’t mind?” He said. “Ok, that’s why I’m here.” I said. “We know Mr. Parr was last seen with a perp we’ve been watching for months. We think he may have knowledge of the crime, but we don’t want to bring him in for questioning yet without any substantial evidence. He’s kind of a major player and we don’t want to bring him in and rattle any bigger fish.” He said.

  “Why wouldn’t you and what makes you think there are other players or bigger fish?” I asked. “Ms. Truesdale, I’m sorry, Tracy I really can’t go into any details right now.” He explained. “O.k, give me a name? Maybe it would ring a bell.” I asked him. “Tracy, now you know I can’t do that either. Especially to you, you’re a reporter if you didn’t know.” He chuckled. “You need let us handle this matter before you wind up getting yourself in trouble. From the information that we have from our informants and our officers under cover these are very dangerous people. Now I shouldn’t even be sharing this type of information with you, but we suspect that Sadique took some drugs and money that didn’t belong to him, and someone wanted their stuff back. This is completely off the record too Tracy.

  “Ok, off the record. You can’t be serious?” I asked. “What makes you think its drug related?” I added, knowing that it was but I can’t let him know that I know. “We’re almost positive it had something to do with drugs.”Det. Johnson gave me a look of skepticism, as if I had to know about Sadique’s drug dealing. “Tracy, how well would you say you knew Sadique? Did you ever question how he made a living?” Det Johnson was beginning to work my nerves. I just spent the last couple of days beating myself up, asking myself some of the same questions. I was never the one to allow anyone to beat me up emotionally. “Det Johnson, SHUT THE FUCK UP AND TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK YOU KNOW!” Is what I wanted to scream.

  “No Detective.” I answered. I need to keep a good rapore with him, but I don’t want him to think I’m crazy as hell either or even a suspect. I know how these cops think. “I didn’t mean to offend you Tracy, let me start over. My informants revealed that Sadique should have delivered a street value of 2 1/2 million dollars worth of coke to a client of his, but the drugs never made it to its final destination. Did you know we also found ten thousand
dollars in cash stuffed in his underwear? So whoever killed him didn’t do it for money.” He revealed to me. “So you don’t think it was a message of some sort?

  I asked puzzled. We believe Sadique’s own people killed him and the ten thousand in cash, we think it was a present from his killers to pay for his funeral expense or something. It’s almost like saying, yeah we killed you, and here’s some money to take along with you.” He said “What’s makes you think that?” I asked? “There was a note attached to the cash.” He whispered. “What did it say?” I asked. “It said, THIS IS TO HELP YOU BURY THIS BITCH ASS NIGGA…..BOO.”

  “Well who do you think they were talking about when they said Boo, me, Carmen, who?” I asked.

  Detective Johnson ignored my question as he shuffled through some papers. “How can you know so much and haven’t arrested anyone?” I asked. “It’s not that simple Tracy. One of our agents has been working under cover with this particular organization for quite a few years. Chasing these guys are like chasing ghosts. We’ve worked too hard to start arresting people without probable cause because there’s not enough evidence yet, so we can’t risk messing up our whole operation for just one bust.”

  I knew what he was going to say, but I’m glad he didn’t. It was evident that Det. Johnson was not a fan of Sadique and could care less about finding his killer. Detective Johnson seemed to have bigger fish to fry. Sadique was just the tip of the iceberg. We both got quite for a minute. “You’re a pretty determined young lady.” He stated. I did a little home work on you myself, turns out you’re one of the best news writers around town. A few of the guys around here mentioned that they’ve worked with you. And besides, your boss Jerome is an old frat brother of mine. He told me that I would be seeing you again. It’s funny we never met.” He added.

  “I’m going to have to get to the bottom of this detective, so are you friend or foe? Since you know so much about me, then you should know how serious I am and how I gets down for my profession.” I said. Detective Johnson stared at me silently. “The name is Cee.” He whispered. “And from what we know he was Sadique’s partner, sometimes, we think. My informant mentioned that name the other day.” I told him. “Oh, so now you have informants also? What else did she tell you?” He asked. “What makes you think it’s a she? I asked. Because, besides Cee, it seems that he only hung around women. I have his cell records and documentation of most of his travel arrangements, even matchbooks from different hotels and restaurants receipts.” I told him. I’ll turn them over to you and anything else you need but you have to agree to let me in.” I negotiated. “Can I ask you a personal question?” He asked looking seriously concerned.