Senator Reeves was informed of the arrival of the package, but was not allowed to open it. The Secret Service agents that guarded his house twenty-four seven opened it instead. The three agents covered their noses when they finally tore open the box, revealing two rotting human fingers. After lab tests were performed, Senator Reeves was informed that the two fingers in the box indeed belonged to his daughter, Amber. Mrs. Reeves fainted. There was also a note inside, and he knew just who it was from.
It was no time before the story hit the media. More pressure came from above for Deidre to find the girl, or at least her body.
“Bernard!” a female voice boomed. Bernard ignored his wife and stared at himself in the large vanity mirror in his luxury bathroom. He raised his service weapon to his head and squeezed his eyes shut. “Bang! Bang! Bang!” The loud knocks on the door startled him and interrupted his action.
“Bernard, baby, your breakfast is getting cold. C’mon and eat,” his wife yelled through the door.
Bernard looked down at his hands that were shaking uncontrollably. He could still see the girl’s blood all over them. Tears fell from his eyes like large raindrops, soaking his silk tie.
“Bernard Baker, do you hear me talking to you?” his wife yelled again, playfully.
Bernard placed his gun in his waist holster and wiped his face dry. He didn’t have the heart to kill himself in his own home. He knew his wife and kids would never be able to get over it if he did it that way. He’d done enough damage. “I’m coming, baby,” he replied, adjusting his clothes.
His wife was the only thing saving him at this point. His involvement with Ricky Blum was causing him to lose his mind. He was also worried about Deidre. Bernard realized that he was partly responsible for her being in danger. Money had changed his life for the worst, and he didn’t like it. Bernard felt that there was one thing he had to do before he officially got out of the game. He looked at himself in the mirror one more time. It’s your job to save Aponte’s life, he murmured to himself, walking towards the bathroom door.
“It’s about time you came out. You take longer than me to get ready,” his wife joked, grabbing him for a hug.
Bernard returned her embrace, closing his eyes, hiding the tears that threatened to fall from the corners.
VOLUME 14: THE SNITCH
“A’ight, DeeDee. It’s time to do business again,” Chastity said. Tori and Leticia looked on.
Deidre pulled out a small black bag and handed it to Chastity, who, in turn, handed it over to Leticia. Tori rolled her eyes at being left out. “It’s all here,” Leticia said a few minutes later.
“Tori, pass DeeDee the stuff,” Chastity commanded. She still wasn’t taking any chances yet. If anything were being taped, they wouldn’t have DeeDee making any deals directly. That was how mistrustful Chastity really was. Just DeeDee’s mere presence at the deal made her just as guilty. Tori huffed and puffed as she obeyed Chastity’s command.
Deidre opened the small duffel bag and peered inside at the tiny bags filled with pills and crystal meth. Her thighs trembled against the wire taped to her leg. Now that she had procured several pieces of evidence against the F.A.B., she still needed to find out about the girl. “Thanks. This looks good,” Deidre said as she re-zipped the bag.
“Looks good? That’s the shit right there!” Leticia said, bopping her head.
“DeeDee, do me a favor. Test that meth out,” Chastity said calmly, biting on her pinky nail.
“What?” Deidre asked, her eyes growing wide. They’d never asked her to use the product before. She instantly became sick to her stomach.
“You never verify if our shit is legit. Why is that?” Chastity asked, raising her eyebrows.
Deidre instantly knew what she was getting at. “Yo, Chazz, I been dealing with ya’ll for a minute. I mean, there is some kind of trust between us, right?” Deidre replied, trying to think of a way to get out of the situation. Getting high undercover was a sure way to get pulled off the case. She didn’t want to do that; not before she found Amber Reeves and made a name for herself.
“Just try it. We want you to know what you gettin’,” Loca said, standing up in front of Deidre.
“I never get high on my own supply,” Deidre remarked, looking at all three girls.
“Here. This is my supply,” Chastity came back, shoving a small piece of foil filled with methamphetamine towards Deidre. “Tori, tell her how it’s done,” Chastity smirked derisively and looked over at Tori.
Deidre’s heart raced and her palms dripped with sweat. She balled up her toes inside her shoes, hoping she could find a way out of the situation.
“What, bitch?” Tori screamed, her eyes hooding over.
Suddenly laughter filled the room. Chastity and Leticia couldn’t hold back their enjoyment. Tori stood up and stormed out of the room.
“What the fuck is up with this ho’?” Leticia asked, looking over at Chastity, feigning confusion.
“Ask her. Tell ’em why you mad, son. Tell em’ why you mad,” Chastity said mockingly, sounding like the mad rapper. Everyone laughed, including Deidre.
“I used to love those skits; ‘Tell ’em why you mad, son!’ ” Leticia repeated.
Deidre was happy to see that almost everyone was in a good mood. They had all quickly forgotten about Deidre “testing” out the product. While the girls were distracted, she dumped the drugs onto the floor and mixed them into the carpet with her shoe. No one even noticed. Since the mood was so light, she decided it was time to broach the subject about Amber Reeves.
“Yo, did ya’ll hear about that New York senator’s daughter?” she asked. The room fell silent.
“Nah. What about her?” Chastity asked seriously, looking over at Leticia as if to say, “Keep your mouth shut!”
“She went missing a while back. Now somebody sent two of her fingers to the Senator,” Deidre recited as planned.
“Word? That’s some real gangsta shit! That bastard-ass senator is probably crooked as a motherfucker, that’s why,” Leticia commented.
Chastity remained silent. She gave Deidre a strange look and kept staring at her.
Deidre immediately grew uncomfortable. “A’ight, well, I gotta go. I’ll holla,” she said, standing up to leave. She didn’t want to stick around and seem desperate.
“DeeDee, I been meaning to talk to you about something,” Chastity said dryly, leaning forward in her chair.
“Wasup?” Deidre replied, her mouth pasty. Damn, I hope she doesn’t ask me to get high again, she thought to herself.
“I think you’ve proven yourself. You bring back good returns. I wanna go into business together,” Chastity offered, getting straight to the point.
Deidre smiled inside, but kept a poker face on. They trusted her. “Under what terms?” she asked.
“You work for me, I’ll give you sixty percent off whatever you bring in. You won’t have to get any product from me anymore,” Chastity laid her offer out.
Leticia raised her eyebrows but remained silent. Is she serious? Sixty percent is more than me and Tori get, and we’re her partners, Leticia thought to herself, tapping her foot under the table.
“Let me get rid of this supply, talk to my boys down south and get back to you,” Deidre replied, playing hard to get. Seeming too eager was a sure way to make them suspicious.
“A’ight. Do what you gotta do, but this offer ain’t gonna be around forever,” Chastity said.
As soon as she made it to her car, she called Ferguson. “I did it! I made the deal on wire, and I got them to offer me a job inside of their clique!” Deidre relayed, excitedly. “. . . No, still nothing about the girl,” Deidre said, her mood changing.
Ferguson agreed to meet her at their usual spot to retrieve the evidence.
“So, Aponte, you’re doing well,” Ferguson commented, taking the drugs from Deidre.
“Yeah, they trust me now,” Deidre said, proud of her accomplishments.
“You need to dig deeper. You need
to pressure them into letting you know who they get their drugs from,” Ferguson urged, seemingly unpleased with Deidre’s progress.
“That’s impossible. The other girls don’t even know. Only Chastity and her brother go to those meetings. If I ask them that, I’ll blow my cover for sure,” Deidre griped.
“Do it,” Ferguson said calmly, standing on her words.
“Did you hear what the fuck I said! I could get killed! Besides, I need to find out about Amber Reeves!” Deidre said heatedly.
“These orders came from headquarters. You need to get in deeper,” Ferguson continued, unmoved by Deidre’s words.
“Fuck headquarters!” Deidre screamed, storming off. She was going to do things her way.
“Aponte, I’m serious! You need to go deeper!” Ferguson shouted at Deidre’s back.
Deidre made more deals with the F.A.B., which proved lucrative for the girls, and she finally agreed to work for them. They were really feeling Deidre at this point. She had not found any signs that they had anything to do with Amber’s disappearance. She had been with them almost every day since she’d gone under. In fact, she had become really close with all of them in one way or another—especially Chastity and R.J. Deidre began to regard them as family. She’d missed more than one meeting with Ferguson, and most days she didn’t wear her wire or document her dealings with the F.A.B. In her mind, most of the time she was a part of the F.A.B. and not the FBI
“What about this one?” Chastity asked, turning to Deidre.
“Yeah, that one is hot,” Deidre commented about the Louis Vuitton duffel bag.
“A’ight, I’ll take three,” Chastity told the lady inside the Louis Vuitton store. The lady arched her eyebrows and opened her eyes wide in surprise. “That’s right, I said three: one for me, and one for each of my girls,” Chastity demanded ostentatiously.
“What about Tori?” Leticia asked.
“She ain’t here, so she don’t get shit!” Chastity spat. She hadn’t let anyone know what she knew about Tori and Officer Duke. She had her own plans for the deceitful couple.
“Yo, Chazz, you know she had to go to Family Court today. Why you bugging?” Leticia asked, confused. Leticia was also growing tired of Chastity’s omnipotent behavior.
“Too bad!” Chastity said coldly.
Deidre just remained silent. She didn’t know what to make of Chastity’s behavior towards Tori.
“Let’s go to Neiman’s now,” Chastity sang, beaming a bright smile. When she was angry or upset, shopping was the only cure. Besides, she never let anyone see her sweat.
The girls shopped until they were ready to drop.
Deidre went home with a Louie duffel bag, six pairs of high-end shoes, a platinum and sapphire David Yurman cuff bracelet, and enough crystal meth to put Chastity behind bars for life.
“Your Honor, I think it is preposterous that you’re asking my client to take a drug test when she has never had any drug allegations against her!” Tori’s lawyer sputtered indignantly.
“Your Honor, there have been several allegations of drug use, and it is also alleged that the mother sells drugs as well,” the state’s attorney interjected.
“Coral, you bitch! I know this is all your fault!” Tori screamed, her body trembling. She looked horrible. Her weave tracks needed to be redone, her nails were in serious need of a refill, and her eyes were bloodshot from staying up the entire night getting high. She had recently graduated from pills to snorting meth, and it showed. If it weren’t for the expensive clothes she rocked, she would’ve looked just like a street junkie.
“Order!” the judge yelled, banging her gavel. “Ms. Banks, you will submit to a drug test immediately! This court is adjourned!”
Tori’s legs felt weak as she left the courthouse. She knew that if she took a drug test, she would never get Akayla back. She had racked her brain trying to figure out how Coral and the foster care worker were finding out her every move. Her mind raced with ways to get her baby back. At first, she contemplated waiting for Coral outside the court, jumping her, taking Akayla and going on the run. But Coral was hardly ever alone, so that wouldn’t work. Suddenly, something popped into Tori’s muddled head; the NYPD detective that had approached her a few weeks earlier . . .
“Mommy loves her baby,” Tori said, struggling to hold on to her wriggling baby girl. The baby clearly didn’t want her to touch her, but Tori wasn’t giving up that easy. Deidre sat on the couch inside the foster care agency looking on sadly. Tori had called Deidre that morning and asked her to come along on the visit for moral support. That’s how close Deidre had gotten to the F.A.B.
“Okay, Ms. Banks the visitation is up,” the foster care worker announced.
“Just give me a few more minutes,” Tori implored.
“We’ve gotta go. You’ll see her in two weeks,” Coral said dryly.
Tori didn’t respond. She had been warned that if she ever caused a scene at the agency again, her visits would be suspended.
“Bye, baby! I’m your Mommy, and you will know it,” Tori said, kissing Akayla on the head.
The baby screamed and held her arms out for Coral, which broke Tori’s heart. Tori began sobbing. Even Deidre was on the verge of tears. Without looking back, they both rushed out of the agency doors.
“Ms. Banks?” a short bald white man called out.
Tori and Deidre turned around in response. The man was dressed in a white T-shirt, old faded jeans and dirty sneakers—NYPD street gear. He also had a red wristband on his left wrist, which must’ve been the color of the day.
“Who are you?” Tori inquired, wiping her face.
“My name is John. I want to talk to you about your baby,” the man said, extending his hand for a shake.
“What? Who the fuck are you?” Tori screamed suspiciously. Deidre moved closer to Tori.
“I am someone who can help you. I know what Coral has been doing to you,” the man said, appealing to Tori’s emotions.
“Look, she ain’t in no condition to be fucked with,” Deidre said, taking up for her friend. She knew right away the man was a cop. She could immediately spot when white cops tried to dress down like they were part of the civilian population. They always gave themselves away by wearing dirty ass sneakers. Besides that, the man was wearing a wristband signaling the color of the day so other cops would recognize him if need be.
“Tori, I can help you get that beautiful baby back. Let me talk to you alone without your mouthpiece,” the man continued indignantly, ignoring Deidre.
Deidre shifted her weight from one foot to the other impatiently. She didn’t want the local cops anywhere near the
F.A.B. while she was under with them. “DeeDee, go wait for me at the car. Let me see what he is talking about,” Tori instructed, her mind on Akayla. “Tori, think about this. He don’t know you!” Deidre barked, trying to appeal to Tori’s logical mind. “Look, just go wait in the car!” Tori snarled right back, shooing Deidre away.
Deidre was surprised at how easily the man had influenced Tori. Nonetheless, she obeyed Tori’s wishes, sulking away and heading towards the car.
“Tori, I’m John. I wanna offer you some help. But I need your help,” the man began, finally having Tori to himself.
He laid out his offer, and Tori lost it. “Fuck you! I ain’t no snitch, you fucking pig! How dare you!” Tori screamed after she heard his offer.
“Suit yourself. It’s your baby we’re talking about here.
This is my card just in case you change your mind,” the man said, sliding his card into Tori’s bag before she stormed off.
Returning to the car, Tori didn’t tell Deidre what had happened, nor did Deidre ask.
Tori never told Chastity and Leticia about John Schmidt, the detective who offered to help her get Akayla back if she turned on her crew. Initially, Tori had told him to go fuck himself, but after what had just happened in court, the offer didn’t seem so bad. She was desperate to touch her baby girl. Akayla was all she had lef
t in the world besides her girls, and she was sick of Chastity treating her like a redheaded stepchild. She felt she should be the one going to the meetings with the connect, and more importantly, she felt she should be part owner of the Candy Shop as well. Chastity had taken sixty percent of everything sold at the Candy Shop, but it was Tori who introduced Chastity to Amber Reeves in the first place.
Tori bit into her bottom lip and gritted her teeth. “Fucking bitch! It’s all her fault I don’t have my baby!” she grumbled under her breath as she left the Family Court building.
After leaving the courthouse, Tori stood in front of the Marriott in downtown Brooklyn, opened her purse, unfolded a small foil package, and quickly and furtively inhaled the powdery substance. She knew that her drug habit was getting progressively worse, but it was all she could do to ease the pain she felt. Digging further into her handbag, she pulled out the detective’s card, and dialed on her cell phone.
“Hello, is Detective Schmidt there?” Tori inquired. Without waiting for an affirmative response, she continued on. “This is Tori Banks. I’m ready to do business,” she said through tears. She didn’t even think twice before placing the call. The drugs had her mind, and Akayla had her heart. Nothing else mattered. Just like that, she became a snitch.
VOLUME 15: THE RE-OPENING
Deidre posed in front of the full-length mirror hanging on the back of her bathroom door. “Hm-m-m-m, not bad if I say so myself,” she commented to herself aloud about the black and purple John Galiano dress Chastity had purchased for her earlier that day. Although everyone made their own money, Chastity seemed to take pride in buying them all outfits for special events. Deidre peeped Chastity’s control issues, but took the gifts in lieu of refusing them so she wouldn’t be perceived as disrespectful. Sliding the dress down over her hips, she took it off.
“Next!” she said, looking over at her bed, which was full of clothes.
“B-z-z-z-z! Ri-i-n-n-ng!” Both of Deidre’s cell phones began ringing simultaneously. She’d assigned each a different ringer so she would know when to be “Deidre” or “DeeDee” when she answered each one. “Shit!” she mumbled, racing over to the nightstand. This had never happened to her before. Instinctively, she picked up her undercover phone first and looked at the caller I.D. It was R.J. Before answering it, she peered down at her private cell phone. It was Ricky.
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