by Meta Smith
“But, God, someone needs to squash that roach already. She’s hanging on, I’ll give her that. But she can’t hang on forever. Not with her injuries. And even if she lives, the reporters said she’ll probably never walk again. Who’s gonna love that body when it’s stuck in a wheelchair? Huh? Who’s gonna take care of you when you can’t fuck for a living? Huh? Nobody, that’s who!” Leilani got off the couch and danced around the room.
“Ding-dong, the bitch is almost dead,” she sang as she skipped about. “I’ve directed my first masterpiece!” she screamed.
“I would like to thank God, the Academy, and, of course, you all the fans, for making this possible.” Leilani blew kisses to an invisible audience seated in her living room.
“I mean, honestly, this is a classic! I had the perfect sound track, thanks to Titanium Records. I had an A-list cast. The set was beautiful. And, of course, there was my vision. This couldn’t help but be a classic. No one believes in quality anymore. No one has any creativity. Everyone wants to sample or remake something. There’s no originality. Everyone wants to get paid off of what someone else made. They want the story to end in ninety minutes or less, with everything neatly wrapped in a bow. But this is real life. Real life is messy. Real life isn’t fair. Real life is a young starlet gunned down on the biggest night of her life. Real life keeps right on going and going and going...”
Leilani watched intently as the reporter told of the reward and showed footage of the shooter, the man she hired, setting off a blinding flash and shooting into the crowd. The journalist had been an accident, but Leilani always reasoned that accidents happened. She wasn’t worried, though. All Asians looked alike, didn’t they? Besides, Ling Bai, her hired assassin, had boarded a plane to another job the night of the shooting. Who knew where he was by now?
Hiring Ling Bai hadn’t been easy or cheap. Leilani had to procure his services through her cousin Mike Hong, a member of a deadly and feared Asian gang in Los Angeles. But it was well worth the effort and the expense; soon Dez would be out of the way permanently, and Leilani was going to get away with murder.
Soon she’d contact Sparks and offer her sympathy. If she didn’t, she might look suspicious. There had been the incident with the knife, which she truly regretted. She hadn’t been thinking dearly and had lost her cool. But everything would turn out just fine. Sparks had been a fool to let her go without pressing charges. Did he actually think she would just forget about it? He could have gotten a restraining order, and then she would have gotten in trouble for contacting him. But he just wanted to make the incident and her disappear, so she got off with a warning. His haste had made it easier for her to manipulate her way back into his heart and his life. He’d be weak and vulnerable and consumed with grief. It would take a while to make him come around. But Leilani was confident that she could manage it. It would be the perfect ending....
“BENTLEY, HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEWS?” GINGER ASKED HIM.
Bentley was holding Dez’s hand, talking to her softly, as he had been doing during the entire ordeal.
“Yeah, I saw it. I was just telling my baby that we were gonna find the person who did this to her. Then we’re going to get married and have a family. So you’ve got to pull through, Dez. I want to marry you.” Bentley remained optimistic that if he continued to communicate with her, she would respond.
“Bro. I know you don’t want to leave her side, but can we talk to you?
Ginger and I have a theory of our own,” Sparks said.
“You can say it in front of my baby. I’m not leaving her. Anything could happen,” Bentley said adamantly.
“Okay. It’s fine.” Ginger felt for Bentley. It was obvious through his devotion that he truly loved Dez. “We can talk here.”
Sparks cut right to the chase. “We think Leilani is behind the shooting.”
“Why? We already know she’s crazy. But is she that crazy?” Bentley was doubtful.
“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Leilani seemed to believe that Dez was the cause of her and Sparks’s breakup.”
“That’s crazy!” Bentley roared.
“We know,” Ginger replied before Sparks had a chance to say anything. “But what are the odds that she’s Chinese and the shooter was Asian? Y’all said it yourselves: y’all ain’t got beef with nobody. Who else would want to see any of you dead?”
Bentley sat in thought momentarily, then said, “So what are we going to do? Shouldn’t the police have figured this out?”
“Shoulda, coulda, woulda. The LAPD ain’t never had love for black folks. They ain’t managed to find who popped Big, Pac, or Nicole Brown Simpson. We gotta handle this our way!” Sparks pounded his palm with his fist for emphasis.
“Are you cool with this, Ginger?” Bentley asked. “You’re a Christian.
And what we might have to do ain’t very Christianlike.”
“I’ve got my issues. But I believe that God will take care of this before anyone else gets hurt. I’m praying on it. Face it. You all have so much at stake to lose. Bentley, Sparks, you could lose your careers, the label, if you act on your emotions and you hurt that girl. Death is too easy for her psychotic behind. She should suffer. But part of me knows that she needs help. Either way, she should pay for her actions, but don’t blow your lives on her.”
“She doesn’t deserve to live!” Bentley yelled.
“Look. I’ve got an idea,” Ginger said. “It’s simple really. If you can trick her into confessing, she’ll pay. She killed that journalist. Dez is on the brink of life and death. Whether Leilani goes to the nuthouse or jail, she will suffer.”
“Yeah, but how are we gonna do that?” Sparks asked.
“Leilani is sick. We saw that when she pulled a knife on us at your house. All you have to do is act like you want her back. It always works in those psycho chick movies. Tell her how relieved you are that Dez is out of the way or something like that. That’s what she really wants. She wants you, and she was willing to kill Dez, since she thought that Dez stood in her way. Flip it on her. Act like Dez has caused you nothing but trouble. Put it on real extra. You’ll be able to tell by her reaction. She’ll probably tell on herself. What do we have to lose?”
Sparks and Bentley looked at each other.
“Fuck that! I say we smoke that bitch!” Bentley spat.
“Right, and when Dez pulls through and sees you’re in jail, it will kill her. How you gonna marry her and make babies from a cell?” Ginger snapped.
Bentley dropped his shoulders in defeat. “Okay. We’ll try this your way I have to admit, it sounds like a good plan. But if that doesn’t work, we’re gonna do things the Harlem way!”
“BABY, I NEED YOU,” WAS HOW SPARKS GREETED LEILANI OVER
the phone.
Leilani nearly wet herself. This isworkingbetterthan Iplanned, she thought. “Oh, honey! I wanted to call, but I didn’t think you wanted to hear
from me,” Leilani gushed.
“Can you make a flight tonight? I need you. I have to see you.”
“You name the time and airline, and I’m on the flight,” she promised. “Go to the airport now. I’ve got a ticket waiting for you on Delta.
Don’t worry about packing. We’ll go shopping when you get here,” Sparks forced himself to say.
Roughly eight hours later, Sparks picked Leilani up from LAX. “Sparky! I’m so sorry. You must be a wreck,” she told him as she
greeted him with a big hug. Leilani made sure to rub her body against his to get him going.
“Not exactly, but we can’t talk here. I’ve got a suite booked for us to get some privacy at the Standard. Let’s go, baby. We’ve got a lot to talk about,” Sparks said before they hopped in a cab and headed to Hollywood.
GINGER’S HANDS SHOOK AS SHE HOOKED UP THE NANNY
cam in the hotel room. She never thought she would have to put her technical skills to the test in such a manner, but now her sister’s life depended on it. She’d already hooked up discreet long-range
, high- frequency microphones on the lampshade next to the bed, in the sitting area, and in the bathroom just in case. It was amazing what one could purchase at the local spy shop.
All Sparks had to do was get Leilani to fess up without killing her. As a precautionary measure, Ginger checked into the room next door, and would be monitoring the action the entire time. Hopefully, Sparks would be able to get Leilani to talk without it taking too long or having to go too far.
Ginger and Sparks had gone over the plan what seemed like a million times. To get her warmed up, he’d kiss Leilani a little, caress her a bit, and tell her how much he missed her. If he just had to, he’d make love to her, but Sparks hoped it wouldn’t come to that. He’d tell her how Dez had made a fool of him, how she’d nearly destroyed his label. He’d tell Leilani
that he wanted Dez gone but that she’d threatened to sue him blind if he dropped her. He’d tell her that he was feeling trapped and that whoever shot her actually deserved the reward because they were doing him a huge favor. It had to work. Leilani would be all buttered up, and since being a hater was her nature, she’d more than likely fess up. Or so they hoped. Otherwise, the LAPD and a snitch would be their only chance to get to the bottom of the shooting. Ginger’s cell phone rang twice. That was her cue to slip next door. The games were about to begin....
“JOHNNY, I MISSED YOU SO MUCH. I’M SO SORRY ABOUT
everything that’s happened,” Leilani began.
“No need to apologize, Lani.” Sparks gritted his teeth and kissed her with feigned passion. “I was blind. You tried to tell me about Dez, but I wouldn’t listen. Can you ever forgive me? I’ve been such a fool.”
“Oh, baby. It’s not your fault. Dez has a way of making people lose sight of what’s really important. It’s because she has no priorities herself.” Leilani stroked Sparks’s face. It was all he could do not to slap her hand away.
“She’s so self-centered. It was always me, me, me. Dez didn’t care what was best for us. She was only about self,” Sparks said.
“But what are you going to do? All that money you invested in her,” Leilani said, showing her true colors. It was always about the almighty dollar to her, no matter how much she fronted otherwise.
“Baby girl, I’m glad you’re here. I haven’t had anyone that I could talk to about this. Bentley’s heartbroken over that whore. He cared about her more than the label or me,” he continued. Leilani shook her head in disgust. “The truth of the matter is, after the incident with you and the knife–”
Leilani cut him off. “That was a huge mistake.” “I’m not so sure,” Sparks said, baiting her.
“What do you mean?” Leilani couldn’t believe her ears.
“I mean, I wanted her gone. After I thought about everything that went down, I realized that having her around wasn’t worth what it was doing to you emotionally. I knew that wasn’t the real you doing that. Her presence was causing you so much pain. It made you irrational. And not just saying I wanted her gone from the label, but gone from my life, from my brother’s life.” Sparks paused to gauge her reaction. Leilani looked as if she were about to burst. Sparks continued with the ruse.
“She threatened to sue me if I dropped her. And can you believe the lawyers said she had a case? She was going to bankrupt me,” he stated, faking shock.
“She’s the proverbial gold digger,” Leilani joined in.
“With her dead, I don’t have to drop her. Plus, think of all the money her album is going to make. People will buy out of curiosity. And she has no real family. There’s no one to split the profits with; she has no estate. Whoever shot her practically did me a favor! I should give them the reward. Hell, the only bad thing about this shooting is that she isn’t dead yet. That and the million dollars I’ll have to give to the snitch who rats out the shooter. I swear that bitch hasn’t stopped costing me money! I hate her! I wish she would drop dead already.” Sparks kicked a chair for drama’s sake and to keep from kicking Leilani. It was killing him to say those things about the woman he loved so much.
“Baby, you’re going to love me even more when I tell you what I have to tell you.” Leilani grinned.
“I don’t see how I could love you more than I already do,” he told her, cupping her chin in his hand and kissing her lightly.
“Oh, I have a feeling that you can and you will. You’re not going to have to give up a copper penny for that skank,” she announced.
“Why do you say that?” Sparks looked confused.
“I know who shot her. I can guarantee you that the police will never catch him.”
“How?”
“Don’t be mad...” Leilani gave him a sweet smile.
“I could never be mad at you. We’ve wasted enough time being mad, haven’t we?” he said soothingly. Outwardly, he appeared collected, but inside he was raging.
“I’m glad to hear you say that, because I had her shot. The journalist was an accident,” she said. “As much as I paid for the hit man, there should have been no mistakes. The bullet should have gone through her black heart,” Leilani recounted angrily. “But that bitch is about to check out any minute. It all worked out.”
“But how did you find a professional hit man?” Sparks wanted her to tell it all, so there would be no questions from the police.
“My cousin Mike, on my mother’s side, belongs to the Dragon Triad. It’s a gang here that straight up terrorizes motherfuckers. They ain’t no joke. He put me in touch with this Chinese dude Ling Bai. It cost me fifteen thousand, and that’s with the family discount! But Ling Bai is unstoppable. He knows how to kill anything that breathes, and he does it
perfectly. At least he usually does. He doesn’t even really exist on paper. He’s like a ninja, except only Chinese, not Japanese.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“No, not at all. No one is going to tell. Anyone who knows that Ling Bai is the shooter knows that they don’t want to fuck with him or the Dragon Triad. Besides, how many people out there know one Asian from another? We all look alike, remember?” Leilani laughed out loud at her joke.
“That was pretty smart, Leilani,” Sparks told her. “That’s why you love me. Because I’m smart!”
“Well, this calls for a celebration! I’m gonna order a magnum of Cristal from room service. How does caviar sound?”
Leilani had no idea that the ax was about to fall, and it was her neck on the chopping block.
“Fabulous,” she responded. “Mind if I freshen up a little while we wait?”
“Be my guest.”
Thirty minutes later there was a knock on the door. Sparks laughed to himself at the irony of it all. He’d been in the shower waiting for room service when the police came and took him away for the bogus assault. Now Leilani was going to jail, possibly for the rest of her life, and she was none the wiser.
“Will you get that, honey? I want to take a quick shower myself,” he said after barging into the bathroom. Leilani was wrapping herself in a towel.
‘’Awww, you should have joined me. We would have had lots more fun!”
“Oh, I have a feeling the fun has just begun,” Sparks replied.
Leilani flung the door open to see Detective Atkins standing before
her.
“Well, you aren’t room service,” she told him. Just then, the room
service attendant appeared with a cart containing the magnum of champagne, a bowl of caviar, and fresh strawberries.
“Right this way,” Sparks told him.
Leilani was surprised to hear Sparks behind her. “Honey, I thought you were taking a shower.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t miss this for the world–the shower can wait,” Sparks answered. “By the way, have you met Detective Atkins?” Detective Atkins entered the room, followed by Ginger.
“What the hell is she doing here?” Leilani screamed.
“Watching you go down, bitch,” Ginger told her, popping the cork on the Cristal.
“What? I don’t unde
rstand.” Leilani spun about, disoriented.
“Leilani Hong Thomas, you are under arrest for the attempted murder of Desiree Mirabella Torres Jackson and the murder of Sheila Rubin,” Detective Atkins informed her as he pulled a pair of shiny handcuffs from his back pocket.
“Did you understand that?” Ginger asked as she poured her and Sparks glasses of champagne.