by A'zayler
Phoenix shifted in her seat and fought the water in her eyes.
“I’ve had them both cremated. I tried sending Tone’s body to your parents, but they refused it. I couldn’t find any relatives for Tek, so I did the next best thing. Their ashes are safe in a mausoleum near the beach.”
Phoenix sniffed and held her head down in her lap. She had been wondering about her brothers’ bodies since the day they got arrested. She wasn’t the least bit surprised about her parents’ reaction. They had disowned her and Tone years ago. Although she hated Ollie and everything he stood for, at the moment she was grateful to him for what he’d done for her brothers.
“Thank you.” Her voice came out broken.
“No thanks needed. It was the least I could do. If and when you get out of here, if you ever want the address to their resting place, I have it for you.”
Just that quick her mood was ruined. Who did this fool think he was talking to? She had no hopes of getting out. The Zoo was associated with so many bodies there was absolutely no way she would ever see the light of day again. Phoenix finally looked at him, but only to roll her eyes.
“Phoenix, the state wants the Zoo Crew so bad they’re willing to give you a deal. If you testify against the rest of the crew, you’ll only serve five years.”
Phoenix didn’t even have to think about that. She looked him dead in his eye and held his gaze so he would understand how much feeling she was putting behind her words. “Hell… Fucking… No.”
Ollie ran his hand over his face and released a frustrated sigh. He wanted Phoenix to take the deal so bad. Spending the rest of her days in jail alone was not what he wanted for her. She wouldn’t have anyone. All the family she had was dead or in jail. He’d known before bringing this to her that it would be farfetched, but he still held onto hope.
“Please. You have to take this. They’re going to ride whether you testify or not. At least do yourself this one favor. It’s what Tone would want.”
Phoenix tried to lunge across the table, but she couldn’t since she was still handcuffed. “Don’t you dare tell me what my brother would have wanted. You don’t know what the fuck he would have wanted. One thing I can tell you is that he wouldn’t have wanted me talking to a snake ass nark like you. He wouldn’t have ever wanted me sitting in here talking to your bitch ass. I fucking hate you. I hate even looking at you. You set us up. I don’t have shit else to say to you or anybody else up in the muthafucka. I’ll rot away before I turn into a fuckin rat.”
Phoenix’s chest rose and fell rapidly. She was so mad she could hardly see straight. Her eyeballs were jumping and all she could think to do was end her life. She looked around frantically for something, anything, to take this pain away, but there was nothing. Exhausted with all other options Phoenix scooted her chair back and slammed her head as hard as she could against the metal table. She was so numb to everything around her she couldn’t even feel the pain. She raised her head to do it again but was stopped by Ollie’s hands on her.
He, along with two other officers, were all over her. She fought and bucked like a wild animal as they restrained her. When she was cuffed and barely able to move, the largest officer picked her up bridal style and carried her out of the room. She could smell Ollie’s cologne, which assured her he was still behind her somewhere. She held her bleeding head against the large correctional officer holding her. Her small body was nestled tightly in his arms as she tucked her face into his neck. It was so relaxing. In a weird way, it felt as if he was comforting her. He hadn’t even tried to throw her off of him, even though she was getting blood all over his uniform.
On top of that, he was holding her so close to his body that she could feel the heat radiating from him. For the first time in a long time, she felt safe again. Safe from every cruel thing the world had to offer. Safe from spending the rest of her life behind bars alone. He was strong, and just what she needed at the moment. Too bad that moment ended too soon.
When she heard Ollie tell the guard to open the door to the infirmary, her heart got weaker, if that was even possible. She didn’t want to go in there. She wanted to stay right where she was. She felt the cold breeze from the medical room and balled up tighter in the guard’s arms, and like she’d assumed earlier, he held her tighter.
“You can lay her in the bed near the wall,” the nurse said.
Phoenix shook her head against his chest. “No. Please don’t leave me here by myself. I don’t want to stay. Please don’t. I don’t want to stay. I’m sorry I hit my head. I promise not to do it again.” She finally broke.
The tough act she’d been putting up had finally broken. She couldn’t stand the thought of being left alone again. She couldn’t do it. She would go crazy. She looked up at the light skinned correctional officer. He looked to be in his late twenties, with muscles that looked like he worked out every day. He had a bald head with a handsome face. Nothing about him stood out, but he was very easy on the eyes. Phoenix looked at him the best she could with tears in her eyes.
“Please, I promise not to hit my head.”
He looked at her with sympathetic eyes and nodded his head. “Just get your head stitched up and I’ll sit here with you for a while, okay?”
Phoenix nodded quickly and looked around the room as the nurse came over to her. She had gloves on and a tray filled with stuff. Her smile was warm as she sat down. The long box braids she had in her hair was wrapped in a bun on the top of her head and her nails were painted pink. She looked like somebody Zino would have liked. She was about Phoenix’s size and color, just a little thicker.
“I’m going to stich up this cut on your head, then you can go, okay?” she spoke softly.
Phoenix grabbed her wrist before thinking about it. “He said I could stay for a little while. Please don’t make me go back to my room. I don’t have a roommate. I’ll be all alone again.” Phoenix sounded desperate.
She watched the nurse look at the guard for some type of confirmation. When he nodded, she smiled at Phoenix and took a seat on the stool near her bed. She took her time putting stiches in Phoenix’ forehead. When she was finished, she cleaned it and walked away. Phoenix lay still on the bed looking at the guard. He was looking at her in a way she wasn’t accustomed to. His look was one she wasn’t familiar with because when people looked this way, it most definitely wasn’t directed toward her. It was sympathy. He felt sorry for her.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Empty… like somebody cut open my body and snatched out all of my insides… then just left me in a dark hole all alone to die.”
Clearly he didn’t know what to say because he didn’t say anything. Instead, he placed his hand on her head and massaged her scalp. Phoenix closed her eyes to enjoy the feel of his hands. Her body relaxed beneath his touch, and before long she had fallen asleep.
Which brought her back to her current situation. She was in a small dark room with one window and a toilet. The small iron bed held a flat mattress, no pillow, and a thin sheet. It was hot as hell and she felt like she couldn’t breathe. It was so dark in the room she couldn’t even see her hand when she held it up in front of her face.
Phoenix tried to calm herself down by walking over to the small window and looking out. There were no street lights, or anything lighting the room she was in. With nothing left to do, Phoenix slid down the side of the wall until she was on the floor. Even though she couldn’t see the floor or how it looked, she laid down anyway.
The cold cement against the side of her face felt good. Her thoughts went to her brothers. Tone and Tek were both gone, Zino and Bear were locked up and probably would never see a free day again. Sadness consumed her as tears flooded her face. Pain rocked her body to the core. How did this happen? One day she was happy and living life with her family, the next she was all alone lying on the nasty floor of an old prison cell.
Hours turned into days as Phoenix lay on the floor. She didn’t move to do anything. Not to use the restroom, not to
eat, nothing. Not that she wanted to, but even if she did, Phoenix wouldn’t be able to get off the floor. Her body was too weak. She hadn’t even done anything as small as taking a sip of water. Every time they brought the slop they called food, she didn’t touch it. It would be in the same spot they’d left it, as would she. Or so she thought.
The clicking of locks sounded throughout her room. A few seconds later, the lights flicked on and Phoenix had to cover her face. The brightness from the lights was making her eyes hurt. She couldn’t stand it. She balled her body into the fetal positon on the floor and held her hands over her head.
“Gram, get up.”
Phoenix didn’t move.
“Get your ass up, Gram,” the CO said as he walked over and pulled her from the floor. “Good lord, girl, you smell awful.” He slapped cuffs around both of her wrists and made sure she was steady on her feet.
Phoenix said nothing as he pulled her from her cell. She looked down at the floor, watching her feet move as they continued down the hall. She made eye contact with no one. Unaware of where she was being taken, and not really sure whether she cared or not, Phoenix followed with no objections. He pushed her lightly down the hall until she was in a different dorm. He led her down a separate corridor and to a room with a female officer.
“She’s all yours.” He pushed Phoenix toward the woman.
In her arm, she was holding another orange jumpsuit and a bag of feminine essentials. She grabbed the side of Phoenix’s arm and led her to the showers.
“Handle your hygiene, Gram. You’re a young lady for God’s sake.” She released Phoenix from the handcuffs. “I know it’s hard, but you can’t give up yet.”
Phoenix took the things from her and walked slowly into the shower. Thinking about what the CO had just said, Phoenix peeled the soiled clothes from her body and turned the water on. When she was completely naked she stepped beneath the water and began washing her body. She unbraided her hair and washed it too. Once she cleaned her entire body twice, she shut off the water and proceeded to dry off. She dried her curly mane the best she could with the small towel. She then dressed and walked back to the guard. She looked Phoenix up and down and nodded once.
“Come on.” She locked Phoenix’s wrists back up before they headed back the way they’d come. No longer dirty and shameful, Phoenix looked around the halls freely. She looked out of the windows toward the sky, thinking of her boys. She got so caught up in her thoughts she bumped into the guard. She had stopped walking and Phoenix hadn’t paid any attention.
“Watch your step Gram.”
She pulled Phoenix into a small room and cuffed her to the table before leaving.
The whole time the female detective laid out pictures of the Zoo Crew, played voice recordings, and relayed how much information she had on them, Phoenix sat calm and quiet. There was nothing new in the stack of material that she hadn’t heard already before. Furthermore, she was tired of it all. She was drained and ready to just live out the rest of her sentence. Whatever that was going to be.
Listening to the same thing every day, reliving memories, being reminded of the fact that she no longer had anyone, was getting old. She had finally come to terms with what her life was about to become, and she wanted to be left to it. Miserable, lonely, and secluded. Phoenix looked around the room at everything but all of the pictures scrolled across the table.
She was tired of seeing her brother’s faces. It was easier not to. “How long are y’all going to do this? I don’t have anything to say. Even If I did, I wouldn’t be telling it to y’all. So can I please just go back to my room?”
The lady looked at her, apparently surprised. “So you’re seriously going to go down for all of this when you could easily be out in a few years?”
Phoenix nodded.
“That’s absurd. You have to be kidding me.”
“Does it look like I feel like telling jokes, lady?”
“You do understand that your lack of cooperation doesn’t hinder our investigation? All of you are going to jail no matter what.” She looked as if what she’d just said was going to bother Phoenix.
“I’m starting to think that’s a lie. From the very first day I got here y’all have been on my head about talking. So clearly y’all need something.”
The room was quiet as the lady looked at her but didn’t say anything. Phoenix had been thinking about it for the past few weeks that she’d been on the cold floor of her cell. If they had some stone cold hard evidence like they claimed, then they wouldn’t need her to testify. If they for once thought that she would rat, then they had another thing coming.
“Can I please be escorted back to my cell?”
“You can go when I tell you that you can go.” She quickly and sloppily gathered all of her pictures and data and stuffed it back into her folder.
She put the folder in her briefcase and stood from the table. Phoenix watched her disappear out of the room before the door slammed hard behind her. She sat looking around waiting to be taken back to her dorm, but it didn’t happen. Minutes turned into hours and Phoenix was still sitting handcuffed to the table.
Her wrists were sore and she had to pee. For a moment she thought about asking to use the restroom but changed her mind. She’d just hold it. There was no way she was giving them something to hold over her head. After a few more hours had passed, Phoenix could feel a small pain in her lower abdomen.
Clearly she’d been holding her urine for too long. On top of that, the hard bench she had been sitting on had her butt and the back of her thighs aching something terrible. She was just about to lay her head down on the table when the door swung open.
“Don’t you even think about it.” The dark haired, buzz cut wearing officer walked in.
Phoenix frowned when he leaned closer to her. His mustache was so thick it covered his top lip and even appeared to be traveling up his nose.
“If you think you’re going to keep banging your head on our tables as a way out then you’re wrong.” He used his key to unchain her from the table.
Phoenix rolled her eyes at him and stood to her feet. He was so stupid. She wasn’t even about to do that. They had left her sitting there for so long all she wanted to do was lie down and take her a quick nap. Little did he know they had just done her favor. With his hand holding both of hers, he led her back down the long hallway to her cell.
Once he’d taken her cuffs off and pushed her in, he slammed the door shut and went about his business. The first thing Phoenix noticed was that they had taken her back to general population. She was no longer in the small dark cell she had been in. She still had no roommate, but she couldn’t say that was all bad.
In the one piece orange jumpsuit, Phoenix took a seat at the top of her bed near the shoebox sized window and looked out. The sun was going down and the lights around the prison were starting to shine. She touched the window, wishing she could feel the air on the outside. It had been so long since she’d taken a breath of fresh air she’d almost forgot what it felt like.
She sat in the same spot until it was completely dark outside. When she could no longer see anything except the bright lights strategically placed around the jail, she decided to call it a night. She used the steel toilet before getting into her bed and falling to sleep. For the first time in a long time, she didn’t cry.
Chapter 16
Francisco Austin sat in the living room with his two children drinking a glass of Brandy. It had been a long day and an even longer month. His troubles had surpassed days and weeks. For the past month it seemed like his days got worse by the hour, and by the time his work week was over, he was tired and useless.
“So what do you plan on doing now?” Jamar asked his father. “I mean, two of them are dead, while the other three are in jail.” Jamar leaned forward and rested his arms on his knees. “Just what the fuck do y’all plan on doing? It’s clear you can’t tie them to shit they’ve done, so what now?”
Francisco downed the rest of the Br
andy in his glass before answering. That was the same thing he and his department had been wondering since the day all of it started. They’d used Kara to help them finally take down the crew, and they still hadn’t gotten anywhere. Kara had acted like she had so much information they could use, but clearly she was dumber than she’d thought.
Nothing Tone had given her panned out. Not the code to his safes, none of the places she’d said bodies had been buried, no dirty weapons, just nothing. Absolutely nothing, and he was pissed. If the girl of the crew hadn’t offed her he probably would have. Now not only was he looking unworthy in front of his colleagues but he felt like a failure.
He’d thought for sure he had gotten them. Though he’d done business with them in the past, he had never told anyone about it and never would. That was a piece of information that he would take to the grave with him. Not only that, but busting them down would make him the most valuable detective in the state, maybe even the United States. From the moment he’d heard about the Zoo Crew and their track record he had been intrigued. So he refused to give up now, even if that meant being stressed out every day.
“Francisco,” Jamar got his attention. “Did you hear me?”
He looked up from the empty glass that he was rolling across his bottom lip. “Yes, son, I heard you, but I don’t know. I have been trying my hardest to figure all of this shit out, and I just can’t. The fucking girl won’t break and the niggas are worse to crack than her. They won’t say shit at all. At least the girl does say stuff here and there.”
Francisco watched his son fidget in his seat. He wasn’t oblivious to the fact that he had started to form feelings for her. What man wouldn’t? She was a pretty little thing and had the heart of a lion. She was the perfect woman for a man like Jamar.
“So, how is she?”
“I don’t know why you care about her. She ain’t shit and deserves everything she’s getting,” Aaliyah intervened.
“Fuck you, Liyah. You’re just mad she tagged your ass.”