He leaned back against his car. “When are you gonna do that? Do you think he knows how to get in touch with Trenda?”
“Do you think I would waste my time on that fucker if I didn’t think he could lead me to Trenda? I just told you he is paying for her hotel room, idiot! Use your fucking head. I am going to go to his business tomorrow. I need to get a few things together today before I go see him. Stay tuned.”
The gas pump stopped seconds after Piper hung up on him. His frayed nerves did the cabbage patch on his mind. How did I let myself get caught up in this shit? Now that Darius is out in California, this shit is now a federal crime if something goes wrong and we get busted! “Fuck!” he said as he put the gas nozzle back and screwed on his gas cap. The overcast sky felt as though it was closing in on him—like a long prison sentence. The pussy in him emerged. “Muthafuck that…if shit goes wrong on Darius’s end, I’m gonna do what I gotta do to stay out of jail.” He hopped in his car and started the engine. “Even if I have to cut a deal with Internal Affairs…”
As he drove out of the gas station, he called Darius. “Tyrone… talk to me.”
“Man, I just got off the phone with Piper. That broad is about to go off.”
“What the fuck do you mean?”
“She just called to ask me about some dude named Walter Secrease. Says he is some buster Trenda knows. She told me he is paying for her hotel room. Does that name ring a bell?”
“What? Did you say he is paying for her hotel room?”
Distracted, Tyrone had to slam on his brakes in order to avoid rear-ending a taxicab. “Yeah…she said it was some expensive hotel downtown.”
“Downtown where? Did she say?”
“Fuck, I dunno! Oakland, I guess. She hung up before I could get any other info. Man, you really need to end this shit…end it real quick. Shit is gettin’ tense out here waitin’ to see what Internal Affairs is up to. I can’t take a crap without worryin’ if they’re watchin’ me.”
“Calm your ass down! All you have to do is keep your nose clean for a few more days and this shit will be over! Quit actin’ like a fuckin’ coward! Now…I’m gonna call you tomorrow. By then, this shit will be handled. Got it?”
“Fuck you!” Tyrone pulled over, spat out the gum he was chewing and opened the pack of Newports he had just purchased at the gas station. His stress made him dive headfirst off his eight-month-long stay on the no-smoking wagon. He fired one up, took a long drag, then exhaled. “Just get it done.”
The sound of Tyrone smoking signaled Darius his partner was rapidly coming apart. I have got to end this shit before that scary bastard gets caught slippin’, Darius thought as he walked back inside Moon’s Chinese Café to finish off his meal.
While finishing off his lemon chicken, he sorted through the information Tyrone had given him on Walter. So, Trenda has already worked that fool for a room… a touch of jealousy hit him in the face once he admitted to himself that Walter was now getting his pussy. And head. Suddenly he was no longer hungry. After leaving a twenty on the table, he rushed to his rental car. He no longer felt the need to spare Walter’s life if he got in the way.
Sunset, back at his motel room, Darius prepared for his next moves. Since Piper was going to visit Walter’s place of business tomorrow, so would he. He removed one of the hollow point bullets from his pistol and absently spun it around on the desk as he worked out his plan. I have to make sure Trenda ends up there, too. Some way, somehow I have to make sure she is at the funeral home when I get there. A smile touched his face. Or at least be there when Piper shows up…that would really make my day…
After calling five expensive hotels and asking for Walter Secrease, and using his uncanny finesse, he was rewarded with the room number for Mr. Secrease in the Hotel Oakland.
After fucking Eli into a pussy coma, Trenda eased out of the bed to go to the bathroom. In the waning sunlight, she spotted his wallet on the floor. It had fallen out of his pants in his haste to enter her. Wallet in hand, she glanced at the sleeping man. He was knocked the fuck out. She flipped it open and examined the contents. Two hundred and eighty dollars in cash, four credit cards—including a platinum American Express card—a Chevron gas card, and several pictures.
Ignoring the cash and cards for a moment, she flipped through his pictures. Hmmmm, so that’s Ms. Meagan… Trenda flipped through the half dozen or so pictures of Eli and his girl. If she ain’t white, she is the next best thing, she thought as she looked at the light-skinned, prim and proper-looking woman. Her hair bun looked so tight; it looked as though her forehead would split if she smiled. Behind her glasses was a pair of dark brown, no-nonsense eyes. Her modest and sensible clothes did nothing to accentuate her figure. Poor baby, no wonder it’s so hard for him to keep his eyes off me. The pictures of them together showed they made a good-looking couple. In a few of the pictures, he actually looked happy—and so did she.
Normally, in a situation like this, she would dress and slip out, wallet in hand. However, this was his lucky day; he was a big enough catch to escape the Baltimore okey-doke. Besides, she had already committed practically every crime in the book—including being implicated in a murder or two. She exhaled and set his wallet on the desk. His cell phone glowed on the desktop next to his shirt. She picked it up and saw he had eleven missed calls. I bet those calls are from Meagan.
She walked over to the window and peeked out at the horseshoe-shaped parking lot and disappearing sun. The itch of her healing wounds reminded her of all the shit she had gotten herself into since running away from home all those many years ago. For an instant, she felt hurt because no man she knew of walked around with a picture of her in his wallet. Be cool, girl. Don’t fuck up this meal ticket.
Even after her craving for penetration had been met, she still felt an empty spot that needed filling. She tried to blame it on her oncoming menstrual cycle. But, in reality, it was the annoying replay of past events in her life that would not go away. The high concentration of drama she was currently wading through would not be ignored.
Another of her father’s favorite proverbs filled her thoughts as she stared out at the first stars twinkling in the sky:
There are six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to him; Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood; A heart that plots wicked schemes, feet that run swiftly to evil, The false witness who utters lies, and he who sows discord among brothers.
—PROVERBS 6:16-19
Thirty-Five
“Let’s take it slow, baby,” Trenda said as she tried to say goodbye to Eli after he pulled up behind the only car left parked in front of the DMV that evening; her car. Even after fifteen minutes of goodbye kisses, he was reluctant to let her leave. “I gotta go to work in a few hours. You will see me again soon, love.”
His buzzing cell phone gave her the opening she needed. He grimaced after reading the caller ID. “Okay…I’d better let you go. Thanks for the great time, Mya.”
Trenda opened the door and got out. “What are you gonna tell your woman when she asks why you didn’t call her back?”
“What makes you think that call was from Meagan?”
She closed the door and leaned in the window. “Please, don’t try to bullshit a bullshitter…we both know that was her. No way in hell you are gonna spend all day fuckin’ and not check in on her. I bet you guys check in with each other at damn near the same time every day.”
His slow response and blushing face confirmed she was right. “It’s not that bad.” He reached over and caressed her hand. “Now if it was you calling, you had better believe I’d pick up on the first ring, no matter what I was doing.”
As he caressed her fingers, she eased her hand out of his. “Is that right? I’m gonna hold you to that. And believe me, I don’t forget stuff like that.”
“Damn, Mya.” A sigh escaped him. “It’s so hard to let you go.” C’mon now, man. “Don’t worry, love. I’ll give you a call tomorrow. Now get your ass hom
e where you belong!”
Before he could reply, she blew him a kiss and walked to her car. Not until he heard her car engine start did he pull away. She smiled at his gesture. “I have had’em whooped before, but this one, damn!”
“The internet is a dangerous thing,” Darius said as he read the information he found on the cremation process. The weight of the bulletproof vest under his gray, loose-fitting Nike sweatshirt and the pistol tucked behind his back made him feel more at ease while in Oakland. Even back in Baltimore they knew of Oakland’s deadly reputation. He found the array of women walking around the Starbucks he sat in to his liking. It made it worth having to pay for the wireless internet service.
“That Walter has got to be one weird muthafucka to like doing this shit.” Like a true cop, he did all the research he could on his query. That research included finding out how long the cremation process took, so he would have an idea how long Walter would work into the night.
Satisfied he had all the info he needed, he took a sip of his lukewarm coffee and grinned. “By this time tomorrow night, Trenda will be no longer be a problem.”
One of Darius’s weaknesses was his arrogance. He would sometimes get so caught up in his smugness he would lose focus, get sloppy. This was one of those moments. While working on his laptop, sipping his coffee and eyeballing the women in the coffee shop, he failed to notice the gorilla of a woman looking at him through the large plate-glass window, twenty feet from his table.
Instead of finding a place to get a decent meal outside of her plush hotel, Piper, in one of her psychotic mood swings, enhanced by her lack of medication, decided to enjoy an evening walk to the local BBQ restaurant. Ahhhh! Tomorrow I will confront Mr. Secrease and convince him to get me access to Trenda. She reached into her purse, stroked the large knife inside and smiled. I’m sure he’d much rather assist me than become a human filet.
With the crescent moon as her guide, she took her time strolling toward her dinner destination. For whatever reason, women’s intuition or ESP, she was compelled to cross the street and check out the combination Starbucks and Barnes & Noble bookstore.
Whether it was the aroma of the coffee in the air or the lively look of the building that drew her, she would never remember. Once she saw the unmistakable face of the man in the video with Trenda, sitting on the other side of that window, her brain focused on one thing only: homicide. Even with his ball cap pulled down low on his forehead, she knew it was him.
Remarkably, even through her insane rage, she wasn’t able to go inside and gut him as she so badly wanted to. The armed security guard standing just inside the coffee shop entrance proved to be a deterrent. “I’ll wait out here until fucking Christmas for that motherfucker if I have to,” she said through her clenched teeth.
While Darius was being stalked, King Gee and one of his boys sat across the street from the Water’s Edge Hotel. They had a clear view of the hotel and the employee parking lot. “She oughta be pullin’ up in a few,” King Gee said as he stood next to the driver’s side door of the stolen forest-green Ford Explorer his boy “borrowed” from some citizen in the sleepy suburb of Walnut Creek. “I been checking this place out all week. I know when all the shift changes happen. I was even able to con that hillbilly security guard into tellin’ me what shift that ho works tonight.”
The nappy-afro sporting, mulatto soldier grinned at his boss’s ingenuity. “I bet she ain’t even knowin’ how bad she messed up when she fucked wit’ the King!’”
King Gee made sure to keep his fingerprints off the stolen vehicle. The strong scent of marijuana escaped the interior of the Explorer. “Yeah, I got a wake-up call for her ass.”
Ten minutes later, just before the 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. shift at the hotel was to begin, the two men watched a brown Honda pull into the employee parking lot next to the hotel.
The soldier pointed. “Hey! Is that her car?”
King Gee nodded and followed the car with his eyes. “Yup, that’s her ass. You ready to do this?”
The soldier adjusted his black leather gloves and started the engine of the Explorer. “You ain’t even gotta ask; they don’t call me ‘Nuts’ for nothin’.”
King Gee stepped back. “Hold on a minute. Wait about another fifteen minutes. Let’s give the rest of the folks that might be startin’ work with her to get here and park. We don’t need any fools rollin’ up as you do your thing.”
Nuts offered King a fist bump. “That’s hella smart, King!”
He grinned and tapped fist with his soldier. “That’s why I’m the King, fool!”
“Wassup, Jason?” Trenda asked as she walked behind the reservation desk and logged in. “Is it busy tonight?”
Jason adjusted his utility belt, straightened his cap and glanced into her eyes. “Hey, Mya! It’s been kinda quiet tonight. I bet it’s gonna be crazy next Sunday though.”
Trenda sat down behind the computer. “Why you say that?”
“Next Sunday is Easter. We usually get a big crowd of out-oftowners on that weekend.” He struggled with trying not to stare at her. “What are you gonna do for Easter? Are you going to spend time with family or go to church?”
She stared off into space for a moment. Damn! Easter already? I bet Momma and the rest of those stuck-up church wives are still gettin’ stuff ready for the church’s Easter dinner. I sure am glad I ain’t stuck in the middle of all those nosey women. I used to hate havin’ Momma volunteer me every fuckin’ Easter to help cook. And Momma tryin’ to make me feel good tellin’ me how much everybody loved my sweet potato pies. And havin’ to deal with them hatin’ old bitties cuttin’ they eyes at me all damn day. So many times I was tempted to tell them bitches how many of their husbands had tried to get in my drawers…
Just like clockwork, as soon as the memories of her home life became too clear, too strong, she shut them off. She unbuttoned the three brass buttons on her navy-blue blazer and smoothed down her white shirt. “I dunno…I might just stay home and chill until I have to be back here.”
The keys on his belt jingled as he leaned back against the desk. “Yeah, it sucks that we have to work the holidays. But the time-and-a-half pay helps take some of the sting out of it.”
Lollie’s copy of Essence magazine lay next to the keyboard. She gazed at the African-American actress on the cover standing knee-deep in some pretty blue water in a tropical paradise. That’s where I need to be…right there with nobody fuckin’ wit’ me. No hustlin’, nobody huntin’ me, no worries, nobody to please. Just me doin’ me for once. “ Nah, not all money is good money; sometimes I’d rather just have some ‘me’ time.”
“I still can’t believe how we met,” Lollie said while sitting across the table from Walter in Francis Ford Coppola’s Café Zoetrope restaurant in San Francisco. They had become inseparable since Trenda, once again, had orchestrated another successful hookup. “It feels like I’m in a movie or something.”
Me neither; I can’t believe I bounced out of one hot pussy into another so smoothly! Walter thought as he admired Lollie’s beauty. But it was more than just her hot sex and beauty; the chemistry between he and Lollie was magnificent. He returned her smile as his fingers walked across the table, past his half-eaten plate of Linguine alla Vongole, past her glass of 2006 vintage, Sangiovese, Borgo di Colloredo, Molise wine and took her hand in his. “I know…it’s crazy as I-don’t-know-what. That friend of yours deserves a serious ‘thank you.’ This is the best blind date on record.”
She wiped back the lock of her hair that had covered half her face. “Yeah, Mya is a trip. She is one of the coolest females I know—with her freaky ass. I’m thinkin’ about letting her move in with me until she can get her own place.”
A huge grin filled his face. “Hmmmmm! Now that sounds like a great idea! Two sexy birds in one tree!”
“Don’t get any ideas, Mr. Secrease. Your ‘two-for-one’ privileges have been suspended.” She took a sip of her wine. “Until further notice, or maybe until your next birthday, t
his is a one-on-one hook-up. If you can’t hang with that, let me know so I can tear up our contract.”
They shared a chuckle as the waiter brought over a box for their leftover food and the check. “I was thinking of offering her an internship as a mortician. I’m not sure if she would be interested, but it would be good for her. I pay my interns well.”
“Are you serious? I bet she would love that!” Lollie gave him a mock evil look. “I hope you don’t try and fuck your interns.”
Shaking his head, he laughed. “I’m sure I’ll be too busy chasing you to worry about fucking the help.”
She gave him a grin. “Good answer.”
He took his wallet out of the inside pocket of his expensive black suit jacket. “Have you noticed anything odd about Mya?”
Lollie chewed her bottom lip while pondering his question. “She can be kinda distant at times…like she has a lot on her mind.”
“Yeah, that’s what it is…distant. I noticed that myself. When it comes to sex, she’s a whole different animal, but other than that, it’s like she is always looking for something. Like something is missing in her world. Why do you think she’s like that?”
Lollie began boxing up her food. “When I ask her what’s on her mind, she always just says, ‘nothin’’ and lets it go. It don’t matter, though; she still my girl.”
He finished the last of his wine. “I agree; she is good people. But I still think there is a lot more to our green-eyed siren than she lets on.”
Under the table, before slipping her feet back into the purple pumps, which matched her tight purple dress, she rubbed her foot along his calf. “We can pick this topic up later; I get real horny after a good meal like this, baby. I hope you have a lot of dessert for me.”
Sins of a Siren Page 20
