“Ah, actually it was last week.”
She looked at me like I’d lost my damn mind. Instead of saying it, though, she pushed the picture back at me. “Sorry.”
My hope plummeted, but I wasn’t ready to give up. I took the picture and continued down the line with Moses following me. At the last station, I repeated my spiel and we got our first glimmer of hope from a black woman.
“Um ...” She frowned and pushed the picture away.
“Take your time,” Moses said. He gave her back the picture but she dropped it down on the counter.
I wanted to push him away before he ruined the moment, but thankfully—if the lady noticed his intrusion—she didn’t tear her eyes from the photo.
“Honey, I don’t need any time. I remember this ...” She looked around as if she was afraid.
“Miss, please, we really need to find her. Her mother has taken ill and we have to let her know.” I said the first thing that came to my mind. As the words came out of my mouth, I realized how stupid they sounded. I was surprised she didn’t come back and ask me why we didn’t call Tilo on the phone instead of running around the airport like the village idiots.
“Her hair is different, but I definitely recognize those eyes.”
I was so excited, I almost started jumping up and down at our first lead.
“How is her hair different?” Moses said.
“She is blond and very, very rude.” She turned up her nose again.
I knew the bitchy side she was referring to, and I could not help but to smile. “That’s my friend. She can be a bitch when she wants to be.”
“You ain’t never lied,” the lady responded as she looked around again to see if she was being watched.
“Is there anything else that you can tell us about her?” Moses asked.
“I didn’t help her. She refused to pay the luggage fee.”
My heart sank, but I didn’t understand how she could have used the card and not paid the fee. Before I could argue with the lady she pointed us in another direction.
“I think she used curbside check-in. We were busy and she came in here trying to be some sort of drama queen.”
I shared a look with Moses because I felt like we were definitely on the right track. “Thanks so much,” I gushed, barely containing my excitement.
“No problem, I hope you find the—”
“Be nice,” Moses warned, but he laughed as well.
I was starting to warm up to him and feel more comfortable. I was also beginning to see why my sister fell in love with him.
“Honey, I’m always nice but when I’m naughty, I’m better.”
If Moses noticed that she was flirting with him he didn’t acknowledge it, and I gave him another five cool points because of it. The last thing I would have wanted to do was go up against his head for disrespecting my sister, but he passed up on the obvious offer.
We were going to the curbside check-in counter when the lady summoned us back.
“Do you want a more recent picture of her? I’m sure we have her on our security cameras because they followed her through the terminal.”
“Yes!” I shouted a little bit louder than necessary. This woman was being so helpful. I loved it, but I was also leery because people rarely go out of their way to be helpful.
She gave me a look, which let me know she wasn’t helping us because of me and I was cool with it so I took two steps back. She nodded her head and I fought the urge to go over the counter and smack that ass. Moses shot me another look and I clamped down on my sudden anger.
“She was very feisty and nervous. I’ll bet you money if you show her picture at the gate, they will remember her.” She spoke with a coworker and went behind a partition. She came back within minutes with a photograph.
“Wow, that was quick,” Moses commented.
“We printed it because we knew she was going to be trouble. Your friend is special.” She gave the photo to Moses.
I wanted to snatch it from his hands, but once again I suppressed my impulsiveness. “Thanks,” I mumbled.
She gave me a dismissive glance, and I walked away before I said something I would later regret. After a few more minutes Moses joined me.
“Tilo must have really showed her ass ’cause that lady wanted her bad.” He chuckled.
“Let me see the picture,” I eagerly stated. I was eager to see how Tilo changed her look. I was stunned at the beautiful lady looking back at me. My hands were trembling. She was stunning and totally unrecognizable. In my opinion, she chose the perfect disguise. Just looking at her hurt me to my heart. I passed the picture back to Moses.
“Damn, I didn’t know she had it in her.” He stared at the picture, studying the face.
“Yeah, I always thought she was cute, but I never saw her wearing anything other than jeans and a baseball cap. She has on makeup, for Christ’s sake. She didn’t even own any makeup when we were living together.”
“And she got rid of the dreads. Damn.”
He didn’t have to say any more. I knew exactly where he was coming from. She was fierce.
“What now?” I asked. Even though everyone told me she was still alive, I was still holding out hope that they were mistaken, but I held positive proof in my hands that the bitch was still breathing. I was furious. I got back in line and waited for the lady who waited on us before to handle her customer.
“What are you doing?” Moses asked.
I ignored him. If it were possible to see fumes coming from inside a person’s body, mine would be smoking. I walked up to the counter and placed $200 on it. The woman looked at me in surprise. “I know you can’t tell me where my friend went, but could you please issue me a ticket to the same place on the next flight?” I knew there was a good chance she was going to turn me down but it couldn’t hurt to ask.
She took the money and folded it up in her hand, sliding it into her pocket. Her fingers got to flying across the keyboard. “Will you be checking any bags with us?” She smiled.
Moses grabbed my arm and tried to get my attention. I shook my head no.
“Victória, what are you doing?”
“What does it look like?” I gently removed his fingers from my arm. I wasn’t certain what I was going to do when I got to wherever, but I was sure going to figure it out.
“Will this be round trip or one-way?”
“One-way.” I had no idea how long it would take me to find Tilo so I thought it would be best to do it this way. I could also get a return ticket once I found her. In my mind, not finding her was not an option.
“One ticket or two?” the lady asked.
“One,” I firmly replied as I grabbed my ID from my wallet.
“Two,” Moses announced.
He surprised me. He didn’t appear to be the impulsive type, and I wondered how all this would play out with my sister.
“Will that be cash or charge?”
I had my card out but Moses beat me to the punch and gained another five cool points. Later, when he found out how wealthy I was, I would return his money, but for now, I enjoyed his gesture.
“If you’re going to catch the next flight, you’re going to have to hurry.” She took our ID’s and presented Moses with the tickets.
“Thanks,” he said as he signed for the transaction.
As we walked away from the counter, I started to feel guilty. I was relieved that he was going with me, but I didn’t want to cause any problems in his marriage. “Moses, you don’t have to go there with me.”
“I know, but you may need my help, and I would feel terrible if something happened to you and I didn’t do what I could to prevent it.”
“Aw, ain’t you sweet.” I said it jokingly but I really meant it.
“Shush, don’t tell anyone.”
I followed him through the airport because I didn’t have a clue what to do, and we made it to the departure gate without any problem. “What are you going to tell Verónica?”
Moses took a deep bre
ath and I saw the worry line across his forehead. “I will handle that when I get back. For now, I really just want to ask some questions to see if anyone remembers her and see if we can get a lead on where she is now.”
“I got to say this, Moses, I never believed finding Tilo would be so easy.”
“We haven’t found her yet.”
“I know, but we’re in a much better position than we were yesterday. I can’t believe how she changed her look.” I turned away from Moses so he wouldn’t see the tears in my eyes. However, he was much more perceptive.
“Don’t beat yourself up, Victória. She fooled us all, and I understand how personal this is for you. But if we do find her, you’re going to have to take your emotions out of it or you may wind up getting us killed.”
My heart skidded a few feet as I digested what he was saying to me, but he was absolutely right. Tilo had tried to kill me once before so it stood to reason she would try again, and next time she might even be successful. “I wish the bitch would,” I replied as anger replaced my pain.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
ROME WATSON
“Greg, where you at, nigga?” I said into my cell phone. And I already knew where he was.
“I’m at the house.”
Greg was obviously sleeping because I could hear him yawning.
“Wake your ass up ’cause we got trouble.”
“What now?”
I gave him a few seconds to get himself together. My mind was still spinning with all the implications from this latest bust, but I was doing my best to hold it together. “You straight, your ass awake yet?”
“I’m good. What’s going on?”
“I’ma need to see you. I got some things to talk to you about, and I don’t want to do it over the phone.”
“Why, what’s going on? Shit, man, it’s raining like hell, so I don’t even feel like coming outdoors.”
“I knew your punk ass would say some shit like that. Open the fucking door, I’m outside.” If he was surprised that I came by his house, he didn’t acknowledge it. He left me standing there long enough. I was beginning to believe that he had someone else in the house with him. Just as I was about to dial his house again, he answered the door.
“What was so damn important that you had to bring your ugly ass over to my house?” Greg demanded. He was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a loose-fitting T-shirt that had obviously seen better days.
“I see why your ass didn’t wanna go outside. You look like something the damn cat dragged in.”
“I didn’t ask your ass to come over here, so don’t come in my house talking shit.”
I didn’t know what was up Greg’s ass. Here lately you couldn’t say shit to him without him getting all mad and shit. “This ain’t really a social call. Shit ain’t looking too good for the home team.”
“What’s that shit supposed to mean?” He walked to the dining room table and I followed.
“Haven’t you been watching the news?”
He looked at me sideways before he switched on the flat-screen television suspended in the corner. “Nigga, I was asleep,” he complained as he came back to the table.
I was getting sick of his surly attitude, but I ignored it because I didn’t have time for his foolishness. “That fool I was working with done got his ass busted.”
“What fool?” Greg looked like he was still asleep, and I needed his ass to get with the program.
“That motherfucker at the airport I was dealing with,” I answered.
“I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. Can you start from the beginning instead of the middle of the conversation?”
I shot him a questioning look but he seemed like he was sincere with his request.
“My bad, I might not have told you about this guy. Anyway, I had this guy who works at the airport. He helps me sometimes when I need to get things through that can’t go through screening. Most times it’s money or a small shipment of drugs, but every now and then I’ll have him do something major. Especially if I don’t have a lot of time to make things happen.”
“Okay. Get to the reason why you had to show your ass at my house so I can take my ass back to sleep.”
“Shit, nigga, you the one who asked for the whole damn story when I was trying to give you the Reader’s Digest version. You know I had to replace the guns that got jacked a few weeks ago, so I had to find another way to get them there.”
“Aw shit, don’t tell me they jacked the guns again,” Greg shouted.
“Not yet, but they are investigating his fool ass because he shot his damn wife. That crazy motherfucker was chasing her up and down the street shooting. He shot and killed her boyfriend and seriously injured his wife. They started investigating his ass and now I don’t know what the fuck is going on.”
“I seen that shit on television, but I didn’t know you knew the cat. But what I want to know is what does all this shit have to do with me?”
“It deals with you because I’m gonna need you to go to the airport and sweet-talk that bitch you used to deal with to find out what is going on. We need somebody with inside connections to make sure they are not watching us,” I said.
“Us? What the fuck you mean us? I don’t know that nigga, so I ain’t got a damn thing to do with your shit.” He put big emphasis on this.
I wanted to whip out my pistol and shoot his ass. “Nigga, what you don’t understand is that if I go down, you go down too. So it would be in your best interest to get with the program.”
“Shit, man, I haven’t talked to that bitch in years. I don’t even know if she still works there or not.”
“She still works there. Trust me on that.”
“If you know so motherfucking much, why don’t you approach her?”
“’Cause I didn’t fuck her, and I wasn’t the one she fell in love with.”
Greg was really starting to try my patience.
He said, “It don’t matter if I fucked her or not. She don’t want to have nothing to do with my ass, so I seriously doubt if I can get her to put her ass on the line for me.”
“I’m not asking you to ask her to put herself on the line. All I want you to do is go to the airport acting like you forgot she worked there and shit. Hell, buy a ticket if you have to, but get her talking about her coworker. From there, see if you can get her to tell you what they talking about in airport security. If she tells you they have turned up the heat at the airport, then we know we got to do things differently. That’s all I’m saying.”
“Man, you don’t know what you’re asking me to do. That bitch is crazy, so I’d just as soon pass on this shit and take our chances,” Greg said.
“What, you gonna let some bitch punk your ass?” I taunted.
“Fuck you, man. I hope your ass got a plan B ’cause I’m pretty sure this lame-ass one ain’t gonna work.”
“Whatever, so when are you going to see ol’ girl?”
“What? You want me to go now or something?” He acted like he was about to act the fool on me.
“Ain’t no sense in waiting.” I sat back in the chair and waited for him to blow up, but he surprised me.
“Fine, let me throw on some clothes.”
“Put some water on that ass while you’re at it. You want to woo the woman, not run her off,” I said, laughing.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
GREG CARTER
“Nancy, I didn’t know you still worked at the airport.” I feigned surprise. The years hadn’t been kind to her and she looked every bit of fifty rather than thirty.
“I guess you didn’t, you stopped calling my ass years ago.”
I suspect bitterness had a hand in her aging because her face had hideous scowl lines that marred any of the beauty I’d once seen in her. She also looked like she had found another lover, one that put on the extra weight she carried on her hips and thighs.
“You still look good, girl.” I was lying through my teeth. I also prayed that God didn’t choose this moment
to come back and cast my black ass straight to hell for telling this lie.
“Yeah, right. What, you think I got ‘idiot’ stamped on my forehead? Are you going somewhere?”
It was obvious that flattery wasn’t going to get me anywhere, but I was still gonna try. “I was until I saw your pretty face again. Now I’d rather delay my trip and spend some time getting to know you again. What time do you get off?” I could tell she was not expecting me to come back at her like I did. She knocked over some luggage tags and some ticket jackets. Her bronze face turned a shade deeper. When she bent over, I could see the crack of her ass. However, with her added girth, this was not a very appealing sight. I loved the ladies, but I refused to sleep with anybody I had to throw flour on just to find the wet spot. Fuck that. “Did I embarrass you?” I chuckled as she attempted to act nonchalant.
“Can’t a girl just knock shit over?”
The madder she appeared to be the more I laughed until she didn’t have a choice but to laugh with me.
“Nancy, I seriously would like to spend some time getting to know you again. We could go to dinner or maybe go out for a drink or two.”
Her eyes lost focus as she gazed into space and for a minute. I thought I had her, but when her eyes returned to my face, they were as cold as ice.
“I don’t think so. The last time we were supposed to have dinner your ass didn’t show up.” She started looking over my head, perhaps to the next person in the growing line of people who needed tickets to destinations unknown.
“I was young and stupid then. I’ve matured since then.”
She shook her head as she sized me up. “I don’t think so. You’ve fooled me once, I’ll be damned if I’ll allow you to do it to me again.”
“Damn, girl, it’s just dinner. I didn’t ask for your hand in marriage.” I started to get an attitude. With the way she was looking, she ought to have considered herself lucky that I would be willing to be seen in public with her fat ass. I tried to talk myself down from getting angry, but it wasn’t working. Fuck it, I didn’t want to do this shit anyway.
“Fine, forget it. I need a ticket to Baltimore on the next flight.” I pulled my wallet out and dropped down my driver’s license and credit card on the counter.
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