“You said that we were at your house the whole night?” Jackie asked.
“Yeah, the whole night,” Willow lied.
“Great, because that’s where we said that we were! What a coincidence!” Jackie said.
“It really is!” Trina said.
“I guess you were reading our minds, Willow, huh?” Cherie said.
Willow smiled. “Yeah, I was.”
“Well, I don’t trust those cops. I have a feeling that they’re not gonna leave us alone about that fuck girl. As long as we stay on the same page with everything then we should be fine, because we’re always gonna be suspects in this case because of that damn picture. I feel like killing that Taylor motherfucker for taking that picture! I know he did it to prove that we were over her house and how much of a pussy she was that she either was there and didn’t come to the door, or she actually wasn’t there. But that bitch won’t be messing with my man anymore!” Jackie said.
“Or my ex,” Willow said.
They all laughed.
Jackie looked at her watch. “Let’s get out of here. The bell’s about to ring.”
They all walked out of the bathroom and to their next class.
Chapter 21
Sherwood and Seals arrived at Moves. They drove through the empty parking lot.
“Do you think anyone’s here right now?” Seals asked, as Sherwood pulled into a parking space.
“Looks like someone is here now. Let’s wait here for a minute. Judging by the car, it must be the owner of this club,” Sherwood said.
They watched as a young man got out of an exotic sports car. He locked the doors to his car and headed towards the front entrance of the club while he talked on the latest and greatest smartphone, as he wore a pair of black sunglasses, a dark grey hoodie with a white T-shirt underneath, and dark blue jeans held up by a dark grey and black checkered luxury belt.
Sherwood and Seals got out of the car and headed towards him as he continued to head towards the club as he talked to someone on his phone. He stopped in his tracks when Sherwood and Seals showed their badges to him, formally identifying them as cops.
“Let me call you back,” he said to the person that he was talking to. He pressed a button on his phone, and then looked at Sherwood and Seals. “What’s up?”
“I’m Detective Roland Sherwood and this is Detective Genevieve Seals. May we ask who you are?”
“I’m Carmine Jennings. I’m the owner of this club,” he replied.
“Do you have a brother by the name of Carson?” Sherwood asked.
Carmine sighed. “What did he do?”
Sherwood and Seals looked at each other.
“Well, nothing that we know of, unless there’s something that you’re not telling us,” Sherwood said.
“Well, there’s obviously something that you’re not telling me because y’all came here to my club, I didn’t come to you,” Carmine replied.
“Well, we came here because we’re investigating the attempted murder of a club patron of yours, Felicity Gains. Do you know her?” Seals asked.
Carmine nodded. “Yeah, I’ve heard of her, but I don’t know her. Carson’s told me about her coming here almost every Friday and Saturday. Attempted murder? Damn, that’s fucked up.”
“To say the least. How well does your brother know her?” Seals asked.
“I’m not sure. Carson is here to work, not pick up girls. He knows the rules and he follows them. He’s one of my best employees and they’re very hard to come by, especially family members,” Carmine said.
“You got that right,” Sherwood said with a slight grin. “So, is here today?”
“It’s Monday. This place is only open on Fridays and Saturdays, or on another day if a special event is going on. I don’t have any special events scheduled for this week, but the staff is to report here every Wednesday for a weekly meeting,” Carmine replied.
“Have you talked to your brother today?” Seals asked.
“No, since he’s at school. If you wanna talk to him I’ll say that’s the best place to catch him at,” Carmine said.
“Do you two live together?” Sherwood asked.
“No, we don’t. We haven’t lived together since I was eighteen and moved out,” Carmine replied.
“Well, it’s obvious that you have a pretty successful business here,” Sherwood said.
Carmine nodded with a grin. “Yeah, I do alright. I come from a successful family so it’s in the genes. Look, I hate to cut this short but I gotta get inside and get to work.”
Sherwood reached inside his pocket and gave Carmine two of his cards; Seals did the same.
Carmine took the cards. “I take it one’s for me and the other’s for Carson?”
“Correct,” Sherwood said. “If you speak to your brother today, tell him I said call us right away, okay?”
“No problem, man,” Carmine replied.
Sherwood and Seals got back into their car.
“So, what do you think?” Seals asked.
“It’s hard to tell,” Sherwood replied. “If he knows something then he sure isn’t acting like he does. And if he does know something, he doesn’t even care because it’s not him. I’ve seen his type before. He’s rich, handsome, and all about success.”
“Unless someone puts that in jeopardy,” Seals said.
“Exactly,” Sherwood replied. He started up the car and drove out of the parking lot, passing Carmine’s car. “And he has a lot of success when it comes to this club at least, to be able to afford a car that’s over two-hundred thousand. I bet he has no problem getting girls.”
Seals laughed. “I hope it’s not girls who patronize his club because they’re underage!”
“He’s not that much older than them; I don’t put him past twenty-six or so. But hey, when you got it, you got it.”
“Jealous much?” Seals asked with a chuckle.
“I plead the fifth!” Sherwood said with a laugh.
They laughed as they left out of the parking lot.
Back inside the club, Carmine walked to his office as he looked at Sherwood and Seals’ cards. He walked inside his office and threw two of the cards on his desk. “I think you might be interested in those,” he said to Carson!
Carson was sitting at Carmine’s desk as he looked at the computer. He picked up the cards, and then put them back on the desk. “Hey, I don’t know why they wanna talk to me, man. That’s why I didn’t go to school today because I didn’t want them coming up there. That Seals chick has been texting, e-mailing, and private messaging me on all of sites that have to do with this business, man.”
“And why do they wanna question you so bad, man, huh? Is there something you’re not telling me? This is my business, man! I built this and I wanna keep it! That Felicity chick has been coming here every fuckin’ Friday and Saturday for over a year, man! Why wouldn’t they wanna talk to you? What the fuck is goin’ on, man? Are you fucking her?”
“No, man! I only had one dance with her, that’s it!”
“What?! You know you’re not supposed to be gettin’ down with the patrons, man! It’s against the club rules!”
“I couldn’t tell her no, man! I’m sorry! That’s the first time she’s ever asked me to dance with her out of all of times she’s been here.”
Carmine sighed as he sat in a chair in front of his desk. “Look, man. If you have anything that you need to tell those cops about that Felicity chick then you need to tell them and you better tell them now. I don’t wanna see them up here anymore. People seeing cops coming around here all the time — in uniform or not — is bad business. I run a clean business here, you know that, and I’ll be fuckin’ damned if I lose everything that I worked so hard for over a fuck girl!”
“I know, man, okay? You’re not gonna lose anything. I’m your brother. I saw how hard you worked to get this off the ground. It’s your dream and you achieved it, that’s why I don’t mind working here. I’m serious, man, when I say that I don’t know Felici
ty like that. All I know is that she’s a fuck girl and did a lot of shit to people that caused what happened to her to happen. I’m surprised that I didn’t hear about something happening to her sooner.”
Carmine nodded. “I’m surprised, too. Just get this shit straightened out with them, man, okay? Luckily, I caught them right outside of here and of course, I told them that you were at school, so if you don’t wanna have them go up there like what they’re probably gonna do, then talk to them.”
“I will,” Carson assured him.
“Oh, and this incident with Felicity made me think about another incident that happened here last week Friday.”
Carson looked at him. “And what incident is that?”
“Let me switch places with you, man, because I need to get on my computer,” Carmine said.
They switched places.
Carmine got on his computer and looked at the file that he had on reported incidents that happened here. “Here it is. Yeah, it happened last week Friday, not this past Friday. A girl by the name of Stacia Eversley said that some girl messed up her white luxury handbag. She said that the girl poured a whole soda into it and then marked it up on one side with her red lipstick. She also said that this girl stole her lipstick because it was missing. She said that the bag was $2,900 and the lipstick was $90 — damn, that’s a lot for some lipstick, but who am I to talk? When I saw the pictures, I noticed how I got my girl about five of them, and this exact same bag but in black. Stacia’s got great taste. That’s some fuckery right there!”
“Yeah, I’ll say. I definitely remember Stacia from that night. She was very hard not to remember because she was by far the hottest girl here that night. I believe that was her first time here.”
“Yeah, it says in the report that it was her first time coming here,” Carmine replied, as he looked at the computer. “It also says that the case is still unsolved. I’m surprised Stacia came back here this past Friday and I got to see her in person — damn! I had to take my eyes off of her before I got into trouble!”
Carson laughed. “Yeah, she’s a knockout. But I’m gonna tell you what I’ve seen on social media about the incident,” he informed him.
Carmine looked at him. “And you’re telling me this now, man? What is it?”
“Jay, the guy who’s here just as much as Felicity, was saying on social media that he believes that Felicity did that to Stacia’s purse and stole her lipstick.”
“For real, man? But what did she do it for?”
“Jealousy, I guess. Felicity was very jealous of Stacia that night that Jay was giving her all of his attention and practically ignored her. I can’t prove it and neither can he, but we both believe she did it.”
Carmine nodded. “It’s possible, but we won’t know unless Felicity confesses, that’s if she ever gets a chance to. Look, I know a lot of fuckin’ shit goes on here, and I have a club full of fuck girls, but that Felicity seems to be the worst one out of them all. I’m not saying what happened to her should’ve happened, but she should not be surprised that it did.”
“I agree,” Carson said.
“Oh, and was Felicity here this past Saturday?” Carmine asked.
“If she was, I didn’t see her. She told me the day before that she was taking a hiatus from here and it look like she did. For it to have been raining outside, it was really packed in here.”
“Yeah, other staff members told me,” Carmine said with a smile. “It was a great night. But anyway, you get that shit taken care of with those cops, okay, bro?”
“Of course,” Carson said.
Carmine looked at his phone. “I just got a text from a new staff member. He’s having problems with getting some of the inventory for this week, so I gotta see what’s up. I’ll come back around here and pick you up to take you back home. Now I’m glad you didn’t wanna take bring your own car here because those cops would’ve seen it out front or even in the back; you know how nosey they are.”
“Yeah, I know,” Carson replied, as he stared at his phone. “Well, text me when you’re on your way back here.”
“Alright, man,” Carmine said, and then left his office.
Carson sat back behind the desk and looked at the state-of-the-art security monitors as he waited for Carmine to leave. He shook his head since he would’ve seen Sherwood and Seals talking to Carmine had he not been in the bathroom in the office. He watched Carmine leave and then picked up his phone. “Hey, I’m at the club. Look, the cops were just up here questioning Carmine about Felicity; they caught him outside in the parking lot before he walked in here. We need to talk.”
Chapter 22
“Okay, thanks for letting me know. Bye now,” Seals said.
“What’s up?” Sherwood asked, as they sat at their desks across from each other at the station. It was Tuesday morning.
“Felicity’s condition is not improving, in fact, they say that it’s getting worse. They don’t want the media knowing about it because they don’t want the people who are responsible to disappear, and of course, we don’t want that, either. Right now, we have so many suspects and we have more that we need to talk to.”
“Oh, boy,” Sherwood said. He let out a sigh. “Well, all we have is a bunch of people who Felicity caused a lot of fuckery to who knows exactly where they were on Friday night, but seem to be confused about where they were on Saturday night. What do you think?”
“I think it was the rain that scrambled their brains!” Seals said jokingly with a laugh.
Sherwood laughed. “Yeah, you would think so! I think all of these kids we talked to so far have something to hide, what? I don’t know. Felicity is the common denominator in all of these incidents, so someone or a bunch of people wanted her hurt really bad, or even dead, and if she doesn’t pull through then they’re gonna get their wish.”
“And we’ll have to hand it over to homicide, but for right now, we still have a lot of work to do,” Seals said. She looked at her computer at one of the social media sites. “You know, I’ve been doing a lot of digging when it comes to Felicity, and I honestly can’t narrow it down to who she could’ve fucked with the worst that they wanted to hurt her this bad. Everyone had a motive to hurt this girl and to hurt her bad. I just hope we find the one or ones that actually did it because that’s all that matters now.”
“Exactly,” Sherwood said. He got up. “So, who are we trying to talk to today?”
“Felicity’s neighbor from across the street, Taylor Richards. Apparently, there’s a picture of Taylor in his dress uniform being pleased by Felicity, but she tries to make it seem like it’s not her or him. I’ve been looking at some of his friends social media pages and they’re still talking about,” Seals said with a grin.
Sherwood grinned back. “And I take it you’ve seen the picture?”
“It comes up in major search engines, if your parental controls are off!” Seals laughed.
“My kids controls are on, but mine aren’t!” Sherwood laughed.
“I don’t have kids so I have no controls turned on!” Seals said. She pulled up the picture on her phone. “Here it is.”
Sherwood looked at the picture and grinned. “Yeah, you can’t tell that it’s him, but you know that’s his school dress uniform. I can’t wait to see the look on his face when we ask him about this picture!”
“I can’t, either! I think that’s gonna be the best part!”
“Well, he’s not expecting us so that’s gonna be the best part!”
Seals laughed. “Very true! And he’s confirmed to be at school today because he clearly took a selfie in one of his classes with a big smile and everything. People should really watch what they post on social media, especially when they’re under investigation, unbeknownst to them!”
“Yeah, really! But we’ll see how much he’s smiling when he sees us!”
They laughed as they walked out of the station and headed to Taylor’s school, St. Vincent Military Academy.
Taylor stood in the halls between
classes with his friends Rock, Javon, Jacob, and Chet. They talked about what everyone’s been talking about — who hurt Felicity.
“Man, you live across the street from her! You mean you haven’t heard anything about how she’s doing?” Jacob asked.
“Nothing at all. My family’s seen media trucks coming and going, and reporters at the door and everything, but no one from her family is obviously talking right now,” Taylor replied.
“No one has come to your door?” Javon asked.
“Not that I know of, but if they have, my parents told me and Tier not to answer it because we don’t know what happened to her yet, and just outta respect for her family and all. We weren’t given permission by Felicity’s family to speak on it,” Taylor replied.
“But you can still say something about her, at least, since you know her,” Rock said.
“Yeah, I can, but I choose not to, even if my parents allowed me to. I just don’t know if the media would twist my words and would make it sound like I know more than what I’m telling. Usually those people always seen talking to the media about a case are usually suspect and they know it. They think talking about a case makes them look like they don’t have anything to do with it, but in reality, it’s just the opposite,” Taylor said.
“Man, you’ve been watching too many crime shows!” Javon said.
“They’re my favorite, but it’s the truth!” Taylor said with a laugh.
They all laughed.
“Well, who do you think could’ve did this to her, man?” Chet asked.
“That’s what we would like to know,” Sherwood said.
Taylor tried not to look surprised at seeing Sherwood and Seals now standing in front of him. They flashed their badges to him to let him know that they were cops. He knew how serious this was. His friends looked at the badges and then at him.
“I’m Detective Ronald Sherwood and this is Detective Genevieve Seals. Are you Taylor Richards? Felicity Gains’ neighbor from across the street?” Sherwood asked.
F#ckGirl (F#ckGirl #1) Page 15
