by Cydney Rax
Nicole put on the leather gloves and went and got the last burner phone. She placed it in a storage bag and dropped it in her purse.
An hour and a half later, she and Emmy left the apartment and were on their way. Every time she saw a white van on the street, she froze. And when it seemed as though a police car was following her, she carefully drove until she reached an intersection and then turned the corner. She looked in her rearview. The police weren’t following.
Nicole pulled up in front of the child-care facility. Although it was nine in the morning, the parking lot was packed.
“Damn shame that so many single moms have no other alternative than to leave their kids at places like these.”
She mustered up a smile and carried Emmy on her hip. She managed to get through the check-in process and had a seat in the lobby.
“Hey there, Nicole,” the director said. Her name was Wendy. “Glad to see you made it out. We’ll be happy to spend time with your daughter and make sure she feels comfortable. You’re welcome to stick around as long as you like. She’s in good hands.”
“Thank you.”
Wendy led Nicole to the toddler room. “This is where Emmy will spend most of her time.”
“Okay, I’ll be here for a little while and make sure my daughter feels comfortable. And then I’ll sneak away and leave and will check back in a few hours. But I’ll be reachable by cell phone if Emmy gets upset.”
“I’m sure she’ll have so much fun with the other kids she might not even notice you’re missing. You go right ahead and leave when you’re ready. And I’m so sorry that you and your husband are splitting up.”
“What are you talking about? I never told you that. Why would you say something like that?”
Wendy gave Nicole an odd look. “But isn’t that what you told me a few days ago? Don’t you remember?”
Nicole’s face was ashen. “I did? Oh, I don’t know why I told you that. I must have been talking about someone else. Not me. My husband and I are fine.”
“Oh, okay. Maybe I got it mixed up.”
“Yeah, you are very mixed up. Um, is it alright with you if I use the ladies’ room? My stomach is hurting.”
“Go right ahead. Down that hallway. To the very end, last door on the right.”
Nicole practically ran down the hall. She opened and quickly locked the door. She raised the lid and threw up for several minutes. When she was done, she rinsed her mouth out good.
“Oh shit. Why me?”
Deep inside she already knew what a pregnancy test couldn’t tell her. She knew she was going to have another child of Rashad’s. But if he was dead, what would happen then? Was it too late to get Ajalon to stop the hit?
Why did she even pay her ex to kill her husband? It felt like a bad dream. She wanted to call Ajalon, but decided to wait. Not knowing what had happened was killing her, and she wanted to delay the inevitable for as long as possible.
* * *
Later that morning, even though he did not want to, Jerry placed a call to Nicole. It rang three times before she picked up.
She started to say, “Hey, Jerry,” but she simply said, “Hello?”
“Nicole. It’s me, Jerry.” He never called her Mrs. Eason, and she thought it was so disrespectful.
“Hey, Jerry. What’s up?”
“Um. Have you heard from the Boss Man?”
“Uh, not lately,” she said. Nicole didn’t know how much of their business Rashad told to Jerry. “Why do you ask?”
“I’m out here in the Woodlands. We’re supposed to start a garage project, and last night when I talked to Rashad, he told me that he’d meet me out here between seven and eight. I’ve been waiting since seven fifteen. And three hours later, no Rashad. His phone rings and rings. No answer. No callbacks.”
“Um, maybe he overslept.”
“Rashad never oversleeps. I’ve known this man for years and not showing up for work is not like him.”
“Well, Jerry, tell you what. I will call him and see what’s going on. If I find out anything I’ll make sure and call you back. It’s probably nothing. He may be at his second home.”
“Second home?”
“Home Depot.” She laughed. “Or Harbor Freight.”
“I dunno. Maybe. When I talked to him last night, he was on his way to the warehouse. Did he mention it when he came home?”
Okay. Jerry does not know that Rashad and I are living separately.
“No. He never mentioned that to me.”
“This is nuts. The owners of the house are sitting around looking at me like I’m scoping out their house to rob them. You know how rich people get around strangers.”
“I, uh, I wouldn’t know, Jerry. Anyway, um, I was kind of busy.”
“Sorry to disturb you. Call me back if you hear anything. Otherwise I will tell these people we’ll have to reschedule. Waste of time and gas.”
“I’ll call if I can. ’Bye, Jerry.”
She quickly hung up. Damn. It sounded like the hit went off. But she wasn’t really sure.
She finished off the bottle of tequila and went to her kitchen. Cooking calmed her down. She threw together a quick lunch and baked a cake.
Suddenly her cell phone rang. It was Myles.
“Oh shit, no, no, I can’t do this.” She let the call go into voice mail. Soon she saw the icon appear on her notifications. A message had been left.
She pressed “1” to listen.
“Hi, Mom.”
Oh shit, he just called me “Mom.”
“It’s Myles. I drew you a picture. It’s of a pretend zoo that I made up. I wanted to send it to you, but I don’t know how. Call me back and tell me. My mommy is busy right now talking to Mr. Osborne.”
She heard Myles’s recorded voice and listened two more times. So Kiara and Eddison were together. That meant that no one had heard about Rashad yet.
She finished eating, then decided to call Rashad’s number. Her knees knocked together when his cell rang. She decided not to leave a message.
In her heart she felt that he must’ve been dead. But why hadn’t Ajalon called her?
* * *
It had been more then twenty-four hours since anyone had heard from Rashad.
Kiara attempted to call him, but there was no answer. No voice. Only voice mail. When Jerry called Nicole a second time and could get no solid answer from her about his boss’s whereabouts, he phoned Kiara.
“I’m worried. This isn’t like Rashad at all.”
A dreadful feeling gutted Kiara’s belly. Had anything bad happened to him? The last time someone had seen him was at Eason and Son. They thought he might have tried to go make a new deposit at the bank. But Jerry doubted that. His boss swore he’d never try that again. In fact, he wanted to come up with some new security measures so that everyone could be safe.
“What about all the construction sites, Jerry? Have you checked with those? I remember when he used to fall asleep at some of those sites. He’d stay all night, then come home.”
“Yeah, that man can work so hard that he can’t see straight.”
“I hope he hasn’t had a car wreck. He could be lying in a ditch somewhere.”
She said that, but inside she wished that was all that had happened. She hoped that Ajalon Cantu had nothing to do with Rashad’s disappearance. She hung up from Jerry and was unable to concentrate. She felt jittery, and negative thoughts punched her mind constantly. But the next evening, not quite a full forty-eight hours had passed, and she still had not heard from Rashad. Kiara felt she needed to take action. She remembered how to get into his Find My Cell Phone account. And when she pulled up the info, she gasped when she saw the blue light flickering on the computer screen. She could barely breathe as she raced to her car with Myles and Jazzy in tow. The address was a warehouse where some of his heavy equipment items were stored.
When Kiara arrived at the warehouse, the entrance gate was wide open. As she drove inside the parking area, she immediately saw Ras
had’s work van right next to the building.
“Maybe Rashad fell asleep in the van.”
Kiara pulled up next to his vehicle and got out of her car. All the doors were closed. When she peered inside the window, he wasn’t in the driver’s seat. No other cars were in the area.
“Maybe he left the van here and got picked up by someone?”
Kiara dialed Nicole’s number, but the woman did not answer the call.
“Hmm.”
Kiara decided to go inside the warehouse. She didn’t want to leave the kids alone in her car, but she told herself she’d only be gone a couple of minutes.
“Wait here,” she instructed Myles. “If I’m not back in two minutes, please come find me.”
“Okay, Mommy.”
She got out of the car and walked over to the warehouse entrance. She remembered the code to the door and it squeaked as it opened.
“Rashad? Are you here? It’s Kiara.”
She walked inside and traveled about twenty yards when she encountered an awful smell. It was a sickly sweet, yet sharp odor, similar to pineapples and raspberries. She quickly covered her nose.
A cold chill came over her. Then she looked to the left and spotted a body spread out on the floor. It was lying on its side. Pools of blood surrounded the corpse. Dried blood wildly covered parts of the body. Maggots and flies were descending on top of the corpse. The smell was bad enough to make the last meal she ate rise up in her throat.
She took a closer look. Half of his face was gone, but she knew his body. She could never forget his shape, his hands. He lay facedown, unmoving, and looked as stiff as stone.
“Rashad? Oh my God, noooo.”
Kiara heard the ringing of his cell phone, which was abandoned only a few feet away.
That’s when Kiara screamed at the top of her lungs.
She refused to believe that it had happened. Did not want to accept that he was gone.
She trembled uncontrollably and she could not think logically for several seconds.
The kids! What if Rashad had gotten killed and the murderer was still nearby or even somewhere inside the warehouse? She had no idea how long he’d been there. Kiara sprinted through the warehouse and stumbled as she ran blindly toward the exit.
She burst through the door, afraid of what she’d discover. But Myles smiled at her through the car window and she’d never been more relieved in her life.
Kiara jumped in the car, quickly locked all the doors, and called 911.
“Hello, there’s been a terrible accident. Please hurry.”
Chapter 17
Kiara was on the phone with the dispatcher.
“Is anyone hurt?”
“Um, yes. Yes.”
“How many are injured?”
“Just one. A man.”
“Approximate age?”
“Thirty-five. He just celebrated his birthday not too long ago.”
“What type of injuries?”
“Fatal,” she whispered.
Myles, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, stared quizzically at his mother.
“Is there a pulse, ma’am?”
“I did not check. His face—” She couldn’t bring herself to tell the dispatcher the extent of Rashad’s injuries.
“What’s the address?”
Kiara told the dispatcher the exact location.
“Um, I am scared to death. I feel like freaking out. Hold on a second, please. Our children are with me.” She hesitated, then got out of the car. Myles continued gawking at her. She turned her back to her son.
“Okay, um, it’s my ex. He’s dead. I think he’s been killed. Oh Lord, this is a nightmare.”
The dispatcher told Kiara that help was on the way.
“I’m going to hang up.” She couldn’t bear to talk to a stranger any longer. The woman protested, but Kiara apologized and ended the call. Her phone instantly rang again but Kiara didn’t answer.
Myles suddenly sprang from the car and ran to his mother.
“Why did you call 911? Why are you looking so scared? What’s wrong, Mommy?”
“Um, Myles, we-we’re trying to find out. There’s been a terrible accident, and we need the police to come out. Baby, please get back in the car.”
“Is my daddy hurt?”
“Get your little ass back in the car. Move it. Now!”
His face twisted up in pain.
“Myles, baby, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. Come here.” He raced into Kiara’s arms and she held him close, knowing that this hug would be the first of many she’d have to give to him.
“I love you, son. I do. But we’re dealing with an emergency. That means your mom may not act like herself right now. I need you to overlook me. You understand?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Good. I need you to be a strong boy and get back in the car.” Kiara folded her arms and quickly scanned the area. “I have to make some more calls. Please, Myles, help me out and go watch Jazzy and make sure she’s okay.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
As soon as Myles was out of listening range, Kiara’s mind was so scattered she had to look through her most recent calls to find Eddison’s phone number. Her phone was constantly ringing but she kept rejecting the calls.
She managed to dial her man. “Babe,” she told Eddison as soon as she heard his voice.
“Hi there. What’s up with you?”
Kiara began gasping for breath.
“What’s wrong? You sound like you’re about to have a heart attack.”
“I think I am, too. I-I found him,” she said, unable to say his name. “It looks really bad. My ex is gone, Eddy.”
“What?”
The sounds of emergency vehicles filled the streets. In the far distance, she recognized an approaching ambulance and two police cars headed in her direction.
“Babe, please come to me. I’m at the warehouse, and I need you. I really need you.”
“I’m on the way.”
She gave Eddison the address and he promised to stay on the phone with her until he arrived.
Two officers pulled up; they got out of their vehicles, identified themselves and asked Kiara what happened. They withdrew their weapons and cautiously went inside the building. They came out a short time later.
“It doesn’t seem like anyone else is inside, but we will call for backup.” The men placed several more phone calls. The EMS personnel arrived and went inside the building toting their equipment. Shortly thereafter, another patrol unit stopped right next to the other vehicles. They taped off the area then went inside the warehouse.
Kiara waited impatiently until Eddison arrived. She rushed into his arms and buried her face in his chest.
“Calm down, Kiara. I’m here for you, babe.”
“I know you are, Eddy.”
“Did you say Rashad is gone? Like, dead?”
She nodded.
“Damn! What happened?”
“I don’t know. I-I’m waiting to find out.”
One of the officers asked to see her driver’s license. She handed it over and waited for the police to check to see if she had any warrants.
After a while a crime scene unit showed up. Two women, dressed in dark jumpsuits, hurried past Kiara and Eddy. She listened to them talking.
“How’s your mom doing?” one of them asked the other.
“She is alright. Just gotta take it easy when she gets in the shower so she won’t slip and fall again.”
Their casual conversation faded as they disappeared inside the warehouse.
Kiara folded her hands across her chest and watched as she stood next to her car.
Within minutes an unmarked car arrived. A man and a woman stepped out and approached Kiara.
“Hi, ma’am. We need to ask a few questions.”
“Okay.”
“Were you a witness to this tragedy?”
“No.”
“Do you know if there were any witnesses?”
&nbs
p; “I dunno. I don’t think so. I haven’t seen anyone.”
“Do you know if the victim wore glasses?”
“No, Rashad had twenty-twenty vision.”
“And that van? Is that owned by the victim?”
“Oh my goodness,” Kiara said. “Yes, that’s the company van and I’m assuming he drove it over here.”
“And was this vehicle here when you first arrived?”
“I believe so, but I could be wrong. I don’t know what happened, honestly, and I am hoping you guys can tell me something.”
She watched them carefully open the door of the Eason & Son van.
The CSU team asked a few more general questions. Kiara finished giving them her statement. They told her she was free to leave.
* * *
Eddison led Kiara a few yards away from the commotion. He lifted her chin. “I’m sorry, Kiara.”
No words came from her mouth. A terrible dread fell on her and she needed a moment to process everything.
“I need a favor,” she told Eddison.
“Anything.”
“Call Mama Flora. Call Adina. Just tell them that . . . tell them—”
“I’ll do it. Don’t you worry about a thing.”
Kiara returned to her car and Eddison followed behind her as she made her way back to her house. When she pulled up into the driveway, in some ways she wished that Rashad would greet her. She wished that he’d rush out of the house and yell, “Gotcha” or something equivalent that would let her know that the worst had not just happened.
“You need me to go inside with you?”
“Yes, please do.”
Eddison carried Jazzy inside and went upstairs to oversee getting the kids situated. He made phone calls and was ready to do anything else to help.
As soon as she knew the kids were safe and sound, Kiara retreated to her bedroom. There was one other person she wanted to call. At one time the woman had been her enemy. But now she wanted to treat her more like a friend.
She got Alexis on the phone. “Get over here. Now.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
“Are you driving right now?”
“Yes, I have Hayley with me, and we were going to Baskin-Robbins.”
“Don’t go. Come to my house. It’s an emergency.” She burst into tears.
