by Kiki Swinson
“Who is it?” I asked Walt before he could utter one word.
Walt turned toward me and said, “It’s your uncle. You think we should answer it?”
“Yeah, you gon’ have to, because if you don’t, he’s gonna think something is wrong.”
The phone was on its fourth ring before Walt took the call. He immediately put the phone to Tony’s ear.
“Hello,” Tony said.
Lanier barked, “What the fuck took you so long to answer your phone?”
“I had the music up, so I didn’t hear it ring until now.”
“Where the fuck you going?” my uncle asked him.
I immediately peered through the curtains to see if I could locate my uncle. I knew he had to be somewhere in the vicinity, because he could clearly see the van. I looked out both sides of the van, but I still couldn’t tell where he was.
“Ask him where he’s at,” I whispered to Tony.
Tony sounded really nervous, but he managed to repeat the question I instructed him to ask.
“I’m coming into the hotel parking lot from the North Hampton Boulevard entrance, but I see you leaving out on the Military Highway side.”
Everybody in the van turned around toward the North Hampton Boulevard entrance of the hotel parking lot, and sure enough, there was my uncle pulling into the opposite side of the parking lot. My heart fell into the pit of my stomach.
“Oh shit! I see him right there,” I said, pointing in his direction. He was indeed driving his wife’s car, and I could see it as clear as day.
I looked at Walt to see what his next move would be. He looked clueless about how to handle this situation, so I sat back and wondered how this scene would play out. Walt kept the phone glued to Tony’s ear, so he could keep the dialog going while Jeff continued to exit the parking lot from the other side.
“So are you going to turn back around or what?” Lanier asked. “Yeah, um, er, gi-give me a second,” Tony said, stuttering. “Why you leave anyway? You knew I was coming.”
“I left because, er, I didn’t want Kira to look out her hotel window and see this van sitting in the parking lot.”
“Does she know who the van belongs to?”
“Nah, but I think she saw me pull up when she got out of her cab.”
“What made you think that?”
“Because when she got out of her cab, she did a double take, and then she rushed into the hotel.”
“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me this before? Shit! She might’ve called the cops.”
“Nah, I don’t think she did that, because I’ve been sitting up here ever since I talked to you, and I haven’t seen any police patrolling this area.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
“Well, what you think we should do?” Lanier sounded like he had run out of ideas.
“I think we should park somewhere else, but close, so we can be within walking distance of our cars.”
“What the fuck we gon’ do when we get on foot? Time is running out for us, so if we gon’ do something, we gon’ have to do it now. And to begin that process, we need to figure out how the hell we gon’ get her out that hotel without anyone seeing us.”
“I’ve been trying to figure that shit out since I got off the phone with you.”
“Well, look, let’s find a parking spot first, and then we can deal with the other shit after that,” Lanier said.
Everybody in the van remained quiet because we didn’t want to tip off my uncle that Tony wasn’t alone. I guess, since Tony couldn’t see exactly where Jeff was driving, he decided to let my uncle suggest where they would both park.
“I see you making a U-turn at the light, so do you want to park over there in that residential area near that basketball court off North Hampton Boulevard?”
Tony looked at Walt, who nodded, giving Tony the green light. “Yeah, that’s cool.”
“All right. Well, I’ll be over there in a second.”
“A’ight.”
Walt took the phone away from his ear and pressed the end button. Right after Walt ended the call, Jeff looked at him through
the rearview mirror. “You want me to drive over to the residential neighborhood near the basketball court?”
“Yeah.”
“What we gon’ do when we get over there?” Griff asked.
Walt said, “Jeff, try to beat that nigga over there, so we can jump out the van and wait for him in the cut somewhere.”
“A’ight,” Jeff said, and then he pressed down on the accelerator.
“You better hurry up, because that red light my uncle is at is getting ready to turn green.”
“I’m trying.”
When Jeff finally pulled on to the street, I looked around to see if anyone was in the vicinity, but no one was there. Well, at least I didn’t see anyone. As soon as Jeff pulled up to the basketball court, Griff and Walt opened the door to get out of the van.
Before Walt closed the sliding door to the van, I asked, “Are you getting ready to take out my uncle now?”
Walt looked at me. “That was the plan.”
“Well, do you think I’d be asking too much if you let me torture his ass first? I mean, I want him to feel the same shit he put me through earlier.”
Walt looked around to see if my uncle had arrived yet, and when he didn’t see any trace of him, he looked back at me and said, “If me and Griff take him hostage, we ain’t gon’ have a place to put ’im. You see how much space this nigga is taking up,” he said, referring to Tony.
I looked at Tony and then back at Walt. “We don’t need him anymore, so get rid of him.”
“No! No! Please don’t kill me!” he pleaded, his voice getting louder and louder with each word that came out of his mouth. If we didn’t do something to shut him up, he would’ve attracted someone’s attention, and we didn’t need that, especially since we had plans to kidnap my uncle.
A pair of headlights came racing around the corner toward us, and everyone turned around to see who it was.
“Oh shit! My uncle is coming,” I said in a panic, paranoia consuming my entire body. He was approximately one hundred and fifty yards from us when we’d first noticed him, and at the speed he was going, it was going to be a matter of seconds before he was right next to us.
Caught totally off guard, Walt and Griff didn’t have any time to run for cover and hide behind one of the cars parked near the van, so they both climbed back into the van. As soon as they got back into the van, they closed their doors, looked at each other, and wondered aloud about what their next step was going to be.
The way we were parked, my uncle’s car was coming toward us from the back. I watched his car approach from the back window of the van.
Walt scrambled to the back of the van where I was, so he could look out the back window too. “We gotta think of something quick,” he said.
“Where is he now?” Griff asked.
“He’s pulling up to the back of the van now,” Walt told him.
“Yeah, I can see him through my side window,” Jeff said.
As Walt and Jeff followed Lanier’s every move, I saw Tony moving through my peripheral vision. I turned my head around and looked directly at him. I thought he was trying to ease his way over to the sliding door, but he was only trying to turn on his side. I knew he couldn’t be so stupid as to try to scoot his body toward the sliding door, knowing Jeff and Griff would see him. But I’d been taught that you never underestimate anyone, especially those close to you.
Speaking of those close to you, my uncle stopped the car directly behind the minivan. After he turned off the ignition, he got out of the car.
“He’s out of the car,” I whispered to everyone in the van.
Griff shifted his body, and Jeff pressed the recliner button on the side of his seat so he could lean back. I continued to watch my uncle from the back window as he approached the van. He walked on the left side of the van and headed toward the front. I figured h
e assumed that Tony was in the driver’s seat. I looked toward the front of the van and saw Jeff lay farther back in his seat.
“Walt, whatcha want me to do?” Jeff said. “He’s almost at my door.”
“Just remain calm and act normal,” Walt told him.
“What am I gon’ say when he asks me where Tony is?”
Before Walt could answer, my uncle was standing outside the driver’s side door. I couldn’t see him, but I could hear him clearly.
“Where’s Tony?” Lanier asked.
Jeff sat back up in his seat and rolled down his window. “He just ran to the side of that house across the street so he could take a leak.”
“I wonder why he didn’t tell me he was rolling with somebody. When I talked to him on the phone, he acted like he was rolling solo.”
Griff wouldn’t look at my uncle. He turned his attention toward the basketball court, which was to his right.
“When he was on the phone with you, I thought you heard us in the background, because me and him was talking the whole time y’all was on the phone.”
“Nah, I didn’t hear nobody talking.”
I heard him take a step backward.
“Which house you said he was by?”
Jeff reached out the window and pointed to a beige-colored ranch-style house to the left of the van. All the lights were out at that house, so it was pretty smart of him to say that was where Tony was trying to take a piss.
I peeped out the left side window of the minivan to see what my uncle was doing. I couldn’t see him that good, but I could tell he was getting a little nervous.
Without warning, he yelled, “Hey, Tony. Where you at, man?”
Of course, Tony couldn’t answer him because he was tied up in the back of the minivan with me and Walt.
Jeff tried to remain calm, but he knew if Lanier continued to yell, someone who lived in one of the houses in the neighborhood would sure enough look outside their windows to see who was creating all the noise. Jeff knew we didn’t need any witnesses, especially since the minivan belonged to him, so he took it upon himself to eliminate the source of the noise. He opened the door, gun in hand.
“Lanier, they trying to kill you! You better run!” Tony blurted out, catching everybody in the van off guard.
Lanier was looking in the direction of the house where he was told Tony was taking a leak. His back was turned to Jeff, so Jeff had the upper hand when he saw Lanier shift his body to turn back around.
Before Lanier could do anything, Jeff was out of the van, and standing before him, his pistol pointed directly at his head. “Nigga, if you say another word, I’ma blow your motherfucking head clean off your shoulders. Now turn your ass back around and put up your hands!” Just as Lanier turned around and raised his hands, Griff opened his door and hopped out to assist Jeff.
Walt turned his attention to Tony, who was curled up in a fetal position, a dumbfounded expression on his face. He knew he had fucked up royally, and his time on this earth was about to expire. Walt got down on his knees with the gun in hand and started pistol-whipping the hell out of Tony.
Tony screamed, “Owwwww! Please don’t kill me! I’m sorry! Please give me another chance.”
Blood was flying everywhere. It even got on Walt’s face, but Walt acted like it didn’t bother him, because he kept pounding Tony with one blow after the next. Tony’s face looked really raw, and it became unbearable for me to look at it, so I closed my eyes and placed my face in the palms of my hands.
As Tony’s cries got louder and louder, Jeff and Griff grabbed my uncle and marched him around to the side of the minivan to see what was going on.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Jeff asked as soon as he slid the van door open.
“I wanted to teach him a lesson about opening his mouth.”
“But why did you do that shit in my van? Do you know how hard it is to clean up blood?”
“Yeah, Walt,” Griff said, “he ain’t lying. Trying to get rid of bloodstains ain’t no easy task.”
“Why you ain’t just shoot him in his fucking head and be done with it?” Jeff said.
“Good idea.” Walt then turned back around, put his gun against Tony’s head, and shot him.
Tony’s eyes were still open, but his body became still. I knew he was dead.
Uncle Lanier started trying to make deals with Jeff and Griff. “Look, y’all, if y’all let me go, I’ll make you very rich.”
“That’s a fucking lie!” I said. “He ain’t even rich himself.”
Lanier didn’t see me sitting in the back of the minivan, but when he heard my voice, he leaned into the van to see if his ears had played a trick on him. And when he saw my face, he looked like he was about to have a fucking heart attack.
“Surprised to see me, huh?”
While he was at a loss for words, Jeff and Griff started tying his arms and legs together with duct tape.
“Well, since you ain’t got shit to say,” I continued, “I might as well tell you that you are about to go on the wildest ride of your life. And when I’m through with your grimy ass, your lame-ass wife gon’ be burying you.”
“Kira, I know I hurt you, but can you please forgive me? We are family, and nothing should come between that.”
I wasn’t trying to hear his bullshit. He’d taken me through so much agony and pain, it felt unreal. I still couldn’t believe that he’d planned the whole kidnapping thing and participated in torturing me.
Walt took off his shirt and wiped his face with it. There was still a lot of blood near the creases of his eyes and around his nose, which Jeff brought to his attention.
After Jeff and Griff tied up my uncle, they pushed him inside the van, and he fell onto of Tony’s limp body. The shit must’ve scared the hell out of him, because he screamed like a little bitch.
Walt kicked Lanier in his side. “Shut the fuck up!” Then he looked at Jeff and asked him if he had checked my uncle to see if he had a burner on him.
Before Jeff slid back the door, he told Walt, “Yeah, I checked while we were on the other side of the van. He’s clean.”
“It’s probably in his car,” I blurted out.
Walt told Griff, “Go check his car and see if he left his burner in there.”
“A’ight.” Griff dashed off toward Lanier’s car.
While Griff searched my uncle’s car, Jeff slid the van door closed, got back into the driver’s seat, and turned on the ignition. I took it upon myself to look out each window in the back of the van to see if anyone in the neighborhood was peeping out of their front door or windows. Thankfully, I didn’t notice anyone watching us.
Once Griff completed his search, he rushed back to the van and hopped into his seat, sounding a little out of breath.
“You all right?” Jeff asked him.
Griff sighed. “Yeah, I’m straight.”
“Did you find his pistol?” Walt asked.
“Yeah, I got it right here.” Griff showed him Lanier’s semi- automatic handgun.
“Walt, you know we gon’ have to hurry up and get rid of Tony’s body before all his blood soaks into my carpet.”
Griff stuck Lanier’s gun into the glove compartment. “Yeah, Walt, he’s right. We gon’ have to get rid of his body ASAP.”
“Where you think we should put him?” Walt asked.
“Let’s leave him in the same spot where we put his girl,” Griff suggested.
“Nah, that won’t be a good idea,” Jeff said. “It would be really stupid to go back to the same area where we dumped off one body, and then turn around to do the same shit again. For all we know, somebody could’ve seen this van, so if we chance it and go back out there, we would really become suspect.”
“He’s right,” I said. “That makes a lot of sense.”
“So think of another spot then.”
“Stick him in the trunk of his car,” I said.
Walt shook his head. “Nah, that’ll be too risky.”
As Jeff put t
he van in gear and drove away from the basketball court, I looked out the back of the van window at Lanier’s wife’s car. Knowing she was going to call 9-1-1 and report her husband missing in the morning made me think about how a person could be here one day and gone the next. Life had a funny way of throwing stones at you. I was just hoping I would be able to duck each one thrown at me from this day forward.
By the time Jeff got back to the main road, Griff and Walt had both figured out where they were going to dump Tony’s body. I didn’t quite agree with their decision because of the risk they were going to take, but since I didn’t have a say in the matter, I let it go. I prayed to God that everything would work out, so I could walk away from this thing and get back out of town as quickly as possible.
I watched my uncle as he lay on the floor of the van. I noticed that he wouldn’t look at me, so I made it my business to torment the hell out of him.
“You can’t look at me, can you?” I asked, but of course he ignored me.
Walt said, “He knows he fucked up. That’s why he can’t look at you.”
While Walt was talking to me, I couldn’t help but look at the blood that was drying on his face. It made him look really sadistic. I began to look at him in another light. I was beginning to see this other person. He wasn’t the man my mother used to be with when I was a child. Back then he was a sweetheart, and I could tell that he had a heart. He used to treat me like I was his biological daughter, and he still did, but for some reason I didn’t see that glow in his eyes anymore. Tonight his eyes were dark, and I didn’t like it. So, instead of commenting on what he’d said about my uncle, I turned my attention to the left side window and watched the streetlights and the cars as we drove by, on our way to complete my mission for revenge.
Street Credibility
The dumpsite for Tony’s body was the Pretty Lake section of Ocean View, which was a neighborhood off Shore Drive in Norfolk. I’d always known Ocean View to be plagued with gang violence and heavy drug trafficking. Police were known to frequent this part of Norfolk, so I was leery from the beginning when they suggested that we dump Tony’s body there.
