Schemes

by Kiki Swinson

  “I’m coming now. . . .” I started without turning around. I figured it was Sidney coming to tell me to hurry up.

  “No need to rush. I’ve got time.”

  I whirled around on the balls of my feet, my face crumpled in confusion at the sound of the familiar deep baritone. It definitely wasn’t the voice of my man. All of the wind left my lungs when I saw Detective Castle standing there with a smirk on his face. My heart sped up in my chest. I quickly hid my trembling hands behind my back. I had to play it off. I definitely couldn’t let him see me sweat.

  “You must like me,” I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes in disgust. “Either that or you just have no criminals to catch.”

  Detective Castle laughed. “Trust me, Ms. Houston, it’s neither,” he said, pulling a yellow folder from under his arm at the same time. “I wish this was a pleasure trip, but unfortunately it’s not. Definitely not,” he continued as he placed the folder down on the counter in front of him. He opened it and took something out.

  “Ms. Houston, do you recognize these two men?” Detective Castle said, sliding a shiny eight-by-ten glossy photo toward me. I sucked in my breath and then I let out a gasp. My left hand instinctively flew up to my open mouth. The first thing I saw was all of the blood. I could barely make out the faces, but I recognized the dreads and the gold chains right away. My stomach did flips. I clutched the side of the counter.

  “Whoa. Whoa,” Detective Castle yelled, racing around the counter, grabbing me right before I hit the floor. “You all right?”

  “I . . . I . . . get . . . get . . . weak at the sight of . . . of . . . blood,” I replied weakly, barely able to get the words out.

  “How about you sit down, Ms. Houston,” he said, helping me to my chair. I swallowed hard and closed my eyes. My head was spinning.

  “I understand your difficulty, Ms. Houston. But, I need to know your association with these victims,” he said.

  “I . . . I . . . don’t,” I started, lowering my forehead into my hand. I couldn’t even be sure if it was who I thought it was.

  “Before you lie,” he said, throwing his hand up to halt my words. “I just want you to know that I’m asking you the questions, but there are some things I already know. Now these men are dead and I need to know your relationship with them.”

  I was shaking my head no. Tears immediately sprang to my eyes. It had finally set in my mind that it was Ant’s dreads that I recognized and Mega’s gold chains that I had seen just the other night. My heart was pounding. I was responsible for three people’s deaths now. Troy, Ant, and Mega were all dead.

  “Um . . .” I mumbled.

  “Speak up, Ms. Houston,” Detective Castle urged. “Do you recognize this SUV?” I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. I wanted to just tell him everything so that maybe the murders would stop. I couldn’t afford for the body count to keep rising. I opened my mouth again, but just as I started to speak, Detective Castle turned his attention toward the chimes ringing on the front door and so did I.

  “Yo, Karlie. What’s going on?” Sidney rushed into the store in a huff. He paused as soon as he saw the detective. My eyes popped open. I immediately averted my eyes from Sidney to Detective Castle and back again. The minutes that they stood there facing off felt like hours to me.

  “Mr. Coles.” Detective Castle smirked. He acted like he was Sidney’s long lost friend or something.

  “Fuck is you?” Sidney gritted, although he knew exactly who Detective Castle was.

  “I think you know who I am. I surely know who you are. I was just telling your girlfriend that this”—he slid the gruesome picture across the counter toward Sidney—“probably has something to do with your other friend’s death. Which brings the body count of people associated with you and Ms. Houston to three . . . in just three days. And maybe, just maybe, they all might’ve been bragging around the streets about coming into a lot of cash recently. And . . . there just happened to be a lot of money missing from this establishment where your girlfriend works. You think this is all just a strange Twilight Zone type of coincidence?”

  “Listen, Inspector Gadget, if all you got is speculation and allegations then I ain’t got shit to say. When you got an arrest warrant and I got a lawyer, I will speak to you. Until then, you can get the fuck out before I file a citizen’s complaint for harassment,” Sidney said with so much powerful bravado I felt my heart and my pussy thump. Detective Castle looked defeated, like Sidney had just taken a piss on his leg. That quickly changed to anger.

  “Have it your way, Mr. Coles,” Detective Castle grumbled, his jaw rocking. “I’m sure your sister is not going to be a happy camper when she finds out that you put your only nephew in danger,” Detective Castle said cruelly.

  “Fuck you, pig!” Sidney spat. I could tell that the detective’s words had hit him below the belt.

  “You might just be the one to get fucked in the end.” The detective turned his attention back toward me. “You should think long and hard about what’s going on around you, Ms. Houston. Sometimes the company you keep can cost you everything you have . . . including your life,” the detective said with an eerie finality that sent chills down my spine. After he said everything he needed to say, he slid the photos back into the folder and left.

  * * *

  Miley was biting her nails down to the quick. I was moving around with nervous energy, straightening things in the house that didn’t need fixing or cleaning. I had already rearranged my Essence and Ebony magazines on the coffee table about fifty times. I had taken all of my dishes out of the cabinets and stacked them back in twice. I didn’t have any more liquor in my cabinets or else I would’ve probably been pissy drunk by now.

  “It gotta be the money,” Miley said, gnawing on her thumbnail now. I let out a long sigh. I really didn’t want to go over this again. We had talked about it over and over again. We had speculated fifty times. We had blamed a hundred people around Virginia Beach. It was all for nothing. We still had no damn clue if Troy’s murder was related to Ant and Mega’s murders.

  “All three of the dudes that robbed my store are dead. Like, in some kind of order. All shot in the head or face. Mad cold-blooded,” Miley went on like Sidney and I didn’t already know the facts. “Y’all still don’t think it’s some kind of message?”

  “Somebody is sending us a message,” I agreed, annoyed. “But who? I mean, who would go as far as just killing dudes to send a message? Shit, just rob us and get it over with. There is more to this. You would think we stole money from some drug cartel or kingpin or some shit,” I said. For that moment, I stopped flitting around like a busy bee. Everyone got quiet and so did I. My own words had hit me like an open-handed slap to the face. I suddenly remembered when I first started working at the EZ Cash, my old manager, Earl, had said to me jokingly, “You don’t know this shit owned by the Black Mafia? Don’t play with their money, girl. If one dime ever came up missing, they would be on some shit.” I had laughed at Earl because the man who showed up as owner of the EZ Cash was an older white man named Mr. Sherra, who, everyone in Virginia Beach knew, owned several franchises. Mr. Sherra certainly wasn’t a member of the Black Mafia. In fact, he was a feeble-looking old man who was as sweet as candy. Earl had disappeared one day. He’d left work the night before and never showed up again. After about two weeks, I’d grown suspicious and wondered what had happened. When I’d asked Mr. Sherra about Earl, he had laughed and then said Earl had just up and quit. I never thought anything of it at the time, but maybe Earl was right. Maybe there was some truth to the Black Mafia myth. Maybe we had stolen from some dangerous people and now it was payback time. There were so many possibilities, it was starting to make my head hurt.

  “I’ll be back. Y’all make sure y’all keep this door locked up. Don’t open it for nobody,” Sidney said, breaking the silence as he stood up and started toward the door.

  “Oh hell no!” I raced around and got in front of him. “You’re not going out alone. You t
hink our safety is all that matters? Your friends are popping up dead everywhere. Hell no. You are not leaving without me,” I proclaimed, blocking the door with my body. Sidney started shaking his head. I was dead serious. I was not letting him out of that door.

  “Listen, love. I’m good. I got my best friend right here with me,” he said, lifting his shirt a little so I could see the handle of his gun. “I have to go make sure my sister and my moms is okay. I just lost my nephew. I can’t sit here all day and just not be with my family. I promise I’ll be right back when I’m finished checking on them. You know a nigga like me. Ain’t nobody running up on this.” Sidney was playing tough, but I could tell he was a little nervous about leaving too.

  Tears instantly sprang to my eyes. With everything that was going on, I couldn’t even imagine having Detective Castle show up at my house with a picture of Sidney dead.

  “Please, Sidney. Just stay. Tomorrow we can split up the money and run.”

  “We should do it today.” He spat.

  “But you know we gotta be careful. That detective could be lurking and watching our every move.” I reminded him. “It’s just one more day. We just have to survive one more day. Don’t go out there. We can see your family and give them Ant’s money. I know how you feel, but if you get killed, what would I do? If anything happened to you, I’d die,” I cried. My entire body quaked with sobs. Sidney pulled me into his chest. “Shh. I love you,” he whispered. He stroked my hair while he kissed the top of my head. That just made me sob even more.

  “C’mon, baby. I’m good. I just need to make this quick run. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t check in on them. It’s bad enough I feel guilty for what happened to my nephew. I can’t just leave my sister to grieve alone. I’ll be back before you know it. You think I’m going to let anything happen to me and risk something happening to you? Nah . . . I would never. I told you I won’t ever let shit happen to you and I meant it,” Sidney said. His words were no consolation. I also didn’t have the strength to fight him. When Sidney was determined, he was determined. He moved me away from his chest, bent down, and kissed me. He used his thumb to swipe the tears from my cheeks.

  “Shh. I love you, Karlie,” he comforted. I closed my eyes and shook my head from side to side. If something did happen to him, at least I knew that he loved me. He probably had no idea how much I loved him.

  “C’mon. Just lock up. I’ll be back in no time,” he said, kissing me on my forehead one last time. I opened my eyes and watched in terror as Sidney unlocked the door and pulled it open. I stood behind him waiting to lock it once he left, but he stopped right before he got all the way out of the doorway. I realized that something had made him pause like that.

  “What? What is it?” I asked, trying to peek around him. Sidney didn’t say anything. He bent down and picked up a box that had been left at my door.

  “What is that?” Miley asked, crossing the living room to see what was going on. “Who is the package for? Is it addressed to one of us?” she pressed.

  Sidney carried the box back into my apartment. “Lock the door back,” he demanded.

  “Are you going to open that? What if it’s a bomb?” Miley asked, her eyes wide. “Karlie, are you going to let him open that? What do you think it is? I don’t know. . . .” Miley rambled. She was making me nervous with her frantic questions.

  “Be quiet!” I snapped. “Just be quiet.” I threw my hands up in front of me. My nerves were frazzled enough. I didn’t need her carrying on.

  Sidney was playing it cool. He didn’t say a word. He calmly walked to the kitchen counter, set the box on the counter near the sink, retrieved a knife, and cut the tape away from the cardboard. I rushed over, and so did Miley. My heart was galloping in my chest. Miley was bouncing on her legs like she had to pee. The entire apartment was eerily quiet. I couldn’t even hear any of us breathing, which told me we were all holding our breath.

  “What is it?” Miley asked again, being very annoying. I shot her an evil look. We both turned our attention back to the strange package. All I could see was wadded-up newspaper at first. Sidney slowly removed the top layer of newspaper.

  “Oh, shit! Aggh! Goddamn!” Sidney shrieked, backing away from the box and its contents so fast he almost fell. He had his forearm covering his mouth and nose.

  “Agggh!” Miley screamed. “Oh my God! Get it out of here!” She had seen what was inside too.

  My mouth hung open. I wanted to scream, but no sound would come. I knew that I was in shock because even the pungent smell of death didn’t faze me. I could not take my eyes off of Walt’s dead eyes staring up at me. His mouth hung open like a scary Halloween mask. Dried blood covered his entire face and head. The loose tendons and jagged flesh around his neck told me that he’d suffered when he was killed. Someone had sent us Walt’s decapitated head in a box like it was a gift. My legs finally gave out, and I collapsed to my knees. Miley leaned over and threw up. Sidney growled and swiped everything off my kitchen counter onto the floor. Then he punched a hole into one of my cabinets.

  “Motherfuckers! I will kill all of you motherfuckers!” he hollered. I had never seen him cry until now. Walt had just been added to the body count. All we could think about was who would be next, because someone was going to meet their maker.

  CHAPTER 9

  ON THE RUN

  Instead of waiting until the next day, we grabbed the box with Walt’s head in it and left the apartment. After we dumped the box in a nearby river, we went into plan mode.

  “We have three stops to make before we can bounce. All we have to do is make it to each place and keep our eyes and ears open for anything and anyone suspicious . . . including that stalking-ass cop that keeps popping up everywhere,” Sidney instructed as we all sped out of my apartment building. “So, just like we discussed, I’ll go into the first stop just to make sure nobody is following us and nothing goes down,” he continued.

  I could see that Miley’s hands were trembling. I reached down and grabbed one of them and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

  “We got this. We are going to get the money and get out before anything else happens,” I whispered to her. She inhaled deeply and exhaled.

  “I hope you’re right. This is just too much,” she said, her bottom lip trembling.

  “Have I ever let anything happen to you since Mommy died?” I asked, giving her a weak smile. Miley shook her head no and gave me a small, halfhearted smile back. “Well, I’m damn sure not going to now. I always have your back.... Remember that.” It sure sounded good coming out of my mouth, but I was having a hard time even convincing myself.

  “I have faith in you,” Miley said.

  “Good. You should. I have a pretty good track record,” I replied with a dry chuckle.

  Secretly, I was saying a silent prayer that I didn’t let her down this time. Things were crazy. I was just hoping that I could keep both of us alive.

  * * *

  We finally made it to Sidney’s truck and we all loaded in. Once inside, Sidney picked up his cell phone to call Craig.

  “I have to let Craig know what’s up. He needs to lay low for his own safety,” Sidney was saying as he dialed Craig’s number.

  Craig was one of the last men standing. Sidney hadn’t heard from him since we’d found out about Walt, but Sidney still wanted to give Craig his cut of the money. That’s just the kind of dude Sidney was. We were about to be on the run, but his integrity wouldn’t let him leave his boy out on his cut. I had to admire that about my man.

  “Damn. Where is this nigga?” Sidney mumbled, clearly flustered. “It’s not like him to ignore my fucking calls like this. Man, I hope this dude is good. I can’t take no more dead bodies. I don’t like not hearing from him.”

  I felt a chill run down my back like I had just stepped barefoot onto a block of ice. I bit down on my bottom lip just thinking about it. What if Craig wasn’t answering because he was already dead? I knew if I was thinking it, Miley and Sidne
y were too. I wrung my hands together in my lap as I watched Sidney frantically try Craig’s number over and over again. Each time he got Craig’s voice mail, my hopes that Craig was still alive lessened more and more. A feeling of dread washed over me. I leaned my head back on the headrest and closed my eyes. This time, I was praying in earnest. God, please let him be alive. Please spare our lives. Please forgive me.

  “Fuck!” Sidney belted out, slamming his fists on the steering wheel. “This shit right here got me fucked up in the head right now. I wish I knew who was fucking with my crew. On everything I love, they would be sorry. When I find the person doing this, they are dead. I swear on everything I love, they are dead,” Sidney growled with his nostrils flaring.

  “I know, bae,” I comforted, rubbing Sidney’s shoulder. “It’s no use in getting upset. It’s totally out of your control right now. At this moment, we have to focus on us. We have to get out of this block, get the money, and get the hell out of dodge,” I told him. I was trying to keep my composure when I really wanted to tell Sidney, Fuck that nigga Craig! Let’s get the hell out of here before whoever is after us for this money finds us! I never liked or trusted Craig anyways.

  After a few seconds of thinking about what I said, Sidney finally gave up trying to get Craig on the phone.

  Sidney checked his mirrors for any signs of any suspicious cars. When he was comfortable with our surroundings, he drove out of my neighborhood. I kept watching the rearview mirror to make sure we weren’t being followed. Miley had her head on a swivel as well.

  We pulled up to the first stash spot—an Anytime Fitness on Wesleyan Drive. I dug in my purse and pulled out the locker key.

  “This one you have to get. Remember Walt put this one in the men’s locker room and I can’t go in there,” I said, handing Sidney the key. He looked at me expectantly. My mind was so muddled I just stared back at him.