“How you find out about me?”
“Again…it doesn’t matter. Just know that you can trust me.”
“I trust no one,” he tells her.
“Well you’ll have to if you want her taken care of. I know all about how she did you. And I know where she lives.”
He pauses and says, “Handle him first and I’ll be waitin’ on the letter.”
She looks at the CO and says, “Great. And don’t worry you’ll be pleased with my work.”
“Don’t cross me.” He reminds her with a raised eyebrow.
“And you betta not cross me. Those who do, never live to cross another person again. And you won’t be any different.”
Crazy Never Dies
Lily’s small body is spread out in the middle of her living room floor. Empty bottles and trash from various carry-out’s surround her. The sun peaking in her window causes her to stir before eventually bringing her to complete consciousness. Half drunk, and half sleep, she curses the rays for bringing light to what she hated most of all…the fact that she was still alive.
Lily pulls up her blue khaki pants, and pulls down her white tshirt and closes the shades. Once the darkness from the thick curtains embraces her, she flops down on the brown couch; it was the only furniture in her one bedroom apartment in SW, Washington D.C. The ringing phone surprises her because it had been months since she’d paid any bills. She lost electricity the night before.
Grabbing the handset from the end table, she burps yesterday’s liquor and says, “Who the fuck is this?”
“Uh…is this detective Lily Alverez-Martin?”
Since no one has called her detective since she went on disability two years earlier, she reasoned that the caller must’ve been connected to her job.
“What’s this about? I’m busy right now,” she lies.
“It’s about Yvonna. Yvonna Harris.”
Lily’s heartbeat speeds and she feels faint. Although thoughts of Yvonna stay with her every second of the day, even after her partner Shonda Wright committed suicide, she still tries to forget the day she heard her name.
“Detective, Martin. Are you still there?”
“How did you get my number?”
“I know your ex-husband, Mitchell Martin. He gave it to me.”
Her husband left her a year ago after she traded their vows for random sexual encounters during drunken bar escapades.
“Well what do you want with me?” she asks sitting up straight.
“I’m sorry to bother you. And I know you don’t know me. It’s just that…I need your help. My name’s Jona Maxwell, the psychiatrist caring for Yvonna.”
“Is that what you call it these days? Caring?”
“Excuse me?”
“That bitch can never be cured or cared for. And if you believe she can, you and the whore of a mother of yours are both fools.”
Jona gasps and says, “Mrs. Martin, I’m not calling here to cause you any trouble, and I’d appreciate if you’d leave my mother out if it and give me the respect I’m trying to give to you,” she pauses and waits for an apology that never comes. “Anyway, I agree with you. She can’t be cured and I’m worried that she might not be taking our medication. Also, she claims her husband has left her and no one has heard from him.”
“Her husband? Dave Walters?”
“Yes.”
“Well if she did kill him that serves him right. The way he defended her in court.”
“I understand that you may be angry, but not too long ago I caught her identifying with her personality again. And I’m concerned.”
“I knew it!” Lily says as she hops up from the sofa. She feels invigorated. She’d been telling people that Yvonna would strike again and no one believed her. They all thought she was on a personal vendetta after her partner took her own life. “What are you people going to do? If you don’t move now she’ll get worse.”
“We can’t do anything right now. I need proof.”
“Well you said you caught her identifying. Can’t you make the decision to have her recommitted? Aren’t you her doctor?”
“It’s not that easy. I’ve tried to press the issue with the head doctors here and each time she passes their tests.” Lily pours a cup of vodka, shaking the bottle a little to get a few drops of liquor from the sides. She downs the remnants in the cup and opens a new bottle. Lily is uninterested until she says, “I think it was a mistake to let Yvonna back out on the streets and if we put our heads together, we can get her back where she belongs. In a straight jacket.”
For the first time in a year, Lily smiles.
“I like you. And because I like you, you can count on me to help.”
Nasty Matters
Earlier in the week Treyana told Yvonna that she overheard Bernice on the phone scheduling a doctor’s appointment for today for her seven-year-old grandchild, Bilal Jr. She couldn’t wait to execute the first part of her plan.
“They’re coming now,” Treyana says as she stands on the opposite end of the children’s hallway out of Bernice’s view. She was on the phone with Yvonna who was on the other end also hiding from view.
“Good, is the boy with her?” Although Yvonna called herself being inconspicuous she stood out like the last chicken on the plate in a fat farm. She was wearing a fashionable short mini royal blue Duchess dress by Acne with her oversized black Chanel shades. And she was seriously depleting the nest egg she stole from Dave’s house by spending so much money on fashion. As it stood now, she barely had enough money to stay in a hotel.
“Yes. He’s with her. What are you going to do?” Treyana watches Bernice and Bilal Jr. sign in and sit in the chairs in the waiting area.
“Treyana the less you know the better. Just remember to do what I told you.”
“Are you going to hurt him? He’s just a child.”
Treyana was worried because before arriving at the hospital, Yvonna had her running all around DC looking for the oldest buildings she could find. She ran into each one hopeful and came back out pissed the fuck off. She was specific about what she was looking for…housing made before 1976. What for, Treyana couldn’t say. But it wasn’t until she entered into the most run-down-decapitated building she could find that she came out with a smile on her face.
“Bitch, worry about them shit queens you gave birth to and let me worry about the rest. Now do the next step.” Yvonna sees the back of Bernice’s and Bilal Jr. heads as she waits. “You’re holding up progress.”
Treyana ends the call and walks to a nurse’s station a few feet behind Bernice. It was in another section on the children’s unit. Bernice could only see Treyana if she turned around but she still had to be caref u l .
“Excuse me,” Treyana says to the young black nurse who was on the phone.
“One minute please?”
When Treyana sees her kind smile she’s confident that she’d be able to get her because of her innocent look. When she’s done she says, “How can I help you?”
Treyana put on her best girlfriend-gossip whisper and replies, “I ain’t tryin’ to be funny, but me and my friend was about to leave when we saw that little boy over there. Ain’t he the one somebody took from some house in Hyattsville, Maryland? His face was all over the news.”
“What little boy?” she asks as her eyebrows rise.
“Girl you ain’t been watchin’ TV?”
“I do, but I don’t remember no little boy missing.”
“What? Everybody heard about the lady who had her only child taken from her. Remember? The boy’s father was killed in a drive by shooting on their wedding day.”
“Which one?” the nurse asks walking from behind the counter.
“Right there,” she points.
The nurse looks with a sad expression at Bilal Jr., “How do you know it’s him?”
“Girl I remember a face like that anywhere. I’m surprised you don’t.”
The young nurse looks again and not wanting to appear stupid she says, “I do re
member him. Oh my goodness!” Treyana can’t believe her gullibility.
“So what do we do?”
“I think you should walk over there and get her to walk back with you. Tell her you need to see her. I’ll have my friend walk over to the little boy to make sure it’s him. If it is, we’ll call the police. If not, I’ll signal to you that he’s not the one.”
“I’m not sure. Shouldn’t I call the police first?”
“Not right now!” Treyana yells, nervous about getting them involved. “Let’s make sure it’s him first.”
“Okay. I’ll do it.”
“Okay. Let me tell my friend.”
Treyana steps back and pretends to be calling her friend and the nurse walks over to Bernice. At first Bernice was going to bring her grandson with her until the nurse suggests he remains in case the doctor calls his name. Because Bernice is a slick bitch, she immediately smells a rat. She wonders what the nurse could possibly want with her in another unit. Still, she struts over to the station looking more like she’s thirty-somethin’ in her Gucci black romper than fifty-somethin’. When she disappears, Yvonna walks up to Bilal Jr, with a can of Coke in her hand.
The moment Bilal Jr.’s eyes look at her, her heart melts. He’s older and looks so much like his father that for a moment, Yvonna wants to wrap her arms around him and tell him how much she misses him.
That is until Gabriella says, “Bitch, do what you came to do so we can go about our business. This little bastard is the reason you lost your baby. Remember? Had Sabrina not betrayed you, you would’ve never gotten into the car accident with Dave’s bitch ass.”
Yvonna pulls herself together and says, “Ain’t your name, Bilal?”
Bilal, taken by Yvonna’s beauty says, “Yeah. How you know me?”
“You go to school with my daughter. The doctor called her into the office and she had to leave but she asked me to talk to you.”
“What’s her name?”
“Paradise. I named her after me.”
He smiles in the only way his father could and replies, “I don’t know her.”
“She said you wouldn’t and she’s shy. She’s afraid you won’t like her.”
His head drops and he looks back into her eyes.
“She like me?”
“Yes,” Yvonna says taking a look back at Bernice who is still occupied.
”Look…she asked me to say hi but I have to go inside with her now.”
Yvonna looks at the nurse’s station again and catches Bernice looking at them. She turns her head quickly before she sees her face. If Bernice catches her, she will call the cops immediately because Yvonna would be violating the restraining order. Yvonna could see Bernice moving toward them.
“Look, I have to go. We’ll see each other again.
She kisses him on the lips and says, “I got an extra soda for Paradise but she’s with the doctor. Want it?”
He nods and accepts the drink from her.
“I’ll see you around.”
“Okay,” he smiles.
As she was leaving, Bernice walks over to Bilal missing Yvonna by seconds. She looks at the back of the woman’s head and wonders what she was saying to her grandson
“Was she talking to you?”
“Yeah.”
“What she say?”
“Her daughter goes to school with me. She’s nice,” he says as he sips the soda in the can.
“That’s all she said?”
“Yep.”
Although Yvonna wasn’t there to see it, somehow she knew he’d keep her secret. In her mind, she knew he’d be just like his father…a no good ass liar.
Ancient Chinese Secret
Ming parks her silver Porsche on a side street in New Jersey. She and Yvonna had just followed Dom Manchester, the correctional officer from the prison to a grocery store. He walked into the store after leaving work, and now they were waiting for him to come out.
“You lookin’ awfully sexy,” Yvonna encourages nudging her leg. “Where you get this outfit from.”
“Girl, please!” she says rolling her eyes. “Bitches, don’t have shit on me! Including you.”
“You never answer my questions. And for your information, your ass ain’t got shit on me in the fashions department.” Ming laughs.
“So, we going to get to do my little fantasies tonight?” Ming had found Cream for Yvonna and wanted her payoff.
“You are so disgusting. Most people have one but you have two,” Yvonna says secretly loving her fetishes. “I would’ve never guessed that about you.”
“There’s lot about Ming you don’t know.”
“I believe you. One part of your fantasy I know we can do but you have to tell me if you like him first before we do the other part.”
“I saw the back of his head and tight little ass when he walk in to the store. Ming already know me can do many nice things to his body.”
She was still laughing until she sees him come out of the grocers, “Quick, Ming. Get ready. Push your titties up.” Yvonna tries to adjust the outfit to expose more of her breasts and a nipple pops out.
Ming slaps her hand and says, “They good.” She covers her exposure. “But he’s gonna be on my ass hard. Worry ‘bout that.”
“Your titties, Ming!” Yvonna ignores the attention she was giving to her flat ass. “If we have a chance to rope his ass it’ll be on your titties. You don’t have an ass.”
“Ming, got more ass than you.”
“Doubt it!” Yvonna yells before Ming places on her large black Gucci shades and grabs her black and gold Gucci purse.
She struts hurriedly in Dom’s direction trying hard to appear in a rush instead of being on a mission. She was pulling it off and Yvonna is so impressed, she wants to knight her into black sisterhood. Although Ming doesn’t have the body of a black girl, her titties are perky and bounce along with her runway walk. Yvonna was counting on him to be a titty man. But if he wasn’t they had plans to “Go Hard”.
Ming places her phone against her head and talks to Yvonna about nothing in particular.
“I don’t care what he wants. If he can’t fuck me good, he can’t fuck me at all!” She was trying to appear in a deep conversation.
Dom hears her sexual words and is immediately aroused. But Ming struts her 5 foot 2 inch frame past him wearing a blue romper from Dolce & Gabana like he doesn’t exists. Her large shades and diamond studded earrings glamour out an outfit that without them would give her a whorish appeal.
She was almost to the sliding doors of the grocers when he yells, “Can I go with you, sexy?” Ming smiles before turning around. Yvonna is still on the phone.
“Hold on, Yoy, someone talk to me.”
Yvonna yells in the phone, “Get his ass, bitch!”
“You talk to me?” Ming says walking up on him. The phone in her hand drops a little to her side.
“Yeah. I couldn’t let something as fine as you walk away from me. So get rid of whoever that is on the phone.”
“You very confident.” she says licking her lips. “What if me don’t like that? What if you not my kind?”
Ming loves the attention and is pleased at his height and the way his body fills out his correctional officer’s uniform. He’s very handsome and she can’t wait to fuck.
“We won’t know unless we find out.” He steps up closer and looks down on her. His mint breath seals the deal. “Now, will we?”
Ming is silent before she says, “Yoy, something came up. I have to go.”
That was code word for, “We got his ass. Keep up with this car and don’t lose him.”
“I’m right behind you.” Yvonna tells her.
A Not So Perfect World
“Treyana what is going on with you?” Avante asks as they lay in bed together. “You’re hiding something from me. Talk to me.”
“Avante, please. I’m just not feeling well.” She turns her back to him and pulls the covers over her shoulders.
“Is it something I di
d?”
“No.”
“Well can we talk?” He places a concerned hand on her shoulder.
Treyana flips the switch on the lamp on the end table next to her side of the large king size bed, lays flat on her back and says, “Do we have to? I’m really tired.”
“Yes we have to. Now what’s up, Treyana? Ever since somebody harmed the kids, you been actin’ different and I think you know something about it.”
“Oh so now you’re blaming me for hurting the kids?” She looks at him.
“I said you know something about it. I’m sure of it. I’ve been knowing you for over fifteen years and know when something’s wrong.”
“Avante, I’m not trying to hear this shit right now! I’m going through a lot of stuff I gotta work out on my own.”
Irritated with his nagging, she turns to her side again preparing to cut off the lamp until he places his hand around her throat and squeezes. Then he straddles her body and stares down at her.
“Don’t fuck with me, Treyana.”
“You’re hurting me,” she manages to say clawing at his muscular arms. “Please stop.”
This was their secret. A secret not even her mother, co-workers or friends knew about. When Treyana first got with him, he beat her religiously. He took his silent frustrations out on her, never telling her why. He beat her so much, that after a while, she became tough and immune to his blows. Only when she got pregnant, did he let up…a little and even married her. When the twins were born, the beatings returned. This is when she started acting out, fighting the world and everybody in it.
Before long, she stopped caring for her apartment, kids and body. He grew disgusted with the monster he created and when a pretty young lady showed interest, he left. She found solace in the street sleeping with random strangers. Keeping his secret even after he left her for her white neighbor Cream, she fought hard to win him back. With Yvonna’s help, she did.
From the moment they remarried, he never touched her. She thought it was because of love. He knew it was for fear of losing his FBI position. On many occasions he wanted to strike her for running off at the mouth but what if she called the police and the word got out? It had been two years since he resisted the urge of hitting her and he could not take it any longer.
Shyt List 2 (The Cartel Publications Presents) Page 4
