“Where are you going? To Olive Garden?”
She laughs. “You know me too well!”
“Hey, auntie,” she pauses. “Have you seen her?”
“No. The police wanted me to have security here, but I refused. I’m not afraid of her anymore.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’m sure. Now stop worrying about me and enjoy the rest of your trip.”
“Okay, auntie. I love you.”
“And I love you more than you could ever know.”
When Jhane ends the call, she allows her weight to fall deeply into the soft recliner. After all these years, Jhane had allowed Jessse to think that the blood they shared didn’t extend past niece and aunt ship. They were so much more. They were mother and daughter. But Jesse wasn’t her only child. She also gave birth to Yvonna and a very deep dark secret surrounded their births. In the past Jhane used drugs to. She’d seen so many things and did much more and enjoyed medicating her pain away.
Jhane reaches down in the corner of her recliner, and feels for her blue leather heroine kit. She places it in her lap and looks up at the ceiling out in front of her.
“I’m trying to be a better person. I hope you know that.”
After she lies to herself, she inserts the needle into her arm and sits back allowing the heroine to control her. She feels a wave of euphoria and suddenly she could care less about her niece, daughter or any other relative for that matter.
She sits in that chair for thirty minutes, without moving. And when her high disintegrates, she’s dropped back into her pitiful world. In an unbalanced state, she stands up and moves to the bathroom. Once inside she flops down on top of the toilet and spreads her beefy legs. Yellow urine escapes her body before turning red soon after. She got her period. Opening the cabinet under the sink she removes a tampon and pushes the poison deeply inside.
“No problem, mam. I’ll take care of that for you right away!” The small waitress walks away to fill Jhane’s usual order at the Olive Garden. But little did she know, extra parmesan wasn’t the only thing she’d be eating. When the waitress leaves the kitchen fifteen minutes later with Jhane’s meal in hand, she’s stopped by Gabriella. Dressed in a form fitting one-piece jean outfit, she was far from being inconspicuous.
“Excuse me,” Gabriella says placing a hand on her shoulder. “That isn’t for the woman over there is it?”
The young white waitress with red hair says. “Yes it is.”
“Great! Let me take that for you. She’s a good friend of mine.”
“I’m sorry I can’t do that.” She looks Gabriella up and down and smiles looking at her body. “You’re beautiful and glowing.” She changes the subject.
Picking up the wrong meaning of her inquisitive stare she says, “This is Versace, honey! And trust me it’ll take more than slinging sauce rings around here before you’ll ever be able to afford something as fly as this.”
“I was only giving you a compliment!”
“And I’m giving you some advice.”
“Mam I have to get back to work,” her lips stop flapping when she sees the one hundred dollar bill Gabriella is waving.
“Mr. Benjamin does seem to have that effect on them.” She snatches the plate and gives her the money. “Now be gone.” When she doesn’t move fast enough she stomps her Prada pump and yells, “Shooo! Shoooo! I’ve got work to do.”
When the scrawny waitress leaves her sight, she walks to a table in the back that is out of view from the business of the restaurant. Then she removes the paper bag from her purse. Next she pours the dandruff, dirt and hair pile she collected from the dope head on the DC into Jhane’s meal. Next she grabs the oregano and parmesan cheese jars from the table and shakes them like two maracas over her food to disguise the mess. Realizing she can’t bring her the food and expect her to eat it, she stops a male waiter.
“Hey, handsome.”
“Hello. Are you okay? Do you need anything?”
“Actually I do,” she says holding the plate like it is a pizza. “Do you mind taking this plate to my friend over there? I have to rush to the restroom.”
“Of course not!” he says blushing. He is extra considerate and she doesn’t know why. In fact, everyone had been so nice to her lately it bugged the hell out of her. He was just about to walk the plate over to her when he sees a small hair that wasn’t concealed with enough oregano and parmesan. “I’m gonna take this back there’s a hair in it.”
“Don’t worry about it. She doesn’t mind.”
He laughs and said, “You’re kidding right?”
She leans in and whispers heavily so that he can hear and read her lips. “Listen, Fuck-boy. I said she doesn’t mind. Now go take the fuckin’ plate!”
He hesitantly takes the plate and looks at her in horror. Arriving at the table, he places the food down saying something to her before running off. Gabriella hides in case he was ratting her out. But when Jhane takes heaping spoon after heaping of the spaghetti and swallows, asmile spreads across her face.
When her phone vibrates she looks at it and sees it’s a text message from Ming.
I come back from China next week. I have great news! Will share when I return. And yes, you can stay with me as long as you need.
Gabriella is irritated because she’s running out of money and can no longer use the credit cards because they are stolen and the hotels she likes are expensive.
Focusing back on Jhane she says, “Eat up! You greedy, fat bitch!” Placing nastiness in her food and poison in her tampons were just small ways of getting revenge. The real prize would come once she killed her.
The moment thoughts of Jhane dying enter her mind, Jhane moves around uncomfortably in her chair. Did you get your period? She hopes. Did you use them toxic filled tampons? Jhane attempts to readjust herself by tugging at the seat of her pants. She even takes a few more bites of her spaghetti. That is until her face bares a grimacing stare. She’s in excruciating pain.
“Are you okay, mam?” a lady asks next to her.
“I…uh…don’t know. I…I feel hot. My skin burns.”
“Want me to call 911?” She stands behind her placing a hand on her back.
“I…don’t think so,” She stands and then doubles over. “I have to go.”
Jhane runs outside and Gabriella is laughing so hard that she feels a fluttering sensation in her stomach. Gabriella follows, trying to maintain at least a ten feet distance. Jhane can’t stand up straight the entire walk to her car.
“You are so beautiful,” A white woman says to looking at her body.
“I know, bitch, now move. You in my way.”
The woman holds her open mouth in shock and walks off. She decides that she must see where she’s going. But she changes her mind when she sees the two cops she can’t fucking stand walking toward the restaurant. She backs up, spots a wooden phone booth and hides inside. The male waiter she punked earlier, sees her hurrying away seconds before the officers approach him.
“Excuse me son,” Officer Jensen says. “Can we talk to you for a minute?”
“Am I in trouble?”
“I don’t know. It depends on what you tell us.” His face turns red.
“O…okay,” he swallows hard.
“Have you seen this woman? Someone said they saw someone fitting her description come in here.”
The man looks at the picture and looks behind him in Gabriella’s direction. Out of view of the officers, she runs her finger across her neck in a slicing motion.
The terrified young waiter swallows hard again, turns back around and looks at the officers. “No sir, I haven’t seen her.”
“Are you sure son? You seem out of it.”
“Yes, sir. I’m sure. I haven’t seen her before.”
“Well if you do, take this card and call me.” The officer hands it to him. “It’s really important, son. This woman is dangerous.”
When they leave the restaurant Gabriella hangs back awhile. She knows no
w that it would be difficult finishing her list, but she had no intentions of stopping until she was done. “It’s gonna take more than that to stop me, bitches. Way more.”
Scary Kinda Love
Peter and Guy are at their desks waiting for Cheryl’s call. When the phone doesn’t ring after two hours of waiting, Peter decides to call her instead.
“Have you gotten any of the fingerprints back?” Jensen asks. “You have to be patient.” Irritation is heavy in her voice. “And I told you that case is important and that I need it now! A
lot of people have been showing up missing and her doctor says she hasn’t been to any of her appointments or taking her medicine.” Silence.
“Please don’t call me bothering me at work. I’m tired of this little game and you have to wait just like the others.”
He clears his throat and walks away from his desk in case Guy overheard the conversation and became aware of his lies. In front of his partner he portrayed himself to be the man when he was far from it.
“What do you mean?”
“You have been harassing me ever since I left you and I’m tired of it, Peter. Now I will show you respect, but only as it relates to our business relationship.”
The phone produces wetness from his body temperature raising. When he first met her she was timid and afraid of him and now she’s acting like he never beat her a day in her life. “Peter. Peter. Are you there?”
“Listen slut! I’m still the man you knew and don’t for one moment think you left me. I let you go because if I wanted you dead, you would be. Now…I sucked your pussy dry every night we were together for over a year. Whether I wanted to or not and most nights I didn’t. Now I’m asking for your help. Are you going to help me or not?” Silence.
“Peter Jensen, I want you in my office first thing in the morning,” a male voice demands.
Peter is so shocked from hearing her boss’s voice that he almost drops the phone. Although he doesn’t report to him directly, he outranked Peter and a complaint from him carried weight.
“Yes…sir.”
“Good! And just so you know, I ran the fingerprints personally. We’ll deal with both matters tomorrow.” Peter hangs up and stares into space.
“Peter…what she say?” Guy asks walking over to him. “Are the results back or not?”
Peter can’t speak. He is realizing that this case was already taking more from him than he was willing to give.
Taxi Cab Confessions
“Where are you going young, lady?” the taxi driver asks Gabriella in the rear view mirror. His Jamaican accent is thick despite speaking very clear English.
“I’m going to 6745 Old Marlboro Pike.” She gave and address in the vicinity but not the exact one.
“You got it.” He says taking a look at her beauty again.
“How was your night?”
“Well, let’s see. I tried to kill somebody today but the cops came so I couldn’t finish her off. And now it’s going to put a dent in everything else.”
“Oh…really?” His eyebrows rise and he thinks she’s joking. “You too pretty to be a murderer.”
“Trust me,” she says crossing her legs and leaning back into her seat. She adjusts her shirt a little to get more comfortable. “There are a lot of pretty killers out there.”
“And why do you kill?”
“Because I can. Why do you drive people around like a slave?” She says looking into the mirror at him. “Cause you can.” He frowns and she smiles.
“You can’t find anything better to do with your time?”
“No. There’s nothing more liberating than taking a life.”
“You sound serious.”
“Who said I wasn’t?” He looks at her and then back at the road. “We’re here.” He can’t wait to get her crazy ass out of his car.
She opens the door and eases out. “If you wait, I’ll let you set your own tip.”
“Sure.” The moment her feet hit the curb he pulls off.
SCCCCCUUUURRRRRRRRRRRR!
Gabriella looks behind her and laughs before hiking the two long blocks up the dark street leading to Bradshaw’s house. Her stomach flutters again and it’s starting to irritate her. She rubs it a little and keeps walking. She hated depending on others and needing somewhere to stay. But what else could she do? All her money was gone and Penny would send her up the long road if she stepped foot back on her property. Bradshaw was her only hope.
Once at Bradshaw’s house, she walks up the large stairs of his townhome. And when she is one step away from his front door, she glances into the window and sees the movie company officials who had tried to get her story.
“Tim and Mora!” She says out loud.
They were sitting on the couch listening to a small tape recorder they had connected to speakers. And then…she hears her own voice.
“Yeah, me and Yvonna. I think people just need to let us be. We might not be like everyone thinks we should be, but we’re real. I’m real. And we don’t need no medicine to change us.”
He had a tape recorder in his jean pockets when he came to visit her and she didn’t know it. Bradshaw was careful about making sure that his jeans remained on the bed the entire time they spoke and made love. From the moment he met her in the doctor’s office he had ulterior motives and they were to gain information on her story that the court reports couldn’t provide.
They really wanted the details from her but after they propositioned Yvonna and she refused, they sent Bradshaw. In fact, the phone number he gave her was provided by the movie company. It was a set up. Everything.
Bradshaw was so dead set on doing whatever he had to do to get the money necessary to get his daughter back that he didn’t take time to realize who he was fucking with. He thought Yvonna was faking crazy like, he did to dodge murder charges. Behind her back, to the movie representatives, he praised how great her acting skills were and commented on how she even had him participate in overcoming the Gabriella personality. Perhaps if he’d realize the severity of her situation, he would’ve rather pack up and move out of town than to cross her. Bradshaw was making a grave mistake and he didn’t even know it. Seeing and hearing his treachery causes her to stumble backwards, grabbing the rail before falling to the ground.
“I shoulda known you were nothin’ more than a fuckin’ liar!” she curses the night air. “You better be glad I don’t have my gun.”
Feeling like she needed to do something now, she picks up one of the large grey stones in his yard and throws it against his living room window. CRASH!
She runs down the stairs and hides. “What was that?” Bradshaw asks as the crew follows him.
“I don’t know,” he looks around.
“Have any enemies?” they joke.
“Not that I know of.”
“Well let’s get back in and finish this story. You’re about to become a rich man.”
They go inside but he remains outside scanning the grounds. When Gabriella sees he’s alone, she steps out and shows herself.
“You’re a dead man.” She tells him in a calm voice. “I told you not to fuck with me but you didn’t get it.” He is so stunned that he doesn’t move for two minutes. “You should’ve checked my rep cause you fucked with the wrong bitch.”
After that, she walks away. Her steps go from walking to running. She’s angry for allowing herself to feel something for another human being. But, she makes a promise to never let it happen again.
Ever.
Change of Heart
“We know you heard from her by now. She didn’t just disappear off the face of the earth.” Peter says.
“Are you sure? I mean…ya said you haven’t found her.”
“Don’t be smart!”
“Well it’s true. And I ain’t gotta tell you shit even if I did know where she was. So unless you chargin’ me with somethin’, I suggest ya leave me a lone” Penny yells to the top of her lungs on the steps of her house.
Peter is quiet and observ
es what she isn’t saying more than what she is saying. Her eyes told him she cared about Yvonna.
“Penny, why are you protecting her?” he looks upon her dark wrinkled face.
“I’m not protectin’ nobody.”
“I think you are. You called the police a while back saying someone was in your house. Who was it? Was it Yvonna?”
“If I knew ‘em dey wouldn’t have been strangers now would dey?”
“Look, we’re here to solve a case.” Guy intrudes. “We don’t mean to be rude and if we are, I apologize.” The anger is wiped clean from her face.
“You said she stayed here a while. Do you mind if we see the room where she stayed? We won’t be long.” Guy asks.
Peter looks at him as if he’s stupid. In his mind if the woman wasn’t willing to help, why would she allow them into her home? “Sure,” she says opening the door wide. “Come on inside.”
They didn’t know that Penny cleaned the basement from top to bottom and was not concerned about them finding anything anyway. Although she didn’t believe in murder of innocent people, she also didn’t believe Yvonna was of her right frame of mind and still wanted to help her.
“Wow,” Guy says looking around. “Smells real clean doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, too clean.” Peter adds looking over the neat basement.
They move around a few items, pictures and shoes Yvonna still had inside. They even look under the bed and around Penny’s workbench. Still they find nothing.
“Let’s go. She’s cleaned this place spotless. We won’t find anything here.”
“That’s why she let us in. Well, let me go drop off the kids in the pool,” Peter says moving into the tiny pink bathroom where he plans on taking a shit.
Plopping down on the toilet, he pulls out his cell phone and looks at the screen. He was supposed to go to meet Chief Walker earlier that morning but didn’t go. He figured the damage was done and he should focus on bringing Yvonna into custody. He reasons he doesn’t need to see the fingerprint results to know Yvonna is guilty. He’s not even looking for other suspects even though Yvonna has not been formally charged. As it stands now, the only thing she was wanted for, was missing her court ordered doctor appointments with Jona and he was using this as a means to break the law.
Shyt List 2 (The Cartel Publications Presents) Page 16
