by Saundra
Chapter 24
I was up first thing the next morning. It was Saturday and I could make that trip down to see my dad. My timing for figuring out what I had to do could not have been more perfect, since it was visiting day. I got up, jumped in the shower, then threw on a pair of khaki Polo shorts, a pink-and-white-striped Tommy Hilfiger V-neck tee, and a pair of all-white Polo shoes. After throwing my hair in a soft ponytail, I headed downstairs.
I knew Rochelle was up because I could smell the bacon all the way up the stairs. It was her mission to keep some food in me. “Good morning,” I said.
She had her head in the fridge digging out the orange juice. When she turned around, she looked shocked when she saw me fully dressed. Not that I was surprised; I mean, just the day before I looked like hell. My hair had been flying everywhere and I had one sock on, the other off. I was a mess. “So you up early and dressed today?” She smiled.
“Yep, I am on a mission.” I reached for a cup from the cabinet. That orange juice in her hand looked cold and good. My throat begged for a swallow.
“Where are you going? The look on your face says mission.” She set the Tropicana down on the counter then headed back toward the skillet that she was using to fry the bacon.
“Well, I need to make this four-hour trip down to the prison to see my dad.” I poured the orange juice in my glass.
“Dang, Mya, you sure you up for that drive?” She sounded concerned.
“Yeah, I’m good. Besides, I need to do this.”
“A’ight, I’ma roll with you. Matter fact I’ll drive.”
“Naw, I’m good. Why don’t you just go into the salon today and make sure everything is okay. I’ll be back tonight.”
“You sure, Mya?” She watched me as she removed the bacon from the skillet.
“I’m telling you I got this. I done made this trip millions of times.” I took a huge swallow of juice. It felt free sliding down my throat. I was thirsty as hell.
“Okay, but I want you to eat first. I don’t need Ms. Marisa cursing me out ’cause your grown ass ain’t ate nothin’.”
“I know, right.” We both laughed, then I polished off the rest of my juice.
After gassing up my silver Mercedes, I hit the highway. I fought back the tears and thought about Hood the entire way. When I arrived, I could see that everybody’s family had decided to show up today. The waiting area was packed. It had been about a minute since I had been down to see Dad. I had been so busy I just could not pull myself away, but we talked on the phone whenever he called. He spent most of his time calling Ma. They had gotten really close since she had been clean. It was just like they had been before he got locked up. They were always laughing and joking. In love is what they were. Through it all, that had not changed.
For a minute I started to get scared. I thought I would not be able to see him. My gut feared something was wrong because after I signed in, it took them a while to take me back. Even after they had taken back the other family members, I was left in the waiting area. I thought that maybe he was on lockdown again. But finally a tall, dark, bald-headed guard with a mouth full of gold came out to get me. Relief washed over me as he escorted me back.
To my surprise Lester was already sitting behind the glass when I got back there. He already had the phone in his hand and a smile spread across his face. I didn’t hesitate to pick my phone up before sitting all the way down.
“Hey, Dad.” I sounded just like a little girl whenever I talked to him. Even though he was behind a glass, seeing him always made my load seem lighter.
“Look at my princess. You look more like your mother every day. How you doing, baby girl?”
Tears instantly started to roll down my cheeks. I always went there with the intent to stay strong and not cry. But I hated seeing him caged like some fucking animal. Talking to him from behind a glass. I mean, who ever thought that shit up? He was no monster, just my dad, and I wanted to feel his embrace. I swear it tore at my soul.
“Come on, baby girl, not the crocodile?” He made jokes about my tears. I chuckled as I wiped them away.
“I’m sorry, Daddy. You know how I get.”
He nodded with a grin, letting me know that he understood.
“I almost thought they were not going to let me see you. What took you so long to come out?”
“Oh, it was nothing. My lawyer had showed up. He needed me to sign some papers for this appeal thing. They were taking me back to my cell when they got the call that I had a visitor, so they had to prepare me for the visit. Sorry. I did not mean to worry you.”
“It’s cool. How is the appeal going? What does the lawyer say? Are things lookin’ good?” I fired questions at him.
“Well, we’re hoping. At this point that is all we can do. But I stay positive. ’Cause hope is the only thing you got in this shit-hole.” He looked around as if to confirm his statement. “Anyway, I’m glad you came down today. I swear you can read my mind or something. Every time I need you to come, you just pop up. I was going to call you last night to see if I could get you out here ASAP. But these niggas got us locked down early with no phone time.” He looked annoyed.
Him saying ASAP had gotten my attention. Red flags went up. “What’s wrong, Dad?”
He looked over his shoulder as he watched the guard who had just walked behind him. But the guard moved on. He put his lips closer to the phone to muffle his sounds. This way he would not be loud enough to be heard by anyone on his side of the window. “I know all about Hood missing.”
My heart instantly started racing. “You do? How did you find out?” Again tears took over my face. I just could not control them so I decided, fuck it. “Daddy, I don’t know where he is or what happened but it’s been three days.” I continued to cry.
I could see that he was hurting watching me cry. He again turned around and watched the guard’s movement. When he saw that he was out of hearing range, he gave me his attention. Again he put his mouth close to the phone. “Mya, listen to me, the streets are talkin’ to us up in here. You know we get the information that y’all can’t get on the streets. Listen to me carefully, Hood is hooked up with these guys named Dontae, Rico, and Silk, right?” I was dumbfounded he actually knew their names. This was going to be bad. I just nodded.
“I don’t know what happened to Hood, but these dudes are involved. They work for this guy named Monty. Why they set this up I don’t know, but that deal was never gone happen and this guy Monty is behind it all.”
I was confused. Who was this Monty character? “Are you saying Hood was set up?” I had to be clear.
“Yeah. But I don’t know why. These dudes are all from New York. Now it could be because Hood is major in this area. Sometimes out-of-towners come into a city just to make a major score. I don’t know. But this Monty has all the answers you need and he is in town. He has been here for three days—tomorrow night he leaves and will probably never return. Once he is off this turf, you may never hear from him again.”
Dad was right: Whoever this Monty was, I had to find him. “I gotta go, Dad,” I said into the receiver. There was no time to waste.
“Wait, Mya, you be careful. These types of niggas are grimy and heartless. Killing to get what they want is their primary game. So expect nothing but be ready for anything. ’Cause if anything happens to you, I will have dead bodies on the streets of Detroit all the way up to New York. And I won’t stop until I feel satisfied.” I looked him in the eyes and I knew he meant it. I assured him I would be careful and I was out. Time was an imperative and preserving life was key.
The drive back was long but it gave me time to think and now some things were adding up. The fact that I never trusted any of those guys—Dontae, Rico, or Silk—was confirmed. I could never put my finger on it, but I got bad vibes from them from the very first moment Hood introduced us. Even Rochelle had begun to have some suspicions about them. Hood should have cut them all off after he had killed Rico for trying to rape me. But I guess he figured he
had taken care of the problem. Clearly he had been wrong. Those bastards had set him up from jump. But why?
Poor Rob. I wondered if he and Hood were both supposed to die on that trip. Dad said that all those guys were from New York and that is where Rob had been killed. Hood had not been able to finish up that deal because it went wrong. I hated to even think it, but I had warned him about them. That didn’t matter now, though. I had to deal with the situation at hand. Where was Monty? I needed to find him so that he could personally tell me what happened to Hood.
Chapter 25
Finally I had touched back down in Detroit. It had just gotten dark outside. I had no time to ponder over any one thing, so it was important that I make haste with the time I did have. The first thing I decided to do was run by to check on Monica and Ma. I had not seen them since they had left my house the day before. They had called Rochelle first thing this morning to check on me, so I just wanted to show them my face just to assure them that I was doing all right. I also wanted to see them before shit got real hectic in my life. I was about to hit the streets looking for answers. During the drive back I had made the decision not to share the information with them about that Monty guy. It would have only increased their worry for me.
I turned on the block where Ma and Monica still lived at River Place Luxury Condos and saw five squad cars parked outside. That was unusual to me. I had never even seen a cop in the building before. River Place was like one of the safest complexes downtown. Something had to be wrong. I wondered what was going on. Parking my Mercedes next to Monica’s Dodge Charger, I got out and hit my locks as I made my way inside the building. There were a few people standing around in a small huddle in the lobby area, which also was unusual. Instead of stopping to question what was going on in the building I walked over and pushed the elevator button, climbed inside, and selected the necessary button to take me up.
The elevator stopped and I attempted to step out into the hallway. I immediately heard Monica screaming at the top of her lungs. I turned toward their condo to see them standing inside the doorway; the door was wide open. There were like three detectives struggling to help my ma hold Monica up. But she continued to scream as well as pull away from them. I ran into the crowd. I wanted to see my sister and find out what had her distraught.
This short, dark-skinned detective grabbed me by my waist and picked me up, placing me back out into the hallway.
“Put me down, dumbass!” I yelled. I almost slapped him but somehow I contained myself.
“Ma’am, this is a crime scene, you cannot just go in there.” I could smell the two-hour-old coffee coming off his sour tongue. I rolled my eyes at him out of pure disgust.
“What do you mean?” My eyes roamed him from head to toe with much attitude. “What fucking crime? That is my sister!” I pointed in Monica’s direction. The word crime sent my heart racing; the only thing that kept my sanity was that I saw Ma and Monica standing before me. Finally Ma broke away and came into the hallway.
“Please let her come in. She is my daughter.” She briefly touched my shoulder. But she was shaking like a leaf. And I could easily tell her eyes were swollen from crying. She looked sick.
“Tell me what is going on, Ma?” I threw my hands up in utter frustration. Nobody had once tried to tell me that. But Monica’s next scream completely filled me in.
“Get me my baby back. Please!”
I looked from the officer, then at Mom, and right away my eyes swelled with tears. “Where is Imani?” I asked. I could barely ask the question. My breathing became shallow.
“She’s been kidnapped, Mya,” Ma answered, followed by crying.
I almost fainted. I stumbled back, but the little stank-breath detective and another white detective caught me before I fell. I had to digest what she had just said. There is no way someone had taken my niece. Who? Why? These were the questions burning at my soul.
I ran back into the apartment straight into Monica’s arms. We hugged each other and cried. I was sick with grief, but I snapped out of it. I dried my tears because I had to be strong for Monica. “Don’t worry. I will find her for you, Monica.” I looked her in her eyes and she was not okay. She just cried more.
“She took her, Mya. Please go get Imani back,” she pleaded with me. My heart ached for her.
“She. Who is she?” I asked, looking from Monica to the detectives.
Then Ma came up behind. “I am so sorry, Mya. I didn’t know she would do that. I thought she just come by to see us and she—” I cut her off.
Shaking my head from left to right and rubbing my temples I tried to think clear but confusion was clouding me in more ways than one. And frustration was the enemy. “Who the fuck is SHE!” I yelled at Mom.
“Felicia. Charlene’s old friend,” Ma finally said.
The sound of Felicia’s name caused the room to spin. Why in the world Felicia would kidnap Imani? Revenge was the only answer I could come up with. She was mad about me beating her up. She had said it was not over. A statement I quickly brushed off because I would have never guessed that she would do something like this.
I needed to know what happened. I pulled Ma to the living room, away from the detectives.
“Ma, I need you to tell me. Are you sure it was Felicia?” I needed to be sure. I knew she was familiar with Felicia. Back in the day, Charlene would bring her over from time to time when I would do her hair. Plus we all went to school together and Felicia also grew up in the Brewster.
“Yeah, it was her. I remembered her and she knew I did. She came by saying she was supposed to be meeting up with Monica.” Now that was a surprise to me. I never knew anything about Monica and Felicia being friends. So this was new information to me.
I turned to Monica. “Monica, did you know she was coming by?” She shook her head no. I turned my attention back to Ma. “Did she say what about?”
“No, she never said. Monica was not here, she had that meeting today for her SATs. So I told her I would let Monica know she came by but she asked me could she wait for her. She showed me this bottle of Moët that they were supposed to sip on. I told her that Monica was not allowed to drink. She laughed and said it was really for herself. So I let her in. She offered me some of the Moët while we waited on Monica. I grabbed some glasses, she poured us a drink. Right away she asked me how Imani was doing. I told her fine and that she was taking a nap. Before long we were drinking the Moët and I started to feel a little sleepy. I did not think anything was strange since I had been up since this morning. I thought maybe I was still sleepy. The next thing I know, I was waking up and Monica was here asking me where was Imani. I told her she was taking a nap. Monica said she had already been in the back. Puzzled, I sat up and that is when I remembered I had been drinking with Felicia and I could not remember her leaving. I looked on the table and the Moët bottle we were drinking out of was gone and so was Felicia’s glass. That’s when I knew.”
I was dumbfounded that this bitch had deliberately come over here and taken my niece. She had planned it and everything. Not only had she kidnapped my niece, she drugged my mom.
“Did you tell the cops all this?” I asked. I glanced in the direction of the cops. They were standing around discussing something and writing notes on their little notepads. That was a bunch of bull. I would have Imani back before they could type up their tired report. I slowly rose up off the sofa. I walked over to Monica and hugged her.
I whispered in her ear. “Don’t cry, sis. I will get her back, you just hang tight. Trust me.” I kissed her on the forehead. Monica looked at me and I knew she believed me.
I told Ma to stay there and take care of Monica and that I would be back.
Back inside my car, I beat my steering wheel. I could not believe the nerve of that bitch. She would curse the day she fucked with me or my family. Now all I had to do was find her, but I had no idea where she was staying. As I laid my head on my steering wheel, my thoughts were flooded with all the past events from the last few days. S
hit had gotten really crazy. I thought about everybody in Hood’s circle. I saw each of their faces individually. Then it hit me again. Silk was not found with Dontae and Pablo! I needed to find that snake. If I found him, I could find Hood and Felicia. Maybe I would find them together. Silk plotted with Felicia to kidnap Imani and possibly murder Hood? Was there a connection? Either way I needed to find Silk. Felicia was his girl so he knew where to find her.
Silk was also my connection to Monty. Dad said he worked for him. I was going to visit all of them and I was taking hell with me. The one thing I had over Silk was that he was not from Detroit. So I could get the word on where he was hiding out even before I could on Felicia. Niggas had no love for out-of-towners. They would easily give them up if you offered the stacks.
Pulling out my cell phone, I decided to call up one of Li’l Bo’s old trap buddies. He could get me any information I wanted from the streets. That is, for the right price, of course, but money was no object. I offered him five racks to get me Silk’s location. It took him all of fifteen minutes to call me back with the address where Silk was laying low. My next call was to Big Nick, an old friend of Dad’s. Nick could get any piece I needed and it would never be traced. Nick answered on the second ring. It was on.
Arriving at Big Nick’s penthouse took me back a couple years to when I had come to visit him to get some guns. I was wowed by the whole scene. It was extravagant in appearance. Italian this and Italian that. His penthouse reminded me of The Jeffersons off television. They had a doorman, top-notch security, you name it. The only thing he was missing was the maid. I was impressed, and for me that was hard for anyone to accomplish.
