by Kyle West
Marie helps her mother out of the limousine so Vivian could give her a big kiss and long embrace. You can tell that Vivian doesn’t want to let go of her mother as they say good-bye to each other. Marie wants to walk Vivian into the hotel lobby. Vivian, Ronelle and Marie walk arm in arm as they stroll into the lobby past the center fountain. You can see the love and strength these women have for each other. They talk for a few minutes before Vivian tells Marie to get going.
“I can’t thank you and Mommy enough for being here for me. I love you so much. Get going girl, take momma down to the French Quarter for dinner before your flight, you got time, ok?”
“Vivian we got three hours. You don’t want us to spend some time with you? I’m concerned, you don’t look too good sis. This got anything to do with those dudes from last night?”
Vivian vehemently says no and says she will be fine now that Jesse is put to rest. Marie adds, “Maybe you should come home with us tonight. You can stay with me if you don’t want to stay with Mom ok.”
Vivian jokes, “Girl I ain’t stayin’ with you, you can’t cook.” The three women share a laugh together.
Vivian further emphasizes, ‘I'll be fine it’s just stress sweetie and don’t worry about me. I got Ro here. C’mon get going girl, feed mom and get her home ok. Go.” Ronelle says to Marie, ‘Vivian is gonna move in with me and Alex. I got her Marie.”
Vivian leads Marie back towards the hotel lobby door and out to the limousine, Ronelle follows.
The limousine driver quickly jumps out to open the door for Marie. Marie hugs Vivian then Ronelle before getting in the limousine. Vivian’s mother waves from the limousine window and tells Vivian that she loves her. As the limousine pulls off Marie yells to Vivian that she will call once they land. Vivian and Ronelle wave back as the limousine pulls onto Canal Street.
Vivian and Ronelle turn to walk back into the hotel. Ronelle tells Vivian that she will hang out with her upstairs until Alex gets home after 6pm.
Vivian seemingly in deep thought, responds, “No. I need to be by myself right now. Just me.” “I don’t know. You shouldn’t be out by yourself Viv. Where is (Det.) Ellis anyway?”
“I just need to think, that’s all.”
Ronelle offers to walk Vivian up to the suite. Vivian tells her that she’s going to get some magazines from the gift shop first and she’ll be fine.
The two women hug in a deep embrace before Ronelle walks to her car parked a few blocks away.
Vivian takes about ten minutes to get her magazines. As she exits the gift shop she stops in the lobby instead of turning left for the hotel elevators. Vivian then walks back outside, puts her sunglasses back on and signals to the valet parking attendant for a cab.
5:30 pm - Vivian arrives to her condo. She looks around before exiting the cab to make sure she doesn’t see Ronelle outside. Vivian knows Ronelle would be very angry if she knew Vivian was out and about by herself knowing her life is in danger. She pays the cab driver and exits the cab.
Vivian passes both her and Jesse’s designated parking spots realizing they are empty. She turns back to the cab driver signaling him to wait a minute. The driver stops, Vivian asks the driver if he can stay in the area for about thirty minutes because she will need a ride back to the city. He calls the dispatcher to get approval then hands Vivian a card with his cell phone number and drives off.
Vivian cautiously races up to her front door with her house keys in her hand. She momentarily forgot that her front door was shattered a few days ago and not capable of being closed. Vivian slowly pushes the door open and enters. She tries to turn on the lights but all of her lamps are broken and none of the lights are working.
Vivian makes her way through the dark of the ransacked home. She finds some candles and a fireplace lighter to give her some light as she looks around her home. As Vivian steps over valuable keepsakes, she closely looks at the huge holes in her wall and hard wood floors. Vivian focuses her search on her closets, the attic, the basement, loose floor boards, and even the crawl space underneath her home.
There was no inch of that house that wasn't searched and torn apart during the break-in. Vivian finds no sign of any money that Jesse allegedly took in her home. Still in the basement…Vivian notices a smashed Japanese vase. Jesse brought back that vase from Japan for her a few months ago.
Vivian wipes a tear from her eye and quickly realizes again how her entire life has changed forever these past three days. She kneels down to touch the broken pieces of the vase, while crying softly.
A minute or so later Vivian calls the cab driver to return and take her back to the hotel.
She walks up the stairs from the basement to the main level, entering the dining room to sit at the dining table. to wait for the cab to arrive.
While waiting, Vivian checks her voice mail, and writes down a few numbers before getting up and strolling back into the dark, living room. Vivian stops again to look around at the damage of her once immaculate home. In the dark she doesn't notice a man sitting on her shredded, beige, Italian couch.
The man speaks, “I been waiting all day for you to come on home to me precious.” He laughs. It’s one of the mysterious men from the church, Jerome “Rome” Dixon.
Vivian is in shock as she cannot catch her breath and drops her purse. Rome with a dangerous smile on his face, slowly stands and menacingly says, “You got some sugar for me, don’t you? Yeah, yeah you do. Now don’t be scared. I’m not here to hurt you. I’m a lover, not a fighter.”
Rome laughs as he continues, “You got my money precious? Damn, Jesse never invited me over to meet you, or the cats! Where are the cats?! That brother had pics of you and your cats in his wallet! Now what kind of brotha is that?!” Rome now steps towards a speechless Vivian as she steps towards her front door.
Rome continues, “No, don’t do that boo. No need to do this the hard way. Where it at? You got it in here?” Rome bends down and picks up Vivian’s purse and searches through it. Vivian backs towards the front door as she tries to make out the words, Please don’t hurt me.”
Rome slowly steps towards her and says, "I told you precious, I'm not here to hurt you!”
The cab arrives, honking its horn incessantly. Vivian quickly runs out her front door, and down the steps to her walkway.
Rome calmly walks out the front door, standing at the top of the steps and yells,
“Precious! You forgot your bag!” As he holds out Vivian’s purse at a distance. She runs up to the passenger’s side back door of the cab, opening it as she looks back at Rome. He drops Vivian’s purse at his feet, then casually walks around to the back of the house and into the darkness of the Vivian’s backyard.
Vivian with one leg in the cab and one leg out, stands behind the passenger side door, watching to make sure Rome has left. She is very much shaken by the confrontation. Now standing outside the cab, she tries to take a few seconds to calm herself down.
The cab driver shouts out, “C’mon lady! My time is money. Let’s go!”
Vivian confused by the fear, takes a few quick steps up her walkway to retrieve her purse, then stops and scuttles back towards the cab. Vivian does this again before opening the passenger’s side back door and entering the cab after a few unsuccessful tries at the door handle. She is still looking towards her backyard to make sure she is safe from Rome. Vivian nervously tells the cab driver, “Take the fastest way back to the Interstate?!”
The cab driver puts the cab in gear. As he is about to pull off, someone starts banging on the trunk of the cab. The cab stops suddenly as Vivian coils in fear! She puts her head on her lap, covering her head with her arms and screams!
Then a booming voice yells, “Hold up!”
The cab driver hits his breaks, quickly turns and yells, “What the hell is your problem dude?”
The man knocks on Vivian’s window in the cab and motions for her to open the window as he pulls on the door handle trying to open it. It is Det. Ellis.
As Vivian is
screaming in fear, the detective opens the cab door. With a little energy in his voice says, “Mrs. Baylor what in the hell are you thinking? What are you doing here?!”
Vivian keeps her head down, rocking in her seat and doesn’t respond.
The driver scrambles to reach under the passenger’s seat and yells, “The police are on their way mother fucker! You better close that fucking door before you get murked ‘cousin’!”
Det. Ellis quickly and loudly tells the driver that he is the police. The cab driver shows his huge .45 caliber pistol and yells, “Show me your badge!” Det. Ellis carefully puts his hands up and says, “Relax chief! I’m with the New Orleans Homicide Unit, District 8. I’m here to protect this lady here. Vivian acknowledges Detective Ellis as a police officer to the cab driver. The driver puts his .45 back down on the passenger seat and says, “Officer even you ain’t gonna be breathin’ long creepin’ up on citizens like that in this city at night.” Det. Ellis apologizes for startling them both and gives the cab driver forty dollars for his troubles. Det. Ellis then softly and carefully takes Vivian out of the back of the cab, walking her to his car parked a few feet behind.
As Det. Ellis helps Vivian into his car, he hears suspicious sounds coming from Vivian’s backyard. Just as he starts to walk toward the sound, he looks back at Vivian in his car. He doesn’t want to take the chance of leaving her unprotected he then slowly walks backwards to his car as he stares into Vivian’s backyard. As he gets into the car, he sternly asks Vivian, “What are you doing here Mrs. Baylor? Who did you come to meet? This is not a joke, who’s out there?!”
Vivian still in shock, does not respond. Det. Ellis speeds off and tells Vivian, “This is way over your head! You’re going get yourself killed! What were you thinking coming out here by yourself?!”
Vivian softly responds as she looks down at her feet, “This crazy guy was in my house. On my damn couch.”
Det. Ellis snaps, “Who? Who was in your house? Are you okay? What did he say? Hello! Talk to me Vivian!”
The detective then tells Vivian that he knows about Jesse’s four former commando buddies being in town and the missing three hundred million dollars! He also tells Vivian that he knows that she knows about the money too! He continues, “Why didn’t you call me right after you got back from the funeral? Either you know where the money is or you’re talking to somebody! Who told you about the money Vivian?! Who were you talking to?” Vivian doesn’t want to tell Det. Ellis about her earlier meeting with Inspector Clark and again does not respond. Det. Ellis is speeding down Gentilly Blvd., grabs Vivian’s arm and shouts, “Look lady you’re playing with your life! These guys are government issue executioners, you do not want to play with them! You better start being straight with me Vivian! Now!”
Vivian yells, “Let go of me! You’re scaring me, let go of my arm detective!”
Det. Ellis let’s go of her arm and apologizes for grabbing her. Vivian is angry as she tells Det. Ellis, “Yes I did come here to look and see if Jesse might have hidden something in our house but that’s it! I do not know where this money is! Who do you think you are grabbing me?! Let me out of here! I'm calling my friend (Ronelle), I’m gonna stay with her! Stop this car damnit!”
Det. Ellis screeches the car to a sudden stop right in the middle lane of Gentilly Blvd. and then says to Vivian, “Okay sure. Your husband’s buddies will be on you before you get to the next corner.
Go! Go on! You don’t think those guys know where you friend lives? Or your mother? Sister? Even your hair stylist probably! You have the three hundred million dollar bulls-eye on your pretty little forehead! You want to go? Go ahead!” Det. Ellis reaches across Vivian’s lap and opens her car door. The detective adds, “Ma’am, I’m not gonna lie to you, it’s serious now, seriously unsafe. I will protect you. We need to find this money. Once we have it these guys will disappear as fast as they came into town! Help me here Mrs. Baylor, help yourself!” Vivian takes a second or two before she closes her car door. Det. Ellis puts the car in gear and speeds away.
8:00 pm - New Orleans East District Station
Detectives Roussel and Huntley are in the police garage looking through Jesse’s SUV. Det. Huntley has a picture taken from a security camera of Jesse’s SUV leaving a Popeye’s parking lot in Chalmette with Jesse in the driver’s seat. He compares the inspection sticker on the SUV in the picture then walks around to the windshield of Jesse’s SUV and speaks to Det. Roussel, “Good job partner, same vehicle. This guy was definitely in New Orleans five days ago according to this security cam.”
Det. Roussel responds, “The wife did tell us she hadn’t spoken to her husband in about two weeks right? Let’s get her ass back in here.’
Chapter 5
10:00 pm - Detective. Ellis and Vivian are back in the hotel suite. They haven't said much during the car ride back to the J.W. Marriott.
Det. Ellis looks out of the 24th floor window at the beautiful New Orleans skyline and says, “So how many of the guys were at your house?”
Vivian takes a few seconds to respond, “Just one. All I saw was the one guy. The guy who had the White Hat on at Jesse’s wake.” Vivian asks Det. Ellis if she can file a complaint against Rome for trespassing. The Detective tells her that it would be a waste of time in the big picture of things, saying that Rome would be out of jail in an hour anyway. Vivian responds, “Don’t matter, I don’t want to go near that station unless I have to anyway. Det. Ellis tells her that he’d file the complaint for her if it made sense to. The detective assumes that she doesn’t want to go to the police station and have to relive the experience of getting the notification of Jesse’s death.
But Vivian instead explains that she felt like she was treated like a criminal being accused of a crime, when she was initially brought to the station to identify Jesse’s body. She adds, “I didn’t appreciate that at all, they were so insensitive”
“Yea, Roussel and those guys out there in New Orleans East can be kinda rough. Roussel took jurisdiction of this case from Jefferson Parish, he does what he wants around here. He’ll have you confessing to shooting Biggie and Tupac if you let him get to you. She asks if Det. Roussel said anything to him about her yesterday when he saw him. Det. Ellis says no, Vivian shares that Det. Roussel has been looking for her the past two days and she will return his call in the morning.
“Don’t talk to Roussel. I told you I’ll call him for you in the morning and see what he wants okay? Don’t worry about him.” He continues, “So tomorrow we will do some police work together, ok? You’re going to put on your thinking cap and backtrack through everything.
We’re going to go through your bank statements, old mail, emails, etc. Do you and your husband have any storage units? Vivian nods no, then asks, “What about those guys? I don’t want to go back to my house.” The detective tells her that they were the ones who probably tore her home apart and knowing the money isn’t there; they probably won’t return there. Vivian out of the blue asks, “So you do believe I’m telling the truth about not knowing where the money is?” Det. Ellis responds, “Yes, I do. I trust you. Do you trust me Mrs. Baylor?” Vivian says yes. Det. Ellis responds, “Good, tomorrow you are my deputy.” He walks over to Vivian on the couch and softly knights her head with a breadstick. Det. Ellis continues, “Look, it’s already 10:40, let’s get some rest and get a fresh start in the morning ma’am. Good night, don’t stay up too long and do not open the door or use the phone okay!”
Det. Ellis goes down the stairs to his room in the suite and shuts the door. Vivian, eating the chocolates and nuts on the coffee table, opens a magazine and reads before going to bed.
10:47 pm - Detectives Roussel and Huntley return back to Vivian’s house. They see her severely mangled front door, which is now nailed shut. They figure Vivian is not staying there so they go to Mr. Guidry’s condo and ring his bell, no one answers so Det. Roussel starts knocking on the door aggressively. Mr. Guidry angrily opens the door and the detectives identify themselves.
Mr. Guidry snaps, “Good, you guys are back! You guys work late I see. Let me show you everything again.”
Det. Roussel sternly interjects, “Sir. Sir! We’re looking for Vivian Baylor?”
“Vivian? She left. She can’t stay at her place in the condition it’s in. Looks like they drove a tank through the place.” Mr. Guidry adds as he puts his coat on over his pajamas. He walks the detectives over to Vivian’s condo to again personally show them the damage done to her condo.
Det. Huntley states to Mr. Guidry, “We saw it yesterday sir! We’re going to handle that another time, not now okay! Where did Vivian Baylor go?”
As the detectives walk with Mr. Guidry they ask him questions about Vivian. They get to Vivian’s condo. Mr. Guidry pries open Vivian’s front door with a crowbar to enter her home.
Det. Roussel interrupts, ‘We’re really busy. You need to go downtown or you can go online and file a police report to take care of this. We don’t do that! Listen, has Mrs. Baylor returned home since the break-in?”
Mr. Guidry responds, “No. I don’t know where she’s staying. Ronelle would probably know. So sad what happened to Mr. Baylor. When you guys find who killed him cut his nuts off!”
Ronelle is home watching her favorite reality show while she folds laundry. She screams every minute or so at the screen as if the characters can hear her. Alex comes out of his bedroom rubbing his eyes. Ronelle says to him, “Boy what are you doin’ up? It’s almost midnight!”
Alex tells his mother, “Your yelling woke me up Mom. I’m just goin’ to the bathroom.”
