by David Skato
“I just witnessed this crazy dope accident in downtown for real, bruh. This guy was in a car, and like this truck smashed ol dudes car, and he flipped out of it and landed on his back and shit. I think he’s dead. Get at me at pony-boy-the-don-787 on the quest yo,” The guy bragged with his whinny annoying voice.
Dontae’ awoke to four cell phones in his face, the smell of axe body spray, and the loud sound of people chattering.
“Damn, he ain’t dead,” one woman exclaimed.
“Fuck. There go my views,” Another man states.
The people all started to walk away, highly disappointed as if his being alive is a bad thing. As the crowd dispersed, he could see the red and blue lights of an ambulance approaching. At least someone called.
Ω
Jessi’s heart stopped when she got the call that Dontae had been in an accident. This was her partner and friend, who she had really gotten to know in the last few months. She didn’t know what she would do if something were to happen to him. Jessi was a very confident young woman who had been mostly protected in the early years of her life. Although she had a half-sibling, she was raised as an only child by her overbearing single mother. She went to the best of schools and had the best of everything her father could give, except for himself. He had another family, and Jessi was his mistake. Her mother had met her father on a meditation retreat to California’s Joshua Tree, where stoners go to hang out and, of course, smoke. Her father was there on a much-needed vacation from his wife, and her mother was there because she was a stoner who needed some of California’s finest. They met, and she fell in love. The fling lasted for about two years, and after many excuses for not leaving his wife, Jessie finally told Kervi’ that he was expecting a child with Maria and had to end their relationship. It was like one of those moments from that old 70’s song, “kiss and say goodbye,” except in this reality, both women were pregnant. Jessi was born first and soon after, Lia. Kervi’ tried to make it on her own and didn’t tell Jessie about the baby girl until she was close to a year old. He immediately went into action, supplying everything he could imagine. He showered her with gifts and spent as much time as possible with her, which wasn’t much. Between his family and his job, Jessi was stuck somewhere in the middle. Jessie’s wife didn’t leave him, although Kervi’ still had hopes and imagined a future with them being a happy family. Instead, it seems that Jessie and Maria’s relationship grew stronger. Maria eventually accepted the outside baby girl, and Jessi spent a few holidays with the second family. Overall, it kind of worked out. Life, right? Now she was a detective, and Lia was a convict. “Ha, in your face,” she thought sometimes. But “ha” to who? Who was she trying to get back at? That was a question she couldn’t answer, and that bitterness towards a ghost left deep holes in her soul. Dontae’ reminded her a lot of her dad. Maybe that’s why she liked him so much. She could have the time missed made up with a partner that was like her dear old Jessie.
She arrived at the scene to see caution tape surrounding the accident, and she knew that this shit was real. She brushed aside a few pedestrians to finally see Dontae’ sitting on the curve with a bandage on his head and his arm in a sling. She finally took a breath, one that she felt like she had been holding since the phone call.
“Jesus Fucking Christ, and I thought I couldn’t drive.” She joked.
“Someone tried to kill me.” He said in gripping pain.
“It's hard to believe they didn't succeed. Look at this shit.” She turned to look at the crane lifting the car from the café’. She could also see some commotion around the yellow tape. She looked a little closer and noticed that it was Sandy saying something in a panic to the officers. She took a breath and waved her hand in a gesture for the officer to let her through. The officer complied.
Sandy immediately ran over to Dontae’ kneeling as she wrapped her arms around him. Dontae’ grunted in response. It was good to feel her embrace and nice to smell that sweet lavender shampoo in her hair, but this hug hurt.
“Oh, God I’m so sorry. Are you Okay?” she releases.
“I’m fine,” He reassures her.
“You don’t look fine. Why aren't they taking you to the hospital?”
“I don’t need to go. I’m fine.”
“Hardheaded! You need to get looked at.”
“I’m –“he tries to speak before Jessi interjects.
“He’s fine-”
“Don’t!” Sandy puts her finger up as a mom would do if her child is being disrespectful. “Don’t tell me he’s fine. This is my man!”
“He’s my partner,” Jessi counters.
Sandy was now angry. “Don’t you get it? He’s my man, and just because ya’ll work together doesn't give you the right- “
“Stop. Stop, stop. Baby, I'm fine.” The two were making his head hurt worse. “Jessi, go back to the station. I’ll call you later.”
Jessi throws up her hands and stomps off.
“Where is the other car?” Sandy asks as she looks around.
“Truck. They ran me off the road and kept going.” He corrects her.
“What?” Not sure if she heard him correctly. “Oh my god. You think it was-”
“-I think it was whoever murdered Rochelle. Not a cult.” Dontae said, cutting her off.
“Please leave this case alone. It’s not worth it,” she said, pleading.
“Look at my car Sandy. They tried to kill me. There is more to this than Rochelle. It is worth it.”
She hugs him. He grunts again but holds on to her with his one good arm. Just beyond the accident scene, an older man watches them.
CHAPTER VI
Dontae awakes to a bright lightning strike and a thunder rumble to open his eyes upon what looks like a shadow of a man on his living room wall. He immediately dives beside the couch on which he was sleeping and pulls his sidearm from the coffee table directly in front of him. He slowly crawls to the edge of the sofa using his one good arm. He peeks around the corner and towards the window where the shadow originated. The room is silent, with only the sound of rain dripping on the window banister. With a sudden move, he aims the gun towards the window. The shadow was none other than a String of Nickels hanging in the window. He remembered that sandy had brought the plant as a get-well gift after his accident. She hung it there because he would sleep on the couch for a few days until his wounds healed. After all, she likes to kick in her sleep. Dontae stands and heads to the plant. “Fucking scary-ass weed.” He smirks as he taps the plant causing it to spin. He looks out the window and notices a man standing on the far corner, seeming to be looking directly at him. The guy had on a long coat, and the shadow of his hat was coving his face. The man was far enough away not to cause any concern but standing in the pouring rain looking in his direction was enough to raise awareness. Dontae’ opened the window to see if he could get a better look without the glass's glare. The man took notice and quickly walked out of his line of sight. His phone rang, startling him a bit. The incoming call was “Jessi.”
Ω
Jessi was already ahead of Dontae’. She had been able to get Vasquez's address and had headed straight for his house. She was there as a concerned coworker just checking on him. At least that was her story.
It was clear he’d left in a hurry. Clothes were thrown across the bed, personal items knocked over in the bathroom, and hell, he didn’t even bother to lock the door behind him, although she made sure to do so.
She spotted a light illuminating from the cracked door in the bedroom. She slowly pushed the door open and notices that it’s a computer monitor. She headed to the computer and took a seat at the small desk. The fact that the computer hadn’t locked yet, further proved Vasquez left in a hurry and most likely hasn’t been gone long. Reviewing his past searches, she found an address he’d recently looked up. She took out her phone and snapped a quick picture of it. She swiped and called Dontae’.
“Hello?” Dontae’ answers.
“Hey. How you holding up?”
Jessi asked.
“Good. Just a little sore, nothing major.”
“Okay, cool. Get this, I went to talk with Vasquez again and this time I was going to plaster his ass against the wall and tell him that I was about to blast to the department that he had stole evidence.”
“Was?” Dontae’ questioned.
“Yea. That motherfucker quit. Cleaned out his locker and pretty much vanished.”
“Oh. We need to find out where he lives and pay him a visit.” Dontae’ suggested.
“Yea. We need to do that-“
He hears a “clicking” sound in her background. “-What was that?”
“Ah? What?” She said innocently enough.
“I just saw a man watching my house, so I’m pretty sure they are watching you too.” Dontae’, still on the phone, informed her.
She goes a bit further into the computer’s history. She pulls up his email and notices he saved his passwords in chrome. “amateur,” she smirks to herself. There’s nothing but junk mail in the inbox. She wonders for a moment why a grown man has spam for pantyhose but didn’t judge. As she scrolls, she notices an unusual address; “[email protected],” with the subject “Lotus” dated for today. She opens it and starts to read.
“Neglect is visceral and opposition bequeaths bickering shame upon master’s high. De Pro offerre existence belated fallacy es unfeigned devotion to his liege.” “8393 Plymouth Rd, Zebulon, GA 30295”
She realizes that it’s the same address as the picture she had just taken. Jessi’s attention is drawn away when she hears a car pull into the driveway. Hold on.” she urges Dontae’ with a whisper.
She slowly walks to the window and peeks out the side of the curtain. She could see two men sitting in a brown, older model car looking towards the house. Another noise draws her attention towards the closet.
She places the phone into her pocket and pulls her sidearm. She slowly walks to the closet, being careful not to make the wooden floorboards squeak. Taking a deep breath, she pulls open a closet door. A man falls on top of her, knocking the five-seven, one hundred-twenty-pound young woman on the floor. She struggles, punching the man as she manages to get her feet under his belly and, with the squat lifting power of leg day, throws the doll across the room. Now laying on her back and breathing hard, she realizes that it was just a heavy ass mannequin. She holsters her gun and rolls over, and looks at the thing. It was the goddamn fake Rochelle that looked nothing like a real body and the same doll from the evidence pictures.
Suddenly, BANG, BANG, BANG, rang from the front door. It was the two guys trying to get into the house. She stood to her feet and darted towards the back door. She could hear the crashing of the front door where the guys apparently got tired of knocking and kicked it in. Out the back she went tripping and falling on a step that was steeper than it seemed. She ran for a fence and jumped over. She landed on her ass. She was safe, at least she thought. She opens her eyes to a large rottweiler, staring her down about ten feet in the distance. The dog’s fangs fiercely protruded from under his lips, and he let out a vicious growl followed by a monstrous bark. The dog charged. Fuck, this was it. She either had to shoot the dog or suffer major face lacerations. The dog wasn’t going to stop. She pulled her gun. It was now or never. With a stroke of luck, the dog’s chain was eight feet stopping the mean mutt just before he could rip her face to shreds.
Jess looked at the dog as he barked and growled and seemed very upset that he couldn’t maul her to death. She took a second to catch her bearings, stood up, and walked towards the fence’s gate, putting her gun back.
“You thought you were going to bite this nice Jamaican ass, didn’t you? She said as she brushed the dust off her pants. “Uh uh, not today Cujo. Black girls rock motherfucker.” She stated matter of factly. The dog just stared, no longer detecting any fear; he was now calm. She walks out of the gate. She peeked around the corner to see if she could get a view of the guys but noticing they were still inside. She decided to slip into her car and take off. Once in her car and at a safe distance, she pulled the phone from her pocket.
“Jessi, what the hell is going on” Dontae’ asked.
“Nothing I can’t handle. I think I have a lead on Vasquez. I’m headed your way.”
“Ok.”
Ω
Jessi arrived at Dontae’s door and gave two solid knocks. He opened the door. To her surprise, he was wearing grey sweatpants, socks, and sandals, with no shirt. This was her first time seeing him out of uniform. She tried to redirect her eyes, but they kept pinpointing on his massive well-defined chest. His tattoos were plentiful but amazing, nevertheless. She knew that Dontae’ was attractive, but damn. He invited her in and directed her to the living room couch as he heads to the kitchen. “I was just about to have some cake. You want some?”
“Now, you know I want cake.” She snarked.
He gets the food and goes over and sits beside Jessi. He looks down at her shoes, noticing dried mud.
“You know that was stupid.” He explained as he took a bite of the chocolate cake.
“Don’t worry. I got this.” Jessi boosted as she did the same.
“We gotta communicate better. I would have gone with you.” Dontae’ offered
“I tried to catch him before he skipped town.”
“So, what happened over there?” He asks.
“Three men came in while I was investigating.” She had now stuffed an enormous bite of the cake in her mouth and was barely able to get the words out but continued to conversate with her mouth full. “I kicked their asses tho.”
Dontae looked at her with a suspicious smirk. He knew Jessi liked to exaggerate.
“Okay. Maybe there were two men that didn’t actually see me, and I ran out the back and then almost got ate by a dog. But still-“chewing the cake –“ I’m a bad bitch. “
Dontae’ giggled a bit but stopped short of a full laugh, being that it hurt when he did. “Vazquez doesn’t want to be found,” Dontae said.
“Which is why I found this,” She shows Dontae' the address.
Dontae’ whispered the address, then looks up, thinking.
“Yes, you are reading it right. It’s in the boonies,” Jessi confirmed. “He also had the goddamn doll from the crime scene in his closet. Cremated my ass; the damn thing nearly suffocated me.”
Dontae’ stands, “This goes deep. We got to get to Vasquez and find out who’s helping him manipulate evidence. He’s on the run so either he has something stashed at this place or he’s going there to hide away until he can leave town.”
“We need to make that trip asap. You Okay to get back to work?” She asks.
“Let me grab a shirt,” Dontae assured her, just as a set of keys rattled in the door. They heard the keys fall then go back to rattling in the door.
The two look at each other, knowing exactly who it was.
Sandy walked in to see her bare-chested boyfriend and his very sexy partner sitting on her sofa eating her cake. This was unacceptable. She knew all along that something was going on between them. Now she had confirmed it. He had the audacity to cheat on her while she was out buying groceries for this injured motherfucking asshole.
“What’s going on?” Sandy asks in an accusing manner.
“Talking about the case?” Dontae’ answers as he walks over, taking the groceries from her arms while placing a kiss on her cheek.
“Hi, Sandy,” Jessi said in an exceptionally sugary sweet voice. She knew Sandy didn’t like her, so she took the whole, kill them with kindness to a new level.
An “Eh” with an up-nod was Sandy's response. Her focus wasn’t on Jessi; it was on Dontae.
“Why don’t you have on any clothes?” she asked him as he placed the bag on the kitchen table.
“I got on clothes bae,” He answered innocently. He could tell Sandy was about to be on some bullshit, so it was time to shut this down. He gave Jessi the “it’s time to go." Look.
“I'll be in the car,” She sn
ickered and headed for the door.
“Good idea, I'll be down as soon as-” he looked at Sandy. “Throw on some clothes.”
“Bye, Sand. Y- ea-h- okay.” She said as she transitioned out of the door. Dontae put his face in his hand, shaking his head. He didn’t have to worry about someone else trying to kill him because these two would be his death.
Sandy looks at Dontae, rolls her eyes, and storms into the bedroom.
“What?” Dontae laughed as he followed her.
“Baby, what? Why are you mad?” He snickered. “You said she was gay anyway,” He was now in an all-out laugh.
She slams the bedroom door in his face before he could cross the threshold, almost catching his nose.
“Heyyy. Don’t be like that.” He leans with his back against the wall next to the door. “Really though, I need you to go to Suwanee and stay with your mother for a while. I think it’s dangerous here.”
She finally opens the door, looking at him with fear in her eyes.
“I’ll go if you go with me.” Sandy could be feisty, spoiled, and a little bit jealous. Okay, a whole lot of jealous, but she was also smart, witty, beautiful, and caring. Dontae never doubted her love for him. She always worried about his safety, and Dontae’ loved her for it.
