Cheaper to Keep Her (part 1) (18 page)

When she hung up the phone, I was left all alone with my dilemma. I went back into the living room and flipped through the channels to see if there was something more on the mutilated girl. I stopped on Channel 7 news. The entertainment and gossip session was on and I was hoping maybe some real news would come on after this piece. But damn, what was on the screen shocked me. I was stunned. Two shockers in one night threatened to send me to the hospital with a heart attack.

Right before my very eyes was the media coverage of Tidewater business mogul Duke Carrington’s wedding to the daughter of a pastor.

I bit my bottom lip when I saw Duke, all dressed in a tuxedo, kissing and smiling with his new wife. I felt nauseous watching them. I squeezed the TV remote until my hands hurt.

That was all I needed. “Fuck you Diamond. I’m not paranoid. And you, newly married mogul Mr. Carrington, you fucking low down dirty dog, your life as you know it will soon be over,” I grumbled at the TV as the last few happy images of Duke and his new wife flashed across the screen.

I was fuming mad now. That was supposed to be my wedding with the news cameras showing footage of me and Duke canoodling and smiling.

I rushed and got dressed, picked up the pictures and the other paperwork I had taken from Duke’s safe and I headed out.

I was on my way to the Virginia Beach police department. This time, I had enough information to ruin Duke for good.

Walking out the door I lied to myself believing this was closure for the young girl who had died a violent and useless death, and the lost of her child.

Deep down, I knew this was about me—all about me!

Cheaper to Keep Her Unique

Chapter 23—There’s Been A Murder

I was sick to my stomach the entire ride to the police station.

Diamond’s little hoopty was smoking under the hood too. “Shit. No wonder she left this fucking car home.” That would be all I needed to break down on the damn ride to the police station. Thank God, the car made it.

I pulled into the stationhouse parking lot and started having second thoughts about going through with it. I didn’t know what I’d say when I got inside. I didn’t know how I would sound saying, “Hey, I got information on a dead girl.”

I started rehearsing stuff to say. “Excuse me, I saw a girl on the news and I have pictures of her and I know she has been a part of an illegal adoption scam and it was my ex-boyfriend,” I rambled out loud nervously. That little practice didn’t help.

“
Shit, Lynise, that sounds dumb as hell,” I scolded myself. I slammed my fists against the steering wheel in frustration. “Ok, get your shit together. Just go in there and tell them the truth.” I was finally ready to do it. Duke was going to be sorry. I exited the car and went into the police station. My eyes grew wide once I was inside.

“
Damn, I would come on the most crowded damn night,” I mumbled as I looked around. There were people sitting, standing, yelling and crying. There was one lady sitting on the steps, in the damn way, with a crying ass baby. I heard her tell her friend she was waiting to post bail for her man.

I saw another chick sitting in one of the hard chairs filling out a complaint form. She was screaming on her cell phone telling somebody she was waiting to press charges against her man. Evidently he had beaten her ass and slammed her head on the concrete outside of her project apartment. When she finally looked up from her paperwork I could see what she was talking about. She had a fucking purple, green and blue shiner under her right eye. I shook my head in disbelief.

The police station was like a damn zoo.

I walked up to the little scratched up window to ask for help. “Excuse me, officer,” I began. The fat female cop behind the plexiglass put her hand up to me like talk to the
hand. I stopped what I was saying abruptly and looked at her strangely. She kept her hand up and her head down. I was getting heated.

Finally, she looked up with her triple chins. “What can I do for you?” the fat officer said dryly.

“
I need to speak with someone regarding a missing person—” But once again the fat bitch cut me off.

“
Has the person been missing for more than twenty-four hours,” she asked in a rushed, nasty tone.

“
What? No. I . . . I . . . I don’t want to report somebody missing. I have information on a missing murdered girl I saw on the news tonight,” I told her. She looked even more disgusted now. Probably because they had received too many false leads tonight or the fat cow finally thought she needed to do some work.

“
Wait right here,” the fat officer grunted. She picked her huge body up out of the small chair. I felt sorry for the damn chair. She called out to her sergeant, repeated what I said and then came waddling back to the window.

“
You saw this on the news?” she asked. “Was it a crime stoppers story?”

“
Yes, about a girl found dead with a botched c-section and a missing baby,” I repeated. The officer let out a long sigh like I was bothering her.

“
Just go have a seat and let me see if I can get a detective to come see you. I ain’t promising you nothing,” she said, dismissing me. I rolled my eyes and went back to the crowded waiting area to find a seat. There were no seats so I just stood against a wall.

I watched the people coming and going in and out of the station. There was some ghetto shit going on in the stationhouse. I had to move out of the way as two girls started fighting right there in the lobby. How bold was that? Assaulting each other in a police station. From what I could gather, they were both there to bail out the same dude. That nigga had apparently called both of his babymamas and both were there with kids around the same age. I watched as they both got their asses arrested, now neither one of them could bail out the man and both of them would have to later fight child protective services to get their kids back. I just shook my damn head. I couldn’t wait to get the fuck out of that place.

It seemed as if the cops were calling everybody but me. I had finally got a seat but I was still waiting. I looked over at the fat cop and she rolled her eyes. It had been at least forty minutes and I still hadn’t been seen. Now I could see why people didn’t come down to make police reports. These cops were the worst.

The longer I sat there the more time I had to think. I started remembering things I had heard Duke say on the phone and I suddenly remembered him saying something he had a few cops on his payroll. The longer I sat there the more I had second thoughts about what I had come to the police station to do.

Then a real sinister thought popped into my head. What if I told Duke that I had the pictures? That I knew about his scam with Dr. Gavin? And lastly, that he would have to give me some serious money to keep my mouth shut.

Yeah! Blackmail that muthafucka!

Hell, just like that my plans changed. That’s what I was going to do. Blackmail the fuck out of his nasty ass.

I jumped up from the seat I was in. I looked over at the fat bitch of a cop and I flipped that bitch the bird.

I hurried out of the police station with a mission on my mind. I was broke, busted and disgusted, but not for fucking long.

Duke Carrington would be giving me stacks for the shit I had on his ass.

Cheaper to Keep Her Unique

Chapter 24—The Almighty Dollar

I was feeling hyped up and bold when I rushed back to the apartment.

Blackmail and getting lots of money was on my mind. But by the time I got back home, my thoughts were dashed when I walked into the house to hear Diamond and Brian sounding as if they were having a wild damn party in Diamond’s room.

I didn’t know what the fuck was up with her lately, but her shit was getting out of hand. It was wild partying, disappearing acts or big horrible fights with Brian. This was the time I needed her most. I was desperate for a way to make money and at the same time I wanted to ruin Duke and his entire life. I was frustrated I couldn’t get to Diamond when I needed her.

With the amount of noise coming from Diamond’s room, I knew I wasn’t going to get to tell her my plan. I went into my room and pulled out the pictures of the murdered girl, the other pictures, and the lists and paperwork I had kept. I reviewed everything and the more I read, the more confident I was that it was going to get me some big bucks from Mr. Carrington’s ass.

I didn’t want to think hard about the path I was about to take. I knew if I did, I probably would have changed my mind. Duke and the doctor had mutilated a young girl, and she had something they needed—a baby. I didn’t want to think about what the fuck they would do to me if I gave them the opportunity. No, money was on my mind. Hopefully, stacks and stacks of money.

I lifted one end of my mattress and stashed the papers under it. I went into the kitchen and took four Tylenol PM. I knew without it I wasn’t going to get any sleep. I could still hear Diamond laughing all loud and shit. I couldn’t believe she was still with Brian after he beat her ass. I shook my head, took some cotton and stuffed my ears, and went to bed. I would have to see Diamond when that bastard of a man of hers was gone.

I tossed and turned all night. I kept dreaming that Duke was after me because of my plot to blackmail him. I could actually see his face curled into a snarl as he was coming after me. That dream had me jumping. I had broken out in a cold sweat. I was obsessing about everything, which wasn’t good for my mental state.

When I saw the sun streaming through my blinds, I decided I might as well get up and start my day. I kept trying to get up, but my mind was in a repetitive loop. My plans were dominating my thoughts. When I thought I had moved my mind in another direction, thoughts of my plans would return. I just couldn’t move on. I needed to talk to Diamond badly. I needed to share my plan and get her thoughts. Hopefully she would have words of reason.

I continued to lie in bed for a while when I finally confirmed that Diamond was up and about. I heard her turn on the shower. I figured Brian’s ass was probably gone and now we had a chance to talk without any interruption. He usually left real early whenever he stayed over. I had once told Diamond I believed that nigga was married because of the way he would creep out at three or four in the morning.

After a few minutes, I decided to get up and go sit on the toilet while Diamond was in the shower so I could talk to her. I figured it was probably the only time I was going to have with her ass, since she was hanging out without me a lot lately. I padded through the apartment and opened the bathroom door.

“
Diam—” I called out as I walk into the bathroom. Immediately, I almost choked on my words. My eyes grew wide and I was kind of stuck on stupid when I realized I had walked in on Diamond and Brian fucking. She was moaning loudly and had her hands on the shower wall, while Brian had her bent over slamming into her ass like a plow driver, fucking the shit out of her. I felt a pang of jealously come over me. I hadn’t had a man’s touch in a long while and all of a sudden I forgot why I had even come into the bathroom. I was suddenly missing Duke very much.

Diamond and Brian both turned and looked at me as if I was crazy. I don’t know why my feet wouldn’t move. I was stuck in imaginary mud, watching them instead of turning around and getting my ass out of there.

“
Bitch, do you mind?” Diamond shouted indignantly. She had every right to yell at me. Brian didn’t even have any shame. He just kept on fucking Diamond from the back with me standing there, unable to move.

“
Damn, I thought you were in here alone. I’m sorry,” I apologized as I was finally able to move and come to my senses. I hurriedly backed out of the door and slammed it shut.

“
This bitch can’t fucking knock! Non-paying rent ass bitch!” I heard Brian comment as I left the bathroom. His words seared right through me and fucking pissed me off. The audacity of that no good ass nigga, who didn’t do shit for Diamond.

When I thought about what he had said and his past behavior, I banged my fists on the door. “Fuck you Brian! Ya’ll should’ve locked the fucking door anyway! Shit, I live here too and I gotta take a fucking piss! Diamond got a bedroom to fuck in!”

I fucking hated that muthafucka. Hell, I think at that moment I fucking hated men.

I went back to my room and flopped down on my bed. I was even more motivated to get my plan underway now. Blackmailing Duke was the order of the day, because I needed to get some money. I definitely needed to get out on my own. It seemed as if Diamond and I were growing apart and going our separate ways in life.

I started running through my mind how much money I was going to demand from Duke’s ass. I needed enough to give myself a brand new start in life. Fuck Virginia Beach! I needed to get the fuck out of this area. Hell, I probably needed to leave the state. In the back of my mind, the thought of the young girl being mutilated still lingered with me.

I started plotting how I was going to get this money from a powerful ass dude like Duke and remain safe at the same time. It was a lot to think about. Trust me, my mind was racing a mile a minute. My head ached from thinking so damn much.