Hide & Seek (48 page)

“
My son knows a good woman when he got one,” LaRon laughed as did Tariq.

“
Well at least I know Khari will be taken care of,” he laughed as both women gave them a look and left them alone heading into the kitchen.

“
What’s on your mind,” Jaleesa asked giving her best friend a look.

Kaitlyn laughed lightly before answering.

“
Stay out of my head,” she told her as they both smiled, but Jaleesa still waited for an answer.

“
Just thinking how good things are, and, I don’t know,” Kaitlyn returned as Jaleesa sighed deeply and finished the thought for her.

“
You think something bad is gonna happen cause you feel guilty still about Ice,” she threw out as Kaitlyn sighed.

“
Yeah,” she replied simply.

“
KiKi, let it go,” Jaleesa tried gently. “You have a beautiful daughter, a wonderful man, a home, and life is good,” she added as Kaitlyn sighed and told her she was right.

“
You’re gonna have another niece or nephew here in a few months too,” Jaleesa added as Kaitlyn’s mouth dropped.

“
Are you serious,” she asked smiling broadly now.

Jaleesa assured her she was pregnant.

“
Well Deuce didn’t say a thing,” she replied feigning indignation, as Jaleesa laughed and told her that was because he didn’t know yet.

“
I just found out yesterday myself,” she replied still laughing. “So again KiKi, as much as Ice and Ryan were good to us, they also did a lot of bullshit too us,” Jaleesa patiently explained. “We don’t have that to worry about anymore,” she went on. “We can just enjoy living, loving, and being loved,” she finished walking away and leaving Kaitlyn alone in the kitchen.

Sighing deeply Kaitlyn thought back over the last three years of her life and how different they’d been. She remembered how worried she’d been that fateful night when the key finally turned in the lock and LaRon walked in, alone. Her heart had hit the floor thinking Tariq was gone from her once again. The joy she felt 5 minutes later when he walked in, arms filled with red roses, could never be put into words. They’d been blissfully happy since. He’d been there when Khari was born, cutting her cord, naming her and telling Kaitlyn how much he loved her, again and again. He’d purchased them a beautiful and expansive home in Covington, after visiting the area with Jaleesa and LaRon and saying how much he liked it.

There was nothing Tariq wouldn’t do for her and Kaitlyn loved him without question. She even surprised herself at how much she enjoyed being a mother. Khari was a wonderful child with a great disposition and she made motherhood easy. Even the business end was enjoyable again for her. Tariq refused to allow her or Jaleesa any violent ventures in the enterprise again, relegating them both to keeping the books for the businesses. Sighing deeply once more Kaitlyn pushed the thoughts of Ice, her old life, and what if, to the dark recesses of her mind, returning to the barbeque, her man, her daughter, and the people who mattered most in her life.

*****

The sun shone through the bars as yet another day greeted Ian and he cursed awakening. Looking at the hash marks on the wall, he added another one bringing the total to 1095.
Three fuckin’ years,
he thought hearing the heavy keys turning the lock and watching the two burly orderlies walk inside.

“
Meds time,” the nurse that accompanied them told him.

Handing Ian the small cup she watched him pop the three pills in his mouth. She then handed him the small cup of water, again watching as he swallowed.

“
Open,” she instructed, looking under his tongue.

Satisfied she left him in the cell as they locked the doors once more and moved along down the dark and noxiously fumed hallway. After he was sure they wouldn’t return Ian removed the pills from his cheeks where he’d deftly pushed them with his tongue out of view when they checked. He hadn’t taken any of the pills in the year they’d been giving them to him. He was thankful at least that they gave him pills now. When he first arrived it had been an entirely different story.

Ian had endured shot after shot, as they tried to break his spirit and convince him he was crazy. He’d undergone electroshock therapy and countless hours of sitting in group therapy. He may have been a lot of things, but one thing Ian knew he wasn’t, and that was crazy. He began to comply with their theories, even pretending he was buying the stories they fed him, finally gaining enough trust to stop the shots and shock therapy. The sound of the thick padded envelope hitting the floor broke his thought as Ian went to retrieve it. He received one every few months and they always contained the same thing. Opening this one, he again sighed deeply as the hurt, anger and helplessness descended again.

Closing his eyes he threw the envelope to the side, recalling the very first one he’d received. Ian remembered thinking he was in a hospital when his eyes open after being shot by Tariq. He soon discovered he was in someplace far worse. Cardale Mental Hospital was place for the forgotten. The small private psychiatric hospital was located deep in the heart of Bayou country away from prying and questioning eyes. It was where families sent those too disturbed for human contact in the real world and paid the bill never visiting or acknowledging their existence ever again.

He recalled being shoved into the cell and the envelope thrust into his hands as the heavy metal door slammed behind him and the lock engaged. Sitting on the hard metal cot in the corner of the concrete encased tomb, he’d opened the envelope and began to read. ‘
Welcome to your new home Ice.’ the note began. ‘I bet you’re wondering why you’re here and not dead, aren’t you?’ It continued. ‘Truthfully, I thought about killing you, day in and day out, I truly weighed it’ Tariq continued. ‘But in the end I decided while satisfying, it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun as watching you suffer,’ he continued. ‘suffering like you’ve made everyone you’ve every touched in your life suffer; to sit everyday and remember your brother and that his death was on your hands; to think of KiKi and know that every night I make love to her, that she is carrying my child; to know your brother’s child is fatherless and his mother is without her man, because of you; to know everyday that I BEAT YOU,’ it ended.
Ian recalled the fury he’d felt seeing the words on the paper and every more furious that they were true. True to his word, Tariq tormented him often, sending pictures of Kaitlyn and their daughter, pictures of Caramel and Ryan’s son. The child was the spitting image of his brother, tearing his heart every time he looked at him. Sighing deeply Ian, pushed the envelope to the floor; rising and looking out of the barred window, cursing God and waiting to die.

*****

Teresa Alder was reading over her patients chart again. She frowned slightly reading the earlier notes of her colleague that the man suffered from schizophrenia. She’d talked to Arthur on numerous occasions and he always seemed completely lucid. Looking at the chart she read the notes again.
Patient suffers from delusions as a result of his brother’s violet demise from gang violence,
it read. She continued to read where their colleague noted that even in his identity the patient had created an entire persona based on delusion.
His name is Arthur Harrington, yet he insists on calling himself Ian Bailey, and using the street name Ice,
Teresa read.

Tapping her pen lightly on the folder after she closed it, her mind continued to race. There were so many abnormalities here at the hospital and not just the patients either. Her colleagues seem hellbent on simply keeping the patients medicated. There was never any real attempt made at rehabilitation or healing. Their favorite method of behavior control was shock therapy and it’d taken her months to coerce them into stopping Arthur’s treatment. Sighing deeply Teresa thought about the conversations again, the mannerisms, the calm demeanor with which Arthur talked to her as he told her his story. Something was not adding up and her gut told her there was far more to Arthur Harrington than met the eye. Rising finally she headed to her computer and turned it on. Doing a Google search, she typed in Ian “Ice” Bailey and waited. As the computer began to work, her screen beeped and the results jumped onto the display before her. As Teresa clicked on a file heading, her mouth dropped as the image results became visible and she began to read the corresponding text.

A sneak preview of
Thin Ice 3: Armageddon
follows this page. Also, check out these other offerings from the Author KR Bankston available at all fine online retailers: Amazon.com, BN.com, Smashwords.com and more.

T
hank you for reading this novel. We hope you’ve enjoyed and will continue to follow the ongoing saga of Ice, KiKi, Ryan, Tweety and the rest of the crew as they allow us to tag along inside their worlds.

“
HAVE YOU”
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The Gianni Legacy:

A Deadly Encounter (eBook/paperback)

Sins of the Father (eBook/paperback)

Smoke & Mirrors (eBook/paperback)

Other Books:

King of the Game (eBook)

Unraveled: A Short Story Collective (eBook)

About the Author:

KR has been writing for years creating several poems, short stories and inspirational plays, before finally venturing into a full-length novel. Some of her greatest literary influences came early in the form of V.C. Andrews, and Stephen King. Later she discovered E. Lynn Harris, Robin Cook, Alex Haley, and Victoria Holt to name a few more of the influential authors who have help shape her writing style.

When she’s not writing, K.R. Bankston is an avid Dallas Cowboys, Atlanta Falcons football fan, and Orlando Magic, Miami Heat, basketball fan. She is currently in the process of writing a new novel.

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THIN ICE 3 – ARMAGEDDON

Sitting bolt upright in bed, blinking away the terror and sweating profusely, Ian took in his surroundings assuring himself he was still a free man.

“
Here,” Gabrielle said softly materializing almost out of no where.

“
Thank you,” he replied taking the pills from her hand and swallowing them.

Ian hated having to still take the medication but he wasn’t strong enough to stop yet, soon though he would.

“
I didn’t mean to wake you,” Ian offered as Gabrielle smiled and dismissed his apology.

“
It ain’t a problem,” she replied once again the Cajun drawl thick, flowing from her lips.

Rising and leaving him alone again, Ian once more lay back on his pillows and breathed deeply allowing his mind to drift. He’d been out of the hospital for almost a year now. Teresa Alder was a lifesaver and Ian was forever indebted to her. She had doggedly pursued and won audience with the major stockholders in the hospital, shedding light on all the unscrupulous and inhumane practices going on. Teresa had also managed to get her hands on the personal financial records of both the Director and Administrator bringing the stockholder’s attention to several large financial windfalls the two had received but not shared with those they were in place to represent.

Once the wheels were put in motion, things happened in a flurry of activity around Cardale Mental Hospital. There were several arrests and indictments handed down and though the scandal should have made the front page, it caused merely a slight ripple in the back of the local newspapers metro section. Ian was released 3 months after the scandal rocked the hospital. Confessing to Teresa that he really had nowhere to go and no one who cared, she made a call, and her cousins showed up shortly afterward. The introduction to Seth and Peyton DuBois was the best thing that could have happened, Ian now mused. The three immediately hit it off and Teresa entrusted Ian to their care. After a few drinks upon his arrival, and meeting their sister, Gabrielle, secrets became common knowledge and Ian knew he’d found the beginning to regaining his former glory. Seth and Peyton dealt in stolen goods, but not common street appliances or junk. They dealt in high end computer equipments, security system equipment and other high end commodities. They told Ian all about their contact in St. Louis, but that he’d been killed a year or so earlier.