Wifey (18 page)

“Okay. Now, before we get down to business, let me introduce you to Special Agent Burke and Special Agent Carter. These men are heading the investigation on this case.”

I looked over at both of them crackers and nodded my head at them. I mean, was I suppose to go over to them and shake their hands? Hell nah! It was bad enough that I was ratting out my husband and his flunkies. To make myself not look so bad, I was going to play the game of not volunteering information. If they didn’t ask; then I wouldn’t tell
.

But what I didn’t think about until now was that Russ was now one of Ricky’s partners. So, when these people started questioning me about who was connected with Ricky, I was gonna have to give them Russ’s name. And I couldn’t do that. I mean, I was liking this cat already. Plus, if I let these people hook him on the stick, I’d never know whether or not me and him were meant to be together. And I didn’t want that to happen.

“How long have you and your husband been together?” Mrs. Blake started off with the questions.

“For a little over seven years,” I told her.

“Was he dealing drugs when you met him? Or did it start after you and he decided to continue on with the relationship?”

I took a deep breath and said, “He was doing it before I came into his life.”

“Well, would you be able to put a number on the quantity of drugs your husband has possessed and distributed from the time you and he met?”

“Nah. I mean, that would be impossible to do.”

“How is that complicated?”

“Because, I’m not always around him when he conducts his business.”

“So, who is around him when he does?”

“I don’t know,” I answered in a nonchalant manner.

“Well, what do you know?” Burke asked.

“What do you want to know?” I snapped back at him.

Mrs. Blake cleared her throat and said, “We want to know all the names of everyone who’s involved. And if you can remember dates of conversations or drug transactions your husband has been involved in up until today that would be very helpful as well.”

“I don’t know everybody’s name.”

“Well, tell us what you know,” Burke said.

I looked away from everybody and stared out of the window. I figured this would be a good way for me to gather my thoughts. And it worked, because when I turned back around, I started talking until their ears came off. I gave them almost everybody who worked for Ricky. I even told them about the times he had meetings in the back of our house, just to discuss who was going to be making the deliveries this day or the next. I told them where the drugs were stashed at and that Ricky’s aunt had full control of that spot, because the apartment was in her name and plus, he trusted her. He ain’t never had one ounce of his drugs come up short. And that how he said he was going to keep it.

“Have you ever played a part in his everyday adventures?” Mrs. Blake asked me.

“If you’re talking about me selling or transporting them, then nah, I ain’t never did that.”

“What kind of role did you play?” Special Agent Carter asked.

“Well, being as though I’m his wife, I have handled some of his money.”

“Who financed your business?” Mrs. Blake asked.

“I did.”

“How?” she continued.

“When my mother died, I was her beneficiary. So, I took the money that the insurance company gave me and invested in my shop.”

“Would you be able to provide us with that information?” Mrs. Blake wanted to know.

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Now, what can you tell us about the men who your husband buys his drugs from?” Mrs. Blake continued.

“Nothing. I mean, I’ve never met them before.”

“Not once?”

“No, I haven’t.” I tried to stress this to them, but I don’t think they believed me because after I couldn’t give them the names of the people Ricky was getting his shit from, both of the agents and the lady prosecutor turned and looked at each other like I was lying or something. But I didn’t say nothing. I just let it ride.

“Do you and Ricky have a joint bank account?” Mrs. Blake asked.

“Not anymore.”

“What happened?”

“I closed it.”

“Why?” Carter asked.

“Because, we used to fuss about what money was his and what money was mine.”

“Where does he keep his money now?” Burke asked.

“I don’t know. I mean, he would never tell me that.”

“Why?” Mrs. Blake asked.

“Because, he used to accuse me of stealing his money.”

“Were you?” Carter jumped in and asked.

“No, I wasn’t.”

“So, you’re telling us that you don’t have any knowledge whatsoever about where your husband keeps his money?” Carter continued.

“Yes. The big money, I don’t know where it is. But, every now and again, I see him putting pocket change up in his safe.”

“What is considered pocket change?” Mrs. Blake wanted to know.

“Like maybe six or seven thousand.”

“Does he have any illegal guns stored away at your residence?” Carter asked.

“Not that I know of.”

“What about drugs?” Agent Burke asked.

“What about it?”

“Has he ever stored his drugs there?”

“No way,” I began to explain, “He has always lived by the code.”

“What code is that?” Agent Burke wondered.

“It is, never keep drugs where you rest at!
”

“Well, throughout my career as a federal agent, I have found that a lot of drug dealers don’t adhere to that code,” Burke commented.

“Yeah, I know. I see it on almost every episode of
Cops
.”

“Do you know where your husband is now?” Mrs. Blake asked.

“Yeah, I do.”

“So, tell us.”

“He came by the salon a couple hours ago and said he was going down south to North Carolina.”

“Did he say why he was going?” Carter asked.

“All he said was that he and Brian had to go down there to take care of some business.”

“What part of North Carolina?” Mrs. Blake asked.

“He didn’t say,” I replied as I looked straight into Mrs. Blake’s eyes. That’s when she let out a long sigh. She also placed the pencil she had been using down on the legal pad.

“Can you think of anything else we haven’t covered?” She asked.

“Not right now.”

“Well, if you do, have Mr. Shapiro get in touch with either me or Special Agents Burke and Carter.”

“Okay. I can do that,” I assured her.

“Oh yeah,” Mrs. Blake continued, “would you be willing to wear a wire one time or another?”

“I don’t know. I gotta think about it.”

“Well, think about it. Because it might come to point where it’s needed.”

“I’ll let you know,” I replied with hesitation. “So, what’s gon’ happen now?”

“Well, first of all, I’ve got to compile all the information I have. Then I’ve got to run it by my boss to have him sign off on it. And then I’ve got to present it to a federal judge, to get indictments,” she replied.

“So, how long does that take?” I asked her.

“Anywhere from three to six weeks.”

“So, what am I supposed to be doing while you’re doing that?”

“Just go on with your life and act like this meeting never took place,” she advised me.

“But, that’s gonna be really hard to do.”

“I know that. But, just try. And I mean, try very hard. Because if someone finds out you’ve been talking with us, your life could be in danger.”

“No shit!” I commented as I jumped up from the chair.

When the meeting was finally over, Mr. Shapiro told me how impressed he was about the way I handled myself. He also told me he was going to get in touch with me after he spoke with Mrs. Blake, being as though it was appropriate to give her enough time to go over the information she had gathered. I told him that was fine and hopped out of his car the minute we arrived back at his office.

Collect Calls

It wouldn’t have surprised me if Nikki had psychic powers, because the second I stepped foot in the house, she was ringing my phone off the hook.

“I accept the charges,” I told the operator as I sat down on the sofa and tried to take my shoes off at the same time.

“Did you see those people today?” she didn’t hesitate to ask.

“Yeah. I just left them.”

“So, what they say?”

“Nothing, really. I mean, I was the one doing all the talking.”

“Well, did they say when I was gon’be getting out?”

“Nah.”

“Why didn’t you ask them?”

“Because, I didn’t think about it.”

“Damn!” Nikki said in frustration.

“Look, don’t start getting all stressed out. Your time is coming. And when it does, you gon’be back on the streets wit’me,” I told her.

“Well, tell me this.”

“What’s up?”

“Did they say how long it’s gon’ take for them to start arresting everybody?”

“Yeah. The lady told me it’s gon’ take about three to six weeks.”

“So, you mean to tell me, I’m gon’ have to stay in jail for another month?” Nikki asked me, irritated.

“I guess so,” I replied, but with uncertainty. Then I got quiet.

It took Nikki about ninety seconds break the ice. When she did, she said, “Look, I know I’m a big girl and nobody twisted my arm to do what I did. So, I wanna thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”

“You ain’t gotta thank me. Shit, we family! And plus, I know you would’ve done the same thing for me.”

“Yep. I sure would.”

We talked about everything we was going to do when she got out of jail. What we didn’t talk about was where we was going to go and how much money I’d been stashing away. I did that because most likely, the Feds had my phone tapped. So, when Nikki’s time was up on the phone, I told her how much I loved her and that her troubles would be over very soon.

“I love you too, girl. So, be careful out there,” she replied.

“I will,” I assured her.

***

The number of cars parked out in front of my shop kind of looked better, being as though it was a Saturday. Rhonda and Trina were busy curling their client’s hair, when I walked in.

“Hey everybody!” I greeted them after I walked in. That’s when I saw that I had five clients waiting patiently. I walked on over to my station to put down my handbag and then called my client Ms. Jean, because she was scheduled to be my first appointment for today.

“How you doing, Ms. Jean?” I asked her.

“I’m doing fine, baby.”

“So, what you getting done today?”

“Well, I’m gon’ need a perm first.”

“Okay. But what kind of style you want?”

“Just give me some kind of up-do.”

“Okay. Sit over in that chair, so I can base your scalp.”

Without hesitating, I relaxed and conditioned Ms. Jean’s hair in less than fifteen minutes, then I stuck her under the dryer. My other client’s fell into my schedule like a set of dominoes. Before I knew it, everybody who was in my appointment book was in and out like clockwork.

Rhonda and Trina were still doing their client’s when I began to clean up my area. Trina and her client were gossiping about somebody. I couldn’t make out what they were saying but when two women were together, they could do nothing else but gossip.

Trina was talking on the phone while she was styling her client. And the bad part about it was that I knew who she was talking to. When she started cussing and saying, “Nigga, you know you ain’t shit!” she couldn’t be talking to nobody else but her baby daddy. When I felt I’d had enough of what was going on in the salon, I said goodbye and jetted to my car.

On the way home, I couldn’t think about nothing else but Russ. I kept reminiscing about every incident me and him had encountered, which got me more excited about our little date tonight.

As soon as I got in the house, I checked my messages and then I took off all my clothes so I could get comfortable. To my surprise, I didn’t have any messages stored on the answering machine. I grabbed me a couple of Oreo cookies from the cookie jar and I headed on upstairs to my bedroom.

In my bedroom was where I was having troubles with figuring out what to wear tonight. I also began to feel kind of odd, being as though I was going out with one of my husband’s peoples. Then it took me no time at all to get over the feeling.

All I had to do was think about how Ricky has fucked around on me all these many years. By doing what I was about to do tonight, it made me feel justified. After two hours of digging through all three of my closets, I finally found the perfect get-up.

I couldn’t imagine wearing nothing else but this new Christian Dior dress that Ricky got me for Christmas, along with the boots to match. Then I pulled out all of my jewels so that trying to find the right diamond ring and bracelet to wear with my dress wouldn’t be so hard.

Now that everything was laid out, there was nothing else for me to do but take a shower and get dressed. Doing that took about an hour. I always had to make sure that everything was right. Nothing could be out of place and that included make-up, hair, and all. Once that was taken care of, I hopped on my cell phone and called Russ.

“What’s up?” he asked me the second he answered.

“I was calling to see where you wanted me to meet you.”

“Where you at?”

“At home.”

“Are you ready?”

“Yep.”

“Are we still driving out to Williamsburg?”

“Yeah. I mean, that was the plan.”

“What time is it?”

“It’s six-thirty five.”

“A’ight then, meet me in Newport News.”

“Where?”

“Take the second Jefferson Avenue exit and meet me at Patrick Henry mall.”

“Which side you gon’ be parked at?”

“Come over by the food court and I’ll be waiting.”

“Okay. But just keep your phone on just in case.”

“A’ight.” We both cut off our lines.

Sitting On 22’s

Everybody and their mamas were out shopping, as far as I could see, because the parking lot was filled up with all kinds of vehicles. I had to call Russ back on his cell so he could direct me in his direction.

“Are you driving your Lex?” he asked me.