Wifey (23 page)

“Whoever did that was crazy!” Rhonda yelled out loud. I’m so glad that li’l boy wasn’t there, ’cause, they probably would’ve killed that poor kid, too!”

I couldn’t say nothing because I was too messed up in the mind. I mean, I just called Mr. Shapiro about this very incident. And it happened. So, what was I gonna do? Because I know Mr. Shapiro would have to tell the police that I told him about it. That makes me a witness, and I don’t wanna be that. Damn! Why did I even open my big mouth from the beginning. Now, look what I’ve gotten myself into.

“Didn’t Remo work for Ricky?” Rhonda walked over and asked me in a whisper-like tone.

“I don’t know who he is,” I lied.

“I bet you Sunshine knew who they were,” Rhonda commented as she walked back over to her work station.

I remained quiet for the rest of the day. Rhonda sensed something was wrong with me, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. When I said that I was leaving for the day, she told her client to excuse her for a minute and then she walked me out to my car.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

I lied to her again and said, “Oh yeah, girl. I’m fine.”

“Well, you don’t seem like it.”

“I’m just tired.”

“Is it about that mess wit’ Ricky and Sunshine?”

“Yeah. It’s that, too.”

Rhonda reached over and hugged me and said, “Girl, don’t let neither one of them muthafuckas stress you out! You are too much of a good person to let them get you down.”

“I ain’t gon’ let that happen,” I assured her.

“Good, ‘cause I would hate to pull out my boxing gloves.”

I smiled at Rhonda and said, “You know you’re my girl, right?”

“Yeah. I know that.”

“Well, what would you say if I decided to move away and leave you my shop?”

Rhonda hesitated for a few seconds. Then she looked me dead in the eyes and said, “Are you thinking about leaving me?”

“I’ve already thought about it. So, all I need to do now is figure out where I’m going.”

“But, why?”

“Because, I need to get away and make a new start for myself. I am so over this place.” I allowed a few of my tears to fall from my eyes.

Rhonda held onto me tighter. I grabbed on to her too.

“Does Ricky know that you’re leaving?”

“No.”

“Are you going to tell him?”

“No.”

“So, what do you want me to tell him when he comes here looking for you?”

“Just tell him you thought I was wit’ him, getting ready to go on the trip.”

“Well, are gon’ keep in touch wit’ me?”

“From time to time.”

Rhonda began to rub my back. Then she said, “Just take care of yourself.”

“I will,” I assured her. I got in my car and left.

***

I didn’t realize it at first, but when I pulled my cell phone out of my handbag I noticed that I had eight missed calls showing up on it. Five of them were from Mr. Shapiro and the other three were from Russ. I was too scared to call Russ because I didn’t want the Feds to know anything about him. I pulled over to the nearest pay phone and called him.

“Hello,” Russ answered.

“Hey, it’s Kira.”

“What’s up, baby?”

“I’m returning your call.”

“What’s wrong wit’ your cell?”

“The battery is dead,” I quickly thought to say.

“Where you at?”

“I’m at the BP gas station on the corner of Newtown Road and Virginia Beach Boulevard.”

“Did you see the news?”

“Yeah. I saw it.”

“Are you getting ready to go home?”

“Yeah. But I’m trying to find a reason not to.”

“Is that an invitation?”

“Why don’t you figure it out?” I replied, sarcastically.

“Well, do you want to spend some time wit’ me?”

I told him, yeah. That’s when we decided to meet up at the Ruby Tuesday restaurant off Military Highway.

The idea of somebody seeing us wasn’t something we cared about, being as though we had other important things to worry about.

“I’m leaving,” I said to Russ the second after the hostess walked away from our table.

“What you mean, you’re leaving?” he asked.

“I’m moving.”

“Moving where?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“Well, tell me why?”

“Because, I’ve got to.”

“Is this Ricky’s idea?”

“No. He doesn’t know about it.”

“Oh, so this is how you plan to leave him?”

“Something like that.”

“So, what do you call it?”

“Look, Russ,” I sighed. “There’s a lot of shit going on that you have no knowledge of whatsoever. And if I tried to explain it to you, you might begin to look at me in another way.”

“Why don’t you just try me?”

“I’m scared.”

“Well, it can’t be that bad,” Russ said.

Before I broke everything down for Russ, I tried to piece together all of what I was gonna say to him, just so it wouldn’t sound so bad coming out of my mouth.

When I finally got up the nerve to tell him, I said, “Ricky and all the niggaz that work for him are under investigation by the Feds.”

“How you know that?” Russ asked me with a puzzled look on his face.

“Because I’ve got a cousin who used to work for Ricky. And when she got locked up for carrying a whole lot of coke, the Feds took over her case.”

“So, she’s snitching everybody out?” Russ responded, sarcastically.

“Well, it didn’t start out that way.”

“It never does.”

“Will you just listen?”

“Yeah. Go ’head.”

“Well, from the day she got locked up, Ricky’s been giving her the cold shoulder. He doesn’t even want her calling our house. I mean, it’s an out of sight, out of mind thing with him. So, when the Feds started asking questions, she came straight to me since I was the one who set the whole thing up for her to get the work from Ricky.”

“So, what did you tell her?”

“At first, I was angry wit’ her for even entertaining the thought of telling them crackers something. But after Ricky started showing his real colors, I told her to do whatever she gotta do.”

“And when did all this happen?”

“Not too long ago. I mean, it’s been about a few weeks.”

“Damn! They probably got my ass under investigation, too!”

“No, they don’t.”

“And what makes you so sure?”

“Because, all the information they got, my cousin Nikki gave it to them.”

“So, what does that mean?”

“It means that if she doesn’t know anything about you, then that’s some information she can’t give to them.”

“So, you ain’t tell her about us?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“So, what’s gon’ happen now?”

“Well, I can’t really say. But, I do know that Ricky had something to do wit’ those murders that everybody is talking about. So, the heat is gonna be on full blast! And I ain’t gon’ be around to witness it.”

“Where you going?”

“I told you, I don’t know. But it’s going to be real soon. And I ain’t looking back.”

“So, what you gon’ do wit’ your salon and the house?”

“That house was bought wit’ drug money. Do you think the Feds gon’ let me keep it after Ricky gets locked up? I don’t think so! And as far as the shop is concerned, that’s already been taken care of.”

Without commenting, Russ looked at me and then he looked out of the restaurant window. There was no doubt in my mind that he was trying to consume everything I had just laid on his plate. Whether or not to trust me anymore was probably another question in his mind, too.

“Look, I know it’s hard for you to swallow everything I just told you. So, if you don’t do nothing else, I want you to believe that I like you a whole lot. And that’s why I’m telling you all this. I mean, I could’ve just said the hell wit’ you, and let the Feds do whatever. But, I didn’t! So, that’s gotta account for something. Right?”

Russ hesitated for a bit, but then he smiled and said, “Yeah. It does.”

I smiled back at him and grabbed both of his hands.

“If I’m small enough to fit in your luggage, would you take me wit’ you?”

I didn’t know what to say. I mean, I wanted to say yes. But I didn’t wanna feel cheap if he was playing a joke on me. To be on the safe side, I reversed the question and said, “Would you wanna go?”

“Damn right!” he replied and smiled.

Oh my goodness! This nigga wanna leave with me! I felt like jumping out of my damn seat, because I was so happy! But, I couldn’t do that. I needed to remain cool. I couldn’t let him see me sweat over his good-ass dick! All I had to do now was make a trip home so I could pack some of my prized possessions. Then go to the bank so I could make a final withdrawal from my safe deposit box and close out my accounts. What a way to go out with a bang!

Me and Russ went over the last little things we needed to do before we jetted out of VA. After we got a bite to eat, we called it a night and headed on back to our respective homes.

9mm Glocks

By the time I got home, Ricky was nowhere in sight, which I thought was a good thing. I wasted no time as I rushed upstairs to my bedroom, with the objective of packing all of my irreplaceable items.

I only grabbed two of my furs, being as though they were the more expensive ones. Then I grabbed all four of my diamond watches. I wasn’t gonna dare leave them behind. Every last one of them had a story behind it. Then I packed up all my jewelry, a little bit of my clothes, my shoes, and I couldn’t forget all my important papers and pictures. Especially all the bank statements because if the Feds got their hands on that information; they would have a field day. That’s why I had to hurry up and clear out all the accounts. Because if I didn’t, I was going to be in bad shape.

After I gathered up everything I was taking with me, I took it straight outside to my car and hid it in the trunk. As soon as I stepped foot back in the house, the phone started ringing.

“Hello,” I answered, wondering who it was because their number didn’t show up on the Caller ID.

“It’s me,” Ricky replied.

“Yeah. What is it?”

“Did you get them thangs this morning, like I asked you?”

“No.”

“But why?” he screamed at me. “You wasn’t that busy, that you couldn’t pick the shit up for us. We are leaving in two days!” He continued like he was upset.

“For your information fool, I was busy! I work every day, unlike your black ass! So, if you wanted those damn passports today, then you should’ve picked them up yourself!” I snapped back.

“You’s one stupid bitch!” he said before he hung up.

I hung the phone up right after he did. Before I could make another move, my cell phone started ringing. “Hello?”

“Kira?” Mr. Shapiro said.

“Yeah.”

“Did you get my messages?”

“No. I ain’t had a chance to check my voicemail.”

“Is your husband near you?”

“Nah. He’s not here.”

“Okay, remember what you and I discussed yesterday?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I’ve spoken with the U.S. Attorney about it. And since the murder did take place, she’s going to need a statement from you, so she can go before a grand jury and get the indictments.”

“What you mean, ‘get a statement from me?’ I don’t know who did the killings! All I know is that Ricky called a meeting because he found out Remo had something to do wit’ them Norview niggas robbing his spot.”

“Okay. And that’s fine. But, I’m going to need you to tell her the same thing you just told me.”

“Look, I don’t wanna get involved wit’ that.”

“But, you have to.”

“No, I don’t!”

“Okay, listen,” Mr. Shapiro began to say, “Don’t say no, now. Sleep on it. And I’ll get back with you in the morning.”

“Yeah. A’ight,” I said, with little enthusiasm, and then I hung up.

After I ended my conversation with Mr. Shapiro, I went on in the den so I could watch a little bit of TV, since I wasn’t hungry or sleepy. As I laid there on sofa, I couldn’t help but wonder how everything was gonna play out. I mean, it was a done deal that a lot of niggas on Ricky’s squad were going to jail. The question was, When? And since I didn’t have the answer to that question, I just remained clueless.

***

Ricky came home later that night, about eleven-thirty. And he wasn’t alone, either. I heard Brian’s voice right after Ricky closed the front door behind them. They went straight into the kitchen. That’s what Ricky normally did when he brought company home. He liked to show them he was the man by offering them bottles of Corona or Red Stripe.

“You got some lemon?” Brian asked Ricky.

“Nigga you don’t need no lemon! Drink that shit straight!” Ricky told him as they both laughed. Then they got quiet. Ricky usually did that if he wanted to talk about something he didn’t want me to hear. After about ten minutes, their volume picked up a little bit. I could hear Brian talking about this new chick he met a couple days ago at this party, and how fat her ass was. He also told Ricky how he got her to suck his dick in the bathroom right before the party ended. All Ricky could do was laugh.

So, Brian continued on talking about his new chick and Ricky continued laughing until Brian’s cell phone started vibrating.

“Hold up. It’s Shampoo,” he told Ricky.

“Yo, son,” Brian said to Shampoo.

“It’s done,” Shampoo told him.

“Oh! A’ight!” Brian replied and then he hung up.

“It’s done,” Brian said to Ricky.

“Good,” Ricky replied. And then I heard him gulp down some more of his beer. “Now all we gotta do is get the other two.”

“Mike and them niggas working on that now,” Brian said. “I’m just glad they got to that chick before the po-pos did because she was our main problem.”

“Where did they get her at?”

“He didn’t say. But, she was probably at her crib.”

“Man I sho’ hope they got to her before she had a chance to run off at the mouth about what she told you.”

“I hope so, too,” I heard Brian say and then he let out a sigh of relief; which was how I figured out they were talking about the girl who used to braid Brian’s hair.

Without forcing it, my mind started imagining all kinds of ways they killed that poor girl. She would’ve been better off keeping her mouth closed. But nah! She had to go back and tell Brian what somebody else told her. Now, look what it got her: a one-way ticket to her grave. That’s why I was carrying my ass out of here.