Wifey 4 Life (18 page)

Walt asked me, “Do you know what room that is?”

“Yeah, that’s my uncle’s study. That’s where he keeps his computer,
fax machine, and all the freaking books he collects.”

“Well, it looks like he may be in the house after all,” Walt
said.

“You might be right,” I said.

“All right, Jeff, let’s get out of here,” Walt said.

Jeff, the driver, very quickly jumped back on Highway 264 and
headed toward Chesapeake. Walt asked me to give Jeff directions to Tony’s house,
so that was what I did.

Going back to Tony’s apartment felt different this time around.
I knew I wasn’t going there for a friendly visit. All of the brotherly love I’d
felt for him was gone. I couldn’t care less about him anymore. It didn’t matter
to me that his kids were gonna be without a father. He had crossed the line, and
I wanted to make sure he paid the consequences.

“Make a right turn at this next corner,” I told Jeff.

It was pitch-dark outside, but the lamps from the tall light
poles allowed us to navigate easily inside the small complex. The headlights from
the van helped as well.

“I don’t see my rental car,” I blurted out. “He must’ve moved
it.” I stretched my neck forward to see.

“Where did you park it?” Walt asked.

I pointed toward a tall tree. “I parked it right there in that
last parking space beside that tree.” I looked inside my purse to see if my keys
were still there. I shuffled everything around in my handbag, and then I shook it
up and down to locate the keys to the car, but I came up empty-handed. “Ahh, shit!
He took the keys out of my purse. And he got my hotel room key too. What the fuck
am I gonna do now?”

Walt turned back around in the seat and grabbed my left hand.
“Calm down, baby girl. Everything is gonna be all right.”

“But you don’t understand, Walt. This shit we’re doing can come
back and blow up in my face. I mean, I can get in a lot of fucking trouble if we
get rid of Tony and then the police find my rental car later with his fingerprints
all over it. You know I’m gonna be their number one suspect. And I’ma be honest
with you, I’m not trying to be part of a murder investigation.”

Walt released my hand and placed his finger against his mouth.
“Shhh! I’m gonna handle everything.”

I exhaled and sat back in the chair. By this time, Jeff had
pulled the van to the curb.

“Do you see his car out here?” Griff asked.

I sat forward once again and strained my eyes so I could see
better. I scanned the parking area and realized that Tony’s car was nowhere to be
found. I sat back in the seat and let out a big sigh. “Nah, it’s not out there.”

“What kind of car does he have?” Griff asked.

“He drives a sky-blue Toyota Camry.”

Jeff turned off the ignition and then cut off the headlights.
“I see a car coming in behind us. You think that could be him?”

Walt and I both turned around to look out the back window.

“This car pulling up is smaller than a Camry.” I watched the
car slow down and then come to a complete stop.

“What they doing?” Walt asked.

“It’s a lady, and she looks like she’s trying to figure out where
to park her car,” I said, refocusing my eyes. “Oh shit! That looks like Shannon,
Tony’s girlfriend.”

“Is she alone?” Griff asked. “Yeah, she’s by herself.”

Walt grabbed both of his guns from the seat beside him. He stuck
one in the waist of his jeans and screwed a silencer into the other one. I saw Griff
handling his gun too. After he took off the safety, he screwed a silencer into the
barrel of his pistol, and then he placed the gun in his right hand and waited for
Walt to make the call.

“Wait until she gets out her car and walks past the van before
you jump out on her,” Walt instructed.

“What we gon’ do? Drag her in her house?” Griff asked.

“Nah, we gon’ drag her ass in this fucking van.”

“What we gon’ do if she screams?”

“If you put your pistol in her mouth, the bitch ain’t gon’ be
able to scream.”

Jeff looked back at Walt. “You got a point there.”

“I still think she might try to scream,” Griff said.

“Well, if she does, just hit her in the back of her fucking head.
That’ll shut her up real quick.”

Walt was right. Getting hit in the back of the head with a blunt
object would definitely shut up a person. I’d had my share of hits in the back of
my head, and that shit ain’t no joke. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if I went
to the doctor later on in life and found out that I had some type of brain damage.

After a couple minutes Shannon found a parking spot. When she
stepped out of the car, she was having a conversation on her cell phone, the phone
pressed against her right ear. I thought maybe that’s why it had taken her so long
to park in the first place. Whatever the caller was saying to her had to be funny,
because she was smiling from ear to ear.

After she ended her call, she stuck her phone inside her handbag,
reached inside her car, and grabbed her shopping bags. It looked as if she had just
come from the supermarket. I could see a gallon of milk sticking out of one of the
four bags bag she was struggling to carry.

“Here she comes,” Walt announced.

Knowing what was about to go down, I got scared, although I
couldn’t explain why. I mean, I couldn’t care less about this dumb-ass bitch. She
wasn’t related to me, and she was very rude to me earlier, so I really didn’t care
what happened to her.

As Shannon approached the right side of the van, Walt and Griff
waited patiently for her to get close enough so they could apprehend her. I sat
back and counted each step she made in my direction. When I got to twelve, Walt
and Griff both opened their doors and jumped out of the van.

Totally caught off guard, Shannon screamed, dropped her grocery
bags, and tried to make a run for it, but Griff stopped her in her tracks, grabbing
her by the back of her neck and pointing his gun directly at the back of her head.
“If you scream again, I’ma blow your fucking head off !” Shannon buckled at the
knees and almost collapsed, but Walt came up from behind and grabbed her by the
arm. “A’ight, I gotcha,’ he said, “so take a couple steps backward.”

Cooperating like she was told, Shannon took the steps backward
until she was close enough to the van to get inside. Walt grabbed her by both of
her hands and turned her around to face the opening of the van. Her eyes immediately
connected with mine. When she realized who I was, she acted like she’d seen a ghost
or something. She must have been surprised to see me as one of her kidnappers.

I turned my head to look out the window as soon as I saw Walt
pull out the gray electric tape to tie her wrists together. I waited for her to
make a comment or say something to me, but she kept her mouth closed and allowed
them to do whatever they wanted.

When Walt instructed her to get into the van, she did that with
no problem, taking a seat in the chair in front of me. Griff picked up her bags
of groceries from the ground and threw them in the back of the van where I was sitting.
Then he and Walt hopped back into the van.

“Walt, you think anybody saw us?”

“Nah, I don’t think so.”

“I don’t think so either,” I said, “because as soon as she screamed,
I looked around outside to see if anyone was looking.”

Walt sat down beside Shannon and pointed his pistol directly
into her face, and Griff turned around in his seat and pointed his gun at her too.
I knew they weren’t about to shoot her, but they sure acted like they were. Their
faces showed no emotions, but you could tell that they meant business.

“Where is your boyfriend?” Walt asked her.

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him since earlier when I left the
house to go to work.” She began sobbing.

“So you’re telling me you haven’t talked to him all day?” Walt
asked.

“I talked to him twice during my breaks, but we didn’t stay on
the phone long.”

“Did he tell you where he was?” Griff asked.

With tears falling from her eyes, Shannon looked to the front
of the van and answered Griff ’s question. “No, he didn’t say where he was, but
he did say he had a run to make, and he would be home when I got here.” I heard
the sincerity in her voice, so I knew she wasn’t lying. I believed Walt knew she
was telling the truth too, because he came at her with a different approach. “Where
is your cell phone?”

“In my purse.”

Walt lowered the gun from her head as he reached into her purse
to retrieve her cell phone. When he located it, he pulled it out and held it toward
her. “What’s his number?”

“Five, five, five, seven, eight, two, zero,” she said between
sniffles. Walt entered the digits. Before he pressed the send button, he gave Shannon
specific instructions to find out Tony’s whereabouts, and then tell him to meet
her at a remote location nearby because her car cut off. He also stressed to her
that if she screamed or gave any indication that she was being held hostage, he
would splatter her brains everywhere without thinking twice.

She understood everything he said and she knew he meant every
word, because as soon as Tony answered his phone, she sat straight up and cleared
her throat, and tried to act normal. Walt had Tony on speakerphone, so we could
hear the entire conversation.

“Baby, where you at?” she asked. Her voice cracked a little bit,
but she regained control.

“I’m taking care of some business. Why?”

“I’m calling you because my car cut off on me, so I need you
to come get me.”

“Whatcha mean, your car cut off on you? Are you out of gas?”

“No, I think it might be my alternator, or maybe I might need
a jump.”

“Where you at?” he asked, even though it seemed like he was
preoccupied with something else.

“I’m not too far from the house.”

“Well, get out the car and walk to the house. I’ll come get you
later, so we can try to give it a jump.”

Walt shook his head and then muted the phone so Tony wouldn’t
hear him. “No, tell him he needs to come get you now. Let him know that it’s too
late for you to be walking out here alone.”

“Hello,” Tony said after the brief silence.

Walt quickly took the phone off mute.

“I’m here,” Shannon said.

“So whatcha gon’ do?”

“Tony, it’s too late for me to be walking out here in the dark
like this. You need to come get me now,” she yelled.

Tony sighed. “Yo, give me twenty minutes, and I’ll be there.”

“But you don’t even know where I’m at.”

“Oh shit! My bad! Where you at?”

Walt muted the phone again. “Tell ’im you on Providence Road
in the same shopping center where Upscales is.”

“Hello?”

Walt un-muted the phone again.

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“What’s wrong with your phone?” he asked, sounding agitated.

“Ain’t nothing wrong with my phone.”

“If ain’t nothing wrong with it, then why does it keep going
in and out?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, you need to have that shit checked out. Now tell me where
you at.”

“I’m on Providence Road near Upscales.”

“Where ’bout?”

“I’m at the end of the shopping center. You’ll see my car.”

“A’ight. I’ll be there in a few.”

“OK.”

Walt took the phone from her ear and pressed down on the end
button. “Griff, you gon’ have to drive her car down to Providence Road.”

“A’ight, give me her keys.”

Walt looked at Shannon and asked her for her car keys.

“I stuck ’em in my purse.”

When Walt had her keys in his hand, he handed them to Griff.

“You got your gloves?” Walt asked him.

“Yeah, they in my pocket.”

“Well, don’t forget to put ’em on before you get into her car.”

“I’m putting them on as we speak.”

“Are y’all gonna kill me?” Shannon asked before Griff got out
of the van.

I felt her pain, because I had been in the same situation a
handful of times during my life. I knew how it felt, wanting to know if you were
about to take your last breath.

Walt turned and looked at Griff, and then he looked back at Shannon.
The next thing I know, he raised his gun and pointed it directly at her face.

She started crying instantly. “Please don’t kill me! I’ll do
anything you ask.”

I closed my eyes and put my face in my hands. I knew Walt was
about to take her out, because of the blank expression on his face.

“Please! Please!” she kept saying.

Then, all of a sudden, I heard a loud
Thump!

I wanted to remove my hands from my face, but I wasn’t sure if
he’d shot her in the head or what. I wasn’t prepared to see her brains splattered
all over the place.

“You can take your hands away from your face,” Walt said to me.

“Nah, I’m all right.”

Griff laughed. “She doesn’t want to see all that blood.”

“Well, she better get used to it, because tonight is going to
be a long night.”

Right after Walt made his comment, I heard him move around in
the van, and then I heard him rattle the plastic. I didn’t have to see what he was
doing to know he was moving Shannon’s body so he could wrap her in the plastic.
He made enough grunting noises to let me know that he was struggling to accomplish
his mission. I heard Griff climb back from the front seat to help him.

“Grab that end of the plastic while I lay her this way,” Walt
said.

“Why don’t you just roll her this way, while I fold the plastic
that way?”

“A’ight.”

The rattling of the plastic lasted for another ninety seconds,
and then it stopped. I decided to move my hands. I looked straight down to the floor
of the van and noticed that Shannon was indeed dead and wrapped tightly in the industrial-strength
plastic. Thank God, I couldn’t see any of her blood, because I don’t think I would
have been able to handle it. I’d seen my cousin Nikki as she lay dying in a puddle
of her own blood, which had messed me up pretty badly already.