Wifey (24 page)

Brian finally left around twelve-thirty. After Ricky locked the front door, he went on into the den. I turned over on my stomach in hopes of falling asleep, especially after finding out Ricky had somebody else killed. But my mind wouldn’t let me. And as the minutes went by, I developed a huge knot in my stomach. I got this same feeling every time I got nervous or upset. It ate me up, too. That’s why I tried not to let shit bother me. But this was different. I finally found a way to fall asleep, after tossing and turning for about two hours. But that didn’t last long, because Ricky woke me up with all of the walking around he was doing downstairs. Then it sounded like he was looking for something, because of all the closet doors he kept opening and closing. Whatever it was, it had him running around downstairs like a chicken with his head cut off.

Ricky woke me up the next morning, by calling my name real loud from downstairs. I yelled back at him by saying, “What!”

“What time you leaving the house?”

“I don’t know,” I yelled once more.

“You ain’t got nobody hair to do this morning?”

“Why?”

“Because, I wanna know if you gon’ pick up them passports today?”

“I wish you would stop worrying me about them damn things!” I told him.

“Well, damn, I did pay for the trip. So, you could at least pick up the passports.”

“Look, I know what I’m supposed to do! So, stop bothering me please!”

Now after I said what I had to say, I heard Ricky cursing me out as he walked away from the stairs. But I didn’t care, and he needed to recognize that, too, instead of thinking that somebody was gonna jump when he told them to. Yeah, he used to have it like that with me. But now, those days were long gone.

I got up about an hour later, which was when Ricky left the house. I overheard him telling somebody who called him on his cell phone, that he was on his way.

I figured it was one of his chickenheads calling because they needed some dough. When that happened he was without questions and was out the door in a split second. But then again, it could’ve been Shampoo or Mike calling him, so they could meet up somewhere, since it was against the rules to talk on the phone about anything that’ll get you locked up. Any nigga dealing drugs knew the Feds could have your phone tapped at anytime. That’s why if a nigga you talking to on the phone forgot about the rule and started running off at the mouth about how much money he was trying to spend with you, then he was either a knuckle-head, or he just didn’t care and was trying to get both of y’all locked up. In that situation, the best thing for that was to act like you didn’t know what he was talking about and then give his ass the dial tone. Ricky would do it in a heartbeat and so far, it’s been working for him.

Once I got dressed, I headed on out to my car and was on the road in less than two minutes. I went to my shop first, just so I could give Rhonda the proper paper work; that way she could transfer everything in her name. When I walked in the shop to do that, she had just hung up the salon’s telephone.

“Was that for me?” I asked.

“Nah. It was one of my client’s telling me she’s going to be late.”

“Did I get any calls?”

“Nah. Not since I been here. And there weren’t no messages left on the answering machine, either,” Rhonda replied.

“Well, here is the paperwork for the shop. So, what you got to do is change everything and put in your name on it. Oh yeah, I also typed up a bill of sale receipt, so when you go down to City Hall, they won’t give you problems about getting the business license.”

“Wait! Hold up!” Rhonda said. “You’re leaving for real?”

“Yeah.”

“But, what about your clients?”

“They’re yours now,” I assured Rhonda and placed the papers down on her booth. And before I could step away, she threw her arms around me and hugged me.

“Please don’t leave me,” she begged.

I hugged her back and said, “I’ve got to.”

She started crying. “So, when are you leaving?”

“I’m leaving late tonight.”

“So, how are you gon’ keep in touch?”

“I’mma call you when I get settled.”

“Have you decided where you’re going?”

“Nah. Not yet.”

“Well, just be careful. And don’t forget to call me!” Rhonda demanded.

I kissed her on her cheek and said, “I won’t.”

Before I walked out of the salon for the last time, I went into my back office and gathered up all my mail, along with the rest of my stuff, and stuck it in my duffle bag.

Rhonda was standing outside in the front of the shop, puffing on a cigarette, when I walked back out of my office. I kinda figured she was going to take my leaving town pretty hard. As I made my way out the front door, I kept my head down until I got into my car.

“I’mma call you,” I finally said, as I drove away.

Rhonda didn’t reply at all. But, she did nod her head.

Waiting In Da’ Cut

I got to the bank about twelve o’clock that afternoon. Since everybody knew me, it didn’t take long at all for me to close all my accounts and empty out my safe deposit box. I walked out of the bank with more dough than I thought I had. I counted $470,000. $350,000 of it was Ricky’s. The other $124,000 of it came from the money I had been stealing from Ricky’s stash; which was the bulk of it. And the remainder of the dough came from my savings and checking accounts. I was set and ready to go.

The next thing on my to-do list was to call Russ so we could set up a time to get out of dodge. But before I could dial all seven numbers of his cell phone, Mr. Shapiro came through on my call waiting. I started not to answer it, but I did it anyway, just so I could set the record straight. “Hello,” I said in irritation.

“Hi, Kira,” Mr. Shapiro replied. “Is this a good time for you?”

“No. But, go ahead I’m listening.”

“Well, as you know, I’ve already spoken with the U.S. Attorney about what we’ve discussed. This morning, I received a conference call from the federal agents and some local detectives from the city of Norfolk. And guess what I found out?”

“What?”

“There’s a woman listed in critical condition at Sentra Leigh hospital, due to a gunshot wound through her back. And luckily for her, the bullet went straight through her. If it hadn’t, she would not have been able to tell anybody who had done that to her.”

“So, what does this have to do wit’ me?” I asked.

“Well, she has given the Norfolk detectives the names of both men who were involved in her shooting.

“Who was it?”

“She told them it was a guy who goes by the name of Shampoo and a guy name Mike, whom she knows very well. She told the detectives that they came to her apartment, acting like they came there to get their hair braided, and that a guy name Brian referred them; that’s why she let them into her house.”

“You are kidding me, right?”

“No. And what I’m about to say next is the big one.”

“What is it?” I asked, anxiously.

“Well, the woman in the hospital has also told the detectives that the only reason she could come up with why they wanted to kill her was because she knew the Norview boys robbed one the dope houses that Brian runs. And when she told Brian, word was around the streets that their squad was weak. So, the next thing she knew, Remone, his sister and her boyfriend were killed.”

“She told the police all that?”

“Yes.”

“So, what’s gon’ happen now?”

“Well, the Norfolk detectives and the federal agents are working together to get arrest warrants, so they can round up Mike, Brian and the other guy, Shampoo. And when they do, they’re hoping one of them talks and says that Ricky gave the order to kill her, as well as the other three.”

My mouth flew wide open as I listened to what Mr. Shapiro was telling me. I couldn’t believe it! But it was happening. Ricky was about to fall straight on his face. And the crazy part about it was that I was starting to feel sorry for him. But why should I? Shit! He made his bed by screwing every chick that crossed his path. Plus, he done robbed other cats or had them set up, just so he could get back on his feet. And since he’d been back on his feet, he’s pulled in a lot of dough. Where there’s dough, there come the big-booty hoes and tricks, who could care less if the nigga had a woman at home, or if he was fucking her mama for that matter; just as long as she got hers! Now after the nigga got his money straight and conquered at least two to three hoes that was when the other niggas from the street crowned him with respect. So, why risk all that because some broke-ass niggas called your crew weak? Yeah, I know. There was always somebody in the game who wanted to be made an example of. And that’s just how it was.

“How are they gonna find those guys? I mean, do they know where they live?”

“Don’t you worry about it. Trust me, that’s all under control.”

“So, what’s gon’ happen wit’ Nicole’s case?”

“Well, the good thing about that is, since these guys are going to be indicted with a couple of counts of murder one, we no longer need you. Because with the woman in the hospital, and Nicole’s testimony, your husband and his crew won’t stand a chance.”

Oh my God! I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t have to be involved with this mess anymore. Damn right! I mean, this was the best news of my entire life. I felt like screaming for joy. I held out, especially since them crackers could change their minds at the drop of a hat.

“So, have you talked to Nikki about this yet?” I continued.

“No. But, I plan to see her this evening.”

“Well, I haven’t talked to her in a couple of days. So, would you tell her that I love her?”

“Yes, I most certainly can.”

“Oh yeah! Keep me posted, too.”

“I will,” Mr. Shapiro assured me before we hung up our lines.

***

I rode around Virginia Beach, trying to decide which fast-food restaurant I was gonna stop at. Popeye’s Chicken was my final decision. It wasn’t crowded, so I was able to get my food real fast. I took a seat in one of the booths way in the back of the restaurant so I could see everything outside surrounding my car.

As I ate, it dawned on me that I needed to get up with Russ to find out when and where we were gonna meet up. After I put my biscuit down I pulled out my cell phone and dialed his number. But, he didn’t answer it. It sounded like he cut it off, because it didn’t ring. All it did was go straight to his voice mail. I called it over and over, but, his phone kept doing the same thing; which, of course, got me worried.

Now I knew he was trying to handle his things and whatnot, but my time here was starting to run out. So, he needed to make it snappy.

***

I stayed at Popeye’s for about thirty minutes, and then I drove over to Nikki’s apartment, just to do my usual: check her voicemail and take the mail out of the mailbox. Once that was done, I grabbed the TV remote and laid back on the couch in the living room. I went through all the channels, but nothing good seemed to be on. I turned it to the news channel, just to see if they said anything else about the murders. After I had been sitting there waiting for over an hour for Russ to call, Ricky started ringing my cell phone like crazy. I answered it after I let it ring seven times.

“Yeah.”

“Where you at?” Ricky asked me in a desperate manner.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because, I need you to go to the house.”

“For what?”

“I need you to pack me up some clothes.”

“Why can’t you do it?” I asked him, even though I already had a strong feeling about what he was gonna say.

“I’ll tell you when we get up wit’ each other later,” Ricky answered. Then he said, “Oh yeah, go get the dough I told you to put up for me.”

“All of it?”

“Yeah. I’mma need it. So, call me back after you get all my shit! And then, I’mma tell you where we gon’ meet. Because right now, I’m trying to make a couple moves so I can cover my tracks.”

“A’ight.”

“Don’t forget!”

“I’m not,” I said and then the conversation ended. I sat back and wondered what Ricky was planning to do, now that he was probably aware that the Feds was onto him and his whole crew? I mean, the way he was just acting on the phone, telling me I needed to get him some clothes and pick up all his money was a dead giveaway.

And if he thought I was gonna tell him where I was, he was sadly mistaken. My ties with him were unraveling pretty fast. He would see it when he finally got his eyes open.

On my way out of Nikki’s apartment, I made sure everything was straight for her. Then I wrote her a brief letter, letting her know it was my time to leave and that I was gonna keep in touch, and that I loved her. I also told her in the letter that I left her some dough, so she’ll be able to find it in her favorite hiding spot.

Then I left.

Sticking & Moving

I tried hitting Russ back up on his cell phone, but I kept getting his voicemail on the first ring. I stopped by a pay phone and called his cell phone again, just in case he decided to answer because he thought somebody else was calling him. But I got his voicemail again. From that point, I started getting worried. I hoped nothing was wrong with him. And I also hoped he wasn’t stupid enough to be driving around with Ricky, especially after I told him what was going on. Time would tell!

***

For it to be February, it was kind of nice outside. To get a little bit of the breeze, I pulled my sunroof back just enough for me to block the sunlight. I couldn’t take a whole lot of sunlight. It didn’t work well with my skin. That’s why I had to make sure everything was measured out to the tee. As I continued to drive around, I realized that I had no place to go. I think I knew where I wanted to go when I left this place, but I just couldn’t figure out where I wanted go around here while I was waiting for Russ to call me. Which reminded me to redial his number again. But, I kept getting the same damn thing. That was when my patience began to run thin.

“I mean, what the hell is going on Russ?” I screamed in frustration. But, it didn’t help me none. However, it was a good way for me to let out some steam, and was my way of dealing with all the drama in my life. While I exercised my thoughts, I pressed play on my CD player and listened to Luther Vandross’s latest album while I cruised around Norfolk, Chesapeake, and Virginia Beach, just so I could blow off some time. Soon I realized it was three-thirty in the afternoon, which was way past the time me and Russ were supposed to meet up. I pulled over to another pay phone and called him up again. I figured this time, he would answer because he didn’t recognize the number. But he didn’t. When I got back in my car, I noticed I had missed a call on my cell phone. Come to find out, it was Ricky. Before I could pick up my cell phone and call him back, he was calling me again. I hesitated, trying to think of what I was gonna say to him. But my mind refused to work for me, which wasn’t a good thing.