Wifey (6 page)

“Who are you?” he asked me, instead of answering my question first.

“Wait a minute, now! You called my phone,” I began to tell him. “So, don’t be asking me who the hell I am.” I waited from him to respond.

“I’m Detective Connors with the Narcotics Unit of the Norfolk Police Department,” he said boldly.

I couldn’t believe my ears, but it was true; this white man just told me he was a narco. And on top of that, he had Nikki’s cell phone. There was no doubt in my mind that they had her. That was the answer to my question. Now I had to figure out how I was gonna get her out of this mess, because I knew she wasn’t going to be able to handle it.

Plus, I had to figure out a way to explain to my uncle what happened. I knew he was gonna flip ‘cause he didn’t want Nikki affiliated with none of these niggas out here who sold drugs. And to know she was working for my husband was gonna really make him go off the deep end.

“Where’s Nikki?” I asked, boldly.

“I got her in custody.”

“For what?” I asked him, trying to play dumb.

“She’ll be able to call you in about two hours, after we process her.”

“On what charges?” I yelled through the phone. I didn’t get an answer because the phone line went dead. I just sat there and thought,
What am I gonna do next?
Before I could gather my thoughts together, my cell phone started ringing again. I didn’t bother to look at the caller ID this time. I just answered it.

“What?” I said, like I was aggravated.

“Yo, Kira!” Ricky said.

“I just heard Nikki got bagged up today.”

“I already know what the hell happened to her!” I snapped at Ricky.

“You talked to her yet?”

“Why? I mean, where the fuck were you earlier when I was trying to call you?”

“I was at the gambling spot.”

“Well, why was your phone turned off?”

“‘Cause, my battery was dead.”

“Yeah. What the fuck ever! I ain’t stupid.”

“Yo, look, we can talk about that shit later. Right now, I need to know what’s up wit’ your cousin.”

“Well, you need to call down to the jail ‘cause they can probably give you mo’ answers than I can.”

“Where you at?”

“I’m at the shop.”

“Well, stay there, ‘cause I’m on my way.”

“Yeah. Whatever!” I told him and hung up my phone.

***

In the time it took Ricky to get to me, I was able to make one phone call. That was to Mitch, the bail bondsman. He was well known around Norfolk. Everybody used him to get their asses out of jail. He’d even bond out certain hoes, if they promise to fuck him. But, he’d tell you, they had to look like something, and they had to have a big ass. So, I knew it wouldn’t be a problem for him to check on Nikki. Mitch was just gully like that. I gave him all her information and waited patiently for him to call me back.

Meanwhile, Ricky came strolling through the salon door. I was sitting down when he walked in.

“Heard anything yet?” he didn’t hesitate to ask.

“Nah,” I told him, then rolled my eyes at his ass. He didn’t pay my ass no mind ‘cause the questions kept right on coming.

“You think they gon’ give her a bond?”

“They should. I mean, she ain’t ever been in trouble before. And I just got off the phone wit’ Mitch. He said he gon’ find out what they charged her wit’ and if they gon’ give her a bond or not.”

“Do you think she gon’ roll over on us?”

“What you mean, ‘us’?” I snapped at Ricky. “Wasn’t none of that shit she had mine!”

“So, what you saying?”

“What you mean, ‘what I’m saying?’ Shit! What you saying?”

“Look Kira, you know the game. The police just don’t want the nigga who the shit belongs to. They want everybody who’s involved. Even the ones who just sit around and spend the money.”

“Yeah. Whatever. I ain’t trying to hear that dumb shit.”

“Well, you better hear it, ‘cause, you don’t know what your cousin is down there telling them crackers.”

“Oh trust me; my cousin ain’t down there telling them shit.”

“Yeah. I hope not. But I ain’t gon’ take no chances. That’s why I called all my peoples and told them to shut down everything and clean house.”

“Well, I guess you gotta do what you gotta do.”

“Are you supposed to call the bondsman back? Or is he supposed to call you?”

“He said he gon’ call me back.”

“Well, call me and let me know what he said.”

“Where you going?”

“To the house.”

“For what?”

“To take my money outta there.”

“Yeah. A’ight,” I said with an attitude.

***

Instead of sticking around at the shop, I jumped in my whip and drove on to the crib. I figured if Nikki was gonna call me, she would call me at the house, being that I can only accept collect calls there. When I got home, Ricky was still there. He was in the kitchen, talking on his cell phone when I walked in the house.

“Ain’t nobody heard from her yet,” I heard him say.

“A’ight, then. I’ll call you when I hear something,” he said and then he ended his call.

“Who was that?” I asked him.

“Mr. Robinson.”

“Who? Your lawyer.”

“Yeah.”

“What did he say?”

“He just told me to keep my nose clean.”

“That’s it? I mean, he ain’t say nothing about Nikki?”

“Nah. ‘Cause I was the one doing all the talking,” Ricky began to explain to me. Before I could make a comment, my cell phone rang.

“Hello,” I rushed to say.

“Hi Kira, this is Mitch.”

“Hey, what you find out?” I asked nervously.

“Well, first off, your cousin doesn’t have a bond.”

“What!” I screamed. “But why?”

“My contact downtown couldn’t say. But I would bet money it was because she didn’t give them any information. Judges and magistrates hate when they get people down there who don’t talk.”

“What did they charge her wit’?”

“Possession with intent to distribute five hundred and four grams of crack cocaine.”

“How many ounces is that?”

“Eighteen of them,” Mitch explained. “And I wouldn’t be surprised if the Feds pick her case up, either.”

“Wait! You can’t be serious.”

“Yes. I’m dead serious. So, I suggest that you get her a good lawyer ‘cause she’s gonna need one.”

“Do you know any good ones?”

“Yeah. I know a few.”

“Which one would you recommend to be the best?”

“Glen Shapiro. But, I heard he can be pretty expensive, especially for a case like that.”

“The money ain’t no problem.”

“Well, then, he’s your man.”

“You got his number?”

“Nah, not on me at this moment. But he’s listed in the phone book.”

“Okay. Well, thanks.”

“Call me if they ever give her a bond.”

“Okay, I will.” I told Mitch and hung up.

I walked over to my living room sofa and took a seat so I could absorb everything Mitch had just told me. Ricky rushed over and took a seat right beside me. His face had a look of desperation plastered on it. I knew he was waiting for some answers.

“What he say?” he asked me.

“He said they didn’t give her a bond.” I wasted no time in telling him.

“What they catch her wit’?”

“A half a brick.”

“Damn!” Ricky yelled and then he jumped up from the sofa like he was on fire. I watched him as he walked nervously over to the living room window.

“So, what we gon’ do?” I asked him.

“We gon’ wait.”

“Wait?! Wait for what?”

“We gon’ wait for Nikki to call and then we gon’ figure out what to do, together.”

“Well, you better. ‘Cause Mitch said with a case like Nikki’s, the Feds might pick it up.”

“You bullshittin’!” Ricky snapped at me.

“Nah. I ain’t bullshittin’!”

“Well, why you jus now telling me this?”

“‘Cause, I wasn’t thinking about it.”

“Kira, how can you not think about that?”

“Look Ricky, my mind is on my cousin right now, if you don’t mind.”

“Well, your mind needs to be on more than that!” Ricky responded sarcastically.

He grabbed his coat out of the living room closet and walked out the front door. I heard him back his car out of the driveway like a bat out of hell. God knows where he was on his way to. He just better hope he got there in one piece.

The Next Day

The ring of the telephone was what woke me up. It rang about eight times before I reached over to the lamp stand and answered it. As I picked it up, I looked at the clock on my entertainment center in my living room and it clearly read 8:00 a.m. That’s when I realized I had fallen asleep on my couch and was fully dressed in yesterday’s clothes. It also became clear that Ricky hadn’t come home last night, either.

“Hello,” I said.

“Caller, you have a collect call from
Nikki,
an inmate at the Norfolk City Jail. If you accept the charges, press
7
now,” the automated system told me. After hearing the prompt from the recording, I pressed the button to accept the charges.

“Hello,” I said again, anxiously.

“Kira,” Nikki replied, giving off a sound of relief.

“Yeah, it’s me,” I told her.

“Girl, do you know these people just put me in a block so I can use the phone!”

“You mean to tell me this is your first time using the phone?”

“Yeah. And you know I am pissed, too!”

“So, why didn’t they give you a bond?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, what did the magistrate say to you?”

“He just stood there behind the glass and told me he was denying my bond.”

“Did he give you a reason why?”

“Well, he asked me if I had cooperated with the police. So I told him, no. And that’s when he told me my bond was denied.”

“That’s wrong! He knows he can’t do that shit!”

“Well, he did it. And I couldn’t say shit about it.”

“Well, tell me how the narcos found the stuff.”

“When they came up to my car, they asked me which Sal’s Pizza store was I delivering for.”

“What did you say?” I asked her. She asked them why they wanted to know. And that’s when they informed her about the two calls they got about her faking to be a pizza delivery person, delivering drugs to different spots out on Park Place. She told me that they told her they knew everything and if she didn’t hand over the drugs, she was going to be in a lot of trouble. She acted as if she didn’t know what they were talking about, so they told her to get out of her car, since she wasn’t telling them what they wanted to hear. And then about fifteen minutes later, two more narcos pulled up with search warrant papers. So, that’s how they got the stuff. The search warrant stated that the owner of both Sal’s Pizza restaurants had no record of any deliveries in the area Nikki was driving, nor did he have any female employees delivering pies on his day shift.

Nikki told me how scared she was about the whole thing and wanted it all to just go away. I tried to calm her down and make her feel like everything was going to be fine. I also tried to convince her that I was going to be on top of things, which meant she would be out of there really soon. Before we hung up, Nikki made me promise not to tell her dad where she was. I gave her my word and gave her the okay to call me back later on.

***

Feeling a sense of relief after Nikki’s conversation, I wasted no time dialing Ricky’s cell phone number to give him the news. I was surprised to hear him answer his phone on the first ring.

“Yo,” he said.

“Where you at?” I asked him.

“Pulling up into the driveway.”

“Well, hurry up and come in the house, so I can tell you what Nikki said.”

“A’ight. I’m coming.”

Three minutes later, Ricky came walking through the front door. Immediately I noticed he didn’t have on the same clothes from yesterday, even though he ain’t make it home last night. I was tempted to question him about whether or not he had clothes stored away in somebody else’s closet. But I wasn’t in the mood to hear a whole bunch of lies, so I buried the thought of him spending the night over one of his hoe’s house and forced myself to discuss Nikki’s situation.

“We gotta get her a lawyer,” I told him.

“What did she say?”

“She said basically the same thing Mitch said.”

“Do you think she told them anything?”

“She said she didn’t. That’s why they ain’t give her a bond and took a long time to process her.”

“Did she tell you how they found the stuff?”

“Yeah. She said they told her somebody called and tipped them off about what she was doing. And she told me they had a search warrant, too.”

“They lying! I know ain’t nobody called and told them no shit like that!”

“Well, somebody had to say something. And I wouldn’t be surprised if it was one of them grimy-ass niggas that work for you.”

“Nah. None of them niggas wouldn’t do no shit like that!”

“Well, who you think could’ve done it?”

“I think them narcos lying! They just trying to make Nikki think somebody ratted on her, so she can turn around and get the weight off herself. I mean, it ain’t nothing new. Them narcos do that type of shit all the time.”

Listening to what Ricky just said made a lot of sense. But what’s done is done. Nikki was locked up, regardless of how she got there, so a plan needed to come together.

“Okay. You might be right about the whole thing. But the fact remains that my cousin is on lock. So, we need to call her a lawyer and see if he can get her a bond hearing or something.”

“Well, call one.”

“You paying for it?”

“Yeah. Just as long as she keeps it real.”

When Ricky gave me the cue, I hopped my ass on the phone and dialed
4-1-1
to get Glen Shapiro’s number. The operator gave me his office number and connected me for an extra fifty cents. I spoke to the secretary and she told me I had to make an appointment, which I did. I had her schedule me for the next day, since Mr. Shapiro was was going to be out of the office for the rest of the day. By the time I wrote down the address and directions to the office, Ricky had already took his ass upstairs to our bedroom. He must’ve been up all night with that hoe he stayed with last night because he wouldn’t come in the house and take a nap during the day unless he’d been up the whole night before. I wasn’t gonna say shit to him about it because his time was gonna come. And when it did I was gonna be off in the sunset, drinking me some Cristal with my new man chilling right beside me.