Cheaper to Keep Her part 2 (The Saga Continues) (17 page)

I wanted to exhale but I couldn’t when I saw the entire front part of the house was taped off with yellow homicide tape. CRIME SCENE – DO NOT CROSS. The black letters on yellow background stood out. My heart sunk deep into the pit of my stomach as my eyes and mouth widened. I couldn’t fucking believe what I was seeing.

A part of me wanted to stop at one of the neighbor’s houses to ask them what went on. But I knew it wouldn’t be a good idea. So I continued to cruise by the house without stopping. Luckily for me, Devin’s car windows were tinted to the point that no one could see inside, even if they got really close to the car. This was one good advantage I had. I just hoped and prayed no one was looking out the window and decided to write down Devin’s license’s plate numbers. That wouldn’t be good at all. So I pressed down on the accelerator and rushed to get my ass out of this neighborhood.

His crazy ass had killed his meal ticket! I could only imagine what he would do to me.

Cheaper to Keep Her part 2 Unique

My Eyes Playing Tricks on Me-Chapter Twenty

Who said Christmas only comes once a year?

I was almost at the end of Katrina’s street, approaching a stop sign, when the black Cadillac Escalade pulled in front of me and stopped my passage. Before I could I put the car in reverse, two niggas with guns jumped out of the passenger side doors and rushed towards the car. If I tried to get away, I knew I would be dead. My brain was telling me to gun it in reverse. The guns gave me second thoughts.

Neither one of them said a word. One was big, at least six foot four, mean looking. The other one was shorter, not six feet but close, with a slim build. He was the leader of the two. I could tell when he signaled me to get out of the car with his index finger. I so reluctantly complied.

I thought that maybe I could talk my way out of this situation. Maybe Duke would show some compassionate for what little relationship we did have. I prayed one of Katrina’s neighbors was watching out the window and called the police. I also prayed that they would make it here before I was gunned down in the street.

When I stepped out of the car, the driver side door of the Escalade opened. It was on the other of the car, so I didn’t see the driver when he initially got out the car. I was hoping I didn’t pee in my pants when I saw Duke. As he walked around the car, it wasn’t Duke at all.

It was Bishop . . . and he increased his pace as he rounded the front of the car.

Suddenly my legs had life in them as I ran towards him. I don’t know what had gotten in me when I jumped in his arms as if this was an old-fashioned black and white movie. But Bishop was definitely my black knight. I held him tight . . . and equally, I was happy to say he held me just as tight. His left arm held and caressed my back while his right hand was on the back of my head holding my head tight on his chest. At that moment, Bishop was my hero.

I don’t know how long we stayed in that position. It could have been a minute or five minutes. I didn’t know and frankly, I didn’t give a damn. But reality has a way of fucking up golden moments.

“We probably need to get out of here,” I said as I slowly removed my head from Bishop’s chest.

“Whose car you driving?” he asked me.

“A friend.”

He looked like he was surprised. “Didn’t think you had any more friends?” he said in the form of a question than a statement.

“Not many,” was my short answer.

He turned to his guys and circled his finger in the air and walked towards Devin’s car. I stopped him. “Bishop, this car belongs to a male friend of mines. It would probably be disrespectful if I let another man ride in it,” I said. “Can you just follow me?”

“No,” was his one word answer.

What the fuck!

He grabbed my hand. Not in a rough way but definitely in a manly, take control way. He led me to the passenger side and opened the door for me. Then he went on the driver side and before you knew it, we were on the road with his henchmen in tow.

As we made our way to Devin’s place, I had to know how he had escaped the club before it blew up. I didn’t hesitate to bring the subject up. “Please tell me how the fuck you got out of the club. I just knew you were dead.”

“When I went in and didn’t see Katrina in the front area or around the bar, I went to the back, the office area,” Bishop began telling me. “So when I didn’t see her in the office area, I became leery and went out the back door, not expecting that the whole place was going to blow up. I thought she was going to have a nigga run up on me and put a bullet in the back of my head, since I was the only one in the back part of the club.”

I couldn’t respond to what he was saying because I was still in shock that he was alive after all this time.

“I’ll tell you what, whoever planted that bomb knew what the hell they were doing because a lot of innocent people either died instantly or burned to death. Thank God I got out in the nick of time. But the explosion did knock me unconscious. Plus, some of the debris fell on me as well. I don’t know how long I was out.”

He paused and looked at me. He smiled and that one gesture told me all would be well. And I don’t know why I did what I did next, which was I put my hand on his hand. He gave me a squeeze and shit, I damned near came in my pants.

“When I came to,” Bishop started back talking, “the firemen were starting to check the debris in the back area where I was. I managed to sneak away without being detected. I got this chick to take me back to the hotel and immediately called a couple of my guys to come down and help me handle business. The girl at the hotel told me you had come by, got a key and had left back out, but never came back.”

He looked at me again. Something told me he didn’t need nor want an explanation. He flashed that smile again and I knew I was wet.

“After I got cleaned up, I checked into another hotel,” Bishop continued. “I tried to get some rest but I couldn’t. Getting that bitch Katrina wore heavy on my mind. So I sat up all night and waited on my boys to get here, which didn’t take long since they were in D.C. The waiting gave me time to think about a lot of shit. And what I came up with was how I’m gonna make that grimy bitch wish she hadn’t crossed me. All last night I couldn’t get her off my mind. And the fact that I know she set me up made me believe that she had my brother, Neeko, set up too.”

As I looked at Bishop, I saw his facial expression change as the veins in his neck and around the temple of his forehead started sticking up through his flesh. It was a combination of sadness, hurt, anger and danger. It was at that point that I realized I had misread him. He was indeed a dangerous man. The fact he was alive should have told me that. But the true sign was how he smelled trouble within a couple of minutes of being in the club, and smelling a set-up. In the ’hood they would say, “He’s the muthafucka!” And he was.

“I know how badly you wanted to take Katrina out but it seems like Duke already beat you to the punch. You did see all that yellow tape wrapped around the front part of her house, didn’t you?”

Bishop looked back at me and gave me this wicked ass smiled. “Oh no, he didn’t,” he commented. And at the moment it felt as if I was in the twilight zone. I instantly wondered how he was able to get to Katrina when Duke was with her. And when I couldn’t put two and two together, I asked him.

“Immediately after my boys got here we went straight to her crib. We scoped it out before I snuck into the house from the back. She was in her bedroom . . . actually the master bathroom when I walked up on her. And when she saw me she was definitely surprised to see me. But I was more surprised to see how Duke had beaten the shit out of her. Her entire face was bruised up and the swelling sat out at least two inches from her face. Her eyes were blacked and he even knocked a couple of teeth out of her mouth. She looked really bad. ”

Bishop’s voice was deliberate and methodical. His tone was even. He was a man in control . . . in more ways than one. He was straight to the point. He didn’t throw in adjectives or superlatives to impress me. He was just telling me what I needed to know. What I probably didn’t want to hear.

Katrina in her own way had saved me. And even before he told me, I knew now that it was Bishop who killed Katrina. “I didn’t hit her,” Bishop pressed on with the story. “I told her to tell me everything and if she left out one thing or lied to me, I would kill her whole damn family, starting with the kids. So she told me everything. She even told me what she told you and how you were able to get away from Duke.” He cracked another slight smile when he said that. But just as quickly his demeanor changed and his eyes grew dark again. He was a scary cat.

“After she told me what I needed to know, I let her know that her kids would be taken care of and the rest of her family would live to see another day.”

And then he was quiet. We drove in quietness for at least another five minutes before I had to ask the question. “How did you kill her?” I had to ask. It damn near killed me not to know how he ended her life.

“I broke her fucking neck, called the police and reported the crime and described the person leaving her house as a man who looked like Duke Carrington,” he said matter-of-factly.

The rest of the ride was driven in silence. Rest in peace, Katrina, I’m sorry but you picked the wrong team.

Cheaper to Keep Her part 2 Unique

Massive Attack-Chapter Twenty-One

Wars are won in the strategy room, drawing up a plan and creating chaos in the mind.

We arrived at Devin’s apartment complex and parked Devin’s car back in his assigned parking space. I prayed the whole way that Devin hadn’t come back home yet. Something awful would’ve jumped off if Devin saw Bishop driving his car.

Neil would have punked Devin into sticking his chest out and Bishop would have put him in the Intensive Care Unit . . . or worse, killed him. I liked Devin and he had finally come through for me. I didn’t want to see him six feet under. There were others who deserved that faith way more than he did.

I placed Devin’s car keys underneath the floor rug on the driver side and then I locked both doors. Bishop and I hopped in the back seat of the SUV. “Let’s head back to the hotel,” he instructed the driver.

On the way to the hotel, Bishop introduced me to the two cats he summoned here from D.C. The tallest one name was Torch and the shorter cat’s name was Monty. Both had stoic expressions and looked like they were down for business—serious business. Monty looked like he didn’t take any shit off anyone. He also looked like he could’ve been related to Bishop and Neeko. I started to ask him but I changed my mind.

Under circumstances like this, niggas didn’t give up information about where they were from and who they knew. They weren’t gonna tell me shit like who they fucked up, murdered or assassinated. Hell nah! Real niggas take care of their business and get the hell out of dodge without leaving any witnesses.

I realized Bishop and his two partners had gotten a hotel room at the Fairfield Inn on the corner of Military Highway and North Hampton Boulevard when we entered into the parking lot. Bishop told me he didn’t usually stay in three-star hotels. It was all about four- or five-star hotels for him. This was a step down for him and his boys. I remembered how nice this hotel used to be when it was first built a few years back. Now it was considered a normal spot like the extended stay hotels.

“Let go,” Bishop instructed me as soon as the truck came to a complete stop. I followed him to the room while Torch and Monty followed me. For some odd reason, I thought they had plans to get rid of my ass, but when Bishop and I went into his room and Torch and Monty went in the room next door, I let out a sigh of relief.

Once we were inside the room Bishop took a seat on the edge of the bed, while I sat in the chair at the small table. It was completely quiet but I knew he was about to say something. I could tell he was in deep thought, so I sat there and waited. And when he finally opened his mouth, I gave him my undivided attention.

“I’m impressed you made it out Katrina’s house alive and well,” Bishop said in a calm and soothing voice. I kinda smiled. I was somewhat speechless. This nigga really did impress me.

He really was a fucking black knight. He knew when to be a hardcore nigga, and when he needed to flip the script, he could be smooth as hell. His edges were polished as compared to Neeko’s, who was still rough around the edges.

Hell, I had to admit I was attracted to hardcore, thuggish, ruggish ass niggas. But I wanted a man who could turn that shit off at the drop of a dime, and still be cool and smooth as silk. That’s what I thought I had in Duke. But no, it was a fucking pretender.

Bishop was the real shit!

“We gotta figure out a way to smoke Duke out,” he began. “I know where his ass lives and all of hideouts, but I know his ass won’t be at any of those locations.”

“How you know all of this shit and when I don’t even know where that motherfucka lives? Hell, if I did, or even knew where he hangs his hat, I’d be the first to show you,” I said.

Bishop smiled. “Even if you knew where he hung his hat when he isn’t at home, he wouldn’t be there because the police are probably looking for him as we speak.”

“I don’t think so. From the way Katrina laid it out to me, the two cats that Bishop owe money to got a few cops on payroll. So the police ain’t gonna let nobody get close to that bastard until they get their money from him.”

“Lynise, I want you to think on a large scale. Stop thinking on the basement level and think on the penthouse level. Yeah, these brothers have some cops and probably even city officials on their payroll, but in every city half the cops are on the take and the other half are straight as fucking arrows . . . the same with politicians. Men of power will never have complete control, because there is always someone more powerful with more control.”

“I know the shit you are spitting out, Bishop, but this part of Virginia belongs to Duke and the two brothers,” I said. Hell, he acted like I was dumb as shit.

“No, trust me on this Lynise,” Bishop replied. “Those in the penthouse hope those in the basement believe men like Duke and the two brothers can do what they want. But it doesn’t work that way. No, we have to smoke Duke and Chris out. One by one.”