Still Wifey Material (23 page)

“T
oday in Houston, a beauty salon is in flames. Fire investigators say that Creative Images Salon was blown up around eleven pm tonight with an incendiary device similar to the ones used in war zones. Police and investigators are baffled by the crime, reporting that they have never seen such an explosion in a residential area, outside of war. Investigators have determined that the device was thrown through the front glass window. The salon is in ruins, and nothing could be salvaged.”

My mouth fell open and I fell to my knees. My screams rang in my own ears. I felt cold all over. Fatu had blown up my fucking shop! Un-fucking-believable. This nigga wasn’t playing around. I cried and cried for hours, thinking about what could possibly happen to me if my plan didn’t go well. After my crying episode ended, I dried my tears and got up the nerve to call Fatu. I had to let him know that he hadn’t put any fear in my heart, but he did make me very angry and I intended to get my revenge. Unfortunately for me, the bastard didn’t answer, so I left him a message.

“You grimey-ass motherfucker! You think blowing up my shop was going to hurt me? You just don’t know. You just bought me a nice-ass insurance check witcho stupid-ass self. And since you think you’re so gangsta, your dumb ass should’ve waited till the daytime when my staff was in there. And since you didn’t do that, now you’re gonna have come harder the next time. Better yet, get my motherfucking money together or I’m gonna have somebody come after you. And instead of twenty-four hours, now you got until nine am to get me what I need, so answer your phone.”

I hung up, grabbed the bottle of Grey Goose from the mini-bar, and drank it straight. The vodka burned my chest going down, but I needed it to calm my nerves. Soon I fell asleep.

A knock on the door woke me the next morning. The shit startled the hell out of me. Who in the hell could it be? No one besides Kendra knew I was there. Not even Nikki knew because I hadn’t spoken to her, so my heart started beating uncontrollably. On top of that, my head was ringing like crazy from a hangover. I couldn’t stand because my head would start spinning, so I lay there on the bed and prayed that whoever it was would just go away.

Five or so knocks later, a voice said, “Housekeeping,”

My heart rate slowed. “This room is still occupied,” I said.

“Are you extending your stay another day?”

“I’m not sure, but I’ll let you know within the next hour.”

“OK, thank you.” I heard her walk away. I looked at my wristwatch and noticed it was 9:52 am. I couldn’t believe that I had slept so late, but then I remembered that the Grey Goose had me comatose. I also realized that before I passed out I had left Fatu a fucked-up message on his voice mail. Since I hadn’t heard my phone ring, I checked to make sure I hadn’t missed his call. Just as I expected, his number was nowhere in my missed call log.

I retrieved my laptop from the foot of my bed and used my wireless broadband card to log on to the Internet again so I could check my Caribbean bank account. To my surprise, the money was there! That slummy-ass nigga must’ve gotten my message. He knew I was not playing with his ass, and he took heed of my advice. Thank God for that! All I had to do now was get the hell out of there.

It took me twenty minutes to get myself together. I went online and booked myself a flight to Anguilla, and then I took a quick shower and slipped into a pair of shorts and a tank top. I brushed my hair, tossed the brush inside my handbag, and stuffed my laptop back into its case. Meanwhile, my cell phone rang. I looked at the CallerID and noticed that it was Kendra, so I answered.

“Hello.”

“Hey, girl, I just wanted to let you know that everything is all set. I’ve got a for-sale sign in front of your house as we speak, and I’ve been getting phone calls already. As a matter-of-fact, I’m going to have an open house tomorrow.”

“Wow! So soon!” I responded with excitement.

“You’re trying to get this thing sold, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well then, it’s not soon enough.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, OK, I see what you’re saying.”

“Well good. I’m glad that we’re on the same page. Oh, yeah, before I forget, I just got a call from your cousin Nikki asking me when you actually put your house up for sale and when was the last time I had spoken with you, which I thought was weird because you two were living together, so I assumed that she’d already know.”

Shocked by Kendra’s words, I said, “No, she wasn’t aware. She moved out not too long ago, and we really haven’t spoken since then.”

“Well, that’s strange, because she told me that you and her were supposed to be meeting up for lunch today, but she was having problems getting in contact with you to find out where you two would be meeting up, so I told her where you were. I hope that was fine.”

My heart dropped directly to the pit of my stomach. “Did you tell her which hotel room?”

“No, but that was because I didn’t remember. I did tell her that the room was in my name, though.”

Oh my God! No this bitch did not just tell me that she told Nikki where the fuck I was. I can’t believe this shit! I thought.

I knew Nikki wasn’t inquiring about my whereabouts for herself alone. Fatu put her up to this shit, and now I had to get the hell out of there, because it would only be a matter of time before he caught me.

“How long ago was this when she called?” I asked Kendra.

“Not even fifteen minutes ago,” she told me.

“OK, gotta go! I’ll talk to you later,” I said abruptly.

“All right, I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Without saying another word, I hung up. I was on the verge on panicking because I didn’t know what Nikki had up her sleeve. However, I did know her well enough that I knew she had passed this information over to Fatu. I mean, why else would she call Kendra and lie about us having lunch? Shit, we weren’t cool! And we would never be again, because she was a snake, and snakes couldn’t be trusted.

My mind was running at one hundred miles per hour. I immediately scrambled the rest of my things together and headed out. I took the back staircase to avoid being seen on the elevator. When I got to the first floor and emerged from the side door, I headed directly to my car, which was parked next to a mini van. I hesitant at first to walk near that van, since it was parked on the driver side of my car, but then I remembered that it had been parked there last night.

I hit my car alarm button, checked my surroundings, and then I hopped inside. After I hit the automatic lock button I exhaled with relief, knowing that I was safe. But that feeling soon vanished when I saw through my rearview mirror the silhouette of someone emerge from the floor of my backseat. I gasped from fear, but before I could let out a scream, my voice died from shock.

“I see I caught you just in time,” Fatu said as he sat up in the backseat.

My heart skipped a beat. Before I could unlock my driver’s side door to escape, he grabbed a handful of my hair and brought my face close to his. “You thought you could blackmail me and get away with it,” he whispered, his hot breath heating up my face.

“But wait,” I squeaked as he squeezed my throat.

“Wait, my ass! Bitch, you’re dying today,” he spat in my face.

Before I could say another word, the unlock button clicked and my passenger’s side door opened. It was Nikki in the flesh, standing there like she was on top of the world.

“Don’t kill her here,” she said. “They might have cameras around. Let’s take her to the spot,” she suggested.

Listening to this bitch advise Fatu about where to kill me sent chills down my spine, and my heart began to fill with pure hatred. It was apparent that this bitch had it out for me and she wanted my blood, to say the least.

“I was the last person you thought you would see, huh?” Nikki smirked as she stood there.

“Bitch, I knew you were coming! I just got off the phone with Kendra and she told me everything you said.”

Nikki smiled and said, “Too bad she didn’t give you a good enough head start.”

“Fuck you, Nikki!”

“No, bitch! Fuck you! Because you are about to meet your maker, and after you’re gone, I’m going to reverse that transfer back into Fatu’s account, and then we’re gonna go off and be together, and make this thing official.”

I tried to break away from Fatu’s grip, but the pressure he had on me wouldn’t allow me to budge.

“Oh, wait a minute, bitch! Now I know you aren’t trying to buck at me.” Nikki was cocky. “Let her go, Fatu, so I can whip her ass for the last time.”

“Shut up, Nikki!” Fatu ordered. “We don’t have time for this.”

“Fuck her! She needs to know that we’re together. You ain’t got to hide the fact that you’ve been fucking me real good on those nights when you weren’t with her.”

Nikki’s words cut through me like a sharp knife and more tears spilled down my face. I was hurt, but I was angrier at the fact that I couldn’t get to that whore! If I had the chance, I would’ve ripped off her fucking face, because, for one, she had just told me that she’d been fucking my fiancé, and two, she said that she was going to reverse the transfer and put my money back into Fatu’s account. How grimey and fucked-up was that? I mean, this bitch must’ve really hated me or something. My own flesh and blood was down with this nigga who wanted to kill me. I knew my grandmother had to be turning in her grave.

“Didn’t I just say shut up?” Fatu screamed. His focus left me for a brief second and his grip loosened around my neck, so I put a lot of force behind my body weight and tried to make my escape.

“Ugggghhhh!” I grunted with the effort as I tried to hop back out of the car, but Fatu and Nikki both grabbed me before I could get my first foot out the door. She punched me in the back of my head while he had me in a chokehold. I looked up at Nikki. “I’ma kill you, bitch!” I mumbled through my teeth.

“You can’t do shit from where you are, so shut the fuck up and take this one like a woman,” Nikki gloated. She sounded like a vindictive bitch. “You’ve escaped death twice, and now it’s your time to go.”

“Do you know how you sound?” I managed to say before Fatu put more pressure around my neck.

“How I sound ain’t important. But the fact that Fatu knows about your past life that landed you in the Witness Protection Program is.” Nikki laughed wickedly at my incredulous look. “Yeah, he knows! The secret is out. And now I’m finally going to get my life back.” She reached into the car, grabbed a hold of the volume button for the radio and turned up the volume as loud as it would go. Then she went into her handbag and took out a rope, duct tape, and everything else you needed to commit a murder. All I could do was let out more tears as I pictured the breath leaving my body.

“Put that stuff away. We can’t tie her up here,” Fatu told Nikki.

“So what are we going to do?” she wanted to know.

“We need to knock her out so we can get out of here before someone sees us,” he pointed out.

“Well, here, take the Taser gun and knock her out,” she said and handed him the gun.

My mind was spinning. I didn’t know what to expect from this little metal object. All I knew was that police officers used that damn thing on criminals, so it worked like magic for them. But to use it on me was a bit disturbing. Just when I was about to reason with them in hopes of finding another solution to get me from point A to point B, Fatu turned on the handheld device and stuck it right to my side.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!
The loud, buzzing noise filled the car. It was a sound I would never forget. He moved his knee and ripped open my shirt. I kicked and wriggled my body fiercely. Fatu placed the metal tip of the machine on my chest and pressed a button that intensified the buzzing sound.
Zip! Zip! Zip!
Three hits of high-wattage electric volts hit me in the chest. My body convulsed and my eyes involuntarily rolled into the back of my head, and then everything went black.

T
he sound of water dripping seemed very loud as I returned to consciousness. I opened my battered eyelids and squinted to see where I was. It was dark and the smell of mold hung in the air, so I knew I was no longer inside my car. I fell in and out of consciousness for what seemed like eternity. After a while, I heard Nikki’s voice. She was trying to whisper.

“I went through her whole house and I couldn’t find it,” she said.

“Why the fuck not? Her house isn’t but so big!” Fatu screamed.

“What else do you want me to do?” Nikki asked, her voice wavering.

“Just know that if I go down, so do you. Remember, you were the one who got Crissy and those women to trust me. You were the reason I got inside their houses. You were there when I murdered them. And you held the video camera,” he said through clenched teeth.

I almost threw up when I heard his words. Nikki was an accessory to all those murders. Not only that, but it became clear to me that Nikki would do anything for a man, or for what she perceived to be a man.

“We can’t kill her until we know that we have the information we need,” Fatu said, pacing.

“Why can’t we just leave town?” Nikki proposed. “You got more than enough money, and I have access to Kira’s accounts. So after we get rid of her, we’re gonna have everything we need.”

“No! You don’t understand. I can’t leave my family, so this whole thing has to go away. If we find the evidence, we can kill her and move on like nothing ever happened.”

As I listened to him, I understood he was making it clear to Nikki that he was not going to be with her either. I doubted that Nikki understood that Fatu had just used the both of us, and she fell for his charm and his money. She had betrayed the only best friend she had left in the world—me!

I knew they would never find the evidence. On my way to the hotel I had stopped by my bank and locked the T-shirt—stuffed into a manila envelope—in my safe deposit box that, thankfully, Nikki knew nothing about. In fact, I got the deposit box right after I put her ass out of my house, so I had no worries about her finding it. If anything, the police would probably find it first. Since I had a note attached to it, it wouldn’t be hard for them to link Fatu to the murder. The only thing I didn’t include in the note was that Nikki was an accessory to those women’s murders, because I didn’t know that then.