Trickery & Envy (27 page)

“Did you just see that,” the detective driv
ing said.

“I caught it,” his partner countered.

The two detectives began laughing and talking as they drove past Vernon in an attempt to throw him off. The one in the passenger side brings a can of pop to his mouth like he was about to take a gulp.

Vernon
glanced over at the car on the sly to see the two interacting jovially. He dropped his guard some after they passed, but was still cautious of his surroundings. He waited until he thought the car had reached the corner before turning to see in what direction it kept moving. The unmarked car kept straight.

“
Reggie is right, I need to ditch this city,” he told himself again and Vernon spat out the toothpick and picked up his pace at the same time reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a stack of one hundred dollar bills. “It ought to get me somewhere,” he said putting the money back into his front pants pocket. He then flipped the hood of his black jacket over his head, stashed his hand into his front pockets for warmth as he walked.

The detectives had turned up the next street and speeding turn
ed again heading in the direction Vernon was going. They quickly parked on a side street and exited the car. One detective ran nearly a block ahead and then hid on the side of a house. The other did the same but hid down a street over.

Vernon was
taken by total surprise as one detective ran out and in front of him with his weapon drawn.

“Hit the ground!” he said.

Vernon without resistance placed his hands in the air, and then locked his fingers behind his head. “Fuck,” he hissed.

“I said hit the ground
!” the detective repeated loudly and then radioed to his partner. “I have the suspect.”

“
10-4, I’ll get the car.”

“
Your name, what’s your name?” the detective said with a knee in Vernon’s back as he cuffed him.

“Vernon
Fowler, Jr.”

The detective
then reached in Vernon’s back pocket for his wallet. He opened it and inside was Vivian’s credit cards and a few more hundred dollar bills. “Yeah, you’re who we’re looking for,” the detective confirmed looking at Vernon’s driver’s license that expired six year ago.

***

Vernon now in custody was being questioned.

“
I’ll ask you again. Where were you Halloween night?” Officer Grayson said standing across from Vernon who was handcuffed to his seat.

Officer Bradford
was seated with his feet atop the table and hands clasped behind his head as to give Vernon the impression that they had all day.

“Can I get a few toothpicks,”
Vernon said.

“Toothpicks, why not,” Grayson said and le
ft the room. He returned with a box of toothpicks. “It’s on the house,” he said and pushed the box to Vernon.

Vernon look
ed at the box and then at the police with his mouth twisted.

“
I take it you need a little help getting one in your mouth,” Grayson said.

“It
certainly looks that way,” Bradford interjected.

“So why don’t you give him a hand,” Grayson said looking
over at his partner then at Vernon.

“Me. I only help a man that helps himself,” Bradford replied.

“Oh, y’all got jokes,” Vernon said.

“What we have is all
day and night. You ready to answer the question.”

“Yeah,” Vernon said.

“Then you deserve a toothpick,” Bradford said rising from his seat. He walked over, reached for the toothpick box, opened it then shook a few from the box onto the table in front of Vernon.

Again
Vernon looked at Officer Bradford with his mouth twisted.

“I guess I’m supposed to pick it up with my mouth. Man there’s germs on this table.”

“There are germs on my hand, which do you prefer.”

Vernon extend
ed his tongue as if it were a magnet and picked up one of the toothpicks. He rolled the toothpick with his tongue until it was positioned in his mouth the way he wanted it.

“
Where were you on the night of Halloween?” Officer Grayson said.

“I was at my sister’s house.”

The officers glanced at each other, a bit surprised by the truth.

“Were you invited?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you go alone?”

“Nope.”

“Who went with you?”

“It’s more like who I went with?”

“
Explain.” Officer Bradford interjected.

“I was invited by my girlfriend.”

“You’re saying that your girlfriend invited you to your sister’s house? Why would your girlfriend invite you to your sister’s house?”

“She said she never received her last paycheck and she wanted it. She wanted me to go with her and I told her I didn’t think it was a good idea because my sister and I weren’t on
good terms. I told her it would be kind of strange since she didn’t know I was dating you. Tracie said well, it’ll be payback for her firing me. If your sister has money like you say she does and owes you some, maybe this could be an opportunity for you two to patch things up. So I went along with it.”

“What’s your girlfriend’s name?”

“Tracie Allen,” Vernon said expressionless.

“Tracie seems to have a
different story,” Bradford said.

Vernon sh
rugged his shoulder.
I knew she had talked.

“Who else
went with you two to your sister’s house?” Officer Grayson asked.

“Reggie
Morrow and Richard Green,” he said then thought,
screw Reggie. Had he not put me out I wouldn’t be in this position. Richard, fool you raped my sister…we all going down. I’m gon’ murder you!

“Who
se friends are they Tracie or yours?”

“Mine,” Vernon
said and spat out the toothpick he had roughed up in his mouth and went for another one still angry about what Richard had done to his sister. He turned his nose up slightly at the officers then picked the toothpick up the same way he did the other.

The
officers ignored his actions.

“Why would you invite your friends if your girlfriend was just going to pick up her check?”

Vernon waited a few seconds before answering then said, “We were all going to a Halloween party afterwards.”

“Which one of you hit your sister in the face?”

“I did. I was trying to apologize to her for the stunt I pulled on our father and she started screaming and shouting for me to get out her house. She pushed me so I knocked the shit out of her. I have a right to defend myself. I just didn’t know I hit her so hard. Reggie and Richard then rang the bell trying to act like kids saying trick or treat so they could get some candy. I opened the door and Richard because I owed him some money said he was going to take my sisters television and sell it. I told him not to and Tracie got scared and she ran out the house. I went after her. I don’t know what happened after that.”

“Wow,
this guy should start writing fictional novels, he’s good,” Officer Grayson said and looking over at his partner. “There’s only one thing and that is somebody’s story is bull shit.”

“Yeah
and I think I know which one it is,” Bradford said and removed his feet from atop the desk and stood. He and Grayson left the room.

Grayson
said, “Yeah, somebody is lying.”

“You think the girlfriend
ratted on him to exclude herself.”

“
I doubt it. She was too shaken up. Let’s just bring her in to see if her story sticks,” Grayson said and they went back inside the room.

Vernon sa
id, “What did she do, tell you it was my idea. I figured that,” he said and looked off to his side.

Grayson took a seat at the table. “Did you know your sister was sexually assaulted that night?”

“Yeah and I’m going to kill Richard if I get my hands on him!” Vernon said rising from the seat but was pulled back down by the handcuffs locked to it.

“What were you doing with your sisters credit cards in your
wallet?”

“
Nothing I took them from her wallet.”

“
How did you manage to do that?”

“I had gone to see how she was doing. I asked her for some of the money
our father left when he died and she said she wasn’t going to give me any. So I asked to use the bathroom and while she was cooking slipped into her bedroom and took them from her purse. I didn’t use them. I was going to use them as bait to get what she owed me. I told her I took them.”

“Maybe
the fact is you didn’t have the chance to use them because she quickly had them cancelled.”

“Whatever,” Vernon
said and he spit the toothpick from his mouth off to his side. “A brother’s starving. Do they have something to eat around here?”

Officer
Grayson didn’t respond to Vernon being hungry he just looked at him and stated, “That’s two tickets.”

“What?”

“Littering, you just spit out another toothpick,” the officer said.

“
Write it up then,” Vernon calmly responded and twisted his lips at Officer Grayson knowing they were not going to waste the time. He then said, “Well if you’re not going to feed me and you done questioning me, what you holding me for. The only thing I’m guilty of is hitting my sister. If she hasn’t filed charges against me then I should be free to go.”

Officer Grayson
knew Vernon was right. They had no evidence against him at the moment. Richard had not implicated Vernon as an accomplice. Until they talk to Vivian and she could identify him as the person that struck her, Vernon was a free man. They couldn’t even hold him for their suspicions; he was responsible for the break in at Jennifer’s house, but no fingerprints were found on the briefcase. Nor could they make out the numbers that were etched inside. As far as the feces that were left behind someone in the police department had inadvertently threw away the evidence. Still, the officer thought he’d try his luck.

“So, what do you know about the break-in next door to your sister’s house a couple weeks ago,” Officer Grayson asked.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Vernon responded looking at the top of the table they were sitting at with his mouth twisted, and now thinking about the briefcase he left behind.

“
Do you own a brown briefcase?”

“Use to, tossed it after I was released from the pen.”

“You tossed it? Where did that occur?”

“
Near the penitentiary the minute I got out. I scratched out my inmate number then tossed it. I didn’t want any reminders of where I been.”

“You don’t find it odd that your briefcase ended up in a house that is next door to your sister’s home?”

“Nope.”

“What’s your favorite candy bar?”

“What?”

“I didn’t stutter,”
Officer Grayson said.

“Man, I don’t eat candy. It’s bad for my teeth. I can’t afford a dentist.”

Officer Grayson shook his head at the clever answer Vernon gave him. However, Vernon was not clear of the break in. They also needed to speak with Mrs. Kanjorski and have her come in and look at some photos. Unfortunately, Mrs. Kanjorski had taken a fall outside her home and was now residing with a relative.

T
he officers were left with the right to hold Vernon for a certain period of time before releasing him, which is what they decided to do.

***

The day after Vivian was released from the hospital she awakened drained of energy. She wrapped herself in her red robe and then removed her gun from under her mattress placing it in her robe pocket. She made a stop in the bathroom then headed to the kitchen to fix toast and have a glass of orange juice.

After her miniature breakfast she headed to the living room where she removed the gun from her pocket and sat it
on the cocktail table. She then curled up on the sofa with Darren and Darling.

As
Vivian lay with her poodles close to her she observed her living room and the things that were out of place. The black and brown entry rug that read WELCOME had been tossed aside. A few of her gold figurines that had been sitting on her mantle were lying over on it. She couldn’t help but notice her large screen television was missing.

“Look what they did to my carpet,” she said at the
muddy footprints on it.

Vivian’s cell
phone rang startling her. It was on the cocktail table where she left it yesterday while talking to Toni. Her favorite ring tone chimed again. As if she remembered placing it there, uttered, “Toni,” then reached for her cell phone.

“Hello.”