Authors: Shareef Jaudon
On shaky knees, and with eyes as big as silver dollars, Franco stood up holding the case in front of his chest. Speckles of blood dotted the shoulders of his tan suit jacket as he set the case on the counter top. He pushed his prescription glasses up on the rim of his long nose and took a step back.
“Just take it and go.” He pointed toward the exit.
“Police! Police! Tyce the cops are coming in!” I heard Angelique’s voice yelling in my ear drum.
Dallas and Sway heard her announcement as well and they dropped their guns and got on the ground with the rest of the vendors. Peck did the same laying down behind the counter. Jax and his accomplice wasted no time after Franco surrendered the case full of diamonds. Jax snatched the case off the counter and the two of them ran toward the bay door and rolled under it like they were on fire. The lower halves of their legs were all that was visible to my eyes as they ran in opposite directions. Jax had stolen the case.
The room was oddly quiet as an abandoned Bishop lay unconscious on the ground. I didn’t know where the fuck flaming haired Rachael was; I assumed she was upstairs making her get away like her punk ass boyfriend.
Just like my team, I dropped my gun and got on the floor. When the holice came barging down the steps, the only man standing up in the room was the man who got robbed…Franco.
“Angelique, Sabrina, blow out. Dallas, Sway, you two be easy and stay on the ground.” I talked to my team under my breath as officers filled the room.
I ran my forefinger over the jagged words “fuck the police” which was carved into the wood of the table I was sitting at. The room was freezing. I didn’t even see a heating vent in the bare depressing space. I had been waiting for 36 minutes according to the basic clock on the wall. But my wait was over as the door swung open easily and two cops; one white, and the other one black walked in to join me.
“I’m detective Sharpe
and this is detective Conner.”
The astute looking man sat down across from me while his partner stood in the corner like he was in timeout.
“I smiled. “It’s bad to meet you.”
Conner’s clean shaven jaw clenched at my smart comment but he held his tongue. Detective Sharpe returned my smile with a grin of his own.
“None of this rattles you. I know that. This isn’t your first time in the hot seat so I’ll spare you the theatrics and get right down to it. You want to tell us what you were doing at a black market jewelry sale while it was being robbed?” Sharpe tapped the table with his finger.
“I was there to sell some gold.”
“Gold?” Sharpe’s eyebrows rose up slightly.
“Yep.”
“That’s it, you expect me to believe that? You want me to believe that Tyce Adkins was at the scene of a multi-million dollar stick up job as a mere vendor trying to flip some gold?”
I leaned back in my armless chair. “I don’t expect you to do anything. But that’s why I was there. I was stationed right next to the robbery victim. It was jus’ my bad luck that’s all. Shit, I was lucky I didn’t get my gold taken from me. Those guys were crazy; did you know one of them had a live grenade?”
The detective shook his head. “Unfortunately we don’t know anything about what went on because no one is talking. It seems that people involved in an illegal jewelry store front aren’t willing to get involved in a high profile robbery for fear that they very well could be next on the list. There’s no surveillance footage, but we do know that the man who shot and killed a security guard is the one who robbed the place. The only reason we know that is because he told an officer right before he died that the man who shot him left the scene.”
“He’s right. So why am I the only one you brought down here?” I cocked my head to the side.
Conner finally jumped in. “You’re here because you’re involved in this. I know it and you know it. You jacked the armored truck, you killed Armando Alverez, and you killed Roman! Your little crime spree is over Tyce. We got enough evidence on you to put you away for life.” He walked toward the table and rolled up his sleeves. “We’re giving you this one last opportunity to help us solve this case, and maybe, just maybe we can cut you a deal for your cooperation. You give us the shooter and you can lighten your sentence. But you can’t keep pussy footing around with us. We know you know who robbed the place and murdered that man in cold blood so start talking or we’ll feed you to the D.A. on a silver fucking platter.”
I put my chin in my chest. “Alright, I’ll write a statement. But I want somethin’ first.”
“Name it.” Sharpe looked at me.
“On my way in I saw a vending machine. Would you mind gettin’ me a pack of Skittles? There on the top row far right A6. You get me that candy I write your statement.”
Detective Sharpe looked stunned. “Is that all? You want Skittles?”
“Yep. I’m addicted to them little suckers.”
“Suit yourself, Conner…get the man his candy.”
I kept my mouth shut and waited for Conner to bring me my shit. Meanwhile, detective Sharpe fetched a pen and pad for me to write my statement down. It took less than three minutes for Conner to return to the room with my order and both men watched me silently as I tore open the pack and poured a handful of fruity pebbles in my palm. I popped several pieces in my mouth and started sucking loudly enjoying the taste of the rainbow.
“Alright, alright, you got your little candies so write your statement already.” Conner tossed the pad and pen on the table in front of me.
I calmly dismissed his rude gesture and grabbed the pen. The pack of Skittles was right beside the yellow paper as I wrote on the top line in clear legible print.
FUCK THE POLICE!
I slid the paper back across the table to Sharpe and popped another candy in my mouth with a wide grin.
Conner looked down at the paper and his face turned beet red. “Fuck the police! Fuck you motherfucker!”
Sharpe chuckled lightly as he folded his arms across his solid chest.
“Like I said Conner…this isn’t his first time in the hot seat. We have to cut him loose. We’re wasting our time; he’s not going to talk.”
“What?! Cut him loose!? What the hell are you talking about? We can’t cut him loose!”
Sharpe stood up. “What the hell are we going to charge him with? He has receipts for his gold. It was purchased legally in China town. His gun is registered. An eye witness ruled him out as the gunman and the robber. He never got a chance to sell his gold at the showcase, so there’s no crime in that. And he has a strong case for trying to help stop the robbery. In fact the victim, Mr. Franco Trendello gave a statement off the record saying Tyce actually tried to help him. So what do we
got? Nothing…we gotta cut him loose.”
I continued to enjoy my snack as I watched the two of them argue over me.
“I can’t do that.” Conner shook his head.
Sharpe lowered his voice an octave. “I’m not asking you. As the lead on this case I’m ordering you to let him go. We bluffed he called…it’s over. We have to focus on finding the son of a bitch who actually committed the crime and got away with it. We’re wasting our time here.”
“I can’t believe this shit!” Conner slammed his hands on the table and walked out angrily.
Now it was just me and Detective Sharpe in the room. He looked down at me with a strange look in his eyes. I couldn’t quite place the stare because it was only there for a second before it vanished. He slowly walked over to me, bent over, and placed his thick lips next to my ear lobe and whispered in an ultra-low tone so that only I could hear him. I could tell he didn’t want the microphones on the surveillance to record his verbal statement.
“I want you all to hear me real good, especially you Angelique. I’m giving you all a pass this time but believe me…there’s not enough money in the world to make me walk away twice.” He whispered into my ear.
The communication equipment I bought was the best money could buy. The range was about three miles give or take so Peck, Sway, Sabrina, Dallas, and of course Angelique were all silent witnesses to my interrogation. They were all listening in the whole time…and this nigga knew it. Now this was twice that I had gotten surprised in one damn day.
I strolled out of the holice department on 100 West 1
st
street feeling like a new man. I started walking down the street chewing my Skittles while I talked to my crew.
“Where are you guys?”
I heard Dallas’s voice first. “We’re on the next street over. You want us to pick you up?”
“No, I want you all to fall back to Sabrina’s house except Angelique. I want you to come pick me up at Surabul restaurant you copy that Angie?”
“I’ll be waiting in the parking lot by the time you get there.” I heard her say.
“Good, give us a half hour and we’ll link up with you. Stay off the streets, no cell phones, and watch for any tails on the way there.”
“You got it.” Sway confirmed my orders.
I stopped at an intersection and waited for a light. “Baby do you want me to come and get
you?” Dallas sounded perplexed.
“Naw baby girl, I’ll meet you at the beach house. I need to talk to Angelique alone first.”
Her non response spoke loud and clear. She didn’t have to say a word for me to know she was pissed off. However, I couldn’t worry about that now; I had to find out what the hell I was missing out on…not to mention clear things up with Quiana. I was sure by now she knew Jax had the diamonds.
“We’ll see you at the spot.” I heard Peck’s voice over the speaker.
It took me a while to reach the restaurant but when I got there I saw Angelique’s Jaguar parked in the lot already. I pulled the earpiece out of my ear and turned the device off as I approached her ride. I took one last look around me to make sure I wasn’t being followed and then I got in the passenger’s seat and closed the door.
“Hey handsome.” She put the car in gear and smiled as she pulled off smoothly.
I spotted her open pack of cigarettes in the empty cup holder and helped myself to one. The Skittles were long gone so now it was time for my next guilty pleasure as I questioned my beautiful chauffeur.
I lit the tip and exhaled slowly. “Ok, so why do I feel like I’m missin’ somethin’? You wanna fill me in?”
Angelique hit her blinker and turned onto a street. She was to cool for school as she prepared to bring me up to speed.
“Ok, so what do you know?” She looked over at me as I blew smoke out the cracked window.
“Well, I know I was being followed for at least the past 30 days, maybe even longer than that. The stupid ass holice make it so obvious. They normally use a double rotation with cars in different lanes and they try and throw me off by using different vehicles but the style of driving is the same. I shake em every time so they never catch me doin’ anything. So, I put shit together and figured I was being investigated but if they had anything on me they would have bumped me by now. What I don’t know is where that nigga Sharpe comes into the picture.”
She sighed. “So you knew you were being investigated?”
“Yeah.” I nodded my head.
“Well, Sharpe was the head of the investigation. He brought me in for questioning after I whooped Rachael’s ass that day.
Him and that punk Conner tried to use me against you. The wanted me to turn on you. They had me in the same room they had you in tryna flip me.” Angelique switched lanes. “Lemme hit your cigarette.”
I passed her the square. “Ok, so I know you didn’t flip on me so how did you play it?”
“Of course not, I would never do that shit to you. I used my connections from the club and started gathering information about Sharpe. And then once I knew where to bite, I sunk my teeth in. It turns out him and his wife are dead broke. So I bribed him. I didn’t know if it would work so I didn’t tell you about it. Plus I didn’t want to distract you from the job and put too much stress on you before we did it. I figured I could handle him on my own or at least stall him out to buy you some time.”
Angelique took a drag from my cigarette. “Hmmm so that’s what you meant when you told me to be
extra careful and trust my instincts that day after Khari’s doctor’s appointment?”
She nodded her head. “Yes, I knew you would understand what I was trying to say but I couldn’t take the chance on saying to much jus’ in case I was being followed or somethin’. You’re not dumb; you’re the best at what you do so I knew you could handle shit.”
I smiled at her compliment. “How much did you pay him to back off?”
Angelique frowned up. “I paid that nigga a million dollars of my own money.”
“Damn, the price for the holice to look the other way has gone up. Everybody tryna get rich in L.A. I’ll pay you back the mil when I get to the house.”
“Ok.” Angelique passed the cigarette back to me. “So are you mad at me for not tellin’ you?”
I thought about it for a second. “Naw, how can I get mad when you were jus’ lookin’ out for me? You had my back and that’s why I wanted you on the team in the first place. Nobody watches my back like you do.”