Cartier Cartel (18 page)

"Picture that," he spat when Cartier's mother approached him. Trina was
back on the block after visiting Cartier in jail.

"Yo, that girl is my heart and I would never do anything to hurt her,"
Jason continued. "Tell her to hold her head. They bluffing. Those cops ain't
got shit! Besides, she told me she's clean. She ain't got shit to worry about.
Matter-fact, I'ma go see her"

Jason was worried about the Cartier Cartel breaking. Jail was a different
animal for those experiencing it for the first time. Those basic civil liberties
people take for granted were no longer free. You paid with time. That's why
they called it pulling time. And for young girls like the Cartel, it could be
brutal. He was worried one may break and confess to all kinds of shit. And he
couldn't live with Cartier being locked up for a dime or quarter.

Jason had heard all the horror stories from niggas who folded under
pressure and copped out to crimes they didn't commit. He knew most
suspects looked guilty and was afraid to go to trial for that reason. Hell, every
detective and defense attorney who worked for the man knew that same fact.
Add the pressure and stress from being locked up in the joint, it was a nowin situation. But once you copped out, it was a wrap. You couldn't come back later saying you were railroaded, because no one cared. He had to get at
Cartier before she folded.

uesdaywas visiting hours and Jason made his way to see his sweetheart,
Cartier.

When she walked through the visiting room door, her eyes lit up. She
was outfitted in standard jailhouse garb: an orange jumpsuit. But the baggy
clothes couldn't prevent her thick thighs and round ass from standing out.
Her hair was pulled back tightly into a ponytail. Her face was void of makeup
and her nails of polish. She also looked worn and dusty from her stay in jail,
but Jason could see past her current living environment.

He greeted her with a smile. "What's up, gorgeous?"

Cartier blushed and felt self-conscious. She took her hands and ran them
across her hair and looked down. Although Jason wasn't her man, she knew
how he felt about her. He had her back and regardless of how many times she
dissed him, he always came back, always stood strong for her. She couldn't
say the same thing about Ryan.

"I'm surprised you really came," she stated.

"And why is that? You my peoples, right?" His everlasting smile made her
feel good.

"But you know how guys feel about going to see women in jail." Cartier
was really referring to Ryan. She had Trina contact him to tell him what
happened and he gave her a song and a dance about not being able to take
seeing Cartier locked in a cage. He promised to give Trina the money to post
bail for Cartier, but to date, he hadn't came through.

"I don't give a fuck how guys feel, all I care about is how I feel about you."

Again, Cartier blushed.

"So look, peep this," Jason began his schooling. "You know I ain't tell
them cats nothing about calling duke for you. Your moms came talking
sideways."

"Yeah, she told me. Thank you for holding me down."

"No doubt. But I want you to stand strong. Those niggas are bluffing.
They trying to rattle y'all to flip on each other and one false confession and
it's a wrap."

Cartier shook her head.

"I'm serious," Jason tensed up. "When you get a chance, go back and tell
those knuckleheads not to fold ... to wait this thing out and all y'all will be
going home soon."

"Ain't nobody to go back and tell. Lil Momma and Shanine aren't speaking
to me and Monya." Cartier paused. She looked at Jason. He didn't press her.
"And Monya is a zombie. She hasn't eaten anything since she got here. They
got her on suicide watch. So it feels like I'm in here by myself."

"Well, hold your head. You the strongest one out of the crew. I always
saw something in you that I didn't see in those other broads. I don't know
why you even used to hang out with them. When you get out, you better
do things differently. Put up boundaries and don't let motherfuckers in your
circle. You feel me?"

"No doubt," Cartier pepped up. "I just can't wait to get out of here. You
know I even miss going to school?"

"They done scared you straight in this motherfucker if you miss school.
Hell, remember, you dropped out for a reason. Don't tell me you somebody's
bitch and giving my pussy away!" he joked.

"Since when this your pussy?" she retorted.

"Well, not yet, but hopefully one day. You know I'm still waiting on you
to recognize I'm a good dude."

Cartier looked at Jason and saw his sincerity for the first time. She was
still young and really didn't know what she wanted in a man. It was about the
status, but when she needed someone to come strong, it was always Jason.
He would drop everything for her. She knew she could count on him, but
thought he was only shooting shit her way, not sincerity. She was wrong.

"I know you are," she replied.

The visit ended with Jason promising to put money on her books and to
check up on her mother and little sister, Prada.

"Jason?"

"Yes?"

"Can you put a few dollars in Monya's commissary too?"

He shook his head in the affirmative.

"And Jason?"

"Yes"

"One more thing ... maybe two."

"What? I got shit to do."

"Can you put money in Lit Momma's and Shanine's?"

He thought for a moment and her request made him only love her more.
"Oh, when you get out you're definitely hooking up with me!" He gave her
one more big smile.

Cartier walked back to her cell and thought about her visit. She never
thought he would be the one who came to her rescue. How could she have
overlooked him all these years?

t didn't take long for Jason's prophecy to come true. That next day, the
detectives began interviewing each girl, and the game plan was simple,
divide and conquer.

Shanine was the first to be interviewed and play "let's make a deal." She
was summoned into an interview room with the arresting detectives and her
public defender, which she already wasn't crazy about. She was nervous and
didn't know what to expect, but she composed herself for the worst.

"What did I do now?" Shanine asked.

"Shanine, please have a seat," her public defender said. He was a young
white guy who looked as if he had just completed high school, let alone law
school. "These detectives are going to ask you questions and you don't have
to answer if you don't want to. If you decide to answer them, only answer
what you know."

Shanine nodded in agreement.

"Shanine, we need you to talk," the lead detective stated as soon as her
butt touched the chair. "You might be able to talk your way out of trouble."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Look, we know you didn't kill Donnie-" the detective iterated.

"Oh really?" she cut him off quickly. "Then why am I in here?"

"Because you need to tell us which one of the Cartier Cartel did him in," the second detective chimed in. "If you were there and didn't stab him, then
we can get you a reduced sentence if you tell us which one of you did it."

Her voice raised an octave. "I told you that we didn't do it! We might do
a lot of things, but we ain't no murderers."

After twenty minutes of trying to get Shanine to turn against her friends,
the detectives gave up. She didn't give them anything. She didn't volunteer
any information nor did she slip up and say the wrong thing. They wouldn't
admit it openly, but the detectives were impressed by her willpower. They
just hoped all the girls were not that strong.

it Momma was the next to be interviewed. She had a different public
defender, a young white lady, who looked equally as young as Shanine's
attorney. The difference between the two attorneys was Lil Momma's attorney
didn't say a word.

When the lead detective repeated his opening line for Lil Momma, she
started talking before he could get the words out of his mouth.

"If you asking me, it was Cartier," Lil Momma volunteered. And if she
did it, then Monya was her right-hand man, 'cause those two don't do shit
alone:'

"Why Cartier and not Monya?" the second detective asked.

"Monya is scared of her own shadow," Lil Momma went on. "Cartier
has the heart and the strength to overpower Donnie. And the night he was
murdered I could just tell that Cartier knew something."

"What you mean you could tell?" the lead detective asked. "Did you
ask her?"

"Nah, I didn't ask her 'cause me and that trifling bitch ain't speaking."

"So you're not down with her crew no more?" the second detective asked.

"That's what I just said," Lil Momma said with attitude.

"Do you think you could get her to admit she killed Donnie?" the lead
detective jumped in.

"Didn't I just say that we ain't speaking?"

"I'm sure you're a clever girl ... you do realize Cartier is your get out of
jail free card. If you roll on her and give us the evidence we need, then you
get to go home."

"How come y'all coming to us?" she surprisingly asked. "If you had
enough evidence to charge all of us with murder, then where the fuck is it at?
I don't want to be just sitting in jail while y'all deciding my future. That shit
is fucked up, especially when y'all know me and Shanine ain't have shit to do
with no murder."