Cheaper to Keep Her (part 1) (23 page)

Both girls were very big and obviously far gone in their pregnancies. “Ya’ll have to come with me in the car,” I said to them. One girl started to cry as if on cue. I looked at this bitch as if she was crazy.

“
I’m not going! No . . . please! I can’t go through that again! Please just leave me alone!” she cried out.

I was shocked by her reaction, but I had a mission to complete and if I had to fuck this little girl up, I was prepared to do it.

“
Look, I’m not trying to hurt you, but if you don’t get in this fucking car, something is going to happen to my friend. I’m not about to let that shit happen so I’m asking you to just get your ass in the car!” I told the girl forcefully.

She wouldn’t budge. I grabbed that bitch by arm and started pulling her.

“
No! Please!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.

“
Why the fuck are you acting crazy?” I screamed, dragging her forward.

She was resisting as if she thought I was taking her to a slaughterhouse. Maybe she did think that, judging by what Duke and Dr. Gavin had going on. The other girl started crying too but she was going towards the car on her own, although reluctantly.

“
Why are ya’ll crying? I don’t know what they told you about me but I’m not down with them! Now, just make this shit easy and get the fuck in the car!” I gritted on these bitches.

I was sweating now. I began pulling that bitch with all my might. Finally, she started dragging her feet towards the car. She got in. Once I was back behind the steering wheel, I drove around the block twice like I had been instructed to do. Then I got another call telling me to drop both of the girls back off at the shelter, but this time at the back door. When I pulled back up, two big strapping men came and grabbed the girls out of the car. The girls were screaming again, even worse than before. I felt horrible inside. One of the men came over to the window and handed me another envelope that looked similar to the one that was slid under the door.

My heart skipped a beat. The last time I opened an envelope I saw pictures of Diamond. What the fuck is it now? I thought to myself. I ripped it open and pulled out more pictures. I stared at the images and banged my fists on the steering wheel. I was finally able to figure out what they were trying to do now. The tables had been turned.

This time the finger was pointing directly at me.

The phone rang again. I wanted to take that shit and throw it out of the window. Instead, I thought about Diamond and I hesitantly picked up the phone.

“
How do you like seeing yourself kidnapping young, homeless pregnant girls?” the computerized voice asked. I just closed my eyes. These muthafuckas were playing hardball now.

“
Two can play your game. So I guess we have to arrange for you to turn over the pictures and documents back to us. When you do that, you can have the images of yourself, you can get your best friend back, and you can be cleared of murdering her boyfriend.”

“
When can we do this meeting? I just want out of this,” I cried into the phone.

The computerized voice laughed. The computer device made the laugh sound shrilled in my soul and it unnerved me. “I find that funny. Now you don’t want to play the blackmail game anymore?”

I bit down into my jaw and put my head down on the steering wheel. I just wanted my life back, the life of a low paid bartender trying to get ahead. The simple life I had before I ever met Duke Carrington. A life I would never complain about again.

“
No, I just want to move on . . . everybody just move on and forget this ever happened,” I croaked out.

“
That will never happen. It’s time for new beginnings. Go back to the apartment and wait to hear from us again,” the voice instructed.

“
Let me speak to Diamond,” I demanded, I wanted to know she was still alive before I did anymore of their bullshit biddings. But the phone line went dead. I slammed my fists on the steering wheel again.

This was the first time in a while I had to admit I was in way over my head.

Cheaper to Keep Her Unique

Chapter 30—Regrets

I was both physically and emotionally drained as I drove back to my apartment complex as I had been instructed.

When I pulled into the complex, I could barely maneuver the car to a parking spot because of the police and emergency vehicles haphazardly parked all over the area. There was a crowd standing behind a cordoned off area. The crime scene was because of Brian’s shooting. I hadn’t forgotten about Brian but I was somewhat surprised by the scene. I was so scared to get out of the damn car for fear that whoever shot Brian would shoot my ass too.

“
Fuck!” I cursed as I looked around. Here I was pulling the fuck up in a dead man’s ride. When I went to get out of the car I noticed a couple of guys I remembered seeing Brian with standing behind the crime scene tape. As soon as they spotted his car, I could see them squinting to see who was pulling up and getting out of Brian’s car. They eyed me evilly but didn’t say anything or bring any attention to me.

I wanted to tell the police what happened so desperately but I couldn’t chance it. I was almost one hundred percent sure that Duke would have somebody out there ready to snipe my ass if I even tried. The cops weren’t letting anybody go up the staircase closest to my apartment door. I had to go all the way on the other side of the complex, walk up the far side staircase and walk across the little tiers outside of the apartments in order to get back to my place.

I went inside, bolted my door and went straight to my bedroom. I flopped on my bed and just balled out crying some more. Duke had made me shed some fucking tears over these past few months for sure. I was thinking of all kinds of ways I was going to get revenge on his ass. I just had to get Diamond free first. I lay on my bed waiting for the next call to come.

Every now and then I would get up to see if the police had cleared the crime scene yet. One of the times I was looking out the window, I suddenly heard knocking on the apartment door. I swallowed a lump of fear that had lodged in my throat from the banging. I wasn’t trying to answer the damn door. By now, not only was Duke going to be after me, Brian’s friends were now wondering for sure what role I played in his murder. It wasn’t a secret in Virginia Beach that I despised Brian. But I don’t know how they could think I would just murk the nigga for no reason. I’m sure his people didn’t want to go to the police on me, because the ’hood had its own set of laws and number one on the list was no snitching. They’d rather take care of my ass themselves. They would have to join the growing list of people after me.

Whoever was at the door was banging like crazy now. Honestly, I was so scared I slid down to the floor and got underneath my bed. I didn’t know what else to do. I felt as if I was caught up in a horror movie. Eventually, the person stopped banging. I waited a while, then I rolled out from under the bed and dialed Diamond’s phone number. I figured I could speed up the process of arranging a meeting to turn over the damming evidence I had, so I could get Diamond back.

Her phone went straight to voicemail. “Shit!” I cursed. I think the waiting was worse than everything else. I got off the floor and tipped to the window again. There were still police cars outside. Now they had added unmarked cars to the gang of cars already out there. I waited and waited and waited for the next call. But none came. I kept trying to call the phone back but it repeatedly kept going directly to voicemail. I had been so deprived of sleep I finally just conked out on my bed.

I don’t know how long I was asleep before I jumped up to loud banging. “Again!” I said groggily as I was jolted out of my sleep. It sounded like a boulder was coming through my apartment. The next sound I heard shocked me so bad, a little bit of piss trickled out of my bladder.

“
Police! Don’t fucking move!” they screamed. There were at least ten guns pointed at me. I raised my hands up in surrender and in utter and complete shock. I felt like my legs were made of jelly and they threatened to buckled under me.

“
Lynise Washington, we have a warrant for your arrest in connection with the murder of Tania Blackmon,” one of the cops screamed at me.

Who? Murder? Me? I screamed inside my head. My eyes were blinking a mile a minute. I had no fucking idea what he was talking about. The cop grabbed me up roughly and called a female cop over to search me.

“
Start searching the house!” another cop yelled. There was a bunch of them and they started pillaging my apartment. For what, at that time, I had no fucking clue. They were throwing shit around and just tearing up the place. I was led into the living room and made to sit on one of the kitchen chairs that they had dragged over.

“
I don’t know what this is all about. I think I’m being framed for something I didn’t do,” I finally said with a shaky voice.

“
Yeah, that’s what they all say when they get to this point. You’re busted,” a nasty female cop spat at me. This bitch was ugly as sin. I knew she hated the fact that I looked better than her.

“
I didn’t fucking do anything. I know who did it! I tried to report what I knew and clear myself once before. I came to the police station with the information I had, but no one would take the time out to listen!” I screamed.

“
Uh huh, I’m sure,” the cop replied sarcastically.

I couldn’t believe this shit. They were going through my apartment with a fine tooth comb. They were tossing shit around and I even heard shit being broken.

“
Bingo!” I heard one of the male cops yell from my bedroom. My heart started racing so fast I was beginning to feel lightheaded.

“
We got what we call direct physical evidence right fucking here!” the cop announced. “Just like the crime stoppers tipster said we would find it and where . . . we sure did. That fucking tip was right on the money.”

He was holding the pictures I had stolen from Duke’s condo, along with the paperwork about the baby sales. I almost passed out right where I sat. “Wait . . . no . . . you don’t understand!” I screamed defensively.

“
Shut the fuck up, you murderous bitch! You and that fucking doctor are done!” the male cop spat.

“
I can’t believe she was bold enough . . . or stupid enough rather to keep pictures of a girl she had brutally murdered. What a dumb ass!” the female cop commented.

I just lost it at that point. I stood up with my hands cuffed behind my back. I was stumbling and off balance. When I was steady on my two feet, I started jumping up and down screaming as if I was a straight up mental patient. It didn’t take long before a few of the cops inside the apartment bum rushed me and threw me down on the floor.

“
Take this murderer down to the stationhouse so she can be booked and processed. She disgusts me! We’re gonna finish searching here. Then I will get somebody to do her car,” I heard the cop say.

My car? I screamed inside of my head. I didn’t even have a car. As I was being led out of my apartment to a waiting paddy wagon, I saw that the cops were impounding Brian’s car. They thought it was my car and then I remember that the pictures of those girls at the shelter being pulled towards the car were in the car. I was really going to look like a kidnapping, baby snatching murderer now. I had to admit to myself this seemed to be a very well thought out revenge plan on Duke’s part.

Inside the paddy wagon I cried and cried. I could only imagine what must’ve happened to Diamond by now and me going to jail I wouldn’t be able to help her. I was in a fucking world of shit and I didn’t have a soul to call on. I was having so many regrets as I reflected on the last couple of weeks of my life. I should have just followed my first mind and turned Duke in. Me being greedy and trying to get some money to start a new life was the reason I was in this predicament.

Duke was smarter than I thought. Of course he was. He was a businessman and entrepreneur as well as a criminal mastermind. I had to give him credit for this elaborate scheme. I immediately started to pray. There had to be a way out of this mess.

If so, I had to figure it out and fast!

Cheaper to Keep Her Unique

Chapter 31—Guilty Until Proven Innocent

I was locked up, incarcerated, behind bars.

Regardless of how you put it, the shit didn’t sound right and definitely didn’t seem right. But bottom line, I was really fucking locked up.

After the first night in central cell, I was taken to court and arraigned. I was being charged with murder, kidnapping, assault, illegal adoption enterprise, racketeering, conspiracy and child endangerment. I mean they were fucking trying to throw the book at me for crimes I had nothing to do with.

After central cell, I was transferred to the Virginia Beach Jail for Woman. This was the location women were held prior to their trial or being assigned a permanent prison. I didn’t have a trial date yet. Unlike central cell, which included multiple cells with an overflow of women, this location had cellblocks and individual cells that held two to four inmates.