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Authors: Ashley;JaQuavis

BOOK: Black Friday: Exposed
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Knock! Knock! Knock!
She heard her intruders panic.
“Oh, shit! It’s the police fam,” one of them whispered.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
“Open up! NYPD!”
It was the first time in her entire life that she was happy to have the police at her house. She stayed in her position quietly contemplating her next move.
“Sit down and act normal ... hurry up and turn this furniture back over and stash them pistols,” she heard one of the intruders whisper harshly.
Stick opened up the door and greeted the police, “Hello officers. What can I do for you?”
“We had some complaints from some neighbors about a disturbance,” one of the officers replied as he stood firmly in the doorway with his hand positioned on his gun holster.
“We probably did get a little loud officer. You know how it is when you get together with the fellas. I apologize,” Stick answered, laying it on thick.
The police officer looked around the group of men suspiciously. “Is there anyone else in the house?”
Stick could’ve shit himself when he heard the female voice behind him say, “No sir, it’s just me and my daughter’s father and a couple of his friends.” She walked out of the room with her daughter held snugly in her arms. Her eyes darted wildly around the room as she tried to remember the faces of the men who had come to do her harm.
Stick shifted uncomfortably in his stance as he stared a hole through Alija. The officer immediately recognized her face.
“Ma’am can you come with us please?” the officer asked. “You are wanted for questioning in relation to a murder that happened about a week ago.”
“A murder? My girl don’t know nothing ’bout a murder, officer,” Stick answered as his forehead began to sweat.
“I can come with you,” Alija said eagerly, while silently thanking God for showing her a way out.
The officer nodded and responded, “You may want to leave the child with her father miss.”
“My daughter goes where I go,” she said harshly. “Now, I’m ready to make a statement.”
She walked out of the apartment with Stick grilling her as she walked past. He was lucky she didn’t turn him and his friends in. He smirked once he realized the game that the girl had just run on him and his crew. He respected her gangsta though, because she didn’t snitch him out. He just hoped that she lived by the same code when it came to the murder.
“What was that?” one of the goons asked.
“I don’t know fam, but let’s get the fuck outta here before our luck runs out.”
Chapter Five
 
That was so stupid. I should’ve turned them in. They are only going to come back for me,
she thought regretfully to herself.
They’re probably watching my crib right now ... I have to warn Mick.
She tapped her leg against the floor rapidly, while holding Nahla in her arms. The police had contained her in a questioning room for over an hour now and she just wanted to get this over with. She wasn’t a snitch, but she planned on telling what she knew in order to protect her daughter. The door finally opened and a tall lean man stepped inside the room. He was dressed casually in slacks and a blazer, his badge hanging from his belt on display.
“Hello Alija, I’m Detective Nielson,” he introduced. “Do you need anything? Are you hungry?” His voice was friendly but Alija was no dummy. She had been born and raised to hate the police so she knew he was playing the good cop role, she just wondered where the bad cop was hiding. “Can you tell me what you know about the night of March twenty-first? What happened at Club Blaze that night?”
Alija was quiet and her attention was on her child. She was hesitant to look at the detective and she sighed deeply.
“We know you were there Ms. Bell,” he said, using her last name.
“His name is Kasheef, he owns the club,” Alija said in a low tone.
“Is he my shooter?” the detective asked eagerly as he leaned into the steel table.
Alija nodded.
“And you will testify to that?”
“If that is what it takes to protect my daughter then yes. Now I need to call my sister.”
 
 
Kasheef held Norelle in his arms as an uncanny feeling suddenly swept over him. He sat straight up in bed and looked around his room. It was too calm inside of his bedroom. It was as if the entire world had come to a standstill. He didn’t hear the usual voices of the corner boys who were out trying to make a day’s pay, or the sound of neighbors coming in from a late night out, even the hum of the refrigerator had ceased. Everything was silent ... too silent and the hair on the back of his neck stood straight up. He shook his head and told himself that it was just paranoia.
“What’s wrong babe?” she asked as her brow furrowed with concern.
“Nothing, it’s just too quiet in this mu’fucka,” Kasheef replied, trying to shake the caution that his sympathetic nervous system was sending out. “Something just doesn’t feel right.”
Norelle pulled back the covers and revealed her naked, perfectly sculpted figure. “I know something that feels right. Come back to bed,” she enticed as she opened and closed her legs seductively.
Kasheef crawled on top of her, their tongues intertwining in a passionate kiss, but they were interrupted by the hinges being knocked off of their front door.
Norelle and Kasheef jumped out of bed, but before they could do anything, their bedroom was swarmed with fully suited swat agents who held automatic weapons pointed their way.
“Get on the ground!”
“Get on the ground, now!”
“Kasheef?” Norelle screamed as she was handcuffed and put face down on the floor.
Detective Nielson approached Kasheef and slapped the silver bracelets around his wrists. “Kasheef Williams you have the right to remain silent ...”
“I want a lawyer,” he said calmly and cockily as he cooperated fully with the police. He turned up his nose smugly and looked down at Norelle who was also being read her rights.
“Norelle!” Kasheef called out to her.
With her hair wild and her face stained with tears she looked at him. He shook his head from side to side and she already knew what the code meant. He was telling her to keep her mouth closed. Silence was the key when dealing with the police and it was something that the couple had discussed before, but talking about it and having it actually happen was two completely different things. Norelle could feel the panic setting in as she closed her eyes as the police slapped the cold, steel bracelets on her petite wrists.
Detective Nielson pushed him toward another officer and yelled, “Get him out of here!”
Before the officer could respond, another cop came into the room with a black duffel bag. “We’ve hit the jackpot,” he announced as he unzipped the bag. The heroine that Kasheef had copped from Belize was packed neatly inside.
Kasheef instantly began smacking himself for keeping the product inside his crib, but he knew that it was a charge he could beat because the apartment was not in his name. The detective finished reading Kasheef his rights as he was escorted out of the building.
 
 
“I don’t know anything!” Norelle screamed for the millionth time as Detective Nielson asked her the same questions over and over again. “Why are you doing this to me?” she asked. She was distraught. Her hair was a mess and the knot in her queasy feeling in her stomach made it feel as if her dinner would come up at any moment. The police detective was quickly backing her into a corner. She was trying to stay strong and not reveal what she knew, but with every threat Nielson threw her way, he chipped off a piece of her allegiance to Kasheef and she began to think of saving herself.
“You did this to yourself sweetheart. Dating a drug dealer must make you hot shit, huh?” he grilled. He was leaned in so close to her that she could smell the scent of old tobacco on his breath and she had a front row seat to his crusty, crooked teeth.
Norelle was silent as she put her face in her hands and shook her head from side to side. She just wanted to get out of there. All she wanted to do was go home and forget that any of this had ever happened.
“Where were you the night of March 21, 2008?”
“I was at home,” she answered.
“And where is home?” the Detective asked.
Norelle frowned and rolled her eyes, “Where did you arrest me at?” she shot back sarcastically. Her voice was full of irritation as she smacked her lips and sat back in her chair.
“So that is
your
apartment?” Nielson asked again, purposely repeating himself to make sure that he established her residency.
“Yes! How many times do I have to tell you? Yes, that is where I live,” she replied. She had no idea that she had already said too much. The police were merely giving her enough rope to hang herself. With every word that she said she tied the noose tighter and tighter around her neck.
“Where was Kasheef on the same night?”
“I already told you he was home with me,” she answered.
“All night?”
“Yes,” she replied.
“What time did you go to sleep?” he asked.
Norelle didn’t know how she was supposed to answer that question. She was growing frustrated and confused. “I don’t know. I can’t remember. Don’t I get a phone call or something? I know my rights. You can not just hold me here like this. I want to make a call.”
 
 
Carmen looked over at her night stand when she heard the irritating shrill from the ringing of her phone. “It’s four o’clock in the morning. Who is this?” she said in exasperation. She picked up the phone. “Hello?” A sigh escaped her lips as she waited for a response.
“C ... Carmen?”
Carmen sat straight up in her bed when she heard the distraught voice. “This is Carmen. Who is this?” she asked.
“It’s me. I ... it’s Norelle.”
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Carmen asked.
“I’m in jail. I’ve been arrested and I need a lawyer. They’re trying to get me to say things about Kasheef. I didn’t know who else to call,” she stammered.
Carmen threw the bed spread from her legs and hopped out of bed. She ran to her closet and pulled out a grey Donna Karan business skirt and silk blouse. “No, it’s okay. I’m on my way. Don’t say anything to anyone else until I get there okay?”
“Okay,” Norelle said before the line went dead.
“What in the hell has this girl gotten herself into?” Carmen pondered aloud as she slipped into her clothes. She unwrapped her hair and combed it down around her face and slipped her feet into black three inch designer pumps. Grabbing her keys and her briefcase all in one swift movement—she ran out the door.
 
 
“You know you’re going to go to prison right?” the detective taunted. “Twenty kilos of raw heroine inside your apartment. Whoo! That’s a lot of time. You’ll never get out and a pretty little piece like you will drive the butch broads crazy.”
“Those drugs aren’t mine!” she protested.
“So they belong to Kasheef?” Detective Nielson asked feeling like the girl across from him was getting ready to crack at any moment.
As soon as Norelle opened her mouth to speak, the door opened forcefully.
“This interview is over,” Carmen stated. “Let’s go Norelle.” She helped her friend out of her chair and then nodded toward Nielson. “Detective.”
“Counselor,” he replied with a head nod. He could’ve protested and held Norelle longer, but she wasn’t the type of fish he was looking to fry so he let her walk for the time being. He wished he had even a minute longer with her because he had a feeling that she was getting ready to talk. “I’ll be in touch,” he promised.
Carmen stopped dead in her tracks, turned on her expensive heel, and stared directly in the detective’s eyes. “If you need to speak with my client about anything be sure you call me first,” she said in a professional but threatening way. She wrapped an arm around Norelle and ushered her out of the precinct.
“Carmen I don’t know what to say. Thank you,” Norelle said once they were outside.
“Don’t worry about it. Go home, get some sleep, and we’ll meet for breakfast tomorrow morning to discuss everything. By then I’ll have a lot more information about what they are charging Kasheef with and what they may be trying to charge you with.”
“Can you get him out?” Norelle asked despondently.
“Not tonight, but that’s what we’ll work on tomorrow. Go get some rest girl. You’re going to need it,” Carmen suggested. The two women embraced and then went their separate ways. Norelle had the weight of the world on her shoulders and Carmen a huge smile on her face. She needed a major case like this. More importantly she needed to win a case like this. She was trying to make partner at her law firm and a case like this could make or break her career. She just hoped she was ready.
 
 
“What am I going to do?” Alija asked. “They could’ve killed me and Nahla.”
“But they didn’t sis, that’s what’s important. Thinking about what could’ve happened will drive you crazy,” Mickey comforted as she held her baby niece and paced the floor of the motel room Alija had checked into. “You can’t go back to the apartment especially now that you’re snitching.”
“Thanks Mick! That helps,” Alija responded sarcastically. “What other choice did I have, huh?”
“I’m just saying Alija. You don’t even have any cash to relocate. You can’t snitch on somebody like Kasheef and then go back to the hood thinking shit gon’ be gulley. His people gon’ be gunning for you just off of GP,” Mickey said.
“Well either way I’m losing. He sent them dudes up in my crib before I said one word to anybody. I had no intentions of going to the police,” Alija objected.
“It’s done now. You’ve already started telling. Now you need to think about how you gon’ live after all this is over. This ain’t a game.”
“No, it’s definitely not that,” she responded as she looked at her daughter. “This is my life Mick ... it’s her life.”

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