Cheaper to Keep Her Part 3 (19 page)

“Lynise, this bitch is trying to set me up! I swear, I’ma kill her!” he screamed through the phone. I couldn’t see his face, but I imagined his eyes bloodshot red, with the veins around his temples flared up. I even pictured him releasing spit from his mouth every time he uttered a word.

“Kill who? What’s going on?” I managed to say, after his unexpected outburst.

“That bitch Keisha called me and told me to come to the house because the police came there and asked her a whole bunch of questions. Well while I’m driving, I decided to take the back way into my neighborhood just to be on the safe side. So, about two blocks over from my house, I noticed that the same motherfucking crackers that was following us down the turnpike, sitting in their truck waiting for me to pull up.”

“How do you know that they were the same guys?”

“Because I remembered the license plates. And you know I don’t forget a face.”

“Oh my God! This is crazy.” I commented. Who would’ve thought that Keisha would turn on Bishop just like that? I mean, she dated him long before I came into the picture, so for her to jump ship like that, was a huge indicator that she had no loyalty for him from day one. I thought I was a sell out chick for handing Bishop over to Agent Sean like I did. But now I see that Keisha was more heartless than I was.

“Are you serious?” I said, trying to sound surprised.

“You motherfucking right I’m serious. That bitch called me to come to the house so them crackers could arrest my ass. But, they just don’t know that I ain’t no dumb ass nigga. I’m always on the lookout for sheisty motherfuckers like that bitch! So, they better hide her ass, because if I ever get a chance to run up on her, I’ma kill her motherfucking ass. And it’s gonna be a slow and painful death.” he told me.

“I told you she wasn’t shit!” I commented, trying to point fingers. I needed him to see Keisha for who she really was, in effort to shift the negative attention on her. I figured if Bishop focused on Keisha then I would be the least of his worries.

“Oh it’s alright. She’s gonna get what’s coming to her. But check this out,” he began to say, “I’m gonna need you to go into the back of the freezer and take out that bag of frozen spinach and inside of it you’re gonna find some valuable items. Now once you get ‘em, I want you to put them into your purse. Then I need you to go into the bedroom closet, but take a chair with you because you’re gonna have to reach your hand up into the left side of the ceiling and pull down a Nike shoe box. And inside that shoe box is some money, so I’m gonna need you to put that in your purse too and be ready to come outside when I get there.”

“When are you coming?”

“I’m coming now.”

“If you saw those white guys waiting outside your other house, do you think it would be wise for you to come back here?”

Bishop didn’t respond, so I assumed he was in deep thought. But then after sixty seconds of pure silence, he said, “Yeah, you might be right. So, come back up to that clinic we went to earlier. I’ll be inside waiting for you.”

“When should I come?”

“You need to leave the house now.”

“Okay.”

I didn’t see this coming!

Cheaper to Keep Her part 3 Unique

The Hunt Is On – Chapter Twenty-One

My heart moved faster than my feet after I hung up with Bishop. But I knew it was very important for me to calm my nerves and focus on the task at hand. Bishop gave me specific instructions about how he wanted me to execute his plan of attack. The first place he instructed me to go was the refrigerator freezer so I headed into the kitchen.

While I was en route to the kitchen, it dawned on me that he changed his stash spot for his drugs. And I wondered why did he do that? Well whatever his reason was, I hoped it had nothing to do with me. Influencing him to have second thoughts about me was not a good look. I needed to remain the good girl around him so there wouldn't be any mishaps.

Now immediately after I entered into the kitchen, I searched the back of the refrigerator freezer and retrieved the spinach bag where Bishop told me his item was. It felt weird holding this bag in my hand. And after I pulled out the contents of it, I realized that the aluminum foil wrapped package had to be worth a pretty penny. I wanted to open up the package to see exactly what I could be working with but I decided against it. I figured since I was pressed for time, it would be better to do it later.

My next destination was my bedroom closet. Bishop instructed me to grab the Nike shoebox hidden in the ceiling because it contained money that belonged to him. He didn’t mention the amount of money he had inside of the shoebox, but the urgency in his voice gave me the impression that it had to be one hundred thousand dollars or better.

I knew it was a little unorthodox, but I said a silent prayer to God, asking him to let the money in the box be enough money to take care of my needs. I also prayed that he’d help me find a way to get away from Bishop so I could walk away with this money free and clear. I failed to mention to God that I had intentions on keeping the dope I found. I decided against it, because I knew it would be the wrong thing to mention in a prayer. Besides that, I knew from childhood how God operated. He did things on his time, not mine, so I made sure I told God I’d start going to church when I settled down in a new state. Now I couldn’t tell you if God heard my prayer, but I knew that I had a sincere heart when I prayed to him. So, I guess I’d see where he’d take me from here.

Getting mentally ready to pull Bishop’s money that was hidden in the ceiling of the clothes closet had its effects on me. One part of me wanted to take it down and run as fast as I could and the other part of me became afraid that if I managed to take it, I’d somehow get caught. Bishop was a very resourceful guy. He knew a lot of people and he was known for reaching out to them if he needed them to eliminate a problem for him. To make a long story short, Bishop wasn’t to be fucked with. But hardheaded me took chances. And today I wanted to see what I had to look forward to.

“Come on Lynise, it's time to get this thing done so you can be on your way.” I mumbled very quietly, as I climbed onto the chair and balanced my weight on it. A few seconds later, I pushed up on the square ceiling plate and then I moved it to the side enough so I could reach my hand into the small space. Once the space was open, I reached up and touched the shoebox, I grabbed it and then I turned my body around enough and threw the box onto my bed. Once that was done, I slid the ceiling plate back over and then I jumped down to the floor.

I can't lie when I say that I felt a slew of different emotions. And to say my heart was beating extremely fast was an understatement. I was literally a basket case. It felt like I was on the verge of having an anxiety attack. Knowing I had possession of Bishop's dope and money made me question my next move. But knowing how much I had would give me a sense of direction. So, I sat back down on the edge of my bed and while I held the Nike shoebox in my hand, my damn cell phone rang. It startled the hell out of me. And when I snatched it up from the other side of my bed, I looked at it and noticed that it was Agent Sean trying to contact me. Annoyed at the fact he called me at the wrong time, I sucked my teeth and then I answered his call. “Hello,” I said.

“Lynise, why did you tell Bishop not to come back to the apartment?”

“Because I got scared when he told me he wanted to kill Keisha. Do you think I want him to find out that I was turning on him to?” I explained. I knew Agent Sean heard our conversation, so I had to keep it real and tell the truth.

“What’s the name of that clinic he took you to earlier?”

“Why? Are you going there to arrest him?”

“Yes. We got Monty in custody right now. We got him right after he picked up that package from Bishop’s house. And we also have Keisha and she has decided to cooperate with us so we really don’t need you anymore.”

“Does that mean I’m free to leave town?” I asked. The sound of Agent Sean giving me my walking papers was like music to my ears. I was finally getting what I wanted and there were no strings attached.

“Yes, you’re free to leave. But not until you give me the contents of the packages Bishop instructed you to get from the refrigerator freezer and your bedroom closet.”

Shocked by Sean’s demand, I almost lost my cool. I had endured all of life’s obstacles and here goes this bastard trying to take what was due to me. Was he crazy or something? I wasn’t about to hand over shit! This money was as much as mine than it was Bishop’s and he was the one who made it through blood, sweat and tears. So did he think I’d let him confiscate it so he could give it to the federal government? No way! I don’t think so. He’d better come up with a better plan than that.

“Look Sean, I know you heard our entire conversation, but it ain’t like you think. The package I found in the freezer was a small roll of money wrapped up in aluminum foil. I couldn’t tell you how much it was because I hadn’t had a chance to open it. And the shoebox in the closet had money in it too. But I don’t know how much is in there either.” I lied. I knew how the FEDS worked. If I had told him there was some dope in the freezer, he could’ve played me like a fiddle. This place was in my name; so there was no way I’d give him a package of dope that was hidden inside of my apartment. A conspiracy charge was written all over that and I wasn’t interested in wearing that charge.

“I’ll tell you what, you stay at the apartment. My agents and I are going up to the clinic to meet up with Bishop. When we’re done with him, I’ll be by there to get the money.”

“Okay.” I replied. But I had no intentions on being here when Sean got here. I had plans to pack my things and be out of here in the next ten minutes. I was going to take the car Bishop gave me and take it as far as Maryland and from there I planned to jump on the train and head further south.

At the end of our phone conversation, I provided Sean with the name of the clinic I had visited earlier. But I made him promise me that he would sway Bishop into believing that I hadn’t given him the location of the clinic but that it came from them bugging his cell phone. After Sean agreed to do just that, we said our goodbyes.

Immediately after I hung up with Agent Sean I threw my Blackberry back on the bed and then I lifted the lid on the shoebox. “Oh my God!” I said once again while I sifted through the stack of one hundred dollar bills. There were exactly seven stacks of one hundred dollar bills. They were bounded in three thick rubber bands. And from the looks of it, it looked like each stack was worth ten grand, but I wasn’t too sure. So, I took one of the stacks of bills from the box and counted it just to make sure.

I went through the stack and counted one hundred, one hundred dollar bills. The grand total came to ten thousand dollars. And since there were seven stacks, I figured I had seventy thousand dollars. It wasn’t the amount of money I had expected but I’d make it work.

Don’t count my chips!

Cheaper to Keep Her part 2 Unique

The Safe House – Chapter Twenty–Two

I tore my apartment apart trying to pack the more important things I’d need to travel with. With only seventy thousand dollars in cash and a package of dope, I knew I’d need to plan all of my steps wisely. Seventy thousand dollars wasn’t a lot of money, but it filled the void. And I decided that it would do me some justice since I came into this bullshit ass relationship with nothing in the beginning.

Once I gathered up everything, I sat down on my bed again and remained very still. And that’s when I realized how quiet it was inside of my apartment. It was so quiet, that it felt kind of weird. It was almost like the quiet before the storm. But I felt ready to tackle anything. That included Bishop, whether he’d believe it or not. I found myself in the middle of a bitter war between Bishop and the FEDS. They wanted him extremely bad. It was bad enough that they had to use Keisha and I as his weakest link.

Bishop already knew Keisha had jumped ship and sold him out to the FEDS. But when he finds out that I sold him out too, I’m sure to get death threats as well. I just hoped that I’m too far away and out of his reach that he won’t ever run across me again.

Now with everything packed and ready to go, I decided at the last minute to leave Agent Sean a brief letter about how scared I was to stay inside of the apartment and that I was leaving behind the two thousand dollars I found. I ended the letter by saying that I appreciated everything he did, but that I feared for my life; therefore I felt it would be safe for me to go. The letter was only one page. Plus it was short and sweet. And once I felt it was complete with everything Agent Sean needed to know, I placed it on top of the kitchen table, along with the money I intended to leave and then I headed back into my bedroom to grab my bags so I could leave this place indefinitely.

On my way back into my bedroom, I realized that I still had Bria’s driver’s license in my pocket. I had no intentions to take it with me so I took it out of my pocket, wiped off my fingerprints and then I hid it inside a pair of Bishop’s Timberland boots that were left in the hall closet. When Agent Sean brings his team in this apartment to do a thorough search for evidence that would perhaps bring them closer to Bria’s whereabouts or how she died, then I knew by finding her I.D. would give them a lead. And once that was done, I knew it was time for me to make my getaway.

With my bags in tow, I got to the front door and before I opened it I turned around and took one last look at the apartment. I knew I’d remember the good times I had here. I also knew that I’d remember that incident where I got roughed up by those dumb ass niggas Bishop had instructed to come here. But all and all it would just be memories and they’d forever be stored in the back of my mind. So, after I took a mental picture, I grabbed on the doorknob and opened the door.

I thought I would’ve been ready for what was on the other side of the door but when I pulled the door open far enough to see that I had company, my fucking heart sank. I nearly fainted when I saw Agent Morris and a female agent standing outside my door. Now what in the hell was I going to do now? There I was standing in the entryway of the front door with my travel bags in hand and a handbag filled to the rim with Bishop’s money and his fucking dope, but I couldn’t tell them that. Remember Sean told me to stay at the apartment while he handled the situation with Bishop and then he’d come here immediately thereafter. But that’s not what I did. I totally went against everything he instructed me to do and came up with my own plan. I figured that if I waited here long enough, I’d be putting myself in harms way. I mean, who’s to say that they’d be able to catch Bishop? For all I knew he could’ve been testing me to see if I’d play him like Keisha did. And who’s to say that Agent Sean really had intentions to let me go free and clear? It was all a big gamble. And I was caught directly in the middle of it.