Killing Them Softly (19 page)

When I left my apartment, I took the stairway down to the street and went out the back door. There were two dead people in my apartment, and unless she was kidding, and I don’t think she was, one of them had killed three people. I still couldn’t believe that Qianna had killed Tyrone, but to find out that she had killed Devin’s wife for him was more than I could take in at one time. It took a while for me to calm down, and to think straight about what I was going to do next.

I knew at some point that the police would have to become involved. If that were the case, I knew that I would need a lawyer. I got myself together and walked to the first pay phone I could find, and was about to call Albert Weinstein, when my cell phone rang.

I pulled the phone from my pocket and looked at the display: Angel. I smiled when I saw her name. For a split second, I forgot that there were two dead bodies in my apartment, and I answered the phone. "Hello."

"Hello, Avonte. This is Angel. Did I catch you at a bad time?"

Instead of answering her, I started to cry.

"Avonte," Angel said. "Are you all right?"

"No," I cried even harder.

"Okay, just calm down and tell me what’s wrong?"

I took a deep breath and tried to pull it together. "I can’t tell you. Not over the phone."

"Okay, tell me where you are and I’ll come to you."

"I’m at my apartment. Let me give you the address."

"No need. I know where you live. I dropped your scandalous friend off there before. I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes," Angel promised.

When Angel got there, I was waiting for her outside, and we went in together. Once we got in the apartment, I finally told her what happened. I led Angel to the bedroom and pointed inside, because I knew that I couldn’t go in.

Angel walked in the bedroom and looked at Devin and Qianna, dead on my king-size bed. "Devin?" Angel said quietly, when she recognized him.

"Do you know him?" I asked as Angel came out of the room.

"I met him at a club and we went out once," she said, and closed the door behind. Then she got a tissue out of her bag and wiped her fingerprints off the door. "Come on. Let’s get out of here so we can talk."

We left the apartment and went down the street to the bar on the corner, and sat at a booth in the back. After the waitress brought our drinks, I told Angel the whole story. From the time I first met Devin in Puerto Rico, to our meeting Qianna, to what had happened that night. Once I explained it all to her, Angel looked at me. "Your shit is fucked up, girl." Angel pulled out her cell. "Let me see if I can help you get outta this."

Angel

When Avonte told me her story, I knew that I had to do something to try and help her. She had nothing to do with all of those murders, but I knew just like she did, that if she called the cops, she would be hip-deep in their murderous mess. "Hey, girl. It’s Angel, what’s up?"

"Nothing much, Angel. What’s going on with you?"

"A really dear friend of mine is in trouble, and she needs some advice on what to do," I said, and held Avonte’s hand. "My girl here is a defense attorney."

I explained the situation to her and she listened quietly, and then she gave me her best advice.

"Okay, Angel, you said that the woman stabbed the man, and then he strangled her. Is that correct?"

"Yes, that’s what happened."

"And right now, they are both in her bedroom dead on the bed. Is that right?"

"Yes."

"Where is she now?"

"She’s right here sitting next to me. We’re at a bar down the street from the apartment."

"Good. Find out how long she’s been gone from the apartment?"

"How long you been gone from the apartment?"

"No more than twenty-five, maybe thirty minutes," Avonte said, and I relayed what she said.

"Is there a store nearby where you are now? A deli or a liquor store maybe?"

"There’s a liquor store about a block from here."

"Good, ask her if she has a credit card with her?"

"Avonte, do you have a credit card with you?"

"No, I just ran out of the apartment. I didn’t bring anything with me."

"I heard her, and that’s not good," Wanda said, and took a deep breath. "All right, tell her that what I need her to do is to go back to her apartment. Get a credit card and go buy something from that liquor store, whatever she drinks is fine. I need her to do this as quickly as possible, because the clock is ticking. Now, when she’s been to the store and bought something, go back to the apartment. When you get in the room where the bodies are, I want you to scream as loud as you can. And then I want her to call the police."

"I understand."

"This is very important. What she’s gonna to tell the police, is that the two of them came to her apartment together. That she left them there to go and get something to drink, and when she came back, that is how she found them. Do you think you can do that?"

"I don’t know, Wanda. That seems like a lot of work."

"It’s the best advice I can offer, Angel."

"That’s okay, girl. Maybe I should just call Mike."

"If you think that’s best, Angel. Give me a call and let me know if you or your friend needs me," Wanda said, and ended the call.

I explained to Avonte what Wanda said, and she wasn’t feeling it either. "I got somebody else to call. In fact, I should have called him first." I dialed the number I had, and waited for somebody to answer.

"Hello."

"Hey, Victor, this is Angel, how are you?"

"Doin’ fine, Angel. What about you?"

"You know me, always got something going on. Is he with you?"

"He’s right here. Hold on."

"Who is it?" I heard him in the background.

"It’s Angel."

"What’s up, Angel?" Mike asked when he got on the phone.

"I need your help, Mike."

"That’s the only time you call me these days, is when you need help."

"Well, you are my other big brother," I said, and gave Mike my innocent little-girl giggle. "Who else I’ma call but you? Besides, when my brother left the city, you said you’d look out for me."

"How is your brother, anyway?"

"I talked to Leon the other day. He said that things ain’t all that good in da ’ville, and he might have to make a move back this way."

"Oh, yeah," Mike said, like he was glad to hear it. When Leon left New York it was over something Mike was involved in. Since then, Mike has looked out for me like a big brother. "You tell that nigga to holla at me."

"I will, next time I talk to him. But Mike, I’m for real, I really need your help."

"What’s going on, Angel?"

"I don’t want to go into detail on the phone," I said, and told him where we were. "I need you to come right away, Mike. Please don’t keep me waitin’ all night. You know how you do me."

"I don’t know what you talkin’ about, Angel," Mike said, and laughed.

"Yes, you do. I know you will hang up this phone and say ‘
she’ll be all right’
. So if you ain’t coming now, please tell me so I don’t have to sit here all night lookin’ like a fool."

"I’m coming right now, for real, Angel," Mike said, and I let him get off the phone.

I signaled for a waitress and ordered drinks. I figured that he would get there in an hour or two. So I was very surprised when I finished my drink, and looked up to see him coming through the door.

"Avonte, this is my big brother, Mike Black. Well—he ain’t my real brother, but anyway. Mike, this is my friend Avonte."

"It’s nice to meet you, Avonte."

I stood up. "Avonte, would you excuse us," I said, and took Mike by the hand and led him outside. I told him what Avonte told me.

"So what you call me for, Angel?"

"’Cause I like her, Mike. I don’t want her to have to go through all that madness with the police."

"What you want me to do, Angel?"

"I don’t know. I didn’t wanna do all that stuff Wanda was talkin’ about."

"You already talked to Wanda?"

"Yes."

"And what did Wanda want you to do?"

"Go back to the apartment and get her credit card, go buy something, then go back and call the cops. That was too complicated. Can’t you just take care of this for me?" I pouted and folded my arms across my chest.

Then I gave him the look.

"Go get your friend, Angel."

"Thank you, Mike," I said, and kissed him on the cheek. I went inside and got Avonte, and the three of us went back to the apartment together. When we got there, Avonte showed him the bodies.

We walked as quickly as we could back to my apartment building. Once we got to the building, we went in through the service entrance, and returned to my apartment.

Mike—who was sexy as hell—told me to get whatever I was going to need from there. When we had my stuff together, Mike told us to leave and not come back, until he called Angel. I grabbed my purse and was about to leave, but I couldn’t resist looking in the bedroom to make sure they were still there. I began shaking like it actually was the first time I had seen the bodies. Once I had satisfied myself that neither of them had come back from the dead, I left the apartment. I never knew what he did with the bodies, or how he got all the blood from the carpet or the mattress, but I couldn’t tell that they had killed each other in there.

The problems began when the detectives asked me to come in, and began asking me questions about Qianna. It seems that in addition to me and Angel, Qianna had another lover. She reported her missing, and told the police that the last time she saw Qianna, she was on her way to my apartment.

Naturally, my fear was that they would figure out that Qianna had killed Tyrone, and they would assume that I was at worst, in on it, if I hadn’t planned it myself. But the detectives only asked a few questions, which I answered honestly, almost. I told them that she never made it to my apartment that night. That I was out with a friend, and we had drinks at the bar on the corner.

A few days later, the detectives returned to my apartment and told me that Qianna was a convicted murderer, whose weapon of choice was a knife.

They told me that Qianna matched the general description of the woman that was seen with Tyrone at Shooters, on the night he was killed. At that point, I was sure that they would connect her to Tyrone’s murder, and I would be arrested.

The investigation went on for over a week, and I ended up calling Angel’s lawyer friend, Wanda. After Wanda spoke with the detectives, she told me not worry, that all they had was a vague description of a black woman, and that they couldn’t place her at the scene of the crime. Wanda said that they’d shown her picture to some of the people who were at the bar that night, but none of them could positively identify her. I think that was the only thing that saved me, and I knew I had dodged a bullet.

When the case was finally laid to rest, I needed to get away for a while. Get out of the city and away from all the madness. But I didn’t want to go alone. I could only think of one person to call.

"I’ve got to get out of the city for a while," I told her.

"After all you’ve been through; I can’t say I blame you. I think that’s a good idea. Where are you thinking about going?"

"I don’t know, but I was thinking about just getting in the car, droppin’ the top, and going wherever the road takes me."

"That sound like it might be fun. I wish I could just up and go like that."

"Well, to be honest with you, that’s why I’m calling you."

"What do you mean?"

"I wanted to know if you wanted to come with me."

"Me?"

"Yes, you."

It took me a while to convince her, but I wore her down, and we planned to leave the next day. When I got to her apartment, she threw her bag in the trunk and got in the car.

"You ready to go, Angel?"

"As ready as I’ll ever be," Angel told me, and we drove away.