Wifey 4 Life Page 14

  “Make a right turn at this next corner,” I told Jeff.

  It was pitch-dark outside, but the lamps from the tall light poles allowed us to navigate easily inside the small complex. The headlights from the van helped as well.

  “I don’t see my rental car,” I blurted out. “He must’ve moved it.” I stretched my neck forward to see.

  “Where did you park it?” Walt asked.

  I pointed toward a tall tree. “I parked it right there in that last parking space beside that tree.” I looked inside my purse to see if my keys were still there. I shuffled everything around in my handbag, and then I shook it up and down to locate the keys to the car, but I came up empty-handed. “Ahh, shit! He took the keys out of my purse. And he got my hotel room key too. What the fuck am I gonna do now?”

  Walt turned back around in the seat and grabbed my left hand. “Calm down, baby girl. Everything is gonna be all right.”

  “But you don’t understand, Walt. This shit we’re doing can come back and blow up in my face. I mean, I can get in a lot of fucking trouble if we get rid of Tony and then the police find my rental car later with his fingerprints all over it. You know I’m gonna be their number one suspect. And I’ma be honest with you, I’m not trying to be part of a murder investigation.”

  Walt released my hand and placed his finger against his mouth. “Shhh! I’m gonna handle everything.”

  I exhaled and sat back in the chair. By this time, Jeff had pulled the van to the curb.

  “Do you see his car out here?” Griff asked.

  I sat forward once again and strained my eyes so I could see better. I scanned the parking area and realized that Tony’s car was nowhere to be found. I sat back in the seat and let out a big sigh. “Nah, it’s not out there.”

  “What kind of car does he have?” Griff asked.

  “He drives a sky-blue Toyota Camry.”

  Jeff turned off the ignition and then cut off the headlights. “I see a car coming in behind us. You think that could be him?”

  Walt and I both turned around to look out the back window.

  “This car pulling up is smaller than a Camry.” I watched the car slow down and then come to a complete stop.

  “What they doing?” Walt asked.

  “It’s a lady, and she looks like she’s trying to figure out where to park her car,” I said, refocusing my eyes. “Oh shit! That looks like Shannon, Tony’s girlfriend.”

  “Is she alone?” Griff asked. “Yeah, she’s by herself.”

  Walt grabbed both of his guns from the seat beside him. He stuck one in the waist of his jeans and screwed a silencer into the other one. I saw Griff handling his gun too. After he took off the safety, he screwed a silencer into the barrel of his pistol, and then he placed the gun in his right hand and waited for Walt to make the call.

  “Wait until she gets out her car and walks past the van before you jump out on her,” Walt instructed.

  “What we gon’ do? Drag her in her house?” Griff asked.

  “Nah, we gon’ drag her ass in this fucking van.”

  “What we gon’ do if she screams?”

  “If you put your pistol in her mouth, the bitch ain’t gon’ be able to scream.”

  Jeff looked back at Walt. “You got a point there.”

  “I still think she might try to scream,” Griff said.

  “Well, if she does, just hit her in the back of her fucking head. That’ll shut her up real quick.”

  Walt was right. Getting hit in the back of the head with a blunt object would definitely shut up a person. I’d had my share of hits in the back of my head, and that shit ain’t no joke. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if I went to the doctor later on in life and found out that I had some type of brain damage.

  After a couple minutes Shannon found a parking spot. When she stepped out of the car, she was having a conversation on her cell phone, the phone pressed against her right ear. I thought maybe that’s why it had taken her so long to park in the first place. Whatever the caller was saying to her had to be funny, because she was smiling from ear to ear.

  After she ended her call, she stuck her phone inside her handbag, reached inside her car, and grabbed her shopping bags. It looked as if she had just come from the supermarket. I could see a gallon of milk sticking out of one of the four bags bag she was struggling to carry.

  “Here she comes,” Walt announced.

  Knowing what was about to go down, I got scared, although I couldn’t explain why. I mean, I couldn’t care less about this dumb-ass bitch. She wasn’t related to me, and she was very rude to me earlier, so I really didn’t care what happened to her.

  As Shannon approached the right side of the van, Walt and Griff waited patiently for her to get close enough so they could apprehend her. I sat back and counted each step she made in my direction. When I got to twelve, Walt and Griff both opened their doors and jumped out of the van.

  Totally caught off guard, Shannon screamed, dropped her grocery bags, and tried to make a run for it, but Griff stopped her in her tracks, grabbing her by the back of her neck and pointing his gun directly at the back of her head. “If you scream again, I’ma blow your fucking head off !” Shannon buckled at the knees and almost collapsed, but Walt came up from behind and grabbed her by the arm. “A’ight, I gotcha,’ he said, “so take a couple steps backward.”

  Cooperating like she was told, Shannon took the steps backward until she was close enough to the van to get inside. Walt grabbed her by both of her hands and turned her around to face the opening of the van. Her eyes immediately connected with mine. When she realized who I was, she acted like she’d seen a ghost or something. She must have been surprised to see me as one of her kidnappers.

  I turned my head to look out the window as soon as I saw Walt pull out the gray electric tape to tie her wrists together. I waited for her to make a comment or say something to me, but she kept her mouth closed and allowed them to do whatever they wanted.

  When Walt instructed her to get into the van, she did that with no problem, taking a seat in the chair in front of me. Griff picked up her bags of groceries from the ground and threw them in the back of the van where I was sitting. Then he and Walt hopped back into the van.

  “Walt, you think anybody saw us?”

  “Nah, I don’t think so.”

  “I don’t think so either,” I said, “because as soon as she screamed, I looked around outside to see if anyone was looking.”

  Walt sat down beside Shannon and pointed his pistol directly into her face, and Griff turned around in his seat and pointed his gun at her too. I knew they weren’t about to shoot her, but they sure acted like they were. Their faces showed no emotions, but you could tell that they meant business.

  “Where is your boyfriend?” Walt asked her.

  “I don’t know. I haven’t seen him since earlier when I left the house to go to work.” She began sobbing.

  “So you’re telling me you haven’t talked to him all day?” Walt asked.

  “I talked to him twice during my breaks, but we didn’t stay on the phone long.”

  “Did he tell you where he was?” Griff asked.

  With tears falling from her eyes, Shannon looked to the front of the van and answered Griff ’s question. “No, he didn’t say where he was, but he did say he had a run to make, and he would be home when I got here.” I heard the sincerity in her voice, so I knew she wasn’t lying. I believed Walt knew she was telling the truth too, because he came at her with a different approach. “Where is your cell phone?”

  “In my purse.”

  Walt lowered the gun from her head as he reached into her purse to retrieve her cell phone. When he located it, he pulled it out and held it toward her. “What’s his number?”

  “Five, five, five, seven, eight, two, zero,” she said between sniffles. Walt entered the digits. Before he pressed the send button, he gave Shannon specific instructions to find out Tony’s whereabouts, and then tell him to meet her at a remot
e location nearby because her car cut off. He also stressed to her that if she screamed or gave any indication that she was being held hostage, he would splatter her brains everywhere without thinking twice.

  She understood everything he said and she knew he meant every word, because as soon as Tony answered his phone, she sat straight up and cleared her throat, and tried to act normal. Walt had Tony on speakerphone, so we could hear the entire conversation.

  “Baby, where you at?” she asked. Her voice cracked a little bit, but she regained control.

  “I’m taking care of some business. Why?”

  “I’m calling you because my car cut off on me, so I need you to come get me.”

  “Whatcha mean, your car cut off on you? Are you out of gas?”

  “No, I think it might be my alternator, or maybe I might need a jump.”

  “Where you at?” he asked, even though it seemed like he was preoccupied with something else.

  “I’m not too far from the house.”

  “Well, get out the car and walk to the house. I’ll come get you later, so we can try to give it a jump.”

  Walt shook his head and then muted the phone so Tony wouldn’t hear him. “No, tell him he needs to come get you now. Let him know that it’s too late for you to be walking out here alone.”

  “Hello,” Tony said after the brief silence.

  Walt quickly took the phone off mute.

  “I’m here,” Shannon said.

  “So whatcha gon’ do?”

  “Tony, it’s too late for me to be walking out here in the dark like this. You need to come get me now,” she yelled.

  Tony sighed. “Yo, give me twenty minutes, and I’ll be there.”

  “But you don’t even know where I’m at.”

  “Oh shit! My bad! Where you at?”

  Walt muted the phone again. “Tell ’im you on Providence Road in the same shopping center where Upscales is.”

  “Hello?”

  Walt un-muted the phone again.

  “Yeah, I’m here.”

  “What’s wrong with your phone?” he asked, sounding agitated.

  “Ain’t nothing wrong with my phone.”

  “If ain’t nothing wrong with it, then why does it keep going in and out?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Well, you need to have that shit checked out. Now tell me where you at.”

  “I’m on Providence Road near Upscales.”

  “Where ’bout?”

  “I’m at the end of the shopping center. You’ll see my car.”

  “A’ight. I’ll be there in a few.”

  “OK.”

  Walt took the phone from her ear and pressed down on the end button. “Griff, you gon’ have to drive her car down to Providence Road.”

  “A’ight, give me her keys.”

  Walt looked at Shannon and asked her for her car keys.

  “I stuck ’em in my purse.”

  When Walt had her keys in his hand, he handed them to Griff.

  “You got your gloves?” Walt asked him.

  “Yeah, they in my pocket.”

  “Well, don’t forget to put ’em on before you get into her car.”

  “I’m putting them on as we speak.”

  “Are y’all gonna kill me?” Shannon asked before Griff got out of the van.

  I felt her pain, because I had been in the same situation a handful of times during my life. I knew how it felt, wanting to know if you were about to take your last breath.

  Walt turned and looked at Griff, and then he looked back at Shannon. The next thing I know, he raised his gun and pointed it directly at her face.

  She started crying instantly. “Please don’t kill me! I’ll do anything you ask.”

  I closed my eyes and put my face in my hands. I knew Walt was about to take her out, because of the blank expression on his face.

  “Please! Please!” she kept saying.

  Then, all of a sudden, I heard a loud Thump!

  I wanted to remove my hands from my face, but I wasn’t sure if he’d shot her in the head or what. I wasn’t prepared to see her brains splattered all over the place.

  “You can take your hands away from your face,” Walt said to me.

  “Nah, I’m all right.”

  Griff laughed. “She doesn’t want to see all that blood.”

  “Well, she better get used to it, because tonight is going to be a long night.”

  Right after Walt made his comment, I heard him move around in the van, and then I heard him rattle the plastic. I didn’t have to see what he was doing to know he was moving Shannon’s body so he could wrap her in the plastic. He made enough grunting noises to let me know that he was struggling to accomplish his mission. I heard Griff climb back from the front seat to help him.

  “Grab that end of the plastic while I lay her this way,” Walt said.

  “Why don’t you just roll her this way, while I fold the plastic that way?”

  “A’ight.”

  The rattling of the plastic lasted for another ninety seconds, and then it stopped. I decided to move my hands. I looked straight down to the floor of the van and noticed that Shannon was indeed dead and wrapped tightly in the industrial-strength plastic. Thank God, I couldn’t see any of her blood, because I don’t think I would have been able to handle it. I’d seen my cousin Nikki as she lay dying in a puddle of her own blood, which had messed me up pretty badly already.

  “Where you wanna dump her body?” Griff asked.

  “We can dump her in that wooded area on South Military Highway behind that salon called Star Struck,” Walt suggested.

  “Oh, yeah, that’s a good spot. Ain’t nobody gonna find her for at least a couple months,” Griff said as he crawled back into the front seat. “I’m gon’ go ahead and get in her car before somebody drives up and sees me.”

  “Yeah, go ahead and take her car down there to Providence Road, and me and Jeff will meet you there in about ten minutes.”

  “You better make it sooner than that. I don’t want her nigga rolling up on me and I’m by myself.”

  “Nigga, don’t let me find out you scared!” Jeff joked.

  Walt laughed. “Come on, don’t talk like that. You know you’d be able to handle things without us.”

  “I know I can too, but I ain’t trying to take the chances of that nigga rolling up on me while he got somebody with him.”

  “He’s right,” I chimed in. “Tony sounded like he was with someone, so there’s a big possibility that he may come with that person.”

  “You better listen to her, Walt,” Griff said.

  Walt thought for a second and then said, “All right, just follow me and Jeff to that spot, so we can get rid of this body, and then we’ll head down to Providence together.”

  “A’ight.” Griff got out of the van and ran over to Shannon’s car. Jeff sped out of the parking lot, and Griff followed. We were only three miles from the wooded area, so it only took us about five minutes to get there.

  As soon as we arrived at the wooded area, Griff parked Shannon’s car on the opposite side of the street, and then he raced across the street to where Jeff had parked the van. Walt opened the side door of the van, while Griff and Jeff stood outside to help him dispose of the body. They all wore dark clothing, so it was hard to see them in the dark.

  After they removed Shannon’s body from the van, they started walking into the thick thicket of trees that sat about two hundred feet from the highway. It soon became difficult for me to see them.

  A couple cars rode by while they were away from the van, and my heart jumped all over the place while my stomach did some flips. I knew I was in the wrong, but I still prayed to God that a police car wouldn’t ride by and get suspicious because of the van being parked at such a remote location.

  Curiosity was killing the hell out of me. I wanted to know where they left her body. It wasn’t like I wanted to go back and locate her body or anything, but I wanted to be included. I took the ride
, so why couldn’t I know what went on out there? I knew how to keep secrets.

  Immediately after they returned, Walt and Jeff jumped back into the van, and Griff hopped back into Shannon’s car. Jeff whipped the van around and had us back on the main highway in less than four seconds flat. I looked out the back window and saw that Griff had turned around Shannon’s car to follow us.

  Our destination on Providence Road was about a six-minute drive. When we got there Walt asked me, “What color is his car again?”

  “It’s sky-blue. Why?”

  “Do you see it?”

  I looked around the entire parking lot of the nightclub, Upscales, and Tony’s Camry was nowhere in sight. “Nope, I don’t see it.”

  Walt exhaled. “Good. We beat ’im here.” He got on his cellular phone and called Griff to give him further instructions. He told Griff to park Shannon’s car, with the tail facing the street, and to lift up the hood. That way, when Tony drove up, he’d only see the car from behind.

  Griff did exactly what Walt instructed him to do, and then we all sat back and waited patiently for Tony’s arrival.

  The twenty minutes he said it would take him to arrive at the location seemed like they took forever. I looked at the clock on the stereo system in the front of the van at least ten times, and every time I looked at it, the time would only show it to be a minute later than the previous time I looked.

  Everyone sat in the van and said nothing. It was so quiet, I could hear Jeff when he inhaled and exhaled. And every time a car drove up, we all turned around to see if it was Tony, but it never was.

  While we all sat quietly in the van, Walt got the urge to call Griff on his cell phone. When Griff answered, Walt put the call on speakerphone and said, “I think you need to get out of the car and act like you’re doing something underneath the hood.”

  “But he might see me,” Griff said.

  “From the way you got her car parked, you can’t see who’s underneath the hood.”

  “Yeah,” Jeff said, “tell ’im homeboy ain’t gon’ be able to see him.”

  “Jeff just said you a’ight, nigga, so stop whining.” Walt laughed.