Friend or Foe Page 4

  “I know. I know. She didn’t deserve it. I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” Kelsi cried as she held onto her best friend. “She didn’t deserve it at all.”

  * * *

  The day after Cheyenne arrived in Brooklyn, the detectives showed up at the house. There were two of them—one white and one black. Cheyenne didn’t really trust the police; she didn’t care if they were white, black, blue, or green. In her assessment, the police were responsible for every single negative thing she’d ever gone through in her life.

  Detective Brice Simpson introduced himself first, leaving the fat, white detective behind him like an assistant. Detective Simpson was the detective who stood out to Cheyenne as soon as he introduced himself. Oddly enough, and for a fleeting moment, Cheyenne thought the detective was strikingly handsome with a well-groomed mustache and goatee. His hair was cut low with waves that were perfect. He seemed like any other guy from her neighborhood. He even wore jeans with a nice V-neck sweater instead of a suit and trench coat like most detectives she knew about.

  Detective Simpson walked into the apartment with a commanding presence, but Cheyenne still sensed his sympathy for her family’s loss. He did all the talking. After the introductions, the white detective with Detective Simpson mostly took notes.

  “Let me first say again, I’m deeply sorry for your loss,” Detective Simpson said, looking from Cheyenne to her father to Kelsi and back to Cheyenne.

  He spoke with a sincerity Cheyenne didn’t expect. “Cops are dicks” had been her philosophy so long she didn’t know how to think now in the presence of one so relatable.

  “Your mother was shot in cold blood. There was nothing taken from her. We found all her jewelry, wallet, everything intact, except her ID was missing. When we see things like this, we think it’s personal,” Detective Simpson said, staring directly at Cheyenne, who quickly darted her eyes over to her father.

  A sob bubbled up from Cheyenne’s throat, and she threw her hand over her mouth. Her father shifted on the couch, where they all sat huddled together. Detective Simpson gave Cheyenne a minute before he continued. She dug the balls of her hands into her eyes to clear away the tears and focused on his face again. She was shaking visibly. Her head pounded.

  “Is there anyone you could think of that would have something personal against your mother . . . your wife?” Detective Simpson asked, looking from Cheyenne to her father and back again. He spoke like he knew more than he was letting on in Cheyenne’s opinion.

  Cheyenne wasted no time. She shook her head vigorously back and forth as the tears started up again. She felt like someone had a hand around her throat. She couldn’t speak, but her body language said enough.

  “Man, my wife was as gentle as they came. Nobody would want to hurt her,” her father answered on their family’s behalf. “This is a shock to us all.”

  Detective Simpson gave her father a look. The detective shook his head like he wanted to understand the man sitting in front of him, who wasn’t shedding a tear although his wife had just been brutally murdered and his daughter was sobbing into his chest.

  “What’s been going on at home? Any drama? Any conflicts?” Detective Simpson asked, lacing his fingers together in front of him.

  “Nah, man. Everything here was peachy. We are a close family, and my wife was everything to me. To all of us,” Big K quickly answered.

  Kelsi stood up and moved to the love seat directly across from Detective Simpson. He looked over at her. She lowered her eyes and started swinging her legs in and out. Cheyenne noticed. She knew her friend so well.

  “Well, my fath—he, um, just recently came home from being in prison,” Cheyenne piped up.

  Detective Simpson turned his attention away from Kelsi and back to Cheyenne.

  “Things haven’t been so peachy,” Cheyenne blurted honestly. She shook her head and wrung her hands together. “My brother is on the street selling drugs. Working for a dude that is my father’s known enemy. Kelsi basically has lived with us since we were kids because her mother is on crack and used to really abuse her, which she still struggles with. I just left for college, and there was a bunch of craziness going on right before I left. I just don’t know if any of it is related to something like—to... this,” Cheyenne rattled off, letting out all of their family secrets. She didn’t care whose feelings got hurt or who was offended. She would say anything that might help the detectives find out who killed her mother.

  Kelsi sucked her teeth, and her nostrils flared, but she didn’t say a word to Cheyenne about the description of her life.

  Detective Simpson sat quiet for a few minutes. His eyes had questions, so Cheyenne knew more were coming.

  “So, you’ve been gone to medical school in Texas? Your brother is gone from home? Who was here? Just your parents?” he asked, his forehead creased.

  “And her,” Cheyenne said, tilting her head toward Kelsi. “My best friend who, like I said, has been basically living with my family since we were kids,” Cheyenne said, looking over at Kelsi now.

  Kelsi stopped swinging her legs in and out. She’d had enough of Cheyenne speaking about her like she wasn’t even in the room.

  “Excuse me. I need to use the bathroom,” Kelsi said as she jumped up from the love seat like she had springs on her butt. She rushed to the back of the apartment and slammed the bathroom door.

  “I guess she’s emotional, huh?” Detective Simpson asked. “Pretty hard losing someone close to you, blood related or not.”

  Cheyenne shook her head in the affirmative. “To give you some clarification on the type of person my mother was—she took care of Kelsi like she was her own child. How many women can you say would do that? There is no one I could think of, for any reason in the world, that would just shoot my mother down like a hunted animal,” she told him. “There is not one soul I could think of that would ever hurt my mother. When you get to know her, you’ll see what I mean, detective,” Cheyenne said through sobs. She laid her head back on her father’s shoulder.

  Detective Simpson took a deep breath and bit down into his jaw. He looked at the other detective, who stopped writing at that point and looked up and around like he’d been lost in his notepad.

  “Cheyenne, I usually don’t make promises when it comes to my cases, but I’m making the exception for you. I promise you I will find your mother’s killer, and when I do, I will make sure that person never sees the light of day again,” Detective Simpson told Cheyenne with feeling. “Oh, and I’ll start with speaking to each family member separately. Including Kelsi,” Detective Simpson said, shooting her father a squinty-eyed look.

  Then the detective stood up. “I’ll be at the station tomorrow. Why don’t you all come down and we can get started?”

  “Thank you. I really appreciate it. Everybody will speak to you willingly,” Cheyenne replied, looking at her father for confirmation. He opened his hands and nodded slightly.

  “Trust me, my mother didn’t deserve to die like that,” Cheyenne continued through tears. She stood up and shook Detective Simpson’s hand. She looked in his eyes, and she saw a sincerity she had never seen from anyone other than her mother. Cheyenne knew then that he was going to solve the case.

  Chapter 4

  Cheyenne

  Being home from medical school sent Cheyenne into a deep depression. She’d barely eaten, and talking was out of the question. Lil Kev had come home only twice since she’d been back in Brooklyn, a fact that disturbed Cheyenne. He hadn’t said much to anyone, and she hadn’t seen him shed a tear for their mother. Cheyenne knew her brother had grown more selfish as he got older, but she never expected it to be like this. He had to be the angriest young person she knew on the planet.

  On the first full day at home, Cheyenne forced herself to get out of bed after a sleepless night. She padded into the kitchen. Everything there reminded her of her mother. The cow-spot patterned dish towels and potholders hanging neatly from little pegs above the sink had been her mother’s quirky joke o
ne time after they drove cross country on college tours for Cheyenne. The gleaming silver dish rack had been her mother’s prized kitchen accessory, because when her mother was growing up, all her family could afford were the cheap, plastic ones that quickly grew mold. Everything in the house had a lighthearted explanation for being there. That was how fun her mother was.

  Cheyenne swallowed hard and stood in front of the refrigerator. She yanked open the freezer to get ice for her glass, and there it was. Cheyenne sucked in her breath. The glass slid from her hand and shattered into pieces as it hit the tile floor. Cheyenne reached out and touched the frozen cake top, and as if she had been teleported to that place and time, her mind reeled back.

  * * *

  “Surprise!”

  Cheyenne almost jumped out of her skin when she walked into the Carey Gardens community center. Her cheeks flamed over, and her heart thundered with excitement. She clutched her chest to make sure her heart didn’t jump loose. There were so many people huddled together. Cheyenne didn’t even know what to say or do. She stood frozen, her mouth and eyes wide.

  “Aha! We got you!” Kelsi yelled as she ran straight into Cheyenne with a big bear hug, breaking up the awkward moment.

  “Surprise, baby girl!” her mother yelled and then grabbed her and kissed her on the cheek.

  Everyone in the room laughed, talked, and cheered Cheyenne on.

  “Oh my God! I can’t believe y’all got me so good. I really thought I was coming here for Tanya’s baby shower,” Cheyenne replied, red-faced. The crowd laughed. Cell phones popped out from everywhere to snap pictures and videos of her.

  “Yo! You are so hard to surprise. You are mad nosey! All day you kept asking me where I was going, what I was doing, why I’m not coming with you to get your hair done, then caught an attitude because I wouldn’t tell you! Damn! You are one nosey-ass chick!” Kelsi complained jokingly.

  She was right. Cheyenne had copped a salty attitude when she thought Kelsi was brushing her off all day so she could be with her lowlife boyfriend.

  “Yes, lawd! Hiding stuff from you is almost impossible. I had to keep everything for the party hidden in the nurses’ lounge at the hospital,” her mother followed up with the biggest grin she could muster on her face.

  Cheyenne reached out and gave her mother another big hug. She could never know how much Cheyenne appreciated her.

  “Well, y’all both know I am an investigator on the low. Neither one of y’all can do anything without me, so this was totally a surprise. Y’all did real good hiding this one from me,” Cheyenne joked. She felt over the moon happy. At that moment, she loved her mother and Kelsi so much.

  It definitely turned into a party. The entire neighborhood had come out. Even Ms. Lula, who’d gotten so fat over the years it was hard for her to get out of her apartment, was there, shaking her cane to the music. Some of Cheyenne’s high school and college friends were there too. She couldn’t believe her mother and Kelsi had pulled it off without her even having an inkling something had been going on.

  “What up, sis? Congrats on graduating and happy birthday,” Lil Kev said dryly as he bopped in and gave Cheyenne a quick tap-hug. She noticed that her brother acted like he was embarrassed to hug his own sister. Cheyenne also noticed the six seedy-looking street dudes he’d brought with him. She shrugged, thinking maybe they were supposed to be Lil Kev’s thug entourage. Yeah, right. He was still her baby brother. Period.

  “Thanks, baby bro. But you know we need to talk, right?” Cheyenne said to Lil Kev, her tone serious.

  Cheyenne hadn’t forgotten that he had not been home in three days. He had not been listening to their mother at all, and they’d all been worried sick over him. Cheyenne was glad to see him there safe and sound, but she still intended to give him more than just a piece of her mind when they were alone.

  “Nah, we ain’t gotta talk. I’m a man. I’m a’ight. Enjoy your party... nerd,” Lil Kev said, trying to make light of the situation.

  Cheyenne immediately noticed the strain on her mother’s face as she watched their interaction. For her mother’s sake, Cheyenne dropped the subject. For the time being.

  Cheyenne went back to the party, intent on enjoying herself so that her mother’s hard work wouldn’t be in vain. The music pumped. Her mother had gone all out on the food. All of Cheyenne’s favorites—fried shrimp, fried lobster tails, collard greens, candied yams—were there in abundance. The decorations were beautiful. Everything, including the beautiful sequinned drapes that had transformed the community center into a high-class venue, was gold and purple. Her mother had always said those two colors together reminded her of royalty. Cheyenne agreed that everything there was fit for a queen.

  Cheyenne had been making her rounds, saying hello to all her friends when the music suddenly stopped. They all turned to see what happened. Cheyenne knew from experience that stopping the music at a hood party was like keeping the earth from rotating. She saw her mother standing next to the DJ setup.

  “Hello! Hello! Can I have everyone’s attention, please,” her mother said into the DJ’s microphone.

  Everyone there turned to face her. The room got quiet. Cheyenne looked at her mother. She was absolutely beautiful; she still had it. All the years of hard work and sleepless nights had done little damage to her mother’s flawless face. Of course, she had gained a few pounds—women did as they aged—but she still had a nice stomach, legs, and round hips.

  “Today is a very special day for me, my family, and especially for my daughter. I don’t think God could have blessed me with a better daughter. Cheyenne, you are kind, smart, beautiful, and all a mother could ask for in a daughter and best friend. I am very proud of you. We have been though a lot as a family, but you never left my side.” Her mother choked out her words.

  Cheyenne had already started crying just watching the beautiful soul that she was proud to call her mother. Kelsi swiped at her face, trying to make sure no one saw her tears. Lil Kev rolled his eyes and put his head down, trying to hide his emotions, too.

  “I wanted to give you this party as your coming out. You are a woman now. There are things you will learn as you get older. I will be here for you through it all. So, with that said, I wanted your twenty-first birthday to be more memorable than you could’ve ever imagined. I have one more surprise for you,” her mother said behind the bright smile that always danced on her face.

  Hushed murmurs immediately spread over the crowd like a wave. Cheyenne heard some of her party guests whispering, “She’s gonna get a car,” and “Maybe it’s the keys to a new condo.”

  Cheyenne’s eyebrows rose into arches. Her mother had done enough for her. She’d paid for Cheyenne’s entire college education, books, food, clothes, and everything. She had told Cheyenne she did not have to work while she went to school. Cheyenne knew that had taken a financial toll on her mother. She’d watched her mother work overtime shifts, come home, get five hours of sleep, and head right back to work, all for her and Lil Kev. Cheyenne just couldn’t imagine her mother giving her much more.

  “Cheyenne, for years I have wanted to give you this gift. I prayed and I prayed about it. Well, today, I can finally give it to you. Come on in!” her mother yelled into the microphone excitedly.

  Cheyenne’s face crumpled in confusion. Everyone watched as the door beside the DJ setup opened slowly. The room went pin-drop quiet. Then, loud cheers, yells, ohs and ahs erupted in the room.

  Cheyenne’s eyes flew open as wide they could go. She felt hot all over her body. Her stomach curled into a knot. Tears sprang to her eyes.

  “Oh my God! It’s Big K! Big K!” Kelsi was the first one to acknowledge him verbally. She dashed for him and ran into him for a hug. He smiled and returned her embrace, but he never took his eyes off of Cheyenne.

  Cheyenne couldn’t move. Her feet had become rooted to the floor. Her mouth had suddenly gone cotton-ball dry. She hadn’t laid eyes on her father in the six years since she’d stopped going to the visits. He w
as the same, but different. Cheyenne tried to remember the last time she’d seen him, but her mind drew a blank. She blinked rapidly, but she could tell she was crying because her father’s silhouette became blurry as the tears obscured her vision.

  Cheyenne put her hand over her chest. Her heart raced painfully against her ribcage. She choked on her own breath now.

  Daddy? Is that really you? My daddy? Cheyenne said in her head, but the words wouldn’t come.

  “Congratulations, baby girl,” her father said, his voice as deep and soothing as Cheyenne remembered it. He grabbed her and pulled her into him.

  Cheyenne had finally taken enough air into her lungs to keep herself from passing out. She swallowed the tennis ball–sized lump that had lodged in her throat. She didn’t know what to say to him or how to react toward him.

  “Daddy,” Cheyenne finally croaked out breathlessly.

  Her father kissed the top of her head and squeezed her hard with his huge, muscular arms. He had gotten bigger than Cheyenne ever remembered him being. He’d also grown a full beard. Cheyenne could feel the beard hairs on her head.

  “Yes, baby girl, it’s your daddy. I’m home. I’m finally home,” her father said.

  Cheyenne could tell he was crying too.

  “I’ve missed you so much. You’re so beautiful. I’m so proud of you,” her father spoke into her ear.

  Cheyenne inhaled her father’s scent and silently thanked God he was back.

  When he finally let her go, he wiped away his tears and hers. He held Cheyenne out in front of him and took a good look at her.

  “Wow! What a lucky man I am to have such a beautiful baby girl,” her father huffed like his breath had been taken away.

  Cheyenne smiled. Her father still had some of the qualities she remembered.

  “Where’s my little man at?” her father asked Cheyenne, scanning around for Lil Kev.

  The crowd opened up so her father could go embrace his son. Lil Kev had been standing with his little crew, talking like nothing special had happened. He acted like his father being home hadn’t fazed him one bit. Lil Kev’s face went stony when he saw his father moving toward him.