Chapter 1
Rico Briggs
Everything to Lose
“We’re going to go ahead, and try to make this quick, man. I’ve seen the news, so I know that you already have a lot going on with football, and sitting here inside this interrogation room is the last place where you want to be, so we’ll do what we can to not have you here too long. Just help us, help you. Don’t come in here with bluff. Just tell us what we want to hear, so that you can go on about your day. Cool?” the detective asked me.
His name was detective Bryant. Up until today, I had never laid eyes on him.
From the bags that he had under his eyes, the lines on his forehead that were staring at me, I could tell that he had been in this line of business for years and was probably always stressed out. He was a white detective, and just by how firm, and straight forward he was, I could tell that he wasn’t the kind of person that you could bullshit. He looked like he could call someone out on a lie. I could tell that he took pride in getting bad people off the street, so he probably did whatever he could to build solid cases. Even with all of that, I wasn’t scared.
Was I caught off guard? A little bit. I didn’t expect for Toby’s murder to point back to me. I knew the kind of person that Tobywas, therefore, I wasn’t the only person that he was beefing with. He went through life rubbing people the wrong way. Plus, I’d done my homework before killing that nigga.
I knew that his apartment complex was an area that had a high crime rate. So much so, when residents would call the police over to that area, they would take their time in showing up. To the point that officers didn’t even like to patrol that area because they would be outnumbered by the residents that stayed there, and that hated cops.
I’ve been around those buildings long enough, scoping out Toby, getting familiar with his schedule to know that there weren’t any cameras out there, keeping tabs on anything. No kind of surveillance. Nothing being used to watch that block. A lot of the residents that resided there were also piss poor, who had been staying there for decades to come, so it wasn’t like they owned Ring doorbells set up outside their doors, capturing any kind of surveillance, either. I knew that I was going through something heavy right now dealing with my football career, and was just a little depressed, but I wasn’t foolish enough to pull up on Toby in broad daylight, shoot through the window and kill him, if I thought I was going to get caught.
These pigs didn’t have anything to pin his murder on me, which is why I was only called in today as a person of interest. I wasn’t being charged with this shit.
They probably did some digging, probably talked to Toby’s cousin Jax, and maybe Jax ran his mouth, and told him about the ongoing beef between Toby and I. Other than that, I didn’t know how they would pin this on me. Also, it was to my understanding that Toby had anonymously sent that shit to my school regarding the sports betting that I was a part of with him, so it wasn’t like they would come to me because of that, thinking that I had a motive.
Instead of answering his question, I just kept my gaze on him, basically letting him know that I was ready for whatever he had for me.
I sat before him, and two more detectives. One was sitting on the side of the table, with a pad in his hands, more than likely going to take down notes on whatever was said in here. Then, there was another detective that sat next to detective Bryant. These were the same detectives that had come to my dad’s crib about an hour ago, knocking on the door, looking for me.
My dad was angry, cursing them out, so I had to come down, deescalate the situation by letting my dad know that I didn’t mind going with them because I didn’t have anything to hide. Well, I did, but I could do a damn good job at hiding it.
The look on my dad’s face, and Tank’s face was one of uneasiness. I had to ride in the back of the cop car, and Tank, and my pops made it clear that they were going to follow behind us. Of course, they wouldn’t allow them to come in the back with us, but I’m sure that they were still up front, waiting on me to come out.
“Alright. Let’s get to it. Do you know him?” detective Bryant asked, right before he started up the recorder, going to record this entire interrogation.
He opened a manila folder, pulled out a mugshot photo of Toby, and he slid it across to me. I had a black hoodie over my head, with my hands inside my pockets. All I had to do was look at the picture for a couple of seconds, and then I put my gaze back on them.
“I know him. That’s Toby,” I responded, sticking with the truth until it came time for me to lie.
“And how do you know Toby? How does the hottest wide receiver in the country know a guy who’s criminal record goes back to middle school? What circles were you running in with him? I’ve seen your picture advertised on magazine covers, whilehis is always being advertised on mugshots,” he kept going, not giving me a minute to jump in, and let him know how I knew Toby.
“Damn, you going to let me tell you how I know him or what?” I snapped, getting annoyed with his ass.
He shot me the nastiest look that he could muster, and then he ushered with his hand for me to go ahead.
“I went to school with Toby. Before I became the hottest wide receiver in the country, like you just mentioned, I was somebody that didn’t have nothing. I grew up in the same projects as Toby,” I let him know, and he nodded, along with the other detectives.
“And with everything that you have going on now with football, gracing magazine covers, your big NIL deals, fashion shows that I’ve seen you in, all of that, and you still kept in contact with Toby over the years? Why? You two don’t seem to have much in common,” he kept putting heavy emphasis on the fact that Toby, and I were so much different from one another, and I knew that he was trying to go somewhere by continuing to make that statement.
“So, in other words, you’re asking me why I didn’t stop fuckin with my friends that I grew up with once I started making money? I should cut my family off too then, right? Life changed for me with football. It didn’t change for a lot of the people in my family, or a lot of people that I went to school with. I’m still the same Rico as I was before I started making money. I still pull up to my old high school, and I kick it with my teachers from time to time. I still check on some childhood friends from time to time too. I didn’t start getting money and start saying fuck everybody from the past. I knew that me and Toby were different. That’s a grown ass man, and I wasn’t going to choose to not fuck with him because our lifestyles not being the same,” I went on.
“Lifestyles were different in just a few ways. I heard that you two were working closely together when it came to illegal betting,” detective Bryant went on to say, and I chuckled at that.
“Exactly… you heard. All that stuff was anonymously sent in. Nobody knows who it came from. Stop it with the scare tactics,” I went on to say, taking my eyes off him for a second, only so that I could look at the clock that was hanging up on the wall.
I was curious to see what time it was. It was a little after eleven in the morning.
“Where were you December 10th?” he asked, getting right to the point.
“At my daughter’s mom apartment. I was there, spending time with my daughter,” I responded, telling the truth. I went there after I did my dirt on Toby.
“And if we bring your daughter’s mom in for questioning, she can confirm that you were at her apartment with your daughter?” he wanted to know.
