“Yeah. I know her number by heart. You want to call her right now, and ask her? She’ll tell you that I was over there with my daughter,” I confirmed.
He kept shooting these nasty looks at me, so I knew that I had all three of these detectives sick of me. They were waiting for the moment when I folded, but that moment wasn’t going to happen.
My freedom was on the line, and if I had to act, and pretend that I was unbothered, then that’s just what I was going to do. What was getting me through this was the fact that I knew they didn’t have any proof. With proof, came handcuffs. If there was just a small piece of evidence that I was responsible for the murder of Toby, they would have walked me out of my dad’s house in handcuffs. They allowed me to freely get into the back of their car, offered me something to drink and shit once I washere, and they were pulling shit out of their ass, not telling me anything on how I could be a possible suspect on this murder.
“And there’s no way Toby was the guy that you were having illegal dealings with when it came to sports betting? You two had a disagreement, and you killed him? Look at the timeline, Rico. It came out December 9ththat you were under suspension from football with this investigation going on, and literally the next day, Toby gets killed. Come on, man,” detective Bryant said exactly what I knew he would. I was prepared for him to bring up that timeline.
“Ima ruin my life for a nigga like Toby? The same nigga that you just told me has a criminal record dating back to middle school? That’s who I’m supposed to throw my life away for? Man, I’m going through real life shit right now. I’m trying to get back out on the football field. A nigga not worried about Toby, man. Toby a street nigga. Probably into it with all kinds of other people. Anybody in the world could have killed him. Show me proof where I killed him, yo,” I snapped.
Each of them sighed. You could tell that they were getting annoyed because this wasn’t going the way that they expected it to.
They pulled me down here without any kind of proof, thinking that I would incriminate myself by snitching on myself, solving the crime for them, but that’s not what was going to happen. If they wanted to solve this case, then they had to do the work.
“Last thing before we let you go. Do you know a kid named Bash?” he asked.
That’s when my heart starting rapidly beating. I kept trying to figure out just how in the world I’d gotten pulled down here, especially since there wasn’t any proof that it was me who killed Toby. I never once stopped to think about Bash. I did that shitduring the week, on a school day, at a time when I knew Bash would be in school, so why were they asking me about him?
“Yeah. I went out to his school with my teammates. Good kid. Talented too,” I responded.
Although I was a little nervous, I didn’t let them see it because if I showed one sign of fear, I knew that that’s when they were going to feel like they’d cracked the code, and I could see them now, trying to slap cuffs on me, and I would quickly go from being a person of interest to an actual suspect.
“And you are aware that Toby was dating Bash’s mom, correct?” he asked. This was the part where I had to lie.
“Nah. I didn’t know that. I didn’t have a relationship with Bash outside of the one time that I saw him at his school. Me and Toby didn’t talk all the time either, for him to tell me who he was dating. In all the years that I’ve known Toby, I’ve never seen him in a relationship,” I explained.
Each of them looked at me long, and hard. It was as if they were trying to see which direction they should go in with their next question, or speculation.
“Well, yes, Toby has been dating Bash’s mom Kalani for some time now. The morning of the shooting, when the officers arrived on the scene, we learned from Bash that you were the one responsible for shooting Toby,” he voiced, and that’s when I sucked my teeth.
“That little boy like 10 years old, right? Ya’ll got me out of the fuckin house on speculation from a fuckin kid? A kid using their imagination on who they probably thought did this shit? Now, ya’ll just fuckin with a nigga at this point because ain’t no fuckin way. A kid? Really? The same kid that told me over one hundred times while I was at his school that he looks up to me, and that he wants to be just like me? That kid? That’s ya’ll star witness? Man, this some bullshit, and ya’ll know it. I’m offended that I even got pulled down here for this shit. You don’t have a weapon.No footage. No DNA. All you got is some made up story from a ten-year-old. Kids repeat what the fuck they hear. His mama could have planted that bullshit in his head. Ya’ll putting my freedom, and reputation on the line because of something that a child said. Man, I’m going through enough shit as is,” I spat, hot with them.
The three of them looked amongst each other, and it’s as if they were talking to each other with their eyes. Detective Bryant eventually released a sigh, and he cleared his throat.
“Rico, I’m going to be straightforward with you. As of right now, we don’t have enough to hold you. You were only brought in this morning because your name came up. Doesn’t mean your guilty, but at the same time, I’ll be honest and let you know that it also doesn’t mean that you’re not guilty. If it wasn’t you that killed Toby, then on behalf of myself, and my team, I would like to apologize for pulling you in here, especially with everything that you have going on. As of right now, you’re free to go,” detective Bryant said, and I quickly stood up.
Before I could even move, one of the other detectives cleared his throat, so that he could say something.
“If everything checks out, and what you said to us was true, then you don’t have to worry about hearing from us again. This investigation will remain ongoing. We’ll be pulling phone records, any little bit of surveillance footage that we can find, and cell tower pings. We’ll also be verifying your alibi. You said that you were with your child’s mother, so we’ll be doing our homework, making sure that’s correct as well,” he let me know, and like I didn’t have a care in the world, I nodded my head.
“Do what you gotta do, man. My story going to check out. Next time ya’ll pull up on me again, please come with proof,” I finished.
Detective Bryant stood up, so that he could go over to the door, and unlock it for us. Once it was opened, I walked out,following behind him, keeping my hands in my pockets. All eyes were on me. I already knew that it was only a matter of time before this shit made the news. The world was getting ready to view me as a monster, and this was getting ready to be more shit for them to talk about.
We made it out front, and right outside the building, I could see my dad, and Tank. They had their backs posted up against the wall, turned to me, so they didn’t realize that I’d made it out yet. It was my pops that must have felt my presence first because I watched the way he tapped Tank on his arm, getting his attention, and Tank eventually turned around, so that he could look.
Detective Bryant came out too, but he’d stayed planted by the door. My pops was quick with walking over to me, looking me up and down, and then he reached his hand in, so that he could slap it up with me, and he pulled me into him for a hug. With my pops hugging me, I swear I could feel the heavy weight that he was putting on me. I wasn’t sure if he would admit to it, but he was scared for me. I had all this shit going on with football, and now they were trying to pin a murder on me. I knew that I had him shook to his core.
“You good?” he asked me.
“I’m good. Let’s go. I want to go home,” I voiced, and he nodded, letting me know that we could do that.
I watched as my dad took his eyes off me, and he looked passed me, where detective Bryant was still standing. My dad kept his gaze on him for a few seconds, and then he dropped it.
That’s when Tank came over, shook it up with me as well, and just like my dad asked, he questioned me too, wanting to know how I was feeling, and I assured him that I was good. From there, we all walked over to my dad’s truck. Something told me to turn around, and when I did, detective Bryant was still standing outside of the police station. His eyes were deeplyglued to me. I could tell that he wanted to take me down badly. Any slip up in this case that pointed back to me, I knew that he would slap cuffs on me.
Knowing that, I was going to have to move fast and find a lawyer. I needed the best in the city. Someone with a long resume, that didn’t lose cases.
When we made it back to my dad’s truck, Tank went for the back, so that I could get in the front, and ride passenger. I pulled the handle, hopped in, and once in my seat, I slouched down. I crossed my arms, as I looked out of the window, and it wasn’t too long before my dad came around, got in the driver’s seat, and he immediately started the truck up. It made a loud rumble, and then he pulled off.
