“Who made you do it?”
Latoya hesitated. But then she answered. “Javon,” she said.
That got everybody’s attention. “Javon Douglas?” Reno asked anxiously: to be certain.
Latoya nodded. “He paid me to lure Trina out there. He told me when I saw a van coming, I was supposed to yell to her that they were coming to kill us and that she had to do something. Everybody knew Javon gave Trina a gun and she always kept it with her, although I don’t think she knew how to shoot it or anything like that.”
“What else did he tell you?” Reno asked.
“After he told me to tell her to shoot up that van, then he told me that before she start shooting, I was supposed to tell her that it’s a family inside that van and for hernotto shoot.”
Reno frowned. “Why would he want you to tell her to kill’em, and then to stand down? That shit don’t make no sense.”
It made no sense to Trina either. “Javon didn’t want me to shoot?” she asked her.
“Yes. No. I don’t know!” She was getting distressed. “I’m just telling you what he told me to do and I did it. He told me to tell you that the people in the van were going to kill us,and you had to do something. Then he said, as soon as you got ready to shoot, I was to tell younotto shoot because a family was in that van. It was crazy to me, too, but that’s what he said. But after I told you not to do it and you did it anyway, I ran back into those woods like I was told to do. Because I was scared of you too now.”
Reno’s heart squeezed. The idea that somebody would be afraid that sweet Trina would harm them was agonizing for him. Because he knew she was never that girl and would never be that girl.
But Latoya continued. “I was supposed to wait in those woods, by the house, until a ride came and picked me up. After you got in your car and drove away, that’s when my ride showed up.”
“Let me guess,” said Reno. “Your ride was Javon?”
Latoya nodded. “It was Javon, yes sir.”
Reno looked at the others in the room. None of them knew what to make of it either. “Why would he want her to tell Trina not to shoot after telling her to shoot?” Reno asked them. But it made no sense to any of them either.
“Where did Javon take you?” Trina asked her former friend.
“He put me on a plane for some compound in New Mexico. It was a sex trafficking ring. Scotty was there when I got there.”
“Scotty Labaray?” asked Reno. “Trina’s ex?”
“Yes,” Latoya said with a nod. “He was running that compound. I was held there for almost a year. Until they started talking about shutting it down and moving it overseas. That’s when I knew it was going to get even worse, so I escaped. Me and a lot of girls did. I went from town to town and from state to state, and I got by however I could. After a couple decades of that, I went back to Mississippi. I was so messed up that I endedup in this charity house for people who had been trafficked. It was run by nuns, but it wasn’t a convent. It changed my life.”
Trina squeezed her hand. “I’m glad, Toya. I’m glad you found some peace. I am so sorry you had to witness what happened, and then for you to have to go through what you went through.” Trina shook her head. “I am so sorry.”
Latoya smiled. “You was always good to me though,” she said. “Scotty didn’t beat on me when you was around.”
“Was Javon at that New Mexico compound when you got there?” Sal asked her.
Latoya shook her head. “I never saw him there, no. I never saw him after that night. I never saw Trina either. That’s why I don’t understand why I’m here.”
Reno knew her usefulness to them ended when she gave them Javon’s name. But he wasn’t ready to just send her on her merry way. Not until he was certain. He went to the door and opened it. “Come get her,” he ordered his guards. “Put her in room 2 until you hear back from me.”
Two of the guards came in, but Trina spoke to Latoya first. “They’re going to have to keep you here a little longer. But only until we can find Javon. Okay?”
Latoya nodded, but Trina could see the apprehension in her eyes. And then the guards began escorting her out.
“Don’t mistreat her,” Trina warned those guards. “I mean it.”
“Yes ma’am,” the older guard said as they led her out.
“We need to bring Javon in,” said Sal.
“No shit, Sherlock?” said Reno. Then he let out a hard sigh. “I knew that fucker was involved.”
“But if he’s involved,” Trina said, “why would he allow them to shoot him in that motel? They could have killed him.”
