“How did they finally find that gun after all this time? I mean, if you were the one . . .”
“We made a deal with the campaign manager to tell the police where they could find the gun. He called it in, in exchange for us helping him escape the country with his family and a new identity. That shit’s dead.”
“But why would you use the senator’s gun to kill her and not your own?”
“It was mine, but our boy Geek is a genius with that computer. It doesn’t take shit for him to change some records up.”
“My head hurts. I think I want to go to bed early and get some rest.”
“You do that, baby.” I kiss her good night and grab the remote. As she heads up the steps, I turn the TV back on as if I’m watching it, and I wait. There’s one final string to be tied. No loose ends.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” she asks when she opens the door to let me in.
“I’ve been wanting to holla at ya.”
She smirks and replies, “I was hoping you might come back. Would you like something to drink?” she asks, sashaying to the kitchen with an extra twist. She wants to make sure that I see that fat ass hanging from underneath those cutoff denim shorts.
“Nah. I’m good.”
“Have a seat,” she offers when she returns from the kitchen with a wine glass.
“It won’t take long.”
She takes a sip and eyes me questioningly over the rim of her glass.
“You’re starting to make me wonder what this visit is all about. I’ve been fantasizing about you since the day you showed up with Charisma to get CJ.”
“Listen, I will do whatever it takes to protect my girl, even from heartbreak—but I know that I’ll have to tell her the truth about who you really are. ’Cause I damn sure don’t want her mourning your sorry ass.”
Her eyes widen and then narrow. Her lips turn down in distaste as she remarks, “Excuse me?”
“You’re a former staffer of the senator, and you used to attend college with Charisma, but you were never friends. I’m guessing that when he learned that you knew her, he asked you to befriend her so that he could learn more about her.”
“And?”
“You didn’t like that shit, but because you were having an affair with him, you agreed to do whatever he wanted. He suggested that you become Charisma’s babysitter, learn everything you could about her personal life, and share it with him. You did, and he purposely went out of his way to meet her at a coffee shop one day because he knew her schedule, thanks to you. You know there’s only one way for this to end.”
“So, what’s your damn point?” she asks angrily, setting the wine glass down and taking a couple of steps back.
“You set her up.”
She rolled her eyes. “The bitch has always gotten everything that she ever wanted, including him. Why should she steal from me what I’ve worked hard for? Do you know how I felt to find out that he wanted her and wanted to fuck her too? As if I wasn’tgood enough. Fuck her, fuck you, and fuck him,” she replies, reaching for the little drawer handle on the table that she’s standing nearby.
Before her hand can close around the handle, I’ve already put a bullet in her head. There’s no noise, just the slight thump of her body falling to the floor.
I pull out my cell phone, text “ammonia” to Keeper’s number, and I slip out of the apartment. There are no security cameras, and at one in the morning, everyone is probably comatose with sleep.
The man who lives in the apartment beside hers, just left for work an hour ago. The woman in the apartment across from her has been out of town for three days, and she isn’t expected back until next week. The couple beside that woman are in their bedroom still fucking, something I want to be doing.
I hop in the black Challenger and head out down the street until I arrive at the garage. I turn the keys over to a guy named Steam, hop on my bike, and head to my apartment.
When I walk into the apartment, I remove my shoes, underwear, and clothing. I tie them in a trash bag and send them down the chute to the incinerator.
I wearily climb the stairs to the bedroom, only to see Charisma sitting in the middle of the bed with her arms wrapped around her legs.
“Where did you go?”
“To clean up the last of this shit.”
