CHAPTER 7
It’s Over
By the time I pulled up at Tasha’s house, Jayce had stopped crying.
That scared me more than the tears.
He sat silently in the passenger seat, staring through the windshield like he was trying to understand everything that had happened. At eight years old, he had been kidnapped by a police officer, tied up, and used as bait.
There was no lie big enough to make him forget that.
Tasha ran outside before I could get out.
“Oh my God!”
She pulled open Jayce’s door and wrapped her arms around him.
“My baby! Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
“I’m okay,” he whispered.
Amaya came running down the porch behind her.
“Jayce!”
He climbed from the car, and she threw her arms around him.
For a few seconds, I watched my children hold each other.
Then I looked at Tasha.
“I’m taking them with me.”
“Taking them where?”
“Home.”
“Have you lost your mind? The police were just outside your house.”
“And then they left.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s safe.”
“I need to get some things.”
“What things?”
“Passports, clothes, and money.”
Tasha stared at me.
“You’re leaving?”
“I don’t have a choice.”
“Where are you going?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“I’m your sister.”
“And that’s why you can’t know.”
She folded her arms.
“You’re not taking those kids back into danger.”
“They’re already in danger.”
“Because of you!”
Her words cut through me.
Jayce and Amaya went quiet.
Tasha looked at them and lowered her voice.
“I’m sorry, but you have to stop acting like you’re the only person who can protect them.”
“I’m their mother.”
“And right now, you’re the reason people are after them.”
I stepped closer.
“You think I don’t know that?”
“Then leave them here.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because they already took Jayce from your house.”
Her face fell.
“They can get to them anywhere.”
I opened the back door and motioned for Amaya to get inside.
“Keyshia, wait.”
“I’ll call you when we’re safe.”
“Safe where?”
“I said I can’t tell you.”
Tasha grabbed my arm.
“What happened to your clothes?”
I looked down.
Dre’s blood stained one sleeve. Malcolm’s blood covered the front of my shirt. Small pieces of glass were stuck in my hair.
“It’s not mine.”
“Whose is it?”
I pulled away.
“Go inside.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“No.”
“You need help.”
“I need you to stay alive.”
I kissed her cheek and got into the car.
As I pulled away, Tasha stood in the middle of the street watching us.
My phone connected to the Bluetooth, and the music started playing where it had left off.
“A Milli, A Milli.”
I turned it up.
Not because I was in the mood for music.
Because I didn’t want my children to hear me cry.
I flew down Tenth Street toward my house, thinking about everything I needed to grab.
The passports were inside the small safe in my bedroom.
Emergency money was hidden beneath the dresser.
The duffel bag was in the hall closet behind the winter coats.
I needed to get the package out of the cocaine, destroy the drugs, and find somewhere to hide the folder until I could figure out who to trust.
My mother was alive.
Lawson had kidnapped my son.
Dre was dead.
There was a dead man inside Shay’s basement.
And somewhere in the middle of all that, somebody was still planning to set me up.
I was so deep inside my own thoughts that I almost didn’t notice Tasha’s car behind me.
She flashed her headlights.
I kept driving.
She honked twice.
“What does Auntie want?” Amaya asked from the back seat.
“I don’t know.”
Tasha pulled into the lane beside me and rolled down her window.
“Pull over!” she shouted.
I shook my head and sped up.
She fell behind at the next light, but I knew she wasn’t giving up.
Tasha had spent her whole life trying to save me from myself.
Tonight, I didn’t have time to be saved.
I turned onto my street and immediately noticed a car I didn’t recognize parked two houses away.
Dark windows.
No license plate on the front.
The engine appeared to be off.
I should have kept driving.
Every instinct I had told me to keep moving.
But I was focused on the bag inside my house.
If the police came back and found it, I was finished.
If Lawson got to it first, my son would never be safe.
I pulled into the driveway.
“Both of y’all stay in the car,” I told the kids. “I’ll be right back.”
“Can I come?” Jayce asked.
“No.”
“I don’t want to stay out here.”
I looked at him.
He had already been left alone once that night and ended up inside Lawson’s truck.
I wanted to take him with me, but I couldn’t risk him seeing the cocaine—or whatever else might be waiting inside.
“Lock the doors as soon as I get out,” I said. “Don’t open them for anybody except me.”
“What about Auntie Tasha?”
“Only me.”
Jayce nodded.
I stepped out and looked toward the unfamiliar car.
Nothing moved.
Tasha’s headlights appeared at the end of the street.
She leaned on her horn and started flashing her lights again.
I waved her off and rushed toward the porch.
A car door slammed behind me.
I looked back.
Three men jumped from the unfamiliar car.
Police.
“I’ll be damned,” I whispered.
I had been set up.
“Keyshia Carter!” one of them shouted.
I ran toward the door.
“Police! Stop!”
Fuck them.
The only thing that mattered was getting inside and flushing that cocaine.
I reached the porch and shoved my key into the lock.
“Freeze!”
In my mind, I was thinking, Fuck these dicks. I need to get in here and flush this shit.
The door opened.
I pushed inside and tried to slam it behind me.
A hand caught the edge before it closed.
“Police! Search warrant!”
They came rushing up the steps.
I sprinted toward the hall closet.
My fingers had barely touched the doorknob when somebody slammed into my back.
My face hit the floor.
Pain exploded through my mouth.
“Stop resisting!”
A knee pressed between my shoulder blades.
“I’m not resisting! Get the fuck off me!”
An officer pulled both of my arms behind my back.
Cold metal closed around my wrists.
Tasha’s voice sounded outside.
“Her kids are in the car!”
“Ma’am, step back!”
“Those are my niece and nephew!”
“Get behind the tape!”
I turned my head toward the open door.
Jayce stood beside the car crying.
Amaya was screaming my name.
“Get my kids!” I shouted. “Tasha, get my babies!”
“We got them!” she yelled back. “I got them!”
An officer lifted me from the floor.
Blood ran from my busted lip and dripped onto my shirt.
More police poured into the house.
Some wore uniforms. Others wore jackets with NARCOTICS printed across the back.
“Where’s Detective Lawson?” I asked.
Nobody answered.
One officer opened the hall closet.
I held my breath.
He pushed the coats aside.
The black duffel bag was gone.
I blinked.
I knew I had left it there.
“Where is it?” I whispered.
The officer looked at me.
“Where’s what?”
I shut my mouth.
Maybe my mother’s people had removed it.
Maybe Lawson had beaten me to it.
Either way, the police didn’t have the cocaine.
Relief washed over me.
Until an officer upstairs shouted, “I found it!”
My stomach dropped.
Two detectives came down carrying a clear evidence bag.
Inside it was the brick of cocaine.
But that wasn’t where I had left it.
They claimed they found it beneath Jayce’s bed.
“You lying motherfuckers!” I screamed. “That wasn’t in my son’s room!”
“Keyshia Carter, you are under arrest for possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.”
“That shit was planted!”
The detective continued reading my rights.
“You have the right to remain silent—”
“I know my fucking rights!”
The front door opened again.
Detective Lawson walked inside.
He had changed his clothes since Club Blu. His beard was trimmed, his badge hung neatly from his neck, and there wasn’t a mark on him.
He smiled when he saw me in handcuffs.
“What happened to your face, Ms. Carter?”
“You know what happened.”
“I heard you had an eventful evening.”
“You kidnapped my son.”
Every officer in the room looked at him.
Lawson’s smile never changed.
“That’s a serious accusation.”
“Jayce saw you.”
“Your son is eight years old. He’s probably confused.”
“He knows exactly who you are.”
Lawson stepped closer and lowered his voice.
“So does a jury.”
“You won’t make it to trial.”
His smile widened.
“Is that a threat?”
“It’s a promise.”
He glanced toward one of the officers.
“Make sure that goes in the report.”
Two officers escorted me outside.
Neighbors stood on their porches recording with their phones. Blue lights flashed against every house on the block.
Tasha held Amaya against her chest.
Jayce stood beside her.
“I love y’all!” I shouted.
“Momma!” Amaya screamed.
“I’m coming home! You hear me? Momma’s coming home!”
Jayce didn’t cry.
He stared past me at Lawson.
Then he lifted one hand and pointed.
“That’s him,” he said.
Tasha looked from Jayce to Lawson.
“That’s who?”
“That’s the police man who took me.”
Lawson’s expression changed.
Only for a second.
But I saw it.
So did Tasha.
She pulled both children closer.
“You stay the fuck away from them,” she warned him.
Lawson laughed.
“Get your family under control, Ms. Carter.”
“Which Carter?” Tasha asked.
He stopped walking.
It was a strange question, but something about it wiped the smile from his face.
The officers pushed me toward the police car.
Before I could get inside, a female officer grabbed my arm.
“I need to search you.”
She patted down my pockets, removed my phone, and checked inside my waistband.
When her hand reached my sleeve, she slipped something against my palm.
A tiny folded piece of paper.
I looked at her.
She avoided my eyes.
“Watch your head,” she said.
I climbed into the back seat.
Once the door closed, I opened my hand beneath my thigh.
The note contained one sentence.
DON’T SAY ANYTHING. YOUR MOTHER SENT ME.
I looked through the window at the female officer.
She finally met my eyes.
Then she gave me one small nod.
Maybe my mother still had people inside the police department.
Maybe I wasn’t as alone as Lawson wanted me to believe.
But as the police car pulled away, another vehicle followed behind us.
A black truck.
The same one that had been watching me from the beginning.
And this time, I could see who was driving.
Nesha.