Chapter 20
TWENTY
Diamond.
As soon as I pulled up to the police station, my phone rang. I quickly fished it from my purse, hoping that it was Makhai finally calling after almost two days, but I was slightly disappointed to see that it was Kabria.
“Hey, friend.” I answered somberly.
“Aw, bestie, you still haven’t heard from him?”
“No.” I sighed. “I’m at ACPD right now because he’s not even in the system.”
“Oh, bitch, it’s some corruption going on in there!”
“Right, so I’m going to see if they can give me any information.”
“Have you called his parents yet?”
“No. He didn’t want me to, but now I sort of feel like I have to.” I released another heavy sigh. “Like it’s been almost forty-eight hours, and they might not even know he’s in trouble.”
“Right. I definitely think you need to call them,” Kabria agreed. “Did he tell you his lawyer’s name?”
“No, but I looked up some defense attorneys in Crescent Falls.”
“Did you call all of them?”
“No. If they don’t give me any information on Makhai today, I’m just going to call his mom and find out who it is.”
“Yeah, that’ll probably be better than just calling people randomly asking if they represent the rapper Loco,” she replied and giggled. “But I’m keeping my phone on me, so keep me posted. If I don’t answer, just text me.”
“Okay, I will. I love you.”
She returned the sentiment then we disconnected the call. I got out then went to the backseat to get Keona. She was fast asleep and I was grateful. She’d become such a big girl and so talkative these days. I didn’t want to be in the police station with her yelling.
I pushed her inside and went to the front desk. I couldn’t see if anyone was there through the glass, so I pressed the call button on the pad that was next to it and waited.
“How can I help you?” a woman’s voice flowed through.
“Um, yes, I’m looking for Makhai Matthews. He was brought in the night before last, but he’s not showing up in the system nor has he called yet.”
The other side was quiet for a few moments before she finally asked me to have a seat in the waiting area and let me know that a sergeant would be out to speak with me momentarily.
I went ahead and turned the recording on my phone on just in case. I knew that it more than likely wouldn’t be able to be used in court, but I was alone and needed some kind of proof in case any of them were on bullshit.
A few minutes passed before an officer came out.
“Hey, Miss…”’
“Scott.” I stood and extended my hand.
“Miss Scott,” he smiled. “What can I do for you?”
“I’m looking for Makhai Matthews. He was brought in the night before last…”
“Yeah, we looked him up before I came out here and have no record of that name in our database.”
My brows dipped. “The rapper Loco,” I clarified. “He was picked up from my house by one of your officers.”
“Hm, I don’t know about that,” he replied nonchalantly and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “If he was brought in here, both of us would have been able to look him up.”
My eyes narrowed into slants. They were trying to play me and play with Makhai.
“Where is Collin Arnold? That’s who brought him in and that’s who I want to speak to.”
“Yeah, well, Collin isn’t here right now, Miss Scott.” He smirked.
“How convenient,” I snapped.
“Well, I wouldn’t say convenient because it seems your loved one is missing, but that’s been happening a lot lately.” His smug ass had the nerve to try and look concerned. “But Loco’s name is attached to a lot of them, so maybe he was the one that wasn’t so lucky this time.”
“Ha! We both know that if anyone wasn’t so lucky, it was one of yours, definitely not Makhai,” I spat.
It probably wasn’t the best thing to say considering they were trying to pin murders on him that he may have very well committed, but in that moment I didn’t care.
“Collin’s bitch ass is probably in the hospital with his soft ass. That’s why he isn’t here, huh?”
The sergeants smug smile faded quickly. “I think it’s time for you to leave, Miss Scott.”
“I’ll gladly leave for now, but you better believe I’ll be back with Makhai’s attorney. You can’t violate his rights the way you have.”
“Have a good day, Miss Scott.”
“Fuck you,” I seethed before quickly leaving.
As soon as I was out the door, the tears I’d fought to hold were flowing freely. There was no telling what they’d done with and to him, and I could have just made it worse, but I couldn’t help it. They were prideful bastards, mad that their officers had failed to do their jobs.
I went to a nearby bench where I took a seat and tried my best to get myself together and check on Keona. She was still fast asleep, so I wiped my tears and took a few deep breaths to calm myself down before calling Makhai’s mom.
“Hey, Diamond,” she answered.
“Hi, Mrs. Marge,” I sniffled.
“Are you crying? What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”
“No,” I answered honestly, voice cracking. “It’s Makhai…”
“Makhai?!” she repeated. “What’s wrong with Makhai? James!” she called for her husband who I heard seconds later asking what was wrong. “I don’t know. This is Diamond. She’s crying saying something is wrong with Makhai.”
“Diamond, sweetie, what’s going on?” he asked.
“I-I don’t know,” I whimpered. “He got arrested two nights ago. I’m sorry I’m just now calling, but he asked me not to. They took him, but he’s not in the system and he hasn’t called me. Has he called you?” I stupidly asked.
If they’d talked to him, he wouldn’t still be in there, Diamond!
“No, he hasn’t called us either.”
“I don’t know who his lawyer is,” I admitted. “I looked some up in Crescent Falls, but I don’t even know where to begin. I also thought about calling one here, but if he has someone on retainer there already…”
“He does, I’m about to call him now, but where are you?”
“Sitting outside of ACPD,” I answered. “I can’t leave him up here. There’s no telling what they’ve done to him, and I know he’s here despite them telling me he’s not.”
“They said he’s not there?” Mrs. Marge asked.
I nodded as if she could see me. “Yes, but I know they took him. I know the officer that arrested him.”
“Okay. We’re about to call his attorney, and we’ll be there in a few hours,” Mr. James said.
“I’ll wait here for you.”
“No, baby girl, you need to go home.”
“But—”
“Diamond,” his mother cut me off, “there is no sense in you sitting out there. Where is the baby?”
“She’s with me,” I sniffled. “I didn’t want to take her to the daycare and let my coworkers see my face. My eyes are so puffy from me crying. They would have known something was wrong.”
“Take that baby home,” Makhai’s mother instructed. “I’ll have James bring me over there when we get in town. I’ll sit with you until we figure out what’s going on with my son.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I sighed. “I’ll be fine. You guys can just come in town and see about him. I’ll just go home and wait for your call or his.”
“I’m coming, Diamond,” she insisted, “Miles will be the only one that will be able to get to the bottom of this anyhow. Just give us a few hours.”
“Okay,” I replied lowly. “I kind of went off on the man I talked to, so I don’t know if I made it worse for him or not. I’m just so upset, so I apologize if I did.”
“Baby girl, I’m sure that you didn’t say anything nearly as bad as my son has been saying to them,” Mr. James chuckled. “I know my boy, so I know he’s been giving them hell. Just go home and sit tight.”
“Yes sir. Call me if you hear anything please, and I’ll do the same.”
“We will.”
After hanging up with them, I got me and my niece in the car and headed home.
I texted Kabria to update her when we parked, then we headed up.
When I reached the top of the steps I saw a man in front of my door.
I frowned and slowly approached, slipping one of my hands inside of purse to grab my mace just in case.
“Um, can I help you?”
He spun around at the sound of my voice.
“Diamond?” he smiled.
My brows furrowed as I eyed him skeptically. “Yes, who are you?”
“I’m Lance.” He extended his hand and I just looked at it before I focused my gaze back on his. He chuckled and retracted his hand, slipping it inside his pocket. “Gwen sent me.”
My frown deepened. “Gwen?”
He nodded. “She told me that she just gave birth to our daughter a few months ago.” His eyes traveled to Keona’s stroller. “She didn’t even tell me that she was pregnant.”
When he tried to touch the blanket that was covering my niece, I slapped his hand away.
“Don’t touch her,” I gritted.
“But she’s mine.”
“I don’t know that, and I don’t know your ass,” I snapped. “Gwen is… she has a lot going on.”
“I know,” he chuckled. “I’ve been dealing with my own demons, but I’ve gotten clean and am willing to get my baby girl.”
When he said he’d been fighting his own demons, it made me pay attention to his appearance.
He didn’t look nearly as bad as my sister did the last time that I saw her, but he still looked bad.
His clothing was torn and dirty, but I could tell he at least tried to clean himself up.
I didn’t know if he was still actively doing drugs, but the track marks in his arms and hands were extremely hard to miss, so if he was, he hadn’t been for long.
I didn’t know if he was really Keona’s dad or anything about him at all, but I did know I wasn’t allowing him to take my niece anywhere.
“You’re not taking her anywhere,” I said. “I don’t know a thing about you or what you have going on…”
“You don’t have to,” he frowned. “I’m her father—”
“Where were you when Gwen left her at the hospital?” I spat. “Or when she was going through withdrawals because of decisions you and her mother made? Doctor’s appointments, school tuition, milk, clothes, all of that! You weren’t there then, so why do you want to be here now?”
“I didn’t know about her,” he defended. “When Gwen told me about her, I got clean. She said your boyfriend came to see her—”
“Wait, what?” I frowned. “She met Makhai?”