The Finale Read online

  Halleigh nodded as she rose out of their bed. “I’ve got to go to the bookstore today, baby. I’m working until close.”

  Halleigh left the baby with Malek and then dressed quickly before exiting the house.

  Detective Rodriguez watched Halleigh emerge from her house. Today she was eager to follow the young woman. Whatever was going to go down with Halleigh, the detective didn’t plan on missing it.

  She followed Halleigh to Security Square Mall. She knew she was in store for a long day of waiting.

  Work couldn’t go by quickly enough for Halleigh, and as the mall closed down, she prepared to leave. The parking lot was dark when she stepped outside, and as she sped up her pace to hurry to her car, she didn’t notice she had company.

  Toy and Tasha sat watching Halleigh, but they in turn didn’t realize that Detective Rodriguez sat at the south end of the parking lot watching them too.

  Halleigh clutched her shoulder bag tightly, feeling the security of the .45 tucked inside. Her stiletto heels clicked against the pavement as she hightailed it to her car.

  Feeling uneasy, she decided to make sure no one was following her before she headed home, so she pulled out of the parking lot and took the long way to her house, stopping to run a few errands on the way, all the while keeping her eyes on the same black car with Toy and Tasha.

  “Fuck is this bitch doing? I’m getting real tired of playing cat and mouse,” Toy stated.

  Halleigh had pulled her card and was tired of playing games as well. She was done running and being the victim. It was time for her to find out who was behind the black tint. Her loaded courage was in her purse, and she figured that whatever they wanted, it was going to be handled tonight because she refused to bring the devil to her front door. She had a son to think about; it wasn’t just about her. And whatever beef was looming in the air, she was about to cook it.

  Her pounding heartbeat drowned out the sound of everything around her as she pulled into the deserted lot of a closed convenience store. Just as she predicted, the black car was not too far behind. Tired of being prey to this unknown shark, she got out of the car, clutching the gun from inside her purse.

  The black car parked at the other end of the lot in an attempt to be discreet, but Halleigh had already peeped game. There was no use in pretending. She wanted to know who was inside the car.

  She began to walk across the parking lot, and when she was halfway to the car, she yelled, “Why the fuck are you following me?” She attempted to put some bass in her tone, but the quivering of her voice revealed her fear.

  As she stood her ground, she watched as the car before her turned off its headlights, and a car door opened.

  “Get out of the car,” Toy said.

  “What?”

  “She trusts you. Get her to come over to the car.”

  Tasha watched as Halleigh held her ground in the middle of the deserted lot. “And then what?”

  “Then we make her take us to Malek.”

  Tasha had not planned on getting this involved. She had helped Toy find Halleigh and had even lured her out of her hiding place, but now Toy wanted her to basically help snatch her off the street. She started to say no, but the venomous look in Toy’s eyes told her that it was do or die. She sighed as she climbed out of the car.

  “Halleigh!” Tasha exclaimed as she walked over to her. “I’ve been following you for twenty minutes! Why is your phone going straight to voice mail? I’ve been trying to get you to pull over for miles.”

  “Tasha?” Halleigh yelled in confusion. She sighed a breath of relief. “What the fuck are you doing? Why are you following me?” She threw her arms up in frustration. “You scared the shit out of me!”

  “I went to meet you at your job, but you were pulling out when I was pulling up. I tried to call you and let you know I was behind you, but your phone was going straight to voice mail.” Tasha knew her excuse was flimsy, but she was hoping that Halleigh was still as naïve as she’d always been.

  “Fuck, Tasha! You out here like a stalker. I didn’t know who you were! Were you following me yesterday too?” Halleigh yelled angrily. She put her hand over her racing heart.

  “What? Hal, of course not! Why are you spazzing on me? I just thought we could go out for drinks. You told me you worked at the mall, so I decided to meet you after work, but you got out of there like a bat out of hell. I couldn’t keep up.”

  Halleigh nodded and calmed down a little, not wanting to overreact. She was the one who had invited Tasha to come to Baltimore to visit her. She’s your friend. Stop tripping. She noticed the black Charger was still running. “Who’s in the car?”

  “That’s my boyfriend. He flew in to surprise me last night. I want you to meet him.” Tasha gushed. “Then maybe we can go for that drink?” She put her arm around Halleigh’s shoulder. “It looks like you could use it, and someone to talk to. I know you, Hal. You’re stressing about something.”

  Halleigh nodded and then stepped over to the car. It was comforting having her friend by her side. She began to doubt herself. Maybe Malek’s right. Maybe I am tripping.

  As soon as she stepped over to the car, Tasha pushed her from behind as the driver of the car stepped out and grabbed her neck violently. She looked into the eyes of the driver and knew she was in trouble. This was the girl she’d been running from. She didn’t need an introduction. The menace behind her gaze told it all. Mitch’s sister, Toy, was standing in front of her face, and she could see the rage, the hate, and the vengeance in her eyes.

  “You bitch!” Halleigh yelled as she lunged for Tasha. “How could you! I have a son, Tasha! You dirty, grimy-ass bitch.”

  Toy slapped Halleigh across her face so hard, her neck snapped back, and stars appeared behind her eyes.

  “Look, ma, I don’t got time for this ra-ra shit. You know who I’m after. We could have avoided this entire li’l confrontation if you had just led me to the nigga, but you wanted to jump bad and play detective. Well, now you know who’s behind the tinted windows, ma. Where’s Malek?”

  Toy spoke so smoothly, it almost sounded like she was trying to seduce Halleigh rather than threaten her. She did not need to raise her voice to get her point across.

  Tasha said, “Halleigh, just tell her. You heard what she said. She ain’t worried about you. She only wants Malek. That high-school love bullshit is played, and you know it. Stop being stupid, and think about what’s best for you. Do yourself a favor and just tell her where he is.”

  “Fuck you! I’m not telling shit. You dyke-ass bitch, you’ll never get to Malek.”

  There was no way she could tell Toy how to find Malek. That would be putting her son at risk, and he always came first.

  Toy punched Halleigh in the face with so much strength, it sent her to the ground. She popped the trunk of the car. “Get the fucking duct tape out of the back of the car,” she told Tasha.

  Halleigh held her face as she rolled onto her side. “Aghh! Shit!” She spat blood out of her mouth. She opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was her purse lying next to her. She remembered the gun was inside, and without thinking, she jumped at the opportunity. She reached inside the purse for the gun, wrapped her hands around the trigger, glad that she had left the safety off, and aimed at Toy’s chest and fired.

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  Chapter Six

  “Oh, shit!” Detective Rodriguez shouted as she watched gunshots erupt through the parking lot. The yellow flicker from the burst of the gun lit up the night like tiny fireflies. She knew she should have intervened when she first saw the situation get out of hand.

  When she saw Halleigh aim her gun again at the other girl, she didn’t hesitate to turn on her lights and swoop down over the lot. She sped up directly to the scene and hopped out of her car, her weapon drawn.

  She aimed her well-trained shot at Halleigh. “Baltimore Police!” she yelled. “Put your weapon down! Now!”

  “You dirty bitch! I trusted you!” Halleigh shouted at Tas
ha, who stood with tears in her eyes, and her hands in the air.

  “Hal, don’t do this. I didn’t have a choice. She was going to kill me, Halleigh,” Tasha lied. “You have to believe me.”

  “Halleigh,” Detective Rodriguez said calmly, “I need you to put down your weapon. One person has already been hurt. Let’s make sure everyone else goes home tonight.” The detective could feel the animosity in the air.

  “You were supposed to be my friend,” Halleigh cried, snot dripping from her nose. She was hysterical, and her hand was shaking. Everything inside of her wanted to dead Tasha where she stood. She deserves it, Halleigh thought as her finger played with the trigger.

  “Hal, it’s me. I’m your friend,” Tasha said. “You know I wouldn’t do this to you unless I had no choice. She was threatening me.”

  “Friend?” Halleigh shouted. “Bitch, you call yourself my friend? Yeah, Tasha, you’re my friend, my ace boon coon, bitch! The same friend who helped Manolo manipulate me when I was just an innocent teenage girl. The same friend who sat by and watched me self-destruct on heroin and cocaine? Yeah, bitch, you’re my friend, and if that’s how we do, then you deserve every one of these bullets. They all have your name on them!”

  It was obvious that Halleigh was letting out all of the resentment she’d held inside over the years.

  “Halleigh, if you pull that trigger, then I have to pull mine. The first murder can be justified. It was self-defense ; you were protecting yourself. I saw it. But if you kill this girl, there is no turning back. You will be a murderer, Halleigh.”

  Halleigh’s resolve began to break, and she began to lower her arm, but just as she was about to drop the gun, she noticed the smile that came across Tasha’s face. The smile enraged her. It was smug and arrogant, as if Tasha had never even expected her to be a threat. Halleigh lifted her arm and fired a shot into Tasha’s face, erasing her smile forever. Then she immediately dropped the gun and put her hands in the air.

  “Get on the ground! Now!” Rodriguez yelled as she kicked Halleigh’s gun away. “Face on the concrete!”

  She shuffled over to Toy’s body and checked for a pulse. After feeling none, she felt for Tasha’s. Both women were clearly deceased, and now she had to clean this situation up. She didn’t want Halleigh in jail, and she definitely didn’t give a shit about the two dead black girls lying beneath her feet. Her and her team wanted Malek. Now she had leverage to hold over Halleigh’s head to get her to help them get him.

  She put a crying Halleigh in handcuffs and then pulled her forcefully from the ground. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. . . .” The detective read Halleigh her rights as she pushed her toward the unmarked squad car and secured her in the back.

  “Damn it!” Rodriguez slammed Halleigh’s door shut. “Damn it!” she yelled again, hitting the trunk of the squad car. Now she had to figure out how she would clean up this mess she had allowed to happen.

  Malek wasn’t even an official case. It was one of their underground hustles, actually a favor to another drug dealer. Malek was competition, so he had to go, but things were going farther than they ever had before. Every cop bent the rules, but this was clearly breaking them. Two bodies would not be easy to cover up.

  She trotted back over to the murder scene and discreetly picked up the murder weapon. She wrapped Tasha’s dead fingers around it and shot the weapon once. She then did the same routine with Toy to ensure there was gun residue on the girls’ hands so that when the coroner bagged and tagged them, there would be no suspicion of a third party being present. She definitely wasn’t going to be the one to call it in. Someone would happen upon the bodies in the morning. For now, she had a hustler’s wife to crack.

  As Halleigh sat in the back of the squad car, being escorted to the police precinct, she knew Malek would be looking for her. What have I done? My baby, she thought. She knew she was on her way to prison for a very long time. She had shot two people in front of a police officer. She felt that today was her judgment day, and didn’t think there was any way she was getting out of this one.

  When they arrived at the police station, Rodriguez escorted Halleigh inside the building. Choosing to bypass processing, she took her to a private room where there were no two-way windows or video cameras. Whatever was said, only the two of them would hear, which was exactly the way Rodriguez wanted it.

  She pulled out a wooden chair and sat Halleigh down.

  Halleigh winced when her bottom hit the seat. Her hands were twisted behind her back, and the handcuffs were uncomfortably tight on her small wrists. “Can you loosen these cuffs?”

  Rodriguez obliged, knowing it wasn’t going to take the bad cop role for her to get Halleigh to see things her way.

  Halleigh gazed at the floor silently, thinking about her fate.

  Detective Rodriguez let Halleigh’s imagination run wild and left the room to give the tension time to build. The more nervous, the more on edge, the more afraid she was, the better. This was the best type of informant to have, one that had something to lose.

  Half an hour later, Rodriguez came back into the room. By this time Halleigh’s eyes were red and puffy from crying. The left side of her face was swollen, and she had a busted lip from where Toy had punched her. Her bouncing leg let Rodriguez know that she was ready to crack.

  Rodriguez pulled out a chair and sat across from Halleigh. “You’re in a lot of trouble.”

  Halleigh remained silent as she wiped her eyes with her hand. I don’t need this bitch telling me what I already know. “I want a lawyer,” she replied between sniffles.

  “Even if Johnnie Cochran arose from the dead to represent you, he couldn’t get you out of this one. You murdered two people, Halleigh, in front of a police detective.”

  “I didn’t have a choice,” Halleigh responded drearily.

  “You have one now.”

  Halleigh looked up at the detective and shook her head. She knew the look in Rodriguez’s eyes well. She wanted something from her. It was the same thirsty look that Manolo had given her, that Mimi used to possess.

  “You being there tonight wasn’t a coincidence, was it?” Halleigh asked as tears built in her eyes. She felt like this entire situation was a setup.

  “I have been following you for the past few days, Halleigh.”

  Halleigh balled her fists and put them to her forehead. She knew she wasn’t crazy. All this time her intuition was right. Running, hustling, surviving since she was seventeen years old, she was tired, exhausted at this point. Now here was one more person looking to use her in some way.

  “What do you want?”

  “I want your boyfriend Malek.”

  “Malek?” Halleigh whispered back almost breathlessly. It was like no one in the world wanted them to be together. There was always a situation threatening to tear them apart. What the fuck is this? National fuck over Malek day? “What do you want with Malek?”

  “That isn’t a concern of yours. All you need to say is yes or no. You can help me and my people gather our evidence against him. I want to know where his money is, what type of business he’s into, and who he is doing it with.”

  Rodriguez stood up. She put her hands in her pocket, revealing the gun and badge hanging off her belt. She circled Halleigh as she continued. “If you cooperate with us, I can make this predicament that you’ve gotten yourself in . . . disappear.”

  “Disappear?” Halleigh repeated skeptically.

  “Poof!” Rodriguez opened her hand as if she were performing a magic trick.

  Halleigh’s heart ached as she closed her eyes. She loved Malek. There was no way she could turn her back on him now. They were soul mates. They were meant to be together. Their destinies had always been intertwined, and she could never see herself turning on him. They had been through everything together. The good and the bad, they had experienced it all, and still found their way back to one another. There w
as always treachery around them, and now this woman wanted her to create deceit from within. Obviously Detective Rodriguez didn’t know their story. She didn’t know their Flint tale and was unaware of the type of love they shared.

  “I can’t,” Halleigh said. “I would never—”

  “Why? Because you love him?” Rodriguez laughed as she removed a picture from a large manila folder she was holding. “We’ve been following him too, Halleigh. You want to know how he spends his days?”

  The detective placed a picture on the table in front of Halleigh. It showed Malek going into the home of a young dark-skinned girl’s brownstone. “You want to know how long he stayed?”

  “About three hours?” Halleigh rolled her eyes.

  Halleigh wasn’t studying that photo. There was nothing that this cop could tell her about her own man. She knew the little broad in the photo was the girl who cooked up Malek’s work. Malek had personally introduced the two and had sought Halleigh’s approval before he even started doing business with the chick. Malek was always honest with her, and between them lay no secrets. She leaned forward and slid the picture back across the table.

  “I’m not talking, so do what you got to do to me,” Halleigh stated, remaining strong on the outside, but on the inside she was crying out.

  Detective Rodriguez had underestimated Halleigh’s loyalty to Malek, but she had a trump card in her deck. She was sure her love for her son was much deeper than the one she felt for Malek.

  “Are you really prepared to go to jail for life just to protect your boyfriend? Halleigh, what about your kid? Because if I turn you in, Halleigh, I can guarantee you will never see the light of day again.” Detective Rodriguez could see Halleigh’s heart breaking as her mind raced. If the world wasn’t so cold, she would’ve felt bad about what she was doing.