“Yeah,” Diane added, “just hangin’ together, you know, like we used to, shoppin’ or whatever. But we were always together.”
“Like a family, Jada. Ain’t that what you used to call us? Well, that’s what we are.”
The limo picked us up at my apartment, we made our usual entrance, and we were escorted to what had become our spot at Sensations. That night the club was packed. More packed than usual. But as packed as it was that night, our usual targets didn’t seem to be in the house. So I allowed everybody to cut loose a bit, which meant doing more dancing and drinking than usual.
We had been there an hour and a half when I decided that nothing was up for the night and Simone advanced the idea that we go to another club. “You know, see what else is out there,” she suggested.
“Yeah, I’m for that,” Diane added. “Have some fun. I ain’t got drunk and wild in a minute.”
Bella laughed. “Now you know any time you start drinkin’, you start lookin’ for a woman to seduce.”
We all laughed, but it was true. When she used to dance at Ecstasy she’d get with a woman, but only if the price was right. That was her policy until she ran up on this one client that turned her out. After that, anytime I ran up on a female client, she belonged to Diane. “Keep talkin’, Bella,” Diane threatened. “And I’ll be suckin’ on one of those fat, juicy nipples you got,” she said and playfully reached for Bella.
“Back up off me. You know I’m in it strictly for the Benjamins.”
“I am too. So for you, I’ll only charge you half price to suck on these titties.”
Just then, a commotion started not too far from us. The next thing I knew there were shots fired and everybody started running for the exit. Not wanting to get caught up in the stampede, I ushered the ladies into the VIP room.
When things quieted down, I found out from one of the security staff that a man had been shot. It seemed that his woman showed up at the club and caught him with another woman. He told me that the police were in the club, and that they wanted to ask everybody who was in or around the VIP room some questions. “Questions? What kind of questions?”
“Don’t worry, Ms. West. They wanna talk to everyone who was in the VIP room at the time. Since you were sitting right where it happened, they just want to know what you saw. No big deal,” he assured me. But I wasn’t feelin’ that at all. There was no way I wanted to talk to the cops about a murder or anything else, for that matter. I looked at the ladies. Diane was borderline drunk and Bella was just a little too easy to rattle. I knew I didn’t want them talking to the cops either.
“You need to get us outta here,” I said, digging in my purse for some money to give him.
He looked around. “Okay, okay. Let me think for a minute.”
“Well, think fast,” Simone told him and touched his face. She knew that he liked her and would do anything for her.
“I’ll make like I’m takin’ y’all to the bathroom and let you out the back door. But it would be better if you all didn’t go at once.” He grabbed Simone by the hand. “Come on, let’s go.”
“No,” I said quickly. “Bella, Diane, y’all go with him. You stay with me, Simone.”
“Why?”
“Not now, Simone.”
“Okay, whatever. Whoever’s goin’, let’s go,” he said, and Diane and Bella followed him out.
Once they were gone, Simone looked at me with angry eyes. “Why you do that?”
“’Cause you are stronger than they are, Simone. If somebody gotta talk to the cops, I’d much rather it be you.”
She looked at me and then her look softened. “You’re right. Diane is drunk and Bella is just Bella. The cops start sweatin’ them, there’s no tellin’ what they might say.”
“I’m glad you understand. I need you to be a rock for me, Simone.”
“I am,” she protested.
“I know, but you gotta have faith in me and not question everything I say. Especially at times like this.”
“My bad,” Simone said to me as the cops bum-rushed the VIP room.
“When are we gonna be able to leave?” a woman asked in a whiny voice.
I didn’t say a word. The last thing I wanted to do was give the cops a reason to toss attention my way.
“We ain’t see shit; we been posted up in here all night,” this rapper I had met, but couldn’t name, offered up. They asked us a few questions, took our names, told us that they would be in touch if they needed us, and let us go.
I felt relieved that that’s all it was, but the next day I got a call from the cops. They wanted to ask me some more questions and wanted me to come down to the station. My first thought was to ignore their request, but I knew that wasn’t the answer. They would probably think I was trying to hide something and start looking at me. Not that I was worried about the murder; I didn’t see anything. But I knew how cops were. My next thought was to show up with my lawyer, but I talked to Sasha and she didn’t think that would be a good idea either. “No, Jada. You walk in with a lawyer, it would be the same as saying, ‘Look at me, coppers, I got something to hide’.”
So, I dressed down-no makeup and definitely no ice-and went down there. I thought that it was a little strange that Simone hadn’t gotten a similar call to come in, but I just figured that they would get to her in due time.
After a short wait, I was taken to what they called an interview room and was introduced to Detective Albert Gineconna. “Thank you for coming in, Ms. West. I won’t take up a lot of time. I just need to ask you a few questions about what happened the night before at Sensations,” he said and placed a tape recorder on the table in between us. “I’ll be recording our conversation, if that’s all right with you.”
“Not a problem.”
“So, tell me what you saw.”
“I really didn’t see anything. I was there with a friend of mine,” I started, but the detective stopped me.
“What’s your friend’s name?”
“Simone Frazier.”
“And it was just the two of you?”
“Yes,” I said slowly.
“Go on.”
“We were just sitting there, when all of a sudden we saw a commotion in front of us. When we heard the shots and saw the people running, we ran in the VIP room.”
“You say you heard shots.”
“Yes.”
“Was it a single shot or more than one?”
“Well, the music was playing so it’s hard to be sure, but I think I heard more than one shot.”
“What happened after that?”
“Nothing. We were told that we couldn’t leave until the police talked to us. After that I went home.”
Then his questions got personaclass="underline" Where I lived, what I did for a living, and how often I went to the club. I told him that I came to the club pretty regularly and gave him my correct address, ’cause he could check those things out if he wanted to know. I told him that I sold insurance, glad that Sasha got one of clients to get me a license without having to take the test. After that, he thanked me for coming in and told me that I was free to go.
As I left the interview room was when I saw him. The eye candy I had the bad feeling about the first night we came to the club. He wasn’t iced-out or as well dressed as he was the last time I saw him, but it was definitely him. I knew right then that he was a cop.
As quickly as I could, I put on my sunglasses and dropped my head. I walked out of there considering the possibility that he could just be there like I was, to give a statement about what happened the night before at the club. I didn’t know and didn’t care which one it was, I just got out of there and hoped he didn’t see me. Once I got to my car and was on my way out of the parking lot and thought about it, they’d only made the people that were in the VIP room stay and he wasn’t one of them. No. He was a cop; I was sure of it. And since that was the case, I had to consider the possibility that this wasn’t a coincidence. Maybe they brought me in for him to ID me. I made the decision right then and there: We needed to stay out of the clubs for a while.