Page 87 of Search My Soul
“Grim, this shit ain’t easy for me to say. Not only did we find the girl, but we also found out who her accomplice was. We used dates from the shooting to match it with the dates at the club. The other girl worked there, too, and we caught footage of her wearing the same hair and outfit the night of the shooting.” Huncho clicked on a few things before handing his phone over to me. When I pressed play, my heart sunk to my feet.
I shook my head in disbelief even with the evidence staring me right in the face. There was no way this could be real. I refused to believe it.
“No. No. It has to be a coincidence. There’s no way it was her.” I fumed.
“I’m sorry, Grim. We found the two of them in the parking lot together and we were able to cross reference the make and model of her car and everything. They were talking and then she followed behind her in her car. It was her,” Huncho replied solemnly. I sat there dumbfounded, trying to find the appropriate response.
“That isn’t all,” Huncho spoke lowly. I could feel myself about to spazz out, but now wasn’t the place or time for it.
“Just tell me.”
“I didn’t want to bring this to you without confirmation, so I had JD and Romell trail her for the last two weeks. She met up with someone, and they sent over some photos and a video clip.” Huncho retrieved his phone and showed me a video along with a series of photos. It was the same girl from Remi’s house, only her hair was different.
“She was in the house for about thirty minutes before she left back out. I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, but she went to your grandmother’s party, so she saw Remi there. There’s no way she didn’t recognize him. At first, I thought she was playing you, but I believe it’s deeper than that. Remi had to know who she was too. Even with a wig on, her face isn’t one you forget.”
My mind began to replay the interaction between the two of them and that was when I remembered him mentioning the tattoo on her thigh. Juicy tensed up when he made the comment, but I thought it was because she didn’t know him. It never dawned on me that the two of them might know each other.
“What are you thinking?” I quizzed. Huncho may have been young, but his intuition was on another level, so I wanted to know where his head was at.
“To be honest, everything about the shooting seemed off to me. He never had that kind of money at one time, but he conveniently decided to hit up two other houses that my crew normally does pickups for. Then he missed the drop off, claiming that he wasn’t feeling well. I spoke with Ammo, and he told me that nothing was wrong with Remi when they were in the car together that day. In fact, he told him that his bitch was coming over to fuck that night.
“Then there was the shooting itself. If they were planning on robbing him, why did the girl go back and save him? If the bitch knew there was a chance he would wake up and identify her, why would she take that kind of risk when she could have left him for dead and taken off with the money? These were all the questions running through my mind, so I put a tail on him too.
“When you said he was in a wheelchair, I wondered who was taking care of him and where he was staying. When we pulled up to his house, the place was vacant. I thought that was strange because we made sure the blood was cleaned up after the shooting.” Again, Huncho shifted the photos so I could see it.
“This is the same house ol’ girl and Neeya were coming out of. We have multiple pictures of Remi and ol’ girl going in and out of the house. He was in it the day your girl pulled up, so she can’t deny knowing him. Based on the information available, it appears that this might have been a setup on a larger scale than we originally thought.”
“That doesn’t make any sense though. If him and his bitch were in on it, who shot him? This shit is crazy.” I found myself flipping back between the pictures and videos.
“I was able to download the footage of that night from Welsh’s computer if you want to watch it again,” Mav offered. I still couldn’t wrap my mind around any of this. Had Remi set me up to steal from me? It didn’t make sense to me, but all of the evidence was right in my face.
“You think she set me up from the beginning?” I questioned. My mind started reeling, wondering if our whole relationship was a lie. Did Juicy seek me out so she could rob me twice? Was this some kind of sick game of hers? When I met her, she made it seem as if she was just getting by from the club money. I never saw her splurge on any expensive shit. She was not the type to care about designer labels, so what did she do with the money?Hell, maybe she was putting on an act, so I would think she was a humble person. Either way, none of this shit was adding up.
“I don’t know what to think if I’m being honest. You know my radar goes off as soon as I meet a mothafucka. However, she seemed genuine. I’ve seen the way the two of y’all interact with one another, so it’s hard for me to believe she was on some fraud shit. If that is the case, baby girl is one hell of an actor, because we all believed her.” I stroked my beard as I processed all of the information I received today. Pure made me promise to keep my body count to a minimum, but I was about to break that shit once again. Motherfuckers had me fucked up, and they had to see me.
I’ve never been so conflicted in my life. After all these years, I never thought I would see the day that someone would get over on me in this way. For so long, I prided myself on being able to read people, and I’ve never gotten caught slipping until now.
“You sure you want to do this?” Huncho questioned as he followed me down the hall. Ever since the truth came out, I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out what the motive was. It couldn’t have been money alone because she had access to more money in the last five months than what she had stolen from me, and she never blinked an eye.
“I don’t have a choice.” I gritted my teeth as we headed into my basement. I never brought my victims here, but the warehouse didn’t seem fitting for this particular situation. I texted Neeya that I was on my way home, and she let me know she was already there. The shock and fear in her eyes when Ipointed my gun at her was etched into my memory, but she had brought this shit on herself. I probably should have slept on this for a few days, but there was no way I would be able to lie next to her and pretend everything was cool.
I called Pure as soon as I left Mav’s house to let him know what was going on. He and the rest of the crew thought I should let someone else handle this, but it was too personal for me. Neeya not only played with my money, but she played with my heart as well. I couldn’t let her get away with that.
“Look, I know you can handle this on your own, but I also know how tough it can be to take the life of someone you love. If you need me to take over at any point, I will. We don’t have to discuss it or anything. Just know I have your back,” Huncho assured me. The sentiments were lost on me because my emotions were numb. The sooner I dealt with this situation, the better.
“I’m straight. All I need you to do is be ready when it’s time to clean up.”
He nodded, then opened the door as I stepped in. A couple of hours had passed since I brought her down to the basement. I sent Mace, Ammo, and Huncho to track down Remi and his little bitch while I sat in my thoughts. I faced two blunts and took four shots when I got home, and I still didn’t feel any better. Huncho asked for me to wait until he dropped them off at the warehouse before I made any moves. Now that he was here, it was time to get this shit over with.
There, in the middle of the room, sat Neeya, chained to a metal chair. I couldn’t even bring myself to call her by her nickname after the way she played me. I wasn’t heartless, so I made sure she ate her last meal. At the end of the day, she was someone I loved, so I would allow her to die with some form of dignity.
She kept her head down as I stepped closer to her. However, I could tell she was wide awake.
“Damn, that wig held up better than I thought,” I joked dryly. Her head remained in the same position as if she was trying to avoid eye contact. She had a lot of nerve to have an attitude after what she’d done. Deciding to get the party started, I ripped the duct tape from her mouth.
“Ahh!” Neeya groaned in pain, but I ignored her. Grabbing an adjoining chair, I sat in front of her.
“I don’t usually give my targets the chance to say too much because by the time they end up where you are, I’ve already gotten everything I needed. However, there are still a few pieces of the puzzle that aren’t adding up to me, and I’m hoping you can make sense of this.
