Page 14 of Blind Spot
He assigned me the most gruesome jobs, though, and I didn’t mind. He knew that I wasn’t interested in cleaning toilets or things like that. So whereas he went out on jobs to restore homes and businesses after fires, tornadoes, and other devastating events, he kept the specialty jobs for me and one or two other men on his crew.
I cleaned up crime scenes and places where someone may have died of natural causes. Because I had become so good at it, my father even hired me for his personal services wheneverhe needed someone to clean up behind his antics. It had been my job as a cleaner of the dead that earned me the street racing name Reaper.
This particular scene was at a used car lot office on the West Side. Some dudes had broken in last night, just after the lot closed, and robbed and killed the owner. Or so they said. I happened to know that it was a hit on old boy because he owed some drug lord an exorbitant amount of money that he hadn’t paid up on. But that shit didn’t have anything to do with me, and I didn’t get paid for my knowledge but for the work that I did. So, I kept my mouth shut and my nose out of other people’s affairs.
A soft tap on my shoulder jolted me from my thoughts. I removed my gloves and then removed the AirPods from my ears before I turned around.
“Aye, I was just about to let you know I’m heading out. But I wanted to check with you first to make sure you didn’t need any help,” Brandon, one of my co-workers, stated.
“Nah, I’m good. As soon as I finish this wall, I’m out too. I just got this last section to do.”
“A’ight, money. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“A’ight. Be easy,” I replied and stuck the AirPods back in my ear before I slid my hands back in the gloves and resumed cleaning.
I had just finished the last bit of cleaning when my phone buzzed back-to-back with text messages. I put all my cleaning equipment and supplies away before I removed the hazmat suit and gloves that I wore and disposed of them properly.
I pulled my phone from my pocket and saw a text message from Karter. But there were no words, just picture after picture that had my blood boiling.
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“The fuuucckk!”I threw my phone against the wall. It fell to the floor and shattered. I didn’t give a shit. I left my phone on the floor and rushed out to the truck. I broke every speed limit on the way back to the office to turn the truck in and pick up my car.
I cursed the truck for not moving as fast as my vehicle did. And when I returned, I didn’t bother to sign the truck back in, remove the equipment, or properly clean it. I dropped the keys on the counter.
“Hey, are you gonna sign back in?” Melinda, the receptionist, asked.
Not bothering to answer her, I shoved the doors open again and hopped into my car. Usually, we showered at the site before leaving for home, but I didn’t give a damn about any of that. I paid no attention to the speed limits or traffic lights. I knew that I’d blown through at least a few of them because I had to avoid a few collisions.
When I pulled up in front of Karter and Tunisia’s house, I barely shut the engine off before I jumped out and ran to the door. I pounded on it like I was about to bust it down.
“Aye, before you do anything crazy, chill yo’ ass out. Ya hear me?” Karter demanded, placing his hand in the center of my chest and backing me away from the door.
“I can’t even do it. Where is she, Karter?”
“She’s in there. Listen, I know that you love that girl. I knew you’d be pissed. She made me promise not to tell you what happened, so I didn’t tell you. But that didn’t mean that Icouldn’tshowyou what happened. Don’t upset her more than she already is.”
“Whatever,” I grumbled and walked by him the moment that he dropped his hand. I barged into the house and headed toward the family room. I stopped in my tracks when Charly turned from the TV to look into my face. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights, and then her eyes watered like she wanted to cry.
“What . . . what are you doing here?”
“Who did it?”
Her bottom lip trembled.
“Either tell me who did it, or I’m making assumptions and ’bout to yoke up a whole lotta niggas and bitches on the street to find out who did it.”
Tunisia barged into the room with KJ in her arms and looked between Charly, Karter, and me. “What’s going on here? What’s he doing here?”
I didn’t respond but kept staring at Charly.
