“Yo, what’s up with you?” Dante asked.
“A’ight, let’s cut the shit. Please tell me you didn’t have anything to do with Tammy Starks being murdered.”
“What?” Dante sat forward in shock. “What the fuck you tryna say?”
“I just said it.”
“Hell no! Yo, what kinda shit is that?”
“Tammy Starks was murdered, and it’s just mighty funny that after your mother told me how Tammy may have known something that could hurt the case, the woman turned up dead. What’s even stranger was that she was supposed to finish testifying for the state on Monday, not to mention, my brother had an appointment to question her this weekend.” Kendall sat back in his chair.
“Yo, that’s some foul shit! You need to be asking my mother that question, not me. I ain’t have shit to do with that chick getting slumped.”
Dante couldn’t believe his ears. He didn’t even think Tammy knew anything. He was pissed that Kendall would come at him the way he did, because if anybody was capable of pulling off something like that, it would be his mother. This news was enough to really give Dante the go-ahead to free himself from his mother. It was definitely time to detach himself from his mother’s tittie.
Kendall sat back and observed Dante for a few moments. Trained to read people, he saw no indication that Dante was lying.
“So what’s on your mind then, kid? Why’d you call me down here?”
“See, it’s shit like that is why I called you to come see me, because I really need to talk to you.”
“Shit like what?”
“My mother. I don’t think I want to be represented in a shared case with her anymore. I want one of y’all to represent me, and the other one to represent her.”
“That’s what we’re doing, Dante.”
“Naw, y’all are not representing us separately,” Dante said seriously. “I want to be represented on what I tell you today.”
Kendall now saw the concern on Dante’s face. “What’s the problem?”
Dante took a deep breath and proceeded to tell Kendall as much of the truth as time allowed.
Kendall took notes on his legal pad. When Dante was done talking, he had filled six sheets of paper from top to bottom.
“Why tell me the truth now?”
“Because you saw how my mother is. She did all the talking. She told me what to say. I did what she told me to do. I can’t do it anymore. I’ve done what she’s told me to do all my life. I’m my own man now, and from what I see, she is for self.”
“I understand that, but why change now and go against what she told you to do?”
“Because I ain’t taking the fall for everything while she gets off without doing any time.”
Kendall tapped the pen on the table. “Listen, Dante, let me talk to my brother about this. Now we’re gonna have to take another approach to this matter, and what pisses me off is, we only got two days to rearrange shit.”
“I mean, so what you think? Do you think I can get some of my time reduced?”
“Well, I’m gonna see what I can do.”
“Come on, man. Damn!” Dante laid his head on the table.
“Hold up, Dante. You didn’t let me finish. I’ll review everything, and I may have enough to go on right now. But I’m damn sure gonna try like hell to get that sentence reduced.”
Dante lifted his head. “Word?”
“Yeah, I believe so. See, what you’re not seeing is that we’re gonna have to let your mother know that you told me the truth.”
“So what, man? She gonna find out anyway, and you representing me don’t have jack to do with her. Your brother can represent her.”