“Well, yeah, of course.”
“Was Nico friends with Shabazz?”
“Yes,” I said, and then my heart started to beat.
“And what is your relation to Nico?”
“Just friends.” I wanted to bounce, but I didn’t want them to think that they’d pushed the right buttons.
“Was Shabazz OK with you and Nico being friends?”
“Of course. I was cool with everybody Shabazz was cool with and vice versa.”
The agent scribbled down everything I was saying, and then he asked me, “Who do you think would’ve wanted to kill him?”
“That’s something I think about a lot. I don’t know. Shabazz was a street person, so I just said to myself that it’s unfortunate, but that’s just how it is. It’s sad.”
I knew I had given the detectives more than enough of my time, so I told them that I didn’t mean to be rude, but that I had to bounce because I had a quiz I couldn’t miss.
The detective handed me his card and thanked me for my time.
“If you hear anything about Shabazz’s death or the drugs that were in his truck, give me a call,” the detective said, “regardless of what it is or how insignificant it might seem.”
“OK, I’ll do that,” I said and I walked off.
“You’re a nursing student, right?” the detective asked.
“Yeah,” I replied and continued on into my car.
As I started up the car and pulled out of the garage, the detective stopped me. I rolled down the window to see what else he wanted.
“Do yourself a favor. You’re a beautiful girl. Focus on your education and start your nursing career. Leave this world alone. Trust me on that,” the detective said. He was an older black guy, about my father’s age, and the way he came across just reminded me so much of what my father would tell me.
I just looked at the agent and didn’t say anything, and I drove off to school. I wasn’t going to say anything to Nico about the detectives questioning me because I didn’t want him to think I wasn’t built for his world.
Later that night I said something because I was worried. Nico assured me that I had nothing to worry about because the agents had nothing to work with.
“Remember, babe, when they got you, they come to lock you up. When they don’t have nothing, they come by just fishing for information, and then they bounce. They were just shaking the tree to see what falls out of the tree. You’re good. We’re good.” Nico kissed me on the forehead.
Nico went out of town the next day. He told me that when he got back, he would take me out to a Manhattan restaurant and start spending more time with me.
It was all good because I had midterms to study for, so it gave me the undistracted time I needed to get ready for my exams.
I should have known that the peace and quiet I was enjoying wouldn’t last for long. As soon as Nico got back in town, I started to get text messages from Mia. But I knew that the best thing I could do to infuriate her was to simply ignore her, and that was exactly what I did.
Then early in the morning on the day that me and Nico were planning to go to dinner, I got another text from her:
You went from mistress to wifey, but you’re going to soon know that I AM wifey!
Oh, this bitch is so annoying! I said to myself after reading her text. Let it go, bitch, and move on! Dayum!
I wanted to text her back, but I continued to ignore her.
Later that day, at around eight o’clock in the evening, me and Nico found ourselves inside Mr. Chow’s in Manhattan. Right after we were seated the waiter took our order. Out the corner of my eye I spotted two men in suits walking up to our table. I don’t know why, but my heart started pounding.
I was asked, “Are you Jasmine Sinclair?”
I was speechless.