“What happened with what?”
“Last night I got robbed.”
“When? After you left Sway? And you just telling me now?”
“No. Well, yeah it was after I left Sway, but it happened at Ish’s house.”
“You’re lying.”
“I wish I was.” Simone sighed. “Yeah, two dudes pushed their way in and beat me and tied me up and robbed the crib.”
“Oh, my God! Simone, are you serious? Where are you right now?”
“Jasmine, I’m dead serious. Ish just dropped me off from the emergency room.”
“Emergency room? Where are you at?” Jasmine asked with what sounded like genuine worry.
“I’m home now.”
“Okay, I’ll be there in forty-five minutes.”
“No! I can’t let anybody see me like this. My face is swollen, and I got three teeth missing. I look crazy.”
Jasmine covered her mouth even though Simone couldn’t see her through the phone. Jasmine really felt bad when she heard Simone say she was missing three teeth because she was sure it was Homicide who caused those teeth to go missing.
“You know I don’t care how you look! I’m coming over regardless.”
“Jasmine, really, I’ll be okay. I’m probably going to shoot back over to Ish’s house anyway. I have to be there tomorrow when FedEx shows up.”
“Fuck FedEx! You don’t know what’s going on right now, so you don’t need to be over by Ish’s crib until you find out what’s what.”
“But, Jasmine, I have to sign for FedEx. You know how that goes.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The re-up through FedEx.”
Jasmine went silent for a quick moment.
“Hey, let me call you right back,” Jasmine said, and then she hung up the phone quickly.
Jasmine had no idea what Simone was referring to about the re-up through FedEx, and she just sensed that she needed to have her recorder going while she spoke to Simone.
Jasmine retrieved her FBI-issued phone and started to record. She then called Simone back and put the call on speakerphone.
“Sorry about that,” Jasmine said when Simone answered the phone. “I thought I heard my doorbell, but it was nothing. So, yeah, you were saying something about the re-up.”
“Yeah, I was saying I just have to be there to sign for it.”
Jasmine wanted to press, but didn’t want to raise suspicion.
“Simone, trust me. Let things cool off first before you go back to Ish’s house. Don’t be hardheaded.”
“I can’t do that to Ish. Nico was already beefing with him over the robbery, so if this re-up don’t go right, then I don’t think Ish would let me forget it. I’m just so glad that the delivery didn’t come yesterday. Everybody would be sick right now!”
Jasmine kept quiet because she wasn’t sure how to respond.
Simone sucked her teeth and sighed. She told Jasmine that she couldn’t believe what she was going through.