Trey walked into his room and found Dante inside the walk-in closet. He walked over to the door and watched Dante look for a pair of pants that would fit him. Although Trey and Dante were the about the same height, Trey was much stockier than Dante, so Dante had to be careful about which pants he chose.
“Yo, man, for real, let me hit the turf to see what I can find out ’bout my babe.”
Dante, stress written on his face, turned and looked at Trey. “Do me a favor, man. Don’t call my mother that to my face. That’s your name for her. I don’t want to hear it.” He turned and continued to look for something to wear.
Dante put some jeans against himself to measure the fit, but they were too wide. Frustrated, he threw the jeans against the floor and punched the wall behind him.
“Yo, Tae, man, I got you. Chill ou
t here. There’s a belt in the drawer.”
Dante sat on the floor and laid his head against the wall he’d just punched. Pain shot through his knuckles, but he didn’t care.
“I’m out, Tae. Yo!”
Dante looked up at Trey with red eyes.
“Stay here,” Trey said in a firm tone.
***
An hour later, there still was no word from Trey. Dante got up off the sofa he’d been sitting on for the past hour, picked up Trey’s house phone, and called his cell, but Trey didn’t answer. He went back into Trey’s closet and found a pair of sweat pants that basically fit. The length wasn’t the way he normally wore his pants, but he no longer cared. He needed to get out.
Dante found himself back in his old neighborhood. While walking up the street, he pulled his fitted cap way down over his eyes to try to disguise his identity. As he walked up the street toward his old apartment building, where he knew he could talk to some of the dudes that hung out there, a cruiser bent the corner and drove up the street. A lump formed in his throat making it hard for him to swallow and his heart began to race. He could feel his body temperature heat up. When the cop car passed Dante and continued up the street, he relaxed his shoulders from being tense and he exhaled through his nose, after holding his breath. Relief almost instantly began to invade his body.
***
“Yo, who that?” one of the dudes at the apartment building asked as he tried to see who was coming up the street.
“I dunno,” his friend said, looking intently and then placing his hand on the butt of his weapon.
“Oh, I know who that is,” the first dude said after Dante got closer. “Yo, what up, Tae? What you doing over this way?” He held out his hand to shake Dante’s.
Dante slapped hands with both men. “Yo, anybody out here talking?” he asked, looking around.
“Naw, man,” the first guy said. “Trey just left here not too long ago asking the same shit. What’s up? Y’all in some shit?”
Before Dante could even answer his question, a siren from a squad car sounded off again. One of the police officers said as he exited the car, “All right, fellas, you know the routine.”
Dante could have shitted bricks at that very moment. He was tempted to make a run for it, but he knew that would be suicide.
The officers began to search them. When one officer found a gun on one of the males, he immediately handcuffed him and sat him on the curb. While that officer stood watch over the handcuffed male, the other officer searched them one by one. He took off the next man’s hat and felt around the inside to make sure there were no drugs stashed there.
When he felt around the man’s crotch, he felt a bulge. With his gun drawn, not sure what was hidden, the cop made the guy remove what was in his pants. “Nice and easy, son,” the cop said, keeping a steady hand on his gun. “All right, now toss it over there.”
The bag was tossed near the other cop, who unwrapped it and found a glassine bag full of crack vials. The man was then handcuffed and placed on the curb.
“Looks like it’s gonna be a good night,” the cop said. “Now let’s see what’s behind door number three.”
Now it was Dante’s turn to be searched. He was sweating bullets, and his stomach did flip-flops. He tried to control his breathing and remain cool, but his heart was racing in his chest so hard, it hurt.
He was frisked, and then his hat was removed and searched as well. While his hat was off, he held his head low, not wanting to make eye contact with the cop.
The cop noticed how much Dante was sweating. “What’s wrong with you, man? What, you high or something? Why you sweating so much? What are you nervous about?” He grabbed Dante by the arm, trying to turn him around to face him so he could look in his face, but Dante kept his head low and wouldn’t look the man in the eyes.
Just then the police radios went off with an all-points bulletin—“All units, the murder suspect is still at large. The earlier capture was a false arrest. I repeat, the suspect is still at large and believed to be armed and dangerous. Police are now at the suspect’s home, where shots were fired earlier. Shooter unknown but suspected to be the suspect, Dante Reed.”
Dante’s friends stared at him when they heard his name announced over the police radio. Of course, they didn’t say a word. Now they were wondering how things were gonna play out.