Queen Bitch: Part 4 (Bitch Series) (23 page)

"Detective, I appreciate you coming over here and
informing us about Mike."

"Of course. I'm sorry we haven't been able to find any leads
on your wife. I hope you haven't given up finding her."

"Of course not, but I also can't stop living my life. It
seems that there hasn't been any foul play and her life
isn't in jeopardy, so I have to assume she left on her own
free will."

"It would seem that way, but again, I'll keep my eyes
open. With the way the pieces to this puzzle are coming
together, anything is possible."

"Maya... Maya..."

"Huh?" I finally answered Detective Moore, snapping
out of my deep thoughts.

"I guess you got something heavy on your mind," the
detective pried on the sly. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I appreciate your concern, but I'll be fine."

"Good, I'm sure you will. What I wanted to tell you was
that we tried to get in contact with your mother so she
could claim your brother's remains, but we haven't had
any luck."

"I'll take care of it."

"Here's my card, if your mother has any questions."

"Thanks," I said, snatching it out his hand.

"I'll be going now. I don't want to overstay my welcome
but I'm sure I'll be back. Like you said, Mr. Mills, I'm a
frequent visitor."

I stood on the side watching Supreme escort Detective
Moore to the front door. That man truly made my skin crawl
and I regretted not letting Devon kill him before I took
him out. Now with Devon dead I had nobody to finish off
the job. But as long as I played it cool I was untouchable.
I had gotten rid of all the loose ends. Everybody who
had any dirt on me was dead. I had to remain focused
and calm. I was this close to having everything I wanted.
Supreme was still in love with Precious, but slowly he
was accepting the fact that she left him and their baby.
As much as he loved her, Supreme would never be able
to forgive such betrayal. And now with Precious dead, he
would go to his grave never knowing otherwise.

I strolled down Rodeo Drive on a beautiful afternoon, ready to shop away all the memories of yesterday's visit
from Detective Moore. Before I got started, I decided to
make a pit stop at the Peninsula Spa. I needed a top-ofthe-line manicure so my hands would be stunning as I
handed over Supreme's credit card to the cashier. Then
my pedicure had to be flawless so when I tried on pricey
stilettos my feet would be the perfect decoration.

When I arrived at the spa, it was completely quiet. Since
it was a one-person nail salon it cut out any hoopla. I
sat down to get my Pacific Coast Manicure and watched
the standard California bleach blond with over enhanced
silicon tits sip champagne while getting a signature
pedicure. It was a Reflexology, an herbal foot bath, and
jasmine oil massage. It was a cool $155, but it was worth
it for seventy-five minutes of foot heaven.

"I love your purse," the bleached blonde babbled
between sips of her bubbly. The Chanel, metallic calfskin
bowling bag I was carrying was official. I couldn't even
front on that.

"Thank you. It was a gift from my boyfriend."

"Your boyfriend has great taste. He seems like a keeper."

"I would have to agree, on both."

"Well you better hurry up and try to marry him while
you can. We're in Beverly Hills, young lady. These women
are treacherous. I'm in real estate, and although business
is booming for me, with this economy being such a mess
some of my competitors are willing to do anything, and
I mean, anything!" she stressed, "To close the deal, if you
know what I mean," she said, and winked her eye.

"I know what you mean. It's pretty competitive in my
business too. Women are willing to kill to get what they want," I laughed as if joking, and the lady laughed back,
having no idea how serious I was.

"Well, if you ever do get that man down the aisle, and
when you're ready to start a family, call me. I sell the most
luxurious homes money can buy. Whatever the request,
I guarantee I can fulfill it." She reached in her purse and
pulled out one of her business cards.

"No, thanks. I appreciate the offer, but we already live
in a beautiful gated estate in Beverly Hills."

"Work it out! Kudos to you for learning at a young age
to use what the good Lord above gave you to get what
you want."

I m trying.

"With the bag you're carrying and an estate in Beverly
Hills, darling, you're more than trying, you've seemed to
have figured it all out."

I was really enjoying the fake white girl bullshit with
this lady and chuckled, then found myself imitating her
phony hand gestures and the whole nine. I could see
how chicks like Lil' Kim and them ended up 100% plastic
after getting caught up in the allure of Hollyweird.

"Hold on a moment, I have a call," I said, sounding
all extra valley girl like the realtor did. "Hello," I said,
speaking into my Blue Tooth."

"Bitch, you shoulda stayed in that hotel room until you
knew my black ass was dead!" I thought my heart had
jumped out my chest when I heard Devon's voice on the
other end of the phone.

"Devon, is that you? You fell asleep the last time I saw
you and I haven't been able to get in touch with you. I
was worried," I said, trying my best to play this shit off with him.

"Is that him on the phone?" I caught the realtor chick
mouthing as I turned my head in her direction. She was
cheesing from ear-to-ear while pointing her finger at my
Blue Tooth. I smiled back and nodded my head `yes',
wanting to quickly shut her down. My five minutes of
pretending to be a Hollywood socialite were over. This
phone call kicked me back into hood life reality quickly.

"Shut the fuck up with that lying, Maya! You know fuckin'
well I wasn't sleep. You drugged me and then tried to poison
me, you triflin' bitch! Luckily, I'ma big nigga, and I had the
strength before that shit kicked all the way in to pick up the
phone and get some help."

"Devon, I don't know what you're talking about, but
I'm glad you're okay."

"No you're not. You wanted me dead, just like your
brother and Precious. I can't wait to tell Supreme how
you murdered his wife."

"Devon, calm down. There is no need for threats." The
palms of my hands were sweaty and my fingers were
shaking. The lady gently pressed down on them to stop
it, but it wasn't helping.

"Ho, this ain't no threat. I'ma fuck your schemin' ass up!"

"Wait, I can get access to a lot of money it's yours."
The phone went silent and I knew Devon's greedy ass was
considering what I had said. "I'll give you a million dollars," I
added, although there was much more in the suitcase I took
from Mike, but he didn't need to know that."

"How do I know you ain't playing games, Maya?"

"Because you're holding all the cards," I spoke softly,
not wanting anybody to hear what I was saying. "All I ask is you give me a week to get the money."

"Fuck that! You got three days or I'm going to Supreme."

"Devon, a million dollars is a lot of money. I need some
more time. I'm good for it. If you blow up my spot with
Supreme then you'll have nothing. We will both end up in
jail and you'll be broke," I whispered.

"Five days. That's all your evil ass gets. I swear if you
don't have my million dollars by then, I guess we'll both
be serving life sentences." Then the phone went dead.

"Is everything okay?" the realtor asked a few minutes
after she noticed my mouth was no longer yapping.

"I'm fine. I just got some unexpected news."

"Good, I hope."

"What's your name again?"

"It's Kitty."

"Kitty, let me get your card. I think I will need your
services after all."

From the moment Jamal placed Nina's address book in my
hands I had been consumed with it for the last four days.
She had so many names and numbers you would've thought
it was the yellow pages. There were several addresses in
Queens listed, and I had spent two days visiting those places
and none of them were the spot. I got tired of knocking
on doors and coming up with bullshit excuses as to why
I was at their front entry. Based on the description Mike
had given me, I knew most of the spots I rolled up on
couldn't have been the correct place, but I was so desperate
I would try regardless. Mike said the place was in a low-key
neighborhood, but I would pull up on a block with a gang
of dealers kicking it on every corner rolling dice knowing,
shit wasn't going to be in my favor.

Besides the address book, Jamal also gave me a pair of
keys he found inside a jewelry box Nina had. Again, he
wasn't sure but he thought that maybe they were the keys to
the apartment I was looking for. When I would go to certain
spots that seemed to fit the bill and I knocked on the door
and no one would answer, I would try the keys but zilch
was opening up so far.

After staying up day and night, I was finally down to
the last five pages of the book. There were four addresses
listed for Queens. If none of these worked, then I would
have to come up with another plan because nothing was
going to stop me from bringing Maya all the way down.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Come in, Nico."

"Have you found what you're looking for yet? I'm
getting concerned."

"So am I. I only have four addresses to go. If this don't
work, I don't know what I'm going to do."

"We'll stick to the plan, go to LA and tell Supreme what
the hell that crazy ass Maya did to you."

"Of course I'm going to do that, but I want Maya in jail forever.
I really want her dead, but I'm a mother and Aaliyah needs me
in her life not locked up behind bars."

"That's smart thinking, Precious."

"Yeah, but I have to get the evidence I need to seal her fate."

"But you can tell the police she was the mastermind
behind all that bullshit and that she kidnapped you."

"True, but you know she's going to place all the blame on
Mike, and with him dead, it's a gamble and she might get
off. I'm sure she'll get some slimy attorney who will insinuate
that I'm making the whole story up out of jealousy because of her relationship with Supreme. Trust me, with this shit
being more bizarre than a daytime soap opera, combined
with my shady past, I need the smoking gun to make sure
Maya is officially done, case fuckin' closed."

"I understand all that and you know I love having you
around. But you need to get home to your daughter and
your husband. The longer you have Maya around your
family, the worse it's going to be."

"True. Well then, we need to check out these last four
addresses, and even if we come up short, tomorrow I'll
be going home."

"Now you're talking, so let's go."

It felt as if Nico and I had been driving around in circles
all day, or better yet, at a standstill in afternoon traffic, and
it had all been in vain. We had three strikes in a row, and I
was drained but undeterred. I wasn't expecting to hit gold in
my search, but I did want to be able to say that I tried every
option given to me. I laid my head back on the reclined seat
gazing out the window, finding one positive thing in this
entire situation. This time tomorrow, I would be holding my
baby girl. Knowing that put a smile on my face.