Ain’t this a bitch? Chante’s a cop. I can hardly believe it, but here I am sitting in the backseat of a police car, somewhere I thought I’d never be, because I was just too smart, too careful. I knew that I wasn’t under arrest because nobody had read me my rights and I wasn’t wearing handcuffs. Bullet was dead though. Chante killed him. The bastard got what he deserved for what he did to Bella. Now she could rest in peace.
I heard Chante tell the other cops that I didn’t hit a thing, so I wasn’t all that worried. But the fact that Chante was a cop and she was all up in my world couldn’t be a good thing. A million things were going through my mind as we drove to the precinct. Along the way, I tried to think of everything I’d said to her. I tried to remember who she’d seen us with. I had a lot of high-profile clients and now their reputations, and maybe their careers, were on my back.
I should have known better; should have seen this coming.
Chante’s a cop. Ain’t that a bitch?
We arrived at the precinct and I was taken to the same room that I had been taken to the last time I was questioned about a murder. I had been in there for about an hour and a half before anybody came in the room.
It was the same cop that questioned me the last time, and one I had never seen before. “Ms. West, my name is Detective Sergeant Banner; I’m with the homicide division, and I believe you already met Vice Lieutenant Gineconna.”
Now I was scared. If this asshole was vice, then they’d been on me for a long time. It was all starting to make sense to me now. And the more it made sense to be me, the more scared I got. I was the target and Gineconna questioning me about that murder at Sensations was just the beginning of it. I should have stayed out of that club after that night; never gone back. But then I thought about it. If I was the target, club or no club, they would have come at me anyway.
“I’m sorry to keep you waiting so long,” Banner said. “I only need to take your statement and then you’re free to go.”
I started to say something dumb like, “You mean you’re not going to arrest me for running a prostitution ring?” but I simply said, “I understand.”
Banner placed a tape recorder on the table and asked me to tell them what happened. While I told my story, Gineconna stood behind Banner and never took his eyes off me. Once I was done, Banner turned off the tape recorder, thanked me for my time, and got up to leave. Naturally, I stood up too. I followed the two cops to the door, but when I got to the door, Gineconna turned and blocked my path.
“I hope you learned something from all this Ms. West,” Gineconna said to me. Then he stepped aside and let me pass.
As I walked out of the precinct, I thought about his question. Had I learned anything? And if so, what was it? I was glad he didn’t want an answer, because I didn’t have one. Maybe in a day or two I would, but not now. Right now I was too shaken to think. Bella was dead; murdered by Bullet. Chante was a cop assigned to get close to me. There was definitely a lesson to be learned from all this, but all I wanted to do was go home.
When I came outside the building, the first thing I saw was Chante. She was leaning against my car. “How’d my car get here?” I asked her.
“I had it towed here instead of the impound.”
“Thanks,” I said and walked past her.
“Jada, wait,” she said and grabbed my arm.
I jerked my arm away. “What do you want, Chante? Is that even your name?”
“It’s Rachael, Rachael Dawkins. Chante is my middle name.”
“And you’re a cop.”
“Yes, Jada, I’m a cop.”
“How could you, Chante? I mean, Rachael or whatever your name is. I trusted you.”
“I was just doing my job, Jada.”
“Yeah well, if your job is to betray people who considered you a friend, then your job sucks.”
Chante looked away from me. I could see the pain in her eyes. “You’re right. It does suck.”
I leaned against my car next to Chante. “So, what’s going to happen next?”
“Nothing.”
“What do you mean nothing?”
“I mean that’s it. Gineconna told you that you were free to go, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, there you go. If there was going to be any charges, you’d be under arrest now. I never told Gineconna anything.”
“I understand that, Chante. What I don’t understand is why, Chante? Wasn’t that your job?”
“You’re right, it was, but something happened to change all that. I wasn’t completely honest with myself, Jada, ’cause if I were, I woulda had to admit to myself who I really was, because I loved being Chante. The truth was that I found your lifestyle exciting. I mean look at yourself, Jada, you always wear the finest clothes, you get chauffeured around, and you’re making mad money. But it was more than that, Jada. I came to like you. We became friends.” That one made me smile on the inside because that’s how I saw her, as a friend.
“That’s deep, Chante. The cop and the Madame-friends.”
“Ain’t it?” Chante laughed.
“What are you gonna do now, Chante?” I asked her.
“I don’t know.”
“Wanna go get a drink?”
“I could definitely use one.”
“Come on then,” I said and got in the car. Chante got in the passenger seat and broke out her sunglasses. As I drove off, I thought about the fact that it wasn’t all about the money at all. In the end, the money didn’t matter at all. It was about friendship.
