and that he had a big issue going on that he had to attend to. Trent clicked back to his mom and asked, “How long has she been gone?”
“Son, I really don’t know. I just know I haven’t seen her. I wanna say since three thirty. I called Kendra earlier to see if they’d left together, but she hasn’t returned my call. I’m going to call the police and file a missing person’s report.”
Trent cursed at the thought of his baby sister missing. He managed to calm down his mother and let her now that he would check the streets for her. She agreed. Then, they hung the up. Trent didn’t know what was going on with his sister. First thing he did was call Kendra. Maybe, they had gone out for a girl’s day or something. They could have been at the movies.
“What do you want, muthafucka?” she said menacingly.
Trent disregarded her comment and said, “Where’s Nicole? I’m looking for my sister.”
“I put that raggedy bitch out my house. Knowing I can barely take care of her, she wanna go and get pregnant by yo trifling ass. I can barely feed my other kids. That’s why they’re always with they no good-ass daddy. I told the bitch to get rid of it. You wanna know what that high yellow heifer had the audacity to tell me?” Ms. Johnson didn’t wait for a reply she just kept right on talking. “The little bitch told me she loves you and she’s going to keep her baby. She better miss me with all that bullshit.”
Trent wasn’t getting anywhere, so he just turned around and left before things got out of hand. Trent heard Ms. Johnson call him a bitch under her breathe, but he just ignored it. As he passed by the girls, he stopped and asked where he could find Nicole. Before any of them could say something, Ms. Johnson was at the door, screaming at the girls, “Stay the fuck outta people’s business! Don’t tell him shit!”
Then, Ms. Johnson slammed the door. Trent rubbed one of hands across his forehead. It took everything in his might not to react because he was more concerned about his sister’s whereabouts.
“Fuck what she say. Has anyone seen Nicole?”
One of the girls quickly replied, “What’s in it for us?”
Another girl nudged her, indicating that she should keep quiet.
“What I’m saying is, if he wants us to tell him, he gotta pay us. Shit!” she replied.
Trent dug into his pocket and pulled out three one hundred dollar bills. As he flashed the money at the girls, he asked, “Is this enough?”
“Hell, yeah,” they all chimed in. “She’s staying over at the Snooty Fox.”
That was all Trent needed to hear. He hopped in his truck and drove. In the truck, he called Kendra.
“Hello,” Kendra answered groggily.
“Are you ‘sleep?” Trent asked.
“What the hell it sound like to you?” she responded harshly.
“Is Treniyah there with you?” Trent asked, praying the answer was yes.
“Trent, I’m going back to sleep. I don’t have time for your games.”
“What the fuck, Ken? All I asked was a simple yes or no question! Ain’t nobody playing no damn games! My sister’s missing, and all I’m asking is have you seen her, but your bitch-ass talking shit!”
Kendra was now up and alert. She couldn’t believe Trent had just called her a bitch.
“Oh, my gosh! Trent, are you serious? I was over there earlier, but, when I left, she was still home. Keep me posted. If you hear anything, please let me know,” Kendra said, feeling bad.
“Nah, I’ll be ‘sleep,” Trent said and ended the call and kept on driving. It was very late. He thought he would have to post up and wait for Nicole to come out, but, as soon as he pulled in, she was just going back inside her room. She didn’t even turn around to see the car behind her. Trent sat for a minute. He didn’t know if someone was in the room with her or not. He reached for his gun underneath the backseat. He used the butt of the gun to bang on the door. Nicole opened the door and asked, “What the fuck you want?”
She stopped talking when she realized who was at the door. Trent had the gun pointed at her. Nicole backed away from the door.
“Is there anyone else in the room with you?”
Nicole shook her head. Trent stepped inside, closing the door behind him. He motioned for Nicole to sit on the bed while he sat in a chair. Nicole was scared for dear life. She knew the ultimate beating was coming as she wondered how he had found her. She thought about her plans to hurt him, but they soon vanished.
“I’m gonna ask you this but once. Have you seen or do you know where my sister is? We haven’t seen her all day, and her car is parked in the driveway, and her phone keeps going to voicemail.”
“I swear I haven’t seen her since earlier today when I stopped by. Other than that, I haven’t heard from her,” Nicole answered.
Her palms were sweaty as she rubbed them together. Trent could tell that Nicole was nervous about something, but he never asked. “A’ight. I’m ‘bout to bounce. If you hear anything from my sister, let a nigga know,” Trent said. He went into the bathroom to see what Nicole had up her sleeve. After five minutes of searching, he didn’t find anything. He left out the room without saying another word.
Not once did it ever occur to Trent that Wiz was the reason that his sister was missing. Tired and frustrated, Trent decided to take it on in. When he got home, he laid across the bed with all his clothes on. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he was out for the count.
Kendra accompanied Nia to the criminal court building in downtown LA, which was also known as CCB. As they waited, they witnessed public defenders as they pulled out inmates’ family members to talk to them about their cases. An older black lady asked if there was anyone there for Marcos Hale. Nia and Kendra stood up. The lady said, “Please follow me outside.”
Once outside, the public defender went over the case with them. Then, she gave them the options that Marcos might want to use. “Let’s see. Marcos was charged with possession and sale of narcotics to an undercover agent.”
Nia interrupted the lady and said, “I’m sorry, but he wasn’t caught selling to an undercover agent. Matter fact, when they arrested him, all they took was a twenty dollar bill. Now, is the guy that he supposedly sold it to in court today?”
The lady shook her head.
“No, but the officers are due to show up in court today. I, also, see that Mr. Hale has an outstanding warrant for his arrest, but I’m sure I will be able to get it added onto his case now.” Nia was ready to curse the lady out, but, instead, Kendra grabbed her by the arm and ushered her back into the court.
“Fake-ass public pretender,” Nia managed to say.
The old lady just looked at her and shook her head.
The judge saw about four other cases before Marcos’s case was called. Marcos and his public defender stood before the judge.
“Are you aware of the charges that have been brought against you?” the judge asked Marcos.
Marcos nodded his head, so the judge continued. “So, Mrs. Wright, how does your defendant plead?”
Marcos whispered in her ear as she responded, “Not guilty, Your Honor.”
“Mr. Hale, these are some very serious charges against you,” the judge said. Then, he looked back at his paper work. Afterwards, he looked at the DA and asked, “Is the officer that filed the report here in court?”
“No, Your Honor, but we do have the witness that the police took a statement from,” the DA said. Both Kendra and Nia turned around in their seats to see if anyone was coming forward.
“Well, I’m waiting,” said the judge.
