Page 69 of Widow Mayker

All too quickly, I was being carried out of the store.

Shit! I was supposed to beat her ass before I found out about my baby.

Oh, well, I thought. She didn’t touch me, but I surely touched her. With her bitch ass!

Now, I had to figure out a way to explain this shit to Kody. Hm. I added a I’m sorry, boo gift basket to my list. I couldn’t have my man mad at me before I broke the news to him. Feeling lighter on my feet, I breezed through shopping, ready for Kody’s trip to be over.

LEWIS WINSTON

I walked out of another afternoon meeting feeling like I could flip this entire precinct upside down. Working hard to bring down the culprit of a robbery homicide wasn’t an easy feat. To have it all go up in flames because of a crooked state attorney blew me.

I wasn’t naïve to corruption in local office. Honestly, I once benefited from the corruption. Many years ago, I was raised by Navé Winston, one half of the duo that ran Atlanta’s streets for nearly a decade After my father, Javaris passed, his wife Navé assumed the role as head of the crew they built. From moving drug shipments overseas to owning enough land to build their own city, the Winstons were a force to be reckoned with.

That was years ago, though. Navé hung up her hat and threw her hat into the entertainment world. My mother was still beautiful, still thriving, and still a boss.

Coming from that background, many wondered how I ended up wearing a badge. The story wasn’t so complicated as it was a calling. I was doing the work my father wanted me to do. He believed in two things: loyalty and honor. His life was cut short by a nigga who held neither of those values. It was niggas like his killer who caused me to wear the weight of this badge. Morally gray suspects didn’t bother me. It was the niggas who killed without reason or moral code. Which was why I had a level of respect for a serial killer who always seemed ten steps ahead of me. He was cunning, clean, efficient, and nearly perfect in his kills. Every crime scene was the same. There was nearly no evidence, and the investigation always ended up the same—cold.

His last kill seemed like a farewell. Breez’s body was found as if he was lying in a coffin, with his hands crossed over his chest. A part of me thought he was truly done. That was until this latest kill. The fact that he followed Von to Pensacola spoke in volumes. Maybe he wanted us to catch him.

Entering my office, I rounded my desk and sat down to gather my thoughts. I was back at square one with Philly Mallory, the suspect in the robbery homicide I was working. That nigga was a snake and deserved to be skinned alive for the shit he did. He was the type of suspect I went after. Not a vigilante doing the dirty work that many could never do.

Glancing at my phone, I hoped to see a good morning message from my baby. Her first class started in thirty minutes, and normally, she would’ve responded to my good morning text by now. So, I shot her another text.

ME: Wyd, baby?

MRS. WIN: Nothing…

Face screwed up, I dialed Shyah’s number.

Shyah’s giggle preceded her. “Hi, Lewis.”

“Uh, uh… Don’t hi, Lewis me. I can’t get a good morning back?”

She cackled cutely on the other end.

“And that dry ass nothing is about to get you hemmed up.”

Her laughter was all I needed to calm my mind from the wild-ass morning I was having. I was doing my best to give her space while she studied, but I wanted to spend every damn minute on the phone with her. If we lived in the same city, I would have been attached to her ass like fine hair. I wanted to know her every thought and bombard her dreams just to see if I was in there, loving her the way I aimed to in real life.

“I’m sorry, baby.” She pushed out a deep breath that gave me pause. “I’ve studied this material front to back more than I care to admit, and for some reason, I’m still nervous about this presentation I’m having in a few days. I can’t even focus on one class from being stressed about another. As crazy as it is, I could walk into Bell Oil Enterprises and have a position without the headache. However, I want to prove to myself that I can win this internship.”

I leaned back in my chair and glanced at the picture of us that we took at her birthday party. Lowkey, Shyah and I were going to make some beautiful-ass, smart-ass kids. Standing, I swiped my keys up and headed back out of my office.

“You’re as intelligent as anyone I’ve ever met, Shy. I’m confident that you will ace ya presentation without any problems.”

She grumbled, and I could tell she was truly struggling to have faith in herself.

“We shall see. I’m about to head into class. I’ll call you back when it’s over.”

“Bet.”

By the time I hung up with Shyah, I was already inside my truck and heading home. It took barely any finessing to get Shyah’s address out of Von. She lived on a farm her brother owned not too far from Niceville Shores. I had to cackle. Antonias wasn’t going to be happy to see me, but he had no choice. I wasn’t coming off his sister.

After a brief phone call with my sergeant, I pulled inside my driveway and cut the engine. As I entered my house, I called my mother.

“I know you see that time,” Navé fussed. “What happened to my good morning call? You and Shyah must be heading down the aisle.”

Chuckling, I disabled the security alarm and strolled through my house until I made it to the bedroom that I converted into a closet space. I grabbed a duffle bag and started packing. As I placed a couple of shirts inside the duffle, a cellphone rested at the bottom of the bag. It was the cellphone from Jemell’s crime scene. I’d left it in my bag to listen to. That night with Shyah had me so caught up, I forgot about it. I made a mental note to listen to it tonight and continued packing.