just tell her what’s going on with the investigation with Papi. And that I can get my sentence cut to almost nothing if she helps me.”
“Okay. I can do that. Now, is there anything else?” Burgess asked me as he wrote his notes down on paper.
“Nah. But when you talk to her, just let her know how important this thing is.”
“I will,” he assured me and then started packing everything back into his briefcase.
“You gon’ call her after you leave here, right?”
“Yes. As soon as I get into my car, I am going to phone her, so don’t worry. I’ve got that part under control.”
“A’ight, Burgess. Good looking out.”
“No problem. But, don’t forget to call my office sometime next week. That way, I can bring you up on the progress in the investigation.”
“A’ight. I will,” I told him.
He finished packing and left.
I had to sit there and wait for a C.O. to come and take me back to the block. But before that happened, I sat back and thought about how I was gon’ come at Kira with the shit I had just found out. And then I thought it would be better to play the game her way and see how she could handle it with me on the sideline. Even though I didn’t know the answer to that question, I knew I was gon’ find out in a few minutes.
***
“Millennium Styles.”
“Hello, may I speak with Kira?”
“This is she.”
“Hi, this is Mark Burgess. Your husband’s attorney.”
“Yeah. What can I do for you?”
“Well, I have a message for you.”
“What’s the message?”
“Ricky’s in desperate need to speak with you.”
“Okay, now tell me something I don’t already know.”
“Listen, Kira...”
“I’m listening,” she interjected.
“Your husband has a huge chance of getting his life sentence overturned by his judge. But in order to make this happen, he’s going to need you to help him.”
“And what does he need me to do?”
“He’s going to need you to contact his old connection, Papi Santos, and try to set up a meeting with him of some sort.”
“Wait a minute! Is he crazy? I’m not getting involved with that shit! That man is crazy!”
“We’re all aware of that. But you’re the only one who can do this. And besides, Ricky’s already aware of your involvement in his case. So we both know that you’re no stranger when it comes to helping the authorities.”
“And so what does that mean?”
“Listen Kira, just accept your husband’s phone call because he’s going to be calling you in about ten minutes.”
“To say what?”
“He can explain it better than I can.”
“All right. So is that it?”
“Yes. That’s it.”
“Well, you have a nice day.”
“You do the same, Kira.”
Ten Minutes Later
I finally broke down and accepted Ricky’s phone call. But while I was waiting for the operator to connect us, I locked myself in the back office of the shop so I wouldn’t be bothered. I was a complete nervous wreck because of the fact that he knew how much I had helped the Feds out with their investigation against him. And for the first time, I was beginning to feel ashamed and embarrassed about the way I had betrayed him. What will I say in my defense when he confronts me with it? I mean, how am I going to justify what I did? This is some serious shit I’m about to go up against.
“Hello,” Ricky finally said.
“Yeah,” I replied in a nonchalant way, trying to feel what mood he was in.
“I see you got my message.”
“Yeah, I got it.”
“Well, before I get into what I need you to do, I just wanna let you know that I ain’t even mad about what you did. A’ight?”
“Yeah. A’ight,” I said. But deep down inside, my gut feeling was telling me something totally different. I mean, why is he being so damn calm about all this? Is it because he needs me? Or is it because this is truly how he’s feeling at the moment? But, if you ask me, something just ain’t adding up here, and it will surface.
“Okay. Now that we got that out
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