Alibi II Page 19

  “You got plenty of time, go get the money out them safety deposit boxes you got and stop playing, before I go post your videos and photos on the Internet.”

  He knows a lot. How? How the hell does he know and how did he find me? Diana had thought that life was buried deep in the depths of her memory, but nothing is forgotten, and there’s always tomorrow to remind you of yesterday.

  “Hey, you hear me talking the fuck to you? One hour, you got that?” Nard asked one last time.

  “One hour,” Diana said, agreeing to the meet.

  She hung up the phone and got back into her car, looking at her watch. This is too much, this can’t be happening, she thought as tears began to roll down her cheeks.

  She pulled into the Bank of America and hopped out of the car. She swung open one of the double glass doors and walked inside.

  “Hi, Mrs. Praeliou.”

  She turned around and faced Inez, an assistant manager of the bank, who knew her well.

  “Hi, Inez, can you please pull my safety deposit box for me?” asked Diana, not wanting to appear as if anything were wrong, even though she felt as if her world were crashing all around her. She took a deep breath, exhaling slowly, feeling as if she could barely finish her sentence.

  “Of course, is everything all right?” asked Inez, feeling as if Ms. Praeliou wasn’t herself.

  “Oh, yes, just tired. That’s all,” Diana responded, feeling a wave of anxiety and a rush of adrenaline. I just want this day to be over. I just want it over. Little did she know, it was just beginning.

  With less than thirty minutes of time and counting, she counted out a total of ten ten-thousand-dollar stacks from her personal safety deposit box for a whopping grand total of one hundred thousand.

  A small price to pay for peace of mind. Thank God she had her own money. She was fortunate, she had hers, Webster had his, and then they had accounts and safety deposit boxes that they shared. She had her money already counted and bound before placing it in the box. She knew what she had, where she had it, and how much at all times. Diana Praeliou was a woman of great wealth, and her husband was ten times wealthier than she. Together they were the ultimate power couple, invincible, or so it seemed.

  Nard watched as Daisy left the bank, hopped into her car, and headed for the highway. He followed several cars behind her just in case she was paranoid and watching to see if she was being followed. She pulled into the parking lot of the Sleep Inn and drove to the back. All the way to the left side of the lot, next to the hotel, was a green Dumpster, an empty parking spot beside it.

  Great, now what? she thought to herself as she looked around the deserted parking lot. What now? Just sit here. Maybe I’m to put the money in the Dumpster. Why would I do that, I want my photos and video. What if there isn’t a video and there are no photos? What if this is just some asshole trying to get money from me? But then he wouldn’t have called me Daisy. Diana sat there, her mind scrambling, thought after thought, trying to put the situation into perspective. Fifteen minutes passed and the time was seven after four. Just as she was ready to start her car and drive off, her cell phone rang.

  “Hello,” she answered.

  “Daisy, you got that?” the voice asked.

  “Yes, I got it,” she said, her heart sinking at the thought of this character invading her space and calling her cell phone. How the hell does he have my number?

  “A’ight, come on, take the back door, you heard, and come up the stairwell to the second floor, room 215. And hurry up,” the voice demanded before disconnecting.

  Nard watched out the window as Daisy crossed the parking lot and took the back door as he had instructed, up to the second floor.

  The door to the room was left cracked open, and as she approached it, she became nervous about what was waiting for her on the other side.

  “Hello,” she said as she pushed the door open.

  The room was dark as night, not even the television was playing, so there was little light except that which played peekaboo through the drawn curtains.

  Just as Diana stepped into the room, the door was pushed shut behind her, and a body approached her from the right side out of the bathroom doorway, quickly moving behind her, placing a gun to her side.

  “Please don’t kill me, I have the money,” she whispered, scared to breathe as she began to feel faint, her heart pounding a mile a minute.

  “Where is it?” Nard asked, wanting to see it for himself.

  “Where are my pictures and my video you claim to have?”

  Nard locked the hotel door as Diana held out the bag containing the money. “Here you go,” she said.

  “At least you do as you’re told, but then again, you always did,” said Nard as he pressed play on the video machine containing Sticks’s homemade video special.

  “Damn, how you got two dicks in your mouth like that is crazy. That is you, right?” he joked.

  Daisy looked at herself as five men were gathered around her waiting for available parking space. Her friend, Trixie, had three other guys, and there were four more in another room that would have sex with the both of them. She remembered the next morning, waking up, realizing that she had had anal sex as well as group sex with a bunch of men Sticks had put her in the room with. She remembered feeling light-headed and knew she had been drugged, but she never remembered the night itself. Now she had it in living color, full view, no denying the reality of what she had felt the next morning, no questions needed to be asked. She watched as a man slid his penis in and out of her vagina while the others stood around in a circle over her waiting their turn for oral, anal, or vaginal sex, as if her body were nothing more than a Stop and Go.

  “I’ve seen enough,” she said, as if she was the one who could make demands.

  “I haven’t,” said Nard, approaching her from behind completely naked. “Take off your clothes,” Nard said as he took his hand, cupped her breast, and began to fondle her nipple.

  “This wasn’t part of the deal. You asked me to bring you the money and I did,” she said as she pushed his hand off her.

  “Bitch, I know you ain’t got no problem letting a nigga fuck you. Look at them niggas,” he said, pointing to the screen as Daisy was taking it three to one, and the cameraman was giving you an in-depth view, literally, of her ass. “You got to be kidding me. You’re a fucking whore; take your clothes off and fold them neatly on the chair,” he demanded. “Or do I got to make you?” he asked, pointing the gun at her head.

  “You have to make me,” she said, as a tear rolled down her cheek.

  “If a gun to your head will make you feel better, bitch, then so fucking be it,” Nard declared, forcing her down on her knees as he placed his dick in her mouth.

  “Uh-uh, like the fucking video, bitch, suck it like you sucking that clown-ass nigga. Better, but you gonna get it right. Don’t worry, Diana, we gonna find that Daisy girl, and I know she’s in there somewhere.”

  “Daisy’s been gone for twenty years now.”

  “Yeah, and so have I,” he said sarcastically, Diana still not realizing who he was. “But don’t worry, I’m gonna bring her back and fuck her real good, I know she likes getting fucked. Maybe you don’t, but she does, ain’t that right, Daisy?” asked Nard, grabbing her cheeks as he thrust himself up and down her throat, still standing above her. He came in her mouth, choking her as she tried not to swallow his semen. “Take it, swallow it, you know it’s what you want.”

  She couldn’t fight him, as he was too strong, his hands holding the sides of her face with so much force, he was able to stuff his penis down her throat and make her swallow it, still thrusting in and out of her mouth.

  “Take it all, Daisy, take it just like you did in your movie.”

  A tear of frustration and anger rolled down her cheek, which she quickly wiped away. She refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was getting at her. It seemed the more she resisted, the more he tried to hurt her, the more she pulled away, the more he f
orced himself harder. He pulled himself out of her, turning her around, and entered her from behind. His hands pulled at her hair as he stood on his feet, still forcing himself on her, but instead of her fighting, she spread her legs, opening herself so he could have his way. Hoping that it would all be over, that her secret would be safe and she could go home to her wonderful life, she lay there as he she felt him penetrating her anally, fucking her like an animal, purposely and forcefully stroking her, then vaginally, and again anally until he finally came in her rectum and collapsed on top of her.

  She began to roll over to get off the bed. “Where do you think you’re going?” said Nard as he grabbed her hair, smacked her face, and threw her back down on the bed.

  “I’m not done with you yet,” he said as he reached over to the nightstand, grabbed a prefilled needle, and stuck her in the arm. Within seconds she was out cold, her naked body lying peacefully still as he pulled out a video camera.

  “This party’s just getting started, Daisy, it’s just getting started.”

  Say Good-bye, Teri

  Diana woke up unable to move, her body frozen, her brain slowly transmitting images. The last thing she remembered was going to the bank, then driving. She looked around the hotel room and remembered him, forcing her and pointing a gun at her head.

  Oh, God, if Webster ever finds out, please, God, just let this be over, just let this all be over. Diana could hardly move. Her body lay still as she tried to lift herself, too weak to hold herself up. She lay back down as thoughts of her life flashed before her. Thoughts of her husband, Webster, and the love they shared made her ball up into a fetal shape and wish she was never born. How could this be happening to me? How does he know who I am? She thought back to the day that Webster proposed. He had called suddenly, as if he was prepared to stop time. He told her to be ready, and he picked her up from a job she had gotten at a social services clinic after graduating from Arizona State.

  “Where are we going?” she asked, not caring if he took her to the end of earth or Satan’s dungeon. Wherever he wanted to be with her, she would go. She had fallen in love with Webster and would do anything for him.

  Only Webster would have a helicopter waiting for them, and just like that, he whisked her away in the sky, flew her above Phoenix as a helicopter flew by them and began to write in the sky, “I love you, Diana, will you marry me?” for all of Phoenix and Scottsdale to see. She looked out the window of the helicopter and there in big fluffy clouds she read her proposal in the sky.

  “Yes, Webster, yes, I’ll marry you,” she said as she hugged him tightly. Never having any second thoughts, the two of them had a small wedding, with her college friend Paige serving as her bridesmaid, and Webster’s closest friend from high school serving as his best man.

  The ceremony was held in Vegas at the Bellagio in 1992. They had been married for the past fourteen years and still, to this day, Diana loved Webster just as she had when they were college sweethearts. And even though they never had children, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t that they didn’t want children, they tried many times, and each and every time, Diana lost the baby due to miscarriage. They realized that children were out of the question after Diana suffered three miscarriages in a row.

  “It’s okay, we don’t need children to be a family, Diana. You are all the family I will ever need,” whispered Webster in Diana’s ear as he walked her to the front door of their beautiful home facing Camelback Mountain.

  “I love you, Webster, you are the best husband in the whole world.” Diana smiled as he held her tightly.

  “I love you, too,” he whispered back to her. “And just to show you how much I love you, I got you something,” he said, hoping the news of a gift would cheer her spirit.

  “What? Please tell me, what is it?” she begged to know, not wanting for anything.

  “Look outside,” said Webster, pointing to the newborn colt grazing in the backyard.

  “Webster, it’s a horse,” she said confusedly.

  “Not just a horse, a stallion, a true Thoroughbred, and he’s yours, all yours. You can raise him, and race him, if you like.” Webster smiled, hoping that she would approve, and she did, she most certainly did.

  The colt was the gift of life from her husband, letting her know that everything would be okay, even though she had lost their third baby and the doctors said she would never carry or possibly even conceive again, and she never did. But having no children didn’t change the love, it changed nothing, only made them closer, stronger, and even more a family, because each was all the other had in the world.

  Oh, my God, how long have I been here? she thought to herself as she looked around the hotel room. The shades were drawn and the room was dark. She rolled over in the bed, her body feeling heavy, her head pounding, and her vision a tad blurry.

  Webster! I have to hurry home, I have to go. She tried to lift her body but was unable to, and not only did a sudden feeling of nausea come over her, but the room started spinning out of control, and she felt as if she was suffering from a horrific case of vertigo. Her balance, her vision, her splitting head, and her nausea consumed her. If only I could throw up and make it all go away, she thought, wishing she could erase whatever drug was in her system. Please, God, just let me get home, just let me get home.

  Her ravaged body smelled of sex and the sex of another man consumed even herself. I can’t go home like this. Look at me. She sat on the edge of the bed, facing an oblong mirror above a desk and for a split second, she didn’t even recognize herself. Her makeup was worn and stained, her hair wild and matted, her facial muscles still twisted from the drug. Her sensory and motor skills were turned off, completely. She moved like a drunk on Vicodin. Get it together. Come on, let’s get out of here, she told herself, wiping her eyes as she walked, using the wall for support, into the bathroom. She clicked on the light, “Oh, no,” she said, blinded by the light, before clicking the switch downward and turning the lights off.

  Her body somewhat sore, she sat on the edge of the toilet seat and turned on the shower. Then, carefully, she stepped into the tub, holding on to the wall, careful not to slip and fall. Diana moved as close to the shower of water as she could, resting her body against the tiled wall. The water beat down on her body and rolled down the drain along with all the evidence of the nightmare she had encountered.

  She tried to remember what day she had come to the hotel and what day it could be, but she couldn’t. All she did know was that Webster was sure to be looking for her, probably calling the police and filing a missing persons report by now. How the hell am I going to drive? Where there is a will there is a way, and if one person could find the will to get herself home, safe and sound, it would be Diana.

  Nard sat in his bedroom on the floor, his television playing the Channel 3 Eyewitness News. Once again, he had collected a few magazines and newspapers and was going through them, cutting and clipping what he needed.

  “Nard, what the hell are you doing? Look at this mess,” said Beverly, sounding as if he were thirteen instead of forty-two. I know you don’t think I’m cleaning this up. I’m not,” Beverly said heatedly.

  “I got it, I got it, no worries,” he said, rehashing slang he had picked up from his young guns that ran the block for Liddles.

  “Yeah, I’ma be worried all right, worried about you running around the way you do.”

  “Relax, everything is fine. You don’t need to worry about me, I’m building my house right now, Liddles got the workers, the materials, and once it’s fixed up, you can come and visit me, but you don’t have to worry. I’m okay,” said Nard, shaking his head. “I’m gonna be okay.”

  “All right, well, hurry up. I need your help ’cause I had to send Tyrone to the liquor store. Everybody is gonna be here any minute now for Thanksgiving dinner. Everybody’s coming ’cause it’s your first holiday back home. Rev and Maeleen, Donna and her new boyfriend, Carl, Mia and Dayanna, and I even invited Chris. You know, your cousin stopped getting high an
d is working for a meat distributor down in South Philly. Who would have ever thought he would get himself together? It should be a real nice holiday, and the best part is you’re home, baby, after all these years, my baby is home.”

  Beverly bent down, held Nard’s face, and kissed his forehead.

  “That food sure does smell good.”

  “You know I makes it do what it do, baby,” she teased, sounding like Jamie Foxx as she closed the door behind her.

  Diana, with nothing but a prayer on her back, opened the door to the hotel room. A Spanish woman was cleaning the room next door.

  “Buenos días, Señora.”

  “Buenos días,” she responded.

  Diana slipped out of the Sleep Inn and slowly walked over to her car, parked next to the large green Dumpster. The key was in her pocketbook, which she fumbled after, putting on a pair of oversized sunglasses to hide from the light. Once inside the car she realized the day of the week and how long she had been missing. Today would be the second day in a row she had not been home. Four o’clock this afternoon would make a complete forty-eight hours. She looked at the time. It was eleven-thirty-three in the morning.

  Maybe had she turned on the news before she left the hotel, or even the car radio, she would have heard the special news bulletin or seen her face spread all over the television screen. But she hadn’t. Diana Poitier Praeliou was the headline story for every news station, including CNN.

  Webster Praeliou had been shot and killed while having sex with an unidentified woman. His penis was still inside the woman’s vagina at the time the bodies were found. The police reported both Webster Praeliou and the unidentified woman were found with two gunshot wounds to the head.