Flaws and All

Twenty-Six

Bailey flips through the multiple stacks of money and finds the notebook that Jerrico said would tell her everything. She puts it back inside and plans to read it when she's in the safety of her own home. Zipping the bag up, she carries it out into the living room; her eyes scanning the spot for her purse.

"Damn, where did I move it?" She scoffs, finally spotting it under a couch pillow.

As soon as she bends down to move the pillow, she feels a cold metal on her temple and the sound of a gun cocking.

"Drop the bag and turn around slowly with your hands up." The familiar voice demands.

Bailey does as she's told, turning around as slow as possible only to be faced with Detective Carmichael. Before she can even ask what's going on, everything goes black as he connects the pistol with her head; knocking her out.

~

"Rise and shine bitch!" Carmichael yells, throwing water on Bailey's face.

Her eyes slowly open so she blinks them a couple of times, the pounding from her head almost too much to bare.

"W-what's going on? How long have I been out?" Bailey stutters groggily.

"Don't you remember, Bailey? I caught you with that duffle bag over there that your brother had and knocked your little lying ass out. Don't worry, it's only been two hours. I tried to be nice and let you wake up on your own but you were taking too long."

Remembering what happened, Bailey is pissed and tries to get up; failing because her arms and legs are tied to a chair by a light brown rope. She struggles to get up, the rope burning dark marks on her arms and ankles as the chair rocks a bit.

"You're not getting outta that so sit still. We're about to have a little discussion about how we got to this point." Carmichael laughs, sitting a chair in front of Bailey and running the gun up and down her thigh. "So a while back I got word that your brother was involved in selling drugs. I've been watching him for a month now just waiting to catch him in the act but I never did. Oh but one lucky night, I was watching him from a distance and struck gold..He came running by my car with that same duffle bag, only then it was brand spanking new; not a dust spec in sight. Your dumb ass brother fell, dropping the opened duffle bag and making the drugs and money spill out. Me being the good detective that I am, I turned my lights on and that boy got up, grabbed his bag and took off running. I tried my best to follow him but he was too fast, got away from me; using the darkness as his cover... so who'd he get the drugs from? I'm sure the money came from selling the drugs."

"What the hell!!? You're a fucking creep! I don't know where he got the drugs from, Carmichael! Just let me go, you disgusting piece of shit! I knew something was off about your ass." Bailey yells, trying to move her arms again.

She realizes that one of her wrists isn't tied as tight as the other so she quickly stops moving before he notices. Being skinny all these years might aid in saving her life, she just needs to slip out of the rope.

Carmichael gets up from his chair and slaps Bailey so hardly across the face that her chair flips over. He picks her up and puts the gun to her head screaming "You're lying bitch!! Tell me where he got the drugs!!!"

"W-why are you doing this?" Bailey sobs while her face throbs from the hit, blood leaking from her mouth.

"Don't you get it? The amount of drugs that fell out of that bag that night had to come from Jerrico's supplier. If I can catch him I'll be famous!! No, I'll be a hero!!"

"If you just want the drugs, why do you need the money too? You're not making any sense Carmichael!!"

"It makes perfect sense, Bailey. I'll catch the supplier, arrest him, turn the drugs in with the rest of his supply, keep the money, and kill you so I won't have any witnesses. I can't let you live now that you know the truth. Plus you don't even have any information so you're useless." He says, cocking the gun and pointing it at Bailey's head. "Get ready to see your brother."

Bailey closes her eyes and says a quick prayer, asking God to forgive her for her sins. She expects to see darkness but Carmichael is distracted when Bailey's phone buzzes on the floor.

"You won't need that anymore." Carmichael says and aims the gun at her phone, shooting it two times.

While the gun is pointed at the phone, Bailey wiggles her wrist out of the rope; hurriedly untying her other body parts and running into Carmichael. The gun falls from his hand and they both dive for it; Bailey reaching it first and aiming it at him.

"Now you listen to me, I'm going to get that bag and my other belongings then walk out of here." She shakily holds the gun while making her way to the duffle bag and her purse.

She keeps the gun aimed at Carmichael who starts running towards her, not knowing how to use the gun she throws it at his head then digs through her purse for her keys while she runs to her car.

"Get back here bitch!!" Carmichael calls out as he sends bullets flying towards Bailey and into her car.

Hopping inside quickly, she speeds off towards the direction of Josiah's house then opens the door with the key his grandma gave him when he needed clothes for the hospital. After catching her breath, she paces the floor repeatedly then removes the bottom drawer of Josiah's dresser; putting the bag behind it then and pushing the drawer in.

She knows that she shouldn't get Josiah involved in this crazy ass mess, so what he doesn't know won't hurt him. This is the only place she could bring the money because she can't risk Carmichael finding her address and looking for the money. There's no way she can hide from a detective. Hell, he finds people for a living. So the best thing she can do is make sure the money is hidden so he can't find it if he does kill her.

After claiming herself down, Bailey locks the place up and drives to her own house; her eyes bucking when she sees Josiah getting out of his car. Although he looks like a snack in his red, Nike jogging suit; this is the worst time he could pull up.

"WHERE THE FUCK YOU BEEN AT!!?? Had me drive all the way over here cause you wasn't answering!....wait, you okay? What happened to yo arms and yo face?...Is them bullet holes? Who the fuck shot at yo car, Bailey!?"

"Josiah, please hush before my neighbors here you. Just come inside and I'll explain everything." Bailey sighs, looking over her shoulder before unlocking the door.