Why is this bathroom always so cold? Cilia thought in irritation, the cold tile floor causing her nipples to tingle while goosebumps violently popped up on her arms and legs. She squeezed a thick chunk of mint Colgate toothpaste on her toothbrush and stood in the mirror, brushing her teeth. After five minutes she rinsed her mouth and washed her face before placing her toothbrush back into the holder built on the wall.
There was a lot of talking going on which had waken her out her sleep. But when she walked into the living room, she realized it was only Iris's friend Gail speaking really loudly because Iris had something sizzling in the frying pan. Cilia threw a polite wave and a fake smile and the older woman smiled back, doing a sweep over of her that Cilia didn't miss.
Cilia watched Iris flip some eggs over as some greased popped in the pan. She began making the short walk over to her sister until she was blocked by a taller stature. Allele stood in front of her, his hair in a bun while he wore a black t-shirt and dark black jeans. "Where you going?" He smirked, biting into an apple.
"Allele, move." Cilia mumbled.
She just woke up and wasn't in the mood to play. She tried to go left but he slid in her way.
She frowned. "Dude."
Allele chuckled and chomped on his apple, moving in her way again when she tried to go around him from the right side.
Cilia frowned heavy as fuck. "Allele."
"Al, get out that girl's face." Iris said, looking in their direction, barely hearing Cilia's complaints over the hot pan.
Allele smiled and moved but threw a fake snarl Cilia's way. "She always moppin'. Ole depressed ass."
"Yeah because I have to look at you everyday." She said walking up and pecking Iris' cheek before opening the fridge.
"Aye aye aye," Iris interjected, "we have guest here you guys. Stop." She said. She knew how they got. They never took a break from each other, even as kids. It sometimes started out as throwing jabs and then they'll both get serious. They were too grown for that now and Iris was not about to let them act out in front of company.
"Yeah Cilia, learn how to act." Allele mumbled, pulling his phone out.
Gail sat silently, assessing Cilia's knee length nightgown. Her entire back was outside showing no bra straps in sight, she wouldn't even be surprised if she had no underwear on. That's the kind of woman she presented herself as.
Cilia glanced at Gail and saw her staring at her but Cilia looked away first, pouring some orange juice out in a cup. She was wondering why the woman was here anyway. It was nine something in the morning. She needed to be at her own damn house taking care of her duties. She seemed really sweet, but her staring was really annoying. Cilia felt like she was being judged for some reason.
Leaning her back against the table, facing away from the kitchen and staring into the small hallway, Cilia slowly sipped on her pulp free orange juice.
"Breakfast is almost ready." Iris said, brushing her hands along the controls to turn the fire off. She placed some eggs on a white dish she had near by, then took the greasy frying pan to the sink to wash.
Gail watched in complete and utter shock as Allele who was on his phone abruptly put it in his pocket and walked over to the twin. He walked up so close she immediately opened her mouth seeming like she was about to bark at him again, until he lowered himself placing his head in the crock of her neck and pulling her body into his by slinking his arms around her waist.
"Cil my stomach hurt." He grumbled, not knowing he had a mild case of food poisoning. Randomly since yesterday he would have violent stomach pains for a few minutes before it would go away and come back.
Cilia during a typical day, would have snapped at him for bothering her, but she was in a good mood the last few days. Not even Allele could blow her high.
"I don't care Allele, get off me." She mumbled, snatching the apple out his hand and taking a bite out of it.
Gail sat in the chair with her mouth wide open, not believing what she was seeing. They can't be serious right now, she thought. Either they were really bold and didn't care about being discovered; or somewhere in their minds they didn't think what they were doing was inappropriate. Even though Gail wasn't sure, her mind was telling her that they must not think they were doing anything wrong. Nobody was that audacious, even if the other person was blind.
Gail looked at Iris who was drying her hands, wondering if Iris knew her husband and sister played like that. She was hoping Iris would walk over there. But she was surprised when she heard the husband call for her anyway, while still hugged up on her sister.
"Iris c'mere, Cilia being mean to me." Allele pouted, sticking his hand out.
Iris smiled and sucked her teeth. "Where are you? You guys always playing. Cilia you being mean to my boo." Iris said, walking straight until Allele pulled her hand, pulling her onto the other side of his body. He switched his head to Iris's shoulder, but still had one hand around Cilia's waist.
Iris who felt she was shoulder to shoulder with someone else, put her hand out and squeezed the person's shoulder. "Who's this, Cilia?"
"Uh huh." Cilia said chomping down on the apple. It was really good, she liked hard apples that crunched when you bit into it.
"Stop being mean to Allele." Iris smiled, reaching up to peck his lips. She then giggled as she wiggled out of his hold. She thought Allele and Cilia's brother and sister moment was cute, actually. They were always fighting, there were very rare moments when they were cooled out and talked to each other normally. She liked when they bonded as brother and sister instead of viscously tearing into each other all the time. "Breakfast is ready by the way."
"Damn bro..." Allele mumbled, gritting his teeth at the quick pain that shot through his stomach. He placed his head on the table, wincing through it. It was reminding him of the severe hunger pains he felt as a kid. He hadn't felt like that in so long and this shit was feeling like a close enough reminder.
Iris turned around in concern, frowning. She walked back over to him and he just put his head on her shoulder again. "It really hurts huh?" Iris said, massaging the top of his scalp. "Cil can you please run to the store and get him some acetaminophen?"
Cilia peeked over her shoulder, "Girl if you don't acetaminophen your behind—"
"Cil, come on, please? His stomach hurts. What if he has a stomach virus?"
"And pain pills from the bodega are gonna fix it?"
"No smart mouth, but maybe they can do something. Just get the pills and let's see if it works. If not, then we might have to go to the hospital. But I don't even think it's that serious. He probably just ate something bad the other day."
Cilia rolled her eyes and sucked her teeth. "Fine." She said making Iris smile. Iris broke out of Allele's hold once again to go take Gail's food out.
"Yeah, go get my shit." Allele suddenly whispered to Cilia, finding his way over there as he smacked the half eaten fruit out her hand making it go rolling across the kitchen floor.
"You see how you always fucking playing until I smack the shit outta you right?" Cilia snapped, making Gail gasp. Iris swung around while Allele laughed, putting a hand over his mouth.
"Cilia." Iris said. She could always leave it to the two of them. The peace never lasted for too long.
Cilia sucked her teeth. "Sorry!" She snapped, she didn't even know why this old bitch was over here anyway. She needed to take her ass home. Cilia stalked to the back to go get dressed.
In less than a minute she was out, with a pair of faded out jeans and an old white t-shirt with a bleach stain on it, her puffy black jacket over her. She didn't bother getting too fancy since she was just running down the block. Without so much as a word to anyone, she slammed the door behind her as she walked out.
"Yo'...why does this have to be me bro?" Allele laughed and whined at the same time, hugging Iris from behind as he frowned from the sharp feelings in his gut.
"Al get off me, Gail is here, we probably look really vulgar."
"So." He whispered, "fuck her, why she always here anyway? She don't have friends her age?"
"Al stop it, that's really nasty for you to say. I'm sure she does." Iris mumbled back.
Allele squeezed her boob but Iris quickly smacked his hand down, moving away from him. She walked over to Gail, placing her plate of eggs, bacon and waffles in front of her. Iris knew that Cilia didn't want anything to eat because she would have fussed about eating before she left or told her to put her food away for when she came back.
Iris turned to Allele, "Food babe?"
"Nah I'm good." He winced, quickly waving even the thought of any food off.
"Okay, go lay down then until Cil comes back. I'll come check on you in a minute." She said.
Allele followed instruction as he headed toward their bedroom. He closed the door behind him and stripped down to his boxers, covering up from head to toe.
Iris and Gail sat in the kitchen with Iris humming and still washing up the utensils she used to prepare breakfast with while her plate sat across from Gail's, lukewarm. Gail softly stabbed at a fluffy waffle on her plate, looking at Iris's back every so often. She was a young lady and this was the age she was suppose to learn and make mistakes, but Iris was her friend and the inappropriateness between her husband and sister was really bothering her.
Just as Gail was about to open her mouth, Iris beat her to the punch. "How's the bacon? Is it too crispy?"
Gail gave a small smile, "No, it's fine."
Iris came and lightly felt for a chair, pulling it out as she sat across from her older friend. "Okay, that's good...oh, I didn't offer you anything to drink! I'm sorry, do you want—"
"No that's okay." Gail said digging in her bag to pull out her own. "I usually walk with my V8 carrot juice."
Iris smiled, "Okay."
The table was quiet as Iris gracefully cut her waffles, placing small pieces into her mouth. Gail saw that she was such a sweet young lady, but even her reaction to the close proximity of her husband and sister was strange. She didn't even seem to care. Surely she realized how close they were standing, or how intimately they were touching...she was right there. Or did she not realize? How could she not though? She was blind, but her sense of touch was still there.
"Oh, by the way. I started reading that book you gave me, Through The Lens." Iris suddenly stated. "The first picture using a camera was taken in 1816. It was with this strange somewhat of a camera and a piece of paper with silver chloride on it. Isn't that so weird?"
Gail gave a tight lipped smile. That was the one thing she liked about Iris. She liked to learn about all kinds of history. "Yeah."
"And it's so crazy how—"
"Iris?" Gail said, squeezing the silver fork in her hand until the tips of her fingers turned yellow. "I kind of want to ask you something but I don't want you to get upset...it's about your sister and your husband."
Concern took over Iris's face and she slowly stopped chewing her food as she looked across the table at her. "Okay...what's the matter?"
Looking at her Gail got a bit nervous. The conversation should have been much easier since she couldn't see, but it felt as if Iris was staring right at her. The girl's eyes moved a mile a minute, her forehead creating lines which made her look like a concerned mother.
"How close are they? You're sister and Allele, I mean." Gail asked not being able to just jump to the point.
"Their pretty close, we all are. Cilia and I have been around Allele since we were ten. We lived on the streets together." Iris said. It was something she never told anyone only because Allele and Cilia didn't want people in their business like that. And living on the streets wasn't exactly something to be proud of. But Iris had been talking to Gail for two years now. She was a really understanding and cool woman. There was no harm in telling her. "It's just the three of us, like three peas in a pod."
Gail was surprised to hear that bit of information. She never pegged Iris to come from that lifestyle. She was a really well put together young woman. When she met her she was only eighteen, already married, and loved to educate herself; she had very intelligent conversations and things to say. That was very rare for a teenager so her and Gail had clicked instantly.
"Wow..." Maybe that's why Iris didn't say anything to them being all over each other like that. They don't see anything wrong with it and neither does she. They were all a bunch of young, misguided and lost kids. "Well, I kind of have to say their interactions are a little...inappropriate."
"What do you mean?"
Gail instinctively looked toward the hallway and made sure the door was closed before she lowered her voice. "Well...like just now...Allele, ya know, h-he basically had his body against your sister's and his head was buried in her neck. He had his arms around her waist."
Iris furrowed her eyebrows, fingering the mug of coffee she picked up. It was still hot and Iris liked to hold her beverages when they were still hot. It made her hands warm, or at least made her hands feel like they were warm. "Yeah, so what's the matter?"
Gail frowned. "You don't find anything wrong with that?"
She shrugged, "Why would I? They were playing."
"Playing?" Gail stated in disbelief. "Iris honey, that's not really grounds for playing with someone when their married. I mean, don't get me wrong your sister seems like a lovely girl and everything but even the way she dresses around the house is kind of jaw dropping. Even just now before she left she had on this flimsy nightgown with no undergarments. It's not the first time, the last time I was over here she had on these short shorts and this tight white t-shirt. You could see her nipples. Your husband kept looking at her too...and it wasn't just a glance or two. He kept looking at her almost like he couldn't help himself."
Gail wasn't trying to come in and create drama, especially when it came to family because she knew some people got funny about their family. But she did want to look out for her friend. Especially when she couldn't see for herself.
Gail sighed, putting her hand up. "Iris, I'm not trying to come in and stir problems. I'm just looking out for you. The same thing happened to me a while back. Ten years ago I had a cousin living with me and I had to put her out. She never had clothes on. Was always in my husband's face no matter what time of day it was. She even use to call out of her job sometimes when she knew my husband was home from work just to be at the house with him."
Iris stared with a blank face, staying quiet like she expected Gail to say something else. But after she realized she was not gonna add on, Iris suddenly laughed, putting her hand out. "Gail, honey, it's not like that over here. It's fine if Cilia puts on that kind of clothing. I dress like that too—"
"Yes, but it's your household, and your husband. For Cilia however, it should be a little different."
"Gail, Allele is not looking at Cilia like that, trust me. That's nothing more than his little sister. It's not that kind of party I know those two and I know my sister."
Gail put her hands up, done with the conversation. She would give her advice but she was not about to sit there and argue. "Okay hun, I just thought you should know."
Iris giggled. "Thank you for your concerns but we're just a tight knitted family over here...now, did you start on that one book? The one about the Chinese Concubines in the 1600's?"
******
Cilia walked with her head buried in her cellphone on the way back to the apartment. She only put one earphone in her ear and left the other one to dangle against her chest so she could hear everything going on around her. She smirked, watching a short clip on YouTube of a comedian telling jokes at a standup show.
A big bottle of pulp free orange juice sat in the black plastic bag in her hand and she got a small pink bottle of Pepto Bismol. It would work better than the acetaminophen. Cilia looked up up every so often just to take in her surroundings. She stopped shortly coming up on the street which had a red hand up and a green light allowing cars to go.
After fifteen seconds the silver walking figure appeared allowing pedestrians to cross. Cilia successfully made it across the street before she bent her head right back down into her phone.
Whoop! Whoop!
Cilia heard a police car wildly pulling up somewhere behind her but she didn't even bother to turn around. Two car doors slammed which made her notice the boy a few feet up ahead of her. He turned around and once he saw the police car, he took off running.
Cilia barely got a chance to blink before a cop had came out of nowhere, slamming the boy against the fence.
"Whoa whoa whoa where you going?" The fat Spanish officer said patting him down. "You got something on you?"
The boy who was dressed in a gray Nike hoodie and sagging jeans sucked his teeth as he was roughly pat down in front of the sudden crowd that seemed to be growing by the second. "Man what ya'll doing?" He stressed.
"He got something on him?" Cilia heard another cop say from behind her, his walkie talkie blaring as he was approaching.
"Nah he really doesn't." The Spanish officer confirmed.
She heard the other cop suck his teeth, his boots scraping against the floor. They were both getting closer to the scene.
"So what the fuck you was running for?" The officer behind her asked.
"Man 'cause ya'll niggas be buggin' out what you mean!" The kid said truthfully.
Cilia got up to them but easily side stepped the scene as she kept walking, never one to be in anybody's business.
"Get your little dumb ass outta here before I take you down to the station for no reason. Wasting my time." One of the cops said.
The kid sucked his teeth but wasted no time jogging off, running past her. Just then Cilia felt a muscular hand grab her arm. Out of instinct her eyebrows furrowed and she turned around ready to fight. When she turned into familiar light caramel eyes accompanied with a neatly shaven goatee and thick plump lips, it still didn't soften her features, because it was Keshawn.
"You're the one we came for." He said.
"Excuse me?" Cilia said trying to wrench her arm out of his deadly grip. He was actually hurting her but she would never give him the satisfaction of knowing. "Why are you pulling me?"
"There's a difference between holding and pulling, check it out on Webster's dictionary and I think you might get great results, sweetheart." He mumbled to her, walking her to the cruiser.
"Keshawn—"
"Officer Gray." He corrected.
Cilia looked at him dressed down in his black uniform, the gold plated badge on his right side breast pocket engraved with his last name 'Gray.' She wanted to say 'fuck you' but knew that probably wasn't smart.
"What are you doing?"
"Taking you down to the station. This was suppose to happen a long time ago. When you were at my grandmother's house I told you sometime next week I would come and get you. But last week never happened so it's gonna happen right now. Watch your head." Keshawn said putting his hand on top of her head as he began ducking her into the cruiser.
Cilia put her foot against the door, stopping herself from going in. A huge crowd formed, some even with their cellphones out yelling things that they hated about cops and police harassment as if they knew what was going on.
"I don't have to go anywhere with you. You can't force me."
"Is she resisting, Gray?" Officer Izquierdo asked, pulling his handcuffs out.
"No, I'm fine." Keshawn confirmed, looking at his partner for half a second before turning back to Cilia. "When I'm on the clock and I'm in my uniform as an officer, you go where the fuck I say you go. I'm not asking, it's mandatory. Now watch your head." He said damn near shoving her in the car.
He slammed the door behind her and walked around to the driver side, getting in before wildly pulling off.
Cilia sat in the back pissed off, she wondered if Keshawn just happened to be in the area and just saw her outside or if he had been headed to her house. If it was the second one, she had to say she was glad he caught her on the street. She didn't want him anywhere near Iris, or Allele for that matter.
"Can I at least call my house and let them know I got picked up? I just ran to the store for something. Someone's home waiting on me for something."
None of the officers said a word, causing Cilia to suck her teeth and grumble things under her breath. At this point if Keshawn didn't like her, he made it pretty clear. And that was okay with Cilia because she definitely didn't like him. Not since he interrogated her the first time they met.
"...You're an adult, you can be out a couple hours. Your roommates will be fine." Izquierdo answered. Usually if someone was picked up by police and they were seventeen or younger their guardian would be called and informed that they were under police custody, but since she was over eighteen she was an adult and therefore no one had to be contacted.
Cilia sat with her elbow on the door, staring out the window as they took a ride downtown.
When they got down to the station, Keshawn reversed into an empty space reserved for police as he and his partner got out. He opened the back door and Cilia got out, cutting her eyes at him as she swished toward the front of the station. Before she got far Keshawn snatched her arm, pulling her back. He glared down at her and she sucked her teeth as they all walked in together.
Izquierdo chuckled, shaking his head. He was starting to think Keshawn may have known this girl. Usually he was more formal with strangers. He was thinking they at least dated a few times. They walked into the building and into the elevator.
Stepping off the elevator on the third floor, the place had a strong stench of coffee and a slight sweet scent, almost something like sugar cookies. Phones rang off the hook constantly and fax machines went off as plain clothes officers and uniformed officers hustled about.
Keshawn pointed to a row of empty gray colored metal seats against a wall. "Sit over there. Don't move and don't talk to anybody." He said, taking her cellphone out her hand. "It'll be returned to you when you leave and so will you're items in the black bag." He said.
Cilia made her way over to the row of seats and just sat there, slouching down in the chair like a child who was put on timeout. She noticed a few people looking her way, some seeming to whisper and others plain out ice grilling her. Cilia looked around ignoring everyone.
They so dry here, Cilia thought. She knew it was a place of business but the place was so bland. Creme white walls with only a black circular clock hung up on the wall. Fake plants were everywhere but that was about all the decoration they had.
Three minutes turned into five, five into ten, and ten into twenty. Cilia began to get really annoyed because Keshawn wasn't even doing anything. She'd seen him past the floor several times, stopping to have conversations with people. It wasn't as if he forgot about her either, because he made sure to mug her every few minutes before he walked around the office doing stupid shit just to keep her waiting. Cilia sighed, her butt was hurting from the cheap seats and she was tired. She could hear people's fingers unnecessarily slamming into their keyboards to the point it was annoying.
Rolling her eyes to the ceiling, Cilia looked around, spotting a picture near the elevators, she hadn't seen before. It looked so stupid there, she squinted at it and felt goosebumps when she saw the photo. It was a basic picture of a big strong healthy looking tree, covered by thousands of rich green leaves, and under the tree sat what appeared to be a brand new soccer ball.
It reminded her of a park her, Iris and Allele had been in a few times. Cilia bit her bottom lip at one of the memories.
Fourteen year old Cilia sat under the tree in the park next to Iris, sharing a bag of potato chips. It was fall and not cold out at all but the wind was beginning to make the place a little chilly. Cilia stared at Allele who was a few yards up ahead, playing with some old dirty soccer ball he found. He and Cilia had gotten into another one of their petty arguments and he didn't want to be near her right now.
"You did take it too far," Iris said.
Cilia shrugged then looked at her sister with a blank face. "Okay? Tell his little ugly ass to stop playing with me then."
Iris emptied the bag of crumbs into her mouth and tossed the chip bag into the grass, dusting her hands off. She then turned toward Cilia who was staring at Allele. Iris twisted her lips to the side and stared at her sister for a while who didn't even notice she was being watched. After a couple of minutes, Iris finally opened her mouth. "You like him, don't you?"
Cilia slowly broke her eyes away from the fourteen year old boy to look at her sister with a frown as her palms became sweaty. "Why you always ask me that? You ask me this like every year."
"And you never answer." Iris stated.
"Do you like him?" Cilia questioned.
Iris laughed, waving her sister off. "Allele? No way. He's cute but that's just Al, you know? When I get my boyfriend he's totally gonna be different from Allele. I want a really really big guy with lots of muscle. Allele is too skinny and he has too much hair for a boy. I want a guy with short hair. And I want my boyfriend to be really tall. We're only like three inches shorter than Al. And chocolate is not really my tone. I'm more into caramel colored guys. And Allele has a bit of a temper when he's mad. I want a really sweet guy who never gets mad. I love Allele, but absolutely not like that."
Cilia nodded her head, a little dumbfounded. She had no clue Iris thought about things like that when she looked at Allele. She was his 'baby girl.' His little sister. His everything. Cilia slowly looked back out at him. He was in a black sweatpants and a black sweater. It still fit him even after four years of having it. It was some of the things he ran away from home with.
Cilia watched him, noticing how good he was with a soccer ball for someone who never played sports. He continuously used his knees to pitch the ball into the air. His really thick hair Iris talked about was neatly braided in two, going down to the middle of his back. Cilia had did the braids for him three days ago.
"Aww, you do like him." Iris said.
Cilia squeezed the damp grass in her hands, the grass wet from when it had rained last night, looking away. "No I don't Iris, stop." She mumbled.
Iris smiled on the inside but dropped the conversation. She didn't care what her sister said. She knew Cilia liked Allele and she knew Allele liked Cilia. She thought it would be cute for them to get together. But she knew that would never happen. Cilia loved acting tough and Allele had too much pride not to admit it if Cilia wasn't going to.
Cilia got up from the ground and dusted her pants off. "Where's the chips?" She asked, noticing the empty bag flying across the park as soon as the question left her lips. She had hardly gotten any. It was a bad habit of Iris's.
"Sorry." Iris smiled sheepishly. "Isn't it almost lunch time anyway? You and Allele can just get some more. Oh! And get the cheese doodles! Those are my favorites!"
Cilia sighed, mumbling an "I guess..." as they walked toward Allele.
"Come on Al, we gotta go." Iris chirped when they got close.
Allele kicked the soccer ball to the side and put his arm around Iris as they walked ahead of Cilia toward the exit. "Can we leave dirty behind?"
"You still talking shit? That's why when someone come up to beat your ass imma stand there and watch."
Allele looked over his shoulder. "I wouldn't need your help anyway. What you need to do is stop talking for I come over there and smack you wit' my dick."
"Oh my gosh," Iris said putting her hands over her ears. "Guys..."
"You probably don't even have a dick with your shrimp ass."
"How bout' I put it in your mouth and let you find out if my shit shrimp size or not."
"Guys!" Iris stammered. She stopped walking, causing Allele to stop as well. They looked at Cilia who stood there frowning with folded arms.
"I'm not going anywhere with him. I hate him."
"I hate you, you dusty looking—"
Iris put her hand over Allele's mouth. "No one say anything. You guys don't talk to each other and just leave it at that, okay?"
"Fine." Both kids answered in unison.
Cilia got on the left side of Iris while Allele stayed on the right as they walked out of the park. Cilia low key peeked at Allele from the corner of her eye and felt her heart leap down to her toes when she saw him also staring back at her. A smile formed on his lips but he bit his bottom lip to hide it and turn away from her once he'd been noticed looking.
"Hey!" Keshawn snapped, roughly pushing Cilia's shoulder. He called her more than ten times and she hadn't even blinked.
Cilia snapped out of her daydream, a snarl on her face as looked up at Keshawn, but noticed half the office staring at her. "What!" She shouted.
"I said get up." He restated.
Cilia did as she was told and allowed Keshawn to handcuff her. "You need to stop grabbing and putting your hands on me like you fucking crazy."
Keshawn ignored her and took her arm as he led her to a room in the back. He opened the door and closed it behind him, the white shutters, giving them privacy. The room was small but Cilia liked that it wasn't too hot or cold. It was just right. And she appreciated the cushiony seats unlike the hard cheap metals ones she sat on outside.
Keshawn unlocked the cuffs and made a head motion to the black chair. "Sit."
Cilia did so just as he took his own seat on a stool. He was writing down some stuff but Cilia couldn't bring herself to look. She didn't want to seem like she cared. She looked at him instead, watching his hands scribble things down in a quick manner. His jaws clenching and unclenching. She would actually think he was cute if he wasn't out to get her.
Unexpectedly his hazel brown eyes met her's, which made her make a weird facial expression from the abruptness of his movement. Ignoring her, Keshawn sat with the pen in his hand. "Cilia Hunter, right?"
"I'm sure you know my name, you probably looked it up on your file thing."
"Cilia Hunter, yes or no." Keshawn repeated, calmly.
"Yes!" She said louder than needed. She would have been a smart ass and said 'no' but judging by his personality so far, he was probably hoping that's what she would have said just to slap her with some stupid ass petty charge like false information.
He wrote something down. Afterwards, he leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his lower abdomen. "I did some research on you. And I finally realize where I really know you from. Before Dion and before your sister made the missing person's report." Keshawn dug into a black folder and pulled out Cilia's record, sliding it in front of her. "Cilia Hunter, you were fourteen and charged with attempted murder, with the intent to kill. You served four years in a juvenile detention center in Brooklyn, New York, then when you turned eighteen you were transported to Bedford Hill correctional facility until you turned twenty...you were the girl that used a switchblade on my friend Ty'kerah Wilson when we were teenagers. I'm still in contact with her, I wonder how she would feel if I could get you guys to meet up and talk about it." Keshawn smirked evilly.
Keshawn had no clue how he didn't recognize her sooner. There weren't a lot of Black girls with natural bright brown hair and multi colored eyes; but when he saw her sister at her apartment and saw her again for the first time at his grandmother's house, he assumed they were just twins who dyed their hair; the eyes should been a dead giveaway though. It was very distinctive. Along with the almost sickly weight and tall height. There really was no difference in how they looked all those years ago. Cilia and her sister got taller and seemed as if they only had gained three pounds.
Wow...go figures. First Allele is the boy that killed Keshawn and Dion's brother...then I find out Peyton was married to Dion...and now Peyton's friend Ty'kerah is the bitch that sent me to prison. What else? Cilia thought, she was honestly amped off the news about Ty'kerah, though. She wasn't nervous or scared. She had no remorse for Ty'kerah. She was the one who pulled out the switch blade first and tried to use it on her. It just happened to backfire on her dumb ass. "Oh wow really? Well you don't have to do all that. I actually know her. I'll tell her myself."
Keshawn was amused by her grittiness; he had to admit she had a little heart, but he was about to stomp all over it.
"So let me guess, that means you were the little bitch nigga that tried jumping me with the already five girls on top of me but my friend had to jump in and beat your ass?" Cilia asked finally remembering the day as it came back to her.
"Beat my ass..." Keshawn repeated in full amusement, "I don't exactly think it went down that way but how about you get me in touch with him and let's see if he can do it again?"
Cilia didn't say a word.
"Let me guess, that little boy is the same nigga that was at the apartment the day your sister filed the missing person's. Your sister's husband."
"No." Cilia said, she definitely did not want Allele getting involved. Keshawn already didn't like her, so she wouldn't put it past Keshawn to do something fucked up to the boy he fought. Especially since it was someone she knew. "He lives in Florida with three kids and a wife. We lost contact with him about five years ago."
"Cute." Keshawn said getting up. He unexpectedly left the room, but before Cilia could even breathe he was back with a black Dell laptop. He turned it on and let it start up while he wrote some more things down on his notepad. Once it came on he typed in the department password and when the homepage came up, he pulled a hard drive out his pocket and stuck it into the USB port on the side of the computer, allowing data to load.
The door opened and a female cop stepped inside; she was too far away for Cilia to see her badge name but she had smooth dark skin and filled her uniform out almost perfectly. Cilia could bet most of the guys in the department acted thirsty over her because she was thick. "Gray, you have a minute?" She said.
Keshawn looked over his shoulder at Tianna with an expressionless face. "No, your gonna have to wait. I'll get back to you as soon as I'm done here. Do me a favor and tell everyone not to come in here until I'm done, thanks."
After being dismissed, Tianna then glared at Cilia making Cilia glare back. Cilia didn't know what the hell she was looking at. Acting like they were about to fuck in here or something and not like she was being questioned for crimes. There was nothing between them and Keshawn's groupie cop friends needed to keep that in mind.
"Okay Cilia, we have some really important things to talk about. And I mean very important. Important like depending on what you say here today can determine you walking out of here in cuffs."
Cilia rolled her eyes trying not to show that she was bothered, although she was a little curious to know why she was here. Then again, who wouldn't be?
Keshawn typed in a few things on the laptop then leaned back in his chair, placing both arms on the armrest. "Where were you 2015, November 9th at 9:09PM?"
The way he said it immediately made Cilia look at him. The confidence of his tone, how comfortable he was. He made it seem as if something major happened and she was connected to it. But even as she thought about it herself, Cilia really couldn't remember. November 9th? She thought to herself. That was like two or three months ago. Around that time is when she and Breeze really started being in each other's face a lot more. So the only place she could think of was being at Breeze's place or her own. She didn't want to say the wrong thing however for it come back that she had lied, so she told the truth.
"I don't know." She said.
Keshawn lazily shrugged his arms, his eyelids low like they were heavy. "You don't know."
"That's what I just said, right?"
"Well here's a reminder." Keshawn said. Smoothly, he reached forward and spun the laptop around to face Cilia so she could see the screen. On it was a video that had the date, the year and the time on the upper right corner that read 11/9/15 9:09PM; and on the paused screen was her and Allele sitting in the booth seat of a restaurant. Cilia's heart instantly skipped a beat as she realized what this was about. Their first victims. Jon and Sabrina.
"You were at Nancy's diner." Keshawn announced out loud. "What were you doing at Nancy's diner that night, Ms. Hunter?"
The phrase "never let anyone see you sweat" was easier said than done. Cilia felt like she was about to slip into a coma. Her hands instantly got cold and clammy. Her stomach started making noise she knew were from nerves. Does he know something? Still trying to play along, Cilia leaned back in her own chair, putting a finger under her chin.
"Hmm, let me see. What was I doing there...it's a place with waiters and waitresses...chefs...food is being cooked in the back. I don't think I was there to eat. I think I just went in to sit down and admire how beautiful the world is."
Ignoring her sarcasm, Keshawn smiled looking just like his brother without the dimples. "Who's the guy sitting down at the table with you Cilia?"
Cilia felt like she was trapped in a nightmare that she couldn't get out of.
"This looks an awful lot like your brother-in-law don't you think? What's his name..." Keshawn shuffled through some papers in the folder and pulled out a news article. "Allele Coleman. That's his name, right?"
Cilia was wondering how he knew that, but then again as a cop it wasn't that hard to get information like that.
"See...when you have a great team like the one at my department, you piece things together. Remember in 2009? The three missing person's report filed for those three children? Two twin girls name Cilia and Iris Hunter, and another young boy named Allele Coleman. At first people assumed it was an abduction, but then neighbors and everyone else in the community said you three were always together...whether it be sun up or sun down. I mean, rumor had it that you guys didn't have such a great life in your houses. So it would make more sense if you guys ran away. I know it's him. Because your wife's last name is Coleman. And his name is Allele Coleman. She married him."
Keshawn tried looking Iris and Allele up on the system's data base computer but nothing came up. They had no criminal history, so there wasn't much he could find except for the news story about them running away from home ten years ago.
"This is Allele Coleman, just say it." Keshawn said. Cilia was already identified in the video but her friend wasn't. All Keshawn had to do was get her to say who it was.
"I don't know who that is." Cilia shrugged with attitude.
Keshawn sighed, this bitch was really bold to sit there and play these games with him. "So you walk into the restaurant with this man, and sit down with him at a table, but you don't know who he is?"
"Nope." Cilia said. "It's a free country, you can sit wherever you want."
Keshawn nodded his head. "How about Jon Fickle and Sabrina Powell. Do you know them?"
"Never heard of them a day in my life."
"Don't know them, never spoke to them...don't know anything of them, correct?"
"Yup."
Keshawn wrote something down which made Cilia nervous. Keshawn then leaned forward, pointing at the screen but never taking his eyes off her. On the screen that showed the same paused image of Cilia and Allele, was also Jon and Sabrina in the very next row to the left, about five seats up. Cilia didn't know had she hadn't see them the first time. "That's them right there, Jon and Sabrina. You and your partner are barely thirty feet away from them. You two were here the night they died."
"So," Cilia shrugged. "coincidences happen. Just because I'm in the same place as someone when they died doesn't mean I killed them. I'm not the only person in the restaurant. I see about two or three other people." Cilia said matter of fact, looking up at him.
"And all of them have been interviewed, along with employees as well. Everyone has been x'd out as a suspect. It's just you and your brother-in-law."
"That's not my brother in law. I don't know that man."
Keshawn heard a light knock on the door and he knew what that was for. He only had a few minutes left to cross examine her. She'd been here for at least an hour and a half and if she didn't confess soon or he couldn't come up with significant evidence, he had to let her go.
"You said you never spoke to the victims right?"
"No." Cilia stated, her tone low.
Keshawn pulled the laptop toward him and fast forwarded the video, and quickly shoved it back to Cilia, allowing her to see herself approach the couple and begin talking to Jon.
Cilia was at a loss for words. She placed her elbow on the table and rested her head in her hand as she just stared at the screen. Her eyes began to cloud with tears because she knew she was in trouble. Keshawn smirked knowing he hit the nail on the head. All he needed was to get her to confess.
He leaned forward, taking one of her hands in his. Cilia allowed him to as she just stared at him with blurry eyes. Keshawn softened his face, "Cilia, sweetheart, you can tell me. I know you did something very bad that night and I know you must feel terrible for it. Just tell me and we can work on something. We can figure something out."
According to the video, they had evidence since Cilia was seen approaching the deceased victims who died minutes after she came up to them. Although what Cilia didn't know was that the exact time of the death was seven minutes later. For a murder to take place seven minutes after she left was actually a pretty long time. Which meant if she knew better, she could try to come up with alibis and locations which confirmed she was already somewhere else at the time Jon and Sabrina died. But obviously she wasn't thinking like that because she did the crime and she was an amateur criminal who knew nothing. And Keshawn saw that and was trying to use it to his advantage.
Cilia sniffled and wiped her eyes before any tears could fall. "Are we done here? I said I didn't do anything."
Keshawn grit his teeth, his annoyance soaring through the roof. "Then why are you crying Cilia?" He said softly. "I know you did it, just tell me."
A soft knock sounded against the door before a fellow plain clothes cop stuck his head through. "Gray." He called letting Keshawn know he had to let her go.
Keshawn was livid. They had a great deal of evidence but not enough. There was no real evidence saying she committed the murder. It was pretty obvious that she did, but without some DNA, witness or video evidence linking her to the scene of the crime, there wasn't much he could do.
Keshawn slammed the laptop down then got up. Cilia didn't wait for her invitation either as she also got up from her seat, rubbing her wrist like the handcuffs still hurt. She unexpectedly jumped once Keshawn slammed his hand on the wall next to her head. She glared at him with red but angry eyes, and right then and there he knew she did it. He could see it.
"I know it was you," Keshawn whispered. "that gun, where is it."
"At home." She replied truthfully. It wasn't everyday she walked with it. Only when her and Allele needed them. That night he got lucky when she accidentally walked with it without checking; and now she was tight because she knew he was not about to leave it alone.
"That gun is the same gun you used on Sabrina, Cilia and you know it. You used it on Sabrina Powell, the prostitute and Derrick White. He had four kids. All between the ages of four to nine. How do you feel about yourself?"
"Are we done here?" Cilia asked.
Keshawn chuckled and looked down at the ground. He licked his lips before his scorching hot brown eyes met her's in an intense gaze. What she didn't know was that the gun isn't what would put her away. It was the bullets. If he could match the bullets that she had with the same bullets her victims were killed with, that's the only other thing that would put her behind bars beside the DNA or video evidence. "Trust me, I'm going to catch you. I've been doing this since I was seventeen. You can't outrun me and you can't outsmart me."
Cilia stared at Keshawn, his words making her eyes more glassy. She didn't know why he was making her so emotional. There was something about him that intimidated her. Cilia knew at this point she had met her match. As she stared at him she saw a fire in his eyes that reminded her of herself. They both had the same thing in common: a goal. It made Cilia think. Could she really hate Keshawn? He was trying to lock her up but at the same time it wasn't anything personal. He was doing his job and it was something that would help his career. Just like when she went out and took lives just to get money, it wasn't anything personal against anybody. She was doing it to help her sister. They were both out here with the common goal in interest, of getting to the top.
But I can't let him get to the top, Cilia thought to herself. She swallowed the huge lump in her throat that felt like sand. She looked back and forth between his eyes, her lips stretched out in a frown and her eyes emotionlessly blank. "Did you hear the story of that cop that was murdered the other day? Some Mexican gang members...they killed him just for being a cop. It would be really grimy for another cop to die just for being a cop."
Keshawn didn't miss the threat she made and it made him click his jaws in annoyance. One thing he didn't do was take threats lightly, and especially not from some bitch he didn't like. The only reason he didn't smack the shit out of her was because they were under surveillance by the entire police department. Keshawn leaned in close causing Cilia to flinch and suck her breath in as she pushed herself back against the wall as far as she could go, still trying to stand tall.
"Grimy?" He whispered so low she almost didn't hear him. "You know what grimy is? You see your sister? The little blind hoe? Grimy would be if I bust my nut in her eyes and tell that lil' bitch it's medicine. Then tell her in three days she'll be able to see again if she let's it soak in and marinate. That's grimy."
Cilia just stared, her fist balled at her sides as her lips quivered.
"The next time you threaten me you little hood rat bitch, imma break ya fucking neck." Keshawn finally removed his hand then backed up, allowing her space to move. "Now we're done. Get the fuck out of my station."
Cilia ran toward the door. And Keshawn didn't miss the tear that fell from her eye.