"You see right there one officer is allowed inside by Kierra and she seemed frantic pointing to the conference room in the back"
I had the out of county detective showing me the tapes from my stores cameras that he had reviewed before bringing it to my attention.
"So she called the cops?"
"Correct, but here is when things get strange" He played the tape and I watched the way my wife's face frowned up when she finally looked the cop in the face.
"She recognizes him"
"Right, I know these next few clips are going to be tough to watch but they will be great for the case you are building against the LA police force"
I continued watching closely and one thing I noticed was there wasn't an ounce of fear in Kierra's eyes or body language, she stood like she was six feet tall and stared the cop in the eye.
"I am truly shocked by what takes place next not just the shooting but how your wife goes about saving herself, watch as the cop yanks out his gun to point at her head and Kierra immediately charges him sending the shot meant to kill her into a wall behind her"
Kierra wasn't somebody to fuck with or to pull a gun on, she didn't fear any of that shit and it made me proud watching her fight back to keep herself alive.
"Here is when things go left, he doesn't care if she is right on him fighting and just starts firing off the gun" Most of the bullets that were meant to kill her missed her every time except for the one to her stomach, she stumbled back and dropped to the floor.
"Your wife is truly extraordinary, she rolls on her stomach and lays completely still giving the cop the idea that she had died, he kicks at her limp body and walks out of the store and driving off with another cop car that comes from behind the building"
My leg bounces watching all the blood pouring out of Kierra, she picks up her head slowly checking before army crawling back towards the conference room with her cellphone in her hand leaving the trail of blood I found across the floor.
"Here she goes into a large bag and takes out duct tape and puts it on the wound to slow the bleeding going on"
She kept crawling into the conference room, where she ended up sitting breathing heavily in and out looking around with the phone in her hand.
"I believe during this time she was in a state of shock but also she couldn't call the police because they were the ones that did it so she was pretty much stuck for about an hour, some parts fainting and some of it praying"
A whole hour she was alone clinging to life, shit bothered me watching the blood pour from her mouth and being clearly in a lot of pain.
"Can you slow it down right there for me?" Something on the clip caught my eyes, the detective slowed down the video showing Kierra tapping her legs and her weak eyes concentrated on her feet before throwing her head back crying " She already knew"
I wiped my face, Kierra not only was fighting for her life in the conference room early this morning but she had figured out herself that she couldn't walk.
"What's next?"
"One we are going to have to go over LAPD's head and go straight to the DA's office to present the tape once we have a little bit more from Kierra"
"I'm going to the hospital after we are done if she wakes up I'll call you to get you to come and interview her" I stood up with the detective shaking his head.
"If I find any new leads I will message you and let you know"
"I appreciate that"
My car was filled with teddy bears and flowers that were sent from my family and friends that knew about the incident, protest were still heavy and I knew once this story got out it would be hell to pay for the cops in the city of Los Angeles.
Blacc: Got a few houses for you in yo email, if you see something hit me back and I'll handle the rest
I couldn't wait to find a home for us, there would be no more picking up and dropping off my wife instead it would be us waking up and going to sleep in the same bed every night.
Once I arrived at the hospital I had security help me bring the teddy bears and flowers inside to the new room they had placed Kierra in for the next few days, my sister stood outside of the door looking up at the ceiling shaking her head.
"What's wrong? something happen?"
"Kierra's awake" Sammy voice shook, I reached out and rubbed her arm.
"Then why you out here looking like this?"
"They did her fucking dirty"
Sammy cried banging her fist against against the wall behind her, that must have meant the doctor had removed to tube from her throat
"Go to the cafeteria with Roc and to get yourself together, I got this shit handled"
Sammy walked off with J-Roc leaving me by myself to walk inside my wife's hospital room, it was way brighter than before and Kierra's hair looked better.
"Baby" She croaked with her raspy voice holding her arms out " I was waiting on you"
I set the flowers down on the table stepping into give my wife a long hug and multiple kisses. I pulled a chair up beside her bed sitting down.
"I can't walk"
"Yeah the doctor told me yesterday after you were out of surgery" Kierra picked at the blanket looking up at me with the saddest eyes.
"I'm no more good without walking, so I understand if you want to leave me"
I cocked my head back scrunching my nose up at her, it wasn't that she thought she was no more good that made me mad but it was that she thought I would do some fucked up shit like that to her.
"Leave you because you paralyzed? I didn't marry you because you could walk Key, I married you because your my soulmate and shit is temporary and honestly I'm just glad you still alive"
"Baby they set me up"
"Who?" I needed more information to get the justice Kierra deserved, she had a pen and paper on her table that she pointed to for me to get for her.
"Here is the badge number and last name"
Kierra scribbled it down on the paper giving it to me, I didn't know what to say and how she even remembered all of this.
"Tell me what happened, I got somebody working the case privately and he needs your statement" I took out my phone to video record her talking about what happened inside of store that morning.
"I got to the store around four in the morning on the dot and started setting up my paintings in the conference room, you know the back door towards the ally the knob started to jiggle really hard and it sound like somebody was trying to break it down so I called the cops to see what was going on, I should have known something was up because the cop got there in under a minute like he was already there"
Kierra chuckled shaking her head, I could tell she was more angry than anything that she didn't realize it and prevent the shooting from even happening.
"I let him in and explain that somebody is in the back trying to break in, while I'm telling him that I notice his face and started to read his last name and badge number in my head realizing it's the cop that pointed the gun at my head when you were pulled over so I started reciting the badge number and last name in my head to remember it"
It made sense that they wanted to kill someone who didn't fear them and didn't mind fighting them back.
"He didn't even say anything just pulled the gun out and I could tell he wasn't just trying to scare me with it so I started to fight him and get the gun away but he ended up shooting me in the stomach and I laid on the floor really still to make it look like I was dead"
"Why didn't you call me?"
"I knew if you heard something was wrong that you would call the cops and I knew all I had to do was hold on for a little while until your dad showed up to help me"
I held her hand, what if she couldn't hold on and no one showed up? I would be without her and the thought of that scared me.
"I got something to show you just to lighten up the mood" Opening up my email on my phone I showed her the listings of homes "Any of them you like?"
"You buying us a home?"
Her smile was bright like she wasn't in the hospital, pointing at a simple home in the Sherman Oaks area.
"I like this one just something simple and quaint, like me"
"Alright, it's yours"
I shot my brother the text to close on the house in Sherman Oaks.
"Just like that?"
"We gonna have to sign a bunch of shit but it's pretty much yours" Kierra sighed closing her eyes for a while "You alright?"
"Just praying and thanking God for giving me a second chance at life and for putting you in it to love and take care of me"
"Key I love you and we gonna get through this and get you back on your feet"
" I love you too Ermias and I have faith in God I'm not worried, I just want justice for myself and whoever else the cops tried to silence"
"And you gonna get I promise you that" Kierra looked down at her blanket again smirking "What?"
"I was gonna talk to you about having a baby but that's gonna be a hold for a while"
I stood up kissing her forehead and smoothing back her hair in the ponytail.
"You focus on getting on your feet and once you do I'll put a baby in you" She laughed mushing my head away.
" Boy bye"
She scooted over wincing patting the bed, I slid out of my sneakers climbing in the bed and avoiding the IV's hooked to her.
"Can I still do the art show?"
"You got a lot of rehab to do, you think you could handle that?"
"Yes I can handle it" I pulled her into my arms.
"Then I say yeah but if it becomes too much just tell me"
It wasn't that I didn't think she could handle it I didn't believe she was thinking this through and it would be a tough road for her in the next few months.
This was gonna test us and our marriage.