Ghetto Girls Too. Anthony Whyte

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       ELEVEN

      Eric Ascot’s apartment was located on the sixteenth floor of a towering high class building. The residents were local stockbrokers and six figure assistants. Coco knew that the shooting had caused bedlam but by the time she reached the lobby hours later, the flow of people appeared to be calmer. Coco lit a cigarette and made her way outside. She paused and puffed before hailing a cab.

      A car screeched to a stop in front of her barely avoiding Coco’s feet. Two detectives jumped out of the car and grabbed the alarmed teen.

      “Hold on, yo. What y’all doing? I ain’t done nothing wrong, yo. What’s this all about, yo? What da fuck! I don’t wanna go anywhere with y’all. Leave me alone. Why am I in cuffs? You gonna tell me?”

      “Just shut up and listen. Now you can be an accomplice to murder or you can tell us right here and now what really went down up there?” Detective Kowalski yelled in her face.

      Despite her protest, Coco was thrown into the backseat of an unmarked police car. There she sat with a vicious stare clamped onto the faces of the two detectives, one black and one white. She had seen them earlier. Coco kept her mouth shut and her eyes shot daggers.

      “So you’re gonna play tough girl, huh?” the detective continued.

      Coco looked out the window in time to see Eric, Deedee, and Sophia driving away in their green Range Rover. I should’ve caught a ride from them. Man, what was I thinking? she wondered then her mind refocused on her present condition.

      “Look, I don’t know anything else. The guy walked in to rob everyone and Eric was in the bathroom and must’ve heard the ruckus or sump’n. He shot the guy after homey shot ah... the girl ...ah, Kamilla. That’s all. Now, let me go,” Coco said and sat up in the seat.

      “Now let me say this to you. Did you see how those rich people drove by without us touching them? They think they’re big fish and they can get away with everything. That leaves you and me, the small fish, to account for their shit. For some reason, you’re supporting them. Think they would support you?” As the detective spoke, Coco casually listened without saying anything. “They would send you down the river without a paddle. I want you tell me what was your business with them and what was going on up there?”

      “I’m working with Eric Ascot. He’s producing some songs.”

      “What, you’re a singer or a rapper?”

      “I’d like to go now, please.”

      “Listen here, girlie, those rich fucks, they don’t give a shit. They’re the type of people who’d sooner leave you holding the bag for all these murders, you hearing me? Why don’t you let us take you home while you tell us everything?” Kowalski asked. Coco stared him down. He didn’t budge. “Where do you live?”

      “I’d like to leave right now,” Coco replied firmly. The officer pretended as if he was going to swing at her. Coco didn’t even blink.

      He released the handcuffs and kept talking. “You think you’re a tough girl, huh?” He was in Coco’s grill. The teenager bit her tongue while the look she wore shot daggers at him.

      “See you around, Coco,” Hall said as Coco released the handle and jumped out of the car. She stood watching as it screeched off.

      “Fuck y’all,” Coco yelled as she fished for another cigarette and lit it. She began to walk when she saw a cab. She hailed it and it stopped. “One-tenth and Lennox,” she said then continued smoking. The cabbie refused to move. Coco looked at him indifferently. The cabbie pointed to the sign.

      “Can you read the sign back there, Miss?” the cabbie insisted. Coco looked at the sign. It read ‘No Smoking’.

      Coco squeezed the last suck out of the cigarette before she flicked it out the window. She leaned back and looked at the cabbie.

      “Ahight, you happy now, my man?”

      “Good to go,” the cabbie replied as he sped off. Coco could not shake the thought of what had just happened.

      She was sure Lil’ Long was there to murder someone but why? Coco made a promise to herself to catch up to Rightchus when she got back to the hood. He would bring the 411, she thought as light ruled the skyline of the city. “Right here is good.” She paid the fare and exited the cab.

      The chill of the cool night hit Coco. She popped her collar as she made her way to her building. She knew that when the story broke in the hood, there would be further questions. Right now, she didn’t want to do any talking.

      Coco raced upstairs foregoing the ‘Now Working’ sign on the door of the elevator. She tried to hurry past Miss Katie’s door without too much noise but the old lady was waiting and called to her as she attempted to go by.

      “Coco, Coco, girl, I was hoping you were all right. I haven’t heard from you and got worried. Did you see the news today? I think those men you were talking about, ah, Busta and Eric Ascot, they involved in killings and murders and Lord knows what else. Child, you listening to me? СКАЧАТЬ