Wrongful Accusations - Chapter 17
Confessions and Cover-Ups
The bathroom was a nice size. I could think there. It was almost as good as my thinking machine. I missed my StairMaster. I missed my office. I missed my bed. I missed Jerry. Thoughts of my last night brought a smile to my face. Then there was a knock on the door.
“Hello, ma’am, are you all right?” What was a guy doing in the apartment? I wondered if he was one of the Muhammad’s employees.
“I’m fine. I’ll be right out.”
When I walked back down the hall I saw that the living room was crawling with police. I looked outside and an ambulance and fire truck was pulling into the apartment parking lot. I guessed Shannon’s Twitter followers had taken her dilemma seriously and sent for all of the help they thought we would need. Shannon and Cole Slaw were giving two of the officers an earful. One of the other officers, probably the one that had knocked on the bathroom door approached me.
“You’re Ms. Johnson, is that correct?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Ms. Johnson, can you tell me your version of what’s going on ma’am?” Before I could answer him, I looked outside and saw Kadijah and Peaches pull up in front of the apartment. The two boys were in the backseat. Two police officers immediately grabbed the twins and handcuffed them. A woman, probably from child services, got the boys out of the backseat. The younger one began to cry and the older brother put his arm around his little brother’s shoulder.
“We’ll sir; it’s a long story…” I began.
Once Peaches and Kadijah had been transported, successfully, to the Shelby County Corrections Center, I paid Peaches a visit. I still had a few questions to ask her.
“Peaches, since you and Kadijah were married to Mr. Muhammad, where did Carl come in?”
“Kadijah got all of the attention. I was just a standby. I wanted someone of my own. And I’m sure you know, Carl was excellent in bed.”
“Why did you kill him?”
“I didn’t kill him. Shannon shot Carl by accident. You know she’s not too bright.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. If I didn’t tell the police would I be an accessory after the fact? Who would believe two killers/con artists over two upstanding citizens?
“Why didn’t you drop him off at the hospital? They could have saved him?”
“Kadijah just snapped his neck to put him out of his misery sooner.” Wow, those were some cold girls.
With that confession, I decided to keep the news about Shannon to myself. I was still confused about one other thing. When exactly did Kadijah find out that Shannon was one of Abdul’s women?
“I found a picture of him and the little girl on the dresser in the girl’s room. That’s when I just snapped.”
“Not that I agree with your tactics but why didn’t you deal with the woman next door to you?”
“She was one of my best employees. I didn’t want to interfere with the money coming in.”
“If you were making so much money, how did you end up cleaning houses in the first place?”
“I was bored. At first, I worked about four days a week at four different houses, but when I began working for Shannon. She paid me what all of the other people paid me to put together. She and that child made terrible messes. Paying me a lofty amount kept her from feeling guilty.”
“Why did you continue working there after you killed Abdul? You could have been long gone before I even got involved.”
“As a cover. I didn’t want anyone to suspect me. Looks like that plan didn’t work out.”
Kadijah still didn’t know how the police knew where to find them, which meant that she wasn’t as smart as she thought she was. It also meant that Shannon wasn’t as dumb as I thought she was.
Since Peaches was in jail, it was left up to me to plan Carl’s funeral. Carl was never really a church goer so we had the services at M J Edwards Funeral home. Many of our high school friends showed up, guys he played football with and a few cheerleaders that I had accused Carl of having an affair with. He always denied it but I knew he was giving himself away freely.
I didn’t want to go to the burial, so I told Jerry I wanted to go home.
Being graveside would have been too much for me. There was also the risk of me stress puking into the grave.
A drink was in order but I didn’t want to go to a restaurant and it was too early for a club, so Jerry took me by Tiger Mart on the way home and bought me three green apple Smirnoff Ices.
As soon as we got into the apartment, I kicked off my one high heel shoe and slumped onto the couch. I was getting close to having my cast removed so it didn’t hurt nearly as much as it once had. Jerry opened one of the drinks, poured it into a glass, and handed it to me.
“How are you, baby?”
“I’m doing. Thanks for being there for me, you didn’t have to.”
“I wanted to. Are you hungry?”
“No, not right now,” I said, holding my hand out to Jerry. He took my hand as he sat on the couch beside me. “Jerry, I love you. We’ve been through a lot together and I’m sure you are the only one that will ever be able to deal with me.”
“This sounds a lot like a proposal,” Jerry smiled.
“It is but I don’t have a ring yet.”
“Well, I’m not going to marry you until you ask me properly,” Jerry pouted.
“Whatever. “
“But seriously, do you really want to get married? I still have the ring from the last time I asked you.”
“Really, well, when would you like to do it?”
“Maybe you, me, Marcus, and Cole Slaw can have a double wedding?”
“You think they would go for that?”
“Sure, as long as we split the expenses down the middle.”
“That would be an incentive for me.”
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