the conversation quickly turned into an interrogation about her high-profile drug dealing boyfriend and weapons. This was when she realized they were just fishing for information because Dink was the man, not Dame.
When the police asked to search the apartment for drugs, Tonette didn't bother to put up a fight. She used her angelic smile and light-grey tear-filled eyes to convince them that she was completely innocent and knew nothing of their accusations. She was merely a young woman grieving the losses of her boyfriend and a chic in her crew.
Dame had another apartment where he kept the real shit, so she knew they wouldn't find drugs where they lived. They searched the obvious places, under the mattress, in shoe boxes and even in their VHS tape racks but what little stash was left, Tonette had already smoked up. In a desperate attempt to find something, the police even picked through Dame's jackets and sneakers but they still came up with nothing.
“Um…excuse me officers?” Tonette asked, her eyes tearing to the brim.
“Yes, Ms. Thomas.” They looked at her in anticipation of what she had to say.
“Y'all come in here accusing me of stuff that I don't know nothing about.”
“We have a report that you gave Ms. Moore the gun she was carrying when she was shot. We were also told that your boyfriend is a high profile drug dealer.”
Tonette's nose began to flair. “I don't care what report you have. I don't know nothing about no damn gun and my dead boyfriend ain't no damn dealer. Y'all really need to check y'alls sources before y'all start accusing people of shit they don't know anything about.” She paused for a moment and spoke. “I knew something like this would happen when that bougie chick wanted to be friends with us.”
“What bougie chick?” they asked, repeating her words.
“Laci, but I guess because she don't live in the hood, y'all won't even question her about anything. That's fucked up.” Tonette knew that she was pushing the bar with how she was talking to the officers, but she had to do something to get the attention off of her. “You accuse me of having a boyfriend who is a drug dealer and question me about guns, but she's with the top dog. Do I look like I live the life of a drug dealer's girl? No. I even let you go through my things but you're leaving with the same shit you came here with, and I still got questions.” She looked at both of the officers. “Did you find who murdered my boyfriend and why did y'all kill Crystal?” The officers looked at one another. “Y'all can't answer me that, can ya? All I want are answers!”
The officers knew of Tonette's rep. As a matter of fact, they had been watching the South Bronx Bitches for some time for alleged drug sales and theft. The local police department never had anything on them but anonymous tips that trickled in, but now after the shooting, it was the best time to investigate them all.
She sat down on her bed, with a tear drenched face and red eyes. “This is just too much right now,” she cried and rocked back and forth in front of them. “Just too much.”
Her innocent look and acting was on point because the police left not long after her outburst began.
“Thanks for your time, Ms. Thomas,” the officer spoke. “If we have any questions, we'll be back, so don't go too far.”
“That's fine, but when you come back, please make sure you have answers for me. That's all I'm asking.”
“We'll see what we can do, Ms. Thomas. Thank you for your time.” They walked out of her apartment and closed the door.
“What you think, man?” one of the officers spoke as they left her apartment building.
“We got this information from an eyewitness, so something isn't adding up. I'm not touching this one. Let's turn this over to Clifton. I'm sure he'll get to the bottom of it.”
“I agree.”
As soon as the officers left her apartment, Tonette's anger radiated though her body. She was gonna get to the bottom of this bullshit. She really didn't give a fuck about Dame because a true hustler wouldn't have slipped the way he did. His dick head was obviously too busy thinking about getting up in some raggedy ass pussy that he couldn't see he was about to get fucked up. “Dumb ass nigga,” she rationalized, “that's what the fuck you get.” Tonette got up and trodded over to her mirror. “I know whoever that bitch was, she wasn't fly like me, so fuck her ass too.”
What she most wanted to find out was who the fuck told the police that she gave Crystal the gun to deliver in the first place. She had let it rest long enough, and now it was time to find out.
Tonette picked up the receiver of her Minnie Mouse phone and dialed seven digits. After a couple of rings, a voice answered.
“Hello?”
“Hey,” Tonette spoke tiredly into the phone, a ploy to make the person on the other end think she was vulnerable. “Where you been?”
Monique paused before she answered cautiously, “how you doin'?” She ignored Tonette's question.
“Why don't you roll through?” Tonette asked, in her most pitiful sounding voice. She noticed that Monique ignored her question, so two could play that game, she figured.
“Uh…I don't know.” Because she told the police that Tonette gave Crystal the gun, Monique thought it was best to stay away from Tonette.
“Why?”
“With everything that went down, I think we need to lay low for a while.”
“Girl, please!” Tonette spoke irritated. “You think they still trippin' off that shit? Them muhfuckas done moved on. They don't care shit about what happens in the South Bronx.”
“Well…I don't know, Nette. With Crystal gone, it just don't feel the same.”
“Regardless of what happened, we still the SBBs baby.” Tonette gave her a pep speech. “We the baddest bitches out here.” She wasn't going to let this shit die until she put it to rest.
Tonette heard a faint sigh. “Alright, I'll run through.”
Just for good measure, Tonette called Shaunna too. “Wassup bitch? Wat'cha doin?”
“I got yo bitch,” Shaunna laughed. “I ain't doin nothin'. Just waiting for this nigga to come through. I tried to call yo ass earlier, you know, see what's poppin.”
“Who the hell you got rollin through?” Tonette asked. She realized that annoying sound she heard earlier while she was sleeping was her phone ringing.
“This dude I met at the club the other night. Shit, you know how I do.”
“Well, I take bitch back,” Tonette laughed, “you a hoe.”
“Takes one to know one,” Shaunna shot back quickly with laughter.
“Girl, I know you ain't gonna fuck him with that big ass stomach of yours.”
“I don't know what kinda fuckin you be doin' but my stomach ain't got shit to do with my pussy,” Shaunna joked. “Maybe if he hit it right, he'll knock this lil muthafucka in the
