Kareem awoke about 11 a.m. and pulled the covers back for the blinding sunlight to assault him violently. It was cool thanks to the cooling system, but the sun had a way of overpowering the system. He grabbed the remote and turned the TV to ESPN. He caught up with the latest NFL news and then pulled out his laptop.
Every morning, Kareem was sent a detailed sales report for his thriving clothing line. Sales were being made in four countries and he was ahead of each board an normally spent two days out of the week in one of the foreign countries. But with the trial starting in two days, he had delegated that responsibility to someone else. He had created a new position: Secretary of State. It was their job to run the New York office and report to Milan, Moscow, Beijing and Paris. Of course, he was there to answer any questions and to solve any problems, but he had a detailed company plan and structure and anyone could have run the company using the detailed map.
Kareem brushed his teeth and then bounced down to the kitchen for a bowl of cereal. On the refrigerator was a picture with two tiny foot prints from the baby girl that Toi had miscarried. That was a hard thing to deal with, but they handled it and well. Stress had killed their first offspring and it seemed that Toi was on the path to killing another one. In a way, he blamed her.
“Toi,” he called out. He missed her despite their constant friction. When they were one and happy, they were cool. Then there were times when they were just way off, but he loved her the same. She was the yin and he the yang. That had not changed.
He grabbed his bowl of cereal and slipped on his house shoes and went to look around the house for her.
Family room. No Toi.
Game room. No Toi.
Basement. No Toi.
Back Yard. No Toi.
Call to Toi’s cell phone. No answer.
Um, that’s strange, Kareem thought and frowned. He actually missed her and wanted to hold her. Where the hell was she? Why would she leave without talking to him? Communication was something that they had no problem with. Especially since they knew that the stakes were high now that they had seemingly defeated a crooked federal agent.
Kareem went back to the kitchen and tried Toi’s cell phone from the house phone. He’d bet that was the first time that he had made a call with the house phone, because he used his cell phone for everything, and the house phone was for decoration and emergencies. She did not answer. He dropped the phone on the hook and then placed his bowl into the dishwasher.
Kareem missed her but was too pissed at her at the same time. The same things that made him love her made him dislike her as well. It was that mix that killed him. He walked back towards the bedroom, and decided to peak outside the front door for a second. The strangest feeling came over him and he yelled like a madman.
“Noooooo! No. No. Please God. No. I’ll do anything. Just please say no.” he begged and pleaded. There were a few drops of blood on the floor in front of the door. And the chain was on the door too.
Kareem raced to the back door and that too had the chain on it. How the fuck is that? What the fuck? he thought and called 9-1-1. He was confused and had no idea what was about to happen. But if Toi was hurt, missing, or otherwise not normal, things would get real steamy.
When the police was on the line Kareem explained his observations and was given the run around. That changed when he explained who he was and what the potential danger that his baby mother and high school sweetheart could be in.
I am so sorry Toi for anything that I may have done to you. Please let you be in perfect condition. Oh, God. Why? Don’t do this to me!
Kareem got off the phone with the police and then started to take pictures of the potential crime scene. He had no idea if a crime had occurred, but he was not taking any chances. After he snapped until he thought he had enough, he called a former Columbia University professor. He had to call in a favor.