Chapter Thirty-three
Ke’yoko pulled up into the county’s parking lot and just sat there staring at the huge building. In some sort of weird way, her womb-mate being locked up was starting to affect her. Even though Ka’yah had done so much to cross her, Ke’yoko did still feel bad that her sister was probably about to spend the rest of her life behind bars. She began thinking back to when they were growing up as kids, how close they used to be. How they used to lie in bed and laugh and talk all night, sharing their dreams and goals. She remembered how, once they’d become teens, Ka’yah would always cover for Ke’yoko, taking all the heat from their dad when Ke’yoko got caught up in her lies. And, lastly, how they’d live together in the same house with their husbands and children. Ke’yoko missed their close relationship and would have given anything to get it back. For the life of her, she didn’t know what had gone wrong that had made Ka’yah turn on her the way she had.
Ke’yoko removed her license and some documents from her purse and laid them on the front seat of her car before digging in the bottom of her purse and grabbing some loose change. She placed her purse under her seat, grabbed her license and the documents, and got out of the car, closing the door behind her. She filled the parking meter with coins and looked both ways before crossing the busy street. She tossed the leftover coins into a homeless man’s coffee cup before heading into the building. For some strange reason, Ke’yoko was nervous as she waited in the line.
“License,” the CO behind the glass said, holding out his hand, never looking up.
Ke’yoko slid the license underneath the little hole in the glass. She looked at the other CO who stood up against the wall with a stern look on his face.
He looked at the picture on the license and quickly looked up at Ke’yoko. “So you’re the other twin?”
“Yes,” Ke’yoko replied, wondering how he even knew she existed.
“Y’all look so much alike,” the CO said with a smile.
“Thanks, I guess,” Ke’yoko said.
“Kailo always speaks highly of you. I’m Riley,” he said with a smile.
Ke’yoko smiled back, realizing it was Kailo who’d told him about her. She was happy to hear that her brother had nothing but good things to say about her. “Nice to meet you, Riley,” Ke’yoko said, remembering Kailo mentioning his name a few times during their many conversations.
“Nice to meet you too, Ke’yoko,” Riley said, messing up the pronunciation of her name.
“You heard from Kailo lately?” she asked.
“Yes, sure have. Matter fact, I just talked to him about two days ago. He told me to be expectin’ you,” Riley said, handing Ke’yoko her license back.
“That’s good to know.” Ke’yoko took her license from his hand.
“Window eight.” Riley smiled and winked.
Damn, he fine, Ke’yoko thought while smiling back and heading over to window eight.
“You know the phone in window eight is messed up and doesn’t record anything, right?” the other CO leaned over and asked Riley.
“It’s cool,” Riley said before checking in the next visitor.
Ke’yoko sat down on the hard, metal stool and looked around the crowded visiting room while waiting for Ka’yah. She looked up on the wall and read the sign: ALL CALLS ARE SUBJECT TO MONITORING. That made her nervous, too, because now she had to choose her words carefully.
A few minutes later, Ka’yah came through the door talking loud. She walked down to window eight, looked at her sister’s big, round belly, and sucked her teeth before sitting down. For a split second Ka’yah began feeling bad about all the dirty things she had done to her sister. She and Ke’yoko picked up their phones at the same time.
“What took you so long to come visit me?” Ka’yah asked, getting straight to the point.
“Hello to you too. And, yes, Aiko is doin’ good. I’m goin’ to pick him up when I leave here. He’s goin’ to stay wit’ me and Ja’Rel until you get out,” Ke’yoko said sarcastically.
“Yeah, yeah. Did Mother tell you what I was locked up for?” Ka’yah asked.
“Yeah, she told me,” Ke’yoko replied, annoyed by her sister’s uncaring attitude toward the well-being of her son.
“So are you and Ja’Rel gon’ get me an attorney or what?”
“I’ll get you one,” Ke’yoko said.
“How can you afford to get me an attorney? Ja’Rel is the one wit’ all the money,” Ka’yah asked, slightly annoyed. “I need a good lawyer, not one of these court-appointed niggas, either!”
“I said I got’chu. And, furthermore, I don’t even talk to Ja’Rel no more,” Ke’yoko said.
“Why not?” Ka’yah asked, trying to contain her happiness. “You musta finally realized that he ain’t about shit, huh?”
“I hate to say it, but yeah. You told me he wasn’t about shit a long time ago, but I didn’t listen to you.” Ke’yoko shook her head.
“What he do?” Ka’yah asked, pretending to be concerned, knowing she couldn’t have cared less.
“Check this shit out.” Ke’yoko opened up one of the documents and pressed it up against the window.
“What’s that?” Ka’yah asked as she skimmed through the DNA results.
“DNA results.”
“For who?” Ka’yah pried, knowing the only child Ja’Rel had was Aiko.
“For A’Niyah,” Ke’yoko replied.
“Nadia’s daughter?” Ka’yah asked, surprised.
“Yep,” Ke’yoko said, shaking her head.
“What the fuck?” Ka’yah asked, seeing red and feeling sick to her stomach at the same time.
“Yeah, that’s what I said,” Ke’yoko said, laying the document back down.
“Them dirty bitches!” Ka’yah said angrily.
“It’s cool. They’ll get theirs.”
“They sure will. If that’s the last thing I do, I’ma make both of them pay!”
“That’s only half of it,” Ke’yoko continued.
“There’s more?” Ka’yah asked, not knowing if she could handle any more news about the man she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with.
“Girrrrrl, yeah! You know Kailo knows everybody. So I had him have one of his friends do a li’l snoopin’ for me, and found out Ja’Rel got a whole notha family on the other side of Cleveland.”
“He got what?” Ka’yah asked, shocked.
“Girl, he got another son by this broad named Kassidy and she’s pregnant again. Crazy thing is we due around the same time.” Ke’yoko chuckled.
Ka’yah felt like she had just been shot in the chest as she sat and took all this information in. She couldn’t believe Ja’Rel was playing her like he was. He had her thinking she was the only one, but hearing the news about Nadia and Kassidy proved her wrong.
“How can you laugh about this shit? Ain’t you hurt?” Ka’yah asked slowly. She was completely heartbroken by the news her sister was throwing at her.
“Chile, naw, I ain’t hurt. Ja’Rel been a ho since day one.”
Ka’yah couldn’t believe how calm her twin sister was. She wanted to break down and cry but she had to hold it together. In order for her not to start crying, Ka’yah changed the conversation up. It was hard to converse about anything else the way she was feeling but she couldn’t show any real emotion in front of her sister.
“Anyways, I gotta get outta here! You know I ain’t kill Bo. I liked Bo,” Ka’yah said, shaking her head. “I don’t even know where they would get some shit like that from. What reason would I have to kill Bo? You was the one who didn’t like . . .” Ka’yah stopped in midsentence.
Ke’yoko stared Ka’yah in the face. “Finish your sentence, sister,” Ke’yoko said slowly. She gazed at her sister, never looking away.
Ka’yah stared back at Ke’yoko, unable to finish her sentence. Ke’yoko’s demeanor instantly turned cold and uncaring. Ka’yah’s mind began to race as she started putting things together as Ke’yoko continued to stare at her.
“You set me up?” Ka’yah finally said.
Ke’yoko smirked. “Now why would I do a thing like that, sister?”
“You dirty bitch!” Ka’yah shot.
“No, dirty is when you fuck your sister’s husband and have a baby by him or, better yet, when you feed your sister poisonous tea, causing her to have not one but four miscarriages.” Ke’yoko couldn’t do nothing but look at her sister and shake her head.
Ka’yah’s eyes got big as saucers as she listened to Ke’yoko, wondering how she found all of this out.
Ke’yoko switched over to their native language, not wanting anyone to be able to understand anything she was about to say, and continued talking. “So technically you are a killer; you just didn’t kill Bo. I did,” she said with a smile.
Ka’yah followed suit and began speaking in Japanese as well. “Why?” was all Ka’yah could think to say.
“Why not?”
“So you really gon’ let me sit in jail for somethin’ you did?” Ka’yah asked, shocked. Ka’yah never thought anything her sister did could hurt her. Of course, other than living with the man of her dreams and constantly popping up pregnant by him. She’d always thought she had the upper hand. She had so many feelings swirling inside of her she didn’t quite know how to feel or what to really think.
“Why wouldn’t I? All the dirty shit you have done to me, you deserve every day that they gon’ give you.” Ke’yoko frowned.
“It’s cool. My man Ja’Rel will get me an attorney,” Ka’yah said spitefully.
“Ha.” Ke’yoko chuckled. “Ja’Rel won’t even answer your calls, fool, and furthermore he’s gon’ need money for his own attorney.”
“He ain’t in no trouble.”
“Not yet, but I’ma set him up next, so maybe y’all can be pen pals.” Ke’yoko smiled.
“Bitch, you need some serious help,” Ka’yah spat.
“I need help? I’m appalled,” Ke’yoko said snidely. “Y’all created this monster; now deal wit’ it.”
“It’s cool. I’ll be out of here.” Ka’yah smiled confidently.
“What about the spit they found on Bo’s body?” Ke’yoko asked.
“What are you talkin’ about?” Ka’yah was confused. This was the first time she’d heard anything about some spit.
“And what about the gun I planted in the safe? I knew yo’ stupid ass would fall for that,” Ke’yoko replied.
“I don’t know shit about no spit. And even if they did find it, it was yours, not mine, so now what, bitch? You goin’ down, dumbass ho! And as far as the gun, it wasn’t mine either!” Ka’yah said victoriously.
“Did you forget we’re identical twins with the same DNA? So the spit will come back as yours. So who’s the dumbass ho now?” Ke’yoko asked viciously. “And they found the gun in your possession so technically it does belong to you.” She looked at her sister, hung up the phone, and winked and smiled before standing up and turning to walk away, leaving Ka’yah sitting there with her mouth wide open.
The reality that she was really facing a life bid slowly sank in. “I’ma kill you when I get out of here, bitch!” Ka’yah started screaming as she began wilding out, yelling and pounding on the glass, causing a huge scene. Two COs ran over and grabbed her, trying their best to restrain Ka’yah. She continued going off.
Ke’yoko never turned around. She kept her head held high and strutted toward the door. She looked over at Riley and winked before heading out to her car.