Chapter 31
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Ceasar drove Keyshia home. Though he was saddened by the fact that both his brothers had been arrested for armed bank robbery, he couldn’t help but feel violated because his brothers had committed the act at his place of employment. Keyshia told Ceasar that Clyde was innocent.

“You’re wrong, Ceasar. Clyde didn’t have anything to do with that bank robbery,” she pleaded tearfully. “We just came back from South Carolina when I dropped Clyde off to meet you to get the money you were gonna give him to pay off Black Sam.”

Ceasar asked, “Why would Clyde want to pay Black Sam his money back if he was dead?”

“Clyde didn’t know, Ceasar! We just pulled back into New York! When I heard I ran to tell Clyde!”

Ceasar’s mind was processing all this as he stared at the floor. “Did Clyde ever tell Sonny that he came up with all the money?”

Keyshia shook her head. “I don’t think so. He was trying to contact Sonny for a while to let him know where to meet him to pay Black Sam his money.”

As Ceasar stumbled to the couch, Keyshia caught him just in time. “Ceasar, what’s the matter?”

Spooked, he looked into Keyshia’s eyes and said, “Sonny killed Black Sam for Clyde.”

Equally horrified, Keyshia asked, “How do you know Sonny did it?”

Ceasar’s face collapsed as he said, “Because I told him to.” He explained, “You remember when we went to see my mother at the nursing home that Sunday?” Keyshia nodded. “This was before you guys told me how much money you came up with. I was talking to Sonny about Clyde getting involved with Black Sam, and Sonny told me how much money he owed him.” Ceasar shook his head. “When he told me how much, I panicked and told him that Clyde couldn’t come up with that kind of money and that he should get him out of it. No,” Ceasar said with emphasis, “I ordered Sonny to get Clyde out of it by any means necessary.” His voice cracked, as he turned to her and said, “Oh, my God, I didn’t think he would kill all them people for Clyde!”

Keyshia tried to assure him that it wasn’t his fault, but it didn’t matter. He felt like he was just as involved with the murders as Sonny. Ceasar began to fall to pieces, crying hysterically. “Listen, Ceasar,” she said, “we got to think. We can’t afford to buckle right now.” She looked him straight in his eyes, and he admired her strength. “Clyde and Sonny need us right now, and we are their only help.” Ceasar began to pull himself together and sat up straight and nodded.

“Now,” she continued, “the best thing we could do for them right now is hire a good lawyer, right?” Ceasar nodded. “Do you still have the money that Clyde gave you?”

Again Ceasar nodded. “Yes, I left it in my safe deposit box I have at my job.”

“Okay,” said Keyshia, “that’s a hundred and thirty thousand right there. Now all we got to do is find them a good lawyer, and I think that’s where you have to come in, Ceasar.”

They talked strategy for nearly two hours.

“I just wish I was there when Clyde walked in the bank.” Ceasar said. “Maybe none of this would have happened.”

“Ceasar,” Keyshia asked, “you wasn’t inside the bank when Clyde walked in?”

“No, I called in to work an hour late. Martha wanted me to stop by that morning. She said it was an emergency, but when I got there, nobody answered the door.”

Keyshia told him that Martha was home when Clyde talked to her that morning and that Clyde told her he was going to see Ceasar at his job that morning.

Ceasar shrugged it off and quickly changed the subject. He looked at his watch and said, “Ooh, it’s getting late. What I’m going to do is go to the bank and get the money so we can find them a lawyer. I want you to give me a call in the morning.” He handed her his card. “That way, we could meet up and go and find one together.”

Keyshia smiled and nodded, but she still felt uneasy. He gave her a light hug and kiss and assured her things would be okay.

Keyshia tossed and turned all night. Unable to sleep, she stayed up and stared at the walls. Everything was just moving too fast for her to comprehend, and she didn’t know whom she could trust. She tried not to think the worst and hoped that the truth would come out, but she couldn’t help thinking how everything had gone down.

At last it was six-thirty in the morning and Keyshia couldn’t wait any longer. She decided to call Ceasar.

“Hello,” responded the voice on the other end.

“Ceasar, this is Keyshia.”

“Keyshia, I got some bad news.” Keyshia immediately grew tense. “I got fired yesterday because they found out that both my brothers were part of the robbery and they think that I’m somehow a part of it. I’m under investigation by the police.”

He paused for a moment before he continued. “Keyshia, they froze my funds and sealed my safe deposit box with the money.”

Keyshia flipped. “What!” she yelled. “No, Ceasar, don’t say that, don’t say that!” She began pacing the floor.

“I’m sorry, Keyshia.”

“Ceasar, please tell me this is a fucking joke?”

“Keyshia, these are my brothers’ lives we talking about. I wouldn’t joke like that.”

“Ceasar, if you got something to do with this shit—”

He interrupted her, “Keyshia, I know how much you love Clyde, and you’re not thinking right, but watch before you say something you might regret. These are my brothers, my fucking blood, and you think I had something to do with this shit?”

Keyshia would not back down. “Remember what I said, Ceasar—if I find out you had something to do with this shit, I’m coming after you, that’s my word, I’m coming after you!” She heard a click on the other end of the line and threw her cell phone at the wall, smashing it to pieces. Suddenly she felt sick and fell on the bed. She folded herself into a ball and cried and cried until she fell asleep.

She was alone again!

Keyshia waited downtown at Manhattan court for sixteen hours until they finally called Clyde’s name, along with Sonny and Wolf, to be arraigned. Ceasar was there also, but he sat on the other side of the court several rows behind her. Keyshia sat up when the three men walked into the courtroom. Clyde looked tired and disheveled but otherwise okay.

Clyde turned around periodically, nodding to Keyshia that everything would be all right, but it pained her to see him handcuffed and helpless as he stood before the judge.

Keyshia hadn’t a clue about the legal jargon the lawyers were exchanging, nor did she care. The only thing she hoped for was that Clyde would be released, because she knew that there was surely a mix-up. But her world came tumbling down when the judge announced bail of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars each. She couldn’t comprehend what was happening as the court officer began to escort Clyde and the two other men right back where they had entered.

“No!” she said, standing up. “Clyde, no!”

Clyde stopped in his tracks, turned back toward Keyshia, and yelled, “It’ll be all right, baby!” over and over as they led him out the courtroom door.

A week later, Keyshia made her first visit to Clyde at Rikers Island. She was so excited to see him that she didn’t sleep for two days leading up to the visit. Ever since the arrest, she had barely eaten and was a nervous wreck. She called ahead to ensure she had the proper identification and paperwork. She even found out what inmates could and could not have on visits and the maximum amount of money she could leave in his commissary account. She wore her best outfit the day of the visit and had to use extra makeup to hide the worry marks under her eyes to give Clyde the impression that she was holding up.

Clyde, along with Sonny and Wolf, was housed at the Beacon, a maximum-security prison on Rikers Island. Keyshia found some small comfort in the fact that he was housed with his brother and would at least be safer. While being processed, she overheard a young woman telling the officer that she was there to see Sonny Barker. Keyshia introduced herself, and the woman said her name was Cheryl. Cheryl had a bright smile and seemed very mature and educated, so Keyshia wondered how she and Sonny had gotten together. But Keyshia knew good girls always like bad boys, and Sonny was as bad as they came. Their common grief made the entire experience a lot easier on Keyshia because Cheryl had been through this process with Sonny before, so she knew what to expect and filled Keyshia in on everything.

Finally, they were permitted through the last phase of the process and entered a room with numbered tables, which were assigned to each inmate and his visitor.

“Barker, S, table six.” Cheryl smiled at Keyshia, walked over to table six, and sat down.

“Barker, C, table twelve,” barked the corrections officer, pointing. Keyshia followed his finger and made it to the table and sat down. Not much later, the mechanical door opened and men in gray jumpsuits and flip-flops entered the room.

Clyde was the first one to enter, and he immediately spotted Keyshia. Keyshia could hardly contain herself and shot to her feet. They embraced as if they hadn’t seen each other in years.

Keyshia didn’t want the feeling to end as she closed her eyes and imagined they were back on the outside instead of behind steel gates. When they finally forced themselves apart, Keyshia looked in horror at Clyde’s swollen and bruised face.

“Clyde, who did that to you, baby?” she cried, covering her mouth. One of Clyde’s eyes was black and purple and closed shut. His lower lip was so swollen that it hung limp and was caked with blood.

“Fucking police!” he answered. “Right after that courtroom drama, they beat the shit out of me, Sonny, and Wolf.” Clyde nodded. “But them punk motherfuckas had to do it with us handcuffed!”

“Did you see a doctor? Did you tell somebody?”

Clyde shrugged and said, “Naw, I’m all right, don’t worry about it.” He tried to smile. “You looking good, baby, I miss the shit out of you.”

Keyshia blushed. “I miss you, too, baby. I can’t even sleep.” She put her head down and started crying, something she’d said she wouldn’t do, but all bets were off.

“I know, baby, but don’t do this to me now. I won’t be able to take seeing you like this.”

Keyshia tried to suck it up and apologized. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Clyde.”

He helped her rub her tears away. “You ain’t got nothing to be sorry about. It’s just that I’m powerless in this bitch, and it ain’t nothing I can do right now but think ill shit, you understand?” Keyshia nodded and took a deep breath.

Clyde looked around and lowered his voice. “You know I ain’t had nothing to do with that shit, right?” Keyshia nodded and said she knew. “Sonny and Wolf planned that shit, and it just happened that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The only way I got caught up in the mix was because Sonny had slept on the security guard and I caught him pulling a gun from his ankle holster and stopped him from shooting Sonny.” Clyde kept looking around for unwanted ears as he continued, “All we got to do is hire a good lawyer to separate me from all this fuck shit and I think I’m good.” He looked around again and asked, “Did you hear about Black Sam and his people?” Keyshia looked around nervously and nodded.

“You know what went down?” he asked again. She nodded. He moved closer to her and said, “So that means that we ain’t got to pay him.” He gave Keyshia a crazed smile and continued, “We could now use that money on a lawyer for me and Sonny!” He nodded as if all his problems were solved. Keyshia put her head down, not wanting to destroy his hopes. Clyde immediately saw that something was wrong. “What is it, baby, what’s wrong?”

Keyshia lifted her head and faced him. “Ceasar said that the feds confiscated the money.”

Clyde shook his head as if he had heard her wrong. “What?” “The police found out that he was your and Sonny’s brother and the bank launched an investigation on him, too, and fired him.”

Clyde closed his eyes as all hope seemingly disappeared. He put his hand on his head and began to rock back and forth, unable to believe what he’d just heard. When he lifted his head, Keyshia saw his tears and felt even worse for him. She didn’t want to tell him about the argument she and Ceasar had got into or what she thought. She felt that he already had enough on his plate and any hint of betrayal would definitely push him over the edge.

“Didn’t Sonny tell the police that you ain’t have nothing to do with it?” Keyshia asked.

“Sonny and Wolf told them I wasn’t part of it from the first time they arrested us, and they said they would sign statements saying so, but these motherfuckas ain’t trying to hear that shit,” Clyde answered, defeated. “I’m fucked!”

“Clyde,” Keyshia said, “we’ll work something out.”

He snapped, “Work what out, Keyshia? We ain’t got no money. What kind of lawyer I’m gonna have now?”

Keyshia was shocked. She’d never seen Clyde lose his cool like this before. He must have known something she didn’t. “Clyde, is there something you’re not telling me?”

Clyde closed his eyes and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Keysh, this place just got me stressed out. I’m not built for this shit. It’s like the walls is closing in on me, yo.”

Keyshia stared into his eyes and saw something worse than fear there—she saw death!

“Clyde,” she said in desperation, “you not telling me everything.”

Clyde knew he couldn’t lie to her and told her flat out, “They offered us ten years to cop out.”

Keyshia gasped, losing the air in her chest. Clyde continued, “Our lawyer said that we could get hit with a minimum of twenty-five years if we blow trial. The lawyer said he guarantees that we would be convicted since they caught us dead stinking in the act. Sonny and Wolf said they gonna take the deal.” Keyshia was speechless. Clyde looked around again and edged closer and said with more seriousness than she’d ever heard before, “I ain’t doing ten years, Keyshia. I’d rather die first!” His one good eye was aflame as he stared deep into Keyshia’s eyes.

“I ain’t gonna be having these motherfuckas touching me and telling me what to do, ’cause I’m gonna wind up killing one of these punk-ass cops or they gonna kill me. I refuse to live on my knees. I’ll die before I do that!”

Keyshia searched his face and knew that he meant it. She pulled herself together and took a deep breath and shook her head. “I’m with you, Clyde. I’m with you and ready to die with you!” she vowed.

Clyde nodded and sat back with a smile. A smile came over her face as well, and they just stared at each other, relieved of all the pressure they’d felt earlier.