Page 12 of Forced Into Your Arms
She was telling me exactly what she remembered.
I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my jaw.
“They saw you?” She looked up in confusion, but I didn’t know what was so confusing about that question. “The men whoshot my cousin.” I held her gaze. “They saw you standing there, didn’t they?”
The color slowly drained from her face.
“I…”
“You said one of them looked at you.”
She nodded and mumbled, “He did.”
“He knew you heard them.”
She nodded again. “I think so.”
“No… You don’t think so.” I leaned forward again, keeping my voice calm. “You know he did.”
Lil’ Mama didn’t answer right away. She stared at me for a couple of seconds before lowering her eyes, and when she finally spoke, her voice barely rose above a whisper.
“Yeah… One of them told the other one that I’d heard them.” She wrapped both hands around the water bottle sitting in front of her like she needed something to hold onto. “I think he was coming after me.”
I didn’t know what my cousin had gotten himself into, but I knew she was right. What she’d seen and heard had definitely put a target on her back.
The detective shifted in his chair.
“We’ve already arranged for patrol officers to keep an eye on her apartment for the next few days.”
I looked at him through dimmed eyes and asked, “For the next few days?”
“Until we have more to go on.”
I held his stare for a long second before looking back at her. That shit wasn’t going to be enough… Not even close.
Detective Harris shifted his weight before breaking the silence. “We’re following every lead we’ve got. The parking garage cameras are being pulled now, and we’re interviewing everybody who was in the area.”
“So, you think the cameras caught their faces?”
“We’re hoping they caught something.”
“Hoping don’t solve shit, especially murders.”
He didn’t argue with me because the nigga knew I was right.
My attention then drifted back to Milan. She’d gotten quiet again, her fingers wrapped around the water bottle so tight I wondered if she even realized it. Every now and then she’d blink, like she was trying to push the entire night out of her head, but it wasn’t working.
“You live alone?” I asked.
Her head snapped up as she gave me that confused look again. “Excuse me?”
“I said… do you live alone?”
She hesitated for a second before answering. “Yes.”
“You got anybody to stay with you?”
“No…”
