Kairo thought the night would end with champagne and kisses—not handcuffs and a murder charge. Just hours after being promoted to president of St. Anne Hospital, he’s dragged from dinner with Janelle in front of a room full of strangers. No explanation. No rights read. Just cold steel, cold stares, and the cold truth waiting for him in an interrogation room: the woman from his past has reappeared, and someone is dead. Now, Kairo must figure out who set him up… before everything he’s built comes crashing down.
Kairo opened the doors that led into The Elliot Bar, excited to see the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. She called him there after work because she wanted to talk about something, and although he harboured secrets that haunted him in the back of his mind, he rushed to meet her like there was nothing wrong.
Besides, after being promoted to president of St. Anne Hospital, he planned to make up for everything he’d done wrong during their relationship.
The road was rocky for them. But from the moment they met, they couldn’t stay away from each other. Even when they broke up and swore they would never see each other again, something always brought them back together.
“Guess what,” Kairo smiled largely, unable to contain his excitement about the promotion.
“I guess it’s something good if you can’t even sit down and greet me first,” Janelle chuckled. “What’s up?”
She eyed him as he rushed to remove his peacoat that still held traces of Seattle’s rainy weather and wondered how she had gotten so lucky.
“I got it!” he grinned while taking a seat next to her. “I got president! Your man is not only a neurosurgeon, but the president of St. Anne!”
“Shut up! Nu uh!” Janelle’s eyes widened with joy and pride. “Oh my God, baby! I’m so proud of you!”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed gently. She had a surprise of her own to share, but after hearing the big news about her man being promoted to president, she didn’t want to steal the show.
“This is cause for a celebration,” Kairo said. “Champagne. Steak, lobster. A vacation somewhere far away from work. Now that I’m moving on up in the world, I can afford to take care of you,” he teased.
“You already do a good job at that,” Janelle said as she leaned in for a kiss. “Seriously, I’m proud of you, Kairo. You deserve this and so much more. I wish you all the success and recognition as a black man being the president of a white ass hospital!”
Kairo laughed and waved for their server so he could place an order for a bottle of the finest champagne there was.
While they waited, he took in Janelle’s beauty, how supportive she was of him and his career, and also how lucky he was to have her. Because deep down inside, he knew that if she ever found out about the things he’d done behind her back, she would walk away from him for good.
“What did you wanna talk about tonight?” he asked, remembering that dinner was her idea.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” she waved him off. “We can talk about it later. Right now, we’re celebrating you.”
“Nah, we can talk about it now,” he assured. “We’re celebrating US. You been my backbone for years, so this moment is for you just as much as it is for me.”
The dimples in Janelle’s cheeks made their appearance as she tried to hide her emotions. She was nervous to tell him she’d been hiding a secret from him for nearly two months because she was afraid of what he’d think or do. But she knew the secret would show its head at some point, so she had to tell him before he found out on his own.
“Well,” she muttered. “I know you’ve been busy with work and the hospital is very demanding, so this is the last I wanted to interrupt our lives right now, but…”
The suspense gripped Kairo by the balls and pulled him to the edge of his seat. He was sure Janelle had found out about what he’d done and did something of her own to retaliate, and that was the last thing he wanted to hear.
“But what?” he asked eagerly. “Spit it out.”
In an instant, Janelle’s eyes went from full of light and love to worrisome. Two boys in blue were headed right for their table and as badly as she wanted the sight to be a mirage or for the cops to walk right past them, her worst nightmare came true right in front of her eyes.
“Kairo Dexter?” One of the officers rested his hefty hand on Kairo’s shoulder from behind.
Kairo turned his head to see who was there while Janelle sat in confusion, eager for the officers to say why they interrupted their dinner.
“Yeah?” Kairo frowned when he saw the man's badge. “What’s this about?”
“We need you to come with us, sir.” The officer replied in a tone that was unfriendly and impatient.
“Come with you for what?”
Kairo maneuvered to remove the officer's hand from his shoulder and was met by a force he recognized as racism.
His face was shoved onto the table and his chair nearly tipped from under him, while Janelle was held back by the other officer before trying to intervene.
“What the fuck!” Kairo spat. “What did I do!?”
“I asked you nicely to come with us and you refused!” the officer snarled. “You’re a big guy, so for my safety, I'm putting you in cuffs.”
Janelle stood quietly, tears in her eyes as she watched her man be cuffed like a criminal. Neither officer said why he was being arrested or read him his rights—they simply snatched him up from dinner, threw him in cuffs, and humiliated him in front of the entire restaurant.
“Where are you taking him?” she asked. “We have a right to know that.”
“Who are you?” The arresting officer looked at her like she was merely a crumb. “Are you the wifey?” he taunted. “You can meet him down at the Issaquah city jail, but I highly doubt you’ll be seeing him again tonight.”
The officer let out a chuckle as he roughly yanked Kairo away from the table. It was clear to see he had a chip on his shoulder for a black man who could afford to dine at one of the most expensive restaurants in the city. And also for a black woman who didn’t bend or fold to his antics.
“What are you arresting him for?” Janelle asked as she grabbed her purse to follow them out. “You still haven’t told us that.”
“Uhh, you might wanna pay for your dinner, before you’re the next one going in cuffs.” The second officer laughed as he blocked Janelle from following his partner to the door.
“Fuck you,” she scoffed. “I’m calling our lawyer.”
“Be my guest.”
Everyone watched as Kairo was escorted out of the restaurant and placed into the back of an unmarked cruiser. He was confused and wanted answers about his arrest, but Max—his lawyer and best friend—had always coached him to never say a word to the police.
Even if he was being taken against his will because anything he said or did would be used against him.
“Shitty night, huh?” the officer asked as he pulled away from the curb in front of The Elliot. “We went to your job first, but they said you had already left after your big promotion. Man!” he let out a sarcastic hiss, “I bet you didn’t think such a great day would end like this.”
Kairo glared at him through the rearview mirror that pointed directly into the backseat. He was used to people in power trying to get a rise out of him because they thought they were better than he was. Especially white men who couldn’t believe a black man had actually made something of himself.
“Whatever this is, I hope you know what you’re doing,” Kairo said, his voice low and full of anger. “I got one of the best lawyers in this state on my payroll, so if this is for so much as a traffic ticket, you better believe somebody’s getting fired.”
The officer let his head fall against his headrest and let out a gut wrenching laugh like Kairo had told him one of the funniest jokes his white ears had ever heard. He wasn’t phased or intimidated by Kairo’s threat because in his mind he had the right guy.
“Oh, this is for much more than a traffic ticket, buddy,” he said. “And after we’re done with ya, it looks like the only one who’ll be getting fired… is you.”
A lump formed in Kairo’s throat as he thought about what he could have possibly done. Nothing stood out. Not a speeding ticket, a jaywalking mishap, or any malpractice claims that he knew of. Other than a petty possessions charge for a blunt he had when he was nineteen, his record was clean.
When the cruiser pulled into the garage of the police department and the large metal door closed behind them, Kairo felt like his world was caving in.
The taillights from the SUV illuminated the dimly lit space just enough to give him a glimpse of what awaited him on the inside.
A team of officers stood at the door like hound dogs with their hands resting on their guns and batons, while the officer who had arrested him proudly made his way out of the driver's seat to retrieve his property.
“You have nothing on you that’s gonna poke or stick me once I pat you down, right?” he asked. “I’m asking you now because anything that goes beyond this garage is considered contraband and you will be charged with it.”
Kairo stared blankly. The only thing he had on him was a wad of cash and a brand new engagement ring.
“Alright, suit yourself,” the officer said, tugging him along without doing a pat down.
Once they were inside, he let his colleagues do the honors of strip searching Kairo, bagging up all of his property, and giving him a cold shower equipped with a runny substance they referred to as bug juice. The soap burned worse than the cuffs that were bound too tightly on his wrists, but no one batted an eye. Not until they got a good look at the slugger that hung between his legs.
“Is anybody gonna tell me why I’m here?”
His voice caught the attention of every officer in the room and their eyes quickly shifted to anywhere but his dick.
“Get dressed,” one of the female officers mused. “A detective will speak with you shortly.”
Kairo huffed as he got dressed and waited for a detective to tell him why he was being treated like a criminal. He thought the air in the building had to be on the coldest setting because as big as he was—six foot four, 250 pounds—he shivered underneath the thin rags they called a uniform.
After two hours of waiting in a room that was icier than the North Pole, a heavy set detective by the name of Detective Wright hobbled into the interrogation room and plopped down in a chair at the table. For a moment, he glared at Kairo like he was trying to read his mind for a confession. But when he saw nothing more than a blank canvas sitting in front of him, he asked if anyone had read Kairo his rights.
“No,” Kairo said confidently. “They didn’t tell me why I was being arrested, either. So somebody better start talking, and quickly.”
A sly smile crossed Detective Wright’s face as he fiddled with a folder that cradled the contents of his case. For someone who was being charged with murder, Kairo’s confidence amused him.
“Mr. Dexter, are you familiar with a woman by the name of Vanessa Del’Gotti?”
Detective Wright pushed his folder closer to Kairo, and Kairo frowned at his question because he knew Vanessa, but he hadn’t seen her since the last time he saw her.
“Yeah,” he nodded. “We met last year sometime. Why?”
Detective Wright folded his arms across his chest and crossed one leg over the other, like he was waiting for some big revelation to start.
“Last year, huh?” he asked. “And when did you find out she was married?”
“I didn’t know she was married,” Kairo fired back. “But even if I did, what does that have to do with me?”
Wright’s fat finger tapped the folder that rested on the table between them, instructing Kairo to open it and find his answer. Time seemed to slow down as his hand reached out to lift the fold. And when he did, he saw the body of a man with his throat slit from ear to ear.
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