Page 6 of Welcome Home

Two police officers stepped off the elevator. Both knew me well. I was never a nigga that was in the streets, but through my company-funded employment and training program, St. Claire Workforce Initiative, I have a large network of community partners, which include Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and other government agencies in the city.

My program focused on a gamut of areas such as paid job training, rebuilding after incarceration, veteran to civilian transition, financial-literacy, mentorship, transportation assistance, and so much more. We received a lot of referrals from the police and sheriff stations.

Officer Saul and White took in the scene. Officer Saul was the one that introduced them to Chelsea and asked what happened. We all listened to her tearful story.

She claimed that I pushed her and struck her in the face. Apparently, in her reality, I called her a white bitch and a whole slew of other nonsense. Mark’s, Officer Saul’s, and Officer White’s faces told a story. The story was that they thought she was full of the shit that she was.

“Arrest him! I want him arrested and fired now.” She screamed like an unhinged, stray cat.

By this time, other residents had come out of their apartments to spectate. My company serviced this community since they opened ten years ago. There were a lot of residents who knew me and my character. Their faces were torn up as well.

Mark lifted his hand to silence her. “Okay, Chelsea, let’s calm down so that we can take care of this in the most civilized manner. Falcon does not work for me.”

“Well, call his manager and have his ass fired. Hell, he’s going to lose his job anyway after they lock his ass up.” She jumped toward me but was stopped by Officer White’s hold. “Yeah, you’re going to fuckin’ jail.”

I tittered because she didn’t seem too scared of me if she had enough of a tight pussy to jump at me. With a tilted head, I looked at Mark. “Yes, Mark, please call my manager. He should be awake. The only person above me is the owner.”

She stepped back. “Call his ass now! You’re going to be fired and have a record. Now how will you support your twelve baby mamas?”

Twelve baby mamas? Where the hell did that even come from? That number of baby mamas went well beyond even the stereotype of a fuck-ass Black man. Officer Saul’s head dropped for a second before he told Mark to call the owner.

Yeah, they were about to let me and Mark be with the bullshit. They knew that she was out here filing false reports. This type of behavior was dangerous as hell.

When my phone rang, I looked at the screen, then answered it. “Hey, Mark, what’s up?”

“What’s going on, Falcon? Um, this is weird, but one of my residents is having an issue with, well . . . you. The resident claims that you attacked her. She wants you to fire you, since only the owner can fire you.” Mark’s voice held all the sarcasm in the world.

When my eyes locked with Chelsea, hers were wide. She didn’t see this on her bingo card. I spoke without taking my eyes off her. “Oh, wow! I attacked her. Well, this should be easy to resolve. I will pull my body cam footage up to show the police. That should be all that we need to square this away.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s perfect! Officer Saul and White are here. They can review it now. I’ll talk to you later.” Mark disconnected the call.

“Bo—body cam. What body cam? You can’t do that because I didn’t agree to be recorded!” Her face was redder than a tomato.

Officer White cleared his throat. “North Carolina is a one-party consent state when it comes to recording. Also, based on what I know about St. Claire Property Solutions contracts, there is a clause that states that all their workers wear body cams for their protection as well as yours.”

Mark added his two cents. “That is correct. Also, Chelsea, that was mentioned in the pamphlet given to you when you moved in. You also signed off on it in the addendum.”

It didn’t take any time to pull up the video footage because I queued it up while I waited for Mark to come. I extended my phone toward the officers and Mark. “Here is the footage.”

My eyes didn’t leave Chelsea’s face as they watched the footage. There was nothing that I needed to say or do. The footage would do it all.

Officer Saul’s jaw was tight. “Based on the footage, Miss Taylor, you assaulted Mr. St. Claire. He had the legal right to protect himself, which he did without hitting you.”

Officer White took a small step forward. With a smirk, he asked the question that I knew would come. “Mr. St. Claire, would you like to press charges at this time?”

“Wait, what? Why are you asking him that?” Chelsea shrieked. It was unbelievable that she asked that question.

“Miss Taylor, before we saw the footage and you claimed that he assaulted you, you wanted him arrested. He is afforded the same rights now that we know the truth,” Officer Saul informed her.

She began to fuss back and forth with Officers Saul and White. I didn’t have time for this shit. “Officers, I would like to press charges.”

Silence cloaked the hallway for a brief second before privilege erupted. Chelsea embodied Superwoman and flew across the hallway toward me. “You muthafuckin’ nigger! All you had to do was take my fuckin’ trash.”

Officer White caught her, and they went through their process to handcuff her unruly ass. They let me know that they would need a statement from me. I told them that I would meet them downstairs near the leasing office.

Mark and I walked down to the leasing office. “Man, I’m sorry about that. I’m going to start the eviction process because this kind of behavior will not be tolerated. She moved in less than a month ago, and her neighbors already have filed complaints.”

“That’s a damn shame, man. Well, let me know if you need us to flip the apartment. You know we got you,” I told him.