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“That’s what I was gonna say, the homeless and other muthafuckas,” Devon spat.
The girls looked at him doubtfully, with that Uh-huh, okay—whatever look. The Kid to the rescue—subtly, though.
“Okay, we listening,” said Eshon.
Devon went on with the plan. It was to get five people that resembled them, get them cleaned up and dressed a certain way and bring them down to the club the night of the memorial party for Kip. The decoys had to completely fool Jessica.
Devon wanted everyone to wear red and white that night; it would make them stand out. The girls were in charge of doing the shopping. Papa John, Devon, and The Kid scavenged the hood for potential people that could become their decoys. They scurried around Harlem, then Manhattan, Midtown, the West Side, the East Side, and frantically searched for people that had the same features as them. There were homeless men everywhere, and not surprisingly, they found their first decoy to resemble Devon. The man had the same height, build, and complexion as Devon. He was a bit older, but he was perfect. They approached him in Washington Heights as he pushed a shopping cart of junk and dressed in tattered clothing. They asked him some questions. His name was Henry. He had been homeless for fifteen years. It was a long time.
“Listen Henry, how would you like to make some good money for one night?” The Kid asked him.
“How much money?” he asked The Kid.
The Kid smiled and replied, “Five hundred dollars.”
It was a lot of cash. More than he’d seen in over twenty years.
“I’m listening,” Henry replied.
“Good, come with us and let’s talk. I’m a man of my word, Henry, and you’ll get every penny.”
“Young man, I got trust issues. If you got dat kinda cash, then lemme see whatchu workin’ wit’.” Henry wasn’t raised by a fool. The Kid flashed a wad of cash and tossed Henry a twenty.
“Now let’s walk.”
They led Henry toward the minivan, leaving his shopping cart behind and took
him somewhere private.
The decoys for Papa John and The Kid were found two days later—men named Jake and Cedar. One was a bartender and the other a wannabe actor. Both were desperate to make five hundred dollars apiece. The Kid had the gift of gab, and he had these men believing he was in the TV and music industry—that he was there to help solve their problems—savior talent scout of some sorts.
Finding girls for Eshon and Brandy proved to be a little more complicated. The difficult part with Eshon and Brandy were the girls in the neighborhood came with questions. A girl named Mina who resembled Eshon came with question after question. What were they being paid to do? Why choose them? Who were they working for? What reality show? What was it about? Eshon tried to convince her that it was part of the reality show happening and she wanted Mina to be a part of it. They thought that flashing money would be enough to get these girls aboard, but it wasn’t quite so simple. These girls wanted to know the full 411, and Eshon’s I’s had to be dotted and her T’s crossed.
Though it took some strong convincing and a lot of talking, finally, Eshon got Mina and a girl named Mandy on board with the scheme. But they had to be careful and discreet with the ruse. Eshon told the girls that they had to sign a confidentiality agreement which meant to shut the fuck up about getting hired. If word leaked, then they would be fired. Mina and Mandy thought that they were about to be the next Cardi B and NeNe Leakes. To help sell the storyline, and just to see how stupid these dumb bitches were, Brandy had them act out an argument scene. Both girls got really into cursing each other out like they had years of beef.
Brandy and Eshon had to bite their tongues to keep from erupting in laughter. These girls were going for academy awards.
Eshon and Brandy went shopping in the city. With a lot of cash on hand, they went inside various clothing stores searching for the perfect outfits for themselves and their decoys for the approaching evening. Everything had to match up. They would have to buy two of everything, from the shoes down to the hairstyles. One mistake and everything could turn out to be deadly for them.
Eshon picked out a red and white form-fitting short-sleeve minidress for herself and Mina. It was classy and sexy. They picked out a red side-tie halter dress with red heels for Brandy and her decoy Mandy. The men would wear red T-shirts, white jeans, and white Air Force Ones. The event was three days away.
***
Everything had been put into motion. Early morning on the day of the event, Eshon strutted into Jessica’s building and took the elevator to the traitor’s floor and knocked on her door with a counterfeit smile. Eshon had to put on a front for Jessica to make it appear that all was forgiven between them and there were no hard feelings. It was a hard task, knowing what Jessica had planned for all of them, but it was necessary for their survival. She held her evening dress in her hand, covered in plastic.
The apartment door opened, and Jessica appeared wearing a long T-shirt and curlers in her hair.
“Hey,” Eshon greeted and gave Jessica a hug that repulsed her.
“Hey, what’s good? Why you here so early, homes?” Jessica asked, sounding slightly defensive. “The party’s tonight.”
“I wanted to show you my new dress,” Eshon said.
“Oh . . .”
Eshon held it up for Jessica to see. It was a lovely piece of fabric—stylishly designed, it stood out.
“We gonna wear all red tonight,” said Eshon.
