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Just then, a commotion started not too far from us. The next thing I knew there were shots fired and everybody started running for the exit. Not wanting to get caught up in the stampede, I ushered the ladies into the VIP room.
When things quieted down, I found out from one of the security staff that a man had been shot. It seemed that his woman showed up at the club and caught him with another woman. He told me that the police were in the club, and that they wanted to ask everybody who was in or around the VIP room some q
uestions. “Questions? What kind of questions?”
“Don’t worry, Ms. West. They wanna talk to everyone who was in the VIP room at the time. Since you were sitting right where it happened, they just want to know what you saw. No big deal,” he assured me. But I wasn’t feelin’ that at all. There was no way I wanted to talk to the cops about a murder or anything else, for that matter. I looked at the ladies. Diane was borderline drunk and Bella was just a little too easy to rattle. I knew I didn’t want them talking to the cops either.
“You need to get us outta here,” I said, digging in my purse for some money to give him.
He looked around. “Okay, okay. Let me think for a minute.”
“Well, think fast,” Simone told him and touched his face. She knew that he liked her and would do anything for her.
“I’ll make like I’m takin’ y’all to the bathroom and let you out the back door. But it would be better if you all didn’t go at once.” He grabbed Simone by the hand. “Come on, let’s go.”
“No,” I said quickly. “Bella, Diane, y’all go with him. You stay with me, Simone.”
“Why?”
“Not now, Simone.”
“Okay, whatever. Whoever’s goin’, let’s go,” he said, and Diane and Bella followed him out.
Once they were gone, Simone looked at me with angry eyes. “Why you do that?”
“’Cause you are stronger than they are, Simone. If somebody gotta talk to the cops, I’d much rather it be you.”
She looked at me and then her look softened. “You’re right. Diane is drunk and Bella is just Bella. The cops start sweatin’ them, there’s no tellin’ what they might say.”
“I’m glad you understand. I need you to be a rock for me, Simone.”
“I am,” she protested.
“I know, but you gotta have faith in me and not question everything I say. Especially at times like this.”
“My bad,” Simone said to me as the cops bum-rushed the VIP room.
“When are we gonna be able to leave?” a woman asked in a whiny voice.
I didn’t say a word. The last thing I wanted to do was give the cops a reason to toss attention my way.
“We ain’t see shit; we been posted up in here all night,” this rapper I had met, but couldn’t name, offered up. They asked us a few questions, took our names, told us that they would be in touch if they needed us, and let us go.
I felt relieved that that’s all it was, but the next day I got a call from the cops. They wanted to ask me some more questions and wanted me to come down to the station. My first thought was to ignore their request, but I knew that wasn’t the answer. They would probably think I was trying to hide something and start looking at me. Not that I was worried about the murder; I didn’t see anything. But I knew how cops were. My next thought was to show up with my lawyer, but I talked to Sasha and she didn’t think that would be a good idea either. “No, Jada. You walk in with a lawyer, it would be the same as saying, ‘Look at me, coppers, I got something to hide’.”
So, I dressed down-no makeup and definitely no ice-and went down there. I thought that it was a little strange that Simone hadn’t gotten a similar call to come in, but I just figured that they would get to her in due time.
After a short wait, I was taken to what they called an interview room and was introduced to Detective Albert Gineconna. “Thank you for coming in, Ms. West. I won’t take up a lot of time. I just need to ask you a few questions about what happened the night before at Sensations,” he said and placed a tape recorder on the table in between us. “I’ll be recording our conversation, if that’s all right with you.”
“Not a problem.”
“So, tell me what you saw.”
“I really didn’t see anything. I was there with a friend of mine,” I started, but the detective stopped me.
“What’s your friend’s name?”
“Simone Frazier.”
