Free CON TEST: Double Life by Rahiem Brooks Page A

clipped his walkie talkie on his waist, as Justice hoped that the name came back and clean.
    “ Where’s Harry?” Officer asked in the interim.
    Justice’s cell phone rang and he informed Lazar that it was Harry. Lazar urged him to answer it and too lure him back to the Walmart for a citation, and then he could be released.
    “ Yo, Harry, where you at?” Justice answered. He seemed anxious and scared.
    “ Just, I’m in a swamp face down and scared as hell, my dude. I hear weird noises and shit. The Johnnies was in here with flashlights walking right pass me. One was close enough to reach out and touch me.” He whispered, just in case one of them lurked behind. “And don’t fucking call me Harry!” He added firmly. He wasn’t that fucked up.
    Letting tears roll down his face, Justice stared at the night sky. He worked on a Best Actor Tony award. “Why would you all leave me out here? How the hell am I supposed to get home?”
    “ Listen, homey, I do not know what’s happening, but do not leave me here.”
    “ You went into that store and did some bullshit, and now I’m stopped by the police. My mom will kill me if I was arrested. Right now the cops are huddled probably about to take me to jail,” Justice said, lying, and trying to convince the police that he was an ally. “All they want is for you to come back to sign a ticket and never enter their store again.”
    “ You don’t want me to do that do you?”
    “ What the hell do you think, man? Of course, I am pissed that you left me.” Justice pulled the phone from his ear and looked at it stupidly. He then told Amir, “Look, I have to go.”
    “ J, don’t leave me out here. Straight up, I’m shook. It’s dark as hell out here.”
    Officer Lazar snatched the cell phone from Justice and put his nose to Justice’s and asked his real name. Justice defiantly stepped back, and asked was he under arrest. The cop could not believe the audacity. He clapped his palm around Justice’s throat and squeezed.
    “ Don’t fucking question me. You…you.”
    “ Go ahead, say it. Nigger. Nigger. Who is going to tell these people looking? They’re all white. My name is Nick Anderson, PA License no. 09654125.”
    The cop released his neck and sat him in the back seat of the squad car. He asked Justice why he had lied.
    “ I was scared to go to jail for anything. I don’t even know what this is about.”
    “ You need to choose better friends. I will let you go if you do not have any warrants, and Walmart confirms that you were not involved.”
    Officer Lazar hopped in the driver’s seat and drove back to the Walmart. Loss prevention followed on foot. Justice knew that a Philadelphia policeman would have taken him in for prints after his chicanery.
    Parked in front of Walmart, Officer Lazar steadily answered Justice’s cell phone. He joked and played games with the callers. Moments passed and his name came back clean and Walmart confirmed that he was not in electronics. Lazar let Justice out of his vehicle and tossed him his phone. Justice walked slowly away from the cop and as soon as he turned the corner, he sprinted to get the hell out of there. He thanked God that Nick was a square and was never arrested.
     
    # # #
     
    Justice ran a mile to a New Jersey Transit bus depot and to his disbelief, all remaining buses were headed to New York City. He called Amir.
    “ Where you at?”
    “ I’m at the bus station trying too—”
    “ Don’t fucking leave me out here!” Amir barked, interrupting Justice.
    “ Hol’ up! First off you jammed ya self-up, pussy. Don’t fucking yell at me!”
    “ Man, he was about to call in my check.”
    “ So what, Amir. I don’t give a fuck. You was scared and nothing was even going to happen, but they would have declined ya check,” Justice was pissed, and becoming increasingly angry. “I am in no man’s fucking land with $3 because my real wallet was in the truck.”
    “ Where’s Nick?”
    “ I had him leave