Love, Jealousy, and Money Kills

Who Killed Kareem and Passion?

Big Henry took over his father’s oil company after he graduated from high school. He met Domonique in junior high school, and they have been together ever since. Big Henry was famous in school for sports; he played on the basketball team as the point guard, he took his team to the championship every year since junior high school, and he scored thirty-four points a game by himself. Big Henry was a chill man and very shy; he was not the player type and when he met Domonique, he fell instantly in love with her. She was short, light-skinned, with long, beautiful, silky hair, and her eyes were hazel in color. Every boy wanted Domonique, but she only had eyes for Big Henry because she knew he would make it big. One would say Domonique was a gold digger; she liked the finer things that life had to offer, and she did not mind making it known. When Big Henry first tries to talk to Domonique, she immediately tells him that she needs a man who can spoil her, and give her everything her heart desires, and Big Henry promises her he will do that for the rest of their lives.

Big Henry wanted to go pro and could have, but his father was persistent that Big Henry took over the family business because he was getting too old. Henry was not thrilled about taking over his family’s business because his passion was playing ball and making it to the big league. Big Henry was always obedient to his parents, so whatever his father wanted from him; he gave. Right after graduating, Big Henry started at his father’s company. He was the man in charge, and his father was so happy and proud that he bought Big Henry and Domonique a condominium in the flats located in Downtown Cleveland, Ohio. He and Domonique moved in right away, and Domonique was all too happy to decorate their new place; one thing was for sure: she could spend money; she spent $4000 on a fox rug just for the front foyer. While Henry was getting settled in with the company, Domonique was getting their place together; she was supposed to go to college but decided that she wanted to do hair and have her shop, so Big Henry promised her that after he got adjusted to running the company that he would look into buying her a salon, she already had her license which she obtained in high school.

Three months after Big Henry and Domonique moved into their new condominium, Domonique was pregnant, it was unexpected because they had decided they would wait until they were both settled into their business and then they would start a family. Big Henry’s mother Estell believed that Domonique got pregnant on purpose to make sure Big Henry never left her. Domonique knew Big Henry would never abandon his child. When Big Henry found out that Domonique was pregnant, he was both shocked and surprised because he was under the assumption that Domonique was taking birth control, so he was confused as to how she turned up pregnant. They argued about it for a while but Big Henry hated confrontation so he would be the one always to be the better person and calm things down. Big Henry became excited about being a dad, he had a great father and planned to be a great father to his child. Big Henry never said it, but everybody knew he wanted it to be a boy, he would say he wanted a healthy child.

Big Henry and Domonique welcomed a handsome baby boy on March 12, 1973, and he was everything they could have imagined, and more. He weighed five pounds and was eighteen and a half inches. He had a head full of jet-black hair, and the lightest brown eyes. This was a happy time for both Big Henry and Domonique, the business was going well, they had just had their first child, and they were blissfully happy, nothing could be more right for them. Three years after having their son David they welcomed a beautiful baby girl whom they named Nikki on April 30, 1976, she weighed six pounds and was seventeen and a half inches long. Big Henry and Domonique were happy and decided that their family was complete but they needed a bigger place, so Big Henry purchased some land in Mentor on the lake in a small community where they had their house built from the ground up. Neither Big Henry nor Domonique ever expected they would have more but six years after having Nikki, Domonique got a heartbreaking call, her sister Monique and brother-in-law Joshua had been in a bad car accident on their way home from a vacation in the Bahamas. Since their parents were gone it was only them and their little brother Mondrian who was living in Los Angeles, he was an artist and had his own art gallery. Mondrian left right after high school just to get away from their dad because they didn’t get along, their father Marcel wanted Mondrian to go to college to become a doctor like him, but Mondrian’s passion was art. Domonique was close to her sister Monique and promised her that if anything were to happen to her and her husband she would make sure to get custody of her children because she didn’t want them in foster care. After Domonique’s sister and her sister’s husband’s funeral and the repass was over Domonique sat her niece and nephew down and spoke with them. She wanted them to know that they were going to be okay and that they would all get through it together.

Domonique knew everything would be fine. She and Monique growing up were remarkably close and as children, they made a pack that if they had children no matter what they were doing or where they were, they would make it a point to keep their children close. Monique had Nicole six days after David was born on March 18, 1973, and Kareem exactly one year after Nikki was born on April 30, 1976. They decided to call Nikki and Kareem twins because they looked alike.

Anyway, the travel from Florida back to Cleveland, Ohio for Domonique, Big Henry, and the children were quiet, nobody talked about it. Domonique had to decide they would all drive so she rented a van and a moving truck so that Kareem and Nicole could get their things. She knew she would have to travel back down there to clear out her sister’s house and sell it, but she did not want to think about that right away, all she wanted to do was get Kareem and Nicole back to Cleveland so she could get them settled in. She had Big Henry drive the moving truck and she and the kids drove in the van.

Kareem and Nicole knew that their aunt and Uncle were well off but did not know they were as well off as they were. When they pulled up to their new home neither could believe their eyes, they pulled into the driveway that wrapped around the whole house. The front of the house had a three-car garage, and the back of the house had a four-car garage. When they entered the house through the back the first thing, they noticed was the laundry room off to their right, it was big enough to be a bedroom, and it had two washers and two dryers. They even had a sixty-five-inch TV mounted on the wall. They had everything you needed to enjoy washing. Right off the laundry room was an excessively big kitchen well equipped with built-in appliances, a fireplace, a hidden pantry, granite countertops, marble backsplash, and floors. At their kitchen table sat twelve people. They had a freaking chandelier in their kitchen! Let us just say the rest of the house was breathtaking, it had eight bedrooms and each bedroom had its own bathroom, with three guest bathrooms throughout the house. They had a pool, a hot tub, a tennis, and a basketball court. Big Henry had built them a game house full of arcade games and a pool table. He wanted to make sure that his children never had to leave home to have fun.

Kareem and Nicole were in awe of their new home, not that they did not live well in Florida because they did; their house was right on the beach, and they had everything they needed and wanted. Both of their parents were successful and made great money, but they were modest and simple. They felt it was more important to save and travel rather than constantly spending money on expensive things. Monique was the opposite of Domonique when it came to lifestyle.

Nicole had always been Domonique’s baby since her sister Monique gave birth, she was right there holding her sister’s hand. Domonique always had a closer relationship with Nicole than she did with her daughter. She loved Kareem but did not treat him as she did David, she could not love anybody like she loved her perfect son, however, she made it her point to let Kareem and Nicole know she loved them.

Growing up Kareem and Nikki were close, in fact, Nikki and David hardly got along mostly because Domonique favored David and, in her eyes, could never do any wrong. Domonique spoiled David, and he knew whatever he did she had his back, Big Henry would have to argue with Domonique every time he tried to punish David. When it came to Nikki Domonique criticized for everything she did, it did not matter that she kept straight A's all through school and graduated at the top of her class with one hundred thousand in grants. All the top colleges wanted her such as Spellman, and Harvard amongst others. She never got into any trouble, and everyone loved her, she was daddy’s girl and Dominique could not stand it.

Kareem and David were closet growing up, David was known as the mean one, and Kareem was known as the dream one but if you saw one cousin, you saw the other one. Kareem was the only male that David trusted. David did not like too many people besides himself, but Kareem was the brother he wanted, and he liked the fact that he could persuade him to do almost anything when they were kids because Kareem looked up to him because he was the oldest and he knew feared by almost everyone. Kareem was the loving type who would give you the shirt off his back and do anything for his family. David knew that and took full advantage. Nikki and Nicole were close growing up but when they reached high school, they started to drift apart, mainly because Nikki was famous and hung out with the popular girls whom she controlled she couldn’t control Nicole because Nicole had a mind of her own, she was shy and stayed in her books and read her bible. Nicole and Kareem’s parents had them in church every Sunday and constantly reminded them to keep God in their lives, her mother always told her that without God, she would fail. Nicole promised herself after her parents died that she would never stop worshipping God she went to church with her friend Amazyn’s family when her aunt would allow her and when she could not go, she would be in her room just praising God to the top of her lungs on purpose.

When they got to high school David dropped out in the eleventh grade, to join the drug gang, and they would go to East Cleveland after school and hang out on Burnette. One of the guys he met name was Thomas and he had an Aunt Valerie that lived on Burnette so he would go and sit on her porch and sell drugs all day, he took David for the first time and David was so impressed that he wanted to learn how to sell drugs too. At the end of the corner of Thomas Aunts Street was a building they called the animal house filled with drug dealers and drug smokers and any and everybody would be there, it was enough money for everybody. David did not have to sell drugs because his parents were wealthy, but he did it because that was the one thing his dad had no control over. Big Henry kicked David out of the house when he found out he had dropped out of school. He had always told the kids that if they dropped out of school they could not stay in his house. They did not have to go to college, but they had to graduate high school and make something of themselves. Big Henry did not grow up privileged to live off his father’s money, so he was not about to do it with his children.

Domonique had known David had dropped out of school but as always, she protected him and did not tell Big Henry, he found out because Nikki told him. When Big Henry confronted Domonique about it, they got into a heated argument and when Big Henry told David he had to leave Domonique was not happy at all, she secretly took money from their joint account and bought David a condo on the West side of Cleveland and a car so he could get around. She made him promise never to drive his car to the house to visit. After David moved out it was more peaceful in the house and as much as they missed him Nicole, Nikki, and Kareem enjoyed the peace. After they went off to college, things started to get worse between Big Henry and Domonique, he found out that she was sneaking money out of the accounts giving it to David and he found out about the condominium and the car. Big Henry was furious, he told Domonique if she did not stop sheltering David, he would leave.

Two years later, he filed for divorce, Domonique threatened to take him for all he had if he left, but what she didn’t know is Big Henry was no fool; he had hired a private investigator when he found messages in her phone from another man who confirmed what he didn’t want to believe, his wife had been cheating on him since they moved into their house. He held it in because Big Henry wanted to wait until David, Kareem, Nikki, and Nicole were all out of the house, he did not want to do anything that would cause the kids heartache and pain, he wanted them to finish school with both parents in the home. So, when he found out that she had been stealing money from the accounts he knew it was time. When he confronted Dominque with the proof he had of her affair, she had no choice but to accept his terms. He agreed to give her one million dollars, but she had to move out of the house and get her place.

When Kareem, Nikki, and Nicole got home from college, they found out that their parents were divorced, and the home once filled with love and laughter was silent. Being who he was, Big Henry made sure to make up for Domonique not being there. He made sure they all felt loved. Kareem graduated with his master’s in accounting and landed a job at a big firm in Macedonia called Clear it Up, a company that helped people get their credit straight. Nikki graduated with her bachelor’s in computer science but wanted to take a break before going back to get her master’s so she moved back into the house with her father and worked for a company called We can fix it. Nicole graduated with her master’s in business management and started working for Cleveland Clinic in their finance department, she also moved back into the house. David was the only one who dropped out of school. He had been selling drugs and was making so much money that he bought him a condominium in Beachwood.

It did not take David long after Kareem was home to try and get him into the streets, but Kareem was not having it. David could not persuade him any longer. He had an excellent job, made great money, and was not about to mess it up messing with David. He still spent time with him but never allowed himself to get involved in the business, He worried David would get into trouble so when he was not working, he would be with David.

Kareem got him a place in Macedonia with his girlfriend Gabrielle whom his best friend Passion had introduced him to when they were in college, he and Passion had been best friends since elementary school and went to the same college. Kareem practically stayed to himself so she thought it would be a clever idea to introduce him to her friend Gabrielle, she thought they would hit it off because they had so many similarities and they did.

One night, Kareem, Gabrielle, and Passion went to a reggae bar in the flats, Kareem did not want to be the only guy, so he asked David to meet them there. David arrived and when he saw Passion, he just knew he wanted her, he asked Kareem who she was because he had never met her, Kareem purposely kept her away from his cousin David because he knew what David was into and Passion was not that type of girl. Kareem was hesitant to introduce them, but they were all there and he did ask David to join them, so he did, he never thought that Passion would give David the time of day, but she did, and he could not wrap his head around why. As the night went on, they drank and ate and when it was time to go, Kareem and Gabrielle offered to take Passion home, but David insisted that he would, and she agreed to let him. Kareem was not too happy about it, but what could he do? Passion could make her own choices. Kareem was always very protective of Passion because he knew she had a good heart, she was a good girl, and she had only dated one guy and was still a virgin. He did not want her mixed up with David.

When David pulled up to Passion’s apartment in Cleveland Heights, she did not get out of the car right away; they sat there talking until David talked her into going out with him the next day, and she agreed. He picked her up the next day and took her to lunch at Juicy’s Seafood because he remembered she told him she loved seafood. Passion had only dated one man before, and his name was Mike, She and Mike dated a little in college but once he found out that she was not giving up the cookies, he broke it off, and she never dated after that. The more time Passion spent with David, she started liking him, he treated her like a Queen, and he was gentle, he made her feel like a woman, and he was willing to wait for sex until she was ready because she was still a virgin. After two months of dating, she moved in with him even though Kareem advised her it was too soon and she should give it more time to get to know David more she argued that he always told her how close he and David were, so she didn’t understand why he was so upset about it, he never told her anything wrong about David but that was the type of guy Kareem was, he never talked wrong about his family.

Everything was going well with David and Passion they moved in together and seemed incredibly happy and in love. A year later, David and Passion were out having dinner, and a guy she went to school with came up to their table to speak to her. She spoke back; the guy walked away, and she and David finished having dinner. David never gave Passion any clue that he was upset; it was not until they got home that he expressed his anger by smacking her in the face as soon as they entered the house. He called her all kinds of names asking her if she and the man had sex, and why she did not introduce him as her man. She stood there holding her face in disbelief that he had slapped her. She did not grow up around abuse and she never thought that she would take abuse. David started hitting her as she pleaded with him to stop, and he did not until her face was swollen, black and blue. He told her she better not tell anybody, especially Kareem, or he would make sure she never talked again. He liked being in control.

Passion had to stay in the house for almost two weeks until her face healed; she did not even go to work. She and Kareem talked at least once every day, and she could not bring herself to call him, she knew that he would hear it in her voice. Kareem would ask David why she was not answering his calls and David would just tell him that she went to visit her parents for a while but forgot to take her cell phone. Kareem did not think anything of it then, so he just told David when she got home to have her call him, and David agreed. Kareem was the only one he trusted around Passion because they were cousins, practically brothers, and he was the one who introduced them.

Passion confided in her friend Gabrielle, who kept all her secrets as she kept hers. Gabrielle would urge her to leave David and wanted to tell Kareem, but Passion begged her not to; she did not want to be the reason Kareem and David fell out, knowing how close they were. The beatings continued and got worse over the next few years. Passion was good at hiding it but was dying inside. One day David asked Kareem to get a bag from his house and bring it to him but forgot he had just beat Passion up the night before. Kareem was the only person who had a key to David’s house, so he did not have to knock to get in. Kareem got to David’s house and let himself in as he walked through the living room, he could tell something had happened because there was broken glass and things everywhere. He made his way up to David’s bedroom to retrieve the bag from the closet and as soon as he got to the door of the room, he stopped. Passion was sitting on the bed with sunglasses on, crying; she looked up and saw him and started wiping her tears; he went and sat beside her and asked her why she was crying and why she had sunglasses on in the house. She tried to give him some story about her having a bad reaction to something she ate and that her eyes were swollen, and the light was making her head hurt but Kareem didn’t believe her, so he took her glasses off and when he did, he was furious, so furious that he started out the room saying he was going to find David and kick his ass. Passion stopped him and begged him not to. She told him that was the first time and David promised not to do it anymore, he had been drinking the night before and lost his money in a poker game and took it out on her. Kareem was not feeling it he did not believe in a man putting his own a woman for any reason. Kareem loved Passion so much that as much as he wanted to confront David, he promised Passion he would not.

Kareem left in a rage! On his way to take David his bag, he thought of his promise to Passion so calmed down before he reached David. When he reached David, he gave David the bag and turned to leave David asked him what was wrong because his face could not hide that something was, so Kareem just told him that he and Gabrielle had gotten into a heated argument, and he needed to go cool off and would catch him later. They dapped up, and Kareem left, and David had no clue Kareem knew about what he did to Passion.

After leaving David, Kareem rented out a condominium in Parma Heights for Passion; he wanted her to have somewhere to go when she needed to get away or if she decided to leave David. He went and gave her the keys the next day and told her she could go there any time she wanted, and David would never know where she was. Although David and Kareem were close, he did not trust David to know all his business.

Kareem and Gabrielle were doing okay until Gabrielle noticed Kareem hanging out with Passion more often, and although he and Passion were friends she felt as if they were spending too much time together. She knew they had been best friends for a long time but felt that he had her, so he did not need to confide in Passion anymore and he should be spending his time with her. Kareem would tell her she was jealous of their friendship, and she should not be because he loved her, but Passion was his best friend and that would never change. At the time he said it, he meant it even though he could not talk to her the way he talked to Passion. Passion listened and was supportive and Gabrielle was everything, but, all she cared about was having a good man with money. Now that I think about it, I do not even think she loved Kareem, she knew with him she would always be secure.

David continued to beat Passion, and Passion got better at hiding it. She wanted to leave but was too scared because David told her the only way out was death. She tried to do everything in her power not to make him upset, which was hard because when he got drunk, it did not take much. One day, he hit her because she put grape jelly on his toast instead of strawberry; another time, he kicked her because she did not have dinner ready when he got home. He never needed much of an excuse to beat on her.

When David was in the streets, she would go to the condominium Kareem got for her to get away and think peacefully. One day, she went, and Kareem was there, she had no idea he would be. He had decorated and filled the refrigerator with food and everything. When Kareem realized she had come in, he went up to her, gave her a big hug, and asked her if she liked it; she told him she did. He told her to sit on the couch and that he would be right back, he went into the living room and returned with the cutest little boxer puppy she had ever seen. He told her it was a gift for her, he wanted her to have something that would bring her joy and keep her company when she was there; he told her he would help to take care of him because she couldn’t take him home so they would have to take turns checking on him. Passion was at a loss for words, eyes filled with tears as she held the puppy, Kareem had always been good to her; he was the one guy she always trusted and loved, which made her happy. They decided together that his name would be Mr. because he looked like a little man and Kareem promised Passion that Mr. would always protect her.

One moment, they were sitting there watching Mr. run around and next, they were kissing. Kareem stopped, and Passion grabbed him and started kissing him again. Next thing you know, Kareem was making enthusiastic love to his best friend who was his cousin’s girlfriend. I do not think either of them knew how they loved one another until that moment. When they were all done, Passion lay in Kareem's arms, wishing she could lay there forever, and Kareem lay there wondering what they had done. He could not shake the feeling that if David found out, he would kill them both, and Gabrielle would be devastated because she always suspected that he and Passion were too close. What were they going to do? Kareem told Passion they could not let anyone find out; they could not do it again. They both dressed and fed Mr., and they both left and went home.

Later that night Kareem lay in his bed next to Gabrielle and all he could do was think about Passion and how soft her skin was and how she screamed out his name when he was inside of her. He knew that before David Passion was a virgin, and based on how tight she was David was hitting it right at all. He started getting hard and horny for her and needed to release, so he turned over and started having sex with Gabrielle, once done rolled back over and went to sleep. Passion lay there while David was doing his business, and could not help but think about Kareem and how he made her feel like a woman; he made her feel special and desired whereas David made her feel like a sex tool. She lay there waiting for David to finish so she could go shower.

The next day, Kareem went to work and could not stop thinking about Passion and she was at work thinking about him; as soon as she was about to call him, he was calling her, asking her to meet him at the condominium after work. She was scared because if she weren't home when David got there with dinner ready, she would for sure get beat, but Kareem assured her that David would not be home. He spoke with him earlier and he was on his way to New York to pick up a package, he asked him to keep an eye on her while he was gone. When they got to the condominium, they made love all night and fell asleep, they did not wake up until the next morning. Kareem wondered how he would explain staying out all night to Gabrielle and where he would say he was, he couldn’t say he was with David because he was out of town, and she knew he only had one friend, and that was Derion, so he decided to say he fell asleep on Derion’s couch because he was too drunk to drive home. It would work because Gabrielle knew Kareem was not much of a drinker, so when he did drink, it did not take that much for him to get drunk.

Three months later, Passion found out she was pregnant but was scared because she was not sure who fathered her baby; she and Kareem were having sex every chance they got, and she still had to have sex with David so he would not suspect anything. She decided to wait to tell everyone at the Christmas party the following week, Big Henry wanted all the children over for Christmas because he had something to tell them. That whole week, Passion avoided Kareem; she did not want him to find out before the Christmas party. Kareem was confused as to why he hadn’t heard from Passion, so he called David and asked how she was doing David told him she was good but wondered why he was asking, Kareem told him that her friend Tariah had called because she hadn’t heard from her in a couple of weeks as not to raise any suspicion.

It was Christmas and everybody was there. David and Passion, Kareem and Gabrielle, Nikki had brought her boyfriend Mike, and her friend Twianna, and Nicole had brought her boyfriend Todd. Big Henry was happy to have all his children there at one time. As the night went on, things were awkward. Nikki discovered that Mike had a crush on Passion in college and still did. Nikki’s friend Twianna used to date David and secretly still loved and wanted him, but she never knew the side of him that Passion got to experience. Nikki knew Twianna used to date her brother but when they broke up it had nothing to do with their friendship.

After eating dinner and opening the presents, Passion decided to tell everyone she was pregnant, and when she did, everything went quiet, David went over and started rubbing her belly, saying how he was about to have a son. Everyone congratulated them, even Kareem, but the eye contact he shared with Passion told her they would be having a conversation soon. After Passion announced being pregnant, Big Henry asked them to join him in the living room. Once all there and sitting, he explained since they were all grown with lives of their own, he was going to sell the house and move to Miami. He wanted to retire and live the rest of his life enjoying it to the fullest. Everyone was in disbelief; he was selling the house they grew up in, but they were all okay with that part. What came afterward was what shocked everyone. David stated that he was giving Kareem, Nicole, and Nikki five million dollars each and wanted Kareem to take over the family business. He told David he was giving him nothing because he did not finish school, and since he was a big-time drug dealer, he did not need his money, and he was not having a drug dealer take over the company.

David was furious! He knew his father liked Kareem more because he was a good son, and he knew that he kicked him out of the house when he dropped out of school, but he never thought his father was that angry still after all these years that he would cut him off. Neither Nikki nor Nicole was mad about him giving control of the business to Kareem because they wanted nothing to do with it and knew Kareem was the right pick. That was the first time David was jealous of Kareem and that is when he started to resent him. He was not his father’s son, and he got the company. David told Passion to get her things because they were leaving and left. The night still went on after David left but Kareem knew how angry he was and hoped he would not take it out on Passion, especially now knowing she was pregnant, and it was a possibility that it was his baby. He decided to go and check on her, so he called David and told him that he and Gabrielle would be stopping by before going home. David, although mad, was the kind of guy who did not show jealousy, so he played it off when Kareem got there. They had drinks and once Kareem saw that Passion was okay, he and Gabrielle went home.

Nine months later, on September 7, 2014, Passion gave birth to a beautiful seven-pound, six-ounce baby boy named Karson. I do not think anyone understood that Karson was the combination of Kareem and Passion. Passion had secretly had a paternity test done and found out the baby was indeed Kareem’s. She did not keep that from him, but they decided to keep it secret so David could never find out. Kareem was not too happy about it because he wanted to raise his son. He wanted the world to know he had a son but until they found a way to be together without getting themselves killed, he thought it would be best for him to just being Karson’s godfather.

It was August 17, 2017, when I got the call. My friend's Passion and Kareem were both found shot to death in their condominium. The police found Kareem with one shot to the head, and Passion shot twice in the head and stabbed over thirty times. I was devastated. I just could not believe it, Passion had been my friend since junior high school, she was the sweetest loving person you would ever meet, how could someone do this to her? Who could hate her that much? Although I had only met Kareem twice, he did not seem like a guy with enemies, and from what Passion told me about him, he was the most loyal man in the world. I stayed in Virginia, so I did not see Passion much, but we always talked on the phone, and she confided in me; she told me if anything ever happened to her, to make sure David was the suspect because he always threatened to kill her.

I packed my bags and flew to Cleveland on the first flight out, and I planned to stay there until I found out who killed my friend and Kareem. The plane ride seemed as if it were taking forever, and all I could do was think of my friend and the fact that she was gone. Passion’s parents died in a car crash when she was just nine months old; that was what she and Kareem had in common, and that was how their friendship started. I always thought they were great together because they had so much in common with one another, and whenever you saw them, they were always smiling. Passion wished they could be more from our conversations, but Kareem did not want to risk messing up their friendship. I knew he loved Passion because she used to date this guy named Mike for a while until he broke it off with her because she was not ready to have sex. It was a bad break, so Kareem ended up confronting Mike about it, warning him to stay away from Passion. So, I was suprised when Passion told me that she and Kareem started seeing one another behind Gabrielle and David's backs.

After a long flight, I finally touched down in Cleveland, I had rented a hotel downtown near the Justice Center, so I could be close because I had to meet with the detectives that next morning. I was tired from the flight, so once I checked into my room, I ordered room service and called it a night. When I woke up the next morning, it just did not feel natural; how could Passion be gone if I had just spoken with her? I had breakfast, got myself dressed, and headed over to the Justice Center to meet with Detective Johnson, he called me right after he found the bodies. Passion had me listed as her emergency contact, I guess because she did not have any family left that she trusted. Detective Johnson did not give me details over the phone, only that he found my friend and Kareem murdered in his condominium and that Passion had me listed as her next of kin. I never knew she thought of me that way.

Walking into the Justice Center, I saw people everywhere; so, I was bumping into people, and they were bumping into me. You must go through metal detectors to get in. I reached the elevators, got in pressed four, and started my way up. Once I was out of the elevators, I saw a sign that directed me down a long, narrow hallway to Detective Johnson’s office. I knocked on the door and he answered right away and told me to come in and have a seat. I had never been so nervous in my life. I did not know how much help I could be because I did not live in Cleveland, I only knew what Passion shared with me.

The Interview

Hello, Tariah, my name is Detective Johnson; how are you?

I am doing okay, I guess.

I asked you to come in to see if you had any information to help us solve this case. We do not have any physical evidence and no sign of forced entry. Both bodies were in Kareem's living room, and when we found them, they were holding hands, indicating they had a close relationship. What we do know is it was someone they thought they could trust because there was no forced entry, the crime scene indicated a struggle, and based on wounds we found in both your friend and Kareem, they fought back. What I am most concerned about is we found Kareem shot once in the head, but Passion shot and stabbed, as if she were the target. I think at the time, Detective Johnson wanted to spare me all the gory details of the crime scene because later it came out how they died.

He said they had no leads, and they were trying to get on it right away.

I told him everything that I knew. I told him that Mike used to date Passion, who was now Nikki’s boyfriend, Nikki is Kareem’s first cousin. I told him, that Mike was always sending Passion messages about how he messed up and wanted to get back with her, even though he was with Nikki. He expressed his anger that she was with David, who is Nikki’s brother. I told him how abusive David was towards Passion, he was constantly beating her up; she FaceTime me one night, with her face swollen like someone had hit her with a bat. I used to encourage her to leave but she was scared. I told him how Twianna, who was Nikki’s best friend, was always in love with David and did not hide the fact that she did not like Passion because David was with her. Kareem's girlfriend Gabrielle always complained that Kareem and Passion were too close, so she did not like Passion. I explained how Nikki didn’t like Passion just because Mike would always throw her up in Nikki’s face, telling her how he should have been with her and he would always love her, I remember Passion telling me that one Thanksgiving, David and Mike got into a heated argument because Mike told him he would be better for Passion, and Nikki was there.

I told Detective Johnson that Kareem had a friend named Derion; they had known one another since Junior High School. One night, Passion told me that they were out having drinks, and Derion came; he cornered her near the bathroom and tried to force his hands down her skirt; she stopped him and told him she would tell David and Kareem. Everyone knew David was crazy, so Derion told her if she said anything, he would kill her but promised he would be back to get her. There was also Domonique, she loved Kareem as her own but when she found out that Big Henry had left Kareem in control of the company and David nothing, she was furious and promised to get her son David everything he rightfully deserved.

What I told Detective Johnson next, sent shockwaves through the room. I told Detective Johnson that Passion and Kareem had been secretly having an affair and that Lil Karson was Kareem’s son and not Davids. She and Kareem managed to keep that secret, or did they? After telling Detective Johnson all I knew, he informed me that he would be in touch, and promised to keep me informed. He said I gave him a lot to go on, leaving him with more than one suspect. He thanked me, gave me his card, and asked me if I thought of anything else to give him a call.