QR Code Murders: Sidekick

“There’s someone still out here killing rappers,” a neighbor shook her head. She had a scarf on her head. Red weave and a lace front showed against her butterscotch skin.

“It’s crazy. They only got one of them locked up. He deserves to be there but there’s someone else out here doing these killings,” she addressed the camera.

“In this neighborhood, there have been twelve slayings alone. A search for a murderer continues. I’m Barkley McLevigh for Channel 30 News.

“Thank you, ma’am for your words,” McLevigh said to Norma Bolling. He was tallish and dark skinned. He had hazel eyes and a strong jaw. His periwinkle Windsor tie matched his navy blue suit. He wore a gold watch worth in the low thousands. His Caesar haircut made him a complete reporter for the news channel.

He was about to get back in the news van when Kim stopped him.

“Mr. McLevigh!”

“Well, this is a reversal. A cop has a question for the journalist. What is Miss Jergensen?”

“Do you realize you could be interviewing potential suspects? Bolling has a long list of run-ins with the law. She could have just played you right there.”

He shot a glance at her. It was a snarky, knowing kind of glance. He drew one corner of his mouth upward.

“Kim, may I?”

She nodded with a stern look on her face. She folded her arms.

“You have to be like the state…first. We got to this block before Philly, before national news…global. So whoever we interview is part of our intellectual property. We own them when they sign a release. That’s our mission. Now, why don’t you do your best and fight crime.” He flashed a smile of pearly white, straight teeth.

“If you were really doing your job, you’d have known what I just told you.”

McLevigh’s face crumpled like a ball of paper. He motioned for the door of the can to close. The driver sped off into the distance.

Kim inhaled the exhaust. She walked to her car with a wound in her mind but a potent medicine that aided in her understanding of her own position in this situation. She answered her phone.

“Yawquisha, what’s up?”

“I wanted to get there and be on the scene on this one but I got stuck editing.”

“Gotcha.”

“I’ll be with you on the next one. I’ll commit to it,” Yawquisha said. She meant it. Kim felt numb. There was a sinking sensation that started at the base of her spine and shot up to her brain stem. A cool summer breeze blew through the city streets. She wanted to smoke. She wanted desperately to put a cancer stick in her mouth and breathe in the carcinogens. The crackle and the smell of cloves from the cigarillos she chucked after consuming in Iraq in the many too many smoke pits.

She banished the thought and started her car. Kim felt like the wound had only worsened with the call from Yawquisha. It wasn’t her fault. Yawquisha had her work. The detective wanted her work as well.

She met up with Darby and St. Kitts.

“You’ve bet we’ve seen it,” St. Kitts mentioned.

“C’mon. Bring it on. The Fourth State beat the copper,” Kim opened and closed her palms as she said this.

“It’s alright. It happens to us all,” Darby attempted to console. He was sincere.

“Where’s your sidekick?”

“She’s home.”

“Safe, right?” St. Kitts asked.

“As far as I know,” Kim answered.

“What do you say we get to tonight’s business before it gets even later,” she reminded the men.

“We have the chance to catch whoever else is out there.”

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