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Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


The morning after Kareem Said’s escape, a small, little known paper called ‘The New York Paper’, put out a story by a reporter named Cassidy Cape.

The crux of the article said that A.D.A Ron Carver was really ‘Eric Carver’ and that he had stolen his brother’s life to escape gang members.

This paper circulated in the old neighborhood that Eric and Ron Carver had come from and now, Letty Carver was being asked the most curious of questions about her sons. And they scared and horrified her.

People had been calling her all morning, asking if it were true that Eric wasn’t killed in that drive-by like everyone thought. That it had been Ron, and that Eric had stolen his identity.

No. That wasn’t possible. No. She would’ve known. She knew her boys. They used to try and fool her like that when they were little, one pretending to be the other, but Eric would never do that.

Then again, it had been Eric that fell in with the bad crowd. That got sucked into drugs, guns and God knows what else with that awful Kendrick Holmes that the rest of those people. Was it possible that he had done such a thing?

No. Because Ron was ‘her’ Ron, and hadn’t behaved any differently from the moment they had discovered Eric had been murdered, until now. And once he became affluent and well known, he bought her a small house in a nice part of suburban New York for her to live in.

Eric would’ve never done that if he had lived. He certainly wouldn’t have risen to Ron’s level of prosperity. And as much as she had loved both of her boys, in her heart, she knew that she had favored Ron over him. And maybe had been a slight bit relieved that if God had had to take one of her sons, it would be Eric over Ron.

Letty, who had driven home from the market, had been walking in a daze. She didn’t come out of it until she looked up and saw a pair of boots on her porch. Her eyes traveled the whole way up. Good Lord!

“Kareem? Kareem, what are you doing here? I thought you were in prison?”

Kareem could not find Kendrick Holmes. He had taken a small ride down into the old neighborhood and found out that Kendrick was locked up in California. So he decided on a different plan of action instead.

Kareem took the grocery bag from Letty and followed her inside, his eyes darting around the neighborhood, before following the elderly woman into the house. He set the bag down on a table, then turned to her.

“Mrs. Carver, I escaped. Ron’s in trouble.” he said solemnly.

“Trouble? Kareem, let me call him. You’ll get caught but if you turn yourself into him...”

“It wouldn’t count for anything because I’d be turning myself into Eric.” Said said firmly. Letty gave him a stunned look. Actually, she looked rather hurt.

“Did you give that interview, Kareem? To that trashy paper?”

“Yes, Mrs. Carver. But it was bound to come out. Eric murdered Lanelle Ferguson, you know that? He did it or had someone else do it.”

“Ron told me all about that awful woman. Her mother had been awful too. She brought all kinds of men into the house on Lanelle and her sister and turned them into nothing but little whores! Lanelle hadn’t changed. She saw my boy as some kind of ticket out of working for a living.” Letty sniffed proudly. Kareem Said stepped forward and gently took both of the old woman’s hands within his own.

“Mrs. Carver,” Said began slowly, “I was at the corner store that day when Ron was killed.”

Letty snatched her hands from his!

“Stop saying that! Ron was not killed! Eric was! Stop saying that!” she cried and moved away from Said, and over to a framed picture she kept of the boys when they were children. It was taken right before their father died. After that, everything seemed to go wrong in their lives.

Letty turned back to face Said.

“You were at the corner store that day, so what? What does that prove?”

“Mrs. Carver, I spoke to Ron moments before he was killed by Kendrick’s gang in that drive-by. I SPOKE to him. I said ‘hey Ron, what’s up’...he walked over to me, wearing Eric’s jacket, for whatever reason...maybe he just grabbed the first thing he could find to go out into the cold with...I don’t know. But I KNEW it was Ron I was speaking to. He told me he was having some trouble with an English class. A professor thought he had plagiarized a paper...”

Letty Carver gasped and reeled back! How in the hell did Kareem Said know about that? That weekend Ron had told her that a professor accused him of cheating on a paper because it was ‘so well written’. The assumption being that ‘Black Ron’ couldn’t have written such an A+ paper without lying about it.

Letty had wanted to go to the university herself, but Ron insisted on handling it like a man.

Maybe he had told Kareem about it the day before or something. That was it. Just because he knew about it didn’t prove anything. Her heart began to slow down the race that it had begun when Kareem revealed that to her.

“I remember.”

“So how it work out for Ron then? Did the professor believe him?”

Letty stared at Kareem.

“I don’t remember...ERIC had been killed. We weren’t thinking about college papers at the time.”

Kareem decided it was time to leave. And he was not unmindful about how much he had just hurt this elderly woman. Because there had to be something in her that was now replaying everything in her mind, from the day Ron was killed, to the day Eric took over his identity. There had to be an iota of doubt now.

Kareem reached for Letty’s car keys that she had set down on the table.

“I’m taking your car, Ms. Carver. It will be found soon at a certain address. I’m sorry if I’ve caused you any distress.”

Letty Carver’s expression turned hard.

“You haven’t, Kareem. You don’t know what you’re talking about. And if you think lying on my boy is going to get you out of the trouble you are in, think again.” she said coolly. Kareem just nodded and left the house. Letty didn’t waste anytime calling 911.

****

Olivia and Elliott were questioning Cassidy Cape at the New York Tribune. Actually, Cassidy thought it felt more like harassment.

“We’re going to ask you this one last time: where did you get this story? How did you find out that there was an investigation going on in the D.A.’s office?” Elliott asked the young woman. Olivia took in the surroundings. Clearly, the paper was on a shoestring budget, since she caught sight of three typewriters! She returned her attention to Ms. Cape’s latest denial of actually speaking with Kareem Said.

“Ms. Cape, you provided information that we could never get out of Mr. Said,” Elliott told her. “It says in your article that the real Ron Carver told him something about an event in his life moments before he died. We had no idea up until then, that Mr. Said had ever spoken to the victim moments before his murder.”

“Clearly you people did a bad job of investigating the shooting then. Or you would’ve known Mr. Said was your star witness.” Cassidy sniffed. But Olivia had had enough of this little wanna be journalist.

“Why don’t we take a ride down to the station, and you can tell us what time Kareem Said approached you about this story? Or did you approach him? Either way, you’re going to tell us what you know either here, or downtown.”

“Power to the people!” Cassidy yelled, shoving a fist into the air. Elliott rolled his eyes! Oh Brother!

Olivia took out her handcuffs, as the few workers that were there gaped in shock. One nerdy looking boy, with glasses thicker than hell, hurried over!

“Cassie, it’s not worth it! Just tell them!”

“No! A reporter never reveals their source!” Cassidy protested.

The boy turned to the detectives, waving off Cassidy.

“If she’s arrested then we won’t get paid and I’m almost two months behind on my rent! Kareem Said hit our ‘contact us’ button at the bottom of our online site. Cassidy met him early this morning around here. Isn’t that right?” he asked huffily. Cassidy rolled her eyes!

“Fine. Yes. I met him around 5:15 this morning.” she sighed. Elliott eyed her.

“And?” he asked.

“He told me everything that I wrote. You shouldn’t be bothering me. You should be trying to protect him and clear his name. You know he’s doing an awfully long prison stretch for just arson.”

“He could’ve killed someone.” Olivia said brusquely, “that’s why his stretch is so ‘long’. Now, did he say where he was going after he left you?”

Cassidy shook his head, just as Elliott’s phone rang. He spoke briefly, then hung up.

“We have to go. Kareem paid Letty Carver a visit and stole her car.”

Elliott told Cassidy they would be in touch, then he and Olivia left the dinky newspaper office. Once inside the car, Olivia shook her head.

“You know that the person he’s going to go and see is Melinda, don’t you?”

Elliott started the ignition.

“She’s well guarded.”

“But does she want to be?” Olivia retorted. That whole escape was very strange. His showing up in the back of Melinda’s car. Then they skidded off the road. And then Kareem took off and didn’t bother to take Melinda’s cellphone so she couldn’t call for help? It would’ve made his getaway a lot quicker if he had.

And...Olivia strongly suspected that maybe Melinda had had another encounter with Said, before he took off. She wished she knew where her friend’s head was at these days?

****

Ron Carver was livid.

Kareem Said had told his mother all about this shit! And now, as he stood in his living room and listened to her voice on the phone, begging him to come over so she could ‘look into his eyes and see if she was really looking at her Ron’, he knew he wouldn’t be able to pull it off. He was fearful that his own mother would see his lie for what it was, after all of this time. But what to do?

This whole thing was now public news, no thanks to Kareem’s escape and big mouth. He should’ve been killed in prison.

And that article...God how it gave him a headache! Because it brought to mind something that he at the time, hadn’t realized had any significance in the least.

Professor Edmund Otto. An old ass English teacher who had asked him to stay after class the Monday he had begun assuming Ron’s identity in college. Something about plagiarizing a paper or something.

At the time, he could’ve given a rat’s ass. He was trying so hard to be Ron, that he hadn’t fought it, not knowing what his deceased twin and done or hadn’t done.

But his mother had been babbling about it. She had been sure that he had fought the racist teacher.

But he hadn’t. And if old ass Otto was still around and had any memory of any of this, then his mother would believe the shit Kareem told her earlier.

Oh...and Ms. Melinda Warner. Ron breathed deeply. He wanted to beat the living shit out of her and Kareem! They had done this! They had fucked up his life and aspirations at unseating Jack McCoy as D.A..

He would have to scale back his goals quite a bit now, damn them. All he wanted now was to stay out of prison.

There was no point in killing anyone. Kareem had told one too many people. His mother had enough doubt, that it would indeed take exhuming his brother’s body to assuage her mind.

Then he would be found out for the fraud he really was. Eric Carver. Gangbanger and Ron Carver wannabee.

He decided that his best option was to run.

****

Melinda Warner paced in the living room of her small home. There was a squad car out front with two officers inside. They both seemed to be laughing and having a good time.

Which meant they weren’t paying careful attention to whether Kareem Said was around. And Melinda desperately hoped he was!

She had been watching the local news. Jack McCoy held a press conference which revealed the investigation they had been conducting. He also admitted that A.D.A Ron Carver could not be found at this time, and that they considered him a ‘person of interest’ in the murder of journalist, Lanelle Ferguson.

Letty Carver was seen talking to a reporter. The poor woman was babbling, saying her son Eric had died, then saying that when Ron arrived and she looked into his eyes, she’d know if the ‘right son’ was in his grave. For a brief moment, Melinda felt a wave of pity for Faux Ron a.k.a. Ron Carver.

Melinda was hoping that maybe a deal could still be made for Kareem. It was his information to that little paper, that had gotten the ball rolling here in regards to this case. Surely McCoy would take that into consideration, wouldn’t he? He had to.

Melinda closed her eyes. She should have never taken this undercover assignment. Never. Never, never, never. Because after making love to Said twice now, she couldn’t imagine seeing him locked up in OZ again. She couldn’t imagine never seeing him again. And she couldn’t rid herself of thoughts that if things had just worked out differently for them when they had been younger, they wouldn’t be at this point in time now. Hoping and wishing.

Well, she was really the only one hoping and wishing. Melinda had no real idea how Kareem felt about her or anything else. He HAD been in prison this whole time. Maybe their encounters were nothing more than that. Just encounters. Just...just sexual gratification.

Melinda opened her eyes again, when she heard a noise coming from the garage. Frowning, she walked over to the front window. The uniforms were still engaged in some kind of lively conversation. They were not watching the house at all. Both neighbors on either side of her worked during the say, and her neighbor behind her, Melinda did not really know. Plus, there were tall bushes that obstructed their views of one another.

Melinda frowned, knowing in her heart of hearts, that Kareem had somehow gotten into her garage either by the side window, or the back door. But what if it wasn’t him? What if this was just her bad luck and she was being burglarized during the middle of the day? If that was the case, then the only thing keeping her from realizing this nightmare, was the garage door that lead into the kitchen.

The doorknob was slowly turning back and forth. What if that was A.D.A Ron Carver out there? What if he had decided to skip going on the run and decided to kill up some people before being carted off to prison? The ‘people’ being herself and Kareem and God knows who else!

It was Kareem. It had to be. He could not just escape from OZ, do all that he had done and not try and see her. He couldn’t.

Melinda slowly walked towards the twisting doorknob. Then, with a loud, audible gulp, she turned the lock on the knob, so whoever it was could come in. To either slaughter her or...

Make love to her.

The door opened and a wary looking Kareem stared at her in surprise. Before he could get a word out, Melinda pulled him inside and into her arms, holding onto him for dear life! She then slowly let go of him.

“This isn’t going to work, is it?” she whispered against his lips.

“I’m turning myself in.” he whispered back, as he held her even tighter.

“Then we have to make most of the time we have.” Melinda whispered, smothering her mouth over his. Kareem’s tongue leapt with shock at the touch of hers and then hungrily entwined with it, his evermounting ador when it came to this woman, insatiable. Melinda let go of him briefly and pulled him towards her bedroom down the hall. The curtains were drawn as they shed their clothing and fell onto her bed, both of them knowing that this would be the last time they would ever be together like this.

The eroticism of their encounter, caused their mingles bodies to leap and crackle with electricity, as Kareem lay on his back, his legs closed while Melinda sat astride him on her knees, her legs spread and slowly rode him using a slow gait, chugging back and forth on his member while kissing him at the same time. Kareem’s hands massaged her buttocks while he himself sank further and further into their hopelessly erotic vortex of passion. And when it was over and Melinda lay on top of his body, kissing his eyelids, she had no way of knowing that Kareem had decided that the minute she went into the bathroom, he would be calling the police to surrender himself.

****

Just as suspected, there was no deal for Kareem Said. There might have been if he had not escaped.

Thus, he was returned to OZ. He would be killed one year later by some crazy ass.

Melinda had been prepared for that outcome. Not that she had much time to ponder Kareem, or the tragedy that could’ve been their life together. A.D.A. Ron Carver was found in the Bahamas. The man buried under the name Eric Carver had his remains exhumed, with Letty Carver’s permission, since Ron refused to confess.

It proved that Kareem Said had told Letty the truth that day he had waited on her porch. Ron tried to say the evidence was botched...he tried to say anything and everything.

But Letty Carver didn’t want to hear any excuses. Actually, she couldn’t stand them. She promptly died of a heart attack two days later after the big reveal.

The state was having a hard time tying Ron a/o Eric to Lanelle Ferguson’s murder. But there were bigger problems.

Every criminal that had been convicted by him, now had a chance at a new trial. And Melinda was up to her eyeballs in re-examining evidence so that many of these prisoners could stay where they were.

It was as she was working on a child molester/murderer’s conviction evidence, that Olivia showed up at the morgue shortly before lunch. Melinda gave her a wan smile.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“I just came by to see how you’re doing. You know...with all that went down.”

“I’m fine, Olivia. Really.”

“Melinda, this is me, okay? We asked you to confront not only an old lover, but you had to confront feelings that I guess hadn’t died like you thought they had, had they?”

Melinda closed a file and stood up.

“Kareem will probably die in prison. I don’t know when or how, but I feel it in my bones. I’m doing my mourning early and moving on.” Melinda said so matter-of-factly, that Olivia was a bit stunned. She decided not to address Said anymore, but another topic. One that could be potentially touchy.

“So, listen, I really came by because the brass has us kind of entertaining a CSI investigator from Vegas for a week. I’m taking him to dinner with a date...I was hoping maybe you would come along? I think you might like him.”

Melinda folded her arms.

“You’re trying to fix me up? So soon after Kareem’s...”

“What, Melinda? Eventual death? Murder? You’ve closed the door on him. You had no choice. Instead of moping about it, how about giving a man a try that is on your level and that I think you would like?”

Melinda looked away for a moment but still didn’t say anything. Finally she stared at Olivia.

“I’m going to do this for you. But since he lives in Vegas, don’t think that you’re going to rope me into some long distance romance.”

Olivia smiled and put an arm around her.

“Like I said, Dr. Raymond Langston is only here for a week. Unless the two of you have instant chemistry...which I think you will...there won’t be anytime for you to begin a romance.” Olivia said slyly.

THE END










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