A Sticky Situation by Kiki Swinson

emphasized.
    I agreed to assist in this investigation in any way I could.
    “Give me the address where you are, because I’m on my way,” she insisted.
    “Are you sure you want to come out this time of the night?”
    “Of course I’m sure.”
    Once I had given her the address and assured her that I would watch for her, I got off the line with her and called AAA to have them let me into my vehicle and tow my car to my place. I started to call Seth so he could bring me the other set of car keys, but I knew I couldn’t take the chance of having him around Karen and having her remember who he was. I figured that would be the worst thing I could ever do, so I pressed the END button on the phone and handed it back to the young man.
    “Thank you so much,” I said.
    By then, he had gotten out of his car and sat on the hood. You could tell thoughts were running through his mind because after he stuffed his phone back into his pocket he said, “All that stuff happened to you for real?”
    “What’s your name?” I interjected.
    “Lamont.”
    “OK, Lamont. Yes, it did.”
    “You actually saw them with drugs?”
    I nodded my head.
    “Man, I knew it,” he said and snapped his finger.
    His comment sparked my curiosity. “You knew what?”
    “I knew he was doing something illegal over there.”
    “How did you come up with that assumption?”
    “Because he was always home during the day and while he was there, I would always see at least two guys come by in expensive cars and drop off a large duffel bag.”
    “How did these guys look?”
    “I can’t tell you how they looked in the face, but the way they were dressed told it all.”
    “What kind of cars were they driving?”
    “I remember one of them driving a black Infiniti with twenty-inch rims, and the other two cats were driving a burgundy Yukon with twenty-two inch rims and a funny-colored green Mercedes Benz wagon.
    “Was this every day?”
    “Almost every day.”
    “How often during the course of the day?”
    “Once or twice, but never more than that.”
    “Did you ever catch them exchanging any large sums of cash out in the open?”
    “Nope. Sean never did anything with them outside. He always would let them go in the house.”
    “How well do you know Sean?”
    “I have known him for a long time because my parents have been living here for as long as his parents lived there.”
    “Had y’all hung out?”
    “Yeah, we use to shoot ball every Saturday, but when those guys started coming around, I started seeing less and less of him.”
    “Are his parents out of town?”
    “Yeah, they’re out of town.”
    “How do you know this for sure?”
    “Because I seen them when they packed their luggage in their car and left.”
    “How long ago was that?”
    “Two days ago.”
    “Do you have any idea where they could have gone?”
    “I overheard my mom telling my dad they drove to Delaware to visit family.”
    “Did your mother say when they were supposed to return?”
    “Nah.”
    I asked him a few more questions until I saw the police arrive, and then I excused myself. There were two uniformed officers and two detectives on the scene. After I gave them the required information they needed to file a report, everyone went inside Sean’s residence to get more evidence of the crime that took place. While all of this was going on, Karen drove up. Her face was in disarray when she got the chance to look at me face-to-face.
    “Are you OK?” she asked me the moment she came within a couple feet of me. Karen wore a sweatsuit and sneakers.
    I took a deep breath and said, “I will be after all this is over.”
    “So, what did the police say?” she asked.
    “They didn’t say much. I did all the talking.”
    “Where are they now?”
    “Inside the residence.”
    “Is someone in there?”
    “No, but I’m assuming they are taking pictures and collecting whatever evidence they can to build this case.” I rubbed the back of my head.
    Karen looked at my