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any more bad news.”
    “Mama’s dead,” Mia cried.
    Farah was relieved that this was the reason for their dismay. “We went to tell her that Chloe was missing. She changed the locks so we couldn’t get inside, so we called the police. I smelled something foul, but I didn’t know what it was. When the police came, before they even got to her apartment, from the outside they knew what was up. She was dead. Sitting in front of a TV. Somebody slit her throat and shot her in the chest.”
    “Wait. Shot her in the chest?” She was confused. “Why . . . why they do both?”
    “They didn’t know she was shot at first, but when they took her to the hospital, and lifted the black gown she wore, they saw the bullet hole over her heart.” Mia was breathing so heavily she had to fan herself.
    At that moment Farah’s mind floated. Prior to this new information, she thought she was the one who killed her mother. She murdered her mother because ever since Farah was a child, Brownie ridiculed her for having light skin. Brownie hated lighter-skinned women, believing they thought that they were better than she was. Her mindset was due in part to not appreciating her dark skin because of the persecution she experienced from her peers as a child. Even her own mother, Elise, believed her daughter was unattractive and should be grateful for anything and anybody who wanted to be with her, including her drunk and violent husband. Brownie’s heart was always filled with hate, so she could never love Farah.
    So when Farah went over to Brownie’s house, she let herself in and raised the hijab covering her neck, to slice her throat. Now she was learning that someone raised the abaya, shot her, and pulled it back down to conceal the crime. But who?
    Shadow popped up and marched toward the window. He leaned up against the wall and looked out through the pane to prevent himself from crying. “You should’ve seen her face, Farah. Oh my God! She didn’t look anything like herself. The porphyria ate her up terribly! Our beautiful mother is gone.”
    Porphyria, a rare blood disease, caused havoc in their family. Farah, Mia, Shadow, and even their grandmother were stricken with it. Porphyria affected the nervous system and the skin, which impacted the way their bodies produced blood. But it was the physical effects that caused the family the most grief.
    Farah didn’t feel the same way about her mother’s death. In her opinion, Brownie got everything she deserved. “I can’t deal with her right now,” she said. “I got to use all of my energy on Chloe.”
    Mia wiped her face and touched Farah’s knee. “I understand you don’t feel the same as we do.” She looked at Shadow and back at her. “After everything she put you through, it’s wrong for us to expect you to.” She gave her a hug.
    Farah gladly accepted. She loved her family, Ashur included, but Brownie she couldn’t care less about.
    “Grandma said she’s coming over here in about an hour. You know she never comes out, but she wants to be there for us,” Mia said.
    That’s all Farah needed was to see Elise’s face right now. Farah was growing increasingly uncomfortable with everything and everybody.
    “I almost forgot. Slade and them were over here earlier,” Mia told Farah. “They wanted to talk here instead of at Markee’s. They said they can’t be sure if they can trust him yet.”
    It was unusual for Slade to come over to her house when she wasn’t home, but she understood not being able to trust his cousin Markee. Markee worked for Randy, the same man who called in the ransom for Audio and Chloe. The real twist was that Randy was also Farah’s ex-boyfriend. As it stood, her life was way messy.
    “I never liked dude,” Shadow said, referring to Markee. “He got a lot of shit with him if you ask me.” He looked back out the window.
    “Something happened while they were here though,” Mia added. “I gave Slade my key to get back in, because we were