by Roy Glenn
“I hear you’re the mad scientist that made everybody rich.”
“It wasn’t just me, Nick. Sure, I handled the money, made some good investments, but everybody did their part. We changed with the times, Nick, which is how we all got to be respectable, as you say. Part of what we built here belongs to you. You just need to recognize. And ask for it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? What am I supposed to be asking for, Wanda?”
“When you recognize, you’ll know what to ask for. Now, let’s get back to it. You followed Rocky to Soundview to some house and then back to whatever hole in the wall he hangs at. And…”
“And the whole time I couldn’t stop thinking about what he said to Chilly.”
“It’s about that shit ain’t it? Told y’all that shit wasn’t gonna work.”
What shit? Whatever it was, it was the missing piece of this puzzle. Whatever it was, it involved this Diego Estabon guy that Chilly met for lunch.
“I took care of mine, Chilly. What about yours?”
Jake was Chilly’s and he hadn’t taken care of him. It was all starting to make sense to me. Jake wasn’t missing; he was somewhere hiding. For all I knew, he could be out of the country. I called Mrs. Childers and told her to meet me later at my office. Then I entertained the idea that Mrs. Childers hired me to find Jake and she would turn him over to Chilly.
“Don’t you mention anything about Jake being missing or me looking for him to Gee. You feel me?”
I remembered the fear in those eyes whenever she talked about him. I couldn’t be sure. And that’s when that programming kicked in. I wasn’t there to choose who is right and who is wrong or pick out the good guys from the bad guys. This was a mission like any other. Mrs. Childers was the client and my orders were to find Jake Rollins. What the client did with him once that was done was their business.
With a newfound sense of clarity, I went inside to talk to Rocky. I could tell from the stares I got when I walked in that this was Rocky’s spot and I was the only one that didn’t belong there. The Spot was crowded with ballers, male and female, along with the usual array of wannabes and hangers-on. Rocky was seated at a table in the back, surrounded by his crew. I stepped up to the table and guns were drawn immediately.
“I want to talk to Rocky.”
I put my hands up and allowed them to take my gun. Thinking that I could take out most of them, if not all them, before they got off too many shots. Unarmed would be a little tougher. But I wasn’t worried; I always carry a spare.
“Who are you?” Rocky asked smiling.
“I’m the guy Lisa Ellison called you about.”
“Let him come!” He shouted, no longer smiling.
I sat down at the table across from him. “I’m looking for Jake Rollins.”
“Haven’t seen him.”
“What was he involved in?”
“Who are you?”
“I told you, I’m the guy Lisa Ellison called you about.”
“She said you were some kind of private investigator. Who you working for?”
I looked around the table.
With a wave of his hand, Rocky dismissed everybody.
“What was Jake doing for Chilly?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You got a lot of heart to be involving yourself in this shit. Who hired you?”
“Mrs. Childers.” Since Rocky and Jake were friends, I didn’t see any harm in telling him that I was working for Mrs. Childers. Besides, I thought that I would get more out of him that way.
“Gee hired you, huh?” Rocky sat back in his chair and thought for a second. “Well if I find out anything about Jake, I’ll tell Gee myself.”
“Fair enough.” I got up from the table, unsure of whether he would kill me as soon as I got outside. Two women were dead; maybe another, at the hands of Diego Estabon. It’s about that shit. “I took care of mine, Chilly. What about yours?”
I walked over to the guy that had my gun. “Can I have my gun back.”
It was a statement, not a question.
The guy looked at Rocky, who shook his head no. So I rammed my left elbow into his face and took back my gun with my right hand. Just in case anyone in the room thought I was going to do something stupid, like try to shoot my way out of there, I held my hands up quickly. My finger was on the trigger just in case I had to.
Rocky held up his hand and laughed, so naturally everyone else in the room laughed too. I pointed the barrel at Rocky. Once again, every other gun in the room was pointed at me. Rocky smiled at me and walked forward. He stopped before me.
“I like you.” He looked around the room. “You got heart.” Repeating the words Chilly said to him. His crew laughed. “Let’s see if you know when to back down.”
I did.
But this wasn’t the time. I was a player in this game now. I couldn’t fold. I had to stand, but not be stupid. I lowered my gun, but just a little, and started backing out of the room slowly, watching Rocky’s eyes. His eyes switched to the right. I felt somebody coming up on me. I quickly extended my arm and caught him in the neck. I was lucky, but they were impressed.
I made it outside without getting shot. I started for my car, but something told me to keep walking. I walked down to the store on the corner. I went inside and looked through the window. Rocky had sent three men after me. Two arranged themselves outside the store, while the third came in after me.
Over the objection of the clerk, I went in the back room looking for a door. I opened the door and pushed down a trashcan before moving into the shadows inside the store. As the man ran past me, I grabbed him. With my arm firmly wrapped around his neck, I had thoughts of breaking it, but I didn’t. I hit him twice in the head with the butt of my gun.
I went out the back door and moved slowly down the alley. Staying in the shadows. The second man approached. I froze. He walked past me. I watched him pass and he went in the store. They both came out firing blindly down the alley. I aimed and fired a few near misses. They took cover. I continued to fire and moved very quickly out of the alley. I took the long way around the block to get back to my car. The third man held his post outside the store in spite of the shooting. I got in the car and drove away.
Chapter Thirteen
When I got back to my office, I immediately checked my messages to see if Mrs. Childers had called, which she hadn’t. It was late and she might not be able to get out of the house to meet me. What I had to tell her would keep until morning anyway, because to be honest, it wasn’t much. And on top of that, it was only speculation. I could only speculate that Jake was hiding. And if Rocky was a man of his word, which I couldn’t count on, he would tell Mrs. Childers all about the events of the evening anyway. Still, I decided to wait a while, just to see if she would show.
It still bothered me that we never found any camera equipment in Jake’s apartment. The pictures and the video were quality. It was obvious that Jake took his photo sessions seriously. I got the pictures from the file cabinet, along with my bottle of Johnnie Black.
As I sat there drinking and looking at the pictures, two things hit me all at once. The pictures were definitely taken in at least two different places. I popped in the videotape we copied from Jake’s apartment. I sat watching, without really watching, fast-forwarding for the most part. Comparing the video to the still pictures that I had, and I tried to get a sense of where they were taken. I turned off the video, I had seen enough.
I began to sort the pictures into piles based on outfit or the lack of one. The difference in location was apparent now. The second thing that hit me was a bit more subtle. Some of the pictures appeared to be taken in rapid cession. Maybe taken with a high-speed shutter. That, in itself wasn’t all that, but it was the angles they were shot from. The camera wasn’t on a tripod, or some other stationary object. Somebody was taking the pictures. Pamela taking the pictures while Jake did LaShawn and vice versa?
“But, no it isn’t.”
I looked closer at the pictur
es and thought back to what Lisa Ellison told Rocky. He thought it was Pamela, but it was LaShawn. It was LaShawn in every picture with Jake. What little outfit there was may have been different, but it was LaShawn. If it was LaShawn in every picture having sex with Jake, then what was Pamela’s involvement in this?
Other than the one picture of her and LaShawn at the party, there wasn’t anything to connect Pamela with Jake. LaShawn came courtesy of Rocky and Mrs. Childers couldn’t say definitely that Pamela knew Jake. The cause of death connected her to LaShawn, but not Jake.
“Pamela Hendricks, you begin to interest me.”
Now I needed to know where Pamela lived, and I didn’t want to ask Kirk. The need for Mrs. Childers to make an appearance just became more business than personal. It was better that way. Keep it strictly business.
But my mind was on Mrs. Childers. Wondering why she hadn’t at least called. Maybe Rocky told Chilly that she had hired me to find Jake and he did something to her. I was surprised that he didn’t want her to know anything about Jake being missing, or that he was looking for him. He didn’t seem to be the type of guy that it would matter to him.
What was going on between Chilly and Jake? What shit wouldn’t work? The answer to one would lead me to the other. And that would lead me to Jake. By two in the morning, I had given up on her and had begun to nod out. “Time to get out of here.” But I wanted to finish up my case notes with my new observations before I left.
But my chair was so comfortable.
Thursday July 16: 10:05 AM
The next thing I knew, the sun was shining bright, I had fallen asleep.
I left another voice message for Mrs. Childers. Since I hadn’t heard from her, I didn’t have much of a choice. I either had to ask Detective Kirkland for Pamela Hendricks’ address or make my third search of Jake’s apartment. I chose the latter. This was starting to get old. I was on my way to search his apartment for the third time, and I was starting to realize it took more than just a title to do this type of work.
But I liked it.
So if I was going to continue doing it, I would have to be more thorough, more organized. I arrived at Jake’s apartment, but this time I was prepared to stay awhile. I brought a camera, tape recorder, and a pad. This time, I went from room to room and took pictures of and cataloged everything. I wrote down and recorded my observations, no matter how small or insignificant. Everything mattered.
I came across what I was looking for, Jake’s address book. There under H, as it should be, I found Pamela’s address. Determined not to have any need to return, I photographed the entire book. I was about to leave when I looked out the window. There they were. The police. I should have known that they would have the place under surveillance. I knew as soon as I walked out, they would take me into custody for questioning, and my notes, pictures, and the tape would become evidence in the investigation. I turned on Jake’s computer and scanner. I could scan the notes and made a wav file of the tape. Then I downloaded the pictures from the camera and emailed them to myself.
“Did Kirk give you much grief?” Wanda asked.
“Naw, threatened to lock me up for breaking and entering. But he really just wanted me to give him something. Kirk already knew, but he made me tell him that Mrs. Childers was my client.”
“Kirk’s good, Nick. Very good. How long did they hold you?”
“A couple of hours, more or less.”
“What did you give him?”
“Nothing really, ’cause that’s what I had, nothing. He had connected Pamela Hendricks to Mrs. Childers and wanted to push the money-laundering angle down my throat. But I got the feeling that he really didn’t buy into it and wanted to know if I did.”
“Did you?” Wanda asked.
“I was starting to, but I needed to be sure.” I was starting to get a little tired myself. I closed my eyes and leaned back.
“What else?”
“The coroner still hasn’t officially assigned a cause of death in any of the cases.” I was getting tired of answering questions.
“Did Kirk think that you were a suspect in the deaths of Pamela Hendricks and LaShawn?”
“No. If he did, he never said.”
“Other than Pamela Hendricks and LaShawn, how many more were there?”
“Five.”
“He share any of the details?”
“Just time frame.” I opened my eyes and Wanda was staring at me. But she looked away quickly. “He said the first five died within a 48 hour time frame. LaShawn died two days later and Pamela died almost two weeks after that.”
“I got the impression that Rocky didn’t seem surprised to hear that LaShawn and Pamela were dead.”
“I got the same impression. And after looking at the pictures, I needed to know what Pamela Hendricks’ involvement in all this was. I thought that if I knew more about her and why she died, I would be closer to the answers that I needed. Kirk let me go with his blessings, to take a look around in Pamela’s apartment.”
“His blessings?”
“Crime scene. That’s where her body was found.”
“Oh.”
When I got there, I was met by a uniformed officer who let me in and told me that the scene had been tampered with once already.
“By who?” I asked.
“Seems she had a roommate.” The cop said. “Chick named Felicia Hardy. She got in, took her stuff, and disappeared.”
“Any idea where she went?”
“Nope. She just vanished. She used to be a cop. Quit the force a few months back to go to school full-time.”
“Any relatives?”
“What do I look like, huh? Check with personnel.”
“Well, you knew all that other stuff.” He unlocked the door and I followed him in.
“Yeah, well, Kirk told me all that stuff and said to help you any way I can. So I figured he wanted you to know.”
Kirk was helping himself by helping me. Nevertheless, I didn’t think he’d let me have a look at an ex-cops file. I looked around the apartment. As promised, most of the roommate’s stuff was gone. The room looked like it had been hit by a very focused hurricane. Once I had my gloves on, I rambled through it, looking, but really not expecting to find anything. If she was a cop, she wouldn’t leave any clues to where she was going. There wasn’t so much as a piece of paper. I left the room and closed the door behind me.
Everything else in the apartment was untouched. I looked in the kitchen, there were signs of a struggle. Then I checked the spot where her body was found.
“Do you know if they found any drug paraphernalia?”
The officer checked the inventory sheet. “I don’t see any.”
I went in Pamela’s room and sat down on the bed. I was sure now that the pictures and the video hadn’t been taken here.
Sitting on the dresser was a picture of Pamela and a woman I’d never seen before. She was pretty, very pretty. It was taken in the living room. Maybe it was Felicia Hardy, maybe not. Since I was collecting pictures, I took the picture out of its frame and put it in my shirt. I would give it back to Kirk if he let me see her file. After one last turn around the apartment, I thanked the cop and left. I figured I’d check out LaShawn’s apartment.
“Nick! Nick Simmons!”
I didn’t recognize the voice. I turned around. The mailman was walking quickly toward me. “Nick Simmons, how you doing, man?” he grabbed my hand and shook it. It was obvious that he knew me, but I had no idea who this man was.
“I’m okay.”
“You don’t remember me, do you?”
“I sure don’t,” I said reluctantly.
“It’s me, Reggie.”
“Little Reggie McCray.”
“Yeah.”
“I sure didn’t recognize you.” Little Reggie McCray was now about six three and all muscle. “And look at you, Reggie. How you been?”
“Been doing good, Nick. What about you? You look good, prosperous, you know.”
“Thank
s, man. I been doing all right, Reggie.” Seeing Reggie took me back to the old days coming up on the block. “You get around the way much? How’s your mother?”
“She’s fine, Nick. Still living in the same house. Me, my wife and my son live upstairs.”
“How’s that lying ass brother of yours?”
“Frankie’s dead.”
“I’m sorry, Reggie. I didn’t know.”
“Frankie got shot when Black took the neighborhood to war.”
“I’m sorry. How’d it happen?”
“You know Frankie always wanted to be down with Black, but you know Black wasn’t having it. He tried to get all of us to stay in school. Make something of ourselves; you know what I’m saying? Black was the one who got me this job. But anyway, Frankie was on his way to being a thug nigga. Used to hang outside y’all’s old spot; what was it called?”
“The Late Night. I remember. We wouldn’t let him inside, so Frankie used to hang outside with the rest of the wanna-bees.”
“Yeah, that was Frank. Well that night, I saw him take a gun from between the mattresses. I asked him what the gun was for? He said that Jimmy Knowles and Charlie Rock sent some people to kill Black outside his house. But Black killed them. Later that day, Black caught them at some restaurant on White Plains Road and Black killed both of them. Frankie said that was gonna start a war and Black would need him. He said that he was going to prove himself to Black. That he had to be ready when his chance came. That night Frankie stepped up.
“Black told me that he had just sent Freeze to get the car, and him and Bobby were waiting outside. He didn’t see the car coming, but Frankie did. He yelled, ‘GET DOWN, BLACK!’ Everybody dropped except Frankie. He pulled the gat and started bustin’. He got hit with three shots. By that time, Freeze rolled up with the car and Black and Bobby went after them. They caught up with them on bumpy ass Barnes Avenue. Black said they lost control of the car and ran into a parked car. After they got out the car and started running, Black and Bobby went after them. Freeze drove up ahead and cut them off and killed the driver when he tried to run. Black and Bobby followed the other one into a building. The guy ran up the steps to the roof, bustin’ shots all the way. So when he gets to the roof, he’s out of bullets. He starts backing up, begging Black and Bobby not to kill him, until he gets to the edge. He tried to run again and almost falls off the roof, but Bobby grabs him.”
