by Roy Glenn
“Bob, when have you ever known me to rush off and do stupid shit?”
“You never lost your wife before,” he reasoned.
What could I say? Bobby was absolutely right. This being about Cassandra did change everything for me, and to be honest, I did think about going down to DEA headquarters and shooting everybody I could find, but I knew it would be suicide … but I thought about it.
When Martin told me that shit, I was on fire. It was all I could do to keep from killin’ him. Not because I thought he was more involved in it than he said.
Just because.
Because somebody had to die for this. But I needed Martin Marshall and he would be more useful to me alive. After I got these other two mutha fuckas, we’ll see how much his life is worth.
“It’s not that I’m disagreeing with you, Bobby. I know what I’m thinking about doing could come back on all of us. Kill a DEA agent, and we might have every law enforcement officer in the country coming down on us.”
“I don’t know about you, but that’s something I want to avoid at all costs.”
“And you think I don’t?” I asked my best friend.
Bobby just looked at me. “You never lost a wife before. Ain’t no telling where your head is. I can’t even imagine what it must be like for you.” Bobby got up and went to the bar to pour us some drinks. “Look man, all I’m saying is I’m with you whatever you decide to do. Let’s just go slow.”
Bobby handed me my drink and I drained the glass. “You should have brought the bottle.”
“Like that’s a problem.”
“First thing we need to do is find out who these fuckas are. I mean everything. I’m not really all that worried about killing DeFrancisco. Buy the right lifers’ family a house and he gets shanked in the shower.”
“You can probably get it done cheaper than that,” Bobby said.
“I’m just saying, Bob. He can be done, and nobody would care.”
“Right, right.”
“It’s the other mutha fucka, this DEA mutha fucka that I’m worried about.”
“I didn’t know you were back, Mike,” Pam said as she came down the steps. Pam and I have always had a special bond. She gave me another year with Cassandra, and she is a big help with Michelle.
“We just got here,” I told her.
“There are two city cops at the door looking for you, Mike. You want me to send them away?”
“City cops?” I questioned.
“Kirk?” Bobby questioned.
“Gotta be,” I said and got up. “I got a few answers I want from the good detective.”
“You didn’t invite them in, did you?” Bobby asked.
“Of course not. They’re outside,” Pam advised.
“Want me to go out there with you?” Bobby asked as I went up the stairs.
“Just look out for me,” I said and was out the door. “Kirk!” I said loudly.
On top of my having answers to get from him, I actually liked Kirk. Respected him. I owed my freedom to this man. If it wasn’t for Kirk, I’d be doing life for murdering Cassandra. I know it must have been an interesting paradox for him. After all those years of trying to lock me up, he goes out of his way to prove that I didn’t do it. He doesn’t know it, and maybe he does, but I owe him, and it’s a debt I had every intention of paying.
I started walking away from the house. “What are you two doing way out here? And more important, how did you find the place?”
“We did miss that turn a few times,” Kirk said, and Richards cracked a smile, something he rarely does in front of me.
Once I was out in the street, I stopped and faced the detectives. I wanted to bust right out and ask them what they knew about DeFrancisco and Vinnelli, but I took Bobby’s advice and took a deep breath.
They came out here for a reason. The best approach was to hear them out on whatever bullshit they had to say and be as cooperative as possible without turning snitch. I hate snitches, because if you’ll snitch for me, you’ll snitch on me.
But before they left for the city, I would have my answers.
“Yeah, that turn is hard to find, especially this time of night; Sun setting in your eyes, street signs get hard to read.” Neither detective seemed interested in making small talk about traffic patterns. “So what’s up, Kirk?”
When Kirk looked at Richards and took a step back, I knew that he didn’t think whatever Richards was about to ask me was relevant to whatever case they were on. That would make getting what I wanted from Kirk that much easier.
“Do you know a Steven Blake or a Kevin Murdock?” Richards asked and handed me two pictures.
I looked at the pictures and handed them back to him. “No, I don’t know either of them. Should I?”
“Their street names are Cash Money and K Murder. You ever hear of them?”
“No.”
“What about a guy named Stark or Billy Banner, goes by BB?”
“Never heard of any of them. They sound like cartoon characters to me,” I laughed, and Kirk chuckled a little, but not Richards. He remained stone faced like this was important.
“Well, they’ve heard of you. In fact they’re so worried that you’re gonna kill them, that they formed a little group.”
“What kind of group?”
“They call themselves The Commission.”
“What are they; a rap group or something?” I asked, fighting back the laughter. I glanced over at Kirk and he was doing the same thing.
“No, they’re low rent drug dealers that used to work for Birdie,” Richards said.
“Now him I heard of. Heard they found his body in some river in Jersey,” I taunted. “But you answered your own question. If these guys are low rent drug dealers, I wouldn’t know them or anything about them. Maybe you should talk to Freeze. He keeps up with that kind of shit. It’s like a hobby to him. But since you drove all the way out here to ask me about them, it must be something that you can only ask me.”
“That would be correct,” Richards said.
I took a step closer to him. “You don’t like me, do you, Detective Richards? To you I’m just another arrogant crook who doesn’t deserve the respect Kirk shows me.”
“That would be correct,” Richards stated plainly.
“That’s why I respect you, Detective Richards, because you don’t like me, and you have no problem letting me know that you don’t like me. You're not like a lot of other cops who smile in my face or try to act tough. You do your job, and I respect you for that.”
“Right,” Richards said.
I knew I caught him off guard, but I meant what I said. “Whatever I can do to help you, Detective Richards.”
“Somebody killed Cash Money in his apartment and K Murder was killed this weekend in a drive by.”
“I don’t know anything about that. I just came back from the Bahamas today. Like I said, Freeze keeps up with that type of shit. So unless you're telling me that these are the guys that killed my wife, I wouldn’t know anything about them. Why would I?”
“That’s what I asked one of them,” Richards said.
“What he say?”
“He didn’t have a reason either, but right now he’s sitting behind fifteen guys—”
“Seventeen,” Kirk corrected.
“Okay, seventeen guys; waiting for you to come after him.”
“So let me get this straight; Four baby ballers, that I’ve never heard of, are so scared that I’m gonna kill them that they get together to protect themselves against me, but I don’t know them?” By that time, I couldn’t hold back the laughter anymore. “But now two of them are dead, which says a lot for their security, and they think it’s me that killed them. So now, one of them is so scared of me that he is sitting behind a little army waiting on me to show up. Is that what you're telling me?”
By then Kirk was laughing too.
“I’m sorry, but would you mind telling me what my motive is for doing this?”
“See, I told y
ou he was going to ask you that,” Kirk said and dropped his head to continue getting his laugh on.
“I’m not out there fighting over corners with these kids,” I said before Richards could say anything. “They play it a little too hard for me. They have no honor or loyalty; shooting each other over bullshit. Why would I even be involved with these guys?”
It didn’t take long before Richards cracked a smile. “I was kinda hoping that you could tell us,” he finally said. “Since they think it’s all about you, I just thought I’d ask.”
“It is not about me, believe that.” But now things were starting to make sense. Now I know it was these assholes that sent somebody to kill me.
“I’m sorry we took up your time,” Kirk said and turned toward the car.
“Before you go, Kirk. Have you heard anything new you want to share about my wife’s murder?”
“I’m sorry to say that there isn’t any new information, but believe me, we’re still on it,” Kirk said.
“And you still don’t think you can tell me what you do know about Cassandra’s murder?”
“We’ve been through this before, Black. That would come under the heading of police business.”
“Yeah, you told me.” I looked at Kirk and then turned to Richards. “Would you excuse us for a minute, Detective Richards?”
Richards extended his hand graciously and I walked away with Kirk. What I was about to do was risky. Some might even say it was arrogant, but it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been accused of that. I stopped and faced the detective.
“Does the name DeFrancisco mean anything to you?”
The oh shit look on Kirk’s face answered all the questions I had. This mutha fucka killed my baby.
“We’ve met,” was all Kirk would commit to. It wasn’t like I expected him to spill his guts and tell me everything he knew, like they do on TV.
“See I’ve always believed that you’ve known who had killed Cassandra for a long time, but there was some reason you couldn’t do anything about it. Now I understand some of why that may have been. Here’s the problem, Kirk. I know DeFrancisco had her killed and you know what I’m gonna do about it.”
“I do.”
“The question between you and I is, when I do what I’m gonna do, what are you going to do about it?”
“I’m gonna do my job, Black. I’m gonna follow the evidence wherever it leads. If I didn’t do my job, you wouldn’t respect me,” Kirk explained, and I understood and could respect that. “Just like if you didn’t do your job, I wouldn’t respect you.” Kirk took a step closer to me. “Just make sure you do your best work,” he said and left me standing there. “Come on, Pat.”
“What was that about?” I heard Richards ask.
“Friend of his got some parking tickets, you know the rest,” Kirk said and got in the car.
Chapter Twenty-one
Black stood outside the house and watched the detectives drive away. He had just taken a risk by telling Kirk that he knew DeFrancisco was the one that had Shy killed, but it was necessary. And it wasn’t all that risky anyway. Black understood that DeFrancisco being found dead in his cell wouldn’t be a big deal. The real issue, the one Black didn’t mention, was Vinnelli. He was an active DEA agent. His murder would have every law enforcement officer in the country coming after them, and as Bobby said, that’s something Black wanted to avoid at all costs.
Black knew that once Kirk heard that Vinnelli was dead, no matter the circumstances, he’d suspect that Black was at least involved, if he didn’t do the job personally. At that point, Kirk would do his job, but Black felt like he had an understanding with Kirk. He would follow the evidence. “Just make sure you do your best work,” was what Kirk told him. Black took that to mean that there couldn’t be any evidence of his involvement in Vinnelli’s death.
Black went back in the house where Bobby was waiting with Pam. “Come on, we need to ride,” Black said to Bobby and walked back out.
Bobby stood up and followed him out.
Pam came out behind him. “What’s going on, Mike?”
“Nothing for you to be worried about,” Black said and got in the car.
Bobby kissed his wife on the cheek. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. By the way, we’re not going to Hong Kong,” he said and got in the car.
“We got more problems,” Black said before Bobby could shut his door. “Let me see your phone.” Bobby handed Black the phone without discussion.
He dialed Freeze’s number and he answered quickly. “What’s up?”
“I need to see you, Nick and Wanda. I’m at Bobby’s. We’re on our way to the city.”
“Where you wanna meet?”
“Cynt's,” Black replied, and Bobby started laughing. Black gave Bobby the finger and ended the call.
“What they want?” Bobby asked.
“You ever hear of some baby ballers go by the names Cash Money and K Murder?”
“Nope.”
“They’re dead.”
“So?”
“They wanted to know if I killed them.”
“Did you?”
“I never even heard of these kids. But them two, and two others that used to work for Birdie, formed a group they call The Commission to protect themselves against me.”
Bobby started laughing. “You’re kidding.”
“I’m serious, Bobby. It was probably them who sent that mutha fucka to kill me.”
“You're probably right. Now what we gonna do about it?”
“Shit … you know we gonna pay them a visit.”
“Say good-bye,” Bobby laughed as he drove into the city.
When he and Black walked into Cynt's, Nick, Freeze and Wanda were waiting for them. As Black approached the table that they were seated at, he looked around the room for Mystique, but didn’t see her anywhere. When the trio saw Black and Bobby coming, they stood up. Freeze walked up to Black.
“You wanna talk in Cynt's office?”
“No. I need the noise.”
“Cool,” Freeze said and smiled because he knew Black wanted to talk about killing somebody. He looked at Black as he shook Nick’s hand and hugged Wanda. He saw the fire in Black’s eyes. The kind of fire he hadn’t seen since he buried Shy.
Black sat down and got right to it. “Any of you heard anything about some niggas call themselves The Commission?” Black asked over the music.
“No,” Freeze said flatly and Nick and Wanda both shook their heads. Nick glanced at Wanda, who was going out of her way not to look in his direction.
“What about Cash Money or K Murder?”
“Yeah,” Freeze said. “I heard Cash and a couple of his boyz got killed.”
“The other nigga got killed a couple of days ago.”
“What about them, Mike?” Wanda asked, knowing if Black was asking about two dead drug dealers, it couldn’t be good.
“Kirk and Richards just asked me if I was involved. Before you get excited, it ended with us all having a big laugh about it.”
“Where did you see Kirk?” Wanda needed to know.
“At Bobby’s house.”
“You're telling me that two New York City detectives drove all the way out to Bobby’s house to ask you about two murders and it’s no big deal?” Wanda asked.
“Yeah.”
“I’ll look into it.”
“Thank you, Wanda.” Black turned his attention back to Freeze. “Richards says they were part of this Commission and they both worked for Birdie. Anybody else you can think of that might be a part of this crew?”
“Stark would definitely be on that team, probably running it,” Freeze said.
“Do I even know this nigga?”
“I don’t think so,” Freeze said.
“What you got to do with them?” Nick asked.
Black took his time and explained The Commission and its purpose. When he was through, everybody was laughing. “That’s probably who tried to get you in the bathroom, Freeze,” Nick said.
“What? What happened in the bathroom?” Bobby asked and laughed. “Somebody try to get a piece of that ass?” he said, still laughing.
“The other night me and Freeze were out trying to find out who came after you and three guys followed him in the bathroom.”
“To kill me,” Freeze said quickly.
“What happened?” Black asked, no longer laughing.
“I got two of them, Freeze got the other,” Nick told him.
“When were y’all gonna tell me about this?”
“You said you didn’t wanna hear day to day shit like that,” Freeze answered.
“You're right. I did. But don’t you think somebody trying to kill y’all while you're out trying to find out who tried to kill me is more than day to day shit?” Black glared at Wanda. “You know about this?”
Wanda looked at Freeze and then at Nick. “This is the first I’m hearing about this too,” Wanda said, still staring at Nick and wondering why he didn’t tell her before turning back to Black. “Nobody tells me anything anymore,” she spit out angrily. “How’d you leave it?”
Freeze laughed a little. “We left them dead in the bathroom.”
“Anybody see you leaving?” Wanda asked.
“Anybody who was looking,” Freeze said. “But my people say the cops ain’t up on us.”
Black thought for a minute. “So somebody hit Cash, they think it’s me and send somebody to get me. I kill him and they send three guys after you.”
“They probably think we killed this other mutha fucka to retaliate,” Nick said.
“That means that they’re gonna be coming at us again,” Freeze said. “What do you wanna do, Black?”
Black looked at Freeze. “I wanna find and kill whoever it was that murdered Cassandra. None of this other bullshit matters to me right now. You command this family now. You handle this shit, but I wanna know what's going on; understand?”
“Yes, sir,” Freeze replied. He understood that it meant that he shouldn’t do anything without talking to Black first.
“You and Bobby still going to Hong Kong?” Nick asked.
“No.”
Wanda stood up and looked at Freeze. “Unless you need me for anything else, I’m going home.”
“I do want you to check on Kirk; see if they really got anything they think connects Black to this. Like you said, they didn’t just ride all the way to Bobby’s house for nothing.”
