CHAPTER ELEVEN
Three months had passed and Rissa was making more money than she had ever seen in her entire young life. She could have been bringing in much more money, but she wasn’t comfortable enough yet to sleep with strange men. Kimmy had been urging her to step her game up and use her full potential. Besides, since she brought Rissa into the life, when her protégé made real money she would get a greater percentage on top of the finder’s fee she had already gotten.
Madam Valerie was already pressing the issue. She had clients who had seen Rissa’s portfolio among dozens of other girls’, and they all requested to pay for her time and pleasure. Kimmy and Madam Valerie had made the decision that it was time for Rissa to meet the queen of Detroit personally. In other words, it was time for Rissa to shit or get off the pot. If Madam Valerie had her way, like most of the time, she was going to shit, wipe her ass, and move on to the next swinging dick with cash, check, or credit card.
Kimmy sat in Madam Valerie’s comfortable home office inside of the Indian Village estate, waiting for Rissa to arrive. A half hour ago she had texted the address to her telling her to meet her there. Kimmy was on the phone taking a call from a client when Rissa was shown in by the housekeeper. Kimmy motioned with her hand for Rissa to sit in the chair next to her, which was positioned in front of Madam Valerie’s huge, intimidating desk.
Kimmy put up her index finger, gesturing she would be a minute. Rissa took a seat, looking around, amazed at how well decorated the office was. She was wondering whose home this was when an old woman walked in, taking a seat behind the desk. Rissa greeted the woman with a hello, but she just looked through her as if she said nothing at all. That made Rissa uncomfortable as well as nervous. She tried her best not to stare at the woman but couldn’t help it. She had a graceful beauty about her and she looked very intelligent, appearing to be about all business.
Kimmy finally ended her phone call and spoke to the older woman with all due respect. “Madam Valerie, this is Rissa, the girl I’ve been telling you so much about.”
“I assumed that much. Now let’s get down to the matter at hand. I am a very busy woman and I don’t have all day to play childish games.” Madam Valerie looked directly at Rissa while she sternly spoke. “Are you not being well paid for your time when you are entertaining clients of ours?”
Rissa had a lump in her throat when she tried to speak. She put her hand over her breast and cleared her throat and humbly replied, “Yes, ma’am, I am.” Rissa was wondering what she was going to say next. But she didn’t have to wonder long. Kimmy sat silently like a mother in a parent-teacher conference when the teacher is speaking to the student. Rissa looked to Kimmy and she gave her the “I told you so” face.
“Do you understand what type of business you’re in or do you not? If you don’t, let me clarify it with you in plain English. Ain’t no business like ho business,” Madam Valerie said all hood despite the fact that she was just speaking like an uppity white woman. “See, I’m an old ho and you remind me of myself when I first came into this life. I thought I could just be arm candy and get paid. Sure, I got money; then I stopped getting clients and it seemed overnight because my value had become worthless. Now once I got hip and realized I was sitting on a goldmine my whole world changed. And that’s what you need to do, realize your worth before you become worthless and your services become no longer needed. Like I told Kimmy about you earlier today, you are going to either shit or get your pretty little ass off the pot and make room for the next best thing. The choice is yours.” Madam Valerie took her attention off of Rissa and started going through papers on her desk ending the ho pep talk.
Rissa was at a total loss for words and was slightly offended that this old bitch was telling her she had to sell her pussy. Rissa thought it wasn’t her fault that the old lady’s pussy wasn’t popping no more.
She and Kimmy stood up to leave when the housekeeper stuck her head in the room and announced that there was a Mr. Rolling Earl here to see Madam Valerie. The queen of Detroit told her to see him in, and that she’d been expecting him. Rissa and Kimmy faced each other and then walked up the hall as they headed to the front door. Kimmy put her arm around Rissa’s shoulder in a comforting way.
“Bitch, you could have warned me when you texted me to come here,” Rissa whispered, agitated.
“Let’s get out of here first and we’ll talk about it later,” Kimmy stated, still playing the big sister role as her eyes appeared to be looking for something or someone.
Rissa shrugged her shoulder, causing Kimmy’s arm to fall away from her. Rissa wasn’t feeling Kimmy at the moment. And she felt she was acting funny ever since the housekeeper told Madam Valerie that Rolling Earl was there to see her. She had never seen Kimmy unnerved before so she cut into Kimmy.
“What’s up with you? Why you acting shook? Do you know something I don’t know?” Rissa wanted answers, not wanting to be in the dark.
“Yeah, I guess you can say that. Let’s just hurry up and get out of here, okay?” Kimmy pleaded with Rissa as they moved faster toward the front door. Kimmy didn’t want to spook Rissa by telling her who and what Rolling Earl was. She hoped to avoid seeing him on the way out.
But hope went out the window when she heard voices of a man and woman coming in their general direction. When the conversation got louder, Kimmy easily recognized the man’s voice as Rolling Earl and her heart raced. The housekeeper and Rolling Earl were turning down the same hallway, coming from the opposite way. Kimmy knew they would cross paths in a matter of seconds and she dreaded being in his presence. He always looked at her foul with unwanted sexual intentions. Not to mention she knew he was a cold-blooded killer for hire.
“Well, well, well. Who do we have here?” Rolling Earl said, licking his dry lips while he stood in front of Rissa and Kimmy, blocking their path to the door out of the house. The housekeeper walked by the three of them and waited for him up the hall a ways. “Kimmy, baby, what’s up? I want to make you an offer you can’t refuse.” He hissed like a treacherous snake when he talked.
“Look, guy, I’m not interested in nothing you have to say or offer,” Kimmy fumed flatly with anger.
Rolling Earl then set his sights on Rissa, who was standing behind Kimmy with her head down slightly, trembling all over. “Damn, well, look at this one here. You must be new. I’d love to get a taste of you, sweet thang.” He mocked Rissa, blowing a kiss at her through his dry, cracked lips.
Kimmy grabbed Rissa’s hand and pushed passed Rolling Earl. For a moment, Rissa’s legs were as heavy as sandbags and wouldn’t move. Kimmy pulled harder on Rissa’s hand and her legs suddenly came back to life. Rissa had just looked in the face of the man who killed Bobby and shot her in the leg and shoulder. She was mad and terrified, and she wanted revenge, but she held her composure.
Once they were outside Rissa snatched her hand free of Kimmy. She ran to her car parked in the driveway and didn’t look back at her friend, who was calling out to her. She started the car and slapped it into drive, stomped on the gas, and headed toward the gate, almost sideswiping Kimmy’s BMW. She jammed on the brakes, coming to a stop in front of the huge iron gate, which was slowly opening. When it had opened wide enough for her car to go through, Rissa mashed the gas and sped away.
When she got to Jefferson Avenue, her phone rang and rang. With tears of anger in her eyes she looked at her cell phone. Kimmy was calling her but she didn’t answer. Rissa knew she had to think so she drove to Lakewood Park. She got out and walked at the water’s edge. She had to figure out what the hell was going on. Why was the man who killed Bobby and shot her there? What business did he have with Madam Valerie? She had to get the answers and she knew who could give them to her. After gathering her thoughts Rissa got back in her car and headed toward the loft.
Kimmy was at home waiting for Rissa to come so they could talk about everything that had happened back at Madam Valerie’s. Having to meet a client in a few hours she decided to take a shower and
get her mind right; plus, she was confused about why Rissa had taken off like she did in the first place. Kimmy wasn’t sure if it was because Madam Valerie had cut into her about stepping up and selling ass. Or was it Rolling Earl’s creepy self who set her off? Either way, she was going to ask Rissa what it was just as soon as she got back to the loft.
Rissa had finally arrived back at the loft to find Kimmy fresh out of the shower and walking around the loft naked, getting ready to meet a client. Kimmy was laying the outfit she was going to wear out on the sofa. “Bitch, why you just break out on me like that earlier? I was trying to talk to you before you left.” Kimmy was still irritated and confused.
“Sit down, girl. I need to talk to you about that,” Rissa said with an emotionless, straight face. “Since day one I’ve been real with you. Can I trust you with some real shit or what?”
Kimmy sat down on the arm of the sofa and gave Rissa all her attention. “Sure, you can. If you didn’t trust me and I didn’t trust you, we wouldn’t be living together and getting money together. Now dish. What’s on your mind, sis?” Kimmy asked sincerely.
“What do y’all call him, that dude who was sweating us in the hallway at Madam Valerie’s?”
Kimmy had guessed it by now. It was Rolling Earl who had Rissa off her square. “Why, have you seen him somewhere before or something?”
“Yeah, he’s the guy who killed my boyfriend Bobby and shot me in the shoulder and leg.” Rissa walked over to Kimmy and pulled the collar of her blouse to the side over her shoulder, exposing the bullet wound. Then she showed her the entrance and exit wounds in her leg. “I damn near bled out that day!”
Kimmy’s eyes doubled in size and her jaw dropped. Her hand involuntary covered her mouth. “Oh, my God, Rissa, why would he kill your dude and shoot your ass, too? He acted like he ain’t know who you was.”
“So you telling me you don’t know shit about Rolling Earl killing Bobby and shooting me?” Rissa asked, side-eyeing Kimmy.
“Look, Rissa, I don’t fuck with that man. He ain’t no good. He’s Madam Valerie’s flunky. If she’s got problems with anybody she’ll call him. But, seriously, what I don’t understand is what issue would she have with you and your nigga that would make her put Rolling Earl in play in the first place?” Kimmy gave Rissa the look that meant she needed answers. “I mean, if you don’t be honest, I can’t help you the best I can. So you need to tell me everything about everything or you on your own,” Kimmy urged, then hurried up to her bedroom to find her robe and put it on; and she shot back downstairs.
When she came back downstairs Rissa was sitting on the sofa with her head down. Kimmy sat next to her and then it began. Rissa told her everything about the incident when she woke up to blood everywhere on her and Bobby. Rissa was detailed, even describing the way Bobby killed her aunt and Mackey in their sleep. Kimmy was soon also told how the police contacted her and she went to speak to a detective named Goodhouse. Rissa held nothing back.
She told her that same detective, who was investigating her aunt’s and Mackey’s murders, was the same one on Bobby’s homicide case. “That ho-ass nigga came to the hospital fucking with me. Telling me he knows me and Bobby killed my aunt and her common-law husband. And he was saying crazy shit like maybe he knows who killed my boyfriend but he won’t do his job and he gonna let the killer walk.” Rissa left nothing out, to say the least.
“Yeah, I know Goodhouse. I played him some years ago for Madam Valerie. He’s one of her flunkies too. What the fuck have you gotten your ass into?” Kimmy puzzled, wondering what the big connection to Madam Valerie was.
Rissa’s head began to hurt she was thinking so hard. She couldn’t believe the police, Rolling Earl, and Madam Valerie were all in on Bobby’s murder. She was hot that these no-good bastards would have a hand in taking her Bobby away from her. “Kimmy, you gotta help me find out how this old bitch linked to killing my dude,” Rissa pleaded, almost in tears.
Kimmy wanted to help Rissa find out the correlation to Madam Valerie’s entailment, plus she wanted to know for her own satisfaction. She would be in deep shit if she slipped and got caught, yet she decided to help Rissa because she had grown to see her as a little sister she never had. And if she were in Rissa’s shoes she would want someone to assist her to find out what the fuck was going on.
Kimmy didn’t have any issue about Bobby killing Rissa’s disloyal aunt and her foul-ass nigga. She hoped if something like that had happened to her she would have a stand-up man in her corner as well. “Okay, I’ll see what I can find out. Just know I’m putting everything on the line fucking doing this for you. You do realize that, don’t you?” Kimmy said seriously to Rissa, who had a faint smile on her face.
Rissa felt some type of relief. “Thank you, sis; you got my back and I got yours. Now how are we going to find out what the fuck is going on?” Rissa asked Kimmy, wondering what their next move would be.
“Well, for one, she keeps all her business and dirt in her office desk at the house. If I can get in her desk, I might find out what we want know and more. I just can’t get caught, ’cause if I do I’m good as dead.” Kimmy had a worried look like she might be having second thoughts.
“Yeah, but won’t you need a key to get in the desk? If she got her life in there, won’t it be locked?” Rissa whined, hoping Kimmy could pull off the secret, squirrelly stunt.
“Let me worry about that. There’s definitely more than one way to skin a cat. Locks are made for law-abiding citizens and, baby girl, I ain’t none of that.” Kimmy winked at Rissa before telling her she had to call her client and push their date back a few hours because something had come up.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Kimmy pulled up into the horseshoe driveway of Madam Valerie’s house, killed the engine, closed her eyes, and said a prayer. She knew Madam Valerie had prior engagements and wouldn’t be home. Her being there wouldn’t draw unwanted or unneeded attention because Kimmy was always there anyway as if it were her second home. All the help knew she came and went when she wanted to. Kimmy took a deep breath and got out of her car, and she went inside, straight to the home office.
The door was never locked so she was able to turn the knob and go right in, shutting the door behind her. Kimmy’s heart was racing. For a few seconds, she stood with her back against the door, looking around the room. Valerie didn’t have any photos of family on the desk or hanging from the walls. She claimed she didn’t have any family to speak of so Kimmy never asked twice.
Kimmy went over to the desk and quickly looked at what papers and notes were on the desktop and she found nothing of great importance. She momentarily paused, paranoid that someone was coming. Realizing she was tripping, she then started checking the drawers to see if they were unlocked. None of them were.
Kimmy stood perfectly still, scanning the room. She saw what looked to be a manila envelope that was in between two books on the bookshelf. On a mission, she went over and pulled the envelope out. Luckily, it had already been opened. She took a folded paper out of the envelope and started reading it. The heading read DEATH CERTIFICATE FOR MACKEY WHITESIDE.
Kimmy couldn’t believe her eyes. “This old casket-face-ready, lying bitch.” Taking out her phone she quickly snapped pictures of the certificate. When she was putting it back exactly the way she found it, a housekeeper knocked on the door, startling her.
“Come back later! I’m on the phone!”
Kimmy heard footsteps walk away from the door. Making sure she had left thing as they were when she came in, Kimmy left with what she needed.
Without stopping anywhere else, she raced back to the loft. She couldn’t wait to show Rissa what she’d found. For years Madam Valerie had been keeping the fact that she had a brother a big secret. He must have been a real fuck up or she knew he was a rapist and didn’t deal with him the long way. Wow.
* * *
Rissa was pacing back and forth through the loft when Kimmy came home. She bum-rushed her before she got through the door. “
What happened? Did you find anything? Was they on to you?” Rissa quizzed franticly.
“Bitch, calm down and have a seat. Fall back some,” Kimmy ordered Rissa.
“I don’t need to sit down. Just please tell me something I can live with,” Rissa cried.
Kimmy shook her head from side to side and gave Rissa her iPhone. Kimmy watched Rissa’s mouth drop wide open while she read the snapshot of the death certificate. It all made sense to Rissa now. Bobby killed her aunt and Madam Valerie’s brother. She never knew any of Mackey’s people or where he came from to even know he had a sister, let alone one who sold pussy for a living. All she knew was he was a piece of shit, sick in the head, who liked taking pussy. Rissa was glad he was dead so he couldn’t ruin nobody else’s life. She had no remorse, only hatred and vengeance for those who had a hand in killing the love of her life.
“This old ho had Rolling Earl kill my Bobby, but she couldn’t have known on her own that he did it.” Rissa closed her eyes and thought back to Goodhouse first interviewing her at police headquarters. “He asked me if I knew Bobby. I told him yeah, and he left it alone. Aw, fuck, Kimmy, that’s how the cop got on to Bobby.”
“How?” Kimmy was still trying to connect the dots.
“The day after the murders happened, Bobby and me was looking for his ID but we couldn’t find it. He was drunk as hell that night and lost it. We was hoping he didn’t lose it at the murder scene. But I guess he did.”
“And I’ll put my bank account on it that Goodhouse found it and sold the information to Madam Valerie ass. From what you told me, around the time him and her got killed I walked in on Madam Valerie offering Goodhouse a fat envelope full of money.”
Rissa was livid. “That scumbag-ass pig. If it weren’t for him Bobby would still be alive. I realize it now what he was hinting at when he came to the hospital, rubbing it in my face that he was in charge of Bobby’s murder investigation. He was telling me in so many words that he was the cause of Bobby getting killed and he knew the killer all along.”
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