by J. L Rose
Surprised at the news, Kerri found herself looking over at Dante, only to meet his eyes and catch the wink he gave her.
* * *
“Look who it is, ya’ll!” Tony T said jokingly at seeing Alinna as she entered the diner with James. They both headed over to the large, round table where Tony T and the rest of the family were seated.
“What’s up, ya’ll?” Alinna said, smiling as she walked up to the table where the group was sitting. She hugged both Harmony and Amber and then pushed each of the guys upside their heads as she took the seat next to Vanessa. James allowed her to sit down first, and then he sat down beside her to her right.
“How my baby doing, Alinna?” Amber asked, speaking up first before they could get into the more serious matters she knew they all were there for.
“Who you talking about?” Vanessa asked with a smile. “You talking about D.J., who you stay spoiling, or his daddy?”
“You almost sound jealous!” Amber told Vanessa, rolling her eyes as she looked back at Alinna. “How is Dante doing up in that place?”
“Dante doing what Dante does best, girl!” Alinna answered, sucking her teeth with a smile. “Well, ya’ll . . . listen. I spoke with both new connects . . .”
Alinna then stopped in the middle of what she was just trying to tell the others when the waitress walked up to the table. Alinna waited while everyone ordered a meal.
“Damn, Harmony! All that food you just ordered,” Tony T said after the waitress walked off. “What . . . you pregnant or something?”
“Shut up, Tony T!” Harmony said, pushing him upside the head. “Go ahead, Alinna. What was you just saying, girl.”
Alinna shook her head and smiled. She then continued what she was saying, explaining that she spoke with the new connects, Mr. Goldmen and Mr. Sutter. She then went into explaining the new business ideas she came up with and that she wanted to see what the family thought about the ideas.
“Hold up a second, ya’ll!” Alinna told everyone at the table, hearing her cell phone ring. She dug out her iPhone from her Gucci bag and saw Greg Wilson’s name and phone number. “Ya’ll hold on for a second. I’ma be right back.”
Leaving her table and the others, Alinna walked to the front entrance and out of the diner as she answered the investigator’s call.
“Mrs. Blackwell, how are you? This is Greg W—”
“I know who this is,” Alinna said, cutting him off. “What do you have for me, Mr. Wilson?”
“Well, Mrs. Blackwell, I have both good and bad news.”
“Give me the good news first.”
“Well, I’ve found the addresses and information on the two detectives who are listed in Mr. Blackwell’s case as the arresting officers. I can give you all I have now if you want?”
Looking back and seeing James a few feet away, Alinna motioned him over. She then said to Mr. Wilson, “So what do you have on this informant thing?”
“That’s the bad news I told you I also had,” Wilson replied. “I looked and asked around, and seeing that everyone’s talking about this case, nobody’s talking about any informant. It’s like nobody knows anything about this informant I’m asking about. Whoever this person is, everyone’s going out of their way to really protect them.”
Alinna remained quiet a few minutes, trying to control her emotions before she motioned for James to get something to write with. She then said to Greg, “Give me everything you’ve got on the two detectives, Mr. Wilson.”
Alinna repeated the addresses of both detectives so James could write them down. She stood up and listened to everything else that Wilson had to say. She then hung up the phone, looked at James, and said, “Looks like we’re gonna end up handling this shit by ourselves. Let’s get back inside and explain this to the others.”
Heading back inside the diner to see that everyone was already eating, both Alinna and James sat down in front of the food. Alinna ignored her meal and then called over to Tony T and Dre: “I need you two to handle something for me.”
Telling the others about the informant and everything else Greg Wilson had just told her, Alinna then looked back toward Dre and Tony T and added, “Since Greg Wilson wasn’t able to get anything on this informant, I need the two of you to pay these two a visit and bring ’em to me.”
* * *
Leaving the diner and the others a little while after talking with them and barely eating her food, Alinna pulled out her cell phone with the intention of calling the twins, Keisha and Maxine, only for the iPhone to go off, ringing inside her hand.
Seeing Natalie’s name appear on the screen, Alinna answered, “Natalie, where the hell you been at, girl?”
“Alinna, I’m sorry . . . I just got back in Miami early this morning. I left to go back home, but my mother is here with me now. What have you found out about this informant and Dante’s case?”
“Let’s meet up and talk. I don’t want to talk over the phone.”
“Just come to my penthouse. I’ll introduce you to my mother when you get here.”
“I’ll see you in a little while,” Alinna replied as she hung up the phone. She then called Keisha.
“What’s up? Who’s this?”
“Keisha, this Alinna.”
“Oh, what’s up, Alinna?”
“Look, I got some work for the both of you. I’ma call you and Maxine when I’m ready for the two of you. How’s $20,000 for convincing someone to give up some information?”
“Not a problem,” Keisha answered before adding, “Hold on. Is James next to you?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Maxine wants to talk to him. Hold on.”
Smiling as she handed the phone to James, Alinna said, “You’ve got a phone call.”
* * *
Hearing Gomez call her name as she and her mother sat talking and discussing her father, Dominic, Natalie turned her attention away from her mother. She looked toward the front door from inside the sitting room just as Alinna and James walked in. Gomez then shut the front door.
“Alinna . . . !” Natalie cried, smiling as she stood up beside her mother. She turned to Alinna and embraced her, pulled back, and then said, “Alinna, meet my mother, Carmen Saldana.”
“Mrs. Saldana,” she said, taking the older Spanish woman’s hand. Alinna found her mother to be surprisingly beautiful and much younger than she most likely was. “It’s good meeting you, Mrs. Saldana.”
“Please, call me Carmen,” she replied, looking Alinna over. “I see that our Dante has an attraction to Hispanic women. You’re very beautiful, Alinna.”
“Thank you, Mrs. . . . I mean Carmen,” Alinna corrected herself.
“Let’s all sit down,” Natalie suggested, waving both her mother and Alinna to be seated.
“So, Alinna . . . ,” Carmen started once the three of them were seated. She noticed Gomez and James walking into the kitchen before focusing back on Alinna and saying, “My daughter was just explaining to me about the issue the two of you have been dealing with concerning some informant that’s supposed to speak out against Dante and the murder case he’s being charged with. Am I right to guess that you are still unaware of whom this informant is?”
“You’re correct,” Alinna answered before quickly adding, “I’ve already started steps to find out who this informant is.”
“And once you find out who this informant is, will you be handling things on a permanent level?” Carmen asked, staring directly into Alinna’s eyes.
Understanding loud and clear what was being asked, Alinna slowly let out a small smile and responded, “That’s exactly what I was thinking.”
* * *
“There’s the house right there!” Tony T said, pointing toward the green and white house. He and Dre drove past it just as a white SUV Kia Sorento was pulling into the driveway.
Not responding, Dre continued driving right past the house. Dre then made a complete drive around the block, only to end up pulling right in front of the house.
“
Dre, what the fuck is you doing, nigga?” Tony T asked as Dre shut off the Land Rover.
“Exactly what Dante would do,” Dre answered as he was climbing from the Land Rover, shutting the driver’s door behind him.
“What the fuck . . . !” Tony T shouted as he sat staring at Dre through the window of the Land Rover. He shook his head but quickly climbed from the SUV and followed behind Dre. “Bro, what the fuck is you planning on doing?”
Dre didn’t bother answering Tony T as he stepped up onto the porch of the house into which he saw the Kia pull. Dre then knocked on the door loud enough to make sure he was heard.
Hearing the door being unlocked a few moments later, Dre stood in front of the door as it slowly swung open and a nice-looking middle-aged woman stood there.
“Hello, can I help you?” she asked, looking first at the well-built man and then toward the brown-skinned man with diamonds the size of her pinky finger in both his ears.
“Howard Fuller lives here, right?” Dre asked the woman, staring directly into her eyes.
“Yes, he does. May I . . .”
Dre caught the woman off guard as he grabbed her around the throat and squeezed hard enough to keep her from screaming. He then walked into the house, with Tony T following behind him and locking the front door behind them.
“I’ma release your throat, but if you scream or make any noise, I will kill you. Nod if you understand me,” Dre told the woman. She slowly nodded her head. As he released her, he continued, “Okay! I want to know where your husband is now?”
“W-w-work,” she answered, staring up at the huge guy with fear showing in her eyes.
“This is what I want you to do. Call your husband and tell him there’s an emergency and that you need him to hurry home now. But if you warn him at any time, your husband will come home to a dead wife. Now call your husband!” Dre ordered the woman, continuing to stare directly into her eyes.
7
D re heard the front door unlock and be jerked open forcefully. He then heard a slight deep voice call out, “Nicole.” Dre was seated on the couch in the front room next to the detective’s wife when Detective Fuller rushed inside.
“Nicole! What’s . . . what the fuck?” Detective Fuller yelled upon seeing his wife tied up and her mouth taped. He then shifted his eyes over to the man seated next to her as he went to reach for his service-issued gun, only to freeze once he felt the barrel of a gun pressed to the side of his head. “Shit!”
“How’s it going, Detective?” Tony T asked as he removed the gun from the detective’s side holster and slid it into the front of his jeans. He then patted down the detective and found a back gun in an ankle holster.
“What the hell’s going on? Who the fuck are you two, and why the fuck are you guys inside my house?” Detective Fuller questioned once the second guy walked around in his line of view.
“Good to see you again, Detective Fuller,” Dre said as he sat relaxed. “I see you don’t remember us, but someone wants to have a few words with you.”
Staring at the big man a few minutes and trying to figure out where he was supposed to recognize him from, the detective looked back at Dre and saw him on the cell phone and heard the name Alinna.
Dre stared straight at the detective while talking to Alinna, who was telling him the location of where to take the detective.
“So you work for Alinna Rodriguez, Dante Blackwell’s bitch?” Detective Fuller asked Dre as he hung up the cell phone.
Slowly smiling at the detective, Dre stood up from his seat and said, “I’ll make sure I let her know you think she’s a bitch once we get where we’re going. Let’s go, Detective.”
* * *
Alinna hung up the phone with Dre and smiled after hearing the first piece of good news since Dante turned himself in. She then looked back at Natalie and her mother and said, “Looks like things are starting to change for the better, ladies.”
“What’s happened, Alinna?” Natalie asked, smiling just from seeing Alinna’s grin.
“We’re all about to go see someone who’s going to start helping us out with what’s going on with Dante’s case and who this informant really is,” Alinna began to explain. She then stood up from her seat and called out for James. Immediately, James, Gomez, and a darker-skinned Spanish man dressed in a suit all left the kitchen and walked into the living room where the women were sitting.
“What’s wrong, Alinna?” James asked calmly but alertly.
“We’re leaving to meet with Dre and Tony T at my old stash house,” she told James. She then looked back toward Natalie and Carmen and said, “The both of you can ride with me while James rides with Gomez and . . .”
“Carlos!” Carmen spoke up, finishing for Alinna, smiling at the younger woman.
They all left Natalie’s penthouse and made their way to Alinna’s Phantom. The three women were surrounded by a huge team of security. Alinna introduced the driver to Carmen and then reintroduced Natalie. She gave him the address to where they were going, and then the three women climbed inside.
“Who exactly are we going to see, Alinna?” Carmen asked as the back door was shut.
“His name is Howard Fuller, and he’s one of the detectives named on Dante’s case as an arresting office,” Alinna told Carmen just as the Phantom began to move forward. She pulled out her cell phone and told both Carmen and Natalie to hold on for a minute while she made a call.
“What’s up? Who is this?” Keisha answered on the second ring.
“Keisha, this Alinna. Meet me at this address,” Alinna told the young woman on the other end of the line. “It’s time for you and Maxine to get to work.”
* * *
“Blackwell, come here!” Kerri called as soon as she sat down at her desk and Officer Harris had left. She watched as Dante stood up from his bunk and started walking toward her desk.
“You plan on doing your paperwork before you start wasting time talking to me?” Dante asked as he stopped in front of the officer desk and caught a smile on Kerri’s face.
“Boy . . . I said Eddie.”
“Who?”
“Officer Jefferson,” Kerri told him in a lowered voice before saying, “Who the hell you get to beat the shit out of him like that?”
“You brought your phone with you?” Dante asked, ignoring her question.
“Yeah, I brought it. But I also bought you a prepaid phone with some minutes on it already. You can use it and throw it away if anything was to happen,” Kerri explained. “Why? You need it now?”
“I just need to let my family know some stuff I been putting together in my head, and I don’t wanna talk over the unit’s phone,” Dante explained as Kerri was already digging inside of her lunch bag.
“Ahh, Ms. Cook,” Travis said as he walked up to the desk.
“What Travis?” Kerri asked with an attitude.
“I need to talk to you about something real quick,” he told her as he cut his eyes over toward Dante.
“I’ll talk to you later after I open the floor,” Kerri told the inmate, waving him away. She then turned toward Dante as Travis walked away and mumbled to him, “I’ll leave the phone in back of the handicap toilet in the backend of the restroom.”
Nodding his head in response, Dante turned around and walked back to his bunk. He sat down and leaned back against the metal rail of the head of the bunk.
He watched Kerri stand up at her desk and walk through the unit, making her way toward the restroom. Dante sat for a few more minutes until Kerri returned from the restroom and called out his name and waved him over to her.
Leaving his bunk again and making his way over to Kerri’s desk, Dante stopped in front of her and said, “What’s up, Officer Cook?”
“Do me a favor, Blackwell. Clean up the restroom area for me, please. It smells like piss in there,” Kerri said loud enough so most of the inmates could hear her.
“Yeah, alright,” Dante replied before turning around and calling out to Jim. Nodding to the big m
an, Dante said, “Come help me clean up this restroom real quick.”
Kerri handed two sets of latex gloves to Dante and then nodded to the big man, who followed Dante into the restroom. In a lowered voice, Dante said, “Look out, big homie. I’ma bless you tonight.”
“Handle ya business, boss man!” Jim said as he took position where he could see who was coming into the restroom.
After finding the phone on the side of the handicapped toilet as Kerri as directed, Dante sat down on the toilet and turned on the phone.
Seeing the phone’s alert of 4,000 minutes, Dante smirked as he reminded himself to look out for Kerri. He then dialed Alinna’s number.
“Hello!” Alinna answered after three rings.
“Everything alright, shorty?” Dante asked after hearing the tone of Alinna’s voice when she answered.
“Hey, baby. You’ve got good timing,” Alinna said in a much happier voice. “You’re not going to guess who I’m having a few words with.”
“Who that?”
“Wait a minute.”
Waiting on Alinna, only to hear loud screaming after a moment, Dante balled up his face and then called out to her.
“Yeah, baby!” Alinna answered, yelling a little over the screaming in the background.
“What the fuck is going on?” Dante asked, sounding and feeling a little worried. “Alinna, are you alright? Where the fuck are you?”
“Dante, I’m fine,” Alinna answered, not wanting to say much over the phone. However, once Dante told her that he was talking on a prepaid phone, Alinna explained further.
“So who the hell got dude screaming like he a bitch?” Dante asked once Alinna finished telling him about Detective Fuller.
“You’ve got to meet the twins, Dante,” Alinna told him, laughing lightly. “Their names are Keisha and Maxine, and they are amazing, baby. If you could see how they working the hell out of Fuller, you would be proud yourself.”
