by Kyle West
Both men then make small talk on the phone for another minute. At the end of the conversation, "Alright, I'll be by the hotel at six. I'll come up and knock. Have everybody ready Marlon." McKenna hangs up the phone. Starr slams the bathroom phone down then turns his anger and frustration on Vivian. Starr violently grabs a terrified Vivian by her arm and pulls her over to the Jacuzzi, which is still full of water. With a sinister tone, "You wanna play? You wanna fuckin’ play games with me Vivian? Yeah, I like this game!" He forces Vivian's head toward the water in the Jacuzzi. She is screaming for her life. Starr shouts, "Where were you going just now?! Where is Keith?!" Starr has Vivian's face inches from the water in the Jacuzzi as he continues, "I swear I'll put you under! Vivian, tell me where Keith went!"
Vivian struggles to turn her head, then frantically answers, "I don't know! He just left a few minutes ago! He said he'd be right back!" Starr shouts as he pushes Vivian's head even closer to the water, "Where did he go Vivian?! The police on their way here?!" "No! He told me he was going to the lobby and that he would be back in a few minutes! I swear!" Starr takes his hand off Vivian's head, but still holds her at the tub.
Vivian continues, "He might be with your friend!"
Starr questions, "What friend?!"
Vivian responds, "The guy with the white hat (Rome)! He called here when you was sleeping! He talked to Keith, then Keith left! Let me go, please!"
Starr lets Vivian go, taking a few steps back from her, vigorously rubbing his head with both hands and says nothing. Vivian, kneeling next to the Jacuzzi, massaging the back of her neck adds, "I picked up the phone by accident. I heard them talking. It sounded like your friend. Then Keith hung up the phone and said he'd be right back! That's it!" Vivian does not mention anything about Keith not being Jesse's brother. After a few moments of thought, Starr backs out of the bathroom.
From the bathroom, Vivian can hear Starr leave the hotel room.
Vivian wonders why the agents that Insp. Clark assigned to protect her didn't come to her aid when she was screaming. Now standing at the bathroom door, Vivian slumps to the floor in fear and starts to cry into her hands.
4:50 am
Rome is at Abbey, a late night spot on lower Decatur in the Quarters.
The place is pretty busy and loud, with the jukebox blaring music, for it to be almost 5 o’clock in the morning. Rome is sitting at the bar talking to a young lady, when he sees Keith walk in. Standing near the front door Keith spots Rome, walks over with his hands out to his side as to say he's come in peace. Rome says to his lady friend, "Baby. I gotta handle business with my boy here. Don't go nowhere, I'll be ten minutes. Gimme a kiss, ma." The young lady gives Rome a huge kiss as Keith stands, waiting to sit down in the seat next to Rome. Rome gives her a soft pat on her butt as she walks away.
Keith says, "You ballin' hard, you tha man in these parts I see." Rome sips on his drink just staring at Keith as he sits down. Keith continues, "Alright, I'm here. What?" He holds his arms out to his side. Rome puts his drink on the bar and tells Keith to take off his shirt. Keith questions, "What? You had enough drinks tonight brotha."
"Yo. You ain't cut out for undercover. Where's the wire?" Rome thinks
Keith is a Federal agent or a New Orleans police officer. Keith tells him that he isn't a cop. Rome then splashes his drink and a glass of water on Keith's chest to short out any listening devices then says, "You gotta be local cause if you was a Fed my black ass would be dead right about now."
Keith jumps up from his bar stool, but says nothing. Rome jumps up from his bar stool, and grabs Keith. Keith is trying to convince Rome that he is not the authorities. Rome leads Keith through the crowd on The Abbey’s dance floor and out to the front of the bar.
Rome says to Keith, "Who you with?! If you ain't friend, you foe!" Rome then forcibly leads Keith around the corner and into an alley. He then pulls out his 9mm pistol. Rome shoves Keith face first into a wall and rummages through his pockets.
"Where's your money, gimme your wallet!"
Keith responds, "What? Dude, now you want money?"
"ID! ID! Where's your shield?!"
Keith again tells Rome that he is not with the authorities. Rome finds Keith's cell phone, takes it and puts it in his pocket.
"Who the fuck are you?! What’s with this Jesse's brother bullshit?!"
Keith says, "Relax dude! I'm just trying to get that money too. And I know where it is!"
"I knew you fuckin’ did. I don’t know who you are, but you gonna die tonight." Rome puts a round in the chamber of his pistol.
With desperation in his voice, Keith tells Rome, "Ok! Wait! Wait! My name is Vaughn Holmes. I'm the Vice President of the Urban Trust Bank of Jacksonville! I don't have any ID on me right now! Jesse Baylor used my bank to wire the three hundred million dollars from Mexico into the United States and he had me execute the transaction without notifying the government of a transfer of that size! I pushed it through for Jesse!" Rome doesn't respond, as he is surprised
by this new piece of information. Keith, who is now Vaughn, continues, "So yes, I know where the money is! I stashed it for Jesse Baylor!"
A glow comes over Rome's face…the glow of greed. He asks Vaughn, "Take me to the money right now! Where is it at?!"
Vaughn responds, "Nah, nah. I gotta get something out of this man. That's why I've been so close to Vivian at this time. Jesse promised me a piece, and I wanna get mine!"
Rome angrily replies, "Dude, where is the fuckin’ money?! I’m not gonna play with you! Is it here in New Orleans?!"
"No its in Florida! We just gotta go get it!"
Rome takes a moment, then tells Vaughn, "Okay. Let's go!" Rome grabs Vaughn
and leads him out of the dark alley. As the two men walk on Decatur St., Vaughn tells Rome, "Vivian Baylor is up in the hotel with your boy. She is the most important piece to all of this. Without Vivian, we get no money." Vaughn explains that the only way to get the money is with Vivian's signatures since she is Jesse's widow. "If we don't have Vivian, that money will eventually be turned over to the state of Florida as unclaimed since Jesse is dead." Rome is skeptical, "If you put that encrypted money on clean U.S paper, why didn't you just take Vivian to Florida and take care of that signature shit without all the drama and bullshit? You could’ve saved yourself all the ass whoopins' and beatins’. This is bullshit!"
Vaughn stops walking, looks straight at Rome, and insist, "Vivian does not know where the money is she never knew!" As I said before if Vivian claimed, or even inherited that money, an amount that big, the U.S government has to investigate the transaction. Then they would trace that money back to Jesse, then back to the C.I.A. and land both me and Vivian in a cell, and then nobody gets a dime. So I need Vivian's signatures to secure the account Jesse set up, then set up dummy accounts to deposit and withdraw the money in parts. It’s a lot of work man. So to get you your money, I'd set up an account in whatever name you choose and deposit it to wherever you want."
Rome does not understand anything Vaughn is explaining to him about the banking side of the three hundred million dollars; but as usual, greed kicks in…so Rome goes along with Vaughn's plan. Vaughn and Rome continue talking and walking down Decatur St., Vaughn tells Rome that they need to get Vivian out of the hotel room before McKenna arrives at 6:00 am, "Your boy is up in the room toasted and probably still asleep. We should get her as soon as we can man and be out."
Rome's cell phone rings, and he can see from the caller ID that it is Starr. Rome and Keith stop walking, as Rome answers the call. "What's up?"
Starr immediately responds, "Get to a pay phone and call me right back at the hotel room.”
Rome hangs up, then tells Vaughn that he has to make a phone call. Vaughn tells Rome to hurry. Rome turns around and walks a half block down, back to The Abbey. Rome enters The Abbey and walks to the pay phones near the restrooms, in the back of the bar. He calls Starr back at the hotel and says with hesitance in his voice, "What's up dog? Everything cool?
" Starr immediately tells Rome that Keith left the hotel room. Rome doesn’t tell Starr that Keith is with him. He answers, "What? Did you tell Greg?" Starr tells him, no. Rome responds, "Damn Marlon, you losin' your touch man. Back in the day, nobody could give you the slip. You gotta let Greg know." Starr is suspicious of Rome. Starr dismisses Rome's comments and purposely doesn't tell him that Vivian overheard him and Keith over the phone, supposedly meeting up somewhere. Starr wants to see if Rome will tell him about meeting with Keith. Starr tells Rome that they have to find him. Rome doesn't respond for a few seconds, then informs Starr, "Man I got him! I was just fuckin' with you. I'm on him right now. I saw him sneak out of the hotel so I followed him, I wanted to see where this motherfucka was going." Starr snaps, "Jerome, why didn't you call me or Greg?! He might have burned me for all you knew!" Rome doesn't respond. Starr then asks Rome, where are you?” Rome tells him, and adds, "Yeah, dude met up with two guys who look like Feds to me. I don't know what's going on here man. We need to knock him tonight Marlon, for real."
Starr tells Rome, "Gimme the address there." Rome responds, "I don't know, man.
The place is called The Abbey. It’s on Decatur, after-hours spot. Rome sees a huge drink ad for the bar on the wall with the address on it, “Oh, 1123 Decatur."
"Stay there. I'm on my way." Rome stands at the phone for a few seconds, not feeling too good about double-crossing Starr and McKenna.
5:20 am
Back at the Westin Hotel, Starr orders Vivian to sit on the sofa so he can keep a close eye on her. He realizes that he has to either take Vivian with him to The Abbey, or leave her in the room. Knowing that she will most likely run straight to the police if he leaves her in the room, Starr stares at Vivian, then menacingly walks towards her. He grabs her by the arm, and pulls her into the bathroom! Vivian is pleading for her life! Now in the bathroom, Starr tells her to get on the floor.
Vivian pleads, "I swear I won't tell anybody anything about you or your friends!" Starr doesn't respond, he then pushes Vivian to the bathroom floor. He reaches around his back and pulls out a pair of plastic hand ties from his waistband. Starr bends down, grabs Vivian by her right wrist, then grabs her left wrist. Starr locks a screaming Vivian to the pipes under the bathroom sink.
She is screaming hoping that the federal agents that Clark posted in the hotel will come help her. But no one comes. As Vivian sits on the bathroom floor, handcuffed to the sink, Starr bends down and sensuously runs his hand softly down Vivian's cheek and tries to kiss her. She wildly turns her face away. Starr stands up over Vivian for another few seconds, just staring down at her, saying nothing. Vivian keeps her head turned away from him. Starr turns around, slowly and quietly leaving the bathroom, closing the door. Vivian, remains sitting on the bathroom floor, crying, as she hears Starr shut the hotel room door.
5:33 am
Vaughn and Rome are standing at the bar at The Abbey. Vaughn is worried about Vivian being alone back at the hotel with Starr. Looking at his watch, Vaughn says to Rome, "My man, we need to get back to the hotel and get Vivian, and get to the airport. There's a Jacksonville flight out of New Orleans at 7:05 (am). What's the problem?!"
Rome tells Keith that he cannot get on a plane because the C.I.A has his name on the ‘no fly’ list. He adds, “Can I finish my drink? Five minutes dude.” Rome has to keep Vaughn at the bar until Starr arrives.
Vaughn snaps," We don't have five minutes! Your boy is gonna be up at the hotel to pick us all up in a half hour!"
Rome casually turns to Vaughn and asks, "Yo, tell me something chief? What were you gonna do when we didn't find the loot?"
Vaughn coolly responds, "I would've crossed that bridge when I got to it." Rome takes another sip of his beer and tells Vaughn, "Almost done." Rome is stalling for time waiting for Starr.
Vaughn rushes Rome, "Hurry up! We got to go man!"
Rome guzzles down the last bit of his beer, "Aaah, that was good. Let's roll!
Vaughn and Rome make their way through the crowd at The Abbey as Vaughn says, "My man, you gotta get your boy out of the room! Call him!" Rome does not respond. The two men get out of the crowded doorway. Standing at the curb, Vaughn tries to wave down a cab. He again insist that call Starr.
Rome responds, "Cabs don't roll like that in New Orleans at 6 in the morning on weekdays. You gotta call for a cab." He continues, "I'll go back inside and get a number for a cab."
Vaughn tells Rome, "You got my cell phone, just use my phone! C'mon, we don't have a lot of time!"
Rome takes Vaughn's cell phone out of his pocket, and tosses it to Vaughn. Rome then casually turns around, and tells Vaughn, "You call for the cab, I gotta drain the lizard."
Rome again makes his way through the mass of people on the dance floor. He's
trying to get to the payphone again, not the bathroom. Rome calls Starr back at the hotel, but he gets no answer. Rome cusses Starr under his breath wondering what is taking him so long to get to The Abbey. Rome then calls Starr on his cell phone, leaving an urgent message on the voice mail, again telling him the address of The Abbey, and to hurry. Rome hangs up, and now proceeds to the bathroom, which is just a few steps away. He enters the bathroom. There are three other men in the bathroom. He goes to one of the urinals as two of the men leave. Rome unzips his pants, and with his back to the door, the third man leaves. Someone else then enters the bathroom. This person quickly and quietly checks under each of the three toilet stalls, then locks the bathroom door. Rome hears the click, but doesn't quite know what the sound was, so he doesn't pay it too much attention. He finishes at the urinal, then gets ready to turn to wash his hands at the sink. POP! Rome is shot at point-blank range in the back of the head, instantly falling to the floor! The assailant stands over Rome, shooting him three more times in the head and face.
Rome is dead.
The assailant quickly takes Rome's gun from his waistband, checking his pockets, he takes nothing. The assailant unlocks the bathroom door, and casually walks out. The assailant bumps into a couple of men who were outside the bathroom, banging on the door, trying to get inside.
The men casually enter the bathroom and see Rome's body on the blood- covered floor! Commotion breaks out in the bathroom, as one of the men yells out, "Somebody call 911! A man has been shot in here!"
5:47 am
Back at the Westin New Orleans Hotel, Vivian is still handcuffed to the pipes of the sink in the bathroom. She is trying to use her feet to snag the cord of the bathroom phone, in an attempt to pull it off of the hook. Vivian is hoping an operator will come on the line, so she can ask for help. After a few tries Vivian kicks one of her shoes at the bathroom phone, knocking it off the hook. Vivian, unable to move from under the sink, starts frantically yelling, "Hello?! Someone help me please!"
But no one is on the line.
Vivian is now kicking and stomping on the sink pipes, trying to break free if possible.
After a few good kicks Vivian successfully breaks the pipes, and slips free. Still with hands bound, Vivian hurriedly rushes out of the bathroom, heading for the hotel room door.
As she is about to reach for the door, suddenly the door wildly swings open and Vaughn, still known to Vivian as Keith, rushes into the room. Vivian stops dead in her tracks as she and Keith momentarily stare at each other wide-eyed, but say nothing.
Chapter 14
6:20 am
There is police activity inside and outside, of The Abbey. In the bathroom, Detectives Roussel and Huntley, along with Officer Dees, are standing over Rome's body. Det. Huntley bends down and searches Rome’s jacket and pants pockets. Off. Dees finds a piece of paper near the bathroom door and gives it to Det. Roussel, who unfolds it with plastic gloves on, and reads it.
Officer Dees is standing next to Det. Roussel, leans over and reads the heading on top of the paper, "This guy was staying over at the Hyatt Regency." Det. Roussel doesn't appreciate Off. Dees crowding his space. The detective sneers at him, then asks Det. Huntley if there is a
ny ID on the body. Det. Huntley responds, “No. The vic has a few hundred dollars on him, half a bag of gummy bears, Chapstick, a hotel key from the Hyatt Regency, a condom, and that piece of paper.
Off. Dees corrects him, "That wasn't on the body detective. It was lying on the floor over there," Off. Dees points towards the foot of the bathroom door.
Det. Roussel asks, "Was he here with anybody? Ask the bartender and that big guy at the door."
Off. Dees walks over to the bar.
Det. Huntley states, "I'll check with the Hyatt Regency and see what they have on this guy." As he walks away, pulling out his cell phone.
Det. Roussel looks over the paper and finds three names. Keith, M and Vivian.
The paper found in the bathroom near Rome's body, belongs to Starr. It was the piece of paper that Starr kept score of his poker game with Keith. When Rome gave him the address to The Abbey, Starr wrote it down on the same piece of paper.
Det. Roussel says, "I'll hold on to this," as he folds the paper putting it in his jacket pocket.
Det. Huntley walks back over to Det. Roussel and tells him, "You’re not going to believe this. I spoke to a guy name Cade over at the Hyatt Regency. He said this key goes to a room paid for with a credit card issued to Elarton & O’Shea Inc. The vic from last night over there, his room was taken care of with the same card. So the guy who ID the vic for us last night? Uh, Tomlin I think his name was? He took care of the vic's room over there, room 515. So he probably did the same for this guy, and probably goes to same room, right?"
Det. Roussel responds, “Yea, room 515 I think. Go get that Tomlin guy. Get him right now."
A few blocks away, Starr is standing at the curb on Charles St., around the corner from The Abbey. Police and other emergency vehicles speed pass him, lights flashing, sirens blaring.
McKenna quickly pulls up to the curb in his truck, and Starr jumps in. The men glance at each other and do not speak. McKenna speeds off.
