The Reign of Rain Robinson

by Roy Glenn

  “In situations like this, I’d go talk to Black.”

  “Really? Why?”

  “The streets belonged to him; he’d hear things long before we would. But he’s gone now; retired, living the good life in the Bahamas,” Kirk said, thinking that he could call Wanda for help if he really needed to.

  “Well, if we apply that same logic, maybe the person we need to see is Rain Robinson,” Dawkins suggested. “The streets belong to her now.”

  “You’re right. These are her streets now.”

  “So, you wanna roll by J.R.’s?”

  Kirk looked at his watch. “She’s probably not there, but it wouldn’t hurt.”

  But Rain was just arriving at J.R.’s. She was there to meet Carla. She had called Rain and said that she had some things that she wanted to share about David Petty. And since they were going to talk about David Petty, Rain asked Carter to join her.

  Demi, who was the bar manager, had just opened the club for happy hour when the detectives came in. She knew who Kirk was and she headed straight for him.

  “Good evening, Detective Kirkland. My name is Demi Smothers and I’m the bar manager. Is there something I can help you with?”

  “I’d like to talk to Rain. And before you tell me she’s not here,” Kirk said and pointed toward the door. “Her car’s outside … and it’s still warm.”

  Demi smiled, and Dawkins wanted to.

  “If you’d excuse me for a minute, I’ll see if she’s available,” she said and walked away putting on her headset. That’s when Carter came through the door. Demi called the office.

  “What?”

  “Kirk is here.”

  “What’s he doing?”

  “Talking to Carter.”

  “I’ll be right down.”

  Demi looked at Carter and nodded her head.

  “I’m sure she’ll be right with you, Kirk,” Carter said to the detective, but he was looking at Dawkins. “Why don’t you have a seat.”

  “But you haven’t answered my question,” Kirk said.

  Carter smiled. “I’m here to see Rain. And now if you’ll excuse me,” he said and walked away.

  “That’s−”

  “Carter Garrison,” Dawkins said as they went to wait at the nearest table.

  “What do you know about Carter Garrison?” Kirk asked dismissively as they sat down. Dawkins nodded her head.

  “I know that he recently got out of jail for keeping his mouth shut and now he’s a captain.”

  “How do you know that?” Kirk asked, thinking that her answer would be, Jada told me.

  “When I got assigned to this precinct, I tried to learn everything I could about Mike Black and his organization.”

  Kirk looked at her for a second while he decided how to ask his next question. “Why?” was what he settled on.

  “Because I’m a cop, detective.” She leaned forward and pointed at him. “I hope that’s the last time I have to remind you of that.”

  “I think it will be, but I’m not making any promises.”

  Dawkins sat back. “Fair enough.”

  “What conclusion did you draw from that?”

  “From what? From Carter Garrison walking out of jail one week and the next week, he’s a captain? Oh, that’s an easy one. That the person he kept his mouth shut for was Mike Black.”

  “That was my conclusion as well,” Kirk said, impressed by his new partner as Rain came into the club from her office and started toward them.

  “And if anything happens to Double R there, Mr. Garrison may be the next boss of The Family.”

  “You think so?” Kirk said, nodding as he and Dawkins watched Rain make eye contact with Carter. He stopped talking to Demi and started for the table.

  “See what I mean,” Dawkins leaned close and said quietly. “She’s coming to talk to the police, but she wants him with her. And from what I read about the two of them, they are a murderous match made in heaven.”

  “Interesting analysis, detective,” Kirk said as he began to stand up. Dawkins prepared to meet Rain, wondering what, if anything, Jada told Rain about her and what she did.

  “Don’t bother getting up, Kirk,” Rain said as she and Carter sat down.

  “Rain, Carter, this is my new partner, Detective Dawkins.”

  Rain looked at Dawkins and then at Kirk. “I know that ain’t all you came here for.”

  “No, it isn’t.”

  “Then, it’s nice to meet you. Now, tell me what I owe the pleasure?”

  “I need your help,” Kirk said, and Rain and Carter sat back in their chairs.

  “What can I do for you, Kirk?” Rain asked, surprised as Kirk told them the situation. It raised an eyebrow that the latest victim had been found murdered, because she went to school with Barbara.

  “I had heard she was missing, but I hadn’t heard about that,” Rain said and looked at Carter. “Have you?”

  “I haven’t either,” Carter said, and then he and Rain listened as Kirk explained that they believed that there was a serial killer in the neighborhood, and he was targeting young black girls.

  “Why do you come to me?” Rain asked as Carla came in J.R.’s. Demi met her and immediately escorted her to the upstairs lounge to wait for Rain and Carter.

  “Because, I gotta catch this guy. Somebody knows who this guy is,” he said as he watched Demi and Carla. “You’ll hear things long before I will. All I’m asking is that you tell me, so I can get this guy off the streets and locked down.”

  Rain turned to Carter and then back at Kirk. “I like you, Kirk, so I’ll make sure that everyone knows that I want this guy found and because I like that you got a new partner, I’ll even pay for information, which I will gladly pass on to you.”

  Kirk looked at Dawkins and they stood up. “That’s all I can ask for,” he said, and the detectives left the club.

  Rain and Carter waited until they had left the club before they went to hear what Carla had to tell them about David ‘DP’ Petty.

  “What you got for me, Carla?” Rain demanded to know the second she came through the door with Carter.

  “David Petty, born David Hughes Wayne, mother, Carolyn Wayne, father Milton Petty,” Carla began, and Rain and Carter looked at one another because they had heard all they needed to hear. “His mother died of cancer when he was sixteen, and that’s when he went to live with his father and his father changed his name to Petty.”

  Carla went on to tell them that he was enrolled at the best private schools and graduated from Fordham’s Gabelli School of Business with a Bachelor of Finance degree.

  “Now he is the manager of a Towne Services Credit Union branch. I believe he’s laundering money through there but give me a day or two and I’ll know everything about him,” Carla said. “But, I thought that you’d want to know right away that David Petty is definitely Milton Petty’s son.”

  “Thank you, Carla. You stay on that for me. And nobody outside this room needs to know what you’re doing,” Rain told her again.

  Carter stood up. “Give me the address of the bank.”

  “I just sent the address to your phones,” Carla said.

  “You got anything for me?”

  Carla smiled. “I sent that to your phone too,” she said and glanced at Rain. She nodded her head and then she got up and left the office with Carter.

  When Rain and Carter arrived at the Towne Services Credit Union, they went inside and looked around to see if they saw DP anywhere. “You see him?” Rain asked.

  “No,” Carter replied as they continued to look around.

  The uniformed security guard watched uneasily as the well-dressed black man and the woman in black leather appeared to be casing the bank. So, he was somewhat surprised when Carter walked up to him and politely asked where he could find David Petty.

  “Mr. Petty’s office is right around that corner on your left,” he said and pointed.

  “Thank you,” Carter replied, and they headed toward the office. Once th
ey rounded the corner, Rain saw DP sitting in his office and she walked faster. Carter had to step quickly to keep up with her as they bypassed the receptionist and went straight in the office.

  “You can’t go in there,” she shouted as they passed.

  “Yes … we can,” Carter said, closed and locked the door behind him. DP smiled when he saw Rain come in his office. A smile that would soon disappear.

  “Well, well, Lucy, it’s good to finally see you again,” DP said and stood up to greet her. Carter stepped up quickly and pushed him back in the chair.

  “Shut the fuck up and listen,” Carter said and put a gun to his head.

  “My name ain’t Lucy,” Rain said. “But I think you already know that.”

  “It’s not?”

  Carter punched him in the face. “I said shut up and listen.” He hit DP again.

  “I’m looking for your father, where is he?” Rain asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  Carter grabbed the back of DP’s head and slammed his face into the desk. “Wrong answer,” Carter said and slammed his face into the desk again as security arrived and began banging on the door.

  “I said that I was looking for your father, where is he?” Rain asked again.

  DP cut his eyes at Carter before answering. “He’s in Venezuela.”

  “When’s he coming back?” Rain asked.

  “He said that he would be down there for a while.” When Carter reached for DP’s head again, he blurted out, “He wouldn’t tell me what he was doing down there or why he left so suddenly,” he said quickly and hoped Rain, and especially Carter, would believe him.

  “When did he leave?”

  “Five days ago.”

  Rain stood up and Carter punched DP in the face again.

  “If I find out you had anything to do with what your father was into, we’ll be back,” she said, and Carter slammed his face into the desk again. He opened the door for Rain, and she walked out the office and past security. Before the guard had a chance to say anything, Carter punched him in the gut, and it took his breath away.

  Chapter Twelve

  Despite the fact that his nose was bleeding profusely, DP yelled, “I’m fine!” when his secretary asked if he was okay.

  “Do you want me to call the police?” the security guard asked before he quit his job.

  “No!” DP shouted. “Just close the door.”

  DP took the handkerchief from his pocket, sat back in his chair and then held it to his nose. As the blood dripped down on his once clean white shirt, DP contemplated taking Sterling’s advice and joining his father in Venezuela, but he had too many things going on to leave right away. And on top of that, the majority of his money was tied up in legitimate investments, so he would need to liquidate some of those assets before he could go anywhere and that would take time.

  Time DP knew that he didn’t have. If they could find him at the bank and knew about his father, it wouldn’t take long for them to put together his involvement and they would be back. Therefore, until he could conclude his business, DP needed protection. And if that was the case, there was only one place for him to go.

  For his crew, Sterling’s house was the place to be. There was always something going on. Of course, there was plenty of dope. They were drug dealers, and where there are drugs and drug dealers, there were women. So, his crew would assemble there daily to hang out, talk shit, get fucked up and fuck around with the women.

  Which is one of the reasons I hate coming over here, Venus thought.

  But even though his living room, dining room, kitchen and some of the bedrooms were crowded with people having fun, there were times, a lot of times actually, when Sterling preferred to be in a room by himself, watching videos on YouTube. Oh, he’d come out and fuck with them, but after a while, he’d always drift back in the room. That day, was one of those days; the place was crowded when DP arrived.

  “What’s up, DP?” a few said when he came in.

  “Damn!” Hawkins said, and it caused everybody to look.

  “What happened to your face?” Barnes asked.

  “Shut up,” was DP’s response as he passed through the room and went in the room where Sterling was watching videos and Venus was doing something on her phone. She looked up when DP came in the room.

  “Damn!” Venus said and made a face. It caused Sterling to look away from the screen.

  “What happened to your face?” Sterling asked with a face more twisted than Venus’s.

  “Carter Garrison.”

  “Told you to leave. Now look at you,” Sterling said and laughed, so did Venus.

  DP looked at Venus. “Would you excuse us, Venus?”

  Gladly, she thought. “Certainly,” Venus said and bounced up, because she didn’t want to be there anyway. But after Sterling saw her all up in RJ’s face the night before at The Four Kings, he insisted that she stay there with him that day and hadn’t let her out of his sight.

  “Venus.”

  “What?”

  “Don’t leave.”

  “I’m not,” Venus sucked her teeth and closed the door.

  “What’s up with that?” DP asked.

  “Nothing.”

  “Looked like something to me.”

  “But it ain’t. Now quit trying to change the subject. What happened to your face?”

  “Rain Robinson and Carter Garrison came to see me at the bank today.”

  “Oh shit.”

  “Yeah, oh shit.”

  Sterling shook his head. “You on a roll, ain’t you?”

  “What you mean?”

  “I mean this twice I told you what the smart play was and twice you didn’t do it.” Sterling laughed. “I like being the smart one on the team. I think it suits me.”

  “Don’t get the big head about it.”

  Sterling leaned forward in his seat. “Let me ask you a question. And I’m only asking this because you said Rain Robinson and Carter Garrison came to see you at the bank and you’re still alive.”

  “What’s that?”

  “What they want?”

  “They’re looking for my father.”

  “So, they don’t know it was you, they think it was your Pops. You tell them where he is?”

  “Of course, I did,” DP said quickly. “The first thing he did was put a gun to my head.”

  Sterling laughed. “Before he did that to your face.” He shook his head. “He fucked you up bad, Dee.”

  “No shit.”

  “So, when you leaving?”

  “I can’t. At least not yet.”

  Sterling shook his head. “Dumbass move number three.” He laughed and pointed at DP. “But you go ahead on and tell me why it only looks like dumbass move number three, but it’s really the stroke of genius, super smart move … and it’s me who’s the dumbass.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “I’ll shut up, so you can enlighten me,” Sterling said, folded his arms across his chest and sat back.

  “I got my first overseas shipment with the Chinese going out next week and I gotta be there for that.”

  Sterling shook his head.

  “And I need to liquidate some assets before I can go anywhere,” DP said, and Sterling leaned forward.

  “You can handle that shipment by phone, and you can get a lawyer to liquidate your fuckin’ assets, nigga. I can put together a couple hundred thousand and give you the keys to a clean car right now.”

  DP shook his head and Sterling sat back.

  “Another dumb move. What you need?”

  “What I need is some protection from these niggas until I get my business handled. And I was thinking that my boy would be trying to help me out with that instead of telling me what a dumb move it is.”

  “You ain’t stupid enough to go back to the bank … are you, nigga?”

  “No! Hell no. I swear, I ain’t going anywhere near there or anyplace else I think they might know to look for me. No, I plan to lay real, real low until I get
my business handled and then I’m out. I just need a couple of ready to die, like to pull and blast first kind of niggas.”

  “I remember you said them ready to die mutha fuckas usually die quick.”

  “They ain’t gotta last long,” DP said.

  Sterling laughed. “I got just the two ready to die mutha fuckas you need.”

  “Who’s that?”

  “Prune Face and Itchy.”

  “Who?”

  “Prune Face and Itchy,” Sterling said slowly. “You never heard of Prune Face and Itchy?” he asked and laughed.

  “No,” DP chuckled. “Who are Prune Face and Itchy?”

  “They’re cartoon villains from Dick Tracy. That shit is hilarious.”

  “Oh.”

  “You only say it like that ’cause you ain’t never seen that shit, but I tell you what …”

  “What?”

  “Roll you a blunt of that good loud and turn that shit on, I promise you, you’ll be falling out laughing.”

  “I’m sure. So why you call them Prune Face and Itchy; one of them got a fucked-up prune face?”

  “No, that nigga think he pretty.” Sterling laughed. “That’s why I like calling him Prune Face, but the other one, he an itchy mug. See, the nigga got eczema and he itch sometimes, so they call him itchy.”

  “I get it.” DP stood up. “Where they at?”

  “On your bicycle, as usual. You need to relax. You’re safe here. Bone one or two of these coked-out hoes and have some fun for a change.”

  “I got too much to do. So, put me with these niggas and I’m out.” DP said.

  Sterling did as he asked and after introductions were made, DP left with Prune Face and Itchy. As soon as they were gone, Sterling went looking for Venus.

  Since she couldn’t stand to be around his crew, Venus had retreated to the bedroom and locked the door. The last time she left the door unlocked, Venus made the mistake of taking a nap. She woke up to the sight of a woman kneeling on the edge of the bed looking at her. There was a man standing behind her, but his eyes were closed.

  “Get the fuck outta here!” she screamed and now Venus always locked the door, so Sterling had to knock to get in.

  “Open the door, Venus. It’s me.” Venus deleted the texts she’d been exchanging with RJ and then she got up to unlock the door.