The Reign of Rain Robinson

by Roy Glenn

  “Any idea about the weapon?” Bautista asked.

  “Based on my experience, I’d say that the weapon was a handgun, the butt of a nine millimeter, if I had to speculate. Therefore, based on the angle and depth of the wound, I’d say that the killer was approximately one hundred and ninety centimeters, or six feet three inches tall. The victim was approximately one hundred and sixty-seven centimeters tall.” He looked at Bautista. “An inch or two shorter than you, detective. I’d say you’re about five-eight?”

  “Yes.”

  “So, the killer is about my height, the gun would be in his right hand …” He stepped in front of Bautista, raised his arm and simulated a gun with his hand. “And the killer hit her like this,” he said as he brought his hand down slowly and tapped Bautista’s head with his fingers.

  “Murdered,” Bautista said, and a smile crept across the corner of her lips. I got her ass now.

  “No, I mean yes. Yes, it is a murder, but I don’t necessarily believe that this injury was sufficient to be the cause of death.”

  “What do you think was the cause of death, Doc?” Dickerson wanted to know.

  “Microscopic and toxicological analysis within the bone found signs of drowning.”

  “So, what you’re saying is that the perp hit her in the head to knock her unconscious and then takes the body somewhere and drowns her. Is that right?” Bautista asked.

  “Most likely, somewhere upstream of the river where the remains were recovered.”

  “Thank you, doctor,” Bautista said.

  “You’ve been a big help. Thank you,” Dickerson said and followed his partner out of the lab.

  “We got her,” Bautista said as they walked down the hall.

  “No, we don’t. We have a murder to investigate,” he said leaving the building and heading for their car.

  “Investigate how her and Ronnie King killed her and why.”

  He shook his head and stopped. “I know you wanna run right out and arrest her, but we’re not there yet. We’re not even close.”

  “What are you talking about? Ronnie King is six three,” Bautista argued.

  “And so are a lot of men in this city. What I’m saying is that we investigate this like they aren’t the primary suspects and see where the evidence leads.”

  “The evidence leads straight to Ronnie King and Rain Robinson.”

  “We don’t know that,” Dickerson shook his head. “Not for a fact, so we investigate. We work this like any other cold case and see where the evidence leads. And if it does lead us to Ronnie King and Rain Robinson, and she marches a gang of high-priced lawyers into the courtroom, we’ll have a solid case to convict her of accessory to murder.”

  Bautista took a deep breath and exhaled quickly.

  “Agreed,” she said and continued to the car.

  Since the case was filed and closed as a missing person case, there was no murder investigation, so they had to start from the beginning. All that they had was the statement of the first officer on the scene.

  By that time, Dickerson had developed a good relationship with the Dean Family, so even though some were reluctant to talk to the police about Afra, in the end, they were very helpful.

  Some painted a picture of a happy, confident, adventurous and fun-loving woman. Others, the reluctant ones, told stories of a troubled woman that had issues with drugs, alcohol and no good men. A hustler that was well-liked but known to be shady and prone to snitch if it came down to it; that made her dangerous in some circles.

  “She was dealing for Ronnie King,” Sharon, her roommate at the time of her disappearance told the detectives. She was the one that had first reported her missing.

  “This man?” Dickerson showed her a picture.

  “That’s him,” she said nodding and looking at the picture. “But after a while, she started using, and that’s when things really started going bad.”

  “How do you mean?” Bautista asked.

  “Money problems. She’d be late with the rent or wouldn’t have enough to cover her share of the bills. And then there were the kind of people that she was allowing in the apartment.”

  “What kind of people?”

  “Drug people.” She shook her head. “They’d sit in the dining room, or they’d be locked up in her room for days sometimes smoking.”

  “Ronnie King ever one of them?” Dickerson asked.

  “No.”

  “When was the last time that you saw the two of them together?”

  “He came over here on the day before she disappeared. She owed him a lot of money by that time.”

  “Was Rain Robinson with him?” Bautista asked.

  “Who?”

  “This woman,” Dickerson said and showed her a picture of Rain.

  “I don’t know her. She might have been the woman that came over here with him, but he had a different woman with him every time that I saw him, so after a while, the women just blended into the background.”

  “Look again,” Bautista said and handed Sharon back the picture of Rain.

  “No,” she shook her head and handed Bautista back the picture. “Like I said, she might have been the woman that he came over here with, but I can’t be sure. Sorry.”

  “Thank you. You’ve been a big help,” Dickerson said. That got them closer, but for Dickerson, it wasn’t nearly enough to make a case.

  As far as he was concerned, they weren’t even close. They had only established that a crime had been committed, that the suspect was approximately six feet-three inches tall and that the victim was involved in drugs.

  Their next step was to review what little information that existed about the case – her arrest record. On the evening prior to her disappearance, Afra was arrested for failure to pay the bill and for marijuana possession. They spoke with Sergeant Henry Jones; he was the first officer on the scene and included in his report that she’d been acting strangely. He also added that he did not believe that behavior was caused by alcohol or drugs.

  “Sorry, Greg. That was just another arrest.”

  So, all they had was his report to go on. What the detective took from the report was that there was another reason for her behavior and concluded that she got herself arrested.

  The question was why?

  There next stop was to go to Bones, which was exactly where Rona wanted them to go.

  Upon arrival at the restaurant, they spoke with Paula Alexander. As had most of the employees, she worked there for years. As Rona instructed her to be, she appeared to be reluctant to cooperate, but eventually Paula told the detectives that not only did she remember Afra Dean, she recalled that she was the one that called the police when she refused to pay her bill and that Ronnie King was there that night.

  “That’s why she refused to pay her bill. She had money but Afra practically dared me to call the police,” Paula said.

  “Why do you think that she would do that?” Dickerson asked.

  “She was afraid to leave because Ronnie was waiting outside for her.”

  “Why was she afraid of him?”

  “Afra owed Ronnie a lot of money and she had smoked it up,” Paula said and that was all Bautista needed to hear before she asked the only question on her mind.

  “Was Rain Robinson waiting outside the restaurant with Ronnie that night?”

  Paula had been instructed to answer yes to that question, but she went off script. “She might have been with him that night, but I don’t know. Rain was always around those days. She was in love and too stupid to know any better,” she said.

  “Thank you,” Bautista said and stood up.

  “We appreciate your help with this,” Dickerson said and got up as Miss Betty came up and put her arm around Paula. “We’ll be in touch if we need anything else.”

  To Bautista, it was game over. To Dickerson, it was enough to take to Lieutenant Sanchez. Once he reviewed what they had, he agreed with Dickerson that the case for murder or even accessory to commit murder against Rain was mos
tly circumstantial.

  “But that’s for a court to decide. Get a warrant for murder and go get her,” Sanchez said.

  Now, with warrant in hand, Detectives Bautista and Dickerson were speeding to J.R.’s to arrest Rain for the murder of Afra Dean.

  “We don’t need backup. She’ll come quietly. She’s too smart to do anything other than put her hands up and surrender,” Bautista said as she parked in Rain’s space at J.R.’s, but Dickerson wasn’t trying to hear that.

  “All the same, I’m calling for backup,” he said. “Just in case the people around her aren’t as smart as she is.”

  “You’re right,” Bautista said and got out of the car.

  Dickerson shook his head and got out too. As they walked toward the entrance, Carter and Rain were driving up to J.R.’s.

  “What does her irritating ass want now?” Rain asked Carter and prepared to be annoyed. Carter parked the car and they got out.

  “Here she comes,” Dickerson said, but Bautista had already seen her.

  Her eyes were locked in Rain’s as she walked toward her. Bautista’s heart was racing; she couldn’t remember wanting anything as badly as she wanted this one thing. They were about to arrest Rain Robinson for murder.

  “You want the honors?” Dickerson asked.

  “You go ahead. I want to see the look in her eyes when you put the cuffs on her arrogant ass,” Bautista spit out.

  “Rain Robinson,” Dickerson said as soon as she was close enough. “You’re under arrest for the murder of Afra Dean,” he said.

  Rain looked puzzled. “Who?” she asked because she had no idea who Afra Dean was.

  “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be used against you in a court of law.” Rain turned around so Dickerson could put the cuffs on her as Bautista stood back, looked in Rain’s eyes and smiled. “You have the right to have an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you by the court.”

  Carter, as well as the crowd waiting in line outside of J.R.’s watched stunned as Rain was led to their car and put in the backseat. He took out his cell phone as he walked in the club.

  “What’s up, Carter?” Black said over the music.

  “Sorry to bother you Mike, but Bautista just arrested Rain for murder.”

  THE END OF THE REIGN OF RAIN ROBINSON

  MIKE BLACK RETURNS IN

  BOSS OF THE FAMILY

  Boss Of The Family

  Boss Of The Family

  By Roy Glenn

  Escapism Entertainment

  © Copyright 2020 Roy Glenn

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior consent of the publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living or dead or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places, and incidents is entirely coincidental.

  Chapter One

  Let me turn this music down.

  ♪ “Now, brother don't … leeeeeave the homework undone,” Black and Bobby sang the James Brown Classic.

  “’Cause … I’m a greedy man,” Black sang.

  “He's a greedy man,” Bobby sang.

  “Now, brother don't … leeeeeave the homework undone,” they sang together as Black’s phone rang.

  “What’s up, Carter?” Black said over the music.

  “Sorry to bother you Mike, But Bautista just arrested Rain for murder.”

  “Let me turn this music down. It sounded like you said that Rain got arrested.”

  “I did. Bautista and Dickerson just arrested her for murder.”

  “Where are you?”

  “J.R.'s.”

  “On my way.”

  “What’s wrong?” Bobby asked.

  “Rain got arrested. Roll by J.R.'s.”

  “What she get arrested for?”

  “Murder.”

  “He say who she’s accused of killing?”

  “He didn’t say.” Black chuckled. “You know the list of possible is long.”

  “No shit.”

  “Bautista is on her harder than Kirk was on me back in the day.”

  Bobby laughed. “Kirk made his rep on not catching you for all the shit you did.”

  “Me? what about you?”

  “Now, Mike, you know I’ve never killed anybody,” Bobby smiled.

  “No, Bob, you’ve never been accused of killing anybody. There’s a difference.”

  “Yes, but it’s a small distinction that I will gladly accept,” Bobby laughed.

  “I bet you will,” Black said and picked up his phone to call Wanda in Nassau.

  “Hey, Mike. I was just getting ready to call you.”

  “Have you finished your business down there?”

  “Not yet. Why; what’s up?”

  “Rain got arrested.”

  “For?”

  “Murder.”

  “Not good.” Wanda paused. “I’ll be back in a day or two, but I still haven’t seen Desmond Pennybrooke. I was hoping that Jada would be able to help me with him,” Wanda said. “Have you spoken to her?”

  “No.”

  “Why not … nevermind.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I could still use her help,” Wanda said, and Black paused to enjoy the irony of Wanda needing Jada’s help.

  “I’ll talk to Vivian and tell her to do whatever she can to help you,” Black said thinking that maybe he should just send Johnny over there to hold a gun to Pennybrooke’s head until he approved the purchase. “And I’ll ask her to look into the situation and resolve it if possible.”

  “Thank you, Mike. That should help.”

  “I hope it does. Get back as soon as you can. But getting this deal done is your priority.”

  “Understood. Keep me up on what happens with Rain.”

  “I’m on my way to J.R.'s now to talk to Carter. Once I know what going on, I’ll call you back.”

  “Sounds good,” Wanda said, and Black ended the call as they arrived at J.R.'s.

  When Black and Bobby got out of the car and walked toward the club, it looked like just another night at J.R.'s. As it usually is, the was long and was crowded with well-dressed men and women; some of them scantily clad and leaving little to the imagination. As they got closer, Leo, the head of security saw them coming and approached.

  “Guess you heard what happened?”

  “Yeah, I heard,” Black said. “You know anything?”

  “No. I saw Bautista and Dickerson when they pulled up, but I didn’t really make anything of until Rain got back with Carter. Next thing I know, Dickerson is cuffing her and walking her to the car.”

  “Thanks, Leo.”

  “No problem.” He shook his head. “There were just too many cameras for me to snatch them all up.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Black said as he and Bobby went in the club and headed for the office. When they got to the office, Carter told them what he knew, which wasn’t much.

  “Who’s she accused of killing?” Bobby asked.

  “Somebody named Afra Dean,” Carter said.

  “Never heard that name before.” Black looked at Bobby and he shook his head that he’d never heard the name before either.

  “But here’s the thing; I don’t think Rain knew who that is either.”

  “What makes you say that?” Bobby asked.

  “The way she’d looked and said who when Dickerson said the name.”

  “You call the firm?”

  “I called Patrick and he said that he was going to send Akilah Malheiros down there and he would be on his way.”

  “I need to know what’s going on.” Black took out his phone and dial a number.

  “Good morning, lieutenant Adams.”

  “I’ll call you back,” she said and ended the call.

  Lieutenant Tamia Adams used to be Freeze’s infor
mant with benefits. Black inherited her when he died … without the benefits, of course.

  After a good yawn she reached in her nightstand drawer and got a burner phone. She dialed a number and got out of bed dialing.

  “Good morning, lieutenant Adams,” Black said again. “I am so sorry to bother you, but Rain is in jail and I need to know why.”

  “I’ll make a few calls and get back to you, Mike,” lieutenant Adams said.

  “Thank you,” he said and ended the call and then made another. As fast asleep Carla answered just before the call went to voicemail.

  “Hey, Mike,” she yawned and said.

  “Sorry to wake you up, but I need to know everything about Afra Dean.”

  Carla yawned. “Who’s that?”

  “That’s what I need you to tell me. Rain is in jail and that is who she’s accused of killing.”

  “I’m on it, Black,” Carla said; now fully conscious with the news of Rain being in jail.

  “Call me back when you know something.”

  “I will,” Carla said ending the call as she got out of bed and got to work.

  Black dropped the phone on the couch next to him and then he looked at Carter. “What’s going on with Rona?” he asked thinking that Rona had a hand in this, but it was just a feeling.

  “You think she’s got something to do with this?” Bobby asked, because he did.

  “I do. she couldn’t out fight us, so this would be the next logical step.”

  “We bombed five of her spots tonight,” Carter said.

  “What?” Black asked.

  “Rain had us bomb five of her spots.”

  “I heard you.”

  “She said that you said to kill her.”

  Black chuckled and shook his head. “I told her that it was her move. Told her to draw her out and make Rona come to her.”

  “You know as well as I do that all Rain heard you say was kill her,” Bobby said.