by Roy Glenn
“You resist when they took you in?”
“No.”
“You say anything to the officers when they took you.”
“No.”
“You know anyone that would want to kill her?”
“No.”
“So, walk me through what happened when you got to the house. Tell me every detail, don’t leave anything out,” Kirk told him.
“I went in the house and turned off the alarm.”
“You always have the alarm on when people are in the house?”
“When she’s in the house by herself; always.”
“Go on.”
“I called her, but she didn’t answer. I went in the living room; the TV was on. I called her again, I picked up the remote and turned off the TV and went upstairs.”
“Did you notice anything out of the ordinary when you came in the house or when you checked the living room?”
“Not that I can think of.”
“Okay so you went upstairs.”
“I looked in all the upstairs rooms, then I went back downstairs. I went in the living room, I sat down on the couch, and picked up the phone. I figured maybe she went out, so I dialed her cell phone. When I heard the phone ringing in the house, I followed the sound to the kitchen. I opened the kitchen door and Cassandra was lying on the floor.”
“How was she laying?”
“With her arms out in front of her.”
“How long were you in the house before you found the body?”
“Couldn’t have been more than five minutes.”
“You call the cops?” Kirk asked.
“No.”
“Who called them?”
“I thought you knew all this?”
“Tell me anyway,” Kirk said and smiled.
“Goodson said that Cassandra called 911 and said that I was trying to kill her.”
That raised an eyebrow on the detective. He didn’t ask any more questions about it, but he made a note that he needed to hear the recording of that call.
“You said you found the body and then the cops came.”
“Right.”
“How long after you found the body was that?”
“Almost right away,” Mike said and noted the puzzled look on Kirk’s face. “I been thinking a lot about that.”
“What’s that?”
“How did the cops get there so fast?” Mike asked the detective.
Kirk leaned back in his chair. “Did you tell all this to detectives Goodson and Harris?”
“Yeah.”
Kirk sat back in his chair. “What he say?”
“You’re under arrest.”
When Kirk left the courthouse, he sat in his car and reviewed the notes he had taken. There were some things about Black’s statement that he wanted to check out. Kirk knew how Goodson operated and how he felt about Black. He knew that Goodson liked to take the shortest path to close a case, which may or may not include investigation. With that thought in mind Kirk decided that he would operate under the impression that Black was innocent of the crime that he was charged with and investigate the crime to prove his guilt or innocence.
Innocent until proven guilty. What a concept.
Kirk decided that it wouldn’t be a good idea to talk with Goodson or Harris. After all, it was their case and he didn’t want to appear as if he was stepping on their toes, even though that was exactly what he was doing. The thing to do now was to verify the timeline that Black laid out. His first stop would be Kennedy airport. Then he would go to see the medical examiner and then visit the crime scene.
Chapter Ten
It was nine forty-five in the morning when Albert got to Birdie’s apartment. He’d been trying to get in touch with him all morning, but since Birdie wasn’t answering, Albert got in his car and drove to his apartment. On the way there, Albert called Mylo to see if he’d found out anything.
There business relationship began one-night Mylo was drunk, broke, and complaining about it. He told Albert that he couldn’t live off the scraps Freeze was throwing him. Albert told Mylo when he was ready to man up and make some real money to come see him. Mylo was at The Spot looking for Albert the next day.
Without telling Birdie Albert gave Mylo a little package to see what he could do with it. Mylo flipped it and was back for more in days. Since then, Mylo’s buys have gotten bigger and bigger.
“And your able to do this without Freeze knowing,” Albert asked Mylo after one of their exchanges.
“I’ma tell you this one more time, Albert. They ain’t organized like they used to be. Black and Bobby is out, they don’t even fuck with the shit no more. I couldn’t tell you the last time I even saw Bobby. I’m telling you Freeze ain’t the nigga y’all think he is,” Mylo said.
As time went on Mylo was bringing in so much money that Albert had to tell Birdie. He was pissed at first, until Albert told him how much money they were making. At this point, they considered Mylo one of their best earners, but now Mylo wasn’t answering Albert’s calls either.
Albert rang Birdie’s doorbell and waited. When nobody answered, he began banging on the door. When Birdie finally opened the door, he was furious.
“What the fuck is wrong with you? You lost your god-damn mind, banging on my fuckin’ door at this hour of the morning?” Birdie said and walked away from the door.
“We need to talk,” Albert said as he went in the apartment.
“Yeah, well, you coulda tried calling.”
“I did. All last night and early this morning.”
“What’s so damn important, Alley?”
“You alone?”
“No. Asia is in the back,” Birdie said and plopped down on the couch.
“Can she hear us?”
“Alley, just say what you came here to say.”
Albert took a deep breath and sat down in the chair across from Birdie. “Freeze came looking for you at The Spot last night.”
“Freeze? What the fuck did he want?”
“That’s what I came to ask you.”
“What the fuck is you trying to say?” asked a frustrated Birdie.
“I’m saying he didn’t say what he wanted, only that he wanted to talk to you.”
“What would Freeze want to talk to me about?”
“That’s what I’m asking you.” Albert got up and went in the kitchen to pour himself a drink, leaving Birdie confused and scratching his head. Albert returned with his drink and sat down.
“Kinda early for you, ain’t it?” Birdie said about Albert drinking.
“I need a drink, is that alright with you? I mean you drink like a fuckin’ fish all day.”
“Calm down, Alley, all I’m saying is you don’t usually drink this early.”
“All I'm saying is that Freeze, and some other guy came in, Freeze talked to Lonnie, and ended up slamming his face into the bar.”
Birdie frowned. “He fuck him up bad?”
“Busted up his face.”
“Nigga thought he was cute anyway. Maybe a few scars will bring him back to earth.” Birdie laughed. “What did Lonnie say to him?” he asked.
“That you weren’t there.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s all he said,” Albert replied.
“Did you talk to Freeze?”
“Of course, I talked to him. The only thing he said, other than that he was waiting to talk to you was, he asked about you and Shy the other night.”
“What about it?”
“He reminded me that you said that you’d see her again and she won’t like it.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that shit before?”
“I wanted to know if this was about something else,” Albert said quietly, and Birdie gave him a look.
“Something like what?”
“I don’t know, could have been anything. You might have been fuckin’ Freeze’s woman, like Clark Kent,” Albert said, making note that a man known by the name Clark Kent had been fuckin’ Freeze’s
ex-girlfriend Paulleen.
Birdie laughed. “That new bitch he got is fine as hell, but she don’t get around like Paulleen used to.”
“That’s because she’s a different class of woman all together. This one has class,” Albert informed him.
“What’s her name again?”
“Tanya Price.”
“Yeah, well, as much as I’d like to fuck her ass,” Birdie said. “Whatever he wants it ain’t got nothing to do with her.”
“Good to know, but that doesn’t change that fact that this is about you and Shy.”
“What you thinks’ up with that?”
“I don’t know what’s up with it, Bird, but if I had to guess,” Albert said and paused.
“If you had to guess what?”
“Maybe she told Black about it.”
“I never thought about that,” Birdie said and dropped his head.
“You did threaten his wife.”
“Shit! I didn’t mean that shit. I was just …”
“You was just what, Bird, trying to fuck up everything that we worked so hard to build here. Is that what you were trying to do?” Albert stood up and began pacing. “I knew as soon as you said that dumb shit that it was gonna be bad for business. You gotta stop doing shit like that Birdie. You ain’t slingin’ rocks on the corner no more. This is fuckin’ business, can’t you see that!”
“Shut up, Alley! Let me think.”
Albert rolled his eyes, but he remained quiet while Birdie thought about what they should do next. “All right, the first thing to do is to find out what the deal is with this. I want you to send somebody to ask around, see if Black wanna make an issue of that shit.”
“I’ll get on it right away,” Albert said, knowing that he had already told Lonnie and Smiley to get him that information. “I’ll call Mylo and see if he knows what up.”
“Then we need to make sure all our shit is running correct. I’ll take care of that.”
Albert sat back in his chair and took a sip of his drink. “Remember what we used to talk about?
“What’s that?”
“How we wasn’t gonna make the same mistakes everybody else did. You remember that?”
“Yeah, Alley, I remember.”
“We said, no, swore to each other that it wasn’t about all that gangster shit. All that shit does is cost money, and then niggas start dying,” Albert said.
“To busy playing gangster to really make that money. I remember what I said. Meant it. This is business. But sometimes you just gotta let your balls hang, Alley. You know what I’m saying?” Birdie laughed. “So, I talk shit sometimes, but I’m about business. But it ain’t all about business all the time. I think you forget that shit sometimes.”
“I understand that there is a time and a place for everything. There are times when we gonna have to crush a nigga, but this was not one of those times. We are trying to work around Black, not take him on,” Albert argued.
“You saying we should be scared of this nigga? Cause I ain’t afraid to go up against him.”
“No, that is not at all what I’m saying. But Bird we talked about this, talked about Black specifically.”
“We said we wasn’t gonna fuck with Black.”
“You wanna end up like D-Train? And I don’t believe for a minute that Melinda's dumb ass killed him and disappeared. You can’t tell me that Black didn’t killed the both of them.”
“Why would Black kill her? Melinda used to fuck Black. That bitch wasn’t nothing but a trick ho, that Black dropped for Shy.”
“A fine as hell trick ho, that Black dropped for Shy.” Albert said and raised one finger to emphasize his point.
“Yeah, but Black is about business. If it wasn’t about business, why would he kill her? That shit don’t make no sense. Yeah, I believe Black had Dee killed, but that bitch bounced.”
“Yeah, like Adriana bounced on The Sopranos,” Albert said and both he and Birdie laughed. “It doesn’t matter, man. All I’m sayin is that we gotta be smarter than that. Chilly had it right, he made peace with Black. But then he went up against him and now he’s dead.”
“I heard it was ’cause dude fucked Chilly’s wife.”
“Whatever, Bird.” Albert got up and went toward the door. “I meant what I said, you got to watch your temper. You see how it’s bad for business.”
“I hear ya, man, I hear ya. Ain’t nobody more aware then I am about where we are and what we trying to build here.”
“Good, then we agree that starting an argument with Mike Black’s wife was a stupid thing to do.”
“All I did was tell her how fine she is.”
“Maybe if you had left it at that this shit wouldn’t be happening.” Albert opened the door and left.
Chapter Eleven
When Wanda left the courthouse, she drove back to her office. She had called Nick and Freeze and told them to meet her there. As Wanda drove, she thought about the fact that with the exception of representing a woman named Nina Thomas, when her case was heard before the grand jury, she hadn’t tried a case in years.
On top of that, Wanda had never tried a murder case before. That fact made her a little apprehensive. She picked up her phone and dialed Marcus Douglas, an old friend of hers that she went to law school with. Marcus was currently practicing in Atlanta where he had recently won a high-profile murder case, involving a man that was on trial for brutally murdering his wife and her lover with a golf club.
“Law office,” a female voice answered.
“Marcus Douglas, please.”
“Who should I say is calling?”
“Wanda Moore.”
“Please hold.”
While she was holding, Wanda thought about Mike and how he looked. She could tell the pain that he was in. She knew in her heart that he could never have kill Shy. He loved her so much. Once upon a time, not so very long ago, that thought used to make her very jealous. Now, since she and Shy had an opportunity to get to know each other, Wanda realized that Shy was good for Mike. She had come to consider Shy a good friend and great shopping buddy. Wanda would miss her too.
One of the hardest things Wanda ever had to do was going to the morgue and identifying Shy’s body. She was terrified to see her face; it was so badly beaten. It was a task that she hoped she would never have to perform again.
“Wanda!” Marcus yelled as soon as he came on the line.
“Hi, Marcus.” Wanda said with a smile in her voice.
“You know when Janise told me that you were on the line, I could hardly believe it. How long has it been since we talked?”
“Three years.”
“Has it been that long,” Marcus asked.
“At least that long. So how have you been Marcus? And how is Randa?”
“Now I know it’s been a while since we talked, Wanda. Randa and I are not together anymore.”
“What?” Wanda said in shock, knowing how close Marcus and Randa were.
“Our divorce has been final for a few months now,” Marcus told her.
“Well you sound pretty happy about it.”
“To be honest, Wanda, I have mixed feelings about it, but overall, yeah, I’m pretty happy about it.”
“Then I’m happy for you. So, I guess you’ve gone back to your playboy ways?”
“See, Wanda, there’s where you’d be wrong. I’ve been dating one woman for a few months now and it seems like it’s getting pretty serious. And I guess that’s what’s responsible for me sounding so happy.”
“I’m glad to hear it, I hope it works out for you this time,” Wanda said. “How’s the practice doing?”
“The practice is doing great, Wanda. I don’t know if you know this or not, but I recently won a high-profile media trial. Ever since then business is booming.”
“I heard all about the case, Marcus. Congratulations. In fact, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“So, I guess this isn’t a social call?”
“Of course, it is
, Marcus. Anytime two old friends can get together and catch up it’s a social call.”
“Okay, counselor, we’ll consider this a business-related social call, how about that.”
“Did that sound too PC?” Wanda said.
“Very; but tell me what I can do for you.”
“You are still licensed to practice in New York, aren’t you?” Wanda asked.
“Yes.” Marcus hesitated. “Why do you ask?”
Wanda cleared her throat before she began. “Marcus, a very old and dear friend of mine has been charged with murdering his wife. To be honest with you Marcus, I’ve never defended anyone on a murder charge before and…”
“And you want to know if I’d defend him.”
“Yes,” Wanda said softly.
“I’m honored. You usually don’t ask anybody to do anything for you, especially if you can do it yourself.”
“I know, but this is very important to me, Marcus,” Wanda explained to him.
“Well, Wanda, like I said I’m flattered, but aren’t there plenty of good defense attorney’s in New York?”
“Yes, there are, and I know most of them personally, but I didn’t call any of them, Marcus, I called you. Like I said, this is very personal to me. Mike Black is family to me,” Wanda said choking back tears. “I need you, Marcus.”
Marcus took a second or two before answering. “No murder cases, huh?”
“Not one, closest I got to a murder case was ruled self defense by the grand jury.”
“You still…” Marcus paused, thinking about a delicate way to ask his question. “You still working for the same people?”
“Yes, Marcus.”
“And you’ve never had a murder case, huh? I would have thought that murder cases, I don’t know—I just had this picture of you, you know.”
“Marcus, most of my practice is entertainment law. I do very little criminal law at this point.”
“I just thought that you were defending gangsters, but I stand corrected,” Marcus said, feeling just a little uncomfortable. “What’s our client’s name?”
“Mike Black.”
“The guy you used to always talk about. Isn’t he like—the boss?”
“Yes, Marcus.” Wanda almost smiled.
“So how strong is their case?”