by Roy Glenn
Now she had me laughing. “I’m Mike Black. I’m an old friend of Jamaica’s.”
“Hmm, that says a lot right there.”
“I’m not even gonna ask what you mean by that.”
“Of course not, if you did the conversation would continue and you might have to answer my questions. But it’s okay. I don’t like answering questions either.”
“I’ll remember not to ask any,” I said and drained my glass. “I enjoyed what conversation we did have.” I held out my hand. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Jacara.”
“The pleasure was all mine,” Jacara said and politely shook my hand. “I enjoyed our conversation as well, Mr. Black. How much longer will you be on the island?”
“Another day, maybe two.” I started walking and she looped her arm in mine.
“Maybe we can get together before you go. Say for lunch tomorrow?”
I stopped under a lamppost and looked at Jacara. “Where?” Something about the way she looked standing under that light moved me in ways that only Cassandra had.
“Do you know where The Paradise is?”
“I can find it.” Especially since I own it. It’s a club I own on the beach. The name is actually Black’s Paradise, but nobody ever calls it that. I was planning on going there to check things out anyway.
“Meet me there at one.”
“I’ll be there. Good night, Jacara,” I said and left her standing there. When three of Jamaica’s men had to hurry to catch up with me, I heard her say, “Who are you, Mike Black?”
Chapter Thirteen
It was after midnight and Wanda sat on the couch in Nick’s office at Impressions, as she had about every night since her and Nick got together. She had gotten up at seven thirty that morning to make a meeting with a client at ten. It was the start of a very long day; especially since it was four thirty when she and Nick got home from the club. By the time they finished doing what they do and had drifted off to sleep, it was after six.
Wanda cursed the alarm when it went off at seven thirty, but she got up and did what she had to do. After a day where everything that could go wrong did, Wanda got home after seven. Her intention was to take a shower and get some sleep before Nick went to the club. But instead she spent two hours on the phone with Pam talking about why Bobby had to go with Mike to Hong Kong. Wanda had just enough time to shower, get dressed and be standing by the door when Nick was ready to go.
“You ready?” Wanda asked and let go of the yawn she was trying to suppress.
“Yeah,” Nick said to her and picked up his keys from the table by the door. “I know you’re tired, Wanda. Why don’t you get some sleep?”
“I’m alright,” Wanda said and opened the door to leave. Nick followed behind her, shaking his head. He knew there was no way to keep her from going. Nick would have never guessed that Wanda was so jealous and fiercely determined to protect her man at any cost. It surprised Wanda too.
There had been many a night when Wanda had stepped in between Nick and some woman who made the mistake of talking too long or standing too close to her man. After a while, Nick stopped going out on the floor while the club was open unless he had to. It was the best way to keep Wanda out of trouble. So every night the two of them sat in the office.
As the night wore on, Wanda’s chin slowly touched her chest. She’d been nodding like that for the last half-hour. Each time she’d open her eyes and glance over at Nick to see if he saw her and then go back to staring out the window at the dance floor below. This time when Wanda opened her eyes, Nick was looking at her. “Hi.”
“Hi,” Wanda said and fought off a yawn.
Nick picked up some papers from his desk and looked at them while waiting for Wanda’s neck to break again. She looked out at the light show, and before she knew it, her chin touched her chest again.
“Wanda,” Nick said softly. “Wanda,” he repeated. She slowly opened her eyes. “Why don’t you let me take you home? You look like you need to get some rest.”
“You saying I look bad?”
“No. I’m saying that you're sitting over there sleeping.”
“I am not sleeping,” Wanda insisted.
“Okay,” Nick said and returned his attention to his paperwork. When Wanda nodded off again, Nick got up and knelt down in front of her.
When she began to open her eyes, Nick leaned forward. “Hi.”
“Okay, so maybe I am a little tired, but I’ll be all right. I don’t have any appointments until after one tomorrow so I can sleep late. Lord knows I could use it.”
Nick walked over to the bar and poured himself a drink. “You know you don’t have to come up here every night.”
“If I didn’t, when would I see you?”
“Come on, Wanda, we see each other all the time. The club is not open every night and I see you when you get home before I leave.” Nick smiled. “And you know I’ll always wake you up when I get home.”
“Yeah, right. You come home at five in the morning smelling like a bitches perfume and that’s my time?”
“Now we get to the real reason.”
“What real reason is that?”
“You don’t trust me.”
“Yes, I do.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Whatever, Wanda. You don’t trust me and we both know it. Everybody can see it but you.”
“Did somebody say something?” Wanda asked, deathly afraid that Mike Black or anybody else had found out about her and Nick. Even though they were practically living together, she still didn’t want him to know.
“Other than Tara, no.”
Wanda rolled her eyes. “What did she have to say?”
“That’s not important.”
“Yes it is. It’s important to me.”
“What she said doesn’t matter.”
“Well, if she’s got any comments, she needs to say it to my face. See what happens to her ass then.”
Nick shook his head. “The point is that you don’t trust me.”
“It’s not that I don’t trust you,” Wanda said and got up from the couch. She walked over to the window and pointed. “It’s them half naked bitches down there that I don’t trust.”
“Why? I don’t want any of them,” Nick said, joining Wanda at the window. “Wanda, I love you.”
“I know that, Nick, but I just don’t understand for the life of me why you have to chat up every half naked tramp in the club.”
“Other than the fact that it’s part of my job, I can’t think of any either.”
“Oh so now it’s your job to flirt with every woman in the club?”
“I’m not even going there with you. You know damn well what my job is,” Nick said and finished his drink.
“I just don’t understand why you can’t let Tara run the club. She does it anyway.”
“Because this is where Black and Bobby put me. So, what do you want me to do, ask them if they could give me something so that I could be off at night?”
“Yes.”
“And what do I say when Black asks me why?”
“You could tell him that—” Wanda said quickly and then she paused.
“Those are the same ones I came up with.”
“You could talk to Freeze.”
“Freeze asked the same question.”
“What’s that?”
“What you want me to tell Black?”
Wanda rolled her eyes and walked over to Nick’s desk. She leaned forward and put her hands on it. Nick stood back for a while and watched her bent over like that before he worked his way up behind her and lifted up her dress.
“What are you doing back there?” Wanda asked, smiling as Nick eased her panties down.
“Nothing.”
Nick grabbed her hips and positioned her succulent ass exactly where he wanted it. He entered her slowly and Wanda began to squirm as he pushed himself inside her. She began winding her hips while Nick grabbed her shoulders and thrust his hips into her wit
h so much intensity that Wanda had to steady herself. He plunged deep inside her before he exploded.
“I love you, Wanda,” Nick whispered in her ear. “There's no one else for me.”
Once they had fixed their clothes, Nick’s cell phone rang.
“What's up, Freeze?”
“I need you to ride with me. See if we can find out who tried to kill Black.”
“Where you at?”
“In the club.”
“I’m in the office. Why didn’t you just come up?”
“I didn’t wanna interrupt nothing.”
“What you mean?”
“Tara says y’all be up in there fuckin’ all night.”
Nick looked at Wanda. “I’ll be down in a minute,” he said and ended the call.
“What does he want?” Wanda asked.
“He wants me to ride with him.”
“Where?”
“See if we can find out who tried to kill Black.”
“Somebody tried to kill Mike?” Wanda asked excitedly. “When did this happen?”
“The night before he left for the Bahamas with Michelle.”
“What happened?”
“He was at a hotel and somebody broke in the room.”
“And?”
“Black strangled him with a towel.”
“The body?”
“The parlor,” Nick said and armed himself.
“Why didn’t you tell me this?”
“I thought you knew. I thought he would have told you since you saw him that morning before he left.”
“No, he didn’t say a thing,” Wanda said, and once again felt left out. Black had always been overprotective of her through the years, but she thought that he would have at least mentioned that somebody tried to kill him.
“You want me to call you a cab?” Nick asked and picked up the phone on his desk.
Wanda started to ask why couldn’t he take her home, but she kept it to herself. Instead, she sucked her teeth. “Go ahead.”
As she rode home alone in the cab, Wanda thought about the way things were going. Black had always purposely kept her out of certain parts of their business; “Do the words conspiracy to commit murder mean anything to you counselor?” Black would always tell her, but it was never like this. Now she felt isolated. She liked it better when she was the boss and Freeze had to answer to her.
When she got out of the cab, Wanda made her way to her door and fumbled for her keys as her cell began to ring. Sure that it was Nick, she dug the phone out of her purse. “Hi.”
But to her surprise, it was Glynnis Presley on the phone. She was an aid to a Senator. Mike had been a heavy contributor to a few local Congressional candidates over the years. Therefore, any time he needed something done, it was a simple matter to call Glynnis, she would call the appropriate Congressperson, who made the calls necessary for their problems to go away. “Wanda, it’s Glynnis.”
“What are you doing up at this hour?”
“I need to talk to Mike,” Glynnis replied frantically.
“He’s out of the country, Glynnis. What's wrong? Are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m fine, Wanda. I just need to talk to Mike, that’s all.”
“What about?”
“It’s about his wife’s murder.”
Chapter Fourteen
Mike Black
It was a little before noon when the car pulled up in front of Black’s Paradise. I had arrived early for lunch with Jacara so I could check the place out. It felt a little weird being there. Cassandra and I had built that place and ran it together.
I hadn’t been here since the day Cassandra was kidnapped and taken to New York by Diego Estabon’s men. To me, it was the day that started this whole thing in motion. You see, I believe in cause and effect. The theory that for every action there is a reaction. If certain things happened, it would cause other shit to happen. The shit usually works to my advantage because I’m usually the one pulling the string. But now, there was another puppet master pulling the strings.
When Cassandra was freed, she wanted to stay in New York instead of coming back to the island.
“I feel isolated and trapped on this rock,” Cassandra told me on more than one occasion. Cut off from the rest of the world, she’d say. So I decided to stay in the city. If I had listened to my better judgement and dragged her back to the Bahamas, maybe she’d still be alive.
I got out of the car and walked inside with my three bodyguards close behind. There were a lot of new faces working there; new bartenders, new waitresses, but Esmond, the cook, was still there. As soon as he saw me come through the door, he dropped whatever it was he had been chopping up and came out to greet me. I would have preferred that he drop the knife too, and so would my new bodyguards.
“Whoa, mon,” one said, and pointed his weapon. “Where ya think you go with that knife?”
Esmond stopped in his tracks, put the knife down on the table closest to him and raised his hands.
“It’s okay,” I told him, and pushed the barrel of his gun down. “He’s all right.”
As soon as he felt it was safe to do so, Esmond rushed up and threw his big arms around me. “It’s good to see you again, Black.”
“It’s good to see you too, my friend.”
“The minute me hear you come, me fix conch chowder for you.”
“I haven’t had any conch since the last time you made some for me and Cassandra.”
“I want to say how sorry I was to hear about the lady,” Esmond said, referring to Cassandra. “You know me love her like she me own flesh and blood.”
“She loved you too.”
“I miss her as I know you do,” Esmond said and hugged me again. “You let me know when you ready for some conch.” Esmond let me go and returned to his kitchen. “Maybe while you're here, we can get up a game. Since you been gone there’s no one to challenge me at chess.”
“Why don’t you bring me a big bowl and set up the board,” I said, and he smiled. Esmond loved to play chess and we had played many games and I had lost plenty of them because of careless mistakes. If I could just live my life without making careless mistakes.
Once I had gone through the place and met all the new employees, I settled down with a big bowl of conch chowder and wondered just exactly what I was doing there. I mean, I did want to check out the place, but I wasn’t pressed about it. To be honest, I was there for no other reason than to see Jacara, and I wondered why.
Okay, Jacara did have the type of body that made me want to play with it, so naturally I wanted to fuck her. But I had much more important things that I needed to be doing. The people responsible for Cassandra's death were still alive and thinking that they got away with it. And on top of that, somebody had tried to kill me, and I have no clue what that’s about.
The second that I finished my chowder, Esmond brought the chessboard over and began setting it up. I hadn’t played since I left the island, so I was looking forward to playing even though I knew I’d lose. The game wore on and I tried to stay focused, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something just wasn’t right. That something bad was about to happen.
I had just moved my queen’s bishop to king rook two when Jacara walked into the paradise wearing a light blue sundress that hugged every delicious inch of her body. I watched her as she stood by the door and scanned the club looking for me.
“Check,” Esmond said.
I looked at the board, and sure as shit, he had me in check and had left me with few options. “Shit. Didn’t see that,” I said, realizing that I had made one of those careless mistakes.
By that time, the hostess had told Jacara where to find me and she was moving in my direction. When she saw me sitting there, her beautiful smile broadened. I stood up to greet her and so did Esmond.
“Well, hello, Mr. Black. How are you on this beautiful island day?”
“I’m good. Jacara Delbridge. This is Esmond,” I pointed at the smiling chef.
�
��I must say that it is an honor to meet you, Miss Delbridge. I have seen your show and loved it, and I’ve seen you in here many times.” Esmond paused and pulled out a chair for Jacara to join us. “You might go as far to say that me a fan of both your voice and your beauty.”
“Well, thank you very much,” Jacara said graciously and sat down. “I don’t mean to interrupt your game.” She picked up a menu.
“That is all right, pretty lady. It is not going to last much longer,” Esmond laughed while I studied the board trying to find a way to move out of check.
A waitress came to our table and placed a drink in front of me before turning her attention to Jacara. “Can I get you a cocktail from the bar?”
“Yes, I’ll have a Sea Breeze with a twist of lime,” Jacara answered.
What I needed now was to not only get myself out of check, but form a plan to turn this game around, mount some offense and win this game. I had planned to be done with the game before Jacara got there. But now there she was, and I had no intention of losing in front of her. But I heard somewhere that roads are paved with good intentions and three moves later I heard Esmond say, “Checkmate.”
Esmond stood up and collected the board and the pieces, while I sat there and wondered how I lost so badly again. “Can I fix you something special? It would be an honor to prepare a meal for you,” Edmond said to Jacara before he headed off.
Jacara picked up the menu again and began flipping through it, deciding what she wanted to eat. “Bahamian crawfish with peas n' rice sounds tasty.”
“I will make it with love, my dear,” Esmond promised and turned toward the kitchen.
“You’re not having anything handsome?” she asked me.
I smiled. “He knows what I like. It’s sort of a tradition we have. He puts it in front of me and I eat what he cooks.”
“Isn’t that sort of risky? I mean, suppose you don’t like what he cooks?” Jacara asked and leaned forward, giving me a spectacular view of her cleavage. I couldn’t tell if she was wearing a bra, but I hoped she wasn’t.
“He has never let me down yet.”
“I just don’t know if I could do that,” Jacara smiled and touched my hand.