by Erica Hilton
“Yesterday I saw him. I’ve seen him pretty much every day since I came home from the hospital.”
“So what is he saying about the Bebo murder that I’m sure you’re aware of?”
Jasmine smiled and ate one of her French fries. “See, you have to understand—The streets isn’t a game of show and tell, where little Johnny comes to school every day and just starts opening up about what the fuck him and his friends did the day before.” Jasmine paused. “What I’m saying is, I can’t just start asking, ‘So, Nico, did you kill Bebo?’ I have to bring things up in the natural course. But, don’t worry, I’ll get you your info.”
“So you’ve seen him every day since being discharged from the hospital?”
Jasmine nodded.
Agent Gosling cut his eyes at Jasmine the same way he had done when she had first come into the restaurant late for their meeting.
“What?” Jasmine nervously took another bite from her cornbread.
Agent Gosling reached into a dark brown folder and he took out four glossy photos and handed them to her.
“That one right there, that’s Mia meeting Nico at the airport in Las Vegas,” Agent Gosling said. “And that one right there, that’s Mia and Nico having dinner together, also in Las Vegas. And this one, this is Mia and Nico shopping together in Las Vegas. And if you’ll notice, each day they have on different outfits, and you’ll also notice the date and the time on each photo.”
Jasmine could feel sweat forming on her brow. She was beyond embarrassed for being busted in a lie, and at the same time she was also heated with Nico.
“Those dates, Jasmine, they cover the past few days right after Bebo’s murder, and you just told me that you saw Nico every day at your mother’s house. Kind of hard to do that if your mom lives in Queens and Nico is thousands of miles away.”
Jasmine knew there was absolutely nothing she could say.
“Let me explain something, Jasmine. I want to go home alive every night. So therefore I have to be able to trust you, and your lies could get me killed out here. So if I wasn’t clear a few minutes earlier, let me be perfectly clear now—If you lie to me one more time—No, as a matter of fact, if I even suspect that you’re lying to me, I am locking your ass up, and you’ll be doing twenty-five years in a federal pen somewhere out in South Dakota with a bunch of lesbian white butches. Is that understood?”
“Yes, it’s understood,” Jasmine humbly replied.
“So are you getting the picture about how we need you to operate and cooperate with us? No lies. You do as you’re told, and you get us the information that we need. You help us, and we help you.”
Jasmine nodded her head, tired of being chastised. She was ready to move on and get the meeting over with so she could figure out how she was going to deal with Mia.
“Now we need to discuss what’s going on, and we need to formulate an action plan.”
“Okay,” Jasmine replied. At that point Jasmine’s French fries were cold, the cornbread was cold, and she no longer wanted anything to drink. What she wanted at that moment was some high-grade weed to smoke.
“Before I speak about Nico, we both know that Bebo was murdered two days ago.” Gosling paused and waited for Jasmine to speak. “Are we on the same page?”
“Mmm-hmm. Yeah, I obviously heard about Bebo. We mentioned this already,” Jasmine replied, not knowing exactly what Gosling wanted to hear.
“So what are your thoughts on it?”
“I don’t know,” she replied with a nonchalant attitude.
Gosling gave her that stern look again.
“Look, you seem to forget that my hand is going to take another week or so to fully heal, and as you can see, my neck is not fully healed yet either. So it’s not like I’m just out and about running the streets. I withdrew from school, and I wanted to take a little time to just heal physically and emotionally, and it’s like you don’t seem to realize that. All you seem concerned about is just doing your job.”
Agent Gosling knew that Jasmine had a point, but he didn’t care. He went back into his folder and pulled out more photos—three to be exact.
“Do you know any of these guys?”
Jasmine examined the photos closely. “I know him,” she said, pointing to the photo on the right. “I mean, I don’t know him like we’re super cool or anything like that, but I do know him, and he knows me. His name is Black Justice. He hustles uptown, either in Harlem or the Bronx or Yonkers, somewhere in those areas. And these two, I don’t know them, but I think I’ve seen them before at some of the spots around the city; they look familiar.”
Jasmine wasn’t that interested or enthused. All she could think about was if Nico was fucking Mia again. With the two of them out in Las Vegas, she knew there was no way Nico wasn’t fucking her. Jasmine just couldn’t understand what it was that Mia had over her, nor could she understand why Nico hadn’t asked her to fly out to Las Vegas with him.
“That’s right. That’s Black Justice, more commonly known as Black Jus. Now this guy right here is named Homicide. And this guy right here goes by the name of Prince. He’s new on the New York drug scene. He was only a ‘poo-butt’ out in California, but he felt like he could be a shot-caller out here in New York, and that’s why he’s out here. He’s a Crip from California with an army of New York Crips who’ll murder on his orders.”
“Poo-butt?” She shook her head and chuckled. “Them dudes from California kill me with their slang.”
Agent Gosling was glad that Jasmine was showing signs of life, so he kept on. “Well, with the murder of Bebo, and with Nico’s strength weakening, we think that—”
“What do you mean, ‘with Nico’s strength weakening’?”
“From our intel, and from some of our other sources, we gathered that in Ghetto Mafia, Nico is the businessman and Bebo was the killer. With Bebo’s death, we feel Nico’s strength is going to be tested—other crews throughout the city are going to muscle in on Ghetto Mafia’s territory.”
Jasmine listened intently. She wanted to let Gosling know that Nico had the heart to murder anyone, but she thought it best to keep her mouth shut and just listen.
“So what we’re going to need you to do is get us close to these three guys right here. These three dudes are going to try to fill the vacuum. What we don’t want is to get Nico off the street, only to have new menaces to worry about.”
Jasmine nodded.
“What we would want you to do initially is act as a cut-out for me.”
“What do you mean?” Jasmine asked.
“We would need you to make recorded drug buys on my behalf. You’ll let them know that it’s on my behalf, and after a few buys we’ll ramp up the weight of the buys. At that point, the trust should be there where you’ll be able to introduce me, and then from that point on, I’ll handle my own transactions directly with them, which will allow us to make arrests.”
“Oh, okay. That’s cool and all. I can do it. But the thing is, I’ll definitely need a place to live, and I need some money.”
Agent Gosling went into his folder and handed Jasmine a bankcard. “I’m already ahead of you. There’s twenty-five hundred on that card. I’ll call you later and give you the pin number.”
Seeing the shiny, new bankcard with a Visa logo put her in a brighter mood. She quickly took hold of the card and slipped it into her bag.
“Twenty-five hundred will be your monthly stipend. If you need more than that, you’ll have to let me know, and I’ll need to put in a request to the suits in Washington D.C.”
Gosling was speaking Jasmine’s language, and she loved it. Twenty-five hundred a month, and she didn’t have to open up her legs and fuck anybody.
“And let me just be completely frank with you about something . . . ”
Just then as soon as Gosling said that, the wait
ress came to the table and asked if she could get them anything else.
Jasmine was feeling much better after getting the bankcard, so she immediately asked for another coco-loco.
“And for you, sir?”
“I’m fine. Thanks,” Gosling replied to the waitress just before she walked away.
“Now, like I was saying, I need you to really hear me on this.”
“Okay, I’m listening.”
“Whether it’s Black Just, Homicide, or Prince, or for that matter, anyone else we’re targeting, you cannot fuck them under any circumstances. Do you understand me?”
“Not even Nico?”
“No, with Nico that’s different because you were involved with him sexually before you started cooperating. But with any of the other targets, if you sleep with them, it will be tough to get a conviction because any lawyer would scream entrapment.”
“That won’t be a problem because it’s not like I just go around opening up my legs to any and every nigga in the hood.”
Agent Gosling just gave her a look, and she immediately knew that Gosling was more than likely aware of her prostituting herself on Craigslist in the past.
“Trust me, that won’t be a problem.”
Agent Gosling’s phone rang, and he excused himself to take the call.
While Gosling was talking on his cell phone, Jasmine just couldn’t help herself. She took out her phone and sent Mia a one-word text message: Bitch! She waited for a reply from Mia but didn’t get one.
“Sorry about that,” Agent Gosling said. “Okay, so now listen. When you get home, what you need to do is use the bankcard to book the next flight to Las Vegas.”
Jasmine looked confused.
“Jasmine, this isn’t a free lunch. You need to get out to Vegas and smooth things over with Nico because, at the end of the day, if he doesn’t trust you, and if he moves on to Mia and leaves you behind without access to him, then what secrets will he ever spill to you? And if Nico doesn’t spill secrets to you, then the government really doesn’t need your cooperation, and we would have no choice but to lock you up for murder.”
“Ugghhh!” Jasmine was tired of Gosling always throwing the possibility of jail in her face. It was frustrating to her because she knew no one had seen her actually murder her ex-boyfriend Shabazz. She felt in her heart that they didn’t have the goods on her for that murder, but yet they were always hanging it over her head.
“Why do you keep saying that? That shit is so annoying. Just do me a favor and please stop hanging shit over my head. It’s not like it’s helping anything when you say that you’ll lock me up.”
Jasmine was also pissed off that she was going to have to dip into her twenty-five hundred dollars to purchase the plane ticket.
Gosling was about to reply, but Jasmine cut him off, saying, “And when will I get the apartment or the house that you promised me?”
“By the time you’re back, we’ll have an apartment for you.”
“All right,” Jasmine replied. “Where are Nico and Mia staying in Vegas?”
He told her and they ended their meeting. Agent Gosling felt good about the plan he had set in motion. Jasmine would do her best, but she didn’t know how she was going to be able to hold back from whipping Mia’s ass when she saw her. Her only hope was that it wouldn’t derail her new career as a confidential informant.
Fifteen
Mia looked at her cell phone and saw Jasmine’s text. She and Nico were walking together on the Las Vegas strip, taking everything in. She didn’t say anything to Nico about the text, but the very thought of Jasmine made her feel insecure. She wanted her permanently eliminated as a threat.
“You know what? I wish Jasmine hadn’t survived that shooting.”
Nico was eating the fried corn on the cob he had just bought.
“Did you hear what I said?”
Nico again ignored Mia.
Mia sucked her teeth, and the two of them continued to walk with no specific destination, just enjoying the warm weather and taking in all of the sights.
“Get off that insecure shit, Mia.”
Mia didn’t want to be walking on thin ice, so she apologized.
“Nah, you don’t have to apologize, but I’m just saying, don’t wish death on Jasmine like that.” Nico threw the corn into a nearby trashcan. “This shit is nasty.”
Nico walked over to a huge fountain, where kids were making wishes and throwing coins. He hopped up on the ledge of the fountain and sat down, his legs dangling about two feet off the ground.
He motioned for Mia to come to him, and she walked over and stood between his legs with her back to him. Nico leaned forward so that his chest was touching Mia’s back, and he clasped his hands around her waist and held her tight.
Mia felt so good. She was somewhat shocked because Nico had never shown any public displays of affection toward her.
Nico had to make Mia feel secure because, with the feds watching him so closely, he needed her to take on risks that he couldn’t take himself. She had already shown that she was willing to do anything for her man, and Nico wanted to keep it that way.
“I’ll keep it real with you—I can’t say I wish Jasmine was dead, but I do wish she was as thorough as you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, with you, I would trust you with my life. I know if them alphabet boys ever put the screws to you, you wouldn’t sell me out. With you, I know that, and with BJ, I know that. Loyalty is everything to me.”
Mia turned and faced Nico. She gave him a peck on his lips and buried her head into his chest. “Baby, it’s about love, and it’s about trust. You know me and BJ love you, and we trust you, and you love us and you trust us too.”
Nico didn’t say anything.
“So what was Jasmine saying when you flew back to New York?” Mia asked. Nico had been back in Vegas for a few days, but Mia had made it a point to not ask him any questions up until that point. She was just hoping that they didn’t end up fucking.
“She wasn’t really saying much.”
Nico made sure not to say anything to Mia about what the streets had been saying in reference to Bebo shooting Jasmine, nor did he say anything about Jasmine confirming that Bebo had shot her. He definitely didn’t say anything about having murdered Bebo. He and BJ had made a pact to keep that between themselves.
“You did see her though, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, I saw her. I mean, I went by the hospital and all that, but I just got a feeling she workin’ with the police.”
Mia lifted her head off Nico’s chest and pulled away from him slightly. “Why do you say that?”
“It’s a lot of shit that just don’t add up.”
Mia shook her head before returning to the comfortable position on Nico’s chest she had been in before.
“Shit don’t be adding up with Jasmine or Bebo,” Nico added.
Mia pulled away from Nico again and gave him a serious look. “Baby, I know it’s probably not my place to be talking about your business, but it’s not hard to tell that Bebo is the biggest hater. He’s jealous of you.”
Nico nodded his head and told Mia she was right. He kept quiet because he wanted to see if she knew anything about Bebo’s death. If she did, then he would have known that she was being too much of a busybody and couldn’t be trusted.
“Baby, seriously, I hope I don’t offend you or say nothing wrong or disrespectful, but it just seems like with Jasmine, you shouldn’t have her around you because of the way she did Shabazz. I mean, if she could murder him, then why wouldn’t she murder you or snitch you out to the feds, like you suspect? And then with Bebo, it’s like when he was in jail, you had everything poppin’ without him, and you built everything without him. That’s where all his hate and jealousy comes from—he knows yo
u’re the man and that you don’t need him. I think he would snitch you out or set you up in a heartbeat, just to satisfy the envy he has toward you.”
Nico nodded.
“You need to dead Bebo and Jasmine. And, again, I don’t say that with no disrespect or anything like that. I’m just saying that you need to be able to sleep at night and not always be stressed out looking over your shoulder. To do that, you should just go back to the way things were before Bebo came home and before Jasmine came into the picture. That’s why I was saying that I wish Jasmine hadn’t survived that shooting.” Mia paused. “I’m just saying . . . ”
Nico was shocked to hear Mia talk with such violent overtones. Being in a constant state of paranoia, he wondered if she was wired and recording him, so he kept quiet.
Mia turned around so that her back was once again leaning against Nico’s chest.
“You right,” Nico whispered into her ear, knowing a wire wouldn’t have picked up his whispered words.
Mia turned around and kissed him. “I love you, baby.”
Nico looked at her and nodded. Then he hopped off the ledge, and the two of them continued to walk down Las Vegas Boulevard. For the entire time, he kept his lips sealed about both Bebo and Jasmine.
Nico loved playing blackjack, so Mia accompanied him inside Harrah’s Casino. She stood behind him and watched as he played. Within a matter of minutes, Nico was experiencing a hot streak.
“A thousand dollars a bet?” he turned and asked Mia.
Mia was standing in her high heels and looking statuesque and gorgeous, turning multiple heads. “Go for it, baby,” she said. “You’re doing good.” She smiled as she held on to her bamboo-tasseled leather Gucci wallet.
Nico nodded and kept on gambling.
In what seemed like five minutes, Nico had won five thousand dollars, on top of what he had already won. He took two thousand dollars in chips off the table and handed them to Mia.
Mia knew that the chips were for her to cash in and do whatever she wanted with. “Thank you.” She smiled and then put the chips into her wallet. Then she told Nico she was going to the bathroom and that she would be right back.