by Roy Glenn
He never really meant for Shy to get hurt. Not at first anyway. He just wanted to scare her, to drive her closer to him. But then she met Black and everything changed. He wanted her dead. Even though he hoped that Shy would be killed in the shootout, this was just as good. E laughed out loud.
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
“Shhh,” Rita said, grabbing a robe as E hid and she went to answer the door. “Who is it?” she yelled.
“It’s Freeze, Rita.”
“Just a minute. I gotta put something on,” Rita said, as E prepared himself to go up against Freeze. When he was set, he motioned for her to open the door. Freeze stood back away from the door. Mike stood behind him. Face down, not making eye contact with Rita. “Hello, Rita, I just came to say how sorry I am about what happened to Tony,” Freeze said.
“Thank you, Freeze. I’m a little shook up about it, I don’t know what I’m gonna do. Tony meant so much to me,” she lied.
“If there’s anything I can do, anything,” Freeze said looking Rita up and down. “You make sure you call me. You need any money for the funeral?”
“No, I got it covered. It will be the day after tomorrow.”
Freeze started to walk away. “By the way, you seen E?”
“No … I haven’t. You want me to tell him that you’re looking for him?”
Mike looked Rita in the eye. “He knows I’m looking for him.” And walked down the hall.
Mike and Freeze returned to the car. Larry handed Mike the phone. “Shy wants you to call her, Black.” He dialed the phone. Kenny answered and handed the phone to Shy.
“Hello, Cassandra.”
“Baby, I know where E is. He’s at Tony’s girlfriend Rita’s apartment.”
“That’s probably because he’s fuckin’ her,” Mike said.
“Whaaat, really? That’s why they were always at each other. He’s gotta die. You know where she lives?”
“I know. We’re there right now as a matter of fact,” Mike said calmly.
“Did you kill him?”
“No. I have a plan.”
“Why not! You should’ve blasted that ass and been done with it!” Shy said.
“Cassandra, please. I have a plan. Just relax, and I’ll see you soon.”
“Okay, I’ll relax. But you get here soon because I miss you.”
“I’m on my way.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
It rained most of the morning on the day of Tony’s funeral. There was just a little drizzle when the funeral procession made it to the cemetery. E sat next to Rita, holding her hand, appearing to comfort her in her time of loss. She cried and sobbed a few times to keep up appearances. Mike and Freeze stood across from them smiling. E refused to look in that direction. Detective’s Kirkland and Richards were there, staring at Mike. From time to time Mike would smile and wink at Kirk.
The minister spoke, “Into the ground, we commit this body, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”
As the funeral party began to disburse, Rita and E made their way to the limousine. Mike and Freeze followed them to the limousine still smiling. As they were about to get into the limo Detective Kirkland approached Mike. E stopped to watch.
“Vicious Black,” Kirk said.
“Kirk, what’s up?” Mike said.
“What does it feel like to be at a funeral that you weren’t responsible for?”
“Kirk, now you know I’ve never been responsible for any funerals. Look at my record. I’m still batting a thousand.”
“Anyway, Black, I need to ask you some questions,” Kirk said.
“Do you have a warrant, Detective?” Mike asked sarcastically.
“No, but I can get one.”
“I don’t think so, Kirk. If you could get one, you’d have one. You’re too good a cop not to have covered all the bases. Anyway, what do you wanna ask me about?”
“Drug deal went bad the other night. Five police officers were killed in the line of duty. You know anything about that?” Kirk asked.
“Drugs?” Mike said, appearing to be surprised and insulted by the word. “Kirk, you know I don’t know anything about drugs. But I’ll be happy to answer any and all the questions you have. Do you want me to come in?”
“Yeah, why don’t you ride to the station with us.”
“Cool,” Mike said, thinking that this was working out better than he had planned it.
“You wanna have your lawyer meet you down there?” Kirk asked as he started for the car.
“Why, are you planning on charging me with something?”
“No, just some questions.”
“I think you just wanna see Wanda again, Detective. Let’s go.”
Mike whispered something to Freeze before going along with the Detectives. E watched happily as Mike got into the car with Kirk. He got into the limo with Rita, confident that it was over, and he was on top. Seeing Kirk take Black into custody was the icing on the cake.
The limo turned onto Rita’s block, coming to a stop in front of her building. The driver got out and opened the door for them. E got out and looked around. It was fairly quiet on the block. There were a few people walking down the street. An old bag lady digging through the garbage and of course, the regulars were in their usual spot on the corner. Rita thanked the driver and started for the door as the driver pulled off. E stood in the middle of the street looking around. He pounded his chest.
“Who’s the man!” he shouted, “Who’s the mutha fuckin’ man!”
“Stop patting yourself on the back and get out of the street,” Rita said as E walked toward her.
“Got any spare change?” the bag lady asked as she approached them.
“Why don’t you get a fuckin’ job, instead of being out here begging all day?” E said with disdain.
“Oh, give her some money. It ain’t like you ain’t got it like that,” Rita said.
E stepped toward the bag lady, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his money. He peeled off a ten-dollar bill. “Here,” he said, shoving the bill in her face. “Go buy you a rock, bitch …” E looked up. “Shy.”
“You ain’t the man,” Shy said raising her gun.
She fired two shots to his head. Rita screamed as E fell to the ground, and Shy turned the gun on her. “This is for Tony, cheating bitch.” Shy fired again hitting Rita with two shots to her head. Shy looked down at E as people began to slowly move toward her. Kenny pulled up in a panel truck. Jap opened the sliding door.
“No time to admire your work. Let’s go!”
Shy dropped the gun on E’s chest and walked slowly to the truck. Jap got out and picked up the gun. Shy sat on the floor of the truck with her head down. She was glad that she could put it all behind her and start a new life. Kenny drove to a private airfield in Westchester, where Angelo had arranged for a small plane to take them to the Bahamas. Nothing for her to do now except wait for Mike to arrive.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Kirk and Richards grilled Mike for more than two hours. Kirk questioned his relationship with Shy while Richards tried to link him to Orlando. They had heard the rumors that Mike was ready to get back in the dope game.
“I heard those rumors, too. That’s why I went to see Orlando. To kill that noise,” Mike said with a smile.
The afternoon dragged on, going over the same points over and over again. Repeating their assertion that Mike had the connections and the muscle to take over not only Shy’s business but anyone else who opposed him.
“I heard that, too.”
Mike sat through the entire thing calmly, answering each question. He knew they were just fishing, hoping he would bite, but that wasn’t part of the plan. The story Mike told was pretty close to the truth. He told them that he and Shy went out a few times.
“End of story. I guess if I’d gone out with a woman who owned a chain of restaurants, I’d be planning a hostile takeover,” he said contemptuously. “Come on fellas, let’s live in reality. You don’t have shit.”
On top of that, if all had gone as he planned, Shy was waiting for him at the airport, and E was dead so there would be no one to testify against him. It was only a matter of time before Kirk would have enough and release him. A knock came to the door. A uniform officer came in and whispered to Kirk.
He looked at Mike, “Okay, Black, you’re free to go,” Kirk said, opening the door to the interrogation room for Mike.
“Tired of my company already?” Mike asked as he walked toward the door. Kirk walked out alongside of Mike.
“We just got a report that Eddie Miles and Rita Collins were just murdered on the street in front of her apartment building by a bag lady. Probably the Sims woman. So, until we catch her, and we will catch her, there’s nothing to link any of this to you. But I’ll get you sooner or later. Black. Sooner or later I’ll get you.”
“Walk me out, Kirk. I got something I wanna say to you.”
As they left the building Mike said, “I wanna tell you that I always had a lot of respect for you, even though you’re a cop.”
“Thanks. For a crook you’re not so bad yourself,” Kirk replied.
Once they were outside the station. “I’m getting out, Kirk, so you’ll have to find yourself a new project,” Mike said.
“You’re going to leave the country with her, aren’t you?” Kirk asked.
“If I told you that, I’d have to kill you,” Mike said.
“Well then don’t tell me,” Kirk joked. “Well good luck, Black. It’s been real,” shaking Mike’s hand. “You want me to get a car to take you somewhere?”
“No, Freeze will be here soon, but thanks. And good luck with your case.”
“Don’t sweat it. The guys she shot weren’t cops anyway. Just some low-life scumbags dressed like cops trying to rip her off. We caught one of them. They were supposed to confiscate the drugs and the money then slip away in the confusion when the real cops got there.”
“When were you planning on telling me that shit?” Mike asked.
“You said you barely knew the woman. Why should you care?” Kirk said going back into the station.
Mike leaned against the fence and laughed to himself. He marveled at how his plan had worked out even better than he had planned. Killing a drug dealer and a couple of guys he sent to rob her was a long way from killing cops. Freeze arrived shortly after that and he drove Mike to the airfield.
Shy gazed out the airplane window. What’s taking him so long? she thought, tapping her foot and looking at her watch. Impatience was definitely something else she and Mike had in common. The wait did give her time to reflect on her actions, more time than she wanted actually. Shy trusted E, and he betrayed her. She killed him for it. She faced him, saw the terror in his eyes, and shot him, almost without thinking. She felt vile and corrupt, but at the same time, she felt justified.
Fuck that, he deserved to die, she thought.
She had sat in judgment over Mike having killed people. Now she realized how death was a by-product of their occupation. She would be happy to put it all behind her. The only thing that would make her happier was …
“Here they come now,” Kenny said.
Kenny and Jap said good-bye to Shy and got off the plane. Shy watched through the window as Mike said good-bye to his boys. It was kind of touching to watch as Freeze hugged him. Mike got on board and told the pilot to take off. He sat down next to Shy.
“You ready?” he asked kissing her lips.
“Baby, I’ve been ready for this all my life?” Shy said.
“Oh really.”
“Yeah, it’s like a fairy tale. You know, the handsome prince rescues the damsel in distress. They fall in love and fly away together.”
“Do they live happily ever after?” Mike asked.
“I don’t know,” Shy said kissing him on the cheek. “Story’s not over yet.”
EPILOGUE
One Year Later
After island hopping for three months, Mike and Shy settled on Grand Bahama Island. They bought that adorable little house by the beach that Shy liked so much. Armed with a fake passport, Shy filled most her days shopping in Miami for just the right piece. Mike began to oversee construction of a Reggae supper club on the beach. He wanted to name it Cassandra’s Paradise; she thought it should be called Vicious Black’s. Each thought that the other’s was too pretentious, so they settled on Black’s Paradise. Naturally they had it built within walking distance of the house.
Mike had been to New York five or six times over the last year. He would never stay long, not being able to stay away from Shy for more than three days at a time. Once they settled into the house, Mike moved Emily out of New York. Shy insisted that M, as she has become fond of calling her, stay with them. Since her arrival, Percival had become quite enamored with her and she with him.
Once the house was decorated, Mike noticed that Shy was getting restless and just a little bored. She was a businesswoman without a business to run. With no desire for her to die a slow death, Mike invited her to be his partner in the operation of the club. She gladly accepted and she excelled.
“Hey, Bobby!” Freeze yelled from across the bar at Paradise. “Throw me another brew. This one’s hot.”
This was the first time Freeze had been to the island. He now had complete control of the New York operation. Bobby reached into the cooler and pulled out a Kalia, a Bahamian made beer. He and Pam had made several trips to the island, staying longer each time.
“If you would drink it instead of running your mouth it wouldn’t get hot.”
Pam is dying to make the move, but being the die-hard New Yorker that he is, Bobby’s will remains strong.
“I know you ain’t go there, talking about somebody running their mouth,” Mike said. It was just like old times. Freeze, and Bobby going back and forth about every issue. He missed them.
“Some people got nerves of steel,” Jamaica said as he walked outside to get some air.
After successful completion of the rehab program, Jamaica came to visit and became the houseguest that wouldn’t leave. Finally, he decided to stay and bought a house.
“When are we going to get started?” Perry asked pouring himself another drink. Perry, Glenda, and their kids had been down to visit a few times. “If I keep drinking these Bahama Mamas, I won’t be able to stand up.”
“As soon as Cassandra gets back from picking up Wanda,” Mike answered.
“I still don’t see why she had to go,” Bobby commented impatiently. “I could’ve picked up Wanda.”
“She felt like they needed to talk.”
“I hear that M is responsible for this little party,” Perry said. “Who gave Ms. Black the nick name M anyway?”
“Cassandra tagged her with it after we watched a Bond movie, and it just stuck, but yeah, she flexed on us big time. I was here one afternoon when Cassandra comes in and says she thinks M moved out. I’m like, what do you mean she moved out? Cassandra says, I mean I looked in her room and all her stuff is gone.”
“Where did she go?” Freeze asked.
“The Princess. Quiet as it kept, she’s become quite the gambler. You can find her there most afternoons playing the slots.”
“What, she wanted to be closer to the slots?” Bobby said jokingly.
“Anyway, I roll up there. Go to her room and she’s just sitting there like everything’s just lovely. So, I ask her, ‘Ma, what’s wrong?’ She said, ‘Michael I just can’t live in that house any longer.’ So, I’m like, what do we make too much noise, is that it? She gives me that look and says, ‘No, Michael, I just can’t live in that house with you two living in sin.’ Okay, Ma, I’ll be back for you. I gotta go have a talk with Cassandra.”
“Now that’s what I call flex,” Perry said.
“Hold up, it gets better. So, I look around the room and none of her stuff is in t
here. So, I say, Ma, where’s all your stuff? She smiles and says she had Percival move it into one of the other rooms in the house.”
Just then, Jamaica came back inside. “Black, come see this.”
Everybody got up and followed Jamaica out the door and were shocked at what they saw. Shy was back from picking up Wanda, and there they were getting out of the Corvette laughing and talking like they were the best of friends.
“Baby, what are y’all doing here?” Shy asked Mike, as everybody greeted Wanda. “I get to the house ready to get married and I gotta go find the groom. What’s up with that?”
“I should be asking you that. What’s up with you and Wanda?”
“We got our thing straight. I’ll tell you all about that later. But baby, I’m not wanted for murder anymore.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean without the murder weapon or any witnesses to place me at the scene, Wanda got the murder and conspiracy to commit murder warrants dropped.”
“She did.”
“I sure did. It wasn’t easy, but I got it done. There’s still a warrant for conspiracy to distribute. I haven’t made any headway with that. But give me time. I’m just sorry I couldn’t do anything for Jack. He got five years,” Wanda said, joining them at the car, as everybody else left to go back to the house. “Now, you two need to go on and get ready.”
“Get ready for what?” they both said.
“Get dressed to get married,” Wanda said. They both had on shorts and a shirt.
“Wanda,” Shy said. “This is about as dressed as we ever get.” She handed Wanda the keys. “But you go on and freshen up. All of us aren’t getting in that Vette. We’ll walk.”
Mike took Shy’s hand and started walking, leaving Wanda standing there, mouth open.
“That’s a good idea, Cassandra. That’s why I love you.”
THE END OF
IS IT A CRIME
The Mike Black Saga Continues In