by Karl Tutt
Chapter 3
Back to the office the next morning and more boring cases. Florida Congressman X had had a close encounter with a young man under age in a bathroom at a park near the beach. Ricky and I were in charge of damage control. Ms. Z suspected her husband, the noted Fort Lauderdale developer, was conducting liaisons with a lady of questionable virtue. We were investigating, ever so discreetly. The most interesting case – and that, in itself, is a stretch – involved embezzlement by a partner in one of a chain of high profile car dealerships in South Florida. And by the way . . . he just happened to be one of the more generous contributors to Rod’s campaign for senator. Hey . . . mostly bullshit, but all in a day’s work and the checks were coming in regularly.
I watched over the next few weeks as Ricky acted more and more like a lovesick bull. Evelyn had simply blown him away. It was actually quite endearing. My Cuban Adonis, a hall of fame lady killer, in the deep quicksand of passion . . . and with only one woman this time. She had been by the office a couple of times and from the glow, she was in right alongside him. I was expecting Don Juan to be shelling out for a diamond if this went on much longer.
In the meantime, Henri had caught us several times. P.T Barnum said, “Never give a sucker an even break.” And we wuz them. The kid was simply a whiz. He was very bright and his affection and respect for his mother just made you want to hug him until his golden eyes popped. He always did a beautiful number on Ricky’s Caddy and he always ate two Quarter Pounders, large fries and slurped down a monster Coke at lunch.
I was dying to meet his mother. I wanted to tell her she was raising the first Haitian president of the U.S. I decided the next time he showed up, I would get the address of the souvenir shop she managed.
Sure enough, when Friday came, so did Henri. We waved at him as we approached. As we got closer, his smile seemed a bit off kilter.
“Is Henri limping?” Ricky asked.
He was. There was cut just above his eye and the blood had hardened to create a nasty welt. There were scabs on his elbows and knees and his lower lip was visibly swollen.
“Henri, did you fall off your bike?”
He looked down at the pavement and shook his head slowly. I thought for a moment the tears would escape, but he rolled his shoulders and gritted his teeth. Ricky bent down and gently placed his hand under the boy’s chin. He looked into Henri’s eyes. The wounds were even worse up close.
“So what is it, Henri? You been fighting?”
“Yes, Sir. I mean sort of . . .”
“Come on Henri. This is Ricky. You, me, Dee. We’re compadres. You can trust me. What do you mean ‘sort of . . . ?”
Henri took a moment to decide, then he looked at Ricky and spoke,“Dey jump me. De Ju Ju D’s.
“And who are these guys?”
“Dey run with Big Ju Ju. Call him Bijet for short. He tell them what to do. Dey want me join dem. I be a member of de gang. I do what dey say. I tol’ dem no. Dat’s what happen to my brother. Momma say no more. Her heart cannot be broken again. She love me. I love her. I no see her hurt like de las time.”
“Okay, Henri. Forget the car today. Dee and I are awfully hungry. I think we all ought to go eat. You can talk if you want to, but if not we’ll just scarf up some burgers. What do you say?”
“I love you, Ricky. You like my papa. You too, Dee. I eat wid you.”
I wasn’t sure whether Ricky was going to dance or cry. He put his arm around the kid and squeezed. The kid squeezed back. Hell, even Diabla, the scar worn she-devil, was getting a little misty.
Henri didn’t say much at lunch, but I did get the address of the shop his mom managed. It was on Seabreeze, a block or so off of the beach. No more waiting. Now I was definitely going to pay a friendly little visit. Ricky and I talked after lunch. He doesn’t get mad very often , but this time he was seriously pissed off. In his mind and his heart, he had adopted the dark little waif. Say what you want, but the kid had character and was already developing a deep sense of honor. Unfortunately those two commodities are getting all too rare as technology and general nastiness devour us all.
Ricky wanted to go to see Henri’s Mom with me, but I pulled the female card on him. I honestly thought she might be intimidated by two of us. He wasn’t too rational right now and that was a little scary. I’d seen him blowup before and I didn’t want to see it again if I had the choice.
“Come on, Ricky. Admit that Ms. Toussaint will probably be more forthcoming with another woman. Besides, you get kind of crazy when you’re pissed, which you definitely are. And you don’t always control it very well.”
His gave me a whole body scowl, but reluctantly agreed. I promised I would report in as soon as I had talked to her. It was only 2:15, and I thought I might be able to catch her in the lull after lunch. Ricky went back to the office to shuffle papers and cover the phones. I piled into my old Focus and made for the beach.