by K'wan
“Good news?” Pearl was out of the loop.
Mr. Dubois looked at Mrs. Dubois, who gave him the approving nod that it was okay to continue. “Sheila got into Rutgers University,” he confessed, to both Pearl’s and Marisa’s surprise. “It was only a partial scholarship, so everybody in the family had started taking on extra work so that we could make up the difference by the time she had to leave for New Jersey at the end of the school year.”
Pearl couldn’t hide the shock on her face. She knew that Sheila wasn’t a dummy—all the girls in the crew got good grades—but Rutgers? All Sheila had ever talked about was partying, boys, and money. Whenever the subject of college had come up, Sheila had always laughed it off as if college was a big waste of time. Pearl guessed she kept it to herself so as not to be ribbed by the cool kids about wanting to make something of herself. Now it made sense why Sheila was willing to go as far as she had for extra money. This made Pearl feel even worse for the way she had judged her.
“I had no idea,” Pearl said just above a whisper.
“She was very secretive about it,” Mrs. Dubois spoke up softly. “We tried to tell Sheila that it was an accomplishment she should be proud of, but she was worried about people making fun of her for it. These are sad times we live in when children are ridiculed for wanting to better themselves,” she said. “If there’s anything at all either of you can offer to help us understand what really happened, we would deeply appreciate it.”
Pearl looked to Marisa, who was trying hard to maintain her poker face, but she could tell she was moments from breaking down. Pearl was about to tell Sheila’s parents everything she knew about the party and the guys when Marisa leaned forward and spoke.
“We snuck in on our own. Nobody took us there,” she lied.
Mr. Dubois looked like he didn’t buy it, but he left the subject alone. “Come. There’s nothing else to be learned here.” He helped his wife to her feet. “Ladies, if you’ll excuse us, we have to go home and tell Sheila’s siblings that their sister is dead.”
Mrs. Dubois allowed her husband to lead her toward the door. Her shoulders were hunched like she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. Before leaving, she looked back at the girls and mustered a weak smile. “If nothing else, I’m glad to know that my daughter had good friends like you in her life, no matter how short it was.”
“This is so fucked up.” Marisa flopped onto her pillows and released a heavy sigh after the Duboises had gone.
“Tell me about it. I feel horrible about lying to them. Maybe we should’ve told Sheila’s parents what really went down,” Pearl suggested.
“Maybe, but what good what it have done? Sheila would still be dead, and we’d be branded snitches if it ever got out that we told on Doodles and his crew. Nah, telling them would’ve created more problems and still no resolution.”
Marisa had a point, but it still didn’t make Pearl feel any better about it.
Just then the nurse came into the room, holding a clipboard. “I need to check on the patient. You’re going to have to step out for a few minutes,” she told Pearl.
“It’s cool. I should get going anyway.” Pearl leaned in and hugged her friend. “You make sure you call me when they discharge you.”
“Pearl,” Marisa called after her as she headed for the door. “What happened last night that made you just cut out like that without saying anything? Did something go down?”
Pearl considered telling her what had happened with Zonnie and the fight she and Sheila had had outside, but what would be the point? “Nah, just trying to get home before my dad did. That’s all.”
* * *
By the time Pearl staggered out of Marisa’s hospital room, she felt dizzy. It was like the weight of everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours was finally settling in on. No matter how much she tried to block them out she kept seeing Mrs. Dubois’s pain-filled eyes pleading with them or the truth and the lie she had allowed Marisa to feed them. She felt ill and need to brace herself against the wall to keep from falling.
“You good?” Knowledge reached to help steady her, but Pearl pulled away.
“I’m fine,” Pearl pushed off the wall and kept moving. She went from staggering, to hurried steps, and finally jogged down the hall toward the stairs.
“Wait! Where are you going?”
Pearl heard Knowledge calling after her, but didn’t stop to reply. Honestly, she had no clue where she was going. She just knew she had to get out of that place.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
The meeting with Eddie had been confirmed and was set to take place at a restaurant in Washington Heights, Eddie’s home turf. This was where he felt most comfortable, which was why Diamonds changed the location at the last minute. What he had said to Vita about not being worried about Eddie trying anything was true, but he also wasn’t foolish enough to tempt fate. Having them meet somewhere both public and neutral would keep everyone honest.
It was really a twofold precaution. Diamonds wanted to assure that there were no surprises in store for him, but more important, he was testing his sponsor’s sincerity about backing their plans for New York. He had fully expected Eddie to balk at the unexpected change and possibly insist that they stick to the original plan, so when Eddie agreed with minimal fuss, it raised a red flag. Diamonds had yet to meet Eddie personally, but he knew his type. Men in positions of power didn’t defer to those who they saw as beneath them, and the fact that he had done so meant that there was more to this meeting than Diamonds was being told.
When Diamonds arrived at the Columbus Circle subway station, he wasn’t surprised to see Eddie and Blanco already there, waiting. What did throw him was the fact that TJ was also there. He and TJ were supposed to hook up and attend the meeting together, but he hadn’t been able to get him on the phone since the initial call to set everything up. For a minute Diamonds had thought his cousin was going to leave him hanging, but there he was, snickering and grinning all in Eddie’s face. Diamonds made a mental note to himself about how cozy TJ and Eddie seemed to be as of late.
“Bonjou, gentlemen,” Diamonds greeted them.
“Sup, cuz?” TJ embraced him.
“You tell me. I’ve been trying to get you on the phone but kept getting your voice mail,” Diamonds told him.
“My fault. My phone is dead and Teisha has had me running around all day with this baby shower shit and I haven’t had a chance to charge it,” TJ said smoothly.
“Is that right?” Diamonds glanced at the cell phone clamped to TJ’s belt. “Don’t worry about it, cousin. Let’s go ahead and get this meeting started.”
“Right,” TJ said, seeming relieved that Diamonds had let the subject of his phone go. “Eddie,” he called to the older Hispanic man, who had been eyeing the exchange, “this is my cousin Diamonds. Diamonds, this is Eddie.”
“So, this is the guy who levels an entire city block to take the life of one man?” Eddie regarded Diamonds.
Diamonds shrugged as if it were nothing. “Sometimes making a mess is the best way to really drive your point home. Before we get to discussing sensitive topics, might I suggest we do it away from prying ears?”
* * *
A few minutes later they were all standing on the platform of the uptown-bound A train. It was crowded with people hustling back and forth, and it seemed like there was a train pulling in and out of the station every few minutes, creating quite a bit of noise.
“Tell me why you wanted to have this meeting in a subway station again? We can barely hear ourselves over the noise!” Eddie shouted over the squealing breaks of a train that had just pulled in.
“That’s the exact reason I picked this place. If we can’t hear ourselves, neither can anyone else,” Diamonds explained.
“What, did you think we’d come to this meeting wearing wires?” Blanco asked defensively.
“I’d never disrespect a man of Eddie’s caliber by suggesting something like that. My words are not for
everyone’s ears,” Diamonds told him.
“Sounds like bullshit to me!” Blanco spat.
“And I can respect your opinion, but seeing how you ain’t the head nigga in charge, it holds no weight in this dialogue,” Diamonds capped.
Blanco took a menacing step toward Diamonds, but Eddie waved him off. “Everybody, relax. We’re all friends here, aren’t we?”
“That’s exactly what I’m trying to figure out. My cousin said you wanted to meet me, so here I am,” Diamonds said, getting right to it.
“First and foremost I want to commend you on that piece of work you handled for us yesterday…,” Eddie began. “I have to admit, when TJ came to me and said you could succeed where others had failed, I was skeptical. Pana had a small army behind him, and you were but a handful.”
“Sometimes a handful is all it takes, especially when everybody is dedicated to a common goal,” Diamonds said proudly.
“And what is your goal here, in New York?” Eddie asked him.
“It’s like we told you from the beginning: all we’re looking for is to carve out a little niche to call our own. With your blessing of course,” TJ answered, which got him a sharp look from Diamonds.
“My blessing, huh?” Eddie repeated TJ’s words, but studied Diamonds’s face, which was unreadable. “Well, my friends, a nice little niche you shall have. As per our agreement, all Pana’s territories are now yours. Of course, it’ll be up to you and your people to stomp out any wayward roaches you might’ve missed during your initial extermination. There are still some who are loyal to Pana’s cause.”
“And they will stand with him again soon enough,” Diamonds assured him.
“After seeing your body of work so far, there’s no doubt in my mind about that,” Eddie agreed. “Now that we’ve got the official business out of the way, let’s get into something unofficial. I hear you and Pops Brown had a conversation that went south.”
Diamonds cut his eyes at TJ, who lowered his gaze. “I don’t know if I’d call it that. More like a tough negotiation, but in the end we were able to come to terms we both deemed fair.”
“I guess that all depends on which end of the negotiations you’re on, considering Pops’s bar is now a pile of sticks and ash on the corner of a Hundred and Forty-Fifth Street,” Eddie said.
“An unfortunate accident, but from the rubble of something new will sprout something bigger and better. You have my word on it,” Diamonds promised.
“That old bar was an eyesore, but it don’t change the fact that nobody authorized you to move on it. That wasn’t part of our initial agreement,” Eddie told him.
Diamonds’s nose scrunched. “Eddie, maybe there was a miscommunication somewhere. Our initial agreement was just that: initial. You and your uncle Michael looked the other way when we greased Pana, and now we have free rein to flood his territory with coke so long as we buy from you. With all due respect, I don’t see how what we do outside of that arrangement is any of your business.”
“It becomes my business when you go and do something that can bring heat down on my head!” Eddie shot back.
“Eddie, it isn’t as bad as it seems. This is an easy fix,” TJ interjected.
“An easy fix?” Eddie’s angry eyes turned to TJ. “How is potentially starting a war because you and your little friends got overambitious an easy fix? TJ, you’re local, so I shouldn’t have to tell you how much love the streets had for that old man and how closely people are gonna look at this. How long do you think it’ll take for them to make the connection between Pana getting killed and Pops getting muscled out?”
“Not long at all, I suppose,” Diamonds spoke up. “And when that time comes, you’ll have no cause to worry, because all eyes will turn to us.”
“That’d be a hell of a lot of eyes. You think you and your little crew can handle that type of heat?” Eddie asked.
“Let’s just say I’m more than confident in our resourcefulness. Just know that regardless of how it plays out, I’d never compromise your or your uncle’s positions. I’d gladly fall on the sword before I let that happen,” Diamonds assured him. “Not to be rude, but if we’re done here, I’ve got shit to do.”
Eddie slapped his palms together as if he were dusting something from between them. “I guess you got it all figured out, big man. Enjoy the rest of your day,” he said dismissively.
Diamonds caught the slight, but he let it go and simply walked off. TJ gave Eddie an apologetic shrug before following his cousin.
“I don’t like that arrogant son of a bitch,” Blanco said once Diamonds was out of earshot.
“Not arrogant—ambitious,” Eddie corrected him. “Maybe too ambitious for his own good. I fear we may have invited a weasel into our henhouse.”
“You want me to put a bullet in him, boss?” Blanco asked, hoping he’d get the green light.
Eddie pondered it. “No, you’re far too valuable to me to lose. Put a set of eyes on him. I want to know his comings and goings at all times. Also, have some of our people downtown dig up whatever they can on our mysterious friend from New Orleans. If Diamonds has a weakness, we need to find it. We may end up having to euthanize that rabid dog.”
* * *
“I don’t know if it was such a good idea for you to speak to Eddie the way you did,” TJ griped when they came out of the subway station.
“What you talking, TJ? All I did was let him know what it’s hitting for.”
“No, you told him to go fuck himself,” TJ countered. “Eddie is trying to look out for us, so maybe we need to show a little more gratitude.”
“How, by choking on a yard of his dick and asking him to go deeper?” Diamonds spat. “Sorry, T. Blow jobs are your thing, not mine.”
“And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?” TJ asked.
“It means, you need to learn to shut that fucking mouth of yours when grown folks are talking,” Diamonds spat.
“I’ve got just as much at stake in this as anybody, Diamonds. Or did you forget who it was who stuck their neck out to get you on your feet in New York?” TJ reminded him.
“Nah, I ain’t forgettin’ what you done, T. It’s because of that and the fact that you’re my mama’s nephew that I didn’t slap the dog shit out of you the first time you drifted out of your lane. You’re treading on thin ice, so I suggest you get your ass back on solid grown before you fall in.”
“Diamonds, I’m a little tired of you talking to me like I’m Buda or one of them niggas. We’re supposed to be partners in this, and you need to start showing me a little respect,” TJ demanded.
“Whatever.” Diamonds made to walk away, but TJ refused to let it go.
“Don’t walk away from me when I’m talking to you!” TJ grabbed Diamonds’s arm and quickly learned the error of his ways.
Faster than the naked eye could follow, Diamonds whipped out the black dagger and pressed it to TJ’s throat. His other hand grabbed a handful of TJ’s shirt. “Tenderhearted nigga, how dare you call yourself stepping to me over how I run my crew?” he hissed. “I put you in position, TJ, and I can take you out of position. The only reason my people ain’t gobbled your slick-talking ass up is because you’re my family, but don’t let the blood we share fool you into thinking I won’t feed your ass to the great beyond if you open your mouth one more damn time without me telling you to. Do we understand each other?”
“Yeah, man … you got it,” TJ said nervously.
“Good.” Diamonds lowered the blade and smoothed the wrinkles he’d created in TJ’s shirt. “Now you go and finish helping that pretty girlfriend of yours prepare for the baby shower. I’ve got a new property I need to inspect.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Whenever Pearl was stressed-out, she ran to blow off steam, so run she did when she came bursting out on the lobby of Harlem Hospital like the devil was on her heels. The blocks fell behind her at a steady pace as she jogged north up Lenox Avenue. She had no idea where she going and honestly didn’t care; she
just needed her legs to carry her to a place where it didn’t hurt anymore.
Seeing Marisa laid up had done a number on her, but sending Sheila’s parents away, still with lingering questions about what had happened to their little girl, fucked her up. Was Marisa right that telling them about Doodle’s party would’ve brought about more problems than closure, or had she just convinced herself that it was the right thing because the lie was easier than the truth?
Pearl continued her run until her lungs began to pulse and the smell of charred wood slipped into her flared nostrils. She was hunkered down so deep in the recesses of her mind that she hadn’t even realized where she was going until she saw what remained of Pops’s bar looming just ahead of her. The once jumping night spot was now little more than a smoldering husk. A small crowd of people were gathered behind the yellow police tape that roped the place off, speculating about what had happened and mourning the loss of what had been considered a landmark to the locals. Pearl was also mourning a loss, but not for the bar. She couldn’t help but wonder what Sheila’s last moments must’ve been like, and prayed that her death came quickly.
“They say that if you love something, you should let it go. If it was meant to be, it’ll come back. So I guess this was meant to be.” A voice came from behind Pearl, startling her. She turned to see the jeweled smile of the man she had shared a drink with in that very same bar the night before. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You didn’t scare me—just caught me off guard.” Pearl wiped beneath her eyes with the backs of her hands.
Diamonds’s smile faded when he noticed she had been crying. “Why the long face? It’s just a bar. In six months I’m sure they’ll be another wateringhole to take its place. Let’s just hope the next one is built sturdier than a tinderbox.” He joked in an attempt to make her laugh, but her face darkened.