Black Escape

by C. J. Thomas

  Stuffing O’Brien’s card inside my jacket pocket, I turned to leave. There was nothing more for us here, not without those tapes. Maxwell took the rear and, once we were in a quiet section of the main lobby, he asked, “Do you think he’s lying?”

  “If you mean purposely omitting information he doesn’t want us to know about, then yes, he is lying.” I rooted my hands in my hips and looked around as if I didn’t know where I was anymore.

  “I was here at 10PM.” Maxwell’s tone was low as he talked in my ear. “I didn’t see anybody.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” I said.

  “Maybe Fletcher was the one who broke into your apartment and O’Brien was sent here to destroy the evidence before we came for it ourselves?” Kendra mused. “They could be partners, working together.”

  “It’s possible.”

  “I let you down, Kelly,” Maxwell said.

  “It’s not your fault.” My head swiveled back and forth on my shoulders as I considered what to do next. Then I turned to Kendra. “It’s like you said, they are always one step ahead of us.”

  Her breathing quickened as I got lost in her beautiful greens.

  “Tell me what to do, Kelly,” Maxwell said. “I’ll do anything to make this right.”

  My mind churned. We knew Madam and Oscar were coming after us. Madam needed what I had on Oscar and they were using all of their available resources to get it. This was getting dirty, and fast. “Outside of this circle, no one can be trusted. Got it?”

  “What about Giselle?” Kendra inquired.

  “You let me handle her.” My eyes moved between them. “We keep under the radar. Keep our heads down, always assume we have a tail. If we’re going to bring down Oscar and use him to get to Madam, we need to be smart about this.”

  “What do you suggest we do?” Maxwell asked.

  Holding up detective O’Brien’s card, I said, “First, we look into his credentials. Then we meet him face-to-face and ask him why the tapes were taken and why I wasn’t contacted. It’s my apartment. My issue. I should have been notified.”

  Kendra nodded. “Unless they’re after what Madam needs from you?”

  “We might have two dirty cops on our hands. Let’s say they do work for Madam and they didn’t find what they were looking for here so needed to cover up the evidence of them breaking into my apartment. As for Fletcher, get a visual on him.” I flicked my gaze to Maxwell. “It will make things easier if we all know what the hell he looks like. Something tells me that this is connected to Oscar and it’s just one more piece of evidence we can use to build a case to prove his corruption.”

  We all shared a knowing look before heading to the exit. Pushing through the double glass doors, I thought how none of this was coincidence and it was the pressure Madam warned Kendra about. It had to be.

  My cell phone rang. It was Giselle. I answered. “Kelly, something’s going down. I’m at the office. The police are here and they have a warrant to search the premises.”

  Just my fucking luck.

  34

  Kelly

  The heat was on.

  Our situation was quickly spiraling out of control.

  A pressure headache formed and, with it, came the intense feeling of my head being squeezed like a melon.

  Fletcher could be part of the problem, or maybe he was a good cop who Oscar wanted me to believe was bad. Confusion twisted and swirled before doubling over on itself. There were too many unknowns. Now I was thinking this O’Brien character might actually be Oscar’s man on the street—doing his dirty work in the name of solidifying his power within the city.

  When we pulled up to the office, I shared a concerned glance with Kendra.

  My stomach dropped and suddenly I felt sick.

  First, the mayor turned his back on me. Then the hotel security tapes went missing. Now this: a swarm of police cars and uniformed officers buzzing like bees in and out of the hive.

  “Do you think either of the detectives are here?” Kendra asked in a soft voice.

  “Chances are good,” I said, looking for the two cops who’d stopped by to ask about the shooting at Tonya’s funeral. I wondered if they could have been Fletcher and O’Brien at the start of their harassment. It made sense. “But without knowing what either of them look like, it’s impossible to know for sure.”

  Unbuckling my belt, I reached for the weapon tucked under my arm and stashed my gun away in the glove box. I didn’t need any more trouble than what was already here—even if I had a permit for concealed carry. Then I glanced to Kendra and told her to cover up her bruises. She did as she was told as I caught sight of Maxwell in the rearview mirror fill the empty space behind us. He stepped out of the SUV, looking on at the chaos unfolding before us.

  “They’re not going to stop until they get what they want,” Kendra muttered as she focused on the activity, double wrapping the shawl around her neck.

  A part of me wanted to fool myself into believing this was some kind of standard routine, but we both knew it wasn’t. And that was what I loved about Kendra. She had a no BS, take no prisoner’s attitude that reflected her incredible intelligence. She was as sharp as a knife and, despite our rocky situation, I could feel her confidence building to levels when we’d first met. “There’s nothing to worry about,” I said, seeing Giselle stride toward us. “The files aren’t here either.”

  Kendra never bothered to look in my direction. I wasn’t offended. Took it as a sign she was trusting me with what I knew to be true.

  Stepping under the sun, I met Giselle. A second later, Kendra was by my side. “When did they get here?” I asked, Giselle.

  “Twenty minutes ago.” She flicked her eyes over to me. Her arms folded over her chest. “That’s when I called you.” She pulled the warrant from her back pocket. “The warrant is bullshit, Kelly. Pure intimidation to get us to back off our investigation into Oscar.”

  Taking it from her hand, I read over the script before handing it to Kendra. As Kendra studied the text, I caught Giselle up on everything that had transpired since my last meeting with the mayor. She’d seen the news, knew about the reward, and was equally as shocked about the security tapes going missing.

  “This is fucked up, Kelly.” Giselle ran a heavy hand over her hair. “I don’t know how we’re going to win this one when Madam has the entire city bought.”

  “We’ll keep following the leads. Eventually someone will crack when the pressure builds.”

  “Kelly Black,” a man’s voice said from behind.

  I turned around to find a tall, athletically built man striding toward me with his badge out. He didn’t have to go through the formality. I knew who he was—the chief of police. “Chief, can you tell me what this is about?” I asked as Giselle excused herself from the circle.

  “I’m afraid I can’t.” He stood by my side, staring ahead, watching his men work. “All I can say is that no one who isn’t authorized will be allowed to enter until they’re finished with the search.”

  “Who ordered this?”

  He looked at me sideways.

  “They’re wasting their time. I have nothing to hide, nothing worth looking into.”

  “I’m afraid the warrant,” he turned to Kendra and took the paper out of her hands, “says otherwise.”

  “I’m not a criminal. Only a criminal defense attorney.” I winked, hoping to lighten the mood.

  “I’m not here to judge, Kelly.” He flicked his eyes forward. “Only following orders.”

  “By the mayor? The DA’s office? Just tell me who’s calling the shots.”

  Heavy lids fell over his eyes. “Just stay out of the way until we’re finished.”

  The chief left and we took refuge from the blaring sun beneath a tree nearby. “Are you sure they won’t find anything in there, Kelly?” Kendra asked, keeping her bruises hidden and covered. I knew what the cops would think if they saw what Madam had done to her. And it wouldn’t do me any favors. “I mean, you have all the cases
you’ve ever worked on inside that office.”

  I took her shoulders into my hands and smoothed my palms down her arms. Pulling her against my chest, she pushed her hands over my tight waist and clasped them behind my back. “They won’t find anything of use,” I murmured, kissing her head, but she still seemed unsettled by what I was telling her.

  We rocked in each other’s arms for a long pause as I did a quick mental inventory of what they might find. Nothing set off a red flag. My work was all legit. Even the work I performed for Mario and Stone. My work for Madam was camouflaged to never link us together. Even if they found those files, they wouldn’t know what they were looking at.

  “Where is it, Kelly, and what is so important that you took from Sylvia’s apartment to make Oscar and Madam go to this amount of effort to find?”

  Watching officers of different genders and color move in and out of my office, carrying boxes in their arms, I said, “Nothing that needs to be said here.”

  I knew what I had in my office but I couldn’t account for everything Giselle kept at her desk. And that kept my stomach clenched as I watched the cops take way more than what was necessary.

  If I was Oscar, I’d would dig through every record with a fine-toothed comb, erasing Madam’s name from my history while making sure to highlight anything that could build a case against me. That was what I didn’t tell Kendra—that the cuffs might one day land on me.

  When Giselle rejoined us in the shade, I said, “They’re going through your stuff, too.”

  “Nothing to worry about, Kelly,” she assured me.

  “They’re after the files we took from Sylvia’s apartment.”

  She looked me directly in the eye. “Mine are in a safe location.”

  “Good.” I crossed my arms and flicked my gaze over her shoulder. “Keep it that way.”

  “Kelly, can I speak with you?” Kendra pulled me aside. Her face was still contorted with deep concern for what we were witnessing.

  “What is it?” I asked, seeing her eyes nervously drift over my face.

  “Remember when I mentioned to you that Madam told me you were working on my uncle’s gambling debt?”

  Narrowing my eyes, I nodded.

  “Well, what if that is what they’re looking for?”

  I glanced to the front door, then let my gaze fall back to Kendra.

  “If it is in there, and they decide to look further into the files, my uncle will connect you to Madam and it will open up a whole new investigation on the work you did for her.”

  Feeling my heart hammer in my chest, I was beginning to see Kendra’s concern. “If I bring down Madam, I essentially bring myself down.”

  “Exactly.” Her eyes widened.

  Turning my head to the side, I shoved my fingers through my hair. More boxes were being carried out. More unknowns I hadn’t even thought of being stacked in the back of the police van. Kendra was right. Marvin’s files could be hidden somewhere inside there. Somewhere buried deep in a stash of paperwork I’d worked long ago, not thinking twice about it. I couldn’t be sure.

  Maybe Madam wasn’t after what we thought. Maybe she was creating her own insurance policy to make sure I knew what was truly at stake. If she was going down, I was going down. If this was true, it was a big gamble on her part. Because maybe I would be willing to sacrifice my own freedom if it meant taking hers away.

  Kendra startled when my cell phone started to ring. Taking a step back, I fished it out of my pocket and felt my mouth go slack when I saw who was calling.

  “Who is it?” Kendra asked.

  Pins and needles prickled my chest. “Madam.”

  Staring at the phone, it continued to ring. How did she know? It was like she could read my thoughts—know exactly when I was thinking of her. I debated whether to pick it up or not. But the coincidence was too big for her to not know what was happening.

  “Don’t answer it, Kelly,” Kendra pleaded.

  I did anyway. “Fancy you calling.”

  Madam’s cackle ripped through the line. “It’s been awhile, son.”

  Thinking about my family and what both Sylvia and Stone told me she did to have them killed, I grinded my teeth and bit my tongue.

  “You’re not still mad at me for Jerome taking a shot at you, are you?”

  Breathing heavily, I said, “I know what you did and how you did it.”

  “I’m sorry?” Her calm voice floated into my ear.

  I lowered my head, feeling my muscles jump and recoil. “You killed my family.”

  “Now, that’s not very nice of you to say. I’ve been like a mother to you.”

  “You thought I’d never find out? That you could get away with it?” I snapped, snickering a disbelieving laugh. “Oh, no. You’ve created too many enemies for them to keep your secret from surfacing. People are talking and, if I were you, I would be very worried.”

  “How is your sex life, Kelly?” She changed the subject as if she didn’t hear a word I said. “Is it good? Is Kendra meeting your expectations?”

  I couldn’t stop myself from rolling my gaze to Bella. I thought about how she flinched at my touch. That, despite her giving me head, I still felt like I was being rejected by the woman I loved. Though, I was also convinced Kendra’s actions toward me were because of what Madam did to her while she was held in captivity. The ills of her torture bearing the fruit of Madam’s labor.

  “Cat’s got your tongue?” I could feel Madam’s grin spread through the line. “Your sex life is that good, huh?” She cackled. “Oscar did mention his date the other night. And, quite frankly, I am surprised you’re spending your time fighting for someone who is a mannequin in bed.” Kendra’s porcelain features shined back as she looked on, wondering what Madam was saying. “But now I understand why you weren’t able to make her submit. You weren’t tough enough. Or maybe it was your lack of desire, knowing that she wasn’t worth your time and, if you waited long enough, someone better would come along.”

  Feeling my fingers curl and press into my palm, I asked, “What’s the purpose of this call? Because, the way I see it, I have what you need. Kendra isn’t going to hand it over to you, and neither am I. That’s right, Kendra told me. And, soon, the city will know that you have Oscar bought.”

  “No, I didn’t think either of you would.” Madam paused. “Are those sirens I hear in the background?”

  Looking around, there were no sirens. She was just fucking with my head. Doing what she did best.

  “They arrived. Good,” she said smugly. “I knew I couldn’t count on your sweet Bella to do as she was told. She never was a good listener. I had to send the professionals to dig for it myself.”

  “If they find anything, you’ll go down with me.”

  “Is that a gamble you’re willing to take?” Madam laughed. “You’re past your prime, Black. Time to retire, move on. Don’t you think?”

  “You’ve lost sight of everything you once stood for, and I’m the fool who believed in you.”

  “If you don’t retire, I’ll make the decision for you.” Madam’s liquid voice solidified. “In fact, a sealed envelope is waiting to be opened on Oscar’s desk and I think it’s something you both might be very interested in discussing.”

  “You killed, Patrick. Not me.”

  “I think your toxicology report tells a different story.”

  “You went too far this time, Maddy. Your greed is what will bring you down.” I lowered my voice into a snarl. “Along with my vengeance.”

  “You know what I want.” Her words were crisp. “My patience is wearing thin. Don’t make me continue humiliating you. Especially not in front of the woman you foolishly love.”

  35

  Kendra

  I hated him for taking the call.

  Madam was toying with us, proving that she held our lives in her hands.

  As I stood listening to Kelly’s side of the conversation, my mind went wild, imagining everything my mind could conjure up. I refused to believe th
at we couldn’t win this. Seeing the conspiracy building around us, I knew that I needed to do something before Kelly sought martyrdom.

  Kelly’s conversation seemed to have taken a turn for the worse.

  He turned away and I could hear his frustration seeping through each of his words. With pinched brows, I wondered what Madam was saying—what threats she was dishing out in order to get what she was after.

  Glancing over my shoulder, I watched the police continue filing in and out of Kelly’s office. My muscles tensed, speculating when my day of reckoning would come—because it would, striking when I least expected. For now, Madam seemed intent on going after Kelly, and that kept me on edge. It was a slow, drawn out death that killed each of us softly.

  Maxwell was leaning against his car, choosing to remain an invisible bystander. He kept a watchful eye on the situation unfolding, making sure procedures were being followed. Flicking my gaze to Giselle, she was on and off her cell, keeping me guessing to whom it was she was talking.

  I narrowed my eyes with thoughts spilling over into a rainbow of theories and conspiracies.

  The more I thought about how we could never seem to catch a break, the more I wondered about her. Giselle. Kelly’s associate. The one person who knew almost everything he was working on. As I stared at her pacing in tiny circles with her eyes bouncing between the ground and the office, it didn’t take me long to begin to think about her boyfriend, Drake Goodman.

  Biting the inside of my cheek, I thought back to the times Drake seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Finding me here, locked out, always catching me at the most opportune time for him to drop subtle hints that he knew more about me than I knew of him. Then the other night when I finally broke down and called him, seeking his help, he mentioned how he knew I was dining with the district attorney.

  Giselle caught me staring.

  I held my gaze, feeling my eyes narrow further into sharp slits that cut through the air.