“So Jon hired you huh?”
“Yes ma’am and if you don’t mind I have a few questions for you.”
She leaned back against the counter top.
“Shoot.”
“How was your relationship with your daughter?”
“It was great, my little rider.”
“Rider, ma’am?”
She cracked a smile.
“Yes, that’s what I called her. She was tough. Been that way since she was a little girl never scared of nothing. I said she was mama’s ride or die. My little rider.”
“And your husband?”
“What about him?”
“How was the relationship between him and your daughter?”
“He was the disciplinarian, he loves her Mr. Love but I would be lying if I said they never bumped heads, especially now.”
“What do you mean now?”
She hesitated before answering.
“You know she’s entering the teenage years. 15 think she knows everything. Jon’s a father before anything. Add on top of that he’s a cop and he came from these same streets that she wanted to run in.” She smirked. “Yeah they didn’t always see eye to eye.”
“Around the time of her disappearance were they in the not seeing eye to eye phase or had that passed?”
“What kind of question is that?”
“A reasonable one.”
She paused. Cleared her throat.
“They were fine Mr. Love, can we move on?”
“Yes ma’am. What about her friends?”
“She has only one real friend.”
“And that is?”
“Cheryl Jones, goes to school with her they’ve been tight since grammar school.”
“You know where she stays?”
“Hyde Park, I’ll get her address.”
She left the kitchen and quickly returned with a sheet of paper, she handed it to Black. He shoved the paper in his pocket without looking at it. He stood to his feet.
“Is that all?”
She asked. Black looked deeper into her face, he hadn’t paid much attention before. Underneath her eyes were puffy and red. He could tell she had been crying and looked as if she hadn’t slept.
“One last thing ma’am. When was the last time you saw Joanne?”
“A month ago.”
“Thank you ma’am.”
He said his good byes and made his way through the house to the front door and out to his car. Once inside his car he placed the key in the ignition turned it and shifted into drive. Before he pulled off he looked back at the house just as Mrs. Edwards ducked her head back inside from the curtains that she had been peeking out of when he first arrived. He shook his head sadly and pulled off.
Chapter Five
It wasn’t long before he was at the address Mrs. Edwards had provided. People were standing around everywhere posted on corners talking and laughing. Kids are running around playing. All eyes were on him as he parked. He was used to it, he was an unfamiliar face in their neighborhood. He ignored the gawkers and continued on his way, upon reaching the apartment building he was looking for he grabbed the security door and pulled it open. The lock was broken, typical for this area. Walking down the hall until he found the apartment he was looking for he heard loud music on the other side of the door. He banged on the door. He was hoping that her parents allowed him to speak to their daughter. The music went off abruptly. He stood at the door listening. There was silence, then whispering. He reached to knock again and the door swung open.
“Who you looking for?”
The squeaky voice female asked staring eye to eye with Black.
“Mrs. Jones.”
“Who are you?”
“Black Love, is she home?”
“She ain’t here, what you want?”
“I wanted to talk to you. Are you Cheryl?”
The young girl took a step back. Black peeked into the apartment, from the quick glance that he stole the apartment looked clean except for a man’s tennis shoe in the middle of the floor and a pair of panties. He looked at his watch then back to her for a response.
“You ain’t the police, what you want?”
“Is your father home?”
“Look you are going have to come back later, I’m busy.”
She attempted to go back into the apartment and close the door. Black held the door open with his hand.
“Wait, it’s about Joanne.”
Cheryl paused.
“What about her?”
“I’m trying to help her family find her.”
The door swung open a boy looked to be 18 maybe 19 years old stood on the other side no shirt, pants unfastened, hair locked in dreads, skin tone like midnight. He pulled Cheryl behind him.
“She said she’s busy, fuck outta here.”
Black stepped back, placed his hands in his pockets.
“And you are?”
“None of your fucking business.”
He attempted to close the door this time Black pushed him back forcing his way in the guy fell back on Cheryl, scrambling to get to his feet. Black rushed to where they both were and placed his foot on the boy’s wrist.
“Now we can talk like we have some sense or I can beat the hell out of you and call the police get you locked up for having sex with underage girls.”
“Under age? We go to the same school!”
The boy yelled out cockiness now gone from his voice. Cheryl was now irate she had begun swearing and pacing the room once back to her feet.
“Calm down Cheryl, sit down unless you want me to hurt your boyfriend here.”
“Fuck him, he not my man! Get out my house before my mama gets here. You can’t be doing this you not even the police, this some home invasion type shit.”
“I thought Joanne was your friend and you’d want to help get her home, guess I was wrong. Black released his foot from the boy’s wrist and helped him to his feet. He turned to leave. Cheryl grabbed his hand. He turned and faced her.
“What do you want to know?”
The boy interjected.
“Don’t tell him shit, he ain’t the law.”
Cheryl rolled her eyes ignoring him. She placed a hand on her hip. Black folded his arms across his chest watching the boy as he sized him up. Black could see in his eyes he didn’t want to go there physically with him. He stepped to the side allowing access to the door that was still open. He grabbed his shoes and shirt passed Black and Cheryl slamming the door closed behind him.
“So what’s up?”
Cheryl asked.
“When was the last time you saw Joanne?”
“I don’t know, a month ago.”
“What were you two doing?”
She shrugged her shoulders.
“I don’t know, regular shit.”
“Watch your mouth.”
She rolled her neck placing her hands on her hips.
“You ain’t my daddy.”
“Watch it anyway.”
She tried to stare him down, it didn’t work. She dropped her eyes to floor relaxing her shoulders. Black softened his tone.
“Now, what were you two doing?”
“I told the police all of this already.”
“I want to hear it from you, and I know you left something out. Detective and Mrs. Edwards told me. So just keep it real so I can do my job.”
He was lying, but she was a kid. Kids always left things out.
“Mr. Edwards told you she was pregnant?”
Black nodded, didn’t respond verbally. Needed to hide the shock. Why would that not be in the police report? He cleared his throat. Spoke.
“They wanted it quiet right?”
She nodded.
“Mr. Edwards. I’ve never seen him this mad before. Joanne she…”
She paused to catch her breath.
“She what?”
“The last time I saw her she came to school with bruises and I don’t know.”
&n
bsp; “Who’s the father?”
Cheryl stepped back. She diverted her eyes to the floor.
“I’ve told you enough. You have to go.”
“Cheryl look I….”
“NOW!”
She screamed out, pointing to the door. Black placed his hands on her shoulders, looked into her eyes.
“Thank you.”
She shrugged her shoulders once more removing his hands from her body.
“You ever need anything call me.”
He reached into his pocket and removed a business card, placed it in her hand. She reluctantly took the card. Followed him to the door and locked it once he was out.
Chapter Six
The fact that Joanne was presumably pregnant right before her disappearance put a new spin on the case. Black didn’t know where to go from here. Thought about asking her parents then changed his mind didn’t want to waste time they would only deny it. Especially if the father had something to hide. He thought the worst. Another idea he quickly dismissed was looking into her medical files see if an official pregnancy test result was on record. Another bad use of time, he dealt with doctors they would throw out that patient/client confidentiality crap. He cruised down King Drive thinking turning on the radio he glanced up at a Planned Parenthood billboard. It hit him, the abortion clinic. He made a U-turn and headed towards Trigger’s home, he would need her help.
Chapter Seven
“I’m telling you it’s going to work.”
Black said nonchalantly to Trigger as he weaved in between cars. Headed towards the Planned Parenthood nearest Joanne’s school he was surprised to find the parking lot so packed when he arrived. His lips tightened, nose flared, gritted his teeth. Trigger placed her hand on top of his which he balled into a fist.
“It’s alright Black, breathe.”
“Hmph….perfect word to use in a place like this. Breathe. Selfish, irresponsible…irresponsible…”
Trigger raised an eyebrow.
“People?”
“Cold hearted murderers more like it.”
“Don’t be so judgmental Black.”
“Judgmental!”
He yelled as he yanked his hand from her touch. She folded her arms across her chest, turned her face from his looking out the window.
“Yes judgmental, rude, and dramatic!”
Black drew in a nose full of air, then exhaled frustratingly.
“Let’s just do this.”
“Fine. But if it weren't for trying to get this girl back home, I would…”
They both got out of the car at the same time, slamming the doors closed.
“You would what?”
“Nothing Black, I can’t with you okay?”
“Whatever.”
He walked around to her side of the car and attempted to hug her as they walked into the building together. She pulled from his embrace, pushing his arms away from her.
“We don’t need all that bruh.”
Speaking through gritted teeth Black tried to contain his composure as he tried to keep stride with her.
“Trigger, we need to sell this girl damn.”
She laughed.
“I am selling it, just because we’re supposed to be a couple coming to get an abortion doesn’t mean we have to be a happy couple.”
Black rushed ahead and opened the door, holding it open for her. He put on an impartial smile as they both reached the receptionist.
“Hi, can I help you?”
The woman asked as she made eye contact with Trigger.
Trigger half-heartedly smiled.
“Yes, we uh…would like to see a doctor.”
“How far along are you?”
“3 months.”
“That’s still early yet, have a seat and fill out these forms.”
The woman handed Trigger the clipboard with a pen attached and they went and sat. Trigger began filling out the forms.
“Now what Black?”
“Need to get access to their files.”
“Why didn’t you ask your lil foreign girl friend?”
Black wasn’t in the mood to joke. He knew she was referring to his hacker Seshat, Trigger wasn’t the jealous type but her sense of humor was a bit off color.
“Didn’t want to worry her with something so small, I’ll figure it out on the fly.”
“What are you looking for anyway?”
“Need to know if there is a record of her ever coming here.”
“What we need is a distraction.”
Black laughed. “Like in a movie.”
Trigger hunched her shoulders. “You never know.”
Black leaned forward and slipped her a flash drive. “What then, start a fire?”
Trigger laughed. “Again, a little less dramatic Black. Go flirt with the girl.”
“Man, she already see us together.”
“So, if she trifling then she going any way, you know how chicks are. If not shit, tell her I’m your sister.”
“Cool, the flash drive I just slid to you a little something I got from Seshat, it will download everything from the hard drive.
Trigger nodded. Black licked his lips seductively. Trigger shook her head smiling.
“Go head you fake ass LL Cool J.”
He never turned back to her making his way to the receptionists counter. Black smiled and flirted for a few minutes. Trigger would glance from her clipboard every few seconds when she heard the receptionists laughing. Head still focused on the form and the fake information she put down she noticed she no longer heard any laughing when she looked up Black and the receptionists were both gone. She quickly made her way behind the counter and inserted the flash drive. Lights on the flash drive began to flash. She stood impatiently waiting. Not sure what she was waiting for he didn’t explain how it worked. She wasn’t even sure if it was working what seemed like an eternity which was only 2-3 minutes the flash drive beeped, stopped flashing and the led light shone a bright green assuming it was complete she snatched the flash drive from the computer and began walking towards the door. Black and the woman were still out there talking and laughing. Trigger walked past them as if she didn’t see them.
“I’m not killing our baby and you’re out here flirting with some random chick.”
The woman threw her hands in the air.
“I ain’t going…..you told me that was your sister.”
Black stood looking shocked as the two women walked in opposite directions. He quickly ran behind Trigger beating her to the car he snatched his door open and got in had the door closed, the car started and was shifting into drive before Trigger was even in the car good. She slammed the door closed.
“Did you get it?”
He asked out of breath.
“I believe so.”
She said as she twirled the flash drive in between her fingers. He smiled and smashed the gas pedal peeling from the parking lot.
Chapter Eight
After dropping Trigger off at home Black made his way home and logged on to his computer, placing the flash drive into the USB port he settled back into his chair preparing himself mentally to sift through what would no doubt be at least a megabyte of information. He thought of shooting the information over to Seshat to have her sift through it but didn’t want to burden her with what she may consider a trivial task. When the flash drive synced up with his laptop he double clicked the icon and it opened. It looked fairly easy to decipher it seemed that the files were separated by a handful of different physician’s patient’s lists. He clicked on the first doctor’s name: Dr. Kasparov. His last operation was dated two months before when Joanne would’ve had her abortion. He eliminated him from the list of names to search. Next he clicked on Dr. Alexander’s name during the month of when Joanne may have had her abortion performed the doctor had performed over 90 abortions.
“Jesus Christ . . . she’s a regular Dr. Death Kevorkian.”
Black
said to himself aloud as he began scrolling through the names, it didn’t take long before he came across Joanne’s name. He clicked on the name and the file opened up. He let his eyes scan the particulars of the operation focusing more on the personal notes that the doctor placed in the file.
“Patient was administered RU-486, an abortion drug and died on the table, she was resuscitated but as a result of the drug she may not be able to bare any future children. Neither the clinic nor I take any responsibility for this unfortunate mishap.”
Black closed the laptop.
“Unfortunate mishap? Fucking dogs. Where are you Joanne?”
Black leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. Okay, I have the proof of an abortion he thought to himself. Now what? He opened the screen back up and began scrolling back to the beginning of the file, just as he suspected. The name of the father was not listed. From the way the events where laying out he had his suspicions about who the father was. Just as an afterthought he began browsing through the names of the other patients. Not interested in the particulars of the case files just the ages for each patient he found under the age of 18 he printed out the file. He then went back and did the same for all of the physicians listed on the flash drive. When he had the printed files completed on more than 300 underage girls. He then separated the files by zip codes 200 of the girls were from the Southside. He emailed the list of young ladies that had abortions with addresses listed from the Southside to his hacker Seshat, wanted her to cross reference the names with missing girls from Chicago. It was just a hunch, may not get him anywhere but didn’t have anything to lose by looking.
Chapter Nine
He showered, shaved, and changed clothes. He chose to put on a black silk button up collar shirt, black silk dress slacks, and a pair of black leather dress shoes. Rubbing on cologne, he put his wallet and keys in his pants pocket and headed for the door. He paused the sound of wind chimes erupted from his phone. A text message. He checked the message, a number he didn’t know, 708 area code.
STONE: “SUP”
BLACK: “WHO IS THIS?”
STONE: “STONE.”
BLACK: “?”
STONE: “YOU FORGOT ME THAT QUICK?”
BLACK: “I DON’T HAVE TIME TO FUCK AROUND, WHO YOU LOOKING FOR?”
Cannibal in the City (Black Love Book 2) Page 3