Hustle & Heartache

by D. Gamblez

  “‘Kay, Dre. I promise Joy no talk. You trust me, I do what you say,” she assured me.

  “Let’s ride, fam,” I said after hanging up the phone and stepping back inside the house. “That bitch, Anika–she over at Jinx’s spot. Look, Crazy Curt With A Capitol C, maybe I’ll have some of that hyena shit next time, a’ight? And again, I appreciate the business and the hospitality. Holla at you in a little while, fam, and stay up, a’ight?” I said as I dabbed him.

  “Maybe I’ll let you’ll pet my alligator next time,” he chuckled devilishly as we headed out the door and jumped in the Suburban.

  As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, I spotted Jinx leaning against her hot-pink ‘01 Lexus ES400 with white leather interior. She was dressed in a red jean-skirt and a dark-red crop top that only came down to her pierced bellybutton. She had on white sneakers with pink soles and green shoelaces, and her pink-dyed hair was in pigtails. Ultimately, she looked more like a Japanese Anime character than a Vietnamese girl.

  I blew the horn to get her attention then signaled for her to approach. She reached into the driver-side window of her Lexus and pulled out a pair of shades that had little hearts on the lenses.

  The 5’4” Lei Jinx Wu looked like a scared, little lost girl as she trotted over to the truck. But in truth, Jinx was a little ruthless when she needed to be.

  That is, if you fucked with her money or her heart.

  She once snatched a gun out of a masked gunman’s hand and shot him in the privates when he tried to rob her store at gunpoint. Then she held the gun on him until the police arrived.

  I’d met Jinx at a Super Street Fighter II convention out in Indianapolis about a year ago and she and I had hit it off instantly. After being the last two people in the tournament, I had ended up winning it all, but only because Jinx had gotten stung by a wasp, distracting her from the game. When I had found out that her family had moved to Indiana and she had opened a salon on 12/20 down the street from Davis’ Seafood out in Gary last year, I had rushed right over to personally welcome her to the neighborhood. And she and I had been close friends ever since.

  “You no shoot my store up, Dre,” she warned after climbing into the truck and hopping on my lap. “No shoot, ‘kay?”

  I missed Jinx, but since I had gotten involved with Audi, I barely came around Jinx’s place. I planned to rectify that later. I knew Audi was my girl and all, and she would hate it if she found out I was messing around on her, especially after she had told me specifically not to, had begged me and made me promise not to, but Jinx had done me a solid by letting me know about Anika, so I planned on rewarding her the only way I knew how.

  “I promise not to bring any drama to yo’ shop, Jinx, a’ight?” I said sincerely. “That’s my word, shawty. And I’ma swoop by yo’ spot later on to show you my appreciation.”

  “Mmm...” Jinx crooned in my ear, anticipating what was to come. “‘Kay,” Jinx said. “I go lunch now. I come back, you no here, ‘kay?”

  “I promise I’ll be gone way before you get back, shawty,” I assured her. Then she hopped out of the truck and trotted over to her Lexus, climbed in, then drove off, the sound of foreign pop music blaring through the air.

  Wasting no time, we pulled on ski masks, exited the truck, and headed straight into the salon. As soon as we walked through the doors, Joy looked up at us then headed towards the back, leaving a big-butt, dark-haired Puerto Rican girl with her head down in the sink as she was getting what I suspected to be a shampoo or conditioner rinse.

  “Get yo’ ass up out that chair, bitch!” I spat as I grabbed a handful of sudsy hair and snatched Anika from the stool. I had my .45 pressed snugly against her temple to emphasize the seriousness of the situation.

  “You motherfuckers have gots to be loco! Ya’ll know who ya’ll fucking with?” she spat.

  “Shut yo’ ma’fuckin’ mouth, spic bitch!” I shot back, backhanding her with the pistol hard enough to send her barreling headfirst into one of the chairs “You know who the fuck we are? Now get yo’ stank-ass up and get the walkin’ before I put a slug in yo’ dome, bitch.”

  I heard people gasping and whispering as we forced Anika outside and shoved her into the back of the Suburban. Then we peeled out of the parking lot and headed in the direction of East Chicago.

  Anika whimpered when she realized who was in the backseat with her, the smell of urine filling the air as she began to sob uncontrollably when she felt the cold steel of the Glock pressing against the soft flesh underneath her chin.

  “Please don’t kill me,” she cried, her swollen, bloody lips trembling.”I didn’t have anything to do with you getting shot, I swear.”

  “Glad to hear it,” Lyrical said calmly. The look in her eyes screamed murder. Her arm was still in a sling, but she looked more menacing now than she had ever looked. Her short-cropped hair was tossed back in forth as the wind came through the window. “Now all you gotta do is tell me where yo’ bitch-ass brother Diego is hiding, and you can finish gettin’ that pretty Puerto Rican hair did. Can you do that for me, baby? Hmm?”

  Anika nodded, then hung her head in shame as she began talking, betraying her only sibling.

  Naomi

  My heart was beating a thousand times a minute. If my plan backfired, not only would I lose my job, I risked going to prison and losing custody of my daughter as well. When I had told my team what I was planning to do in relation to the Death Dealers case, they had all looked at me as if I had lost it.

  “Kill him?” Miracle had asked. “Are you saying you want to kill him?”

  “Sarge, um... Yeah, I don’t know about that, boss,” JJ had said.

  “Listen, I’m down for ending this asshole, believe me,” Shonda had chimed in. “My biggest concern? What if it’s not him? What if he’s not the guy behind this whole Death Dealers business? I mean, I’m not sure if I can sleep at night knowing I killed an innocent man, no matter how much of an asshole and scumbag he is.”

  “Yeah, Sarge, I’m with Shonda on this one,” Oliver said. “Look, I’m not saying you’re wrong, but maybe...maybe you despise this guy so much that you want it to be him, you know?”

  No one seemed to believe that Hensley was involved with the Death Dealers at least in some way, so I decided to just give up on the subject altogether, or until one of them caved..

  * * *

  “Hey, has anyone seen Max today?” I asked curiously.

  “Naw, I haven’t seen her at all today, Sarge,” JJ answered.

  “Today? Man, where the hell you been at, bro. She ain’t been here in about two weeks,” Miracle revealed.

  “For real? Where the hell she been at, then?” JJ responded, his head snapping up from the paperwork he was doing.

  “Well, she obviously quit, probably because of this whole fiasco with somebody breaking into your office. When she didn’t show up to work last week, I called to check up on her, to make sure everything was okay, you know? But when she didn’t answer, I dropped by her apartment and found the place completely devoid of any item or furniture that would indicate it had been currently occupied. I mean, it was completely empty. Not even a hanger left in the closet.

  At first I thought it a little odd that Maxine had not shown up to work today, but after finding out that she not only had not shown up to work since my suspension two weeks ago, but that she had also seemingly quit and moved, I was starting to get more than a little suspicious.

  “Something’s not right about this,” I said. “Maxine not showing up for work in the past two weeks, her place being empty, the tape being stolen from my office exactly two weeks ago... This all has to be connected somehow.”

  “You think so?” Vida asked. “Could be she was just scared that somebody actually broke into a police station, especially in the office where she worked.”

  “Okay, I could see that being the case, but not to the point of her moving away behind it. And Maxine was way too professional to just up and quit like that, not without telling m
e first. No, I don’t believe she quit or moved away, I believe something else is going on. I mean, these fuckers murdered my babysitter, so why wouldn’t they fuck with Maxine? She worked right here in this office, so...”

  “I wanna be with you on this one, Sarge, but why would they even bother with Maxine if they already got the tape?” JJ said.

  “You guys know Hensley and Maxine used to date, right?” Miracle said. “ I mean, at least that’s what I heard.”

  “Yeah, but what does that have...” my voice trailed off because I believed I knew exactly what had happened.

  “What is it, Sarge?” Shonda asked.

  “I don’t think anyone actually broke into my office, guys. I think Maxine did it then tried to make it look like somebody did. I think Hensley had her steal the tape, and now she’s either on the run because she’s afraid that she’ll be found out...or Hensley has something to do with why she’s not at her place anymore.”

  “”“”“”“”“”“”“”“You really think Hensley had Maxine working for him?” JJ asked after a while.

  “It only makes since,” I explained simply. “I mean, like Miracle pointd out, rumor has it that Maxine and Hensley went out a couple times for drinks after work, but that he broke it off after she kept showing up at his place unannounced. It would’ve been nothing to her to steal a tape from my office for him in the hopes that they’d somehow rekindle their relationship behind it.”

  “Isn't Hensley married?” Shonda asked.

  “Hence the reason he broke it off,” Vida explained simply. “Can't have your mistress popping up unannounced where your wife lays her head, now, can you?”

  “Can’t believe that sonofabitch had a spy right up under our noses,” JJ sighed. “Fuck it, I’m in. I mean all this sounds kind of crazy and a little farfetched, but I’ve seen crazier shit in my years being a cop. With that being said, let’s do what needs to be done.”

  “I hope this doesn’t come back on us, but I’m down if you guys are,” Royce said.

  “I don’t even have to say it, but I’ll say it nevertheless,” Miracle spoke. “I’m in till the end.”

  “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I stand by your decision, Sarge,” Oliver said lastly. “Plus, frankly, I just don’t like the guy.”

  “Same here,” Shonda said.

  “Let's rock and roll, boss,” Vida said lastly.

  Good. Everybody’s on board. Now all I have to do is figure out a way to find out who’s all involved in Hensley’s little vigilante murder spree. I need to unmask the Death Dealers, and there’s only one way I know how to do that.

  “I just have one question, Sarge,” Vida said, reading my mind and voicing the exact thoughts of everyone in the room. “How do we find out who’s all involved in Hensley’s little gang?”

  “Don’t worry,” I said glancing at each one of them. “I’ve got an idea on how we’re gonna do that. First, put out a BOLO for Maxine Brett. If she’s okay and all this is a mistake, then cool. But if this shit is what I believe it is, if Hensley used Maxine to do his dirty work, then this is how we catch these assholes.”

  “Nice house,” Vida said, voicing my thoughts for the second time today as I instructed her to park her dark red ‘68 Ford Mustang Fastback across the street from the dark-grey house.

  “Yeah, for it to be located in this neighborhood, it’s a pretty nice place,” I said, impressed as I took in the sights. “I especially like the white trim around the windows.”

  “And it has an attached garaged,” Vida continued in admiration. “Think we may be on the wrong side of the law, huh, Sarge?”

  “If selling drugs is what you’re into, Vida, go for it,” I joked. “Just remember, just like we are right now, some cop will be parked outside your house waiting for you to make a wrong move. Then everything you’ve worked for will be gone quicker than it takes to sell a dime bag of weed.”

  “Well, since I’m a cop, I just may take my chances with that,” Vida said with a shrug.

  For some reason, I did not think she was joking, but I decided not to question it further because, frankly, I did not really want to know. After all, I was asking her to help me possibly set up my former boss, so who the hell was I to judge?

  “So, what’s the plan, boss?” she said as she ripped open a Snickers bar, nearly stuffing the entire thing in her mouth.

  “I got word from my C.I. that this guy DeAndre Harris, and his crew, is moving drugs for his brother, Damon. Hensley ran Damon out of the city about nine or ten months back, but I think he still has his hands in the drugs that’s being steadily poured into this city. And if that’s true, DeAndre and his crew might be the Death Dealers next target.”

  “Makes sense to me,” Vida nodded.”Want me to go up and knock? Give ‘em a little scare?”

  “Well, it’s only a quarter to eight, so I don’t think anyone’s home just yet.”

  “Plus the fact that there’s not one single light on in the house, so there’s that,” Vida said between bites.

  “Yeah, there is that,” I responded While my mind drifted to thoughts of my daughter. I had rented a house out in Crown Point, and I had convinced Winona to move in with me until she found something a little more stable.

  Since we moved in, M’kayla would not sleep in her own room. Even with her Bugs Bunny nightlight, I would find her at the foot of Winona’s bed, snuggling with her Bugs Bunny plush doll. Every time I would take her back to her bed or let her sleep with me in my bed, I would wake in the middle of the night to find her right back in Winona’s bed. And Winona was such a hard sleeper that she never noticed. Not until I would inform her of it the next morning.

  “It’s ‘cause you’re never home, Naomi,” she said while sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast.

  I hated when she talked like that. As if life was so easily explainable. “Every time you get a call in the middle of the night, you have to go into the station, and who has to keep an eye on little M’kayla? Me, Naomi, that’s who. So she probably figures that you might get called into the station, so she might as well climb in bed with me because she’ll have to anyway, right? I mean, that’s what I think she thinks.”

  “Yeah, sounds way too complicated for a child, I think,” I had responded.

  “Yeah, but like I said before, kids are sometimes much smarter than we believe them to be.”

  “Sarge, you still with me?” Vida asked, now eating one of two Banana Nut muffins from the twin-pack she had gotten at the gas station, the same place she had gotten the Snicker after begging me to let her stop there. I had not protested much, seeing that I was hungry myself. She had gotten me a Mountain Dew and a small pack of Oreos that I had devoured on the ride over to DeAndre Harris’ place.

  “Boss?” Vida said as she took another bite.

  “I’m just wondering why you haven’t taught me that triangle hold you put on me at the gym,” I lied. Well, I didn’t really lie. I was wondering why she hadn’t taught me her signature move. I mean, I’ve only been asking her to teach me it for the past three months, ever since I decided to take her up on her offer to teach me Muay Thai.

  “First you gotta learn how to spar correctly. That’s the second time this month I’ve given you a black eye.”

  “That’s ‘cause you like hurting me,” I teased.

  “No, it’s because you duck when you should parry and you parry when you should duck. Come on, boss, you gotta listen to the instructor if you wanna learn the proper technique being taught. But I am sorry about the shiner, though.”

  “Nah, it’s cool. Builds character. Don’t mean to change the subject, but after that workout at the gym, I’m freaking starving! Hmm, I wonder what Winona cooked for dinner tonight.”

  “And I’m just wondering if we’re on a stakeout or not. I mean, if we are, wouldn’t be the smartest idea to try to look inconspicuous in a classic muscle car, wouldn’t you say?”

  “That’s just it, Vida—we’re not hiding,” I explained. “Ju
st wanna see how this kid reacts to law enforcement parked outside his house.”

  “Oh, I get it. If he bolts, he’s guilty of something, has something to hide. But if he stays, maybe even holds a convo with us, then he’s cool.”

  “Not necessarily. Just because he stays doesn’t mean he’s not guilty of something. That could just mean he’s smart. My bet...the latter.”

  “Hmm... Yeah, I guess you have a point. Why the hell didn’t I think of that? Shit, how the hell did I make detective?”

  “I find myself wondering that exact same thing every time I have to come get you from one of your little illegal—emphasis on illegal—underground fighting leagues because someone’s threatening to call the cops on you because you got shitty at an opponent for whatever reason and decided to go overboard on his or her face.”

  “I don’t go overboard, Sarge,” she said, earning a “bullshit you don’t” side-glance from me. “Well...maybe a little overboard, but not much more than that, though.”

  “Yeah, right, you don’t. More like majorly overboard. Last time I came to get you, three people were trying to pull you off some poor girl, and you didn’t stop until you felt a gun to the back of your head. And even then you were ready to beat the shit out of whoever was stupid enough to pull a gun on you until you saw that it was me.”

  “Bitch called me a fucking dike.”

  “But you are a dike.”

  “I know that, and you know that, but she didn’t. She was only saying it to be disrespectful because she was sore that I tapped her ass out in under fifteen seconds and embarrassed the shit out of her.”

  “Seriously? That’s your argument? You destroy her face because she disrespected you by calling you a dike and not really knowing if you are one?”

  “Yeah,” she shrugged. “Disrespect is disrespect, right?”