Private Deceptions

by Glenn, Roy

  "What now?" Jamaica asked.

  "Maybe the truck broke down," I replied as Jamaica slowed down.

  "What happened to the truck?" Jamaica asked as they got in the car.

  "We got jacked, that’s what the fuck happened," Bobby screamed. He told us that they had to stop because a car we blocking the road. Two men were standing in the middle of the road arguing. Once they stopped two more men, one on each side, opened the truck doors and ordered Black and Bobby out of the truck at gunpoint. They took their guns and jumped in the truck and drove off. The other two returned to their cars in the road and then they drove away, too. "They ran it like clock work, just like we would have." The whole thing was over in less than a minute.

  Bobby cursed and complained the whole way back to New York. Black on the other hand, never said a word. But we knew, in his mind, he was goin’ over every minute of the robbery. And you knew he was pissed. He already had a buyer; they’d agreed on a price. Him and Bobby were supposed to meet with him in the morning and drop it off.

  Once we got back to The Late Night, Black told me to drive him somewhere. I had a good idea where we were goin’, and sure as shit, I was right.

  Black pounded on Ayana’s door and after a while she opened it. "Black?" a half sleep Ayana said. "What you doin’ here? Did something go wrong?"

  Black didn’t say a word. He just kept walking toward her, and Ayana kept backin’ up, until she backed her way into the bedroom. Black closed the door behind him.

  I propped up some pillows and made myself comfortable on the couch. Every once and a while I would hear Ayana yell, "I didn’t tell nobody! I swear, Black. I didn’t tell nobody!"

  I awoke to what smelled like meatloaf cooking, "Good morning, Ayana," I said. "Where’s Black?"

  "It’s afternoon and Black’s in the bedroom. If you want to take a shower or whatever, you can use the bathroom down the hall. Lunch should be ready in a soon," Ayana said.

  I took a good look at her; she didn’t look like Black beat her down. Ayana was in her late thirties, early forties, maybe. But she was still an attractive woman. She was probably a very pretty women when she was younger.

  I made my way to the bathroom and took a quick shower. When I got out, as promised, meatloaf, along with mashed potatoes, collard greens, fried okra and cornbread were on the table, but no sign of Ayana. Not wanting the food to get cold, I sat down to lunch. It wasn’t too long before Black and Ayana came out of the bedroom. She went in the kitchen and Black sat down and began eating. "Well?"

  "I don’t think she crossed us," Black replied. "But we’ll talk about that later."

  After we finished eating, I took Black home. On the way there, I asked my question again, "Well?"

  "I been thinkin’ about this all night. I haven’t even been to sleep."

  "Well?" I asked a third time.

  "You heard what Bobby said. They ran it like clock work, just like we would have. The bandits were organized; other than ‘get out’; they never said a word. It happened so fast, I couldn’t really tell if they were black or white, but the one that took my guns sounded like he might be black, but I shouldn’t say for sure."

  "You sure she didn’t tell anybody?"

  "I just spent all night making sure she didn’t," Black said like I had asked a stupid question. "Now if she didn’t tell anybody, somebody had to figure it out. He’s the one we’re looking for." I drove a while longer; thinkin’ that Black had simply stated the obvious. But I should have known better.

  "I want my truck back, Nick. And I’ll have it," Black said.

  That night when I got to The Late Night, the kid was there talkin’ to Black. The kid, that’s what we used to call Freeze back in those days. Back then, all Freeze did was run little errands for Black and hang out at the club messing with the ladies. They were seated in the back of the club. Black was doing most if not all the talking. Freeze just did a lot of nodding. When I walked up they stopped talking and they both looked at me like I had no business there. I spoke and walked away and began doin’ my usual, which was hanging out, messing with the ladies. They sat there for most of the night, then suddenly Freeze jumped up and rushed for the door.

  It was quiet for the next couple of days; nobody even mentioned the robbery, especially around Black. Then Black called me and told me to, meet him at The Late Night before it closes in the morning. We never closed before eight in the morning. I was with a girlfriend of mine and she wasn’t too happy when I rolled out of bed at, "It’s six-thirty, Nick. Where you goin’?"

  "Out."

  "Out?" she pulled back the covers. "Only place you need to go is in, back in this bed. I want to feel you inside me."

  "I’ll be back," I said and armed myself. "You’ll want to feel it even more when I get back." I left there and was up in there about seven that morning, wondering what was goin’ on. I asked if Black was there and Sammy told me that he’d been there earlier and said that he’d be back. Right after I got there, Bobby arrived, and Jamaica wasn’t far behind. They had got the same call from Black, and neither of them knew what was up. Which shocked the hell out of me. Bobby was in on everything.

  We all took a seat, had a drink, and waited. When everyone was gone, Black came in. he went straight to the bar and poured himself a drink. He came over to where we were sitting and sat down. "So you gonna tell us what is so important to get me off some pussy at six in the morning?"

  "Mine if I finish my drink first?"

  "No, by all means, finish your drink," Bobby said. "This better be good; that’s all I’m sayin’."

  We talked while Black finished his drink and let Sammy out. Then he led us in the back to the storage room. Black knocked on the door twice and opened the door. There was The Kid, sitting in a chair by the door. As we got in the clear, I saw four men kneeling down on a large piece of plastic. I recognized one of them right away. He dealt blackjack at Cynt’s. Which is Ayana’s game and where she likes to play it.

  Bobby started smiling, "What we got here, kid?"

  "These the mutha fuckas that robbed us," Black answered.

  "You caught them?" Jamaica asked and took out his gun. So did Bobby. Black already had both his guns out, so naturally I pulled mine.

  "Freeze did," Black said.

  We all looked at Freeze. "By yourself? All at once?" Bobby asked sarcastically.

  "By myself. One by one over the last couple of days," Freeze said quietly but proudly.

  After that there was no more talk. No questions of how he found them. Me, Black, Bobby, and Jamaica lined up across from them and opened fire.

  I saw Freeze a few days later and I asked him how he found them. Freeze said, "Black figured it out. That night you walked up on us at The Late Night, he was lyin’ it all out for me. Keep your enemies close, but watch your homies. See Black knew if Ayana didn’t tell nobody, then it had to be somebody who knew she owed Black that money and knew the broke bitch had to have something else to deal with. That’s what led me to your boy at Cynt’s. He’s the one that gave Ayana the idea. They had them a little robbin’ crew, so once I had him, catchin’ the rest of them were easy. Black told me that there ain’t too many mutha fuckas that would want to touch a shipment of electronics like that. Black told me who the people were that could handle that type of merchandise. Then Back told me to start with the guy he had a deal with. He called me right after they called him. I got the last one when he rolled up in truck."

  Wanda looked at me and shook her head. "I never heard that story," she said. "That’s how things were then, but they changed."

  "But you can see why I thought we were out of the dope game and nothing would change."

  "None of us saw it coming, Nick. But Mike had a plan. Don’t get me wrong, after the shooting stopped, he went right back to work, robbin’ everything he could get his hands on. But we took that money and started buying property, opening businesses in the neighborhood. We tried to make things better."

  "Just like that? Clean and easy?
"

  "Of course not. We were still had the women, still brokering loans, still into the numbers and running the gambling houses. We still had enemies and Mike still dealt with his enemies in the same old way. But as time went on, that got to be less of an issue," Wanda continued. "Bobby met Pam, got married and opened Impressions. A few years later, Mike opened Cuisine, and they were both basically out. Freeze started running the day to day operations. And then Mike met Shy."

  "Tell me about Shy?"

  "She’s all right," Wanda said matter of factly and looked away.

  "What?"

  "What do you mean what?"

  "You know what I’m talkin’ about, Wanda. I didn’t just meet you. Give it up."

  "I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about, Nick."

  "Your whole facial expression changed when I mentioned her name." Wanda frowned up and looked away again. "You don’t like her, do you, Wanda?" I said and laughed.

  "I didn’t say that. What I said was, she’s all right. Anything else you chose to read into my answer is pure speculation on your part."

  "Whatever you say, counselor."

  "It’s not that I don’t like her, Nick, really. She’s a nice person."

  "But you’re jealous of her."

  "No I’m not," Wanda said, but her eyes told a different story. "Me and Mike had our time, remember. And we both agreed that we were better off as friends."

  "You must not remember that I was there. So forgive me if I remember it a little differently from that."

  "What do you remember?"

  "I remember Black saying you two would be better off as friends. I also seem to remember you nodding your head on the verge of tears when he said it."

  "You noticed that?"

  "Yes, Wanda, I noticed that. I noticed a lot of things about you."

  "I didn’t think you noticed. I know Mike didn’t."

  "I always thought you and Mike would make it back, the two of you are like two halves of the same mind."

  "I thought so too. But if you breathe a word of that to Mike or anybody else, I’ll kill you, Nick."

  "You wouldn’t hurt a fly, Wanda."

  "That’s what you think," Wanda said and smiled. "But anyway, I’ve adjusted and gotten comfortable with the fact that he’s married now and that’s that."

  "Mike Black married and retired to the Bahamas. Hard to believe, that’s all, Wanda."

  "Make no mistake about it, Mike still runs things."

  "Freeze said he likes to keep his hand in. I kinda figured that’s what he meant. But you, Wanda."

  "What?"

  "I hear you’re the mad scientist that made everybody rich."

  "It wasn’t just me, Nick. Sure, I handled the money, made some good investments, but everybody did their part. We changed with the times, Nick, which is how we all got to be respectable, as you say. Part of what we built here belongs to you. You just need to recognize. And ask for it."

  "What’s that supposed to mean? What am I supposed to be asking for, Wanda?"

  "When you recognize, you’ll know what to ask for. Now, let’s get back to it. You followed Rocky to Soundview to some house and then back to whatever hole in the wall he hangs at. And —."

  "And the whole time I couldn’t stop thinking about what he said to Chilly."

  "It’s about that shit ain’t it? Told y’all that shit wasn’t gonna work."

  What shit? What ever it was, it was the missing piece of this puzzle. Whatever it was, it involved this Diego Estabon guy that Chilly met for lunch.

  "I took care of mine, Chilly. What about yours?"

  Jake was Chilly’s and he hadn’t taken care of him. It was all starting to make sense to me. Jake wasn’t missing; he was somewhere hiding. For all I knew, he could be out of the country. I called Mrs. Childers and told her to meet me later at my office. Then I entertained the idea that Mrs. Childers hired me to find Jake and she would turn him over to Chilly.

  "Don’t you mention anything about Jake being missing or me looking for him to Gee. You feel me?"

  I remembered the fear in those eyes whenever she talked about him. I couldn’t be sure. And that’s when that programming kicked in. I wasn’t there to choose whose right and whose wrong. Pick out the good guys from the bad guys. This was a mission like any other. Mrs. Childers was the client and my orders were to find Jake Rollins. What the client did with him once that was done, was their business.

  With a newfound sense of clarity, I went inside to talk to Rocky. I could tell from the stares I got when I walked in that this was Rocky’s spot and I was the only one that didn’t belong there. The Spot was crowded with Ballers, male and female, along with the usual array of wannabes and hangers on. Rocky was seated at a table in the back, surrounded by his crew. I stepped up to the table, and guns were drawn immediately.

  "I want to talk to Rocky."

  I put my hands up and allowed them to take my gun. Thinking that I could take out most of them, if not all them, before they got off too many shots. Unarmed would be little tougher. But I wasn’t worried; I always carry a spare.

  "Who are you?" Rocky asked smiling.

  "I’m the guy Lisa Ellison called you about."

  "Let him come!" He shouted, no longer smiling.

  I sat down at the table across from him. "I’m looking for Jake Rollins."

  "Haven’t seen him."

  "What was he involved in?"

  "Who are you?"

  "I told you, I’m the guy Lisa Ellison called you about."

  "She said you were some kind of private investigator. Who you workin’ for?"

  I looked around the table.

  With a wave of his hand, Rocky dismissed everybody.

  "What was Jake doin’ for Chilly?"

  "I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about. You got a lot of heart to be involving yourself in this shit. Who hired you?"

  "Mrs. Childers." Since Rocky and Jake were friends, I didn’t see any harm in telling him that I was working for Mrs. Childers. Besides I thought that I would get more out of him that way.

  "Gee hired you, huh?" Rocky sat back in his chair and thought for a second. "Well if I find out anything about Jake, I’ll tell Gee myself."

  "Fair enough." I got up from the table, unsure of whether he would he kill me as soon as I got outside. Two women were dead. It’s about that shit. Maybe another, at the hands of Diego Estabon. "I took care of mine, Chilly. What about yours?"

  I walked over to the guy that had my gun. "Can I have my gun back."

  It was a statement, not a question.

  The guy looked at Rocky, who shook his head no. So I rammed my left elbow into his face and took back my gun with my right hand. Just in case anyone in the room thought I was going to do something stupid, like try to shoot my way out of there, I held my hands up quickly. My finger was on the trigger just in case I had to. Rocky held up his hand and laughed, so naturally everyone else in the room laughed too. I pointed the barrel at Rocky. Once again, every other gun in the room was pointed at me. Rocky smiled at me and walked forward. He stopped before me. "I like you." He looked around the room. "You got heart." Repeating the words Chilly said to him. His crew laughed. "Let’s see if you know when to back down."

  I did. But this wasn’t the time. I was a player in this game now. I couldn’t fold. I had to stand, but not be stupid. I lowered my gun, but just a little, and started backing out of the room slowly, watching Rocky’s eyes. His eyes switched to the right. I felt somebody coming up on me. I quickly extended my arm and caught him in the neck. I was lucky, but they were impressed.

  I made it outside without getting shot. I started for my car, but something told me to keep walking. I walked down to the store on the corner. I went inside and looked through the window. Rocky had sent three men after me. Two arranged themselves outside the store, while the third came in after me. Over the objection of the clerk, I went in the back room looking for a door. I opened the door and pushed down a trashcan before moving into
the shadows inside the store. As the man ran pass me, I grabbed him. With my arm firmly wrapped around his neck, I had thoughts of breaking it, but I didn’t. I hit him twice in the head with the butt of my gun.

  I went out the back door and moved slowly down the alley. Staying in the shadows. The second man approached. I froze. He walked past me. I watched him pass and he went in the store. They both came out firing blindly down the alley. I aimed and fired a few near misses. They took cover. I continued to fire and moved very quickly out of the alley. I took the long way around the block to get back to my car. The third man held his post outside the store in spite of the shooting. I got in the car and drove away.

  * * *

  Chapter Thirteen

  When I got back to my office, I immediately checked my messages to see if Mrs. Childers had called, which she hadn’t. It was late and she might not be able to get out of the house to meet me. What I had to tell her would keep until morning anyway, because to be honest, it wasn’t much. And on top of that it was only speculation. I could only speculate that Jake was hiding. And if Rocky was a man of his word, which I couldn’t count on, he would tell Mrs. Childers all about the events of the evening, anyway. Still, I decided to wait awhile, just to see if she would show.

  It still bothered me that we never found any camera equipment in Jake’s apartment. The pictures and the video were quality. It was obvious that Jake took his photo sessions seriously. I got the pictures from the file cabinet, along with my bottle of Johnnie Black. As I sat there drinking and looking at the pictures, two things hit me all at once. The pictures were definitely taken in at least two different places. I popped in the videotape we copied from Jake’s apartment. I sat watching, without really watching, fast forwarding for the most part. Comparing the video to the still pictures that I had, and tried to get a sense of where they were taken. I turned off the video, I had seen enough. I began to sort the pictures into piles based on outfit or the lack of one. The difference in location was apparent now. The second thing that hit me was a bit more subtle. Some of the pictures appeared to be taken in rapid session. Maybe taken with a high-speed shutter. That in itself wasn’t all that, but it was the angles they were shot from. The camera wasn’t on a tripod, or some other stationary object. Somebody was taking the pictures. Pamela taking the pictures while Jake did LaShawn and vice versa?