Justice Black: The Game Never Ends

by Gartia Bansah

  Ed ground his cigarette into the sidewalk and blew the smoke toward the building. Although he shouldn’t attract any attention, he yelled, “Bitch!” and flipped her off before he moved to the other end of the street. Lucky called him a few more choice names before she moved back to her side.

  “Imagine me being paid to do Justice Black.” Gently Ed touched his beard. Underneath, the deep scar ran from his bottom lip, to the underside of his chin, to the base of his ear. Although no one could see the scar, it was a bitter reminder of why he did the things he needed to do. Before he decided to grow a beard, women often looked at him like he was something vile. His formerly good looks got him whatever he wanted. With the exception of his friend Tansy, most everyone had abandoned him. For now he settled for women who made him sick with their smothering and neediness. This was fine for now, but Ed liked women with fight. It stimulated him.

  “Hey,” Lucky yelled again, “didn’t I tell you that’s Fred’s corner? Move on. Are you hard of hearing too or just blind in both eyes? We don’t want squatters around here. Now you move on and find your own place.”

  He pulled his tattered jacket over his ears to shield the morning chill, his eyes cold with hatred as he walked away, and said, “I won’t need to look very far for my first test samples.”

  chapter

  THIRTEEN

  Perhaps she should apologize to Mr. Idiot Neighbor for her behavior the other morning. So much for fleeting thought because Kaitlyn believed he deserved it. She had to admit he was actually good-looking and, with his height, was probably good for reaching high things. Still, she believed that didn’t excuse his clumsiness. She swore he wasn’t paying any attention when he practically walked in front of her car that day. If he wasn’t so uncivilized, she might have felt sorry for him the way the neighbors cornered him. But then again, that was a huge might.

  Barrett wanted to tell her about him, but she didn’t want to know a thing about anyone who disregarded people’s right to sleep.

  Kaitlyn cringed. She knew how she looked with the cans in her hair. She looked weird. She shrugged. It’s the same concept as rollers. And her cat slippers were her long standby. Comfort things should never be discarded. He was a jerk and that was all to it. Thank goodness she moved fast, and he couldn’t quite get a good look at her.

  Too bad she couldn’t look fresh on her first day of work, and there was no use in waiting for the alarm clock; sleep was not possible at Serenity Place. She disregarded her tiredness and rolled her eyes at the ceiling. Kaitlyn moaned aloud, “Sleep is only a word in the medical world. You think this place would do a better job of screening people before they hand them a key.”

  She tugged at her brown suit. It was all she had decent to wear; everything else was for Chicago cold weather. For now it had to do.

  Marvin greeted her with his business smile when she came into his office. Marvin was an odd sort of man. He always had the sniffles. He was too thin for his long body, and he never walked. He either ran or trotted.

  “Hello, Marvin.” She hesitated. She didn’t want to appear to be a complainer or a whiner, but then she also had her limits. “I wanted to check whether you have an upstairs vacancy yet.”

  In a few months, she planned to look for a house, but she didn’t want to rush into anything. However, considering the current circumstances, that could change any moment now. She had the perfect house in mind with lots of open space and a large garden for flowers and vegetables. She had to have a large recreation room, for entertainment, and a family kitchen should she decide to marry one day and have children. Although she didn’t particularly care for cooking, she was no slouch in the kitchen. Her mother and grandmothers had made sure of that.

  Marvin shook his head in disappointment. “Nothing yet, sugar. I have one other option that might work. Don’t you worry. I am looking out for you.” He liked Dr. Joseph. She was a real pleasant lady, something he hadn’t come across in a long time. He was taken by her beauty and unobtrusively sneaked looks from a distance. As the manager, he couldn’t afford a scandal by staring.

  “Thank you, Marvin. I’d appreciate that. Would you speak to the tenant above me about the bird noises coming from his place? I believe he has at least ten parrots up there. Last night was the second time I was disturbed. I took this place based on its reputation for quietness.”

  The words “disturbed” and “noises” ruffled Marvin. If nothing else, he prided himself on keeping a quiet, perfect complex. The last article in the Gazette had featured Serenity Place as the best place to live because of its quietness and aesthetic display of fountains, dogwood trees, and butterfly attractions. He wouldn’t tolerate anything or anyone tarnishing its reputation. They could draw interest on that.

  “I most certainly will, Dr. Joseph. You can count on that,” he assured her. “Applicants are thoroughly screened, and they are well informed of our noise policy.” Marvin huffed and gave her a serious look. “No, ma’am, it will not be tolerated.”

  “Again, thank you, Marvin.”

  Now there was one important call she had to make before work. Her phone rang.

  “Gianna, I’m glad I caught you before you made it in. Listen, the power is off in the building, so don’t worry about coming in until tomorrow.”

  “Gee, Wil, I’m glad you caught me in time. I was on my way. That’ll give me time to go run a few more errands and maybe do some shopping. So I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Do you have on brown today?” Wil asked.

  “Of course,” Kaitlyn laughed.

  Justice, in a hurry to get to the hospital to see Peter Harrison, didn’t see Marvin coming

  “Damn it. I don’t need this today.”

  “Dr. Black, a complaint was lodged against you regarding noise and having several pets. All pets have to be registered, and you listed only two parrots. We do have a noise policy, as you are also well aware.”

  That unhappy expression on Justice’s face wasn’t good. Marvin hurried back to the office and stood behind his desk. Justice followed and leaned over the desk. Marvin backed up as far as his back and the wall allowed.

  “Marvin, I do not have several pets. Don’t keep bothering me about that.” On top of everything else, he was not about to be bothered by Marvin and his policies.

  This was a dilemma for Marvin. He needed to be very careful. He simply could not afford a tenant, especially the head of defense, to be dissatisfied under any circumstance and immediately apologized.

  “You see,” he explained, “the new tenant below you wanted an upstairs apartment, and the one you have was the last one. But please don’t worry. Something will come up. I’m sure there was a terrible mistake.”

  “Marvin, exactly who is this tenant below me?”

  Before Marvin could answer, Barrett called out to him, and no one ignored Barrett. “Excuse me, Dr. Black. Could we talk later? I must run. In the meantime, please don’t worry about a thing.”

  chapter

  FOURTEEN

  Deep in her own thoughts, Wil didn’t hear the knock on her door. She tapped her fingers on her desk, going over the fire victims in her head. With treatment, she was hopeful they would recover. Along with Wil’s latest court progress report, Desirae’s probation officer also put in a positive recommendation for dismissal of probation with the judge; it was possible Desirae’s record would be cleared. Already the mayor was honoring Desirae with a day of honor to coincide with the Halloween festival.

  “May I come in?”

  A little surprised at the visitor, she immediately collected herself. He looked tired. A diabetes-education center in his wife’s name was being dedicated this week at St. Sullivan. Trenton had worked for months tying up loose ends for the ceremony.

  “Trenton, yes please come in.” She pointed to the seat and waited for him to speak. “Have a seat.”

  Trenton sat and hung his head low. More
regret than sadness weighed on his shoulders.

  “I begged her to take care of herself.”

  “Trenton, it was her choice. Maybe that was her way of letting go for you to let go.” Wil didn’t try to placate him. He’d accepted that truth long ago.

  “I know that. My wife never wanted children; maybe it was because of her diabetes. She didn’t like to talk about it. It’s one of the reason I have such an interest in the disease. Our living together became more for financial reasons. We always fought about her health; she viewed diabetes as her imperfection. I didn’t know about the drinking. She was always good at hiding things.” He stood with a sense of finality in his voice. “But that’s my past, and it’s time to start a new life now. This center is part of that newness. Everything is just about finished.”

  “Do you have someone to help you?”

  “Yes. Again, I can’t thank you and the staff here enough for everyone’s help in making this possible.”

  With his hands on the door handle, he turned and looked at her. “Dr. Eastermann, Wil.” He paused. “When everything is done, I’d like to have dinner with you. Not just a sandwich here and there like we’ve had. Dinner. The sit-down kind with low lights and music. We’ve been politely tiptoeing around each other for over a year. It’s time. You know it.”

  chapter

  FIFTEEN

  It was nearly midnight. He couldn’t help thinking about his son.

  Justice always wondered if Jeremiah had to endure this sick side of mankind. He’d asked him, but Jeremiah had always denied it. What good would it have done to know? He never found Jeremiah’s birth mother, but he hadn’t given up looking for Clarissa. He needed to know why she chose to abandon Jeremiah. Why didn’t she consider that he was his father? Jeremiah looked so much like him; he believed she had to have known. His guilt over Jeremiah’s birth became his demon, and on occasions he wrestled with it.

  Justice stared out at the star-lined sky. He’d always be alone. It had to be this way. His life had too many shadows, far too many ghosts. Still, he didn’t want his family to worry about him, especially Khalidah and Jeremiah.

  Khalidah was an ER nurse and was probably coming off a shift. The last time they’d talked, she’d sounded tired. He tried liking her husband, but the guy didn’t pull his weight. But he was her choice. Two calls, he thought, then he’d get some sleep.

  She answered on the second ring. Their conversation was guarded; she didn’t want her brother to worry about her.

  “I’m fine, JT. Honest.”

  “Khalidah, you can’t fool me. Your car broke down again, didn’t it?” That sorry husband couldn’t even keep her car running.

  “Yes, but he’ll get it fixed.”

  “Like hell. I’ll bring you one of my cars, but I don’t want to catch him in it. Do you need money?”

  “No, I’m good. I love you, JT.”

  “I love you too, Khalidah. Get some rest, but call your twin. She’s worried about you.”

  It was now almost one. He was sure, like a typical college kid, Jeremiah would be awake. Unsurprisingly, Jeremiah answered on the first ring.

  “Hi, Dad, are you all right?”

  “Sure, Son, how about you? Don’t you ever sleep?”

  “About as much as you do.” They both laughed. “I’m good, Dad. Classes are fine, and one of my professors wants me to work in the university-sponsored community clinic for homeless kids, so I’m jazzed about that. I’ll get a small stipend. Get this; my supervisor is a nun. For the interview, we went into the community, and she had me out there working with families for over five hours. I’m really going to like it. It was a good thing you told me to take Russian; it’s the language of some of the families.”

  “And to think you grumbled when I suggested it.” Jeremiah’s passion for homeless kids was largerly due to his own background, and Justice supported that. It was good hearing his son’s excitement.

  Jeremiah quieted for a moment. “Dad, is someone try to kill you?”

  Justice tried to keep things lighthearted with him because he never wanted his job to spill over into Jeremiah’s life. “No, Son. But don’t worry about it or me. I can take care of myself. All right?”

  “I know, Dad, but you’re all I’ve got.” Jeremiah hated the way those news pundits talked about his dad, and tried ignoring them. No one knew his dad better than he did. His dad was a good man.

  “Jeremiah, stop it. You have a family that loves you. You are not alone.”

  “I know that, but I only have one dad, and that’s you.”

  “I’ll be careful.” He needed to reassure his son and ease his mind and moved to another conversation. “Tell me more about this job and the nun.”

  Jeremiah’s mood lightened and they talked at length about the family he moved to a different apartment because of mold.

  “Dad, did you know a nun could make you feel quilty with only a smile? By the time my supervisor finished with the apartment manager, I moved the family within a few hours. Jeremiah laughed. “It was good you got me a Jeep rather than a compact car.”

  Justice remembered the amount of stuff Jeremiah packed when he left for the university and knew there was no way he could get everything in a small car so he bought him a Jeep. “I was thinking ahead.” He said.

  After they hung up, Justice turned on the TV and checked the time. It was a little after three. In a few hours, he had to meet with Caldwell to go over a new profile of possible arson suspects.

  He was running late and barely had made his way outside when he saw the Humane Society truck parked downstairs, blocking his car. Barrett regularly donated to her favorite charity again. He looked right into the grinning face of his golfing partner, Bryan St. Croix, BrightTown Humane Society director, and one of his young officers..

  The young officer nudged Bryan and pointed to Justice. “Sir, that’s him,” she said.

  Bryan merely pretended he didn’t know Justice. “Dr. Black, may we see you for a moment?”

  “I’m in a hurry, Bryan.”

  “Sir, it won’t take long,” the officer interrupted.

  “Yes,” Bryan insisted. “We have a complaint of animal cruelty, illegal breeding, and smuggling of exotic parrots. We need to come inside.”

  Justice almost argued but then decided against it since the presence of the truck now had brought everyone on his side of the complex outside. Garland and Barrett, returning from their morning walk, were among them.

  “I knew this had to be a dream,” Bryan whispered to Justice. “I saw the address and had to take this call myself.” Actually, he could barely restrain his pleasure after losing their last golf game to Justice. “Payback is great, huh?” he added.

  Justice ignored him. “Bryan, what the hell do you mean, animal neglect? Is this some kind of joke?”

  “I assure you, sir, this is hardly a joke.” Bryan tried to sound as professional as possible. It wouldn’t do for his trainee to see humor in such cases.

  The trainee stood behind, wary of Justice.

  “It says here abuse and neglect, and Dr. Black, my paperwork has never lied, so could we go inside and look things over?” Bryan didn’t wait for an invitation and politely stepped past Justice. “Unless you want that crowd to get bigger.”

  “Son of a gun,” Justice mumbled and quietly acquiesced. “I’m glad you’re finding some humor in this, and why the hell are you here?” Justice searched the crowd for anyone looking guilty. “You don’t have enough work to do in that office catching mountain lions and rabid squirrels that you have to run out here?”

  Bryan nearly choked trying to maintain a straight face. “You being so nice and all, Dr. Black, I needed to handle this one myself. You know, high-profile case. I can see the headlines: Southern Defense Director Justice T. Black Charged with Animal Cruelty. Now you had better hurry. You know Aurora has a police scann
er, and you know what that means.”

  Hell yes, he knew. This would be all over the local radio as part of her “what’s happening around town” chat.

  “If you don’t wipe that damn grin off your face, Bryan, you can find another golf partner; you’re a lousy player anyway.”

  “Slept alone again, I see.” Bryan laughed; his remark would cost him dearly. He knew about Justice’s birds, but he wouldn’t have missed this visit for for anything. After Justice blew his last blind date, this was well-deserved payback. Yes, the woman talked incessantly and chewed gum that entire evening, but Justice needed a little excitement. He isolated himself too much. “The report did say you cursed like a madman. It even suggested that we consider you a dangerous specimen.” He pointed to Justice’s forehead. “Say, how did you get that ugly bruise?”

  “Don’t ask.” Justice gently touched it.

  “All right, I won’t. It sure looks infected. Better be careful around the parrots. I wouldn’t want them to catch anything.”

  “You know I have two parrots. You wouldn’t be getting even for that gum-popping lunatic you called a date?”

  “You could have spread some of your boyish charms her way, you know. Not to worry. She said you’re forgiven, and anytime you want a rain check, you’ve got it. Besides, the woman is nuts about you.”

  Justice gave him one of his famous go-to-hell looks. “You take the rain check. I pass.”

  Justice complained the entire time, certain Bryan deliberately stretched that visit as far as he could until he was satisfied the parrots weren’t being raised for barbecue. It was a good thing Seymour was still hiding, or things could have gotten worse.

  “Dr. Black,” Bryan happily said, “the next time you want to own a pet, let me know. We offer classes, especially on parrots, you know. And get bigger cages. They look as if they’re being held hostage.”