Justice Black: The Game Never Ends

by Gartia Bansah

  Justice groaned. “I need to get home.”

  While waiting to board his flight, he pulled Kaitlyn’s interview with James “Double Man” James. He needed to interview him. Afterward, he called Caldwell to pick him up from the airport. There was a list of things he wanted Caldwell to look into. His thoughts shifted to Gus’s information as he calculated his next move. The name Drayton would be a small problem; in the past he’d dealt with four men and a woman with that name, but he had enough manpower to go through them in a short time. Hopefully.

  Finally aboard the plane, the woman sitting next to him shuffled her bags for the third time; good God, it was her and that kid. How did he know he’d be sitting next to her? Today his luck ran like that. The kid whined and whined until he finally threw up.

  “God Almighty, this will be a long flight.”

  chapter

  THIRTY-EIGHT

  The young redheaded girl nervously tapped her feet and chewed her fingernails as she sat outside Leo’s Fish Emporium talking to herself.

  “Dr. Joseph always comes here at the same time. She’ll be here. Mrs. Littlejohn made me late today. She shouldn’t have done that.” She repeated out loud, “Dr. Joseph will be here. She likes fishes too.”

  Most passersby familiar with the redhead and her behavior simply ignored her.

  “Don’t look at me,” she yelled to those who stared. She couldn’t sit any longer and took a chance and went inside the store. “Mrs. Littlejohn shouldn’t have made me late.”

  Kaitlyn was there. The girl didn’t make any noise as she stood next to the tank that had only blue fishes and gazed at Kaitlyn.

  “I like the fishes here. They are real nice. Ma’am, you don’t let nobody eat them, do you?”

  Kaitlyn turned to the young lady to answer her question, only she didn’t wait for an answer.

  The girl shouted, “Mr. Hooker, it ain’t right that you keep these fishes like this. You should let them go, Mr. Hooker, now. Nobody should be locked up.”

  Leo rushed down the aisle and gave a warning look. “Girl, don’t you start that crazy talk in here today. You’re not supposed to be here without Mrs. Littlejohn anyway, so knock it off now.”

  She turned to Kaitlyn. “He’s mean. I saw you in the paper. You’re Dr. Joseph. You’re pretty.”

  Although Gwen had run her photo in yesterday’s paper, so far she hadn’t pushed for a story; it was only a matter of time.

  “Yes, I’m Dr. Joseph, and you are?”

  She quickly glanced at the door and beckoned Kaitlyn closer. “They are not free.”

  “You don’t like it?” Kaitlyn asked.

  “No, I don’t. It ain’t right.” She paced in a circle, chewing another nail. “People shouldn’t do that to other people.” When she spotted a short, round-faced woman hurriedly coming toward her, she stopped talking. “That’s Mrs. Littlejohn,” she whispered to Kaitlyn.

  Leo rushed to meet Mrs. Littlejohn. “I’m glad to see you, Maureen. You take her out of here. The last time she pushed over three tanks.”

  Mrs. Littlejohn turned to the young girl. “Why did you take off like that? You had everyone worried.”

  “I’m sorry,” Kaitlyn said. “She was admiring the fish.”

  “She knows not to wander off without telling anyone,” Mrs. Littlejohn warned the girl and turned back to Kaitlyn. “I’m sorry. I’m Maureen Littlejohn.”

  “Dr. Adeena Joseph. Glad to meet you.”

  “Yes, I saw you on the news with Detective Lane. As a matter of fact, we have an—”

  “Ms. Littlejohn,” the girl interrupted, “I have a secret I want to tell her.”

  “We don’t have secrets. Remember that.”

  “I know, but Sterling made me mad.”

  “Oh Lord,” Mrs. Littlejohn moaned.

  “No, really, I heard something about that fire. I sure did.” She looked at her nails and picked at the corners. “It’s too bad about that, but whatever.” She began another frantic pace. “I came to tell Dr. Joseph something.” She turned to Kaitlyn. “You come in here every Wednesday at two o’clock.”

  “How would you know that?” Kaitlyn asked.

  “Mrs. Littlejohn.” She stopped pacing. “Tate told me to watch, and he gives me ecstasy to do it. I swear.”

  The fear Mrs. Littlejohn read in her eyes was enough. She had a child’s mind, and so far she’d never lied to her.

  “Who is this Tate?”

  “He’s my new man now, Mrs. Littlejohn.” She smiled. “I met him on the Internet last week. I used to be with his brother, Sterling, but I dumped him.”

  Mrs. Littlejohn looked at Kaitlyn and then back to the young girl with a very unhappy expression “Where does this Tate live?”

  Resigned, she gave the information. “Are you gonna run him off like you did Sterling? ’Cause that ain’t right, Mrs. Littlejohn. I can have a man.”

  “Perhaps you’d better speak to Detective Lane about this,” Kaitlyn advised.

  “Don’t worry. I know Lane. We were high school classmates.” She handed a card to Kaitlyn. “Give this to him.”

  “What’s the young lady’s name?”

  The young girl gave a childish grin. “My name is Cricket Neals Painter.”

  Kaitlyn went numb.

  Mrs. Littlejohn laughed at her surprise. “Honey, this is a small town. Sooner or later, everyone meets here or at Walgreens or Walmart. As I started to say earlier,” Mrs. Littlejohn finished, “we have an appointment with you tomorrow. You have your work cut out here. Don’t worry about Cricket. I’m her conservator. You tell Lane this Tate person is now his business.”

  Cricket’s smile turned to sadness. “Dr. Joseph, I swear to you, I didn’t know my brother was in the room. I swear. They liked him better than me, you know.”

  chapter

  THIRTY-NINE

  Kaitlyn thought she had met many colorful individuals until she met Marley Saic. If she didn’t have breathing difficulties when she left there, it would be a miracle. She could tell that once upon a time in his life, Marley perhaps was nice looking. Years of methamphetamine usage and dental and nutritional neglect had taken care of that. According to his records, he was thirty-four, but looked forty years older.

  “Mr. Saic, I am Dr. Adeena Joseph.”

  Marley squinted at Kaitlyn through a thick haze of smoke. The cigarette slowly burned as he dangled it between his four remaining front teeth.

  “Yeah, they told me.” He hacked but didn’t remove the cigarette. “Excuse me. Does this smoke bother you?” He hacked again and glanced at the No Smoking Allowed sign and grinned.

  “There is a no-smoking rule.” She also noticed the word “no” was rubbed out of the sign, and the smoke alarm was conveniently covered. “You might want to consider that, and you should have someone check that cough for you.”

  “Sure, honey.” Looking directly at Kaitlyn, he squashed his cigarette in his hand.

  “Before we get started, Mr. Saic, this interview will be recorded.”

  “Ah sure.” He coughed. “I ain’t got nothing to hide. For a pretty lady like you, I’d do anything.”

  She adjusted the recorder and placed the mike on his shirt. As expected, he pushed his chest against her hands and began a series of deep breaths.

  “Before we get started, I’d like to say I ain’t had nothing to do with that break-in, and my PO raked my ass over already. So we are straight about this, baby?”

  “Mr. Saic, out of respect for both of us, do not address me as ‘honey’ or ‘baby.’ Are we straight on that?”

  “Sure, Doc.”

  “Good,” she replied. “Now you are aware this is for an evaluation of your readiness to be released.”

  “Well, hell yes, Doc. Like I told my buddy, there’s a lot of sick fucks out there, and I ain’t one of them, so go ahead; e
valuate me. But I gotta tell you something first.”

  “I’m listening, Mr. Saic, and please watch your language.”

  Marley hesitated; her look was too hard for a woman. “Well, you know a person hears things, and a person ain’t supposed to hear things. Like I told my PO, there’s this guy on death row in Texas called Double Man. Weird dopehead. He has a following, a bunch of lost souls waiting for a genesis. Those nut cases had a real hard-on for sending out messages to America to get its act together. I thought about that fire. Somebody should check him out. By the way, I’m off papers in a month. I can do whatever I want. You know what I mean?”

  Kaitlyn ignored his comments.

  “Doc, every night I try to sleep, I see my old lady, the way I did her in. I was damn high. What I did ain’t set me free inside here, you know.” He patted his chest. “You see, I got this cancer on my lungs, and it’s eating me up inside, and this is sort of payback for me. Yeah, the guilt is eating me up real bad. I got a new woman, though; I met her on the Internet. She ain’t too much of a bitch like the other one.”

  “Mr. Saic, would you like help in working through the part that hasn’t set you free?”

  “Let me think on it.” He answered with a nearly toothless grin.

  Although he pretended to be untouched by his girlfriend’s murder, forty-five minutes later, Kaitlyn saw Marley wrestled with guilt. She couldn’t help him directly. Perhaps someone else could.

  “So, Doc.” He stretched and leaned back in his chair with one hand inside his pants, licked his lips, and rubbed his groin for effect. “Like a last meal, how about giving a dying man one last wish and give me a tumble? You sure are one fine-looking thing.”

  Quite certain he’d continue, she ended the interview.

  “Mr. Saic, I want to thank you for your time and cooperation. I’ll leave you a card should you wish to consider grief counseling. If not individual, perhaps you may consider a group.” She gathered her things, placed the card on the desk, and headed for the door.

  “Let me know, Doc.” He placed the card in his pocket. “If you change your mind, I could work it good for you.”

  Kaitlyn left but hoped Marley Saic got the help and peace he desperately needed before he repeated his behavior.

  Back at the office, she turned her tape over to Alice to make a copy for Justice with the information about Double Man. She updated Wil on her evaluation of Mr. Saic with recommendations for continued monitoring.

  Seeing Marley today reminded her of the past madness in her life. She’d have to make a decision, but first she needed to talk to Wil and then Justice.

  She walked to her fish tank and watched how, although enclosed, they appeared carefree as they swam around. She thought of Cricket. She felt no one should be locked up but free. Then she thought of Marley. “Sorry Cricket.” She said. “Some people should be locked up so others can live safely and they can be safe from themselves.”

  The phone interrupted her thoughts. “Life goes on,” she whispered.

  “Dr. Joseph,” she answered.

  “Hello, Duchess.” The familiar rich, deep voice surprised her. It was what she needed. She didn’t realize how much she had missed Justice in such a short time. It had been six days.

  “Tobiah, hello.”

  “How is everything going?” Caldwell had told him about Kaitlyn’s contact with Cricket. He’d had Caldwell pick up Tate for questioning.

  “Everything is fine.”

  “Good. How’s my car?” he joked.

  “Well, I only had to gun it once; you know, it picks up better speed if you do that.” She was quiet for a moment and tried not to laugh. “Justice, please don’t get mad, but I had a minor fender bender.”

  “God, are you all right?”

  She didn’t mean for him to worry and almost had regrets.

  “I’m fine. The driver didn’t have insurance. But don’t worry. I’ll pay for the damages. My mechanic said his brother can get the parts really cheap.”

  There was such a long silence she thought he’d hung up.

  “Justice, are you there?”

  Then he swore. “Damn it, Duchess, if you let your mechanic touch my car, I’ll—” He’d seen how that bootleg mechanic worked on her car; the man should be run out of town. Then he heard her giggle.

  She thought he’d come through the phone he yelled so loudly. Good. She nodded. That’ll fix him.

  “You’re racking up the punishments, Dr. Joseph. You know that?”

  “Don’t worry; I can take anything you give.” She regretted saying that and caught herself.

  “We’ll see.”

  “That’s makes us even for what you did to my neck. Justice, how could you? We’re not teenagers,” she whispered. “Wil saw it. I was never so embarrassed in my life.”

  “Sorry. I got carried away. You’re too much woman for my libido.”

  “You’re not sorry.”

  “All right, you got me there. I’m not. I sure as hell enjoyed it.”

  “You’re incorrigible.”

  “You can straighten me out.” She became quiet. He’d bet his last dollar she was embarrassed. “Did you feed those parrots?”

  “Yes, I did, and I bought more seed.” She paused. Should she say it? “They…miss you.”

  “I’ll pay you back.” He listened to her soft breathing and said, “Tell them to hold on.”

  “No, you don’t have to pay me back.”

  His heavy voice was mesmerizing; she closed her eyes to calm herself.

  “I want to.”

  “My interview with James James was cancelled.” Business was a much better distraction. “Would you mind telling me why?”

  He ignored her question. “Listen, I won’t be able to call you for a while. I wanted to see how you were doing.”

  “I’m all right.” She noticed he didn’t answer her question. “By the way, you have my notes on Saic. He mentioned Double Man is someone who needs to be ‘checked out,’ and Painter was a complete surprise.”

  “Good. Thanks for your work.”

  “Justice, be careful.” Somehow she needed to say that. The media had been relentless about him. Barrett was so disturbed she’d cancelled her subscription to the Gazette and convinced several friends and advertisers to do so too. Genevieve was spending a week with her to help calm her nerves.

  “I will. Duchess, you keep that damn door locked.”

  “I do, and Marvin installed a security bar. They’re working overtime installing bars in every apartment. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

  “Not a thing.”

  “Hmm, I didn’t think you would.”

  chapter

  FORTY

  Alice watched the news, dismayed. She turned the TV off. “Too much sad news,” she remarked.

  The news broadcasted that Lute Gus Forman’s yellow Mustang was found abandoned at the Pine Trees Inn, but there were no signs of Forman. According to his wife, her husband had been despondent after retiring two years ago and often took trips alone.

  “I agree with you, Alice.” Kaitlyn was bone tired but had one more appointment. She gathered work and the envelope that she had yet to open to take home. She also had to buy more birdseed. She swore they ate more than she did.

  “Wil, I have to stop by Dr. Black’s office. Are you up for dinner?”

  “No, you go on. Trenton is picking me up.”

  “Getting serious, I see. Dinner every night,” Kaitlyn said.

  Wil pressed her hand against her chest with a beam that made Kaitlyn smile. “Real serious. We’re hot and heavy.”

  “I’m happy for you, Wil. I’ll see you tomorrow. James’s interview was cancelled. Caldwell wants me to see someone named Slick once they find him. Does anyone have real names in this town?”

  She’d never been
to Justice’s office before. It was wide and spacious. Jeri greeted her with a warm smile.

  “Hi, Jeri, is it? I’m Dr. Joseph.” She handed Jeri a brown envelope. “Dr. Black wanted me to bring this to you.”

  “I’m glad to meet you, Dr. Joseph. Dr. Black has often spoken about you. What an honor.”

  Kaitlyn shook Jeri’s hand. Justice spoke highly of his office manager. She was curious as to what Justice had said about her to Jeri.

  “I mean, from what I hear, you can really blow the sax. My brother works at Ricky’s. Would you like some coffee or tea?”

  “No, but thank you for asking.”

  The friendly atmosphere immediately changed when Gwen Marcus walked in.

  “Dr. Joseph, how strange meeting you here. But how are you?” Be civil, Gwen, she told herself. You still need that interview.

  “I’m fine, thank you, and how are you, Ms. Marcus?”

  “Fine,” she said and turned to Jeri. “Is Justice back?”

  “No, Dr. Black isn’t,” Jeri answered. “Thank you, Dr. Joseph, for bringing over the package. Please tell Dr. Black not to worry about the office. I have everything under control.”

  “I will. Good night, Jeri and Ms. Marcus.”

  “What a classy woman,” Jeri smoothly commented. She rolled her eyes when Gwen charged after Kaitlyn. “Damn jealous woman.” She opened her desk drawer for the disinfectant and sprayed into the air. “An evil spirit. That’s what scurried out that door behind Dr. Joseph—the devil incarnate.”

  A tired, worn mail carrier with a fuzzy right eye and a limp walked up to Jeri’s desk and asked to use the restroom.

  Jeri glanced at the door and back to the man. This was a problem.

  “Excuse me. There are no restrooms in this office.” She folded her arms and took a warning stance.

  “I’m sorry, ma’am. You see, I am new on this route, and I got kind of confused.” The man tried to be as humble as possible and placed his heavy bag on Jeri’s desk.

  “Oh no, honey, don’t put that on my desk.” Jeri shoved the bag back in his direction. “If you are that confused, perhaps you shouldn’t be delivering mail. Harold knows the rules when he comes into this office. He should have told you.” She lifted his bag with ease and steered the man back out the door. “The restroom is located at the end of the hallway to your right.”