Tied to a Boss 3

by J. L Rose

  “What about us?” Keisha asked, getting Alinna’s attention.

  “My sister say you two know how to handle your business, so until an issue arrives where I may need the two of your services, I’ll put you on security working directly with James,” Alinna told both Keisha and Maxine. “That means that James is now your boss. Is there a problem with that?”

  “None!” Keisha answered.

  “Definitely not . . . !” Maxine answered with a big smile as she wrapped her arms around James’s waist.

  Alinna smiled as she watched Maxine with James. She then turned toward Vanessa and said, “Put ’em on, Nessa. All three of ’em, and we’ll discuss payment later.”

  “Where you going?” Harmony asked as she was finishing off her Doritos.

  “I’ve got some stuff to take care of, and then I gotta meet with Dante’s lawyer,” Alinna told Harmony as she started toward the front door.

  * * *

  “Dante!” Officer Cook called out from her desk after fishing her paperwork. Once her shift started and the unit were still in their bunks waiting for the floor to be opened to allow the inmates to watch TV and move around, she waved Dante over to her desk. She then yelled out, “Fall’s open. Keep the noise down.”

  Hearing Officer Cook, Dante left his bunk and headed to the officer’s desk, ignoring the stares he received from some of the inmates. He stopped in front of the desk, saw her smile, and he said, “What’s up, Kerri?”

  “How you doing, Dante?”

  “I’m doing what I do.”

  “So what’s this about you beating up some guy inside the restroom?” she asked, smiling harder at Dante.

  Shrugging his shoulders carelessly, Dante calmly said, “I ain’t hear nothing about no fight.”

  “You a trip, Dante!” Kerri said, laughing lightly as she shook her head. She then continued, “So you gonna be my trustee?”

  “You offering a job, Kerri?” Dante asked, staring into her brown eyes.

  “Hold on!” she told Dante. She then called out to an inmate named Travis, waving him over to her desk.

  “What’s up, Officer Cook?” the inmate asked as he stopped next to the officer’s desk.

  “Travis, this is Dante Blackwell . . .”

  “I know who Dante is,” Travis said, interrupting Kerri. “Who doesn’t know who Dante is?”

  “That’s good,” Kerri replied, but then said, “Well, from now on, Travis . . . you, Chris, and both Tony and Jim now work for Dante. He’s going to be my new houseman.”

  Watching the change in Travis’s expression as homeboy looked from Kerri to him, Dante held dude’s eyes a moment until dude turned and walked angrily away. Dante shifted his eyes back toward Kerri and asked, “How you go from trustee to houseman?”

  Shrugging her shoulders now, smiling again up at Dante, Kerri asked, “So you accepting the job, right?”

  “Whatever,” Dante answered before asking, “How this whole houseman shit goes, though? Is it just your shift or all three shifts?”

  “All three shifts. Why?”

  “Your boy Jefferson ain’t really feeling me, so I’m sure it’s gonna be something with homeboy when he finds out what’s up with this houseman shit.”

  “Fuck him!” Kerri replied in a lowered voice. “His ass don’t run shit. I’m the senior officer in this unit, and his ass just don’t like you because what they say happened with you and his brother.”

  “What you mean with me and his brother?” Dante asked, face balled up in a confused expression. “Who the fuck is his brother?”

  “Everybody call him Prince, but his—”

  “So Prince is this nigga Jefferson’s brother, huh?” Dante said, cutting off Kerri. He then asked, “How you know they brothers?”

  “Because I used to mess with Jefferson some time ago,” Kerri admitted. “He introduced me to Prince as his girlfriend, and Prince as his brother. His big brother.”

  Nodding his head from the information that Kerri just gave him, Dante had a quick thought. But realizing the problems he was facing, he focused back on Kerri and said, “You still fuck with this nigga Jefferson?”

  “Hell naw . . . his ass been over,” Kerri answered with much attitude. “His ass used to beat up on me and even pulled a knife on me one night after work. Fuck his ass!”

  “I think we may be able to help each other,” Dante told her, smirking his devilish-like smile.

  “How?” Kerri asked, staring hard into Dante’s eyes and seeing the smile he had on his face.

  “We’ll discuss that later,” Dante told her, winking his eye at her.

  5

  A linna was sitting in the den back at the penthouse talking with Natalie when James entered followed by Jonathan King, the attorney. Natalie waved off Gomez, who stood at the sight of the middle-aged white man. Alinna stood up from her seat on the couch and held out her hand. She spoke: “Thank you for coming, Mr. King. Allow me to introduce you to Natalie Saldana.”

  “Ms. Saldana . . . ,” Mr. King said, releasing Alinna’s hand and taking Natalie’s and shaking it gently. He continued, “Mr. Blackwell has told me about you, and after our meeting now, I would like to discuss a few things with you concerning matters of you and your unborn child, for which Mr. Blackwell has begun setting up plans.”

  “That will be fine, sir,” Natalie replied, smiling at the thought of Dante planning for her and their child.

  “Please, Mr. King,” Alinna spoke up, motioning to the attorney. “Please, have a seat.”

  “Thank you,” Mr. King replied as he took a seat on the sofa across from both Alinna and Natalie. He set down the briefcase he was carrying onto a glass coffee table. He opened it, pulled out a brown folder, and then handed it over to Alinna. “This is what’s been filed on Mr. Blackwell, and if you turn to the third page, you’ll see everyone who’s involved in Mr. Blackwell’s case, as well as the arresting officers.”

  “Dante was telling me something that the case may be turning into a federal case,” Alinna told the attorney while looking through the file.

  “There’s a big chance that the case will, Mrs. Blackwell, considering the fact that not only is Mr. Blackwell being charged with murder of a law enforcement officer who was a captain for the Miami-Dade Police Department, but he’s also being charged with murder of a federal agent as well,” Mr. King explained to Alinna, glancing over at Natalie as both women sat looking inside the file.

  “Why’s there only two names on here for the arresting officers?” Alinna asked as she looked up at the attorney. “This says that Sergeant Aaron Banks and Detective Howard Fuller from the MDPD were the only two arresting officers.”

  “Were they not, Mrs. Blackwell?” Mr. King asked, staring at Alinna with questioning eyes.

  “Hell . . . !” Alinna started but then paused as she thought about something. “You know what, Mr. King, maybe this is right. I may have been looking for something to hold onto and hope for.”

  “That’s understandable,” Mr. King replied, catching the change in expression on Alinna’s face as she changed up what she was about to say.

  Continuing the meeting with the attorney and even writing down a few things from the file before Mr. King left, Alinna walked him to the door, thanking him and exchanging goodbyes. Security then escorted Mr. King to the elevator. Alinna closed the door behind her, locked it, and then turned and faced James. “Something’s not right, James.”

  “Explain,” James told her, following Alinna back to the den where Natalie and Gomez sat talking to each other and waiting.

  “James, you were there just like I was there when Dante turned himself in,” Alinna told James as they stood in the entrance to the den. She stared at him and continued, “Whoever the fuck Sergeant Aaron Banks and Detective Howard Fuller are, they weren’t the ones who arrested Dante. It was Paul and that bitch, Monica.”

  “Who’s Monica and Paul?” Natalie spoke up, getting both Alinna’s and James’s attention.

  “It’s t
he wife and partner of the DEA agent Dante is accused of killing,” James said, drawing everyone’s attention to him.

  “Something’s not right with this whole case,” Alinna said, speaking up again. “This bitch Monica said she was going to try and bury Dante for killing Alex.”

  “When’s he supposed to call?” Natalie asked, looking at her Rolex watch.

  “He should be calling by 10:00 p.m.,” Alinna replied while thinking about what Dante was talking about when he said something wasn’t right with this case.

  * * *

  Dante hung out at the officer’s desk talking with Kerri until she finally closed the floor by 11:00 p.m. Dante then turned out the unit’s lights at Kerri’s request. He walked back over to the desk and then began cleaning up around the office area while Kerri started on her paperwork.

  “Here!” Kerri said as she dug out some latex gloves.

  Taking the gloves, Dante walked off and headed inside the restroom to the supply closet to get the broom.

  “What you need us to do, boss man?” Dante heard as he looked back over his shoulder to see the big man, Jim, who was one of the trustees. He looked past the big man to his right to see no one else. Dante looked back to Jim and asked, “Where are the others at?”

  “Tony said he was coming, but the nigga Travis still feeling some type of way about you taking his houseman position,” Jim explained to Dante.

  “Fuck him . . . !” Dante said as he handed Jim a push broom.

  Dante spent a little more than five minutes with Jim cleaning up the unit and bagging up the trash, when Kerri whispered to him to go to the restroom. Dante said nothing as he walked off after first tossing the trash inside of the large trash bag that went out with the breakfast in the morning.

  Nodding to Jim as the big man headed toward his bunk, Dante entered the restroom and walked over to the sink area.

  He was washing his face with cold water when Kerri walked into the restroom carrying a white plastic bag. Dante left the sink running, dried his face with his jail-issued shirt, and then turned his back to the sink counter as Kerri handed him the plastic bag.

  “That’s something I picked up from the Rib House off 22nd Avenue,” Kerri told Dante. She then pulled her cell phone from her pocket and handed it over to him. “Be careful with this phone, Dante.”

  “Do me a favor . . . ,” Dante began as he was already dialing Alinna’s number. “Go get the nigga Jim and tell him to come holla at me real quick.”

  “Hello,” Alinna answered on the start of the second ring.

  “What’s up, shorty? You miss me?”

  “Dante, who’s phone . . . never mind!” Alinna began, but then thought better of the question she was about to ask him. “I wanna talk to you about these papers that Mr. King brought over to the penthouse.”

  “Hold up!” Dante stopped her as he picked up the plastic bag with the food inside that Kerri had given him. He held it out to Jim as the big man walked inside the restroom. “This for you, big homie?”

  “What’s this?” Jim asked, looking at the phone in Dante’s hand.

  “You eat ribs, right?”

  “Hell yeah!”

  “There you go,” Dante replied, nodding to the bag. “Watch out for me, and I got you on a phone call after I’m done.”

  “That’s what’s up, gangster,” Jim said, dapping up with Dante with a smile.

  “Alinna . . . ,” Dante said back into the phone.

  “Yeah, baby! Who was you talking to?”

  “Nobody. What’s up, though? What you found out?”

  “I was reading over the file that Mr. King had, and for your arresting officer, they got somebody named Sergeant Aaron Banks and Detective Howard Fuller. Why aren’t Monica’s and Paul’s names anywhere on the file, since they the ones that was behind the investigation. But then I noticed that there was some informant that was also helping with the case.”

  “What’s the informant’s name?”

  “That’s just it, Dante . . . There wasn’t a name for the informant,” Alinna told him. After a moment passed with no reply from Dante, Alinna prodded, “Dante, what is it? What are you thinking about?”

  “I’m not sure yet, Alinna,” he answered, trying to play everything inside his head. “Find out who this muthafucker is, Alinna. Find ’im and handle the shit, Alinna!”

  Dante spoke with Alinna for a few more minutes before hanging up. He then called another phone number.

  “What go on? Who this be?” Wesley answered after two rings.

  “What’s up, Rastaman?” Dante said, smiling at the sound of Wesley’s voice.

  “Blood clot . . . me rude boy, brethren, is on the blood clot phone. What go on, Dante?”

  “Wesley, I need you to handle something for me, mom. You got me?”

  “Every time, my brethren. What you need, rude boy?”

  After explaining to Wesley about Officer Jefferson and telling him what he wanted him to do, Dante hung up the phone with a smirk on his face. However, his smirk quickly faded as thoughts of the informant Alinna told him about entered back into his mind.

  * * *

  Alinna called Greg Wilson immediately after hanging up with Dante. She spent five minutes on the phone explaining to the business associate what she needed concerning information on who the informant was in Dante’s case. She further explained that she had $50,000 for him once he came up with the information.

  Hanging up with the private investigator, Alinna then called Natalie.

  “Hello!”

  “Natalie, it’s Alinna.”

  “You spoke with Dante?”

  “I spoke with him, and I also just got off the phone with this investigator that works for Dante named Greg—”

  “Greg Wilson,” Natalie finished, interrupting Alinna. “I know who Greg is. He used to work for my father, but now he works for Dante. What did Dante say?”

  “He wants me to find out who this informant is that’s on the case, but I also want to find out exactly what’s going on with Dante’s case and why Monica’s name isn’t showing up when she was the main person behind Dante’s arrest.”

  “I’m going to call my mother and see if she can help us out with this,” Natalie told Alinna. “Hopefully she can help. I’ll call you back tomorrow.”

  “Call me after 11:00 a.m. I got a meeting at 10:00 with a buyer.”

  “Alright, Alinna.”

  Hanging up with Natalie and then laying the cell phone on top of the bedside dresser, Alinna sat on the side of her bed a moment, trying to put everything together inside her head. In the end, she decided to get in contact with Angela.

  6

  A linna was unable to sleep most of the night, so she decided to get up early and handle some business runs. Alinna met with two new major buyers who had flown in from out of state, and then she spoke with both Mr. Sutter and Mr. Goldmen over the phone about the first shipment that was on its way.

  Calling Natalie once business for the family was handled, Alinna only reached her voice mail box, so she then called Angela to see if they could meet and talk.

  “Hello!”

  “Angela, it’s Alinna. Are you free to talk?”

  “Not really, but what do you want?”

  “I wanna ask you a few questions about Dante’s case.”

  “Fuck Dante!” Angela began nastily. “Matter of fact, don’t call me about Dante ass no more. Don’t call my number period. Whatever happens to Dante’s lying ass is good for him!”

  Hearing the bitch hang up the phone in her ear, Alinna stared at her cell phone’s screen in disbelief and yelled, “No this bitch didn’t just hang up on me. I will whoop this hoe ass!”

  “What’s up, Alinna?” James asked, looking up from his cell after reading the text message that came through.

  “That nasty ass bitch had the nerve to hang up in my face, and then she talking that shit about Dante brought whatever happens on himself. She lucky Dante ain’t hear that shit! Fuck that bitch!”
>
  “So what’s up now?” James asked as he slid his cell phone into his pocket.

  “I gotta meet up with the rest of the family and tell them about the new shipment and some new plans I’ve been thinking about. Call Vanessa and tell her to have the family meet at Auntie Gray’s Diner,” Alinna told James while trying Natalie’s number again.

  * * *

  “What they say?” Dante asked as he walked up in front of the officer’s desk where Kerri was just hanging up the phone with her face all balled up in anger. “They still ain’t sent nobody to fill in for Officer Jefferson yet?”

  “They sending up somebody now,” Kerri said, waving her hand dismissively at two inmates who were approaching her desk. “This just like some shit Jefferson’s ass would do.”

  “Relax . . . This may just be a good sign right here,” Dante told her, winking his eye at Kerri.

  Hearing the unit’s door being opened and seeing her girl Gina walking inside the unit, Kerri stood up from behind the desk and hugged her when she walked up. “Officer Harris!

  Girl . . . What you doing here?”

  “This is where they got me at since Officer Jefferson quit,” Gina told her friend, but then noticed who was standing in front of the officer’s desk. “Dante Blackwell . . . So this is where they put you at.”

  “For the moment,” Dante replied, but then looked to Kerri and said, “I’ma see you tonight, right?”

  “I’ma be here,” she replied, smiling as she stood watching him walk off from the desk.

  “Kerri Cook!” Gina cried, staring at Kerri smiling. “You mean to tell me you know Dante Blackwell, girl?”

  “We’re friends, Gina,” Kerri told her girl, smiling as she picked up her lunch bag from the table top.

  “Yeah, before you go . . . ,” Gina added, stopping Kerri as she started for the door, “You gonna find out, but I’ma tell you now. Jefferson in the hospital at Parkway. This morning he got beat up really bad and put in the hospital. He had his sister call in and say that he quit.”