Beneath The Surface

by Glenn, Roy

  “That’s good to know.”

  “I don’t think you killed him because he worked for you. I think all the dealers that these assholes were robbing worked for you. I think you and at least one other person, and I think that person is Nick Simmons, killed the robbers, but not before they told you about Easely. I think you killed Jay Easy because you found out that he sent those guys to rob you.

  “I think we’re done here.”

  “For now.” Kirk stood up. “But we’ll talk again.”

  “As long as you leave that cracker in the hallway; his breath sinks,” Rain laughed as the detective left the room.

  Chapter Nine

  Black opened his eyes and sat up in bed. He looked around the room and wondered where he was. Then he looked to his side and saw Jackie and Vonda asleep in the bed next to him, and he remembered how he got there.

  After putting Carmen in a cab, he also caught one and went to the gambling house that was run by Jackie Washington. When he got there, she was coming out of house. They talked for a while about how things were going, and Jackie told him how much money she had made for him that night; and how things were progressing with the new spot.

  Jackie told Black that her Porsche was in the shop and she was waiting for a cab. When her cab arrived, Jackie got in and asked Black if he wanted to share the cab. When they arrived at Vonda’s apartment, Jackie got out and asked if he wanted to come in and share Vonda.

  Black shook his head, rolled out of bed, grabbed his clothes, and got out of there. He walked for a while and then caught a cab to his house. On the way, Black thought about Carmen and how good it felt to see her again. The cab pulled up in front of the house in time for Black to see somebody walking toward his door. He told the driver to pass the house, and he got out at the corner. With his gun drawn, Black approached the house. He walked up behind the man and pointed his weapon. “You lookin’ for somebody?”

  “Lookin’ for you, nigga.”

  The man turned around. “Leon!” Black shouted, and put away his gun. “What you doin’ here?” he asked and unlocked the door.

  “I told you, Mike. I’m looking for you.”

  “How’d you know where I lived?”

  “Angel told me,” Leon said and made himself comfortable.

  “Yeah, I saw Angel a couple of weeks ago. She got me to clean up a mess for some cutie with money she was rollin’ with, named Avonte.”

  “That sounds like Angel. I don’t know what my little sister be doin’ to these woman, but whatever it is, they don’t mind givin’ her their money.”

  “Angel is something else. She said something about things not bein’ all good in da’ ville.”

  “Had to get out of there for a minute; maybe permanently,” Leon said, and went on to explain that things began to go bad when his cleaner got arrested for FTC violations, in an attempt to get him to roll on the people he worked for. He had already given them Leon’s supplier. “For the time being, he’s standing tall, but ain’t no tellin’ how long that gonna last. So I put together some paper, and was gettin’ ready to lay low for a while. But two niggas hit me at my house. Killed two of my men; and shot Diamond and Pearl.”

  “Damn, Leon, I’m sorry. They gonna be all right?”

  “I don’t know. I dropped them at a hospital in Jacksonville. But it’s hard gettin’ information.”

  “You know who did it?”

  “I didn’t get a good look at them, but I got my suspicions. The shit happened so fast. By the time I got my money and got out there, Pearl had been shot and my men were dead. I got Pearl got outta there with Diamond, but she caught one in the back.”

  “Damn, man, I’m sorry. You find out who these niggas are, and I’ll kill them.”

  “No,” Leon said and looked Black in the eyes. “No, you won’t.” Leon knew that was something that he had to do.

  “I hear you. What you gonna do next?”

  “Lay low for a minute. The three of us were goin’ to Aruba, but I ain’t feelin’ that now.”

  “I got a house in Nassau. I’m goin’ back down there in a day or two,” Black said, and thought about how seeing Carmen may change that timetable. “You could come with me. You’re welcome to stay as long as you want.”

  “I just might take you up on that. In the meantime, I got to do something with this money. You know anybody I could use?”

  “Wanda handles all that shit. I’ll talk to her about it; see if she could put you on to somebody,” Black said and thought about Meka Brazil.

  “What?” Leon asked, noticing the thoughtful look on Black’s face.

  “I know somebody who has the skills to help you, but we’ve never done anything like that with her. Her name is Meka Brazil. She’s been working with Wanda as a financial adviser.”

  Leon laughed. “Financial adviser, huh?”

  “Yeah, nigga; a financial adviser. Now that so much of our business is legitimate, we needed to do some different things with our money.”

  “So she don’t know where your money comes from?”

  “Meka is smart, so she may have figured it out by now, but we made a decision not to tell her any of that. I could arrange a meeting.”

  “You just introduce me, socially of course, and I’ll take care of that myself. If she don’t know what you do, it’s better for you if I keep some distant between us. But sooner or later, I gotta go back to work.”

  “I know somebody you can talk to about that,” Black said and thought about Angelo Collette, and how killing Stark cost him money. “You drivin’?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Let me take a shower and we’ll ride out there,” Black said and got up. An hour later, he and Leon were pulling up in front of Angelo’s spot in Yonkers. He introduced Leon and Angelo, and the three men talked for a while. Then Black stood up. “I’m gonna leave you gentlemen to talk,” he said and left the room. Thirty minutes later, Leon and Angelo came out of the office.

  Angelo walked over to Black at the bar. “Thanks, Mikey.”

  “For what?” Black asked, but was confident that he was out of the drug business. This time for good.

  Chapter Ten

  On the previous night’s 6 o’clock news, Carmen reported live from the 18th Street art gallery, on what she had learned from Detective Mitchell. “This is Carmen Taylor reporting live from the 18th Street art gallery, where the body of a woman was found murdered. The victim has been identified as Tangela House of Lower Paxton, Pennsylvania. The cause of death was asphyxiation with the strap of a purse.”

  While she waited for Aneisha Perry, the gallery director, Carmen wandered around the gallery looking at the exhibition. She was overly impressed with the artist’s work, but she wasn’t an art critic, so the report she prepared before there was a murder to cover, wouldn’t include her critique.

  “Miss Taylor?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m Aneisha Perry, the gallery director.”

  “Thank you for seeing me,” Carmen said and shook Aneisha’s hand.

  “We can talk in my office,” Aneisha said, and Carmen followed her. “I was half expecting you to have a film crew with you, Miss Taylor.”

  “No, I sent them home. I wanted to ask you a few questions about the murder.”

  “Other than finding the body, I really can’t tell you much more than that,” Aneisha told Carmen.

  “Can you show me where the body was found?”

  “I can.” Aneisha led Carmen upstairs. “The police asked me not to let anybody in here, so you understand that I can’t let you go in.”

  “I understand.”

  “I was on my way to my office to make a call, when I noticed this door cracked opened.” She opened the door and flipped on the lights. “She was lying on that desk there,” Aneisha said, pointing from the doorway.

  “Can you tell me anything else about her?”

  “I could see her skirt gathered around waist and her blouse opened; poor thing. Oh, and the strap from her purse w
as wrapped around her neck.” Aneisha turned off the lights, shut the door, and continued to her office.

  “What did you do after you found the body?”

  “I called the police, naturally.”

  “And you don’t remember seeing anybody on the floor, or leaving before you came up here.”

  “No, Miss Taylor, I didn’t see anybody,” Aneisha said as they got to her office. “Can I offer you something to drink?”

  “No thank you; I’m fine.”

  “What can I tell you, Miss Taylor?”

  Carmen took out her iPhone, accessed the picture of Tangela that she’d taken of her mug shot from the file on Harmon’s desk, and handed it to Aneisha. “This is a picture of the woman. Her name is Tangela House. Do you remember seeing her that night?”

  Aneisha put on her glasses. “This is a much better picture of her than the police showed me. But like I told them, the night was a blur. Openings always are. I may have walked right into her and not noticed.” She looked carefully at the picture again. “No, I’m sorry, I don’t remember seeing her that night.”

  “So you wouldn’t know who she may have come with?”

  “I’m afraid not.”

  “Was there a list of invited guests?”

  “There is, but the police have it.”

  “Do you have a copy?”

  “Yes, it is not for publication. I have a responsibility to protect my supporters from any type of undue media exposure,” Aneisha said definitely.

  “And I wouldn’t ask you to allow me access to your list; but would you mind looking at your list? I imagine you know most of the guests personally.”

  “I do.”

  “Those people we can eliminate. But maybe there is a name on that list that may stand out,’ Carmen suggested.

  Aneisha moved her mouse and her computer screen came to life. She clicked on the list and began mumbling as she went down the list. Then she got to a name that raised an eyebrow. She looked at Carmen. “This may take some time, and I don’t want to keep you. Why don’t you leave me your card and I’ll give you a call if I find something,” Aneisha offered.

  “That sounds good,” Carmen said and took out a card. “Thank you again for seeing me, Miss Perry.” Carmen stood up and so did Aneisha. “I can find my way out,” she said, hoping to take look around.

  “It’s no bother at all,” Aneisha said and escorted Carmen out. She got in her car and drove away, wondering whose name it was on that list that raised Aneisha’s eyebrow.

  Chapter Eleven

  Later that afternoon, Black and Wanda met with their financial adviser, Meka Brazil at Wanda’s downtown office. Meka wanted to discuss the state of their investments since the market crashed. Their loss was over $14 million, and Meka felt responsible.

  In the three years that she had been in New York, things had gone from great, to really fucked up for Meka. While the market was up, Meka flew high along with it, and when it dropped, she came down hard. It wasn’t that she had made a lot of bad investments. Meka saw credit default swaps as risky financial products very early on, so she wasn’t tied to them as so many in her profession were. However, when consumer confidence in the stability of the markets dropped, and investors began pulling money out, Meka lost big.

  As a result of those losses, she was let go by the firm she was working for, and they went under shortly after that. Now Meka only had one client left, and she knew that she had to do anything she had to do, to keep them. Although neither Black nor Wanda ever mentioned how they made their money, Meka always had her suspicions. That led her to do a little research, and she found that her suspicions were not unwarranted.

  Meka knew from her previous experiences that they weren’t using her to launder their money. She knew that game and how it worked, because it was how Meka earned a living while she lived in Miami. When things got a little hot in Miami, Meka moved north and tried to put that life behind her. But she understood all too well, that if things didn’t turn around for her soon, she may have to return to her previous profession.

  It was a little after four when Meka arrived at the office. Black stood up when he saw her enter the room. “Good afternoon, Meka,” he said and pulled out her chair.

  “Hi, Mike. Hi, Wanda,” Meka said as she sat down.

  After a bit of idle chitchat, Meka sadly reviewed their losses and offered the best possible explanation. Her plan was that once she detailed their loss, she would go into an optimistic forecast for future investing, and then jump into her plan for new investments.

  “At this point, your loss is in the area of $14 million.”

  “Yeah, but only on paper,” Black said, and Meka looked confused by the statement.

  “Excuse me?” she asked.

  “We didn’t lose $14 million,” Black said, and Wanda looked at him like he had lost his mind. “We only lost a million dollars.”

  “That’s a very enlightened attitude for you to have, Mike,” Meka said, but she was glad he was taking it so well. It made her feel better, and made her a little more optimist that she would still have them as a client when the meeting was over.

  “I’ll say it is,” Wanda added and rolled her eyes.

  “How do you think I should look at it, Wanda?”

  “Like it is. The fact is that we lost $14 million,” Wanda said.

  “Call it what you want, Wanda. But the truth is that we gave Meka a million dollars to invest, and that is what we lost. The rest of that was only a number on a piece of paper that Meka put in front of us once a month.”

  “I see your point, Mike, I really do, but it has substantially affected our net worth,” Wanda said and glared at Meka.

  Meka knew that things were starting to get away from her. She was prepared for Bobby, who usually attacked everything she presented. When she arrived and Bobby wasn’t there, she figured that she would be able to make her presentation and sell it without resistance. I wasn’t expecting this from Wanda, Meka thought. She was always supportive, even gun-ho about her investment strategies in the past; but that was before she lost their money. Meka pressed on.

  “As we move forward, I think that it is absolutely essential to understand this business environment as it has become, and is likely to be, rather than what it has been. The approach I would recommend is to develop a strategy that precedes without preconceptions. This is a time when relying on the past or on conventional wisdom, could be the wrong decision. What I’d like to do now, is go over some of the opportunities that I’ve identified for the future,” Meka said and took her plan out of her briefcase.

  “I don’t think that will be necessary, Meka,” Black said. “I think at this point it’s safe to say that the market ain’t for us,” he said, and Meka’s heart stopped.

  “I disagree. There is a lot of money out there to be made. Some investment houses are having their best quarter ever, and are looking at record annual profits.”

  “I don’t dispute that, Meka. I’m sure what you say is true. But listen to what I’m sayin’: It just ain’t for us.”

  “I’m sorry that you feel that way,” Meka replied with words she had said so many times, when her former clients told her that they were getting out of the market. She was devastated and it showed on her face.

  “Don’t look like that, Meka. There is something that I do want you to work on for me.”

  “What’s that?” Meka asked, suddenly overjoyed that he was at least willing to work with her; hoping whatever he had in mind would be lucrative for her.

  “At one of our previous meetings, you talked about us making some investments in foreign countries: China; India; Russia.”

  “Right,” Meka said excitedly, and dug in her briefcase to retrieve her notes from that meeting. “There is a lot of opportunity in those growth markets.

  “I was particularly interested in exploring some of the opportunities you spoke about in Russia.”

  “Yes,” Meka said, and found the document that she was looking for. “We disc
ussed a company that makes multimedia switching gear for cable companies that recently received certification for its Safari C3 product line in Russia, through the Ministry of Communications.”

  “Exactly,” Black said and leaned forward. “That and wind. I’m goin’ to Nassau day after tomorrow,” he said, and Wanda’s eyes opened a little wider. She had counted on him being in the city for a while longer. “Let me know when you got something together for me to look at.” Black sat back in his chair. “You ever been to Nassau?”

  “Once. But that was years ago when I was in college,” Meka said.

  “We’ll fly you down when you’re ready. Once I’m satisfied with what you come up with, I’ll arrange a meeting with a gentleman named Oleg Mushnikov, and another named Wei Jiang,” he said, and Wanda looked at him. She had only heard the name Wei Jiang once when Kevon asked her to check him out. And that he had some involvement with Black getting shot. Wanda had no idea that Black now considered doing business with him. She had never heard of Oleg Mushnikov, and was becoming increasingly frustrated that she was being kept out of certain parts of the business she used to run.

  “Who are they?” Meka asked.

  “They are my partners in foreign investment.”

  “I’ll put together a proposal and get back to you.”

  “You make this happen, and it should be quite lucrative for you in the long run, Meka,” Black said.

  “I’ll get on that right away,” Meka promised as she gathered up her stuff. Although Meka was glad to still be working with them, she knew that lucrative in the long run wouldn’t do her any good right then. She would have to make something else happen, and do it soon.

  When she was ready to leave, Black and Wanda escorted her out of the conference room to the lobby. To Wanda’s surprise, Leon was seated in the lobby. “Leon, what are you doing here?” Wanda asked.

  Leon stood up. “Came to see you,” he said and kissed Wanda on the cheek.

  “What’s up, Mike?” Leon said and shook Black’s hand.