by Glenn, Roy
“Why not?”
“Because I’m a little tipsy and that always leads to bad decisions,” Wanda said, and went home alone that night. She knew that no matter how she felt about Nick, he wasn’t the right man for her. He never was, and no matter how she tried to mold him, he never would be. There was a man out there for her. She knew what she wanted in a man, and made up her mind not to settle this time. She set her sights on Marcus; and she would have him.
It was a little after six when Marcus arrived at Gotham. Wanda liked to eat there because Gotham was among the first places she liked to abandon pretension and formality, in favor of a more casual, without compromising, service. Fine dining in New York once meant tuxedoed waiters and boardroom-level dress codes for guests.
Over a dinner of White Tuna Sashimi, seafood salad, Miso Marinated Black Cod for Wanda, while Marcus enjoyed the Grilled Rack of Lamb, the pair had a lively discussion about mergers and acquisitions. Another area of law that Marcus, a criminal trial lawyer, wasn’t really up on.
“I have two associates at my firm in Atlanta that handles mergers and acquisitions.”
“I have associates at my firm that specialize in mergers and acquisitions, too. That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t keep current. Admit it Marcus, I’m a better lawyer than you,” Wanda jeered.
“I wouldn’t go that far, Wanda,” Marcus said, feeling a little outdone.
“How far would you go then?”
“I’d say that you are, at this point, a more diverse lawyer than I am. And I say: at this point, because I used to handle different types of cases all the time.”
“Then Roland Ferguson came along and you got on television.”
“And the firm grew.”
“You started getting big murder cases.” Wanda leaned forward a little, looked in his eyes, and dropped her voice down an octave. “And murder cases are so much sexier than mergers and acquisitions.”
“Yeah—they really are,” Marcus said slowly, nodding his head. He took a sip of his drink. “I was really surprised when you told me that you never tried a murder case.”
“That’s because you had no idea what I did.” Wanda laughed a little. “You still don’t. But you stick around and Wanda will show you how to practice law again. Tomorrow you’ll meet my legal staff,” Wanda said, and made a mental note to call her personal assistant to schedule a meeting with the legal staff.
“Looking forward to it,” Marcus said.
“So you gonna tell me why you left Atlanta?”
Marcus took another sip of his drink. “Her name was Panthea Daniels. She was one of my clients who was on trial for murder.” Marcus went on to explain how they’d had an affair, and that when it was over for him, Panthea began stalking him, and that it ended with her committing suicide. “Then there was Angela Pettybone.”
“Another client?” Wanda asked.
“Yes.”
“Did she kill herself too?”
“No, Wanda, she didn’t kill herself, but she was just so needy that I had to get away from her. That, and the fact that Carmen had moved back to the states, as she calls it, and I really wanted to give that another try. But Carmen is, and to be honest, always has been, into her career. And that doesn’t leave room for much else.”
Wanda decided that it was time to make her first move. “Maybe it’s time you stepped up and let a real woman take over, and leave those little girls alone.”
Marcus was caught off guard by her comment. He began to look at Wanda differently. For years he only saw her as a friend; a very smart friend, who helped him get through constitutional law—never really taking the time to see her as a woman; and an attractive one at that. Maybe Wanda is the type of woman I need, Marcus thought. Wanda saw the way that Marcus was looking at her, and knew her plan was working.
Chapter Fifteen
After spending another day in the hospital, Rain was about to lose her mind. With nothing else to do, she lay in her bed with the TV remote in her hand, flipping from channel-to-channel, but not really watching anything.
The doctor had been in to see her, and said that she was lucky to be alive, and that she was healing well. When she asked him when she could get out of there, the doctor said he would see how she was doing in a day or two.
“A day or two!”
That was the last thing she wanted to hear. There were things that she needed to do. And they wouldn’t get done with lying on her ass. When she couldn’t take it anymore, Rain picked up the phone and called her club. “JR’s, this is Mala.”
“It’s Rain. Let me speak to Rose.”
Rose was the manager at JR’s. Since she hadn’t heard a word from Nick since she’d shot Jay Easy and pushed him out of the car, Rose was the only one she could depend on.
“Rain,” Rose said excitedly. “Are you all right?”
“My chest hurts, but I’m okay. Listen, I need you to do something for me.”
“Whatever you need, Rain. I got you.” Rose promised.
“I know that, but listen: I need you to go in my office; I got some clothes in the closet. Then I need you to go in the safe, get my gun, and bring them to me.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m at the hospital.”
“Okay, which one?”
“Shit, I don’t even know,” Rain said and looked at the bracelet on her arm. “I’m at Montefiore Medical Center on Gun Hill.”
“I’m on my way.”
When Rain ended the call, Rose hung up the phone and turned to Nick, who was seated behind the desk in Rain’s office. “That was Rain, Nick.”
“What did she want?”
“She wants me to bring her some clothes and a gun.”
“Get the woman what she wants,” Nick said and smiled.
When Rose got to the hospital, Rain jumped out of bed and snatched the bag out of her hand. She rushed in the bathroom to change without saying a word. Five minutes later, she came out dressed and ready to go. She checked the weapon Rose had brought her. “You check the security tapes of the robbery?” Rain asked.
“I did.”
“Good. I need to see them.”
“Nick’s got them. He came to the club that next day and he took the disk with him when he left.”
Hearing that Nick had been by the club and was on top of the robbery, made Rain feel a little better; but she still wondered why he hadn’t been to see her in the hospital.
“Rain,” Rose said meekly. “There’s something you need to know.”
“What’s that?”
“Nick is waiting outside.”
Rain smiled, and then she thought about it. “You call him?”
“No. He was with me in the office when you called.”
“He tell you not to tell me?”
“No. It may just be ’cause you’re in the hospital, but he’s been acting kind of strange since it happened. I just don’t want you walkin’ into nothing blind.”
“Thanks Rose. I’ll be all right,” Rain said, feeling that she was safer with Nick than anyplace else in world. Rain walked out of her hospital room and Rose followed.
Nick waited outside, leaning against a limo. As he saw Rose come out of the front door with Rain, he recalled the conversation he had with Black. “She don’t get anymore chances, Nick. Next time she dies. So unless you want her to meet Monika, you keep her in check.”
The closer Rain got to Nick, the better she felt. And he came to pick me up in a limo, Rain thought. She threw her arms around him. It felt so good to be in his arms again. But she could tell by the way he was acting with her, that something was wrong.
No matter what he did not to think about her, Nick couldn’t get Wanda out of his head. Her last words to him before she left his apartment that morning rang in his ears. “I really did love you, Nick, even though I never said it before now. I really did love you.”
He always felt like Wanda loved him, but it would have been nice to hear her say it. For those to be her last words to him, ate at hi
m, and wouldn’t let go. He looked at Rain and knew that he didn’t feel for her the way he felt for Wanda. He had waited his whole life to feel for a woman the way he felt for Wanda; and now she was gone, and Rain was the consolation prize.
After they put Rose in a cab, Rain got in the limo with Nick. As the driver took off, Nick turned to Rain. “How do you feel?”
“My chest hurts, but I’m fine, Nick.”
“You want a drink?”
“Patron?”
“For sure,” Nick said and reached for the bottle.
Rain looked at Nick’s face as he poured her drink and handed it to her. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“Don’t lie to me. Me and you are too close for me not to know when something ain’t right.”
Nick looked at Rain and thought about what he would tell her. He decided to tell her the truth. “Stark and Moon are dead, and you would be too, but—”
“But it’s gonna take more than one bullet to kill this bitch,” Rain interrupted and laughed.
“But Blue shot you before I did,” Nick said and looked Rain dead in her eyes.
“You were gonna kill me?” Rain asked; and that made her chest hurt.
“What did you tell Kirk?”
“Do you even gotta ask me that?”
“No. I don’t. But I’m askin’ anyway. What did you tell Kirk?”
“Nothing,” Rain said quickly. “But you was right about that mutha fucka. He knows everything; he can’t prove nothin’, or I’d be in jail now. All they really got is that Taurus, but it ain’t in my name, and there wasn’t any prints in it.”
“Nothin’ but Jay Easy’s blood in it. But the police don’t have the Taurus,” Nick said and poured himself a shot of Patron.
“They didn’t impound it?”
“They did, but my people drove it out of the impound lot that same day.”
Rain smiled because her man had her back. “Then they ain’t got shit.”
“No.”
Rain put down her drink and moved closer to Nick. She touched his face gently and kissed him on the cheek. “I understand why you felt like you had to kill me. What I did was wrong. I should never do shit behind your back. And I swear on my father’s soul that it will never happen again. I’m all for you now, baby.” She kissed him again. “I’m ready to be whatever you need me to be.”
“You don’t get another chance,” Nick said and kissed her.
“Now we need to ditch this limo. You and me got some unfinished business.”
“Like what?”
“Blue had a team hit both our spots. They got damn near two hundred thousand dollars of my money, and I want it back.”
“Okay. But we do this my way,” Nick said.
“Whatever you say, baby,” Rain said sweetly.
Chapter Sixteen
It was still early when Carmen finished her next assignment. She had covered the opening of another new restaurant. For the past couple of days, she’d been playing phone tag with Marcus. And if she wanted to be honest with herself, she was avoiding his calls and calling him back when she knew she’d catch voice mail.
As much as she tried not to, Carmen couldn’t keep herself from thinking about Mike Black. She hoped that she would have heard from him, but since hadn’t, Carmen decided to go see Black at Cuisine.
When she got there, Carmen waited, like any other customer, until there was a table for one available; which took about twenty minutes. Once she was seated and had placed her drink order, Carmen gave the waitress a message. “If Mike Black is in this evening, please tell him that Carmen Taylor requests the pleasure of his company.”
Ten minutes later, Black joined her at the table. The waitress placed a drink in front of him, and blended into the background. “Hello Carmen.”
“Hello Mike.”
“It’s good to see you, Carmen.”
“It’s good to see you, too, Mr. Black.”
“Are you staying for dinner?”
Carmen picked up a menu. “That all depends on what you have on the menu.”
“I’m sure you’ll find something you like.”
Carmen looked at Black. I have, and it’s not on the menu, she thought. “I’m sure that I will. As a matter of fact, I just finished covering a restaurant opening: A Pan-Asian place on 53rd.”
“What’s it called?”
“Nockamoras.”
“Good food?”
“I don’t know. At the time, I wasn’t really hungry, but the crew said it was good.”
“I was serious when I said I wanted you to cover this place.”
“I know that you were.”
“Do you pick the spots you cover?”
“No, but I think my producer will listen if I made a suggestion; so consider this an audition. I’ll let you know if the food is as good as you say it is. And I’m looking forward to hearing the band.”
Black signaled for a waitress. When one responded, he told her to get Lexi, the supper club’s manager. Lexi joined them at the table, and Black introduced her to Carmen. “Carmen, this is my manager, Lexi Gordon. Lexi, this is Carmen Taylor.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Taylor.”
“Carmen is a feature reporter for channel four, and she is evaluating our restaurant for one of her segments.”
Lexi looked and Carmen and remembered seeing her sitting for a long time in the lobby, waiting for a table. She started to break into an apology right away, but she immediately went into her standard VIP speech instead: “We are so glad to have you with us tonight, Ms. Taylor. If there is anything you need, please let me or any member of our staff aware of your issue, and it will be taken care of right away. I’m sure at the end of your evening you’ll have had a great meal, and will have enjoyed an excellent show.”
“How about getting the band onstage right away,” Black whispered to Lexi before she left.
As promised, Carmen enjoyed the meal and the floorshow that consisted of a comedian MC, a dance troop, and the house band, featuring Angela Gray. When the band finished their set, Carmen turned Black. “I’m going to see what I can do about getting this place on. Everything was excellent.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself, Carmen,” Black said. “I hope you can get us on. How’s that story you were talkin’ to me about, goin’?”
“You mean you haven’t been watching the news every night to catch my story?”
“I’m sorry to say that I haven’t?”
“It’s okay. I forgive you.”
Carmen told Black what she’d found out, which wasn’t much, and about everybody she’d talked to. “In fact, you’d be doing me a big favor if you’d come ride someplace with me.”
“Where’s that?” Black asked.
“It’s a place called Lace. Tangela House, that’s the dead woman’s name, used to work there; and I want to talk to some people that work there. You never know, I may want to do a story on adult entertainment clubs.”
Black agreed to go with her, and before long, they found themselves seated at a table at Lace. After they ordered drinks, it didn’t take long before they were joined by one of the dancers. After telling her that they didn’t want a table dance, Carmen explained who she was and took out the picture she had of Tangela House. “Do you know this woman?” Carmen asked.
The dancer looked at the picture. “Sure, I know Tish. She dances here. Did something happen to her?”
“She was found dead a few nights ago.”
“Damn, that’s fucked up. I know I haven’t seen her around for a while, but that happens all the time. Dancers come and go so quick around here, you don’t hardly notice when one don’t come back.”
“Were you and her friends?”
“Kind of, I guess. We’d speak; you know how it is.”
“Is there anybody I can talk to that was close to her?” Carmen asked.
“She was real close with Crème and Vallie.”
“Are they around?”
“Haven’t seen them in a minute, either. They got involved with this guy that makes porno flicks.”
“Do you know his name?” Carmen asked.
“I think his name is Finch. But there goes Wild Cherry. Her and Tish was friends.” The dancer got up. “I’ll get her for you.”
When Wild Cherry joined them at the table, she cried a little when Carmen told her about the death of her friend. “I didn’t get her name, but that other dancer said that two other dancers also haven’t been around for a while.”
“You talkin’ ’bout Crème and Vallie.”
“Right. She said you were close to them.”
“Crème more than Vallie. Me and Crème used to dance at a club called Ecstasy,” Wild Cherry said; and Black remembered that Jada West used to dance there, and wondered if she knew them.
“Do you know their real names?” Carmen asked.
“Crème’s name is Cecelia Cunningham, and Vallie, her real name is Valerie. I never did know her last name.
“Is there anything you can tell me about Tish that might help me find who she was with the night she was killed?”
“I don’t know if this matters or if she was even with him, but Tish used to run with this guy named TR. They used to run scams together.”
“Do know where I could find him?”
“I don’t know, but maybe Midori might know.”
“Which one is Midori?” Carmen asked.
“I’ll get her,” Wild Cherry said. “Hey, Midori!” she yelled over the music. “These people wanna talk to you!”
Midori stopped what she was doing and came to the table. “What y’all want?”
“This lady is a reporter, and she wanna ask you about Tish.”
“Yeah, I saw on the news that she was dead.”
“Do you remember TR?” Wild Cherry asked.
“Yeah, I know that fool.”
“You know where I might find him?” Carmen asked.
“Last I heard he was in hidin’.”
“Hiding from who?” Black asked.
“Some guy they supposed to have scammed outta a lotta money. His name was Hammdee Yasir; real scary lookin’ Arab mutha fucka. Used to be a client of mine, but he was just too weird for me. But I introduced him to Tish and she liked him.”