Piece Keeper

by Antwan Floyd Sr.

  “I have a proposition for you Waeltz.”

  Waeltz was surprised twice. The first time because this intruder had gotten the drop on him and the second time because the intruder was a woman.

  “Are we going to talk like this or can you take that gun from the back of my head?”

  Waeltz flinched as he felt the barrel of the gun press against the back of his neck.

  She continued. “The man that I work for is offering you a job.”

  “Yeah? What kind of job?”

  “Chief of police.”

  Waeltz laughed. “Is the piece to the back of my head a part of the hiring process?”

  “The man I work for doesn’t like disappointing news. The piece to the back of your head, as you put it, assures me that I won’t disappoint him.”

  Waeltz tried to place the voice. She most definitely wasn’t local. In fact she sounded British.

  “Who’s your boss? He from across the pond too?”

  “You’re asking the wrong questions, Waeltz.”

  Waeltz’s thoughts were racing a million miles per second. What’s the right question to let me walk out of here alive, he thought. “When do I start?” He blurted out nervously.

  “When Witherspoon’s seat is vacated you’ll be offered the position and you will accept.”

  “What will I have to do for the boss?”

  “Once you’re in office our contact out here will instruct you of your duties.”

  “And if I refuse?”

  The room was silent. Waeltz was nervous but he slowly turned to face her. He felt a chill shoot through him looking around the room to find his apartment door open and the intruder gone. He jumped to his feet knocking over the chair in the process. He ran to the door and snatched his gun that was hanging in the holster on the coat rack near the door. Rushing into the hall and down the stairs all the way outside he frantically looked left to right, up and down the block to find no one there. He cursed as he went back inside and closed the door. Yeah, things are getting messier and messier he thought as he flopped down the couch.

  ***

  Once in his truck Black pressed TALK on his cell phone and dialed Teresa’s number. It went straight to voice mail. He dialed again as he drove over to her home. He wanted to check on her. She sounded pretty depressed last night. He still had yet to hear back from Seshat. He looked at his phone as it began vibrating in the cup holder. He picked it up and read the CALLER ID. Morena’s face popped up on the screen. He tossed the phone back into the cup holder and let it go to voice mail. He wasn’t in the mood to argue. Whatever it was could wait until he got home. Pulling into the parking lot at Teresa’s apartment building he jumped out and made quick strides towards her unit. He’d ditched his suit and tie and opted for jeans, sneakers, a hoody, and a Chicago White Sox baseball cap. He pulled the cap down low over his eyes and touched the butt of his registered glock he had tucked underneath his hoody to make sure it was secure. He was feeling apprehensive about what happened the night before. It made him feel better to carry his piece. As he approached her door he heard loud laughter coming from the inside. One of the voices was definitely a male’s. He cringed at the thought of having to confront James in front of her. He shook his head as he knocked on the door. One awkward situation after the other, he thought.

  The door opened and Teresa stood on the other side smiling. “Black?”

  “What’s up?”

  “Nothing,” she said as she stepped to the side to allow him to enter.

  He walked in and made his way to the living room where he stopped in his tracks surprised. “What are you doing here pops?”

  “Came to see my girl,” he said as he stood and gave his son a hug. He whispered in his ear. “I got your message. We can talk now.”

  Black nodded.

  Pops continued. “You been taking care of my girl?”

  “Yes he has, Dad.” Teresa said entering the room carrying two bottles of beer. She still called him dad even though she and Black were no longer together. They still had a father daughter bond that she felt was sincere so when he came to town it was no surprise. She handed the men the beers and sat on the sofa.

  “Well he better be. You know I’ll crack his head don’t you?”

  “Yeah I know, Dad. He’s been good.”

  Black half smiled as he sat on the sofa across from Teresa. “I’ve been calling. Why you haven’t picked up?”

  “I had my ringer off. James has been calling and calling.”

  “Everything alright between you two?”

  “Yeah, just didn’t feel like talking that’s all.”

  “Hmm.”

  Teresa gave him the side eye, shifted her position, and faced Pops. “How long you gonna be here, Dad?”

  “Not long. Just wanted to see you and Black. She wanted to see him too.”

  “You brought her with you, Dad?” Black asked.

  Pops whistled. The sound of paws scratching against the carpet could be heard as the dog came scurrying into the living room. The all-white Pit-bull jumped up on Black.

  He smiled as he held her and rubbed her down. “Hey, girl. I missed you too.”

  Pops moved towards the door. “Step outside with me, son. Let’s talk.”

  “Give us a few minutes,” Black said to Teresa then followed his father outside.

  They took Sparkle with them. Once outside they let the dog run freely.

  “How’d you know, Pops?”

  “I know my boy and you were talking about having to put your dog down. I always knew it was never you who did it but your sister.”

  Black lowered his head. “She told you?”

  “No. Your personality, son. Any person can kill, be it animal or man. Only a select few have a heart of a killer. I know. I’ve seen it. I know because it’s in me. It’s in your sister. But you. You were my strategist.”

  “How long have you known?”

  “Almost immediately. The important question is who was the one you had to put down last night?”

  “A guy named Hunter. One of the scumbags that hurt Teresa.”

  “Well, good for you.”

  “Figures you would say that.”

  “Damn right.”

  “You been anti-establishment my entire life.”

  Pops laughed. “Yeah and you’ve been teeter-tottering this line between activist and conservative for too long.”

  “Humph.”

  “Well, we are who we are. I didn’t come here to debate political and socio-economics with you.”

  “Why did you come, Dad?”

  “To make sure you’re okay up here.” Pops tapped Black on the side of his head with his pointer finger.

  “Thanks, Dad. My head’s okay. I’m okay.”

  “Good. Don’t need you getting all remorseful and turn yourself in. You behind bars does no one any good. Especially over trash like that Hunter.”

  Black took a swig from his beer. He watched Sparkle run around the parking lot. “What should I do now, Pops?”

  “Finish it.”

  “Finish what?”

  “What you started.”

  Black shook his head. “I don’t know about that.”

  “I do. What did you do with the body?”

  “I cleaned up and left it there.”

  “There? Where’s there?”

  “His place.”

  “Don’t you know, son? No body, no crime?”

  “Couldn’t be moved. Wasn’t prepared. Spur of the moment thing.”

  “What I always tell you, son?”

  “I don’t know. You tell me a lot of things.”

  Pops sighed. “There is no such thing as it just happened! All actions are rooted in thought, even those we claim to be spontaneous.”

  “Thought you said I didn’t have the heart of a killer?”

  “Again… not here to debate.”

  “So what else? I know there has to be more to you coming.”

  “There is…”


  “I’m listening.”

  “Talked to your sister… she’s on her way down. She should be here in a couple hours.”

  “Come on, Dad.”

  “You’re a lawyer and you’re smart and I know you ain’t no punk. I’m proud of you but this….this is your sister’s terrain. Let her help.”

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “That’s all I ask. And Black…”

  “Yeah?”

  “I am proud of you. What have I been telling you since you were a boy?”

  “Men protect their women.”

  “That’s what you did as a man… what you saw fit. You took care of that woman in there.”

  Black remained silent.

  Pops continued. “That’s why I fought tooth and nail with your mama about your name.”

  Black smiled. “I used to hate this name when I was a kid.”

  “Black Love. Only love I know, baby.”

  Black laughed.

  Pops placed his hand on his shoulder. “How you feel about the name now?”

  “I love it. It defines me. I love our people.”

  “That’s what’s up. Well, tell my girls in there bye. I’m going to go on and hit the road. You know that traffic driving into Chicago is crazy.”

  “You know Teresa’s going to be mad you didn’t come in and say bye.”

  “Tell her I’ll make it up to her.”

  “I will.”

  Pops climbed into his red pick-up truck. It was two years old and beat up. He had been using it for scrapping. He turned the engine on and let it idle. “How’s that other girl of yours?”

  “Morena. She’s fine.”

  “Good. You and these women… don’t let them be the death of you, boy.”

  “I won’t, Pops.” Black said with a smile.

  “Love you, man.”

  “Love you too. Dad, what about Sparkle?”

  “Keep her. You got all the women with you any way. She might as well stay too.”

  “Alright, Dad. Be safe.”

  “Peace.”

  “Peace.” Pops pulled off and Black whistled for Sparkle. She ran behind him as he went into the building.

  ***

  Waeltz didn’t know what was going on. He knew it was high up the ladder he just had no idea how high or where to even begin. He knew Witherspoon knew the answer but how could he get him to talk without showing his cards? Whatever the answer was he felt in his gut by the end of this case he would know it all whether he liked it or not. Who was the woman with the accent? Unless he heard her speak again he’d never be able to pick her out of a line up especially since he never saw her face. He was headed out of the door. He needed to get to a homicide scene.

  ***

  It took some doing but Black was finally able to convince Teresa to go back to his place and hang out with Morena. He didn’t tell her about James because wanted to be 100% sure before he started stirring that pot. He had tossed his cell phone so he wouldn’t hear from Seshat until he contacted her. He had gotten the call from his sister and she was meeting him to talk. He pulled into a parking lot at a restaurant, purposefully choosing the one with no surveillance cameras. He didn’t need anything to trace his sister back to this town. As he pulled in he noticed his sister and one of her girls standing outside of her car while the other two sat in the car. He turned the truck off and got out. She was two years younger than he was. She was very attractive but very dangerous. She had been running the streets since a teen. She’d moved from Chicago to Indianapolis as soon as she was old enough to drive.

  “What up, big bro?” she said as she gave him a hug.

  “Hey, sis.” It felt good seeing his sister.

  They didn’t hang out as much due to their different lifestyles. She was deep into the streets and he was locking people like her up. She had no qualms about hanging out. He did. He felt bad now that he needed her help.

  She noticed the guilty look on his face. “Don’t worry about it, big bro. I got you.”

  Black nodded.

  She motioned to her girl standing beside her. “You remember my girl Danesha don’t you?”

  “Yeah, I remember.”

  Danesha shook his hand. “Long time no see, Black. You been good?”

  “Yeah and you?”

  “Same, you know.”

  He looked to his sister. “Who else is in the car, Ally?”

  “Call me Whip.”

  Black nodded.

  She shook it off. “You’ll meet them other bitches later. Fill me in on the situation at hand. The old man didn’t tell me much.”

  “You been watching the news?”

  “Yeah.”

  “One of the cops that got off… I took care of him. Need to clean it up.”

  “That’s all?”

  “Should there be more?”

  “I guess not. Pops made it seem like you needed some real aid and assistance. Shit I brought the brigade.”

  Black shook his head. “Naw, just a clean-up.”

  “You know this thing about to be over and the other ones are never gonna be charged don’t you?”

  Black sighed. “Yeah I know.”

  “Let us do what we do. None of it will be connected to you and we can balance the scales of justice around this bitch.”

  “Just a clean-up.”

  “Give them the address. Me and Danesha gon’ ride with you.”

  “Splitting up?”

  “Don’t need a party to dump a body. Take us to get food. We can talk. They’ll call us when they’re done.”

  Black did as he was told. He walked over to the car and leaned his head into the window to give the two women the instructions.

  ***

  Foster had mixed feelings about Hunter. She didn’t know whether to be happy that James had taken care of that problem for her or worried that she may be next on his list. She couldn’t let the latter stop her from what needed to be done. I’m smarter than him, she told herself. He was predictable. If he wasn’t gone yet he would more than likely be at Teresa’s. Everyone knew he had a thing for her. After doing a ride by of her place she saw Black speaking with an old man in the parking lot so she decided to sit and wait. He would show up eventually. She had her team on standby. After hours of waiting Black and Teresa both finally left going in separate directions. She decided to follow Teresa hoping she’d lead her straight to James. She was in full tactical gear including the velour vest and a black ski mask sat on the passenger seat next to a throw away hand gun. She was in a car she’d requisitioned from the police impound. She tailed Teresa back to where Black was staying. The pickup truck the old man had been driving was in the driveway. Suddenly Black pulled up behind Teresa. A woman greeted them at the door and Teresa and Black went inside. Foster called Billy as back up and waited for him to show up. It didn’t take long for him to arrive. She took the back, climbing the gate to the back yard deck. Billy went in through the front. Also in full tactical gear and a donning a black ski mask, he kicked in the door and rushed in,

  “Run!” Pops yelled out as he rushed towards the masked intruder. He had years of self-defense training. Although he was an older man he pinned Billy to the wall and hit him with two quick knee jabs to the ribs. He was prepared to throw another when he was shoved off and tasered. Pops fell to the floor shaking. Billy stood over him and tasered him again before moving towards the rear of the house.

  As Morena and Teresa reached the sliding door that led to the deck outside the door slid open and Foster entered with her gun drawn. “Don’t move!”

  Before Foster could move any further Sparkle leapt up clutching her wrist that held the gun. Foster yelled out in pain trying to shake the dog loose. Unsuccessful, she fell to the ground trying to wrestle herself free. Teresa and Morena both rushed the intruder overpowering her and taking her gun. She lay on the ground balled up yelling for them to get the dog off of her. Just then Billy entered the kitchen with his gun drawn. Sparkle leapt over to Billy who shot her in m
id-air. Sparkle fell to the ground whimpering in pain. Before Billy could get off a second shot Morena squeezed Foster’s hand gun and kept firing until Billy fell back. She had emptied the clip. Most of the shots hit him in the vest, one hit his leg, and the other penetrated the neck. She stood over him clutching the gun still squeezing as he clutched his neck with blood streaming through his fingers. Morena had gone tone deaf. It was as if she had tunnel vision. She couldn’t hear anything for a brief second so she hadn’t heard the click, click, click sound of the empty gun. Teresa stood back in shock.

  Foster took this as an opportunity to attack. She leapt from the floor rushing Teresa and knocking her to the floor. Teresa went into survival mode. All the hate, hurt, anger, and fear came bustling out on Foster. The two women tussled on the floor. Teresa tried to get a grip on the intruder’s hair and pulled the mask off. Her shock at seeing it that it was Foster compelled her to fight harder. With a handful of Foster’s hair she began banging the woman’s head against the floor. The first blow was face first. Her nose and some of her front teeth were broken. Teresa got two more blows in before Foster threw an elbow hitting her in the breast plate. The blow was enough for her to free herself. She scrambled to get away but Teresa grabbed one of her legs and pulled her back. Foster turned over and began kicking wildly. One of the blows hit Teresa in the face. She fell back bleeding from the mouth. By this time Foster was back to her feet rushing Teresa but stopped short of reaching her when she felt a shock of electricity shoot through her body. She dropped to her knees then fell face forward as Morena punched her in the back of the head. Morena had taken Billy’s taser and used it on Foster. The fight in Foster was finally gone. Billy was still breathing but unable to move. He was dying slowly. The two women looked at one another then looked around the room.

  Morena moved over to Billy and removed his ski mask. “You know this one?” she asked.

  “Son of a bitch is a cop,” Teresa replied.

  “Oh my, God. Pops!” Morena yelled out as she rushed towards the front door.

  Teresa took Foster’s handcuffs and drug her body over to Billy’s where she handcuffed the two together and made sure she had both sets of keys. She took their other weapons and cell phones. She wasn’t going to call the police. She figured Black would know what to do and if Foster woke up before he came she wouldn’t get far dragging a dead body. There was no way Billy would survive bleeding the way he was from his neck and the other wound in the leg.