Piece Keeper

by Antwan Floyd Sr.

  Morena finally returned with Pops. He bent down on the floor and scooped up Sparkle. The white pit-bull looked up at Pops with sad eyes as the old man moved as quickly as he could towards the front door.

  “Where are you going?” Teresa asked on the brink of tears.

  “Not going to just let her die,” Pops said. “I have to find a hospital.”

  “What? No! It’s not safe.”

  “And staying here is?” he asked never breaking his stride all the way to his pick-up truck.

  Teresa and Morena followed behind as Morena dialed Black to tell him what had happened.

  ***

  She was sitting across the street in a house with a for sale sign on the front yard. Tucked securely away in a room with closed circuit TV monitors and listening devices, the woman with the British accent had been keeping surveillance of Black ever since he’d come to town. She’d been watching his every move. Her job was to protect her employer’s interests and Black was doing a fine job of that whether he realized it or not. Almost everyone connecting back to her employer was eliminated. She packed up the equipment, loaded it into a van out back, and made a phone call. The phone rang once and was picked up.

  “Awsum, the town is almost cleaned up. One final crumb to dispose of,” she said through the phone before hanging up and climbing into the van to pull off.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The streets were desolate and cold. James shook off the chill that shot through his bones as he pulled the skull cap slightly down over his eyebrows not leaving very much of his face to be seen. He took his time moving to the ATM machine. He had transferred a small portion of his money from the off shore account to his account in the states. He had been in Burr Ridge for almost a week now. Nothing or no one, other than Witherspoon, was connecting him to what happened to Teresa or the others he’d dumped in the river over the past year. He knew Witherspoon would never speak and their employer had no idea who it was and didn’t want to know. He felt bad about not trying to bring Teresa. He contemplated that she was better off without him. He slid the bank card into the machine, keyed in the code followed by the amount he wanted to withdraw, and then waited for the machine to spit the bills out. Once the money was out he retrieved his cash and card and went back to his car. He had nothing to worry about yet he still felt compelled to get out of Illinois. He wanted to see his sister before he left because he didn’t know when he would see her again. As he climbed into his car and started the engine he heard the sound of a click behind his head.

  “You can have the money and car,” he said.

  The person behind him remained silent.

  James spoke again. “It doesn’t have to end badly. I haven’t seen your face so you can just take the cash and go. Everyone’s happy.”

  “This isn’t just a robbery,” the woman’s said as she pulled the trigger.

  ***

  Waeltz sat behind his new desk in his new office as the chief of police for the Vermillion County Police Department. Everything had turned out exactly as the stranger had told him it would. Things had changed and a lot all of the officers involved in the Prince case had disappeared. He had no idea what happened to them. Some detective I am he thought. Well he knew what happened to Witherspoon. He couldn’t say he was sad. After all it was war. Surely Witherspoon understood. At least that’s what Waeltz told himself anyway. He closed his eyes and thought about the week before.

  Flashback

  He had been called in to the homicide scene of Officer Hunter. He’d been advised that he was called in because he was the primary detective on the Prince case and Hunter was the suspect in that case. When he arrived the first thing he noticed was District Attorney’s Benton’s car outside. He was surprised but proceeded in.

  Benton stood over the body clutching a large manila envelope. She handed the overstuffed package to Waeltz.

  “Counselor,” he stated looking down at the envelope.

  “Detective.”

  “What’s this?” he asked as he opened the envelope. The envelope was filled with bundles of cash. “This Hunter’s?” he asked surprised at the contents.

  “No. It’s yours.”

  “Mine? Is this some kind of test or set up? Where are the units that called this in?”

  “There are no units. This was never called in. The cash is yours. You had a visitor last night… you were told that I would contact you.”

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. I ought to—”

  “Not rock the boat, Detective,” she said cutting him off.

  “I don’t even know where the boat, as you put it, is going.”

  “Up the ladder of success if you play your cards right.”

  Waeltz looked into the envelope again. He gauged that there had to be at least $40,000 dollars in his hand.

  “Who’s our employer?”

  “Doesn’t matter. I have a handler and I’m yours. I get the orders and relay them to you.”

  “What will my orders be?”

  “We are in the disposal business.”

  “Disposal? In Danville?”

  “We get busier than you may think.”

  “So the chick from across the pond is your handler right?”

  “Again, I have a handler and I’m yours. That’s all you need be concerned about. And Waeltz… you should consider yourself damn lucky that you heard her voice. All other’ before you ever heard was the sound of the bullet as it left the chamber.”

  Waeltz remained silent thinking about last night and how he hadn’t heard her come in.

  Jordan continued. “Witherspoon is out. He must be disposed of. That’s your first assignment. I suggest you assemble a team. Don’t get a group of fuck ups like your predecessor did.”

  He nodded.

  “And just to make things clear, this ends the two of us and our thing we had going,” she told him. “We can’t risk being seen together other than on a professional level.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Yes. If you think about going sideways or backing out you won’t make it. Our employer has people everywhere. You never know who you’re telling.”

  She stepped around him and out of the house. He picked up his cell phone and called in the homicide of Officer Hunter.

  Present Day

  His thoughts were interrupted as someone knocked on the door.

  “Come in,” he said.

  The door opened and Meltzer, the officer who helped with looking into James’ file, entered. She closed the door. Gone was the police issued uniform. In its place was a gold badge and pants suit.

  “Looking good, Detective,” Waeltz said to her.

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “How’s the recruitment for that new task force I assigned to you coming along?”

  “Have some prospects… looking at a few cops from Detroit.”

  “You have any problems with… you know….?”

  “No, sir. Disposal was a non-issue.”

  “Good. So what can I help you with, Detective?”

  “Nothing. Just giving my progress report on building the team.”

  “Well…if that’s all then…”

  She nodded. “Yes, sir.” She left the room.

  He was left once again with his thoughts. He didn’t know how long it would be before they deemed him unnecessary or a liability but he would be prepared whenever they came. He just didn’t know how.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Teresa sat at her table reading the letter over and over again. Black stood at the entrance watching her. Behind him in the hall Whip stood watching Black.

  “Why would he do this Black?” Teresa asked more upset than sad.

  Black didn’t have an answer for her. Not one that would appease her or make her feel better so he remained silent.

  She sobbed. “A coward.”

  “Excuse me?” He didn’t understand her meaning.

  “A coward! He wasn’t even man enough to tell me face to face that he had wante
d to end this. A letter? Break it off in a letter?”

  “More personal than a text message.”

  She felt ashamed. She was complaining about what was done to her to the very person she’d done the same thing to. “I guess I am calling the pot black right?”

  Black laughed. “The pot is Black.” Truth was he felt good about the situation. She had been through a lot and telling her about James would only make this horrible mess even worse. She continued to talk but Black barely listened. He was too busy thinking about what Whip had told him.

  ***

  James trembled in fear as he tried desperately to steer the vehicle with a hole in the windshield. He was deaf in his left ear. He felt the blood running from his ear to the side of his face. He was alive. The woman in the back seat hadn’t killed him. She’d just fired a shot to scare him. He wiped the blood from the side of his face.

  With the gun still to the back of his head she whispered in his good ear. “Let the blood run. You take your hands off the wheel again I’m putting one in the back of your head.”

  He nodded letting her know that he understood. He drove as he was directed to an old house on the other side of town. When he arrived he was ordered out of the car and taken into a basement where three other women he’d never seen before waited. It was like a scene out of a movie. The basement had knives, plastic bags, and a table with leather restraints. He gave up the information right away before they cleaned him up, as Whip put it.

  ***

  The more he thought about it the more he smiled. Black was surprised the level of precision that James and Witherspoon had as far as getting rid of criminals. He never found out who was over Witherspoon. James either held that information out over fear or he simply didn’t know himself. Black had gotten the blood analysis report back and found out it was James’ blood on the asthma pump that Brown had given him. James still didn’t admit he was in on the actual rape but Black knew better. Before Whip and her team killed James they made him write a letter to Teresa saying he was going away and not to look for him because it was over. Whip was against it but she did it for her brother.

  When the smoke cleared and Waeltz was on top he made Black promise not to release the information about James in order to spare Teresa. After contacting Seshat she had found out that the money was coming from a dummy corporation out of New York. She could dig deeper but he told her to forget it. The factors in the situation were depleted. She froze the accounts, took half of the money from Witherspoon and James, and gave the other half to Black via an offshore account which he in turn gave to Whip and her team. Black smiled. Bad money was going to good use.

  “Glad to see you’re happy, Black,” Teresa said snapping him back to the here and now.

  “Oh, no….not smiling for that. Smiling because I know you are a strong woman and will come through this stronger than ever.”

  “Hmm.”

  He looked down at the table and saw two engagement rings.

  “Here, Black.”

  “What’s this?”

  “Your rings.”

  He looked at her neck and saw another engagement ring dangling from a chain around her neck. “You have three engagement rings?”

  She held the ring around her neck. “James gave me this one.”

  He wanted to tell her then and there that she was wearing the ring of a man that had been hired to kill and bury her. He picked up the two rings. “One is the one I gave you and the other is…”

  “The one you gave Morena.”

  “What?”

  “She didn’t have the heart to face you. She asked me to.”

  Black was upset and embarrassed.

  Teresa continued. “With everything that went on here, she said it was too much. She left a few hours ago.”

  “For the best I suppose,” he said as he dropped the two rings into his jacket pocket.

  “I suppose.”

  There was a moment of silence.

  “How’s Sparkle?” Teresa asked with a solemn smile.

  “She’s okay. Probably the only girl I can hold on to.”

  Teresa laughed. “Unless she leaves you for, Dad.”

  Black smiled, bent down and kissed her on the forehead, and then on the lips. “You take care, Teresa.”

  She smiled.

  He turned to leave.

  “Black?”

  With his back still to her he paused. “Yeah?”

  “I lied….I’ll always be your Baby Love.”

  He didn’t respond. He continued to the door following his sister out of the apartment and out of Teresa’s life.

  The End

  Excerpt of Dope Fiction

  Prologue

  Early 90’s

  Whip sat behind the wheel of her 91 Cutlass, Danesha sat next to her in the passenger seat rolling a blunt. Nicole and Carlene both sat in the back seat.

  “How long we have to wait on her to get here?” Carlene asked referring to Cheyenne. She was the final member of their five girl crew.

  “You know we can’t leave without here.” Whip snapped, turning down the volume on the radio.

  “Shit, why not she can stay here and we can take Nick.” Carlene spat back.

  “Nah, Nick ain’t cut out for that.”

  Carlene laughed. “And she’s ready to start copping alone right?”

  “I made the decision Carlene were not discussing it.” Whip was the leader. Not necessarily because she was the toughest but more because she had elements of all of them within her psyche. She was a true hustler like Danesha, loyal like Nicole, a killer like Cheyenne, and a gangster like Carlene. Carlene often bumped heads with Whip, nothing personal just always testing her to see if she would bend or break.

  “You’ll do fine Nick.” Whip said looking at her in the backseat through the rearview mirror. Nicole remained silent, nodding at Whip with an assured stature about herself.

  “Yeah as long as she can stay off the bottle until it’s done.” Danesha added as she lit the blunt and took a pull. Nicole rolled her eyes.

  “You can stay here and I can go to Illinois, if you think you can do better.” Nicole snapped back. She was the youngest of the group only 19 years old. She found herself always having to fight for respect of the group. It was true she had a drinking problem she would never admit that to her girls especially not to Danesha or Carlene.

  “You ain’t never killed nothing.” Danesha said handing the blunt to Whip.

  “What that mean I’m supposed to be scared? The shit ain’t hard.”

  “We done talking about this shit Danesha and Carlene leave the girl alone damn, you bitches is worrisome as hell sometimes. Nick get the shit put it up, wait till we get back.”

  “Alright.” She responded folding her arms across her chest.

  “Cool, now get your ass out my car Cheyenne just pulled up.”

  Nicole did as she was told climbing out as Cheyenne climbed in and sat in her place. Nicole stood watching as the car crept away leaving her standing alone.

  ***

  The wind whistled and howled as Nicole pulled at the straps of her quarter length butter soft leather coat. A matching leather bag was draped over her shoulder. She stuck her hands in her pockets as she rushed into the neighborhood lounge. Pausing to give the security guard a kiss on the cheek she slipped three nicely folded one-hundred dollar bills into his hand. For the three bills he skipped the pat down and she walked right in with her .38 snub. With a wink and a nod she was off to her favorite booth in the corner of the bar. Nicole was a hustler in a crew of female hustlers. They earned a certain degree of respect that was equal if not above the handful of top Black male hustlers in the city. They earned well and knew how to keep their mouth shut so it wasn’t unheard of for the local Costa Nostra to hire them to do certain favors from time to time. Everyone had a position to play and Nicole played hers well. She could play all the parts that needed to be filled when they needed to be filled. She could fight and could sell it all from girl, coke,
and weed to stolen cars, clothes, and information. She could turn coke to crack pretty well, though not as well as Whip, but if need be she got the job done.

  She was riding solo tonight because the other girls had to drive to Chicago for a job they were doing for Whip’s brother. Even though she didn’t go she would still get a split. That’s just how they rolled. If one made money they all made money. Besides someone had to stay home and take care of business. She’d just come from copping three kilos. She knew she should have gone straight to the stash house but figured she would stop off for drinks first. Nicole sat at her favorite table drinking shot after shot and turning down offers to dance by her many admirers. She was very nice to look at. At 19 years old and barely five feet her beautiful brown skin glowed no matter what the lighting in the room was like. With dark brown bedroom eyes she illuminated beauty where ever she went. She was accustomed to all eyes being on her just as they were tonight.

  Ickie was no exception. He’d spotted her the moment she entered the room. He sent over a bottle of champagne to let her know he was scoping her. Ickie was an associate of her crew. He ran different scams here and there and had been trying to get with Nicole for a quite a while. He wasn’t a bad looking man. Most of the women in the hood wanted him but he just wasn’t Nicole’s type. Ickie was determined to change her viewpoint. He made his way to her table as the waitress popped the cork on the five hundred dollar bottle of liquor. Before she could pour a glass he retrieved the bottle from the waitress and shooed her off.