I smiled. “The girls will be here in a minute,” I said, changing the subject.
“No problem,” he said.
“I’ll need the money before they get started. That makes things easier.” I stuck my hand out.
“Tips are optional but greatly appreciated. That always make the party much more exciting.”
“They some dimes, right?” he asked. “Not none of the Chocolate Fantasy Girls?” He reached down in his pocket.
“Didn’t you see the pictures I sent?”
“Yeah. But, you know how that go.”
“Trust me,” I said. “You’ll be pleased. The girls specialize in parties.”
“So, how much I owe you again?”
“Fifteen hundred.” His eyes got big. “Don’t be trying to Jew me down, either,” I said. I watched him as he easily peeled off the bills. He handed me the money and I noticed it didn’t begin to make a dent his wad of cash. “You said you wanted three girls, right?”
“Yeah,” he said and nodded. “You did get three, right?”
“Sure did.” I separated five bills and secured them in the zipper part of my handbag then slid the remainder in my back pants’ pocket.
“This yo man’s car?” Dee asked, just as I hoped, while admiring it. Having worked in the trade for so long, men became kind of predictable.
“I don’t have a man,” I said politely.
“Why? What’s wrong with you?”
“Who wants to turn a hoe into a housewife, right?” He opened his mouth to speak, but couldn’t say a thing. “Why you keep asking. You want to be my man or something?” I asked.
“You might be a little too much for me.”
Seeing an opportunity to gauge the relationship he had with Malibu, I asked. “But, for real, what was up with you and my girl because it would seem weird kicking it with you like that if ya’ll were an item.”
“Nothing,” he said. “But I do like your style.”
I smiled. “I like yours, too.”
“Well, since we both feel the same way, maybe we should get to know each other a little better.” He took my hand.
“Let’s start with names,” I said and pulled my hand out of his. “The one on your birth certificate.”
“You getting pretty personal, ain’t you?” he said.
“You said let’s get to know each other better. That’s one of the things I like to know about a man I’m thinking ‘bout fucking.”
“Damn B. You frank.”
“No. I’m Riddles. And you haven’t answered my question.”
“Right now,” he said face serious. “All you need to know is Dee. In time,” he smiled. “Who knows? Play ya position, ‘cause like I said, it’s something ‘bout you I like.”
I noticed mirror a Tahoe pulling up behind me in my rearview. “Okay,” I said wrapping up the conversation. “I hope you enjoy the entertainment. Then at least we could continue to develop a ‘business’ relationship.”
“Most definitely,” he said.
“They’re here,” I said and opened my car door. “You ready to get this party started?”
He nodded and we got out of the car and approached the truck. I introduced him to the driver, then gave her the money out of my back pocket.
The girls got out the truck and headed up the sidewalk. I stopped when I got to my car.
“You not gon’ stay?” Dee asked.
“For what?” I asked. “My business done here. Call me and let me know how it turns out.”
He walked over and whispered, “Kick it with me a minute. I’ll match that half of burner you got in the ashtray.”
Those words were music to my ears.
The girls followed Dee into the house while I grabbed my blunt and handbag out of the car. Once inside, he told me to wait in the kitchen while he led them up a set of stairs. When he returned, we stepped outside to sit at a small table in the backyard. He opened his hand to expose a fat, neatly rolled blunt.
“You got some fire?” he asked. Not saying a word, I reached inside my pocket, fished out my lighter then flicked it for him. He hit it.
“So,” I started. “What? You got a thing for strippers or something?” I questioned but he couldn’t answer because his mouth was filled with smoke. “Is that it, about me?”
“No. I don’t have a thing for strippers,” he said blowing it back out. “I told you. I like your style. It’s something about you.”
“My style?” I asked.
“That’s what I said.” He passed the blunt to me. It smelled so good. “After you left from my shop that day, I remembered KeKe mentioning your name.” He watched me take a hit. “She had told me about you. I could tell she admired you. She had told me that she wanted a fly roller like this girl named Riddles.”
“Really?” I asked.
He nodded. “I was like, who is this Riddles chick she always talked about?” I passed the blunt back. “She told me y’all could pass for sisters. And now that I’ve seen you, you really do.”
“Why didn’t you tell me when I was there that day? At your shop?”
“I had to scope you out first. Make up my own mind about you.”
“So what? I’m cool?” I asked.
“You cool,” he said and took another puff. Did you go to the funeral?” he asked and kept talking before I could answer. “I didn’t even know anything about it. I had just got back into the country the day I ran into you.” He tried handing me back the blunt.
“I’m good,” I said then told him what Angie did with the remains while he took another puff.
He nearly choked. “Ain’t that some shit.”
“That’s what I thought,” I said while remaining tight-lipped about Angie and Peanut’s shenanigans. I still didn’t know the nature of his relationship with Malibu.
Dee’s cell phone chimed. “What’s up, Pimp’n?” He spoke into the phone then turned to me. “Can you hold on one second? I need to take this call.”
“Sure,” I said then pretended to ignore his conversation.
“Yeah. I know. I know. I told you I got that covered,” he said into the phone. He waited for a response then, “Don’t sweat that shit, man. I got it. Peace.” He ended his conversation then laid his cell phone on the table. “Excuse me.” He looked at me. “Where were we? Oh yeah, I got to call her. This shit crazy.”
He knows Angie?
Does he know Peanut too? I wondered. I need to find out more about him and Malibu.
“So, you got me kickin’ it wit’ you and all,” I said. “You gotta tell me. What was really up with you and Malibu?”
“She was my little homie,” he explained. He put his blunt out in an ashtray. “We was cool. I liked her vibe, you know. I know her people so I kinda looked out for her. But I ain’t never fucked her, if that’s what you asking. She had a man. I don’t fuck behind dudes.”
Okay. He does know about Peanut.
“You think her dude had something to do with her death?” I asked. He’d brought Peanut up, so I figured questions about him became fair game. He looked at me out the corner of his eye. “I’m just scared, you know.” I didn’t want him to think I was fishing for information. “I need to know it ain’t some psycho trick out here.”
He chuckled. “For real, I don’t know. She didn’t talk about him that much to me and I didn’t ask. I sensed she was tired of him. I told her I would help her move, get her own place if she wanted, but she worried about her mother. You know she took care of her and them twins, right? That nigga too, for that matter,” he said.
“So, you hadn’t heard from her?”
“No. I had been meaning to contact her for some girls. But I thought she might be going through some things with her nigga, so I figured I wouldn’t hear from her until it calmed down. But, damn, I wouldn’t have ever thought that somebody murked her in that club.”
Even though we were buzzed, the mood fell somber after that comment. From there, we held general conversation until the party ended.
>
During the ride back home, I tried to process and analyze everything Dee revealed, then I realized I hadn’t asked about the car.
Shit.
Chapter Sixteen
I decided to go to the Walmart up in Alpharetta to pick up some snacks before going home. As I pushed my cart down an aisle, I saw Angie.
The way I keep running into her, it must be a sign.
I bypassed the junk food, rushed to see where she went, and found her in the frozen food section with her face in a cooler.
I walked up behind her, and leaned in close. “Hello,” I said in a low voice.
“Oh!” she said. She jumped away from me and clutched her chest. ‘You scared me.” She swallowed. “Hi.” She let out a breath. “Riddles. I swear. I’m really starting to believe you’re following me.”
I laughed. “I promise I’m not. Mere coincidences. We live in the same area. But, how you holding up?” I asked.
“I manage. It’s hard though, I really miss her. I’ve just come to the conclusion that I’ll never know who did that to my child.”
“It’ll come out eventually,” I said. “I’m sure of it.”
“Have you heard anything in the club?” She looked at me with curious eyes.
“No. Don’t nobody know shit. They all talking about she owed somebody some money.
“She ain’t owed nobody no money,” Angie said then resumed digging in the freezer. She pulled out a frozen apple pie. “Maybe, this isn’t the best time or place,” she continued. “And, I know Peanut was a little rude-”
“I might’ve even come off wrong,” I interrupted her. “I apologize. But look, can we meet for lunch or something and talk more?”
“Sure,” she said.
“Good. I’ll call you?” I said while watching her close the door. Then, we strolled off in separate directions.
I didn’t wait long for that conversation. I called her the next day, and that afternoon we met for lunch at Applebee’s. After being seated by a window, at my request, and ordering our food, she opened up and let me in on her inner demons.
“My father used to rape me,” she said. “And my mother wouldn’t say shit. She would be in the other room, listening to me scream and cry.” Angie hung her head. “How sick could two adults be?” She took small bites of her riblets and played around in her salad. “Ke-Ke was my father’s child. He put me out because he became ‘ashamed’ of his pregnant teenage daughter. Blamed me. Imagine how that made me feel?”
“Wow,” I said. “That must’ve been hard.”
“Hard doesn’t start to explain it. Shoot, sometimes I wondered why my parents even had me. Why was my mother so weak? Why didn’t she protect me?”
I listened in disbelief. My mind swirled.
“The streets of New York are cold and cruel,” she said. “And I was out there with no money and a baby trying to survive.”
I laid down my fork. I had lost my appetite.
“When Ke-Ke was about fifteen, guys started to always make comments about her and offered me money to get with her.”
“She was just a baby,” I said.
“She didn’t look like no baby. And Riddles, by then, I was tired. I was tired of selling pussy. So, I encouraged her to do it. I figured at least it wasn’t her own father, and she could get paid.”
“What about you? Was she supposed to be the breadwinner?”
“I was still doing my thing until after the twins were born. Then I had to get a hysterectomy, and I just didn’t feel the same and men seemed to stop wanting me. Riddles, I didn’t want her out there like that but I didn’t know what else to do. When she turned eighteen, I suggested she strip. I figured it to be safer. We moved here to get a new start. And, that was the death of my baby.”
She put her head down. She seemed embarrassed and hurt.
I didn’t know what to say. I had always thought my upbringing as dysfunctional, but hearing their story, it made me feel blessed and highly favored. Fortunately, no one ever violated me.
I reached out my hand for hers then held it tightly and gently rubbed it. She looked at me, her eyes pleading, that she needed me to vindicate her.
“There’s always sunshine after the rain,” I said. “Don’t blame yourself. Sometimes, life gets beyond our control. We just have to stop, take a deep breath, and reel it back in.”
I saw a tear fall down her cheek, and I felt bad for thinking she could have killed her daughter. It made no sense. She lived vicariously through Malibu.
We finished our meals before resuming our conversation over dessert. “Have you heard from the police?” I asked.
“The day after the mu . . . The day after it happened,” she spoke softly. “They came by the house, asked some questions, and gave me her property. But, I haven’t heard from them since they returned her stuff. I’ve called the detective but all he said was he’s doing the best he can.”
I paused to think for a moment. “What about the guy who bought her that Lexus? She mentioned him to me before.”
“Diablo?” she asked.
“You think he wanted her dead?”
She chuckled. “No. We know him from back home. He helped us move down here.” She smiled. “I wanted Malibu to be with Dee. He’s such a good guy. He flirts more than anything and help a lot people but he faithful to his wife.”
“You know his wife?” That surprised me.
“Yeah. She’s my cousin. Cute girl, but not too bright.”
This is deep, I thought.
“Well, what’s up with you and Peanut?” I asked, figuring it was worth a shot at some answers since she opened up to me. “Wasn’t that your daughter’s man?”
“Human nature is a mu’fucka.” She took a sip of her drink. “I didn’t mean to fall in love with him. It just happened.” She shook her head. “I couldn’t help it. Maybe we spent too much time alone together. Maybe he did initiate it. I don’t know. I do know Ke-Ke didn’t want him. She was just too nice to put him out.”
“What about him? Is he capable of murder?”
“Peanut? I doubt it. He adored Ke-Ke. He wouldn’t have never done nothing like that to her. Loved her bloody Kotex. He just didn’t have enough money to keep up with her taste. Was just happy to be around her, to be able to tell his boys she was his woman. You know.”
She paused for a second and took a sip of her soda. “I know that sounds crazy but he makes me feel good.” She swallowed hard. “Like a woman again. I couldn’t deny myself no matter how hard I tried.”
“Did she know?”
She shook her head. “No. She never knew about us. Plus, I figured Ke-Ke could have any man she wanted. They practically fell at her feet.” A tear rolled down her cheek. “She had the world at her fingers, unlike me. I’m old and washed up.”
“No you’re not,” I said feeling sorry for her. “You’re only a couple years older than me. Seems like you’ve been dealt a bad hand, that’s all. But by the grace of God, there goes I.”
We remained silent for a long while. I couldn’t believe how much emotional and spiritual damage she suffered in her life. Then, I had to ask one last question. “Was it Peanut’s baby?”
“I don’t know why, but she never discussed that with me. Didn’t know about the baby until her death.”
“So, no one knew?”
“I’m wondering if she even knew about it.”
At that point, Angie confirmed she had nothing to do with her daughter’s murder. She both loved and depended upon Malibu too much. Peanut didn’t have enough motivation either and my attraction to Diablo blurred my vision to see him as a real suspect. But if not them, who?
I paid the bill and we walked outside together.
“You seem to be holding up pretty good,” I said as we approached our cars.
“Are you a mother, Riddles?”
“I have a daughter.”
“Well, I’ll put it to you let this. I’m not a very religious woman, but I pray you never have to go through what I’m ex
periencing. I blame myself every day. At the same time, I got two babies to raise. I got to remain strong for them. I don’t want to lose them, too.” I wiped the tears that fell from her face then hugged her.
“I got one more question,” she said. “Why are you so interested in my child and her death? You couldn’t have known her that long.”
“She left an impression on me,” I said and then let out throaty chuckle. “Sometimes, I wonder that myself. From the day it happened, I had this nagging feeling to know who did it and why. I’m one of few who actually saw her dead body. And it just really bothered me, that and the lack of inaction by police fueled me.”
“Fueled you for what?”
“To solve this murder. Angie, I’m no detective, but I got the time and will. I want to know who did this. You deserve to know. And the girls still working at Jokers deserve to know. And, I know it won’t happen if we wait for the police.”
She pulled her shoulders back, and stood up straight. “Riddles, I don’t know your financial situation, but you rollin’ a nice whip and shit. You dressed nice. Why don’t you just find another job or leave this business alone altogether? I would hate to see something happen to you.”
“I’ll be fine, Angie. I haven’t been doing VIPs since it happened. I can survive without ‘em. I figure the walls would eventually start talking and some information about the murder will surface. People talk.”
“I guess you’re right.” She wiped her eyes. “Well, I need to get out of here. But, you be safe and let me know if you hear anything ‘cause I think you’re right about the police. All they tell me is that they’re busy working on it. All I can do is just put it in God’s hands.”
“If I hear anything,” I said to reassure her. “You’ll be the first to know.”
“Thanks Riddles. I really appreciate you allowing me to bend your ear.” She got into the Lexus and started it up.
“You’re welcome.” I pushed the door closed.
I just crossed my three prime suspects off my list. I let out a long sigh.
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