“A little over two weeks,” she answered. She didn’t want to believe what McCarthy was saying about Lacey, but she thought hard about what McCarthy was saying.
“She probably spent as much time as possible with you, painting all kinds of pictures. All lies. The truth is, she was most likely acting out orders given to her by a cold-hearted female with no conscience and no soul, just like the two masked women you spoke about.” McCarthy waited to see how Shonte was taking what he said before he continued. “There’s a powerful lesbian criminal organization secretly running around Las Vegas called the Double Gs. Ever heard of them?”
Shonte shook her head no.
“Well, what you just told me fits the MO of the organization and we’re trying to put a stop to them before anyone else gets hurt,” McCarthy informed her.
“Let me guess, the woman Lacey gained your trust and used you, and now she’s nowhere to be found. Am I right?” Reddick asked.
Shonte nodded weakly. Since the robbery, she had been searching for Lacey daily, hitting all of the bars, to no avail. It’s as if she had disappeared. She took in all the new information slowly but surely.
“See, what my partner and I believe is that the whole robbery was a setup and the two female robbers were Double Gs. Did they rough her up a little bit while robbing the place?”
“Yeah, one of them slapped the shit out of Lacey,” she answered, surprised at how McCarthy’s guesses were so on point.
“All acting, just so you guys would never suspect that she was in on it. The slap was probably real. But definitely worth it. A twenty thousand dollar backhand slap. Hell, I’ve been slapped for free, so I can imagine for twenty big ones. Are you following what I’m saying, Ms. Stevens?”
Again Shonte nodded, finally realizing that Lacey had played her. It was she who showed Lacey La France’s stash in the first place. Shonte thought about the event, how the women had stripped them naked and had the money and jewelry, all that they’d demanded, but they still felt La France was holding out on them, as if they knew there was another stash somewhere.
Shonte wanted to cry. McCarthy could sense this. He quickly rose and walked over to Shonte. “Listen, you can’t blame yourself. You’re a good girl. You come from a good family and you were raised right, I can tell. How were you supposed to know that she was plotting against you? Just like you said, she was a breath of fresh air, so you thought. It’s not your fault that she turned out to be a breath of rotten, polluted air. You got a good heart, but it just so happens that there are a lot of people who prey on people with good hearts like yours. And Lacey is one of ’em. You’re not their first victim, but with your help, we might be able to make you the last one. Please tell us everything there is to tell about her. Any little thing might help.”
Shonte got up and began pacing back and forth. She began to give a description of Lacey. They learned that she had a tattoo right above her crotch that spelled out her name. Shonte told McCarthy and Reddick everything that Lacey had told her, but all three of them knew that it was mostly all lies.
“I’m glad I was able to shed some more light on things, but I don’t see what this has to do with my cousin and baby daddy,” Shonte stated with a distorted expression plastered on her face.
“Did you introduce her to your cousin or you son’s father?” McCarthy switched to the question he had been waiting to ask. It had been weighing heavy on his mind since he had gotten there.
“No, not at all,” Shonte replied abruptly. “That’s why I was wondering, how does all of this have anything to do with my baby daddy and cousin?” she questioned.
“That’s what I was trying to figure out, Ms. Stevens. Thought you could help us with that,” McCarthy replied.
“I told you everything I know.” Shonte sniffled. “My boyfriend and my baby daddy or my cousin didn’t even mess with each other or travel in the same circle like that.”
The disappointment was all over McCarthy’s face. His gut was telling him that there was some type of connection between the robbery and the murders, which included his deceased female agent, and he believed that connection was the Double Gs.
“Please don’t take this the wrong way, but was your child’s father a drug dealer also?”
Shonte rolled her eyes. “Even if he was, Agent McCarthy, like I said, he and La France traveled in two different circles.” Her tone had confirmed that she was offended by the question, even though she knew McCarthy, unlike his partner, didn’t mean to offend her. Shonte knew she owed it to her little cousin, for all the love he had shown her and her son when she was struggling, to be forthcoming with information if it meant bringing their killer to justice. She already had an idea why they were killed or at least who may have been the cause, but she had not offered that piece of information as of yet, especially when it had nothing to do with any gay gangster chicks.
“La France and ’em got robbed out in North Las Vegas. My cousin and baby daddy got killed in a whole ’nother town out in Henderson at some bitch’s crib one of them was probably fucking, who you need to be talking to.”
Shonte hardly got to finish before McCarthy chimed in. Hearing the words “Henderson” and “bitch’s crib” immediately caught McCarthy’s attention. His heart nearly jumped out of his chest. It’s gotta be.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Stevens, if you don’t mind, what are the names of your cousin and son’s father?” It was a question McCarthy had just realized he had never asked.
Shonte eyed him for a second. She wondered what names she should provide, their birth names or street ones. Hell, they’re the feds. They can easily find out anyway, she concluded.
“Christian Reeves and Sean Wesson,” she answered.
McCarthy wasn’t surprised when the names didn’t ring a bell. It had been a long time since he had his ear to the streets of Las Vegas and knew all of the major and key male players in the game. His focus had been strictly on the Double Gs, who he thought to be the most significant and biggest criminals in Clark County. But he was convinced that the two names Shonte Stevens had just provided were connected to his investigation of the Double Gs.
Were they two of Starrshma Fields’s puppets? If so, how did she find out my agent was undercover? As careful as she was all of these years, how was her cover blown? How didn’t she see this coming? And who killed these two fellas after they killed my agent? McCarthy had a ton of questions floating through his mind that he was determined to find answers to. He played the two names back in his head repeatedly until something clicked.
Shit, he felt like a rookie for not thinking about it the moment Shonte mentioned the names. He remembered that he’d received an e-mail, which he had glanced at only once, with the names of the other two victims they found in his agent’s home. He reached into his inside suit jacket and came back out with his iPhone 6s.
McCarthy unlocked his phone and went into his government-issued e-mail account. Doing a quick scroll down, he tapped his screen and opened the e-mail from the locals in Henderson, Nevada. His armpits began to moisten from anticipation as his eyes quickly read through the e-mail. “Son of a bitch,” McCarthy uttered under his breath, but not low enough not to be heard.
Reddick’s eyes shifted over to him, while Shonte sat up erect. “What is it?” a hopeful Shonte asked.
Reddick wanted to ask the same question, but he knew he’d find out soon enough from McCarthy.
McCarthy cursed himself for reacting to the e-mail openly in front of Shonte. Despite the fact that she was more than helpful with the information she had provided him and Reddick, some things were simply on a need-to-know basis, and police business. He closed his phone and placed it back inside his suit jacket.
“I’m sorry,” he offered apologetically, for getting Shonte Stevens alarmed. “I thought I had something, but I didn’t.” His tone was flat. “But when I do, you have my word, you will be one of the first to know.”
Shonte gave McCarthy a hard stare. She couldn’t tell whether he was lying, bu
t she didn’t believe him. She now felt like a fool for trusting him with information that could possibly get her and her son killed if found out. She rolled her eyes at McCarthy. All these motherfuckin’ pigs are the same, she concluded. “If you say so,” Shonte dryly replied.
“You have my word, Ms. Stevens.”
“Is that all?” Shonte was ready for the two agents to leave her home.
McCarthy grimaced and stood up. Reddick followed suit. “Yes. Thank you again.”
Silence was all he received in return. Realizing he had worn out his welcome, McCarthy spun and turned toward the front door.
“Ma’am.” Reddick nodded before doing the same.
Shonte sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes at him. She slammed the door forcefully behind them to express her attitude toward them.
Seconds later, McCarthy and Reddick were back in their unmarked car. “So, you wanna clue me in?” Reddick wasted no time asking. There was no doubt in his mind that whatever McCarthy had discovered in his phone was valuable to their investigation.
“Pull off from here first,” McCarthy suggested. Once they were back on the main road, McCarthy began to fill Reddick in. “The day Douglass was murdered, I was up at the hospital with my daughter, watching the news about the triple homicide out in Henderson.”
A twisted look appeared on Reddick’s face. “Don’t remind me,” he said. He was still pissed behind the fact that the officer turned informant was killed on his watch.
“Well, that day it came across the screen about two males and one female being executed in a possible gang-related incident. The fact that they mentioned it was gang related caught my attention, so I reached out to the locals. The investigating officer was kind enough to send me over everything he had on the case and the victims. The males were from Las Vegas.” McCarthy had Reddick’s full attention.
“There wasn’t much on the female, nothing at all really,” McCarthy lied. He knew there was no way he could be totally honest with Reddick about who the female was without opening up Pandora’s box, so he was careful with his words. “But one of the males had at least a few run-ins with our locals, and the other was a convicted felon. They sent me over their mug shots and rap sheets. But I never took the time out to really look into it. Until now,” McCarthy claimed.
Reddick’s eyes constantly shifted from the road to McCarthy. “And?”
“And, the two victim’s names were—”
“Let me guess: Christian Reeves and Sean Wesson,” Reddick finished his sentence.
“Exactly,” McCarthy confirmed. “Better known as Clips and Smoke,” McCarthy said, providing their street monikers. “Ever heard of either of the two?”
Reddick pondered the question as he exited the highway. “Can’t say I have,” he then answered.
“Yeah, me neither,” McCarthy admitted. “But, there’s no doubt in my mind that Starrshma Fields was behind this,” he revealed.
Reddick hooked a right onto Las Vegas boulevard, headed toward the federal building. “How can you be so sure?” he asked McCarthy.
McCarthy grimaced. “Because the female, Felicia Richards, was a Double G.”
Chapter 19
Blaring the latest Young Thug track, twenty-five-year-old Lacey Smith pulled out of her job’s parking lot. Good riddance, motherfuckers. As she backed out, she cursed the headache of a club she had told herself she’d never return to. To confirm it, she tore up her last paycheck, not wanting any more part of the establishment. She had done some degrading and regrettable things to survive.
A disgusted look appeared on Lacey’s face at the thought of some of the things she had been subjected to and done in order to make ends meet. Old white men propositioned her on a regular basis, wanting to dip their pink, shriveled, tiny dicks in her sweet vanilla pudding. Lacey would just grit her teeth and deal with it. On occasion, she had to do what she had to do, though. For nine dollars an hour plus tips, she put on a phony smile, laughed at wack-ass jokes, and ignore the rude sexual comments made toward her. Her weekly checks were needed; bills had to be paid. She couldn’t wait for the day when she could quit and tell the whole office to kiss her fat, natural white ass. She even daydreamed about getting her two bosses robbed. Since meeting Diamond, she had pictured the look on their pale faces when they laid eyes on some of the Double Gs like Glitter and Sparkle with big guns shoved in them. But she believed those days were officially over as of today.
She viewed it as a blessing in disguise, meeting Diamond at the club. She had learned about and heard of her and the Double Gs in passing, but when Diamond had approached her and explained what it would require to become one of them, Lacey believed it was an opportunity of a lifetime. She was looking forward to the meeting she had that night with Starr and the Double Gs. She knew the setup she successfully helped pull off would lead to her membership into the Double Gs, which was what she’d hoped would be the case. She felt a little bad because she really liked Shonte but, for the most part, she knew what she did had to be done. It was made clear that it had to be done the way it was instructed, or else it would be frivolous to do it when it didn’t come with membership if done incorrectly.
After hearing and seeing a little of what the Double Gs were about the night during Starr’s welcome home and the orgy after-party, Lacey was all in. She particularly loved the fact that the Double Gs were an exclusive organization and had a strong sisterhood, so she believed. She was grown and could do whatever she wanted with her life, and Lacey planned on living it.
Right now she had enough money to pay off the rest of her student loans and credit card bills and drop another chunk of change on a nice livable crib better than the room she was renting out of a sleazy motel while working the club. That was all thanks to the Double Gs. But she wanted everything fully paid off and some money on the side to play with. She already wanted to pull off some more jobs.
Lacey always had a thing for women, preferably plus-size women of all colors, so meeting the Double Gs was like putting her in urban heaven. Every single one of them was a tasteful sight to her. Being a Caucasian woman growing up in the slums of Las Vegas had inspired her taste for women and crime. All her life she had dealt with gangster dudes and chicks. That had always been her most major turn-on. She thought back to how while the robbery was going down she was supposed to be acting like a victim. That scene had turned her on, and she fought to suppress her attraction to it, but her nipples became hard enough to cut diamonds, and her pussy got wet enough to sink the Titanic.
Lacey damn near came on the spot several times right in the middle of the robbery. That violent, gangsta shit always worked wonders on her. But she was getting older and growing up. She wanted more out of life, and she was determined to get it. Whether it took her acting by herself or with a crew, whether it took illegal or legal means to get it, it was going to be what it was going to be, she’d concluded. She strongly believed that the Double Gs would be the perfect women to do it with.
Pulling into the bar, Lacey texted Bubbles, who she was told was her contact person, to let her know that she was outside the bar waiting.
Bubbles grimaced at the text. She said good-bye to the light-skinned dancer with the fat, soft ass who had been playing Bubbles close ever since she got a glimpse of all the hundred dollars bills she had on her. It was hard for Bubbles to walk away from that soft ass grinding on her. She knew she could’ve taken the dancer somewhere and thrashed her right quick. But Bubbles knew she had no time for that. Starr didn’t play when it came to the Double Gs meetings and membership.
Bubbles stumbled out of the bar and hopped in the car with Lacey.
“I hope you weren’t waiting long,” Lacey apologetically said as soon as Bubbles got in.
“Nah, you straight. I was low-key already coming here even before I knew you were supposed to meet me here.” Bubbles chuckled. “I been here about an hour and some change,” she informed Lacey.
They drove in silence for a few seconds before Bubbles broke it
. “The twins told us you did your thing that night, like a real G,” Bubbles acknowledged.
“Thanks, but a bitch wished I could’ve been one of the ones robbing them niggas’ punk asses,” Lacey retorted, using the slang term loosely and freely despite the fact that she was white.
“I hear that,” Bubbles said. “But don’t worry, you’ll get your chance,” she assured her.
A few minutes later, they were pulling up to the address Diamond had texted Bubbles and exiting the vehicle. “Tonight’s your night.” Bubbles smiled. “Enjoy!” she added as she flung her arm around Lacey’s neck and escorted her inside the secret location.
Chapter 20
It was a long shot, but McCarthy decided to visit the club where Shonte Stevens had said she’d met the woman known as Lacey. He invited Reddick to tag along, being that he had extended the same courtesy to him when he was following up on the lead that landed them at Shonte Steven’s home.
Since he had come across the street names of the two men found dead in the house with his female agent, McCarthy had realized he had heard one of the names in particular. The name Clips started to ring a bell in McCarthy’s mind, but he didn’t know why. He was almost certain he had come across the name previously, but he just couldn’t remember where. He had a feeling that this was a major factor in the case, and if he could figure out where he heard that name, he’d be one step closer to solving the case.
“What’s on your mind, McCarthy? Something’s going on in that dome of yours. Spit it out,” Reddick said, breaking his train of thought.
McCarthy snapped out of his daze. “That name. Clips. I heard that name before. It doesn’t ring a bell with you?”
Reddick thought it over for several seconds. “Can’t say that it does. You think the name means something?”
McCarthy nodded. “I’m almost positive. I just know it is.” McCarthy banged his hand on the steering wheel, racking his brain, trying to remember where he had heard that name.
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