by Roy Glenn
“That is, you know, kinda like my job.”
“I was thinking about seeing where Carla is.”
“Why?”
“What you think? So, she can tell me where the bitch is and tell me the best way to hit her.”
Carter stood up. “Let’s go.”
Rain laughed and stood up. “I don’t remember asking you to go with me,” she said, putting on her vest and then she armed herself.
“You didn’t. But I need to protect the boss of the family who has a habit of wanting to ride and do shit by herself and I gotta say, that ain’t happening tonight. I’m with you wherever you go.”
“I ain’t gonna argue with you,” she said on her way to the door.
“It would be pointless anyway,” he said following her out of the office. “See where Carla is, Yarissa.”
She picked up the phone and dialed her number.
“Hey, Carla. It’s Yarissa.”
“Hey, girl. What’s up?”
“Rain and Carter wanna know where you are?”
“In the office, of course.”
“She’s in the office,” Yarissa informed.
“Tell her we’re on our way there now,” Rain said and headed toward the steps.
When Rain and Carter arrived at her office, Carla was running yet another algorithm to track Rona’s finances, especially her sources of income. Knowing that Rona was definitely the mastermind behind Barnes, Hawkins and Mobley, Carla was sure that she had to have missed something that connected AD and the program that he was running to Rona. The way to do that was to follow the money. But to this point, the result was the same. There was no trail to follow.
There was something else that had been bothering Carla, and that was why?
Why risk it?
She understood what motivated her; the death of her father and brother. But to Carla, it did, but at the same time, didn’t make any sense. Rona King was brilliant, so she had to know that sooner or later, The Family would find out that she was behind it and would come after her with everything that they could bring to bear against her.
So why?
The answer came when she decided to have a look at Rona’s medical records. Six months ago, she had been diagnosed with Glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain tumor that most patients die of within twelve to eighteen months from diagnosis.
Yeah, that explains the death wish. She has nothing to lose, Carla thought as there was a knock at the door. She got up from her console and went to let them in.
Chapter Twenty-six
After a long day of investigating crimes, Kirk and Dawkins stopped in a bar to have a drink and unwind. The two detectives had a great working relationship, as well as an understanding in their personal lives. Since neither of them wanted to be tied down in a committed relationship; Kirk because of Bautista and the three wives that came before her, and Dawkins because it would interfere with her career, each treated the other as an occasional convenience.
It was a good arrangement.
Since both were actually good with it, neither pressured the other about when they would get together again. But after a long day of investigating crimes, and even though neither had so much as hinted about wanting to have sex, it was looking like that kind of night and their conversation over cocktails was moving things in that direction.
Discussion of the day’s activities carried them through the first two rounds, but by the time the bartender placed their third drink in front of the detectives, the conversation had turned toward the future.
Namely Dawkins future.
“So,” Kirk said and took a sip of his drink. “Any idea how long I’m going to have you as a partner?”
“I just gave Eddie Lewis my answer today and he said that he would get back to me with a start date.”
Kirk said nothing. He just picked up his glass, drained it and then he signaled for the bartender to bring him another.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Gonna have to call bullshit on that one.” She took a swallow of her drink. “Give it up,” she said and then it hit her. “You’re gonna miss me.” Dawkins smiled her big beautiful smile. “That’s it, isn’t it?”
But before Kirk could answer the question that he didn’t want to answer, a woman came up and stood behind Dawkins.
“Chanté?”
It was the name that she had used in several undercover operations. Dawkins put her hand on her weapon and turned around slowly.
“Vangee?”
She nodded and opened her arms wide as Dawkins got up from her stool to give Vangee a hug.
“How have you been?” Dawkins asked.
“I’m great. What about you?”
“I am doing great too. You look amazing in that dress, Vangee,” she said of the boatneck, cap sleeve Issey Miyake asymmetric pullover dress that she was wearing the hell out of and the Alexander Wang Rina leather slingback shoes that she was rocking.
“Thank you.” Vangee sat down on the stool next to Dawkins. “And your looking pretty hot in that suit, honey. Elie Tahari?”
Dawkins shook her head. “I don’t know how you and Jada do that.”
The mere mention of Jada West was enough to get Kirk’s attention.
She giggled. “We shop; therefore we are.”
Vangee used to work for Jada before she moved her operation to Nassau and at that time, Vangee went independent. It was during that time when a client, who just happened to have a big dick, introduced Vangee to investing in stocks, bonds, annuities, commodities and security futures trading, as well as real estate investing.
Vangee made so much money investing, to the tune of a high six-figure annual income, that she was able to put the life behind her.
But there was still the fact that Vangee loved to fuck and get fucked by men with long, thick monster dicks. Fortunately for her, she had several such men as clients who not only had long, thick monster dicks, but they knew how to use them to please her. So, she kept them around and saw them only when she chose to, no exceptions.
Although she no longer did it for the money, Vangee didn’t tell her men, so they continued to gladly pay her for the extraordinary service that she rendered.
“How is Jada doing anyway?” Vangee asked.
“She’s doing great,” Dawkins said, thinking that she needed to have a conversation with Jada about her new job as head of the Caldwell Task Force. Eddie Lewis said specifically that Rain Robinson’s association with Gavin Caldwell was of particular interest to them.
“Is she still in Nassau?”
“No, she moved back to the city recently.” She laughed. “You know Jada. Nothing stops her.”
“I know that’s the truth. Well the next time you see her, please tell Ms. Jada West that I said hello.”
“I’ll be sure to do that.” Dawkins glanced at Kirk. “Vangee, this is my partner, Detective Kirkland.”
“Kirk,” Vangee said in wide-eyed recognition of the detective. “Wow,” she paused and smiled at Kirk. “I don’t know if I should get up and curtsy in the presence of law enforcement royalty.”
Dawkins laughed a little. “So, you heard of him?”
“Of course, I have.”
“From who?” Kirk needed to know.
“From Jada, of course.” She laughed and tapped Dawkins on the arm. “She used to talk about the detective all the time.”
Dawkins cut her eyes in Kirk’s direction. “Oh, really. I wasn’t aware that Jada had ever met the detective before.”
“To my knowledge, she hadn’t ever met him.”
“If she never met him, why did she talk about him all the time?” Dawkins asked, because she was having fun with this.
“I don’t know, but we were told that we are to offer the detective any and all help that we could,” she paused and giggled. “As long as it did not compromise ourselves or our family. You know Jada was always big on us being a family.”
“Is that a fact?” Dawkins sai
d, smiling at her partner.
“It’s true.” Vangee moved closer and then she leaned forward to address Kirk. “Apparently, you did a really big favor for a very powerful friend of Jada’s.”
“Apparently,” Dawkins said, still smiling at Kirk.
“Well, if that’s the case that you’re to offer me any and all help that you can,” Kirk said, and he reached in his pocket and took out a picture. “I’m looking for this guy. You seen him?” he asked and handed the picture of Hawkins to Vangee.
Naturally, she recognized Hawkins the second that she looked at the image. Vangee knew that she had a decision to make. She looked at the detectives and knew that the look on her face had given her away.
“You do know him?” Dawkins said.
Vangee nodded her head.
“Do you know where we could find him?”
Vangee stood silent, looking at the detectives as they looked at her and awaited her answer.
She liked Hawkins.
He had treated her with respect over the years they’d known each other and then there was that long, thick monster dick and his unmatched ability to please her. Vangee dropped her head.
“He was at the Sheridan off the expressway this morning. But he moves every day,” she said reluctantly.
“How many people does he have with him?” Kirk asked.
“He’s alone.”
“Thank you, Vangee. He will never know that it was you that gave him up,” Dawkins said.
Once they had the information, Kirk and Dawkins headed to the Sheridan. Upon arrival, they went to the desk and made an inquiry.
“I’m Detective Kirkland and this is Detective Dawkins. Have you seen this man?” he asked and showed her the picture of Hawkins. The front desk agent looked carefully at the picture.
“I’ve never seen him before, but let me check with my manager,” she said and went in the office. It wasn’t long before she returned with the hotel manager. She went directly to the computer.
“I believe that he is the man in 309,” the manager said, handing the picture to Dawkins. “Yes, I checked him in this morning.”
“Do you know if he is in the room?” Dawkins asked.
“I’m not sure,” the manager said.
“Thank you.” Dawkins walked away from the desk with Kirk as he called for backup.
“Backup?” she asked in surprise because they rarely called for backup. “You … backup? You never call for backup.”
“Yes, detective, backup. I want to clear the floor just in case he decides to be stupid,” Kirk said as they walked away from the desk.
It was right at that time that Hawkins returned to the Sheridan. He was just about to grab the handle and walk in the building when he saw Kirk and Dawkins coming toward the door.
“Fuck!” he said just as he locked eyes with Dawkins.
“There he is!” she shouted reaching for her weapon and charging toward the door. Hawkins took off running with the detectives in pursuit.
“Police! Freeze!” Kirk shouted as they burst through the door.
Hawkins stopped, turned, fired and then took cover behind a car in the parking lot. It forced the detectives to take cover back inside the hotel.
Dawkins got on the radio. “I have shots fired at my location.”
“Backup is in route,” the dispatcher came back.
“Cover me!” Kirk shouted and Dawkins came out firing on Hawkins. He ducked for cover as Kirk moved out of the hotel.
Hawkins rose up and fired a few shots at Kirk until he reached cover behind a car. Now that the detectives had him in a crossfire, Kirk raised his hand and Dawkins stopped firing.
“Give it up, Hawkins. There’s nowhere to run!”
Hawkins raised his weapon and fired in response until his gun was empty. He ejected the clip, slammed in another. Before he could resume firing, Dawkins moved out of the hotel and took up a position closer to him. When he began firing at Dawkins, Kirk moved closer. When he was set, he fired at Hawkins.
Surrounded, Hawkins began firing wildly in both directions until his gun was empty.
“Give it up, Hawkins. You got no chance!” Dawkins shouted.
Realizing that it was over, and knowing that he didn’t want to die, Hawkins stood up with his hands in the air.
“Place the weapon gently on the ground and take a step back,” Kirk said as the detectives advanced.
“And do it slowly,” Dawkins commanded.
Hawkins, very slowly and carefully, placed the gun on the ground and took a step back as the detectives approached. Dawkins kicked the gun away as Kirk pushed Hawkins against a car. He assumed the position and Kirk searched him as backup arrived on the scene.
“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law,” he said as Dawkins secured the weapon. “You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you.” Kirk put on the cuffs and spun him around. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
Hawkins was taken to, and then put in a squad car to be taken to the precinct for questioning. Once they arrived, Kirk had the uniformed officers book him and then take him to an interrogation room. After making him wait for over an hour, Kirk and Dawkins came in the room. She grabbed a chair and dragged it around the table next to Hawkins and sat down.
“I’m not gonna fuck around with you,” Kirk said and sat down at the table across from him. “You’re going down for a very long time.”
“Murder, the attempted murder of police officers in the line of duty, drug trafficking,” Dawkins shook her head and tapped three times on the table. “You’re probably looking at thirty years easy.”
“I know how this works. You tell me what you want to know and then you tell me what it’s worth for me to cooperate with you.”
“Smart man,” Dawkins said and patted him on the back.
“So what do you want?”
“Who put you up to going at The Family?”
“What’s it worth to you?”
“For one,” Dawkins began. “I won’t charge you with trying to kill me.”
“And I’ll tell the ADA that during the course of our investigation, you were very cooperative,” Kirk said.
He laughed. “I know how far that’ll get a nigga.”
Dawkins got in his ear. “If you’re information turns out to be something, I’ll tell the ADA that your cooperation was instrumental in closing the case.”
“We’re getting warmer.”
Kirk leaned across the table. “How about I don’t disconnect the camera and beat you senseless and say that you slipped?”
“We getting frosty now.”
“What do you want?” Dawkins asked.
“I want you to tell the ADA that I was very cooperative and that my cooperation was instrumental in closing the case. And I want to do all my time in administrative segregation or I ain’t got shit to say to you but lawyer.”
“I think that can be arranged. But you have to tell us everything. And understand this, if you lie to us about anything or conveniently leave something out, the deal is off and we charge you with everything I can think of,” Kirk said.
Hawkins nodded his head. “Deal.”
“Who put you up to going at The Family?”
“It was a guy named AD.”
Kirk sat back in his chair smiling because AD was the link to tie it all to Rona King. “Andrew Davion?”
Hawkins shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know what the mutha fuckas real name is, I just know the nigga as AD.”
“Why?” Dawkins asked.
“He never said, and I never asked.”
“Why?” Dawkins asked again.
“Why what?”
Dawkins shook her head. “I’m going to break this down for you. And I’m going to talk real slow so you can understand me, okay?”
Hawkins just looked at her.
“Some guy … who you really don’t know, ask
s you to go hard at Mike Black and Rain Robinson, and you say sounds good. I just wanna know why; why would you do that?”
“Look, after Sterling got killed—”
“You wouldn’t wanna tell us who killed Sterling, would you?” Kirk asked, looking to clear another case the easy way.
“Naa, I’ll pass. I ain’t no snitch like that.” Hawkins paused and thought for a minute. “But, if it becomes important to me making this deal, ask me again.”
Asshole. Dawkins shook her head. “It’s important to making your deal happen.”
“RJ killed him.”
Kirk and Dawkins looked at each other. “Do you know his real name?” Kirk asked, but he and Dawkins were familiar with RJ.
Hawkins snickered. “I don’t know his name either. But you know who I’m talking about.” He paused and smiled. “Bobby Ray’s son, RJ.”
“How’d it happen?” Dawkins asked.
“RJ threw Sterling off the roof of the garage.”
“You saw RJ throw Sterling off the roof of that garage?” Kirk asked and now he understood why Hawkins wanted to do his time in isolation; but knowing that he wouldn’t be safe there either.
“No. I wasn’t there, but that’s what Barnes said when he came back.”
Dawkins leaned closer. “Hearsay.”
“Why?” Kirk asked.
“Why what?”
“Why did RJ kill Sterling?”
“Over a woman.”
“Who?” Dawkins asked.
“Venus Phillips. Barnes said that they fought with baseball bats like it was some kind of dual.”
“And is this something you know or is this more hearsay?” Kirk asked.
“That’s what Barnes said when he got back to the house.”
“More hearsay,” Dawkins said.
“You said you wanted to hear everything and don’t leave shit out,” he said and went back to snitching on AD. “After Sterling got killed, Barnes ran a drive-by on RJ and tried to firebomb The Four Kings. That got this mutha fucka AD’s attention.”
“I bet it did,” Dawkins said.
“A couple of days later, this nigga shows up and offers us a better deal on price and quality than we was getting from Sterling; in return all we had to do was keep going hard at them.”