Roy Glenn - The cost of vengeance

“You okay?” I asked.

Shay nodded her head and we walked over to Teena’s body. “We can’t leave her here,” Shay said, and our tears began to flow. We picked up her body and carried it to the car. As we drove away, I couldn’t stop thinking that sometimes, the cost of vengeance is too high.

Mike Black

“It’s Victor,” Bobby said and handed me the phone.

“What’s up?”

“Sorry to bother you, but I just got a call from Jada West,” Victor said and I sat up a little straighter.

“What did Ms. West say?” I asked and Bobby cut his eyes at me.

“She wants you to call her whenever you have time. She said to assure you that it’s nothing important,” Victor said.

“Thanks,” I said and ended the call. I handed Bobby back his phone.

“So what’s up with you and the happy hooker?”

“Nothing. She just wants to talk to me.”

Bobby didn’t say anything; he just kept looking in my direction as he drove.

“What?”

“If you say it’s nothing, then it’s nothing.”

“Then why are you staring at me?”

“I’m just waitin’ to see if you’re gonna tell me the truth,” Bobby said and finally looked where he was driving.

“What truth?”

“Nothing, Mike. So when do I get to meet Ms. West ? Or are you keeping her away from me for a reason?”

“I tried to get you to ride with me last time I went over there. You told me to take Victor.” I looked at Bobby. “Okay, I am interested in her. But what I’m more interested in, is her recruitin’ a better class of women to work for Jamaica in Nassau.”

“I knew it was something,” Bobby said and his phone rang. He looked at the display and smiled. “Hey, baby. I was just. .” he began, and then his expression changed. “What? Slow down, baby.”

Whatever was being said wasn’t good.

“Okay, okay, don’t cry, Barbara. Just put your mother on the phone,” Bobby said and made a U-turn that almost caused an accident. Barbara was his oldest daughter. She was eleven years old and very much daddies little girl. “No, no, don’t hang up. Give your mother the phone!” he practically shouted, and then threw the phone down and stepped on the gas.

“What’s wrong, Bobby?”

“Pam is leaving and she’s taking my kids.”

I believed, and at the same time couldn’t believe, what I was hearing. Pam was leaving. I know the last time I talked to her she didn’t sound good. “I’m just sick and tired of his bitches callin’ the house. I can’t go through this again, Mike,” Pam said to me the last time we talked.

“I understand, Pam. And you shouldn’t have to. But Bobby told me it was just a misunderstanding. He didn’t even know that woman like that.”

“That’s the same bullshit he told me,” Pam said calmly; in a voice that I hadn’t heard since the night she killed Cat and Melinda. “And if that’s the case, why does this bitch keep calling here? I can’t go through this again, Mike.”

“I know, Pam,” I said, and I knew she was gonna do something, but I didn’t think she would leave him and take the kids.

“What did Barbara say?” I asked as Bobby weaved through traffic.

“She said that Pam came in her room and just started packing her clothes, and said they were goin’ on a little trip. When she asked her where they were goin’, Pam told her that she was leavin’ me,” Bobby said, almost causing another accident getting on the New England Thruway.

When the speedometer hit ninety, I thought about telling Bobby to slow down, but I knew it wouldn’t do any good. I thought that I should say something to him, but all I could think of was that he should have seen this coming. They both should. Bobby’s involvement with other women and Pam’s refusal to have sex with him was the only place this was going. Since that wouldn’t be a very comforting thing to say, I kept quiet and hoped that he wouldn’t kill us trying to make it out there before they left.

Bobby turned on his street and sped toward the house. He pushed the button to open the garage door and Pam’s car was gone. Bobby brought the car to a screeching stop, jumped out, and ran inside. I followed him in and went straight down to the basement. I got a big glass and filled it with Remy for Bobby, then poured myself a drink and went and sat down. I knew when he hung up the phone that she wouldn’t be here when we got here.

Once Bobby searched the house, he came downstairs. “Thanks,” he said and turned up the glass.

“Thought you’d need it.”

“Right,” Bobby said and poured another one. Then he walked over and filled mine. He sat down.

“You wanna go see if we can find her?”

“Yeah. But we need to find Skip and be done with that first. I know Pam; she probably just went to her sister’s house. She’ll be back in a couple of days.”

“You sure? ’Cause I could call Victor or get Nick to ride with me on this one. You need to see about your wife,” I said.

“What I just say? She’ll be all right. Now let’s go find this nigga,” Bobby said, and we finished our drinks and left the house.

It was after one in the morning when we arrived at Leonard Drive in Massapequa, at the home of Defense Attorney Quovadda Cobb. Finding the house was easy. Quovadda was a member of some kind of lady lawyer club that Wanda belonged to. I woke Wanda up and she gave us the address.

I had met Quovadda once before at one of Martin Marshall’s parties. I smiled a little when I remembered that the highlight of that evening was dancing with Ms West. If Wanda hadn’t dragged me away from there to go to another meeting, I would have spent some more time with the lovely lady, and found out if she was as good as she looks. And Ms. West always looks extraordinary. But since I was planning on doing business with her someday, maybe it was for the best.

I looked at Bobby. I could tell that he was still on fire about the stunt that Pam had pulled. “Maybe you should wait here,” I said and got out of the car. The last thing I wanted was for his anger at Pam and his concern for his children to cloud his judgment.

Bobby got out of the car and followed me to the door. “I’m all right, Mike. Let’s get this over with,” he said and took out his gun.

I didn’t argue with him ’cause I knew it would do no good. There was a light on in the front of the house, so I rang the bell. It didn’t take long for the door to open; which surprised me since it was after one in the morning. Quovadda opened the door and looked very surprised to see us. I grabbed her and pulled her outside. Bobby put his hand over her mouth and his gun to her temple.

“Hello, Quovadda. If you scream or try to run, he’ll kill you, understand?”

Quovadda’s eyes were wide open and she nodded her head.

“Good,” I said, and Bobby took his hand away from her mouth. “I’m lookin’ for Skip Skinner. I hear that he’s hidin’ inside.”

“He was here, but he left,” Quovadda said quietly.

“Where’d he go?” Bobby said.

“I don’t know.”

I opened the door and Bobby pushed Quovadda inside. “You can search the house, Black; he isn’t here,” Quovadda said and I took out my gun.

While Bobby searched the house, I sat and talked law with Quovadda. Wanda told me that she was good people, and that she was the type of person who would do anything for her friends. That’s probably what made her a good attorney; one who provided her clients with an impassioned defense. “I’m curious, Quovadda, what’s a big-time lawyer like you doin’ with Skip?”

“He was one of my first clients.”

“No, Quovadda, it’s more than that. You mean enough to him that he would hide out at your house.”

“Honestly?”

“I like honesty.”

“I’ve been holding some money for him and he came to get it,” Quovadda said, and I was amazed at how calm and poised she was. At a time like this, with a gun pointed at her, most people would be on the brink of tears.

“His getaway money,” I said.

“And since you’re here, I going to assume that it is you he’s trying to get away from,” Quovadda said.

“You would be correct,” I said as Bobby returned from searching the house.

He immediately returned his gun to Quovadda’s head and grabbed her by the throat. “Where the fuck is he?”

“I don’t know,” Quovadda managed.

“You don’t know or you can’t say?” I asked and Quovadda looked confused. “Let her go, Bobby.” He let go of her neck and I sat down next to her. “I’m going to kill Skip tonight. You know that, right?”

“I got that impression.”

“When I do, I’d like to hire you to defend me for his murder,” I said and Quovadda smiled. “I could double your usual fee. Will you take me as a client? Of course you would have to drop Skip as a client first.”

Quovadda understood that if I was going to kill Skip, I would have to kill her too. But if she was my attorney, she would be bound by attorney-client privilege.

“How do I know that after you retain my services and you kill Skip, you won’t come back here and kill me too?”

“You have my word,” I said and Quovadda looked at Bobby. “And his too?”

Quovadda was smart. After agreeing to my terms, she asked permission to go to her office and she drafted and had us sign an agreement retaining her services. Then she faxed it to her Manhattan office. Once the fax was sent, Quovadda looked at me. “Skip is in my boathouse at the pier.”

As we walked away from Quovadda’s house, Bobby asked a logical question. “When we’re done with Skip, are we gonna come back and kill her?”

“No. Quovadda’s a good lawyer, and we can never have too many good lawyers.”

When we got to Quovadda’s boathouse, we found it was small with one door going in and one window. “I’m really not in any mood to rush that door, Mike. And I don’t think you are either,” Bobby said.

“Any ideas?”

“Be right back,” Bobby said and walked off. I watched as Bobby walked slowly down the pier, looking in each of the boats. While I waited, I looked out at the ocean. Just being there on the water made me long to be back in Nassau with my girls.

Then Jada West eased back into my mind. What to do about Jada West? There was something about her that I just couldn’t shake. Bobby came back carrying a gas can, and I knew what he had in mind. “Any gas in it?”

“Enough,” he said; and as quietly as he could, he walked around the boathouse and poured out the gas. When the can was empty, Bobby lit the trail on fire and walked away. “If he’s in there, he’ll be out in a minute.”

We waited as the boathouse caught on fire. After awhile I heard somebody scream “OH, SHIT!” and the door flew open. Skip came running out with his clothes on fire. He was so busy trying to put it out that he didn’t notice me and Bobby walk up on him.

“Drop and roll,” Bobby said as Skip finally killed the fire.

“Black.”

“Good-bye, Skip,” I said and put two in his chest. Bobby stood over him and added two more to the head. I went and got a fire extinguisher from the boat nearby, and put out the fire in the house while Bobby tossed Skip’s body in the water.

Jada West

I slept later than usual the day after our late-night trip to the Waldorf. It was well after two in the afternoon when I finally opened my eyes. Shortly after that, my private line began ringing. “Good Afternoon,” I answered in my professional voice, but was still a little sleepy.