Roy Glenn - The cost of vengeance

“If what the old man says is true, that’s been a good spot for them for years.”

“I need to know who was supplying Damson, and who would want to take over that spot,” I said and headed for the station to dig a little deeper.

What I found was more dead-ends. Chris Beck was murdered on the yard two weeks after he got to prison. Bryce Tyler disappeared from witness protection over a year ago. The only person I found that I could talk to was Nina Thomas, Copeland’s old girlfriend. It was a long shot, but maybe she could give me something to go on; ’cause right now, I had nothing.

Rain Robinson

The first place I went was to a little bar up on the avenue, where Jay Easy and his crew used to hang out. The last time I was there, I walked out with that nigga on my arm so I could kill him. He had sent people to rob my dope spots and kill my dealers. “I thought we had something. I was ready to do life for you. I gets out and come lookin’ for my woman, and you play me off for this nigga,” Jay Easy said to me that night.

“So you decide to start robbin’ me?”

“I still got all the dope and the money. After I’d shut you down I was gonna step to you and give it all back.”

“Bullshit! After all this shit, you was just gonna hand it all back to me?”

“Yeah. I wanted to show you that you needed me in your life. Not this nigga! He can’t do the shit for you that I can.” He just didn’t know. Nick had done more for me and to me in a week, than he did the whole time I knew him.

I parked outside the spot and I knew that if his crew was there, they wouldn’t be glad to see me. I checked my weapon and went in, thinkin’ that maybe I should have called Nick and asked him to ride with me on this. But he would be mad ’cause I wasn’t in bed restin’ like he’d told me to, and I didn’t feel like hearin’ his mouth.

I stepped inside and looked around. I saw his boy Fred Mac, and two other niggas I’d never seen before, sittin’ at a table in the back. I walked back there and they stopped talkin’ when they saw me comin’. I opened my coat and made sure they saw my gun when I stopped at the table. “What you doin’ in here, Rain?” Fred Mac asked.

“I’m lookin’ for Jay’s brother, Kevin. You seen him?”

“It’s been a minute since I seen Kevin. Let’s see, oh yeah, it was at Jay’s funeral, after you shot him.”

“I ain’t got no beef wit’ you, Mac. Me and you always been cool. So unless you sayin’ you was in that shit wit’ him, I want to keep it that way. You know what Jay was doin’ to me and why it went the way it did.”

“Yeah, okay, right-we cool and all that, and the shit Jay did was foul, but did you have to shoot him in the face?” Fred Mac asked and the guys with him laughed a little. “That’s what’s blowin’ Kevin and them. That closed casket funeral shit.”

“Whatever. You tell Kevin I got one for him, too, when I find his ass. You tell him that if he got a problem with me, he needs to grow some balls and bring that shit to my face. Not go after my brother,” I said and walked off.

I hung around for a while and talked to some more people before I left. Nobody had seen Kevin Easely or would tell me where he lived. I left the spot and was headed for the car, when I felt somebody walkin’ up behind me.

“Rain.”

I turned around quickly and pointed my gun. That shit hurt like hell. “Step out in the light where I can see you.”

When they stepped up I saw it was Dee. A crackhead that hung around the bar doin’ whatever he had to do to get money for another bump. “Don’t shoot me, Rain,” he said and walked toward me with his hands up. Even though I didn’t think I had anything to worry about, I kept my gun pointed at him, just in case he was desperate and wanted to try something foolish.

“What you want, Dee?”

“I didn’t mean to get in your business, but I heard what you was askin’ about in there.”

“And.”

“And I know somebody that might know what happened to your brother.”

“Who?”

“He’s name is Whitlow. He just got out of Rikers and he was down with Kevin before he went in.”

“I already know what happened.”

“Yeah, but he might know who did it,” Dee said.

“Where is he?” I asked and put my gun to his head.

Dee flinched and covered his head. “What you gonna give me?”

Ain’t this a bitch? Dee was scared to death, but he still gonna try and get some money. “I’m gonna give you a bullet in the brain if you don’t tell me.”

“He was down there by the train station about an hour ago.”

“Come on,” I said and grabbed Dee by the collar. “Show me.”

I kept my gun in his back and we walked down the street toward the train station. “That’s him,” Dee said and pointed.

“Where?”

“Over there in the jean jacket.”

“Now if this nigga don’t know shit about my brother, I’ma come find you and put one in your head,” I said and handed Dee a fifty.

“Thank you, Rain; thank you. Anything I can do for you, it’s done.”

“You hear anything you think I need to know about, you come find me and it’ll always be like that. I take care of people that look out for me,” I said and kept my eyes on Whitlow as Dee hurried away.

I stood there and watched him for a while and then he started walking across the street, so I followed him. He went inside the liquor store. I stood at the window and watched as Whitlow stepped up to the counter and pulled out a thirty-eight. Damn shame; mutha fucka just got out the joint and already robbin’ a liquor store. I needed to talk to him, so waited for him to come out. When he ran out of the store, I shot him once in the leg and he went down. When he rolled over and tried to raise his gun, I shot him in the arm and he dropped the gun. I walked up on him. “Your name Whitlow?” I asked with my gun to his head.

“You a cop?”

“Do I look like a fuckin’ cop to you?”

“What you want?”

“You just got outta Rikers?”

“Yeah.”

“You know Miles Robinson?” I could tell by the way his eyes bucked open that he did. “Who stabbed him?”

“He’ll kill me.”

“I already shot you twice, one more to the head ain’t gonna make me no difference,” I said and pressed my gun against his temple. I could hear the sirens coming in the background. “Make up your mind. You can tell me who stabbed my brother so I can go kill him, or the cops will find you here dead.”

“I don’t know what his name is, but they call him Baby John.”

“Thank you,” I said and helped Whitlow get up. “Get outta here before I change my mind,” I said and Whitlow limped away.

Mike Black

Jada West. What to do about Jada West. The first time I saw Ms. West was at a little club where she used to dance. We talked for a minute and then I had business to take care of, so I left thinking that she was one of the most beautiful women that I had ever met; and wondered what a beauty like that was doin’ dancin’ in a dive like Ecstasy? Then I thought about Mercedes. She’s a dancer at Cynt’s and she is drop-dead fuckin’ gorgeous, but she had about as much brains as a box of rocks. I mistakenly put Ms. West in that same category and didn’t give her anymore thought.

“Black.”

“Huh?”

“We’re here,” Victor said.

“Don’t look like that. I’m not gonna kill Sabrina. I just want to ask her some questions about Bo,” I said and Victor and I walked toward the house.

“Yeah, you told me. But suppose she gives you the wrong answers?”

“Then I’d have you kill her,” I said and kept walking. Victor stopped. “I’m only kiddin’. I wouldn’t ask you to do that.” Victor had been fuckin’ Sabrina, so I wouldn’t ask him to kill her. I’d get Monika to do it. But I didn’t think that would be necessary. I just wanted to ask her some questions about Bo. Before I had him killed, Bo Freeman worked for me. He had to die when he and his partner, Hank Jackson, conspired with Cruz Villanova to kill me, Nick, and Bobby. They’re all dead now.

I rang the bell and waited for Sabrina to answer. Sabrina Cole was a very beautiful thirty-seven-year-old woman who talked slow, and was just country enough to be sexy. She had been with Bo for twelve years; since she’d arrived in New York from Mississippi. During that time she’d had two years of good and ten years of bad. Her life was made bearable when she started sneakin’ around with Victor. “Hey, Black,” Sabrina said when she opened the door. “Hey, Victor.”

“How you doin’ tonight, Sabrina?” I asked.

“I’m doing just fine, Black. Y’all come in,” she said and stepped aside.

I leaned close to Victor and whispered, “Wait here.” His eyes opened wide. “Don’t worry. I told you I wasn’t gonna kill her.” Victor didn’t look convinced. “Right,” I said and handed him my gun. “That make you feel better?”

“A little,” Victor said.

“Y’all comin’?” Sabrina asked.

“Comin’ right now,” I said and closed the door behind me.

Sabrina led me into the living room and I sat down. “You know something, Black?”

“What’s that, Sabrina?”

“I been invitin’ you over here for dinner or drinks and whatnot for years, and this is the first time you been here.” Sabrina sat down across from me. “Now, I’m not tryin’ to be rude or disrespectful or nothin’ like that, but what you want, Black?”

“I want you to know, for what it’s worth, I liked Bo, and I’m sorry it turned out the way it did.”

“I’m glad you came to say that, but that ain’t what you here for, is it?” Sabrina asked. She was a beautiful woman; I understood what had Victor so excited.

“You know what Bo was plannin’?”

“No. Bo never talked to me about y’all’s business.”

“Who was over here talkin’ to Bo the last couple of weeks?”

“One night Hank, Bull Harris, and Skip Skinner was here.”

“You hear what they was talkin’ about?”

“No, Bo told me to go to the club and stay gone until he called for me,” Sabrina said.

“What did you do?”

“I called Victor.”

“He just made it too easy for you, didn’t he, Sabrina?”

Sabrina smiled and laughed a little. “Yeah, Black, he really did.”

“I’ve been tellin’ men for years: don’t leave your homework undone, ’cause there is always some man that is more than willing to do it for you,” I said and Sabrina’s smile got bigger.

“Guess you didn’t have that little talk with Bo, huh? If you did, he didn’t listen.”

“Anybody else come by here lately?”

“Cruz Villanova.”

“He come alone?

“No, his boy, Jorge, was always with him.”

“Anything else you think I need to know about?”

“I think Bo had something to do with Kenny gettin’ killed.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I heard him talkin’ to Bull one night and I heard him say somethin’ like: ‘He wouldn’t be dead if he had got with me in the first place.’ I didn’t think nothin’ of it, but now, after all that’s gone on, I think he was talking about Kenny.”

I got up. “Bo was involved in a lot of things.”

When I was leaving the house, Sabrina walked me to the door and I made her come out to show Victor that I didn’t kill her.

“I told you that I wasn’t gonna kill her. You gotta learn to trust me,” I said to Victor as he drove off. “Now, get Bobby on the phone for me.”