Beneath The Surface (37 page)

“I can imagine.”

“But other than that, it was fine.”

“Is the room okay?”

“The room is fabulous. And the view,” Meka said excitedly.

“I’m glad you like it,” Black said.

When they reached the ground floor, Black led Meka out to the beach. As soon as they got to the beach, Michelle ran straight toward the water. “Don’t get too far away!” Black yelled.

“I won’t!” Michelle yelled back as she ran.

Black looked at Meka. “So tell me what happened.”

“Well, you know that I used to work for Cerrone Merkerson. While I was working for him, I was stealing money to support my cocaine habit. When I knew he was about to get on to me, I took as much money as I could get my hands on, and I ran.”

“How much?”

“All told, about a half a million.”

“Quite a bit.”

“After I ran through that money, I checked myself into rehab, and I’ve been clean ever since. I moved to New York and got a real job. When Wanda first came to me, and we had been doing business for a while, I checked you out.”

“Did you?”

“I did. I found out who you were and how you made your money.”

“And?”

“And it didn’t make a difference, because you were a legitimate client. And I was done with that business. Until the market took a dive and wiped me out.” Meka laughed. “You know what’s funny?”

“What’s that?”

“If he had showed up looking for his money a year ago, I coulda wrote him a check and barely felt it. What a difference a year makes.”

“How did he find you?”

“Leon came along.”

“That’s kinda my fault. I was tryin’ to help you out. I knew you needed to make some money; I knew what Leon needed. I knew what you used to do, so I sent Leon your way. I didn’t tell him what you did or anything
like
that; just to feel you out.”

Meka laughed. “Didn’t matter. Leon knew me from those days. He knew I was who he wanted.” Then she paused. “I could have told him no. I could have told him that I didn’t do that type of business anymore. But I thought I could make that money and get back on my feet.”

“You don’t think it was Leon that told Cerrone where you were?”

“I don’t think so. I think it was one of my old contacts.”

“I’m gonna need their names,’ Black said and Meka nodded.

“Question is what now?”

“You tell me?”

“That’s up to you. The body, the bloody mattress, and the gun have been taken care of. If anybody in your building heard the shots, none of them called the police. As far as the police are concerned, there is no crime to investigate. But that might not be the end of it.”

“What else?”

“Cerrone’s people. If he told anybody he was comin’ to New York to get you, they might come lookin’ for you.”

“So what now?” Meka asked.

“You stick around here for a while. Like I said: Have some fun, do the spa thing,
do
some shopping.”

“I already did,” Meka said and hit a turn.

“You look nice, but you always do,” Black said. “We’ll talk in a couple of days. I’m sure I can make use of your skills.”

After that, Black saw Meka back to her room and went home with Michelle. When he got there, CeCe was sitting in the shade out by the pool. He went outside.

“Where’s Michelle?” CeCe asked as soon as he was close enough.

“She went to her room.”

CeCe sat up and took a deep breath. “Well—sit down. I got something I need to tell you.”

Taquandria “TQ” Brown hit the snooze button one last time and opened her eyes. She looked at her alarm clock. It was then that Taquandria realized that it was 7:15
am,
and she only had forty-five minutes to make it to her appointment.

After a quick shower, TQ was dressed and was out the door. She got in her car and drove off. Nick tapped Rain on the shoulder. “Wake up. She’s on the move,” he said and put down his binoculars.

“Where she goin’ this fuckin’ early in the morning?” Rain asked and stretched.

“We’ll find out when she gets there,” Nick said and drove off behind her.

“Wherever she goin’, she sure in a fuckin’ hurry to get there,” Rain said as Nick tried not to lose her. When Taquandria stopped in front of a beauty salon, Rain started laughing. “She’ll be in there for at least a couple of hours. Wake me up when she comes out,” Rain said and tried to get comfortable again.

“Don’t go to sleep yet. I’m gonna walk down the street and grab us something to eat.”

“What you want me to do if she comes out while you’re gone?”

“Stay with her. I’ll catch up,” Nick said and got out of the car.

When he came back with breakfast, Rain made her report. “She’s still in there. I told you we got some hours to wait before she
comes
outta there. What you get me?” Nick handed Rain a cup of coffee and a bag with a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit, and some tater tots.
   

Rain was right. The salon was crowded, and it would be hours before they saw Taquandria Brown again. She didn’t really like being around that many women. She was perfectly content to read her book and not pay attention as the room full of women traded gossip. When she was done and her hair looked fabulous, Taquandria paid and tipped her stylist, and left the salon.

“There she
go
,” Rain said as she came out and headed for her car.

Nick picked up his binoculars and watched her. After all, Taquandria Brown was very pretty. “I got her,” he said and started the car.

When she pulled off, they followed her. “I bet
she
goin’ to get her nails and them toes done, now,” Rain said.

Rain was right again. Her next stop was to the nail shop. “How long she gonna be?” Nick wanted to know.
  

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“On what she gettin’ done. If she just gettin’ her nails and toes done, an hour, hour and a half at most. If she gettin’ that bikini
wax
it could take two hours.

It was after two-thirty in the afternoon when TQ came out of the nail shop. Once again, Nick picked up his binoculars and watched her until she got in her car.

“She a bad bitch, so go on and get your eyes full. But I hope you know she gettin’ all fixed up on our money,” Rain said as Nick took off behind her.

“Probably.”

“I’m thinkin’ that she gettin’ all prettied up to go see her nigga.”

“Or some other nigga,” Nick said. “Since we don’t know what this nigga looks like, let’s hope she leads us to the right one.”

“Yeah, ’cause I’d hate to kill the wrong mutha fucka.”

This time they were wrong. Taquandria drove straight to her mother, Janice’s house, and that’s where she spent the rest of the afternoon. It was after seven in the evening when Taquandria finally came out and returned to her car. Nick followed as she got on the Major Deegan, and got on the Cross-Bronx Expressway, across the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey.

The next time she stopped was at a house in Teaneck. Taquandria carefully backed the car into the garage and went inside. Darryl Abraham was waiting for her in the living room, watching TV.

Darryl was ex-Army Infantry, 101st Airborne Division. He was a trained sniper, jungle expert, and Urban Warfare expert, and was fluent in German.
 

“Where you been all day, TQ?” he asked without looking at her.

“Went to see my mama.” Then Taquandria kicked off her heels and walked in front of the television. “And
I been
out gettin’ pretty for you.”

Darryl got up and put his arms around her. “You
was
pretty before all that. But you look good.”

Taquandria kissed him and broke their embrace. “Let me tell you what happened to me yesterday,” she said. “I was over my cousin’s house, and guess
who
shows up there?”

“I know you’re gettin’ ready to tell me whether I wanna know or not,” Darryl said as he sat back down.

“Your friend, Joyce Bell. She
call
herself blockin’ me in. So she gets out the car talkin’ ’bout you is her man, and all this and all that, and she gonna teach me to respect her, and leave her man alone. She goes in her trunk and comes at me with a tire iron.”

“What you do, TQ?” Darryl asked.

“I picked up one of them metal lawn chairs, and when she swung at me, I blocked it with the chair, and then I hit her ass with it. She drops the tire iron.” Taquandria put her hands on her hips. “Now what she do that for?”

Darryl smiled. “What you do, TQ?”

“I beat the shit outta her with that chair. You need to talk to her.”

“What I need to talk to her for? You already give her the message. Don’t fuck with Taquandria Brown.”

“That’s right, ’cause I put it on her ass,” Taquandria said.

Outside in the car, Nick got ready to have a look around to see what they were up against. He needed to know whether somebody was in the house with her, and if so, how many.

He put on his night-vision goggles and told Rain to wait in the car. Nick approached the house slowly. He knew he was in the right place when he saw the trip wires that surrounded the house. Careful not to trip any, Nick made his way to the house and looked inside the windows. As near as he could tell, Taquandria Brown and a man he assumed was Darryl Abraham, were alone in the house. When they started kissing, Nick figured he’d give them enough time to get into it and catch him like they did the last one. Nick started back for the car and saw Rain coming toward him.

“Look out for the—”

Rain stumbled and fell.

“Trip wire.”

Nick went to help Rain up. “What was that?”

“Trip wire. They know were here,” Nick said. But before he could get his gun out, Darryl drove Taquandria’s car through the garage door and opened fire with a Micro Uzi SMG. Nick and Rain hit the ground.

Darryl stopped the car and came out firing.

Nick and Rain kept their heads down.

“TQ!” Darryl yelled and began shooting again.

Taquandria came out the front door with a knapsack over her shoulder. She too was carrying a Micro Uzi. She fired as she walked around to the passenger side. Darryl got back in the car while Taquandria kept firing. When Darryl slammed his door, Taquandria jumped in, and he drove off. Nick and Rain got up and fired at the back of car as it drove away. Nick looked at Rain and started walking toward the house.

Rain followed behind him. “What?”

“I thought I told you to stay in the car?”

Rain kept walking.

Once they got inside the house, Nick and Rain began to search for their money, but not really expecting to find any.