Private Deceptions (19 page)

"Just that he’s more likely to talk to you, because you’re a woman. Just tell him that you’re my associate," I said, and they both looked at me.

"Excuse me," Monika said.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, Chilly gave me five thousand dollars to tell him where Jake was after I told his wife."

Monika poured herself another shot of gin and shook her head. "This shit gets weirder and weirder as we go along."

"Tell me about it."

Chapter Nineteen

With nothing else to do, I went by Freeze’s apartment and beat on the door. For fifteen minutes. It was early, but I knew he was there. He opened the door and put a gun in my face.

"Why all the tension and animosity? Show me love, nigga."

"Fuck you, Nick. What you doin’ here? You know what fuckin’ time it is?" he walked away from the door and then flopped down on the couch.

"Which question do you want me to answer first? What am I doin’ here, or what time is it?"

"Start with what time it is."

"It’s almost seven thirty."

"Now, what the fuck are you doin’ here so fuckin’ early in the morning?"

"I came to visit you, man."

"You know, Nick, it ain’t that I’m not glad to see you. But, shit, most people don’t beat on the door for fifteen minutes. After a minute or two they just go away."

"I knew you were here."

"How you know I was here?"

"The rug. You still turn the rug over when your home."

Freeze looked at me and frowned. Slowly, the frown became a smile and turned into a laugh. "Glad you back, Nick."

"You hungry?"

"Why, you gonna cook?"

"Hell no. But I’m buyin’."

"Good, ’cause there ain’t no food here anyway."

"Well, get dressed then."

About a half-hour later, Freeze came out of the back, escorted by a very attractive young woman. I stood up to meet her. "Nick, this is Paulleen. Paulleen, that’s Nick."

"Nice to meet you, Paulleen."

Judging only by the way she rolled her eyes and sucked her teeth, I could tell that Paulleen wasn’t glad to meet me.

"I’ll be right back, Nick. I just need to roll her home."

"How long?"

"Fifteen minutes."

Once Freeze got back from droppin’ off Paulleen, we set out to eat breakfast. While we ate, Freeze told me about his night.
Before Paulleen, I mean. She was the closer.
There was a problem at Cuisine. A customer had a complaint with their meal and the manager had gone home sick. The only one left to talk to him was Freeze.

"So, Nick, the guy starts yellin’ at my ass, talkin’ ’bout how the service was fucked up and the food was cold. Nick, I’m talkin’ ’bout right up in my face."

"I know you can’t stand that. What did you say?"

"I was cool. So I back up off him and I go through the whole nine, apologizing for the food, and the service and shit. I tell the waitress, no check for this table. Then I tells him, get this, to call ahead for a reservation the next time he wishes to dine with us, and he would be my personal guest for the evening."

"You said that shit?"

"Shit yeah! I’m fuckin’ tired of hearin’ Wanda’s mouth ’bout this customer service shit. But I ain’t feelin’ that shit, Nick."

"Why you do it then?"

"That’s where Black wants me."

"End of story. So what happened with you and old boy?"

"Okay, after I told him all that shit, he jumps up in my face again. Only this time he got his finger in my face. Now it’s all about how I better be glad I did that, because he’s some fuckin’ body and what a word from him would do to my business. Then the mutha fucka poked me in the chest. Nick!" Freeze started laughing.

So I laughed too. "What?"

"Nick, I reached for my four five."

"No you didn’t."

"Nick, I was about ta pull and blast, but the waitress said,
‘Freeze’,
and I chilled. But I was about to drop his ass. You know I hate that shit, all up in my face and shit."

"At least you didn’t do it. Maybe you should take one of them sensitivity classes or something."

"Fuck you, Nick."

"Just tryin’ to help."

"So what’s up wit you? You find Jake yet?"

"No, not exactly."

"What’s that suppose to mean?"

"I mean Kirk found his body."

"So that’s it, right? You through wit that shit, right?"

"No, not exactly. Freeze, there’s a whole lotta other shit goin’ on with this."

"Like what?"

I leaned forward. "It’s all about this pipe dream Chilly had about synthetic crack."

"Pipe dream is right. Mutha fucka been talkin’ about that shit for years."

"Jake developed it, but everyone who smoked it, died."

"Chilly kill Jake?"

"I don’t know."

"What all that got to do with you bein’ through with that shit?"

"Cops found a guy we snatched with his throat slit. He might be the one who created it and gave it to Chilly’s stupid ass."

"Cops know you killed him?"

"We didn’t kill him. We just dropped him off on Pier 17. But that ain’t gonna matter now ’cause we all up in this."

"Yeah, I can see where it could all turn on you," Freeze said. "Maybe you should talk to Wanda about this."

"Maybe I should."

"So what are you gonna do?"

"I’m keepin’ a low profile today."

"Fuck that, Nick. Hang out with me."

"Where we goin’?"

"I don’t care. You drivin’. Check!"

We hung out the rest of the day. It’s funny, me and Freeze are so different from who we were back then. But it still felt like I never left. Freeze dropped me off at my apartment, before goin’ back to the club. I tried to call Felicia, but I got voice mail. I left a message and then I called Jett. He had been trying to get information about our Uncle Felix. "I’m not gettin’ anywhere with this, Nick. At this point, I can’t even tell you if Felix is really his name. But I’m on it, I’ll get him."

"I know you will. You heard from Monika?"

"Not since this afternoon. She said she was goin’ to meet Chilly. What’s goin’ on with you?"

There was a knock at the door.

"Hold on, Jett. Someone’s at the door."

"Hope it’s some pussy!"

"Let’s hope." I thought about Felicia, but that wasn’t about to happen. But fantasy is a good thing.

"See if she got a friend." I heard Jett holler through the phone. I went to the door. And looked through the peek hole. The hallway was filled with cops. I went back to the phone.

"Jett, a whole group of cops are at the door."

"What do they want?"

"Whatever it is, it ain’t good." The knocking began again. "I’ll call you back."

The banging got louder as I walked back to the door.

"Police!"

I opened the door and was met by Kirk.

"Nick Simmons?" A uniformed officer said while Kirk smiled at me.

"What’s goin’ on, Kirk?"

"We have a warrant to search these premises." The officer said.

"You gotta be kiddin’ me." He handed me the warrant. I looked at it. Maybe I shoulda called Wanda. Thinking that I had nothing to hide, I let them in. Cops seemed to swarm all over the place. Kirk was still standing in the hallway by the door. Smiling.

"What’s goin’ on here, Kirk?"

"We found Lisa Ellison, Jake Rollins girlfriend, dead in her living room. Shot at close range with the same caliber weapon that Rollins was killed with."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"Your fingerprints were found on —" Kirk broke out his notepad. "On a glass, the coffee table, the phone and the inside door knob."

"Am I under arrest?"

"No. And that’s only because I don’t think you’d be stupid enough to shoot her and leave prints everywhere."

"So what’s goin’ on here?"

"Well Nick, you searched Rollins apartment on more than one occasion, and your prints puts you at the Ellison murder scene. That makes you a suspect in both murders, as far as I can see. We’re just looking for what you found and aren’t telling us about, that’s all, Nick. After we’re finished here, you’re going to ride with me down to your office, where we’ll execute this warrant to search your office."

"This is fucked up, Kirk."

"Maybe. But just for laughs, why don’t you explain to me when you were there and what you talked to her about."

"I was there last Wednesday night about eight. I asked her a couple of questions about where I might find Jake. I had a glass of water. I used the phone and I left."

"This may sound like a stupid question, but you never know. Was she alive when you left her?"

"Of course she was."

Once they finished terrorizing my apartment, we went to my office and they did the same. Since I didn’t kill Jake or Lisa, and there was nothing in either place to connect me to Vogel or Rodrigez or who ever he was, I wasn’t sweatin’ the search. Until — "Detective Kirkland, I think we got something here." Kirk looked at me, smiled, and walked away. I had no idea what they had, but I was goin’ to see. I fell right in behind Kirk.

"Take a look at this."

The officer had Jake’s file in his hand and gave Kirk a piece of paper. At least it wasn’t the murder weapon. Kirk looked over the paper carefully, and then handed it to me. It was the formula for synthetic crack. What a time for Monika to start filing.

"What is this?" Kirk asked me.

The officer gave Kirk another piece of paper. It had to be the analysis that Monika’s friend had done.

I waited for Kirk to finish reading before I answered. Kirk handed me the paper. "Does the phrase withholding evidence, or obstruction of justice mean anything to you."

"They do now."

The more I thought about it, the surer I was that Monika, and Jett were right. This private investigating stuff sucked. I hate cops. And I had been spending too much time with them fuckas. Now I had to help them. It just went against everything.

Me and Kirk had a long conversation, during which he threatened to charge me with murder if I didn’t start cooperating. I knew he couldn’t make a case there. However, withholding and obstruction they had me on, but I still stuck to my story. "I don’t know anything about that." I still felt like a snitch sittin’ there. This shit sucks. He wanted to know how I got the formula. No biggie there since he already figured I got it from Jake’s safe. I gave him that and told him that I had only got the analysis back yesterday. "Jake was already dead. Case closed, so we filed it."

We danced around the same points for hours and then he had some uniforms take me to the holding cell. The benches were cold and hard. Naturally, it was crowded with just us.

Jett arranged my bail, and I was out by lunchtime. When we got back to my apartment, Monika was there waiting for us. Not only had she cleaned up after the cops, but she had cooked. Monika never cooks. She hates it. So even though I was skeptical about eating it, I know it was made with love. For the rest of the afternoon we sat around and talked about our situation until the sun went down. Monika got up to leave. "Where you goin’?" Jett asked.

"I’m goin’ to meet Chilly," she replied, heading for the door.

"I thought you got with him last night?" I asked, getting up to see her out. "You ain’t fallin’ in love with him, are you?" Me and Jett laughed, but Monika on the other hand, saw no humor in it at all. She stopped dead in her tracks.

"You two silly ass mutha fuckas done lost y’alls
gotdamn
minds! This is strictly business, understand!" With her finger on my nose. I still was laughing. "Business that you’re sending me on. So remember that." And with that, she left.

"She’s kinda touchy. Must be that time of the month," Jett said as he got up. "I’m outta here too, Nick. I’ll catch up with you tomorrow."

"I’ll git wit ya, Jett."

With the house now empty, I gave some thought to sleep. Which I hadn’t done since the day before. So I put on some music. Freeze had been bumpin’ some bootlegged 2Pac, and he let me borrow it.

Jake’s funeral was the next day, so I thought about whether I would make a cameo appearance. I took a shower and fell asleep to the sound of Pac tellin’ me how I was fuckin’ wit the wrong nigga.

I don’t know how long I had been asleep; it was quiet, but somebody bangin’ on my door soon replaced that quiet. My first thought was that it was Freeze, exacting a measure of payback from the day before. I picked up my gun and opened the door, prepared to shove the gun in his face.

"Remember me?"

"Felicia."

"Surprise!" she threw her arms around my waist and kissed me the kiss I’d been dreaming about since the last time she kissed me. I responded in kind.

"What are you doin’ here?"

"I missed you." Felicia kissed me on the cheek. "Did I come at a bad time?"

"No, not at all."

"Can I come in?"

"I’m sorry. Of course you can come in." I stepped aside and closed the door behind her. "I’m just surprised, that’s all. Have a seat. Can I offer you something?"

"No I’m fine. Nice place, mind if I look around?"

"No, be my guest."

Felicia wandered around the apartment with her hands on her hips. Lookin’ over her shoulder to see if I was watching. Which I was. She swung her hips harder and I smiled. "What you smiling about?" she asked as she walked past me.

"Just happy to see you, Felicia. What made you come back here anyway?"

"You did."

"I did?"

"Yes, you, Nick."

"How did I do that?"

"Two ways. First, I missed you and I wanted to be with you." She went into the kitchen. She looked impressed. It was clean for a change, thanks to Monika. She came out. "Seems you got a me a little dick whipped."

Felicia wandered into the bedroom.

"Nice bed," she said and came back out, carefully closing the door and tapping the doorknob. Felicia turned around and came toward me. "And second, you gave me a shot of your courage. So I decided to come back and face things head on, you know, take a more proactive approach to this thing."

"Well, it’s pretty much over."

"You solved the case?" Felicia’s face lit up. She was excited for me. I thought that was sweet of her.

"Nope." Man I was diggin’ her. Look at her eyes, her smile. I took a step closer to Felicia. "Cops found Jake’s dead body a couple of days ago."

"Oh really."

"Yes really. Cops searched here and my office last night. They found the formula and the analysis of that synthetic crack. So I’m done with it."

"That means you’ll have some time to spend with me." She reached for my hand and squeezed it. Then she touched my face with the other hand.

She kissed me on my cheek.

She started to walk away, but I pulled her back toward me.

I touched her face and kissed her lips. It was more like I pressed my lips against hers. I started to walk away but she pulled me back toward her and she kissed me. Believe me, it was more fun this time. I liked it and I wanted more.

She kissed me again.

We stood awkwardly looking at each other for what seemed like a long time. And then, almost at the same time, we both started taking off our clothes. I felt the vibration of my pager, but I didn’t seem to care.