CON TEST: Double Life (13 page)

The buildings of disproportionate sizes were lined shoulder to shoulder selling high fashion couture.

The sky was as clear as a baby’s blue eyes, and the air was permeated with a mixture of all the street vendors’ who sold pretzels, nuts, and hot dogs
.

Amir looked around carefully. He could not decide what he wanted first. He did not want to walk through the wrong gate. He and Justice walked southbound on Fifth Avenue and ducked into Prada. Amir knew that Justice could buy everything in Prada from underwear to suits. To be safe Justice told Amir not to spend more than $2,000.

They both perused the store and then selected what they wanted. The sales rep rang up their items and the total reached $4,400. Amir, in his seasoned script wrote a check, which was declined.
Time for plan B
, Justice thought, and then acted.

“
There must be some mistake,” Amir said, perplexed.

The rep offered Amir the number to Tele Chex—a check authorization company—as well as the land line to call them. After all, the rep wanted the commission.

“
Let me go hold the reservations at Justin’s, while you handle your business,” Justice said and left the Prada store.

Amir called Tele Chex and gave them all of his account and ID information. After a brief hold, Tele Chex wanted to speak to the boutique rep. The rep gave Tele Chex the Prada merchant number, the amount of the check, and the account information.

The Tele Chex clerk said, “Oh that was a Code 1 decline. We just had to verify the account holder. Your approval code is 834973.”

Amir grabbed the garment and shopping bags and headed out of the boutique with a conniving sneer on his face. He met Justice on the corner, and handed him some of the bags. They then pranced around the corner.

“
I see you still got it,” Amir told Justice. “He was goofy and I knew when I called you to act like Tele Chex, he wouldn’t even catch on to your Levern Grisby voice.”

“
They never do,” he said, and smiled. “We have work to do. I’mma
need to be fresh to death while on the run.”

Hours later, their arms were tired from carrying bags, which was their only reason to stop shopping. Amir had served Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Versace, SAKS, Fendi, and the NBA Store. Before they swung around to 57
^th
Street and conquered Nike Town, Hermes, Burberry, and Helmut Lang. Then, they had gone up Madison and destroyed Barney’s New York, Emporio Armani, DKNY, and Swarovski.

They dropped the bags off at the hotel, and then grabbed a cab to 42
^nd
Street and 8
^th
Avenue. They hopped out of the cab, and hustled into a gift shop that offered all things NYPD. Justice approached a glass display full of cell phones, and spoke to a Mexican man.

The man had a signature Mexican mustache and jet black hair. Justice pulled out his wallet and tapped on his Pennsylvania ID. The Mexican knew exactly what he wanted.

The Mexican handed both men forms to fill out with all the information that appeared on a driver’s license. On the line marked social security number, Justice instructed Amir to only put an eight digit number beginning with zero on the form. They filled out the forms and then handed them back to the Mexican.

Amir whispered to Justice that the ID’s did not look anything like a real Pennsylvania ID.

“
No problem. New Yorkers behind the counter have never been to Philly to know the difference,” Justice said, confidently. He then posed and let the man take the picture for the ID.

# # #

Amir was exhausted when he returned back to the hotel, but that did not stop him from busting another $500 check at the front desk. When he and Justice entered the hotel room, they found Alimu-Shine in the room. He was on a laptop, as if he had been left in the room.

“
How the fuck did you get in?” Amir asked, perplexed.

“
Come on. That was easy. I still have game. Simply because I fell back, do not count a brother out. I drove all the way up here and had to go through all of the traffic, something had better be in those many bags for me.”

“
Nope,” Justice said, and plopped on the sofa.

“
That’s crazy,” Alimu-Shine said. “And it’s cool, because I want back in.”

“
Cool. Did you bring everything, homey?”

“
Yes-sir.”

“
Printer?”

“
Yes.”

“
MICR ink?”

“
Absolutely.”

“
Blank checks?”

“
Dammit! Yes. Yes. Yes!”

“
You’re an arrogant, clown,” Amir said, and sat on the bed.

Justice could not believe that he was in that predicament. Alimu-Shine was his number one friend and was glad that he had come through. Justice was too smart to be going through that experience. He was 12-credits shy of a degree at Villanova U. Extremely proficient in Microsoft Office. He had taken enough advanced mathematics courses to work for NASA. And he knew a host of languages. Why was he hurting himself? Shit, why was he hurting his mother and father, who were back together after a 20-year split? He wanted to break down and let a river of tears flow, right there in front of his homies. Justice was a foolish man trapped in a fantasy world. A world presented to him on TV. He was subconsciously a celebrity. He shopped like one. Wore expensive garments like one. Slept in five-star hotels like one. And he was unhappy like one, too.

Amir walked over to Justice and waved his hand in his face. “Earth to Justice Lorenzo.”

“
I’m here, Dirty Harry.”

“
Oh, you got jokes. It’s cool, though. Let’s just chill for a sec and then go to the movies or something. You know I’ve never been to NY, except through your stories in jail. Around midnight, we can hit a club, snatch up some women, and then tomorrow get mo’ money.”

“
Oh, is it that simple?” Justice asked, sarcastically.

“
Oh, so.” Amir confirmed.

William began to nod off to sleep before he was startled awake by the telephone ringing. His senses were groggy as his brain registered what it took for him to answer the phone. He yanked the throw blanket over himself and the telephone rang a third time. He ignored the caller, as he only expected Lundin to call, and she would get the hint and call his cell phone. Annoyed by the ringing, William walked to the phone base and pressed the speaker phone button.

“
Yes, Boopsie,” William answered. He stretched one raised hand to the ceiling and the other pressed down an erection. He was happy about the prospect of phone sex with Lundin. The idea was palatable.

The caller did not respond to his greeting. He snatched up the receiver.

“
Hello!” he said, continuing his sleepy voice to assure Lundin thought that he was asleep. He seriously thought that she had called the house phone to verify that he was home.

No response.

The caller disconnected.

William was pissed. He had gotten up for naught. He sat a few moments and then turned off the living room TV and trekked to the bedroom. It was one a.m. Four a.m. in New York. He had to have received a wrong number caller.

He turned on the stereo and let Mary J. put him to sleep.

The phone rang at two a.m.

He looked at the caller ID and tried to zero in on who had the audacity. The caller was anonymous. He was pissed.

“
Who the hell is this?” he asked, gravely.

“
A friend. Could be become a foe, though.”

“
Are you threatening me, asshole?” William asked, his heart and thoughts raced. He slammed the phone down.

William sat up on the bed and ran his right hand across his chest. He walked to the bathroom and wondered about the caller. The sun had not risen and he needed to catch up on some sleep before he took his BMW to be repaired, and picked up a rental to drive to San Francisco. He had to meet a friend that he sent his chapters to review earlier in the week.

He had flushed the toilet and the telephone rang again. He raced to the living room phone, his penis loomed in front of his body—a tool swaying from side to side that could hypnotize a woman.

“
Stop fucking calling my home!” William barked into the mic of the speaker phone.

“
Didn’t know that you were a psychic,” the man said. “Our little secret can stay a secret for a $100,000 gift. What do you say?”

“
I say you’re a nut basket.”

“
Probably.”

“
What’s this about?” William asked and sat on the sofa and squeezed the life out of a pillow.

“
Pardon me. I am a writer. But, it is, I who writes for the LA Times. And, I am black mailing you. You know why, so don’t play silly games with me, mister.”

“
Huh?” William asked, and reached for the drink that he had left on the floor earlier. He had been a potential victim of black mail in the past, but he and Justice had quickly teamed up and handled that problem.

“
Are you always this chipper in the morning?”

William ignored the man and pressed the record button on his answering machine. “Where the hell did you get my number?”

“
Ah…It was quite easy old chap,” the man confessed. William noticed an Austrian accent. “Once I figured out who you were, it was difficult research by the way, I met Jewel and what a precious jewel she was to leave me at her desk for me to dig around for your contact information. And do not worry about the proposed Sony deal. That was my cheap ploy to get into her office. I am her good friend, Don. Or, so she claimed. That sounded like a lovely plot didn’t, William?” the man said and snickered.

I’ll be damn, William thought. He was angry and mad at Jewel’s stupidity. And her lies. He planned to strangle the asshole on the other end of the line for the ruse. And then fire Jewel, after exposing Justice to the world and coming out of the literary shadows.

“
So, Don, when do we meet?” he asked calmly. He was heated, though.

“
I thought you’d never ask,” Don confirmed. “How ‘bout today. I could use an installment.”

I am going to install my fist down your throat
. “Can’t. Gotta be in the Bay area today. It’s very urgent. My flight leaves at eight a.m.,” William lied and continued, “I will leave for NY after that on Sunday. How ‘bout Monday when the banks are open and fully stocked?”

“
You would know, but I’ll meet you Saturday in San Fran. Less time for you to devise a plan. I’ll call your cell phone with the details. I know that you’re an expert shooter, so we will be in a very public place. With detectors.”

“
Good,” William said. What he did not say was that, it was good that the place would be public so that he could work his sinister plan.

“
Save the sarcasm, pal. I’m begging you not to push the wrong button.”

The line went dead.

TWENTY-FOUR

L
undin was in New York, the city that transcends disorder in human behavior. While she loved attending the winter fashion showcase, she loathed being away from William. She hoped to slice her eight day trip, but William had encouraged her to enjoy herself. “Have fun,” was what he had told her. “Enjoy the time away from the ZME anxiety and racket.”

She snuggled up to the warm comforter in the Marriott Marquis. She was in a chair that she sat in the window that overlooked Times Square. She looked down at a singer waving at screaming fans from the MTV studio. She sipped Moscato laced with coconut Ciroc, and thought,
this is the life
. The trip was another of the extremely sizable bonuses that came with working as a model agent. Lundin wished that she could be hi-jacked on these all of the time, if William would join her. That was why she wanted to start a business with him. Lock him deeper into her world. She, despite how beautiful she was, knew that he would leave her if people knew who he was. Women would be after him, and so would the paparazzi. She imagined their life being chaotic. Her heart was orbiting around William while she was 3,000 miles away. She picked up the phone and called him.

After three rings, he answered. “Hey, Boopsie. I was just thinking about you.”

“
You didn’t call. I was thinking of you, so I called.”

“
Trust me, I am thinking of you more than you could ever imagine. I assumed you were working like me.”

“
I am,” she said, and then asked, “What’s that bell sound?”

“
Oh, a ‘frisco trolley. I came up this morning. I need to visit Lamar up at San Quentin, so that I can get a few good ideas. I sent him some chapters and $200 the other day.”

“
You can go visit Lamar, but you couldn’t come with me?”

“
Calm down. This is business. No different than yours.”

“
What?” she asked perplexed. “You knew of my travels weeks in advance. I’m sure you did not roll over this morning and think to take a trip.”

“
I ain’t feelin’ the tone, Lundin,” he informed her. “Things do come up abruptly for me. I forgot to tell you. It is not that serious that you have an attitude. I am only here for one night.”

“
What do you mean? I practically begged you to come to New York. Now you’re in San-Fran-Fucking-Cisco!”