Devilish Details (22 page)

“You said four. What about the other one?”
Willa said.

“He lives straight from what I hear. Got a
family and a good job in Dallas. He doesn’t come to visit. Too much
drama I guess,” Jazz replied.

“So one or all of the three bad boys could
have been a member of Filipe’s gang.” Cedric frowned again. “But
you would know that, too.”

“I didn’t meet every thug Filipe did
business with. He had a close circle of guys around him, but he had
some loose associates as well.” Jazz gazed at Cedric. “Can you do
some research?”

“Hey, you’ve got that fine detective
sweating after you. Put him on the case,” MiMi said with a
wink.

“I don’t want Don gettin’ caught up. He
could lose everything behind this shit,” Jazz said with force.

MiMi raised an eyebrow as she cut a glance
at Willa. “Well, well, well. Sounds like you care a whole lot about
Detective Feel Good. How long have y’all been a couple, may I
ask?”

Jazz lit a cigarillo. “No, you may not ask
cause it’s none of your damn business.”

“I believe that’s the answer.” MiMi wore a
satisfied smirk.

“Humph, from gangstas to a policeman,” Willa
murmured with a shake of her head.

“Back to the subject of why Lorraine came
here,” Cedric put in before a battle could pick up steam.

“Thank you, Cedric. Women always focus on
getting up in other people’s private life.” Jazz gave Willa and
MiMi a sour look. “Okay, so let’s go with the theory that at least
one of Lorraine’s evil kids was in Filipe’s gang. I’d bet on the
Jay-Jay. The oldest has been out of state too long.”

Cedric took out his four inch wide smart
phone. “Give me full names and anything else you know. Would be
nice if you knew his birth date, last known address.”

“J’Derrick Taylor. He lived in New York with
his older brother for a while, but came home in 2006 when big bro
got locked up. He’s only a year or two older than me. Or maybe
younger.” Jazz squinted in an effort to remember more.

“With an unusual first name and a general
date range for his year of birth, I should be able to get
information. I’ll look up Lorraine’s old addresses.” Cedric nodded
with satisfaction. “Yeah, this should be enough.”

“Lorraine didn’t move around much after
2007. Her mama died and left her house to Lorraine. Her and her two
sisters got into it hot and heavy over it, too. She’s still living
there. Guess she kept up the taxes over there at least,” Jazz
retorted. She wrote down the address on a sheet of note paper and
handed it to Cedric.

“I’m on it. Hold on a minute.” Cedric walked
to a corner as he tapped the screen of his phone.

“You’re lucky to have such a hard-working
man so
close
by all the time,” MiMi whispered to Willa and
winked at her. She pressed her lips together to smother a giggle
before it escaped.

“Don’t even start,” Willa hissed low. She
glanced over her shoulder at Cedric.

“We know you’ve done a sleep over at his
place at least once,” Jazz added with a sly grin.

“Who told you...” Willa stopped. She stared
at Jazz, eyes lit with fire.

“Bam! You just did. I played a hunch and hit
the lotto.” Jazz hooted with laughter. She jumped to her feet and
shared a fist bump with MiMi.

“Well played,” MiMi chirped with glee.

Willa squinted at them. “I’m going to slap
you both in about a minute.”

“At least y’all got somebody.” MiMi slumped
again in misery over the state of her romantic life.

“Yeah, he’s ten steps up from your late
ex-husband,” Jazz retorted.

“Hey, watch it. Jack is my baby’s father and
he was a good guy. Well, most of the time,”

Cedric came back. “Okay, so I started doing
some checking around on Lorraine. Willa told me the woman doesn’t
like you much.”

“Try hates her with a burning passion,”
Willa broke in.

“Obviously, since it’s a good bet she helped
set Jazz up. Anyway, I wondered about the tax situation and how she
let it get out of hand,” Cedric said.

“She’s triflin’ and dumb,” Jazz blurted
out.

“Maybe.” Cedric grinned at her blunt
assessment. “But she didn’t get any delinquent tax notices for
about six years straight. An investigation into local government
offices led to three people being fired and pleading guilty to a
string of charges. They were taking kick backs . Forms were
falsified showing notices had gone out and payments made.”

“When did they get arrested?”

“Eight months before all Lorraine’s tax
troubles started.” Cedric nodded when Jazz snapped her fingers.

“Bingo. The end of 2012, right? Her kid
Jay-Jay got convicted around that time.” Jazz whistled.

“I can look, but so far I don’t see a
connection to Filipe’s gang or any other of the small time Baton
Rouge gangs operating at the time.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean if we dig
enough we won’t find it,” Jazz said.

Willa sucked in air and then exhaled. “Y’all
are going way out there looking for conspiracies. Look Jazz, you’ve
got a rich guy who wants this property. Sell and start over. It
doesn’t matter who did what or why. Let Lorraine think she’s won.
Pocket your money and ditch all this crap from the past.”

“Lorraine, Cleavon, or somebody is serious
about finding out what I know.
Dead
serious. They’re not
going to stop coming after me because I walk away from all this.”
Jazz swept a hand around. “Even if I wanted to, which I don’t.”

“I didn’t say give up on having your own
business. There is nothing special about Candy Girls or even this
neighborhood. And please don’t try to tell me you have some
sentimental attachment to the place,” Willa insisted.

Jazz folded her arms. “You didn’t know shit
about running Crown Protection. Jack died and Cedric offered to buy
the business. So why didn’t you sell?”

“Ha, she’s got you,” MiMi blurted out. She
snapped her lips shut when Willa glared at her.

“That was different .I have two kids and...
I mean their father’s legacy was under attack,” Willa said.

“

“I happen to agree with Jazz. Lorraine might
be satisfied, but what about Cleavon? Something of value is
motivating them. I don’t think it’s just about the property for
Lorraine.” Cedric gazed at Willa as though sending her a silent
message.

“Thank you. Somebody got some sense up in
here besides me,” Jazz said. She gave Willa a satisfied smirk.
“You’re just trying to get me out of Candy Girls so you won’t be
embarrassed in front of your bourgie family and sorority sisters.
You don’t care if I lose something I care about.”

“That’s not true. ‘Keepin’ it real’ and
staying close to street life has gotten you shot at and a murder
charge. Give me the protection of boring bourgie life any day,”
Willa shot back with heat.

Jazz gave a loud grunt of scorn. “There’s
plenty of dirt on that side of town, sweetie. Being bourgie sure as
hell didn’t protect Jack.”

MiMi stood up, both hands on her hips.
“Okay, that’s enough,” she shouted.

“Screw it, I’m going home. Glad we came in
separate cars. I just hope mine is still on the parking lot.” Willa
slung her purse over one shoulder. She marched to the office
door.

“Willa,” Cedric tried to put a hand on her
arm, but she moved too fast.

“I’ll see you later,” Willa said over her
shoulder and was gone before he or the others moved.

When MiMi and Cedric turned back to Jazz
with twin frowns of judgment, she threw up both hands. “What?”

“You went too far, that’s what. And you know
it,” MiMi barked at her. “Willa works hard to have a better life
for the kids. And by the way, for a while Willa blamed herself for
Jack’s death. She still cared about him even after the way he
treated her.”

“But--”

“Willa is just as scared of losing you, but
you’re too hard-headed to take that into consideration,” MiMi
pressed on. She met Jazz’s glowering expression with
resolution.

Several seconds of silence, heavy with
unspoken arguments, went by. Jazz lit a cigarillo. “Okay, so I
maybe crossed a line.”

“You definitely crossed a line,” MiMi
replied. Then her severe expression eased into one of sympathy.
“Look, you cool down. Let her cool down, and then apologize.”

“I don’t know about no apology,” Jazz
mumbled. Still, guilt stabbed into her gut at the hurt she’d seen
in Willa’s eyes.

“Great advice,” Cedric said calmly. “Y’all
take a deep breath and then talk. Meanwhile, I’ll start doing
research on Lorraine and her son. If it’s okay with you, I’ll
contact your lawyer to let him know. We work for law firms, mostly
on civil matters. But I’m sure he’ll be glad to have an
investigator gathering information for your defense.”

“Sure, you can call him. Thanks, Cedric. I’m
going to pay you like any other client.” Jazz gave him a brief
sisterly hug.

Cedric blushed. “Hey, don’t worry about it.
Friends back each other up, right?”

“Right,” Jazz said softly. She swallowed
hard against the emotional lump in her throat.

“See? We’re all family.” MiMi beamed at
them.

“I’m going to get on this right away. Talk
to y’all later.” Cedric hurried out.

“He’s not going to start investigating right
way. First he’s going to call Willa, then maybe he’ll buy takeout
for her and the kids.” MiMi heaved a sigh. “He’s going to make a
wonderful brother-in-law.”

“Yeah, with me and you always in some kind
of trouble, we need a professional private investigator in the
family,” Jazz said dryly. She went back and flopped down into her
executive chair. “What a damn mess.”

“Don’t get all discouraged. We’re going to
figure out what’s going on, just like we did when Jack was killed,”
MiMi said as she put an arm around Jazz’s shoulder.

“I sure hope you’re right,” Jazz said with a
smile.

“But you may have to let Detective Addison
give you an alibi if Cedric can’t dig up some reasonable doubt,”
MiMi said, her voice pitch low by the gravity of Jazz’s
predicament.

Jazz’s smile vanished. “As a down to the
wire, back against the wall last resort, MiMi. I swear.”

Chapter 13

Monday morning dawned as dreary as Jazz’s
mood. Saturday night’s receipts from the club were the cause. Not
even the restaurant and take-out food orders had made up for the
few paying customers in Candy Girls. When Jazz looked at
spreadsheets, the downward trend jumped out at her. Rain came down
in a steady grim beat. The water and gray skies made the
neighborhood look more unattractive than usual. As she stared past
the security grill of her office window, Jazz wondered what
potential her investor saw now. The local news media had begun a
series of reports on criminal activity in the area. Business
pundits speculated on whether development would be affected. Jazz
saw her chances of cashing in going down the storm drain like the
dirty rain water falling outside.

She left the window and went to her desk.
The spreadsheet stared back at her with cold indifference. Jazz hit
the keyboard, closing the depressing reminder of less money coming
in. One screen was on showing a morning talk show, but Jazz had the
sound on mute. A knock on the door startled her.

“It’s me,” Byron rumbled through the
door.

“Come on in. I forgot you were here. You
didn’t need to come in early again,” Jazz said, glad to see him
despite her words.

“The soft drinks, beer, and stuff was being
delivered. You can’t stack them heavy boxes by yourself.” Byron
grinned. “Anyway, I’m a manager now so I got to set an example for
the employees.”

Jazz laughed. “I like the way you see a
silver lining in all these clouds.”

“You mean the weekend receipts? Yeah, it’s
down some. But I’m thinkin’ that’s gone be temporary. We got core
customers that will stick with us.”

Byron crossed over to a tall metal filing
cabinet. He opened a drawer, stuffed the invoice in a folder, and
closed it. Without asking, he turned Jazz’s computer to face him.
He entered figures in the inventory application they’d bought. Jazz
watched him work with a listless feeling.

“Core customers, huh? You learning a lot
from that online business class.”

“Yeah, and to think mama had to practically
call the police to make me go to school when I was a kid.” Byron
wore a crooked grin. “Okay, our inventory tracking is updated.”

“Working on a degree and talking like a big
time business school graduate already,” Jazz replied, her mood
lifting a little. “Making mama proud.”

“She almost dropped her pot of gumbo at
Sunday dinner when I told her. Hugged me like I’d just announced I
was mayor or something,” Byron said with a hearty laugh. “Good to
see she got reason to smile instead of cry because of me.”

“You should be proud of yourself. I just
hope my troubles don’t screw with your plans.” Jazz’s mood swung
low again. “We might not have a need for software, security
systems, or any of my fancy ideas.”

“Hey, don’t get down on yourself. We have to
be ready when things turn around,” Byron said.

Jazz sighed and lit a cigarillo. “I’m facing
facts, Byron. Once again my choices are bringing grief to people
around me. I could have passed on buying Lorraine’s property. Sure
I wanted something of my own, but I knew it would piss her
off.”

“Mission accomplished,” Byron said
dryly.

“Hell yeah. I never would have guessed she’d
go so far as to frame me for murder. I knew she was tough, but
damn.”

Byron heaved his tall, burly frame from the
chair. “It’s like Cedric said, there’s somethin’ else goin’ on. We
gonna figure it out.”

“Hope we figure it out before I go to prison
for life.” Jazz took a pull on the cigarillo. Puffing out a stream
of smoke relaxed her a little.