Private Deceptions (9 page)

Bobby walked over and pulled up a chair next to Banks. "What you have here is an opportunity to admit what you did and accept the consequences."

"What’s the difference; y’all gonna kill me anyway!" Banks shouted.

"No. If Black can’t prove that you’re sellin’ drugs, you can walk out of here with my humble apology," Bobby explained.

"No," Black said. "The difference is that I’m givin’ you a chance to man up and admit that you betrayed everybody in this room. Does that sound fair to you?" Black asked sarcastically.

Banks didn’t answer.

"Nick."

I stepped up to Banks and tore the shelves off his shirt. I held the eyedropper over his arm. I squeezed the dropper once and one drop hit his arm.

Banks screamed in pain.

"Does that sound fair to you?" Black asked again.

"Yes, shit, yes!" Banks yelled.

"Nick." I hit the other arm this time. Banks screamed again. There was no sound in the room. No one said a word, nobody moved. They all stood and watched as me and Freeze took turns beatin’ Banks and then burnin’ him with acid.

"Admit what you did, Banks, so we can all go home," Bobby said.

"I didn’t do nothing, Bobby, I swear."

"Freeze," Black said, and Freeze happily resumed his brutal beating.

After what seemed to be a long time, Black stepped up to Banks, "Are you ready to man up, Banks?"

"I keep telling you, Black! I didn’t do shit!" Banks protested.

"Doc," Black said.

"Yes, Black," Doc said, with a very scared look on his face. Doc ran the gambling in the house and was probably thinking that he would suffer the same fate as Banks.

"I want you to go behind the bar and reach your hand behind the bottle setup next to the cash box. Let me know what you find."

Doc walked very slowly to the bar and did what he was told. He reached behind the setup. "There’s another cash box back here."

"Pull it out and open it," Black demanded. "Tell us all what you find."

Doc opened the box, "Drugs and money, Black."

"That shit ain’t mine, Black," Banks screamed. "I swear on my mamas grave, I don’t know nothing about that! You planted it there."

"Doc, has anybody other than the bartender been behind the bar tonight or any night for that matter?"

"No," Doc said.

"How do you know that?" Black asked, knowing the answer.

"It’s a house rule," Cynt said. "Nobody goes behind the bar but the bartender. How stupid can you be, Banks? Bad enough you’re dealin’, but why you gotta do it in the house. It ain’t gonna do nothin’ but bring the cops down on all of us. Fuckin’ fool. You deserve to die."

"Thank you, Cynt," Black said. "I’m glad I didn’t have to be the one to say it."

"Fuck you, Cynt!" Banks yelled.

"Fuck you, Banks. Stupid mutha fucka," Cynt responded as she stepped up and slapped Banks in the face.

"Black, you gotta believe me. I don’t know nothin’ ’bout that shit. It must be Earl’s dope."

"Jamaica," Black said.

We all looked around and there stood Jamaica with Earl. He too had been beaten badly. "You know I was selling that shit for you, Banks! You said we could make that paper and Black would never know it, " Earl said.

"Any questions?" Black asked as he looked around the room.

Again, no one said a word.

"Tie him up next to his friend," Black said to Jamaica. When he finished, Jamaica moved away and Bobby handed me and Freeze each a .9. "Gary Banks, a jury of your peers has found you guilty of treason. The sentence is death."

Bobby walked behind the chairs and placed a black hood over their heads and moved out of the way.

Black looked at me and Freeze, "Fire."

We both emptied a clip in them.

When it over, I drove Black home. I asked him, "How’d you know Banks started dealin’ again?"

Black just looked at me like I was stupid or something. "I know everything that goes on in my organization. Remember that. Never get to far removed from anything you’re in charge of, Nick."

Mrs. Childers was right I knew exactly how Chilly handled his business. But by now, she was talkin’ all over herself, "The story goes that you and Bobby Ray fell out over some woman and you cut out."

"True story." It made me a little uncomfortable that she knew.

"Tell me about it, Nick."

"You seem to know the story, so there’s nothing to tell."

"There’s more to your dark side. That the family you don’t like talking about, Nick?"

"If you really gotta know, yes, Mrs. Childers, that’s the family I don’t talk about. I ran out on Black when he needed me most."

"Mike Black," she said in a way that made me a little jealous.

"You know him?"

"Of course I know him, everybody knows Mike Black. After Chilly made peace with him, we got invited to all his parties. He always threw the best parties. He used to have them at some mansion out on the Island."

"I remember those parties. Those were the days. But those days are dead and gone. You and I need to focus on the here and now. I need to know how to find Rocky."

"Rocky doesn’t come around much. He just shows up when he needs to. I really don’t know how to contact him. Even though he buys from Chilly, he doesn’t like him."

"I haven’t found anybody who does like your husband, Mrs. Childers. But we’ll pass that for now. How does Rocky do business?"

"He usually sends somebody."

"Do you know if he knows Pamela Hendricks?"

"If he knows her, they met the same way, at one of our parties."

"It’s not gonna take the cops long to put all this together and tie it all back to Chilly. But that’s what you wanted, isn’t it?"

"Yes, but there is no evidence. Nick, I’ve seen Chilly walk in and out of jail too many times to be excited about this. If they pick him up now, it will just make him mad and he’ll take it out on me."

"You’re right. Rocky is the one who’s tailor made to step off for this."

"What do you mean?"

"Two women OD on cocaine, both of them know your brother. Rocky, his childhood friend is a dealer and one of the dead women works in a bank. It has money laundering written all over it. What is Jake’s involvement in this? I know. You don’t know, but if I do find him, he is poised to take a fall for conspiracy."

"I never thought about it that way. Nick, you just have to find him."

The longing in her voice set me off.

It made my will stronger, more determined to find him. Mrs. Childers was right about one thing, as far as the evidence went; none of this had anything to do with Chilly. The more I thought about the transcript and that thing about problems being taken care of, the more I was convinced that it was Jake he was talking about.

With all that had happened, I had completely over looked the one person who might be able to put all this together for me.

Lisa Ellison.

She would be my target for the night.

I looked at Mrs. Childers. I wanted to stay and talk to her. But I put aside that thought and focused on what I was doing. It was better that way.

"Tell me about Lisa Ellison."

Mrs. Childers rolled her eyes and called for the bartender. "Hennessy Martini with a twist."

Without answering my question, she waited for the bartender to return with her drink. I thought about asking my question again, then I decided to rephrase it. "Why don’t you like her, Mrs. Childers?"

"Because she’s a dizzy air head bitch, who thinks she’s the shit, but she’s not. She’s just a stupid air headed bitch, who’s so caught up in her own quasi bourgeois lifestyle, that she don’t know her ass from a hole in the ground. The fake bitch."

"So you don’t like her, huh?"

"No, Nick, I hate the fake ass bitch."

"What does she do for a living?"

"She works for Armstrong Direct."

"What’s that?"

"It’s some bullshit marketing firm. She’s some type of bullshit director."

"Hmm."

"What’s that supposed to mean?"

"It means, hmm."

"You know what I mean, Nick, don’t be funny."

"I mean your brother seems to have a thing for professional women with lofty positions. They even look alike."

"That’s just how Jake is."

I picked up my pictures. "Good night, Mrs. Childers."

"You’re leaving?"

She didn’t want me to go.

Maybe she wanted me?

What’s more likely is that she’s just lonely and wants to talk. "I’m not gonna find your brother sittin’ around here."

"Where are you goin’ now?"

"Goin’ to see Lisa Ellison."

"I have a better idea," Mrs. Childers said and stood up.

I got up, too. "What’s that?"

"Come ride with me."

We rode in silence while Mrs. Childers drove us nowhere fast. She drove out of the city, across the Tappanze Bridge to a small house in Nyack. When we went inside the house, the first thing that hit me was the smell. It didn’t smell bad; it was more like the stale odor of some place that had been closed up for awhile. The living room was well furnished and none of it looked like it had much use. Mrs. Childers turned on some music and went around the house turning on ceiling fans and opening windows.

"This is my little hide away," she said, opening the French doors that led to the deck.

"Hide away?"

She smiled and went out on the deck, seemingly to avoid my question. So I followed her outside and asked it again. She looked irritated by my question as well as my presence on the deck. "I come out here to get away."

"Get away from what, Mrs. Childers?"

"More to get away from all the stress and pressures, you know, and be by myself. It’s so peaceful out here, it gives me a chance to relax and think."

"Bullshit." I said to myself.
"Yes, It is very peaceful."

She went back in the house and I followed behind her. "Can I get you a drink?"

"Thank you. Do you have Johnnie Walker Black?"

"No, will Hennessy do?"

"Hennessy is fine."

I sat on the couch and watched her as she poured. She looked in my direction, but she dropped her eyes when she saw I was looking at her. She handed me my drink and sat down across from me and started to talk. So we drank Hennessy, quite a bit of Hennessy and laughed and talked for hours. Talk about nothing, really. Mostly a lot of reminiscing about her, Jake, and Chésará growing up dirt poor in Philly. "Dirt poor and on lock down. That was us, couldn’t go anywhere. Except this one night I snuck out and I went over my girl Tina’s house. Naturally she was shocked to see me. She says she was gettin’ ready to go ride with Beverly. I couldn’t stand that bitch but her and Tina were cool and I didn’t have nothing else to do. So we’re standin’ outside waitin’ when this burgundy Dodge Daytona hack back pulls up. I never forgot that car," she paused. "Beverly was sittin’ in the back. I don’t know who the two chicks in the front seat were. But I jumped in the car anyway. They said they were goin’ to get some weed."

"You smoke weed, Mrs. Childers?"

"Every once and a while," she said and raised her glass. "This is my drug of choice. Back then never. I had only heard other people talk about it. But I was excited about tryin’ it, cause you know I never did anything. I was gonna be in trouble when I got home anyway might as well go for it all."

"You might as well have some stories to talk about when you’re back on lock down."

"You know what I’m sayin’," she smiled. "Anyway, I started chokin’ the first time I hit it and didn’t want anymore." Mrs. Childers laughed and got up to fix us another drink. While she was gone I got up, took a quick look around and quickly reclaimed my seat. When she returned with our drinks Mrs. Childers handed me mine and sat down next to me. We talked our way through that drink and then the conversation turned. "I remember the first time I caught Chilly with another women. I was so mad I wanted to kill him. We were at a party at one of his friend’s houses. It was the usual dope boy party. People doin’ drugs, listening to music, and having sex all over the place. The place was packed, and it was so hot in there and the air wasn’t doin’ any good. After awhile I noticed that I couldn’t find Chilly. So I went looking for him. I looked outside, didn’t see him. Then I started going from room to room, that’s when I saw him coming out of a room with some ho. Both of them still putting their clothes back on."

"The least they could have done was get dressed before they came out of the room."

"I thought so too."

"What did you do?"

"I slapped the shit outta him, cursed both of them out and left."

"That was it?"

"No. Chilly ran after me, and started with the, you know, ‘Baby I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for you to see that, she didn’t mean nothing to me’ and all that shit."

"The usual."

"But I was young, stupid, and in love. A deadly combination. So I bought it, I went back inside with him, and everything was cool. We hung out the rest of the night like two lovebirds. Until most of the people left. So there I am standing by the kitchen, right." She lit up a cigarette and blew the smoke in my direction. "Chilly was sitting on the couch. So I waved to him and smiled. He got up, walked over to me, and back handed me down to the floor. He yelled for me to get up, I tried to crawl away from him, but I couldn’t. He grabbed me and pulled me up by my hair. This time he punched me in the face. He kept on punching me. I don’t know how many times he hit me. Then he stopped. He looked at me and said ‘bitch don’t you ever raise your hand no higher than your waist to me,’
and he walked away. Here’s the funny part."

"There’s a funny part?"

"So there I am lying on the floor, crying, face swollen and bleedin’. Blood all over my clothes. People walking by me. The only one who helped me was that same ho he came out the room with. She helped me up off the floor, took me into the same room they were in, and cleaned the blood off my face. She even gave me some clothes to put on. After awhile Chilly knocked on the door, wantin’ to know if I’m ready to go home."

"I guess I don’t have to ask if you went with him."

"What else could I do? I was scared to death of him. On our way home he was just as nice to me like nothing ever happened."

"Why do you stay with him?"

"Please, Nick, where am I goin’? What am I gonna do? I tried to get away before and he always comes after me. There’s no telling what he’ll do if I try it again."

"When are you gonna tell me what’s really goin’ on, Mrs. Childers?"

"I have told you everything, Nick."

"I don’t think so. You’re lying about something, or at best you’re not tellin’ me everything."

"Can’t you just listen to what I say without trying to read something into it? But no, you have to analyze every word I say? Can’t you stop being a detective for awhile? Can’t you just hold me?" She moved closer to me and put her head on my shoulder. I felt her heart pounding along with her hand on my chest. I wanted to say something, but nothing came to mind so I put my arm around her. After awhile she fell asleep. I sat there holding her for awhile. Suddenly she jerked away from my embrace and grabbed a pillow from the couch.
Maybe she can’t stand to be held either.

While she was asleep I searched the house. After I searched the bedroom I took the sheet off the bed. When I turned around, I was startled to see her silhouette leaning against the door. The light from the hall seemed to cling to each curve of her body. "Are you lookin’ for something, Nick?"

"I was just getting something to cover you with." I held up the sheet. "You were asleep," I said as she walked toward me.

"I was. But I’m awake now." She stopped in front of me. I thought about trying to kiss her. "I don’t think we’ll need this." She took the sheet out of my hand and let it drop to the floor. I could feel the warmth of her body. She looked up at me and exhaled. "Besides, it’s time we start back to the city."