NED STEPPED AWAY from the door, a gun in his hand held behind his back, and let Ollie’s huge bulk enter my living room. A few days earlier, over the phone, Ollie had given me the clue I needed to look for Honeybee Holcomb, which led to the capture of the Bogart Bandit. I owed her a big favor in addition to three hundred dollars. I’d forgotten all about the three hundred dollars. That had to be the reason for the unannounced visit. But at four thirty-five in the morning?
I liked Ollie as a person, but she still represented a part of my professional life I’d insisted on keeping separate from my personal life. No way did I want to blur those lines by her being in my house and, more to the point, putting in jeopardy the place where Olivia lived. How did Ollie even know where I resided? People on the street must have told her. She knew everyone, and those she didn’t know opened up to her as if old friends, a unique phenomenon for the ghetto.
My anger dissipated entirely when she stepped in wringing her hands and displaying an expression of fear and concern I’d not known her to possess. Ollie had always been happy-go-lucky with a huge smile and bright eyes for everyone she met. She wore custom-made black slacks tailored to downplay her bulk and a voluminous teal green satin blouse. Multiple bracelets on both wrists rattled when she moved.
I hurried toward her. “What’s going on, Ollie? What’s happened?”
“It’s my nephew. I tolt you about my nephew. You said you’d do somethin’ about it. You promised me you do somethin’ about it.”
I caught up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. “I did say that and I will. What’s going on, what’s changed?”
“It’s—” She froze mid-sentence. “Who’s this fool?”
Ned had closed the door and walked in his stocking feet back to the couch covered in bedsheets, his gun hanging in his hand.
“He’s my partner. He’s okay. Go on with what you were about to say.”
“A whitebread? You got yourself a whitebread as a partner? Mmm, mmm. But if you say he’s okay, he’s okay.” She looked back at me. “Devon, my sister’s boy, he done robbed hisself a bank.”
“What?” I said
Ned came back from the couch. “What’d you just say?”
“I said my nephew Devon D’Arcy has been robbin’ banks. Bruno, you have to help him. He’s a good kid, really he is. He jus’ fell in wit’ the wrong group. You said you could help him. Now I need you real bad to help him.”
Ned asked, “How many banks has he robbed?”
She looked from me to Ned, glared at him, and pointed a hand bejeweled with rhinestones mounted in gaudy gold-plated rings. “I don’t like him.”
“Yeah,” I said, “I’ve been gettin’ that a lot lately. But I promise, he’s okay.”
“Come on, man, I’m standing right here.”
“Make us some coffee, Ned, would you please? Ollie, come over here and sit down. Tell me what happened.”
She came over to the dining room table, but didn’t sit. Her body vibrated with too much nervous anxiety. “My sister … she doesn’t deserve dis, I swear ta God she doesn’t. She works two jobs to feed dem kids—six, seven days a week, and Devon goes and does this. I wanna kick his ass up ’tween his shoulders my own self.”
“How does your sister know he robbed a bank?”
“She fount some money in his room and ax him about it. And den you know what he done? He stuck his head up in the air all proud like he was king shit and said he’d taken down a bank in Monnaclair.”
Ned moved in closer and said to me, “You think this is Gadd?”
“Yeah, who else could it be? It’s too much of a coincidence for it to be anything else.”
“Gadd?” Ollie said, her eyes going wide. “Who’s this Gadd?”
“No, now you let me handle this,” I said. “Where can I find your nephew? I want to talk to him.”
“You ain’t gonna arrest him, are you?”
Ned said, “Naw, he’s just a kid, but he’ll still have to answer for what he did in juvenile court.”
“Really? You promise you ain’t gonna arrest him?”
“You know me. You know I’ll do the best I can. You know I won’t lie to you, and I’m not going to promise you something now that I can’t do. I can only promise to do the best I can.”
“But he said—”
“I know what Ned just said. Here, look at me. You want me to be honest with you or do you want me to lie to you?”
“No, no, I trust you.”
“Okay, if Devon cooperates and helps us, I’ll do everything I can go get him probation. He ever been in trouble before?”
Her hand wringing shifted into high gear. Her numerous bracelets rattled at a higher pitch. “Well, he went in ta juvie once … maybe twice.”
“No, no, it wasn’t a big deal. He was only defendin’ hisself, dat’s all. And dat other time it wasn’t his gun; it was—”
“Is he on probation?” I asked.
She nodded.
“Where can I find him and what’s his probation officer’s name?”
“Dat’s jus’ it, he gone. He up and took off when his mama fount dat money and took it from him. You got to find him, Bruno.”
“Yeah,” Ned said, “I think we know where to look for him.”
“You do? Wait. Is it this Gadd fella? If he’s corruptin’ my nephew, you jus’ point him out ta me, and I’ll have the gangstas in the hood take care a his ass.”
“No,” I said. “You stay out of it. Let me handle it. Get me the addresses of the friends he hangs out with and the name of his PO. You understand? Drop it off here. And you stay out of it.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. You have to trust me on this, okay?”
Ned asked, “Does your cousin play basketball?”
“He’s my nephew, and yes he plays wit’ his friends—”
“Over in Jordan Downs?”
“Dat’s right. How’d you know?”
I said, “We’ll take care of it, I promise.”
She hesitated, staring at me. “I know you won’t let me down, Bruno.”
I guided her over to the front door and ushered her out. The wooden stoop creaked under her weight. “You goin’ out directly ta handle dis?”
“I’m going out directly, yes.”
She went down the two steps and headed off across the front yard. She hit the sidewalk and headed west. I stepped outside to see if she had a car. She kept walking westbound. I followed out to the sidewalk and watched. She kept walking, not headed to any car.
“What the hell?” I whispered to no one.
I came back in to find Ned folding up his bedding. “She’s not going to be happy if we arrest her nephew.”
“Yeah, I know,” I said, with more anger than I should have. “This operation just got a lot more complicated.”
“We gonna go after this kid Devon?”
“No, until she gets us that information, I think our best bet right now is to stay with Gadd. We don’t want him corrupting any more children and putting them in harm’s way if we can help it. Gadd’s gotta be our priority. Besides, we stay on Gadd, he’ll eventually take us to Devon D’Arcy. Come on, let’s get outta here or we’re gonna be late.”