Chapter Seventeen
Suddenly the door burst open, and Easy came into the media room. “Uncle Bobby is here,” he said and sat down. A few seconds later, Michelle came into the room with Bobby, and then she sat down too.
“There they are, Ward and June Cleaver,” Bobby said and sat down.
“Who is that, Uncle Bobby?” Easy asked.
“Way before your time, youngster,” Bobby said, and then he looked to Easy and then Michelle. “What are you two doing in here anyway?”
“We talked about what you said to Michael over dinner,” Shy said.
“You did?”
“I guess they want to see what else you have to say,” Shy said.
“Did they really call Daddy Vicious Black, Uncle Bobby?” Easy wanted to know.
“They did, but it was just a name. Anytime somebody got killed, they’d blame it on your father.” Bobby laughed. “Even when he was out of the country for six months, if somebody got killed, Vicious Black did it.” Bobby pointed at Black.
“So it was all hype?” Easy said, sounding a little disappointed.
“Not all hype, youngster. Me and your father were bad boys in our day.”
“But that’s behind us now, right, Bob?”
“Until something happens.” Bobby paused when he saw the stern looks on Black’s and Shy’s faces. Then he looked at Michelle and Easy. “What you have to understand is that your father will do whatever he has to do to protect his family. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
“Yes, Uncle Bobby, we understand,” Michelle said, nodding, and Easy shook his head because he didn’t quite get it.
“It means that I will never let anything happen to any of you, and neither will your mother.”
“You understand that your father and I love both of you very much and that’s why we do what we do sometimes?”
“I understand you’re only Vicious Black when you have to be,” Easy said.
“He’s got it,” Bobby said.
“Do you really understand, Easy? I did things and do things so you never have to.”
“I get it, Daddy,” he said, got up, and started for the door. When he did, Michelle got up and followed him out.
“You know you scared them all to death calling yourself Vicious Black Jr.”
“I know,” Easy said and chuckled.
Michelle stopped and grabbed her younger brother by the shoulders. “Never say that out loud again.”
“I won’t.”
She shook him lightly. “Give me your word, Easy.”
“You have my word, Michelle,” Easy told his sister.
Michelle pointed in his face. “I mean it, Easy,” she said, and they went upstairs.
Back inside the media room, Bobby was shaking his head in disbelief. “Ward, June. I just can’t believe the two of you.”
“I was a little surprised too,” Shy said, nodding.
“We can’t keep who we are from them. Look how well that worked out for Barbara.”
“Point taken,” Bobby said.
Black laughed, and then he turned to Shy. “RJ may have his name, but Barbara is Bobby Ray Jr.”
“What’s going on with Barbara now?”
“She was having a problem with some gangbangers trying to shake her down for protection money. You wanna know how she handled it?”
“How’d she handle it?”
“She invited them to a meeting, and she killed them.”
Shy laughed. “Sounds like you, Bobby.” But on the inside, she cringed because Michelle looked up to Barbara.
“Yeah, I know. That’s why I’m glad that Brenda and Bonita decided to go to college.”
That happened because Barbara scared them straight. They saw firsthand how drinking, smoking weed, and hanging out in all the wrong places led to their sister getting kidnapped. If it weren’t for Tahanee showing up just in time to save her, there was no telling what would have happened to Barbara. She could have been raped and murdered, and that was not the path for the twins. Brenda and Bonita decided that they needed to get as far away as they could from The Family their father was a charter member of, and they moved to Los Angeles. Brenda chose to go to UCLA, and Bonita chose USC. They were both currently living normal lives in on-campus housing and without bodyguards.
Bobby stood up. “You in for the evening?”
He thought about calling Rain and telling her to come by so they could talk. “I am.”
Shy shook her head. “No, you go on out with Bobby. I need to talk to our children.” Especially Michelle, who thinks her cousin Barbara is so awesome. “I need to make sure that they really understand.”
“I guess we’re out then,” Black said, and once he was ready, he kissed Shy, and they left the house. As soon as he got in the car with Bobby, Black took out his phone and made a call.
“This Rain.”
“Where are you?”
“At the office with Monika.”
“Stay there. I’m on my way,” Black said and ended the call.
“What did he say?” Monika asked.
“He’s on his way.”
“Good. Because this shit is getting out of control. He needs to take the handcuffs off so I can start taking it to these muthafuckas,” Monika said.
“No, we don’t,” Rain said and shook her head. Even though there was a part of her that agreed with Monika that they should go hard at them, Rain had responsibilities to The Family. “We need to shut this shit down and get them back their shit so we can get back to doing what’s important.”
Monika shook her head. “You used to be more fun, sunshine. Now you sound like Black.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“It was meant to be one,” Monika said, and she took a breath. “But I think we need to use that data and make a plan to shut these muthafuckas down just in case they get their shit back and keep coming.”
“Agreed,” Rain said, and they got with Carla to begin working on a plan.
When Black ended his call with Rain, he made another call.
“Hello.”
“Susan?”
“Yes,” she answered.
Susan was stretched out across her bed wearing a green Joe Namath throwback jersey and sweats, phone against her shoulder, remote in hand, flipping channels.
“This is Mike Black calling,” he said, and Susan turned off the television. “How are you, Susan?”
“I’m doing fine, Mike, and how are you?”
“I’m doing fine, Susan. I was wondering if you were at home this evening,” Black said, and Susan sat up in bed.
“Yes.”
“Would it be all right if I stop by? I have a question that I need to ask you.”
“I’m not doing anything, Mike.” Susan got out of bed. “Feel free to stop by anytime.”
“I’ll see you in about an hour.” Black ended the call, and Susan went to the bathroom to take a shower.
However, when Black and Bobby arrived at Susan’s house and Wesley let them in, they found that they weren’t the only ones who wanted to talk to Susan that night. She stood up when he and Bobby came into the living room. Susan had replaced her Joe Namath throwback sweats with a colorful Josie Natori silk floral caftan and robe.
“Hi, Mike.”
“Good evening, Susan. I didn’t know that you had company.”
“We just stopped by, Mr. Black,” Diane said and stood up, smiling. She and Jack had arrived just before they did. “I didn’t know Mrs. Beason was expecting you.” But it did confirm her suspicion that Susan dressed for the men who came to the house to see her. “And you must be the famous Bobby Ray.”
“I am. Good to finally meet you, Detective Mitchell.”
“The honor is all mine. Carmen has told me so much about you.”
“I’m afraid to say that it is probably all true. But in my defense, I was a younger man those days.”
“And I suppose you’re a changed man now?”
“He is,” both Black and Jack said at the same time.
Diane looked at the frown on Susan’s face. You got all dressed up, and here I am stealing all of your attention, she thought and gleefully continued. “I stopped by your office to see you this morning.”
“Yes, Erykah told me. Did she give you my message?” Black smiled.
“She did, and I gave her my card. I was just waiting on a call back. But now here you are. So is this a good time for us to talk?”
“Of course, Detective.” He turned to Susan. “I’m sorry, Susan. We’ll have to talk another time.”
“Not a problem, Mike. Feel free to drop by anytime. They do,” Susan said, and her dislike for Detective Mitchell grew as she escorted them to the door.
“So what did you want to see me about?”
“We wanted to ask you why you thought it was deeper than Gayle and Albert.”
Black laughed. “Because Albert is too big a pussy to have killed Elias.”
“That’s it?” Jack asked.
“Pretty much,” he said, unwilling to share what he’d learned. “I guess since you’re here talking to Susan, you haven’t found Daniel yet.”
“No, we haven’t.” Diane gestured toward Jack. “Susan’s got him convinced that she’s the innocent, know-nothing wife.” She shook her head. “But I think she knows more about what’s going on than she’s saying.”
“I see,” Black said, thinking that Diane had good instincts and that they would serve her well. “Have you found Quentin Hunter’s killer?”
“Then you don’t think Beason did it?” Jack asked.
“No, Jack, I don’t. Ebony said that he got there after she did. In my experience, killers don’t usually come back after they kill somebody.” Black paused. “And I’m sure she told you that he was visibly shaken to see his friend dead. So no, Jack, I don’t think Daniel killed Quentin.”
“Our lieutenant disagrees,” Diane said.
“He thinks Beason came back for something and that was an act for Ms. Maddox’s benefit,” Jack said, and Black shook his head.
“Why the act? He had just killed Quentin. Why not just kill her?” Neither detective answered. “What do you think?” he asked Diane.
“I agree with you,” she said. “I think killing Colton was an accident, but I don’t see him as the type to murder his best friend.”
Black leaned close to Diane. “With all that’s happened, do you still think that Daniel killed Elias, or is it much, much deeper than that?” he whispered to her and walked away.
“What are you trying to say?” Diane asked as Black got in the car with Bobby. He drove off.
Bobby shook his head. “Why are you playing mind games with the cutie detective?” He laughed and then answered his own question. “Because it’s fun.”
“What did you want me to do? Tell her that she needs to check out an Albanian mafia organization called the Troka Clan and a guy named Lendina Neziri?”
“Wait. Who?”
“Lendina Neziri.”
“Who is that?”
“You remember Lendina is the name Wanda got when we went to Tirana. His name is Lendina Neziri. I was going to ask Susan what she knew about him, but that will keep for the time being. In the meantime, I’ll get Carla on it.”
“So we’re going to the office now, right?”
“Unless you got somewhere else you wanna go.”
“I was gonna ride by the Four Kings, but that’ll keep for the time being.”
“What’s up with that?”
“RJ said that he and Marvin are working on something they wanna run by you. No big deal. This is much more important.”
When Black and Bobby arrived at the office to meet with Rain, she wasn’t there. Carla told them about what happened at the hospital and that Rain and Monika got ambushed.
“Are they all right?” Black asked.
“They’re fine, Mike.” Carla paused. “I’m quoting here: ‘There were only four of them.’” Then she told them that they had just left five minutes ago and said they’d be right back.”
Black sat down. “What are they doing?” he asked.
“Monika thought that it would be a good idea if we prepare ourselves in case we return their data and they keep coming at us.”
“Smart,” Bobby said.
“What do you have on a guy named Lendina Neziri? His name has come up a few times in connection to Beason.”
“I’ll look into it, see what I can find,” Carla replied.
“No, Carla. I need you to make finding this guy your priority.” Black took a breath. He didn’t know anything about Albanian clans or their command structure. “And see if you can find out who’s in charge so I can return this data.”
“I’ll get right on that.”
A few seconds later, when Rain and Monika returned to the office, she told Black and Bobby about what happened at the hospital and then about the ambush.
“I think it was the same four guys who hit us,” Monika said. “We need to start taking it to these muthafuckas.”
“What do you think?” Black asked Rain.
“We need to shut this down and go back to making money,” Rain said, and Black nodded.