It was late, and Caleb was still cleaning Austin’s offices. He dragged the mop across the floor, but his mind wasn’t on his work. Caleb still couldn’t shake the image of that dead man’s head hanging limp on his chest.
After he had been released, Caleb had jumped in his van and called Austin.
“You all right?” Austin asked.
“Yeah … I just … I—”
“You’re not okay. What’s going on? Is it Jahlil?” Austin had said.
“No, he’s fine.”
Caleb thought of asking for the money right then. That was the reason he had called. But he had been living in Austin’s house for the past year, and at last count, Caleb was into his brother for at least twenty grand. It was a debt that had been accruing over a number of years. How would he look, begging for more money? He’d look like a loser.
“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong,” Caleb lied, telling himself he’d try his best to come up with the money first, and if he couldn’t, Austin would be his last resort. “I just called to say I’ll be a little late coming into work tomorrow evening.”
“That’s fine,” Austin said. “The mess will still be here.”
Caleb spun around when he heard a noise behind him. His son had just walked in the front door of the office.
It was Jahlil’s night to come in, but Caleb hadn’t expected the boy, given the beating he had taken and their last conversation.
“Jahlil, I would’ve understood if you didn’t come in tonight,” Caleb called.
Jahlil stood silent at the other end of the offices in the shadows. His face was hidden by his hood.
Caleb set his mop against one of the office desks and took a couple of steps toward his son. “Hey, is everything all right? No one been messing with you at school again, have they?”
Still, no response came from Jahlil.
There was something definitely wrong. Caleb moved quickly over to the boy, taking Jahlil by his shoulders, and was shocked to see that his face was covered with tears. “Jahlil—”
“He’s dead. He’s dead, Dad!” Jahlil said, throwing himself onto Caleb. Caleb hugged his son. He could feel the boy’s body trembling against his.
It was approaching 11:30 p.m. when Blue opened the door and let Caleb into his apartment.
Blue glanced down at his watch. “Did I forget we was supposed to be hanging out tonight? Gimme a second to finish this beer and we can roll.”
“Naw, we weren’t supposed to hang out,” Caleb said, lowering himself into the tattered sofa. A forty-two-inch flat-screen stood on a cheap wooden stand, muted. A boxing match played silently. “You got another beer?”
“Yeah,” Blue said, going to the fridge and grabbing Caleb a beer, then handing it over. Caleb drank more than half of it without stopping.
“Dude, you gonna be drinking like that, we gonna have to go to the store.”
“Kwan had me grabbed earlier today, man.”
“What?”
“Took me to his store, tied me up.”
“They ain’t do nothing, did—”
“Naw, not to me,” Caleb said, as if in a trance. “But they had some other dude tied up. Some dude who didn’t pay and tried to leave town.” Caleb looked up at Blue. “They killed him. They put a plastic bag over his head and suffocated him right in front of me. Said they’d do the same thing to me if I don’t pay.”
“Fuck, man! You gonna be able to pay ’em, right?”
“Contracts ain’t come through,” Caleb said, staring helplessly at nothing, his eyes glassed over.
“Forget all this. Just ask Austin for the money.”
“No,” Caleb said. “I already owe him too much, and I’m gonna need more than just what I owe Kwan.”
“What do you mean?”
“Jahlil came to work all messed up, crying, saying someone was dead.”
“Who’s dead? What’s the boy into?”
“I don’t know,” Caleb said. “He wouldn’t tell me anything. Just kept saying he’s tired and things are messed up. All I know is I need to be back in that boy’s life. I need to be back at home. And I can’t go over there broke, telling Sonya to let me back. I need money. My family needs money. So I need to do a job. You said it’s an easy one, we won’t get caught, ’cause I can’t go back to jail, Blue.”
“Naw, man. No risk. We all good.”
“So can you call this man, or what?” Caleb said, impatient.
“Yeah,” Blue said. “I’ll call him.”