Diamonds and Pearl (44 page)

“For the same reason whoever blew into town and whacked Pana might've,” Knowledge replied. “If I were new to the city and planned on making a big play, you'd probably be the first person I'd come to see to get my feet wet. I'd be itching to see what I could do to get into your good graces, so I could tap into that primo coke you're sitting on.”

“You flatter me, kid, but I'm not the only one moving weight in the city. What makes me so special that these people would come to me instead of going to one of my competitors?”

“Because of everyone holding enough weight to mean something, you're the only one who ain't got no hang-ups about who you'll do business with. You don't care whether they're black, white, brown, or polka dot. So long as the money is green, you'll take it.”

Eddie had to admit, Knowledge was a sharp one, but it'd take more than speculation to trip him up. “So Big Stone sent you here to insult me?”

Knowledge raised his hands in surrender. “I meant no disrespect, Eddie. I'm just saying what everyone, including yourself, knows to be true. Now, nobody is saying you're out here moving foul, Eddie. We just know that your path crosses with a lot of people from different places and spaces. Maybe one of those people went by the name Diamonds?”

“Sorry, doesn't ring a bell.” The lie rolled off Eddie's tongue far too smoothly. “Is that who did the Suarez hit?”

“Maybe … maybe not,” Knowledge said coyly. “We're still investigating the situation, but we're getting close … real close.”

“Out of curiosity, why the hell do you guys even care?” Eddie asked. “Big Stone, nor any of his associates, had business with Pana. Why not charge this shit to the game and let it go?”

“Because maybe whoever went at Pana won't be content to stop there. If they got away with knocking one boss off, maybe they'll get the balls to go at another one. Could be Big Stone, maybe Pharaoh. Hell, they might even try to make a move on you.”

Eddie laughed. “They'd be crazy to move against me. I'm connected from on high.”

“I'll bet that's the same thing Pana thought before he got his heart cut out,” Knowledge said.

“Well, I thank you and Big Stone for your concern, but we're good over here.” Eddie stood. “If I happen to hear anything, I'll be sure to let you know. Blanco will see you out.”

Knowledge glanced over his shoulder at Blanco, who was hovering behind him. “I can see myself out.” He ambled pass the bodyguard and toward the door. But before he left, he had some parting words for Eddie. “Eventually we will find out who was behind Pana's murder and deal with them and everyone else involved accordingly,” he assured him before he left.

“You believe the nerve of that
shine
coming in here talking like he's somebody?” Blanco asked after Knowledge had gone.

“Yeah, that little shit is getting beside himself,” Eddie agreed. “I can remember when he was a dirty little fucker running around stealing packages, but now he's walking and talking like he's a fucking boss. If it weren't for Big Stone, someone would've put a bullet in his head a long time ago.”

“But Knowledge ain't the problem here, Eddie. Diamonds is,” Blanco reminded him.

“What did your people say on the phone?”

“Our friend has been pretty busy. He just took a meeting with those Haitian smack dealers from Brooklyn. Looks like they've thrown in their lot with Diamonds.”

Though Eddie tried not to show it, this troubled him. Doodles was a big-time heroin importer, and if he had opened up his network to Diamonds to flood the streets of Harlem, it could cause a shift in power. He had underestimated Diamonds's resourcefulness, and it was coming back to bite him. “That overly ambitious hillbilly is becoming more of a headache than he's worth.”

“I told you from the beginning that I thought it was a bad idea to do business with anybody TJ brought to the table. He's a piece of shit, and you know what they say about birds of a feather. The way Diamonds is moving, he's going to end up drawing a lot of unwanted attention. Nobody can tie us to him or his bullshit right now, but who's to say what'll happen later? You see the way Knowledge came in here asking a bunch of questions, and I'm sure he's not alone in this. All it'll take is for Big Stone to start whispering in the right ears, and people are gonna start looking at us funny … real funny.”

“Tell me something I don't know.” Eddie flopped back into his chair.

“Eddie.” Blanco sat in the chair across from him. “I hope I'm not being out of line, but I gotta be honest about this. Individually, I'll go toe-to-toe with any of these muthafuckas in the streets and me and my boys will hold our own, but if these old-timers think we're playing foul and decide to declare us the common enemy, we're gonna have a serious problem on our hands. Under that kind of pressure, I doubt even think Michael will be able to do anything for us, short of going to war with the other bosses.”

“And we both know my uncle ain't gonna do that. Michael loves his family, but he loves his money more. War is bad for business.”

“Here's where the situation gets more interesting, though. After the Haitians left, Diamonds had another visitor. Care to take a guess who it was?”

“Blanco, do I look like I'm in the fucking mood to play guessing games?” Eddie snapped. “Spit it out.”

“Pearl Stone.”

“Who?” The name didn't sound familiar to Eddie.

“Big Stone's kid,” Blanco said, enlightening him.

“Now, that is interesting. I know for a fact that Big Stone keeps his kids away from anything street related, so this raises the question as to what the fuck Pearl Stone was doing slumming with a piece of shit like Diamonds?”

“Taking it up the ass maybe?” Blanco laughed.

Eddie ignored the tasteless joke and rolled the information over in his head. It now made sense where Knowledge had gotten the name from. He'd likely seen him sniffing around Pearl, but that still didn't explain why he thought Eddie would know him. Maybe he was just fishing, or maybe he knew more than he let on. Either way, Big Stone's people were getting too close to the truth, and that didn't sit well with him. It was time to take drastic measures, and Pearl's secret relationship with Diamonds might be the additional edge he needed.

“Maybe it's time for us to cut our losses,” Blanco said as if he were reading Eddie's mind. “The only ones who can tie us to any of this are Diamonds and his crew. I say we take them down and bury the secret with their corpses.”

“I couldn't agree with you more. Diamonds has definitely got to go, but it has to be done in a way where it doesn't lead to us having to answer a whole bunch of uncomfortable questions. This is why the I took the liberty of looking into an insurance policy. When I set my plan in motion, this mess will clean itself up.”

“How do you mean?” Blanco asked.

“Let's just say that there are people out there who want to see Diamonds dead worse than we do, and some of them are willing to pay big bucks for the pleasure. I expect that very shortly Diamonds won't be our problem anymore.”

 

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Since Ruby lived in Hell's Kitchen and Pearl lived uptown, they decided to take two separate cars. Goldie would take Ruby back to her place, and Diamonds would drop Pearl off. The brothers said it was for convenience, but it was really so each of them could spend some alone time with their respective ladies.

Pearl was still acting a little stiff after whatever exchange between her and Hank had occurred at the baby shower. Diamonds prodded her as to what had been said, but she remained tight-lipped about it. Diamonds, knowing Hank the way he did, figured he'd probably said something out of pocket, as he tended to do sometimes. He couldn't figure out who was a bigger cock-blocker: Hank or Vita. He understood the OG's concerns, considering who Pearl's father was and what was at stake, but it was a calculated risk that Diamonds was willing to take. He genuinely believed that Pearl had come into his life for a reason, and in time his crew would all see it too.

Diamonds picked up his cell phone from the center console when he heard it vibrating against the plastic. He checked the caller ID and set it back down, only for it to ring again a few seconds later. Most were calls from different people he had working for him, but there was a number that had popped up three times already that he didn't recognize. He started to answer it just out of curiosity, but decided against it. When time allowed, he would have to go and pick up a second cell phone, because taking business and personal calls all on the same line didn't provide him much peace, nor was it the smartest thing for him to be doing.

“Does that thing ever stop ringing?” Pearl asked with an attitude.

“My bad.” He picked it up again and powered it off.

“Why'd you cut it off? Your girlfriend, Vita, blowing your line up?” Pearl asked sarcastically.

“I thought I told you that Vita wasn't my girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend, fuck buddy, whatever you wanna call her.”

“What the hell is eating you? You've been acting funny since we left the baby shower.”

“I'm not acting funny. I'm good,” she said, and busied herself looking out the window.

“Pearl, if I did or said something to offend you, I apologize.”

“No, you've been a perfect gentleman. Sorry I can't say the same for the rest of your friends,” Pearl said.

“What happened back there between you and Hank?” Diamonds asked.

“Nothing, we were just having a little chitchat about life and relationships. I don't think he likes me very much.”

“Don't pay Hank's sour ass no mind. He's distrustful of new people and can be a bit overprotective when it comes to me.”

“Have you guys known each other a long time?” Pearl asked.

“Shit, me and Hank go back damn near as far as I can remember. Back in the day, he owned a grocery store in the little town I grew up outside. Back then I wasn't this refined piece of man you see sitting next to you. I was a skinny, barefoot kid who didn't speak a lot of English and had to either hunt or steal my for my supper. Whenever Hank would see me skulking about town, he'd bless me with food or whatever else I needed from his store. Some nights I would've probably starved to death if it hadn't been for he mercies of that man. Hank is the closest thing to a daddy me and Goldie ever had. I'd kill or die for that man.”

“Have you?”

“Have I what?” Diamonds didn't understand the question.

“Ever killed anyone,” she elaborated.

Diamonds cut her a look. “You wound me, Pearl. Do I strike you as the murderous type?”

“That's not what I asked you.”

“Sweetie, don't ask questions you really don't want to know the answers to.”

“I wouldn't ask if I didn't want to know.”

When Diamonds looked at her and saw the seriousness in her eyes, he pulled over. “What's all this all about? You wired or something?”

“No, just trying to get a feel for who you
really
are,” Pearl told him.

“I've already laid my cards on the table, which is why I'm trying to figure out what the Twenty Questions is about all of a sudden.”

“Truths,” she said flatly. “All bullshit aside, I know you're in the life. I was raised by and around hustlers, so I know my own kind. I'm not judging you for it. I just want to know how deep the rabbit hole goes before I decide if I wanna crawl into it with you, feel me?”

“Okay, you want some truth? Fine. I came up a dirt poor kid in the sticks and promised myself that if I ever got out, I'd never know the taste of a fucking possum or rat ever again in my life. Am I a saint? Absolutely not, but I'm not no demon either. I do whatever I gotta do to feed me and my people and I make no apologies for it. That truthful enough for you?” he snapped.

“Diamonds, I didn't mean to offend you,” Pearl said, picking up on his irritation.

“I'm not offended, Pearl, just confused. You know, one minute it's like we're on the same page and everything is good, and the next it's like you're pulling away. I'm feeling you and I thought you were feeling me, but maybe I was wrong.”

“The fact that I wore a five-hundred-dollar pair of heels to hang out with you in a backyard in the Bronx should tell you that the feeling is mutual.”

“Then what's the problem?”

“I dunno,” she said hesitantly. “I guess I'm just afraid that our pasts could interfere with our futures.”

“And what's that supposed to mean?”

Pearl looked into his eyes and saw pleading in them. Diamonds had bared his soul to her, and she hadn't shown him the same courtesy. It wasn't because she intentionally wanted to mislead him, but because she was afraid of it changing the dynamics of what was going on with them. Though their relationship was still very fresh, it felt so right, and she didn't want to do anything to ruin it. Hank's warning played on repeat in her head. She really liked Diamonds and wanted to see where things would go, but what if the old man was right and they were courting disaster by being together? After some great debate, Pearl decided to lay all her cards on the table and let fate handle the rest. “Diamonds, there's something I think you should know before we go any further.”

“I sure as hell hope this ain't the part of the story where you tell me you were born a boy,” Diamonds joked.

“Could you just be serious for minute? I need to say something to you, and after I do, there's a strong possibility you may feel differently about being with me.”

“How about you let me be the judge of that.”

Pearl was hesitant, but the longer she waited, the harder it would be. “Are you familiar with the name Big Stone?”

Diamonds shrugged. “Who isn't? He's one of the biggest dealers in the city.”