The Corner II (12 page)

Devin told Lisa, “You look nice.”

“Thank you, you too,” she said nervously as she fidgeted with her hair.

Devin saw that she was nervous and was about to continue with the small talk, but their waitress arrived. Devin ordered water and Lisa an iced tea. The waitress left to get their drinks giving them time to look over the menu.

Lisa asked, “Do you come here often?”

“Um, I wouldn’t say often. But it is one of my favorite places to have lunch.”

“Well, since this is your spot. What’s good?”

“What do you like?”

Damn his voice is so sexy,
she thought.

“I’m a big seafood person so I think I’ll try the salmon.”

“Oh, you’ll like that it’s served with a lemon sauce that sets if off.”

“Umm, sounds good, guess I’ll try that. What are you having?” she asked as she folded her menu.

“I’m going to try their steak. I haven’t tried it yet and I heard that it is off the chain.”

Okay, he uses a little slang. That’s good to know that he’s not stuck up even though he’s never come off that way.

The waitress arrived with their drinks and they placed their order. Once the young lady left, Lisa figured it was time to get to know a little about the man that caught her attention and has been on her mind ever since. “So, how long have you been working for Fed Ex?”

“About five years, but just started in this area a few months ago. I moved here from Indianapolis.”

Lisa smiled. “Oh, did you chase some woman here?”  Her joking was her way of finding out about Devin’s relationship status.

He grinned. A grin that displayed a dimple on his right cheek that Lisa thought was sexy. “Nah, I moved here because it’s more to do.”  He tilted his hands as if they were scales. “Nap or Chicago. The choice wasn’t too hard. Even though the cost of living here is high, it’s a lot more for a brotha to do. And to answer your other question, no I don’t have a woman.”

If Lisa were a white girl she would have been beet red. Devin had read between the lines. She was about to lie and say that wasn’t what she meant but decided to leave it alone. She just squeezed some lemon into her tea and took a sip. They continued to converse, only stopping when the waitress brought their food. Devin asked Lisa how long had she been working at the law office. She told him that she had just started, and she wasn’t prepared when he asked her what she was doing before that. Knowing that questions about her past would come up from whomever she started seeing she should have been better prepared to answer. She actually never gave it a thought and part of the reason for that was that she had had her mind on Terrance from the time she got incarcerated until now, but she was hoping that the sexy man sitting in front of her would erase those thoughts from her mind.

By the end of lunch, Lisa learned a lot about Devin and was hoping for another date with him. She liked the fact that he had no children even though to some women a thirty-year-old man with no children would have sent up a red flag. Either the man was gay or his little swimmers weren’t making it upstream. In this case, Lisa didn’t think Devin was gay. At least she was hoping he wasn’t seeing as how so many brothers are on the down low. Devin had his own apartment and was working on buying a house. Lived alone and not with mom—a good thing. He seemed to have a sense of humor and talked about things he wanted out of life. Things real men wanted. But the thing that Lisa registered in her memory bank was that he talked about being a one-woman man. That he needed to find his queen. She figured that Devin was just shooting some of the same old tired game that a lot of men spit. But she was willing to go out on a few more dates to find out and hopefully Devin wasn’t full of shit.

*     *     *

The driver of the silver Mercedes looked at his boss as Lisa walked out of the building with Devin.

“That can’t be Slim,” the Columbian with the heavy accent who looked like a slimmer Big Pun, said.

LaTanza pulled off her Cartier shades to get a better look. Word was that Slim had had plastic surgery and no one had an idea what he looked like. It was said that he was out of the country for about eighteen months, ever since he had the problems with the Giadano crime family and ever since he ordered the hit on Felix, one of Carlos’ lieutenants. So the Fuentes family wanted to know for sure if their rival was back in town. They knew that Lucky was running the show and that he was from the old school. And that meant that Lucky, who was just as smart as Slim but more patient, was content with their territory and what they were making and wouldn’t try to move in on any other areas especially the ones that Sammy, another top dealer in Chicago, owned.  

The Feds had picked up Sammy last weekend, a major player in the game who has prime real estate in the city. He wasn’t making as much as the Fuentes’, but he was neck and neck with Slim and Lucky. The Fuentes’ knew if Slim was to gain control of Sammy’s turf that it would give his crew more control over the city and the Fuentes’ couldn’t have that.

The Fuentes’ needed to know for sure if Slim was back in the country or if he’d left at all, and they also needed to know what he looked like. He was their chief rival. Lucky was running things and would rather no war come about. He felt that everyone was eating well but Slim on the other hand was always looking to expand and the Fuentes’ knew it, especially the Boss Senor Freddie, Carlos’ father. So LaTanza decided to take matter into her own hands. When she found out that Lisa had been Nessie’s cell mate, she found out as much info as she could on Lisa and has been following and keeping tabs on her ever since she got out of prison.

LaTanza agreed that the man who was walking close to Lisa smiling and talking was about six feet and brown skinned and a bit of an athletic built—kind of thick. LaTanza remembered Slim being about the same height but slimmer than the man that Lisa was with. Slim was also dark skinned so unless that was one hell of a plastic surgeon, Slim’s skin tone wouldn’t change.

“I’ve been following her since she got out. She’s staying with a friend out in the suburbs. A guy comes over every now and then, but it’s for her friend.”

“Fernando, you sure it’s not the same guy?” LaTanza asked her bodyguard.

“Positive.”

“You got the guy’s name?”

“Nah,” he told her as he kept watch on Lisa as she gave Devin a kiss on the cheek.

LaTanza cupped Fernando’s chin turning his face toward hers. “What do you think we pay you for? I need to know who that motherfucker is,” she pointed toward Devin. “And I need to know who the guy is visiting where she stays. If it’s a friend of Lisa’s girlfriend, then fine. But I need to know that.”

Fernando told his boss that he’d get on it.

LaTanza released her soft grip from Fernando’s chin and intentionally let her hand brush his inner thigh as she leaned back in her seat. She knew that Fernando lusted for her and every now and then she flirted with him in the subtlest way. She had never been with anyone but her husband Carlos but also knew that in this game you played every hand that you had, and for what she was looking for in the future, Fernando, who was ruthless, could come in handy. They watched as Lisa and the man went their separate ways and decided to keep the tail on the man since they knew where to find Lisa. Once the man got into his Impala he was hard to keep up with. Fernando, who was skilled at tailing a person, did his best to keep up with Devin but lost him when he caught the tail end of a yellow light. Fernando was pissed seeing as how he took his job seriously. LaTanza told him not to worry; she held up an envelope that she had pulled from her purse minutes earlier. It had the Impala’s plate number and the description of Devin. She would use her contacts within the police department to find out who this man was or at least the owner and address of the vehicle.

LaTanza smiled wickedly and Fernando caught the grin. “What’s up boss lady?” he asked.

“You still got the number of that young lady who called?” 

“Yeah, she’s at some rat hotel outside the city.”

“Were going to put her up in a five star. Well, maybe not in a five star, but something nice. Have a little talk with her and see where her head is. Emotions can cause one to do a sloppy job. If she’s on point, we’re going to give that Mamasita what she needs. I need to find out where Slim’s ass is at and what he looks like. It’s time to jump that fucking rabbit and I think she’s just the hunter to do it.

The Muthafuckin’ Police

“
D
etective Styles, narcotics, Greshim district.”

“Hi, it’s Jenny, you busy?” LaTanza said sounding like the All-American suburban white girl. This was the voice and name she used whenever she called Styles. The cell she used had a burn out chip so it wouldn’t be traced back to her, so she had all things covered if the crooked cop Styles’ phone was tapped.

“Nah, hit me on my cell.”

The two hung up from each other.

Styles answered his cell, “Yeah, what’s up?”

“I got a plate I need you to run and the description of a guy. I don’t have a name for him. I need any info on him.”

“You’re asking for a lot,” Styles grinned slyly. He loved toying with LaTanza.

“You like getting paid a lot, also,” she responded dryly.

“Whatever,
Jenny
,” he laughed emphasizing her fake name.

“Can you get it and meet me by tonight?”

“I’m always on time, ain’t I?”

“You are. As a matter of fact, it’s about payday. I’ll meet you at the number three spot tonight, cool?”  LaTanza had five different spots where she would meet Styles and they were all by numbers, that way if by some chance someone was listening, they would have to tail Styles to find out where and he was always careful not to be followed.

Styles saw his supervisor walking into the office. “Cool. Gotta go, boss lady just walked her ass in.”

LaTanza decided to hit him with a jab. “I can’t believe you let a woman get a promotion over you,” she laughed.

“She’s just as conniving and got that bitch in her just like you. Only she’s on the good side.”

“You fools are the biggest gang in America. You’re only in uniforms and have the
legal,
not
justice,
system on your side.” 
Click.

Styles leaned back confidently in his chair and drummed his pencil on the arm. “What’s up, Lieutenant?”

His boss stopped walking then said, “I need your report on that two kilo bust from last night. Get it to me before you leave. DEA has interest in the two guys you busted.”

Pissed that his lieutenant always seemed to let the Feds take most of their good cases without putting up a fight, he smartly remarked, “I can see it now, Lt. LaDonna Dixon applies for the DEA and gets accepted.”

The tall statuesque woman looked sternly at the detective, “Is it something you really want to say, Sergeant?”  She made sure to remind him of his lower rank.

“Nah, just joking with ya.”

Lt. Dixon walked off and Styles mouthed the word
bitch
behind her back. He couldn’t stand her and felt that her looks had fast tracked her up the ladder. He had put together many narcotics cases, especially with the help of the various drug dealers he knew, dropping the dime on their chief competitors. And she was only in her mid-thirties and already made Lieutenant. She’d only spent a few years in the patrol division then to the D.A.R.E. program going around to the schools preaching to the kids. Then she filled a spot for a female officer in narcotics for about a year when the woman was moved to a desk job due to her pregnancy then took the opportunity to stay longer while the woman was on maternity leave. After that it was on to homicide in the detective bureau. After working in homicide it was rumored that she had been seeing the commander of the Austin district out west. If she was, then that is how she moved up the ladder fast because he had pull all over the department. And it seemed to have paid off because here she was with very little narcotic experience and now she was in charge.

Styles took the report out of his drawer and looked it over. He had finished it after the arrest and confiscation of the money and drugs that were found. That is after he, his partner and the two other narcotics detectives took their cut of the eighty thousand they had found. They’d kept forty of the drug money—ten grand apiece so he knew he had a phone call he had to make. Rivera, Spivey and Smith would have to return their share of the money and he’d have to adjust the reports, which he began doing. He went into his computer deleted the forty and typed in eighty. He read it over carefully knowing that it was going to the Feds and that they were going to question the out of town drug dealer who got caught with dope and money.

Styles printed the files and headed to Lt. Dixon’s office. He could hear that she was on the phone and saw that her back was turned to the detectives’ offices. He was eavesdropping trying to make out what she was saying but was only catching bits and pieces from behind the wooden door with the stained glass window. He jumped a bit when the secretary and Spivey, who was a tall thick white man in his forties who sported a thick goatee, came in the narcotics offices. He too, despised Lt. LaDonna Dixon just like Styles. Spivey had been on the department for over twenty years and had gotten passed up for the supervisor position even though he wasn’t cut out for it. But what he was cut out for was knocking heads and getting answers. Some thought Spivey was racist. But that was far from the truth. He hated all who he considered being low lifes and that could have been any race. Truth is, he only slept with black and Hispanic women. That is, after his wife of eighteen years left him stating that she couldn’t take him not being home. She told him that all the years that they were married he had been cheating on her—with his job. That he spent more time chasing criminals than with his family. His thinking was that a man couldn’t win. You go to work, work your ass off and they don’t want you. You a lazy fuck not making any money for the family and they don’t want you. What’s a motherfucker to do? All goddamn women have excuses. So ever since the blonde haired, blue-eyed woman and daughter left him, he said fuck all Caucasian women.