"Heroin."

  "Yeah, I knew you looked familiar."

  "The death was accidental."

  "And they took your license?"

  "Yeah and my wife divorced me and took everything that I had and here I am."

  Miss America said, "Well, I don't understand. If you don't have any money, how in the hell are you going to pay someone fifteen grand?"

  "I got two butt implant jobs and soon as I'm done, I can give you the money if you are serious about doing the job," Craig said as he looked at Fy-Head.

  Fy-Head rolled her neck and said, "Wait a minute, motherfucker. I ain't never said that I was going to kill anybody. You can get that out yo mind right now."

  "I thought we had an agreement?"

  "Motherfucker, did I say we had an agreement?"

  "So you can't use the fifteen grand?"

  "A bitch can definitely use the money." Fy-head sipped her drink and said, "So who are you trying to kill? Who do you want murdered, good doctor, and why?"

  Craig said, "It's a long story but if you have time…"

  "We have time."

  Chapter 7

  Black had been removed from his pod after being told that they had a witness that could possibly identify him in a line-up. They brought him in along with four other inmates and the witness told the investigators that Black was positively at the murder scene. Now, the investigators would try to match is DNA.

  Black was lying on his bunk trying to get some rest when the correctional officer came over. "You've got an attorney visit, Black."

  When Black stepped into the attorney's visitation room, Joey Turch was waiting on him. He said, "I got some good news and some bad news. Which do you want first?"

  "When are you going to get me the fuck out of here? That's all I want to know. I want to get the fuck out. If you can't get me the fuck out, I don't care what news you have first."

  "Stay positive."

  "Look, you take your ass back there and let them feed you that bullshit and let's see you keep a positive attitude."

  "Do you want the good or bad news first?"

  "What's the bad news?" The air-conditioned room was cold as fuck and he was wearing slippers with his orange jumpsuit. They kept it cold in all parts of the jail and he was freezing his ass off day after day.

  "The bad news is a witness identified you at the scene."

  "What witness?"

  "Porsha Thomas."

  "I don't know who the fuck that is."

  "Seventeen year-old girl. The seventeen-year-old man's girlfriend."

  Black thought back to the day he and L were in the car and Popcorn's nephew and a fine-ass seventeen-year-old girl was walking down the sidewalk switching her young ass.

  "Okay, if that is the bad news, what the fuck is the good news?"

  "The good news is that she said you weren't the one that fired the gun. She said she witnessed a huge man with a bald head fire a shot through the window."

  "Yeah that was L., the friend I was telling you about."

  "She said she saw him carrying you out the door, he laid you down and shot the kid."

  "Yes, it's true."

  Joey Turch was lost in thought and suddenly he had an idea.

  * * * *

  Black was in the interrogation room surrounded by Kearns and Williams before he broke down crying and said, "This is how it went. I was there to pick up two kilos of cocaine from this guy named Memphis."

  Williams said, "Memphis?"

  "Yeah, I ain't know his real name but I was there to pick up some coke from Memphis. Except I didn't bring the money because I didn't know him, plus I didn't have the money anyway." Black lied. But who would know when everybody was dead except him.

  "Please continue," Williams said.

  Black cracked his knuckles and said, "Can I have a cup of coffee?"

  "Ain't no goddamned coffee." Williams was irritated.

  "Damn, man! Why you get so bent out of shape?"

  "This ain't no fuckin' TV show. You need to finish saying what you have to say."

  Joey Turch said, "You will not talk to my client like this."

  "You are the one that said your client wanted to speak to us. As far as I was concerned, there was nothing else to talk about. He will have his day in court."

  "And there was no way in hell you were getting a conviction. There is no murder weapon and only one witness that said she didn't see him fire a shot."

  Kearns said, "Continue please."

  "When I realized that Memphis's coke wasn't real and he realized that I didn't have the money, he drew his gun and I screamed loud enough for my friend to hear. He peeked in and fired a shot that hit him in the back and killed him on contact."

  Williams laughed and said, "So, you mean to tell me that you screamed loud enough for him to hear you when you were in the back of the house?"

  "He was taking a piss. I swear to God, man. He heard me. I ain't got to lie." Black said, knowing damn well he needed to lie and this was exactly what he was doing. He had to lie to get out of this situation.

  A fake teardrop cascaded down his jaw into his mouth. "I feel so fucked up telling on my partna."

  "What's your friend's name, Tyrann, and where does he live?"

  Black covered his face with his hands and said, "His name is Larry Harris. He is the guy that killed the three people. He is the one that you want, not me. He is the guy that the witness saw."

  Williams said, "I've heard that name before. He was murdered."

  Black was bawling in his seat again. This time, real tears were forming for his dead friend.

  "We can't prosecute a dead man, Tyrann. This is bullshit, and you know it."

  Black looked at Joey Turch and Turch grinned. Turch was toying with some expensive diamond cufflinks that cost the same as a month's salary for the detectives. They hated the prick and he had won against them more times than they could think of.

  "Listen, you don't have enough evidence to make a murder case stick and you know it. Do you really want to go to trial and waste money on a case that you know you can't win?" Turch asked.

  "We'll charge him with the coke that he was going to buy. Attempted possession."

  Black made eye contact with his attorney who then said, "I want a word with my client."

  The detectives left the room and Black said, "So, they're going to charge me with the coke?"

  "Who cares? They know they can't make a case for the three bodies and they know the coke wasn't really coke. Don't worry about it."

  "When am I going to get out of here?"

  "I would say in a day or two. They are going to have to charge you with something or let you go."

  Black looked up in the sky and said, "Thank God for this."

  Chapter 8

  Jada and Starr sat in a booth at the House of Hookah on 14th Street sipping Mojitos and toking on hookah pipes when Jada said, "Hey, I want to tell you something but promise you won't tell anybody."

  Starr took a toke from the hookah and said, "I promise."

  Jada said, "Look, the other day I was looking in Fresh's phone and I saw where he'd sent Q a picture of a girl."

  Starr sipped her drink. She didn't know how to respond. She knew that she didn't have a reason to get mad. She was the one that asked for the break.

  Jada said, "I think Q is seeing the girl."

  "How does the chick look?"

  "I ain't going to lie, she beautiful. Not as beautiful as you though."

  Starr laughed and said, "I can't believe I asked you that."

  "Starr, you're human with human emotions. Wanting to know how she looks is not a stupid question."

  "It sounds so high school."

  Jada took a pull off the pipe.

  Starr said, "How do you know he's seeing her?"

  "The chick that you saw Fresh with texted him and said that Chanel said thanks for introducing her to Q."

  "Her name is Chanel?"

  "Yeah."

  "I always liked that name."

  "She has nothing on you. I'm telling you. She looks a little stuck up."

  Starr was dying inside. But she had to keep a straight face. She was trying to gather her words but all she could think about was this Chanel girl and the fact that Jada had just said that Chanel was a cute girl. But Starr knew that Q had good taste in women. Hell, he wanted her.

  Jada flagged the waitress and ordered more drinks and she noticed that Starr was staring off into space. Jada moseyed her way to Starr's side of the table and embraced her.

  Jada held her for a while. "It's going to be okay. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

  "But I want to." Starr took another drag off the pipe. "I just want to know if he'd met her when Fresh met Brianna."

  "He'd just met her. It was very recent according to the date on the text."

  "So he met her after I suggested that we take a break. I'm mad as fuck but there ain't shit I can say." She poured more liquor.

  * * * *

  Black was charged with attempted purchase of cocaine and he was bonded out. His attorney had warned him that it was far from over and there was still a very good possibility that he would be charged with murder later. But for now he was a free man.

  His first order of business was to get a new burner since the police had his old cell phone. His sister Rashida picked him up from jail. When she learned that the murder charges had been dropped against him, she agreed to rent him a car. A Chevy Lumina.

  Since he didn't have TeTe's number, he drove over to her house and she was happy when she opened the door. She greeted him with a warm hug and but he could tell something was bothering her.

  "You have bad news, don't you?" Black said.

  "What makes you say that?"

  "The expression on your face."

  "There is a problem."

  "What the fuck is it? Tell me?"

  "You don't know, do you?"

  "I don't know shit. This is the first place that I came when I got out of jail."

  "I went to your house and went down to the basement just like you asked me and there was nobody in the cage. The cage was empty."

  "Impossible."

  TeTe said, "Look, baby, I did what you asked me to do. I drove to your house, I went to the basement and there was nobody in the cage. Nobody."

  Black paced and he knew by her tone that she was being truthful. She had no reason to lie. He sat on an armchair and rested his arms between his legs and said, "How did this happen?"

  She sat down and said, "Can you explain to me, what in the fuck was going on and why in the hell was this man captured in the first place? That was some old weird sex slave shit. I mean I saw panties and baby oil. All kinds of shit was going on."

  He looked up at her and said, "The man in the basement was the man that had killed Lani and I wanted to make the rest of his life a living hell."

  "By fucking him and keeping him as a sex slave?"

  "Not my sex slave."

  "Somebody was fucking in that basement."

  "It was my friend L."

  "Who the fuck is L?"

  "My friend was the one that was fucking the tranny that we met in the Waffle House."

  TeTe was satisfied with that answer.

  Black said, "How did he escape?"

  "Look, I didn't even know you had a motherfucker in your basement, so you know I ain't have shit to do with it."

  "I know, babe. I'm just thinking out loud. I gotta get some stuff from that house and then get out fast. Whoever broke him out of the house will be back."

  "I have a place in Sandy Springs that I was trying to rent to Jada."

  "Is it nice?"

  "Yeah."

  "I'll take it."

  She laughed and said, "You don't even know how it looks."

  "I don't give a fuck how it looks. I need somewhere to go."

  "If you want the place, it's yours."

  Their eyes met and held for a while. Neither of them said a word. Black removed his pants and his big black dick was pointing at her. She plopped down on her knees. He placed his manhood on her lips and she took him deep inside her mouth.

  "He missed you."

  She removed her clothes and finger fucked herself while she gave him head. Black was smiling at the sight of her beautiful ass giving him head.

  * * * *

  Nana called Black and said that he had been receiving calls. He took the names of the four callers. One was from L's baby mama, one was from Cato in the county jail and one was from Shamari. Shamari had left a number for Black to call him. He also remembered that he had promised Cato he would pay for Cato's bond as soon as he moved into his new place.

  The fourth caller was from somebody named Amber. Nana said that she'd called three times. Black didn't know anyone named Amber but he called the number and someone picked up on the fifth ring.

  "Who da hell keeps calling my phone from a private number?" Fetty Wap's Swing My Way played in the background.

  "Is this Amber?"

  "And who the hell is dis calling me by my government name?"

  "This is Black."

  "Oh my bad, Black." Then she said to someone in the room. "Can you turn the music down?

  The volume of the music lowered and Black said, "Amber, where I know you from?"

  "This is Champagne from Club Nikki's."

  "Oh damn! Why didn't you say Champagne?"

  "I dunno. Something just didn't seem right telling your Nana that my name was Champagne."

  Black was laughing his ass off. "I feel ya. What's up?"

  "Just calling you to put you up on something. Can I see you? Hell, might wanna get me some. You still packing?"

  Somebody turned the volume of the radio back up. More Trap music.

  She yelled out, "Can't you see I'm on the goddamned phone? Kids, I tell ya."

  "I ain't know you had kids. "

  "You know, I got a sixteen year old and a twelve year old. Started having them early."

  "Me and you both. Damn, where were they when we were kicking it?"

  "Oh, they were still in Saint Louis with my mama. You remember when I was fuckin' with you? I had just moved here."

  "That's right."

  "So just let me know when you have time."

  "You can't tell me over the phone?"

  "I can but I would rather tell you in person."

  "Let's meet at Houston's across from Lennox." There was no way in the fuck Black was going to meet this woman, at her home, especially, since he hadn't seen her in years. But why would she call Nana. One thing that Black knew was that strippers knew gangsters and they knew exactly what was going on in the streets.

  * * * *

  Black spotted Fresh and a Mexican man, sitting in a booth as soon as he entered the restaurant. He moseyed his way past the booth and made eye contact with Fresh. They acknowledged each other with a greeting.

  Black looked at the Mexican man and said, "Pardon my interruption." Then Black gave Fresh his phone number and then made his way to the back of the restaurant to wait on Champagne.

  Champagne was wearing a black skirt and her hair was in a blue bob. The lower level of her mouth had tattoos of two angels. Black remembered her telling him that those tattoos were for her brother Koran and her father Kory. They had both been murdered execution style. She had left Saint Louis because six male members of her family had all been murdered in the last four years and she needed to come to Atlanta for a better life. She had always been cool with Black and Black thought she was a great person but she was just a bit too ghetto for Black. They sat in the back of the restaurant.

  "You hungry?"

  "I want a drink."

  When the waitress appeared, Black ordered a shot of Hennessy and Champagne ordered a double.

  After the server dropped the drinks off, Champagne said, "Black, you can't tell nobody what I'm about to tell you. If anybody learns that I told you this, I can get killed and I got my boys and nobody to raise them. Mama just had a stroke and she can't do it."

  "Your secret is safe with me."

  She downed that double shot and ordered another one and Black was getting impatient. He wanted to know what the fuck she had to say.

  "Niggas is out to get you."

  "What else is new?"

  "So you knew already?"

  "That's the story of my life, but what did you hear?"

  "There are people wanting to know where you lay your head at, bruh."

  "From you?"

  "No not from me. From Sapphire."

  "Sapphire? Who is that?"

  "You know Sapphire. She worked with me at Folleys when I used to work there. Well, Sapphire said something about you had something to do with a dude named Shakur getting murdered. She wouldn't tell me all the details, but she said that one of the niggas vowed to kill you."

  "Why did she tell you?"

  "I don't know. We were together one night after the club and we were both rolling off Molly and to make a long story short, we fucked. But just to let you know, I don't get down like that. I don't fuck women unless I'm high."

  Black was thinking he could care less if she fucked women or not. He just wished that she would get to the goddamned point and she could sense that he was getting annoyed.

  She took a sip of her liquor while studying Black's irritated face and said, "So the morning after we fucked, she asked me if I knew you. I don't know why she asked me if I knew you when she know she's seen me and you talking in the club."

  "Get to the point."

  "I don't know. I just thought it was strange that she asked me that."

  "She asked you if you knew me?"

  "Yeah."

  "Why did she ask you that?"

  "I was about to tell you."

  "Will you fucking tell me?" Black had got loud and the people at the next table were looking in their direction. "Look, I'm sorry for yelling."

  Champagne leaned forward and said, "I'm trying to tell you that motherfuckers are trying to kill you."

  "You told me that already, but who are they? What are their names?"

  "I don't know their names."

  "That's not going to do me any good."

  "There was this one dude name Jabril. He wants you bad. He swears that you killed his brother."

  "So you do know names?"

  "I only know his name cuz Sapphire told me about him. Sapphire told me and said something about this chick named TeTe. They are going to get her. I asked but that's about all she told me. So I was just letting you know to be careful."