Drama City

Griff looked him over. 'Wish I coulda been there with you, big man.'

Nigel closed his eyes. 'You talkin' about your own boys. Don't that mean nothin' to you?'

Griff shrugged. 'Deacon say kill 'em, that's what I'm gonna do.'

Griff's answer chilled Nigel. Sickened, he removed his finger from inside the Colt's trigger guard. He pulled back on the hammer to release it, then eased it down.

'You all right?' said Griff.

'I'm tired,' said Nigel.

Griff drew his gun and shot Nigel in the temple. The bullet's exit blew blood, bone chips, and brain matter into the trunk of the car. Nigel slumped forward, his body convulsing violently. Griff shot him in the back of the head.

Griff refitted his gun behind the belt line of his jeans. The gun was a Desert Eagle nine-shot .357 Magnum with a bright nickel finish. He had paid one thousand dollars for it from a straw-buy man in Columbia Heights, and it was his pride.

Gun works good, thought Marcus Griffin. He had wanted to try it for some time.

CHAPTER 27

Lorenzo Brown opened his eyes. He stared at the cracked plaster ceiling and cleared his head.

Jasmine rose from her square of remnant carpeting and stretched. Her nails clicked on the hardwood floor as she came to Lorenzo and licked his fingers. He rubbed her neck and behind her ears.

I am in my apartment with my dog. This is mine.

Lorenzo sat up on the bed. From the clock radio came the smooth sound of Donnie Simpson bantering with Huggy Low Down on PGC. Huggy was doing his December roundup, talking about his nominees for Bama of the Year. Their familiar voices made Lorenzo smile.

In the bathroom, Lorenzo swallowed a couple of ibuprofens, a multivitamin, and a C. He exercised, ate a bowl of Cheerios, then showered and changed into his uniform and a winter coat. Going through the living room, he passed his grandmother's hope chest, now covering a permanently sealed cutout in the floor, and several packages, including a bottle of perfume, an Easy Bake oven he'd bought for his daughter, and a Cinderella Dream Trunk, all waiting to be wrapped. He took a chain leash with a looped leather strap off a nail he had driven into the wall. Jasmine emerged from the bedroom and joined him at the door.

Lorenzo's landlord had left the plastic Post bag under a brick on the front porch. Lorenzo took it and walked up Otis with Jasmine, passing row houses and government oaks. He came to the corner at 6th Street, the cut-through to Newton. There were no cars grouped down there where Nigel's mother stayed, and the curtains in her windows were drawn shut. Lorenzo would have to get over there for dinner sometime soon, bring her some of that ice cream she liked. She seemed to enjoy his visits.

Farther east, Lorenzo went by the row house of Joe Carver's aunt. Joe's F-150 was not parked on the street. The job on North Capitol had been completed, and Joe had moved on to a new construction site in Northern Virginia. These days he was always out of the house before dawn.

Lorenzo passed Park View Elementary, where mothers were dropping off their children for the last classes before the holiday break. He cut north on Warder, turned on Princeton Place, and walked down its hill. There he saw Lakeisha, wearing a lavender coat with fake fur around its collar and a clear plastic book bag on her back, coming up the street. Her mother was several steps behind her. Lorenzo planned his walks so that he would see Rayne and her daughter here the same time each day.

Jasmine whined, her tail wagging mightily as she strained against the leash. Lakeisha met them and crouched down to pet the dog and let Jasmine lick her fingers. Rayne, looking good with the latest haircut, came to them and touched Lorenzo's hand.

'Hey,' said Rayne.

'Morning,' said Lorenzo, telling her what she wanted to know with his eyes.

'Jazz Man love me?' said Lakeisha, looking up at Lorenzo, smiling, showing him her teeth, which had finally come in full.

'In her heart,' said Lorenzo.

'I want a puppy for Christmas, Mama,' said Lakeisha.

'That's not gonna happen,' said Rayne.

'You can share Jasmine with me,' said Lorenzo.

'And I want a Cinderella Dream Trunk,' said Lakeisha.

'You never know,' said Lorenzo. 'You be a good girl, you might get it.'

'But you're not getting a puppy,' said Rayne.

'Don't y'all wanna know what I want?' said Lorenzo.

'I already know,' said Rayne.

'You and my grandmother been conspirin', huh?'

'She's just being neighborly,' said Rayne.

'Hmm.'

'I better get her to school,' said Rayne. 'We on this weekend?'

'I'm plannin' on it,' said Lorenzo, looking down at Lakeisha. 'You have a good one, little princess.'

'Okay, Mr Lorenzo. Bye, Jazz Man.'

He watched them walk up the street. When he saw them reach the school grounds, he moved on.