I picked up the gun and held it to his head. “Hit her again and I’ll blow your head off.”
Bryce stopped punching and dropped the gun. Shay snatched the gun from my hand. “Mutha fucka!” she screamed and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit him in the chest and Bryce went down. Shay stood over him and I watched as Shay fired three more shots in him.
“You okay?” I asked.
Shay nodded her head and we walked over to Teena’s body. “We can’t leave her here,” Shay said, and our tears began to flow. We picked up her body and carried it to the car. As we drove away, I couldn’t stop thinking that sometimes, the cost of vengeance is too high.
Chapter Sixteen
Mike Black
“It’s Victor,” Bobby said and handed me the phone.
“What’s up?”
“Sorry to bother you, but I just got a call from Jada West,” Victor said and I sat up a little straighter.
“What did Ms. West say?” I asked and Bobby cut his eyes at me.
“She wants you to call her whenever you have time. She said to assure you that it’s nothing important,” Victor said.
“Thanks,” I said and ended the call. I handed Bobby back his phone.
“So what’s up with you and the happy hooker?”
“Nothing. She just wants to talk to me.”
Bobby didn’t say anything; he just kept looking in my direction as he drove.
“What?”
“If you say it’s nothing, then it’s nothing.”
“Then why are you staring at me?”
“I’m just waitin’ to see if you’re gonna tell me the truth,” Bobby said and finally looked where he was driving.
“What truth?”
“Nothing, Mike. So when do I get to meet
“I tried to get you to ride with me last time I went over there. You told me to take Victor.” I looked at Bobby. “Okay, I am interested in her. But what I’m more interested in, is her recruitin’ a better class of women to work for Jamaica in Nassau.”
“I knew it was something,” Bobby said and his phone rang. He looked at the display and smiled. “Hey, baby. I was just. .” he began, and then his expression changed. “What? Slow down, baby.”
Whatever was being said wasn’t good.
“Okay, okay, don’t cry, Barbara. Just put your mother on the phone,” Bobby said and made a U-turn that almost caused an accident. Barbara was his oldest daughter. She was eleven years old and very much daddies little girl. “No, no, don’t hang up. Give your mother the phone!” he practically shouted, and then threw the phone down and stepped on the gas.
“What’s wrong, Bobby?”
“Pam is leaving and she’s taking my kids.”
I believed, and at the same time couldn’t believe, what I was hearing. Pam was leaving. I know the last time I talked to her she didn’t sound good. “I’m just sick and tired of his bitches callin’ the house. I can’t go through this again, Mike,” Pam said to me the last time we talked.
“I understand, Pam. And you shouldn’t have to. But Bobby told me it was just a misunderstanding. He didn’t even know that woman like that.”
“That’s the same bullshit he told me,” Pam said calmly; in a voice that I hadn’t heard since the night she killed Cat and Melinda. “And if that’s the case, why does this bitch keep calling here? I can’t go through this again, Mike.”
“I know, Pam,” I said, and I knew she was gonna do something, but I didn’t think she would leave him and take the kids.
“What did Barbara say?” I asked as Bobby weaved through traffic.
“She said that Pam came in her room and just started packing her clothes, and said they were goin’ on a little trip. When she asked her where they were goin’, Pam told her that she was leavin’ me,” Bobby said, almost causing another accident getting on the New England Thruway.
When the speedometer hit ninety, I thought about telling Bobby to slow down, but I knew it wouldn’t do any good. I thought that I should say something to him, but all I could think of was that he should have seen this coming. They both should. Bobby’s involvement with other women and Pam’s refusal to have sex with him was the only place this was going. Since that wouldn’t be a very comforting thing to say, I kept quiet and hoped that he wouldn’t kill us trying to make it out there before they left.
Bobby turned on his street and sped toward the house. He pushed the button to open the garage door and Pam’s car was gone. Bobby brought the car to a screeching stop, jumped out, and ran inside. I followed him in and went straight down to the basement. I got a big glass and filled it with Remy for Bobby, then poured myself a drink and went and sat down. I knew when he hung up the phone that she wouldn’t be here when we got here.
Once Bobby searched the house, he came downstairs. “Thanks,” he said and turned up the glass.
“Thought you’d need it.”
“Right,” Bobby said and poured another one. Then he walked over and filled mine. He sat down.
“You wanna go see if we can find her?”
“Yeah. But we need to find Skip and be done with that first. I know Pam; she probably just went to her sister’s house. She’ll be back in a couple of days.”
“You sure? ’Cause I could call Victor or get Nick to ride with me on this one. You need to see about your wife,” I said.
“What I just say? She’ll be all right. Now let’s go find this nigga,” Bobby said, and we finished our drinks and left the house.
It was after one in the morning when we arrived at Leonard Drive in Massapequa, at the home of Defense Attorney Quovadda Cobb. Finding the house was easy. Quovadda was a member of some kind of lady lawyer club that Wanda belonged to. I woke Wanda up and she gave us the address.
I had met Quovadda once before at one of Martin Marshall’s parties. I smiled a little when I remembered that the highlight of that evening was dancing with Ms West. If Wanda hadn’t dragged me away from there to go to another meeting, I would have spent some more time with the lovely lady, and found out if she was as good as she looks. And Ms. West always looks extraordinary. But since I was planning on doing business with her someday, maybe it was for the best.
I looked at Bobby. I could tell that he was still on fire about the stunt that Pam had pulled. “Maybe you should wait here,” I said and got out of the car. The last thing I wanted was for his anger at Pam and his concern for his children to cloud his judgment.
Bobby got out of the car and followed me to the door. “I’m all right, Mike. Let’s get this over with,” he said and took out his gun.
I didn’t argue with him ’cause I knew it would do no good. There was a light on in the front of the house, so I rang the bell. It didn’t take long for the door to open; which surprised me since it was after one in the morning. Quovadda opened the door and looked very surprised to see us. I grabbed her and pulled her outside. Bobby put his hand over her mouth and his gun to her temple.
“Hello, Quovadda. If you scream or try to run, he’ll kill you, understand?”
Quovadda’s eyes were wide open and she nodded her head.
“Good,” I said, and Bobby took his hand away from her mouth. “I’m lookin’ for Skip Skinner. I hear that he’s hidin’ inside.”
“He was here, but he left,” Quovadda said quietly.
