Payback

know Freeze had to know about you and this Cat woman.'

'I told Freeze not to tell you.'

'Why’d you tell him that?' Mike asked, wondering why Freeze had chosen to tell him about it now.

'You didn’t need to know.'

'I guess I didn’t. But don’t you think you need to put a stop to this?'

'This isn’t the first time she called Pam.'

'What?'

'First time she did it, I had just called Pam and told her I would be home in a couple of hours. She asks if she could use my phone, I hand it to her, she says, ‘Never mind.’ But what she does is redial the number and put the phone down. And starts talking to me.'

'Damn, Bobby.'

'Only thing that saved me then was we must have been ridin’ through a dead zone because the call dropped.'

'Now I know you need to put a stop to this. . unless you plannin’ to leave Pam.'

'You’re crazy as she is if you think that I’m gonna leave my family,' Bobby said definitely.

'Is she?'

'Is she what?'

'Is she crazy?'

'As hell. And strong as hell.'

'I heard that about crazy people. I heard crazy women got the best pussy. I guess that must be true too, huh, Bobby,' Mike said, still laughing. 'How you know how strong she is?'

'I had to fight her off this morning to get out of the house.'

'You’re kiddin’.'

'No! I told you that I fell asleep, right? So when I woke up, she’s lying next to me, sleeping.'

'This must have been after she called Pam.'

'You gonna let me tell the story, or you wanna ask stupid questions that you already know the answer to?'

'Both.'

'Yeah, this was after she called Pam. Happy now?'

'Very. You gonna finish the story or what?'

'Anyway, I wake up and get dressed, but she wakes up before I can get outta there. She says, ‘Where you think your goin’?’ I told her that I was goin’ home and I would get with her later if I had some time. She jumps out of bed naked, talking about I can’t leave, how she’s tired of me fuckin’ her and leavin’ her. That she love me and Pam couldn’t possibly love me like she love me, and all Pam got over her is the kids and shit, so I need to get back in bed and give her some more dick so she can start having my babies. I said, ‘Your ass is crazy’ and started to leave, but she ran to the door and tried to block it. I said ‘Stop fuckin’ around, Cat. I gotta go.’ She’s like, ‘No! You gotta fuck me before you go.’ So I tried to move her out of the way, but she starts wrestling with me. I had to end up picking her up and carrying her out of the way. Then I tried to leave again, but by the time I get out in the hallway, she jumped on my back. So, I shake her off my back, and she falls on the floor hard, but she gets right up and starts wrestling with me again. So, here I am, at eight in the morning, wrestling with a naked woman in the hallway.'

'How’d you get out of there? You didn’t hurt her, did you?'

'No, I didn’t kick her ass, but I started to. I ended up picking her naked ass up and carrying her back in her apartment, threw her on the bed and got the fuck outta there.'

Mike laughed at him. Again.

'This shit ain’t funny,' Bobby said, laughing right along with Mike.

'Yes it is, Bobby. This whole shit is funny as hell. I just can’t see you at six-four, wrestling in the hall with a naked woman. That shit is too funny.'

'Yeah, it would be funny if it was happening to somebody else.'

'You need to shut that bitch down, Bobby. Getting pussy is one thing, but when she starts calling Pam, it’s time to shut the bitch down. Unless you planning on leaving Pam for this crazy muthafucka.'

'I told you I ain’t leaving my family. I love Pam.'

'Then what you gonna do?'

'I don’t know. But I gotta do something.'

Chapter Nineteen

'It just doesn’t make any sense, Pat,' Kirk said to his partner.

'What doesn’t?' Richards asked

'Black having a meeting with drug dealers in his own place. Black is smarter than that.'

'Maybe he didn’t know about it. I mean, he wasn’t there. Maybe she set the whole thing up.'

'But Simmons is there ridin’ shotgun over her drug meeting, and Black doesn’t know about it? Give me a fuckin’ break.'

'They only said they had reason to believe that Simmons was there.'

'This shit is weak, Pat. He was there. That picture they have of him was taken recently.'

'What makes you so sure?' Richards asked.

'You saw that picture, Pat. Didn’t he have that same scar under his eye last week when we saw him?'

Richards thought about it. 'He damn sure did.'

'He was there; they know he was there. I got a feeling that things didn’t happen down there the way they say it did.'

'Why don’t you just call Simmons and ask him?'

Kirk looked at Richards like he was stupid, but then he thought about it. 'That’s not a bad idea. But what do you say we just drop by his place.'

When Nick opened the door, he looked a little groggy. He had stayed a little too long at Cityscape the night before, had one too many lap dances and way too many shots of Johnnie Black. 'Kirk?' What the fuck does he want? Nick thought. He didn’t have time for Kirk now. He had to leave soon if he wanted to catch Freddie, an old contact of his.

'Yeah, Kirk. Mind if we come in?'

'Come on in, gentlemen. I always have time to talk to New York’s finest,' Nick said and stepped aside.

Once the detectives were inside, Kirk asked, 'Going somewhere?'

'As a matter of fact, I was.'

'We need to ask you some questions, Simmons.'

'What do you wanna know?'

'You seen Black lately?' Kirk asked nonchalantly.

'Saw him last night. This morning, actually.'

'When did he get in?'

'Yesterday.'

Just like that slime Marshall said, Kirk thought. 'He up here on business?'

Nick looked at Kirk and then to Richards. There was a point to all these questions, and he was willing to go along to see where Kirk was going with this. But not for long. 'He’s got some business to take care of.'

'What kind of business?'

'Let’s stop dancing around, Kirk. What do you wanna know?'

'We have information that you and Black met with a couple of drug middlemen at Black’s club in the Bahamas a couple of days ago. So, I’ll ask you again. What kind of business is he up here doing?'