for all of us. I didn’t need him knowing that killing Vinnelli was back on top of my list of things to do. So him ridin’ with me where I was going wasn’t about to happen.
My next stop was the apartment of Monika Wynn. She used to work with Nick while they were in the army and for awhile after they got out and were playing private detective. She helped Jackie uncover what Mylo and Masters were up to.
“You want me to go in with you, boss?” Kevon asked me when we arrived at her apartment.
“You relax, Kevon. I got this one.”
Kevon got out of the car and stood by the door while I went inside and rang the bell. It didn’t take Monika long to answer. “Well hello, Mr. Black. This really is a surprise.”
“Hello Monika. I need to talk to you about something,” I said and wondered if I was interrupting her or if maybe she was expecting somebody else. She was wearing a Knicks throwback jersey, and as far as I could tell nothing else. Nick said his old partner Jett Bronson used to call her lips, tits, and hips.
She was definitely all those things.
Monika had a patch over her right eye. While they were investigating Chilly and that whole synthetic crack nonsense, she got shot five times; two shots in the chest, and two to the head. One hit her above the left ear. She caught the other one in her eye. They weren’t able to save her eye. The other one was in her hand.
“Mind if I come in?”
“Sure.” Monika stepped aside and let me in. “This must be important if you’re here yourself.”
“It is. I want you to do something for me.”
“What you need, Black?”
“Information and discretion.”
“Two things I’m good at.” Monika came and sat down across from me. It gave me a chance to admire the way her nipples pressed against her throwback. “What’s up?”
“Pete Vinnelli. I need to know everything there is to know about him. Everything. I wanna know where he lives, who his friends are, where they live and what they do. Who and where he hangs out.”
“You still thinking about killing him?”
“That’s where that word discretion comes in.”
“I understand. But I’m way ahead of you,” Monika said and got up. I watched her walk.
“You are?”
When she sat back down she had her laptop and a disk with her. “When all this came down, Nick asked me to start diggin’ into Vinnelli. You know, looking for the best way to take him out.”
“Really.” I had to remember to thank Nick. It confirmed for me that I had made the right choice in putting him in charge of the house.
“I haven’t had much luck following the money. After DeFrancisco went to jail, he got careful and tried to clean up his shit. He left enough of a trail for me to follow, but so far, every time I think I’m on to something it hasn’t led anywhere.”
“Stay on that for me. I need to know where the money is and how much there is.”
“I put my observation about his patterns, both business and personal in this file. There’s pictures and a little bit of detail on his two girlfriends.” Monika handed me the pictures she had. “An Amanda White, divorced, mother of two, age: thirty-nine. And that one is Pamela Connote, she’s twenty-seven.”
“They kinda look alike.”
“To me, Pamela is just a younger version of Amanda. Both got blonde hair, blue eyes, big tits.”
“Man knows what he likes.” I couldn’t say shit since I was with Maria because she looked like Cassandra.
“Anyway, my report includes what I thought was the best way to kill him.” I looked on as Monika copied the file to a disk and handed it to me. “You look that over and let me know what else you need from me.”
“I need you to stay on finding that money,” I said and got up thinking about what I could do with a woman like her. She was a munitions expert, trained in weapons and commando tactics.
The perfect assassin.
“Drop by Cuisine later tonight and I’ll have something for you.” I started to leave but then I stopped. “By the way, Nick doesn’t need to know anything about you giving me this.”
“That’s where that word discretion comes in.”
“I knew I could count on you.”
“I’ll see you tonight,” Monika said and walked me to the door.
“Thanks again for this,” I said and held up the disk she had given me.
“Not a problem,” Monika said as I walked toward the door. “Drop by anytime,” she added in a voice that made me a little curious.
“Is that an invitation?”
“Yes. You can come by and see me anytime.”
“What ’bout you and Nick?”
“There is no me and Nick, Mr. Black. Me and Nick served together in the army. We were partners. Nick is like a brother to me.”
“He’s like a brother to me too. I guess that makes us
“No, I don’t think so,” Monika shook her head and said.
“Why is that?”
“I tell you what, Mr. Black. If you really wanna know, you’ll come back when you got some time and I’ll explain to you exactly why you and I can’t be
“I just might have to hear that.”
“See that you do.”
Chapter 21
My next stop was to see Bruce Stark, who was once the head of a group of drug dealers that called themselves The Commission. It was formed as a buying co-op. When detective Kirkland first told me about them I thought it was funny. “What are they; a rap group or something?”
He had confirmed from his sources that ‘Cash Money’ Blake, K Murder Murdock, Billy BB Banner and Bruce Stark, were all lieutenants of a player named Birdie. Thinking that Birdie and his partner Albert Web were involved in Cassandra’s murder, Nick and Freeze eliminated them while I was in jail. But Kirk told me that the sole purpose of the group was formed to protect themselves against me. The ability to buy at a cheaper price was nothing more than a byproduct.
After I found out truth about Mylo, me and Stark made peace, and he was the one who told me where I could find Mylo after he shot Freeze. Since then, Stark and I have developed a kind of respect for one another.
Kevon drove me to Stark’s apartment, which always amused him. You see, Stark was a very security- conscious man ever since two members of his Commission, Cash Money and K Murder, had been murdered by Mylo and Masters’ hit team. Maybe he thinks they’re still out there, I don’t know.
“Here we go, boss,” Kevon said as we turned down Stark’s block. First, there’s a girl taking pictures of every car that comes down the street. When we parked the car and got out, four guys approached me.
“Here comes the welcoming committee,” Kevon said. “All of them are pussies, yah know.”
I laughed. “Be nice. They’re just doin’ their job.”
“I know that, boss. But it take four of them?”
“Strength in numbers, maybe.”
“Pussies,” Kevon repeated and spit at the feet of the first one that got to us. “Mr. Black is here to see Mr. Stark.”
They stopped askin’ us to give up our guns since it wasn’t gonna happen and they escorted us inside the building. There are two men in the lobby and another four in the hallway; two more at the elevator and one at each of the stairwells. The man takes his security seriously.
