forgive me.”
“I don’t know, Miles. I’m trying, you know that, but it’s going to take time for me to get past this.”
“Please, Lakeda, just say that you forgive me.”
“I forgive you, Miles, but I meant what I said. It just gonna take some time.”
Miles put his arms around Lakeda and hugged her. Slowly, Lakeda put her arms around him. “Let’s go back inside and see about Pops.”
“That’s right,” Rain said, and we all started walking back toward the building, but I knew it wasn’t over.
Once we were back inside, Miles saw Jeff Ritchie going back in the visitor’s area and he took-off running. Rain went running after him. “Miles!”
I looked at Lakeda before I started to run. She smiled at me and kept walking at the same pace. I knew then there was more to this then she had said.
Miles ran up to Jeff Ritchie and hit him in the face and the two men began wrestling until me and Rain got there to separate them. “You killed her, didn’t you?” Miles said as I dragged him away from Jeff Ritchie. “You fuckin’ bastard, you killed her.”
“What are you talking about, Miles? And lower your voice,” Jeff Ritchie said as hospital staff began to take notice of us.
“Let’s take this outside,” I suggested.
“No, Nick, let me go, I’m all right.”
Since he appeared to be calm enough, I let Miles go.
He walked up to Jeff Ritchie and got in his face. “I know what you did,” Miles said quietly. “I know you had Zakiya killed. It couldn’t have been anybody but you. The family protector; the man who makes things right.”
Lakeda finally caught up to us and Miles turned and looked at her. “Lakeda told you everything. She told you who Zakiya was and where she was gonna be, and you sent two men to kill her.”
“I’m sorry, Miles,” Jeff Ritchie said. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
“Like what? Wasn’t supposed to be like what? I wasn’t supposed to find out, is that it?”
Jeff Ritchie shook his head. “I only did what had to be done.”
Miles nodded his head and backed away from him slowly. “Yeah, me too.” He turned and walked away from the area. Rain started to go after him. “Leave me alone, Rain.”
“Where you goin’?”
“I need some air,” Miles said and kept walking.
Rain stopped and watched as her brother left the building.
Jeff Ritchie looked at me like he wanted to do something. “Come on with it,” I said softly.
“Me and you will settle this another time,” Jeff Ritchie said to me. Then he went and sat down.
Rain walked up and stood by me. “Something ain’t right about this.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll tell you later,” Rain said. “I’m goin’ to check on Pops. Why don’t you go check on Miles and then go on and get outta here. And call me tomorrow.”
“I will,” I said and started to leave when I saw Miles coming toward us.
Miles walked by Rain and I calmly. “You okay?” Rain asked as he passed.
“I’m fine, Rain, you go check on Pops,” Miles said and went back in the visitors area. Miles walked up to Jeff Ritchie and stood over him. When Jeff Ritchie looked up, Miles took the gun out of his pocket and pointed it at him.
“Miles, no!” Rain yelled and we rushed at him.
“She was having my baby!” Miles yelled and put three shots in Jeff Ritchie’s chest and one to the head.
Miles let the gun drop to the floor and sat down in the chair next to Jeff Ritchie. Lakeda sat down next to him. She took his hand in hers and tears rolled down her cheeks. Doctors and nurses flooded into the room and tried to save Jeff Ritchie, but he was dead.
Miles didn’t offer any resistance when the police and hospital security arrived on the scene. Miles stood up and put his hands behind his back.
I stood there with Rain, watching as they took Miles away. Then she turned to me. “Something ain’t right about this.”
“What?”
“Come on.” Rain took me by the hand and we walked toward the intensive care unit. She told the attendant that I was her husband and they let me go in with her.
We went in JR’s room and Rain sat down next to him. She took his hand. “The police just took Miles to jail for killing Jeff Ritchie.”
“What?” JR said in barely a whisper. “Why?”
“Lakeda found out that Miles was having an affair. She said she told Jeff Ritchie and he sent the men that killed the woman.”
JR closed his eyes and turned away from Rain.
“But something ain’t right about her story. Lakeda wouldn’t talk to Jeff Ritchie about Miles having an affair. But she would talk you. Lakeda came to see you that night. That’s what happened, ain’t it, Daddy?”
JR didn’t answer, didn’t open his eyes; he just gripped Rain’s hand a little tighter.
“Jeff Ritchie would never do anything like that. He wouldn’t send men to kill her, not unless you told him to.”
Rain let go of her father’s hand and stood up.
JR opened his eyes.
“She was pregnant with Miles baby, Daddy. You killed your grandchild.”
When Rain walked out of the room, JR looked at me. I thought about what Black said.
“You shouldn’t have hit her at our spot, JR.”
“Didn’t know it was your spot.”
“Guess not,” I said and walked out of the room.
Chapter 37
Mike Black
It took a couple of days for me think through what I was gonna do, and a week to put it all together. But I was almost ready to put my plan into action. There was just one more piece that I needed to put in place-the most important piece.
Kevon parked the car and we went in the building. We took the elevator up and Kevon knocked on the door.
“Who is it?”
I leaned in front of the peephole. “Mike Black.”
“Don’t go nowhere. I gotta put something on.”
“Don’t go to any trouble.”
“Maybe you should call first, boss,” Kevon said and leaned against the wall. I took the other wall and we waited.
Five minutes later the door opened. “Hello, Mr. Black,” CeCe said. I don’t know what she had on before, but now she looked radiant. Knowing my fondness for the color, CeCe was wearing a black dress and four-inch stilettos, her hair was done, and her make-up was flawless.
“I didn’t catch you at a bad time, did I?”
“Not at all. I was just sitting around watching TV. Please come in,” CeCe said and extended her hand gracefully. I walked in and CeCe looked at Kevon. “He’s not coming in?”
“He’ll be right there if I need him.”
“I understand.” CeCe smiled and shut the door.
