Private Deceptions (6 page)

Halcyon,
on Smith St. in Brooklyn. I got there a little before ten and went inside. I looked around for Mrs. Childers, but she was nowhere to be found, so I took a seat in the back of the room so I could see the entrance. It was about eleven twenty before she finally showed up. She was wearing a powder blue dress that showed off her legs. Mrs. Childers had a seat at the bar, looking around for Ben. She ordered. For the next half hour I sat and watched her. I wanted to be sure that Ben didn’t have a change of heart and show up. During that time I watched as she dismissed man after man who approached her. The list was long. Knowing I wouldn’t fall prey to the same fate, I got up and approached her. I tapped her on the shoulder. "Mrs. Childers." She turned quickly and smiled when she realized who I was.

"Nick. What are you doin’ here?" Mrs. Childers asked.

"I stopped in for a drink. Mind if I join you?" I asked quickly before she asked why I was in Brooklyn.

"Well." She scanned the room again. "I was supposed to be meeting somebody here, but I guess they’re not going to make it."

"Then this must be my lucky night." I sat down next to her and signaled for the bartender. "Johnnie Black, straight up. Can I get you something?"

"Hennessy Martini, with a twist."

"So tell me, Mrs. Childers, what man would be foolish enough to stand up a beautiful woman like yourself?"

Mrs. Childers turned away and made one last look around the room for Ben, shrugged her shoulders, and turned to face me with a smile. "Who said I was waiting for a man? So, Nick, have you found out anything about Jake?"

"Not really. I did have a chance to look around his apartment. Do you know if he was working on something?"

"No. I really didn’t get into all that stuff he was into. A little too far over my head."

I reached in my pocket and took out the picture of Jake and the mystery woman. "Do you know who this is in the picture with him?" I handed her the picture. She glanced at it for a second.

"I’ve never seen her before. Where did you get this?"

"That doesn’t matter. Has he ever mentioned dating any other woman, other than Lisa Ellison?"

"I’m not my brothers keeper. He’s very private."

"So how do you know Lisa?"

"He’s been seeing Lisa for years now. He brings her around to parties, family gatherings, things like that."

"Now let’s talk about you, Mrs. Childers."

"Me? What about me?"

"You haven’t exactly been honest with me."

"What do you mean? I’ve told you everything I know."

"About your husband, Mrs. Childers."

"Chilly. What about Chilly?"

"Well, Mrs. Childers, he’s a little more than just involved with drugs. He controls most of the drug traffic uptown."

"And?"

"Don’t you think that was worth mentioning?"

"Yes."

"Then why didn’t you?"

"I didn’t want to scare you off."

"I don’t scare easily, Mrs. Childers. But that does change things."

"You want more money." She frowned and looked away, then turned back with fury in her eyes. "Is that what this is all about? Money?"

"No, Mrs. Childers, it’s about you telling me what I need to know to do what you hired me to do."

"What do you want to know?"

"Well, let’s start out with what I know and you can fill in the blanks. Chilly was a forth-level dealer for André Hammond until him and Ricky Combs were assassinated ten years ago. Vicious Black declared a dead zone where he wouldn’t allow them to sell drugs." Mrs. Childers sat up straight in her chair. I had her attention now. Funny how the words Vicious Black have that affect in people. "Stop me if you want to add something."

"No, you’re doing just fine," she said while playing with the straw in her drink.

"When Jimmy Knowles, Charlie Rock, and Vincent Martin attempted to kill Black, that started a war between him and what remained of André’s and Cazzie Riley’s organizations. Well, Black was successful in eliminating his enemies and Chilly took over. He made peace with Black and agreed to respect the dead zone."

"How do you know all this?"

"I have my sources, Mrs. Childers. So with all that history out the way, let’s begin again. Why do you think that Chilly has something to do with your brothers disappearance?"

"Like I said, it’s just a feeling, that’s all." I could tell that I was making her uncomfortable, but she was cute when she squirmed, so I continued my line of questioning.

"That’s not good enough, Mrs. Childers, there must be something else. Something you’re not telling me. I’ve heard that if Chilly had something to do with this, I should be looking for a body."

"Don’t say that, please. Jake is not dead."

"How do you know that? You know how your husband works. Public execution is his style. So if he were involved, a simple kidnapping wouldn’t cut it. Now you tell me, what did Chilly want to see Jake about?"

"I don’t know!" she said louder than she needed to. I finished my drink and waved the bartender over to bring me another.

"And one for the lady?" the bartender asked.

"No, I’ve got to go," she said, standing up to gather her things.

"No, please don’t go. I didn’t mean to upset you, Mrs. Childers. I just need to know what you know. Please, have another drink with me. I promise I won’t push you."

She smiled at me.

It made my heart beat faster.

"Okay, but just one, then I really do have to go." Mrs. Childers reclaimed her seat and ordered. "Bring me another Hennessy Martini."

"With a twist," I said and smiled. And she smiled back. "So tell me about yourself. Your sister tells me y’all are from Philly. How’d you get to New York?"

"I wanted to get out of Philly." She let out a little giggle. "Had to really. Our parents were really tough on us. Never let us go anywhere, do anything. It was like being on lock down. One by one, they drove us all out of the house. When Jake graduated from high school, he just never came home that night. No one knew where he was or what happened to him, he was just gone. About six months later he came to my school to let me know that he was all right and that he was going to a small college in Pennsylvania. He told me where, and he made me promise that I wouldn’t tell our parents. Jake said they didn’t have a son anymore."

"Kinda cold."

"They deserved it. They’re dead to me now. Two years later, I left too. I hated to leave Chéz, but she was too young for me to try to take care of both of us. So I did what I had to, to get enough money to get up here."

"What did you have to do?"

"That doesn’t matter. I’m not proud of what happened. That was a long time ago. It’s in the past and that’s where it will stay."

"How’d you get hooked up with Chilly?"

"You really want to hear this, huh? — Okay. So I caught the first thing smokin’ and came here. When I got off the bus at Port Authority, Chilly was the first person I met. I was young, barely seventeen. I’d never been anywhere and he offered me the world. See my father was the type of guy who was always waitin’ on some big deal or another he was tryin’ to put together. But it never happened. He was always this close to movin’ us up out the projects and into a nice house in the suburbs. He hated livin’ in the projects. Said it wasn’t a safe place to rise the three of us. That’s why they were so hard on us. Especially me. He didn’t want me to get involved with the wrong kind of guys. Well look at me now daddy," she said and raised her glass. "Anyway, Chilly was different. If Chilly said he was gonna do something he got up and made it happen. I liked that. He was nice at first, then." Her eyes dropped into her drink. "That war started and changed everything. Power changed him. I was just his showpiece, his toy. Something to show off to his boyz. But that was all show. Then the beatings started."

"Why don’t you leave him? Get away, go somewhere, start a new life for yourself."

"Sure. Just like that."

"Leave New York.

"I have, a few times, but he always finds me. Brings me back," she said matter of factly. "Or he gives me a reason to come back."

"How does he do that?"

"He hurts the things that are important to me."

"Chésará and Jake."

"Once I thought it was over. I went to Kansas City. I didn’t tell anybody where I was going. I got a job as a teller in a bank. They were even talking about promoting me to customer service. You know, sit at a desk, open accounts, that kinda stuff. I had been there for six months when he found me. I told him I was happy and I wasn’t coming back. Usually he — yells, he grabs, shakes me, hits me. But I was ready for that. He was going to have to kill me. But he said okay and left. But it wasn’t over."

"I didn’t think so."

"The next day Chéz called me crying. She said Chilly brought Jake to her apartment and he had a gun to Jake’s head. He told her that if I didn’t say I was coming back right now, he was going to kill both of them while I listened. I said no. Then I heard the gun go off. Then Chéz screamed and said he’d shot Jake in the leg. I was back the next day."

I didn’t know what to say.

"You want more? I got more stories just like that one. That was just one of his masterworks. That’s why you have to get proof that will stand up in court. I’ve seen him go to jail and come right back."

"Now you’re talking like you think Jake is dead."

"I don’t like to think about it. I know it’s possible. The longer he’s gone, the more I think about it." Her smile was gone. I thought I saw a tear run down her cheek, but she wiped it away quickly. "So, you tell me your story, Nick?"

"Well, there’s not much to me. Ex-army, we’ve been doin’ this for about a year now."

"We?"

"I have two partners."

"They have names I’m sure." Her smile had returned as quickly as it left.

"Monika and Jett."

"Monika? A lady private detective, huh. That’s something that you don’t hear of very often," Mrs. Childers smiled and gave me a wide-eyed innocent look. "I used to read Nancy Drew when I was a little girl."

"I used to read Mickey Spilane mysteries."

"You have any family?"

"Yeah."

"It doesn’t sound like you guys are one big happy family."

"Not them, me."

"I see." She finished her drink and signaled for the bartender. "Looks like there are some things you don’t like talking about either."

"You’re right, there are some things about me that I don’t like talkin’ about. But I think everybody does."

"That’s true. Everybody has secrets. Something only they or maybe one other person know. I know I have some secrets that will die with me."

I smiled to myself knowing that not only did I know one of her secrets, but it was also the reason I was here. "Tell me one," I said.

"No, then it wouldn’t be a secret any more. You tell me one of your secrets."

"Okay, but just one. I didn’t just happen to be here."

"What?"

"I knew you were going to be here, so here I am."

"How did you know I was gonna be here?" she leaned forward and asked.

"I can’t tell you that."

"Why not?"

"You said tell me one, if I told you that would be two."

"That’s not fair. Come on, tell me. And don’t give me that line about having to kill me. That line is so worn out."

"All right, I’ll tell you," I leaned forward and motioned for her to move closer. Mrs. Childers leaned toward me and I whispered, "I’m a private investigator, I wanted to see you so I found out where you were going to be."

"You’re not goin’ to start stalking me, are you, Nick?"

I love the way she says my name.
"No, Mrs. Childers, nothing like that."

"I don’t have to be afraid of you, do I?"

"You never have to be afraid of me. I’ll never let anything happen to you."

"Oh, so you’re my own personal protector, huh?"

"At your command," I replied quickly and playfully. But I knew that at this point I would have done anything for her.

"Well if that’s the case," Mrs. Childers said and smiled at me. "I could think of a person or two that I wouldn’t mind getting rid of."

I thought about Chésará,
Something we can share. I like the thought of that.
"Now see, I could say something now, but then I’d be giving away somebody else’s secret."

"So," she said. "Tell me anyway. Then it will be a secret we can share."

"No. Who do want to get rid of?"

"My husband. Remember, that is way I hired you."

"To get rid of your husband."

Then Mrs. Childers got very still and looked me straight in the eye. "Yes."

We sat there staring at each other for a few seconds before she sat back and said. "And don’t try to change the subject. Tell me is this secret somebody, somebody your involved with?"