ROLL CALL ~ A Prison List (True Prison Story) (42 page)

Vixen pulled the pills out of her purse and opened them into the glass of Vodka and walked to Ernie.

“Here honey, drink this and stop looking so sad… If I didn’t have a boyfriend, I’d go out with you.”

Ernie looked into Vixen’s eyes and drank the Vodka. He set the cup down on the verge of crying and said, “Really? You’re not just saying that?”

“No sweetie, I’m telling you the truth.”

Vixen watched Ernie’s eyes struggle to stay open. Vivid whispered, “One of us should get his money and dope out of his pocket. I’ll go flirt with the bouncer to distract him.”

Vixen reached into Ernie’s pockets and Ernie mumbled and slumped further into the table.

“It’s okay honey, just go to sleep.”

CHAPTER 103

I studied L’il man while shaking his hand. He was only about 5’7 but I got the impression size didn’t matter with him. I guessed his age at 25. This time he was dressed like a street gangster in Nike Cortez shoes, black socks pulled up high enough that his long baggie blue shorts covered them below his knees with a white tank top. He had his neighborhood and his gang tattooed on his arms and shoulders. I saw a puckered knife scar on his forearm and a bullet wound on his shoulder. He had short cropped hair and brown eyes that I couldn’t look away from once I got there. I saw the innocence of a kid mixed with a lot of pain; and the rage of a man all mixed together in his deep brown eyes.

Inside Bob’s, L’il man asked me, “What’s your specialty B.J.”

I got the impression I was supposed to say I was Bob’s problem solver, or I was a speed and marijuana dealer. I didn’t say anything.

L’il man said, “The reason I ask is to see if you’re the one I should be talking to about getting Bob on board cooking speed for me.”

I stared at L’il man and Bob. As usual, Bob wasn’t talking, I offered, “Bob’s his own man.”

Nobody said anything for a few minutes. I looked at Bob and knew he wasn’t going to put any of our business out there so I did carefully. I went on to explain how things had been, how he’d been getting niggard by Ricky and how I’d been trying to get him to come to Orange County to operate with me.”

Bob said, “It hasn’t always been like that with Ricky… Not until he got involved with someone he shouldn’t have.”

L’il man studied me to see if I had anything to say. I thought back to the timeshare in Oceanside and wondered if he was talking about Argenta. He’d never said much about it.

Bob continued, “L’il man, I can’t take you up on your original offer. I don’t want to be beholden to anyone.”

L’il man said, “What if I sell you the chemicals and you kick me down whatever you think is righteous. If it works out, we’ll keep doing it that way.”

Bob looked at me. I thought back to that night on Bob’s boat so long ago where I tried so hard to make what now looked possible, happen. Then I thought about the phone conversation I’d had with Tom and how bad he sounded. I explained how I felt about the speed business from my heart.

“I don’t know if I want to stay in this business. Everyone I’m selling speed to is falling apart.”

I elaborated further and included my own slide.

L’il man responded, “That’s how it used to be with me. I used to let my conscience in too far. Then I saw my brother get run over by a car right in front of me. Now I look at it the way you’re supposed to, like a business. You just have to get yourself to the next level of the game. Stop selling to your friends. I only deal with convicts.”

Bob looked at me and I could see he wanted me to buy the chemicals. “B.J. how does this sound. We set a goal to work as hard as we can for a year and get out if we want to at that point—well off enough, too.”

L’il man said, “As far as your friends you said are spun out in Orange County; some of them will go get treatment and relapse again and buy dope from someone else if you don’t sell it to them, some will go to prison and get back out and get back into the life. Once you’re in, there’s almost no getting out. I only know a few people out of a hundred who have made another life after getting as far into this business as we have, and they got help from churches.”

Bob nodded his head. “He’s right. Why don’t we try moving the product somewhere else where it’s worth more. Like another state. That way you won’t be in the middle of all of your problems in Orange County. You can get some space to breathe and figure those problems out. I’ve at least got to make some money to get my own place. I don’t trust this one.”

CHAPTER 104

Ricky watched Ernie getting carried toward Argenta’s G. ride. The bouncer and Vixen had one of his arms around their shoulders and Vixen pulled out the keys and opened the driver door.

The bouncer struggled to hold Ernie up and said, “Open the back door so we can slide him in. I don’t want to have to fit him into the front seat with the steering wheel.”

Ricky watched them put Ernie in the back seat, close the door and walk back to Mr.G.’s back door. He put on his gloves and pulled the scalpel out of his sock and climbed out from behind the dumpster. He opened the door and pulled Ernie’s legs and felt his anger slipping away. He found himself staring at his nephew’s face and thought for a second. If I don’t whack him the word will get around that he ran his mouth about all of the cooks being removed. He’s going to look like a police informant when they all get raided by law enforcement. Then people will connect the dots that I’m Ernie’s Uncle and it will look like I’m involved… Ricky felt his temper erupting and brought the scalpel to his nephew’s neck and felt the hot blood soak his gloved hands. He felt the scalpel slip deeper and lost the grip on it. He fumbled for a grip and realized he was pushing the scalpel deeper into his nephew’s neck. He felt blood spraying all over himself and realized the scalpel sliced open his nephew’s carotid artery. He fought for control of his temper and gathered the scalpel and put it back in his sock, soaked in blood. Then he wiped the blood from his face with his shirt. He pulled his nephew all the way out of the car and dragged him in between the two dumpsters and remembered the plastic bag in his pocket. He pulled it out and dropped the blue bandana and cigarette butts next to his nephew and walked to Argenta’s car. He backed out and made sure he ran over his nephew’s blood, hoping some would stain the frame of Argenta’s car. He thought, everything will point to him and the neighborhood gangsters…

CHAPTER 105

L’il man got in the passenger seat, and I started the Festiva and asked, “Where am I going?”

“Get on the freeway and go toward Hesperia. I’m calling Hector and telling him to go get the chemicals. I’ll have him meet us at his house.”

I followed the directions and listened to L’il man leave messages for Hector to call him.

I got off the freeway and followed directions.

“B.J., Hector might be at the park talking to Puppet to get to the chemicals. You see that Boy’s and Girl’s club up there on the right? Turn left up there and the park is on the right.”

I pulled up to the park and watched L’il man get out and walk over to a congregation of neighborhood hommies sitting and standing around two tables. I could see how much respect they gave L’il man by the way they maneuvered out of the way for him to talk to who I assumed was Puppet sitting on the table. The rest of the hommies watched the area and looked at me sitting in the Festiva. I watched L’il man walk back and get in the car.

“Drive down the street, he might be at the safe house.”

I followed L’il man’s directions and circled the house while he looked for anything unusual. He had me park around the corner from the house and come with him this time. We went into a garage and I counted twelve other neighborhood hommies stop doing what they were doing. L’il man left me in the garage and went inside the house. Every one of the hommies were staring at me. I backed up against the wall next to the door I’d just entered and waited. I took an inventory of the hommies. Most of them were youngsters between 16–20 years old. They were all dressed the way L’il man was. I could feel how much they wanted to be respected. There was one that looked like he had the most influence talking to another hommie his age, watching one of the youngsters walk toward me and ask me something.

“What kind of gun is that you have in your pants?”

I patted my shirt and said, “I’m not here for show and tell.”

I watched the older hommie watching say, “Little Chuco, he’s here with L’il man on business…” Then he went into a bunch of Espanol I didn’t understand.

I watched L’il man open the door from the house and stop to talk to the hommie who’d just called L’il Chuco away from me.

L’il man walked back to me and nodded toward the door it was time to go.

“Let’s just go to his house and wait for him.”

I followed directions back to the freeway. I drove about five more miles and got off at the last exit in San Bernardino. L’il man directed me across some railroad tracks to the last street next to a wild and rough looking foothill. I waited at the light and looked to the right. There was a desolate lonely road going nowhere that way. Across the street was an empty gas station.

“Make a left right here. Drive the speed limit because there is a police station a quarter mile down on the left. Hector’s house is a mile or so down on the right.”

I parked and watched L’il man run to a house. At the door someone answered and he waved at me to come.

“Hector isn’t home but his sister said we could wait here for him.”

I sat down on a couch in the living room and realized how exhausted I was. I wanted to sleep but thought, how do I sleep in these conditions? Now I have to rough ride it until I get these chemicals, then drive with them back to Bob’s where he just said he didn’t feel comfortable anymore, and then to Orange County where I have all those vines trying to strangle me and nowhere to go. I looked at my watch, 5 A.M.

“B.J. do you have any dope? My tolerance is built up to mine.”

I looked at L’il man and nodded my head. “I’m glad you asked. I didn’t know if it was okay to break anything out here and get high. I’m on my last leg myself.”

I dumped a little pile of the purple speed on a glass tray and noticed L’il man react weird. I smashed up some to snort and welcomed the stinging pain awakening my exhausted body.

“Do you mind if I ask you whose dope that is?”

“It’s not Bob’s dope. It’s one of Ricky’s associates. I don’t know anything about the guy other than Ricky saying he’s mob related.”

I explained the scene in Oceanside until my phone rang.

CHAPTER 106

“B.J., it’s Piper. I had to call you. Someone got murdered at the strip club and I’m scared. I don’t know if this has anything to do with you but the guy who got murdered was saying that all of the cooks are going to get removed or something. I thought it might have something to do with you and Bob so I wanted to warn you.”

I watched L’il man listening to my phone conversation intently.

“Piper, who was running their mouth about all of the cooks getting removed?”

I thought about what Johnny Chamberlain said about the cooks getting raided by law enforcement.

“I don’t know if I should say his name or not. Vivid and Vixen are telling me not to get caught up in it.”

L’il man said, “Tell her not to say anything. I already know who it is.”

“Piper don’t say anything. Stay out of it.”

I hung up the phone and called Bob. His cell phone went straight to voice mail. I tried the house phone, he didn’t answer.

“L’il man I’ve got to go to the house in Colton to get Bob out of there.”

“You don’t want to leave right now. That police station we passed is having a shift change right now. They are all driving over to the neighborhood we were in on the way here. Wait a couple of hours and it will be clear.”

“I can’t wait.”

I got off at Bob’s exit in Colton and saw the C.R.A.S.H. team parked in the IN N’ OUT parking lot. There was a white van and four other undercover cars and almost a dozen officers dressed in bullet proof vests and outfits signifying the operation they worked for huddling up together like a football team. I drove past them and turned at Bob’s street. Johnny Chamberlain and his partner were kick starting their Harley’s and pulling away. I drove by Bob’s and noticed him closing his door and followed behind the Hell’s Angels. At the end of the street they went left and I went right. I parked the Festiva and ran back to Bob’s.

I hopped his fence and saw the C.R.A.S.H. team’s procession turn the corner. I ran to the front door and Bob opened it right as the white van screeched to a stop in front.

I ran past Bob into his house and told him to follow me right as we both heard, “FREEZE!! SEARCH WARRANT!!”

I ran to the kitchen window with so much adrenaline flooding my body that I somehow climbed and dove my body through the open window. I felt my legs pull the window off its track and land on me as I fell in a heap on the ground. I got up and looked back for Bob. He was letting me escape and walking back to the open door the task force was just getting to. I ran for the fence and practically hurdled it and ran for the next one and the next one.