Welfare Wifeys (13 page)

“So be it,” King said in a defeated tone. “I can’t knock ya hustle, Ashanti, you just make sure you take care of yourself while you’re out here.”

“He’s gonna be okay. His family has got him,” Brasco assured King.

King held Brasco’s gaze and saw nothing in his eyes. It was the same lifeless expression that he was running into more and more as he dealt with the new breed of hustlers. They had nothing to lose and everything to gain. “You make sure y’all do,” he told Brasco. “We out, La.” He motioned for Lakim to follow him to the building.

“That nigga King is always trying to preach to somebody. I ain’t trying to hear that fake ass God-Body shit,” Nefertiti said when King had disappeared into the building.

“Nah, King is a good nigga. A lot of cats could take a page from his book,” Brasco said, reflecting on King’s words. The truth in them hit very close to home, but he would never admit it in front of his crew.

“Man, fuck all that, we need to see about getting some more trees since Animal peeled off with the good shit,” Ashanti suggested.

“I got a bag of Arizona on me,” Nefertiti said.

“You about a stashing ass nigga, Nef, why you just now saying something about it?” Brasco asked.

“Because I didn’t feel like hearing y’all clown on me in the car. You know every time Animal comes around with that good shit y’all start acting like y’all don’t smoke green no more.”

“We gonna smoke it today. Roll that shit up, son,” Ashanti told him.

“I’m two steps ahead of you.” Nefertiti produced an already rolled blunt from his jacket pocket.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Brasco declared.

No sooner than Nefertiti lit the weed he heard someone shout, “Squally!”

A brown Buick came out of nowhere and screeched to a stop directly in front of where they were standing. Ashanti didn’t even think twice when he hopped the fence and took off running through
the projects. Nefertiti and Brasco thought about running too but the hard-faced black cop closing in on them, with his weapon drawn, gave them pause.

“Please run so I can pop you,” Detective Brown said while pointing his .357 at the two kids. His hard face was twisted into his signature scowl as he rolled up on Brasco and Nefertiti. “Grab the fence, cocksucker!” he ordered them. Brasco and Nefertiti slowly turned around and placed their hands on the short black gate. Brown placed his gun to the back of Brasco’s head and began to pat him down roughly.

“C’mon, son, why you fucking with us over a blunt?” Brasco asked.

“Because I can,” Detective Brown said before slapping him in the nuts.

“It must be Christmas in the hood because instead of two turtle doves we got two shit-birds,” Detective Alvarez joked as he joined his partner. The tall Puerto Rican detective was dressed in blue jeans, boots, and a bubble vest. “What’s up, Lawrence?” he addressed Brasco.

“Alvarez, tell this nigga to chill. We wasn’t doing nothing,” Brasco told him.

“Bullshit, you two shades are always doing something.” Alvarez shoved Nefertiti into the fence and searched him. When they were satisfied that the two youths weren’t carrying weapons they allowed them to get off the fence. “What’s popping, Blood?”

“Like I said, ain’t shit popping. We was just standing here when y’all muthafuckas rolled up on us on some A-Team shit,” Brasco replied.

“Oh, I seriously doubt that,” Alvarez told him. He looked down at the ground and saw the still burning blunt Nefertiti had dropped when they rolled up. With a mischievous smile on his face he picked up the blunt. Alvarez took two short tokes and frowned. “Damn,
y’all must really be doing bad to be smoking this bullshit.” He tossed the blunt into the street.

“Man, you’re the police; you ain’t supposed to be doing that,” Nefertiti pointed out, which got him slapped in the back of the head by Detective Brown.

“Bitch nigga, the fact that we’re the police means we can do what the fuck we want and the only person you can tell who might halfway care is God.” He laughed at Nef, then turned his attention to Brasco. “I don’t know why you little thug keep thinking you got rights. When are y’all gonna get the memo that a street nigga ain’t shit in the eyes of the law?”

Brasco hated Detective Brown and his eyes betrayed this. “You can’t be the law forever, son. One day you gotta lay that badge to rest and when that time comes you’ll be a regular citizen, subject to the laws of the jungle.”

Detective Brown shoved Brasco roughly against the gate and grabbed him by the front of his hoodie. “You threatening me, lil nigga?”

Brasco slowly looked from the hands pinning him to the eyes of the enraged cop and spoke very slowly and very seriously. “Detective Brown, no matter how ignorant you may think I am, I’m not stupid enough to threaten a cop. But what I will tell you is that if you don’t take your hands off me I’m going to jail or the morgue tonight.” Brasco saw Detective Brown’s finger trembling near the trigger of his gun, but he refused to show his fear.

Sensing that the scene was about to take a turn for the worse Alvarez placed a calming hand on his partner’s forearm. “Cool out, partner. You know better than to give a scumbag like this home-court advantage.” He tugged at Brown a bit and his partner allowed himself to be led away and let Alvarez deal with Brasco. “Brasco, we didn’t come over here to bust your balls. If I wanted to do that I could get word to your parole officer and tell him that you crossed
state lines without his permission. Now how do you think that would look?”

Brasco turned away. “Dude, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t left Harlem since I got outta jail.”

“Then explain this to me.” Alvarez pulled up a picture on his digital camera and held it up for Brasco to see. It was of all of them coming out of the mall earlier that day. “Brasco, let’s keep it one hundred between us. We know that Animal is back in town, and though I’m pissed off about him getting off for all that dumb shit that I
know
he was involved in, I’m not holding a grudge over it. If the system is cool with letting that sociopath run around unchecked then so am I. What I do have a problem with is bodies popping up the moment he sets foot back in my city, especially after all the work me and my partner put in to get things quiet again after Tech got wasted.”

Detective Brown laughed. “I hear they did that boy so filthy that the mortician had to pad his suit because there wasn’t enough left of him to keep it from caving in.” Brasco took a step toward Detective Brown, but Alvarez held him where he was. “I wish you would.” Brown raised his gun.

“Brasco, you and my partner going at each other all afternoon ain’t gonna do nothing but get somebody hurt, and I’m trying to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. Look, you saw the pictures so you know that we know that Animal is here for a reason. We’ve got an idea why, but we need you to connect the dots before somebody else gets hurt.”

Brasco’s face was serious when he responded, “Who’s Animal?”

Detective Brown reached over to slap Brasco for his blatant lie, but Alvarez held him back. “A’ight, if that’s how you wanna play it,
Lawrence,
I’m wit it. Put your hands behind your back,” Alvarez ordered Brasco.

“This is some bullshit, how you gonna lock my man up?” Nefertiti asked.

“We ain’t locking him up, we’re locking
y’all
up.” Detective Brown shoved him against the gate and placed the handcuffs around his wrist.

“What’s the charge?” Brasco asked.

Alvarez tightened the cuffs around Brasco’s wrists. “So far it’s possession of narcotics and trespassing, but I’m sure we’ll think of some more shit by the time we get to the precinct.”

“That’s a punk ass charge and you know it. The judge ain’t gonna do nothing but give us court dates and cut us loose,” Brasco said.

“Yeah, but ain’t no telling when you’re gonna get to see the judge. You know the Bookings are overcrowded as it is.” Alvarez smirked at him.

“Yeah, it could be days before they finally find your paperwork after we misplace it,” Brown added. “Unless of course you guys decided you wanted to tell us why Animal is here?”

Brasco just shrugged. “Sorry, I can’t help you.”

“Fuck it, we’ll do it your way.” Alvarez steered Brasco toward the car, while Brown escorted Nefertiti.

Brasco looked over at Nefertiti who looked shook, but he was holding it together like a true soldier. “Yo, Nef, looks like we’re partying in the Tombs tonight, huh?”

Brasco laughed as he was pushed into the police car.

Detectives Brown and Alvarez had just pulled up in front of their precinct when Brown’s phone rang. He picked it up and listened as the caller on the other end began rattling off something that his partner could hear pieces of through the phone. When Brown ended the call he had a worried expression on his face.

“What’s up?” Alvarez asked.

“That was the captain. We gotta hurry up and drop these clowns off, then get down to Brooklyn,” Brown told him.

“Shit, man, can’t one of the local squads handle it?” Alvarez was
anxious to start interrogating Animal’s people and going to Brooklyn would cut into the maximum time they had to hold the duo.

“No, the captain wants us to check into this one personally. They say the corpses were fucked up . . . real fucked up,” Brown told him. Suddenly Alvarez realized what his partner was hinting at and looked in the backseat at Brasco and Ashanti.

“Don’t look at us. We’ve been with you guys for the last hour and a half fighting traffic.” Brasco chuckled.

“Any witnesses?” Alvarez asked his partner.

Brown looked at him seriously. “Knowing our boy, I doubt it.”

Animal arrived on the quiet block in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn almost a full twenty minutes before the taxicab pulled up in front of the brownstone at the other end of the block. From the backseat spilled a beautiful brown-skinned woman wearing a wide-brimmed hat. The woman was dressed in a long leather coat and a pair of black thigh-high stilettos. The cabdriver almost stumbled from the cab when he hopped out to get her bags. From the looks of the symbols on them she had been burning down Fifth Avenue. The exotic dream accepted the bags with a predatory smile and tipped him a five before climbing the steps of the brownstone.

Animal waited an additional ten minutes before getting out of his car to retrieve the black shoulder bag that he had spent nearly a half hour checking and double-checking before packing it away. Instead of going inside the brownstone the woman had disappeared into, Animal entered the one next door. Months ago he had had a home girl of his rent an apartment in it and show her face once or twice a day to make it look good, but no one actually lived there. He entered the third-floor apartment and did a brief check of the rooms to make sure the apartment was deserted as he had
instructed. Once it was secure he pulled a coverall and shoe covers from the bag and slipped them on over his clothes and boots. After tucking his hair snugly beneath a stocking cap he went back out the door and headed for the roof.

The space separating the two brownstones was only two feet so Animal had no problem clearing the ledge. In the center of the adjoining brownstone roof there was a skylight that looked down into the master bedroom. Peering down he caught a glimpse of the woman just as she was coming out of her clothes and smiled. Her body was smooth with perky breasts, nicely rounded hips, and a small rose tattooed on her right shoulder. Animal kept his eyes glued to her until she grabbed a towel and disappeared into the bathroom.

It was no trouble for him to pop open the left pane of the skylight since he had removed the screws when he arrived in New York that morning. Lowering himself through the glass as far as he could, he dropped the rest of the way onto the bed, scattering the rose petals the woman had laid out over the comforter. On both nightstands and around the bed scented candles flickered in the breeze created by the missing windowpane. She had obviously planned a romantic evening for her and her lover, but even the best laid plans could go wrong and Animal had every intention of making sure that’s what happened.

When the woman came out of the bathroom she was so focused on drying her hair that she didn’t even notice the menacing eyes staring at her from the shadows behind the bathroom door. She tossed the towel on the back of the chair in front of the vanity table and sat down to do her makeup. It wasn’t until she looked up at the mirror to apply her lipstick did she realize she wasn’t alone. By the time she opened her mouth to scream it was already too late.

Animal clamped his hand tightly over her mouth and jerked her head roughly to the right. “If you make a sound I’m gonna break your pretty neck. Keep your mouth closed and you might live to
tell your girlfriends how you escaped the boogeyman. Do you understand?” The girl nodded and Animal removed his hand. He spun her around in the chair and glared at her from behind the stocking cap. “Where is it?”

“Where is what?” she asked in a frightened voice.

Animal sighed and slapped her across the face. “Bitch, don’t play me for lame, you know what I’m talking about! You and your boyfriend took something that didn’t belong to you and we want it back. Where’s Rico’s money?”

The girl’s eyes widened. She had never met Rico but she knew his reputation well from the stories her man whispered to her at night. “I don’t know nothing about no money or no Rico.”

Animal grabbed the girl roughly by the hair and flung her onto the bed. He straddled the frightened woman’s body and placed the barrel of his gun against her forehead. “Bitch, either you’re gonna come correct and give me Rico’s bread or I’m gonna leave a nasty stain on these pretty satin sheets.” Animal ran his finger over her crotch with his free hand.

“Please, I don’t know anything about Rico’s money, but I’ve got about five thousand in the house and some jewelry that you can take. Please don’t rape me.” The woman pleaded with tears streaking down her cheeks.

Animal reached out and touched her face tenderly. She was too terrified to move away. “Baby girl, I’m a lot of things, but I ain’t no rapist. Quit that crying.” He wiped her tears away with his thumb. “Since you say you don’t know anything about Rico’s money I’m gonna take you at your word, but I’m gonna need you to do something for me in return for letting you live.”