"Sounds like the perfect marriage to me," Richards laughed.
"Not really, you still have the arguments. Now that we’re divorced, we still have the same sex and we don’t have to argue," Kirk said as they arrived at the scene of the murder.
When they walked in the apartment they were met by Detective Gene Sanchez from the narcotics division. "There they are," Sanchez said and walked them into the room where the bodies were found.
"What you got for us tonight?" Richards asked.
"Three black males murdered execution style. The lab guys saved the bodies for you."
Kirk crouched down next to one of the bodies. His hands were tied behind his back. Richards looked over the other bodies; each had been shot point blank in the back of the head.
"From the looks of it, they were on their knees when they were shot," Sanchez informed them.
"What do you think, Pat?" Kirk asked.
Richards nodded his head. "No sign of forced entry, so the shooters were let in. Judging by the bullet holes in this wall, somebody shot at them. Shooter fired back with superior firepower, I might add."
"You got anything on those guys?" Kirk asked and pointed to where the bodies were found.
"They weren’t on our radar," Sanchez said.
"Anybody canvas the building?" Kirk asked.
"Uniforms."
"And?"
"Nobody saw anything, nobody heard anything. Nobody would even say that there was an operation going on here," Sanchez said.
"Typical," Richards commented.
"Nobody wants to be a snitch," Kirk said.
"There’s been a couple more murders in the last couple of weeks that have the same MO. No forced entry, vic’s were tied up, on their knees and shot in the head," Sanchez told the other detectives.
"Who’s the big player in the game these days?" Kirk asked.
"That would be Bruce Stark."
"Stark," Kirk said and snapped his fingers a few times. "That name rings a bell."
"The Commission," Richards reminded him. Kirk chuckled a little and thought back to the day he and Richards explained the commission and its purpose to Mike Black.
"Do you know a Steven Blake or a Kevin Murdock?" Richards asked that night and handed Black their pictures.
He looked at the pictures and handed them back to Richards. "No, I don’t know either of them. Should I?"
"Their street names are Cash Money and K Murder. You ever hear of them?"
"No."
"What about a guy named Stark or Billy Banner, goes by BB?" Richards continued.
"Never heard of any of them. They sound like cartoon characters to me," Black told the detective.
"Well, they’ve heard of you. In fact they’re so worried that you’re gonna kill them they formed a little group."
"What kind of group?"
"They call themselves The Commission."
"What are they, a rap group or something?"
Kirk remembered how both him and Black had gotten a good laugh at that comment. "No, they’re low-rent drug dealers that used to work for Birdie," Richards said.
"Now him I’ve heard of. Heard they found his body in some river in Jersey," Black taunted that day. "But you answered your own question. If these guys are low-rent drug dealers, I wouldn’t know them or anything about them. Maybe you should talk to Freeze. He keeps up with that kind of shit. It’s like a hobby to him. But since you drove all the way out here to ask me about them, it must be something that you can only ask me."
"That would be correct," Richards said.
Then Black took a step closer to Richards and got in his face, and Kirk thought he was going to have to separate them. "You don’t like me, do you, Detective Richards?" Black asked Richards. "To you, I’m just another arrogant crook who doesn’t deserve the respect Kirk shows me."
"That would be correct," Richards stated plainly.
"That’s why I respect you, Detective Richards, ’cause you don’t like me and you have no problem lettin’ me know that you don’t like me. You’re not like a lot of other cops who smile in my face or try to act tough. You do your job, and I respect you for that."
"Right," Richards said.
"Whatever I can do to help you, Detective Richards?"
"Somebody killed Cash Money in his apartment and K Murder was killed this weekend in a drive-by."
"I don’t know anything about that. I just came back from the Bahamas today. Like I said, Freeze keeps up with that type of shit. So unless you’re tellin’ me that these are the guys that killed my wife, I wouldn’t know anything about them. Why would I?"
"That’s what I asked one of them," Richards said, referring to Bruce Stark.
"What he say?"
"He didn’t have a reason either, but right now he’s sitting behind fifteen guys-"
"Seventeen," Kirk corrected.
"Okay, seventeen guys; waiting for you to come after him."
"So let me get this straight," Black said. "Four baby ballers that I’ve never heard of, are so scared that I’m gonna kill them that they got together to protect themselves against me, but I don’t know them? But now two of them are dead, which says a lot for their security, and they think it’s me that killed them. So now, one of them is so scared of me that he is sittin’ behind a little army waitin’ on me to show up. Is that what you’re tellin’ me?"
By that time it was obvious that Black was fighting back his laughter and so was Kirk.
"I’m sorry, but would you mind tellin’ me what my motive is for doing this?"
"See, I told you he was going to ask you that," Kirk said and dropped his head.
"I’m not out there fightin’ over corners with these kids," Black said. "They play it a little too hard for me. They have no honor or loyalty; shootin’ each other over bullshit. Why would I even be involved with these guys?"
After that Richards cracked a smile. "I was kinda hoping that you could tell us," he finally said. "Since they think it’s all about you, I just thought I’d ask."
"It is not about me, believe that," Black told them that night.
The detectives left this latest murder scene to allow the evidence techs to do their job. On the way down the steps Sanchez told Kirk and Richards about the suspected alliance between Black, Stark and Angelo Collette. "But it’s only a rumor."
"Sometimes rumors are based on fact," Richards said.
"Stark is a regular visitor at Cuisine. And him and Black seem very chummy," Sanchez said.
"But, Collette, that’s the one that concerns me," Kirk said. "Him and Black are old friends and he’s been trying to get a foothold in this part of the Bronx for years."
"Correct," Sanchez said. "Now, for the really big money, do you know who the last player he had in the game was?"
"Who?" Richards asked.
"One Cassandra Sims."
"Black’s wife?" Richards questioned.
"The same," Sanchez confirmed.
"You don’t think this is Black’s work?" Richards asked.
"I don’t think so," Kirk said quickly as they walked to their cars. "Unless there’s something you haven’t told us yet, Gene."
Sanchez shook his head. "Neither do I."
"Black has been off the grid playing legit businessman for a while now," Kirk said.
"I heard that too. And besides, these are little fish," Sanchez added. "Black takes out the top of the food chain." He got in his car and drove off.
Kirk and Richards walked to their car. "That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have a talk with Stark," Richards said and got behind the wheel.
"No it doesn’t."
CHAPTER TWELVE
Black and Bobby arrived at Luke’s apartment and went inside. It took a while, but a woman finally came and let them in. She asked them to sit down and told them that Luke would be out in a minute. When Luke came into the room, he was on crutches and had a bandage around his thigh. His head was bandaged from the impact with the steering wheel. His arm was in a sling from getting shot in the shoulder.